Editing Marcel Lefebvre (section)

=== Breaking of the agreement, consecrations ===
{{Main|Écône consecrations}}
[[File:Dom Mayer em cerimônia de coroação da Virgem Maria.jpg|right|200px|thumb|[[Antônio de Castro Mayer]] in 1980]]Shortly after the agreement, however, Lefebvre announced that he had received a note from Ratzinger that asked him "to beg pardon for [his] errors", which he interpreted to mean that he would be made to accept the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and the "[[Day of Prayer#World Day of Prayer for Peace|spirit of Assisi]]". Lefebvre referred to the alleged prophecy of [[Our Lady of La Salette]] that "Rome will lose the Faith" and declared himself obliged to consecrate a successor—if necessary, without papal approval.<ref name=sermon>{{cite web | url = http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Archbishop-Lefebvre/Episcopal-Consecration.htm | title =Sermon on the occasion of the Episcopal Consecration | first = Marcel | last = Lefebvre | date= June 1988}}</ref> As the agreement did not specify a date for the episcopal consecration, should Lefebvre have died before it was granted, the Society would have been unable to ordain any seminarians and forced into submission to the [[Holy See]].<ref name=interview /><ref>{{cite book | last = Laisney| first = François | title = Archbishop Lefebvre & the Vatican| chapter = May 6, 1988 Letter of Archbishop Lefebvre to Cardinal Ratzinger | access-date = 28 October 2012| chapter-url = http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Archbishop-Lefebvre/Archbishop_Lefebvre_and_the_Vatican/Part_I/1988-05-06.htm }}</ref>

Lefebvre dubbed his plan "Operation Survival":<ref name="sermon" />

{{Blockquote|That is why, taking into account the strong will of the present Roman authorities to reduce Tradition to naught, to gather the world to the spirit of Vatican II and the spirit of Assisi, we have preferred to withdraw ourselves and to say that we could not continue. It was not possible. We would have evidently been under the authority of Cardinal Ratzinger, President of the Roman Commission, which would have directed us; we were putting ourselves into his hands, and consequently putting ourselves into the hands of those who wish to draw us into the spirit of the Council and the spirit of [[Day of Prayer#World Day of Prayer for Peace|Assisi]]. This was simply not possible.}}

Pope John Paul II appealed to him not to proceed in "a schismatic act", warning of "theological and canonical consequences".<ref>{{cite web | quote =On 3 June, Lefebvre wrote that he would still go ahead with the 30 June consecrations. On 9 June 1988, Pope John Paul II replied to him with a personal letter, recalling the agreement the archbishop had signed on 5 May and appealing to him not to proceed with a design that 'would be seen as nothing other than a schismatic act, the theological and canonical consequences of which are known to you'. When no reply came from Lefebvre, this letter was made public on 16 June. |url = http://www.latinmassireland.org/newshappenings/jp2_obit.html | title = Pope John Paul II, an Obituary | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110726075813/http://www.latinmassireland.org/newshappenings/jp2_obit.html |archive-date=26 July 2011 | website = Latin Mass Society of Ireland}}</ref>

On 30 June 1988, Lefebvre, with Bishop Emeritus [[Antônio de Castro Mayer]] of [[Campos dos Goytacazes|Campos]], [[Brazil]], as co-consecrator, consecrated four SSPX priests as bishops: [[Bernard Tissier de Mallerais]], [[Richard Williamson (bishop)|Richard Williamson]], [[Alfonso de Galarreta]] and [[Bernard Fellay]].

Shortly before the consecrations, Lefebvre gave the following sermon:
<blockquote>...&nbsp;this ceremony, which is apparently done against the will of Rome, is in no way a schism. We are not schismatics! If an excommunication was pronounced against the [[Catholic Patriotic Association|bishops of China, who separated themselves from Rome and put themselves under the Chinese government]], one very easily understands why Pope Pius XII excommunicated them. There is no question of us separating ourselves from Rome, nor of putting ourselves under a foreign government, nor of establishing a sort of parallel church as the [[Palmarian Christian Church|Bishops of Palmar de Troya]] have done in Spain. They have even elected [[Clemente Domínguez y Gómez|a pope]], formed a college of cardinals... It is out of the question for us to do such things. Far from us be this miserable thought to separate ourselves from Rome!<ref name=sermon /></blockquote>

The next day, 1 July, the [[Congregation for Bishops]] issued a decree stating that this was a [[schism (religion)|schismatic]] act and that all six direct participants had incurred automatic excommunication.<ref>[http://www.cin.org/users/james/files/l-excomm.htm Decree of Excommunication]. Cin.org (1 July 1988). Retrieved on 1 November 2013.</ref>