Editing Marcel Lefebvre (section)

== Second Vatican Council ==
As a member of the Central Preparatory Commission Lefebvre participated in drafting documents for consideration by the Council Fathers, meeting in seven sessions between June 1961 and June 1962. Within the first two weeks of the first session of the council (October to December 1962)<ref>{{harvnb|Hardon|1989|pp=20–21}}</ref> the Council Fathers rejected all the drafts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wicks |first=Jared |title=Still More Light on Vatican Council II |date=2012 |editor-last=Velati |editor-first=Mauro |editor2-last=von Teuffenbach |editor2-first=Alexandra |editor3-last=Schelkens |editor3-first=Karim |editor4-last=de Mattei |editor4-first=Roberto |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23240055 |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |volume=98 |issue=3 |pages=476–502 |jstor=23240055 |issn=0008-8080}}</ref>{{efn|The council rules required a two-thirds vote to approve a schema. After conservative supporters of the schemas attempted to manipulate the procedures to require a two-thirds vote to reject a schema, Pope John intervened to make a majority sufficient to reject a schema and require a new draft.<ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9D9NAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA116 | page=116 | access-date = 19 September 2021 | title = Vatican II Forty Years Later | date = 2011 | first = William | last = Madges | publisher = Wipf & Stock | isbn=9781610977395 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | access-date = 19 September 2021 | title = The Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church: A History | first = Joseph F. | last = Kelly | publisher = Liturgical Press | date = 2009 | page= 188 | isbn = 9780814653760 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jLrn2Nx-g2YC&pg=PA188 }}</ref>}}

Lefebvre and some like-minded bishops became concerned about the direction of the council's deliberations and, led by Archbishop [[Geraldo de Proença Sigaud]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Diamantina|Diamantina]], formed a bloc that became known as the [[Coetus Internationalis Patrum]] (CIP) or International Group of Fathers, with the aim of guaranteeing their views were part of every council discussion.<ref>{{cite book | last = Alberigo | first = Giuseppe | title = A Brief History of Vatican II | date= 2006 | publisher = Orbis Books }}</ref><ref name="membres">{{Citation | last = Roy-Lysencourt | first = Philippe | title = Les Membres du Coetus Internationalis Patrum au Concile Vatican II: Inventaire des Interventions et Souscriptions des Adherents et Sympathisants, Liste des Signataires d'occasion et des Théologiens | place = Leuven | publisher = Maurits Sabbe Library, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven / Peeters | series = Instrumenta Theologica | volume = 37 | year = 2014 | pages = 483–484 | language = fr | isbn = 9789042930872}}</ref>

The CIP was especially concerned about the principle of [[Freedom of religion|religious liberty]]. During the council's third session (September to November 1964), Archbishop [[Pericle Felici]], the secretary of the council and a prominent Curial conservative, announced that Lefebvre, with two other like-minded bishops, was appointed to a special four-member commission charged with rewriting the draft document on the topic,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stjames-cathedral.org/Prayer/vatican2-4.htm | title = Vatican II, Part 4: The Third Session | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070904074425/http://www.stjames-cathedral.org/Prayer/vatican2-4.htm |archive-date=4 September 2007 | author=Corinna Laughlin | website =St. James Cathedral, Seattle}}</ref> but it was soon discovered that this measure did not have papal approval, and major responsibility for preparing the draft document was given to the [[Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity|Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity]].<ref>"In interviews with Bea and Frings, Paul VI agreed that the Christian Unity office would bear the major responsibility for revising the two declarations."([http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,897340,00.html Cum Magno Dolore]{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Time Magazine, 23 October 1964)</ref>

The CIP managed to get the preliminary vote (with suggestions for modifications) on the document postponed until the fourth session of the council, where, on 7 December 1965, an overwhelming majority approved the final text of the declaration ''[[Dignitatis humanae]]''. Lefebvre was one of the 70, about 3%, who voted against the declaration, but he added his signature to the document after that of the pope, though some withheld their signatures.<ref name="harrison"/>{{efn|Lefebvre later said that the paper that he signed did not represent his endorsement, but only recorded his presence at the meeting,<ref>[http://www.angelusonline.org/index.php?section=articles&subsection=show_article&article_id=1855 Angelus magazine of January 1991] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923172202/http://www.angelusonline.org/index.php?section=articles&subsection=show_article&article_id=1855 |date=23 September 2015 }}. Angelusonline.org (1 November 1990). Retrieved on 1 November 2013.</ref> but that claim is disputed.<ref name="harrison">{{harvnb|Harrison|1994}}</ref>}}

=== The Council and the Holy Ghost Fathers ===
At one point during the Council, some 40 bishops who were members of the Holy Ghost Fathers met with him to express their disagreement with his views and the role he was playing at the Council. He heard their views but did not engage in dialogue. His closing statement, "We all have a conscience: everyone must follow his own.", left them dissatisfied. One said: "He seemed to have a blockage. He seemed incapable of reviewing his ways of thinking."<ref>{{cite web | access-date = 27 September 2021 | url = https://spiritanroma.org/1962-1980-a-new-age-of-mission/ | title = 1962–1980: A New Age of Mission | website = Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Rome}}</ref>

Lefebvre felt the Council's impact directly when the Holy Ghost Fathers held an Extraordinary General Chapter to respond to it. The order's leadership, though their terms had years remaining, tendered their resignations effective with the close of the meeting as was traditional. The membership had insisted on a larger role for elected delegates, and they constituted half of the body. Lefebvre's opponents were well organized, and when he tried to assume the chair, they insisted that the Chapter was a legislative body entitled to elect its own officers. On 11 September 1968 the Chapter supported that position on a vote of 63 to 40, and Lefebvre stopped attending. The Chapter then elected its leaders and proceeded with intense but respectful debate on the critical issue: the balance between the constraints of the order's religious life and the exercise of its missionary charge. Lefebvre returned on 28 September and addressed the issue in uncompromising language. He predicted any changes would lead to "a caricature of community life where anarchy, disorder, and individual initiative have free rein". His tone and arguments won him no support; the convention elected Fr. Joseph Lécuyer, a French theologian, his successor as superior general on 26 October.<ref name="cleary3">{{cite book | pages= | title = Spiritan Life and Mission Since Vatican II | first = William | last = Cleary | date = 2018 | publisher = Wipf & Stock | chapter= A Council Ends and a Chapter Begins, in Chapter 3: 'The General Chapter of Renewal'}}</ref>