Father of SSPX founder was killed in Nazi concentration camp

February 12, 8:15 AMCatholic ExaminerEric Wilson

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Archbishop Lefebvre

Readers are no doubt aware of the scandal arising from controversial remarks made by Bishop Richard Williamson of the Traditionalist Catholic sect known as the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) and the subsequent criticisms of Pope Benedict XVI which I have written about here and here.

Inside the Vatican magazine drew attention earlier this week to the little-known fact that the father of the Society's founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, was murdered in a Nazi concentration camp in 1944 for collaborating with the French Resistance.

As Inside the Vatican aptly points out, Archbishop Lefebvre "experienced 'in his own flesh,' as it were, the same cruelty millions of Jews experienced prior to and during the Second World War."  This previsously obscured fact casts significant doubt on claims that the SSPX is an inherently anti-Semitic institution, or, at the very least, reveals that such a prejudice is not inline with the Society's founder's views on the matter.