A Study of the "Autonomous" Episcopate

In 1987, offered here for the first time in English, Fr. Louis-Marie de Blignières, presents a sustained theological study taking seriously the teachings of papal encyclicals, the writings of the Church Fathers, the doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas, and numerous works by theologians, and applies them to the question of an "autonomous" episcopate: i.e., bishops instituted without any mandate from the Church and with the intention of forming an entity functionally self-sufficient and independent from the Church hierarchy founded by Christ (thus rendering, intentionally or not, the quest for unity unnecessary).

In a characteristically Thomistic manner, Fr. de Blignières brings perennial principles to bear on a modern ecclesial problem. These "autonomous" bishops are not part of the governance [hierarchy] of the Church. The central question thus becomes whether there can be bishops who possess a merely material apostolicity while lacking a formal apostolic mission (see Part II). The author also asks whether the crisis in the Church-which he readily acknowledges-can justify the emergence of such an episcopate. His study gives a clear and rigorous answer.

The accompanying essay from 2022, included here as Part I, was chosen in order to present the reasoning of those who could not in conscience support Archbishop Lefebvre's episcopal consecrations of 1988 without papal mandate. It provides an important contextual framework for understanding the intellectual and ecclesial climate surrounding that unprecedented event, the repercussions of which continue into 2026.

It is our hope that this study will be read with serenity and objectivity and that it will foster honest debate and serious reflection on a question of great importance for all those concerned with the crisis in the Church and with the preservation of all that the Church holds dear.