The Swiss bishops will not attend the funeral of the late Bishop Vitus Huonder of Chur on 17 April at the French-speaking seminary of the Priestly Society of Pius X in Ecône, Switzerland.
After retiring as a Novus Ordo bishop, Huonder spent his last five years with the Priestly Fraternity of Pius X. He wanted to be buried in the crypt for priests where Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (d. 1991), the founder of the Society, was buried before being transferred to the Seminary Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on 24 September 2020.
Only Huonder's successor as Bishop of Chur, Monsignor Joseph Bonnemain, who owes his career to Huonder, is still considering taking part, but "not as Bishop of Chur". Since he is apparently able to separate his episcopal ordination from his person, he could attend as a doctor, his original profession.
The virulently anti-Catholic website Kath.ch, the official portal of the Swiss bishops, whose new editor-in-chief is a Protestant, reported the excuses of the bishops. All the bishops except Mgr Bonnemain and Bishop Felix Gmür of Basel are taking part in a joint retreat from Tuesday to Friday. Gmür is in Lourdes.
Not a single bishop is sending an envoy. This is understandable, since the leadership of the "Catholic" Church in Switzerland has only distant memories, if any, of the Catholic faith and the Catholic liturgy.
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