Athanasius Schneider

Athanasius Schneider (7 April 1961–) is a German-Russian Roman Catholic bishop, the auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan.

Bishop Schneider speaks German, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, English, French and Italian, and he reads Latin and Ancient Greek.

Quotes

• But we are not only permitted to believe in Hell, we are obliged to believe in it. It is, after all, a statement contained directly in divine revelation. We mustn't choose from revelation whatever we please. Catholicism is not an à la carte religion. Either we accept the whole revelation - all the dogmas of faith, including the truth about eternal damnation in Hell - or we reject the whole thing.
  • As quoted in Lisicki, Pawel and Schneider, Bishop Athanasius (2021), "The Springtime That Never Came: Bishop Athanasius Schneider in conversation with Pawel Lisicki", ISBN 978-1-64413-513-6, United States, Sophia Institute Press, Manchester, New Hampshire, Page 192.

• When people are really persecuted, you need to help them. But as for the phenomenon of the European so-called immigration, it is clear and evident by what we can observe, that this is an orchestrated action of the international powerful political organizations. It is the aim, the clear aim, to take away from Europe its Christian and its national identity. It is meant to dilute the Christian and the national character of Europe. The majority of the so-called migrants are Muslims, so there is going on also an Islamisation of Europe. Of course, these people are not guilty, but they are used as means by powerful organizations. This we cannot accept. We have to state that it is not just to destroy the Christian and national identity of Europe by means of this artificial immigration
  • Bishop Athanasius Schneider discusses liturgy, priesthood, doctrinal confusion, immigration, Synod on the Youth (July 6, 2018)

• We are a family, the Church. We are not a business, but we are a family. The bishops are responsible for the health of the entire Church, especially in a time of crisis. And now we are in a crisis. And only a blind person – spiritually blind – could deny that we are experiencing a deep confusion currently in the Church, doctrinally, liturgically, and morally. And therefore, when bishops shall raise their voices to defend the truth, they are doing, in my opinion, a good work, and helping in some way the pope and their brothers in the episcopacy.
  • Bishop Schneider on Chastity vs. a Society ‘Becoming Ever More Cruel’ (September 21, 2018)

• God pours His grace into our soul according to our capacity and according to our prayers, without violating our freedom. Therefore, we have to pray. This is our basic and first duty—not the prayer of petition only, to ask for graces, but the prayer of adoration. The first task of all creation is to adore God, to acknowledge His divinity, His majesty, His greatness.
  • Schneider, Bishop Athanasius; Montagna, Diane. Christus Vincit: Christ’s Triumph Over the Darkness of the Age (p. 110). Angelico Press. Kindle Edition.

• There is no authority to declare or consider an elected and generally accepted Pope as an invalid Pope. The constant practice of the Church makes it evident that even in the case of an invalid election this invalid election will be de facto healed through the general acceptance of the new elected by the overwhelming majority of the cardinals and bishops.

Even in the case of a heretical pope he will not lose his office automatically and there is no body within the Church to declare him deposed because of heresy. Such actions would come close to a kind of a heresy of conciliarism or episcopalism. The heresy of conciliarism or episcopalism says basically that there is a body within the Church (Ecumenical Council, Synod, College of Cardinals, College of Bishops), which can issue a legally binding judgment over the Pope.

The theory of the automatic loss of the papacy due to heresy remains only an opinion, and even St. Robert Bellarmin noticed this and did not present it as a teaching of the Magisterium itself. The perennial papal Magisterium never taught such an option. In 1917, when the Code of Canon Law (Codex Iuris Canonici) came into force, the Magisterium of the Church eliminated from the new legislation the remark of the Decretum Gratiani in the old Corpus Iuris Canonici, which stated, that a Pope, who deviates from right doctrine, can be deposed.

Never in history the Magisterium of the Church did admit any canonical procedures of deposition of a heretical pope.

• • From a letter of Athanasius Schneider regarding the About the Validity of the Pontificate of Pope Francis (September 18, 2023)