Traditionalists let loose on Pope

Fellay, Lefebvre’s successor, spoke at a news conference at a hotel near the Vatican to present a 50-page traditionalist’s assessment of John Paul’s 25-year papacy.

The booklet said ecumenism, as dialogue and cooperation among Christian churches is known, “has transformed the Holy City that is the Church into a city in ruins.”

The booklet accused the pope, who has made improving relations with other Christian religions a hallmark of his papacy, had “overturned the order desired by God.”

The traditionalists blame the modernizing Council for a host of problems in the Church, including the vast numbers of men and women who have left the religious life.