Controversial Conservative Bishop Retiring

A staunchly conservative Catholic bishop is retiring, leaving behind a legacy of fighting for orthodoxy. Lichtenstein’s archbishop Wolfgang Haas has tendered his resignation leading the nationwide archdiocese of Vaduz, having reached the typical retirement age of 75. Haas’s time leading the small archdiocese has been characterized by an intense devotion to Catholic orthodoxy and a rejection of progressive ideology.

Haas initially served as a priest in the diocese of Chur, Switzerland, until Pope St. John Paul II appointed him a bishop there, despite the protests of senior clergy in Chur. He was later appointed as the diocese’s top bishop in 1990. A number of leftist priests and theology students protested Haas’s installation as bishop, since he had already proven himself a devotee of theological and ecclesial orthodoxy. The protestors actually laid down in front of the cathedral and made attendees of the ceremony step over them to gain access. Less than a month later, thousands of protestors prevented Haas from entering the cathedral and taking possession of it. He had to enter by a back door. (READ MORE from S.A. McCarthy: Cleveland Catholic Diocese Protects Children From LGBT Indoctrination)

In Chur, Haas attempted to safeguard Catholic teaching from ideological influence by controversially replacing St. Luzi Seminary’s rector and barring anyone not in priestly formation from studying at the seminary’s theological college. Haas also chose three new diocesan vicars general against the advice of senior clergy, sidelining his auxiliary bishops in the process. In 1995, Synodal Council president Eugen Baumgartner stated, “We have been waiting for a long time for the removal of Wolfgang Haas.… If ever there were a bishop who could not unite his diocese, it is Wolfgang Haas.” During Haas’s tenure in Chur, several Swiss cantons opted to withhold financial contributions from the diocese, as a way of protesting the faithful bishop’s orthodox leadership.

In 1997, Pope St. John Paul II created a new archdiocese, that of Vaduz, encompassing the entirety of Haas’s home country and appointing Haas its inaugural archbishop. Reportedly, Lichtenstein’s Prince Hans-Adam II helped negotiate the creation of the archdiocese, admiring Haas’s conservative worldview and seeking a strong leader for Catholics in his country. But once again, leftist agitators — both from within and without the Church — caused a scene. Protestors showed up outside Haas’s installation ceremony, the choir refused to show up, and the sacristan refused to provide flowers for the cathedral.

As the head of the Catholic Church in Lichtenstein, Haas has continued his fervent advocacy of Catholic conservatism. For one thing, he has been a strong proponent of the Fraternal Society of St. Peter (FSSP), a group of priests who celebrate the Tridentine Mass in communion with Rome, and has frequently volunteered to ordain FSSP priests in Europe. He also paid money out of his own pocket to build a golden throne in the cathedral for the archbishop and tombs in the cathedral crypt where he and future archbishops might be buried.

In 2021, Haas announced his archdiocese would not participate in the global Synod on Synodality, warning that the process “runs the risk of becoming ideological.” The Liechtensteiner prelate has, thus far, been proven right: the global Synod has agreed to examine or reexamine many of the Church’s perennial moral, theological, and ecclesial standards, including blessings of same-sex unions and female ordinations to the priesthood. Although there are some conservative-minded figures participating in the Synod (American bishops Timothy Broglio and Robert Barron, as well as practically every priest, bishop, or theologian from Poland), its leadership (Cardinals Mario Grech and Jean-Claude Hollerich) and a number of the Pope’s hand-picked participants (notably American cardinals Blase Cupich, Wilton Gregory, and Robert McElroy, as well as rabidly pro-LGBT Jesuit James Martin and others from the international stage) are devout leftists who have clamored for changing the Church’s doctrine. (READ MORE: The Synodal Spirit: Dissent Against Doctrine)

However, Haas’s bold Catholic leadership hasn’t been restricted to matters merely ecclesial: he has also faced off against secular politicians. In 2011, when Lichtenstein’s parliament was considering new legislation decriminalizing abortion and approving of same-sex unions, Haas refused to celebrate the traditional outdoor Mass accompanying a national holiday. He used a similar tactic again in June of last year, boycotting a dinner with the mayor and local officials to follow a confirmation Mass after the town hosted a Pride Parade — and again in December, canceling the Mass traditionally celebrating for parliament on New Year’s Day after lawmakers began drafting legislation to permit same-sex “marriage.” Haas explained, in keeping with Catholic moral teaching, that homosexuality “runs counter to natural sensibility, to natural law in accordance with reason and, in particular, to the Christian concept of the human being.” He also noted that all members of parliament identified as Catholic and it is thus his responsibility as archbishop to shepherd them properly.

Looking back on Haas’s storied episcopal career, an American Catholic cannot help but wish that the bishops of the United States were a little more like their Liechtensteiner brother — a little bolder, a little sterner, and a hell of a lot more faithful. Instead, the States are saddled with a veritable rogues gallery consisting of friends of the notorious gay rapist and disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, silver-tongued child sex abuse enablers, and heterodox agitators who endorse desecration of the Blessed Sacrament at the hand of pro-abortion politicians and stay silent when Catholics are publicly mocked and reviled — all of whom lord over a slew of limp-wristed, mostly-moderate bishops who live in terror of stepping out of line. Those few bold enough to call out heterodoxy and corruption — like bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas — are derided by the rest of the club and treated to a grueling apostolic visitation from the Vatican. If only the present pontiff took a page out of Pope St. John Paul II’s book and erected a diocese especially for Strickland. (READ MORE: Two Popes on Church Doctrine: Rupture and Retrospect)

Pope Francis has accepted Haas’s resignation and the Vatican has clarified that the Vaduz archdiocese will continue to exist. For his part, Haas has refused to speak to media beyond announcing he will retire to a countryside monastery.

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