Yo, Magisterium:
If anybody has been keeping up the SSPX they'll know that the internet is swamped with references as to how Bishop Rifan "con-celebrated the new mass," etc.
Frankly I don't care if he has.
For me and I'm sure others what really counts is indeed his loyalty to Rome.
A number of us were privileged to meet and talk with him in a common language, Spanish, back in 1996 when he was on his way back to Brazil.
A very impressive and matter of fact individual.
In so far as this particular thread goes, it so happens to be one of the comparative few in English that has anything to say about him at all in recent times.
A random search with YAHO0 or any other search engine I suspect will confirm this.
While he still (I guess!) comes here to America now and again, my growing impression these last two years is that many so-called "Traditionalists" are cool towards him.
Yet, for all that, he is still very active in Church affairs (as this website indicates) both in his native Brazil and abroad.
Left-wing elements of the portuguese-language Brazilian press hate him, and from their perspective, with good reason.
Thnaks for the input!
Dennis
Thanks for the clarification on the direction this thread was meant to take. Indeed, the fact that Bishop Rifan assisted in the celebration of the Novus Ordo should be excellent evidence that he has not departed from Rome.
He still comes to the US on occasion, invariably winding up in Providence, RI before heading home to Campos. A friend of mine who attends the Indult in Providence has a close friendship with Bishop Rifan, and I have met the bishop at this man's house and elsewhere on several occasions. He is, as you say, a very impressive individual. I say this even while forced into the somewhat hampering necessity of communicating with him in English, in which he is fluent but a bit limited in his ability to discuss things at a deeper level. I'm sure I would find him even more impressive if I could speak Portuguese!