23 Facts About Athanasius Schneider

Athanasius Schneider is a member of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra.

Athanasius Schneider is known for championing the pre-Vatican II liturgical traditions and practices of the Church, such as the Tridentine Mass, and for protesting certain current policies, including some associated with Pope Francis.

Anton Athanasius Schneider was born in Tokmok, Kirghiz SSR, in the Soviet Union.

Athanasius Schneider's parents were Black Sea Germans, who at the end of World War II were evacuated to Berlin, then deported to a labor camp in Krasnokamsk in the Ural Mountains.

Athanasius Schneider's family was closely involved with the underground church.

In 1973, shortly after making his first Holy Communion in secret, Athanasius Schneider emigrated with his family to Rottweil in West Germany.

In 1982 in Austria, Schneider joined the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra, a Roman Catholic religious order within the Opus Sanctorum Angelorum, and took the religious name Athanasius.

Athanasius Schneider was ordained a priest by Bishop Manuel Pestana Filho of Anapolis on 25 March 1990, and spent several years as a priest in Brazil before returning to Central Asia.

Athanasius Schneider then served as an auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Karaganda in Kazakhstan.

Athanasius Schneider is the General Secretary of the Bishops' Conference of Kazakhstan.

Athanasius Schneider speaks German, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, English, French and Italian.

Athanasius Schneider has frequently traveled to conferences hosted by conservative and traditional Catholics.

Athanasius Schneider has upheld the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church that divorce and remarriage constitute the mortal sin of adultery, which condition renders one ineligible to receive Holy Communion.

Athanasius Schneider spoke of the duty of popes to be "custodians" of authority.

Athanasius Schneider stated in a January 2013 interview that proselytizing by "false religions and sects" should be restricted in majority-Catholic counties.

Athanasius Schneider is a strong promoter of the Tridentine Mass, or the "Traditional Latin Mass," the form of the Mass commonly offered in the Church for centuries but which largely fell out of use following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, and which some conservative Catholics continue to champion.

Athanasius Schneider criticized Traditionis custodes, a 2021 motu proprio issued by Pope Francis which placed restrictions on the Tridentine Mass.

Athanasius Schneider characterized it as an attack on the Church's traditions and encouraged Catholics to maintain their attachment to the traditional form.

At a theological conference in Rome in December 2010, Athanasius Schneider proposed the need for "a new Syllabus", in which papal teaching authority would correct erroneous interpretations of the documents of the Second Vatican Council.

In November 2023, Athanasius Schneider denounced Pope Francis's decision to remove Bishop Joseph Strickland from his diocese.

Athanasius Schneider lamented what he called an "internal persecution of faithful Catholics" while bishops and cardinals who were "publicly distorting or undermining the faith" went unpunished.

In 2023, Athanasius Schneider published Credo: Compendium of the Catholic Faith with Sophia Institute Press: the book is a comprehensive presentation of the Catholic Faith, modeled upon a Catechism.

Athanasius Schneider declared that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary has won all the heresies and that Freemasonry is an "instrument of Satan".