Bishop Richard Williamson: Church in Crisis, COVID-19 & the Battle for True Healing

In this in-depth conversation, host Dr. Klaus Schustereder speaks with Bishop Richard Williamson, traditional Catholic bishop and founder of the St. Marcel Initiative. Recorded in Switzerland, the interview ranges from the crisis in the Church after Vatican II to the COVID-19 response, the state of modern medicine, and the deeper spiritual roots of today’s political and cultural upheavals. What begins as a discussion about one man’s biography becomes a wide-ranging reflection on faith, truth, and the future of civilisation.

Bishop Williamson reflects on his 1988 episcopal consecration, his expulsion from the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), and why he believes the post-conciliar Church has lost much of its integrity. He traces the timeline from the Second Vatican Council through the suppression of the traditional Latin Mass, the founding of the SSPX, Rome’s sanctions, and the 1988 consecrations. In his view, fidelity to the old Mass and doctrine is at the heart of preserving the Catholic faith in a modern world that has largely rejected God, embraced subjectivism, and built what he calls a “new church” aligned with the spirit of the age.

The discussion then turns to COVID-19 and the medical system. Drawing on his long-standing critique of the “New World Order,” Bishop Williamson explains why he quickly came to see the pandemic response as part of a wider anti-human project aimed at control and depopulation. He links the crisis to earlier historical events and official narratives he believes were manipulated, arguing that a godless elite now wields media, politics, and institutions against the true good of mankind. Dr. Schustereder, an internal medicine specialist, shares his own journey from conventional training in Vienna through years of clinical experience in Europe and Central Africa, where he confronted extreme poverty, violence, and death, and unexpectedly rediscovered the living reality of faith.

From there the conversation opens onto the question of healing. Dr. Schustereder describes how serious illness, personal suffering, and listening deeply to patients led him to realise that there is no real healing without a spiritual dimension. He explains how modern materialistic paradigms reduce the human person to a molecular machine and treat drugs as the main solution, while ignoring the mystery of life and the action of grace. Bishop Williamson agrees that without God and the soul, medicine can only silence symptoms rather than address their deeper causes. They speak about responsibility, risk, and the way crises—personal and societal—can become moments of conversion.

Together they explore subjectivism, materialism, and the loss of common sense in universities, medicine, and public life. Bishop Williamson revisits the warnings of Pope St. Pius X about modernism and explains why, in his view, corrupt philosophy leads directly to corrupt theology, corrupt education, and eventually a corrupt society where evil appears “normal.” Dr. Schustereder contrasts the solidarity he experienced in African communities with the isolation and purposelessness so common in the West, where many people can survive alone but quietly lose contact with family, responsibility, and meaning. Both men insist that the human person cannot be understood, or truly helped, when the spiritual soul is denied.

In the final part of the interview, Bishop Williamson offers his reading of the times: a world that has largely expelled God, a Church infiltrated by error, and a medical profession pressured to conform to political and media narratives. They discuss the pressures on doctors during COVID-19, the role of fear and intimidation, and the moral weight of decisions about treatment. Bishop Williamson speaks about courage, martyrdom, and the possibility of a severe divine chastisement if humanity does not repent—drawing parallels with the Flood and modern Marian warnings—while still pointing to hope: prayer, especially the Rosary, fidelity to truth, and trust in God’s justice and mercy. Dr. Schustereder underlines that every encounter with a patient is also an encounter with mystery and a call to humility, compassion, and deeper faith.

Dedication: This video is dedicated to the memory of Bishop Richard Williamson, who passed away in January 2025. Whatever one’s agreement or disagreement with his analyses and language, we offer this interview as a testimony to his unwavering conviction, his love for the traditional Catholic faith, and his concern for the spiritual and physical health of souls. May he rest in peace, and may this conversation inspire deeper reflection, honest examination of conscience, and a sincere search for the truth in both Church and medicine.