 Shortly after , however , Lefebvre announced that he had received a note from Cardinal Ratzinger in which he " was asked to beg pardon for [ his ] errors " and thereupon decided that he was obliged both to reject the arrangement he had agreed to and to consecrate a successor — if necessary , without papal approval . As Cardinal Ratzinger did not specify a date for the episcopal consecration , should he have died before the consecration was granted , the Society would be unable to ordain any seminarians and thus forced into capitulation with the Holy See . He dubbed his plan " Operation Survival " . 
