..... this missal is hereafter to be followed absolutely, without any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment or censure, and may freely and lawfully be used ..... Nor are superiors, administrators, canons, chaplains, and other secular priests, or religious, of whatever title designated, obliged to celebrate the Mass otherwise than as enjoined by Us. ..... Accordingly, no one whatsoever is permitted to infringe or rashly contravene this notice of Our permission, statute, ordinance, command, precept, grant, direction, will, decree and prohibition. Should any person venture to do so, let him understand he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

Pope St. Pius V, Papal Bull, QUO PRIMUM,

Tridentine Codification of the “received and approved” traditional Roman Rite of the Mass.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 22, 2024

Like the whole liturgy of this season, the purpose of the Mass for the Fourth Sunday of Advent is to prepare us for the twofold coming of Christ: His coming in mercy at Christmas; and in justice at the end of the world. Allusion is made to the first in the Introit, Gospel, Offertory and Communion, and to the second in the Epistle; while the Collect, Gradual and Alleluia can be applied to either of the two.

In this mass we meet once again with the three great figures that are before the mind of the Church throughout Advent, Isaias, St. John the Baptist, and our Lady. The prophet Isaias foretells of St. John the Baptist that he will be “A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths…and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” And “the word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the Baptism of penance for the remission of sins” (Gospel). “John,” St. Gregory explains, “told those who hurried in crowds to be baptized: ‘Ye brood of vipers, who hath told you to flee from the wrath to come?’” Now the wrath to come is the final chastisement, which the sinner will not be able to escape unless he have recourse now to the lamentations of penance. The friend of the Bridegroom warns us to bring forth not fruits merely of penance but worthy fruits. These words are a call to each man’s conscience, bidding him lay up by means of penance a treasure of good works, the greater in proportions to the ravage of sin which caused it (3^rd Nocturn). And St. Leo says, “God Himself teaches us by the prophet Isaias: I will lead the blind in a way that they know not, and I will turn the darkness before them into light and I will not forsake them.”

The Apostle St. John makes clear to us, the way in which this mystery is fulfilled, when he says, “And we know that the Son of God is come. And He hath given us understanding that we may know the true God and may be in His true Son” (2^nd Nocturn). The liturgy continues: Because of the great love that God has manifested towards us He has sent on earth His only begotten Son to be born of the Virgin Mary. Also in the Communion sentence the Church recalls to us the prophecy of Isaias: “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son: and His name shall be called Emmanuel.” And again, in the Offertory, she combines in a single salutation the words addressed to our Lady by the archangel and by St. Elizabeth. St. Gregory writes: “Gabriel, whose name means Strength of God, is sent to Mary, since he comes to announce the Messias whose will it is, to appear in humiliation and abasement, in order to subdue all the powers of the air. It was fitting that He should be heralded by Gabriel the ‘strength of God’; He, who was to come as the Lord of Might, the All-powerful and Unconquerable in battle, to crush the powers of the air in universal defeat” (Sermon 35).

In the Collect, just as we are reminded of the display of our Lord’s “great might” which will take place at the time of His second coming, when as supreme Judge, He will come in the splendor of His divine Majesty to render to each according to His works, so we find an allusion to this same great power manifested in His first coming. It was as one clothed in His weak and mortal human nature that our Lord put the Devil to flight.

As we think of our Lord as nigh at hand in one or other of His “comings”, let us say, with the Church, “Come, Lord Jesus, and tarry not.”

INTROIT:

Isa. 45: Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just; let the earth be opened and bud forth a Savior.

Ps. 18: The heavens show forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of His hands. Glory be, etc. Drop down dew, etc.

COLLECT:

O Lord, we pray Thee, raise up Thy power, and come, and with great might succor us; that, by the aid of Thy grace, that which is hindered by our sins may be quickened by Thy merciful forgiveness. Who liveth and reigneth, etc.

O God, who wert pleased that Thy Word should, at the message of the angel, take flesh in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, grant that we, Thy suppliants, who believe her to be truly the Mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with Thee. Through our Lord, etc.

Mercifully hear the prayers of Thy Church, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that all adversities and errors being overcome, she may serve Thee in security and freedom. Through our Lord, etc.

EPISTLE: 1 Cor. 4, 1-5

Brethren: Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God. Here now it is required among the dispensers, that a man be found faithful. But to me it is a very small thing to be judged by you, or by man’s day; but neither do I judge my own self. For I am not conscious to myself of any thing, yet am I not hereby justified; but He that judgeth me, is the Lord. Therefore judge not before the time; until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise from God.

How should priests be regarded by the faithful?
The Church wishes to inspire us with respect and veneration towards priests, who are ministers of Christ, dispensers of the mysteries of God, and advocates of religion. The Scripture says “Let the priests that rule well be esteemed worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine” (1 Tim. 5, 17). “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me” (Luke 10, 16).

Why is this epistle read today?
The Church wishes, by pointing to the second advent of Christ, to remind the faithful to avoid judging their neighbors, but to judge themselves, and to cleanse their hearts for the reception of Jesus as our Saviour, that they may not have to shrink from Him when He comes as Judge.

Can priests administer the holy sacraments as they please?
No, for, as the stewards of Jesus Christ, they must observe His will, which is that they should administer the sacraments for the glory of God and the salvation of the faithful. They are not permitted to “give that which is holy unto dogs” (Matt. 8, 6), and cannot, therefore, give absolution, or any sacrament, to those who are unfit, lest they thereby condemn themselves.

Why should they esteem it a small matter to be judged by men?
Because men generally judge by appearances and not by reality, St. Paul says: “If I please men, I should not be the servant of Christ” (Gal. 1, 10). But not only priests, the faithful also, must seek to please God more than men. How foolish are they who follow all silly and scandalous fashions in dress, gesture, and manners; who neglect the holy exercises of religion, and ask constantly, “What will the world say?” but never, “What will my God and Saviour say?” if I do this or that.

Why does St. Paul say, “But neither do I judge my own self”?
Because he could not know how God would judge him, “For man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love or hatred” (Eccles. 9, 1); therefore he adds, “I am not conscious to myself of anything, yet am I not hereby justified, but He that judgeth me is the Lord.” We should, therefore, examine ourselves thoroughly whether we are in sin; but if we find nothing in us which displeases God we are not on that account at liberty to think ourselves better than others, for before the mirror of our self-esteem we look quite different to what we are in truth before God, Who cannot be bribed. Oh, how many, who now think themselves innocent and holy, shall appear at the day of judgment stripped of their disguises, and the most secret workings of their hearts revealed by God to their eternal disgrace! This should determine us not to judge before time, either ourselves or any one else, of whose hearts we must know even less than of our own. “Let us therefore work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2, 12).

Aspiration.

O Lord, enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight no man living shall be justified (Ps. 142, 2).

GRADUAL:

Ps. 144: The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord; and let all flesh bless His holy name.

Alleluia, alleluia. Come, O Lord, and do not delay; forgive the sins of Thy people Israel. Alleluia.

GOSPEL: Luke 3, 1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother tetrarch of Iturea, and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilina, under the high priests Annas and Caiphas; the word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins. As it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the prophet: A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight His paths. Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight; and the rough ways plain. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Why is the time at which St. John began to preach so minutely described?
Because in that happy year the prophecy of Jacob was fulfilled, and the sceptre being taken from Juda, the long-expected Messias showed Himself to the world, was baptized by John, and declared by His heavenly Father to be His beloved Son, Whom men should hear. Accordingly, that this time should never be forgotten, the evangelist, contrary to his usual custom, describes it particularly, mentioning the names both of the spiritual and temporal rulers.

What is meant by: “The word of the Lord came to John”?

It means that John was commissioned by divine inspiration, or by an angel sent from God, to preach penance and announce to the world the coming of the Lord. He had prepared himself for this work by a penitential, secluded life, and intercourse with God. We learn from his example not to intrude ourselves into office, least of all into a spiritual office, but to await the call from God, preparing ourselves in solitude and quiet, by fervent prayer and by a holy life, for the necessary light.

What is meant by: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths”?

It means that we should prepare our hearts for the worthy reception of Christ, by penance, amendment, and the resolution to lead a pious life in future. To do this, every valley should be filled, that is, all faintheartedness, sloth and cowardice, all worldly carnal sentiments should be elevated and directed to God, the highest Good, by firm confidence and ardent desire for heavenly virtues; the mountains and hills should be brought low, that is, pride, stubbornness, and ambition should be humbled, and the obstinate will be broken. The crooked shall be made straight, that is, ill-gotten goods should be restored, hypocrisy, malice, and double dealing be renounced, and our intentions turned to God and the performance of His holy will. And the rough ways shall be made plain, that is, anger, revenge, and impatience must leave the heart, if the Lamb of God is to dwell therein. It may also signify that the Savior put to shame the pride of the world, and its false wisdom by building His Church upon the Apostles, who, by reason of their poverty and simplicity, may be considered the low valleys, while the way to heaven, formerly so rough and hard to tread, because of the want of grace, is now by His grace made smooth and easy.

Aspiration.

Oh, that Thy way, Jesus, may be well prepared in my heart! Alas! assist me, O my Saviour, to do what I cannot do by myself. Fill up the valley of my heart with Thy grace, and straighten my crooked and perverted will, till it shall conform to Thine own. Soften my rough and unruly mind; bring low, destroy, and remove whatever in me impedes Thy way, that Thou mayest come to me without hindrance, and possess and govern me forever. Amen.

OFFERTORY:

Luke 1: Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

SECRET:

Be appeased, O Lord, we beseech Thee, and accept the sacrifice now being offered, that it may help our devotion, and avail for our salvation. Through our Lord, etc.

Confirm in our minds, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the mysteries of the true faith, that we who acknowledge Him who was born of the Virgin to be true God and true man, may deserve by the saving power of His resurrection to attain to everlasting joy. Through our Lord, etc.

Protect us, O Lord, who celebrate Thy mysteries, that holding fast to divine things, we may serve Thee with body and soul. Through our Lord, etc.

COMMUNION:

Isa. 7: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel.

POSTCOMMUNION:

Having just received Thy gifts, O Lord, we beseech Thee that the more we frequent this mystery, the more effectually may our salvation be wrought out. Through our Lord, etc.

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our heart, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son, was made known by the message of the angel, may, by His passion and cross, be brought to the glory of His resurrection. Through our Lord, etc.

We beseech thee, O Lord, our God, that Thou permit not those to whom Thou hast given a participation of divine things to succumb to human dangers. Through our Lord, etc.

“Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight; and the rough ways plain. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

By this hath the charity of God appeared toward us, because God hath sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. In this is charity…He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins.

(1 Jn. 4, 9-10)

“While all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, Thy almighty Word leapt down from heaven, from Thy royal throne…into the midst of the land.”

(Wis. 18, 14-15)

Today, Holy Mother Church makes a last effort to stir up the devotion of her children. She leads them to the desert; she shows them John the Baptist, upon whose mission she instructed them on the third Sunday. The voice of the austere Precursor resounds through the wilderness, and penetrates even into the cities. It preaches penance, and the obligation men are under of preparing by self-purification for the coming of Christ. Let us retire from the world during these next few days; or if that may not be by reason of our external duties, let us retire into the quiet of our own hearts and confess our iniquities, as did those true Israelites, who came, full of compunction and faith in the Messias, to the Baptist, there to make perfect their preparation for worthily receiving the Redeemer on the day of His appearing to the world.

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Fourth Sunday of Advent

PROPER OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 22^th:

Date Day Feast Rank Color F/A Mass Time

22	Sun	4^th Sunday of Advent	sd	V		Mass 9:00 AM; Members Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Confession 8:00 AM
23	Mon	St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, V (transferred from 12-22)	d2cl	W		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
24	Tue	Vigil of the Nativity		V	F/A	Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
25	Wed	Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ St. Anastasia, M [2^nd Mass]	d1cl	W		Midnight Mass; preceded by Matins and followed by Lauds; Mass 9:00 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
26	Thu	St. Stephen, First Martyr	d2cl	R		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
27	Fri	St. John, ApEv	d2cl	W	A	Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
28	Sat	Holy Innocents	d2cl	V		Mass 9:00 AM; Confession & Rosary of Reparation 8:30
29	Sun	Sunday within Octave of the Nativity St. Thomas of Canterbury, BpM	sd	W		Mass 9:00 AM; Members Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Confession 8:00 AM

Christmas Message:

“Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” The primary duty of every Catholic is to profess and defend the Catholic faith. Ss. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Mission defends the right of every Catholic to the immemorial ecclesiastical traditions, in particular, the “received and approved rites customarily used in the solemn administration of the sacraments” (Council of Trent), that without which the faith can neither be known nor communicated to others. This is done, and can only be done, by defending Catholic dogmas as dogma. That is, revealed truths of divine revelation that have been formally and infallibly defined by the Magisterium and constitute the proximate rule of faith for every Catholic. Many Catholics are granted by legal concession a privilege to practice the traditions of our Church on the condition that they will regard these traditions as matters of mere discipline, that is, simple accidents that can be changed or eliminated at the discretion of the legislator at any time and for any reason, and what is worse, they agree to keep their mouths shut when the dogmas of our faith are trampled underfoot by enemies of the Catholic faith within the hierarchy of the Church. Simply said, these Catholics have traded the Catholic faith for crumbs from the table pleading that obedience will excuse their supine cowardice. Our gift to them this Christmas is to let them know that it will not.

BEHOLD THE SAVIOR COMES FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

PRESENCE OF GOD ‑ I place myself at the feet of Jesus and ask Him to prepare my heart for His imminent coming.

MEDITATION:

I. “Call together the nations, tell it among the people and say: Behold our Savior cometh!” (RB). The message becomes more and more urgent: in a few days, the Word of God made flesh will show Himself to the world. We must hasten our preparations and make our hearts worthy of Him.

The incarnation of the Word is the greatest proof of God’s infinite love for men; today’s liturgy very appropriately recalls to our mind the wonderful words: “I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee” (Jer. 3I: 3). Yes, God has loved man from all eternity, and in order to draw him to Himself, He did not hesitate to send “His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Rom 8: 3). With hearts full of love, we must run to meet Love who is about to appear “incarnate” in the Infant Jesus. May it be a love that is faithful in great things as well as in small, an ingenious love that is always seeking opportunities to repay God’s infinite love. “Love is repaid by love!” This is the motto which has made saints, and spurred a multitude of souls to greater generosity.

With this love prepare for Christmas, be in this love faithful, for as St. Paul says in the Epistle (I Cor 4: 1‑5), “What we desire is that everyone may be found faithful.”

2. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths. Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low.” The voice of John the Baptist, the great Advent preacher, is heard again in today’s Gospel (Lk 3: 1-16), inviting us to prepare “the way of the Lord.”

This invitation is especially a call to humility; John was not only the herald of this virtue, but its model too. We know, by the testimony of Jesus Himself, that he was “more than a prophet” and that “there hath not risen among them, that are born of women, a greater than John the Baptist” (Mt 11: 9-11). John claimed to be nothing more than a mere voice, “the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord,” and declared that he baptized only with water, while another would come who would baptize in the Holy Spirit, another of whom John protested himself unworthy to loose “the latchet of His shoe” (Jn 1:23-27). And further, speaking of the Savior’s coming, John adds, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (ibid. 3:30). Today’s Office gathers up all this magnificent testimony of St. John the Baptist, as if to give us a concrete idea of the profound sentiments of humility with which, in our heart, we ought to make smooth “the way of the Lord.” If the valleys, that is, our deficiencies, are to be filled up by love, then the mountains and hills, that is, the vain pretenses of pride, must be made low by humility.

A heart filled with self‑love and pride cannot be filled with God, and too small will be the place reserved in it for the sweet Babe of Bethlehem.

COLLOQUY:

“O almighty, omnipotent, eternal God, what greater proof of love could You give Your poor creatures than the gift of Your Word, Your only‑begotten Son? For our sake, You clothed with human flesh, like the flesh of sin, Him who is eternal splendor, the perfect image of Your substance!

“God of goodness, who art above all goodness, You alone art sovereign good! You gave us the Word, Your only Son, to live with us, to assume our evil, corrupt nature. Why did You make us such a gift? Out of love, because You loved us even before we existed.

“O eternal Greatness, O fathomless Bounty, You lowered Yourself to ennoble mankind! Wherever I turn, I can see nothing but the abyss and fire of Your charity” (St. Catherine of Siena).

“Whenever I think of Christ, I should remember... how great is Your love, O Father, which in Jesus has given us a pledge of such great tenderness; for love begets love and although I am only a beginner and very wicked, I shall strive ever to bear this in mind and awaken my own love. Once You, O Father, do me the favor of implanting this love in my heart, everything will become easy for me and I shall get things done in a very short time and with very little labor. O my God, give me this love, since You know how much I need it, for the sake of the love You bore us and through Your glorious Son who revealed it to us, at such great cost to Himself” (T.J. Life, 22).

Love will fill the valleys in my heart, and humility will level its mountains and hills. Destroy my pride, arrogance, and vanity, O Lord, by the powerful fire of Your love. By the might of Your all‑powerful arm, tear out of my heart every fiber which is infected with the poison of self‑love, and which, therefore, does not belong to You. O Lord, I, too, wish to decrease, decrease that You may increase in me, so that on Christmas day You may find my heart entirely empty and free and therefore ready for the total invasion of Your love.

    Inspired by the grace of God, we join the saints in honoring the holy virgin Frances Xavier Cabrini. She was a humble woman who became outstanding not because she was famous or rich or powerful, but because she lived a virtuous life. From the tender years of her youth, she kept her innocence as white as a lily and preserved it carefully with the thorns of penitence; as the years progressed, she was moved by a certain instinct and supernatural zeal to dedicate her whole life to the service and greater glory of God.
    She welcomed delinquent youths into safe homes, and taught them to live upright and holy lives. She consoled those who were in prison, and recalled to them the hope of eternal life. She encouraged prisoners to reform themselves, and to live honest lives.
    She comforted the sick and the infirm in the hospitals, and diligently cared for them. She extended a friendly and helping hand especially to immigrants, and offered them necessary shelter and relief, for having left their homeland behind, they were wandering about in a foreign land with no place to turn for help. Because of their condition, she saw that they were in danger of deserting the practice of Christian virtues and their Catholic faith.
    Undoubtedly she accomplished all this through the faith which was always so vibrant and alive in her heart; through the divine love which burned within her; and finally, through constant prayer by which she was so closely united with God from whom she humbly asked and obtained whatever her human weakness could not obtain. Although her constitution was very frail, her spirit was endowed with such singular strength that, knowing the will of God in her regard, she permitted nothing to impede her from accomplishing what seemed beyond her strength.

Venerable Pope Pius XII, at the Canonization of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini

He that cometh to God, must believe (Heb 11, 6). Faith is the proximate and proportionate means whereby the soul is united with God; for such is the likeness between itself and God, that seeing God and believing in Him… God manifests Himself to the soul in divine light which passes all understanding. And therefore, the greater the faith of the soul, the more closely is it united with God.

St. John of the Cross

While all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, Thy almighty Word leapt down from heaven, from Thy royal throne…into the midst of the land. (Wis. 18, 14-15)

“Neither hath it entered into the heart of man what things God hath prepared for them that love him.” Why cannot the thought of the good things God has prepared for us enter into our hearts? Is it that pride lifts up the heart and grace cannot flow in? It would seem so, for every proud spirit, like Satan, exalts itself above God. God wishes His will to be done; the proud man prefers to do his own. What folly! God desires His will to be carried out only in those things which reason approves; the proud man will have his will accomplished without reason, and even contrary to reason. This is a height to which the streams of grace cannot rise. “Unless you be converted, and become as this little child,” says our Lord, “you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” He is Himself the little and humble Child whom He sets for our Model. He is the Fountain of life, in whom dwelleth and from whom floweth the fullness of all grace. Prepare, then, the way for the waters of grace. Cast down the heights of earthly and proud thoughts. Be conformed to the Son of man, not to the first and fallen man, for the streams of grace cannot “enter into” the heart of the proud and carnal—that is, of the earthly-minded man. Cleanse your “eye,” that you may be capable of beholding the most pure light of faith. Incline your “ear” to the call of obedience, that you may one day attain to perpetual rest and peace upon peace. That future life is called “light” because of its serenity, peace because of its tranquility, a fountain because of its abundance and its eternity.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon on the Vigil of the Nativity

The Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph were both possessed of the knowledge of the Trinity and understood the Person of the Holy Ghost before the Incarnation and thus the true nature of the Word (Logus) made flesh!

The Holy Trinity is the greatest of all the mysteries that we adore, that through the Word that is the principle and end of all, and all things exist but to honour It . . . yet I venture to say that in the course of this present life in which we proceed by faith the chief attention and the greatest devotion of the Christian is given not to the Trinity but to the Incarnation. And that is the spirit and the practice of the Church which, in this as in all other devotions, faithfully follows the very spirit and practice of God. For in fact God, in His divine Providence, only reveals the Trinity to us in relation to the Incarnation; He unveils the Three Persons to us only so far as is necessary for our better understanding of the Second Person; and whereas He reserves the manifestation of this first and greatest mystery till we attain to glory in Heaven, it might be said on the contrary that He takes pains to depict amply for us the Incarnate Word. That is the aim of all Holy Scripture . . . to give us a perfect knowledge of His various states, offices and qualities. Holy Writ instructs us on these points on every page, and all the time that the Eternal Father speaks to us He sets His Son before us, we might say, and in doing so proclaims as on Thabor: “This is my beloved Son; hear ye Him.”

St. John Eudes

"For the Church of Christ, watchful guardian that she is, and defender of the dogmas deposited with her, never changes anything, never diminishes anything, never adds anything to them; but with all diligence she treats the ancient documents faithfully and wisely; if they really are of ancient origin and if the faith of the Fathers has transmitted them, she strives to investigate and explain them in such a way that the ancient dogmas of heavenly doctrine will be made evident and clear, but will retain their full, integral, and proper nature, and will grow only within their own genus - that is, within the same dogma, in the same sense and the same meaning."

Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 1854

Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus: It means what the dogma says, nothing more, nothing less!

You know how zealously Our predecessors taught that the very article of faith which these dare to deny, namely the necessity of the Catholic faith and of unity for salvation. The words of that celebrated disciple of the apostles, martyred St. Ignatius, in his letter to the Philadelphians are relevant to this matter: “Be not deceived, my brother; if anyone follows a schismatic, he will not attain the inheritance of the kingdom of God.” Moreover, St. Augustine and the other African bishops who met in the Council of Cirta in the year 412 explained the same thing at greater length: “Whoever has separated himself from the Catholic Church, no matter how laudably he lives, will not have eternal life, but has earned the anger of God because of this one crime: that he abandoned his union with Christ.” Omitting other appropriate passages which are almost numberless in the writings of the Fathers, We shall praise St. Gregory the Great who expressly testifies that this indeed is the teaching of the Catholic Church. He says: “The holy universal Church teaches that it is not possible to worship God truly except in her and asserts that all who are outside of her will not be saved.” Official acts of the Church proclaim the same dogma. Thus, in the decree on faith which Innocent III published with the synod of Lateran IV, these things are written: “There is one universal Church of all the faithful outside of which no one is saved.” Finally the same dogma is also expressly mentioned in the profession of faith proposed by the Apostolic See, not only that which all Latin churches use, but also that which the Greek Orthodox Church uses and that which other Eastern Catholics use. We did not mention these selected testimonies because We thought you were ignorant of that article of faith and in need of Our instruction. Far be it from Us to have such an absurd and insulting suspicion about you. But We are so concerned about this serious and well known dogma, which has been attacked with such remarkable audacity, that We could not restrain Our pen from reinforcing this truth with many testimonies.

We shall praise St. Gregory the Great who expressly testifies that this indeed is the teaching of the Catholic Church. He says: “The holy universal Church teaches that it is not possible to worship God truly except in her and asserts that all who are outside of her will not be saved.”

Pope Gregory XVI, Summo Iugiter Studio, May 27, 1832

Those therefore who after the manner of wicked heretics dare to set aside Ecclesiastical Traditions, and to invent any kind of novelty, or to reject any of those things entrusted to the Church, or who wrongfully and outrageously devise the destruction of any of those Traditions enshrined in the Catholic Church, are to be punished thus: IF THEY ARE BISHOPS, WE ORDER THEM TO BE DEPOSED; BUT IF THEY ARE MONKS OR LAY PERSONS, WE COMMAND THEM TO BE EXCLUDED FROM THE COMMUNITY.

Second Council of Nicaea 787 A.D.

“Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth!” Psalm 123:8

I could go on for ever, if I began to quote here all the texts from Holy Scripture in which God commends to you the virtue of trust. It seems as if He were not satisfied even with the thousand instances in Holy Scripture by which He proves how dear and delightful this holy virtue is to Him, and how much He loves and favors those who place their trust In His goodness and abandon themselves entirely to the fatherly care of His Divine Providence. You may read in the third book of Intimations of Divine Piety, by St. Gertrude, that Jesus once told her that the filial confidence of a Christian soul is the eye of the holy spouse, of which the Divine Bridegroom says in the Canticle of Canticles: Vulnerasti cor meum, soror mea, sponsa: vulnerasti cor meum in uno oculorum tuorum. “Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse: thou hast wounded my heart by one of thine eyes” (Cant. 4, g). In other words, the soul that has firm confidence in Christ, and trusts that He can and desires to help it faithfully in all things, pierces His heart right through with an arrow of love; and such confidence does such violence to the piety of Jesus that He can in no way absent Himself from it. St. Mechtilde’s Book of Special Grace tells us that Jesus said to her also: “It is a special delight to Me when men trust in My goodness and rely upon Me. And so, whoever shall have great trust in Me, yet always with humility, shall be favored by Me in this life, and in the next receive more than he deserves. The more anyone trusts in Me and avails himself of My goodness, the greater will be his gain, since it is impossible for a man not to obtain what he believes with holy conviction, and hopes to gain because it has been promised him. And so it is most advantageous to a man to have firm trust in Me when he hopes for great things from Me!” And again, when St. Mechtilde asked God what was the main thing she should believe of His ineffable goodness. He replied: “Firmly believe that after death I will receive you as a father receives a dear son, and that no father ever so faithfully and lovingly gave all his possessions to an only son, as I will make you a sharer in all that is Mine. Whoever shall believe this of My goodness firmly and with humble charity, will be happy indeed.”

St. John Eudes, The Life and Kingdom of Jesus

Christmas Day Midnight Mass

Station at St. Mary Major

December 25, 2024

The Word, begotten from all eternity by the Father, has raised into personal union with Himself the blessed Fruit of the virginal womb of Mary; in other words the human and divine natures are joined in our Lord in the unity of a single Person – the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Further, since when we speak of a son we mean a person, Jesus must be called the Son of God, because as the Son of God He is a Divine Person. From this it follows, that our Lady is called the Mother of God; not that she has begotten the ‘word but because from her is derived the humanity that the Word has united to Himself in the mystery of the Incarnation.

Of this mystery the first manifestation to the world was the birth of our Lord at Bethlehem. Whence we see the reason why every year at Christmas the Church says “Puer natus est nobis et Filius datus est nobis.” (“Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given”). It is the Son of God, who is now begotten of the Father as Man in the day of the Incarnation: Ego hodie genui te. “By the taking of the Manhood into God,” says St. Athanasius, the Son of Mary is born to the divine Life. As it was at midnight that our Lady brought her first-born Son into the world and laid Him in a cradle, so Mass is celebrated at midnight in St. Mary Major, where the relics of the crib are kept.

“With great devotion,” says St. Leo, “has the Incarnate Word given Himself to win for us the fight against Satan, for not in His divine Majesty but in the weakness of our flesh He waged war against this cruel enemy.” The victory which He has gained, in spite of His weakness, shows Him to be God. It is “God of God, Light of Light,” (Credo) who disperses the darkness of sin. “Christ is the true Light who comes to enlighten the world, plunged in darkness” (Collect). “By the mystery of the Word made Flesh,” says the Preface, “the light of Thy glory hath shone anew upon the eyes of our mind: so that while we acknowledge Him as God seen by men, we may be drawn by Him to the love of things unseen.” “The grace of God our Savior hath appeared to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires…that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, and zealous in good works” (Epistle). He is made like unto us that we may become like unto Him (Secret), and by His example may be enabled to live a holy life (Postcommunion). Thus shall we live soberly, justly, and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Epistle). As we saw in Advent, the first Coming of our Lord prepares us for the second.

INTROIT:

Ps. 2: The Lord hath said to me: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things? Glory be, etc. The Lord hath said to Me, etc.

COLLECT:

O God, who hast made this most sacred night to shine forth with the brightness of the true light, grant, we beseech thee, that we may enjoy His happiness in heaven, the mystery of whose light we have known upon earth. Who liveth and reigneth, etc.

EPISTLE: Titus 2, 11-15

Dearly Beloved: The grace of God our Savior hath appeared to all men, instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works. These things speak, and exhort, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How did the grace of God appear to all men?
Through the incarnation of His Son, Whom, in His infinite love, He made like unto us, to be our brother and teacher, that we might become children and heirs of God, and co-heirs with Jesus Christ.

What does Christ teach us by His incarnation?
That we should abandon impiety, infidelity, injustice, and worldly desires, and love God, and our neighbor, though he be our enemy, for God’s sake. The incarnation also shows the dignity and greatness of man, for as God gave His only Son for our redemption, we thereby perceive the worth of man in the sight of God.

What does the Apostle mean by worldly desires?
He means by them carnal and sensual desires and lusts, such as impurity, drunkenness, avarice, and such like. Christ teaches us to renounce these by the poverty, patience, fasting, and innumerable privations of His life.

How do we live soberly, justly, and piously?
We live soberly when we use temporal goods according to the intention and will of God, and to supply our necessary wants; we live justly when we desire for, and render to, our neighbor what, by the example of Christ, we are bound to; we live piously when we give God His due honor, love Him above all things, and love all men, in Christ, for His sake.

GRADUAL:

Ps. 109: With Thee is the principality in the day of Thy strength: in the brightness of the saints from the womb before the daystar I begot Thee. The Lord said to My Lord: Sit Thou at my right hand: until I make Thy enemies Thy footstool.

Alleluia, alleluia. Ps. 2: The Lord hath said to Me: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. Alleluia.

GOSPEL: Luke 2, 1-14

At that time there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that the whole world should be enrolled. This enrolling was first made by Cyrinus, the governor of Syria: And all went to be enrolled, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem: because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary his espoused wife, who was with child. And it came to pass, that when they were there, her days were accomplished, that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him up in swaddling-clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds watching, and keeping the night watches over their flock. And behold an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round about them, and they feared with a great fear. And the angel said to them: Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people; for, this day, is born to you a Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you: You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God, and saying: Glory to God in the highest: and on earth peace to men of good will.

Why did Cæsar Augustus publish a decree that all the Roman subjects should be enrolled?
The immediate reason of Cæsar are not known to us, but the result shows that it was done by the special providence of God, for Joseph and Mary were obliged to go to Bethlehem, and so the prophecy of Micheas, that the Messias should be born there, was fulfilled.

Why is Christ called the first-born Son of Mary?
Because she had no child before Him; and, moreover, having no after Him, He is also the only-begotten of His blessed Mother, as He was the first-born and only-begotten of His heavenly Father (Heb. 1, 6).

Why was the Saviour of the world born in a stable?
To show, from His very birth, that He had not come to establish a splendid worldly kingdom, but a kingdom of grace, justice, and peace, and to lead us to imitate His example of poverty, humility, and contempt of the world.

Why was the birth of Christ first announced to the poor shepherds, and not to the high priests?
To show that God does not distribute His graces through respect for persons: He exalts the humble, and humbles those who exalt themselves.The angel for joy praised God, and sang, “Glory to God in the highest,” - that is, praise and thanks to our heavenly Father for sending His only-begotten Son for the salvation of men, - “and on earth peace” - that is, prosperity, happiness, salvation, and blessing - “to men of good will.” Learn from the angels to be thankful for all the benefits which God bestows upon thy neighbor, and then you also will partake of them. In particular, thank God today for the inexpressible benefit of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

OFFERTORY:

Ps. 95: Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad before the face of the Lord, because He cometh.

SECRET:

Let the offering of this day’s festivity, we beseech Thee, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord; and grant us by Thy grace, through this holy interchange of gifts, to be made conformable to Him, in whose person the substance of our nature is united to the Godhead. Through our Lord, etc.

PREFACE:

It is truly meet and just, right and profitable unto salvation, that we should at all times and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God. For by the mystery of the Word made flesh the light of Thy glory hath shone anew upon the eyes of our mind: so that while we acknowledge Him as God seen by men, we may be drawn by Him to the love of things unseen. And therefore with the angels and archangels, the thrones and dominions, and the whole host of the heavenly army we sing a hymn to Thy glory, saying again and again: Holy, Holy, Holy, etc.

THIRD PRAYER OF THE CANON:

We pray in union with and keep that most holy night, in which the spotless virginity of the blessed Mary brought forth a Savior to this world; and also reverence the memory, first of the same glorious Mary, ever virgin, mother of the same our God and Lord Jesus Christ; likewise of thy blessed apostles and martyrs, Peter and Paul, etc.

COMMUNION:

Ps. 109: In divine brightness before the day-star was made I begot Thee.

POSTCOMMUNION:

Grant us, we beseech thee, O Lord our God, that we who rejoice in the sacred mysteries to celebrate the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, may so worthily live as to deserve to be admitted into His company. Who liveth and reigneth, etc.

A Christmas Offering By Our Forefathers in Our Holy Faith

Diocletian and his colleagues in the Empire had recently published the famous edict of persecution, which waged against the Church the fiercest war she had ever sustained. The edict was torn down from the Emperor’s palace at Nicomedia by one of the Christians, who paid for the holy daring by a glorious martyrdom. The faithful of the same city were ready for the combat, and feared not to brave the Emperor’s power by continuing to frequent their Church, which was condemned to be pulled down. Christmas Day came, and several thousands of them had assembled there, in order to celebrate, for the last time within those walls, the Nativity of our Saviour. Being informed of it, the Emperor became furious, and sent one of the officers of his court to order the Church doors to be fastened, and a fire to be enkindled on each side of the building. This being done, the clang of the trumpets was heard, and then a herald’s voice proclaiming to the faithful, in the Emperor’s name, that they who wished to save their lives would be permitted to leave the Basilica, on the condition of their offering incense on an altar of Jupiter, which had been placed near the door; but that otherwise all were to be left a prey to the flames. One of the Christians thus answered, in the name of the whole assembly; ‘We are all of us Christians; we honour Christ as the one only God and King; and we are all ready to lay down our lives for him on this Day.’ The soldiers were commanded to set fire to the Church which was soon an immense flame. Whence was offered to the Son of God – who deigned to begin in this same day the human life he had assumed- the generous holocaust of these thousands of lives, laid down as witness to his having come into this world.

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year

The place is Bethlehem, Out of Bethlehem, says the Prophet, shall he come forth that is to be the Ruler in Israel. The Jewish Priests are well aware of the prophecy, and in a few days hence will tell it to Herod. But why was this insignificant town chosen in preference to every other to be the birth-place of Jesus? Be attentive, Christians, to the mystery! The name of this City of David signifies the House of Bread : therefore did he who is the living Bread come down from heaven, choose it for his first visible home. Our Fathers did eat manna in the desert and are dead, but lo! Here is the Saviour of the world, come to give life to his creature Man by means of his own divine Flesh, which is meat indeed. Up to this time the Creator and the creature had been separated from each other; henceforth they shall abide together in closest union. The Ark of the Covenant, containing the manna which fed but the body, is now replaced by the Ark of a New Covenant, purer and incorruptible than the other : the incomparable Virgin Mary, who gives us Jesus, the Bread of Angels, the nourishment which will give us a divine transformation; for this Jesus himself has said : He that eateth my flesh abideth in me, and I in him.

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, The Mystery of Christmas

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD CHRISTMAS DAY ‑ THE SAVIOR HAS APPEARED

PRESENCE OF GOD ‑ Behold, I am at the feet of my Incarnate God, who has become a Child for love of me! I adore, I thank, I love!

MEDITATION:

I. God is charity: He has loved us with an everlasting love! “I think God must have said to Himself: Man does not love Me because he does not see Me; I will show Myself to him and thus make him love Me. God’s love for man was very great, and had been great from all eternity, but this love had not yet become visible.... Then, it really appeared; the Son of God let Himself be seen as a tiny Babe in a stable, lying on a little straw” (St. Alphonsus). This is the mystery of the Nativity; this is St. Paul’s exultant cry: “The grace of God our Savior hath appeared to all men .... The goodness and kindness of God our Savior appeared” (Ep Ist and 2nd Masses: (Tim 2, 11‑15; 3, 4‑7). These are the blessed tidings “of great joy” brought by the Angel to the shepherds; “This day is born to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!” (Gosp 1^st Mass: Lk 2,1‑14). The texts in today’s liturgy, following each other in tones of increasing exultation, sing the praises of the sweet Child Jesus, the Word made Man, living and breathing among us: “Whom have you seen, O shepherds? Speak and tell us who has appeared on earth? We saw the new‑born Child and choirs of angels loudly praising the Lord” (RB). “Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth exult in the presence of the Lord!” (RM). Our God is here in the midst of us, He has become one of us. “A Child is born to us, a Son is given to us .... His name is Admirable, God, Prince of peace, Father of the world to come!... Rejoice, O daughter of Sion, sing, O daughter of Jerusalem.... Rejoice, ye inhabitants of the earth! Come, ye nations, adore the Lord!” (RB). Come! Come, adore, listen, and rejoice! Jesus, the Word of the Father, speaks to us a wonderful word: God loves you!

2. The three Christmas Masses place before us a majestic picture: the touching description of the birth of Jesus as man alternates with the sublime one of the eternal birth of the Word in the bosom of the Father; and there are also allusions to Christ’s birth in our souls by grace. However, this three‑fold birth is but one single manifestation of God who is Charity. No one on earth could know God’s love; but the Word, who is in the bosom of the Father, knows it and can reveal it to us. The Word was made flesh and has shown to us the love of God. Through the Word, God’s incomprehensible, invisible charity is made manifest and tangible in the sweet little Babe, who from the manger holds out His arms to us. Today’s Preface solemnly declares it: “O eternal God, because of the mystery of the Word made flesh, the light of Thy glory hath shone anew upon the eyes of our mind: that while we acknowledge Him to be God visible, He may draw us to the love of things invisible.” Yes, this “Child, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger” is our God, who, for us, has made Himself visible: our God, who shows us in the most concrete way His infinite charity. One cannot contemplate little Jesus without being captivated and enraptured by the infinite love which has given Him to us. The Infant Jesus reveals to us God’s love, He manifests it in the clearest, most touching way. St. Paul says in the Epistle of the Third Mass (Heb 1, 1‑12): “God, in these days hath spoken to us by His Son . . . the brightness of His glory, and the figure of His substance.” Jesus, the Incarnate Word, in His silence as a helpless Child, speaks to us and reveals to us the substance of God: His charity.

COLLOQUY:

“O all‑powerful and eternal Trinity! O sweet, ineffable charity! Who would not be inflamed by such love? What heart could keep itself from being consumed by You?

“O abyss of charity! You have so closely bound Yourself to Your creatures that it seems that You cannot live without them! Nevertheless You are our God! You have no need of us. Our good adds nothing to Your greatness, for You are immutable. Our misfortune cannot harm You, O God, sovereign, eternal Goodness! Then what urges You to such mercy? Love ‑ for You have no obligation toward us and no need of us. Then, O infinite God, who brings You to me, a little creature? No one but Yourself, O Fire of Love! Love alone has always urged You, and love still urges You!

“O sovereign sweetness, You have deigned to unite Yourself to our bitterness; You, brilliance, with our darkness; You, wisdom, with our stupidity; You, life, with death; You, who are infinite, with us who are finite!” (St. Catherine of Siena)

O sweet Incarnate Word, O most amiable Infant Jesus, behold me at last at Your feet; let me contemplate You; permit me to delight in Your beauty, Your goodness, Your immense charity! In this little Child who smiles, and holds out His baby arms to me, I find Your infinite love, living, breathing ‑ for this Babe is You, O my God! How can I ever thank You for Your exceeding love? How can I ever make You a return of love?

“You, who are so great and rich, have made Yourself little and poor for us! You chose to be born far from home, in a stable, to be wrapped in swaddling clothes, to be nourished at Your Virgin Mother’s breast, to be laid in a manger between an ox and an ass. Today is the dawn of the new redemption, of the old restoration, of eternal happiness; today, the heavens have distilled honey throughout the whole world! Then, O my soul, kiss this divine manger, press your lips to the Infant’s feet and embrace them. Meditate on the shepherds watching their flocks, contemplate the angelic hosts, prepare to join in the heavenly melody singing with your lips and with your heart: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men of good will’“! (St. Bonaventure)

The Martyrs shall bear the closest resemblance to their Lord and King. They shall be, as he said, like Lambs among wolves. The world shall be strong, and they shall be weak and defenseless: so much the grander will be the victory of the Martyrs, and the greater the glory of God who gives them to conquer. The Apostle tells us that Christ crucified is the power and the wisdom of the God, the Martyrs, immolated, and yet conquerors of the world, will prove, with a testimony which even the world itself will understand, that the Christ whom they confessed, and who gave them constancy and victory, is in very deed the power and the wisdom of God. We repeat, then it is just that the Martyrs should share in all the triumphs of the Man-God, and that the liturgical Cycle should glorify them as does the Church herself, who puts their sacred Relics in her altar-stones; for thus the Sacrifice of their glorified Lord and Head is never celebrated without they themselves being offered together with him in the unity of his mystical Body.

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Feast of St. Stephen, Martyr

The first recompense given by Jesus to his Beloved John, a profound penetration into divine Mysteries: The Word Was God, and this Word Was Made Flesh for the salvation of mankind. The second was the imparting to him of a most ardent charity, which was equally a grace consequent upon his angelic purity, for purity unburdens the soul from groveling egotistic affections, and raises it to a chaste and generous love. John had treasured up in his heart the Discourses of his Master: he made them known to the Church, and especially that divine one of the Last Supper, wherein Jesus had poured forth his whole Soul to his own, whom he had always tenderly loved, but most so at the end. He wrote his Epistles, and Charity is his subject: God is Charity- he that loveth not, knoweth not God- perfect Charity casteth out fear.

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Feast of St. John the Apostle

We must regard pride as the king of all vices and follow the wise advice given by the king of Syria to his captains: “You shall not fight against any, small or great, but against the king only” (3 Kings, 23, 31). Judith too, by killing the proud Holofernes, conquered the whole Assyrian army. And David triumphed over all the Philistines by slaying the proud Goliath; and in like manner we shall also triumph, because by conquering pride we shall have subdued all other vices. King David erred in one thing, for knowing Absalom to be the chief of the rebels he yet commanded that he should neither be killed nor hurt: “Save me the boy Absalom” (2 Kings, 17, 15). Alas, how many imitators he has found! We know full well that pride is the chief rebel among all our passions, but notwithstanding it is the one which we seem to respect the most, and which we almost fear to offend displaying even a tendency to encourage it.

Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo, Humility of Heart

The Sovereign Pontiff, the Vicar of our Emmanuel, blesses, in his name, a Sword and Helmet, which are to be sent to some Catholic warrior who has deserved well of the Christian world. The sword is sent to some Prince, whom the Vicar of Christ wishes to honour in the name of Jesus, who is King : for the Angel said to Mary : the Lord will give unto him the Throne of David his father. It is from him alone that the power of the sword comes, for God said to Cyrus : I have girded thee with the sword; and the Psalmist thus speaks to Christ of God : Gird thy Sword upon thy thigh, O thou most Mighty! And because the Sword should not be drawn save in the cause of justice, it is for that reason that a Sword is blessed on the Night, in the midst of which rises, born unto us, the divine Sun of Justice. On the Helmet, which is both the ornament and protection of the head, there is worked, in pearls, the Dove, which is the emblem of the Holy Ghost; and this to teach him who wears it that it is not from passion or ambition that he must use his sword, but solely under the guidance of the divine Spirit, and from a motive of spreading the Kingdom of Christ.

Cardinal Reginald Pole to Queen Mary of England and to Philip II of Spain, her husband.

Heretics and schismatics place an obstacle to God’s grace by their sins of infidelity and schism in which they actually persevere.

St. Robert Bellarmine

Let us, my Brethren, rejoice this day is sacred, not because of the visible sun, but because of the Birth of him who is the invisible Creator of the sun… He chose this day whereon to be born, as he chose the Mother of whom to be born, and he made both the day and the Mother. The day he chose was that on which the light begins to increase, and it typifies the work of Christ, who renews our interior man day by day. For the eternal Creator having willed to be born in time, his Birthday would necessarily be in harmony with the rest of his creation.

St. Augustine

“Herod, sending, killed all the Children!”

O God, whose praise the holy Martyrs, the Innocents, published this day, not by speaking, but by dying; mortify our vicious inclinations: that we may show forth in our actions Thy faith which we profess with our lips.

Roman Missal, Collect, Feast of the Holy Innocents

For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. He is able also with a bridle to lead about the whole body. For if we put bits into the mouths of horses, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also ships, whereas they are great, and are driven by strong winds, yet are they turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the force of the governor willeth. Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell.

James 3:2-6

For care must be taken lest, in the so-called “irenic” spirit of today, through comparative study and the vain desire for a progressively closer mutual approach among the various professions of faith, Catholic doctrine - either in its dogmas or in the truths which are connected with them - be so conformed or in a way adapted to the doctrines of dissident sects, that the purity of Catholic doctrine be impaired, or its genuine and certain meaning be obscured. Also they must restrain that dangerous manner of speaking which generates false opinions and fallacious hopes incapable of realization; for example, to the effect that the teachings of the Encyclicals of the Roman Pontiffs on the return of dissidents to the Church, on the constitution of the Church, on the Mystical Body of Christ, should not be given too much importance seeing that they are not all matters of faith, or, what is worse, that in matters of dogma even the Catholic Church has not yet attained the fullness of Christ, but can still be perfected from outside.

Pius XII, Instruction of the Holy Office on Ecumenism, Dec. 20, 1949

“I will praise the Lord at all times; His praise shall be always in my mouth”

To thank God, finally, is, moreover, salutary, that is, promotes the temporal and eternal welfare, inasmuch as it enriches the soul with great blessings and precious graces. Gratitude opens to us the treasures of the divine liberality. Inasmuch as we sincerely thank God for benefits received, we draw down new and more special graces upon ourselves. God takes complacency in a grateful heart; nothing shall be wanting to it. Hence gratitude is salutary, profitable and rich in blessings; while ingratitude is a scorching wind that dries up the spring of divine goodness, the dew of heavenly mercy and the streams of grace. “The gifts of grace cannot abound or flow in us, because we are ungrateful to the Giver; and because we do not return them all to the fountain-head. For grace will ever be given him who dutifully returns thanks. Be grateful then for the least, and thou shalt be worthy to receive greater things” (Imit. of Chr. II, 10). To cultivate a spirit of gratitude toward God is, therefore, a practice “truly meet and just, right and salutary”: but how far must we go — what is the extent of this thanksgiving? This is made known by the words, that we “should always and in all places” (semper et ubique) give thanks. There is no time or place in which we should not from the fulness of our heart say: Deo gratias! — “Thanks be to God!” Even in the hour of tribulation and in the night of adversity, even when on the couch of suffering and in a home of direst poverty, gratitude towards God should never be silent on our lips or in our heart. When St. Elizabeth on a cold winter’s night wandered about an outcast and forsaken, she entered a Franciscan church and had the Te Deurn sung, to thank the Lord for the tribulations wherewith He had in His mercy visited her. Hence do you also repeat with the Psalmist: “I will praise the Lord at all times; His praise shall be always in my mouth” (Ps. 33, 2).

Rev. Nicholas Gihr, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

“The Church is built on the Rock of Peter, and he who eats the Lamb outside this holy dwelling has no part with God.”

Blessed Pope Pius IX

“The strongest evidence that the members of Ss. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Mission are neither schismatics or heretics is the fact that we have been referred to as such by Novus Ordo clerics. If we really were schismatics or heretics, they would never call us schismatics or heretics. They would in fact love us.”

St. Margaret Clitherow Guild, table talk

“Catholics who remain faithful to TRADITION even if they are reduced to but a handful, they are the True Church of Jesus Christ.”

St. Athanasius

Of course charity itself is impossible without faith and hope. Could anyone love a man if he did not believe it was possible to be or become his friend? Or if he despaired of ever gaining his friendship? So it is with man in relation to God as He is in Himself. Man must believe it is possible to attain a perfect friendship with God in Heaven and he must hope to attain this friendship through God’s power before he can love God as his supernatural destiny. [.....]

Charity perceives everything as it is in God. We might more correctly say that charity is the cause of the gift of wisdom. ...Through this gift of wisdom man is enabled to judge of things, whether divine or human, as God sees them. This is possible to man because in the friendship of charity man shares in the divine life.

Fr. Walter Farrell, O. P., & Fr. Martin Healy, S.T.D., My Way of Life, Pocket Edition of St. Thomas

The “Traditional Evangelization” – Conversion to the True Faith in the Catholic Church

· Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.

Jesus Christ, Mark 16, 15-16

· “There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.”

Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council 1215

· “We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”

Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, 1302

· “The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.”

Pope Eugene IV, Cantate Dominio, 1441

The “Old-New Evangelization” of Vatican II – Ecumenical Convergence replaced Conversion

[According to Lumen Gentium] the Catholic Church has no right to absorb the other Churches... [A] basic unity — of Churches that remain Churches, yet become one Church — must replace the idea of conversion, even though conversion retains its meaningfulness for those in conscience motivated to seek it.

Fr. Josef Ratzinger, Theological Highlights of Vatican II

“To question what the united Church practices as a rule is the most daring madness.”

The very ancient practice of the Church of celebrating Mass in the West, not in the living language of the country, but in a dead language, that is, in Latin, for the most part a language unintelligible to the people, has since the twelfth century to the present epoch been frequently made the subject of attack. Such attacks originated principally in an heretical, schismatical, proudly national spirit hostile to the Church, or in a superficial and false enlightenment, in a shallow and arid rationalism entirely destitute of the perception and understanding of the essence and object of the Catholic liturgy, especially of the profoundly mystical sacrifice. In the attempt to the Latin language of the liturgy and to replace it by the vernacular, there was a more or less premeditated scheme to undermine Catholic unity, to loosen the bond of union with Rome, to weaken the Catholic spirit, to destroy the humility and simplicity of faith. Therefore, the Apostolic See at all times most persistently and inflexibly resisted such innovation; for it is an invariable principle of the Church never to alter the ancient liturgical language, but inviolably to adhere to it, even thought it be no longer the living language spoken or understood by the people…. For as St. Augustine remarks, “to question what the united Church practices as a rule is the most daring madness.” In all such general decrees and usages appertaining to divine worship, the Church is directed and preserved from injurious blunders by the Holy Ghost.

Rev. Nicholas Gihr, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass Dogmatically, Liturgically and Ascetically Explained

St. Francis de Sales, on his Catholic Mission

In writing to you it is unnecessary to explain my difficulties and the needs of this diocese, I look upon Geneva as a wretched daughter of Babylon, as a city sucked into the jaws of heresy. As for myself I am as one sent to preach to an apostate people, hard of countenance and hard of heart, and am as a dweller in the abode of fierce scorpions. Wherefore I beseech you to intercede for me with the Holy See, and help me against the workers of iniquity. Do you, with the spirit of the mouth of Christ, with the two-edged sword of the Annals, which you have wielded with such power hitherto, do what you can to procure protection for me, living in the midst of this heretical people.

St. Francis de Sales, Letter to Cardinal Cesare Baronius, the author of the Annals, shortly before the Cardinals death

Purity means that crystalline, morning-fresh artlessness and selflessness in relating to the world, as it becomes a reality in the person when the shock of a deep pain brings him to the limits of existence or when the nearness of death touches him. In Sacred Scripture it says, “Serious illness sobers the soul” (Sir. 31:2); this sobriety belongs to the essence of purity… Purity is the unreserved openness of the entire being, from which alone the word can be spoken: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord” (Lk. 1:38)….purity not only is the fruit of purification but also comprises in itself the readiness to accept God’s purifications, perhaps terrible and deadly, with the brave openness of a trusting heart and so experiences its fertile and transforming power.

Josef Pieper, A Brief Reader on the Virtues of the Human Heart

In a word, you must carry on and perpetuate the life, religion and devotion which Jesus Christ exercised upon earth.
This doctrine rests upon a very solid foundation, for it receives confirmation repeatedly from the sacred words of Him Who is Truth Itself. Do you not hear Him saying in several places in His Gospel: “I am the Life” (John 14, 6); “I am come that they may have life” (John 10, 10)? “You will come to Me that you may have life” (John 5, 40). “I live, and you shall live. In that day you shall know that I am in My Father and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14, 19-20).
That is to say, just as Jesus is in His Father, living His life, which the Father communicates to Him, so also are you in Jesus, living by His life, and He is in you, giving you this same life. And thus He lives in you and you live in and with Him.
St. John, the beloved disciple, explains that God had given to man the gift of eternal life, which life is in His Son, and he who has in himself the Son of God has life; and, on the contrary, he who has not the Son has not life (1 John 5, 11-12).
God sent His Only Begotten Son into the world that you may have life, and you are in this world even as Jesus is, that is, you have taken His place here, and ought to live as He lived (1 John 4, 9-17).

St. John Eudes, The Four Foundations of Sanctity

The Fundamentals of the Spiritual Life

Union with God, union with Jesus, is the preliminary and indispensable requisite for the efficacy of any apostolic life. This union is accomplished by means of sanctifying grace, it grows with the fervent reception of the sacraments and with the generous practice of the virtues; it is established more firmly and strengthened by prayer, and is consolidated and preserved by recollection and detachment. The more one’s union with God increases, the more the action which flows from it will bear fruit for souls… “Without Me, you can do nothing”… “He who abides in Me bears much fruit”… “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., Divine Intimacy

If we are guilty of pride let us try and amend and not flatter ourselves that we possess the smallest degree of humility, until by our good resolutions carefully carried out we have mortified our evil tendency to speak ill of our neighbor. Let us hearken to the Holy Ghost: “Where pride is there also shall be reproach, but where humility is there also is wisdom.” [Prov. 11, 2]

The proud man is scornful and arrogant in his speech; and the humble alone knows how to speak well and wisely. If there is humility in the heart it will be manifested in the speech, because “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good.” [Luke 6, 45]

Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo, Humility of Heart

Oh, unbounded riches of holy Mass! Grasp well this truth, one and all: It is possible for you to gain more favor with God by attending or celebrating one single Mass, considered in itself, and in its intrinsic worth, than by opening the treasure of your wealth, and distributing the whole to the poor, or by going on a pilgrimage over the whole world, and visiting with the utmost devotion the most famous sanctuaries, such as Rome, Compostela, Loreto, and Jerusalem; and this, indeed, follows most reasonably from the proposition laid down by the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas, when he says that in Mass are contained all the fruits, all the graces – yes, all those immense treasures which the Son of God poured out so abundantly upon the Church, His Spouse, in the bloody sacrifice of the cross.

St. Leonard of Port Maurice

Invincible or Inculpable Ignorance Neither Saves nor Damns a Person
by Father Michael Müller, C.Ss.R.
    “But, suppose”, someone will say, “a person, in his inculpable ignorance, believes that he is on the right road to Heaven, though he is not a Catholic; he tries his best to live up to the dictates of his conscience. Now, should he die in that state of belief, he would, it seems, be condemned without his fault. We can understand that God is not bound to give Heaven to anybody, but, as He is just, He certainly cannot condemn anybody without his fault.”
    Whatever question may be made still in regard to the great truth, in question is sufficiently answered in the explanation already given of this great truth. For the sake of greater clearness, however, we will answer a few more questions. In the answers to these questions we shall be obliged to repeat what has already been said.
    Now, as to the question just proposed, we answer with St. Thomas and St. Augustine: “There are many things which a man is obliged to do, but which he cannot do without the help of divine grace: as, for instance, to love God and his neighbor, and to believe the articles of faith; but he can do all this with the help of grace; and ‘to whomsoever God gives His grace He gives it out of Divine Mercy: and to whomsoever He does not give it, He refuses it out of divine justice, in punishment of sin committed, or at least in punishment of original sin,” as St. Augustine says. (Lib. de correptione et gratia, c. 5 et 6; Sum. 22. q. ii art. v.) “And the ignorance of these things of salvation, the knowledge of which men did not care to have, is, without doubt, a sin for them; but for those who were not able to acquire such knowledge, the want of it is a punishment for their sins”, says St. Augustine; hence both are justly condemned, and neither the one nor the other has a just excuse for being lost.” (Epist. ad Sixtum, Edit. Maur. 194, cap. vi., n. 27.)
    Moreover, a person who wants to go east, but, by an innocent mistake, gets on a train going west, will, as soon as he finds out his mistake, get off at the next station, and take a train that goes east. In like manner, a person who walked on a road that he, in his inculpable ignorance, believed was the true road to Heaven, must leave that road, as soon as he finds out his mistake, and inquire for the true road to Heaven. God, in His infinite mercy, will not fail to make him find out, in due time, the true road to Heaven, if he corresponds to His grace. Hence we asked the following question in our Familiar Explanation:
    “What are we to think of the salvation of those who are out of the pale of the Church without any fault of theirs, and who never had any opportunity to know better?”
To this question we give the following answer:
    “Their inculpable (invincible) ignorance will not save them; but if they fear God and live up to their conscience, God, in His infinite mercy, will furnish them with the necessary means of salvation, even so as to send, if needed, an angel to instruct them in the Catholic Faith, rather than let them perish through inculpable ignorance.” (St. Thomas Aquinas)

No attribute of God can be our stay nor give us peace and quiet, except His love and His goodness. We naturally fear His power; His holiness shames our sinfulness. But who can resist God’s love? It wins us over to Him by showing us a God descending to our level; and only in so far as God appears in a state of humiliation can we dare to approach Him and to unite ourselves to Him. Only then are we able to look on Him as one of ours, and to call Him a brother…. We recognize love in this, that it is lavish of its gifts. When it has nothing to offer, it gives itself. Thus, Our Lord, after giving all that He had, has left us His adorable Person. He who communicates understands this gift; he knows by experience, so to speak, that God has loved him ‘unto the end.’ And with this thought in mind, he promises Our Lord in the morning to be virtuous in thanksgiving for his Communion; and in the afternoon he redoubles his devotion and fervor of spirit that he may receive worthily on the morrow. All his actions become as flowers which he hastens to offer to our Lord before they fade. And thus his piety is a living one; for his heart is always ascending to God, and motion is a sign of life.

St. Peter Julian Eymard

When men adore Christ, they truly adore God. Christ is Emmanuel, that is God-with-us. In Christ we can, so to speak, see the face of God. It is His human face, it is true. But even this vision is a foretaste of the beatific vision of God which is the inheritance of all those who are members of Christ’s Body, the Church. It is their inheritance because Christ is the perfect Mediator between God and men. He stands between God and men - He mediates between them - because He brings God’s gifts to men and He takes men to God. As man, He is the perfect Mediator because He occupies a position midway between God and men. As man He is not God, and so He stands below God. But as a man possessing the fullness of grace, knowledge and power, He stands above men. He is thus in a perfect position to mediate between God and men. And this is what Christ is doing ceaselessly for men in and through His Body, the Church. The Incarnation is God’s answer to the misery of men without God. God stoops to man to raise him to Himself. “And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all things to Myself.” Man has only to accept freely Christ as his Mediator. Not even Christ saves a man against his will. Because man is proud, God has stooped down to him. Since man is disobedient, God has given him the example of the perfect obedience of Christ. As man is ignorant and in error, God has given him Christ, the perfect teacher. Could the love of God do more for man? “By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we may have live by him.”

Rev. Walter Farrell, O. P., S.T.M. and Rev. Martin Healy, S.T.D., My Way of Life, Pocket Edition of St. Thomas

The devil has little hold on souls that are given to prayer and mortification. It would be presumptuous to defy the devil, but it is a sign of weakness to be afraid of him. As St. Augustine says, he is a chained dog, who can bark and worry, but he cannot bite if we keep out of his reach. It is not the devil who is the principal instrument in temptations of the just, for every man, says St. James, is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured. Such souls are thus only usually exposed to these temptations in so far as God permits them in order to purify their conscience, exercise their patience, deepen their humility, increase their merit, and add brightness to their crown…. And why should we fear temptations? Do we not know that they are necessary for us, since without them we can make no progress in the way of perfection? Of course they are necessary to strengthen us in the very virtues which they assail. We will never reach a high degree of purity, faith, hope, or love for God or our neighbour, unless we are strongly exercised in these virtues.

John N. Grou, S. J., Spiritual Maxims

Usury – a sin that cries to heaven for vengeance is the reason for the global debt crisis

“If you had borrowed one dollar at the time of Christ at 6% (compound) interest, how much money do you think you would owe today, 2000 years later?

Let’s do the math: 1.06^2000 = $4.09 x 10^⁵⁰, or $409.006,800,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That’s orders of magnitude more money than there is in the whole world! To put that in perspective, if there were 10 billion people on the earth each earning $1 trillion dollars a second, for every second of every minute of every hour of every day from the beginning of time, 15 billion years ago, their combined earning would only amount to $4.07 x 10^³⁹. It would take another 86 billion earths each full with 10 billion people earning $1 trillion dollars a second for every second from the beginning of time before you would come close to having enough money to pay back the interest due on a measly $1 loan at a low 6% interest for a mere 2000 years.”

Anthony Santelli, Ph.D., What is Usury?, Culture Wars Magazine

The precious light of faith will go out in souls because of the almost total moral corruption… The licentiousness will be such that there will be no more virgin souls in the world… By having gained control of all the social classes, the sects will tend to penetrate with great skill into the heart of families and destroy even the children… Priests will abandon their sacred duties and will depart from the path marked out for them by God. The then Church will go through a dark night for lack of a Prelate and Father to watch over it with love, gentleness, strength and prudence.

Our Lady of LaSalette to Melanie

Papal Eisegesis – This Time, on St. John the Baptist’s “Doubt” Steve Skojec

In biblical studies, there are two similar-sounding terms of particular importance: exegesis and eisegesis. Exegesis is defines as “an explanation or critical interpretation of a text,” and is the standard method of examining and understanding the Scriptures. Eisegesis, on the other hand, is “the process of interpreting a text or portion of text in such a way that the process introduces one’s own presuppositions, agendas, or biases into and onto the text.”

In a homily, Pope Francis engaged, as is often the case, in the latter. And just as he has accused the Blessed Mother of wanting to call God a “liar” when faced with the suffering of her Son — twice — he is now preaching that St. John the Baptist doubted the identity of Jesus while in prison:

Although John was great, strong, secure in his vocation, “he still had dark moments,” he had his doubts,” said Francis. In fact, John began to doubt in prison, even though he had baptized Jesus, “because he was a Saviour that was not as he had imagined him.” And so he sent two of his disciples to ask Him if He was the Messiah. And Jesus corrects the vision of John with a clear response. In fact, He tells them to report to John that “the blind see,” “the deaf hear,” “the dead rise.” “The great can afford to doubt, because they are great,” the Pope said.

Of course, this is not the Church’s understanding of the text. In St. Thomas Aquinas’ Catena Aurea, we see a “discussion” of Matthew 11 amongst the Church fathers. St Hilary of Poitiers affirms:

It is indeed certain, that he who as forerunner proclaimed Christ’s coming, as prophet knew Him when He stood before him, and worshipped Him as Confessor when He came to him, could not fall into error from such abundant knowledge. Nor can it be believed that the grace of the Holy Spirit failed him when thrown into prison, seeing He should hereafter minister the light of His power to the Apostles when they were in prison.

The great biblical scholar, St. Jerome, adds:

Therefore he does not ask as being himself ignorant. But as the Saviour asks where Lazarus is buried, [margin note John 11:23] in order that they who shewed Him the sepulchre might be so far prepared for faith, and believe that the dead was verily raised again—so John, about to be put to death by Herod, sends his disciples to Christ, [p. 406] that by this opportunity of seeing His signs and wonders they might believe on Him, and so might learn through their master’s enquiry.

St. John Chrysostom offers:

Yet whilst John was with them he held them rightly convinced concerning Christ. But when he was going to die, he was more concerned on their behalf. For he feared that he might leave his disciples a prey to some pernicious doctrine, and that they should remain separate from Christ, to whom it had been his care to bring all his followers from the beginning.

And St. Hilary again concludes:

John then is providing not for his own, but his disciples’ ignorance; that they might know that it was no other whom he had proclaimed, he sent them to see His works, that the works might establish what John had spoken; and that they should not look for any other Christ, than Him to whom His works had borne testimony.

No, Your Holiness. St. John the Baptist did not doubt.

Francis, of course, has his own gloss on the text — predicated upon his eisegesis — and it is entirely unsurprising:

The great can afford to doubt, and this is beautiful. They are certain of their vocation but each time the Lord makes them see a new street of the journey, they enter into doubt. ‘But this is not orthodox, this is heretical, this is not the Messiah I expected.’ The devil does this work, and some friend also helps, no? This is the greatness of John, a great one, the last of that band of believers that began with Abraham, that one that preaches conversion, that one that does not use half-words to condemn the proud, that one that at the end of his life is allowed to doubt. And this is a good program of Christian life.” [emphasis added]

As is so often the case with Francis, he passive aggressively uses the occasion of commentary on the scriptures, or various anecdotes, to fire thinly veiled assaults at his critics and opponents. Make no mistake: his commentary on Matthew 11 has been weaponized and aimed at the authors and supporters of the dubia. Which is, perhaps, why irony meters around the world today exploded when Francis said this of St. John the Baptist:

He preached forcefully, he said some ugly things to the Pharisees, to the doctors of the law, to the priests, he didn’t say to them: “But dear friends, behave yourselves!” No. He said to them simply: “You race of vipers!” He didn’t use nuance. Because they approached in order to inspect him and to see him, but never with open hearts: “Race of vipers!” He risked his live, [sic] yes, but he was faithful. Then to Herod, to his face, he said, “Adulterer! It is not licit for you to live this way, adulterer!” To his face! But it is certain that if a pastor today said in the Sunday homily, “Among you there are some who are a race of vipers, and there are many adulterers,” certainly the Bishop would receive disconcerting letters: “But send away this pastor who insults us.” And he insulted them. Why? Because he was faithful to his vocation and to the truth. [emphasis added]

He’s toying with us. He must be. Nobody can be this devoid of self-awareness.

And speaking of eisegesis: for the record, Your Holiness? The miracle of the loaves and the fishes was a real miracle, too.

Then, why is our “candid speech” to the bishops of Harrisburg and to Rome regarded as without “respect”?

Question: Did Job’s candid speech to God depart from the respect due to the Lord?

Answer: Truth does not change because of the high dignity of him to whom it is addressed; he who speaks the truth cannot be overcome, no matter with whom he disputes.

St. Thomas, Commentary on the Book of Job

Resisting Jesus by Joe Sobran

As always in our time, Christmas is provoking dissent from people who don’t want Christian symbols on public property or Christmas carols sung in public schools.

Many Christians find this annoying and churlish. Some even feel that Christianity is being persecuted.

The columnist Michelle Malkin writes, “We are under attack by Secularist Grinches Gone Wild.” Pat Buchanan goes so far as to speak of “hate crimes” against Christians.

I disagree. In some parts of the world, from Sudan to China, Christians really are being persecuted, even murdered. But what is going on in America’s symbolic opposition to Christianity is something different.

Sometimes I think the anti-Christian forces take Christ more seriously than most nominal Christians do. The Western world, including many of those who consider themselves Christians, has turned Christmas into a bland holiday of mere niceness. If you don’t get into the spirit, you’re likely to be called a Scrooge.

The natural reaction to Christ is to reject him. He said so. In fact, when he was taken to the Temple as an infant, St. Simeon prophesied that he would be a center of contention. Later he predicted his own death and told his followers they must expect persecution too.

His bitterest enemies weren’t atheists; they were the most religious men of his age, the Pharisees, who considered his claims blasphemous — as, by their lights, they were.

That’s hardly the word for Jesus. He performed miracles of love and mercy, but he also warned of eternal damnation, attacked and insulted the Pharisees, and could rebuke even people who adored him in words that can only make us cringe.

To many, he was a threat. He still is. We honor him more by acknowledging his explosive presence than by making him a mere symbol of nice manners. At every step of his ministry, he made enemies and brought his crucifixion closer. People weren’t crucified for being nice.

The negative witnesses

Some people think you can take Christ’s “teachings” and ignore his miracles as if they were fables. But this is to confuse the Sermon on the Mount with the Democratic Party platform. Chief among his teachings was his claim to be God’s son: “I and the Father are one.” “Nobody comes to the Father except through me.”

His teachings are inseparable from his miracles; in fact, his teachings themselves are miraculous. Nobody had ever made such claims before, enraging pious Pharisees and baffling his pious disciples at the same time. After feeding thousands with the miraculous loaves and fishes, he announced that he himself was “the bread of life.” Unless you ate his flesh and drank his blood, he warned, you have no life in you.

This amazing teaching was too much. It cost him many of his disciples on the spot. He didn’t try to coax them back by explaining that he was only speaking figuratively, because he wasn’t. He was foretelling the Last Supper.

At virtually every step of his ministry, Christ accompanied his words with miracles. And the remarkable thing is that his enemies disputed the words rather than the miracles. Of the wonders he performed, there was no doubt; they attracted, and were witnessed by, large crowds. It was their meaning that was controversial.

The blind saw, the deaf heard, cripples walked, lepers were healed. Where did he get the power to do these things? From God or the devil? He used them to certify his power to forgive sins, the claim his critics — enemies, rather — first found outrageous.

His claims still reverberate. The Gospels attest the total coherence of his mission, the perfect harmony between his words and his deeds, even the careful order of his progressive self-disclosure. His modern enemies, many of them professed Christians, don’t try to disprove the miracles; they simply assume he never performed them. And now some of them assume he never spoke many of the words the Gospels record him as saying.

This skeptical attack floors me. The poet Tennyson remarked that Christ’s greatest miracle was his personality. Could anyone else — the four simple authors of the Gospels, for example — have made him up, and put such resonant words in his mouth? “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” That’s another claim that seems to be holding up pretty well.

Such a strong, indeed unique, personality could only meet strong — and unique — resistance. This is why Christians shouldn’t resent the natural resistance of those who refuse to celebrate his birth. In their way, those people are his witnesses too.

Mary: Our model in our First Duty

The field which Justice controls is an extensive one; in fact, Justice means the discharge of all our obligations. It is respect for the rights of others: and, first of all, of God, by the acts of [the virtue of] Religion…. Because God is the Supreme Being, the Lord and Master of all, and we are His subjects, our first duty is to acknowledge His superiority and our dependence, and to give expression to this religious sentiment by appropriate acts. The chief acts of divine worship and adoration are faith, hope and charity, prayer and sacrifice. Prayer implies praise, thanksgiving, atonement and petition. Must we not suppose that Mary poured out her soul to God every day of her life by adoring His Divine Majesty, thanking Him for His inestimable gifts to herself and to every creature, pleading for pardon and mercy in behalf of a sinful world and petitioning for help and grace to supply her own needs and those of her spiritual children?

Very Rev. Lawrence C. Diether, P. Carm., Ave Maria, A short commentary on the Hail Mary

PRAYER TO JESUS IN DIFFICULTIES

O Jesus! Consolation of the afflicted! Thy name is indeed poured out like oil; for Thou dost illumine those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death; Thou dost disperse the blindness of the soul and dost cure its ills; Thou givest food and drink to those who hunger and thirst after justice. Be also, O Jesus! my Savior, the physician of my soul, the healer of its wounds. O Jesus! Succor of those who are in need, be my protector in temptations! O Jesus! Father of the poor, do Thou nourish me! O Jesus! joy of the angels, do Thou comfort me! O Jesus! my only hope and refuge, be my helper in the hour of death, for there is given us no other name beneath the sun by which we may be saved, but Thy most blessed name Jesus!

When the Arian poison had contaminated not only a limited area, but the whole world, almost all the bishops of the Latin Church fell into heresy. Forced by violence or deceived by guile. It was like a fog fallen upon the spirits and hiding which road to take. In order to be safe from this contagious plague, the true disciples of Christ had to prefer the ancient beliefs rather than all the false novelties.

St. Vincent of Lerins

"The human race may be now and then afflicted with lunacy, but it is never an idiot. An idiot is one who has just premises, but cannot draw from them just conclusions, that is, one who cannot reason; a lunatic is one who has false premises, but who is, nevertheless, able to draw logical conclusions from them. His insanity is precisely in his inability to seize and hold true premises."

Orestes Brownson, Catholic Apologist, Brownson’s Quarterly Review, Oct., 1851. p. 453

No doctrine is understood to be infallibly defined unless it is clearly established as such. Canon 749 § 3

All that is contained in the written word of God or in tradition, that is in the one deposit of faith entrusted to the Church and also proposed as divinely revealed either by the solemn magisterium of the Church or by its ordinary and universal magisterium, must be believed with divine and catholic faith...

Canon 750

A tyrannical law, through not being according to reason, is not a law, absolutely speaking but rather a perversion of law.

St. Thomas Aquinas

“Living Tradition,” synonym for Immanentism of the Modernist

The term, “living tradition,” a novelty of modernist construction given official standing at Vatican II, conflates the subjective understanding with the objective truth, is part of the theological justification to replace our received traditions with novelties grounded in fantasy.

“The root of this schismatic act can be discerned in an incomplete and contradictory notion of Tradition. Incomplete, because it does not take sufficiently into account the living character of Tradition, which, as the Second Vatican Council clearly taught, “comes from the apostles and progresses in the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit. There is a growth in insight into the realities and words that are being passed on. This comes about in various ways. It comes through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their hearts. It comes from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which they experience. And it comes from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth”.

John Paul II, explaining the problems with Archbishop Lefebvre’s consecration of four bishops from his failure to understand the novel Vatican II definition of tradition

With regard to the tradition of the Church, two precautions had to be rigorously and thoroughly observed, adhered to by everyone who does not wish to become a heretic: first, it must be ascertained whether there exists from ancient times a decree established by all the bishops of the Catholic Church with the authority of a universal council, and second, should a new question arise for which no decree can be found, one must revert to the opinions of the holy fathers; to be more precise, of those fathers who remained in their own times and places in the unity of communion and of faith and who were therefore held as teaching ‘probable’ doctrine.

St. Vincent of Lerins

“It is clear that he does not pray, who, far from uplifting himself to God, requires that God shall lower Himself to him, and who resorts to prayer not to stir the man in us to will what God wills, but only to persuade God to will what the man in us wills.”

St. Thomas Aquinas

“Pearls of Great Price” – Every single one of our Immemorial Ecclesiastical Traditions which the “dogs” despise!

What are these mysteries? What are these good pearls? They are not only every doctrine of Jesus Christ and every dogma of His Church, but every holy sacrament, every pious practice, every rule and ordinance of the Church; every means of practicing and advancing virtue and good works; every means of conferring and increasing the sanctifying grace of God, consequently sanctity and holiness of life, which is a pearl of infinite value, and adorns the soul with such transcendent beauty that the mind of man can never conceive its inestimable grandeur and loveliness. Moreover, each of these heavenly gifts was purchased at the infinite price of the precious blood of Jesus, from which it derives all its beauty and virtue. The least of them is worth buying, even the risk of losing all that a man holds dear in this life. Even a drop of holy water or a blessed medal is to time pious believer a “holy thing,” a valuable pearl. “The sensual man, who perceiveth not the things that are of the Spirit of God,” despise them; they are “foolishness to him.” But the true Christian believes that “every creature is sanctified by prayer and the word of God,” and when sanctified it is a “holy thing” and not to be given to dogs — that is to say, to such as would have no more respect for them than a dog, if it were given to him.

Rev. Joseph Prachensky, S.J., The Church of the Parables and True Spouse of the Suffering Savior

"The stones of the pavement ... of that shrine (Canterbury Cathedral, where St. Thomas Becket was martyred) were worn with the kneeling of the idolatrous people, which came on pilgrimage to offer there to that pope-holy saint".

St. Thomas Becket, Protestant commentator, 1642

It is incumbent on all Catholics who are anxious to approve themselves genuine sons of Mother Church, to adhere henceforward to the holy faith of the holy Fathers, to be wedded to it, to die in it; but as to the profane novelties of profane men— to detest them, abhor them, oppose them, give them no quarter.

St. Vincent of Lerins

“The fort is betrayed even of them that should have defended it.”

St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr

Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity: The Novus Ordo patron ‘saint’ of Vatican II, John XXIII, and Jesus Christ traveled the same road, only in different directions.

“The whole world is my family. This sense of universal belonging must give tone and vivacity to my mind, to my heart, to my actions” …… “I am the pope of all.”

John XXIII, (Journal of a Soul)

“I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world; as I also am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from evil. They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world.”

Jesus Christ, Prayer to His Father and Our Father (John 17:14-16)

But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; All those who hate me love death.

Proverbs 8:36

Pope Francis, endorsing the “Great Reset”

“This is a moment to dream big, to rethink our priorities – what we value, what we want, what we seek…. God asks us to dare to create something new. We cannot return to the false securities of the political and economic systems we had before the crisis (Covid).

Pope Francis, published book, Let us Dream: A Path to a Better Future

“Let them innovate in nothing, but keep the traditions.”

Pope St. Stephen I, letter to St. Cyprian, 3^rd cent.

The meaning of Sacred Dogmas, which must always be preserved is that which our Holy Mother the Church has determined. Never is it permissible to depart from this in the name of a deeper understanding.

Vatican Council I

“It is not to be excluded that I will enter history as the one who split the Catholic Church.”

Pope Francis, concluding remarks attributed to him in the Der Spiegel article on the Crisis in the Catholic Church.

COMMENT: As if that is not Pope Francis' intention and what in fact he has long been doing? The question remains as to what name in history will Francis be known? But let's leave that for later. The truth is that Conservative Catholics have never gotten anything in its right hierarchical order. They stupidly thought the “split” in the Church began when traditional Catholics were disobedient by resisting the overthrow of our Ecclesiastical Traditions by which alone the Faith can be known and communicated to others. Conservative Catholics are only now turning to face the front of this conflict but they are unarmed for the fight. Pope Francis, professing the same doctrine as his conciliar predecessors, has only driven the wedge far deeper into the Bark of Peter to “split” the Church. The Conservative Catholics are at last alarmed because the Ship is taking on massive amounts of water. Unfortunately, the poor Conservative Catholics who are raising their voices against the corruption of Francis will surely fail. Let's call them the Dubiaists. The Dubiaists have doubts but no real convictions. They will fail because they turned their backs against the literal meaning of DOGMA long ago and now have nothing from which to mount their defense for DOGMA is the one and only weapon against an abusive authority. Authority is subject only to Truth.

"ALL Heretics are Schismatics."

St. Thomas Aquinas quoting St. Augustine

Heretics and Schismatics - formally cut off from the Church & may materially be cut off as well!

The Church, founded on these principles and mindful of her office, has done nothing with greater zeal and endeavour than she has displayed in guarding the integrity of the faith. Hence she regarded as rebels and expelled from the ranks of her children all who held beliefs on any point of doctrine different from her own. The Arians, the Montanists, the Novatians, the Quartodecimans, the Eutychians, did not certainly reject all Catholic doctrine: they abandoned only a certian portion of it. Still who does not know that they were declared heretics and banished from the bosom of the Church? In like manner were condemned all authors of heretical tenets who followed them in subsequent ages. "There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition" (Auctor Tract. de Fide Orthodoxa contra Arianos).

The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authoritative Magisterium. Epiphanius, Augustine, Theodoret, drew up a long list of the heresies of their times. St. Augustine notes that other heresies may spring up, to a single one of which, should any one give his assent, he is by the very fact cut off from Catholic unity. "No one who merely disbelieves in all (these heresies) can for that reason regard himself as a Catholic or call himself one. For there may be or may arise some other heresies, which are not set out in this work of ours, and, if any one holds to one single one of these he is not a Catholic" (S. Augustinus, De Haeresibus, n. 88). [……………]

For this reason, as the unity of the faith is of necessity required for the unity of the church, inasmuch as it is the body of the faithful, so also for this same unity, inasmuch as the Church is a divinely constituted society, unity of government, which effects and involves unity of communion, is necessary jure divino. "The unity of the Church is manifested in the mutual connection or communication of its members, and likewise in the relation of all the members of the Church to one head" (St. Thomas, 2a 2ae, 9, xxxix., a. I).

From this it is easy to see that men can fall away from the unity of the Church by schism, as well as by heresy. "We think that this difference exists between heresy and schism" (writes St. Jerome): "heresy has no perfect dogmatic teaching, whereas schism, through some Episcopal dissent, also separates from the Church" (S. Hieronymus, Comment. in Epist. ad Titum, cap. iii., v. 10-11). In which judgment St. John Chrysostom concurs: "I say and protest (he writes) that it is as wrong to divide the Church as to fall into heresy" (Hom. xi., in Epist. ad Ephes., n. 5). Wherefore as no heresy can ever be justifiable, so in like manner there can be no justification for schism. "There is nothing more grievous than the sacrilege of schism....there can be no just necessity for destroying the unity of the Church" (S. Augustinus, Contra Epistolam Parmeniani, lib. ii., cap. ii., n. 25).

Pope Leo XII, Satis Cognitum, On the Unity of the Church

Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity

Pope Francis Teaches:

If someone comes to you and feels something must be removed from him, but perhaps he is unable to say it, but you understand … it’s all right, he says it this way, with the gesture of coming. First condition. Second, he is repentant. If someone comes to you it is because he doesn’t want to fall into these situations, but he doesn’t dare say it, he is afraid to say it and then not be able to do it. But if he cannot do it, ad impossibila nemo tenetur. And the Lord understands these things, the language of gestures. Have open arms, to understand what is inside that heart that cannot be said or said this way … somewhat because of shame … you understand me. You must receive everyone with the language with which they can speak. Pope Francis the Faithless

Catholic Church Teaches:

If any one denieth, that, for the entire and perfect remission of sins, there are required three acts in the penitent, which are as it were the matter of the sacrament of Penance, to wit, contrition, confession, and satisfaction, which are called the three parts of penance; or saith that there are two parts only of penance, to wit, the terrors with which the conscience is smitten upon being convinced of sin, and the faith, generated (a) by the gospel, or by the absolution, whereby one believes that his sins are forgiven him through Christ; let him be anathema. Council of Trent, Canon IV on the sacrament of Penance

KEEP DOGMA AS YOUR PROXIMATE RULE OF FAITY AND YOU WILL KEEP YOUR BALANCE

This is the thrilling romance of Orthodoxy. People have fallen into a foolish habit of speaking of orthodoxy as something heavy, humdrum, and safe. There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy. It was sanity: and to be sane is more dramatic than to be mad. It was the equilibrium of a man behind madly rushing horses, seeming to stoop this way and to sway that, yet in every attitude having the grace of statuary and the accuracy of arithmetic. The Church in its early days went fierce and fast with any warhorse; yet it is utterly unhistoric to say that she merely went mad along one idea, like a vulgar fanaticism. She swerved to left and right, so as exactly to avoid enormous obstacles. She left on one hand the huge bulk of Arianism, buttressed by all the worldly powers to make Christianity too worldly. The next instant she was swerving to avoid an orientalism, which would have made it too unworldly. The orthodox Church never took the tame course or accepted the conventions; the orthodox Church was never respectable. It would have been easier to have accepted the earthly power of the Arians. It would have been easy, in the Calvinistic seventeenth century, to fall into the bottomless pit of predestination. It is easy to be a madman: it is easy to be a heretic. It is always easy to let the age have its head; the difficult thing is to keep one’s own. It is always easy to be a modernist; as it is easy to be a snob. To have fallen into any of those open traps of error and exaggeration which fashion after fashion and sect after sect set along the historic path of Christendom that would indeed have been simple. It is always simple to fall; there are an infinity of angles at which one falls, only one at which one stands. To have fallen into any one of the fads from Gnosticism to Christian Science would indeed have been obvious and tame. But to have avoided them all has been one whirling adventure; and in my vision the heavenly chariot flies thundering through the ages, the dull heresies sprawling and prostrate, the wild truth reeling but erect.

G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Remember in your charity:

Remember the welfare of our expectant mother: Veronica Vanderbrook,

Lester Krol, recently injured in a MVA,

Cole Schneider, prayers for his welfare are requested by Camilla Meiser,

JoAnn Niekrewicz, for her recovery from a recent fall and shoulder injury,

The Drews ask prayers for the spiritual and physical welfare of Robert Carballo and Juan Gonzalez,

Conversion of Jack Gentry, the nephew of Camilla Meiser,

For Sr. Maria Junipera, who took her final vows as a nun with the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Richmond, New Hampshire April 8,

Stephen Bryan, the brother of a devout Catholic religious, for his spiritual welfare,

Marie Kolinsky, for her health and spiritual welfare is the petition of her family,

Gene Peters requests our prayers for the conversion of Shirley Young and Carl Loy who are dying,

Rev. Leo Carley, an eighty-nine year old priest faithful to Catholic tradition, who is seriously ill,

For the recovery of Hayden Yanchek, the grandson of Francis Yanchek, injured in a farming accident,

Maureen Nies, for the recovery of her health is the petition of Camilla Meiser,

Daniel Vargs, for his health is the petition of his parents,

Art Noel, for the restoration of his health,

For the welfare of Peg Berry and her husband, Bill,

Marianne Connelly asks prayers for Chris Foley, who is gravely ill, and the welfare of his wife, Mary Beth,

The spiritual welfare of the Sal & Maria Messineo & their family is the petition of the Drew’s,

Liz Agosta, who is seriously ill, for her spiritual and temporal welfare,

Warren Hoffman, a long time member of our Mission who is in failing health,

Patrick Boyle, for the recovery of his health and his spiritual welfare,

For the spiritual welfare of the Drew children,

Lamonte White, requests our prayers for his spiritual and temporal welfare,

Monica Bandlow request our prayers for the welfare of Ray who is recovering from a MVA, and his daughter, Sonya, and Tera Jean Kopczynski, who is in failing health, and for a good death for Mr. Howald, Kathy Simons, Regina Quinn, James Mulgrew, Ruth Beaucheane, John Kopczynski, Roger & Mandy Owen

The health and spiritual welfare of Nate Schaeffer is the petition of Gene Peters,

Peg Berry requests our prayers for her brother, William Habekost,

Louise McCarthy, who has suffered a stroke,

For the health and welfare of Katherine Wedel,

For the recently widowed, Maike Hickson, and her children,

For the spiritual welfare of the Carmelite nuns in Fairfield, PA,

Geralyn Zagorski, recovery of her health and spiritual welfare and the conversion of Randal Pace is the petition of Philip Thees,

For the grandson of Joe & Liz Agusta,

Fr. Waters requests our prayers for the health and spiritual welfare of Elvira Donaghy,

For the health and conversion of Stephen Henderson,

Fr. Paul DaDamio requests our prayers for the welfare of Rob Ward, and his sister, Debra Wagaman,

For the health and spiritual welfare of Peggy Cummings, the neice of Camila Meiser, who is gravely ill,

Kaitlyn McDonald, for the recovery of her health and spiritual welfare,

Roco Sbardella, for his health and spiritual welfare,

Mufide Rende requests our prayers for the spiritual and physical welfare of the Rende Family,

The Vargas’ request our prayers for the spiritual welfare of their son, Nicholas,

Family, for the welfare of Lazarus Handley, his mother, Julia, and his brother, Raphael, with Down’s Syndrome,

Fr. Waters requests prayers for the spiritual and physical welfare of Frank McKee,

Nancy Bennett, for the recovery of her health,

For the spiritual welfare of Mark Roberts, a Catholic faithful to tradition,

Joe Sentmanet request prayers for Scott Nettles (who is in need of conversion), who is gravely ill,

Michael Brigg requests our prayers for the health of John Romeo,

The health and welfare of Gene Peters,

Conversion of Anton Schwartzmueller, is the paryer request of his children,

Stacy Fernandez requests are prayers for the heath of Terry Patterson, Steven Becerra, and Roberto Valez,

Christine Kozin, for her health and spiritual welfare,

Teresa Gonyea, for her conversion and health, is the petition of her grandmother, Patricia McLaughlin,

Nolan Moran, a three year old diagnosed with brain tumor, and his family,

For the health of Sonya Kolinsky,

Jackie Dougherty asks our prayers for her brother who is gravely ill, John Lee,

Rose Bradley asks our prayers for the health and spiritual welfare of her granddaughter, Meg Bradley,

Timothy & Crisara, a couple from Maryland have requested our prayers for their spiritual welfare,

Celine Pilegaard, the seven year old daughter of Cynthia Pilegaard, for her recovery from burn injuries,

Rafaela de Saravia, for her health and welfare,

Mary Mufide, requests our prayers for her family,

Abbe Damien Dutertre, traditional Catholic priest arrested by Montreal police while offering Mass,

Francis (Frank) X. McLaughlin, for the recovery of his health,

Nicholas Pell, for his health and spiritual welfare is the petition of Camilla Meizer,

Mary Kaye Petr, her health and welfare is petitioned by Camilla Meizer,

The welfare of Excellency Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò,

The welfare of Rev. Fr. Martin Skierka, who produces the traditional Ordo in the U.S.,

For the health and welfare of Katie Wess, John Gentry, Vincent Bands, Todd Chairs, Susan Healy and James O’Gentry is the petition of Camilia,

Marieann Reuter, recovery of her health, Kathy Kepner, for her health, Shane Cox, for his health, requests of Philip Thees,

Thomas A. Nelson, long time faithful traditional Catholic the founder and former owner of TAN Books & Publishing, suffered a recent stroke,

The Joseph Cox Family, their spiritual welfare,

The Thomas Dube Family, for their conversion and spiritual welfare,

Luis Rafael Zelaya, the brother of Claudia Drew, spiritual welfare,

For the health of Kim Cochran, the daughter-in-law of Joseph and Brenda Cochran, the wife of their son Joshua,

Louie Verrecchio, Catholic apologist, who has a health problem,

John Minidis, Jr. family, for help in their spiritual trial,

Joann DeMarco, for her health and spiritual welfare,

Regina (Manidis) Miller, her spiritual welfare and health,

Melissa Elena Levitt, her conversion, and welfare of her children,

For the grace of a holy death, Nancy Marie Claycomb,

The health and spiritual welfare of Tom Grow, Amanda Gardner, and Alex Estrada,

Conversion of Annette Murowski, and her son Jimmy,

Brent Keith from Indiana has petitioned our prayers for the Keith Family,

The welfare of the Schmedes Family, and the Mike and Mariana Donohue Family,

The spiritual welfare Robert Holmes Family,

For the spiritual and temporal welfare of Irwin Kwiat,

Fr. Waters asks our prayers for Elvira Donaghy,

Kimberly Ann, the daughter of John and Joann DeMarco, for her health and spiritual welfare,

Mufide Rende, a traditional Catholic from India has asked our prayers for her welfare and he family members, living and deceased,

Mary Glatz, her health and the welfare of her family,

Barbara Harmon, who is ill, and still cares for her ailing parents,

Jason Green, a father of ten children, recovery of his health,

For the health and welfare of Sorace family,

Fr. Waters asks our prayers for the health and spiritual welfare of Brian Abramowitz,

Thomas Schiltz family, in grateful appreciation for their contribution to the beauty of our chapel,

Welfare of Bishop Richard Williamson, for strength and courage in the greater battles to come,

John Rhoad, for his health and spiritual welfare,

Kathy Boyle, requests our prayers for her welfare,

Joyce Laughman and Robert Twist, for their conversions,

Michael J. Brigg & his family, who have helped with the needs of the Mission,

Nancy Deegan, her welfare and conversion to the Catholic Church,

Francis Paul Diaz, who was baptized at Ss. Peter & Paul, asks our prayers for his spiritual welfare,

The conversion of Rene McFarland, Lori Kerr, Cary Shipman and family, David Bash, Crystal and family, Larry Reinhart, Costanzo Family, Kathy Scullen, Marilyn Bryant, Vicki Trahern and Time Roe are the petitions of Gene Peters,

For the conversion of Ben & Tina Boettcher family, Karin Fraessdorf, Eckhard Ebert, and Fahnauer family,

Fr. Waters requests our prayers for Br. Rene, SSPX who has been ill, and for Fr. Thomas Blute,

For the health and conversion of Kathryn Lederhos, the aunt of David Drew,

For the welfare of Fr. Paul DaDamio and Fr. William T. Welsh,

The Drew’s ask our prayers for the welfare of Joe & Tracey Sentmanat family, Keith & Robert Drew, Christy Koziol & her children, Fred Nesbit and Michael Nesbit families, and Gene Peters Family, the John Manidis Family, the Sal Messinio Family, Michael Proctor Family,

Ryan Boyle grandmother, Jane Boyle, who is failing health,

Mel Gibson and his family, please remember in our prayers,

Rev. Timothy A. Hopkins requested our prayers for the welfare of his Fr Jean-Luc Lafitte,

Ebert’s request our prayers for the Andreas & Jenna Ortner Family,

Joyce Paglia has asked prayers for George Richard Moore Sr. & his children, and her brother, George Panell,

Philip Thees asks our prayers for his family, for McLaughlin Family, the welfare of Dan & Polly Weand, the conversion of Sophia Herman, Tony Rosky, the welfare Nancy Erdeck, the wife of the late Deacon Erdeck, John Calasanctis, Tony Rosky, James Parvenski, Kathleen Gorry, health of mind and body of Cathy Farrar.

Pray for the Repose of the Souls:

Ruth Marion Beaucheane, died December 8, is the petition of Monica Bandlow,

Ana Maria Salcedo, the sister of Mario Fiol, died November 26,

Fr. Johin Cardaro, a traditional Catholic priest who was found dead in his home November 2,

Robert Carballo asks that we remember his parents, Roberto & Aida Carballo, and his friend, David Duclos, who died April 15,

Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais who may have been responsible for preventing the SSPX's public reconciliation with Rome in 2012, died October 8,

Lorna Edwards, our dear friend and loyal supporter of this Mission, died August 10,

Lois Petti, died July 28 two hours after receiving the Last Sacraments from Fr. Waters,

Wolfgang Smith, a renowned Catholic scholar, mathematician, scientist, philosopher, who helped the Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation, died July 19,

Willaim Glatz, a good and faithful Catholic, died July 17,

Alicio Gonzalez, a Catholic who asked for the sacrament of Extreme Unction, unfortunately did not receive, died July 9,

John Zavodny, a faithful Catholic who died wearing the scapular of Mt Carmel on the first Saturday of May, requested by Phyllis Virgil,

Catherine Martel, a lapsed Catholic, received the last sacraments in a good disposition from Fr. Waters on March 25 and died on April 4,

Father Basilio Méramo, a faithful priest, died March 5, removed from the SSPX for opposing their accommodation with Rome,

Julia McDonald, the mother of Kyle McDonald, died March 1,

Agnus Melnick, died February 28, a long time faithful Catholic and mother of eight children, including a traditional priest,

Kathryn (Drew) Lederhos, of Wellesley, MA, died February 3, 2024,

Chris Foley, the brother of Mary Lou Loftus, died February 1,

Louis Zelaya, the brother of Claudia Drew, died January 30,

Fr. James Louis Albert Campbell, a faithful priest who died December 18 at 91 years of age, and her mother and father, Teresa and Thomas Maher,

Charles Harmon, the father of Tracey Sentmanet, died October 1, after receiving the rites of the Church,

Fr. Waters requests prayers for Elvira Donaghy, his friend and former secretary a for Bishop Gerado Zendejas, died September 9,

Robert Hickson, a faithful Catholic apologist who died Septembber 2,

Monica Bandlow requests prayers for her parents, Thomas & Teresa Maher, her husband, William Bandlow, her brother-in-law, Richard Bandlow, her sister, Mary Maher, Fr. Christopher Darby, SSPX, who died March 17, Robert Byrne, Michelle Donofrio McDowell, her cousin, Patricia Fabyanic, the Prefect of Our Lady’s Sodality, March 8, for John Pfeiffer who died August 20, Theresa Hanley, died July 23, Fr. Juan-Carlos Iscara, SSPX, who died December 20, John Kinney, died December 21, Willaim Price, Jr., and Robert Arch Ward, died January 10, and Myra, killed in a MVA June 6,

John Sharpe, Sr., died July 20,

Maria Paulette Salazar, died June 6,

Dale Kinsey requests prayers for his wife, Katherine Kinsey, died May 17,

Richard Giles, who died April 29, the father of Traci Sentmanat who converted to the Catholic faith last All Saints' Day,

Joseph Sparks, a devout and faithful Catholic to tradition died February 25,

Joyce Paglia, died January 21, and Anthony Paglia, died January 28, who were responsible for the beautiful statuary in our chapel,

Joe Sentmanet request prayers for Richard Giles and Claude Harmon who converted to the Catholic faith shortly before their deaths,

Rodolfo Zelaya, the brother of Claudia Drew, died January 9,

Elizabeth Agosta petitions our prayers for Joseph Napolitano, her brother, who died January 2,

Michael Dulisse, died on December 26,

Michael Proctor, a close friend of the Drews, died November 9,

Richard Anthony Giles, the father-in-law of Joe Sentmanat converted to the Catholic faith on All Saints Day, died November 5,

Robert Kolinsky, the husband of Sonja, died September 18,

Gabriel Schiltz, the daughter of Thomas & Gay Schiltz, died August 21,

Mary Dimmel, the mother –in-law of Victoria Drew Dimmel, died July 18,

Michael Nesbit, the brother-in-law and dear friend of the Drew's, died July 14,

Thomas Thees, the brother of Philip, died June 19,

Carmen Ragonese, died June 22,

Juanita Mohler, a friend of Camella Meiser, died June 14,

Kathleen Elias, died February 14,

Hernan Ortiz, the brother of Fr. Juan Carlos Ortiz, died February 3,

Mary Ann Boyle, the mother of a second order Dominican nun, a first order Dominican priest, and a SSPX priest, died January 24,

John DeMarco, who attended this Mission in the past, died January23,

Charles O’Brien, the father of Marlene Cox, died December 30,

Mufide Rende requests our prayers for the repose of the souls of her parents, Mehmet & Nedime,

Kathleen Donelly, died December 29 at 91 years of age, ran the CorMariae website,

Matthew O'Hare, most faithful Catholic, died at age 40 on November 30,

Rev. Patrick J. Perez, a Catholic priest faithful to tradition, pastor Our Lady Help of Christians, Garden Grove, CA, November 19,

Elizabeth Benedek, died December 14, requested by her niece, Agnes Vollkommer,

Dolores Smith and Richard Costello, faithful Catholics, died November,

Frank D’Agustino, a friend of Philp Thees, died November 8,

Fr. Dominique Bourmaud, of the SSPX, Prior of St. Vincent in Kansas City, died September 4,

Pablo Daniel Silva, the brother of Elizabeth Vargas, died August 18,

Rose Bradley, a member of Ss. Peter & Paul, died July 14,

Patricia Ellias, died June 1, recently returned to the Church died with the sacraments and wearing the brown scapular,

Joan Devlin, the sister-in-law of Rose Bradley, died May 18,

William Muligan, died April 29, two days after receiving the last sacraments,

Robert Petti, died March 19, the day after receiving the last sacraments,

Mark McDonald, the father of Kyle, who died December 26,

Perla Otero, died December 2020, Leyla Otero, January 2021, cousins of Claudia Drew,

Mehmet Rende, died December 12, who was the father of Mary Mufide,

Joseph Gravish, died November 26, 100 year old WWII veteran and daily communicant,

Jerome McAdams, the father of, died November 30,

Rev. James O’Hara, died November 8, requested by Alex Estrada,

Elizabeth Batko, the sacristan at St. John the Baptist in Pottstown for over 40 years, died on First Saturday November 7 wearing the brown scapular,

Fr. Anthony Cekada, a traditional Catholic priest, died September 11,

William Cox, the father of Joseph Cox, who died September 3,

James Larson, Catholic apologists, author of War Against Being publication, died July 6, 2020,

Hutton Gibson, died May 12,

Sr. Regina Cordis, Immaculate Heart of Mary religious for sixty-five years, died May 12,

Leslie Joan Matatics, devoted Catholic wife and mother of nine children, died March 24,

Victoria Zelaya, the sister-in-law of Claudia Drew, died March 20,

Ricardo DeSilva, died November 16, our prayers requested by his brother, Henry DeSilva,

Roland H. Allard, a friend of the Drew’s, died September 28,

Stephen Cagorski and John Bogda, who both died wearing the brown scapular,

Cecilia LeBow, a most faithful Catholic,

Rose Cuono, died Oct 23,

Patrick Rowen, died March 25, and his brother, Daniel Rowen, died May 15,

Sandra Peters, the wife of Gene Peters, who died June 10 receiving the sacraments and wearing our Lady’s scapular,

Rev. Francis Slupski, a priest who kept the Catholic faith and its immemorial traditions, died May 14,

Martha Mochan, the sister of Philip Thees, died April 8,

George Kirsch, our good friend and supporter of this Mission, died February 15,

For Fr. Paul J. Theisz, died October 17, is the petition of Fr. Waters,

Fr. Mecurio Fregapane, died Jan 12, was not a traditional priest but always charitable,

Fr. Casimir Peterson, a priest who often offered the Mass in our chapel and provided us with sound advice, died December 4,

Fr. Constantine Bellasarius, a faithful and always charitable Eastern Rite Catholic Melkite priest, who left the Roman rite, died November 27,

Christian Villegas, a motor vehicle accident, his brother, Michael, requests our prayers,

John Vennari, the former editor of Catholic Family News, and for his family’s welfare, April 4,

Mary Butler, the aunt of Fr. Samuel Waters, died October 17,

Joseph DeMarco, the nephew of John DeMarco, died October 3,

John Fergale, died September 25 after receiving the traditional sacramental rites of the Church wearing the brown scapular,

John Gabor, the brother of Donna Marbach, died September 9,

Fr. Eugene Dougherty, a faithful priest, fittingly died on the Nativity of the BVM after receiving the traditional Catholic sacraments,

Phyllis Schlafly, died September 5,

Helen Mackewicz, died August 14,

Mark A. Wonderlin, who died August 2,

Fr. Carl Cebollero, a faithful priest to tradition who was a friend of Fr. Waters and Fr. DeMaio,

Jessica Cortes, a young mother of ten who died June 12,

Frances Toriello, a life-long Catholic faithful to tradition, died June3, the feast of the Sacred Heart, and her husband Dan, died in 1985,

John McLaughlin, a friend of the Drew’s, died May 22,

Angela Montesano, who died April 30, and her husband, Salvatore, who died in July 3, 2013,

Charles Schultz, died April 5, left behind nine children and many grandchildren, all traditional Catholics,

Esperanza Lopez de Callejas, the aunt of Claudia Drew, died March 15,

Fr. Edgardo Suelo, a faithful priest defending our traditions who was working with Fr. Francois Chazal in the Philippines, died February 19,

Conde McGinley, a long time laborer for the traditional faith, died February 12, at 96 years,

The Drew family requests your prayers for Ida Fernandez and Rita Kelley, parishioners at St. Jude,

Fr. Stephen Somerville, a traditional priest who repented from his work with the Novus Ordo English translation, died December 12,

Fr. Arturo DeMaio, a priest that helped this Mission with the sacraments and his invaluable advice, died December 2,

J. Paul Carswell, died October 15, 2015,

Solange Hertz, a great defender of our Catholic faith, died October 3, the First Saturday of the month,

Paula P. Haigh, died October 22, a great defender of our Catholic faith in philosophy and natural science,

Gabriella Whalin, the mother of Gabriella Schiltz, who died August 25,

Mary Catherine Sick, 14 year old from a large traditional Catholic family, died August 25,

Fr. Paul Trinchard, a traditional Catholic priest, died August 25,

Stephen J. Melnick, Jr., died on August 21, a long-time faithful traditional Catholic husband and father, from Philadelphia,

Patricia Estrada, died July 29, her son Alex petitions our prayers for her soul,

Fr. Nicholas Gruner, a devoted priest & faithful defender of Blessed Virgin Mary and her Fatima message, died April 29,

Sarah E. Shindle, the grandmother of Richard Shindle, died April 26,

Madeline Vennari, the mother of John Vennari, died December 19,

Salvador Baca Callejas, the uncle of Claudia Drew, died December 13,

Robert Gomez, who died in a motor vehicle accident November 29,

Catherine Dunn, died September 15,

Anthony Fraser, the son of Hamish Fraser, died August 28,

Jeannette Rhoad, the grandmother of Devin Rhoad, who died August 24,

John Thees, the uncle of Philip Thees, died August 9,

Sarah Harkins, 32 year-old mother of four children, died July 28,

Msgr. Donald Adams, who offered the Indult Mass, died April 1996,

Anita Lopez, the aunt of Claudia Drew,

Fr. Kenneth Walker, a young traditional priest of the FSSP who was murdered in Phoenix June 11,

Fr. Waters petitions our prayers for Gilberte Violette, the mother of Fr. Violette, who died May 6,

Pete Hays petitions our prayers for his brothers, Michael, died May 9, and James, died October 20, his sister, Rebecca, died March17, and his mother, Lorraine Hayes who died May 4,

Philip Marbach, the father of Paul Marbach who was the coordinator at St. Jude in Philadelphia, died April 21,

Richard Slaughtery, the elderly sacristan for the SSPX chapel in Kansas City, died April 13,

Bernedette Marie Evans nee Toriello, the daughter of Daniel Toriello , died March 31, a faithful Catholic who suffered many years with MS,

Natalie Cagorski, died march 23,

Anita Lopez de Lacayo, the aunt of Claudia Drew, who died March 21,

Mario Palmaro, Catholic lawyer, bioethicist and professor, apologist, died March 9, welfare of his widow and children,

Daniel Boyle, the uncle of Ryan Boyle, died March 4,

Jeanne DeRuyscher, who died on January 25,

Arthur Harmon, died January 18,

Fr. Waters petitions our prayers for the soul of Jeanne DeRuyscher, who died January 17,

Joseph Proctor, died January 10,

Susan Scott, a devote traditional Catholic who made the vestments for our Infant of Prague statue, died January 8,

Brother Leonard Mary, M.I.C.M., (Fred Farrell), an early supporter and friend of Fr. Leonard Feeney, died November 23,

John Fergale, requests our prayers for his sister Connie, who died December 19,

Jim Capaldi, died December 15,

Brinton Creager, the son of Elizabeth Carpenter, died December 10,

Christopher Lussos, age 27, the father of one child with an expecting wife, died November 15,

Jarett Ebeyer, 16 year old who died in his sleep, November 17, at the request of the Kolinsky’s,

Catherine Nienaber, the mother of nine children, the youngest three years of age, killed in MVA after Mass, 10-29,

Nancy Aldera, the sister of Frances Toriello, died October 11, 2013 at 105 years of age,

Mary Rita Schiltz, the mother of Thomas Schiltz, who died August 27,

William H. (Teddy) Kennedy, Catholic author of Lucifer’s Lodge, died August 14, age 49, cause of death unknown,

Alfred Mercier, the father of David Mercier, who died August 12,

The Robert Kolinsky asks our prayers for his friend, George Curilla, who died August 23,

John Cuono, who had attended Mass at our Mission in the past, died August 11,

Raymond Peterson, died July 28, and Paul Peterson, died February 19, the brothers of Fr. Casimir Peterson,

Margaret Brillhart, who died July 20,

Msgr. Joseph J. McDonnell, a priest from the diocese of Des Moines, who died June 8,

Patrick Henry Omlor, who wrote Questioning The Validity of the Masses using the New, All English Canon, and for a series of newsletters which were published as The Robber Church, died May 2, the feast of St Athanasius,

Bishop Joseph McFadden, died unexpectedly May 2,

Timothy Foley, the brother-in-law of Michelle Marbach Folley, who died in April,

William Sanders, the uncle of Don Rhoad, who died April 2,

Gene Peters ask our prayers for the repose of the soul of Mark Polaschek, who died March 22,

Eduardo Gomez Lopez, the uncle of Claudia Drew, February 28,

Cecelia Thees, died February 24,

Elizabeth Marie Gerads, a nineteen year old, the oldest of twelve children, who died February 6,

Michael Schwartz, the co-author with Fr. Enrique Rueda of “Gays, Aids, and You,” died February 3,

Stanley W. Moore, passed away in December 16, and Gerard (Jerry) R. Pitman, who died January 19, who attended this Mission in the past,

Louis Fragale, who died December 25,

Fr. Luigi Villa, Th.D. author of Vatican II About Face! detailing the heresies of Vatican II, died November 18 at the age of 95,

Rev. Michael Jarecki, a faithful traditional Catholic priest who died October 22,and Rev. Hector Bolduc, who died September 10,

Jennie Salaneck, died September 19 at 95 years of age, a devout and faithful Catholic all her life,

Dorothy Sabo, who died September 26,

Cynthia (Cindy) Montesano Reinhert, the mother of nine children, four who are still at home, died August 19,

Stanley Spahalski, who died October 20, and his wife, Regina Spahalski, who died June 24, and for the soul of Francis Lester, her son,

Julia Atkinson, who died April 30,

Antonio P. Garcia, who died January 6, 2012 and the welfare of his teenage children, Andriana and Quentin,

Helen Crane, the aunt of David Drew who died February 27,

Fr. Timothy A. Hopkins, of the National Shrine of St. Philomena, in Miami, November 2,

Frank Smith, who died February 7, and the welfare of his wife, Delores,

Eduardo Cepeda, who died January 26,

Larry Young, the 47 year old father of twelve who died December 10 and the welfare of his wife Katherine and their family,

Sister Mary Bernadette, M.I.C.M., a founding member of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, died December 16,

Joeseph Elias, who died on September 28,

William, the brother of Fr. Waters, who died September 7,

Donald Tonelli, died August 1,

Rev. Fr. Gregory Hesse, of Austria, a great defender of Catholic Truth, died January 25, 2006,

Emma Colasanti, who died May 29,

Mary Dullesse, who died April 12, a Catholic convert who died wearing our Lady’s scapular,

Ruth Jantsch, the grandmother of Andre Ebert, who died April 7, Derrick and Denise Palengat, his godparents,

Philip D. Barr, died March 5, and the welfare of his family,

Judith Irene Kenealy, the mother of Joyce Paglia, who died February 23, and her son, George Richard Moore, who died May 14,

For Joe Sobran who died September 30,

Fr. Hector Bolduc, a great and faithful priest, died, September 10, 2012,

James & Jean Rowan and their sons, Patrick & Daniel,

John Vennari asks our prayers for Dr. Raphael Waters who died August 26,

Stanley Bodalsky, the father of Mary Ann Boyle who died June 25,

Mary Isabel Kilfoyle Humphreys, a former York resident and friend of the Drew’s, who died June 6,

Rev. John Campion, who offered the traditional Mass for us every first Friday until forbidden to do so by Bishop Dattilo, died May 1,

Joseph Montagne, who died May 5,

For Margaret Vagedes, the aunt of Charles Zepeda, who died January 6,

Fr. Michael Shear, a Byzantine rite Catholic priest, died August 17, 2006,

Fr. James Francis Wathen, died November 7, 2006, author of The Great Sacrilege and Who Shall Ascend?, a great defender of dogma and liturgical purity,

Fr. Enrique Rueda, who died December 14, 2009, to whom our Mission is indebted,

Fr. Peterson asks to remember, Leonard Edward Peterson, his cousin, Wanda, Angelica Franquelli, and the six priests ordained with him.

Philip Thees petitions our prayers for Beverly Romanick, Deacon Michael Erdeck, Henry J. Phillips, Grace Prestano, Connie DiMaggio, Elizabeth Thorhas, Elizabeth Thees, Theresa Feraker, Hellen Pestrock, and James & Rose Gomata, and Kathleen Heinbach,

Fr. Didier Bonneterre, the author of The Liturgical Movement, and Fr. John Peek, both were traditional priests,

Brother Francis, MICM, the superior of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Richmond, NH, who died September 5,

Rodolfo Zelaya Montealegre, the father of Claudia Drew, who died May 24,

Rev. Francis Clifford, a devout and humble traditional priest, who died on March 7,

Benjamin Sorace, the uncle of Sonja Kolinsky

“Only take heed to yourself and guard your soul diligently.” Deut 4:9

"It is a sin to believe there is salvation outside the Catholic Church!"

Blessed Pope Pius IX

OLDER BULLETIN POSTINGS THAT REMAIN TIMELY CONTINIUE BELOW:

Francis_Idiot

“As regards the bishops, very few of them possess genuine zeal for souls … So we have to pray to Jesus Christ that he would give us as head of the Church one possessed of more spirit and zeal for the glory of God than of learning and human prudence. He should be free of all party attachments and devoid of human respect. If, by chance, for our great misfortune, we should get a Pope that does not have the glory of God as his sole purpose, the Lord will not help him greatly and things from their present condition will go from bad to worse.”

St. Alphonsus Marie Liguori, excerpt from letter commenting on the Papal Conclave, October 24, 1774

The work of the devil will creep even into the Church in such a way that cardinals will be opposed to other cardinals, and bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me, will be despised and hindered by their brethren… the Church will be full of those who accept compromises.

Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Akita

Revolutionary France: Civil Constitution of the Clergy, Title II, Article XXI

Things began to change quickly in 1789. On August 4, the newly assembled National Assembly drafted the ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen,’ and over the next year completely dismantled French society and rebuilt it from the ground up. Part of this included nationalizing all Church lands and transferring ownership to the state. By June 1790 the Assembly had officially abolished the nobility, and on July 12 passed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.[.....]

The most contentions aspects of the constitution, however, involved how new bishops would be appointed to office and the duties required of them. The Church was now essentially completely incorporated as a branch of government, and bishops were to be elected by popular vote. This was received with outrage by many clergy, as it not only completely up-ended the top-down appointment system of the Church, but would then allow Protestants, Jews, and atheists to directly influence Church matters. What would cause the greatest problems though, was Article XXI of Title II. This required bishops to take an oath before municipal officials asserting their loyalty to the nation of France before all other things, or their office would be declared vacant.[.....]

The oath of loyalty created a massive schism within the clergy. Many lower clergy had supported revolutionary calls for reform, even reform within the Church, but this was beyond the pale. Thousands of priests, monks, and nuns now had to choose between refusing the oath and risking arrest and punishment, or taking the oath and risking their salvation. In March 1791, the Pope forced the issue by issuing a papal bull officially condemning the Revolution's actions towards the Church and leveling excommunication upon any clergy who took the oath.

The clergy was then split into juring priests (those who took the oath) and non-juring or refractory priests (those who refused). ....

Wikipedia

COMMENT: The situation in revolutionary France is analogous to the revolutionary Church that is known as the "Church of the New Advent." Article XXI of Title II required of every Catholic priest as a necessary condition to function as a priest that he take an oath placing the authority of man above the authority of God. Today, the Church of the New Advent imposes the 1989 Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity upon every priest in the Church as a necessary condition to exercise any authority. This Profession includes an unconditional oath of submission of the mind and will, or as Lumen Gentium say, submission of the soul, to the authentic magisterium of the pope. The "authentic magisterium" is a term that only identifies the person who occupies the office of the papacy. The Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity demand an unconditional submission of the mind and will to a man as man. Unconditional submission of the mind and will can only be given to God and to God alone. It is time that those priests in the Church of the New Advent be referred known as "juring" priests as it will become more and more evident with the passage of time when they will be required to go along with Pope Francis' overturning all Catholic morality.

Father of Modernism: Cardinal John Henry Newman?

"...an English Catholicism, of which Newman is the highest type. It is the old Anglican, patristic, literary, Oxford tone transplanted into the Church... In one word, it is a worldly Catholicism, and it will have the worldly on its side, and will deceive many."

Cardinal Manning to Msgr. Talbot

It has always been incomprehensible to me why Manning’s hostility to Newman should be imputed to him as a sin, while Newman’s hostility to Manning is held to be a virtue. [.....] Yet at the present hour, when the Modernists have claimed Newman as their precursor, supporting their contention with many a passage from his writings, it would seem that Manning, as the exponent of orthodox doctrine, was justified in his appreciation of Newman’s teaching. [....] Manning had everything to lose by becoming a Catholic, Newman had everything to gain. [....]This is shown by the willingness with which (Manning) threw aside ambition, comfort, and prosperity, when as the high road to the foremost and pleasantest preferments in the Church of England, to enter upon the tedious life of a Roman Catholic mission priest. His new durance called forth from him no moaning such as Newman poured out when he was sent to work in Ireland. [.... ] Manning’s religion was free from all pious affectation. Yet in close contact with him one felt that he was always living in the presence of an unseen Power, not as a pompous agent, but as its simple and humble messenger. It has been my lot to witness some of the most imposing religious ceremonies of modern Christendom; but nothing so impressive, so faith-inspiring has ever met my eyes as the sight of the noble old Englishman in his threadbare cassock kneeling alone before the altar of his bare chapel.”

[......] “I became a Catholic off my own bat” (Manning) exclaimed to indicate the lack of conviction in the Oxford converts. Afterwards the conversation moved to theological ground, and Manning’s tone changed. “From an observation you made”, he said, “I gather that you are under the impression that Doctor Newman is a good Catholic.” I replied that such was my vague belief. He retorted: “Either you are ignorant of the Catholic doctrine, or of the works of Doctor Newman” - he always said ‘Doctor Newman’ in Oxford fashion, and never gave him the title of Cardinal. After asking me which of Newman’s books I had read, he proceeded to tick off on his tapering fingers, in his usual way, ten distinct heresies to be found in the most widely-read works of Dr. Newman.” [.....] To Msgr. Talbot Manning wrote, “. . . an English Catholicism, of which Newman is the highest type. It is the old Anglican, patristic, literary, Oxford tone transplanted into the Church... In one word, it is a worldly Catholicism, and it will have the worldly on its side, and will deceive many. [....] He is the most dangerous man in England.”

Richard Sartino, Another Look at Cardinal Newman, quoting J. E. C. Bodley, a Protestant and Mason, on Cardinal Newman and Cardinal Manning

On the other hand, it is certain that the Jewish Cabalistic tradition was one of the principal mediums through which Eastern occultism (which has so many times come to the surface in European history) has been transmitted to modern Europe; and that many, if not all, of the recognized founders of the eighteenth century Illuminism (including Weishaupt, Pasqualis, and Cagliostro) were initiated into its secrets by Jewish Cabalists or drew their inspiration and their methods from the Jewish esoteric writings. The Jewish apologist, Bernard Lazare, states that “there were Cabalistic Jews around the cradle of Freemasonry, as certain rites still in existence conclusively show.”

Rev. Edward J. Cahill, S.J., The Truth About Freemasonry

Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity – Even JPII did not deny this dogma!

Pope Francis Teaches:

Francis-hidden-crucifix We hold the Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with God has never been revoked, for “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Rom.11:29). The Church, which shares with Jews an important part of the Sacred Scriptures, looks upon the people of the covenant and their faith as one of the sacred roots of her own Christian identity (cf. Rom. 11:16-18). As Christians, we cannot consider Judaism as a foreign religion; nor do we include the Jews among those called to turn from idols and to serve the true God (cf. 1 Thes. 1:9). With them, we believe in the one God who acts in history, and with them we accept his revealed word. Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium

The Church officially recognizes that the People of Israel continue to be the Chosen People. Nowhere does it say: “You lost the game, now it is our turn.” It is a recognition of the People of Israel. Pope Francis, On Heaven and Earth

The Catholic Church Teaches:

Hebrews 7:18: “On the one hand, a former commandment is annulled because of its weakness and uselessness…”;

Hebrews 10:9: “Then he says, ‘Behold, I come to do your will.’ He takes away the first [covenant] to establish the second [covenant]…”;

2 Corinthians 3:14: “For to this day when they [the Jews] read the Old Covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away”;

Hebrews 8:7: “For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another”;

Colossians 2:14: “Having canceled the written code, with its decrees, that was against us and stood opposed to us; He took it away nailing it to the cross”;

Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, para. 29: “…the New Testament took the place of the Old Law which had been abolished…but on the gibbet of His death Jesus made void the Law with its decrees fastened the handwriting of the Old Testament to the Cross”;

The Catechism of the Council of Trent: “…the people, aware of the abrogation of the Mosaic Law…”;

Council of Florence: [This council] firmly believes, professes, and teaches that the matter pertaining to the law of the Old Testament, of the Mosiac law, which are divided into ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments, because they were established to signify something in the future, although they were suited to the divine worship at that time, after our Lord’s coming had been signified by them, ceased, and the sacraments of the New Testament began; and that whoever, even after the passion, placed hope in these matters of the law and submitted himself to them as necessary for salvation, as if faith in Christ could not save without them, sinned mortally. Yet it does not deny that after the passion of Christ up to the promulgation of the Gospel they could have been observed until they were believed to be in no way necessary for salvation; but after the promulgation of the Gospel it asserts that they cannot be observed without the loss of eternal salvation. All, therefore, who after that time observe circumcision and the Sabbath and the other requirements of the law, it declares alien to the Christian faith and not in the least fit to participate in eternal salvation, unless someday they recover from these errors. Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Cantate Domino

Council of Trent: “but not even the Jews by the very letter of the law of Moses were able to be liberated or to rise therefrom”;

Cardinal Ratzinger: “Thus the Sinai [Mosaic] Covenant is indeed superseded” (Many Religions – One Covenant, p. 70).

St. John Chrysostom: “Yet surely Paul’s object everywhere is to annul this Law….And with much reason; for it was through a fear and a horror of this that the Jews obstinately opposed grace” (Homily on Romans, 6:12); “And so while no one annuls a man’s covenant, the covenant of God after four hundred and thirty years is annulled; for if not that covenant but another instead of it bestows what is promised, then is it set aside, which is most unreasonable” (Homily on Galatians, Ch 3);

St. Augustine: “Instead of the grace of the law which has passed away, we have received the grace of the gospel which is abiding; and instead of the shadows and types of the old dispensation, the truth has come by Jesus Christ. Jeremiah also prophesied thus in God’s name: ‘Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah…’ Observe what the prophet says, not to Gentiles, who had not been partakers in any former covenant, but to the Jewish nation. He who has given them the law by Moses, promises in place of it the New Covenant of the gospel, that they might no longer live in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the spirit” (Letters, 74, 4);

Justin Martyr: “Now, law placed against law has abrogated that which is before it, and a covenant which comes after in like manner has put an end to the previous one; and an eternal and final law – namely, Christ – has been given to us, and the covenant is trustworthy…Have you not read…by Jeremiah, concerning this same new covenant, He thus speaks: ‘Behold, the days come,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…’” (Dialogue with Trypho, Ch 11).

John Paul II: “Christ fulfills the divine promise and supersedes the old law.” (Redemptoris Mater)

Taken from Robert Sungenis, The Old Covenent: Revoked or Not Revoked?

Reported exchange NOT confirmed by our Vatican Sources:

'Please accept this as an honest and sincere token of my undying passionate devotion to your sweet person!'

'Oh thank you snookems, I could just pinch your cheek!' (Smack, Smack, Smack)

On 13 June 1525, after weeks of speculation, Martin Luther secretly married Katharina von Bora, a former nun, in a private ceremony officiated by city preacher Johann Bugenhagen and attended by jurist Johann Apel, professor Justus Jonas, and artist Lucas Cranach and his wife. Over the last centuries, scholars, writers, artists, Wittenberg citizens—in their popular, annual Lutherhochzeit [Luther’s wedding] festival—and even a recent filmmaker have characterized this event as one of the iconic episodes of the Lutheran Reformation. Yet Luther’s marriage neither legalized nor heralded an immediate acceptance of priestly marriage even in reformed territories. Luther certainly was not the first cleric to marry. Three of the witnesses at his wedding—Apel, Bugenhagen, and Jonas—were former Catholic clergy who had all married by mid-1523, a full two years before this event. Only a few weeks prior to this event, Luther expressed hesitation about marriage even for political reasons, suggesting perhaps he would agree to a chaste marriage, a Josephehe, to support married clergy. Luther’s marriage does illustrate many aspects of the ongoing reform process. His mixed feelings about marrying, the atmosphere that led him to a decision, the subsequent outcry about marriage, and the personal trials that faced him and his wife in their married life had much in common with the many clergy who married before and after him in the first decades of the German Reformation.

Marjorie Elizabeth Plummer, Western Kentucky University, From Priest’s Whore to Pastor’s Wife: Clerical Marriage and the Process of Reform in the Early German Reformation

“Only a misguided mind would seek to afford equal rights to both good and evil.”

Conservative Catholics are double losers. Now that Summorum Pontificum is revoked and with it their grant of legal privilege, they are now at the Indult and have renounced any legal or moral grounds to complain because they accepted the legitimacy of the Novus Ordo and Vatican II!

In the civil sphere, the deep state has managed political and social dissent by using organizations and movements that are only apparently opposition, but which are actually instrumental to maintaining power. Similarly, in the ecclesial sphere, the deep church uses the moderate “conservatives” to give the appearance of offering freedom to the faithful. The Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum itself, for example, while granting the celebration in the extraordinary form, demands saltem impliciter that we accept the Council and recognize the lawfulness of the reformed liturgy. This ploy prevents those who benefit from the Motu Proprio from raising any objection, or risk the dissolution of the Ecclesia Dei communities. And it instills in the Christian people the dangerous idea that a good thing, in order to have legitimacy in the Church and society, must necessarily be accompanied by a bad thing or at least something less good. However, only a misguided mind would seek to afford equal rights to both good and evil. It matters little if one is personally in favor of good, when he recognizes the legitimacy of those who are in favor of evil.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò

Martyrdom - To be "freed by a great victory"

Saint Catherine has told me that I shall have succour, and I do not know if it is to be that I shall be freed from my prison, or if when I am being sentenced there will be some disturbance there by means of which I could be freed. I think that it will be one or the other. Most often my voices tell me that I shall be freed by a great victory. And afterwards my voices say, "Accept all willingly, heed not your martyrdom, you shall come at last into the Kingdom of Paradise." And this my voices have told me simply and absolutely, that is, assuredly. I call it martyrdom because of the pain and oppression that I suffer in prison. I do not know if I shall suffer a greater; that I leave with our Lord. I firmly believe what my voices have told me, which is that I shall be saved, as firmly as if I were already there.

St. Joan of Arc, Virgin & Martyr, her message from St. Catherine of Alexandria, March 14, 1431

“And in those days cometh John the Baptist preaching in the desert of Judea. And saying: Do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3: 1-2).”

The majority of those who hear this word – “Do penance” – immediately think of a moral change in life. This is correct. In practice, the one who converts gives up dark deeds (idolatry, sorcery, theft, fornication, adultery, drunkenness, etc.) in order to live a Christian life. This change in life, as Saint Augustine tells us, presupposes that someone feels remorse for the wrongs they have done, prompting them to begin a new life: “Unless one repent of his former life, he cannot begin a new life.” This change in life can rightfully be considered a concrete interpretation of the Gospel word – “Do penance.” And yet, the word itself indicates something deeper than a change in life. As we will see further, it points to the very root, the core, the essence that generates the actual change in life. Let’s see what it is about.

The Greek word translated as “Do penance” (or “Repent”) is a compound verb: μετανοεῖτε (metanoeite) – μετανοέω (metanoeó), formed from the preposition μετά (meta) – “beyond” – and the verb νοέω (noeó) – “to think,” “to understand” – which derives from the noun νοῦς (noûs) – “mind,” “intellect.” Simply and clearly translated, this verb means “to change one’s mind.” It actually indicates a change in the mind of the one invited to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The way the world, life, deeds – in a word, everything – is understood undergoes a profound transformation. The preposition “meta” even seems to indicate a change in the sense of lifting the mind beyond its natural limits.

If we think, for example, of articles of faith such as the mystery of the Holy Trinity or the Virgin Birth of the Savior, we realize that these exceed our natural capacity for understanding. Also, if we consider the absolutely unusual – from a strictly natural-human point of view – way Christians relate to death, we realize that we are dealing with an understanding of life completely opposite to the common one: how many people would prefer to die as martyrs rather than acknowledge the supposed divinity of Roman emperors? As it were, how many would die for a single word, κύριος (kurios) – “lord,” which Christians used exclusively for God, refusing to apply it to the Roman emperor?

Such deeds truly indicate a change of mind in those who embrace the faith. Moreover, if we recall the excellent definition given by St. Thomas Aquinas to faith, everything becomes crystal clear:

“The act of believing is an act of the intellect adhering to the Divine truth at the command of the will moved by the grace of God” (Latin: Credere est actus intellectus assentientis veritati divinae ex imperio voluntatis a Deo motae per gratiam.)

This adherence of our intellect to the divine Truth revealed represents precisely the change of mind that underlies the transformation of our entire lives. That’s why all those actions related to the virtue of religion, such as prayer, meditation, lectio divina, etc., actions that involve the use of intellect in the biblical, liturgical, and sacramental context provided by the Church, are so insistently recommended by saints of all times. Because they help us acquire minds transformed by grace that will motivate us to change our lives in the direction desired by God and imperatively requested by Him:

“You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

Robert Lazu Kmita, Romania

Pope Francis and his “subtle” sins against the Catholic Faith

Many men sin against Faith in an even more subtle way through the sins against the Holy Ghost, namely, the sins of despair, presumption, impenitence, obstinacy, resisting the known truth and envy of someone else's spiritual good. The sins against the Holy Ghost are not sins of weakness or ignorance. They are sins of certain malice. By despair a man rejects God's goodness and mercy. By presumption he rejects God's justice. By impenitence he refuses to turn from sin to God. By obstinacy a man hardens his will in sin. A man sins in resisting the known truth because he does so in order to sin more freely. Lastly a man sins by envying someone else's spiritual good because he hates the increase of God's grace in the world. In all these sins there is great danger for man because these sins mean that man is deliberately refusing to consider those truths and motives which would keep him from sin and enable him to turn to God. It is for this reason that the sins against the Holy Ghost are said to be unforgivable. It is not that God is unwilling to forgive any sins. It is rather that in these sins a man shows that he does not wish forgiveness.

Fr. Walter Farrell, O.P., S.T.M., My Way of Life, Pocket edition of St. Thomas

The ‘householder, bringeth forth out of her treasures new things and old.’

Dogma: The proximate rule of faith - Old because it is a doctrine revealed by Jesus Christ; New because it is formally and infallibly defined by the Magisterium.

And now, if a single individual, a scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, be such a householder, how much more the holy Church of Jesus Christ, headed by the successor of St. Peter! Long before our Saviour had actually given to St. Peter the supreme charge of his Church Ho asked him, “Who, thinkest thou, is that faithful and wise steward whom the Lord hath set over His family, to give them their measure of wheat in due season?” (Luke 41:42) Whether St. Peter surmised at that time that he himself was to be raised to that office, as the question addressed to him in preference to the other Apostles insinuated, we will not discuss at present. So much, however, was certain: that one was to be set over the whole household of the Lord by the Lord Himself. In the present parable lie is called “a man that is a householder”; again he is called “the faithful and wise steward whom the Lord hath set over his family.” In both cases the individual thus placed above all others has a treasure to dispose of according to the needs of times and circumstances. In the parable he is described as one “instructed in the kingdom of heaven” ; therefore he possesses full knowledge of the teaching and government of the true Church of God. In the text above quoted he is a “faithful and wise steward” — faithful to his trust, wise in his government and dispensation of the goods entrusted to his care. All this perfectly agrees with what he had said to St. Peter: “I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and thou once converted confirm thy brethren.” “Feed My lambs, feed My sheep” (or, in the literal translation of the original Greek text: “Be a shepherd of My lambs, be a shepherd of My sheep” ). Thus we see that Christ conferred on St. Peter and his successors, 1st, the prerogative of unerring faith, comprising all the doctrines of Jesus Christ without alteration (“thy faith fail not ”) ; 2d, the prerogative of the fulness of power in the dispensation of the means of grace (“their measure of wheat”)—wheat is nourishment for the body; the nourishment of the soul is divine grace (“life everlasting”) ; 3d, the prerogative of supreme power of government over clergy and laity (“feed My lambs, feed My sheep”). These prerogatives were to be exercised by St. Peter and his successors, not all at once and everywhere indiscriminately, but according to times and circumstances, as the good of the Church and the wants of the faithful required (“to give them their measure of wheat in due season”). But when or wherever they exercised them they acted the part of the “householder bringing forth out of his treasure new things and old.” They are new because newly enacted, declared, defined; they are old because they contain no new revelation or any assumption of power never granted by Christ, but simply old truths under new forms, the old power exercised under new circumstances, etc.

The Church of Christ, after existing almost nineteen hundred years, had as good a right to meet in council in the Vatican at Rome, under the presidency of Pius IX., the late successor of St. Peter, as it had in the first century of its existence, when St. Peter presided in person, at the Council of Jerusalem. Now, as then, it has a right to decide which of the prevailing opinions is in conformity with the teaching of Jesus Christ and belongs to the sacred deposit of faith “handed down to the saints,” (Jude 1:3) and which is against it and it can say with as much truth as the Apostles : “It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.” (Acts 15:28) If it is true the Holy Ghost makes no new revelation to the Church, nor does He teach her anything which Jesus Christ has not taught her before; on the contrary, our Saviour says : “He shall glorify Me : because He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it to you.” (John 16:14) Hence the dogmatic definitions of the popes and general councils of the Church are not new revelations, but a new definition, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, that such a doctrine belongs to the sacred deposit of faith preached by Jesus Christ, and consequently is received and approved of by the Church, or that another is opposed to it, and therefore is rejected and condemned. That same doctrine belonged to the Church or was opposed to it from the first day when the law of Christ was promulgated. He Himself revealed the articles of faith, but left to His Church, presided over by St. Peter and his successors, “whose faith fails not,” to decide what was in accordance with His teaching when, in the course of time, errors were started that threatened to subvert it. Thus the Church, as a good ‘householder, bringeth forth out of her treasures new things and old.’

Fr. Joseph Prachensky, The Church of the Parables & True Spouse of The Suffering Saviour

Those who contribute partake of the sin!

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Catholic Campaign for Human Development contributed $17 million (or 30.4% of its budget) to groups supporting abortion, Marxism, and the LGBT ideology and social agenda.

Lepanto Institute, November 14, 2022

“Family Ties” within the Homosexual Lobby
Notorious homosexual Cardinal Terrance (“Blanche, 'call-me-Uncle Teddy'“) McCarrick was ordained by the notorious homosexual Cardinal Francis (“Franny”) Spellman of New York who also ordained the notorious homosexual Cardinal Terence (“Cookie”) Cooke who took the notorious homosexual McCarrick as his “personal secretary” and consecrated McCarrick an auxiliary bishop. Cardinal Donald (Whirly Girl) Wuerl was ordained by the notorious homosexual Bishop Francis Fredrick Reh of Charleston, SC who was consecrated a bishop by the notorious homosexual Spellman. Wuerl became the “private secretary” to the notorious homosexual Cardinal John Wright who was Prefect for the Congregation of the Clergy and represented Wright at the conclave that elected John Paul II who consecrated Wuerl a bishop and made McCarrick a cardinal. It was Benedict/Ratzinger, formally head of the CDF responsible for cleaning up the Homosexual Lobby, who made Wuerl a cardinal. The homosexual Wuerl ultimately followed in the line of the homosexual Wright as Archbishop of Pittsburg and was himself followed the homosexual McCarrick in Washington. The Pennsylvania Grand Jury report, 900 plus pages citing Wuerl's name more than 200 times, charges that Wuerl as Archbishop of Pittsburgh for eighteen years repeatedly covered for the Homosexual Lobby.

The mansion that housed Wuerl and the local branch of the Homosexual Lobby in the Diocese of Pittsburgh was obtained by his homosexual predecessor Cardinal Wright and was appraised twenty years ago for $1.5 million. It was sold after Wuerl's departure. The Jacobethan Revival house along Fifth Avenue, at 9,842 square feet (914.4 m²) with 39 rooms including 11 bedrooms, six full baths, and a half-bath is one of the largest homes in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh. It housed an extensive collection of antiques, Oriental rugs and art during Wuerl's residency.

Just as Wuerl had covered up for the Homosexual Lobby in Pittsburgh, he did the same for McCarrick in Washington claiming to know nothing about McCarrick's perversion. McCarrick was Cardinal Archbishop of Washington 2001 to 2006. Homosexual McCarrick's “personal secretary” was the current Archdiocesan Vicar General Monsignor Charles Antonicelli who subsequently became the “personal secretary” to Homosexual Cardinal Wuerl. When Antonicelli was McCarrick's “personal secretary” in Washington, the Dioceses of Trenton, Metuchen, and Newark in 2004 and 2006 paid settlements for $100,000 and $80,000 to two men who had been abused by McCarrick while they were in the seminary as well as after they had become priests. It is, believe it or not, Antonicelli who now claims that he and Wuerl knew nothing about the homosexual escapades of McCarrick.

Compiled from information from Randy Engel, Rite of Sodomy, published in 2006, and recent articles from LifeSiteNews and WikiPedia

Catholic Truth against Modernist ERRORS:

“Science… cannot be successfully studied without final reference to God's place in it.”

We deny that God is unknown by the light of human reason. He is known by means of the visible things He has made. We set against Modernism the trenchant words of St. Paul to the Gentiles, which apply to their Modernist followers, in the paths of agnosticism. 'What is known of God is manifested in them. For the invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made: His eternal power also and His Divinity, so that they are inexcusable. Because when they knew God they did not glorify Him as God . . . but became vain in their thoughts . . . Professing themselves wise (Philosophers), they became fools' (Rom. i. 20, 21, 22). God can never be excluded from the domain of science, so the Modernist dogma that science is atheistic is inadmissible. We can no more leave God out of the sciences than we can shut out the light of the sun from our earth. Every branch of science, directly or indirectly, manifests in its own way the Divine Mind that is its ultimate end. As the whole of Nature, so the science of Nature is like a stream flowing from God, the Ocean of all truth and of all knowledge. Science, then, is not atheistic, it cannot be successfully studied without final reference to God's place in it. 'Vain is the mind of man in which is not found the knowledge of God' (Wisdom).

Rev. Norbert Jones, C.R.L., Old Truths, Not Modernist Errors

· “One must resist the Pope who openly destroys the Church.”

St. Cajetan

· “When a foulness invades the whole Church, we must return to the Church of the past.”

St. Vincent of Lerins

· “Just as it is licit to resist a Pontiff who attacks the body, so it is licit to resist him who attacks souls, or who disturbs the civil order, or, above all, him who tries to destroy the Church. It is licit to resist him by not doing what he orders and by impeding the execution of his will.”

St. Robert Bellarmine

· “They (the keys of authority given Jesus Christ to St. Peter) will never cease to be durable, they will last forever and they will never break.”

God the Father to St. Catherine of Siena

· “We have had enough of exhortations to be silent! Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues. I see that the world is rotten because of silence.”

St. Catherine of Siena

· “The devil is always discovering something novel against the truth.”

Pope Leo the Great

“In addition, as the heretic is an enemy of the Church, natural law provides protection against such a Pope according to the rules of self-defense, because she can defend herself against an enemy as is a heretical Pope; therefore, she can act (in justice) against him” (In Secunda Secundae, q. 1 a. 7, disp. II, a. III.).

John of St. Thomas, Dominical theologian

PREACHING TO THE DEAF

You gather here today, present-day apostles, as the Church and, therefore, the world stand perched on the edge of a cliff. And yet you who are entrusted with the keeping of souls choose to speak not a word of the spiritual danger which abounds. Today we stand on the cusp of all that has been prophesied about the Church and the abominations which would come forth in these times, a time when all of hell attacks the Church of Jesus Christ, and a time when the fallen angels of hell no longer seek entry into her sacred halls but instead stand inside, peeking out of her windows and unlocking doors to welcome in more diabolical destruction.

Do you not know that Our Lord will send forth His avenging angels to heap coals of fire upon the heads of those who were called to be His apostles and who have not guarded what He has given unto them?

And yet almost all of you, my brothers, stood by silently watching as the Synod on Synodality took place, an abomination constructed not to guard the Deposit of Faith, but to dismantle it, and yet few were the cries heard from you – men who should be willing to die for Christ and His Church.

The Synod’s final document has been released, yet with the sleight of hand which is so characteristic of the Francis-controlled Vatican. By drawing attention to the issues which worried many, they have slipped in what was always their real goal without anyone even noticing. What they were after in the first place was the dismantling of Christ’s Church by replacing the structure of the Church as Our Lord instituted it with a diabolically-inspired new structure of “synodality” which in actuality is a new church that is in no way Catholic.

Bishop Joseph Strickland, former bishop of Tyler, TX who was removed from his office by Pope Francis the Diabolical for preaching Catholic truth, addressing the U.S. bishops gathered at their annual meeting

Pope St. Martin was Martyred because Pope Honorius heretically compromised the Faith

St. Martin, who occupied the Roman See from 649 to 655 A.D., incurred the enmity of the Byzantine court by his energetic opposition to the Monothelite heresy, which had obtained a strong hold in the east. The Exarch Olympius went so far as to endeavour to procure the assassination of the Pope as he stood at the altar in the church of St. Mary Major; but the would-be murderer was miraculously struck blind, and his master refused to have any further hand in the matter. His successor had no such scruples; he secured the person of Martin by a stratagem, and conveyed him on board a vessel bound for Constantinople. After a three months' voyage, the island of Naxos was reached, where the Pope was kept in confinement for a year, and finally, in 654, brought in chains to the imperial city. Stripped of his pontifical garments, he was dragged naked through the streets by an iron collar fastened to his neck, an executioner preceding him with a drawn sword, to show that he was condemned to die. No words of complaint escaped his lips. 'I hope,' he said, 'that God, when He shall have taken me out of this world, will bring my persecutors to repentance.' His sentence was commuted to banishment to the Tauric Chersonese, where he lingered on for four months in sickness and starvation, till God released him by death on the 12th November 655.

COMMENT: Pope Martin was martyred for defending the Catholic faith against the Monothelite heretics. It was his predecessor, Pope Honorius, who attempted to placate the heretics by compromised equivocation of Catholic truth. For the equivocation Pope Honorius with others was declared a heretic by Third Council of Constantinople (Sixth Ecumenical Council) confirmed by the Pope. The Fourth Council of Constantinople (Seventh Ecumenical Council) more forcefully re-asserted this condemnation which was confirmed by Pope Leo II which stated:

Further, we accept the sixth, holy and universal synod {6 Constantinople III}, which shares the same beliefs and is in harmony with the previously mentioned synods in that it wisely laid down that in the two natures of the one Christ there are, as a consequence, two principles of action and the same number of wills. So, we anathematize Theodore who was bishop of Pharan, Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul and Peter, the unholy prelates of the church of Constantinople, and with these, Honorius of Rome, Cyrus of Alexandria as well as Macarius of Antioch and his disciple Stephen, who followed the false teachings of the unholy heresiarchs Apollinarius, Eutyches and Severus and proclaimed that the flesh of God, while being animated by a rational and intellectual soul, was without a principle of action and without a will, they themselves being impaired in their senses and truly without reason.
Fourth Ecuмenical Council of Constantinople

The Fourth Ecumenical Council began by stating:

If we wish to proceed without offence along the true and royal road of divine justice, we must keep the declarations and teachings of the holy fathers (i.e.: the dogmatic canons from previous ecumenical councils) as if they were so many lamps which are always alight and illuminating our steps which are directed towards God. Therefore, considering and esteeming these as a second word of God, in accordance with the great and most wise Denis, let us sing most willingly along with the divinely inspired David, The commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening the eyes, and, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths; and with the author of Proverbs we say, Your commandment is a lamp and your law a light, and like Isaiah we cry to the lord God with loud voice, because your commands are a light for the earth. For the exhortations and warnings of the divine canons are rightly likened to light inasmuch as the better is distinguished from the worse and what is advantageous and useful is distinguished from what is not helpful but harmful.
Therefore we declare that we are preserving and maintaining the canons which have been entrusted to the holy, catholic and apostolic church by the holy and renowned apostles, and by universal as well as local councils of orthodox [bishops], and even by any inspired father or teacher of the church. Consequently, we rule our own life and conduct by these canons and we decree that all those who have the rank of priests and all those who are described by the name of Christian are, by ecclesiastical law, included under the penalties and condemnations as well as, on the other hand, the absolutions and acquittals which have been imposed and defined by them. For Paul, the great apostle, openly urges us to preserve the traditions which we have received, either by word or by letter, of the saints who were famous in times past.
Canon I, Fourth Ecuмenical Council of Constantinople

Pope Honorius was declared a heretic and anathematized by the Magisterium of the Church. Yet, nothing was ever said or implied about his loosing his office for heresy. The grounds for this Magisterial decision was Pope Honorius' failure to keep the rule of faith, (i.e.: dogma) for which he was declared a heretic. If you do not want to stumble in the darkness of our current crisis in the Church, you must keep the dogmatic canons as "many lamps which are always alight and illuminating our steps which are directed to God."

Morality of Zionism: More than 50,000 confirmed murdered Palestinians in Gaza with half of them children!

The Planned Destruction of the Palestinian People:

Before the Jews suffered their own "holocaust" they were planning the holocaust of the Palestinian Peoples

“The land of Israel is not small at all, if only the Arabs will be removed, and if its frontiers would be enlarged a little; to the north all the way to Litani [River in Lebanon], and to the east including the Golan Heights . . . . while the [Palestinian] Arabs be transferred to northern Syria and Iraq. . . . From now on we must work out a secret plan based on the removal of the [Palestinian] Arabs from here . . . [and] . . . to include it into American political circles. . . . today we have no other alternative. . . . We will not live here with Arabs.”

(Meeting with Jewish National Fund Chairman, Menachem Ussishkin)

“It must be clear that there is no room in the country for both peoples…. If the Arabs leave it, the country will become wide and spacious for us…. The only solution is a Land of Israel… without Arabs. There is no room here for compromises… There is no way but to transfer the Arabs from here to the neighboring countries, and to transfer all of them, save perhaps [a few].”

(Diary entry, December 12, 1941)

Yosef Weitz (1890-1972), Director of the Jewish National Fund's Land Settlement Department, known as the “architect of the transfer” of Jew to Palestine. Developed plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine. quote taken from Expulsion of the Palestinians by Nur Masalha

"The Jewish People are the Holy Root"

Since the Second Vatican Council we have rediscovered that the Jewish People are still for us the holy root that produced Jesus..... Because of our common roots, a true Christian cannot be an anti-Semite.

Pope Francis

On the Nature of Sin

First, then, what is sin? There are many definitions of it, and one is this: it is the transgression of the law. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” (1 John 3:4). God is a law to Himself; His perfections are the law of His own nature; and God wrote upon the conscience of man, even in the state of nature, the outline of His own perfections. He made man to know right from wrong; He made him to understand the nature of purity, justice, truth and mercy. These are perfections of God, and on the conscience of man the obligations of this law are written. Every man born into the world has this outline of God's law written upon him, and sin is the transgression of that law. Another definition of sin is: any thought, word, or deed contrary to the will of God.

Now, the will of God is the perfection of God Himself — holy, just, pure, merciful, true; and anything contrary to these perfections in thought, word, or deed is sin. The conformity of man to the will of God, to the perfections of God, is the sanctity or the perfection of the human soul; and the more he is conformed to the will of God, the holier and more perfect he is. Therefore, to be at variance with God is to be deformed; and the monstrous deformity of the human frame is not more humbling nor more hideous — nay, it is not humbling and hideous, compared with the deformity of the soul. When the soul is unlike to God, when it is departed from the perfection of God, when instead of purity there is impurity, instead of justice there is injustice, instead of truth there is falsehood, instead of mercy there is cruelty, instead of the perfections of God there is the direct contrary of those perfections: no deformity or hideousness that can strike the eye is so terrible.

The malice, then, of sin consists in this, that it is a created will in conscious variance with the uncreated will of God. God made us to His own image and to His own likeness; He gave us all that He could bestow upon us. He could not bestow upon us His own nature, because that is uncreated, and no creature can partake of the uncreated nature of God; but God could bestow, and He did by His omnipotence with His mercy, bestow upon us His likeness, His image, an intelligence and a will, a heart and a conscience, so that we become intelligent and moral beings. The malice of sin consists, then, in this: that an intelligent creature, having a power of will, deliberately and consciously opposes the will of its Maker. The malice of sin is essentially internal to the soul. The external action whereby the sinner perpetrates his sin adds, indeed, an accidental malice and an accidental increase of wickedness; but the essence, the life of the malice, consists in the act of the soul itself.

We see, then, that sin is the conscious variation of our moral being from the will of God. We abuse our whole nature: we abuse our intellect by acting irrationally, in violation of the will of God which is written upon the conscience; we abuse our will, because we deliberately abuse the power of the will, whereby we originate our actions in opposition to the will of God who gave it. We apply our intellect and will, with our eyes open and with freedom and choice, to the perpetration of acts, or the utterance of words, or the harboring of thoughts which are known to be contrary to the will of God; and, therefore, in every sin there is the knowledge of the intellect of what we are doing, the consent of the will in doing it, and the consciousness of the mind fixed upon the action despite these two objects: the law and the Lawgiver — the law of God known to us, and the Giver of that law, who is God Himself; so that we deliberately, with our eyes open and of our own free will, break God's law in God's face. Now, that is the plain definition and description of sin; and here I must, for a moment, turn aside from our path.

Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, Sin and its Consequences

A clear explanation of the essential problem: What is for faithful Catholic the “Rule of Faith”? Is it Dogma or the Pope? Those who believe it is the Pope will follow Pope Francis even if he takes them to Hell!

Maike Hickson: Where does Prof. Rocco Buttiglione (who defends the new morality of Pope Francis and Amoris Laetitia), in your eyes, leave the solid foundation of the Catholic moral teaching, perhaps in order to maintain loyalty toward Pope Francis?

Professor Josef Seifert: I think (1) with respect to his “two principles” that separate us, they do not correspond to sound Catholic teaching because it is Catholic teaching (and the basis for all condemnation of heresies in the history of the Church) that a) truth has priority over unity and b) that no Catholic has an absolute duty to accept everything a Pope or Council are saying if it is not dogmatic and de fide, and if he has good reason to believe that it is contrary to natural or revealed truth or to both (to claim otherwise would be papolatry). Besides, (2) I believe that Professor Buttiglione’s concrete and brilliant but unsuccessful efforts to reconcile the novelties of Amoris Laetitia with Familiaris Consortio, Veritatis Splendor, Evangelium Vitae, Humanae Vitae, and the Tradition of the Church all fail and put him at the risk of using overcomplicated and sophistical reasons and of contradicting dogmas of the Church such as (a) that God never commands things which we cannot obey, with the help of grace (a Lutheran heresy denied this and was condemned in the Council of Trent), or (b) that extramoral evils (such that the partner of a second “marriage” will leave me) can never be greater evils than a sin and the intention to prevent them can never justify committing a sin (VS and Trent affirmed this and condemned its negation as heretical), or (c) that weighing good versus bad effects of any action can never justify committing one of the many intrinsically evil acts (Veritatis Splendor made this very solemnly clear).

I accuse Islam but not individual Muslims, who are the prime victims of Islam. I have made up my mind to denounce the source of the terrorism: the main source of Islamic radicalism in the world is the University of al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt, where the deadly ideology is taught as the official doctrine of Islam. I accuse the University of al-Azhar in Cairo, supposedly the embodiment of moderate Islam, of creating a spirit of fanaticism, intolerance and hatred in millions of students and Muslim clerics coming from all over the world to receive a formation in its institutes. By this means al-Azhar becomes one of the main sources of terrorism worldwide.

I accuse Islam itself and not just “extremist Islamism,” because Islam is by nature both political and radical. Twenty-five years ago I wrote that Islamism is merely Islam stripped bare, in all its logic and rigour. It plans for a society aiming for a worldwide caliphate based on Shariah law, which is the only legitimate law, as coming from God. It is a plan taking in the entire globe, all-encompassing and wholly totalitarian. I accuse all those who pretend that the crimes committed by Muslims “have nothing to do with Islam,” of being deliberate liars. These crimes are committed in the name of the Koran and its clear instructions. The mere fact that the Muslim call to prayer and the call to kill non-Muslims are preceded by the same cry “Allah-ou Akhbar” (God is great), is highly significant.

I accuse learned Muslims of the 10th century of promulgating the decrees, now irreversible, which have led Islam into its present frozen state. The first of these decrees cancelled every kind of precedence for the Koran’s verses from Mecca calling for peace and harmony, and it gave priority instead to the verses from Medina which call for intolerance and violence. Two further decrees were promulgated to make this first decree irreversible: the Koran was decreed to be the uncreated word of Allah, hence immutable; and any further effort at reflection was forbidden by “the gate of ijtihad (reflection) being closed once and for all.” These three decrees, made sacred, have fossilized Muslim thinking, and contributed to the keeping of Muslim countries in a state of backwardness and chronic stagnation.

I accuse the Vatican II Decree “Nostra Aetate” of launching an inter-religious dialogue meant to be open, welcoming and understanding of Muslims, because for 50 years we have not taken one step forward, and now we are stopped dead. The dialogue with a sheikh from al-Azhar ended up with his proclaiming that “all Christians are going to Hell.” Nothing is moving, just as nothing has moved for the last 11 centuries. Dialogue, yes, but I want a dialogue based on truth. Charity without truth goes nowhere! I accuse the Catholic Church of pursuing a dialogue with Islam based on seeking to please, on making compromises and on double-dealing. After 50 years of initiatives all going one way, the Church’s monologue has got nowhere. By giving way to the “politically correct,” by pretending that the dialogue must not offend the Muslims because we must “live together,” all thorny but vital questions are studiously avoided. But true dialogue begins with the truth. I have asked to meet Pope Francis. No reply.

Fr. Henry Boulad, 86 year-old Jesuit priest born in Alexandria, Egypt, of an old Syrian Christian family of the Melkite rite, former Professor of Theology in Cairo, Superior of the Jesuits in Alexandria and of the Jesuits in Egypt. Quotation taken from Bishop Richard Williamson's newsletter, Eleison Comments

The Man Born Blind, the Pool of Siloe - a sign for the absolute necessity of Baptism that those who are pure of heart will “find it” and that it will “burst out for them in a stream”... so they “may not perish for a lack of water.” But “strangers would not find it, for the water withdrew itself.”

St. Augustine says that Christ made clay of the spittle because the Word was made flesh. He anointed the eyes of the blind man, but yet he did not see, for when He anointed him He most likely made him a catechumen. He sends him to the pool of Siloe. For being baptized in Christ he is illuminated. The Gloss says that the spittle is the wisdom of Christ, to anoint the eyes is to make a catechumen. He that believeth in the Word made flesh is sent to wash, that is, in Christ. But he who is baptized received the light of the mind through faith, grace and charity, which are infused into him by God in baptism. St. Jerome says that, “Siloe is a source at the foot of Mount Sion, which bubbles up, not in a continuous stream, but at uncertain time of the day, and then through hollows in the ground it makes its way to caves of very hard stone; there is no doubt that this is so, especially for us who live in this region.” The story of how this stream first burst forth at the prayers of Isaias, and how it acquired its name, is related by Epiphanius in his usual fashion in the following words: “God made the fount of Siloe at the request of the prophet Isaias, who shortly before his death prayed for a trifle: that God would grant the waters to flow from that place, and He immediately poured down from heaven living waters; hence the place obtained the name Siloe which, interpreted, means ‘sent down.’ And under King Ezechias, before he built the pond and the pools, a small stream sprang up at the prayers of Isaias, for the people were under siege by the enemy, so that the city might not perish for lack of water. The soldiers searched everywhere for a place where they might quench their thirst, but could not tell where to find it. After they had indeed taken the city, they besieged Siloe. But whenever the poor Jews went to seek water it burst out for them in a stream. But strangers would not find it, for the water withdrew itself. And even up to the present time it bursts forth secretly, thus signifying a mystery.”

Cornelius a Lapide, The Great Commentary, St. John, Chapter 9

All our Immemorial Traditions are Sacred Images of the Faith by which alone the Faith is Known and Communicated to others!

You see that great strength and divine zeal are given to those who venerate the images of the saints with faith and a pure conscience. Therefore, brethren, let us take our stand on the rock of the faith, and on the tradition of the Church, neither removing the boundaries laid down by our holy fathers of old, nor listening to those who would introduce innovation and destroy the economy of the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of God. If any man is to have his foolish way, in a short time the whole organization of the Church will be reduced to nothing. Brethren and beloved children of the Church do not put your mother to shame, do not rend her to pieces. Receive her teaching through me. Listen to what God says of her: 'Thou are all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee.'... All the saints pleased God by faith.... Let us not seek to learn a new faith, destructive of ancient tradition, St. Paul says, 'If a man teach any other Gospel than what he has been taught, let him be anathema.'

St. John of Damascene, On Holy Images

COMMENT: This is a brief encapsulation of the philosophy of Pope Francis. He is a pure Modernist who presupposes the Hegelian evolutionary “process” as a given. All things, including doctrine, are in a state of constant flux including the morality that doctrine determines. Francis admits to being a “utopian” dreamer who believes that the “processes” created by Vatican II will ultimately yield good fruit in the “utopian future.” The rotten swill we are currently consuming is only an unfortunate but necessary part of normal “processing”; ‘you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs’. Like all liberals, it is always the theory that is normative, the facts are askew. Whatever problems we are currently enduring is because the theory has not been applied correctly, in all its purity, with sufficient rigor, for enough time, something like the Elizabethan racking of Catholic saints. The prescription is always more of the same rotten swill to “enhance human fullness.” But the truth is that Francis has no idea where his “processes” are going. He is confident that future “history” will judge his worth. We are confident of that as well. Unfortunately for Francis, if he dies without repenting of this heretical folly, he will not save his soul. And repentance is problematic for Francis attributes these blind ‘processes’ that overturn revealed truth to the Holy Ghost and, Jesus has said, “He that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come” (Matt 12:32). No wonder that Francis offers his own interpretation to the parable of the wheat and the cockle editing himself out of the narrative. But again, unfortunately for Francis, Jesus Christ leaves us an explicit interpretation of the parable to His apostles: The Lord of the harvest is Jesus Christ; the field is His kingdom; the enemy is Satan. Those in the kingdom are born of water and the Holy Ghost through Baptism. Those that slept are the church hierarchy negligent in their duty to protect the “field.” Satan enters through the negligence of the shepherds and sows the cockle which every Church Father identifies with heresy. The “goodness of the wheat” do not destroy heretics but rather endure them for the heretics are gathered up at the time of the harvest and cast into eternal fires as it shall be on the Last Judgment. Where is Francis in this parable? He is not the negligent sleeping shepherd but rather the chief enemy sowing the cockle. It would be better for him to have a millstone cast about his neck and thrown in the depths of the sea.

Time is greater than space: A constant tension exists between fullness and limitation. Fullness evokes the desire for complete possession, while limitation is a wall set before us. Broadly speaking, “time” has to do with fullness as an expression of the horizon which constantly opens before us, while each individual moment has to do with limitation as an expression of enclosure. People live poised between each individual moment and the greater, brighter horizon of the utopian future as the final cause which draws us to itself. Here we see a first principle for progress in building a people: time is greater than space.

This principle enables us to work slowly but surely, without being obsessed with immediate results. It helps us patiently to endure difficult and adverse situations, or inevitable changes in our plans. It invites us to accept the tension between fullness and limitation, and to give a priority to time. One of the faults which we occasionally observe in sociopolitical activity is that spaces and power are preferred to time and processes. Giving priority to space means madly attempting to keep everything together in the present, trying to possess all the spaces of power and of self-assertion; it is to crystallize processes and presume to hold them back. Giving priority to time means being concerned about initiating processes rather than possessing spaces. Time governs spaces, illumines them and makes them links in a constantly expanding chain, with no possibility of return. What we need, then, is to give priority to actions which generate new processes in society and engage other persons and groups who can develop them to the point where they bear fruit in significant historical events. Without anxiety, but with clear convictions and tenacity.

Sometimes I wonder if there are people in today’s world who are really concerned about generating processes of people-building, as opposed to obtaining immediate results which yield easy, quick short-term political gains, but do not enhance human fullness. History will perhaps judge the latter with the criterion set forth by Romano Guardini: “The only measure for properly evaluating an age is to ask to what extent it fosters the development and attainment of a full and authentically meaningful human existence, in accordance with the peculiar character and the capacities of that age”.

This criterion also applies to evangelization, which calls for attention to the bigger picture, openness to suitable processes and concern for the long run. The Lord himself, during his earthly life, often warned his disciples that there were things they could not yet understand and that they would have to await the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 16:12-13). The parable of the weeds among the wheat (cf. Mt 13:24-30) graphically illustrates an important aspect of evangelization: the enemy can intrude upon the kingdom and sow harm, but ultimately he is defeated by the goodness of the wheat.

Pope Francis, Evangellii Gaudium

St. Joan of Arc, Catholic, virgin and martyr: "Our Lord First Served!"

Joan_of_Arc's_Death_at_the_Stake_Hermann_Anton.jpg In her prison cell, Saturday, March 31, 1431:

Question: Will you refer yourself to the judgment of the Church militant in respect to all that you have done, whether good or evil, and particularly in respect to the act, crimes, and offenses which are imputed to you?

St. Joan: Concerning what you ask I will refer myself to the Church militant, provided that it does not command me to do anything impossible.

I call this impossible - that I should revoke the things which I have said and done, as they are set down in this trial, concerning the visions and revelations which I have said that I had from God. Not for anything will I revoke them. And what our Lord has caused and commanded me to do, and shall command, I will not cease from doing for any man living. And it would be impossible for me to revoke them. And in case the Church wished to make me do something else, contrary to the commandment which I say God has given me, not for anything would I do it.

Question: If the Church militant tells you that your revelations are illusions or diabolical things or superstitions or evil things, will you refer yourself to the Church in respect to them?

St. Joan: I will refer myself to our Lord, whose bidding I shall always do. And I know that what is recorded in my trial came to pass at my Lord's bidding. And which I have affirmed at my trial that I did at God's bidding, it would have been impossible for me to do otherwise.

Question: Do you not believe that you are subject to the Church which is on earth, that is, to our holy father the Pope, the cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and other prelates of the Church?

St. Joan: Yes - our Lord first served!

Question: Have you a command from your voices not the submit yourself to the Church militant, which is on earth, or to its judgment?

St. Joan: What I answer is not whatever comes into my head. What I answer is at their command. They do not command me not to obey the Church, our Lord first served!

Pope Francis hates God

Because every religion is a way to arrive at God! Sort of a comparison, an example, would be there are sort of different languages in order to arrive at God. But God is God for all. And if God is God for all, then we are all sons and daughters of God. But my God is more important than your God. Is that true? There is only one God, and each of us is a language(so as to speak) in order to arrive at God. Sikhi, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, they are different paths.

Pope Francis the Apostate, in Singapore 9-13-24

COMMENT: Pope Francis speaking Italian was addressing a group of young people in Singapore. His primary interpreter, standing at his side, translated his words into English which is a common language spoken in Singapore from British colonial rule. There is only one "language" to "arrive at God" and that "language" is Jesus Christ and in His Church. Pope Francis is an apostate. Pray God that He will cleanse His Church from every partisan of error and moral corruption. We have prayed for Francis' conversion. If he will not repent, we pray God given him his just reward now.

“Revelation manifests itself more and more each day… it’s always moving.”

It is a dogma of divine and Catholic faith that Revelation was completed at the death of the last Apostle!

Ideologies are bewitching; and so Paul says: “Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” Those who preach with ideologies: everything’s right! They are bewitching: it’s all clear! But look, God’s revelation isn’t clear eh? God’s revelation manifests itself more and more each day; it is always moving. Is it clear? Crystal clear! It is Him, but we have to find it along the way. Those who think they possess the whole truth are not just ignorant, Paul goes as far as to call them ‘foolish’ for letting themselves be bewitched.

Pope Francis, sermon, October 6, 2016

We must strip from our Catholic prayers and from the Catholic liturgy everything which can be the shadow of a stumbling block for our separated brethren that is for the Protestants.

Msgr. Annibale Bugnini, L'Osservatore Romano, March 19, 1965

To tell the truth, it is a different liturgy of the Mass. This needs to be said without ambiguity: the Roman Rite as we knew it no longer exists. It has been destroyed!

Rev. Joseph Gelineau, S. J., a member of Msgr. Bugnini’s Concilium, on the Novus Ordo

“If you love me you will keep my commandments… He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him… If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; as I also have kept my Father’s commandments, and do abide in his love… In this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God, and keep his commandments.” (John 14:15; 14:21; 15:10; 1 John 5:2)

Pope Francis will learn, souls are “condemned for ever” who teach the Lutheran heresy of justification & deny the Catholic dogma that to abide in “true charity” is “conditional” upon keeping the commandments!

“The way of the Church is not to condemn anyone for ever; it is to pour out the balm of God’s mercy on all those who ask for it with a sincere heart… For true charity is always unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous….

It is a matter of reaching out to everyone, of needing to help each person find his or her proper way of participating in the ecclesial com-munity and thus to experience being touched by an “unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous” mercy. No one can be condemned for ever, because that is not the logic of the Gospel!”

Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia, paragraphs 296 and 297

Pope Francis open the Youth Synod with novel ferula that is most fitting for his LGBT agenda!

Stang: The stang is a straight branch with a fork or Y at one end, and is most used in ritual circle as a type of centerpiece representing the magick of the three –the trinity– in the following ways: Earth, Sea, and Sky; Body, Mind and Spirit; God, Goddess and Unity; the three faced of the God; the three faces of the Goddess; and the crossroads of life. Stangs used today are normally five to six feet in height and are often decorated with ribbons and flowers that match the seasonal ritual. The stang also relates to the legend of the World Tree, and in some ritual groups it is the pole of libation, where gifts of food and liquid are arranged or poured by the base in honor of the Gods. This is similar to the pole erected in the center of a Voodoo rite, dedicated to Damballah, called the Ponteau Mitan. The stang is normally place at the north (the seat of all power) or directly behind the altar. A few groups, often with Druidic leanings, place the stang in the center of the circle.

Definition provided by "Magickal Necessities by Witches of the Craft"

A Forked Staff: Perfect Symbol for the Synod on Youth and with its “synodal” Blah, Blah, Blah

Fatima Perspectives #1239; By Chris Ferrara

As one website observes, when the Antichrist arrives to preach his lies among men, seducing “(if it were possible) even the elect” (Mk. 13:22), his forked tongue “will have the eloquence of angels, his honeyed words will pierce to the very heart of those who hear him. His arguments and positions will be so well presented that even those who recognize him will be hard pressed to resist what he has to say.”

The Antichrist will make the devil’s ultimate sales pitch. For now, however, the forked tongue belongs to lesser voices, lacking all eloquence and nuance, including those who will be spouting empty demagogic slogans and emotivist rubbish at the Synod of Youth and Blah, Blah, Blah now underway in Occupied Rome.

We have heard it all before at the last phony Synod, which was merely a disguise for what Francis wanted from the beginning and shamelessly passed off as the voice of the Holy Ghost. And now — bearing a forked staff, appropriately enough — Francis has said it all again in his homily at the beginning of this elaborate stage show for further subversion of the Church:

For we know that our young people will be capable of prophecy and vision to the extent that we, who are already adult or elderly, can dream and thus be infectious in sharing those dreams and hopes that we carry in our hearts…

May the Spirit grant us the grace to be synodal Fathers anointed with the gift of dreaming and of hoping. We will then, in turn, be able to anoint our young people with the gift of prophecy and vision…

Hope challenges us, moves us and shatters that conformism which says, “it’s always been done like this”. Hope asks us to get up and look directly into the eyes of young people and see their situations….

And this demands that we be really careful against succumbing to a self-preservation and self-centredness which gives importance to what is secondary yet makes secondary what is important.

The gift of that ability to listen, sincerely and prayerfully, as free as possible from prejudice and conditioning, will help us to be part of those situations which the People of God experience….

This disposition protects us from the temptation of falling into moralistic or elitist postures, and it protects us from the lure of abstract ideologies that never touch the realities of our people….

Here we go again: “prophesy and vision,” “dreams and hopes,” “see their situations,” eschewing “conformism,” moving beyond what is “secondary,” freedom from “prejudice and conditioning,” rejecting “moralistic or elitist postures” versus “the realities of our people.”

In other words: another poisonous dose of situation ethics to follow the recent scandal of “permission” for Holy Communion to be administered to people who intend to continue engaging in sexual relations within “second marriages” which constitute “none other than disgraceful and base concubinage, repeatedly condemned by the Church,” to quote Blessed Pope Pius XI.

This preposterous sham of a Synod features the attendance of two communist Chinese bishops handpicked by Beijing from the ranks of the Catholic Patriotic Association, which, following the Vatican sellout of the Underground Church, promptly declared its “independence” from Rome. Francis ludicrously declared in his homily that the attendance of these puppets of Beijing and its “independent” pseudo-Church means that “the communion of the entire Episcopate with the Successor of Peter is yet more visible thanks to their presence.”

The inevitable outcome of this sham (barring a veritable miracle) will be a further erosion of the Church’s moral foundations under the specious pretext of an expression of the “ordinary Magisterium” that takes into account “situations” and “concrete realities” — as if reality and morality were somehow opposed, when in fact it is conformity to God’s moral law that leads a soul to the reality of true freedom.

God help us. God rescue us. Holy Mother of God, intercede for us and obtain for the Church that holy and courageous Pope who will put an end to this utter madness by doing at long last what You requested of the Roman Pontiff nearly a century ago at Tuy: the Consecration of Russia to Your Immaculate Heart.

Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer.... Are our communities capable of .... accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine?

Synod of the Family, First Relatio written by Pope Francis’ Hand Picked Clerics

A Place (in eternity) is Greater than Time

“In my Father's house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be” (John 14:2-3). Jesus Christ

“Time is Greater than Space: A constant tension exists between fullness and limitation. Fullness evokes the desire for complete possession, while limitation is a wall set before us. Broadly speaking, “time” has to do with fullness as an expression of the horizon which constantly opens before us, while each individual moment has to do with limitation as an expression of enclosure. People live poised between each individual moment and the greater, brighter horizon of the utopian future as the final cause which draws us to itself. Here we see a first principle for progress in building a people: time is greater than space.”

Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, “Time is Greater than Space”

“God manifests himself in historical revelation, in history. Time initiates processes, and space crystallizes them. God is in history, in the processes. We must initiate processes, rather than occupy spaces.”

Pope Francis, Interview with Anthony Spadaro

Since “time is greater than space,” I would make it clear that not all discussions of doctrinal, moral, or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium. Unity of teaching and practice is certainly necessary in the Church, but this does not preclude various ways of interpreting some aspects of that teaching or drawing certain consequences from it. This will always be the case as the Spirit guides us towards the entire truth (cf. Jn 16:13), until he leads us fully into the mystery of Christ and enables us to see all things as he does. Each country or region, moreover, can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs. For “cultures are in fact quite diverse and every general principle…needs to be inculterated, if it is to be respected and applied.”

Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia

“How many times do those who are prominent, like the Pharisee with respect to the tax collector, raise up walls to increase distances, making other people feel even more rejected. Or by considering them backward and of little worth, they despise their traditions, erase their history, occupy their lands, and usurp their goods…. Worship of self carries on hypocritically with its rites and ‘prayers,’ forgetting the true worship of God which is always expressed in love of one’s neighbor.”

Pope Francis, ending sermon from the Amazonian Synod

COMMENT: How the hypocrite Francis is blind to the ‘beam in his own eye.’ The arrogant pretense that he and his Novus Ordite cronies actually know anything about the “worship of God” and the “love of one’s neighbor.” Catholic institutions of charity have collapsed since Vatican II because these institutions were staffed by countless vocations, men and women who gave their lives in the service of the love of their fellow man for the love of God. Vocations have dried up and these institutions have closed their doors because without faith, there is no charity.

Furthermore, no one, absolutely no one, has been considered of “little worth” more than Catholics faithful to our “received and approved” traditions of the Catholic Church which produced these vocations. Faithful Catholics have had their “traditions despised,” their “history erased,” their churches and shrines “occupied,” and their “goods usurped,” by the philistines of Vatican II who are the new Iconoclasts.

The Mission of Ss. Peter & Paul has set out to recover and restore this despised heritage by which alone the faith can be known and communicated to others, from which alone true charity may once more abound. May our Good God cleanse His Church from this corrupt pontificate of Francis and everything he represents.

CATHOLIC PROPHECY: "We will pull it to the ground"!

May 13, 1820: I saw also the relationship between the two popes. . . I saw how baleful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city (of Rome). The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness. . . Then, the vision seemed to extend on every side. Whole Catholic communities were being oppressed, harassed, confined, and deprived of their freedom. I saw many churches close down, great miseries everywhere, wars and bloodshed. A wild and ignorant mob took to violent action. But it did not last long.

Once more I saw that the Church of Peter was undermined by a plan evolved by the secret sect, while storms were damaging it. But I saw also that help was coming when distress had reached its peak. I saw again the Blessed Virgin ascend on the Church and spread her mantle [over it]. I saw a Pope who was at once gentle, and very firm. . . I saw a great renewal, and the Church rose high in the sky.

Sept. 12, 1820: I saw a strange church being built against every rule. . . No angels were supervising the building operations. In that church, nothing came from high above. . . There was only division and chaos. It is probably a church of human creation, following the latest fashion, as well as the new heterodox church of Rome, which seems of the same kind. . .

I saw again the strange big church that was being built there (in Rome). There was nothing holy in it. I saw this just as I saw a movement led by Ecclesiastics to which contributed angels, saints and other Christians. But there (in the strange big church) all the work was being done mechanically (i.e. according to set rules and formulae). Everything was being done according to human reason. . .

I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions. There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed to be very successful. I did not see a single Angel nor a single saint helping in the work. But far away in the background, I saw the seat of a cruel people armed with spears, and I saw a laughing figure which said: “Do build it as solid as you can; we will pull it to the ground.”

Blessed Anna Katherina Emmerich, Catholic Prophecy by Ives DuPont

“Necessity Knows No Law”

In 1976, the head of the UGCC, Cardinal Josef Slipyj, living in exile in Rome after 18 years in the Soviet gulag, feared for the future of the UGCC. Would it have bishops to lead it, given that Slipyj himself was now over 80? So he ordained three bishops clandestinely, without the permission of the Holy Father, Blessed (sic) Paul VI. At the time, the Holy See followed a policy of non-assertiveness regarding the communist bloc; Paul VI would not give permission for the new bishops for fear of upsetting the Soviets. The consecration of bishops without a papal mandate is a very grave canonical crime, for which the penalty is excommunication. Blessed (sic) Paul VI—who likely knew, unofficially, what Slipyj had done—did not administer any penalties.

Fr. Raymond J. DeSouza

THE NATURE OF GOD'S CHRUCH - “The kingdom of heaven”

In the thirteenth chapter of St. Matthew there are several parables recorded, commencing with the words, “The kingdom of heaven is likened,” etc. Now, this cannot be the kingdom of God’s glory, for there are no tares or bad fishes to cast out in that kingdom. It must of necessity be the Church of Jesus Christ on earth, the new-chosen children of God, who have superseded the people of the ancient law.

It is called “the kingdom,” in the singular number, not in the plural number, kingdoms, for Jesus Christ founded but one Church, which is His kingdom; “and of His kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:33). He does not call it a republic, but a kingdom, thus describing the monarchical form of government which He gave to His Church. A kingdom is a country governed by a king; and if the king does not preside over it in person, he governs it by means of a viceroy, who in everything represents the king, and governs the country according to the powers and laws received from the king. If nowadays we have so many Christian sects, each one calling itself the true Church of Christ, it is not because He founded them, but because “many revolted and did not remain in the doctrine of Christ” (II John 9).

To say that all churches are good and pleasing in the sight of God, since they all believe in the same God and in His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He has sent, is the same as to say that provinces and individuals originally of the same kingdom, but revolting against their lawfully-constituted authorities and forming laws for themselves not sanctioned by the king, are just as agreeable to the king as those who were always faithful and submissive to him and to his ministers, and that it is enough to say to Jesus Christ, “Lord, Lord!” in order to be saved, no matter how many of His doctrines one rejects, nor how many of His laws and ordinances are despised. He Himseif answers “Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of My Father, who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name?” (and to prophesy does not only mean to foretell future things, but also to explain and discourse on religious matters), “and cast out devils in Thy name, and done many miracles in Thy name? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you : depart from Me, you that work iniquity” (Matt 7:21). If the Apostle St. Paul says, “There must be also heresies,” it is not because Jesus Christ approves of them, but He permits them only “that they also who are approved may be made manifest” (l Cor. 11:19). They are, as it were, the shades which serve to make what is light still clearer and more visible to the world. But shade is darkness, and nothing dark or defiled will ever be admitted into the kingdom of glory. “Take heed, therefore, that the light which is in you be not darkness” (Luke 11:35).

If, then, Christ has established but one Church, which is His kingdom — “the kingdom of heaven” — and this Church has a monarchical form of government, behold here already a main feature of the holy Catholic Church.

JOSEPH PRACHENSKY, S.J., TIlE CHURCH OF THE PARABLES - TRUE SPOUSE OF THE SUFFERING SAVIOR, 1880

“For the Jews, ‘Anti-Semitism’ is anything that is in opposition to the naturalistic Messianic domination of their nation over all the others.” Rev. Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp., B.A., D.Ph., D.D.

On the Charge of Anti-Semitism in Our Time

“…Two reasons can be assigned to the fact that Our Lord’s faithful members will often be betrayed by those who should be on the side of Christ the King. Firstly, many Catholic writers speak of Papal condemnations of Anti-Semitism without explaining the meaning of the term, and never even allude to the documents which insist on the Rights of Our Divine Lord, Head of the Mystical Body, Priest and King. Thus, very many are completely ignorant of the duty incumbent on all Catholics of standing positively for Our Lord’s Reign in society in opposition to Jewish Naturalism. The result is that numbers of Catholics are so ignorant of Catholic doctrine that they hurl the accusation of Anti-Semitism against those who are battling for the Rights of Christ the King, thus effectively aiding the enemies of Our Divine Lord. Secondly, many Catholic writers copy unquestioningly what they read in the naturalistic or anti-Supernatural Press and do not distinguish between Anti-Semitism in the correct Catholic sense, as explained above, and ‘Anti-Semitism’ as the Jews understand it. …”

Fr. Fahey’s Preface in Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked: As the Secret Power Behind Communism by Monsignor George F. Dillon, D.D.

Jews have hated & persecuted the Catholic Church from the time of Jesus Christ to this very day!

[The Jews are] a people who, having imbrued their hands in a most heinous outrage [Jesus’ crucifixion], have thus polluted their souls and are deservedly blind. . . . Therefore we have nothing in common with that most hostile of people the Jews. We have received from the Savior another way . . . our holy religion. . . . On what subject will that detestable association be competent to from a correct judgment, who after that murder of their Lord . . . are led… by. . . their innate fury?

Council of Nicaea, 325 AD

Jewish Power is inversely proportional to the spiritual health of the Catholic Church

“Jews should not be placed in public offices, since it is most absurd that a blasphemer of Christ should exercise power over Christians.”

Fourth Lateran Council

PEW POLL published September 2024:

COMMENT: The great majority of those claiming to be Catholic have corrupted Catholic morality. Morality follows doctrine. The Novus Ordo first became heretical, and the corruption of morality followed the corruption of the faith. Now that the Pope Francis the Vulgar with Fiducia Supplicans has permitted a new "non-liturgical" blessing for sodomite couples there will follow a dramatic increase in those in the Novus Ordo Church who believe their church should "recognize the marriages (sic) of gay and lesbian couples". The accuracy of PEW polls was recently confirmed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that conducted its own poll that confirmed the findings of an earlier PEW poll that found that only 63% of Novus Ordo Catholics who attend services at least once a week believed in the Catholic dogma of Transubstantiation, or rather, they have sentiments that imply they may believe in the notion of the True Presence. What is becoming more evident every day is that for a faithful Novus Ordo Catholic, there is no possibility of salvation.

After 40 Years of Dialogue, Rabbi identifies papal “conundrum.”

The real conundrum that faces Benedict XVI on his visit to Israel… is should he be loyal to the Gospels which claim that only acceptance of Christ can bring the messianic age, or should he endorse Vatican II which acknowledges that Jews… can find the kingdom of God via a different route? Should he look inwards, backwards or forwards?

Rabbi Jonathan Romain, The Pope’s Jewish Dilemma, The Guardian

Explicit Supernatural Faith in God’s Revealed Truth is Necessary as a Necessity of Means for Salvation.

If you do not believe this, you do not possess Supernatural Faith!

Responses of the Holy Office under Pope Clement XI, 1703:
Q. Whether a minister is bound, before baptism is conferred on an adult, to explain to him all the mysteries of our faith, especially if he is at the point of death, because this might disturb his mind. Or, whether it is sufficient, if the one at the point of death will promise that when he recovers from the illness, he will take care to be instructed, so that he may put into practice what has been commanded him.
Resp. A promise is not sufficient, but a missionary is bound to explain to an adult, even a dying one who is not entirely incapacitated, the mysteries of faith which are necessary by a necessity of means, as are especially the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation.
Q. Whether it is possible for a crude and uneducated adult, as it might be with a barbarian, to be baptized, if there were given to him only an understanding of God and some of His attributes, especially His justice in rewarding and in punishing, according to this passage of the Apostle "He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder' [Heb . 11:23], from which it is inferred that a barbarian adult, in a certain case of urgent necessity, can be baptized although he does not believe explicitly in Jesus Christ.
Resp. A missionary should not baptize one who does not believe explicitly in the Lord Jesus Christ, but is bound to instruct him about all those matters which are necessary, by a necessity of means, according to the capacity of the one to be baptized.”

COMMENT: The infamous 1949 Holy Office Letter, sent privately to Cardinal Richard Cushing of Boston for the purpose of censoring Fr. Lenard Feeney for his belief in the Dogma that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church, affirmed the novel doctrine of 'salvation by implicit desire'. The "implicit desire" was to be a "member of the Church" and the evidence of this "implicit desire" was a belief in a 'god who rewards and punishes'. The Letter teaches that the only requirement for salvation is found in St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 11:13. No longer were the belief in any revealed truth, the reception of any sacrament, or being a subject of the Roman Pontiff necessary as necessities of means for salvation. This Letter teaches that any "good-willed" Jew as a Jew, Hindu as a Hindu, Mohammedan as a Mohammedan, Protestant as a Protestant, etc., etc. are members of the Church and can obtain salvation because they believe in a 'god who rewards and punishes'. The Holy Office response of 1703 makes it clear that the belief in a God who rewards and punishes is only the natural philosophical prerequisite for receiving the gospel good-news of salvation and of itself is insufficient grounds for receiving the sacrament of Baptism.

There is yet a time of stillness and indifference. Liberalism is a twilight state in which all errors are softened, in which no persecution for religion will be countenanced. It is the stillness before the storm. There is a time coming when nothing will be persecuted but truth, and if you possess the truth, you will share the trial.

Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, Archbishop of Westminster

Pope tells American Catholics to choose ‘lesser of two evils’

Both the pro-abortion Harris and the anti-migrant Trump are “against life,” the pontiff has said

RT | 13 Sep, 2024

US Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are both “against life,” and Catholic voters should choose the “lesser evil,” Pope Francis told reporters on Friday.

Speaking to reporters while returning to Rome from Singapore, the pontiff said that “not voting is ugly,” and that the faithful “must vote.”

“You must choose the lesser evil,” he elaborated. “Who is the lesser evil? That lady, or that gentleman? I don’t know. Whether it is the one who is chasing away migrants, or the one that kills children, both are against life.”

If elected, Trump has promised to close off the US’ southern border and lead “the largest deportation operation in American history.” Harris has vowed to sign a law guaranteeing the same access to abortion as under Roe v. Wade, a landmark Supreme Court decision that was overturned in 2022.

Roe v. Wade protected a woman’s right to seek an abortion, but certain restrictions on this right – for instance, bans on abortion past the second trimester of pregnancy – were set out in subsequent legislation. Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, signed a bill in 2023 allowing abortions to be performed up to the moment of birth.

“To send migrants away, to leave them wherever you want, to leave them … it’s something terrible, there is evil there. To send away a child from the womb of the mother is an assassination, because there is life. We must speak about these things clearly,” Pope Francis told reporters on Friday.

COMMENT: Once again Pope Francis displays a frightening incompetence on moral questions. No Catholic "must vote" without serious qualifications. No Catholic is obligated to "choose the lesser evil". To choose neither by refusing to vote is a perfectly acceptable Catholic moral act. A Catholic may choose the lesser of two evils when he is obligated to choose but no obligation exists. To vote is to accept a process established by a ruling elite that has selected the two evil choices. If everyone refused to vote that act would itself disenfranchise the ruling elite.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò - On the New World State Religion

In an interview on Fox News titled The Church of Environmentalism, journalist Tucker Carlson has brought to light a contradiction that may have escaped the notice of many, but which is extremely revealing. Carlson recalls that the U.S. Constitution prohibits any state religion, but for some time the governing Democratic party has imposed on the American people the globalist cult. A religion in all respects, all-encompassing, with its green agenda, woke dogmas, cancel culture, priests of the World Health Organization and prophets of the World Economic Forum.
In the name of the globalist religion, its adherents demand that all citizens behave in accordance with the morality of the New World Order, accepting uncritically and with an attitude of devout submission, the doctrines defined ex cathedra by the Davos Sanhedrin. Citizens are not required merely to share the motivations that justify the health, economic or social policies imposed by governments, but to give their blind and irrational assent. It is not allowed to contest the psycho-pandemic, argue the groundlessness of climate alarms, oppose NATO’s provocation of the Russian Federation with the Ukrainian crisis or refuse to stand by as children are corrupted with LGBTQ obscenities.
The high priests of this religion have even reached the point of theorizing human sacrifice by means of abortion and euthanasia: a sacrifice required by the common good, so as not to over-populate the planet or over-burden public health. Adherence to globalism is not optional: it is the State religion, and the State "tolerates" non-practitioners only to the extent that their presence does not prevent society from exercising this cult. The public act of vaccination represented a sort of "baptism" in the globalist faith, the initiation into worship.
The "church of environmentalism" defines itself as inclusive, but it does not tolerate dissent. Those who do not accept the anti-Gospel of Davos are ipso facto heretics and must therefore be punished, excommunicated, separated from the social body, and considered public enemies.
This State religion has spread to all the nations of the Western world, whose leaders were converted to the globalist "Word" by the apostle of the Great Reset, Klaus Schwab, its self-proclaimed "pope" who is invested with an infallible and incontestable authority. On the website of the World Economic Forum, we find the list of "prelates" of globalism. A very powerful, highly organized network, widespread not only at the top of institutions, but also in universities and courts, in companies and hospitals, in peripheral bodies and local municipalities, in cultural and sports associations, so that it is impossible to escape indoctrination even in a provincial primary school or a small rural community.
Tucker Carlson’s observation highlights the deception to which we are subjected daily by our rulers: the theoretical imposition of the secularism of the State has served to eliminate the presence of the true God from the institutions, while the practical imposition of the globalist religion serves to introduce Satan into the institutions, with the aim of establishing that dystopian New World Order in which the Antichrist will claim to be worshipped as a god, in his mad delirium to replace Our Lord.

Conservative Catholics: Liberal in principle and conservative in practice can only be jarred from their complacency by someone like Pope Francis. At least some recognize that unqualified obedience is non-Catholic.

The power that Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors is, in an absolute sense, a mandate to serve. The power of teaching in the Church involves a commitment to the service of obedience to the faith. The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism. […..] To put this question into sharp relief: the feet of whom should be washed in the Mass of Maundy Thursday? Those of men or of women? The feet of Christians or non-Christians? Why? With all due respect I submit that any answer based solely on “. . . because the pope did it” is insufficient if not downright ultramontane. Such reasoning will not do. Such positivism is simply foreign to the Catholic faith. Papal preference is not the arbiter of the church’s liturgy: sound liturgical and theological principles are. The Bishop of Rome exercises his authority rightly when, in liturgical matters, he bases his judgments on these principles. If he ignores them in his judgments or personal practice he risks causing confusion, scandal, and disunity. The exercise of authority in respect of the sacred liturgy and the personal liturgical behavior of all popes, prelates, other clergy, and laity are rightly evaluated according to these criteria.

Dom Alcuin Reed, 2014

Heresy_Open.jfif

"All religions are paths to reach God. They are—to make a comparison—like different languages, different dialects, to get there. But God is God for everyone. If you start to fight saying 'my religion is more important than yours, mine is true and yours isn't', where will this lead us? There is only one God, and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Some are Sheik, Muslim, Hindu, Christians; they are different ways to God."

Pope Francis addressing non-Catholic children in Singapore, September 12, 2024

COMMENT: Pope Francis is not just a simple heretic, he is an apostate. Anyone who holds Pope Francis as their proximate rule of faith will follow him to hell!

“Remember, O man, that dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return.”

"An excessive desire for liberty at the expense of everything else is what undermines democracy and leads to the demand for tyranny." Plato

In a 2022 lecture at Notre Dame, Alasdair MacIntyre argued that the claims and conceptions of universal and inalienable human dignity as reflected in documents such as the 1948 United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in various post-war European constitutions are puzzling, since this dignity requires a duty of respect to everyone just for being human, no matter their behavior or character, so Stalin the mass murderer has as much dignity and deserves as much respect as Mother Teresa. Aquinas’ view of dignitas as interpreted by Charles De Koninick is a challenge to this view, for it assigns human dignity, not to the mere fact of being human, but to the end to which we are called, which is supernatural, union with God, which might not be attained due to one’s choices on earth against those common goods which enable our attainment of the supernatural end, and so human dignitas could be lost. According to this view, the 20th-century concept of human dignity is much too individualistic, and because it is not based in justice and the common good, can only provide negative prescriptions against the undignified treatment of humans. It is unable to provide positive prescriptions that enable persons to obtain the common goods and the virtues they need to attain their supernatural end. For MacIntyre, we need to speak of human dignity in terms of justice, what we owe to each other for the sake of enabling persons to attain their personal and common goods and final end, which is the knowledge and love of God in this life and the next.

Thaddeus Kozinski, PhD, Introduction to his article, From Liberal Democracy to Global Totalitarianism

ABCs of the Spiritual Life

MAN HAS a twofold nature, the one superior, the other inferior. The first is generally termed reason, the second is called appetite, sensuality, or passion. Reason is the distinguishing property of man, and he is not considered responsible for the primary impulses of his appetite unless his superior faculty confirms the choice.

The entire spiritual warfare, consequently, consists in this: the rational faculty is placed between the Divine will above it and the sensitive appetite below it, and is attacked from both sides------God moving it by His grace, and the flesh by its appetites strive for victory.

It is apparent, then, that inconceivable difficulties arise when persons who during their youth have contracted vicious habits resolve to change their life, mortify their passions, and break with the world in order to devote themselves to the service of God.

The will is violently attacked by Divine grace and by its own sensual appetites, and wherever it turns, it absorbs these withering attacks with the greatest difficulty.

This onslaught is not experienced by those who are firmly settled in their way of life, whether in virtue by conforming to the will of God, or in vice by indulging their sensual desires.

No one should delude himself that he can acquire virtue and serve God in the proper way, unless he is willing to undergo a violent struggle. He must conquer the difficulty he will experience when he deprives himself of the pleasures, great or small, to which he has been viciously attached.

The result is that very few attain any great degree of perfection. After conquering their greatest vice, after undergoing tremendous exertions, they lose courage and fail to pursue their objective. And this when only small trials are to be overcome, such as subduing the feeble remnants of their own will, and annihilating some weaker passions which revive and then completely regain their hearts.

Many persons of this type, for example, do not take what belongs to others, but they are passionately attached to what is their own. They do not use any illegal methods of aggrandizement, but instead of spurning advancement, they are fond of it and seek it by any means they think lawful. They observe the appointed fasts, but, on other days, they indulge in the most exotic delicacies. They are very careful to observe chastity, and yet they refuse to give up their favorite amusements, even though they constitute great obstacles to a spiritual life and real union with God. Since these things are so highly dangerous, particularly for those who do not recognize their bad results, they must be dealt with very cautiously.

Without such caution, we may be assured that most of our good acts will have as attendants, slothfulness, vanity, human respect, hidden imperfections, conceit, and a desire for the notice and approval of others. Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, The Spiritual Combat

Vatican Council I listing the beneficial Fruits of the Council of Trent which are in every detail exactly the opposite which we have seen from Vatican Council II -

By their fruits they are known!

Now this redemptive providence appears very clearly in unnumbered benefits, but most especially is it manifested in the advantages which have been secured for the Christian world by ecumenical councils, among which the council of Trent requires special mention, celebrated though it was in evil days.

Thence came:

1. a closer definition and more fruitful exposition of the holy dogmas of religion and

2. the condemnation and repression of errors; thence too,

3. the restoration and vigorous strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline,

4. the advancement of the clergy in zeal for

· learning and

· piety,

5. the founding of colleges for the training of the young for the service of religion; and finally

6. the renewal of the moral life of the Christian people by

· a more accurate instruction of the faithful, and

· a more frequent reception of the sacraments. What is more, thence also came

7. a closer union of the members with the visible head, and an increased vigour in the whole Mystical Body of Christ.

Thence came:

1. the multiplication of religious orders and other organisations of Christian piety; thence too

2. that determined and constant ardour for the spreading of Christ’s kingdom abroad in the world, even at the cost of shedding one’s blood.

While we recall with grateful hearts, as is only fitting, these and other outstanding gains, which the divine mercy has bestowed on the church especially by means of the last ecumenical synod, we cannot subdue the bitter grief that we feel at most serious evils, which have largely arisen either because

o the authority of the sacred synod was held in contempt by all too many, or because

o its wise decrees were neglected.

First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Faith, listing some of the manifold beneficial fruits from the Council of Trent!

Is this what Pope Francis means by “fleshless theology that becomes ideology”?

I likewise receive and accept the rites of the Catholic Church which have been received and approved in the solemn administration of all the aforesaid (seven) sacraments. [.....]

I resolutely assert that images of Christ and the ever virgin mother of God, and likewise those of the other saints, are to be kept and retained, and that due honour and reverence is to be shown them. [.....]

Likewise all other things which have been transmitted, defined and declared by the sacred canons and the ecumenical councils, especially the sacred Trent, I accept unhesitatingly and profess; in the same way whatever is to the contrary, and whatever heresies have been condemned, rejected and anathematised by the Church, I too condemn, reject and anathematise. This true Catholic faith, outside of which none can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold, is what I shall steadfastly maintain and confess, by the help of God, in all its completeness and purity until my dying breath, and I shall do my best to ensure that all others do the same. This is what I, the same Pius, promise, vow and swear. So help me God and these holy gospels of God.

Profession of Faith, Blessed Pope Pius IX before the bishops of the Church at the opening of the First Vatican Council

"Let everything that conflicts with ecclesiastical tradition and teaching, and that has been innovated and done contrary to the examples outlined by the saints and the venerable Fathers, or that shall hereafter at any time be done in such a fashion, be anathema."

Second Council of Nicaea

Our Lady of LaSalette

“Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.” “The demons of the air, together with the Antichrist, will work great wonders on the earth and in the air, and men will become ever more perverted. God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will; the Gospel will be preached everywhere, all peoples and all nations will have knowledge of the Truth.”

Blessed Virgin Mary addressing the children at LaSalette, September 19, 1846

“When the Secret has been scorned, misunderstood ... held back for money, one must be surprised at nothing. The Church will endure forever, our Lord said so; but among the teaching members of the Church, what traitors, what apostates, what mercenaries, what sectarians, who bear the imprint or the sign of the beast with ten horns St. John speaks of in his vision on Patmos! But this beast similar to the Lamb, who rises out of the earth, isn't it the figure of faithless ecclesiastics? I firmly believe so. Happy those who die in God's grace, for those who live will see sad and terrifying things. We still haven't reached the beginning of the end.”

Melanie Calvat, visionary of LaSaletter, Letter to Fr. Roubaud, January 2, 1892), quoted by Solange Hertz

"Souls who are God's friends can guess the Secret's meaning without help, and the others won't want to because it applies to them too closely. Melanie Calvat, to her spiritual director in 1903, quoted by Solange Hertz

Outrage as Vatican drops ‘Before Christ’ for ‘Before Common Era’

Simon Caldwell | August 30, 2024

Catholics have accused the Vatican of betraying Jesus by substituting the term “Before Christ” with “Before Common Era” in official documentation.

The traditional term BC was replaced by BCE in the English translation of a July letter by Pope Francis on the role of literature in Christian formation.

Ann Widdecombe, a convert to the Catholic faith and a former Conservative Party minister, was among the Catholics all over the world who were angered by the move.

“If the Vatican is doing that then it is a complete betrayal,” said Miss Widdecombe.

“If the Vatican is removing the name of Christ from official documentation it’s a complete betrayal.”

The use of the secular term BCE comes in paragraph 12 of the letter, which refers to the address of St Paul before the Areopagus that was described in the Acts of the Apostles.

The paragraph reads: “This verse contains two quotations: one indirect, from the poet Epimenides (sixth century BCE), and the other direct, from the Phaenomena of the poet Aratus of Soli (third century BCE), who wrote of the constellations and the signs of good and bad weather.”

The document represents a major departure from the Church’s perspective of history, which it frames from the arrival of the Messiah.

The Church has always numbered years either “BC”, meaning “Before Christ”, or “AD” – Anno Domini, or in the year of Our Lord, to represent the era of the Church.

The term BCE was used from the 1800s by Jewish scholars who did not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah.

It has crept into popular usage with the increased secularism of Western societies and the rejection of any concept of God, and is often controversial.

BCE appears only in the English translation of the Pope’s letter. BC remains the preferred abbreviation for the translations into Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Arabic.

COMMENT: Is Pope Francis now a Jew? It was the Jews who refused to use Anno Domini and are now imposing it in political, social and academic circles. Regardless if Francis or the Jews recognize Anno Domini, Jesus Christ is God who created time and His incarnation is the singular most important event in all history. It is Pope Francis who is denying this unyielding fact.

Tikkun olam (Hebrew תיקון עולם‎, literally, 'repair of the world') is a concept in Judaism, often interpreted as aspiration to behave and act constructively and beneficially. Documented use of the term dates back to the Mishnaic period (ca. 10-220 AD), (that is, the time when the oral traditions of the Jews were committed to the written form in the Mishna, also called the Oral Torah). Since medieval times, kabbalistic literature has broadened use of the term. In the modern era, among the post-Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment, 1770-1880) movements, tikkun olam is the idea that Jews bear responsibility not only for their own moral, spiritual, and material welfare, but also for the welfare of society at large. For many contemporary pluralistic rabbis, the term refers to "Jewish social justice" or "the establishment of Godly qualities throughout the world". Wikipedia

COMMENT: Jews repeatedly since the time of Jesus Christ are the passionate creators and principle instigators of ideological movements conceived as necessary for the moral and material improvement of political and social order. When one after the other proves to be a political and social failure, it is simply dropped and they move on to another. They recognize a ‘fall from grace’ because they recognize the ‘world needs to be repaired.’ Since they have rejected Jesus Christ, the incarnate Logos, the eternal Wisdom of the Father, they have rejected His divine plan for the ‘repair of the world’ and in its place offer what Fr. Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp. described as “Organized Naturalism” in opposition to the Supernatural Order of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that whoever is not working for God is working for the Devil. There is no middle ground. As Jesus said, “He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth” (Matthew 12:30).

Where Tikkun Olam can lead

OPINION: Stalin’s Jews

We mustn't forget that some of greatest murderers of modern times were Jewish

Israel News | ynetnews | Sever Plocker

Here's a particularly forlorn historical date: More than 100 years ago, between the 19th and 20th of December 1917, in the midst of the Bolshevik revolution and civil war, Lenin signed a decree calling for the establishment of The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage, also known as Cheka.

Within a short period of time, Cheka became the largest and cruelest state security organization. Its organizational structure was changed every few years, as were its names: From Cheka to GPU, later to NKVD, and later to KGB.

We cannot know with certainty the number of deaths Cheka was responsible for in its various manifestations, but the number is surely at least 20 million, including victims of the forced collectivization, the hunger, large purges, expulsions, banishments, executions, and mass death at Gulags.

Whole population strata were eliminated: Independent farmers, ethnic minorities, members of the bourgeoisie, senior officers, intellectuals, artists, labor movement activists, "opposition members" who were defined completely randomly, and countless members of the Communist party itself.

In his new, highly praised book "The War of the World," Historian Niall Ferguson writes that no revolution in the history of mankind devoured its children with the same unrestrained appetite as did the Soviet revolution. In his book on the Stalinist purges, Tel Aviv University's Dr. Igal Halfin writes that Stalinist violence was unique in that it was directed internally.

Lenin, Stalin, and their successors could not have carried out their deeds without wide-scale cooperation of disciplined "terror officials," cruel interrogators, snitches, executioners, guards, judges, perverts, and many bleeding hearts who were members of the progressive Western Left and were deceived by the Soviet regime of horror and even provided it with a kosher certificate.

All these things are well-known to some extent or another, even though the former Soviet Union's archives have not yet been fully opened to the public. But who knows about this? Within Russia itself, very few people have been brought to justice for their crimes in the NKVD's and KGB's service. The Russian public discourse today completely ignores the question of "How could it have happened to us?" As opposed to Eastern European nations, the Russians did not settle the score with their Stalinist past.

And us, the Jews? An Israeli student finishes high school without ever hearing the name "Genrikh Yagoda," the greatest Jewish murderer of the 20th Century, the GPU's deputy commander and the founder and commander of the NKVD. Yagoda diligently implemented Stalin's collectivization orders and is responsible for the deaths of at least 10 million people. His Jewish deputies established and managed the Gulag system. After Stalin no longer viewed him favorably, Yagoda was demoted and executed, and was replaced as chief hangman in 1936 by Yezhov, the "bloodthirsty dwarf."

Yezhov was not Jewish but was blessed with an active Jewish wife. In his Book "Stalin: Court of the Red Star", Jewish historian Sebag Montefiore writes that during the darkest period of terror, when the Communist killing machine worked in full force, Stalin was surrounded by beautiful, young Jewish women.

Stalin's close associates and loyalists included member of the Central Committee and Politburo Lazar Kaganovich. Montefiore characterizes him as the "first Stalinist" and adds that those starving to death in Ukraine, an unparalleled tragedy in the history of human kind aside from the Nazi horrors and Mao's terror in China, did not move Kaganovich.

Many Jews sold their soul to the devil of the Communist revolution and have blood on their hands for eternity. We'll mention just one more: Leonid Reichman, head of the NKVD's special department and the organization's chief interrogator, who was a particularly cruel sadist.

In 1934, according to published statistics, 38.5 percent of those holding the most senior posts in the Soviet security apparatuses were of Jewish origin. They too, of course, were gradually eliminated in the next purges. In a fascinating lecture at a Tel Aviv University convention this week, Dr. Halfin described the waves of soviet terror as a "carnival of mass murder," "fantasy of purges", and "essianism of evil." Turns out that Jews too, when they become captivated by messianic ideology, can become great murderers, among the greatest known by modern history.

The Jews active in official communist terror apparatuses (In the Soviet Union and abroad) and who at times led them, did not do this, obviously, as Jews, but rather, as Stalinists, communists, and "Soviet people." Therefore, we find it easy to ignore their origin and "play dumb": What do we have to do with them? But let's not forget them. My own view is different. I find it unacceptable that a person will be considered a member of the Jewish people when he does great things, but not considered part of our people when he does amazingly despicable things.

Even if we deny it, we cannot escape the Jewishness of "our hangmen," who served the Red Terror with loyalty and dedication from its establishment. After all, others will always remind us of their origin.

“Don’t Jews still believe in a Messias to come?” asks the credulous Christian. “And don’t they believe in the same Biblical Heaven and Hell that we do?”

The answer to both these questions is — no. And it is an emphatic “No!” as the subsequent Jewish testimony will verify.

Concerning the Messias: The Jews of today reject the notion of a personal redeemer who will be born of them and lead them to the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. The Jews believe that the whole Jewish race is to be elevated to a position of prosperity and overlordship and that, when this happy day arrives (the Messianic Age), they will have achieved all that is coming to them by way of savior and salvation. In his recent book, The Messianic Idea in Israel, Jewish theologian Dr. Joseph Klausner explains: “Thus the whole people Israel in the form of the elect of the nations gradually became the Messiah of the world, the redeemer of mankind.”

Concerning Heaven and Hell: A succinct summary of Jewish teaching on “life after death” was given in the May, 1958 issue of B’nai B’rith’s National Jewish Monthly. Under the caption, “What Can A Modern Jew Believe?” there appeared: “Judaism insists that ‘heaven’ must be established on this earth. The reward of the pious is life and happiness in this world, while the punishment of the wicked is misery on earth and premature death … By hitching its star to the Messianic future on this earth, Israel became the eternal people.” The article goes on: “The best Jewish minds have always held that a physical hereafter is a detraction from mature belief.” And the conclusion: “There is neither hell nor paradise, God merely sends out the sun in its full strength; the wicked are consumed by its heat, while the pious find delight and healing in its rays.”

Fr. Leonard Feeney, MICM, The Point, October 1958

“In the name of the Gospel, and in the light of the Encyclicals of the last four Popes, Gregory XVI, Pius IX, Leo XIII, and Pius X, I do not hesitate to affirm that this indifference to religion which puts on the same level the religion of divine origin and the religions invented by men in order to include them in the same skepticism is the blasphemy which calls down chastisement on society far more than the sins of individuals and families.”

Cardinal Désiré Félicien François Joseph Mercier, Archbishop of Mechelen in Belgium and Catholic scholar, 1918, The Lesson of Events, quoted by Fr. Denis Fahey in The Kingship of Chirst and Organized Naturalism

Infallibility is primarily and essentially an attribute of the God's Church because it is an attribute of God

“Infallibility is not a quality inherent in any person, but an assistance attached to an office”

Cardinal Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892)

Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity

Novel theory: Dogma contains “perennial truths” and contingent accretions.

My fundamental impulse, precisely from the Council, has always been to free the very heart of the faith from under any ossified strata, and to give this heart strength and dynamism. This impulse is the constant in my life.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Salt of the Earth

The steps taken by the Council towards the modern era which had rather vaguely been presented as ‘openness to the world’ [aggiornamento], belong in short to the perennial problem of the relationship between faith and reason that is re-emerging in ever new forms.... The Council had to find a new definition of the relationship between the Church and the modern age.... Here I shall cite only John XXIII’s well-known words, which unequivocally express this hermeneutic when he says that the Council wishes “to transmit the doctrine pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion”. And he continues: “Our duty is not only to guard this precious treasure, as if we were concerned only with antiquity, but to dedicate ourselves with an earnest will and without fear to that work which our age demands of us…” It is necessary that “adherence to all the teaching of the Church in its entirety and preciseness…” be presented in “faithful and perfect conformity to the authentic doctrine, which, however, should be studied and expounded through the methods of research and through the literary forms of modern thought. The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another…”, retaining the same meaning and message.... It is clear that this commitment to expressing a specific truth in a new way demands new thinking upon it and a new relationship with it.

Pope Benedict XVI, speech to Roman Curia on Dec 22, 2005, outlining his papal agenda

Catholic teaching: Dogma is the irreformable formal object of Divine and Catholic Faith

For the doctrine of faith which God has revealed has not been proposed like a philosophical invention, to be perfected by human ingenuity; but has been delivered as a divine deposit to the Spouse of Christ, to be faithfully kept and infallibly declared. Hence, also, that meaning of the sacred dogmas is perpetually to be retained which our holy Mother the Church has once declared; nor is that meaning ever to be departed from, under the pretence or pretext of a deeper comprehension of them.

Vatican Council I

Ugly fact ignored by Reform of Reform – Bugnini was appointed by Paul VI, his work was approved and imposed by Paul VI, and his work accurately reflected the novel principles of liturgical innovation adopted in 1948 and approved at Vatican II

Sacrosanctum Concilium, Vatican II document on the liturgy, is the justification for Bugnini’s Novus Ordo

• The order to promote urgently a liturgical reform is in SC §§ 1, 14, 25, 31, 40, 43, 50, 63b, 128.
• The encouragement of the participation of the faithful in the liturgy is stated in §§ 11, 14, 18, 19, 21, 27, 41, 53, 114, 121, 124.
• In § 12 communitarian prayer is recommended.
• In § 30 acclamations and dances are advised.
• Inculturation is counseled in §§ 37-40, 112, 119.
• Communion under two species is counseled in §55.
• In §§ 62, 67-82 a complete change in the ceremonies of the sacraments and sacramentals is imposed.
• The reform of Divine Office is decreed in §§ 87-88, 91-93, 97.
• The reform of the liturgical year is ordered in § 107.
• The introduction of liturgical modern art is approved in § 123.
• The suppression of the statues in the churches is recommended in § 125.
• The change of sacerdotal vestments is allowed in §128.

Atila S. Guimarães, Tradition in Action

“This dialogue should serve to strengthen our common hope in God in the midst of an increasingly secularized society. Without this hope, society loses its humanity.”

Benedict XVI, addressing Jewish Community, Berlin, Germany, September 22, 2011

“Strengthen Our common hope in God”??? – Society lost “its humanity” after Vatican II

96% of Jewish Leaders Support Abortion, 93% believe that homosexuality is not wrong!

The study also found that on a variety of issues involving sexual morality that have roiled other religious groups, Jews are much more liberal than other Americans. Jews take a less critical view of homosexuality, abortion, birth control and pornography than do Gentiles,” the study found. In each case, Jewish leaders are even more tolerant than the Jewish public.

For example, 48 percent of non-Jews say homosexuality is wrong, compared to 23 percent of Jews and 7 percent of Jewish leaders. And while 56 percent of non-Jews support abortion rights, 88 percent of Jews and 96 percent of Jewish leaders do.

Only 38 percent of Jews support allowing the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools, compared to 65 percent of non-Jews; 39 percent of Jews would allow the teaching of creationism, compared with 63 percent of non-Jews; and 22 percent of Jews would support vouchers that could be used at religious schools, compared with 43 percent of non-Jews.

Pew Charitable Trusts, examining the contemporary role of religious groups in the United States

What “Religious Submission” to the ‘Ordinary Authentic Magisterium’ Actually Means

Nor must it be thought that what is expounded in Encyclical Letters does not of itself demand consent just because in writing such Letters the Popes do not exercise the supreme power [i.e., extra-ordinary magisterium] of their Teaching Authority. For these matters are taught with the ordinary Teaching Authority [ordinary and universal magisterium], of which it is true to say: “He that heareth you, heareth Me.” [Luke 10:16].

Pius XII, Humani Generis, par. 20.

COMMENT: This quotation taken from Pope Pius XII is now referenced to support the Novus Ordo Church’s claim that every Catholic must give unconditional submission of his “mind and will to the authentic magisterium” of Pope Francis. Pope Pius XII in his encyclical is referring to the “ordinary and universal magisterium” and this can be clearly seen for two reasons: The examples provided by Pope Pius XII that follow this statement in his encyclical refer specifically to modern theological novelties that reject, for example, the infallible teaching of the Church on the inerrancy of sacred scripture, the identity of the Church and the Mystical Body of Christ, and the nature of Original Sin. These are all examples of the “ordinary and universal” magisterium that Vatican I dogmatically defined as “infallible.”

The other reason is God cannot bind the authority of His Truth to what can and have in the past contained errors. Fr. Joseph Fenton, in an article published in the AER in 1949 entitled, On the Doctrinal Authority of Papal Encyclicals, documents specific historical errors published in those documents. Whenever the pope teaches by virtue of his grace of state from the ‘authentic ordinary magisterium’, his teaching must be accepted by a religious submission which is always and necessarily a prudent and conditional submission to the personal teaching authority of the pope. Such conditional acceptance of the word of God is not possible when the pope teaches infallibly by engaging the “extra-ordinary magisterium” or the “ordinary and universal magisterium” of the Church from which alone it can be said without qualification whatsoever, “He that heareth you, heareth Me.” [Luke 10:16].

The modern encyclical by Pope Francis on global warming/earth worship, for example, is wholly conscribed within a very narrow and tenuous ideological framework that has little or nothing to do with Catholic doctrine or morality. This document has nothing to do with the “ordinary and universal” magisterium. It is entirely a product of the personal authentic ordinary magisterium of Pope Francis teaching by his grace of state. Anyone to whom the document is addressed is free to toss the document in the trash along with the junk mail if he, upon mature consideration, finds it to be a novelty and, in its overall tone, an ideological screed divorced from natural truth.

On the Necessity of Baptism

"By one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death... so that in them there may be washed away by regeneration, what they have contracted by generation, ‘For unless a man is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’ (John 3:5)."

Council of Trent, Session 5, Canon 4 on Original Sin ....

"Particular texts (in sacred Scripture) where the Church has defined that such is the meaning are few. The following texts have been dogmatically defined:

· Romans 5:12 on Original Sin

· John 3:5 on Baptism

· Words of institution on the Holy Eucharist

· John 20:23 on the remission and retention of sin

· James 5:14 on the establishment of the sacrament Extreme Unction

· Matthew 16:16 & John 21:15 on the universal jurisdiction of the St. Peter and the papacy

....... From John 3:5 there is established the absolute necessity of baptism and that real and natural water is necessary for baptism (Council of Trent, Session V, Canon 4 Denz. 791, 858)

Fr. Sixtus Cartechini, De Valore notarum theologicarum et de criteriis ad eas dignoscendas, 1951, Chap. 7

Two response from a recent lengthy interview with Msgr. Carlo Maria Viganò are republished below:

Msgr. Carlo Maria Viganò

Interview with Dr. Taylor Marshall

August 9, 2024

What should lay Catholics do if the Traditional Latin Mass is banned by the Vatican?

The Tridentine Mass is a priceless treasure for the Holy Church. It has been “canonized” by its centuries-old use in which we see the voice of Sacred Tradition expressed. If the Hierarchy, abusing its power against the purpose that the Lord has given it, prevents the celebration of the ancient Mass, it commits an abuse, and this prohibition is null.

Priests and bishops should show more courage, continuing to celebrate the ancient rite and refusing to celebrate the Novus Ordo. They would probably face sanctions from the Vatican, but they ought to ask themselves what sanctions will await them when they have to answer before the Lord’s tribunal for not having fulfilled their duty, preferring servile obedience to the powerful rather than obedience to God.

The laity should organize themselves into small communities by purchasing the churches that are now up for sale or by setting up home chapels, and by seeking out priests willing to celebrate the Mass and Sacraments for them according to the Apostolic rite and by helping them materially to carry out their ministry.

What are your thoughts on the Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP), and the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX)? Do you encourage people to attend their Masses?

The former Ecclesia Dei institutes were born from the Vatican’s intention to weaken the Society of Saint Pius X after the Episcopal Consecrations of 1988, which, having given itself an apostolic succession, was able continue its apostolate even after the death of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The “authorization” to celebrate the Tridentine Liturgy – which until then had been completely excluded – had and still has as its condition the acceptance of the “post-conciliar magisterium” and the licitness of the Novus Ordo. This premise is completely unacceptable, because it reduces the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass to a ceremonial question, while instead it is evident that the Tridentine rite summarizes in itself all the doctrine and spirituality of the Catholic Faith, in antithesis to the Protestantized rite of Paul VI that ecumenically silences that Faith. Whoever celebrates the Mass of Saint Pius V cannot accept Vatican II. In fact, from the beginning, many priests who had left the Society of Archbishop Lefebvre and had joined the Ecclesia Dei institutes continued to have strong reservations and, so to speak, played on the equivocation of a tacit acceptance that the Vatican itself did not ask to be made explicit.

In 2007, Benedict XVI recognized the legitimacy of the traditional Liturgy, declaring that the Traditional Latin Mass was the “extraordinary form” of the Roman Rite, alongside the “ordinary form” of the Novus Ordo. The Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum reveals Ratzinger’s Hegelian approach, which in the coexistence of two forms of the same rite sought to compose the synthesis between the thesis of the traditional Mass and the antithesis of the Montinian rite. But even in that case, the ideological basis of the Motu Proprio was in fact moderated by practice, and so the end result of Summorum Pontificum was relatively positive, at least in the spread of the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass that today’s younger generations had never experienced. Young priests and many of the faithful have embraced the Apostolic Rite, discovering its beauty and intrinsic coherence with the Catholic Faith. In the face of the success of the Mass of all time, the Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes drastically limited the liberalization of Summorum Pontificum, declaring that the right of every priest to celebrate the traditional Mass had been abolished and reserving it only to the former Ecclesia Dei institutes. Thus an “Indian reservation” of more or less conservative clerics who depend on Bergoglio has been created, who are required to profess the conciliar faith through the concelebration of the new rite at least once a year: something that practically all the priests of these institutes are forced to do, willingly or not. On the other hand, it does not seem to me that the bishops and cardinals who support them have expressed any reservations about the Council or about the doctrinal, moral, and liturgical deviations of the post-conciliar period and of Bergoglio himself. It is difficult to expect from subordinates a combativeness that eminent Prelates have never demonstrated.

These institutes are therefore under blackmail. If with Summorum Pontificum it was plausible to think of an attempt at liturgical peace that would leave conservatives free to choose the rite they prefer (in a vision that was, so to speak, liberal), with Traditionis Custodes the clergy who celebrate and the faithful who attend the Traditional Latin Mass are burdened by the ecclesial stigma of backwardness, of the rejection of Vatican II, of pre-conciliar rigidity. In this case, synodality and parrhesia yield to the authoritarianism of Bergoglio, who, however, does speak an uncomfortable truth: the Ancient Rite calls into question the ecclesiology and theology of Vatican II and as such does not represent the conciliar church. The illusion of liturgical peace has therefore been shattered miserably in the face of the evidence of the irreconcilability of two rites that “excommunicate” each other, just like the two churches – the Catholic Church and the synodal church – of which they are a cultic expression.

In the case of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, the ritual and ceremonial question seems to prevail over the doctrinal one, and it is no coincidence that amidst the general dissolution that exists, the Canons of Gricigliano seem to be exempt from opposition and ostracism: they do not represent a problem, because they do not question the new course in the slightest and indeed have extensive citations of conciliar documents in their Constitutions. The other institutes are also surviving, but it remains to be seen how they intend to respond to the coming future restrictions.

The Society of Saint Pius X, after fifty years of activity, is showing signs of tiredness, and sometimes it seems that its silence about the horrors of Santa Marta is motivated by a tacit agreement of non-belligerence, perhaps in the hope of being able to become the collector of conservatism and of part of Catholic traditionalism, once Bergoglio has eliminated “the competition” of the former Ecclesia Dei institutes. My fear is that this hope will in the end lead to ratifying the de facto schism that is already present in the Church, forcing Catholics to leave the official church, as if they, and not the Roman Hierarchy, were in a state of schism. Once the critical voices are eliminated, Bergoglio would find himself with “his own” heretical church, from which the priests and faithful who do not accept the permanent revolution have been banished.

As for the faithful, I believe it is necessary to understand the situation of great disorientation and anarchy that is present in the Church. Many Catholics who have discovered the Traditional Latin Mass are no longer able to attend the Montinian rite, and it is understandable that they are “content” – so to speak – with the Tridentine Masses celebrated by the former Ecclesia Dei institutes, without however accepting the compromises that are required of their priests. But it is a situation that sooner or later will have to be clarified, especially if the acceptance of conciliar and synodal errors becomes the conditio sine qua non of the enjoyment of the Traditional Latin Mass. In that case the faithful must act coherently and seek out priests who are not compromised with the synodal church. The horrors of this “pontificate” are in any case eroding the consensus of the Clergy with regard to Bergoglio: a traditional faction could decide not to follow him on the failed path he has undertaken.

What would you say to lay people who have no access to the Traditional Latin Mass?

I understand the torment that many feel at not being able to attend the Tridentine Mass. It is like being deprived of the very Presence of the Lord and of the Graces that the Holy Sacrifice spreads on souls and on the Church. But we must remember that throughout history, many Catholics, both in distant lands not yet reached by missionaries and also in times of persecution, have found themselves unable to attend Mass except on rare occasions. A Catholic can survive without the Mass, but not without the Faith. If Faith is therefore indispensable for salvation, it is important that every Catholic nourish his or her religious education by taking up the Tridentine Catechism again and nourishing the intellect and the heart in such a way as to resist the contagion of the Novus Ordo and its degenerations. We must pray that the Lord sends workers for His harvest, and we must support the few priests who are still faithful.

The proper understanding of this dogma from the Council of Trent:

Canon 4 on the sacraments in general: If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous, and that without them or without the desire of them men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification, though all are not necessary for each one, let him be anathema.

The Dogma defines two revealed doctrinal truths:

1. If anyone says: that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous, let him be anathema.

2. If anyone says: that without the sacraments or (if anyone says) without the desire of the sacraments men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification, let him be anathema.

Both the Sacrament of Baptism and the will to receive the Sacrament are necessary for salvation!

“But God desired that his confession should avail for his salvation, since he preserved him in this life until the time of his holy regeneration.”

St. Fulgentius

“If anyone is not baptized, not only in ignorance, but even knowingly, he can in no way be saved. For his path to salvation was through the confession, and salvation itself was in baptism. At his age, not only was confession without baptism of no avail: Baptism itself would be of no avail for salvation if he neither believed nor confessed.”

St. Fulgentius

Notice, both the CONFESSION AND THE BAPTISM are necessary for salvation, harkening back to Trent's teaching that both the laver AND the “votum” are required for justification, and harkening back to Our Lord's teaching that we must be born again of water AND the Holy Spirit.

In fact, you see the language of St. Fulgentius reflected in the Council of Trent. Trent describes the votum (so-called “desire”) as the PATH TO SALVATION, the disposition to Baptism, and then says that “JUSTIFICATION ITSELF” (St. Fulgentius says “SALVATION ITSELF”) follows the dispositions in the Sacrament of Baptism.

Yet another solid argument for why Trent is teaching that BOTH the votum AND the Sacrament are required for justification.

“Hold most firmly and never doubt in the least that not only all pagans but also all Jews and all heretics and schismatics who end this present life outside the Catholic Church are about to go into the eternal fire that was prepared for the Devil and his angels.”

St. Fulgentius

“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the ‘eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels.’”

St. Eugene IV, Cantate Domino

Ladislaus, CathInfo

"THE SPIRIT OF SANCTIFICATION AND THE BLOOD OF REDEMPTION AND THE WATER OF BAPTISM. THESE THREE ARE ONE AND REMAIN INDIVISIBLE."

“Let him heed what the blessed apostle Peter preaches, that sanctification by the Spirit is effected by the sprinkling of Christ’s blood (1 Pet. 1:2); and let him not skip over the same apostle’s words, knowing that you have been redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your fathers, not with corruptible gold and silver but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, as of a lamb without stain or spot (1 Pet. 1:18). Nor should he withstand the testimony of blessed John the apostle: and the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, purifies us from every sin (1 Jn. 1:7); and again, This is the victory which conquers the world, our faith. Who is there who conquers the world save one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? It is He, Jesus Christ, who has come through water and blood, not in water only, but in water and blood. And because the Spirit is truth, it is the Spirit who testifies. For there are three who give testimony – Spirit and water and blood. And the three are one. (1 Jn. 5:4-8) IN OTHER WORDS, THE SPIRIT OF SANCTIFICATION AND THE BLOOD OF REDEMPTION AND THE WATER OF BAPTISM. THESE THREE ARE ONE AND REMAIN INDIVISIBLE. NONE OF THEM IS SEPARABLE FROM ITS LINK WITH THE OTHERS.”

Pope St. Leo the Great, dogmatic letter to Flavian, Council of Chalcedon, 451

“Also the epistle of blessed Leo the Pope to Flavian… if anyone argues concerning the text of this one even in regard to one iota, and does not receive it in all respects reverently, let him be anathema.”

Pope St. Gelasius, Decretal, 495

Pope Francis praises nun for opening ‘trans home’ for men claiming to be women, calls them ‘girls’

Pope Francis told the 'nun of the trans' that 'God who did not go to the seminary or study theology will repay you abundantly. I pray for you and your girls.'

LifeSiteNews | NEUQUÉN, Argentina | August 18, 2020 – After a controversial nun opened in Argentina a residence for ‘trans women’ — men who choose to identify as women — Pope Francis praised her work, referring to the men as “girls.”

Sister Mónica Astorga Cremona, 53, known locally in Argentina as the “Nun of the Trans,” cut the ribbon on the new complex of twelve small apartments dedicated solely to housing men claiming to be women and their partners.

Upon hearing the news the Pope responded in a communication, according to the nun, “Dear Monica, God who did not go to the seminary or study theology will repay you abundantly. I pray for you and your girls.”

The Supreme Pontiff, according to the nun, referred to the males, reported to be between 40 and 70 years old, as “girls.”

“Do not forget to pray for me. May Jesus blesses (sic) you and may the Holy Virgin take care of you,” he added, according to a report to Newsflare.

Last year, Cardinal Raymond Burke and Bishop Athanasius Schneider, joined by other prelates, issued a public declaration of truths of the faith where they called it a rebellion and “grave sin” for a man to “attempt to become a woman.”

“The male and female sexes, man and woman, are biological realities created by the wise will of God (see Gen. 1: 27; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 369). It is, therefore, a rebellion against natural and Divine law and a grave sin that a man may attempt to become a woman by mutilating himself, or even by simply declaring himself to be such, or that a woman may in like manner attempt to become a man, or to hold that the civil authority has the duty or the right to act as if such things were or may be possible and legitimate (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2297),” the document states.

Pro-LGBT Jesuit priest Fr. James Martin was delighted with the Pope’s congratulatory words to Sister Monica Cremona, saying in a Tweet: “Wow. Pope Francis sends his support for a Catholic sister in Argentina who ministers to transsexual women.” [.....]

EXCLUSIVE: Abp. Viganò Clarifies His Position Following DDF Ruling — Part I
Matt Gaspers | July 19, 2024

In this exclusive interview, which will continue in a further installment, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò clarifies various aspects of his position following the Vatican’s announcement that he was “found guilty of the reserved delict of schism” on July 4 by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). In this first installment, he explains more precisely what he means when he distinguishes the Catholic Church from the “conciliar church,” describing it as “an overlap of two entities — Church and anti-church — in the same Hierarchy,” something which he says “constitutes the ‘masterstroke of Satan’ that Archbishop Lefebvre denounced from the beginning.”
“The same Masonic lobby that for over two centuries has systematically demolished civil governments, has managed to penetrate the Catholic Church,” he says, “to impose a series of radical changes that subvert the magisterial teaching of two thousand years.” And this “coup d’état,” which he believes includes “the usurpation of the Apostolic See,” began “with the Second Vatican Council.”
Since the Council, Archbishop Viganò emphasizes that internal enemies have “organized themselves so that they are at the head of the Church, so that they can promulgate heresy from the See of Peter by imposing it as a truth to be believed by virtue of the authority of the Roman Pontiff, and so that they can silence every voice of dissent with canonical sanctions and excommunications,” perhaps alluding to his own situation vis-à-vis the Vatican.
He reiterates his belief that Francis is not the Pope while also commenting on what he calls a “paradox,” namely, “that the head of the ‘conciliar church,’” referring to Francis, “who is heretical and apostate, can also be considered Pontiff of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and as usurping from Our Lord the voice of His Bride so as to dishonor her and Jesus Christ Himself.”
“The problem is therefore not whether we are in the Church,” he concludes, “but rather whether those who usurp her authority to demolish the Church are part of the Church. They are the ones who must be kicked out — not us!”

Remember? The SSPX has been in “doctrinal” discussions with Rome since 1997. A faithful Catholic who keeps DOGMA as his proximate Rule of Faith will exhaust any “doctrinal discussions” with a Modernist in a few hours at most if he is patient. The SSPX like the Modernists in Rome both hold that DOGMA is just a human axiom that approximates the truth but must necessarily be continually purged of its human accretions and purified as deeper theological insights are discovered!

The overheard plans are nearly identical to comments from an important Italian liturgist in an interview published by France’s LaCroix earlier this month. Andrea Grillo a lay professor at the Pontifical Athenaeum of St Anselmo in Rome, billed by La Croix as “close to the Pope,” is intimately familiar with Summorum Pontificum. Grillo in fact published a book against Summorum Pontificum before the papal document was even released.

Grillo told La Croix that Francis is considering abolishing Summorum Pontificum. According to Grillo, once the Vatican erects the Society of Saint Pius X as a Personal Prelature, the Roman Rite will be preserved only within this structure. “But [Francis] will not do this as long as Benedict XVI is alive.”

The plan, as related to LifeSite, involved making an agreement with the Society of St. Pius X and, with that agreement in place, sequestering those Catholics wanting the TLM to the SSPX. For most, that would strip them of access to the TLM since there would not be nearly enough SSPX priests to service Catholics wanting the TLM worldwide.

LifeSiteNews, 2017

COMMENT: We have been warning the faithful since 2012 that the SSPX hierarchy has already been regularized within the Novus Ordo Church. They are committed to bringing the priests and laity associated with them along for the ride. Ultimately, the SSPX will be filled with Conservative Catholics who have not and cannot defend the Catholic faith and tradition because they uniformly reject DOGMA as the proximate Rule of Faith. They will overwhelm the few faithful Catholics attending Mass at SSPX chapels. The SSPX will then introduce the reform measures to the 1962 Bugnini transitional Missal to bring about, in time, one expression of the “Roman rite.”

en.news

Francis Allowed SSPX To Ordain Whomever They Wish

The Society Pius X is “completely regular,” James Bogle, a former Una Voce President, told Gloria.tv at the Roman Forum in Gardone, Italy (video below).
en.news | July 29, 2023 Bogle is a barrister in London. He counseled in the cases of Archie Battersbee (2010-2022) and Alfie Evans (2016-2018), who were sentenced to death by British courts, the latter despite interventions by the Polish, Italian and Vatican governments.
Francis "recognised" all Pius X sacraments, including marriage and confession, Bogle notes. In March 2015, Bishop Fellay was appointed a Vatican judge for all annulments and clerical misdemeanours in Pius X.
Fellay told Bogle in May 2015 that Francis had written him a personal letter allowing him to ordain "whomever he wants", without having to consult the local bishops. Bogle calls this not just a recognition but a "special privilege".
A member of the Order of Malta, Bogle believes Francis has "saved" the order. At the 2014 Chapter General, a group of Germans were elected to the governing body and then tried to secularise the order by marginalising the professed members.
Francis stepped in and acted as a dictator, overriding all laws, codes and the Order's constitution. This led to the expulsion of the Germans. Francis’ authoritarian and “frankly not legal” style worked in the Order's favour “by accident”, says Bogle.
As for Francis' desire to close monasteries, Bogle recalls a dissolved monastery in Amalfi, Italy. Its historic building was worth €80M. With Francis' knowledge, the nuns were told that they were being suppressed and had to leave the convent.
For Bogle, Francis is reversing some fundamentals of the faith and thus “destroying the Church”. But given his treatment of Pius X he calls him "self-contradictory" and a “complex figure”.

Sacrament of Baptism: Significance of the Baptismal Character and why it is absolutely necessary for salvation. Explains why St. Ambrose said regarding catechumens who die before receiving the sacrament of Baptism, they are “forgiven but not crowned”.

To be baptized is to become one with the Church, and one with Christ. Thus the ritual can say: “enter into the temple of God, that you may have part with Christ, unto life everlasting.” The two ideas are correlative: to be baptized into the Church and to be baptized into Christ; they are the visible and invisible aspects of the same real effect. [….]

The effecting this incorporation into Christ, Baptism marks the soul as permanently His; it stamps upon the soul a spiritual “character”, or, as antiquity more commonly called it, a “seal”. For this reason, and putting the cause for the effect, the rite of Baptism was itself called “the seal”, or “the seal of faith”, or “the seal of water”, or “the seal of the Trinity” (which last appellation endures still in the liturgical prayers for the dying, wherein God is asked to remember His promises to the soul that in its lifetime was “stamped with the seal of the Most Holy Trinity”).

The word “seal” derives from a group of texts in St. Paul, which suggest this stamping of the soul at Baptism: “And in Him (Christ), you too, when you had heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, and believed in it, were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise” (Eph. 1:13); “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in Whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). However, nowadays we are accustomed to speak rather of the baptismal “character”, a term that suggests the text wherein Christ is called “the brightness of His (the Father’s) glory and the image (in Greek, character) of His substance” (Hebr. 1:3).

Basically, two words give the same meaning: a seal imprints an image, and a “character”, in the original sense of the word, means image. Baptism, therefore, stamps the soul with the image of Christ, Who is Himself the image of the Father. And in the Scripture, this stamping is attributed to the Holy Spirit, Who is the Spirit of Christ. The fact that we are stamped with such a character is clearly defined by the Council of Trent:

“If anyone says that by the three Sacraments, to wit, Baptism, Confirmation and Orders, there is not imprinted in the soul a Character, that is a certain spiritual and indelible sign on account of which they cannot be repeated; let him be anathem.” (Denz. 852).

The Council of Trent teaches that this seal, once stamped on the soul, is indelible. Just as Baptism irrevocable makes one a member of the Church, so also it irrevocably makes one a member of Christ. Not the gravest sin, nor even final impenitence and self-condemnation to eternal separation from Christ in Hell, can avail to erase this baptismal seal. And the indelibility of the seal is the immediate reason why Baptism can never be repeated, once it has been validly received. [….]

The sense in which Baptism stamps us with the image of Christ is suggested in the rite itself, by the anointing which follows the ablution. It is done with Sacred Chrism, a mixed unguent of oil and balm, specially consecrated by the bishop on Holy Thursday. Kings and priests in antiquity (and even today) were anointed with chrism in token of their royal and priestly dignity. And the baptism anointing signifies, therefore, that the new Christian has entered into the “royal priesthood” of the Christian people, and shares in the royal Priesthood of Christ Himself. He bears the image of Christ, inasmuch as Christ was the Priest of all humanity, Who offered Himself in sacrifice on the Cross.

The baptismal seal or character, therefore, endows the Christian with a priestly function, and a priestly power. It is not that special power and function given by the Sacrament of Holy Orders to certain selected members of the Church, who are made her official ministers, and authorized to offer her sacrifice and dispense her Sacraments. But it is the priestly function and power which is common to all the members of the Body of Christ. As He was born as Priest, His whole life orientated toward the Passion and Death which wad His priestly Sacrifice, so too, they are priests from their birth into the Christian life at Baptism; and their lives are essentially orientated toward sacrifice, in a double sense.

First of all, they receive a function and a power with respect to the ritual Sacrifice of the Church, which is the Mass. [….] They are empowered to assist actively in the offering of the Mass, as members of the Church, in whose name her specially qualified members, priests and bishops, offer the Mass, which is the sacrifice of the whole Church through her official ministers. In union with the Priest, the Christian offers up Christ as a Victim Who belongs to him and to Whom he belongs. An unbaptized person cannot do this….

Secondly, the baptismal character consecrates the Christian to sacrifice in a wider sense: it gives him the function, the duty, the power to lead a life of sacrifice, since He is in the image of Christ whose life was one long sacrifice – a life of complete obedience to the will of His Father: “I seek not My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me” (Jn. 3:50).The will of the Father is the supreme law of the Christian’s life; it is all embracing and all pervasive; and constant and total obedience to it necessarily gives a sacrificial quality to the whole of life, since it demands the renunciation of many ideas, and a steady refusal to be led by one’s own emotions or to seek one’s own pleasure and profit – in a word, it demands the sacrifice of selfishness in all its forms. St. Peter, therefore, was thinking of Baptism when he wrote:

“Lay aside therefore all malice and all deceit, and pretense, and envy, and all slander…. Be you yourselves as living stones, built thereon (i.e., on Christ) into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:1,5).

Rev. John J. Fernan, S.J., Theology, Christ Our High Priest, Baptismal Seal

Mandatory Reading for Catholic INDULTISTS!

“The liturgical books promulgated by Saint (sic) Paul VI and Saint (sic) John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, are the ~~unique~~ only expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.”

Pope Francis, Traditionis Custodes

“Responding to your requests, I take the firm decision to abrogate all the norms, instructions, permissions and customs that precede the present Motu proprio, and declare that the liturgical books promulgated by the saintly (sic) Pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, constitute the ~~unique~~ only expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite. I take comfort in this decision from the fact that, after the Council of Trent, St. Pius V also abrogated all the rites that could not claim a proven antiquity, establishing for the whole Latin Church a single Missale Romanum.”

Pope Francis, explanatory letter accompanying Traditionis Custodes

COMMENT: It has not occurred to Conservative Catholics that Pope Francis is being brutally honest with them. They have accepted the false presuppositions of Summorum Pontificum: that is, the immemorial Roman rite is a simple matter of Church discipline subject to the arbitrary will of the legislator; that the 1962 Bugnini Transitional Missal (BTM) is the immemorial Roman rite; that the 1962 BTM has never been outlawed; that the 1962 BTM is the “right” of all Catholics because it has not been outlawed; that the BTM is the Extra-ordinary form and the Novus Ordo is the Ordinary form of the Roman rite expressing a single lex orandi/lex credendi; etc., etc.

Pope Francis is being honest but not entirely forthcoming. He “takes comfort in this decision” because St. Pius V suppressed all rites that had less than 200 years of “proven antiquity.” Pope Francis is doing the same thing. The BTM of 1962 has less traditional standing than the Novus Ordo! When are the Conservative Catholics going to wake up! How many times do they have to be told? The 1962 BTM is not the immemorial Roman rite and it is now legally suppressed. Therefore, turn to the “received and approved” immemorial Roman rite used before Bugnini ever touched it. This rite is established by immemorial custom and Catholic DOGMA. Whomsoever says that this “received and approved” rite may be changed or set aside for a new rite by any pastor of the churches whomsoever, is condemned, anathematized. Pope Francis is a “pastor” of the Church and this divine truth applies just as much to him and his predecessors as to every other Catholic.

It is also true that the Novus Ordo Missae is the “only ~~unique~~” expression of the “lex orandi” of the Novus Ordo Church because it determines the Novus Ordo’s “only ~~unique~~” lex credendi. This is public confession that the Novus Ordo and the Catholic Church do not have the same faith!

We recommend that all the faithful Catholics step aside and pray to God to quickly and thoroughly cleanse His Church.

This article and commentary is worth re-reading for understanding the mind, or rather, the mindlessness of Pope Francis!

Pope: Traditionalism is ‘dead memory’ and ‘paganism of thought’

CRUX | Elise Ann Allen | Aug 5, 2022 | Senior Correspondent

ROME – While Pope Francis was on his “penitential pilgrimage” in Canada last week, most of the focus was on his effort to heal historic wounds with Indigenous peoples related to Canada’s residential school system. The hope is that the Catholic Church can turn over a new leaf – rather than represent an assault on Indigenous cultures and traditions, it will help to defend and preserve them.

Now, only days after returning to Rome, attention has turned to the remarks the pope made in Canada out of the spotlight, about the church’s own tradition, especially the liturgy and the ongoing battle over the Traditional Latin Mass.

“It is important to have respect for tradition, the authentic one,” Francis said, speaking to members of the Jesuit order in Canada during a private conversation July 29. He described tradition as “the living memory of believers,” whereas “traditionalism” means “the dead life of our believers.”

Tradition, the pope said, “is the life of those who have gone before us and who go on. Traditionalism is their dead memory. From root to fruit, in short, that is the way.”

When looking to the origin of something, it must be seen as a point of reference, “not a particular historical experience taken as a perpetual model, as if we had to stop there,” he said.

Under this mentality, he said, “’Yesterday it was done like this’ becomes ‘it always has been done like this,’” and even necessary change becomes problematic. He called such a mindset “a paganism of thought.”

“Changes needed to be made, and they were made. Law cannot be kept in a refrigerator. Law accompanies life, and life goes on. Like morals, it is being perfected,” he said.

Both the church and society have made important changes over time on issues such as slavery and the possession of atomic weapons, he said, adding that the moral life is also “progressing along the same line.”

This slow development resulting in change is something taught by Saint Vincent of Lérins, he said, and quoted a phrase from the saint: “The dogma of the Christian religion must follow these laws. It progresses, consolidating over the years, developing with time, deepening with age.”

According to this concept, he said, human thought and development “grows and consolidates with the passage of time. Human understanding changes with time, and human consciousness deepens.”

Francis said it is “wrong” to view the church’s doctrine as “monolithic, to be defended without nuance.”

Asked about the importance of liturgy in priestly and religious formation, specifically for the Jesuits, Pope Francis said, “When there is conflict, the liturgy is always mistreated.”

The pope said the aim of his actions on the liturgy, including his decision to restrict the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, has been “to follow the line taken by John Paul II and Benedict XVI, who had allowed the ancient rite and asked for subsequent verification.”

“The most recent verification made it clear that there was a need to regulate the practice, and above all to avoid it becoming a matter, let us say, of ‘fashion’ and remaining instead a pastoral question,” he said.

Last year, Pope Francis tightened permissions for celebration of the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass, the use of which had been liberalized under his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.

According to the decree Traditionis Custodes, priests who wish to celebrate the 1962 liturgy must now get permission from their bishop to continue doing so. Any priest ordained after the issuance of the new norms who wishes to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass must submit a formal request to their bishop, and the bishop in turn must consult with the Vatican before granting permission.

Francis also charged bishops with determining specific times and locations where the Traditional Latin Mass can be celebrated and prohibited the designation of new parishes exclusively dedicated to the Old Rite liturgy.

While exceptions have been made for communities and priestly societies with a special attachment to the traditional liturgy, the decision was met with intense blowback from so-called “traditionalist” communities in the church, who argued that the measure was “cruel” and divisive.

In his remarks to the Jesuits in Canada, Francis said he looks forward to further studies that will refine the church’s reflection on the topic, saying the liturgy “is the people of God’s public praise!”

The topic of traditionalism also came up on Pope Francis’s return flight to Rome.

When responding to a question on whether the church would ever reconsider its position on the use of contraceptives by Catholic couples, he said, “A church that does not develop its thinking in an ecclesial sense is a church that goes backwards.”

“This is the problem today of many who say they are traditional,” he said, saying these people are not traditional, but “backward-looking.” Rather than going forward, he said, they move backward “with no roots: it has always been done like this; last century it was done this way.”

Francis called this backward movement “a shame,” and repeated his remarks to the Jesuits, saying, tradition itself “is the living faith of the dead,” this “backward-looking” gaze of those who profess themselves as traditionalists, “is the dead faith of the living.”

Tradition is the root and is the “inspiration for the church to move forward,” he said, saying this movement “is always vertical.”

“It is important to understand well the role of tradition, which is always open, like the roots of the tree, and the tree grows,” he said, calling tradition in this sense “the guarantee of the future.”

“It is not a museum piece,” he said. “If you conceive tradition as closed, this is not the Christian tradition. It is always the juice of the roots that carries you forward.”

Pope Francis praised the work done by the country’s bishops to prepare for his visit and their unity in their process of healing and reconciliation with Indigenous communities.

“When an episcopate is united, then it can deal with the challenges that arise,” he said, saying miracles can happen “when the church is united.”

COMMENT:

The Vatican News Service says that Pope Francis has invoked the teaching of St. Vincent of Lerins since his election to the papacy. St. Vincent has been a favorite of traditional Catholics from the time of Vatican II, consequently, it is not surprising to see Francis the Progressive Ideologue attempt to recruit the great saint and Church father in support of his ideology. What is more to the point, he wants St. Vincent to be seen as an opponent of tradition. Is this a possible legitimate misunderstanding? Someone clearly does not understand the teaching of St. Vincent. A case of legitimate development is provided by Pope Francis who cites the moral ‘development’ of capital punishment from being morally permissible and sometimes a morally necessary act to what is now become an intrinsically evil act against the dignity of the human person. This is clearly impossible in legitimate development for an act to go from what it was to what it was not. This ‘development’ is a perfect contradiction and God does not change.

How is it possible that the mind of Pope Francis could see a moral development in the face of perfect contradiction, which offends the first principle of the understanding, that is, that a thing cannot be and not be at the same time? The answer is in the spiritual formation of Pope Francis. Francis was Jesuit trained in a spirit of Anti-Thomism. Not just grossly neglecting a classical realist formation as most modern clerics underwent but an active opposition to traditional Catholic realistic philosophy and theology. Pope Francis hates St. Thomas and rejects everything he taught.

As Carroll Quigley explained, the Nominalist ascendency (which denies the reality of essence) during the 14th century discarded Thomistic metaphysics, logic and epistemology ultimately leading to the Reformation and Enlightenment errors. Metaphysics of St. Thomas grasped the objective reality of things as they are hierarchically constituted by God; logic established the rules of validity (not the rules of truth) of subjective mental thought; and epistemology providing the bridge between the objective world and the subjective rational mind. The rule was that for truth, the mind must conform with objective reality. Nominalism discarded Thomistic hierarchical metaphysics for a neo-platonic dualism; it discarded Aristotelian logic for mathematical relationships; and it discarded Thomistic epistemology offering nothing in its place because they made the erroneous assumption that the objective world entirely conforms with mathematical logic and can be expressed perfectly in mathematical formulas. Their rule was that the truth of the world must conform with the logical rationalistic mind. With the realization over time that the objective world was not logical or reasonable or conformable to mathematical determination led to three common errors: skepticism, empiricism, and semantics.

Skeptics despaired that the mind could know any truth. The Empiricists simply became pure utilitarianists; whatever worked was true enough. The Semanticists answer was to overturn the rules of logic and rationality in the mind itself. They held and hold that since the objective world was not rational or logical, neither should the mind be rational or logical. The first thing the semanticists did was to discard the first principles of the understanding, that is, the principle of contradiction: a thing is what it is, and it is not what it is not, was held to be a useless mental construct. They hold that words must be fluid to take on new and original meanings so as to be better conformed to the objective world which is always changing, that is, they reject being and embrace becoming. This follows from their Nominalism that denies any that there is any fixed essence in the real world.

Francis is a Semanticists. Words for Francis have no fixed meaning. He like all nominalists denies any fixed essence or, when viewed from the perspective of what a thing can do or what can be done to it, he denies any fixed nature. He sees no problem when faced with the complete inversion of morality. He has no mental problem of contradiction when he supports restoring the pagan traditions of North American Indians while denying the same right to Catholics faithful to their traditions. The solution for Semanticism is not simply returning to Thomistic epistemology and metaphysics but a radical rejection of Nominalism. Francis requires a complete and integral conversion to the Catholic faith. He has been personally paganized by his Jesuit formation.

According to Carroll Quigley (who no friend of Catholic faith) George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is the story of a semanticists’ dystopia with Newspeak and Double Think: the Ministry of Peace wages war, the Ministry of Plenty produces scarcity of goods and services, slavery is called freedom and freedom slavery. Francis the Semanticist has produced a dystopian Church of the New Advent. Francis says “Backwardism is a sin” and so ‘Forwardism is a virtue’ necessary to arrive at the progressivists ideologues idea of heaven. But the “backwardism” of pagan Indians is a virtue. Pope Francis the Hypocrite (“Who am I to judge? ”) after actively participating in a pagan Indian ceremony judges the “thoughts” of faithful Catholics accusing them of “paganism of thought.” Even the word hypocrite can be rehabilitated for Francis!

At the behest of the Jews, Pope Francis wants to rehabilitate the reputation of the Pharisees. In 2019 he directed the Pontifical Biblical Institute, co-sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, to conduct an inter-religious conference entitled, “Jesus and the Pharisees: an Interdisciplinary Reappraisal.” The goal of both Francis and the Jews is to rehabilitate the reputation of the Pharisees who conspired the death of Jesus Christ for the end of “helping to combat anti-semitism” and legitimize the Talmudic religion and its debased morality. Soon we will learn that the hypocrites are Catholics faithful to tradition while the Pharisees were unfortunately misunderstood by the writes of the gospel narratives.

Francis does not believe in God’s hell and God does not believe in Francis’ semantic progressivism. There is no progressive ideology in hell and no matter how much Francis will want to call the hell fire “cold, cool or refreshing” it will still burn eternally where the “worm dieth not.”

Pius XII - the man responsible for planting the seed of liturgical destruction!

Fr. Annibale Bugnini had been making clandestine visits to the Centre de Pastorale Liturgique (CPL), a progressivist conference centre for liturgical reform which organized national weeks for priests.
Inaugurated in Paris in 1943 on the private initiative of two Dominican priests under the presidency of Fr. Lambert Beauduin, it was a magnet for all who considered themselves in the vanguard of the Liturgical Movement. It would play host to some of the most famous names who influenced the direction of Vatican II: Frs. Beauduin, Guardini, Congar, Chenu, Daniélou, Gy, von Balthasar, de Lubac, Boyer, Gelineau etc.

It could, therefore, be considered as the confluence of all the forces of Progressivism, which saved and re-established Modernism condemned by Pope Pius X in Pascendi.
According to its co-founder and director, Fr. Pie Duployé, OP, Bugnini had requested a “discreet” invitation to attend a CPL study week held near Chartres in September 1946.

Much more was involved here than the issue of secrecy. The person whose heart beat as one with the interests of the reformers would return to Rome to be placed by an unsuspecting (?) Pope (Pius XII) in charge of his Commission for the General Reform of the Liturgy.
But someone in the Roman Curia did know about the CPL – Msgr. Giovanni Battista Montini, the acting Secretary of State and future Paul VI – who sent a telegram to the CPL dated January 3, 1947. It purported to come from the Pope with an apostolic blessing. If, in Bugnini’s estimation, the Roman authorities were to be kept in the dark about the CPL so as not to compromise its activities, a mystery remains. Was the telegram issued under false pretences, or did Pius XII really know and approve of the CPL? [.....]

This agenda (for liturgical reform) was set out as early as 1949 in the Ephemerides Liturgicae, a leading Roman review on liturgical studies of which Fr. Annabale Bugnini was Editor from 1944 to 1965.
First, Bugnini denigrated the traditional liturgy as a dilapidated building (“un vecchio edificio”), which should be condemned because it was in danger of falling to pieces (“sgretolarsi”) and, therefore, beyond repair. Then, he criticized it for its alleged “deficiencies, incongruities and difficulties,” which rendered it spiritually “sterile” and would prevent it appealing to modern sensibilities.
It is difficult to understand how, in the same year that he published this anti-Catholic diatribe, he was made a Professor of Liturgy in Rome’s Propaganda Fide (Propagation of the Faith) University. His solution was to return to the simplicity of early Christian liturgies and jettison all subsequent developments, especially traditional devotions.
These ideas expressed in 1949 would form the foundational principles of Vatican II’s Sacrosanctum Concilium. For all practical purposes, the Roman Rite was dead in the water many years before it was officially buried by Paul VI.

Dr. Carol Byrne, How Bugnini Grew Up under Pius XII

Baptism imprints in your soul a spiritual character, which no sin can efface. This character is a proof that from this time you do not belong to yourself, but that you are the property of Jesus Christ, who has purchased you by the infinite price of his blood and of his death. You are not of yourself, but you are of Christ; wherefore, St. Paul concludes, “that the Christian should no longer live for himself, but for Him who died and rose again for him;” that is to say, that the Christian should live a life of grace, and that he should consecrate to his Redeemer his spirit, his heart, and all his actions. […..]

First, is true penance; for, as the holy Council of Trent teaches, penance is no less necessary for those who have sinned after Baptism, than Baptism is necessary for those who have not received it. The Holy Scripture informs us, that there are two gates by which we are to enter into heaven—baptismal innocence, and penance. When a Christian has shut against himself the gate of innocence, in violating the holy promises of Baptism, it is necessary that he should strive to enter by that of penance; otherwise there is no salvation for him. On this account, Jesus Christ, speaking of persons who have lost innocence, says to them: “Unless you do penance, you shall all perish.”

But in order that penance may prevent us from perishing—it must be true Penance. Confessors may be deceived by the false appearance of conversion, and it is too often the case; but God is never deceived. If, therefore, those who receive absolution are not truly penitent and worthy of pardon, their sins are not forgiven before God. In order to do true penance, it is not sufficient to confess all our sins and to fulfill what is enjoined on us by the priest. There are two other things which are necessary: First; to renounce sin with all your heart, and for all your life… and second; to fly the occasions of sin, and to use the means to avoid it.

St. John Eudes, Man’s Contract with God in Baptism

Amoris Laetitia was published in 2016. No answer or corrective action to this "appeal" was ever made. That is because no clarification was ever needed. Why? That is because the "numerous propositions in Amoris Laetita (that) can be construed as heretical upon the natural reading of the text" is exactly what the author intended! So in 2016 these "academics and pastors" were "not accusing the pope of heresy", but what about now?

“Amoris Laetitia.... scandalous, erroneous in faith, and ambiguous...”

Catholic academics and pastors appeal to the College of Cardinals over Amoris Laetitia

A group of Catholic academics and pastors has submitted an appeal to Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals in Rome, requesting that the Cardinals and Eastern Catholic Patriarchs petition His Holiness, Pope Francis, to repudiate a list of erroneous propositions that can be drawn from a natural reading of the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia. During the coming weeks this submission will be sent in various languages to every one of the Cardinals and Patriarchs, of whom there are 218 living at present.
Describing the exhortation as containing “a number of statements that can be understood in a sense that is contrary to Catholic faith and morals,” the signatories submitted, along with their appeal, a documented list of applicable theological censures specifying “the nature and degree of the errors that could be attributed to Amoris laetitia.”

Among the 45 signatories are Catholic prelates, scholars, professors, authors, and clergy from various pontifical universities, seminaries, colleges, theological institutes, religious orders, and dioceses around the world. They have asked the College of Cardinals, in their capacity as the Pope’s official advisers, to approach the Holy Father with a request that he repudiate “the errors listed in the document in a definitive and final manner, and to authoritatively state that Amoris laetitia does not require any of them to be believed or considered as possibly true.”

“We are not accusing the pope of heresy,” said a spokesman for the authors, “but we consider that numerous propositions in Amoris laetitia can be construed as heretical upon a natural reading of the text. Additional statements would fall under other established theological censures, such as scandalous, erroneous in faith, and ambiguous, among others.” [......]

SOON TO BE THE EXCLUSIVE HOME FOR THE EVER FLUID BUGNINI TRANSITION MISSAL OF 1962

Maybe the common ground is “does not care for doctrine”?

“A pope (Francis) who does not care for doctrine, who looks at the people, and who has known us in Argentina. And he appreciated our work in Argentina. And that's why he sees us with a good disposition while in the same time he is against conservatism. This is like a contradiction. But I have been able to verify several times that he really does things personally for us.”

Bishop Bernard Fellay, SSPX, 2017

A Personal Prelature for SSPX: comment from 2017

Bishop Fellay then commented on a project of Personal Prelature which had been offered to the SSPX in the summer of 2015. As he already said on January 26, 2016, such a canonical structure fits the needs and the actual apostolate and presence of the Society all over the world. He revealed that the written proposal given to the SSPX foresees that prelate should be a bishop. How would the prelate be designated? The Pope would choose amongst the three names presented by the SSPX through its own elections. It is also foreseen, said Bishop Fellay, that other auxiliary bishops would be given to the Society.

Everything that exists now will be recognized all over the world. And the faithful also! They will be in this Prelature with the right to receive the sacraments and teachings from the Society’s priests. It will be also possible to receive religious congregations, as it is in a diocese: Capuchins, Benedictines, Carmelites, and others. This prelature is a Catholic structure which is not under the [authority of the local] bishops. It is autonomous.”

The Angelus, SSPX publication for United States District, 2017

“Cultivate a great desire to be firmly rooted in the sublime virtue of confidence. Do not fear, but be courageous in serving and loving our Most Adorable and Amiable Jesus, with great perfection and holiness. Undertake courageously great tasks for His glory, in proportion to the power and grace He will give you for this end. Even though you can do nothing of yourself, you can do all things in Him and His help will never fail you, if you have confidence in His goodness. Place your entire physical and spiritual welfare in His hands. Abandon to the paternal solicitude of His Divine Providence every care for your health, reputation, property and business, for those near to you, for your past sins, for your soul’s progress in virtue and love of Him, for your life, death, and especially for your salvation and eternity, in a word, all your cares. Rest in the assurance that, in His pure goodness, He will watch with particular tenderness over all your responsibilities and cares and dispose all things for the greatest good.”

St. John Eudes, The Life and Kingdom of Jesus in Christian Souls

Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity

Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium Smears Faithful Catholics as “Neo-pelagians”:

Catholics faithful in keeping God’s moral law and believing His revealed truth are “self-absorbed promethean neopelagianism [who] observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style [characterized by a] narcissistic and authoritarian elitism [which is a] manifestations of an anthropocentric immanentism. It is impossible to think that a genuine evangelizing thrust could emerge from these adulterated forms of Christianity.”

94. This worldliness can be fuelled in two deeply interrelated ways. One is the attraction of gnosticism, a purely subjective faith whose only interest is a certain experience or a set of ideas and bits of information which are meant to console and enlighten, but which ultimately keep one imprisoned in his or her own thoughts and feelings. The other is the self-absorbed promethean neopelagianism of those who ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. A supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying. In neither case is one really concerned about Jesus Christ or others. These are manifestations of an anthropocentric immanentism. It is impossible to think that a genuine evangelizing thrust could emerge from these adulterated forms of Christianity.

Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium

While in the same document he has this to say about the possibility of salvation for “Non-Christinas”:

254. Non-Christians, by God’s gracious initiative, when they are faithful to their own consciences, can live “justified by the grace of God”, and thus be “associated to the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ”.

Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, this teaching of Pope Franics references the teaching of the International Theological Commission.

“By God’s gracious initiative” is pure invention. God has never revealed this fable. This is Pelagianism by definition. This is what a Pelagian heretic affirms that salvation is possible through being “faithful to their own consciences.” Catholic dogmas, formal objects of divine and Catholic faith, affirm that supernatural faith, the sacraments, membership in the Church, and subjection to the Roman Pontiff are necessary as necessities of means to obtain eternal salvation. Pope Francis is a Pelagian heretic. So where is his source material for this error? He cites as his authority the International Theological Commission which teaches:

10. Exclusivist ecclesiocentrism—the fruit of a specific theological system or of a mistaken understanding of the phrase extra ecclesiam nulla salus—is no longer defended by Catholic theologians after the clear statements of Pius XII (sic) and Vatican II the possibility of salvation for those who do not belong visibly to the Church (cf, e.g., Vatican II, LG 16; GS 22).

Christocentrism accepts that salvation may occur in religions, but it denies them any autonomy in salvation on account of the uniqueness and universality of the salvation that comes from Jesus Christ. This position is undoubtedly the one most commonly held by Catholic theologians, even though there are differences among them.

International Theological Commission, Christianity and the World Religions, 1997

This is the fundamental doctrine of Neo-Modernism that holds that Dogmas need not be taken in a literal sense because they are always undergoing evolutionary development in an effort to achieve a closer approximation of truth. Catholics believe, as St. Pope Pius X said, dogmas are “truths fallen from heaven.” Pope Pius XII never denied the dogma that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church. Those who claim he did are simply liars. Vatican II on the other hand did, and Vatican II cites as its authority for the denial of the dogma that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church, the heretical 1949 Holy Office Letter that teaches that the one and only thing necessary for salvation is the ‘desire to do the will of a god who rewards and punishes’. This can be known by natural philosophy and is simply a necessary presupposition to receiving the Gospel message. The 1949 Holy Office Letter and Vatican II are teaching Pelagianism. The very error that Pope Francis attributes to faithful Catholics who believe the revealed truths of our faith and keep our immemorial traditions. Is it any wonder that Pope Francis who denies the necessity of faith, the sacraments, membership in the Church, and submission to the Roman Pontiff as necessary for salvation as necessities of means would then thoroughly corrupt the definition of “genuine evangelization”?

Catholics who “observe certain rules (like keeping the Ten Commandments or believing Catholic dogma) or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style (the “received and approved rites customarily used in the solemn administration of the sacraments” Trent)” are guilty of “self-absorbed promethean neopelagianism... narcissistic and authoritarian elitism [that is a] manifestation of an anthropocentric immanentism... [whereby, it is] impossible to think that a genuine evangelizing thrust could emerge from these adulterated forms of Christianity.”

Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium

What is “Genuine evangelization”? Pope Francis said: “Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us. ..... I believe I have already said that our goal is not to proselytize but to listen to needs, desires and disappointments, despair, hope” (Interview with Italian journalist and atheist Eugenio Scalfari). He also said in answer to a question from a Lutheran girl, “It is not licit that you convince them of your faith; proselytism is the strongest poison against the ecumenical path.” On another occasion he said, “Proselytism among Christians, therefore, in itself, is a grave sin.”

How is this possible? Proselytism means to seek converts. A “proselyte” is a convert. It was the Great Commission given by Jesus Christ to His Church: “Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16) The goal of “preaching” is to bring other to “believe” the revealed truth and become members of the Church through “baptism” so that they may become a “proselyte,” like one of the first deacons of the Church, Nicolas in Acts 6:5, and be “saved.”

“Genuine evangelization” is the act of proselytism and the fruit of evangelization is proselytes. “By their fruit you shall know them.” In South America alone there have been more than 40 million Catholics lost to the faith since Vatican II. This is the fruit of the “new evangelization” of Pope Francis which does not seek converts at all because he sees no reason to convert.

So who in end is “self-absorbed promethean neo-pelagian”? Prometheus was eternally punished for his hubris of defying the gods while Pope Francis does the same thing by “intransigently” overturning God’s revealed truth. His heresy is the fruit of his own “narcissistic and authoritarian elitism” to believe that he is better than God. He proposes an “adulterated form of Christianity” which explains why he promotes Catholic divorce. Heretics always permit divorce because marriage is the metaphor used by God to describe His relationship to His Church and to each of His faithful. The heretic cannot stand the integrity of the metaphor and always permits divorce. This is the unmistakable sign that Pope Francis is a heretic.

"Not a stone upon a stone" - Comment on the Gospel from the 9th Sunday after Pentecost

The 'Western Wall' (Wailing Wall) in Jerusalem is held by Jews as a remnant of Herod's Temple destroyed by the Romans in 72 A.D. Yet, Jesus prophesized not only that the Temple would be destroyed but also that there would not remain a "stone upon a stone." So how is it that there remains a large wall on the western side at the south end of the 'Temple Mount'? Some Catholics claim the prophecy of Jesus was referring only to the edifice itself and not the entire foundation for the Temple. Jesus words must be taken in literally unless there it is clearly manifest that the metaphorical sense is intended exclusively. Therefore, the 'Wailing Wall' where the Jews worship is not a remnant of the ancient Temple, and the 'Temple Mount', on which is currently situated the Al-Aqsa mosque and the "Dome of the Rock", is not the location of the Temple destroyed in 72 A.D. The 36 acre 'Temple Mount' is actually the location of the Roman fortress Antonia built by Herod.

What is the evidence for this? The current popular claim is the fortress Antonia was located on a five-acre section on the north-west side of the 'Temple Mount' while the Temple occupied the remaining 30 acres. Five acres is far too small to accommodate a Roman legion (6,000 soldiers plus auxiliary staff) which we know from the writings of Flavius Josephus that the fortress Antonia did in fact hold. Many Roman fortresses have been examined by archeologists and they typically are between 45 and 55 acres but some are as small as 36 acres. As far as the area needed for the Temple of Herod itself, consider this, the ancient pagan temple complex at Baalek in Lebanon built by the Romans is less than six acres in total area and encloses the largest temple to Jupiter in the Roman Empire as well as a smaller temple dedicated to Bacchus and another to Venus. The Temple built by Herod was a single temple and much smaller in overall dimensions.

Furthermore, when Solomon was designated by King David to succeed him (3 Kings 1), King David directed the prophet Nathan and the high priest Sadoc to take Solomon on the king's mule to be anointed king at the "Gihon spring" with oil taken from the tabernacle. The Gihon spring is located in the City of David directly south and adjacent to the present-day 'Temple Mount'. There Solomon was anointed with oil taken from the Tabernacle, proclaimed king and celebrated by the populace with great jubilation and the sounding of trumpets that could be heard outside the city. The Temple built by Solomon was in the same location as the Tabernacle established by King David on the threshing floor of the land he purchased Areuna the Jebusite as God had commanded by the mouth of Gad (2 Kings 24 and 2 Paralipomenon 3:1).

The water from the Gihon spring was essential for the sacrificial offerings of the Temple. There is no living water source on the 'Temple Mount' which was required in the washing of the priests and the sacrifices offered. The water source for the Antonia fortress was provided by large cisterns located just north of the Antonia fortress and under the 'Temple Mount' that are still present today.

There is a Catholic tradition the there was a church called the Church of the Judgment that was built over and enclosed the Rock that is now enclosed under the Dome of the Rock built by the Moslems in 692 A.D. The Dome of the Rock is located directly north of the Al-Aqsa mosque on the 'Temple Mount'. The Church of the Judgment was destroyed either by the Persians who conquered Jerusalem in 614 A.D. with the help of 26,000 Jewish allies during the Byzantine-Sasanian War 602-628 A.D. (during which many churches were destroyed including the Church of the Ascension on Mount Olivet), or the church was destroyed by the Moslems who conquered Jerusalem in 637 A.D. No living Jew at the time would have knowledge of the exact location of Herod's Temple because the Jews were forbidden to enter Jerusalem by the Romans since the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 A.D. on the pain of death. Two hundred years later, the Catholic emperor Constantine permitted the Jews to enter Jerusalem once a year on the feast of Tisha B'Av (the ninth of Av) which is regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar because it is the anniversary of the destruction of both the Temple of Solomon and the Temple of Herod! Be that as it may, many of the pillars used in the construction of the interior of the Dome of the Rock have Christian markings indicating that they were salvaged from a destroyed Catholic church.

The Rock itself is regarded (WIKI) as The Foundation Stone (Hebrew אֶבֶן הַשְּׁתִיָּה, romanized: ʾEḇen haŠeṯīyyā, lit. 'Foundation Stone'), or the Noble Rock (Arabic:الصخرة المشرفة, romanized: al-Saḵrah al-Mušarrafah, lit. 'The Noble Stone') is the rock enclosed by the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. It is also known as the Pierced Stone, because it has a small hole on the southeastern corner that enters a cavern beneath the rock, known as the Well of Souls. Traditional Jewish sources mention the stone as the place from which the creation of the world began. Jewish sources also identify its location with that of the Holy of Holies. Yet, it is not possible for a threshing floor to be around a large rock or stone.

Before the Muslim conquest, the Rock was enclosed in the Church of the Judgment because it is believed to have been the place where the condemned stood to hear the judgment against them by the Roman authorities. The Rock is held to be where Jesus stood when His official condemnation was decreed by Pontius Pilate and thus, if it is the stone where the "creation of the world began," it is the stone from which the creation of the world began anew. John 19:13 says: "Now when Pilate had heard these words, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat, in the place that is called Lithostrotos, and in Hebrew Gabbatha." Lithostrotos in Greek refers to a stone and Gabbatha in Hebrew an elevated place. According to St. Mary Agreda after Jesus was condemned by Pilate the decree of condemnation, which she quotes in its entirety, was then formally read to the Jewish mob assembled outside the north entrance to Fortress Antonia where Jesus was taken to bear His cross.

Of the Temple of Herod destroyed in 72 A.D. there does not remain a "stone upon a stone".

The Papacy is an office established by Jesus Christ. No pope can change the essential nature of the office, he can only accept it and address the duties the office imposes. If Pope Benedict XVI did not resign the office of the papacy in its entirety, he did not resign the papacy at all. If Pope Francis was not elected to the papacy in its entirety, he was not elected at all.

Following his resignation as pope in 2013, Benedict XVI became the first pope to step down from office since the resignation of Gregory XII in Coat_of_Arms_of_Pope_Emeritus_Benedict_XVI_(alternative_version).png 1415. But unlike his predecessors who resigned, he continued to live in the Vatican and to be adorned with the clothing and regalia of a pope.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the private secretary of Pope Benedict XVI, said after his resignation that Benedict would continue to fulfill the spiritual duties of the papacy. Journalist Edward Pentin reported in July 8, 2017 (National Catholic Register) that Gänswein said that Francis and Benedict are not two popes "in competition" with one another, but represent one "expanded" Petrine Office with an "active" member and a "contemplative" one. He said that Benedict had not abandoned the papacy like Pope Celestine V in the 13th century but rather sought to continue his papacy in a more appropriate way given his frailty and that "Therefore, from 11 February 2013, the papal ministry is not the same as before. It is and remains the foundation of the Catholic Church; and yet it is a foundation that Benedict XVI has profoundly and lastingly transformed by his exceptional pontificate." This division of the papacy is impossible.

In light of his decision to resign, Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, the designer of the Benedict's papal coat of arms, suggested the need to create a new coat of arms for the former pope. According to the cardinal, the coat of arms of the retired pope should retain all the symbolic elements found on the shield, but all the external elements, such as the two crossed keys and the mitre, should be removed or modified as they represent an office he no longer holds.

Cordero presented a hypothetical design shown above of how he believed the new coat of arms of the pope emeritus should look, replacing the bishop's mitre with a white galero with 15 tassels, removing the two crossed keys, and placing the pope's episcopal motto "Cooperatores Veritatis" below the shield. The new coat of arms was offered to but never adopted by Benedict. He continued to use his papal coat of arms for the rest of his life and it is the papal coat of arms which was also displayed by his catafalque during his funeral at St. Peter's.

IN SANGUINE TUO

Homily on the external Solemnity of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Redemisti nos, Domine, in sanguine tuo, ex omni tribu, et lingua, et populo, et natione: et fecisti nos Deo nostro regnum.

Rev 5:9-10

Dear brothers and sisters,

First of all, allow me to share with you my serenity of mind in facing this trial. I experienced the same inner peace when, a few years ago, I rediscovered the Traditional Mass, which since then I have never stopped celebrating exclusively and which has brought me back to the beating heart of our holy Religion, to understand that being united to Christ the Priest in the offering to the eternal Father must necessarily be translated into the mystical immolation of oneself on the model of Christ the Victim, in restoring the divine order in which Charity consumes us with love for God and neighbor, and shows us how incomprehensible – as well as unacceptable – it is to modify anything of this perfect order that the Holy Church anticipates on earth precisely by placing the Cross at the center of everything. Stat Crux dumvolvitur orbis.

For sixty years, however, along with the world, volvitur et ecclesia. The ecclesial body has also lost its point of stability: yesterday, in the mad attempt to adapt to the world by softening its doctrine; today, in the deliberate desire to erase the Cross, a sign of contradiction, in order to please the Prince of this world. And in a world hostile to the Cross of Christ, it is not possible to preach Christ, and Christ crucified, because this is “divisive” for a “human brotherhood” from which the fatherhood of God is excluded. It is not surprising, therefore, that those who proclaim the Gospel without adaptations are considered enemies. Christians of all ages, and among them the Pastors in the first place, have always been opposed and fought and killed precisely because of the incompatibility between the Civitas Dei and the civitas Diaboli. The Lord taught us: “If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also; if they have kept my word, they will also keep yours” (Jn 15:20).

A few days ago, a church enslaved to the world put me on trial for schism and condemned me with excommunication for having openly professed the Faith that the Lord by my Episcopal Consecration ordered me to preach; the same Faith for which the Martyrs were killed, the Confessors persecuted, priests and Bishops imprisoned or exiled. But how can we even think that it is the true Church that strikes its children and its Ministers, and at the same time welcomes its enemies and makes their errors its own? This Church, which calls itself “conciliar and synodal,” is a counterfeit, a counter-church, for which everything begins and ends in this life, and which does not want to accept anything eternal precisely because the immutability of the Truth of God is intrinsically alien to the permanent revolution that it has welcomed and promotes.

If we were not persecuted by those who are hostile to the Cross, we would have to question our fidelity to Christ, who from that Throne of pain and blood struck a mortal blow against the Enemy of the human race. If our Ministry could be “tolerated” in some way, it would mean that it is ineffective and compromised, if only because of the implicit acceptance of an impossible coexistence between opposites, of a hermeneutic of continuity in which there is room for truth and error, light and darkness, God and Belial. That is why I consider this sentence of the Roman Sanhedrin as causing clarity: a Catholic cannot but be in a state of schism with those who refuse the Profession of Faith in Charity. There can be no communion with the one who first broke the supernatural bond with Christ and with His Mystical Body. Nor can there be obedience and submission to an adulterated version of the Papacy in which authority has deliberately withdrawn from Christ, the first principle of that authority, to be transformed into tyranny.

Thus, just as in the morally necessary choice to return to the Apostolic Mass I rediscovered the true meaning of my priesthood, so too in the decision to denounce the apostasy of the modernist and globalist hierarchy I rediscovered the meaning of my Episcopate, of being a Successor of the Apostles, a witness of Christ and a Pastor in His Church.

Timidity, human respect, opportunistic evaluations, thirst for power, or corruption have led many of my Brothers to make the simplest choice: to leave the Lord by Himself in His Passion and mingle with the crowd of His executioners, or even just to stand by for fear of going against the high priests and scribes of the people. Some of them, like Peter, repeat the “I do not know Him” so as not to be brought before the same Sanhedrin. Others stay closed in their cenacle, content not to be tried and condemned. But is this what the Lord wants of us? Is this what He has called us to in choosing us as His Ministers and as proclaimers of His Gospel?

Dear brothers, bless these times of tribulation with me, because it is only in infirmitate that we have the certainty of fulfilling God’s Will and sanctifying ourselves with His Grace. As Saint Paul says: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:9). Our being docile instruments in the Lord’s hands is the indispensable premise for ensuring that His work is truly divine.

We are asked only to follow him: Veni, et sequere me (Mt 10:21); to follow Him leaving everything else, which is to make a radical choice. We are asked to preach His Gospel, to baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, to keep faithfully all the precepts that the Lord has commanded us to observe (Mt 28:19-20). We are asked to pass on intact what we have received – tradidi quod et accepi – without additions, without changes, without omissions. And to preach the Word opportune, importune, enduring everything: in omni patientia et doctrina (2 Tim 4:2). We are asked to take up our cross every day, to deny ourselves, to be ready to climb Calvary and be crucified with Christ to rise with Him, to share in His victory and triumph in the blessed eternity of Heaven. We are asked to complete in our flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions, for the good of his Body which is the Church (Col 1:24). Pastors need to return to belonging to Christ, shaking off the oppressive yoke of a servitude to the world that makes them accomplices in the ruin of the Church.

From the Most Sacred Heart, pierced by a spear, flows the infinite Grace of the Sacraments and especially of the Catholic Priesthood. It ensures the perpetuation of Christ’s redemptive action throughout History, so that the perfect Sacrifice of the divine Victim – who entered the Sanctuary once and for all through his own blood (Heb 9:12) – may continue to be offered under the sacramental species to the Eternal Father. In the same way, when the Church appears defeated and is given up for dead, a spear in Her side renews the flow of blood and water, laying the foundation for a future restoration and guaranteeing the preservation of the Priesthood, the Mass, and the Sacraments: of Tradition. It will be that blood and water that will irrigate this land parched and split by drought, thirsty for the True and the Good, so that the semen Christianorum may sprout and bear fruit.

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the form of sheep, but who inwardly are ravenous wolves (Mt 7:15). With these words, significantly proposed by the Liturgy of this Seventh Sunday after Pentecost and which we will read in the last Gospel, the Lord warns us against those who usurp the gift of prophecy in order to contradict the Faith that he revealed and taught the Apostles so that it might be faithfully handed down the centuries. The Lord does not say: Beware of those who sow error, but of false prophets. Who are these false prophets, these pseudochrists of whom Sacred Scripture speaks? For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great portents and miracles, so as to mislead even the elect if possible. Behold, I have foretold it to you (Mt 24:24-25). These are the hirelings, the false shepherds, those whom we can recognize ex fructibus eorum, by their fruits, by what they do (Mt 7:16-20). We know the fruits and we have them before our eyes: the planned destruction of the Lord’s Vineyard by His own vinedressers.

What is imputed to me as a crime in order to declare me schismatic and condemn me to excommunication has been put on the record of a trial that condemns not me, but my accusers, the enemies of the Cross of Christ. When the eclipse that darkens the Church ends and Our Lord returns to be at the center of the lives of his ministers, those who are ostracized today will find justice, and those who have abused their power to disperse the Lord’s flock will have to answer to His tribunal and to that of History. We will continue to do what all Catholic Bishops have done, often being persecuted by them.

And we will continue in our work even if it is hindered by those who usurp the power of the Holy Keys against the Church Herself. The authority of the Pastors – and that of the Supreme Pontiff – is in the hands of false pastors, who as such count precisely on our respect for the Hierarchy and on our habitual obedience to make us accept the betrayal of Christ and the ruin of souls. But authority comes only from Christ, who wants all to be saved and to reach eternal blessedness through the one Ark of Salvation. If the vicarious authority on earth preaches salvation from false religions and the uselessness of Christ’s Sacrifice, it breaks the umbilical cord that binds it to Him, thereby delegitimizing itself. We do not separate ourselves from Holy Mother Church, but rather from the mercenaries who infest her. We do not refuse obedience and submission to the Pontiff, but rather to those who humiliate and tamper with the Papacy against the Will of Christ. Let us not impugn the revealed Truth – quod Deus avertat! – but rather the errors that all the Popes have always condemned and that today are imposed by those who want to make the Holy Church the servant of her enemies (Lam 1:1), by those who delude themselves that they can keep the ecclesial body alive by separating it from its Head who is Christ.

We do not have a Pontiff who can judge and excommunicate us. If there were a Pope I would not even have been put on trial, nor excommunicated or declared schismatic, because we would both profess the same Faith and would receive Communion at the same altar. If today Bergoglio is putting me on trial to condemn and excommunicate me, it is precisely because he makes a public profession that he belongs to another religion and that he presides over another church – his church, the synodal church – from which I am “expelled” because I am a Catholic and, indeed, a stranger to it.

Pray, dear brothers. Pray first of all for the faithful and the ministers who live the contradiction of moral belonging to the true Church of Christ and at the same time belonging to the false church of the usurper Bergoglio, so that they may shake themselves from their torpor and line up underneath the Cross, bearing witness to the Truth. Pray for those Bishops and priests who humbly, and despite their infirmities, serve the Lord. Let us not nullify the Most Precious Blood that he shed for us, and indeed let us make sure that we can repeat with Saint Paul: Gratia Dei in me vacua non fuit (1 Cor 15:10). This Blood will descend today on our altar, and it will continue to descend there as long as the Church has Bishops who can perpetuate the Priesthood and priests who celebrate the Holy Sacrifice, according to the rite handed down to us by Sacred Tradition. For this reason, let us act with a serene heart and in the conviction that what I am doing is in conformity with God’s will. And so may it be.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop

July 7, 2024
Dominica VII post Pentecosten

COMMENT: The latest encyclical of Pope Francis is entitled, Bishop of Rome. In this document prepared for the ongoing Synod on Synodality Francis/Bergoglio offers an understanding of the papacy that is conformable to that professed by the schismatic Orthodox bishops who hold that the pope is only the first among equals and that he does not exercise universal jurisdiction over the Church founded by Jesus Christ. This conception is antithetical to the dogma declared at Vatican I. Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is rejecting the papal claims of Francis/Bergoglio primarily on the grounds that the office that Francis/Bergoglio accepted is not the office of the papacy but something altogether different. He could not and cannot have accepted an office that he, in fact, publically denies that exists.

Is this true? I do not know. There is no way to judge the matter authoritatively. There is plenty of evidence that the bishops can judge a pope who has become an open and manifest heretic as Francis/Bergoglio is but where are the bishops holding ordinary jurisdiction that themselves who are free from heresy? Our duty is to keep the faith and refuse any obedience to any exercise of authority that directly or indirectly undermines that faith in its profession and/or in its practice.

It is unfortunate that the Vatican was able to institute an illegal and immoral administrative "extra-judical" process against Archbishop Viganò without at least the Archbishop's open declaration that such a process is a direct violation of canon law. He should demand his full canonical rights to a public contentious hearing with all accusations of crimes and his own defense in written format for all the faithful.

For Every Faithful Catholic: The Principle of Unity is Faith, the Bond of Unity is Charity!

The Novus Ordo has broken the Principle of Unity with Tradition because they first broke the Bond of Unity of Faith and thus, the unity with God.

But love must not be wrought in our imagination but must be proved by works... Oh Jesus, what will a soul inflamed with Your love not do? Those who really love You, love all good, seek all good, help forward all good, praise all good, and invariably join forces with good men and help and defend them. They love only truth and things worthy of love. It is not possible that one who really and truly loves You can love the vanities of earth; his only desire is to please You. He is dying with longing for You to love him, and so would give his life to learn how he may please You better. O Lord, be please to grant me this love before You take me from this life. It will be a great comfort at the hour of death to realize that I shall be judged by You whom I have loved above all things. Then I shall be able to go to meet You with confidence, even though burdened with my debts, for I shall not be going into a foreign land but into my own country, into the kingdom of Him whom I have loved so much and who likewise has so much loved me.

St. Teresa of Jesus

“Taking this plurality of forms seriously avoids hegemonic tendencies and mitigates the risk of reducing the message of salvation to a single understanding of ecclesial life and its liturgical, pastoral, or moral expression. The web of relations within a synodal Church, made visible in the exchange of gifts between the Churches and guaranteed by the unity of the College of bishops headed by the bishop of Rome, is a dynamic guardian of a unity that can never become uniformity.”

Instrumentum Laboris for Second Session of Synod on Synodality, October 2024

COMMENT: The Church of Synodality, under the Francis/Bergoglio the "bishop of Rome", is open to a variety of messages regarding salvation, a variety of human forms of worship, and a variety of opinions as to what constitutes the moral law because the Church of Synodality IS NOT the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ. It is open to everything except the Catholic faith and "received and approved" immemorial worship of God which it abhors. Truth is One; error is always a plurality. By their fruits they are known.

Comments from those who have read the Third Secret of Fatima:

Ø “I cannot say anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope. The other, logically – although I must say nothing – would have to be the continuation of the words: In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.” [3] [emphasis added] – Joseph Schweigel, S.J., d. 1964 (interrogated Sister Lucia about the Third Secret on behalf of Pope Pius XII on Sept. 2, 1952)[4]

Ø “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether. Thus it is quite possible that in this intermediate period which is in question (after 1960 and before the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary), the text makes concrete references to the crisis of the Faith of the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves.” [5] [emphasis added] – Fr. Joaquin Alonso, C.M.F., d. 1981 (Cleratian priest and official Fatima archivist for over sixteen years; had unparalleled access to Sister Lucia)

Ø “The Secret of Fatima speaks neither of atomic bombs, nor nuclear warheads, nor Pershing missiles, nor SS-20’s. Its content concerns only our faith. To identify the Secret with catastrophic announcements or with a nuclear holocaust is to deform the meaning of the message. The loss of faith of a continent is worse than the annihilation of a nation; and it is true that faith is continually diminishing in Europe.” [6] [emphasis added] – Bishop Alberto Cosme do Amaral, d. 2005 (former bishop of Fatima-Leiria; remarks made in Vienna, Austria on Sept. 10, 1984)

Ø “It [the Third Secret] has nothing to do with Gorbachev. The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against apostasy in the Church.” [emphasis added] – Cardinal Silvio Oddi, d. 2001 (Vatican diplomat and personal friend of Pope John XXIII, from whom he knew certain details concerning the Third Secret) [7]

Ø “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.” [emphasis added] – Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, O.P., d. 1996 (personal theologian to Popes John XXIII-John Paul II) [8]

Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, The Whole Truth about Fatima, [2], Volume 3.

Posted by OnePeterFive

Vatican-backed interfaith opened 2-16-23 - Esteemed by all excepting God and His friends!

LifeSiteNews | June 17, 2021

“The ‘Abrahamic Family House,’ a juxtaposition of three places of worship on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi – one Muslim, one Jewish and one Christian – will open in 2022, according to a release from Higher Committee of Human Fraternity echoed by the Abu Dhabi Government Media Office and by Vatican News, the Vatican’s own media service run by the Dicastery for Communication.

The ‘Abrahamic Family House’ is an architectural complex in which the three so-called ‘Abrahamic’ religions, or (abusively), the ‘religions of the Book’ born of God’s promise to Abraham, are presented side by side in places of worship of equal proportions, set in a triangle around a ‘common ground,’ a garden where believers can meet and enter into ‘dialogue’ with each other.

The projected interfaith complex presents itself as an embodiment of the Abu Dhabi Document on Human Fraternity signed by Pope Francis and Imam Al-Tayeb of the Sunni Al-Azhar University of Cairo, and the ‘Higher Committee for Human Fraternity’ to which the joint declaration gave birth, and has been ‘endorsed’ and is being ‘closely followed’ both by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam.

Together with photos of the construction site, which show the foundations of the three religious buildings while one of them appears to be nearing completion, the release revealed the names officially chosen for the three religious buildings.”

"Pope Francis won't ever speak ex cathedra."

Cardinal Fernandez, during press conference introducing Dignitas Infinita

COMMENT: God has revealed that He will never permit His Church to bind doctrinal or moral error on His faithful. This promise has been invariably kept throughout the history of the Church including the time of Vatican II and its aftermath. Vatican II was a pastoral council of churchmen teaching by their grace of state by virtue of their personal magisterium. The pope and the council never engaged the Magisterium of the Church to teach without the possibility of error. Consequently, the errors of Vatican II reflect only on the heresy and weakness of individual churchmen.

The fact that Pope Francis "won't ever speak ex cathedra" could mean anything. It could mean that he is not the pope but only the "bishop of Rome" and therefore cannot engage the Magisterium even if he wanted to. It could mean that he does not recognize the Magisterium of the Church and will not engage what he does not believe in. This would imply that he does not believe in the office of the papacy with its universal jurisdiction, and therefore, the office which he assumed is not the papacy but something of his own imaginary construction. Pope Francis may be just another Pontius Pilate and does not know or care what truth is. Maybe he is just another habitual liar. Maybe he is the pope and knows that if he puts his ass into the chair of Peter and tries to bind the Catholic conscience to his doctrinal error and moral corruption it will be the last thing he ever tries to do. Time will tell.

REVENGE OF THE HOMOLOBBY

Vatican says Archbishop Viganò ‘guilty’ of schism and excommunicated

Pope Francis' Vatican announced it had found former Nuncio to the U.S. Archbishop Viganò 'guilty of the reserved delict of schism' on July 4, and that consequently he is automatically excommunicated.

LifeSiteNews | Vatican City | Michael Haynes | Jul 5, 2024 — The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) announced July 5 that it had declared former U.S Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò to be guilty of “schism” and automatically excommunicated.

In a statement issued without warning to the Holy See press corps, the DDF stated that its Congress met on July 4 to decide against Viganò. The statement read:

On 4 July 2024, the Congress of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith met to conclude the extrajudicial penal process referred to in canon 1720 CIC against the Most Reverend Carlo Maria Viganò, titular Archbishop of Ulpiana, accused of the reserved delict of schism (canons 751 and 1364 CIC; art. 2 SST).

His public statements manifesting his refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the Church subject to him, and of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council are well known.

At the conclusion of the penal process, the Most Reverend Carlo Maria Viganò was found guilty of the reserved delict of schism.

The Dicastery declared the latae sententiae excommunication in accordance with canon 1364 § 1 CIC. The lifting of the censure in these cases is reserved to the Apostolic See. This decision was communicated to the Most Reverend Viganò on 5 July 2024.

Under the terms of the latest edition of Canon Law, one who is excommunicated is prohibited from offering the sacraments.

On June 20, Viganò revealed that the DDF had, by way of a letter dated June 11, begun an “extrajudicial penal trial” against him, accusing the prelate of “the crime of schism.”

Issued by Monsignor John Kennedy, who leads the DDF’S Disciplinary Section, the Vatican’s letter alerted him to “the crime of schism of which he has been accused (public statements which result in a denial of the elements necessary to maintain communion with the Catholic Church; denial of the legitimacy of Pope Francis; a rupture of communion with him; and rejection of the Second Vatican Council).”

Rebuffing the accusation, Viganò stated at the time that “I claim, as Successor of the Apostles, to be in full communion with the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, with the Magisterium of the Roman Pontiffs, and with the uninterrupted doctrinal, moral, and liturgical Tradition which they have faithfully preserved.”

He further added that “I repudiate, reject, and condemn the scandals, errors, and heresies of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who manifests an absolutely tyrannical management of power, exercised against the purpose that legitimizes authority in the Church: an authority that is vicarious of that of Christ, and as such must obey Him alone.”

In an expansive statement issued June 28, the former U.S. nuncio issued a blistering response to the DDF’s charge of schism, attesting that “[a] schismatic sect accuses me of schism: this should be enough to demonstrate the subversion taking place.”

Bottom of Form

Continuing, the archbishop stated:

… in order to separate myself from ecclesial communion with Jorge Mario Bergoglio, I would have to have first been in communion with him, which is not possible since Bergoglio himself cannot be considered a member of the Church, due to his multiple heresies and his manifest alienness and incompatibility with the role he invalidly and illicitly holds.

Turning the Vatican’s charges against them, Viganò then accused Pope Francis of schism, writing:

I accuse Jorge Mario Bergoglio of heresy and schism, and I ask that he be judged as a heretic and schismatic and removed from the throne which he has unworthily occupied for over 11 years. This in no way contradicts the adage Prima Sedes a nemine judicatur, because it is evident that, since a heretic is unable to assume the Papacy, he is not above the Prelates who judge him.

Archbishop Viganò has been contacted for comment in response to the Vatican’s ruling, and this report will be updated accordingly.

COMMENT: Luther, the heretical and eventual schismatic Augustinian priest, was granted a canonical trial before any judicial determination of heresy was concluded. Why was Luther granted his canonical rights while Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò was not? Why was Luther given a formal canonical trial while Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò was given the immoral and illegal application of an administrative “extrajudicial” process? It is because the former case was to determine TRUTH while the latter case was to conceal and destroy it. Archbishop Viganò was given the semblance of canonical due process for public consumption while denying its substance. The declaration that Archbishop Viganò as “excommunicated” is a change of his juridic standing in the Church. No administrative process, which is what an extrajudicial process is, can be used against any Catholic accused of a crime without his consent when it involves a change of his juridic standing in the Church. This shame, this farce, only condemns those who have perpetuated it.

Homosexual priests charged with pederasty against Catholic adolescents are afforded full canonical due process The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith headed by then Cardinal Ratzinger from 1981 until 2004 assumed jurisdiction over these cases because, as Ratzinger said the faith itself was an aggrieved party in the scandal. After he became pope, Benedict removed the most egregious offenders. In the last two years of his pontificate before his resignation (2011 and 2012) three hundred and eighty-four offending priests were laicized. Everyone of these homosexual predators were given canonical due process. None were administratively laicized by an extrajudicial process without their consent. As reported in the New York Times, “By 2006, the Church had spent $2.6 billion settling sexual-abuse cases, as Berry wrote in the 2010 edition of Vows of Silence.”

Now the down-graded Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) still has the primary duty of defending the faith. The primary and essential cause and sign of the unity of the One Church is the FAITH. The DDF publically ignores the charges of heresy against Pope Francis and Vatican II Council leveled by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò as if the faith itself is no longer an “aggrieved party” deserving of a canonical hearing and canonical defense! Without the faith it is impossible to please God. The DDF does not possess the faith it is obligated to defend. The entire presupposition of the DDF is that the pope is the proximate rule of faith and any divergence from his will is the definition of schism and heresy. This is not only not Catholic it is idolatry. Dogma is the proximate rule of faith to which the pope himself is subject as well as the DDF.

How does this differ from the excommunication of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre by Pope John Paul II? JPII excommunication of Archbishop Lefebvre was a mere public expression of his canonical opinion that the act of consecrating bishops without a papal mandate is an ipso facto excommunicable offense. Therefore, in his opinion, Archbishop Lefebvre was excommunicated. This did not even reach the level of an administrative extrajudicial process. The ignorant simply took the opinion of the pope as the law of the Church!

The consecration of bishops is not necessarily an excommunicable offense. Bishops were often consecrated without a papal mandate in the former Soviet Union, Warsaw Pact countries and communist China on many occasions in our own times. The point is that the law is hierarchical. The salvation of souls is the highest law to which all others laws are subjected. There was a context for the consecration of bishops in communist controlled countries and there was a context for the consecration of bishops by Archbishop Lefebvre. The context was never addressed which canonical due process would insure.

Archbishop Lefebvre was denied his canonical rights by JPII for the same reason that Francis and his DDF are denying Archbishop Viganò his canonical rights. The Novus Ordo Church cannot defend its doctrinal, moral, and liturgical corruptions because they are indefensible so it must necessarily destroy the accuser. JPII's excommunication of Archbishop Lefebvre only made an impression on those who believe that the opinions expressed by the pope are above the law and the pope has the power and authority to act unjustly against God and His Church. Church history records a number of these abuses of authority as well as a number of subsequent corrections. St. Philip Neri and St. Catherine de Ricci rejoiced at the determination by a papal ad hoc committee that Savonarola was innocent of the crimes for which the corrupt Borgia pope had accused, tried and executed him. When God sets things aright, as He most assuredly will do, everyone will know why Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is in heaven and Francis and his DDF minions, unless there is serious repentance, are not.

The abrogation of Summorum Pontificum got the Neo-Traditionalists all stirred up. They have professed their ‘faith’ in the inerrancy of Vatican II and their understanding that the Novus Ordo and the traditional Roman rite are one and the same liturgy in two divergent forms. In return for this corruption of truth they were granted an Indult, which became a grant of legal privilege, which has now again has become an indult, to worship according to the immemorial traditions of the Church, which they hold as simple accidents of the faith subject to the arbitrary will of the legislator. These crumbs that have fallen from the table of Benedict/Ratzinger have been swept away by Francis because, it is a fact of law, that what is accepted as a privilege can no longer be claimed as a right.

For several decades now, we have lived in the “Tyranny of the Present.” Tradition is forgotten and, precisely because it is forgotten, our responsibilities for the future are also dismissed. The liturgical experimentation that led to the Novus Ordo was the epitome of Vatican II: it has given the Catholic hierarchy the liturgical-theological basis for their current promotion of the “here and now” as the supreme aim of the Church.

With Summorum Pontificum, the most consequential pontifical legislative act since 1969, Benedict XVI upended this new materialistic logic: by opening the gates of the past, he once again placed the Church on the path of eternity and immortality (sic).
Summorum Pontificum is now under threat, with the survey being conducted whose consequences are uncertain. There was a Church before the present reality, there will be a Church forever: and the Sacred Liturgy she celebrates here, with true Traditional and Apostolic imprint, has always been and should always be, not a reflection of the banality of the moment, but a prefiguration of her immortality as Bride of Christ and her Paschal Feast with the Lord for all Eternity, outside the limitations of our present existence.

Rorate Caeli

All law proceeds from the reason and will of the lawgiver; the Divine and natural laws from the reasonable will of God; the human law from the will of man, regulated by reason. Now just as human reason and will, in practical matters, may be made manifest by speech, so may they be made known by deeds: since seemingly a man chooses as good that which he carries into execution. But it is evident that by human speech, law can be both changed and expounded, in so far as it manifests the interior movement and thought of human reason. Wherefore by actions also, especially if they be repeated, so as to make a custom, law can be changed and expounded; and also something can be established which obtains force of law, in so far as by repeated external actions, the inward movement of the will, and concepts of reason are most effectually declared; for when a thing is done again and again, it seems to proceed from a deliberate judgment of reason. Accordingly, custom has the force of a law, abolishes law, and is the interpreter of law.

St. Thomas Aquinas

Just insider confirmation to what is common knowledge: Pope Francis, the CEO of the HomoLobby

Francis is the first ever pope to use the word “gay.” He has LGBTQ friends, and he has appointed many LGBTQ friendly and supportive cardinals, archbishops and bishops.... Catholics who reject LGBTQ are “homophobic.”

Fr. James Martin, S.J., Homosexual Jesuit priest sermon at a LGBTQ Novus Ordo celebration

The United States Empire is no different!

The imperial city (Rome) endeavours to communicate her language (religion, philosophy, law, government and general cultural values) to all the lands she has subdued to procure a fuller society and a greater abundance of interpreters on both sides. It is true, but how many lives has this cost! And suppose that done, the worst is not past, for… the wider extension of her empire produced still greater wars… Wherefore he that does but consider with compassion all these extremes of sorrow and bloodshed must needs say that this is a mystery. But he that endures them without a sorrowful emotion or thought thereof, is far more wretched to imagine he has the bliss of a god when he has lost the natural feelings of a man.

St. Cyprian, Epistle to Donatus

Getting What We Deserve

THE MOST EVIDENT MARK of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics’ who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
Instead of nourishing those committed to their care, they rend and devour them brutally. Instead of leading their people to God, they drag Christian souls into hell in their train. Instead of being the salt of the earth and the light of the world, they are its innocuous poison and its murky darkness.
St. Gregory the Great says that priests and pastors will stand condemned before God as the murderers of any souls lost through neglect or silence. Tot occidimus, quot ad mortem ire tepidi et tacentes videmus. Elsewhere St. Gregory asserts that nothing more angers God than to see those whom He set aside for the correction of others, give bad example by a wicked and depraved life.
Instead of preventing offenses against His Majesty, such priests become themselves the first to persecute Him, they lose their zeal for the salvation of souls and think only of following their own inclinations. Their affections go no farther than earthly things, they eagerly bask in the empty praises of men, using their sacred ministry to serve their ambitions, they abandon the things of God to devote themselves to the things of the world, and in their saintly calling of holiness, they spend their time in profane and worldly pursuits.
When God permits such things, it is a very positive proof that He is thoroughly angry with His people, and is visiting His most dreadful anger upon them. That is why He cries unceasingly to Christians, “Return, O ye revolting children . . . and I will give you pastors according to my own heart” (Jer. 3, 14-15). Thus, irregularities in the lives of priests constitute a scourge visited upon the people in consequence of sin.
St. John Eudes, The Priest: His Dignity and Obligations

SSPX Two-Cent Opinion:

The Vatican Activates Extrajudicial Proceedings Against Archbishop Viganò

FSSPX News | June 24, 2024

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò published on the internet the letter from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). It notified him of his summons to appear at the DDF Palace on June 20, after the opening of an “extrajudicial” criminal trial against him.

A Little Explanation

What is an extrajudicial criminal trial? According to the DDF Vademecum published on June 5, 2022, the extrajudicial criminal trial, sometimes called an “administrative trial,” is a form of criminal trial which reduces the formalities provided for in the judicial trial in order to accelerate the course of justice. It does not eliminate the procedural guarantees required for a fair judgment.

For offenses reserved to the DDF, it is up to the DDF alone, on a case-by-case basis, ex officio or at the request of the Ordinary, to decide whether to proceed this way. Just like a judicial trial, an extrajudicial criminal trial can take place at the DDF – which is the case for Viganò – or be entrusted to a lower authority.

The Accusations Made by the DDF

The decree of summons mentions the charge Viganò will face during the trial. The crime of schism is put forward, because of certain public affirmations negating the elements necessary to maintain communion with the Catholic Church: denial of the legitimacy of Pope Francis; rupture of communion with him; and rejection of the Second Vatican Council.

Following this summons, Viganò published a communiqué, available online, to respond to these accusations. He defends himself in various ways, invoking the doctrinal wanderings of the current pontificate; rejecting neo-modernist errors; and asserting his case compares to that of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, also summoned in his time to the Palace of the former Holy Office .

There is, however, one point which significantly differentiates him from the founder of the Society of Saint Pius X: Archbishop Viganò makes a clear declaration of sedevacantism in his text. In other words, according to him, Pope Francis is not pope.

How does he explain this? Because of a “defect of consent” from Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio when accepting the papacy. That is, according to Viganò, Cardinal Bergoglio considered the papacy as something other than what it really is. He accepted the pontifical office without fully consenting, and this error resulted in the nullity of his acceptance. His pontificate would therefore be that of a place-holder.

Archbishop Lefebvre and the Society he founded have not ventured down that perilous road.

COMMENT: The SSPX has already been regularized by Rome. This is easily proved. Although they have been regularized informally sub rosa this is not generally known by all their members and it is purposely concealed from those who attend their chapels. This criticism of Archbishop Viganò is offered to distance themselves from his accusation that Pope Francis is a heretic and schismatic. The leadership of the SSPX has taken the 1989 Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity to Pope Francis in which they vow unconditional obedience to his "authentic magisterium" and promise to abstain from any public criticism of the Pope that has not been approved by Rome.

There are several problems with this publication. Their "little explanation" regarding extrajudicial proceedings is incorrect. An "extrajudicial criminal trial" is an administrative process that cannot be used against any Catholic defendant without his consent who is accused of a crime if their conviction would change their juridic standing in the Church. The crime of heresy and schism changes the juridic standing of the accused in the Church. Instituting an extrajudicial process in a criminal accusation is just an attempt to deny the accused his canonic rights of due process. Archbishop Viganò is canonically entitled to demand a contentious canonical judicial process. He can also demand that the arguments be in a written format rather than oral, and he is free to publish Rome's accusations and arguments as well as his replies. Rome not only must objectively prove the criminal charges of schism and heresy, they must establish subjective imputability of the crime.

Pope Francis is not just guilty of "doctrinal wanderings", but of objective heresy which is defined as the denial of Catholic dogma. The "pastoral council", Vatican II, committed many "doctrinal wanderings" that directly corrupted Catholic dogma and there are multiple examples of this. The reason the "SSPX has not ventured down that perilous road" of declaring Pope Francis and Vatican II as heretical is because the SSPX does not hold dogma as the proximate rule of faith. The definition of heresy IS the denial of dogma and if you do not believe in dogma, you cannot call anyone a heretic. The SSPX has been in constant "dialogue" with Rome for more than 25 years. Dialogue is the exchange of opinions. Dogma is the affirmation of divine Truth. If the SSPX had appealed to dogma against the modernists in Rome the dialogue would have ended in a few hours.

Archbishop Viganò has not declared that he is a sedevacantist. Sedevacantists believe that the crime of heresy and schism automatically removes a pope from the office of the papacy. Most of them believe that there has not been a pope since Pius XII. It is calumny to publish this accusation. Archbishop Viganò has offered the opinion that there are irregularities regarding the election of Pope Francis in that his conception of the papacy is in fact heretical and that therefore the office he accepted and ascended to does not exist. This has been offered as an opinion. The SSPX and other conservatives are afraid of being to close to the truth and thus their criticism of Archbishop Viganò will only get worse. The coward always accuses the brave of being 'imprudent'!

Pope Francis the Amazed - It all depends on what "spirit" you are listening to!

“The problematic is primarily ecclesiological. I do not see how it is possible to say that one recognizes the validity of the Council — though it amazes me that a Catholic might presume not to do so — and at the same time not accept the liturgical reform born out of Sacrosanctum Concilium, a document that expresses the reality of the Liturgy intimately joined to the vision of Church so admirably described in Lumen gentium.” ……

"Let us abandon our polemics to listen together to what the Spirit is saying to the Church. Let us safeguard our communion. Let us continue to be astonished at the beauty of the (Novus Ordo) Liturgy. The Paschal Mystery has been given to us. Let us allow ourselves to be embraced by the desire that the Lord continues to have to eat His Passover with us. All this under the gaze of Mary, Mother of the Church."

Pope Francis the Low and Vicious, Desiderio Desideravi, his apostolic letter on liturgical formation

COMMENT: Nice to see Pope Francis getting to the meat of the matter: How can “one recognizes the validity of the Council…. and not accept the liturgical reform.” So let’s “amaze” the deaf and dumb and repeat again, the Vatican II Council was merely a pastoral council that has proven to be a pastoral failure by every objective criterion that measures pastoral success or failure. The Pope can babble all he wants about “Time is greater than space,” but after 60 years that psychological lollipop can only pacify the brain dead. Nothing, absolutely nothing, from Vatican II binds the conscience of the Catholic faithful regarding any matter of doctrine, morals or worship when that teaching contradicts or contravenes directly or indirectly the Catholic faith, morals or immemorial traditions. The Council is the work of churchmen teaching by their grace of state and has nothing to do with the Magisterium of the Church teaching by virtue of the Church’s attributes of Infallibility and Authority. If this were not the case, then God would have failed in His divine promise to preserve His Church from formal error, for as everyone knows but does not like to say, the Vatican II Council is clearly heretical in many of its direct pronouncements and their implications. The most important error of the Council was declared by the Novus Ordo Saint John XXIII in his opening address where he stated that the purpose of the Council was to reformulate Catholic truth with new words and new images. This is the heresy of Neo-modernism which postulates the heretical opinion that there exists a disjunction between the truth of dogma and the words to express that truth. The very purpose of Vatican II was heretical and its fruit has abundantly revealed this ugly fact. Pope Francis in his direct endorsement of sexual perversion by his active associations with homosexuals and abortion by his public praising of the likes of Nancy Pelosi, is evidence of this fact. He hates the immemorial Roman rite of Mass because he hates God and everything that pertains to His acceptable worship. The immemorial Roman rite of Mass is the Holy Sacrifice of the Cross. The Novus Ordo is a memorial meal, the offering of Cain, ‘the fruit of the earth and the work of human hands’.

Vatican charges Archbishop Viganò with schism for ‘denial of the legitimacy of Pope Francis’

The Vatican's doctrinal office summoned Archbishop Viganò to appear before an 'extrajudicial penal trial' on June 20 over accusations of 'schism' owing to a 'denial of the legitimacy of Pope Francis, rupture of communion with Him, and rejection of the Second Vatican Council.'

LifeSiteNews | Jun 20, 2024— The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) has instigated an “extrajudicial penal trial” against Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, accusing the prelate of “the crime of schism.”

In an email signed by Monsignor John Kennedy of the dicastery’s Disciplinary Section and sent to the Italian archbishop, who served as papal nuncio to the United States from 2011 to 2016, the dicastery summoned Viganò to the Vatican on June 20 that he “may take notice of the accusations and evidence concerning the crime of schism.” Namely, the dicastery notified the archbishop that he stands accused of making “public statements which result in a denial of the elements necessary to maintain communion with the Catholic Church; denial of the legitimacy of Pope Francis, rupture of communion with Him, and rejection of the Second Vatican Council.”

In response, Viganò defended himself stating:

In the face of the Dicastery’s accusations, I claim, as Successor of the Apostles, to be in full communion with the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, with the Magisterium of the Roman Pontiffs, and with the uninterrupted doctrinal, moral, and liturgical Tradition which they have faithfully preserved.

Regarding the accusations against him “as an honor,” Viganò stressed his desire to “repudiate, reject, and condemn the scandals, errors, and heresies of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who manifests an absolutely tyrannical management of power, exercised against the purpose that legitimizes authority in the Church: an authority that is vicarious of that of Christ, and as such must obey Him alone.”

After arguing that “[no] Catholic worthy of the name can be in communion with this ‘Bergoglian church,’ because it acts in clear discontinuity and rupture with all the popes of history and with the Church of Christ,” Viganò asked Catholics to “pray that the Lord will come to the aid of His Church and give courage to those who are persecuted for their Faith.”

Attendite a falsis prophetis

Announcement regarding the start of the extrajudicial criminal trial for schism (Art. 2 SST; can. 1364 CIC)

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has informed me, with a simple email, of the initiation of an extrajudicial penal trial against me, with the accusation of having committed the crime of schism and charging me of having denied the legitimacy of “Pope Francis” of having broken communion “with Him” and of having rejected the Second Vatican Council. I have been summoned to the Palace of the Holy Office on June 20, in person or represented by a canon lawyer. I assume that the sentence has already been prepared, given that it is an extrajudicial process.

I regard the accusations against me as an honor. I believe that the very wording of the charges confirms the theses that I have repeatedly defended in my various addresses. It is no coincidence that the accusation against me concerns the questioning of the legitimacy of Jorge Mario Bergoglio and the rejection of Vatican II: the Council represents the ideological, theological, moral, and liturgical cancer of which the Bergoglian “synodal church” is the necessary metastasis.

It is necessary for the Episcopate, the Clergy and the People of God to seriously ask themselves whether it is consistent with the profession of

the Catholic Faith to passively witness the systematic destruction of the Church by its leaders, just as other subversives are destroying civil society. Globalism calls for ethnic substitution: Bergoglio promotes uncontrolled immigration and calls for the integration of cultures and religions. Globalism supports LGBTQ+ ideology: Bergoglio authorizes the blessing of same-sex couples and imposes on the faithful the acceptance of homosexualism, while covering up the scandals of his protégés and promoting them to the highest positions of responsibility. Globalism imposes the green agenda: Bergoglio worships the idol of the Pachamama, writes delirious encyclicals about the environment, supports the Agenda 2030, and attacks those who question the theory of man-made global warming. He goes beyond his role in matters that strictly pertain to science, but always and only in one direction: a direction that is diametrically opposed to what the Church has always taught. He has mandated the use of experimental gene serums, which caused very serious damage, death and sterility, calling them “an act of love,” in exchange for funding from pharmaceutical companies and philanthropic foundations. His total alignment with the Davos religion is scandalous. Wherever governments at the service of the World Economic Forum have introduced or extended abortion, promoted vice, legitimized homosexual unions or gender transition, encouraged euthanasia, and tolerated the persecution of Catholics, not a word has been spent in defense of the Faith or Morals that are threatened, or in support of the civil battles of so many Catholics who have been abandoned by the Vatican and the Bishops. Not a word for the persecuted Catholics in China, with the complicity of the Holy See, which considers Beijing’s billions more important than the lives and freedom of thousands of Chinese who are faithful to the Roman Church. In the “synodal church” presided over by Bergoglio, no schism is recognized among the German Episcopate, or among the government-appointed Bishops who have been consecrated in China without the mandate of Rome. Because their action is consistent with the destruction of the Church, and therefore must be concealed, minimized, tolerated, and finally encouraged. In these eleven years of “pontificate” the Catholic Church has been humiliated and discredited above all because of the scandals and corruption of the leaders of the Hierarchy, which have been totally ignored even as the most ruthless Vatican authoritarianism raged against faithful priests and religious, small communities of traditional nuns, and communities tied to the Latin Mass.

This one-sided zeal is reminiscent of Cromwell’s fanaticism, typical of those who defy Providence in the presumption of knowing that they are finally at the top of the hierarchical pyramid, free to do and undo as they please without anyone objecting to anything. And this work of destruction, this willingness to renounce the salvation of souls in the name of a human peace that denies God is not an invention of Bergoglio, but the main (and unmentionable) purpose of those who used a Council to contradict the Catholic Magisterium and to begin to demolish the Church from within, in small steps, but always in a single direction, always with the indulgent tolerance or culpable inaction – if not the explicit approval – of the Roman authorities. The Catholic Church has been slowly but surely taken over, and Bergoglio has been given the task of making it a philanthropic agency, the “church of humanity, of inclusion, of the environment” at the service of the New World Order. But this is not the Catholic Church: it is her counterfeit.

The resignation of Benedict XVI and the appointment by the St. Gallen Mafia of a successor in line with the diktats of the Agenda 2030 was intended to allow – and has succeeded in allowing – the global coup to take place with the complicity and authoritative support of the Church of Rome. Bergoglio is to the Church what other world leaders are to their nations: traitors, subversives, and final liquidators of traditional society who are certain of impunity. Bergoglio’s defect of consent (vitium consensus) in accepting his election is based precisely on the evident alienity of his action of government and magisterium with respect to what any Catholic of any age expects from the Vicar of Christ and the Successor of the Prince of the Apostles. Everything that Bergoglio does constitutes an offense and a provocation to the entire Catholic Church, to her Saints of all times, to the Martyrs who were killed in odium Fidei, and to the Popes of all times until the Second Vatican Council.

This is also and principally an offense against the Divine Head of the Church, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Whose sacred authority Bergoglio claims to exercise for the detriment of the Mystical Body, with an action that is too systematic and coherent to appear to be the fruit of mere incapacity. In the work of Bergoglio and his circle, the Lord’s warning is put into practice: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the guise of lambs, but who are ravenous wolves at heart (Mt 7:15). I am honored not to have – and indeed I do not want – any ecclesial communion with them: theirs is a lobby, which conceals its complicity with the masters of the world in order to deceive many souls and prevent any resistance against the establishment of the Kingdom of the Antichrist.

I repudiate the neomodernist errors inherent in the Second Vatican Council and in the so-called “post-conciliar magisterium,” in particular in matters of collegiality, ecumenism, religious freedom, the secularity of the State, and the liturgy.

I repudiate, reject, and condemn the scandals, errors, and heresies of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who manifests an absolutely tyrannical management of power, exercised against the purpose that legitimizes Authority in the Church: an authority that is vicarious of that of Christ, and as such must obey Him alone. This separation of the Papacy from its legitimizing principle, which is Christ the High Priest, transforms the ministerium into a self-referential tyranny.

No Catholic worthy of the name can be in communion with this “Bergoglian church,” because it acts in clear discontinuity and rupture with all the Popes of history and with the Church of Christ.

Fifty years ago, in that same Palace of the Holy Office, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre was summoned and accused of schism for rejecting Vatican II. His defense is mine; his words are mine; and his arguments are mine – arguments before which the Roman authorities could not condemn him for heresy, having to wait instead for him to consecrate bishops so as to have the pretext of declaring him schismatic and then revoking his excommunication when he was already dead. The scheme is repeated even after half a century has demonstrated Archbishop Lefebvre’s prophetic choice.

In these times of apostasy, Catholics will find in Pastors faithful to the mandate received from Our Lord an example and an encouragement to abide in the Truth of Christ.

Depositum custodi, according to the Apostle’s exhortation: as the time approaches when I will have to give an account to the Son of God of all my actions, I intend to persevere in the bonum certamen and not to fail in the witness of faith which is required of each one who, as Bishop, has been endowed with the fullness of the priesthood and constituted Successor of the Apostles.

I invite all Catholics to pray that the Lord will come to the aid of His Church and give courage to those who are persecuted for their Faith.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop

June 20, 2024
S.cti Silverii Papæ et Martyris
B.ti Dermitii O’Hurley, Episcopi et Martyris

COMMENT: An "extrajudicial" process is intended to deny Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò his canonical rights of due process while still giving the external appearance of a legitimate legal process. This same immoral and illegal process was done with our pastor, Fr. Samuel Waters. Canon law forbids any administrative process that permanently effects the juridic standing of any Catholic or for the removal of any cleric from office. A priest cannot be administratively laicized without his consent. There are several published letters on our web page from Fr. Waters to the archdiocese of Philadelphia specifically declaring Fr. Waters' intent to remain a Catholic priest and demanding canonical due process, Archbishop Charles Chaput, the ordinary of Philadelphia at that time, in open conspiracy with the Vatican Dicastery for the Clergy, issued an administrative laicization. They then published the administrative order at the same time with the laicization of another priest who was convicted of child pornography and laicized only after a ten-year canonical process that was respective of all his legal rights. This act of Chaput to smear the name of Fr. Waters was both illegal and grossly immoral, but since when does legality or morality of the matter been an obstacle to the outlaw and degenerate? Forgiveness of sin requires all three elements of penance: contrition, confession and satisfaction Archbishop Chaput committed a sin for which making satisfaction is impossible.

Rome is attempting to do the same thing to Archbishop Viganò. Schism is a canonical crime. The Church's contentious canonical judicial process is required for the crime of schism because schism permanently changes the juridic standing of the defendant in the Church. The judicial process requires those making a criminal charge to clarify and prove the existence of a delict and assess the imputability of the delict to the defendant. It can be done orally or in writing. Ss. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Mission has been demanding a contentions canonical due process for the alleged crimes of heresy and schism that were made by the diocese of Harrisburg. Our demands have been ignored for more than twenty years. Why? They cannot prove their charges.

A extrajudicial canonical process is a contradiction in terms because when it is imposed against the defendant's will an extrajudicial process CANNOT be canonical! Recommendation: Now that the charge of schism has been publically made for calling into question the canonical legitimacy of Pope Francis' papacy and the Vatican II Council, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò should demand canonical due process and then demand written arguments be presented by all parties. He should refuse any cooperation with "extrajudical" processes that are intended to deny canonical rights and expose it for the fraud that it is. The Vatican II Novus Ordo Church likes to talk about the dignity of the human person unless he gets in their way and then "dignity be damned"!

The Novus Ordo is a new order lex orandi to make a new order lex credendi!

In every liturgical year the whole revelation of faith returns, mystery by mystery, dogma by dogma, precept by precept, upon our intelligences and upon our hearts. The lex credendi is the lex orandi, and the worship of the Church preaches to the world without, and to the faithful within the sanctuary. To those that are without, it is a visible and audible witness for the kingdom of God: to those that are within, it is a foresight and a foretaste of the beauty and the sweetness of the worship of eternity. If preachers will follow the Church as it moves year by year in the cycle of eternal truths, and will explain pastorally in simple and manly words the epistles and gospels by which the Church, or rather the Holy Ghost, teaches us the meaning of the feast and fast as they come and go, they will year by year declare to their flocks the whole counsel of God.

Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, 1897

Pope Francis approves new document elevating ecumenism and synodality above papal primacy

The new ‘study document’ from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity emphasizes an intimate link between papal primacy and synodality, advocating for decentralization, granting more authority at regional levels while enhancing ecumenism.

LifeSiteNews | Michael Haynes | Jun 13, 2024

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has unveiled a pivotal document on the papacy, which contains numerous calls to fundamentally alter the understanding of the practice of papal primacy and authority in order to aid ecumenism and synodality.

Billed as “the first document to summarize the entire ecumenical debate on the service of primacy in the Church since the Second Vatican Council,” the document is the fruit of almost four years of “truly ecumenical and synodal work.” The text presents the results of a process initiated by the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity (DPCU) in 2020, which saw the 25th anniversary of Ut Unum Sint.

The document, drawn up under the guidance of the DPCU, has received input from “Orthodox and Protestant theologians,” as well as the Roman Curia and the Synod of Bishops. As such, the text is a “study document”: not presenting a new line which the Vatican is set to adhere to – at least not yet – but giving a strong indication of probably future direction on the papacy which may soon emerge, partially from the Synod on Synodality.

As with many elements of the Catholic Church today, ecumenism is at the fore. The dicastery summarized that following Vatican II the “ecumenical dimension” of the papacy “has been an essential aspect of this ministry.”

Writing his preface to the 150-page document, DPCU prefect Cardinal Kurt Koch noted that:

It is our hope that it will promote not only the reception of the dialogues on this important topic [the papacy], but also stimulate further theological investigation and practical suggestions, ‘together, of course,’ for an exercise of the ministry of unity of the Bishop of Rome ‘recognized by all concerned’ (UUS 95).

Indeed, The Bishop of Rome appears to present the blueprint for a new understanding of the papacy and papal primacy in the 21st century, an era marked by a focus on ecumenism and “synodality.” As noted in the document itself:

The following pages offer a schematic presentation of (1) the responses to Ut unum sint and documents of the theological dialogues devoted to the question of primacy; (2) the main theological questions traditionally challenging papal primacy, and some significant advances in contemporary ecumenical reflection; (3) some perspectives for a ministry of unity in a reunited Church; and (4) practical suggestions or requests addressed to the Catholic Church. This synthesis is based both on the responses to Ut unum sint and on the results of the official and unofficial dialogues concerning the ministry of unity at the universal level. It uses the terminology adopted by these documents, with its advantages and limitations.

Windswept House? Primacy or committees?

The document’s theological arguments and essays are followed by a summary along with “practical suggestions or requests addressed to the Catholic Church” regarding the future exercise of the office of the papacy. As with other elements of current ecclesial life, the text bears a peculiar resemblance to Malachi Martin’s Windswept House, in which the globalist and Masonic-aligned cardinals are attempting to force the “Slavic Pope” to resign by arguing that for him to do so would help the damaged unity of the Church, and improve relations between the (heterodox) bishops and the pope.

Though not aimed at forcing Pope Francis to resign – since he has approved of The Bishop of Rome and ordered its promulgation, the DCPU’s text appears aimed at changing the papacy generally, not at any pope in particular. The “principles for the exercise of primacy in the 21st century” present a change in understanding of the papacy which would be at the service of ecumenism and synodality, the text outlines.

Papal primacy, the DCPU’s text states, should be intimately linked with synodality – reflecting the current wave of thought sweeping through the Church at the instigation of Pope Francis. “A first general agreement is the mutual interdependency of primacy and synodality at each level of the Church, and the consequent requirement for a synodal exercise of primacy,” the DCPU’s text reads.

Another point agreed on by the numerous ecumenical bodies involved in writing the text is that the papacy should be understood in a new sense by opening the door to decentralization of power. In this light, a call is made for synodality to be effected by granting more power to the “regional” levels of the Catholic Church, and “a continuing ‘decentralization’ inspired by the model of the ancient patriarchal Churches.”

Moving on, the text then presents the “practical suggestions” from all the ecumenical dialogues and bodies involved, before adding a further couple of suggestions from the DCPU in particular.

Even before the concrete and “practical suggestions” are presented – giving the DCPU’s ecumenical assessment on how to increase ecumenical unity and synodality by changes to the papacy – the subtext is remarkably clear: in the modern “enlightened” age in which the Church now exists, and given the self-understanding of “synodality” which is now endemic, papal primacy should be quietly faded out.

First change: Primacy a historical fad?

First on the DCPU’s list of “practical suggestions” is a call for a “re-interpretation” of the teachings of Vatican I – the council which issued the dogmatic constitution Pastor Aeternus which outlines the primacy and infallibility of the pope, two ecumenical stumbling blocks. Pastor Aeternus reads:

We teach and declare that, according to the Gospel evidence, a primacy of jurisdiction over the whole Church of God was immediately and directly promised to the blessed apostle Peter and conferred on him by Christ the lord… Therefore whoever succeeds to the chair of Peter obtains by the institution of Christ Himself, the primacy of Peter over the whole Church.

These teachings appear to be in the crosshairs of the DCPU via The Bishop of Rome. They call for “a Catholic ‘re-reception,’ ‘re-interpretation,’ ‘official interpretation,’ ‘updated commentary’ or even ‘rewording’ of the teachings of Vatican I.” The document states that some of the contributors to its compilation have argued that Vatican I’s “teachings were deeply conditioned by their historical context, and suggest that the Catholic Church should look for new expressions and vocabulary faithful to the original intention but integrated into a communio ecclesiology and adapted to the current cultural and ecumenical context.”

“Deeply conditioned by the historical context,” should be interpreted as “no longer acceptable for the brave, modern world in which we now live.”

Second change: Stick to the diocese of Rome to ‘renew’ the papacy

Continuing the Windswept House theme, the DCPU presents its second suggestion for how to alter the papacy. Just as the scheming cardinals in Windswept House presented a forced papal resignation as a good thing for ecclesial unity, so also the DCPU presents a stripping of papal power as a means to “renew the image of the papacy.”

The DCPU issues a request for “a clearer distinction between the different responsibilities of the Bishop of Rome,” which would, it argues, aid his “ministry of unity.” This call includes the desire for how “other Western Churches might relate to the Bishop of Rome as primate while having a certain autonomy themselves” – arguably translated as “will the Pope please consider himself just the bishop of an important diocese, and allow other ‘primates’ to enjoy some equitable power like he does?”

Indeed, the DCPU goes so far as to make this very argument, removing the need for the customary interpretation of Vatican-style linguistics. “A greater accent on the exercise of the ministry of the Pope in his own particular Church, the diocese of Rome, would highlight the episcopal ministry he shares with his brother bishops, and renew the image of the papacy,” the DCPU recommends.

Third change: Ecumenism demands more synodality, including for the papacy

If it was not already clear that the two watchwords of the modern church are “ecumenism” and “synodality,” the DCPU makes such crystal clear in its third suggestion on how to reassess the papacy. The DCPU wrote that the theological dialogues involved in compiling the document had identified how “a growing synodality is required within the Catholic Church,” which would be evidenced by increasing the authority of bishops’ conferences. The text reads:

Putting an emphasis on the reciprocal relation between the Catholic Church’s synodal shaping ad intra and the credibility of her ecumenical commitment ad extra, they identified areas in which a growing synodality is required within the Catholic Church. They suggest in particular further reflection on the authority of national and regional Catholic bishops’ conferences, their relationship with the Synod of Bishops and with the Roman Curia.

At the universal level, they stress the need for a better involvement of the whole People of God in the synodal processes. In a spirit of the ‘exchange of gifts,’ procedures and institutions already existing in other Christian communions could serve as a source of inspiration.

Fourth change: More ecumenical meetings

Pope Francis has continued to champion the cause of ecumenical meetings between religious leaders throughout his papacy, increasingly linking it to the current Synod on Synodality. These encounters appear set to continue under the spirit of The Bishop of Rome, since the DCPU highlights them as its fourth recommended change.

“A last proposal is the promotion of ‘conciliar fellowship’ through regular meetings among Church leaders at a worldwide level in order to make visible and deepen the communion they already share,” the text reads. “In the same spirit, many dialogues have proposed different initiatives to promote synodality between Churches, especially at the level of bishops and primates, through regular consultations and common action and witness.”

Commentators have long expressed concerns about the effect of such ecumenical meetings (like holding joint Catholic-Anglican vespers in the Basilica of St. Paul’s outside the Walls in Rome) since they create the impression that the Catholic Church and the Pope are on an equal footing with all the multitude of religions customarily represented at such events.

Speaking to this correspondent in Rome last year, Bishop Athanasius Schneider attested that modern ecumenism “undermines the truth that there is only one Church of God and this is the Catholic Church, the Church of Peter, united with the Holy See, the chair of Peter – the popes.”

While the Vatican heavily promotes interreligious actions, Schneider stated that “such gestures, or inter-religious meetings, are undermining these truths, and therefore these actions have to change.”

He added that Catholics must ensure that charity is always practiced with non-Catholics, but they must also inform non-Catholics “that they are unfortunately in an objective error, and that they are called by God to join the Holy Mother Church which is the Catholic Church, which is the will of God.”

Goodbye to the ‘universal Church’

Amongst the specific aims of the DCPU’s own direct recommendations, which conclude the text, is a peculiarly convoluted argument against understanding the Catholic Church as “universal.” “It seems particularly necessary to clarify the meaning of the expression ‘universal Church,’” the DCPU writes, employing another standard phrase, “clarify the meaning,” which is more correctly interpreted as “reject.”

The DCPU declared that “since the 19 century, the catholicity of the Church has often been understood as its worldwide dimension, in a ‘universalistic’ way.” This understanding, Cdl. Koch’s dicastery argues, “does not take sufficient account of the distinction between the Ecclesia universalis (the ‘universal Church’ in the geographical sense) and the Ecclesia universa (the ‘whole Church,’ the ‘entire Church’), the latter being the more traditional expression in the Catholic magisterium.”

By having “a merely geographical notion of the catholicity of the Church,” the DCPU wrote that a risk exists of “giving rise to a secular conception of a ‘universal primacy’ in a ‘universal Church,’ and consequently to a secular understanding of the extension and constraints of such a primacy.”

Instead, the DCPU urged a shift in the understanding of the universal Church and the power necessary to govern such a universal body. “Roman primacy should be understood not so much as a universal power in a universal Church (Ecclesia universalis), but as an authority in service to the communion between the Churches (communio Ecclesiarum), that is to the whole Church (Ecclesia universa).” That is to say, once the language is stripped away, the papacy should not seek to exercise its divine authority – the authority outlined in Pastor Aeternus – and instead work on using a restrained practice of power to foster ecumenical unity.

Conclusion

Tying all its many pages together, The Bishop of Rome concludes by urging the acceptance of the suggestions and recommendations made, in order to make a renewal – an unqualified renewal – of the “exercise of the ministry of the Bishop of Rome” and to further aid ecumenical unity.

“Building on the above principles and recommendations, which are fruits of common ecumenical reflection, it may be possible for the Catholic Church to renew the exercise of the ministry of the Bishop of Rome and to propose a model of communion based on ‘a service of love recognised by all concerned’ (UUS 95),” the text opines.

As is already widely documented, modern ecumenism has as its aim simple unity, not unity as outlined in the traditional teaching of the Church. For the papacy to become directly subordinated to the modern form of ecumenism would appear to be the next stage in a long process of ecumenical “walking together” – together, but away from truth.

COMMENT: In the Creed, faithful Catholics profess their belief in "One, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church." The Church is "One" in its faith, its worship, its sacraments and its governance. The essential presupposition of ecumenism is that the Church is NOT One and therefore unity is a goal the Church must pursue. The purpose of ecumenism is to obtain unity that the Church does not possess. Therefore, ecumenism begins with heresy in its denial that the Church is One possessing perfect unity as the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. Whatever follows from this heresy in ecumenical acts always leads to greater error. For example, the ecumenical act of Novus Ordo worship that was created with Protestant help to foster unity between Protestants and Catholics was formally defined:

“The Sunday Supper, or Mass, is the sacred meeting or congregation of the people of God assembled, the priest presiding, to celebrate the memorial of the Lord.”

[“Cena dominica, sive Missa, est sacra synaxis, seu congregatio populi Dei in unum convenientis, sacerdotale praeside, ad memoriale Domini celebrationem ...”]

Istitutio Generalis Missalis Romani, Article 7

This is an accurate descriptive definition of the Novus Ordo and it is also a fitting descriptive definition of a Protestant communion service. In their denial that the Church founded by Jesus Christ possess unity, the Novus Ordo committed a greater error in corrupting divine worship.

Now Pope Francis is simply compounding heresy with greater heresy. The principle cause and sign of unity in the Church is the faith. The pope is only secondarily and accidently a sign and cause of unity of the Church therefore, the pope is just as much subject to the faith as every other baptized Catholic.

Pastor aeternus is the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church of Christ, issued by the First Vatican Council, July 18, 1870. The document defines four doctrines (i.e.: a defined doctrine is called a dogma) of the Catholic faith: 1) the apostolic primacy conferred on Peter, 2) the perpetuity of the Petrine Primacy in the Roman pontiffs, 3) the meaning and power of papal primacy, and 4) Papal Infallibility - infallible teaching authority (Magisterium) of the Pope.

Pastor aeternus says that the Magisterium of the Church, that is, the teaching authority of the Church grounded upon the Church's attributes of Authority and Infallibility that only the pope stands in potentia to, is derived from the universal jurisdiction conferred by Jesus Christ on St. Peter as a reward for his profession of faith and passed on to all his successors in the papal office until the consummation of the world. Heretical Protestants deny that the Magisterium is part of the content of God's divine revelation. The Schismatic Orthodox deny that the Magisterium is part of the God's act of revelation when they deny the jurisdiction of the pope, and thus deny his teaching authority that is derived from his jurisdiction, to make God's revelation known.

The immediate problem for Francis is that, while heresy does not necessarily remove the pope from the office, the heresy of denying the jurisdiction of the papal office is to deny the office itself and is a deeply schismatic act. This heresy and schism may constitute an indirect form of personal abdication of the office. Thus the title of the document, "The Bishop of Rome." The question now, Is it possible to possess an office that you deny exists?

Not only do we know God through Jesus Christ, but we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ; we only know life and death through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ we cannot know the meaning of our life or our death, of God or of ourselves. Thus without Scripture, whose only object is Christ, we know nothing, and can see nothing but obscurity and confusion in the nature of God and in nature itself.

Blaise Pascal, Pensées

In light of the synodal process leading to the rejection of Catholic DOGMA of Vatican I, Pastor aeternus, reprint from last year:

Vatican releases Synod document calling for discussion of women, LGBT Catholics, church authority and more

AMERICA, the Jesuit Review | Gerald O'Connell | June 20, 2023

The secretariat for the synod has published the working document, known by its Latin title instrumentum laboris, for the first session of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality that will be held in the Vatican, Oct. 4 to Oct. 29. The second session will be held in October 2024.

“A synodal church is founded on the recognition of a common dignity deriving from baptism, which makes all who receive it sons and daughters of God, members of the family of God, and therefore brothers and sisters in Christ, inhabited by the one Spirit and sent to fulfil a common mission,” said the document.

However, it said, many Catholics around the world report that too many baptized persons—particularly L.G.B.T. Catholics, the divorced and civilly remarried, the poor, women and people with disabilities—are excluded from active participation in the life of the church and, particularly, from its decision-making structures.

The 50-page text was presented at a press conference in the Vatican on June 20 by Cardinals Mario Grech and Jean Claude Hollerich S.J., secretary general and relator general of the upcoming synod, respectively, and Father Giacomo Costa, S.J., the consultor of the synod’s secretary general.

Cardinal Grech described the working document as “the fruit of a synodal process” that started on Oct. 10, 2021, and “involved the whole church” in an exercise of listening to the people of God. The first phase was articulated in three stages: at the local churches with consultation of the people of God (clergy and laity); at the bishops’ conferences, which engaged in a discernment process about the input from the local churches; and at the continental levels, where input from around the world was synthesized.

“Where the bishops started and accompanied the consultation, the contribution has been very alive and profound,” the cardinal said, and the bishops were enriched with “a fruitful ministry.”

The document brings together “the fruits” of the synodal journey since October 2021. Unlike the working documents for past synods, which were intended to be amended, improved and voted upon, this document is designed as “a practical aid for the conduct” of the October assembly at which there will be more than 350 participants (including laymen and around 45 women, both lay and consecrated), not a text to be amended.

The document states that it “is not a document of the Church’s Magisterium, nor is it the report of a sociological survey; it does not offer the formulation of operational indications, goals and objectives, nor a full elaboration of a theological vision.” It is “part of an unfinished process.” It draws on but also goes beyond the insights of the first phase and articulates “some of the priorities that emerged from listening to the People of God, but avoids presenting them as assertions or stances. Instead, it expresses them as questions addressed to the synodal assembly,” which “will have the task of discerning the concrete steps which enable the continued growth of a synodal church, steps that it will then submit to the Holy Father.”

Significantly, the working document does not offer a theoretical understanding of synodality but rather presents “a dynamic vision of the ways in which synodality has been experienced” in different church communities and cultures worldwide during the almost two-year synodal journey. It articulates “the insights and tensions that resonated most strongly with the experience of the church on each continent” and identifies “the priorities to be addressed in the first session of the synod.”

According to the working document, the synodal journey so far “has made it possible to identify and share the particular situations experienced by the church in different regions of the world.” These experiences include “too many wars,” “the threat represented by climate change,” “an economic system that produces exploitation, inequality and a throwaway culture” and “cultural colonialism that crushes minorities.”

It points to “situations of persecution to the point of martyrdom” and “emigration that progressively hollow out communities.” It mentions the situation of “Christian communities that represent scattered minorities within the countries in which they live” and “the aggressive secularization that seems to consider religious experience irrelevant, but where there remains a thirst for the Good News of the Gospel.”

In many regions, it says, “the churches are deeply affected by the crisis caused by various forms of abuse, including sexual abuse and the abuse of power, conscience and money.” It describes these as “open wounds, the consequences of which have yet to be fully addressed” and says the church must be “penitent” and intensify its commitment “to conversion and reform.”

It says the October synod takes place in a context that is “diverse but with common global features,” and participants will be asked “to listen deeply to the situations in which the church lives and carries out its mission.”

It says the synodal journey so far has revealed the existence of “shared questions” and “part of the challenge of synodality is to discern the level at which it is most appropriate to address each question.” That same journey also showed there are shared tensions in the church, but, the document says, “we should not be frightened of them, nor attempt at any cost to resolve them, but rather engage in ongoing synodal discernment” so that these tensions can “become sources of energy and not lapse into destructive polarizations.”

At the press conference, Cardinal Grech said “one of the discoveries” on the synodal journey that started on Oct. 10, 2021, was the method of “conversation in the Spirit,” which will now be used in the October synod.

Father Costa described this method as “shared prayer in view of a common discernment, by which participants prepare themselves through personal reflection and prayer” before the discussion. He said this method “opens ‘spaces’ in which to face together controversial subjects, around which in both society and in the church there are often clashes and confrontation, in person or through social media.”

The consultation phase has shown how this method offers “a practical alternative to polarization in the church,” Father Costa said.

To enable this method to be used at the October 2023 synod, where there will be hundreds of participants, Father Costa revealed that the assembly will be held in the Paul VI Audience Hall of the Vatican and its members will be divided into small groups of 12 people. They will work in these groups, then gather in plenary sessions and share their input.

Part A of the working document, called “For a synodal church, An Integral Experience,” highlights “the characteristic signs” of a synodal church and emphasizes that “conversation in the Spirit” is the way forward for this kind of church.

Cardinal Hollerich said the working document “leads us to a matter of discernment, a discernment about the concretization of communion, mission and participation,” which Part B of the document lists as the three priority issues for the synodal church.

Cardinal Hollerich explained that “each of these three priorities is linked to five worksheets. These [are] five approaches [that] take into consideration the diversity of persons as well as the diversity of the different social, cultural and religious contexts we have experienced during the synodal process.”

Each of the worksheets contains many questions for discernment that cannot all be listed here, but reveal the wide-ranging and even radical nature of what it means to be a synodal church, a church that includes and is not judgmental. The many questions raised around the world that are recognized in the document relate to the role of women in the church (including the women’s diaconate), the ways of exercising authority in the church at all levels including the papacy, ecumenical and interreligious relations, the need for a new language in church communication, the need for renewal of the formation in the seminary, the question of the ordination of mature married men in some regions, the approach to the divorced and remarried Catholics and to L.G.B.T. people, the preferential option for the poor, the preferential option for young people, the care of our common home and much more.

As the two cardinals and Father Costa made clear at the press conference, the synod on synodality cannot be reduced to single issues; its mandate is much broader than any one issue. Indeed, to reduce it to one or other issue would be to radically distort what the synod is really about. As the working document states clearly, the synod has three main priorities—communion, participation and mission—and these require bringing about a profound conversion and cultural change in the way of being church in the 21st century. It is not about making another church but a different church, as Pope Francis, quoting Yves Congar O.P., one of the great theologians of the Second Vatican Council, said in his speech to the synod in October 2021.

Below are the five main questions for discernment linked to each of the three priorities. The full list of questions can be found here.

Communion

1. How does the service of charity and commitment to justice and care for our common home nourish communion in a synodal Church?

2. How can a synodal Church make credible the promise that “love and truth will meet” (Ps 85:11)?

3. How can a dynamic relationship of gift exchange between the Churches grow?

4. How can a synodal Church fulfill its mission through a renewed ecumenical commitment?

5. How can we recognise and gather the richness of cultures and develop dialogue amongst religions in the light of the Gospel?

Mission

1. How can we walk together towards a shared awareness of the meaning and content of mission?

2. What should be done so a synodal Church is also an ‘all ministerial’ missionary Church?

3. How can the Church of our time better fulfill its mission through greater recognition and promotion of the baptismal dignity of women?

4. How can we properly value ordained Ministry in its relationship with baptismal Ministries in a missionary perspective?

5. How can we renew and promote the Bishop’s ministry from a missionary synodal perspective?

Participation

1. How can we renew the service of authority and the exercise of responsibility in a missionary synodal Church?

2. How can we develop discernment practices and decision-making processes in an authentically synodal manner that respects the protagonism of the Spirit?

3. What structures can be developed to strengthen a missionary synodal Church?

4. How can we give structure to instances of synodality and collegiality that involve groupings of local Churches?

5. How can the institution of the Synod be strengthened so that it is an expression of episcopal collegiality within an all-synodal Church?

COMMENT:

It's all in how you frame the question that directs the group to the "correct answer" the Synodal Church is looking. For example, "Communion" question #2 refers to Psalm 85:11. In a Catholic bible it is 84:11 and the actual verse is: "Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed." The Synodal Church, using a Protestant reference, changes the tense from past perfect to the future tense and translates the word justice as love. For what end can we guess this perversion is intended? And what do these questions about "missionary" church possible mean when proselytism is rejected as the proper end for which Jesus Christ instituted His Church? The use of the Encounter Group is entirely foreign to the Catholic spirit because it attacks the freedom of the human will. The American Psychological Association says:

"Encounter Group: a group of people who meet, usually with a trained leader, to increase self-awareness and social sensitivity, and to change behavior through interpersonal confrontation, self-disclosure, and strong emotional expression." It is a group of individuals in which constructive insight, sensitivity to others, and personal growth are promoted through direct interactions on an emotional and social level. The leader functions as a catalyst and facilitator rather than as a therapist and focuses on here-and-now feelings and interaction rather than on theory or individual motivation."

The entire Synod on Synodality is nothing but more employing the experimental psychological techniques of encounter developed by Jewish psychologists on the modern Church of the New Advent. It was these same methods that were used on the Catholic religious orders in the 1960s that brought about their destruction. Carl Rogers used these same psychological methods on the Jesuits order at the time Pope Francis/Bergoglio began his novitiate. They are now being employed by Francis the Destroyer to corrupt what is left of the Catholic Church and form it in his own image. He claims to head a "listening church" while he cannot keep his own mouth shut. That is because Francis only wants to listen to himself. That last thing he wants to listen to is the voice of anyone who contradicts his ideology, especially the voice of the dead, that is, the voice of tradition that constitutes, with sacred Scripture, the Remote Rule of Faith for all Catholics. It is Francis that is a committed anti-Catholic Ideologue and every faithful Catholic must recognize this fact. The proximate Rule of Faith is Dogma. If every faithful Catholic keeps this Truth as the guide of their faith and actions nothing Francis can do can bring them any personal harm.

Early recognition of the psychological weaponization of Encounter Groups

An assessment of the danger of the Encounter Group published in the New York Times in 1974!

Encounter Movement, a Fad Last Decade Finds New Shape

New York Times | Jan 13, 1974 | Robert Reinhold

BERKELEY, CA—The encounter group movement, which became something of a national fad in the nineteen‐sixties, has evolved into a new, more mature and gentler form:

Having largely discarded its more extreme and coercive aspects, along with extravagant assertions of instant personal redemption, the encounter concept has quietly found an accepted place in such established institutions as schools, churches, industry and even the military and sports.

Meanwhile, persistent doubts about the effectiveness as well as possible hazards of encounter groups are being sorted out in the first rigorous appraisals of the groups and their consequences.

These studies, performed here in Berkeley and at Stanford University, are finding that, while many people benefit enormously from the openness and baring of emotions fostered by encounter, there are dangers to be guarded against.

Tried by Millions

By now millions of Americans have touched, walked and talked their way through some type of .encounter session. Encounter is loose term for a variety of group techniques, such as T‐groups, sensitivity training, sensory awareness, Synanon psychodrama, gestalt therapy and others, that are used as means of personal growth for ostensibly healthy persons

The encounter; or “human potential techniques are so routine today that the pioneers at the Eselen Institute and elsewhere have already departed for new psychological frontiers. Amid the dazzling succulents and eucalyptus trees on the broken California coast at Big Sur, the Esalen leaders are moving into the spiritual orbit of ‘transpersonal’ psychology—oriental meditation, mysticism, “psychosynthesis"’ and other techniques of achieving new heights of self‐awareness.

Others have been experimenting with such methods as “rolfing,” “feldenkrais,” “bioenergetics,” in which massage and physicals are used to increase awareness.

A Variety of Method

Encounter methods vary widely, but a group typically consists of eight to 18 persons led by a “facilitator.” The members are urged to express their emotions toward one another openly, both physically and verbally. Mutual trust, openness, honesty and naturalness, are the watchwords, and the assumption is that this stripping away of psychological defenses is healthy and will enhance both interpersonal relationships and self‐awareness.

“A lot of mistakes were made during the youthful period,” says John Levy, executive officer of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, the San Francisco‐based organization to which many of the practitioners of encounter belong.

“The movement suffered from excess enthusiasm—it made promises that could not hold up. There are still plenty of encounter groups, but you don't hear about them anymore. They are not the cutting edge."

Encounter may be passé in the compulsive California and New York milieus that nurtured it, says William C. Schutz of Esalen, author of “Joy” and other popular works on encounter, but in Athens, GA and Rock Island, IL, and for the overwhelming majority of Americans, encounter is just beginning.

Searing Experience

Whether or not its assumptions are valid, encounter evidently filled a real need in a depersonalized technological world. Millions flocked to “growth centers,” like oases in a psychological desert, Where they could go through the searing but often uplifting experience of spilling out their doubts and fears.

But as in most fads, the phonies, fast‐huck artists, incompetents and predators soon moved in. illequipped and sometimes sadistic leaders started groups, the idea was exploited in the movies, and on stage. The Concord Hotel offered “encounter singles weekends,” and a “group therapy” restaurant was opened in New York.

Still, the potential value of encounter has attracted a growing number of conventionally trained psychologists and psychiatrists. Carl Rogers, the psychologist who is often called the father of the movement, has termed encounter “the most rapidly spreading social invention of the century, and probably the most potent.”

‘A Psychic Whorehouse’

Even such a harsh critic of encounter as Prof. Sigmund Koch of Boston University agrees that the movement is “the most visible manifestation of psychology on the American scene:” He has denounced it as providing “a convenient psychic whorehouse for the purchase of a gamut of well‐advertised existential ‘goodies’: authenticity, freedom, wholeness, flexibility, community, love, joy. One enters for such liberating consummations but settles for psychic strip tease.”

Such complaints notwithstanding, encounter has had a profound impact upon many facets of American life. In Louisville, for example, educators credit it with helping rescue the school system. Faced with, the second‐highest dropout rate in the country (after Philadelphia), a demoralized staff, and bitter racial division, the schools obtained a three‐year Federal grant ‘in 1969 to re-staff 14 schools with 1,000 teachers trained in encounter.

Called Project Transition, the program involved not only the teachers but also students, parents and community leaders. Robert Myers, a co‐director, says it was a “terrific impetus for change in a school system that was sinking.”

Reports of Suicide

Countless individuals, meanwhile, report that their lives have been improved by group experiences. But there have also been disturbing reports of breakdowns, divorces and even suicides precipitated by encounter groups.

What has been lacking until recently were objective, tightly controlled studies to determine if groups really change behavior. What do groups do? What are the dangers? What skills are needed for leaders? Are the effects lasting? Is it worth it?

Some preliminary answers to these questions are beginning to emerge from ‘a massive study here supported by $1.25‐million from the National Institute of Mental Health. Directed by Dr. Jim Bebout of the Wright Institute in Berkeley, the study is evaluating 1,500 persons who participated in 150 groups over a three‐year period at the University’s Young Men's Christian Association in Berkeley.

The groups, mostly low‐keyed sessions led by non‐professionals, were observed and analyzed, and each member was asked to evaluate his attitudes and feeling before, during and after the experience. The results are still undergoing computer analysis, but some preliminary findings:

Ø Encounter groups do work in that they consistently improve self‐satisfaction, self-reliance and comfort with sexuality, and lessen loneliness, alienation and social inhibition.

Ø Groups do little to improve productivity in work or school.

Ø Professional therapists do not usually do well as leaders. “They could not drop their professional bag,” Dr. Bebout said.

Two Casualties Found

Of the 1,500 members, Dr. Bebout said, only two could be considered casualties: an obese woman who was rejected by the rest of the group and young man who fell in love with the leader, who rejected him.

Dr. Bebout offers the following advice to those considering joining a group:

“Pick a leader willing to share your experience with you and not work on you without telling you what he is doing. Make sure some proportion of your group is on your side. If the first two meetings are full of silences, attacks, tensions and obscure methods and general non-sharing, then pack up and go home.”

A smaller, different kind of study performed at Stanford University produced somewhat more ‘'negative” results. Unlike the Berkeley study, the Stanford study used well‐known professional group leaders who led 210 students in 18 groups designed to represent a broad range of techniques, including T‐groups, gestalt, transactional analysis, marathon, basic encounter and others.

Higher Casualty Rate

The results of the study, performed by Dr. Morton A. Lieberman, Dr. Irvin D. Yalom and Matthew. B. Miles, were recently published by Basic Books under the title “Encounter Groups: First Facts.” The study found that one‐third of the participants benefited from their experiences, while the rest either dropped out or had negative experiences. This proportion did not compare unfavorably with conventional psychotherapy.

The study turned up an alarming 10 per cent casualty rate, with a casualty defined as a person who was more psychologically distressed or maladapted eight months after the group than before. One girl, for example, dropped out and sought emergency psychiatric aid after the third meeting, at which she was called “a fat Italian mama with a big Shiny nose.”

Verdict Is Mixed

All in all, the Stanford study returned a mixed verdict. “When one strips away the excesses and the frills, the ability of such groups to provide a meaningful emotional setting in which individuals can overtly consider previously prohibited issues cannot be ruled out as an important means for facilitating human progress,” the study said. But it added, “Encounter groups present a clear and evident danger if they are used for radical surgery in which the product will be a new man.”

Those who improved, Dr. Yalom said in an interview, were those who got something intellectual out of the experience.

Partisans of the encounter concept have faulted the Stanford study on various grounds, saying that some distress is a prerequisite to enduring change, and that the attack oriented techniques used in some of the Stanford groups are no longer in vogue.

More Care Needed

Even so, many of the more responsible leaders agree that more care needs to be taken to screen out persons with histories of mental instability, and to train leaders better. Dr. Julian Silverman, a psychologist who heads Esalen's program at Big Sur, agrees that much damage has been done in groups and says, “We are very concerned about getting better training of leaders.”

Dr. Bernard Rappaport, a psychiatrist at Esalen who has written two survey papers on the movement for the National Institute of Mental Health, argues that “the benefits far out shadow the casualties,” but he agrees that reservations and cautions are good. ‘We need an ethic of responsibility,” he says.

“Now the approach is much gentler,” said Mr. Levy of the Association for Humanistic Psychology. “There is less encouragement of coercive approaches. Big wild breakthroughs are exciting to watch for a while, but not all that productive. People are respecting the dignity of others.”

"That meaning of sacred dogmas... must always be maintained which Holy Mother Church declared once and for all, nor should one ever depart from that meaning under the guise of or in the name of a more advanced understanding."

First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius

Doctrinal Development leads to Dogma; Dogma leads to other necessary truths

“Certainly there is to be development and on the largest scale. Who can be so grudging to men, so full of hate for God, as to try to prevent it? But it must truly be development of the faith, not alteration of the faith. Development means that each thing expands to be itself, while alteration means that a thing is changed from one thing into another. The understanding, knowledge and wisdom of one and all, of individuals as well as of the whole Church, ought then to make great and vigorous progress with the passing of the ages and the centuries, but only along its own line of development, that is, with the same doctrine, the same meaning and the same import.”

St. Vincent of Lèrins

COMMENT: Change can be either accidental (a “development” according to St. Vincent) or substantial (an “alteration” according to St. Vincent). A boy growing to manhood constitutes a series of accidental changes. A boy changing into a dog constitutes a substantial change and this only happens in Hollywood fantasy. A sinner becoming a saint is an accidental change and this is an accidental change that the Neo-modernist heretics refuse to make. They instead want the Church to substantially change into an institution that will accommodate their love and complacency in sin. Pope Francis, for example, says that the morality of capital punishment has evolved to the point that it is now known to be intrinsically evil in that it is ‘opposed to the dignity of man and contrary to the spirit of the gospel.’ Capital punishment changing from a morally permissible to intrinsically evil act constitutes a substantial change and therefore impossible as a legitimate development. There are many reasons why Neo-modernists, like Pope Francis and his conciliarists predecessors, deny the reality of substance but this is an important one. Trying to enroll St. Vincent of Lèrins in their defense is not a misunderstanding but just another lie.

COMMENT: There are now over 400 Jewish organizations that profess that abortion is necessary in the practice of their religion. This means that with the imposition of abortion mandates, the Jewish religion was imposed as a national state religion in the U.S.A.

Jewish groups blast the end of Roe as a violation of their religious beliefs

NPR | Joe Hernandez

While some have celebrated justices' decision striking down Roe v. Wade as a win for religious freedom, some religious Jews say prohibitions on abortion violate their religious beliefs.

Interpretations vary across Judaism, but some religious Jews believe that a fetus is part of the parent's body and that a baby is only considered a person once it takes its first breath.

According to the Women's Rabbinic Network, some of the religion's most sacred texts view a fetus as a soul only once it's born.

"Therefore, forcing someone to carry a pregnancy that they do not want or that endangers their life is a violation of Jewish law because it prioritizes a fetus over the living adult who is pregnant," the group said in a statement.

"This must be understood as a violation of the United States Constitution which guarantees our freedom to practice our religion and also our freedom from the dictates of other religions," it added.

A number of Jewish organizations blasted the opinion, arguing that it would lead to religious violations against Jews.

"Jewish tradition prioritizes the safety of women carrying a child," the American Jewish Committee said in a statement. "Overturning abortion access, as numerous states already have, denies individuals health care options consistent with their religious beliefs, including many in the Jewish community, thereby presenting issues of religious freedom and privacy." [....]

Baptism alone unites the individual Faithful to Christ

The death of Christ is the universal cause of man’s salvation: but a universal cause has to be applied to particular effects. Thus it was found necessary for certain remedies to be administered to men by way of bringing Christ’s death into proximate connection with them. Such remedies are the Sacraments of the Church. And these remedies had to be administered with certain visible signs: -- first, because God provides for man, as for other beings, according to his condition; and it is the condition of man’s nature to be led through sensible things to things spiritual and intelligible: secondly, because instruments must be proportioned to the prime cause; and the prime and universal cause of man’s salvation is the Word Incarnate: it was convenient therefore that the remedies, through which that universal cause reaches men, should resemble the cause in this, that divine power works invisibly through visible signs.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa contra gentiles, Book IV, Chap. 56.

How Far Modern Judaism is identified with Freemasonry

Although the Jewish role in Freemasonry is for many reasons difficult to deal with, some acquaintance with that aspect of the subject is essential for an intelligent grasp of the whole. It is a common belief among Catholics and others that Freemasonry is somehow or other closely associated with modern Judaism. Our present purpose is to discuss how far such a belief is well-founded, and what is the nature of the relations between the two. We may say at once that the available evidence points at least to the following general conclusions: 1) That much of the external trappings of Freemasonry, such as its ritual, its terminology, its legends, etc., are of Jewish origin; 2) that the philosophy or religion of esoteric Freemasonry (that is of the inner circles and controlling power) is practically identical with the doctrines of the Jewish Cabala, which is the religion of philosophy of a certain section of the Jews; 3) that a certain group, probably very few in number, but of immense influence and power, are leading Freemasons; and 4) that a somewhat larger group of very influential Jews pursue the same ends as Freemasons, and use similar means, and are at least in close alliance with them.

Rev. E. Cahill, S.J., Freemasonry and the anti-Christian Movement, 1930.

“Naturalism is more than a heresy: it is pure undiluted anti-christianism. Heresy denies one or more dogmas; Naturalism denies that there are any dogmas or that there can be any. Heresy alters more or less what God has revealed; Naturalism denies the very existence of revelation. It follows that the inevitable law and the obstinate passion of Naturalism is to dethrone Our Lord Jesus Christ and to drive Him from the world. This will be the task of Antichrist and it is Satan's supreme ambition.... The great obstacle to the salvation of the men of our day, as the Vatican I Council points out in the first Constitution of Doctrine, what hurls more people into hell nowadays than at any other epoch, is Rationalism or Naturalism... Naturalism strives with all its might to exclude Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our One Master and Saviour, from the minds of men as well as from the daily lives and habits of peoples, in order to set up the reign of reason or of nature. Now, wherever the breath of Naturalism has passed, the very source of Christian life is dried up. Naturalism means complete sterility in regard to salvation and eternal life.”

Cardinal Pie of Poitiers (1850-1880), considered as principle theologian of the social Kingship of Jesus Christ, his writing were on the night stand of St. Pius X.

COMMENT: Politics is concerned with the organization of life within a community. Liberalism is Naturalism in politics. It begins by denying Original Sin and presupposes natural goodness. It is then faced with the reality of fallen human nature and objective sin for which it is at a loss to comprehend. It consequently is constantly theorizing alternative causes for sin such as racism, sexism, feminism, etc. and proposing legal and social solutions such as communism which necessarily lead to ruin. Yet never to be dismayed, the Liberal always blames the failure of his programs on others who did not follow their plan of action with enough purity, with enough rigor, for sufficient time. Current articles from the Jesuit magazine, America, posted on their web site include: The Devastating Effect of Conversion Therapy on LGBT Catholics; Should Catholic Schools Teach Critical Race Theory?; Father James Martin (homosexual advocate) reviews a new little show called 'Friends.'; What Catholics can do to fight Islamophobia; Is it safe to bring my unvaccinated, unmasked 10-month-old to Mass? The Jesuits, who are responsible for the spiritual formation of Pope Francis, are Catholic apostates who have embraced Naturalism. Baptism should be considered an absolute impediment to joining the Order.

Novus Ordo Church: The Lesser and Disordered Good

"A good proportionate to the common condition of human nature is found in many..., but the good that is above the common condition of nature is a small number... And since eternal bliss, consisting in the vision of God, surpasses the common condition of nature, there are but a few who are saved. And this shows the mercy of God that raises some to that salvation that the majority of men do not attain." St. Thomas Aquinas

COMMENT: All that God has created is good coming from that hand of God. All creation is hierarchically directed to the glory of the greatest good which is God Himself. Man is created in the image of God which consists in the spiritualization of a soul with the powers of reason and will. The reason of man is directed to know truth and the will of man is created to choose good. Man fails to obtain salvation when he lives on lies and thus the good he chooses is not good enough. It is not a good enough because it is a good that has a disordered reference to God and a disordered reference to God's creation. It is a disordered lie. Every saint commenting on the number saved says that very few men are saved. Jesus Christ said that the way of salvation is straight and the gate narrow while the way to damnation is broad and the gate wide. We are to strive to enter by the narrow gate with the few and turn away from the many. The narrow gate demands that the reason adheres to truth and the will to the greatest good which is God. The Novus Ordo Church uniformly is complacent and satisfied with lies and "a good proportionate to the common condition of human nature found in many." There is no possibility for salvation for anyone who is satisfied with lies and a lesser disordered "good proportionate to the common condition of human nature."

BEAKING NEWS:

Archbishop Viganò accuses Pope Francis of ‘the same abuses’ as Cardinal McCarrick

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has taken to social media to accuse Pope Francis of 'committing the same abuses' as the notorious Cardinal McCarrick, an allegation he says was 'personally confided' to him by a 'former novice' of Francis.

LifeSiteNews | Wed May 29, 2024 — In a social media post on Wednesday, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò accused Pope Francis, who he refers to by his surname Bergoglio, of committing “the same abuses” as the notorious, now-laicized Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

On 23 June 2013 when I met Bergoglio at the Domus Sanctæ Marthæ – as already extensively reported in my Memorial of August 22, 2018 – he asked me ex abrupto: «What is Cardinal McCarrick like?»

“I replied to him: ‘Holy Father, I don’t know if you know Cardinal McCarrick, but if you ask the Congregation for Bishops, there is a dossier this big. He corrupted generations of seminarians…,'” the former U.S. apostolic nuncio continued, adding that “Bergoglio remained impassive and completely changed the subject.”

“His reaction is not surprising,” Archbishop Viganò wrote. “Bergoglio himself committed the same abuses when he was Master of Novices of the Society of Jesus in Argentina, as personally confided to me by one of his former novices.”

Concluding, the archbishop stated:

Bergoglio does not want to oust homosexual seminarians and priests: he rather wants to complete the work of infiltration and corruption of the clergy through homosexuality and pedophilia, so that by declassifying the serious sinfulness of sodomy and corruption of minors the door opens on the civil front to decriminalization of these crimes. On the other hand, the same scurrilous terminology typical of the environments that the Argentine Jesuit deplores in words, betrays his familiarity with corrupt people accustomed to speaking to him in this way.

The protection and promotions granted to countless corrupt and perverted cardinals, bishops and priests; the buses of transvestites invited on several occasions to the Vatican; private hearings for transsexual and homosexual couples in concubinage; the scandalous LGBTQ+ media spotlight granted to James Martin, S.J.; the shameful promotion of Tucho Fernandez to Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; the recent appointments of two Canons of Santa Maria Maggiore who are known throughout the city of Rome as homosexuals, all confirm Bergoglio’s membership of the lobby to which he owes his nomination (and I am deliberately not calling it his ‘election’).

LifeSiteNews has reached out to Archbishop Viganò to determine what specifically he is accusing Francis of doing but has yet to receive a reply.

As for McCarrick, he was once one of the most influential prelates in the United States. Ordained by New York’s Cardinal Francis Spellman in 1958, he was eventually named archbishop of Washington in 2000 and a cardinal in 2001. After retiring, the then-cardinal maintained his influence as a globe-trotting fundraiser.

His ecclesiastical career came to a definitive end only in 2017, after a credible allegation that he had sexually molested a teenage boy was received by the Archdiocese of New York. It was then discovered by the public that rumors of his predatory behavior had swirled around Church circles for decades and that settlements had been made to victims.

McCarrick was laicized in 2019 after a Vatican investigation concluded that he had sexually abused both children and adults, including young priests and seminarians.

COMMENT: This IS NOT really "breaking news" but rather authoritative confirmation of what has been common knowledge for years! Just this past month (May 2024), Pope Francis held his first ever last "World Day for Children" which featured a trans-sexual male drag dancer to entertain thousands of children. I would not even let Pope Francis the Pervert pet my dog. Jesus Christ began and ended His public life by cleansing the temple. That this will happen again is certain. Pray God that it be soon.

LOCAL NEWS Harrisburg Diocese:

Lebanon Parish Celebrates Vocation of Sister Margaret Bender, the Last Religious Sister in the Community

The Catholic Witness | Vasandra Chesser | May 31, 2024

Sister Margaret Bender is currently the last religious Sister in Lebanon County, one of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, who have served in the Diocese of Harrisburg for over 100 years. With Sister Margaret’s retirement at the end of May, her longstanding presence in the Lebanon community is being celebrated, along with the fruits of her ministry. [.....]

The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, which included Sister Margaret’s own aunt among the congregation, serve in a variety of ministries, including in schools, hospitals and orphanages. The orphanages, located in New Jersey and Massachusetts, were of special meaning for Sister Margaret specifically, as that is where her aunt served. As those children grew up, they still remembered her aunt and kept in touch, sending her cards and letters as they moved throughout their lives. It was a clear sign of how much of a positive impact she had on those children, just as Sister Margaret has had a positive impact on the Lebanon community. [.....]

“One could say it’s a sad day for the city of Lebanon. Sister Margaret represents the last religious Sister in the entire county. When Sister came here, back in the 1970s, there were other communities of Sisters, and we’re grateful for them,” Father Laicha said, adding, “When we think about it, so many Sisters resided here in the community of Lebanon, and we are better for them. And so it is sad to see our dear Sister leave us. We should take pause hearing this. I believe it’s an important opportunity for all of us to pray for vocations for our Diocese, and yes, my friends, for the whole Church. Nothing would make me prouder to see, once again, a young girl in our parish enter religious life.”

Father Laicha said that Sister Margaret’s simple life, dedicated to the Church, was one to emulate. He concluded, “This parish is indeed very proud of you, and yes, all that you have accomplished and represent as a religious Sister of St. Francis. St. Cecilia’s is going to be very different, Sister Margaret, without your presence.”

COMMENT: "The last religious Sister in Lebanon County" receiving 'communion-in-the-hand' in her farewell Novus Ordo celebrating the death of all religious nuns in Lebanon has yet to see the connection between what she is doing in this picture and the dissolution of all religious nuns in Lebanon County, Diocese of Harrisburg. The priest Fr. Michael Laicha of St. Cecilia Parish is equally stupid. This is the fruit of Vatican II and those that dismiss this destruction with such slogans as "time is greater than space" richly deserve the punishment that awaits them. Jesus Christ warned His faithful saying, "By their fruit you shall known them." Well, we know them. We see clearly their blinded minds, their corrupted wills and their wooden hearts. They have made a career of destoying the immemorial traditions of the Catholic faith alone by which the faith can be known and communicated to others. They are reaping what they have sown.

Understanding Impact of Trauma and Supporting Survivors is Focus of Annual Clergy Day

The Catholic Witness | Jen Reed | May 31, 2024

Father Kenneth Schmidt, director of the Trauma Recovery Program from the Diocese of Kalamazoo, Michigan, was the guest presenter for Clergy Day. He spoke to the Diocesan priests about the impact of childhood trauma and why its effects are so long-lasting.

Consciously or unconsciously, survivors of trauma seek safe places to reveal their pain and seek healing. When priests are trained to effectively receive and respond, survivors can find the help they need and desire.

That’s the message Father Kenneth Schmidt, Director of the Trauma Recovery Program, told priests of the Diocese of Harrisburg during a recent presentation on ministering to survivors of trauma.

The Trauma Recovery Program, sponsored by the Diocese of Kalamazoo, was established in 2002 as an initial response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis and the subsequent Charter for the Protection of Children and Young people, which set forth procedures and guidelines for prevention of abuse and healing for survivors.

Before long, the 10-week program of small-group sessions for survivors of abuse by clergy attracted many others who were suffering with other types of trauma from childhood events, and so the program expanded to help restore the lives of those individuals as well. [.....]

COMMENT: "Trauma Recovery Program" established in response to the sexual abuse of minors by clerics and administered by those who did the trauma, those who covered the trauma up, those who refuse to identify the true cause of the trauma as homosexual clerics committing the sin of pederasty, and those who still refuse to remove homosexuals from clerical state and prohibit their admission into seminaries. This is a cheap public relations gimmick. There can be no cure without an accurate diagnosis. Question: Is this part of the reorganization plan that moved the Diocese of Harrisburg out of bankruptcy? Is this the part of the restructuring that is supposed to assure the court and the public that the problems that caused the moral corruption in the Diocese and its subsequent insolvency from legal claims are adequately and effectively being addressed?

Modernists and Neo-Modernists are willfully blind to Essence, that is, they are in the end the most heatless of all!

Here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.

Antoine de Saint Exupéry, The Little Prince

Pope Francis says ‘conservative’ bishops have ‘suicidal attitude’ & ‘Deniers of climate change’ are ‘foolish’ during 60 Minutes interview

In a recent CBS interview: Certain of the U.S. episcopate have been notable in defending elements of Catholic teaching, often in seeming juxtaposition to Francis’ own stance – including such men as Bishop Joseph Strickland and Cardinal Raymond Burke.

Pope Francis, labeled skeptics of the climate change narrative as ‘foolish’ for not believing ‘research.’

LifeSiteNews | VATICAN CITY | Michael Haynes | May 17, 2024 — Pope Francis has described “conservative” bishops as having a “suicidal attitude” due to being closed “inside a dogmatic box.”

“A Conservative is one who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that,” Francis said in response to a question about “conservative bishops in the United States” the CBS “60 Minutes” interviewer described as opposing Francis’ “efforts to revisit teachings and traditions.”

“It is a suicidal attitude because one thing is to take Tradition into account and to consider situations from the past, but quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box,” continued Francis.

His comments were part of an hour-long interview with CBS’s Norah O’Donnell. Conducted in late April, a small segment of the interview was released at the time, with the full hour to be aired on CBS this Sunday and Monday.

In a previous clip from the interview, Francis denigrated critics of climate change argument as “foolish.”

“There are people who are foolish, and foolish even if you show them research; they don’t believe it,” Francis declared. “Why? Because they don’t understand the situation or because of their interest, but climate change exists.”

In contrast, Dr. John Clauser – Nobel Prize winner in Physics in 2022 alongside two other scientists, for his work in the field of quantum mechanics – has argued that “misguided climate science has metastasized into massive shock-journalistic pseudoscience.”

“In turn,” he added, “the pseudoscience has become a scapegoat for a wide variety of other unrelated ills. It has been promoted and extended by similarly misguided business marketing agents, politicians, journalists, government agencies, and environmentalists. In my opinion, there is no real climate crisis.”

Responding to the latest clip, a former U.S. Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, supported Francis’ statement. “For once Bergoglio is absolutely right: conservatism wants to ‘preserve’ the outward appearances of Tradition without the doctrinal substance that makes it alive,” he said.

Conservatism is the attitude of those who criticize the excesses of the synodical church but are careful not to question its causes, which are to be found in Vatican II. Conservatism is really a “suicidal behavior” because it creates an artificial “dogmatic box,” made of Novus Ordo ad orientem with Roman chasubles and Gregorian chants and also of Vetus Ordo; made of selected quotations of some conciliar documents, accidentally not contrasting with the Catholic Magisterium of all time; made of the apotheosis of John Paul II and the regret of Benedict XVI, whom we all loved.

Continuing, Viganò differed with Francis with regard to Tradition, saying that “Tradition is not conservatism; Tradition is not a ‘dogmatic box’ because it draws from the clear and pure water of the divine source, drawing from Grace and fidelity to the Gospel and the Depositum Fidei the lifeblood that makes it capable of looking to the future without denying the past.”

COMMENT: Pope Francis is boring. Now that his ideology and modus operandi have been sufficiently exposed there is no depth to the man or his mind. He is an intellectual fraud. His goofy stupid style has long been played out. The only reason for giving him media coverage is for the enemies of Jesus Christ to mock the Catholic Church. A comment is in order regarding Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò's response.

There is a confusion of terminology that needs to be clarified. Francis is attacking "conservative" Catholics, not Catholics faithful to tradition which is a necessary attribute of any Catholic who hopes to obtain salvation. It is true that Traditional Catholics are in fact locked in a "dogmatic box". Dogma is divine revelation that has been formally defined by the God Himself through the Magisterium of His Church. It is a divine truth with the added attribute of precision and clarity of definition directed to all the faithful. Dogma is formulated for the mind of man as the most intelligible truth knowable from which other truths may confidently be deduced. Dogma is the formal object of divine and Catholic faith and constitutes the proximate rule of faith for all the faithful. Heresy is defined as the denial of dogma.

It would be absurd to criticize a mathematician as being "closed in a dogmatic box" because he held to the truth that 2+3=5. It is absurd because conforming the mind to reality is NOT mentally restrictive but, on the contrary, expansive and opens the possibility of true intellectual development. The certainty of dogmatic truth is more certain than the mathematical truth that 2+3=5 because dogma is directly revealed by God and not indirectly deduced from God's natural law. For Francis dogmatic truth is a "box" because He holds the revelation of God in contempt and regards it as of no greater authority than another dated ideology.

The trouble with conservative Catholics is that they do NOT cling to dogma as a definitive truth revealed by God but, on the contrary, they are infected with the Neo-modernist heresy that believes that there exists perennial truths and human accretions in dogma that must be developed and refined over time. Francis is incorrect in making that accusation that conservative Catholics are bound to dogmatic truth.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò agrees with Francis that conservative are in a "dogmatic box" because conservative Catholics only want the trappings of tradition without the doctrinal substance. He characterizes the mindless clinging to Vatican II teachings as a "dogmatic box". The problem is is that is not what Francis means by "dogmatic box" and it only confuses the matter by using the term "dogma" equivocally.

Archbishop Viganò is absolutely correct in saying that conservative Catholics only want the trapping of tradition and deny its doctrinal substance.

The Authority of the Pope, as it is with every one of the faithful, is subject to the Faith and not vice versa as the Neo-Modernists would have it!

v “Peter is called a rock, and the foundations of the Church are planted in his faith.” St. Gregory of Nazianzen

v “Faith is the groundwork of the Church, because of the faith, and not of the person of Peter, it was said, that the gates of death should never prevail against it.” St. Ambrose

v “He (Christ) called him Peter, that is, the rock, and praised the foundations of the Church which was built on the Apostle’s faith. St. Augustine

v “Peter was made for us a living rock, on which, as on a foundation, the faith of the Lord rests, and on which the Church is erected.” St. Epiphanius

v “He (Christ) did not say Petrus, but Petra, because He did not build His Church upon the man, but upon the faith of Peter.” St. John Chrysostom

v “Peter so pleased the Lord by the sublimity of his faith, that, after being admitted to the fruition of bliss, he received the solidity of an immovable rock, on which the Church was so firmly built, as to bid defiance to the gates of hell and the laws of death. St. Leo the Great

v “On this rock, namely, on the unshaken faith, to which thou owest thy name, I will built my Church.” Caesarius the Cistercian

Quotations taken from Fr. F. X. Weninger, D.D., On the Apostolical and Infallible Authority of the Pope when teaching the faithful and on his relation to a General Council

God cannot be offered anything less than everything!

God is Sufficient to Himself and Does Not Need Any Creature:

Let us consider that the first reason why we are useless servants arises from the greatness, sufficiency and plenitude of God, Who calls Himself Sadai, that is, “sufficient to Himself,” because He is so sufficient to Himself and replete with good, that He has no need of us nor of any creature of heaven or earth. Even the God-Man, Jesus Christ our Lord, says: “I have said to the Lord: Thou art my God, for thou hast no need of my goods” (Ps 15, 2).

The fact that God has no need of our goods is an infallible mark of His divinity. That is why, when we offer or give anything to God, we sacrifice it to Him, that is, annihilate it before Him, to testify thereby that He has no need of anything. If anyone presented a valuable horse to a governor and were to kill the animal when offering it, the governor would not be pleased because the gift would be useless to him. But the greatest service we can render to God is to sacrifice and annihilate our offerings, to testify thereby that He has no need of them. This why Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself on the Cross. Now, if Jesus Christ is not necessary to God, and if all the angels and saints and the Blessed Virgin can say: “We are unprofitable servants,” with how much greater truth can we say it?

Let us rejoice that God is so replete with every conceivable good; let us be glad to be useless because He is quite sufficient to Himself.

St. John Eudes, Meditations on Various Subjects: 8th Meditation on Humility

External Profession of Faith

Both God and the Church command the external profession of faith.

The DIVINE PRECEPT to profess one’s faith externally is easily gathered from the words of St. Paul: “The heart has only to believe, we are to be justified; the lips have only to make confession, if we are to be saved” (Rom. x, 9-10), and it follows from the very nature man himself who must worship God not only with his mind but also with his body. This precept is both affirmative and negative in character. Its negative aspect forbids man to deny his faith externally, which he may do either directly—by formal infidelity—or indirectly, by some action which externally gives a clear indication of denial of faith even though the agent himself has no intention of denying his faith. Thus, for example, a person indirectly denies his faith by partaking of the Protestant communion even though in his own mind he does not believe that Christ is present in that communion. It is never permissible to deny one’s faith either directly or indirectly, because every denial of faith is a grave insult to God since it undermines the authority of God and the reverence due to Him. Hence Christ’s threat: “Whoever disowns me before men, before my Father in heaven I too will disown him” (Matt. X, 32). But although it is never lawful to deny one’s faith, occasions do arise when it is permissible to conceal or dissemble one’s faith, as will be explained later.

According to St. Thomas the divine precept obliges man to make an external profession of his faith when failure to do so would detract from the honour due to God or cause injury to the spiritual welfare of one’s neighbour.

1. The honour due to God demands an external profession of faith: a) when a man is questioned by public authority (not by private persons) about his faith; b) when a person is provoked even by private individuals through hatred of religion to a denial of his faith in word or deed.

2. The spiritual welfare of our neighbour requires an external profession of faith when grave scandal would ensue from its omission (v.g., Libellatici amongst the early Christians).

Dominic Prummer, Handbook Moral Theology

NOTE: Our immemorial ecclesiastical traditions are necessary attributes of the Faith because, without them, there can be no “external profession of the faith.”

“If any one saith, that the received and approved rites of the Catholic Church, wont to be used in the solemn administration of the sacraments, may be contemned, or without sin be omitted at pleasure by the ministers, or be changed, by every pastor of the churches, into other new ones; let him be anathema.”

Council of Trent, Canon XIII, On the Sacraments

“The favorite comeback of progressives is that ‘the liturgy kept developing over time, so you can’t say that Catholics ‘always’ worshiped this or that way.’ But that is a superficial response. The deeper truth is that Catholics have always worshiped according to the liturgy they have received, and any development occurred within this fundamental assumption of the continuity of the rituals, chants, and texts. The work of the Consilium of the 1960s rejected (N.B. actually, rejected by Rev. Annibale Bugnini in 1948) this assumption in altering almost every aspect of the liturgy, adding and deleting material according to their own theories. Therefore what they produced is not and can never be an expression of Catholic tradition; it will always remain a foreign body.”

Peter Kwasniewski, Ph.D.

“With them that hated peace I was peaceable: when I spake unto them, they fought against me without cause.” (Ps. cxix) “Forty years long was I nigh unto that generation, and said: They do always err in their heart; and they have not known My ways to whom I swore in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest.” (Ps. xciv)

“In the later editions of the Talmud the allusions to Christianity are few and cautious compared with the earlier or unexpurgated copies. The last of these was published at Amsterdam in 1645. In them our Lord and Saviour is ‘that One,’ ‘such a One,’ ‘a fool,’ ‘the leper,’ ‘the deceiver or Israel,’ &c.; efforts are made to prove that He is the son of Joseph Pandira before his marriage with Mary. His miracles are attributed to sorcery, the secret of which He brought in a slit in his flesh out of Egypt. His teacher is said to have been Joshua, the son of Perachlah. This Joshua is said to have afterwards excommunicated Him to the sound of 800 rams’ horns, although he must have lived seventy years before His time. Forty days before the death of Jesus a witness was summoned by public proclamation to attest his innocence, but none appeared. He is said to have been first stoned and then hanged on the eve of the Passover. His disciples are called heretics, and opprobrious names. They are accused of immoral practices; and the New Testament is called a sinful book. The references to these subjects manifest the most bitter aversion and hate.”

Dr. Joseph Barclay, LL.D, Rector of Stapleford, Hertfordshire, London, The Talmud, 1878, from Introduction, p. 30

You must understand. The leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were not Russians. They hated Russians. They hated Christians. Driven by ethnic hatred they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of human remorse. The October Revolution was not what you call in America the “Russian Revolution.” It was an invasion and conquest over the Russian people. More of my countrymen suffered horrific crimes at their bloodstained hands than any people or nation ever suffered in the entirety of human history. It cannot be understated. Bolshevism was the greatest human slaughter of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant of this reality is proof that the global media itself is in the hands of the perpetrators. We cannot state that all Jews are Bolsheviks. But: without Jews there would have been no Bolshevism. For a Jew nothing is more insulting than the truth. The blood maddened Jewish terrorists murdered sixty-six million in Russia from 1918 to 1957.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), Nobel-Prize winning novelist, historian and victim of Jewish Bolshevism

“Neither Jewish ethics nor Jewish tradition can disqualify terrorism as a means of combat. We are very far from having any moral qualms as far as our national war goes. We have before us the command of the Torah, whose morality surpasses that of any other body of laws in the world: ‘Ye shall blot them out to the last man.’”

Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli Prime Minister 1986-1992, 1943 Quote taken from “Document: Shamir on Terrorism (1943)” Middle East Report 152

St. John Eudes: “That there is a special contract made between God and man in Baptism.”

THE name of contract is given to any agreement entered into by two or more persons, in which the parties contracting incur mutual obligations. This clearly shows that a contract. has been entered into by the most Blessed Trinity and you in Baptism; since you have incurred many obligations towards the Blessed Trinity, and the Blessed Trinity has also obliged itself in regard to you. What is the nature of this contract? It is a reciprocal contract of gifts, the highest and most entire that can “enter into the heart of man to conceive;” for in making it you are obliged to give yourself entirely and forever to God; you have renounced all things to be united to Him, and for Him, and God on his part has given Himself entirely to you. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, come to you and take up their abode in your soul, in order to confer honors and benefits on you. They enrich you ‘with spiritual treasures to render you worthy of their three divine Persons.

It is a contract of adoption, since God the Father has taken you for his child, and has conferred on you the right of his inheritance with his only Son, and you have taken God for your Father, and have promised to entertain for him all the love and respect which a child owes to a so good a parent. “Consider,” writes St. John the Evangelist, “what love the Father has testified to you in wishing that you should be called, and that you should, really, be his children.”

Behold the admirable effect of the contract which you have made with God in Baptism, from being the child of wrath and an heir of hell, you have become the child of God and an heir to heaven! What you should not do to acknowledge the infinite goodness of God in your regard?

It is a contract of alliance with the Son of God, since in receiving Baptism you have united yourself to him as to your head, your master, and your sovereign, and since the Son has taken you for His servant and one of the members of his body, which is his Church. How great is the goodness of God, says St. Paul to the newly converted Christians of Corinth; “By whom you arc called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”

What were you before Baptism but the unhappy slave of Satan, and subject like him to eternal punishment? But by Baptism you have been delivered from this unhappy subjection, through the divine alliance which you have contracted with Jesus Christ, which procures you the enjoyment of eternal happiness, if you observe all its conditions.

Finally, it is a contract of alliance with the Person of the Holy Ghost; for faith teaches us, that the Holy Ghost takes the Christian soul as his spouse, and that the Christian reciprocally takes the Holy Ghost for his spouse. In consequence of this sacred alliance, the Holy Ghost calls you “his sister and his spouse,” and as, of yourself, you are poor indeed, he adorns your soul with all the gifts necessary to render it worthy of him, and he comes to take up his abode in it, and to consecrate it as his temple and his sanctuary. […..]

When you had been presented to the church to receive Baptism, you were treated as a person in the possession of the devil, for the priest pronounced over you the exorcism of the church, commanding the wicked spirit to depart from you, and to give place to the Holy Ghost.

This ceremony teaches you that by original sin you were really in possession of the devil, and that he abided in you, but that, through Baptism, he has been cast out of you; that your soul has been purified from the horrible stain which disfigured it, and that the Holy Ghost, having sanctified and ornamented it with his grace, comes to take up his abode in it. […..]

That Baptism imprints in your soul a spiritual character, which no sin can efface. This character is a proof that from this time you do not belong to yourself, but that you are the property of Jesus Christ, who has purchased you by the infinite price of his blood and of his death. You are not of yourself, but you are of Christ’s therefore, St. Paul concludes, “that the Christian should no longer live for himself, but for Him who died and rose again for him;” that is to say, that the Christian should live a life of grace, and that he should consecrate to his Redeemer his spirit, his heart, and all his actions. […..]

The Priest introduced you into the Church, by saying, “Enter into the house of God, that you may have eternal life.” This ceremony teaches you that Baptism enables you to enter into the Society of Jesus Christ, and of all the faithful who compose the house or family of God. By this entry, you begin to partake of all the good works of the faithful and you acquire a right to the sacraments, to the prayers, and to all the other good works which are done in the Church. Moreover, in entering into the Church, you have become her child, and have been made a child of God, the heir of God, and co-heir of Jesus Christ; you entered into society and communion with the angels and all the blessed who are in Heaven. By this ceremony you are likewise taught that, in order to be united to Jesus Christ, and to have eternal life, it is necessary to be a member of the Church, and to persevere therein to the end, believing all she teaches, obeying all she commands.

St. John Eudes, excerpt from Man’s Contract with God in Baptism

COMMENT: St. John Eudes makes clear what every faithful Catholic should already know, that is, it is by virtue of the sacrament of Baptism received with Faith that makes a person a Child of God. The Neo-modernist popes since Vatican II heretically teach that everyone is a child of God by virtue of the Incarnation of the Logos, the Word becoming flesh, where the second Person of the Trinity, by personally uniting Himself with our human nature, thereby elevated all humanity to being children of God by virtue of this shared humanity. For them, Baptism is only an outward sign signifying what has already taken place. It reduces Baptism from a performative sign that is necessity of means for salvation to a simple necessity of precept which obligates only those who feel some inner compulsion to obey. It is this fundamental corruption of revealed truth that makes modern ecumenism with such events as the blasphemous “Prayer Meeting at Assisi” possible. For them the “spiritual character” imprinted on the soul at Baptism is meaningless. The “spiritual character” is both the sign of and cause of the adoption as Sons of God. The character is like a receptacle that makes the reception of the sacramental grace of adoption possible. Those who have the character of the sacrament without the sanctifying grace of adoption will suffer the greatest torments of all in hell.

It is an unfortunate fact that the many traditional Catholics and conservative Catholics believe this tripe and profess that any “good-willed” Protestant, Jew, Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist, etc., etc. can be a child of God, a member of the Church, a temple of the Holy Ghost and an heir to heaven by virtue of being a “good” Protestant, Jew, Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist, etc., etc. This error is derived essentially from the more fundamental error of denying Dogma as Dogma, by overturning Dogma in its very nature. For these Neo-modernists, Dogma is not the revealed truth of God but only a human axiom open to unending refinement and new interpretations.

But the truth is that Dogma is divine revelation formally and infallibly defined by the Magisterium of the Church. It is irreformable in both the truth it declares and the words that it uses to define. It constitutes the formal object of divine and Catholic faith and is the proximate rule of faith for every faithful child of God. Not until every traditional Catholic recognizes and defends this truth will any effective resistance to Neo-modernist error be effectively mounted.

Pope Francis calls for ‘global financial charter’ at Vatican climate change conference

Pope Francis called for a 'new global financial charter' by 2025 that would be centered on climate change and 'ecological debt' in a keynote address at the Vatican-organized 'Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience' conference.

LifeSiteNews | VATICAN CITY | Michael Haynes May 16, 2024 – Addressing a Vatican-hosted climate change conference, Pope Francis called for a “new global financial charter” by 2025 that would be centered on climate change and “ecological debt.”

“There is a need to develop a new financial architecture capable of responding to the demands of the Global South and of the island states that have been seriously affected by climate catastrophes,” Pope Francis said on Thursday, May 16.

Outlining a three-fold action plan to respond to the “planetary crisis,” Francis told the participants that any such action must be centered around financial action.

“The restructuring and reduction of debt, together with the development of a new global financial charter by 2025, acknowledging a sort of ecological debt – we must work on this term: ecological debt – can be of great assistance in mitigating climate changes,” he said, appearing to allude to an already existing but as yet unpublished charter.

The Pope’s three-fold plan also highlighted his call for “policy changes” based on climate adherence and the reduction of warming, fossil fuel reliance, and carbon dioxide:

First, a universal approach and swift and decisive action is needed, capable of producing policy changes and decisions. Second, we need to reverse the curve of warming, seeking to halve the rate of warming in the short space of a quarter of a century. At the same time, we need to aim for global de-carbonization, eliminating the dependence on fossil fuels.

Third, large quantities of carbon dioxide must be removed from the atmosphere through environmental management spanning several generations.

Francis’ call for finance-related policies to implement climate change goals will have been met especially warmly by certain attendees of the Vatican’s conference. Among the numerous participants and speakers at the three-day event were ardent pro-climate change advocates California Gov. Gavin Newsom, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Massachusetts lesbian Gov. Maura Healey, along with academics and politicians from South America, Africa, Italy, and Taiwan.

Newsom and Khan – both of whom have implemented sweeping and highly controversial measures in the name of climate change – spoke respectively on “The Gold Standard – Climate Leadership in the Golden State” and “Governance in the Age of Climate Change.” Khan also wrote in the U.K.’s The Tablet that he joins his voice to that of Francis “to support climate resilience efforts and advocate for climate justice.”

Green finance for the future

While no further details were given about the charter Pope Francis referred to, in recent years increased attention has been paid to coordinating climate policies with finance, performing “debt for nature swaps” in line with the World Economic Forum’s policies, and addressing “ecological debt” itself, which is a term itself employed regularly by Francis.

Last October 4, Francis published a second part to his 2015 environmental encyclical letter Laudato Si’ in the form of the Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, in which he issued stark calls for “obligatory” measures across the globe to address the issue of “climate change.”

COMMENT: Warnings of the New Ice Age where the common party line in the 1960s. Then the Climate Ideology Central Command directed everyone to drop Global Freezing and switch to Global Warming because the data did not support global freezing. After years of Global Warming hysteria the Climate Ideology Central Command directed everyone to drop Global Warming because of insufficient date to support the claim and switch to Climate Change which is a much more nebulous term that anything can be attributed to and, best of all, requires no data at all. Around 2018 the Climate Ideology Central Command instituted a new slogan: "System Change NOT Climate Change" which is nothing but an open admission that the real purpose of Climate Ideology was always political, financial and monetary control on a global scale which many have been saying from the beginning.

All of Francis' "System Change NOT Climate Change" friends are militant endorsers of abortion and euthanasia who call for a world population of 500 million. Or to express it conversely, they want to see 7.5 billion people eliminated. His friends are part of what Fr. Dennis Fahey politely called "organized naturalism" that has revealed itself to be purely demonic pagan earth worship. There is no possibility of even a system of commutative and distributive justice based upon natural law. Francis has made common cause with the enemies of Jesus Christ the King.

[American Jewish Committee’s interfaith affairs director Rabbi David] Rosen said. “Those who said Benedict was the last pope who would be a pope that lived through the Shoah, or that said there would not be another pope who had a personal connection to the Jewish people, they were wrong,” Rosen said.... Israel Singer, the former head of the World Jewish Congress, said he spent time working with Bergoglio when the two were distributing aid to the poor in Buenos Aires in the early 2000s, part of a joint Jewish-Catholic program called Tzedaka.... Bergoglio also wrote the foreward of a book by Rabbi Sergio Bergman, a Buenos Aires legislator, and referred to him as “one of my teachers.”.... Bergoglio attended Rosh Hashanah services at the Benei Tikva Slijot synagogue in September 2007.... Last November, Bergoglio hosted a Kristallnacht memorial event at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral with Rabbi Alejandro Avruj from the NCI-Emanuel World Masorti congregation. He also has worked with the Latin American Jewish Congress and held meetings with Jewish youth who participate in its New Generations program.... In his visit to the Buenos Aires synagogue, according to the Catholic Zenit news agency, Bergoglio told the congregation that he was there to examine his heart “like a pilgrim, together with you, my elder brothers.”....

Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 13, 2015

Only Those in the State of Grace Can Be “Numbered Among the Children of God.”

Saying within themselves, repenting, and groaning for anguish of spirit: These are they, whom we had some time in derision, and for a parable of reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints. Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not risen upon us. We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked through hard ways, but the way of the Lord we have not known. What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow, and like a post that runneth on, And as a ship that passeth through the waves: whereof when it is gone by, the trace cannot be found, nor the path of its keel in the waters: Or as when a bird flieth through the air, of the passage of which no mark can be found, but only the sound of the wings beating the light air, and parting it by the force of her flight; she moved her wings, and hath flown through, and there is no mark found afterwards of her way: Or as when an arrow is shot at a mark, the divided air presently cometh together again, so that the passage thereof is not known: So we also being born, forthwith ceased to be: and have been able to shew no mark of virtue: but are consumed in our wickedness. Such things as these the sinners said in hell: For the hope of the wicked is as dust, which is blown away with the wind, and as a thin froth which is dispersed by the storm: and a smoke that is scattered abroad by the wind: and as the remembrance of a guest of one day that passeth by.

Wisdom 5:3-15

Iconoclasm Revisited: The Great Neo-Modernist Heresy – The belief that there exists a merely accidental relationship between the “revealed truths” and the dogmatic “manner of stating those truths and theological doctrines.”

Students must learn to distinguish between on the one hand revealed truths, which all require the same assent of faith, and on the other hand the manner of stating those truths and theological doctrines. As far as the formulation of revealed truths is concerned, account will be taken of what is said by, among others, the declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s Mysterium Ecclesiae, n. 5: “The truths which the Church intends actually to teach through its dogmatic formularies are, without doubt, distinct from the changing conceptions proper to a given age and can be expressed without them, but it can nonetheless happen that they will be expressed by the magisterium, in terms that bear traces of those conceptions. Account having been taken of these considerations, it must also be said that from the beginning the dogmatic formularies of the magisterium have always been appropriate for communicating revealed truth and that, remaining unchanged, they will always communicate it to those who interpret them properly”. Students should therefore learn to make the distinction between the “deposit of faith itself or the truths which are contained in our venerable doctrine”, and the way in which these truths are formulated; between the truths to be proclaimed and the various ways of perceiving them and shedding light upon them; between the apostolic Tradition and strictly ecclesiastical traditions, and at the same time they should learn to recognize and respect the permanent value of dogmatic formulations. From the time of their philosophical formation, students should be prepared to appreciate the legitimate diversity in theology which derives from the different methods and language theologians use in penetrating the divine mysteries. From which it follows that different theological formulations are often more complementary than contradictory.

The Ecumenical Directory

NOTE: The full title of the “Ecumenical Directory” is Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism. It was approved by Pope John Paul II on March 25, 1993 and published on June 8 by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity as a general executive decree of the Catholic Church. It supplanted the Directory for the Application of the Decisions of the Second Vatican Council Concerning Ecumenical Matters, issued during the pontificate of Pope Paul VI.

From Adam to this day, divine worship that is acceptable to God has always been, without exception, the creation of God.

Christ chose the Cenacle In which to celebrate the Passover, because there lived, died, and were buried Melchisedech, David, Solomon and all the kings of David’s family till the Babylonian Captivity.

Melchisedech comes into history under this name in the account of the four Mesopotamian kings, who went into Palestine, captured Lot, Abraham’s nephew, and started for home. Abraham roused his servants, fell on them at night, rescued Lot, took their spoils, and returning passed by Salem, as Jerusalem then was named.

“But Melchisedech, the king of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine, for he was a priest of the most high God, blessed him and said: ‘Blessed be the most high God by whose protection thy enemies are in thy band.’ And be gave him tithes of all.”

Here for the first time in Holy Writ we find a priest “of the most high God” offering the “bread and wine” of the Passover and Mass. Eight centuries of silence pass, and 1,100 years before Christ, David wrote of Christ’s priesthood: “Thou are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech.” Then this great pontiff-king appears no more, in Holy Writ, till St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews mentions him eight times as a type of Christ. [.....]

But here for the first time in history, comes forth another order of priests, this mysterious Melchisedech offering bread and wine of the Last Supper and Mass. To him Abraham offered tithes—the tenth part of the fruits of his victory. Therefore Melchisedech’s priesthood was higher than that of Abraham; it was to be eternal; it pointed to Christ’s priesthood of the Last Supper and of the Catholic Church. The whole prophetic scene in that vale beside the sacred city was emblematic of the future.

[.....] Who was Melchisedech? St. Paul says: “Without father, without mother without genealogy, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but likened unto the Son of God, continueth a priest forever.”

Fr. James L. Meagher, D.D., How Christ Said the First Mass

To live together as brother and sister? Of course I have high respect for those who are doing this. But it’s a heroic act, and heroism is not for the average Christian. I would say that people must do what is possible in their situation. We cannot as human beings always do the ideal, the best. We must do the best possible in a given situation. Cardinal Kasper, Commonweal, May 7, 2016

If a divorced and remarried person is truly sorry that he or she failed in the first marriage, if the commitments from the first marriage are clarified and a return is definitively out of the question, if he or she cannot undo the commitments that were assumed in the second civil marriage without new guilt, if he or she strives to the best of his or her abilities to live out the second civil marriage on the basis of faith and to raise their children in the faith, if he or she longs for the sacraments as a source of strength in his or her situation, do we then have to refuse or can we refuse him or her the sacrament of penance and communion, after a period of reorientation? [.....]

Cardinal Walter Kasper, The Gospel of the Family

Pope Francis makes the error of Kasper his own!

49. In such difficult situations of need, the Church must be particularly concerned to offer understanding, comfort and acceptance, rather than imposing straightaway a set of rules that only lead people to feel judged and abandoned by the very Mother called to show them God’s mercy. Rather than offering the healing power of grace and the light of the Gospel message, some would “indoctrinate” that message, turning it into “dead stones to be hurled at others.”

122. We should not however confuse different levels: there is no need to lay upon two limited persons the tremendous burden of having to reproduce perfectly the union existing between Christ and his Church, for marriage as a sign entails “a dynamic process…, one which advances gradually with the progressive integration of the gifts of God.”

Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia

Rene Descartes, the Catholic, and Immanuel Kant, the Protestant, the twin pillars of modern philosophical atheism!

“I cannot forgive Descartes; in all his philosophy he did his best to dispense with God. But he could not avoid making Him set the world in motion with a flip of His thumb; after that he had no more use for God.”

Blaise Pascal, Pensees

“The Jews are enemies of God and foes of our holy religion.”

St. Pio of Pietrelicina

Calvary of Padre Pio by Joseph Pagnossin, 1978 Padua, Italy, page 91

Did one of the main Vatican II documents distort the Words of Our Lord in the Gospel?

Those who wish to apply a ‘hermeneutic of continuity’ to Vatican II, or who deny that there can be any opposition or rupture between the documents of that council and Catholic tradition, or who claim that the assertion that the authentic teachings of Vatican II formally contradict the tradition of the Church is false, might consider the following passage from the council’s pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes:

Gaudium et Spes 24: ‘Quapropter dilectio Dei et proximi primum et maximum mandatum est.’

For non-Latinists, this claim (it is a complete sentence in the conciliar document) can be translated as follows: ‘For love of God and of neighbour is the first and greatest commandment’. No Latin is needed to realize that this is a flat contradiction of the teaching of Christ. There is a deliberate allusion in Gaudium et Spes 24 to the wording of the divine teaching it is contradicting, as can be seen from looking at the Vulgate text of that teaching:

Matthew 22:35-39: “Et interrogavit eum unus ex eis legis doctor, temptans eum; ‘Magister, quod est mandatum magnum in lege? Ait illi Iesus: ‘diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et in tota anima tua, et in tota mente tua. Hoc est maximum et primum mandatum. Secundum autem simile est huic: diliges proximum tuum, sicut teipsum.’”

This text from Gaudium et Spes suffices to prove that the teachings of the Second Vatican Council are not without error, and that fidelity to Christ’s teaching requires that parts of it be rejected. It is also a fruitful starting point for reflection and investigation into the ideology and motivations of the progressive leadership of that council, and into the degree to which the Council Fathers as a whole accepted their responsibility for preserving the divine deposit of faith. (This text was pointed out to me by a Catholic professor of theology who must remain anonymous.)

Dr. John Lamont, posted by Rorate Caeli

Jewish neo-con foreign policy which seeks to rule the world has produced one disaster after another for its "friend" the United States and nothing but death and destruction for everyone else. 165 of 195 nations of the world, including India and China with 35% of the world’s population, have refused to join in sanctioning Russia, leaving the U.S., not Russia, relatively isolated and friendless. Millions have died in Serbia, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Ukraine and now Gaza costing trillions of dollars without any geopolitical benefit whatsoever to those paying for it including their indebted children, their indebted children's children, their indebted children's children's children, etc. etc.

“We endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power. We must maintain the mechanism for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global power.”

Wolfowitz Doctrine, articulated in 1992 by Paul Wolfowitz, then Under Secretary of Defense, which became the guiding principle for Neo-con foreign policy strategy for world domination in a “unipolar” world. This is what is meant by Francis Fukuyama’s 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man, celebrating “the end-point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.”

The Yankee rules of engagement for prosecuting war has a long and unvarying history!

“We make war only upon armed men, and we cannot take vengeance for the wrongs our people have suffered without lowering ourselves in the eyes of all those whose abhorrence has been excited by the atrocities of our enemies, and offending against God to whom vengeance belongs.”

General Robert E. Lee, to the Army of Northern Virginia, after U.S. Generals Sherman and Sheridan subjected civilian populations in the South to rape, looting, burning their homes and slaughtering livestock, leaving women and children unprotected from winter and starvation.

Traditional Carmelite Nun Starts New Discalced Community in Florida

CatholicFamilyNews | Brian Mershon | April 29, 2024

SAVANNAH, Georgia — Sister Loretta-Maria of the Blessed Trinity and the Rosary, a Carmelite nun for six years, is founding a new, autonomous lay association for women that will be under the rule of St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582). She was among a handful or religious sisters formerly living in the Carmelite monastery in Savannah, Georgia that was suppressed and closed by the Carmelites in late 2022 under the instruction Cor Orans issued in April 2018 by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. The original story was published by LifeSiteNews.

Sister Loretta-Maria said she hopes to found a community of women religious who consecrate their lives to the religious service of contemplation under private vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, while living their lives on 10 acres of land near of High Springs, Florida, where a new monastery is being built.

“We are not affiliated or associated with a diocese or with the Cor Orans Federated Carmelite Order. We consider ourselves a de facto association of women religious and founded our monastic-styled community as an autonomous, private institution. We intend to build our own monastery on our own land. In Christ, Bishop Athanasius Schneider has given us his blessing to serve the Holy Roman Catholic Church as an autonomous monastic community and has blessed our monastic building fund project for this purpose,” Sister Loretta-Maria said.

Sister Loretta-Maria is the founding Sister and is serving as president of the 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation for the building fund. She said that a superior will be determined later. They plan to live out their lives in accord with Canon 215 of the Code of Canon Law. A detailed explanation of Canon 215 (and Canon 310):

Two Canons that pertain to individuals seeking to establish a new Religious community are Canons 215 and 310:

Can. 215 The Christian faithful are at liberty freely to found and direct associations for purposes of charity or piety or for the promotion of the Christian vocation in the world and to hold meetings for the common pursuit of these purposes.

Can. 310 A private association which has not been established as a juridic person cannot, as such, be a subject of obligations and rights. Nevertheless, the members of the Christian faithful associated together in it can jointly contract obligations and can acquire and possess rights and goods as co-owners and co-possessors; they are able to exercise these rights and obligations through an agent or a proxy.

The community will be privately regulated. The future Traditional Carmelite Monastery will be called Our Lady Co-Redemptrix Carmelite Monastery and will have a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, where Sister Loretta-Maria hopes to have the Traditional Latin Mass and sacraments celebrated daily.

“All we want is to live a quiet, simple and private life of prayer and solitude, to participate in the Mass of the Ages, raise a few chickens and plant some vegetables,” Sister Loretta-Maria said. “We will follow the Discalced Carmelite Constitutions written by Holy Mother Saint Teresa of Avila, the Rule of Carmel written by Saint Albert of Jerusalem, as well as various Carmelite ceremonials and spiritual manuals that have governed the Traditional Discalced Carmelite Order since its founding.”

“We discerned in prayer that building our new autonomous Monastery is the only way in this day and age to protect ourselves from having a repeat of what was witnessed at Savannah Carmel and to protect our vocations from the oppression of liberal theologians, Sister said. “Our 501c3 nonprofit, Habit Forming Sisters Corporation, is for the express and exempt purpose of building this religious monastery and supporting the lives of the Carmelite Community we have established. All of this was another insurance to legally protect our community from the forcible seizure of all the property and assets that was witnessed previously.”

COMMENT: The doctrine of the TWO SWORDS addresses the duties within the Church established by Jesus Christ, Sovereign King and High Priest. The Church membership includes all who have been baptized into Jesus Christ and profess the Catholic faith. The Church includes both religious and lay members. The spiritual sword of authority of the Church is wielded by the clerical members of the Church headed by the Pope who exercises universal spiritual jurisdiction. The temporal sword of authority is wielded by lay members of the Church, (formerly members of the nobility), who are called upon to establish the Kingship of Jesus Christ in the temporal realm. In the Pater Noster, after we worship the name of God we pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." It is through the lay wielding of the temporal sword that the 'will of God' may be done in the Christian regulation of social and political life under the Kingship of Jesus Christ. The spiritual authority is to provide the doctrinal foundation and the moral prudential guidance as well as the sacramental life of grace to accomplish this end as far as fallen human nature allows. Many of the great ecumenical councils of the Church were called by lay authority including the council that ended the Western Schism when there were three papal claimants.

There is no separation of Church and State historically and this includes Christendom. Lay leadership has historically exercised some authority in the appointments of clerics as well as examples of clerical excommunication of lay leaders who have betrayed the faith. There has always been tension between the boundaries of these respective authorities and the practical exercise has been fluid over specific historical and cultural circumstances but the existence of the two swords and their distinct powers have never been denied by any Catholic.

Through the exercise of the spiritual sword, the Vatican control of religious societies has become of weapon of suppression and destruction of Catholic religious life. What these Carmelite sisters are doing is exercising their vocation be removing themselves from the Vatican control of their community by their canonical right as "lay" Catholics to practice their faith. They are doing exactly what the lay members of Ss. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Mission have done since our foundation in 2002. The temporal sword may very well be an important means by which God reestablished His Church until a holy pontiff is again wielding the spiritual sword.

When arguing with a Neo-Modernist Novus Ordite Remember -

Modern Mind, Modern Thought: Don't be surprised when you at last discover that the Modern Mind is Mindless and Modern Thought is Thoughtless!

Modem Thought shirks definition. In all truth it is a giant’s task to extract a clear-cut and intelligible statement of what it exactly means by the terms it uses. For a definition requires thought; it requires a close examination and analysis of the nature of the thing to be defined, an accurate discrimination between its essentials and accidentals, and a painstaking comparison of that thing with similar things in order to discern what it has in common with them, and then to pick out just that specific note which makes it the thing that it is and different from everything else. All that, I say, calls for accurate and connected reasoning, and Modern Thought is quite unequal to the task. For it moves in a twilight of half-intelligence where it sees vague shapes and transforms them into monsters. Make the experiment of this for yourselves; if you will, take up the print of Modern Thought, some of which I shall presently indicate, and see what travesties it can make of the ideas of “dogma,”“faith,”“theology,”“metaphysics,”“God,”“morality,” etc., as well as of “civilization,”“culture,”“science” and “progress.” To whatever other tortures it may subject these words, or with whatever welter of brilliant sentences it may mix them—define them it does not.

All this is the same as saying that Modern Thought is flippant, cynical, skeptical, irrational and thoughtless—no one of which is the mark of thought truly so-called. In the face of searching questions, Modern Thought is as irresponsible as Boccacio’s “Cymon,” who:

Shunned the Church and used not much to pray,

He trudged along, unknowing what he sought,

And whistled as he went for want of thought.

It is difficult to speak of a flippant thing without oneself seeming to indulge in flippancy. Yet, were I to take Modern Thought very seriously and to define its most serious aspect, I could do no more than say that it is an attitude of mind which prefers to interpret life and judge the world not in the light of principles, tradition and authority, but according to a mood prompted by the moment and by the expediency of immediate environment—or the gravitation of man’s lower nature.

In justice to Modern Thought let it be said that at is not consistent with itself, for, while it spurns authority, it will nevertheless place the blindest reliance on any “authority” that serves its mood and temper, and this mood can, with the greatest ease, swing from the namby-pambiest optimism to the murkiest pessimism. And, if besides being observant persons you are moderately well read in history, it will soon break upon your realization that, after all, there is nothing modern about this mental affliction. It is as ancient as the day when Adam and Eve maimed their souls and bodies in Paradise in a fit of independence; it is as ancient as Heracitus, Epicurus, and the classic pagans. Its mood and their mood are essentially the same, the setting alone is different, the chief difference being that to-day the printing-press, the cinema and the radio (the T.V. and the Internet) offer the neo-paganism so many more facilities to waft itself abroad and spread the contagion of its mood.

Rev. Demetrius Zema, S.J., The Thoughtlessness of Modern Thought, Conference at Fordham University, 1933

“The Devil is fighting a decisive battle”
Sr. Lucy also told me:

“Father, the Devil is fighting a decisive battle against the Virgin and, as you know, what most offends God and what will gain him the greatest number of souls in the shortest time is to gain the souls consecrated to God. For this also leaves unprotected the field of the laity and the Devil can more easily seize them.
“Also, Father, tell them that my cousins Francisco and Jacinta made sacrifices because they always saw the Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls. And being children, we did not know what measures to devise except to pray and make sacrifices. …”
Referring to the vision of Hell that Our Lady showed her and Jacinta and Francisco, she said:
“For this reason, Father, it is my mission not just to tell about the material punishments that will certainly come over the earth if the world does not pray and do penance. No, my mission is to tell everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain fixed in sin.
“Father, we should not wait for a call to the world from Rome on the part of the Holy Father to do penance. Nor should we wait for a call for penance to come from the Bishops in our Dioceses, nor from our Religious Congregations. No, Our Lord has often used these means, and the world has not paid heed. So, now each one of us must begin to reform himself spiritually. Each one has to save not only his own soul, but also all the souls that God has placed on his pathway.
“Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:
“The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground.
“The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.

“And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother.
If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us, because we will have committed a sin that the Gospel calls a sin against the Holy Spirit. This sin consists in openly rejecting – with full knowledge and will – the salvation that is put in our hands.
”Also, since Our Lord is a very good Son, He will not permit that we offend and despise His Blessed Mother. We have as obvious testimony the history of different centuries where Our Lord has shown us with terrible examples how He has always defended the honor of His Blessed Mother.
”Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is - be it temporal or above all spiritual - in the spiritual life of each of us or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations.
”I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.
”Then, there is devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Most Holy Mother, holding her as the seat of mercy, goodness and pardon and the sure door to enter Heaven. This is the first part of the Message referring to Our Lady of Fatima, and the second part, which is briefer but no less important, refers to the Holy Father.”

Sister Lucy of Fatima to Fr. Augustin Fuentes in 1957

Israel, with the material and political support of the United States, has in GAZA, which is an open air prison of 17 sq/miles with a population of 2.1 million Palestinians, in last seven months:

· Killed: at least 34,596 people, including more than:

Ø More than 14,500 children killed

Ø 8,400 women killed

· Missing: more than 8,000 who are most likely buried under the rubble and soon will be counted with the dead

· Injured: more than 77,816 people with only 11 of 35 hospitals only partially functioning, unable to care for the injured

· Hundreds of Thousands currently in state of starvation

· More than half of Gaza’s homes have been destroyed or damaged

· 80% of commercial facilities destroyed

· 73% of school buildings destroyed

· 11 out of 35 hospitals are partially functioning

· 83% of groundwater wells not operational

· 267 places of Moslem worship that were used as places of refuge destroyed

Palestinian Ministry of Health in the occupied West Bank report on May 2, 2024

"A day will come when the Jewish Nation will cease to oppose order and will turn in sorrow and repentance to Him Whom they rejected before Pilate. That will be a glorious triumph for the Immaculate Heart of Our Blessed Mother. Until that day dawns, however, their naturalistic opposition to the True supernatural Order of the world must be exposed and combated."

Rev. Denis Fahey, C.S. SP., The Kingship of Christ and the Conversion of the Jewish Nation

Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity

Catholic Church Teaches:

“That the mystical body of Christ and the Catholic Church in communion with Rome are one and the same thing, is a doctrine based on revealed truth.”

Pius XII, Humani Generis

(Modernism teaches that) “the formulas which we call dogma must be subject to these vicissitudes, and are, therefore, liable to change. Thus the way is open to the intrinsic evolution of dogma. Here we have an immense structure of sophisms which ruin and wreck all religion.”

Pope St. Pius X, Pascendi, 1907

With truly lamentable results, our age, casting aside all restraint in its search for the ultimate causes of things, frequently pursues novelties so ardently that it rejects the legacy of the human race. Thus it falls into very serious errors, which are even more serious when they concern sacred authority, the interpretation of Sacred Scripture, and the principal mysteries of Faith. The fact that many Catholic writers also go beyond the limits determined by the Fathers and the Church herself is extremely regrettable. In the name of higher knowledge and historical research (they say), they are looking for that progress of dogmas which is, in reality, nothing but the corruption of dogmas.

Pope St. Pius X, Lamentabili Sane, 1907

The Vatiacan II Church Teaches:

“Church of Christ… subsits in the Catholic Church.”

Lumen Gentium, Vatican II

NOTE: The author of this term, “subsist in,” was Pastor Wilhelm Schmidt, a Protestant minister who made the suggestion to Cardinal Augustin Bea, the ecumenist, modernist biblical scholar, patron of Fr. Annibale Bugnini, and confessor to Pope Pius XII, who in turn recruited the support of Fr. Joseph Ratzinger who then convinced Cardinal Josef Frings of Cologne to bring the matter to the Council. This story was personally verified by Fr. Franz Schmidberger, First Assistant to the Superior General of the SSPX, by directly contacting Pastor Schmidt.

The problem remains if Lumen Gentium strictly and exclusively identifies the Mystical Body of Christ with the Catholic Church, as did Pius XII in Mystici Corporis. Can we not call it into doubt when we observe that not only is the attribute “Roman” missing, but also that one avoids saying that only Catholics are members of the Mystical Body. Thus they are telling us that the Church of Christ and of the Apostles subsistit in, is found in the Catholic Church. There is consequently no strict identification, that is exclusive, between the Church of Christ and the “Roman” Church. Vatican II admits, fundamentally, that non-Catholic Christians are members of the Mystical Body and not merely ordered to it.

Yves Cardinal Congar

Church of Christ is not exclusively identical to the Roman Catholic Church. It does indeed subsist in Roman Catholicism but it is also present in varying modes and degrees in other Christian communities. (Bold face in original).

Avery Cardinal Dulles, a member of the International Theological Commission

It is difficult to say that the Catholic Church is still one, Catholic, apostolic, when one says that the others (other Christian communities) are equally one, Catholic and apostolic, albeit to a lesser degree. ---- at Vatican Council II, the Roman Catholic Church officially abandoned its monopoly over the Christian religion.

Fr. Edward Schillebeeckx

Concretely and actually the Church of Christ may be realized less, equally, or even more in a Church separated from Rome than in a Church in communion with Rome. This conclusion is inescapable on the basis of the understanding of Church that emerges from the teaching of Vatican Council II.

Fr. Gregory Baum

And we now ask: What does it mean to restore the unity of all Christians?... This unity, we are convinced, indeed subsists in the Catholic Church, without the possibility of ever being lost (Unitatis Redintegratio) the Church in fact has not totally disappeared from the world. On the other hand, this unity does not mean what could be called ecumenism of the return: that is, to deny and to reject one’s own faith history. Absolutely not!

Pope Benedict XVI, addressing Protestants at World Youth Day, August 19, 2005

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Offers Clarification (?):
QUESTION: What is the meaning of the affirmation that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church?
RESPONSE:
Christ “established here on earth” only one Church and instituted it as a “visible and spiritual community”, that from its beginning and throughout the centuries has always existed and will always exist, and in which alone are found all the elements that Christ himself instituted. “This one Church of Christ, which we confess in the Creed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic […]. This Church, constituted and organized in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him”.
In number 8 of the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium ‘subsistence’ means this perduring, historical continuity and the permanence of all the elements instituted by Christ in the Catholic Church, in which the Church of Christ is concretely found on this earth.

REPLY:

Lutherans, Methodists, Anglicans, and many other Protestant groups recite the Nicene Creed professing a belief in the “one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church.” They clearly do not define the word “catholic” in the same sense as Roman Catholics do. Is the CDF giving a Catholic or Protestant meaning to the word “catholic” when it explains the words “subsist in”? Is the comment of Cardinal Congar explaining the significance of the failure to use the word “Roman” important to our understanding of the CDF’s response? Is this a cleaver corruption of dogmatic truth through dissembling corruption of language? Should we be grateful to Cardinal Congar for his open and honest comments? Since the “ecumenism of return” is rejected then, do Protestants that do not have to “return” to the Roman Catholic Church already belong to the “Church of Christ”? Is there salvation in the “Church of Christ” separated from the Roman Catholic Church? It is a Dogma, an article of divine and Catholic faith, that there is one universal Church of the faithful outside of which there is no salvation.

Modernism and Neo-Modernism, built upon linguistic Deconstructionism which denies the intentionality of language, “fabricates a fictitious reality.” The Novus Ordo Church can only offer just another “pseudo-reality” to modern man and not the Absolute Truth of God's revelation. The worst thing of all is that most Novus Ordo Catholics are “satisfied with a fictitious reality created by design through the abuse of language.” No wonder Pope Francis hates the “Absolute Truth” and declared it to be “idolatrous” and “godless”!

Plato's literary activity extended over fifty years, and time and again he asked himself anew: What is it that makes the sophists so dangerous? Toward the end he wrote one more dialogue, the Sophist, in which he added a new element to his answer: “The sophists,” he says, “fabricate a fictitious reality.” That the existential realm of man could be taken over by pseudo-realities whose fictitious nature threatens to become indiscernible is truly a depressing thought. And yet this Platonic nightmare, I hold, possesses an alarming contemporary relevance. For the general public is being reduced to a state where people not only are unable to find out about the truth but also become unable even to search for the truth because they are satisfied with deception and trickery that have determined their convictions, satisfied with a fictitious reality created by design through the abuse of language. This, says Plato, is the worst thing that the sophists are capable of wreaking upon mankind by their corruption of the word.

Josef Pieper, Abuse of Language - Abuse of Power

St. Thomas (II-II:11:1) defines heresy: "a species of infidelity in men who, having professed the faith of Christ, corrupt its dogmas". The right Christian faith consists in giving one's voluntary assent to Christ in all that truly belongs to His teaching. There are, therefore, two ways of deviating from Christianity: the one by refusing to believe in Christ Himself, which is the way of infidelity, common to Pagans and Jews; the other by restricting belief to certain points of Christ's doctrine selected and fashioned at pleasure, which is the way of heretics. The subject-matter of both faith and heresy is, therefore, the deposit of the faith, that is, the sum total of truths revealed in Scripture and Tradition as proposed to our belief by the Church.

Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907

“Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” (I John 4:1)

“But let your speech be yea, yea: no, no: and that which is over and above these, is of evil.” (Matt 5:37)

The Spirit of Intended Ambiguity that animated Vatican II

It would be most inconvenient for the articles of our Constitution to be rejected by the Central Commission or by the Council itself. That is why we must tread carefully and discreetly. Carefully, so that proposals be … formulated in such a way that much is said without seeming to say anything: let many things be said in embryo and in this way let the door remain open to legitimate and possible postconciliar deductions and applications: let nothing be said that suggests excessive novelty and might invalidate all the rest.

Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, L’Osservatore Romano, March 19, 1965

Even Paul VI proclaimed the necessity of PROSELYTISM! He was progressive but apparently not progressive enough for Francis the Apostate!

“Through this wordless witness these Christians stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live: Why are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that inspires them? Why are they in our midst? Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one. […..] Nevertheless this always remains insufficient, because even the finest witness will prove ineffective in the long run if it is not explained, justified – what Peter called always having ‘your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have’ – and made explicit by a clear and unequivocal proclamation of the Lord Jesus. The Good News proclaimed by the witness of life sooner or later has to be proclaimed by the word of life. There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, are not proclaimed.”

Pope Paul VI, Evangelii nuntiandi

“I’ve said it many times: proselytism is not Christian. Today I felt a certain bitterness when a woman approached me with a young man and a young woman, and said to me: ‘Your Holiness, I am from South Africa. This boy was a Hindu and converted to Catholicism. This girl was Anglican and converted to Catholicism.’ She told me in a triumphant way, as though she was showing off a hunting trophy. I felt uncomfortable and said to her, ‘Madam, evangelization yes, proselytism no’.”

Pope Francis the Apostate, to Jesuit community in Mozambique, September 2019

COMMENT: In about twenty years we will be celebrating the 500^th anniversary of the beginnings of Jesuit missionary work throughout the world. These missionaries provided regular detailed journal submissions to their superiors regarding the work of proselytism which included exactly to whom they preached the Gospel with their successes and failures in gaining Catholic converts, the very purpose of their work. Many of these documents are available on line. A brief review of them is enough to see what a vulgar reprobate they would consider Francis/Bergoglio. He actively works to obstruct the grace of God in the work of salvation of souls.

Cardinal Fernández’s Dignitas Infinita condemns abortion, gender theory but is silent on homosexuality

In the newly released text Cardinal Victor Fernández criticizes abortion and the rejection of gender differentiation as attacks on human dignity, while neglecting to discuss homosexuality.

LifeSiteNews | Vatican City | Michael Haynes | Mon Apr 8, 2024 — Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández has released his long-anticipated document on human dignity, written in line with Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli Tutti and modern teaching on dignity, which condemns abortion and surrogacy while notably remaining silent on homosexuality.

Released via press conference April 8 – the transferred feast of the Annunciation – the new text, Dignitas infinita, aims to highlight a line from Fratelli Tutti – namely, that “dignity exists ‘beyond all circumstances.’”

“The Declaration strives to show that this is a universal truth that we are all called to recognize as a fundamental condition for our societies to be truly just, peaceful, healthy, and authentically human,” wrote Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) and from whose office the document emerged.

As summarized by Andrea Tornielli (editorial manager for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication) the document aims to address issues outside of the bioethical sphere:

The new text thus contributes to overcoming the dichotomy that exists between those who focus exclusively on defending nascent or dying life while forgetting so many other attacks against human dignity and, conversely, those who focus only on defending the poor and migrants while forgetting that life must be defended from conception to its natural conclusion.

Summarizing his lengthy text, Fernández wrote that “the Church, with the present Declaration, ardently urges that respect for the dignity of the human person beyond all circumstances be placed at the center of the commitment to the common good and at the center of every legal system.”

He had earlier decried how a modern misconception of dignity is “occasionally misused to justify an arbitrary proliferation of new rights, many of which are at odds with those originally defined and often are set in opposition to the fundamental right to life.”

While mentioning the Church’s condemnation of abortion and euthanasia, the text only mentions “sin” on two occasions – both of which occurred in the same sentence in section 22. The treatment of gender theory was critical, but only critical, whilst Pope Francis – under whose authority the document was written – has been much more condemnatory in his remarks.

Key also is the absence of any mention, much less condemnation, of homosexuality. In a text given to denoting teaching on human dignity, and the ways in which is is gravely violated, such an omission appears striking.

COMMENT: While it is good to see the condemnations of abortion, euthanasia, IVF and transgenderism from the Vatican, it is unfortunate that it is done for the wrong reasons. There is no reference to divine law and only passing reference to natural law. The grounds for opposition to these perversions in overwhelmingly argued from human dignity. In this respect this current document is analogous to Paul VI's condemnation of artificial birth control in Humanae vitae when Paul VI based his opposition against artificial contraception upon humanist arguments rather than arguments grounded upon natural law, divine law, the constant tradition and previous Magisterial teaching of the Church.

The entire argument of Dignitas Infinita is, as the title indicated, based upon the “infinite (sic) dignity” of the human person. This theory of the “infinite dignity” of the human person is derived from a false modernist philosophy of personalism and the theology of Vatican II.

He Who is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15),(21) is Himself the perfect man. To the sons of Adam He restores the divine likeness which had been disfigured from the first sin onward. Since human nature as He assumed it was not annulled, by that very fact it has been raised up to a divine dignity in our respect too. For by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. Vatican II, Gaudium et spes, Church in the Modern World

From this presupposition, the document Dignitatis Humanae (On Religious Freedom) was developed which taught:

A sense of the dignity of the human person has been impressing itself more and more deeply on the consciousness of contemporary man, and the demand is increasingly made that men should act on their own judgment, enjoying and making use of a responsible freedom, not driven by coercion but motivated by a sense of duty. The demand is likewise made that constitutional limits should be set to the powers of government, in order that there may be no encroachment on the rightful freedom of the person and of associations. This demand for freedom in human society chiefly regards the quest for the values proper to the human spirit. It regards, in the first place, the free exercise of religion in society. This Vatican Council takes careful note of these desires in the minds of men. It proposes to declare them to be greatly in accord with truth and justice. To this end, it searches into the sacred tradition and doctrine of the Church-the treasury out of which the Church continually brings forth new things that are in harmony with the things that are old. [.....] This Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. Vatican II, Dignitatis Humanae, Religious freedom

This teaching of Vatican II forms the ground for this current document, Dignitas Infinita, by the downgraded Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The document references for its authority Vatican II nine times, JPII nineteen times, Benedict XVI twelve times, Paul VI six times, Pius XII once, Pius XI once, and Pope Francis an amazing seventy-five times! It is clearly a Neo-Modernist product developed from a humanist ideology. Jesus Christ is referenced only eight times and these references are always ideologically driven, such as, in repeating Gaudium et spes, it says again: “By uniting himself with every human being through his Incarnation, Jesus Christ confirmed that each person possesses an immeasurable (sic) dignity simply by belonging to the human community; moreover, he affirmed that this dignity can never be lost.”

The problem with this Vatican II teaching is that it is not true which is easily apparent in the used of the words “infinite” and “immeasurable,” attributes of God and God alone, to describe the dignity of man. In the Incarnation, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity DID NOT unite Himself with all humanity. He united Himself with a single human nature when the Holy Ghost overshadowed the Immaculate Virgin Mary and she became the Mother of Jesus Christ, both God and Man. The human flesh of the Man-God became the material cause of the redemptive grace for all mankind when he suffered and died on the cross and rose again from the dead on the third day. Through faith those who believe in His name, received the sacraments of Baptism (born again of water and the Holy Ghost) and the Holy Eucharist, every individual man can then become united with Jesus Christ and by this union be raised to the dignity of being a Son of God by grace. All humanity stand in potentia to this dignity but only those who are members of the Catholic Church and in the state of grace possess this dignity in actu. This dignity can be lost by mortal sin and yet by recovered by sacramental penance. Without the dignity of being a son of God there is no hope whatsoever of salvation. St. Paul makes this teaching clear in his letter to the Romans that the true dignity of man is found only in his participation in the glory of God:

· “For all have sinned, and do need the glory of God.” Rom. 3:23

· “By whom (Jesus Christ) also we have access through faith into this grace, wherein we stand, and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God.” Rom. 5:2

· “For we are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life.” Rom. 6:4

· “Because the creature also itself shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.” Rom. 8:21

· “I have therefore glory in Christ Jesus towards God.” Rom. 15:17

Vatican II teaches something altogether different. The Neo-modernists believe that by virtue of the Word becoming flesh, human nature itself was “infinitely” dignified to the exalted level that no person was anymore obligated to believe in God's revealed truth, obey His commandments, or worship God according to his “received and approved” immemorial rites. This is such an absurd abuse of the first principles of the understanding that it is evident that it is impossible to reason anyone out of this opinion because it is impossible that they could have ever reasoned themselves into it in the first place! All rights are derived from duties is Catholic truth. They have inverted this claiming that rights determine duties and the duty to worship God, believe His revelation and keep His commandments cannot impose any obligation on any creature who possesses the exalted human dignity to do whatever he pleases!

Vladimir Soloviev, the Catholic Russian philosopher and defender of the Kingship of Jesus Christ, who died in 1900 at the age of 47 in extreme poverty, said that justice is the practical application of truth. Dignitatis Humanae from Vatican II affirms that aspirations of modern man to Religious freedom are “greatly in accord with truth and justice.” They are not. If man possessed a right to worship idols than God would be unjust for punishing idolaters and the Vatican II teaching on “infinite dignity” is just another form of idolatry that has led to generalized human degradation. The Vatican II teaching of human dignity is just one big lie and the practical application of lies is called injustice. Francis claims that he discovered the moral truth that none of his predecessors could discover that all capital punishment for whatever reason is intrinsically evil because of the “infinite dignity” of the human person. Now a murderer has a greater right to life than the his victim. Or in the case of abortion, the mother's convenience has a greater standing that the life of her child. Now Francis might argue against this claim but his argument has no greater validity than the mother who wants the abortion. After all, in the conflict of rights between two “infinite dignities” than what is to stop mightier from being right?

Francis the Solipsist, the longer he lives the more self-referential his theological productions. Unfortunately for Francis, unless he repents, he will learn that in hell the only evidence for “infinite... immeasurable human dignity” that “can never be lost,” will be that the punishment is eternal.

Criminal Courts now indicting faithful Catholic priests for criticism of Homosexual pederast clergy!

Catholic priest in Switzerland faces ‘hate crime’ trial over article criticizing homosexual clergy

The trial against Fr. Manfred Hauke for publishing an article by Polish priest, Fr. Draiusz Oko, critical of predatory, homosexual clergy began on Monday in Bellinzona, Switzerland.

LifeSiteNews | Andreas Wailzer | April 10, 2024 — Catholic priest and theology professor Fr. Manfred Hauke has to stand trial at a criminal court in Switzerland for publishing an article critical of homosexual clergy.

Katholisch.de reports that the trial against Hauke started on Monday at the criminal court in Bellinzona, Switzerland. The court case was triggered after the German priest appealed a fine that he received in December 2022.

Hauke, who teaches theology at the University of Lugano, Switzerland, is accused of violating a ban against “discrimination” and “inciting hatred” against homosexuals for publishing an article as the publisher of the magazine Theologisches in 2021.

The article was authored by Polish priest Fr. Draiusz Oko and highlighted cases of abuse by homosexual priests and bishops and detailed mechanisms used by “homoclans” or a “homomafia” of predatory clerics to avoid accountability.

Oko described such groups as “a colony of parasites” that “cares first of all for itself, and not for the hosts at whose expense it lives” and as a “homosexual plague” or a “cancer that is even ready to kill its host,” among other things. He stressed that “the existence of such powerful clans” attested to by both Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI “is an obvious logical, ethical, and dogmatic contradiction to the very essence of the Church and her teaching.”

In May 2022, Oko and 91-year-old Fr. Johannes Stöhr, the editor responsible for publishing the article in the journal, were sentenced to fines of € 3,150 and € 4,000, respectively, by a German court.

Fr. Wolfgang Rothe, a dissident, scandal-plagued priest with the Archdiocese of Munich, confirmed that he was the one who reported Oko, Stöhr, and Hauke to German authorities.

Rothe, who is openly homosexual, is one of the most aggressively outspoken promoters of the LGBT agenda in the Catholic Church in Germany.

In 2004, Rothe was involved in a major Church scandal when he had to step down as vice-rector of a seminary in St. Pölten, Austria, after child pornography and photographs depicting homosexual activity involving seminarians and staff emerged. Photos also showed Rothe kissing a man. The seminary was eventually shut down by the Vatican’s special investigator, Bishop Klaus Küng.

DOGMA, the proximate rule of faith for the faithful:

According to Fr. Joseph Fenton, editor of the American Ecclesiastical Review:

· Dogmas are “truths,” not precepts.

· Dogmas are “teachings we are obliged to believe with the assent of divine and Catholic faith.”

· Dogmas are defined “truths” which the “apostles of Jesus Christ preached to His Church.”

· Dogmas are “truths” that have been “supernaturally communicated or revealed by God Himself.”

· Dogmas “constitute the central or primary object of the Church’s infallible teaching activity.”

A dogma is by definition immutable and unchangeable. The denial of any dogma makes one a heretic by definition.

· Hence, also, that understanding of its sacred dogmas must be perpetually retained, which Holy Mother Church has once declared; and there must never be recession from that meaning under the specious name of deeper understanding. Therefore... let the understanding... be solely in its own genus, namely the same dogma, with the same sense and the same understanding.

Vatican I, Dei Filius

· Let nothing of the truths that have been defined ( i.e.: dogmas) be lessened, nothing altered, nothing added; but let them be preserved intact, in word and meaning.

Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos

· [Dogma must be understood] by the very sense by which it is defined and must be held to be by itself a sufficient demonstration, very sure and adapter to all the faithful.

Ven. Pope Pius IX, Inter Gravissimas, 1870

· If anyone shall have said that it is possible that to the dogmas declared by the Church a meaning must sometimes be attributed according to the progress of knowledge, different from what the Church has understood and understands: let him be anathema.

Vatican I, Dei Filius

· [Regarding dogma] nothing else is to be believed other than the words; and I hold that this absolute and unchangeable truth, which was preached by the Apostles from the earliest times, is to be understood in no other way than by the words.

Oath Against Modernism

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To Restore and Defend Our Ecclesiastical Traditions of the Latin Rite to the Diocese of Harrisburg

SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Chapel

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BEHOLD THE SAVIOR COMES FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo, Humility of Heart

St. Augustine

We mustn't forget that some of greatest murderers of modern times were Jewish