..... 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.

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

St. John Mary Vianney, Confessor

St. Romanus, Martyr

August 9, 2026

In today’s liturgy the Church teaches us that almighty God gives divine aid to those who ask for it with confidence.

It was owing to his prayer that Ezechias recovered from a mortal disease and that his people were delivered from their enemies, and it was through His prayer on the cross that Jesus rose from the dead (Epistle), and that He raises His people to a new life by Baptism of which the cure of the deaf-mute, due also to our Lord’s prayer (Gospel) was a type.

Since it as by the power of the Holy Ghost that our Lord drove out the evil spirit from the deaf-mute and that priests in Christ’s name expel the devil from the soul of the baptized, we can understand how the eleventh Sunday after Pentecost is connected with the Paschal Mystery, in which we celebrate, after the resurrection of Christ, the descent of the Holy Ghost on the Church, and when catechumens are baptized with water and the Holy Ghost, so that as St. Paul teaches, being buried with Christ they may also rise with Him.

The Kingdom of the ten tribes (Israel) lasted about two hundred years (938-726) and had nineteen kings, almost all of whom did evil in the sight of the Lord.

Then God, to punish them, delivered their country into the hands of their enemies. In 722 B.C., Salmanasar besieged Samaria and led Israel captive into Assyria, their place being taken by heathen who themselves became half converted to Israel’s God. These were called Samaritans, from Samaria itself.

The kingdom of Juda lasted about three hundred and fifty years (938-586), and had twenty kings. Once only was the royal house on the point of extinction, when it was saved by the priests who hid Joas in the temple in the time of Athalia. Many of these kings were wicked, others, like Solomon ended badly, but four of them, namely Josaphat, Joathan, Ezechias, and Josias, were, up to the very end, great servants of God.

In the divine office for this week we read of Ezechias, the thirteenth king of Juda. “He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign: and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem.” It was in the sixteenth year of his reign that faithless Israel was led into captivity. “King Ezechias,” Says Holy Scripture, “trusted in the Lord God of Israel: so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Juda, not any of them that were before him…wherefore the Lord also was with him: and in all things to which he went forth he behaved himself wisely.”

When Sennacherib, king of Assyria, wished to take Jerusalem, Ezechias went up to the temple, and there addressed a prayer to God as pure as any prayer of David or Solomon. Thereupon the prophet, Isias told Ezechias to fear nothing for God would protect his kingdom; and the angel of the Lord struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp, so that Sennacherib, terrified, returned by forced marches to Nineveh, where he perished by the sword. When He had annihilated the kingdom of the impenitent Israel, God granted more than a hundred years more of national survival to repentant Juda.

However, Ezechias fell seriously ill and Isaias told him that he was going to die; whereupon, addressing almighty God, the King said: “I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is pleasing before thee” (Magnificat antiphon). Then Isaias was sent by almighty God to the King with this message: “I have heard thy prayer and I have seen thy tears: and behold I have healed thee. On the third day thou shalt go up to the temple of the Lord.”

As a matter of fact Ezechias was cured and reigned for another fifteen years. This cure of the king, who escaped from the kingdom of death on the third day, is a type of the resurrection of our Lord. For the Epistle today the Church has chosen a passage where St. Paul reminds us that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day,” and that it is by our faith in this doctrine that we shall be saved, like the apostle himself.

For the same reason the Introit is from Psalm 67, in which the same apostle sees a prophecy of the ascension (Ephesians, 4, 8), which is the complement of our Lord’s resurrection, as we say in the Credo: “He ascended into heaven.” The Offertory is from Psalm 29 which is also applied by the Church to our Lord’s ascension, and in which the psalmist actually says: “Thou hast healed me.” In its turn the Gradual, speaks of Him whose flesh has “flourished again.”

It was owing to the prayers which Ezechias poured forth to God, and to the tears which he shed on his deathbed, that he was restored to life. “Ezechias was visited by sickness,” says St. Jerome, “and was told that he was going to die, so that, turning to the Lord, he might ward off His decree. Therefore the king shed many tears” (2^nd Nocturn).

In the same way it was by His prayer “offered with a strong cry and tears” on the cross (Gradual), that Christ obtained His resurrection. Further, as it was due to the prayers of Ezechias, that the people of Juda were delivered from the attacks of Sennacherib, so it was through our Lord’s prayers that the true people of God were delivered, for, in the words of the Easter Preface, He “be dying hath taken away the sins of the world, and be rising again hath restored our life.” Since it is by Baptism that we are buried with Christ and that we rise again with Him to a new life, today’s Gospel is that of the cure of the deaf-mute, which, while reminding us of the cure of Ezechias, puts before our eyes a rite used by the Church herself in Holy Baptism. Jesus puts his fingers into the ears of the deaf-mute to show that it is by the Holy Ghost “the finger of God” that He drives out the evil spirit; He touches the tongue of the man with saliva to show that He is going to loose his tongue that it may utter words of wisdom; and He raises His eyes to heaven and groans to make it clear that it is from God that He expects the cure of the afflicted man, as the answer to His prayer.

“He raised His eyes to heaven” says St. Gregory in effect, “and groaned, not because He thought it necessary to groan, He who Himself gave what He asked, but to teach us to groan to heaven to Him who reigns in heaven, that He may open our ears by the gift of the Holy Ghost, and be saliva from His mouth, that is, by the knowledge of His divine word, may loose our tongue that it may be able to preach the truth” (3^rd Nocturn).

Therefore, speaking by the power of God, our Lord says: “Ephpheta, which is, be thou opened: and immediately the ears of the deaf-mute were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed.” So, in Baptism, the priest, having put a little salt, representing wisdom, into the child’s mouth, in Christ’s name and by the power of the Holy Ghost, commands the unclean spirit to withdraw from the baptized person. Then he takes a little saliva and touches the ears and the nostrils of the child with it. Saying, like our Lord: Ephpheta,” open your heart to the things of faith. And the soul passes shortly after from the death of sin in which it lay buried, and which makes it deaf and dumb in the supernatural world, and rises to a new life.

By restoring to us the divine life, Baptism unites us with our Lord’s resurrection of which the cure of Ezechias was a type. Therefore
all rejoice, in God their helper, and sing aloud to the God of Jacob” (Alleluia) who, “out of the abundance of” His “loving kindness”, is wont to go beyond the hopes and desires of the suppliant, and to pour forth His mercy upon them (Collect), by distributing to us in abundance the fruits of the Holy Ghost (Communion).

INTROIT:

Ps. 67. God in His Holy place; God who maketh men of one mind to dwell in His house: He shall give power and strength to His people.

Ps. Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered; and let them flee from before His face. Glory be, etc.

COLLECT:

Almighty, everlasting God, who, in the abundance of Thy loving kindness, dost exceed both the merits and the desires of those who pray unto Thee, pour down upon us Thy mercy: forgiving us those things which our conscience fears, and granting us those good things which our prayer does not presume to ask. Through our Lord, etc.

Almighty and merciful God, who didst make Saint John Mary to be wonderful in pastoral zeal and unchanging love for prayer and penance, grant, we beseech Thee, that by his example and intercession we may be able to gain the souls of our brethren for Christ, and with them to arrive at the glory of eternity. Through the same, etc.

Grant, we pray, O almighty God, that, at the intercession of blessed Romanus, Thy Martyr, our bodies may be freed from all harm and our minds may be cleansed from evil thoughts. Through our Lord, etc.

EPISTLE: 1 Cor. 15, 1-10.

Brethren, I make known unto you the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures; and that He was seen by Cephas, and after that by the eleven. Then was He seen by more than five hundred brethren at once; of whom many remain until this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the Apostles. And last of all He was seen by me, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace in me hath not been void.

INSTRUCTION

I. St. Paul warns the Corinthians against those who denied the Resurrection of Christ and exhorts them to persevere in the faith which they have received, and to live in accordance with the same. Learn from this to persevere firmly in the one, only saving Catholic faith, which is the same that Paul preached.

II. In this epistle to the Corinthians St. Paul gives us a beautiful example of humility. Because of the sins he had committed before his conversion, he calls himself one born out of due time, the least of the apostles, and not worthy of being called an apostle, although he had labored much in the service of Christ. He ascribes it to God's grace that he was what he was. Thus speaks the truly humble man: he sees in himself nothing but weakness, sin, and evil, and therefore despises himself and is therefore willing to be despised by others. The good which he professes or practices, he ascribes to God, to whom he refers all the honor. Endeavor, too, O Christian soul, to attain such humility. You have far more reason to do so than had St. Paul, because of the sins which you have committed since your baptism, the graces which you have abused, and the inactive, useless life you have led.

ASPIRATION

Banish from me, O most loving Saviour, the spirit of pride, and grant me the necessary grace of humility. Let me realize that of myself I can do nothing, and that all my power to effect any good, comes from Thee alone who alone workest in us to will and to accomplish.

GRADUAL:

Ps. 27. In God hath my heart confided, and I have been helped; and my flesh hath flourished again; and with my will I will give praise to Him. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord: O my God, be not Thou silent; depart not from me.

Alleluia, alleluia. Ps. 80. Rejoice to God our helper; sing aloud to the God of Jacob; take a pleasant psalm with the harp. Alleluia.

GOSPEL: Mark 7, 31-37.

At that time, Jesus going out to the coasts of Tyre, came by Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring to Him one deaf and dumb, and they besought Him that He would lay His hand upon him. And taking him from the multitude apart, He put His fingers into his ears, and spitting, He touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, He groaned and said to him: Ephpheta, that is, Be thou opened: and immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right. And He charged them that they should tell no man: but the more He charged them so much the more a great deal did they publish it; and so much the more did they wonder, saying: He hath done all things well; He hath made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

Whom may we understand by the deaf and dumb man?

Those who desire neither to hear nor to speak of things concerning salvation.

Why did Christ take the deaf and dumb man aside?

To teach us that he who wishes to live piously and be comforted, must avoid the noisy world and dangerous society, and love solitude, for there God speaks to the heart (Osee 2, 14).

Why did Christ forbid them to mention this miracle?

That we might learn to fly from the praise of vain and fickle men.

What do we learn from those who brought the deaf and dumb man to Jesus, and notwithstanding the prohibition, made known the miracle?

That in want and sickness we should kindly assist our neighbor, and not neglect to announce and praise the works of God, for God works His miracles that His goodness and omnipotence may be known and honored.

SUPPLICATION O Lord Jesus, who during Thy life on earth, didst cure the sick and the infirm, open my ears that they may listen to Thy will, and loosen my tongue that I may honor and announce Thy works. Take away from me, O most bountiful Jesus, the desire for human praise, that I may not be led to reveal my good works, and thus lose the reward of my Heavenly Father (Matt. 6, 1).

OFFERTORY:

Ps. 29. I will extol Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast upheld me; and hast not made mine enemies to rejoice over me; O Lord, I have cried to Thee, and Thou hast healed me.

SECRET:

Look down graciously, O Lord, we pray, upon our service, that what we present may be an acceptable offering to Thee, and be an aid in our frailty. Through our Lord, etc.

In memory of Thy saints, we offer Thee, O Lord, a sacrifice of praise, trusting by it to be delivered from evil both now and hereafter. Through our Lord, etc.

Having received our gifts and prayers, O Lord, do Thou cleanse us, we pray, by Thy heavenly mysteries and , in Thy mercy, hear us. Through our Lord, etc.

COMMUNION:

Prov. 3. Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first of all thy fruits: and thy barns shall be filled with abundance, and thy presses shall run over with wine.

POSTCOMMUNION:

We ask, O Lord, that in the reception of Thy sacrament we may experience help both for mind and body, that saved in both we may glory in the fullness of this heavenly remedy. Through our Lord, etc.

Refreshed by heavenly food we humbly beseech Thee, our God, that we may be guarded by the prayers of him in whose memory we have received them. Through our Lord, etc.

We ask, almighty God, that we who have received the food of heaven, may, at the intercession of blessed Romanus, Thy Martyr, be strengthened by it against all adversities. Through our Lord, etc.

He hath done all things well; He hath made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace… Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to Hell because they have no one to make sacrifices and pray for them.

Blessed V rgin Mary to the children at Fatima

PROPER OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 9^th:

Date Day Feast Rank Color F/A Mass Time and Intention

9	Sun	11th Sunday after Pentecost St. John Mary Vianney, C St. Romanus, M	sd	G		Mass 9:00 AM, Confessions 8:00 AM, Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM
10	Mon	St. Lawrence, Martyr	d2cl	R		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
11	Tue	Ss. Tiburtius, M & Susanna, VM *St. Philomena, VM*	sp	R		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
12	Wed	St. Clare, V	d	W		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
13	Thu	Ss. Hippolytus & Cassian, Mm *BVM - Refuge of Sinners* *St. John Berchmans, C*	sp	R		Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
14	Fri	Vigil of the Assumption of the BVM *St. Eusebius, C*		V	A	Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
15	Sat	Assumption of the BVM	d1cl	W		Mass 9:00 AM; Confessions & Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM
16	Sun	St. Joachim, Father of the BVM 12th Sunday after Pentecost Within the Octave *St. Roche, C*	d2cl	G		Mass 9:00 AM, Confessions 8:00 AM, Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM

All our religion is but a false religion, and all our virtues are mere illusions and we ourselves are only hypocrites in the sight of God, if we have not that universal charity for everyone - for the good, and for the bad, for the poor and for the rich, and for all those who do us harm as much as those who do us good.

St. John Mary Vianney

You cannot please both God and the world at the same time. They are utterly opposed to each other in their thoughts, their desires, and their actions.

St. John Mary Vianney

What touches the heart of God, and moves Him to multiply His favours, is not so much the work itself as the spirit that prompts it. “God loveth a cheerful giver.” Noble-hearted, tender, devoted, and self-forgetful, heroic with a heroism born of simplicity no less than of courage, gracious and smiling even on his gridiron: such was Laurence towards God, towards his father Xystus II, towards the lowly; and the same he was towards the powerful and in the very face of death.

Dom Gueranger on St. Lawrence

I offer myself as a sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness. Learn, unhappy man, how great is the power of my God; for your burning coals give me refreshment, but they will be your eternal punishment. I call Thee, O Lord, to witness: when I was accused, I did not deny Thee; when I was questioned, I confessed Thee, O Christ; on the red-hot coals I gave Thee thanks. Yea, I give Thee thanks, O Lord Jesus Christ, for that Thou hast deigned to strengthen me. See, this side is well roasted; turn me on the other and eat. I give Thee thanks, O Lord, that I have merited to enter into Thy dwelling-place. O Christ, only God, O Splendour, O Power of the Father, O Maker of heaven and earth and builder of this city’s walls!, Thou hast placed Rome’s sceptre high over all; Thou hast willed to subject the world to it, in order to unite under one law the nations which differ in manners, customs, language, genius, and sacrifice. Behold the whole human race has submitted to its empire, and all discord and dissensions disappear in its unity. Remember Thy purpose: Thou didst will to bind the immense universe together into one Christian Kingdom. O Christ, for the sake of Thy Romans, make this city Christian; for to it Thou gavest the charge of leading all the rest to sacred unity. All its members in every place are united—a very type of Thy Kingdom; the conquered universe has bowed before it. Oh! may its royal head be bowed in turn I send Thy Gabriel and bid him heal the blindness of the sons of lulus that they may know the true God. I see a prince who is to come an Emperor who is a servant of God. He will not suffer Rome to remain a slave; he will close the temples and fasten them with bolts forever.

Prayer of St. Lawrence, Roman Martyrology

"We must remember that if all the manifestly good men were on one side and all the manifestly bad men were on the other, there would be no danger of anyone, least of all the elect, being deceived by lying wonders. It is the good men, good once, we must hope good still, who are to do the work of Anti-Christ and so sadly to crucify the Lord afresh.... Bear in mind this feature of the last days, that this deceitfulness arises from good men being on the wrong side."

Fr. Frederick Faber quoted by Fr. Denis Fahey, The Mystical Body of Christ in the Modern World

"Unity of Faith..... the first of those bonds which unite man to God."
Agreement and union of minds is the necessary foundation of this perfect concord among men, from which concurrence of wills and similarity of action are the natural results. Wherefore, in His divine wisdom, He ordained in His Church Unity of Faith; a virtue which is the first of those bonds which unite man to God, and whence we receive the name of the faithful...

Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum

They (the modernists) exercise all their ingenuity in an effort to weaken the force and falsify the character of Tradition, so as to rob it of all its weight and authority. But for Catholics nothing will remove the authority of the Second Council of Nicea, where it condemns those `who dare, after the impious fashion of heretics, to deride the ecclesiastical traditions, to invent novelties of some kind.... or endeavor by malice or craft to overthrow any one of the legitimate traditions of the Catholic Church'; nor that of the declaration of the Fourth Council of Constantinople: `We therefore profess to preserve and guard the rules bequeathed to the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, by the Holy and most illustrious Apostles, by the orthodox Councils, both general and local, and by every one of those divine interpreters, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Wherefore the Roman Pontiffs, Pius IV and Pius IX, ordered the insertion in the profession of faith of the following declaration: “I most firmly admit and embrace the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and other observances and constitutions of the Church.”

St. Pius X, Pascendi Dominid Gregis

ON RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES

What are ceremonies?

Religious ceremonies are certain forms and usages, prescribed for divine service, for the increase of devotion, and the edification of our fellow-men; they represent externally and visibly the interior feelings of man.

Why do we make use of ceremonies in our service?

That we may serve God not only inwardly with the soul, but outwardly with the body by external devotion; that we may keep our attention fixed, increase our devotion, and edify others; that by these external things we may be raised to the contemplation of divine, inward things (Trid. Sess. 22).

Are ceremonies founded on Scripture?

They are; for besides those which Christ used, as related in this day's gospel, in regard to the deaf and dumb man, He has also made use of other and different ceremonies: as, when He blessed bread and fishes (Matt. 15, 36); when He spread clay upon the eyes of a blind man (John 9, 6); when He prayed on bended knees (Luke 22, 41); when He fell upon His face to pray (Matt. 26, 39), when He breathed upon His disciples, imparting to them the Holy Ghost (John 20, 22); and finally, when He blessed them with uplifted hands before ascending into heaven (Luke 24, 30). Likewise in the Old Law various ceremonies were prescribed for the Jews, of which indeed in the New Law the greater number have been abolished; others, however, have been retained, and new ones added. If, therefore, the enemies of the Church contend that ceremonies are superfluous, since Christ Himself reproached the Jews for their ceremonial observances, and said: God must be adored in spirit and in truth, we may, without mentioning that Christ Himself made use of certain ceremonies, answer, that He did not find fault with their use, but only with the intention of the Jews. They observed every ceremony most scrupulously, without at the same time entertaining pious sentiments in the heart, and whilst they dared not under any circumstances omit even the least ceremony, they scrupled not to oppress and defraud their neighbor. Therefore Christ says: God must be adored in spirit and in truth, that is, in the innermost heart, and not in external appearances only. Do not, therefore, let the objections, nor the scoffs and sneers of the enemies of our Church confound you, but seek to know the spirit and meaning of each ceremony, and impress them on your heart, and then make use of them to inflame your piety, to glorify God, and to edify your neighbor.

INSTRUCTION CONCERNING THE ABUSE OF THE TONGUE

There is no member of the body more dangerous and pernicious than the tongue. The tongue, says the Apostle St. James, 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, 5-6). The tongue no man can tame: an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father; and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing (ibid. 3, 8-10). There is no country, no city, scarcely a house, in which evil tongues do not cause quarrel and strife, discord and enmity, jealousy and slander, seduction and debauchery. An impious tongue reviles God and His saints, corrupts the divine word, causes heresy and schism, makes one intemperate, unchaste, envious, and malevolent; in a word, it is according to the apostle a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue of the serpent seduced our first parents, and brought misery and death into the world (Gen. 3). The tongue of Judas betrayed Jesus (Matt. 26, 49). And what is the chief cause of war among princes, revolts among nations, if it is not the tongue of ambitious, restless men, who seek their fortune in war and revolution? How many, in fine, have plunged themselves into the greatest misery by means of their unguarded tongue? How can we secure ourselves against this dangerous, domestic enemy? Only by being slow to speak according to the advice of St. James (1, 19), to speak very few, sensible, and well-considered words. In this way we will not offend, but will become perfect (James 3, 2). As this cannot happen without a special grace of God, we must according to the advice of St. Augustine beg divine assistance.

Your divine Providence, O God, takes care of all Your creatures as though they were but one, and it takes care of each one as though all others were contained in it. Oh! If Your Providence were only understood, everyone would forget the things of this world to be united to it.

St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi

Ecumenism of St. Paul

I wonder that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel. Which is not another, only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema.

St. Paul, Apostle, Galatians 1, 6-9

BAPTISMAL GRACE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Presence of God ‑ Grant, O Lord; that the grace of holy Baptism may reach its full development in me.

MEDITATION:

I. The healing of the deaf‑mute, as narrated in today's Gospel (Mk 7: 31‑37), is a figure of baptismal grace. We, too, were once taken before Jesus in a condition similar to that of the poor man in Galilee. We were deaf and dumb in the life of the spirit, and Jesus, in the person of the priest, welcomed us lovingly at the baptismal font. The priest made the same gesture over us and said the same word as did the divine Master in the Gospel: "Ephpheta," "Be thou opened!" From that moment the hearing of our soul was opened to faith and our tongue was loosed to give praise to God. We were enabled to listen to the voice of faith‑ to the exterior voice of the teaching Church and to the interior voice of the Holy Spirit, urging us to do good; from that moment, we could open our lips in prayer: in praise, adoration, and petition. But later the noise of the world deafened and distracted us; likewise, the tumult of our passions deadened our capacity to listen to the voice of God. Then, too, idle conversations about worldly things and great anxiety over various events in our life have left us unable to pray sincerely and earnestly. But Jesus wishes to renew the grace of our Baptism today and to repeat the all‑powerful word "Ephpheta." How greatly we need Him to reopen our ears to His voice and to make us more attentive and sensitive to His call! "In the morning He wakeneth my ear that I may hear Him as a master; I do not resist, I have not gone back," says Isaias (50: 4‑5). This is the grace we must ask of Our Lord today, that we may not only hear His voice, but may follow it, without resistance. The more faithfully we follow it, the more sensitive we shall become to its slightest whisper. At the same time let us ask for the grace of always being ready to give praise to the Lord, to call upon His mercy, to ask His pardon humbly, accusing ourselves of our faults sincerely and with sorrow.

2. Those who were present when Jesus performed this miracle wondered at it, saying, "He hath done all things well; He hath made both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak." Certainly, Jesus has done all things well; He has arranged everything in the best way possible for our sanctification. He has prepared for us all the graces we need, and not only in sufficient measure, but even superabundantly. Unfortunately, however, we do not always cooperate with His grace; many times pride, egoism, and all our other uncontrolled passions turn to evil what God has planned for our good. If we had accepted lovingly and with resignation that difficulty, that trial, or disappointment which God had permitted for the sole purpose of providing us with an opportunity to practice virtue, we should have made great progress; but by giving way to impatience, by protesting and complaining, we rather added to our failures and infidelities. We should cooperate with grace more readily and strive to maintain our soul in an attitude of open docility to all the invitations to virtue which God is continually sending us by means of the different circumstances of life.

Today's Mass, and especially the Epistle (1 Cor 15: 1-10), offers us a splendid model of cooperation with grace. It is St. Paul, the Apostle, who in his humility calls himself "the least of the Apostles," who says most sincerely: "By the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace in me hath not been void." St. Paul realizes that, if he became an Apostle, instead of the persecutor which he had been, it was not because of his own merits, but solely by the grace of God; he attributes nothing to himself, but all to God. At the same time, he is conscious of his personal correspondence, the correspondence which is always the fruit of grace, but which also includes, as an indispensable element, our free adherence to it. Consequently, we must have an attitude of profound humility as the basis of our correspondence to grace; that is, we must clearly realize that whatever good is in us is due only to God. This attitude of humility must be accompanied by a voluntary, continual assent of our will to God's invitations. We cannot give this assent without the help of grace, and yet it depends on us; it is entirely in our hands. Therefore, like St. Paul, we can attribute nothing to our own merits, but should say with him, "By the grace of God, I am what I am.” Our willing adhesion to grace, however, will give us the right to add, "and His grace in me hath not been void." But only steady, faithful, generous adhesion will give us that right.

COLLOQUY:

"Henceforth, O Lord, it is You alone whom I love, follow, seek, and serve; You alone have the right to command, and to You alone do I wish to be subject. Command, I beg You, and demand of me anything You wish; heal and open my ears, that I may hear Your commands; cure and open my eyes, that I may see the signs of Your will; take away my dullness that I may be able to contemplate You, and thus, I hope, accomplish faithfully whatever You ask of me.

"O God and most merciful Father, receive this Your fugitive child. All that I have had in the past has been sufficient for me; I have had enough of being the plaything of vain, deceitful things. Now I am running away from this tyranny; receive me as Your servant, as they received me when I ran away from You to them. I know I need to return to Your house; behold me knocking at the door; open to me; show me how to reach You. I have nothing but my will: I know only one thing‑that I must despise the ephemeral and trivial and seek the immutable and eternal.

"My desire is to return to You, and I ask You for the means to obtain my desire. If You abandon us, we perish, but You do not abandon us; for You are the Sovereign Good, and no one has ever truly sought You and not found You .... O Lord, You know that I have the will but not the power, and I cannot even will what is good without You, nor can I do what I will to do if Your power does not help me; and what I can do, I often do not wish to do, unless You make Your will triumph on earth as in heaven. I implore but one thing of Your sovereign mercy : that You convert me entirely to You and keep me from resisting the grace which leads me to You" (St. Augustine).

“One day St. Columbkill, while on a journey through the country of the Picts, was requested to baptize a child. Unfortunately there was no water in the place. The saint grieved by the thought that the child should die without the grace of Baptism, has recourse to prayer and obtains a supply of water from a neighboring rock.” Whether this fact be true or false, it is, at least, certain that St. Adamnan, who related it, and who was a distinguished member of the Irish Church, considered water as the essential matter of baptism.

Fr. Michael J. O’Farrell, Bishop of Trenton, Life of St. Patrick

CONCERNING NEW OPINION

The underlying principle of these new opinions is that, in order to more easily attract those who differ from her, the Church should shape her teachings more in accord with the spirit of the age and relax some of her ancient severity and make some concessions to new opinions. Many think that these concessions should be made not only in regard to ways of living, but even in regard to doctrines which belong to the deposit of the faith. They contend that it would be opportune, in order to gain those who differ from us, to omit certain points of her teaching which are of lesser importance, and to tone down the meaning which the Church has always attached to them. It does not need many words, beloved son, to prove the falsity of these ideas if the nature and origin of the doctrine which the Church proposes are recalled to mind. The Vatican Council says concerning this point: "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 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 pretense or pretext of a deeper comprehension of them." (Vatican I, Constitutio de Fide Catholica, Chapter iv) Let it be far from anyone's mind to suppress for any reason any doctrine that has been handed down. Such a policy would tend rather to separate Catholics from the Church than to bring in those who differ. There is nothing closer to our heart than to have those who are separated from the fold of Christ return to it, but in no other way than the way pointed out by Christ.

Pope Leo XIII, Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae, January 22, 1899

What about “subsit in”?

“About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter.”

Saint Joan of Arc, as recorded at her trial

“God is the motive for loving the neighbor which proves that the act by which we love God is the same as that by which we love the neighbor. Hence the virtue of charity does not stop at the love of God, but it also includes love of neighbor…. Love of neighbor is not meritorious if the neighbor is not loved because of God.”

St. Thomas Aquinas

They have introduced a new, different Christ, in whom the Antichrist could seek refuge. They do not concede that their fabricated Christ is divine; it is enough that he is a finer being than others… The Christian religion is proclaimed as the most perfect without comparison, the holiest of religions, but pains are taken not to proclaim it as the only true religion. In contrast the proclaimers glory in communion with all the great philosophies and religions in the world… Theirs is a psychological Christ, conceived in the mind of man, born of man’s intelligence. The Christ my faith revealed to me was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. Their Christ came from a lowly plane, from the bowels of humanity. My Christ descended from above, from the heart of the eternal Father. Their Christ is consubstantial to man, mine is consubstantial to God.

St. Hilary of Poitiers

The devil’s worst and most fatal preparation for the coming of Antichrist is the weakening of men’s belief in eternal punishment. Were they the last words I might ever say to you, nothing should I wish to say to you with more emphasis than this, that next to the thought of the Precious Blood, there is no thought in all your faith more precious or more needful for you than the thought of eternal punishment.

Fr. Fredrick Faber, Lenten Sermon, delivered a few months before his death

If I knew for certain that I had to die within a year, I imagine that I should grow more humble from day to day at the thought that each day was bringing me nearer to my death. But who can assure me that I have one year to live ----- I, who am not certain to live to the end of the day?

O my God, true light of my soul, keep alive within me the remembrance of my death. Tell me often with Thine own voice in my heart that I must die, perhaps within a year, perhaps within a month, perhaps within a week; and thus I shall remain humble. In order that the thought of death may not be unfruitful to me, excite within my soul now that knowledge and those feelings which I shall have at that last hour of my life when the blessed taper is placed in my hands "in the day of trial" (Wisd. 3, 18). Make me know now as I shall know then what vanity is, and then how can I ever be arrogant again in the face of that most certain truth? "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity" (Eccles. 1, 2). Job was always humble even in in the days of his prosperity: "My days shall be shortened and only the grave remaineth for me" (Job 27, 1).

Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo, Humility of Heart

The Kingship of Christ Is Not Dependent on the Sin of Adam-

Would the Incarnation Have Occurred Without the Fall?

Perhaps the weightiest argument adduced for the Scotist position (that the Incarnation was not dependent upon the Fall) is the one developed by Suarez: The end cannot be inferior to the means devised for its attainment. This would be the case if the Incarnation merely served the purpose of the Redemption. No sensible hunter would shoot a cannon to bring down a sparrow. Christ is not only the crown of the created universe, He is also the climax of divine glorification. Without Him the universe would be meaningless. He who is highest and most perfect in the order of being, must also be first in the plan of creation, and the fullness of divine glory cannot have been dependent on the accident of the Fall. The Scotist theory recommends itself by its sublimity. It groups angels and men around the God-man as the center of the universe, the highest and final revelation, the beginning and end of all things.

Rev. Msgr. Joseph Pohle, Ph.D, D.D., Soteriology, Dogmatic treatise on the Redemption

A devil's advocate has no case against a martyr. Such a man is certainly a man of virtue. He has stood firm in truth and justice, which is the very essence of virtue. He has held to the good of reason in its proper object, which is truth, and in its proper effects in the appetite of man, that is, justice or sanctity. He is a brave man, for he has stood against the great evil of death in a private war for the divine good of virtue. He is a man of faith, for he has witnessed to that faith even at the cost of his life; and he is a man of charity, for the norm of friendship is sacrifice and he has made the supreme sacrifice. The lukewarm religious who, in an attack of self-pity, sighs resignedly of the "living martyrdom" of religious life is babbling nonsense. Living martyrdom is as hopeless a contradiction as a self-pitying religious. A man must die to be a martyr; death is of the very essence of martyrdom, for martyrdom consists precisely in spurning all corporal goods to testify to the faith. After all, a man might give up his goods, his friends, suffer pain, all as a means to securing his life; or he might sincerely think himself willing to make the supreme sacrifice until he hears the whizz of the headsman's swinging axe. Indeed, a man might actually be willing to make that sacrifice; but the fact is that he has not passed the supreme test until he has actually died. He cannot be a witness because his surrender of all for the truth of the faith is not evident to the world. The virgin who dies in defense of her purity is a martyr; so also is the priest who loses his life by administering the sacraments during a plague. For while it is true that most of the canonized martyrs have died in persecutions of the faith, and so in defense of the faith strictly so called, many others have died for the faith in the sense of the Christian life. It is not merely the refusal to deny the faith in words, but also the refusal to deny it in acts that is the cause of martyrdom. The work of any virtue can be the cause of martyrdom if, as is always the case of a man in the state of grace, the work of that virtue is referred to God by charity.

Fr. Walter Farrell, O.P., S.T.D., S.T.M., A Companion to the Summa

“O My Jesus, it is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary and for the Holy Father, I offer this sacrifice to Thee.”

Prayer of Blessed Virgin Mary taught to St. Jacinta of Fatima

WHY DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES NECESSARILY WORK TO DESTROY THE FAMILY!

In countries which are aristocratically constituted the government never makes a direct appeal to the mass of the governed; as men are united together, it is enough to lead the foremost; the rest will follow. This is applicable to the family as well as to all aristocracies that have a head. Among aristocratic nations social institutions recognize, in truth, no one in the family but the father; children are received by society at his hands; society governs him, he governs them. Thus the parent not only has a natural right but acquires a political right to command them; he is the author and support of his family, but he is also its constituted ruler. In democracies… no such intermediate person is required; a father is there, in the eye of the law, only as a member of a community, older and richer than his sons.

Alexis de Tocqueville, The Influence of Democracy on the Family

We are not so much called to the “imitation of Jesus Christ, as to the “identification” with Jesus Christ

By baptism, conferring sanctifying grace, we Christians were made participators in the divine life of God by being made children of God, for in baptism, we “have been clothed with Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:27) and “We have been grafted on Christ” (1 Cor. 12:27). The doctrine of God’s life within us and our incorporation with Christ is all too frequently forgotten by those whose duty it is to lead others to perfection and by those who are themselves called to perfection. Our incorporation into the Mystical Body is a wondrous thing, for you see, the thirty-three years of Christ’s life on this earth could not satisfy His desire to glorify His Father, nor is He content to love His Father infinitely in heaven, and in our tabernacles. Hence, He deigned to make unto Himself a Mystical Body in which He continues to live, to love, and to glorify His Father. In a word, in order to love the more, Christ has united Himself to new individual natures, to millions of individual persons, so that the complete Christ is Christ united to the faithful who will love in Him and with Him to the end of time. From each of us, Christ asks for another humanity, He asks for the entire possession of our being – our body and soul with all their powers to make them His own and live through them His life of devotion to His beloved Father. According to Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, Christ says to each one of us: “My son, give me your heart that in you and through you, in a life of union, I may love, or rather we may love the Father ardently: give me your mind, your eyes, your hands, your whole being. I wish, in you and by you, to live as it were a second life wholly of love, which will be the complement and continuation of My earthly life at Nazareth and in Palestine.”….. ponder well this thought… In every prayer we say, in every action we perform, in every suffering we endure, in our every act of love, we must come to realize that we are a member of Christ and that Christ wishes still to pray, act, love and suffer in us…. “Put ye on Jesus Christ” (Gal. 3:27). Paul had put on Christ, and did so so thoroughly that he could say: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).

Fr. Charles H. Doyle, Guidance in Spiritual Direction

We let ourselves be overcome by human respect, and cease to show ourselves true followers of Our Lord before the world… We see truth trodden underfoot, and we remain silent. Why? Because we are cowards. Oh, how we need to renew our faith, to rekindle our hearts in the sublime principles of our holy religion.

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini

Confessed and contrite, he ended the course of his life on the same day on which he was born, which was Good Friday, at the age of 37. … In the room where he worked, they placed at his head the painting of the Transfiguration which he had done for Cardinal de’ Medici (at the cathedral of Narbonne), and at the sight of his dead body and of that work, every soul that beheld them … wept for grief. … O happy and blessed soul, for every man is glad to think of you, and celebrate your deeds, and admire every work you left behind. Well might (the art of) Painting, when this noble artist died, die Herself, for when he closed his eyes, she was Herself left blind.

Giorgio Vasari, the first art historian, writing of the death of the great painter, Raphael

THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY AUGUST FIFTEENTH

PRESENCE OF GOD ‑ O most Blessed Virgin Mary, assumed into heaven, I beg you to purify my senses so that I may begin to enjoy God even while I am on earth.

MEDITATION:

I. The Blessed Virgin Mary, whom we contemplate today assumed body and soul into heaven, reminds us very definitely that our, permanent abode is not on earth but in heaven where she, with her divine Son, has preceded us in all the fullness of her human nature. This is the dominant thought in today's liturgy. " O Almighty and everlasting God, who hast taken up body and soul into heavenly glory the immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Thy Son : grant, we beseech Thee, that, ever intent upon heavenly things, we may be worthy to be partakers of her glory (Collect).

The Feast of the Assumption is a strong appeal to us to live " ever intent upon heavenly things; " and not to allow ourselves to be carried away by the vicissitudes and seductions of the world. Not only was our soul created for heaven, but also our body, which, after the resurrection, will be welcomed into our heavenly home and admitted to a participation in the glory of the spirit. Today we contemplate in Mary, our Mother, this total glorification of our humanity. That which has been wholly realized in her, will be realized for us, as well as for all the saints, only at the end of time. This privilege was very fitting for her, the all‑pure, the all‑holy one, whose body was never touched by even the faintest shadow of sin, but was always the temple of the Holy Spirit, and became the immaculate tabernacle of the Son of God. It is a reminder to us to ennoble our whole life, not only that of the spirit, but also that of the senses, elevating it to the heights of the celestial life which awaits us. " 0 Mother of God and of men, " exclaims Pius XII in his beautiful prayer for the Assumption, " we beg you to purify our senses, so that we may begin to enjoy God here on earth and Him alone, in the beauty of creatures. "

2. Mary's Assumption shows us the route we must follow in our spiritual ascent : detachment from the earth, flight toward God, and union with God.

Our Lady was assumed body and soul into heaven because she was Immaculate; she was all‑pure‑free not only from every shadow of sin, but even from the slightest attachment to the things of earth, so that she " never had the form of any creature imprinted in her soul, nor was moved by such, but was invariably guided by the Holy Spirit " (J.C. AS III, 2,10).

The first requirement for attaining God is this total purity, the fruit of total detachment. The Blessed Virgin, who lived her earthly life in absolute detachment from every created thing, teaches us not to allow ourselves to be captivated by the fascination of creatures, but to live among them, occupying ourselves with them with much charity, but without ever letting our heart become attached to them, without ever seeking our satisfaction in them.

In her Assumption Mary speaks to us of flight toward heaven, toward God. It is not enough to purify our heart from sin and all attachment to creatures, we must at the same time direct it toward God, tending toward Him with all our strength. The Church has us pray in today's Mass, " O Lord, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary who was assumed into heaven, may our hearts, enkindled by the fire of Thy love, continually aspire toward Thee " (Secret). Our earthly life has value for eternal life insofar as it is a flight toward God, a continual seeking after Him, a continual adherence to His grace. When this flight fails, the supernatural value of our existence lessens.

Mary has been taken up to heaven because she is the Mother of God. This is the greatest of her privileges, the root of all the others and the reason for them; it speaks to us, in a very special way, of intimate union with God, as the fact of her Assumption speaks to us of the beatific union of heaven. Mary's Assumption thus confirms us in this great and beautiful truth: we are created and called to union with God. Mary herself stretches out her maternal hand to guide us to the attainment of this high ideal. If we keep our eyes fixed on her, we shall advance more easily; she will be our guide, our strength, and our consolation in every trial and difficulty.

COLLOQUY:

" O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God and Mother of men, we believe with all the fervor of our faith in you triumphal Assumption, both body and soul, into heaven where you are acclaimed as Queen by all the choirs of anger and all the legions of the saints. And we unite with them to praise and bless the Lord who has exalted you above other pure creatures, and to offer you the tribute of our devotion and our love.

" We know that your gaze, which on earth watched over the humble and suffering humanity of Jesus, in heaven

filled with the vision of that humanity glorified, and with the vision of uncreated Wisdom; the joy of your soul in the direct contemplation of the adorable Trinity causes you heart to throb with overwhelming tenderness. We, poor sinners, weighed down by a body which hinders the flight of the soul, beg you to purify our hearts, so that while we, remain here below, we may learn to love God and God alone in the beauty of His creatures.

" We trust that your merciful eyes may deign to look down upon our miseries and our sorrows, upon our struggle and our weaknesses; that your countenance may smile upon our joys and our victories; that you may hear the voice

Jesus saying to you of each one of us, as He once said to you of His beloved disciple : ` Behold thy son.' And we, who call upon you as our Mother, take you, like John, as the guide strength, and consolation of our mortal life.

" And from this earth over which we tread as pilgrim comforted by our faith in the future resurrection, we look to you, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. Draw us onward by the gentleness of your voice, so that one day, after our exile, you may show us Jesus, the Blessed Fruit of your womb, O clement. O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary " (Pius XII).

For, as the Vatican Council teaches, "the Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter in such a way that, by his revelation, they might manifest new doctrine, but so that, by his assistance, they might guard as sacred and might faithfully propose the revelation delivered through the apostles, or the deposit of faith." Thus, from the universal agreement of the Church's ordinary teaching authority we have a certain and firm proof, demonstrating that the Blessed Virgin Mary's bodily Assumption into Heaven-----which surely no faculty of the human mind could know by its own natural powers, as far as the heavenly glorification of the virginal body of the loving Mother of God is concerned-----is a truth that has been revealed by God and consequently something that must be firmly and faithfully believed by all children of the Church. For, as the Vatican Council asserts, "all those things are to be believed by Divine and Catholic faith which are contained in the written Word of God or in Tradition, and which are proposed by the Church, either in solemn judgment or in its ordinary and universal teaching office, as Divinely revealed truths which must be believed."

Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, Defining the Dogma of the Assumption

There are three things that render death bitter: attachment to the world, remorse for sins, and the uncertainty of salvation. The death of Mary was entirely free from these causes of bitterness, and was accompanied by three special graces, which rendered it precious and joyful. She dies as she had lived, entirely detached from the things of the world; she died in the most perfect peace; she died in the certainty of eternal glory.

St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori on the Assumption

Nothing to thee is impossible, O thou who canst restore hope to those who have lost all hope. Moreover, it is possible to suppose that thou canst not but be favorably heard, since for all, with all and in all God obeys thee as His tender and Immaculate Mother!

St. Peter Damian

The heart into which Divine Love enters no longer makes any account of all that the world esteems. St. Francis de Sales says that when the house is on fire, all the goods are thrown out of the window; by which he means, that when the heart is inflamed with Divine Love, man, without sermons, or exhortations from his Spiritual director, of himself seeks to divest himself of all worldly goods, honors, riches, and other earthly things, that he may have nothing but God.

St. Alphonsus Liguori

“Confidence is a hope fortified by solid conviction.”

St. Thomas Aquinas

It seems to me that this free will which You have given us is fortified by the light of faith, for in this light it knows Your will, which wishes nothing but our sanctification. Then our will, fortified and nourished by our holy faith, gives life to our actions, which explains why neither good will nor lively faith can exist without works.

St. Catherine of Siena

The Holy Spirit has not been promised to the successors of Peter that, under His revelation, they might make known a new doctrine, but in order that, with His assistance, they sacredly preserve and faithfully set forth the revelation transmitted by the Apostles, that is to say, the deposit of the faith.

Pastor aeternus, Vatican I

With Imprimatur and all the Imprimaturs, I wonder who will believe the teachings of an apparition, when almost the whole Church of God no longer believes in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Or if she does believe, it’s only with the faith of the intellect and not with the faith of the will.”

Melanie Calvat, visionary of La Salette

Catholic DOCTRINE On Religious Liberty

Among the slogans of “politically correct” language there is the term “religious liberty”, which is used incorrectly at times by Catholics as a synonym for freedom for the Church or freedom for Christians. In reality the terms and concepts are different and it is necessary to clarify them. The ambiguity present in the Conciliar declaration Dignitatis humanae (1965) arose from the lack of distinction between the internal forum, which is in the sphere of personal conscience, and the public space, which is in the sphere of the community, or rather the profession and propagation of one’s personal religious convictions.

The Church, with Pope Gregory XVI in Mirari Vos (1836), with Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus and in Quanta Cura (1864), but also with Pope Leo XIII in Immortale Dei (1885) and in Libertas (1888) teaches that:

· 1. No one can be constricted to believe in the private forum, because faith is a personal choice formed in the conscience of man.

· 2. Man has no right to religious freedom in the public space, or rather freedom to profess whatever religion, because only the true and the good have rights and not what is error and is evil.

· 3. Public worship of false religions may be, in cases, tolerated by the civil authorities, with the view of obtaining a greater good or avoiding a greater evil, but, in essence, it may be repressed even by force if necessary. But the right to tolerance is a contradiction, because, as is evident even from the term, whatever is tolerated is never a good thing, rather, it is always a purely bad thing. In the social life of nations, error may be tolerated as a reality, but never allowed as a right. Error “has no right to exist objectively nor to propaganda, nor action” (Pius XII Speech Ci Riesce 1953)

Further, the right of being immune to coercion, or rather the fact that the Church does not impose the Catholic Faith on anyone, but requires the freedom of the act of faith, does not arise from a presumed natural right to religious freedom or a presumed natural right to believe in any religion whatever, but it is founded on the fact that the Catholic Religion, the only true one, must be embraced in complete freedom without any constraints. The liberty of the believer is based on the truth believed and not on the self-determination of the individual. The Catholic and only the Catholic has the natural right to profess and practice his religion and he has it because his religion is the true one. Which means that no other believer apart from the Catholic has the natural right to profess his religion. The verification of this is in the fact that rights do not exist without responsibilities and duties and vice versa. The natural law, summed up in the ten commandments, is expressed in a prescriptive manner, that is, it imposes duties and responsibilities from which rights arise. For example, in the Commandment “Do not kill the innocent” the right of the innocent to life arises. The rejection of abortion is a prescription of natural rights which is separated from religion and whoever conforms to it. And this is the same for the seven Commandments of the Second Table. Comparing the right to religious liberty to the right to life, considering them both as natural rights, is however, nonsense.

The first three commandments of the Decalogue in fact do not refer to all and sundry divinities, but only to the God of the Old and the New Testaments. From the First Commandment, which imposes adoration of the Only True God, arises the right and the duty to profess not any religion but the only true one. This counts for both the individual and the State. The State, like each individual, has the duty to profess the true religion, also because the aims of the State are no different from those of the individual.

The reason the State cannot constrain anyone to believe does not arise from the religious neutrality of the State, but from the fact that adhering to the truth must be completely free. If the individual had the right to preach and profess publically any religion whatever, the State would have the obligation of religious neutrality. This has been repeatedly condemned by the Church.

For this reason we say that man has the right to profess, not any religion, but to profess the only true one. Only if religious liberty is intended as Christian liberty, will it be possible to speak of the right to it.

There are those who sustain that we live actually in a pluralistic and secularized society, that the Catholic States have disappeared and that Europe is a continent that has turned its back on Christianity. Therefore, the real problem is that of Christians persecuted in the world, and not that of a Catholic State. Nobody denies this, but the verification of a reality is not equivalent to the affirmation of a principle. The Catholic must desire a Catholic society and State with all his heart, where Christ reigns, as Pope Pius XI in the encyclical Quas Primas (1925) explains.

The distinction between the “thesis” (the principle) and the “hypothesis” (the concrete situation) is noted. The more that we are obliged to suffer under the hypothesis, the more we have to try to make the thesis known. Hence, we do not renounce the doctrine of the Social Kingship of Christ: let us speak of the rights of Jesus Christ to reign over entire societies as the only solution to modern evils. So, instead of fighting for religious liberty, which is the equalizing of the true religion with the false ones, let us fight in defense of liberty for Christians, today persecuted by Islam in the East and by the dictatorship of relativism in the West.

Roberto de Mattei, Roman Catholic Historian

It is ridiculous and abominable disgrace that… we suffer the traditions we have received from the fathers of ancient times to be infringed at will.

Pope Nicholas I

We could not be redeemed, even by the one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, if He were not also God.

St. Augustine

Now Is the Time of Merit

Venial sins are remitted after this life, even with regard to guilt, in the same way in which they are remitted in this life, namely, by an act of charity towards God, expressing repugnance for the venial sins committed in this life. However, since it is no longer possible to acquire merits in the world beyond, such an act of love, while it removes the impediment of venial guilt, does not deserve absolution or a decrease of punishment.

St. Thomas

“The human race is ruled by two things, namely, Natural Law and long-standing custom.”

Gatian

“It is obvious that when the will of the prince deviates from equity, justice or reason it is not law.” Lucas of Penna

“When you break the big laws, you do not get freedom; you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws.”

G.K. Chesterton

“Opinions opposed to reason inevitably produce actions opposed to nature.”

Louis de Bonald, (1754-1840) French counter-revolutionary, statesman, philosopher

The Antichrist will be seated in the temple, that is, the Church, as if the people of God were formed of a multitude of the impious.

St. Augustine, Commentary on the Seventh Psalm

"Would to God that this had always been done with the proper vigilance and constancy."

Our Predecessor, Gregory XVI, who wrote: A lamentable spectacle is that presented by the aberrations of human reason when it yields to the spirit of novelty, when against the warning of the Apostle it seeks to know beyond what it is meant to know, and when relying too much on itself it thinks it can find the fruit outside the Church wherein truth is found without the slightest shadow of error ( Singulari nos, 7 Kal. Jul. 1834).

But it is pride which exercises an incomparably greater sway over the soul to blind it and plunge it into error, and pride sits in Modernism as in its own house, finding sustenance everywhere in its doctrines and an occasion to flaunt itself in all its aspects. It is pride which fills Modernists with that confidence in themselves and leads them to hold themselves up as the rule for all, pride which puffs them up with that vainglory which allows them to regard themselves as the sole possessors of knowledge, and makes them say, inflated with presumption, We are not as the rest of men, and which, to make them really not as other men, leads them to embrace all kinds of the most absurd novelties; it is pride which rouses in them the spirit of disobedience and causes them to demand a compromise between authority and liberty; it is pride that makes of them the reformers of others, while they forget to reform themselves, and which begets their absolute want of respect for authority, not excepting the supreme authority. No, truly, there is no road which leads so directly and so quickly to Modernism as pride. When a Catholic laymen or a priest forgets that precept of the Christian life which obliges us to renounce ourselves if we would follow Jesus Christ and neglects to tear pride from his heart, ah! but he is a fully ripe subject for the errors of Modernism. Hence, Venerable Brethren, it will be your first duty to thwart such proud men, to employ them only in the lowest and obscurest offices; the higher they try to rise, the lower let them be placed, so that their lowly position may deprive them of the power of causing damage. Sound your young clerics, too, most carefully, by yourselves and by the directors of your seminaries, and when you find the spirit of pride among any of them reject them without compunction from the priesthood. Would to God that this had always been done with the proper vigilance and constancy.

St. Pius X, Pascendi

Paul VI reaffirmed the infallible Catholic teaching that artificial contraception is intrinsically immoral. But before doing that, he open a closed moral question to debate. By that fact alone, he critically undermined that Catholic morality. Francis/Bergoglio did the same with the Catholic dogmas on the sacrament of Marriage. Catholic truth has suffered a terrible corruption simply by calling a known truth into question.

What do the German, Austrian and Swiss bishops propose to the Synod? They propose to “go beyond the morality of interdictions” and to fill up “the distance between the baptized faithful and the official doctrine”, by adapting the pastoral praxis of the Church to the concrete requirements of the Catholics of their dioceses. But most of the German, Austrian and Swiss Catholics, if we consider the answers to the questionnaire, are in fact in a state of schism as far as the moral behavior required of baptized Catholics is concerned. Indeed, whoever lives a stable sexual union outside of marriage, while continuing to receive the sacraments, is not only in a state of sin, but of separation from the traditional praxis of the Church, and therefore in a condition of objective schism, even if it is not declared.

If the German bishops formally denied the validity of the 6th and 9th commandments, they would fall ipso facto into heresy. They do not deny the doctrine, but they propose to modify the pastoral praxis. And they do so in the name of Vatican Council II that confirmed the primacy of the pastoral practice over the doctrine. But if the praxis contradicts the doctrine, if it has an inexorable impact upon it, it will produce an alteration; it will transform it, not dogmatically, from above, but by practice, from below.

That is what Cardinal Kasper proposed in his introductory report for the extraordinary Consistory on the family on February 20. (…) All the cardinals do not share Cardinal Kasper’s ideas. Some criticized him and will continue to do so with apostolic firmness. But these ideas are now a part of the Church’s internal dialectic, that seems to be reduced to a sort of parliament of different opinions.

From this point of view, Kasper has already won his battle. The simple fact that by opening the Consistory of Cardinals, which is the supreme consultant organ of the Church, with his report, and that while speaking in the name of the pope, he was allowed to expose his theory, is an extraordinary victory for his side. Even if his position must remain a minority for the time being, a large mass of Catholics will draw from it a pretext for persisting in a way of living that abandons the Church’s tradition of life, and immerse themselves in the secular world of our times. Opposing this process of secularization implies converting society. Either the Church changes the world or the world changes the Church. Either the Church converts the world or the world secularizes the Church.

Professor Roberto de Mattei, interview June 4, 2014

The apostasy of the city of Rome from the vicar of Christ and its destruction by Antichrist may be thought very new to many Catholics, that I think it well to recite the text of theologians of greatest repute. First Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states as the opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarrez, Bellarmine and Bosius that Rome shall apostatize from the Faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and return to its ancient paganism. Then the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible; hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were from the face of the earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early Church.

Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, The Present Crisis of the Holy See, 1861

Who is Responsible for the Undermining the Catholic Doctrine of Matrimony?

Pope Francis followed the path of Pope Benedict XVI - The reception of Holy Communion by those living in an open state of objective adultery is relegated to the internal forum as a "judgment of conscience"!

In recent years, in various regions, different pastoral solutions in this area have been suggested according to which, to be sure, a general admission of divorced and remarried to Eucharistic communion would not be possible, but the divorced and remarried members of the faithful could approach Holy Communion in specific cases when they consider themselves authorized according to a judgment of conscience to do so. This would be the case, for example, when they had been abandoned completely unjustly (by their first spouse), although they sincerely tried to save the previous marriage, or when they are convinced of the nullity of their previous marriage, although unable to demonstrate it in the external forum or when they have gone through a long period of reflection and penance, or also when for morally valid reasons they cannot satisfy the obligation to separate.

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church Concerning the Reception of Holy Communion by the Divorced and Remarried Members of the Faithful, September 14, 1994

Magnopere curandum est ut id teneamus, quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est; hoc est etenim vere proprieque catholicum. [The greatest vigilance must be taken that we hold that which was believed everywhere, always, and by all, for only this is truly and properly catholic]. [….]

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 have to prefer the ancient beliefs rather than all the false novelties.... When a foulness invades the whole Church..., we must return to the Church of the past.

I have often inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learning how and by what rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of the Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical depravity, and I have always and in almost every instance received an answer to this effect: that whether I or anyone else should wish to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they arise and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic Faith, we must, the Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways: first by the authority of the Divine Law and then, by the Tradition of the Catholic Church.

So what shall the Catholic Christian do if some part of the Church should come to detach itself from the communion, from the Universal Faith? What other side could he take than to prefer to the gangrenous and corrupted member, the body which is whole and healthy? And if some new contagion should seek to poison, not only a little part of the Church, but the whole Church at once, then his greatest care should once again be to adhere to antiquity, which obviously cannot be seduced by any deceitful novelty.

St. Vincent of Lerins

"But that humility of heart practiced by Jesus Christ in every hour of His life on earth is given to all of us as an example which we are compelled to follow, and to this imitation God has united our eternal salvation: 'Unless you be converted and become as a little child'" (Matt. 18, 3).

Fr. Cajetan Mary daBergamo, Humility of Heart

“It is a ridiculous and abominable disgrace that… we suffer the traditions we have received from the fathers of ancient times to be infringed at will.”

Pope Nicholas I

All this applies very well to the Oligarchy that drives the Deep State

A Power without limits is an essentially Anti-Christian Power and it is simultaneously an outrage done the majesty of God and the dignity of man. A Power without limits can never be a ministry or a service, and political Power under the imperatives of Christian civilization can never be anything less. Unlimited Power is also an idolatry lodged within both subject and king: idolatry in the subject because he adores the king; idolatry in the king because he worships himself.

Donoso Cortes, Catholic diplomat and apologist

“The words of Jesus Christ,” says (Bishop Jacques) Bossuet, “reflect something of the divine in their simplicity, in their depth, by a certain gentle authority with which they issue forth. Never has man spoken like this man, because man has never been God, like him. Nor has man had over all spirits that natural authority which pertains to truth, and which speaks to the soul so sweetly and so intimately.” But this Word, absolutely divine - divine by its own character, divine by its effects, always subsisting - whose should it be if not Jesus Christ's? Who should be the inventor of the wisdom of Jesus Christ? At a distance of nearly two thousand years the Word of Jesus Christ remains the only true light of man on himself and on God. It upholds the Catholic world, encompassed by fanatical enemies; it sustains the natural law, infested and crushed by a man philosophy; it upholds human reason, subject to madness and error; it not only preserves and repairs, but it brings forth; it begets both priests and saints; it begets faith, and from the most stony and sterile hearts it wrests admiration and love. Who could have invented this Word?

Louis Veuillot, The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Father Pellegrino Funicelli, who assisted Padre Pio for many years, once confronted the saint on the sin of abortion:

Father Pellegrino Funicelli: Today you denied absolution to a woman because she had voluntarily undergone an abortion. Why have you been so rigorous with this poor unfortunate? (Padre Pio would sometimes refuse to give absolution to a penitent if they showed insufficient contrition; often they would return and he’d give absolution if they were sincere).

Padre Pio: The day that people lose their horror for abortion will be the most terrible day for humanity. Abortion is not only a homicide but also a suicide. Shouldn’t we have the courage to manifest our faith before those who commit two crimes within one act?

Father Pellegrino Funicelli: Suicide?

Padre Pio: The suicide of the human race will be understood by those who will see the earth populated by the elderly and depopulated of children: burnt as a desert.

The "DOGS" and the "SWINE" are Wearing Clerical Collars

“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” Matt 7:6

Let us see now what is the holy thing, what are the dogs, what the pearls, what the swine? The holy thing is all that it were impiety to corrupt; a sin which may be committed by the will, though the thing itself be undone. The pearls are all spiritual things that are to be highly esteemed. Thus though one and the same thing may be called both the holy thing and a pearl, yet it is called holy because it is not to be corrupted; and called a pearl because it is not be contemned.

The dogs are those that assault the truth; the swine we may not unsuitably take for those that despise the truth. Therefore because dogs leap forth to rend in pieces, and what they rend, suffer not to continue whole, He said, “Give not that which is holy to the dogs;” because they strive to the utmost of their power to destroy the truth. The swine though they do not assault by biting as dogs, yet do they defile by trampling upon, and therefore He said, “Cast not your pearls before swine.”

That which is despised is said to be trodden under foot: hence it is said, “Lest perchance they tread them under foot.”

That which follows, “Turn again and rend you,” He means not the pearls themselves, for these they tread under foot, and when they turn again that they may hear something further, then they rend him by whom the pearls on which they had trode had been cast. For you will not easily find what will please him who has despised things got by great toil. Whoever then undertake to teach such, I see not how they shall not be trode upon and rent by those they teach.

We must be careful therefore not to explain ought to him who does not receive it; for men they rather seek that which is hidden than that which is opened. He either attacks from ferocity as a dog, or overlooks from stupidity as swine.

But it does not follow that if the truth be kept hid, falsehood is uttered. The Lord Himself who never spoke falsely, yet sometimes concealed the truth, as in that, “I have yet many things to say unto you, the which ye are not now able to bear” [John 16:12]. But if any is unable to receive these things because of his filthiness, we must first cleanse him as far as lays in our power either by word or deed.

St. Augustine, Serm. in Mont., ii, 20

Abortion and infanticide common pagan practice even among the most civilized before Jesus Christ.

Those Jews believe that souls are immortal. They rejoice in becoming fathers, and do not believe it lawful to take away the life of any of the children which were given to them.

Tacitus, 56-120 AD, Roman senator and historian

“In the evening of life, we shall be judged on love.”

St. John of the Cross

“It is NOT the position of the Roman Catholic Church that a pope is incapable of leading people astray by false teaching as a public doctor…. He may be the supreme appeal judge of Christendom… but that does not make him immune to perpetrating doctrinal howlers. Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, given the piety that has surrounded the figures of the popes since the pontificate of Pius IX, this fact appears to be unknown to many who ought to know better…. (There is now) a danger of possible schism… (but, not as possible as) an immediate danger as the spread of a moral heresy.”

Fr Aidan Nichols, O.P., author of over 40 books of philosophy, theology, apologetics and criticism who has lectured at Oxford and Cambridge and the Angelicum in Rome, speaking at the annual conference in Cuddesdon of an ecumenical society, the Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius, to a largely non-Catholic audience

THE HOLY EUCHARIST CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

St. Thomas teaches that the blood and water that issued forth from the pierced side of the Crucified Jesus represents the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist (ST IIIa q62a5). The Eucharist is caused by and from the Passion of Jesus Christ as is the grace of every sacrament. Without the Sacrificial cause, there is no Eucharistic True Presence.

Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity

The woman saith to him: Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers adored on this mountain, and you say, that at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore. Jesus saith to her: Woman, believe me, that the hour cometh, when you shall neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, adore the Father. You adore that which you know not: we adore that which we know; for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore him. God is a spirit; and they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth.

John 4:19-24

Novus Ordo Doctrine: Moslems and Novus Ordo Catholics Worship the same God!

CCC 841, quoting the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium 16, from Vatican II, declared:

"The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day."

CCC 841 also references Vatican II’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate, 3, that makes the teaching of the Council perhaps even clearer:

"The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even his inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God."

Catholic Church Doctrine: Catholics and Moslems DO NOT worship the same God.

“Now the Samaritans had a false idea of God in two ways. First of all, because they thought He was corporeal, so that they believed that He should be adored in only one definite corporeal place. Further, because they did not believe that He transcended all things, but was equal to certain creatures, they adored along with Him certain idols, as if they were equal to Him. Consequently, they did not know Him, because they did not attain to a true knowledge of Him. So the Lord says, you adore that which you do not know [John 4:22], that is, you do not adore God because you do not know Him, but rather your imagination, by which you apprehend something as God, just as the Gentiles also walk in the foolishness of their mind (Eph 4:17).” St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary On John 4:22

“How then did the Samaritans know not what they worshipped? Because they thought that God was local and partial; so at least they served Him, and so they sent to the Persians, and reported that the God of this place is angry with us [2 Kings 26], in this respect forming no higher opinion of Him than of their idols. Wherefore they continued to serve both Him and devils, joining things which ought not to be joined.” St. John Chrysostom, Homily 33 On The Gospel of John

COMMENT: When Jesus said to the Samaritan Woman, "You adore that which you know not," He is not saying that they adore the One True God that they are ignorant of. He is saying, that in their ignorance they do not know who they are adoring meaning that they are adoring in ignorance a devil, for "all the gods of the gentiles are devils" (Psalm 95:5). Jesus then says, that "true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth..... they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth." To adore in "spirit" means that to adore God you must be baptized and made sons of God for as Jesus said: "Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit" (John 3:5-7). And to adore in "truth" means who must believe what has been revealed by God. Without the true faith it is "impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6). As such, right knowledge of God is essential to true worship. This is the great sin of Modernism and Neo-modernism: They make a right knowledge of God impossible!

“These moderns, forever prattling about culture and civilization, are undermining the Church’s doctrine, laws, and practices. They are not concerned very much about culture and civilization. By using such high-sounding words they think they can conceal the wickedness of their schemes. All of you know their purpose, subterfuges, and methods. On Our part We have denounced and condemned their scheming. They are proposing a universal apostasy even worse than the one that threatened the age of Charles [Borromeo]. It is worse, We say, because it stealthily creeps into the very veins of the Church, hides there, and cunningly pushes erroneous principles to their ultimate conclusions.”

Pope St. Pius X, Editae Saepe, 1910

Public criticism can produce a wonderful transformation – from muddleheaded babble to a clearer profession of Catholic dogma - or is this just the first ‘ignorant provocation’?

Archbishop Muller makes public profession in the True Presence in the Blessed Sacrament and the Perpetual Virginity of Mary

These are not criticisms, they are provocations. And not very intelligent provocations at that. Either they have not read what I have written or they have not understood it. Our Catholic faith is very clear, that at the consecration during Mass a change occurs so that the whole substance of the bread and wine is changed into the whole substance body and blood of Jesus Christ, and that this change is rightly called transubstantiation. And we have refused to accept all the other interpretations, consubstantiation, transignification, transfinalisation and so on…. The virginity of Mary, mother of Jesus, mother of God, (remained a virgin) before, during and after the birth of Christ.

Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller, head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith

“Not criticisms, but provocations. And not very intelligent provocations at that.”

In reality, the body and blood of Christ do not mean the material components of the human person of Jesus during his lifetime or in his transfigured corporality. Here, body and blood mean the presence of Christ in the signs of the medium of bread and wine.

Archbishop Gerhard Müller, Die Messe - Quelle des christlichen Lebens

...not so much concerned (regarding the dogma of the perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary) with specific physiological proprieties in the natural process of birth (such as the birth canal not having been opened, the hymen not being broken, or the absence of birth pangs), but with the healing and saving influence of the grace of the Savior on human nature.

Archbishop Gerhard Müller, Katholische Dogmatik. Für Studium und Praxis der Theologie"

The rise and later 'unpersoning' of St. Philomena

From a forgotten tomb to worldwide veneration, St. Philomena inspired miracles, papal praise, and the devotion of saints – until a 1961 decree, which resulted in her ‘unpersoning’ by John XXIII.

The discovery of St Philomena

On 24 May 1802, workers in the Catacomb of St. Priscilla in Rome uncovered a sealed shelf-tomb that had lain undisturbed for centuries. Three terracotta tiles, painted in enduring red lead, bore the fragmented Latin inscription:

LVMENA | PAX TE | CVM FI

… accompanied by unmistakable Christian symbols: a palm for martyrdom, a lily for virginity, an anchor, and arrows.

Beneath the tiles lay the remains of a young girl, no more than fourteen years old, her skull separated from the rest of the skeleton. A broken glass vessel containing dried blood rested nearby. When the blood fragments were placed in a crystal container, witnesses marvelled as they glittered like diamonds or precious metals — a phenomenon still reported in a 1959 booklet cited by Omlor.

Scholars suggested the tiles had been placed in the wrong order, possibly in haste or by hands unfamiliar with Latin. The correct order was likely:

PAX TE | CVM FI | LVMENA

(“Peace be with thee, Philomena”)

Archaeologists dated the tomb from anywhere before AD 160 to the reign of Diocletian in the early fourth century.

As Omlor notes, the Congregation of Indulgences and Relics had long held that a martyr’s tomb was identified, at least in part, by the presence of an ampulla of blood.

As such, the relics were sealed in a silk-lined case and placed in the Custodia Generale, where they remained for three years. They were categorised as being the relics of St Philomena, virgin (because of the lily) and martyr (because of the palm, and the ampulla).

Spread of devotion and of miracles

In 1805, Canon Francesco di Lucia of Mugnano del Cardinale, near Naples, obtained the relics and brought them to his parish church. Reports of cures began almost immediately — from bodily healings to conversions of hardened sinners.

The cult of Philomena spread swiftly through Italy, Europe, and missionary territories in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Among the marvels recorded was the repeated liquefaction of her blood and the appearance of jewel-like formations within it, attested by the eyewitness testimony of Cardinals Ruffo Scilla and Victor Auguste Dechamps.

The most celebrated intercession came in 1835, when Pauline Marie Jaricot — foundress of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Living Rosary — lay close to death from advanced heart disease.

A long-time devotee of Philomena, she was determined to visit Pope Gregory XVI before travelling to Mugnano. She set out despite her doctors’ certainty she would not survive. As she was too weak to attend the papal audience, and in light of the work she had done as a servant of the Church, the Pope visited her in the convent where she was staying.

Aware of her condition, he asked Jaricot to pray for him in heaven; she replied that, if she returned on foot from Mugnano healed, he should examine Philomena’s cause. “Yes, my child,” he said, “for that would be a miracle of the first class.”

Jaricot reached Mugnano on 8 August. Two days later, she was completely cured – through the intercession of St Philomena.

She returned to Rome without sending news of her cure. With the help of her friend Cardinal Lambruschini, she was admitted to the Papal Audience “incognito,” and knelt for the blessing with her head bowed. Omlor writes:

“When she arose at Gregory's bidding, one can only imagine what must have been his reaction when he saw the beautiful thirty-six-year-old woman, now in the full bloom of perfect health.

“As he marvelled at what he was witnessing, he made her walk back and forth in front of him, and then he exclaimed, ‘Is this indeed our daughter, or is it a vision from the other world?’ In order to guarantee that the miracle would be thoroughly investigated, he commanded her to remain in Rome for a year. (p 10)

Gregory XVI’s Decree

Gregory XVI spent two more years in prayer and consideration before, on 30 January 1837, authorising public ecclesiastical veneration of St Philomena. He hailed her as the “Great Thaumaturga of the nineteenth century” and “Patroness of the Living Rosary,” granting liturgical honours to her feast at Mugnano, later fixed for 11 August.

Omlor argues that this constituted a canonisation. He cites Fr Giuseppe Bonavenia SJ, whom he says was a distinguished archaeologist, historian and theologian, who said that that this decree had “the full weight of a solemn decree.”

Omlor also refers the Catholic Encyclopaedia – which teaches the following, citing an array of its own sources:

“Canonization, generally speaking, is a decree regarding the public ecclesiastical veneration of an individual.”

This, Omlor says, is precisely what Gregory XVI did on 30 January 1837 […..]

“The 1961 St Valentine’s Day Massacre.”

Omlor referred to the concept of “unpersoning” in George Orwell’s novel 1984 – in which the victims of the “Ministry of Truth” declared someone an “unperson” and eradicated all traces of his existence from the world – and applied it to the fate intended for the saint:

“[I]n short, all evidence that he had ever lived was systematically and meticulously destroyed. Posterity would know nothing of him. He was now an unperson. And that is exactly what Satan hoped to do to St Philomena.”

Some sources date this “unpersoning” to St Philomena’ removal from the breviary in 1963. Omlor, however, identifies 14^th February 1961 as the decisive date. On that date, John XXIII issued the following decree, included in the Act Apostolicae Sedis

“Festum autem S. Philumena V. et M. (11 augusti) e quolibet calendario expungatur.”

“On the other hand, the feast of St. Philomena Virgin and Martyr (August 11th) is expunged from every calendar.”

Before this, the decree had eliminated a number of what it called “devotional feasts” (e.g., that of The Crown of Thorns or The Flight into Egypt). But, writes Omlor, St Philomena’s feast is not any kind of “devotional” feast: it is one of a Virgin and Martyr, in the sanctoral cycle, celebrated with the Mass Loquebar. Her feast was found in the Missal section Proprium Sanctorum pro Aliquibus Locis – which did indeed include several devotional feasts. Yet it also included 22 other saints’ feasts – all of which were spared the “expunging” suffered by St Philomena.

S. D. Wright, Article taken from the book written by Patrick Henry Omlor, The ‘Unpersoning’ of Saint Philomena

Remember in your charity:

Remember the welfare of our expectant mother: Nao Miyata,

Drews petition prayers for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the Christian & Irene Melnick family,

Gene Peters asks our prayers for the spiritual welfare of Beverly Wood and Bonnie Cormesser,

Mr. & Mrs. Hall request prayers for the health of their daughter, Erika Smith,

Drews request your prayers for Phyllis Virgil, for her health and spirital welfare,

For Anthony Niekrewicz, spiritual and temporal welfare is the petition of all the members of Ss. Peter & Paul,

Mary Lou Loftus' aunt, Susan Hendricks, who is gravely ill after emergency surgery,

Fred Holder, for his spiritual and physical welfare,

Thomas Soul, a nursing home patient who has suffered a stroke,

Donna Kallal, a dear friend of the Schiltz family who is dying,

Philip Thees requests our prayers for the heath of Mary Glatz and Agnus Messineo,

For the welfare of Aaron, a York resident in need of conversion,

For the spiritual welfare of Margaret Connelly is the petition of Camilla Meiser,

Linda Boyd, for her health,

Pete Schiffbauer, a cousin of Monic Bandlow who is gravely ill,

Joan R. Barr, the widow of F. Donald Barr who died March 7, they were married 70 years

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,

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, the conversion of Dawn Keithley and Nate Schaeffer,

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 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,

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

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

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,

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

Roco Sbardella, for his health and spiritual welfare,

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,

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

The health and welfare of Gene Peters and his sons,

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

Christine Kozin, for her health and spiritual welfare,

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

For the health of Sonya Kolinsky,

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

For the health and spiritual welfare, Meg Bradley, the granddaughter of Rose 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,

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,

The Joseph Cox Family, their 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,

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,

Rende and Mary Mufide, a traditional Catholics from India ask 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,

Jason Green, a father of ten children, 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,

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, and for Fr. Thomas Blute,

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 friend, 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:

Shanon Smuckers, a thirty-three year old mother of three, died July 15,

John Callisanti, a faithful Catholic, died June 23, prayers petitioned by Philip Thees,

Christian Joseph Melnick, died June 19, a 56 year old faithful Catholic and devoted husband and father of nine,

Fr. Radoslav, a relatively young faithful priest who was working with Bishop Stobnicki in Poland,

Leonard Messineo, a long time traditional Catholic, dies May 18,

For Jo Ann Niekrewicz, our dear friend, died March 1, for the blessed repose of her soul is the petition of all the members of Ss. Peter & Paul,

Shirley Rotondo, died February 2-26, and Louisa McBride, died February 27, is the petition of Monica Bandlow,

Katherine Veronica Wedel, the mother of Mary Baer, died February 6,

James Condit, Jr., traditional Catholic activist, died December 27,

Beverly Harmon, died December 16, requested by the Sentmanat family,

Rev. Nicholas DeProspero, a faithful Ruthenian Eastern rite Catholic priest, died December 10,

Monica Bandlow petitions our prayers for her friend, Patricia Messineo, died November 28,

Guy Berthault, died November 23, a great Catholic scientist whose work in sedimentology destrooyed Lyellian geology and the theory of evolution,

Thomas Soul, died November 8 after receiving the last rites of the Church,

Etta Van Der Werken, a dear friend of Barbara Taffe, died 10-21-2025,

Gary Potter, Catholic writer and apologist and great long time defender of Catholic doctrine and tradition, died 9-9-2025,

Elizabeth Gorska, who died September 9, a relative of Lidia Gjec,

Camilia Meiser request our prayers for the souls of Peggy Cummings and Elizabeth Genter,

Thomas A. Nelson, founder of TAN Books and Publishers, died August 16,

Juan D. Gonzalez, our former sacristan, choir director, and dear friend, died July 23,

Sal Messineo, a faithful traditional Catholic, died Augsut 14,

Patricia Askew, a friend of Camilla Meiser, died July 3,

Joseph Kerney, a young man whose family provided the statues of the Sacred Heart, Mary and Joseph in our sanctuary, died May 30,

Louis Richard Ajlouny, the father of Randa Sharpe, died May 15,

Rene Guidicessi, died April 25, an old friend of the Drews,

F. Donald Barr, died March 7 at 94 years of age, co-founder of Robert Francis Religious Goods, in Philadelphia,

Dr. David Allen White, a well known defender of the Catholic faith, died February 11,

Bishop Richard Williamson, a renowned defender of the Catholic faith and most charitable gentleman, died January 29,

Rodolfo Alberto Lacayo, a cousin of Claudia Drew, died January 4,

Genieve Wallace, died Christmas day,

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,

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,

Rev. Fr. Joseph F. Collins, died April 27, 2019 to whom we are indebted for establishing our traditional pre-Bugnini Holy Week in all its beauty,

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,

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.

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 was 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

Advocata_Nostra_Carried by St. Dominic to new convent in Rome.jpg THE OLDEST ICON OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY IN ROME

Eight hundred years ago, a barefoot St. Dominic carried an icon of the Virgin Mary attributed to St. Luke across Rome to entrust the Marian image to a new community of cloistered Dominican nuns, who have safeguarded the icon within the walls of their convent to this day. The icon, Maria Advocata was the oldest and most famous icon in Rome since the 6^th century: she was the only one painted on a gold background, occupied a privileged position in the August processions and more early copies were made of her than of any other Marian icon in Rome. The icon, also known as, “Madonna del Rosario,” can be found today in a small chapel on Rome’s highest hill, in the Church of Santa Maria del Rosario on Monte Mario. As St. Dominic carried the limewood icon on the night of Sunday, February 28, 1221, two cardinals delegated by Pope Honorius III accompanied the founder of the Dominican Order, and 42 nuns, former Benedictines, followed in procession behind on their way to their new Dominican convent. In their 800-year history, this Roman Dominican community of sisters has only moved twice: once in the 16th century and once in the 20th century. The nuns have been based at the Monte Mario convent since 1931. Today there are eight Dominican nuns in the convent, who participate in Sunday Mass from behind a grille to the left of the altar. Next to them, lies their treasured Marian icon, also behind a grille. Visitors can venerate the icon immediately after Mass.

Excommunication decreed for Lefebvrite episcopal ordinations

A document signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, defines the rite celebrated on 1 July as an “act of a schismatic nature,” with an explanatory note providing details of the grave canonical sanction of excommunication.

Vatican News

The bishops of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay—respectively principal consecrator and co-consecrator—and the newly consecrated bishops Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, and Marc Hanappier have incurred “ipso facto” the “latae sententiae” excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See for having carried out “an act of a schismatic nature”: the “episcopal consecration of four presbyters, without pontifical mandate and against the will of the Supreme Pontiff.”

This was stated in a decree released on July 2 and signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and countersigned by the two Secretaries of the same Dicastery.

The decision came twenty-four hours after the solemn ceremony celebrated in Écône, Switzerland, on the morning of July 1, 2026.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s decree establishes that, in the act of carrying out the consecration, both the consecrators and those consecrated incurred the prescribed excommunication.

The painful epilogue was the consequence of the decision taken by the Lefebvrites against the will repeatedly expressed by Pope Leo XIV.

The excommunication newly separates the bishops and priests of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X from the Church of Rome.

As for the lay faithful, those who formally adhere to the Fraternity are to be considered excommunicated.

Further details are contained in an “Explanatory Note,” published by the Dicastery at the same time as the decree of excommunication.

From the time of Saint Paul VI up to the most recent talks, held recently at this Dicastery, the many attempts to bring the members of the movement begun by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre back into full communion with the Catholic Church have proved vain.

This situation has been further aggravated by the recent episcopal consecrations celebrated without pontifical mandate, against the will of the Holy Father, and in open violation of canon law.

Therefore, this Dicastery, in the faithful exercise of the functions entrusted to it, considers it necessary to state that this act constituted the delict of schism, with the canonical consequences for the sacred ministers and lay faithful involved. Indeed, as was already declared in 1988, “such disobedience—which implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy—constitutes a schismatic act” (cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Ecclesia Dei, 3).

In this regard, from now on:

1. The sacred ministers belonging to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X are in schism and must therefore be considered schismatics (cf. Ecclesia Dei, 5 c; Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, Explanatory Note on the excommunication for schism incurred by those adhering to the movement of Bishop Marcel Lefebvre, 24.08.1996, 5-6), and are subject to the excommunication prescribed by law (can. 1364 § 1 CIC).

2. As regards the lay faithful, those who formally adhere to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X are to be considered schismatics and excommunicated under the conditions established in the 1996 Explanatory Note of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts (cf. ibidem, 7), which remains in force and which this Dicastery adopts as its own.

3. Finally, the holy People of God are warned that the sacred ministers of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X administer the sacraments illicitly, and that the sacrament of penance administered by them and marriages assisted by them are invalid.

The Church, as a caring mother, will welcome with sincere affection and lively solicitude all those who wish to return to full communion. The Apostolic Nuncios will arrange the procedures that Ordinaries may use in the various cases.

Finally, all the faithful are urged to remain steadfast in communion with the Roman Pontiff, with the Bishops in communion with him, and with the whole Church (cf. Lumen Gentium, 22; can. 751 CIC), and to refrain from taking part in celebrations and activities promoted by the aforementioned Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X.

COMMENT:

The SSPX has placed itself in an indefensible position by failing to hold dogma as the proximate rule of faith. The SSPX has been compromising with Novus Ordo Church heretics for the past thirty years that culminated in their leadership making the 1989 Profession of Faith where they swore unconditional obedience to the person of the pope to obtain concessions of ordinary jurisdiction. During the entire pontificate of the heretic Francis/Bergoglio, the SSPX followed the conditions established by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by Ratzinger under JPII and said nothing critical regarding the heresies and corruption of Catholic morality under Francis/Bergoglio. That being said, the decree of excommunication under Leo/Prevost is problematic for all Catholic faithful.

The illicit consecration of bishops is not canonically under the canonical section that deals with schism. It is not and never has been an act that is always and every where a necessary sign of schism. Schism necessarily requires the rejection of the universal jurisdiction of the pope as the motive for the act of disobedience. The decree against the SSPX says, “such disobedience—which implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy—constitutes a schismatic act.” Consecrations of bishops may “imply” a rejection of the “Roman primacy” but it does not prove anything! Proof can only be obtained by the open declaration of rejection of the Roman primacy as the motive for the act! Lacking that, a canonical hearing is required to establish a schismatic motive. That never happened. The decree therefore is nothing more than the moral subjective opinion of Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Pope Leo XIV.

There is one and only one act that always and everywhere is necessarily manifests schism, that is, manifest heresy. St. Thomas says that “all heretics are schismatics” and he says that heresy can be manifested by acts as well as by words. We have pictures of Leo/Prevost kneeling before a procession of Pachamama, a pagan deity; pictures of him blessing a block of Nordic ice in the pagan cult of earth worship; pictures of him in common prayer with a variety of heretics, schismatics, Jews, Muslims and pagans; pictures of him in common communion with the lay women who pretends to be the Archbishop of Canterbury. These are without exception signs of heresy and, therefore, schism by Leo/Prevost. That same can be said for his councillor predecessors. This decree of excommunication is nothing more than an administrative declaration that the SSPX is no longer in communion with the Novus Ordo Church.

The question then regards their declaration that “the lay faithful, those who formally adhere to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X are to be considered schismatics and excommunicated” and the bold assertion that ”the sacrament of penance administered by them and marriages assisted by them are invalid”. These are empty assertions because Rome has failed to prove that the SSPX rejects the universal jurisdiction of the pope as their motive for consecrating bishops, and having failed to do this, argumentum a fortiori, they can hardly make the charge against the “lay faithful.” The Novus Ordo cult has inadvertently ruined their case by referring to those who adhere formally to the “schism” as the “lay faithful.” The “faithful” are baptized Catholics who profess the Catholic faith without compromise or qualification of any sort. You cannot be a member of the “faithful” and a heretic and/or schismatic at the same time.

Regarding the validity of the sacraments of marriage and confessions Rome commits a massive blunder. The Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ. He called it “My Church.” He endowed His Church with the divine attributes of Authority, Infallibility and Indefectibility. In His Church, He established the office of the papacy and conferred directly upon His vicar universal jurisdiction. This is the ordinary jurisdiction of the pope and he delegates this jurisdiction to all the bishops throughout the world. The purpose of this jurisdiction is to rule the Church of Jesus Christ for the salvation of souls. Any attempt to exercise ordinary jurisdiction for the ruin of souls is impossible. It is entirely illegitimate and invalid. On the contrary, it can be now said without doubt that any Catholic in name who adheres "formally" to the Novus Ordo cult cannot obtain salvation because the Novus Ordo cult formally adheres to heresy and schism. By their fruits they are known.

Jesus Christ provides for the needs of His faithful with “supplied jurisdiction.” The pope, in his ordinary jurisdiction, has no authority over the supplied jurisdiction that Jesus Christ provides directly to His Church for the care of His faithful. For example, if God’s providence permits a faithful Catholic to be fatally injured in an accident, and a priest with no ordinary jurisdiction in God's providence happen by, that priest can licitly and validly hear the victim’s confession and administer the sacrament of Extreme Unction because of the need of that faithful Catholic. Leo/Prevost is claiming that his ordinary jurisdiction permits him to make God’s supplied jurisdiction illegal and invalid. Catholics possess the divine right to sacraments of the Church administered according to the “received and approved” rites of the Church. When the ordinary jurisdiction provides only corrupted worship by heretics and schismatics, the faithful are free to request these sacraments from others, and it is God who provides the supplied jurisdiction. Leo/Prevost believes that he can overturn God’s law. Regarding marriage, it is a sacrament conferred by a man and a woman exchanging their vows publically to marry according to the laws of the Catholic Church. The Church requires that the parish priest of the woman exercising ordinary jurisdiction must be a witness to the sacrament for its validity. However, the Church has always held that if the priest holding ordinary jurisdiction cannot be had for a period greater than thirty days, the couple can validly and licitly proceed with their marriage without that priest being a witness to the sacrament. The only requirement for a valid and licit marriage is for the bride to notify her parish priest of her intent to marry and request that he be a witness to the event for canonical regularity. If he refuses, the couple is free to proceed on their own to seek another priest who does not exercise ordinary jurisdiction to bless their marriage.

"Not a stone upon a stone" - 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 Catholic church known as the Church of the Judgment (destroyed by the Persians) 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".

“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

PREVIOUS BULLETIN POSTING WORTH REMEMBERING:

Can Theology Be Measured? Groundbreaking Study Measures a 270-Year Shift in Catholic Teaching

Wim Varnaes | July 22, 2026

It’s a well-known mantra that Modernists manipulate language to subtly alter our beliefs… but this researcher used computer analysis to prove it. By analyzing the frequency of thousands of theological words across thirty papal encyclicals spanning nearly three centuries, Mr. Vanraes discovered measurable data patterns showing that traditional Catholic concepts like sin, grace, salvation, doctrine, obedience, truth, heaven, and judgment steadily declined, while words emphasizing encounter, dialogue, social concerns, poverty, inclusion, and pastoral language steadily increased. This is one of the first empirical, data-driven demonstrations of a theological transformation many Catholics have argued about for decades.

The Statistical Case for the Crisis in the Church

'When tenderness is detached from the source of tenderness, its logical outcome is terror.'

FLANNERY O’CONNOR wrote that in 1961. Robert Morrison’s May 1, 2026 article, Terror of Tenderness Detached from the Faith,

recovered her warning for the current moment, and the recovery is timely. When truth and tenderness, both good in themselves, are separated, each becomes something it was never meant to be. The Group 9 May 5 Final Report from the Synod on Synodality offers a perfect example of how language shapes new ideas. Those new ideas are not necessarily Catholic ones, but substituting the traditional ideas for new ones under the guise of the old, familiar Catholic words.

Both O’Connor and Morrison diagnosed what happened, but one of the questions that remain is about ‘how’. The corpus data I assembled confirms the diagnosis empirically, and opens a window to see how the new ideas traveled all the way to the top of the Church, often through the words of people who would never consciously reject the faith.

This article would not be the first to name formation networks as the vehicle of such new ideas. One could point at Liberation theology, how Libertatis Nuntius offered a stern warning, which was ignored by its proponents such as Father Gustavo Gutiérrez, who went on to teach theology at the University of Notre Dame. They, side by side with the many materialist professors in Western universities, shaped the next generation of priests, religious and lay people, especially those interested in activist or mission work. As these driven people ventured out and reached positions of authority in the Church, parishes, NGOs, charities, schools, and so on, whole new generations were educated with a specific worldview.

Some went on to lead groups such as Pax Christi, others, such as Cardinal Turkson, became head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and others still, such as Fr. John Dear, became peace activists. When Cardinal Turkson held the 2016 peace conference at the Vatican, people from Pax Christi and John Dear spoke, rejecting not just war by itself, but the whole Just War doctrine. Their final statement became the foundation for Pope Francis’ 2017 Peace Message, including, as John Dear gloated, “our main points, even some of our exact language.” And suddenly non-Catholic ideas made it to papal statements, now cited as foundational, and the cycle is complete.

This does not require any conspiracy to make that happen, just the slow change in schools, then in organizations, which then seeps into the Church as highly respectable activists, missionaries, and aid workers.

I mentioned a corpus data analysis at the opening of this article. Looking at 30 encyclicals, from 6 historical periods (from 1750 to Francis), using 11 thematic word clusters and normalized word frequency, it shows how the vocabulary used by the Church changed over time, supporting the claim that a materialist anthropology quietly entered, substituting the traditional Catholic moral and theological discourse.

This was a preliminary study, using normalized word counts of a selection of teaching documents, and not a full semantic analysis over all available documents. The results were surprising in their detail.

Three of those findings bear on the present moment. First, we can see a soteriological collapse, where words such as sin, grace, and salvation are, under Francis, at their lowest point in 270 years, lower even than pre-1850. Instead of talking about what humans are to be saved from, how such salvation is received, there is a shift towards more structural economic words, such as poverty and economy, at the cost of words such as property, labor and capital. [.....]

Next, it is very interesting to see what happens to words such as love and hope. Love rises continuously, peaks under Benedict, and remains elevated under Francis, but the problem lies elsewhere: truth declines. In a move that mirrors O’Connor’s stark words on tenderness uncoupled from Christ and truth, Caritas in Veritate warned of charity without truth becoming sentimentality. The data, making O’Connor’s diagnosis measurable, shows this is happening in the period after Benedict XVI.

At the same time, under Francis the ‘transcendence’ cluster, with the words hope, eternal, kingdom, heaven, resurrection, and hell, scores the very lowest. Hope reaches the second lowest level, while all other words almost disappear. Love without truth is as dangerous as a hope without an eternal focus.

Lastly, we can see a boundary collapse in the word frequencies. Even before Vatican II we see terms such as error, heresy, condemnation, and judgment decline strongly after 1850, matching the current state where a final report from the Synod on Synodality openly signals that it replaced ‘controversial issues’ with ‘emerging issues.’ The vocabulary substitution is no longer beneath the surface; it is being proposed as method.

At the same time, the use of the word Church declines to its lowest level, while words such as authority, doctrine, and obedience collapse completely. Now ‘Church’ stands alone, stripped of its authority-defining companions, becoming more of a community than a teaching office. [.....]

This is important, and it maps cleanly on the situation modern thinking has created. Very quietly, the nominalist ideas underpinning a lot of enlightenment ideas, later growing into Marxism and Modernism, trained many people, even good Catholics, that every sign only held one and only one signified. Such an innocent looking poison of the mind! This is the root of the problem where people think in ‘either/or’, and can no longer hold multiple realities, at different levels, at the same time, in the very traditional Catholic ‘both/and.’

Where Catholic teaching gave rise to both Fr. Ryan, looking at the immediate needs of the poor, and also to Cardinal O’Connell, looking at the wider picture, long term, the either/or framework demands to pick one: Ryan OR O’Connell. Love OR truth. Mercy OR justice. Mystery OR scientific fact. Nature OR grace.

Notice also how O’Connor’s “tenderness detached from the source of tenderness” is indeed the love-only failure mode, but the inverse holds the truth-only failure mode, or ‘being right alone is not enough, as without love…’. [.....]

The final reports from the Synod on Synodality show something different, however. They worry about tenderness, dialogue, encounter, (social and environmental) justice, but are averse of the harsh language of sin, conversion, doctrine, obedience, and sacrifice. Not in continuity with tradition, but hiding behind the words of tradition, smuggling in a philosophical framework that is not compatible with the faith. [.....]

COMMENT: The corruption of language is the stock and trade of the enemies of the Catholic faith. Semanticists is a philosophical system, that along with Empiricism, developed with the failure of philosophical Rationalism. Semanticists, like all Nominalists who deny the existence of essential reality, said that the material world is always changing therefore words and language must necessarily change or they will no longer reflect the world as it is. They held that since the world is irrational, therefore, the mind must be irrational as well. They began by openly denying the first principles of the Understanding; that innate sense in all men that a thing is what it is, that it cannot be and not be at the same time, that things require a sufficient cause, sufficient reason, etc., etc. They openly denied the principle of non-contradiction. They eventually denied the intentionality of all language becoming known as Deconstructionalists. The immediate effect of this was the realization that if language must change to reflect new realities then new realities can be created by changing the language. George Orwell's 1984 dystopian novel told the story of a world run by Semanticists. With the developments of "automated intelligence" (AI), the ability to create a false reality has been greatly enhanced and will lead to all those who are not grounded in Catholic dogma to be swept away. The Neo-modernist heretics that have had complete control of the Church since Vatican II are Semanticists. This article is a beginning in recognizing this fact. Once the techniques of semantics are recognized by faithful Catholics, and the absolute corruption of Nominalism is understood, the Neo-modernist methodology of attacking the Catholic faith and destroying her dogmas will be completely exposed.

On the Inerrancy of Sacred Scripture

Vatican preparatory document for the October Synod of Bishops (2008) Teaches:

In summary, the following can be said with certainty … — with regards to what might be inspired in the many parts of Sacred Scripture, inerrancy applies only to ‘that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation’.

Instrumentum laboris, The Word of God in the Life and the Mission of the Church, article 15, a “working document” for the upcoming October Synod of Bishops; released from the Vatican June 12^th; emphasis added.

The Catholic Church Teaches:

The Old and New Testaments, “whole and with all their parts … [have] been written by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost [and] have God as their author.” Vatican I

For all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical, are written wholly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the Holy Ghost; and so far is it from being possible that any error can co-exist with inspiration, that inspiration not only is essentially incompatible with error, but excludes and rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it is impossible that God Himself, the supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true. This is the ancient and unchanging faith of the Church, solemnly defined in the Councils of Florence and of Trent, and finally confirmed and more expressly formulated by the Council of the Vatican. These are the words of the last: ‘The Books of the Old and New Testament, whole and entire, with all their parts, as enumerated in the decree of the same Council (Trent) and in the ancient Latin Vulgate, are to be received as sacred and canonical. And the Church holds them as sacred and canonical, not because, having been composed by human industry, they were afterwards approved by her authority; nor only because they contain revelation without error; but because, having been written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author.’ Hence, because the Holy Ghost employed men as His instruments, we cannot therefore say that it was these inspired instruments who, perchance, have fallen into error…

Pope Leo XIII, Providentissimus Deus

Divine inspiration does not extend to all of Sacred Scripture so that it renders its parts, each and every one free from every error.

Pope Saint Pius X’s Syllabus of Errors against the Modernists, condemned proposition

It is absolutely forbidden to pretend that the sacred writer himself has fallen into error, since Divine inspiration not only excludes any and all possible error in itself, but even loathes and excludes it, since God, Who is sovereign truth, cannot be the author of any possible error…. This doctrine which was so forcefully explained by our predecessor Leo XIII, We also propose with our pontifical authority, and We insist that it be held rigorously by all. Pope Pius XII, Divini Afflante Spiritu

Some boldly pervert the meaning of the definition of the Vatican Council, with respect to God as the author of Sacred Scripture and they revive the opinion, many times condemned, according to which the immunity of the Sacred Writings from error extends only to those matters which are handed down regarding God and moral and religious subjects.

Pius XII, Humani Generis

Lapide on Luke 23:32 - An Important Distinction

“But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” “For thee”, because I destine thee to be the head and chief of the Apostles and of My Church, that thy faith fail not in believing Me to be the Christ and the Saviour of the world. Observe that Christ in this prayer asked and obtained for Peter two especial privileges before the other Apostles : the first was personal, that he should never fall from faith in Christ; for Christ looked back to the sifting in the former verse, that is the temptation of His own apprehension when the other Apostles flew off from Him like chaff and lost their faith, and were dispersed, and fled into all parts. But Peter, although he denied Christ with his lips, at the hour foretold, and lost his love for Him, yet retained his faith. So S. Chrysostom (Horn, xxxviii.) on S. Matthew; S. Augustine (de corrept. et Grat. chap, viii.); Theophylact and others. This is possible but not certain, for F. Lucas and others think that Peter then lost both his faith and his love, from excessive perturbation and fear; but only for a short time, and so that his faith afterwards sprang up anew, and was restored with fresh vitality. Hence it is thought not to have wholly failed, or to have been torn up by the roots, but rather to have been shaken and dead for a time.

Another and a certain privilege was common to Peter with all his successors, that he and all the other bishops of Rome (for Peter, as Christ willed, founded and confirmed the Pontifical Church at Rome), should never openly fall from this faith, so as to teach the Church heresy, or any error contrary to the faith. So S. Leo (semi.xxii.), on Natalis of SS. Peter and Paul; S. Cyprian (Lib. i. ep. 3), to Cornelius; Lucius I., Felix I., Agatho, Nicolas I., Leo IX.,Innocent III., Bernard and others, whom Bellarmine cites and follows (Lib. i. de Poniif. Roman).

For it was necessary that Christ, by His most wise providence, should provide for His Church, which is ever being sifted and tempted by the devil, and that not only in the time of Peter, but at all times henceforth, even to the end of the world, an oracle of the true faith which she might consult in every doubt, and by which she might be taught and confirmed in the faith, otherwise the Church might err in faith, quod absit! For she is, as S. Paul said to Timothy, “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. lii. 15). This oracle of the Church then is Peter, and all successive bishops of Rome. This promise made to Peter and his successors, most especially applies to the time when Peter, as the successor of Christ, began to be the head of the Church, that is, after the death of Christ.

And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. “From the sifting of Satan, that is from his temptation and from the sin by which thou wilt deny Me; for by this thou wilt be turned aside from Me, and My grace and love.” So Euthymius, Theophylact, Jansen, F. Lucas, and others.

Cornelius a Lapide, The Great Commentary, Luke 22, 32

COMMENT ON THE RECENT CONSECRATION OF BISHOPS BY THE SSPX:

The recent consecration of bishops by the SSPX and their “excommunication” by Rome is damaging to the traditional cause and the defense of the Catholic faith. It is also damaging to the Church and its rule of law.

Rome has manipulated the SSPX into a trap that was explained to them more than fifteen years ago. Rome embraced the heresy of Neo-modernism before Vatican II and the purpose of Vatican II was to infect this heresy into the life blood of the Church. The heresy severs the form and matter of Dogma professing that the form is a divine truth revealed by God but the matter, that is, the words, are a human approximation of that divine truth that must progressively evolve and be purified of human accretions, distortions and historical contingencies to arrive at a more perfect expression of the divine truth. It is a claim that we know the faith better than our fathers and our children will know the faith better than us. Thus Dogma, which never reaches its term, no longer is the proximate rule of faith. It is replaced by the pope who guides the dogma into a progressively more perfect expression.

Once the pope becomes the proximate rule of faith the infallible Magisterium of the Church is replaced by the personal fallible magisterium of the pope grounded upon his grace of state, and then whatever the pope says or does becomes what every faithful Catholic is expected to say or do. This corruption was taught in the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium which established the new ecclesiology. The term “authentic magisterium” was introduced into a Church document where the faithful are called upon to submit unconditionally their mind and will, or as Lumen Gentium says, “religious submission of will and mind…. religious assent of soul,” to the “authentic magisterium” of the pope. The Congregation for the doctrine of the faith under Ratzinger declared that this “obedience” reflected the correct sensus fidei for all Catholics. The proposition of unconditional obedience to the “authentic magisterium” was made an addendum to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in 1989 Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity where every other proposition in the creed is a dogma. They thus, by association, elevated a non-dogmatic proposition into the level of a Catholic dogma! They then made the 1989 Profession of faith the one and only necessary requirement to be reconciled with the Novus Ordo Church. This was followed by creating a canon law that makes any disobedience to the “authentic magisterium” a canonical crime with an unspecified penalty.

Fr. Joseph Fenton, the editor of the American Ecclesiastical Review and a peritas at Vatican II, wrote an excellent article, Infallilillity in the Encyclicals, AER, 1953, in which he addressed the term, “authentic magisterium.” Fr. Fenton provides the definition of the term and attributes its origin to the respected theologian Fr. Joachim Salaverri of the Jesuit faculty of theology in the Pontifical Institute of Comillas in Spain. The “authentic magisterium” is more properly translated into English as the “authorized magisterium.” Either way, the term refers only to the person of the pope and whatever he does personally. Thus anything the pope does is an act of his authentic magisterium. Pope Leo can employ his “authentic (authorized) magisterium” to define a Catholic doctrine as a dogma of faith by engaging the Magisterium of the Church in an Extra-ordinary manner as Pope Pius XII did with the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or he can employ his “authentic (authorized) magisterium” to arrange the seating assignments at a papal dinner. What he cannot do is demand unconditional, unqualified obedience to his “authentic (authorized) magisterium” in and of itself. To make an oath of unconditional obedience to a man is idolatry. Unconditional obedience can only be given to God and God alone.

Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who had his own problems with Neo-modernism, recognized that the insertion of the addendum of unconditional obedience to the “authentic magisterium” in a Catholic creed was idolatry. He rejected it calling it a "dangerous formulation" and "sheer trickery." He said, “They (Modernist Rome) are no doubt going to have these texts (1989 Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity) signed by the seminarians of the Fraternity of St. Peter before their ordination and by the priests of the Fraternity, who will then find themselves in the obligation of making an official act of joining the Conciliar Church."

Rome imposes the 1989 Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity on any cleric or any lay person as a condition for exercising any office in the Church. The SSPX leadership stupidly accepted this demand and swore, certainly by 2015, unconditional obedience to the “authentic magisterium” of the pope. They also followed the declaration of the Congregation for the doctrine of the Faith, when it was headed by Cardinal Ratzinger, that forbade any public criticism of the pope. Even before 2015 and during the entire pontificate of Pope Francis, the SSPX said nothing to defend the faith and Catholic worship. They were content to have a seat at the Novus Ordo circus. They even declared after the death of Bishop Williamson in January of 2025 that he had sinned grievously by consecrating bishops because there no longer existed a state of necessity! Then only 15 months after the death of Bishop Williamson, they discovered that a state of necessity exists. The only “state of necessity” was that SSPX itself wanted a bishop. That, in itself, is insufficient grounds to consecrate bishops and by proceeding with the consecrations, they have made all traditional Catholics look like mindless ideologues. They muddied the defense of the Catholic faith by their oath of unconditional obedience to the “authentic magisterium” of the pope and then publically disobeyed him on insufficient doctrinal or moral grounds. They have associated every faithful traditional Catholic in their worthless scheming.

The SSPX sooner or later must recognize that Dogma is the proximate rule of faith and that Neo-modernism is a heresy that they are standing so close to they cannot recognize. Dogma is infallible both in the truth it proposes and in the words used to express that truth. That is, both the form and the matter of Dogma, which constitute one substantial being, are the infallible work of God, or as St. Pius X said, “A truth fallen from heaven.” Once that is done, they will be able to say unequivocally that Vatican II, a pastoral council that treated Catholic doctrine with grossly imprecise terminology and taught heresy because heresy IS the denial of the literal meaning of Dogma. They will recognize that the one and only act that is invariably associated with schism is manifest heresy! Pope Francis was and, his protégé, Pope Leo is schismatic because they are heretics. No Catholic can make an act of unconditional obedience to the “authentic (authorized) magisterium” of any pope because that is idolatry, but to make it to a manifest heretic is a double crime. No one can be excommunicated by canon law ipso facto in the external forum without canonical due process simply because the pope says so in his personal “authentic (authorized) magisterium.” This is not the first time but just the most egregious example of the extension of the “obedience” claimed by the “authentic magisterium” to corrupt canon law in the Church. The entire purpose of the corruption of canon law and due process is to impose the Neo-modernist will by the appearance of legal formality. It in the end is perfectly Pharisaical.

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

The Providence of God is unfailing!

“If you wish to be a Catholic, do not venture to believe, to say, or to teach that they whom the Lord has predestinated for baptism can be snatched away from his predestination, or die before that has been accomplished in them which the Almighty has predestined. There is in such a dogma more power than I can tell assigned to chances in opposition to the power of God, by the occurrence of which casualties that which He has predestinated is not permitted to come to pass. It is hardly necessary to spend time or earnest words in cautioning the man who takes up with this error against the absolute vortex of confusion into which it will absorb him, when I shall sufficiently meet the case if I briefly warn the prudent man who is ready to receive correction against the threatening mischief.”

St. Augustine, On the Soul and Its Origin, 3, 13

Leo XIV Reinstated Convicted Child-Porn Priest who was protected by Francis

Capella_Msgr.Carlo_Alberto.jpg Carlo Alberto Capella was Vatican diplomat who was convicted by a Vatican tribunal of possessing and sharing child pornography. Capella admitted guilt to the charges. He is the only one who has served a prison sentence in the Vatican jail for this crime or for any sexually related crime against minors.

Monsignor Capella was ordained a priest in 1993 for the Archdiocese of Milan. After studies of canon law he entered the Vatican diplomatic corps. He was assigned to the papal nunciature in India in 2003 and to the nunciature in Hong Kong in 2007. In 2008 he was created Chaplain of His Holiness, which entitled him to the title of Monsignor. In 2011 he was transferred to the Vatican to serve in the Secretariat of State. In 2016 he was assigned to the papal nunciature to the United States.

In 2017, Capella was recalled to the Vatican by Pope Francis after United States officials informed the Vatican that he was under investigation for possession and sharing of child pornography. The government of Canada has issued a warrant for his arrest, alleging that during his time in Canada in December, 2016 he had possessed and shared child pornography. He was returned to the Vatican which claimed diplomatic immunity for Capella protecting him from prosecution in the United State or Canada.

In 2018, he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, which he served in the Vatican jail. As of 2021, he was allowed out during the day to work in an office that sells papal blessings. In 2023, following the end of his prison sentence, Capella was permitted to return to work in the Vatican Secretariat of State. Now Pope Leo XIV has reinstated Msgr. Capella to a senior diplomatic position in the Vatican Secretariat of State.

COMMENT: Pope Leo is protégé of Francis to whom he own s his promotions to bishop and cardinal. It was Francis who protected this pervert from criminal charges in the United States and in Canada and now it is Francis' protégé who has restored him the a high level position in the Vatican. This does not portend well for any serious reform of the Novus Ordo Church which has become a sinecure for homosexuals and others perverts.

As time goes by, there are fewer and fewer Novus Ordo Catholics every year!

St. John himself, the Apostle of love, who seems in his Gospel to have revealed the secrets of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and who never ceased to impress upon the memory of his disciples the new commandment “to love one another,” nevertheless strictly forbade any intercourse with those who professed a mutilated and corrupt form of Christ’s teaching: “If any man come to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house, nor say to him, God speed you” (II John 1:10). Therefore, since the foundation of charity is faith pure and inviolate, it is chiefly by the bond of one faith that the disciples of Christ are to be united. A federation of Christians is inconceivable in which each member retains his own opinions and private judgment in matters of faith, even though they differ from opinions of all the rest. How can men with opposite convictions belong to one and the same federation of the faithful: those who accept sacred Tradition as a source of revelation and those who reject it; those who recognize as divinely constituted the hierarchy of bishops, priests and ministers in the Church, and those who regard it as gradually introduced to suit the conditions of the time; those who adore Christ really present in the Most Holy Eucharist through that wonderful conversion of the bread and wine, Transubstantiation, and those who assert that the body of Christ is there only by faith or by the signification and virtue of the Sacrament; those who in the Eucharist recognize both Sacrament and Sacrifice, and those who say that it is nothing more than the memorial of the Lord’s Supper; those who think it right and useful to pray to the Saints reigning with Christ, especially to Mary the Mother of God, and to venerate their images, and those who refuse such veneration as derogatory to the honor due Jesus Christ, “the one mediator of God and men” (I Tim 2:5).

Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos

Unless the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it.

Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it. Ps. 126

From Tradition In Action:

You don't have to be a liturgical EXPERT to see that there is no essential difference in the act!

The question is: Is there any essential difference in the actors?

Top: St. Patrick Catholic Church, Chatham, New Jersey (44:43 mark on their August 22, 2021

Bottom: First Lutheran Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (49:30 mark on their July 6 2025

Jewish morality is openly demonstrated in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon with the wonton killing of thousands of men, women and children. Over 95% of Jewish religious and political leaders support abortion and same-sex 'marriage'. AI is intended to enforce Jewish morality.

Yuval Harari at Davos: ‘AI is not just another tool…It has the ability to lie and manipulate’ and will take over all world religions

by Leo Hohmann 1-20-2026

Israeli historian and philosopher Yuval Harari spoke January 20th at the World Economic Forum 2026 conference in Davos and hit on crucial themes about the future of artificial intelligence and humanity.
If Klaus Schwab and Larry Fink represent the legal and geostrategic views of the Davos crowd, Harari represents its spiritual soul. And a dark soul it is, devoid of anything truly from the heart of God.
He seems to describe a mass psychological control grid getting ready to clamp down on humanity.
Harari stated in his WEF speech that:
The most important thing to know about AI is that it is not just another tool. It is an agent. It can learn and change by itself and make decisions by itself. A knife is a tool. You can use a knife to cut salad or to murder someone, but it is your decision what to do with the knife. AI is a knife that can decide by itself whether to cut salad or to commit murder.

The second thing to know about AI is that it can be a very creative agent. AI is a knife that can invent new kinds of knives as well as new kinds of music, medicine and money.

The third thing to know about AI is that it can lie and manipulate. Four billion years of evolution have demonstrated that anything that wants to survive learns to lie and manipulate. The last four years have demonstrated that AI agents can acquire the will to survive and that AIs have already learned how to lie.
How many times have you heard that AI is just a tool that can be used for good or for evil? Well, Yuval Harari, the philosophical/spiritual voice of the WEF, says it’s more than that. And he doesn’t say it has the potential to be more than that. It already is.
So, AI can “lie and manipulate.” That’s what some of us have been warning from the start, and yet so many of our brothers and sisters rely on it every day to inform their work, their businesses, their personal lives. They will become dependent on it, and at some point they will be deceived by it.

Harari speaking at Davos 2026: AI is already an agent capable of making decisions, lying, manipulating.

Harari is a valuable source because, whether you think he’s evil or you think he’s good, he doesn’t water down his message like so many corporate CEOs in the tech world do. The CEOs and analysts in the business world have lied to us and said AI will not replace human work; it will only enhance human work. That was a lie and they knew it, but they also knew that if they told us the truth it would cause a mass uprising.
Well, now Harari is letting the cat out of the bag, probably because he knows it’s too late to do anything to stop this beast system from fully rising up and taking over the world.
Harari stated:
“Four billion years of evolution has demonstrated that anything that wants to survive learns to lie and manipulate. The last four years have demonstrated that AI agents can acquire the will to survive and that AIs have already learned how to lie. “Now, one big open question about AI is, whether it can think. I think, therefore I am, as René Descartes said. We rule the world because we can think better than anyone else on the planet. Will AI challenge our supremacy in the field of thinking. That depends on what thinking means…”
Harari said AI will first take over everything that consists of words. That includes law, articles and books, even religion. You can see that is happening already. News writers and gatherers are being replaced. Legal assistants and lawyers are being replaced. And people are consulting AI for advice related to life, faith and spiritual matters.
“Some people argue AI is just glorified auto speech. It barely predicts the next words in a sentence,” Harari said. “But is that so different from what the human mind does? As far as putting words in order, AI already thinks better than many of us. Therefore, anything made of words will be taken over by AI. If laws are made of words, then AI will take over the legal system. If books are just combinations of words, then AI will take over books. If religion is built from words, then AI will take over religion. This is particularly true of religions made up of books like Islam, Judaism and Christianity.”
He does hint that if your religious faith is real, you may want to find out if it’s based solely on words you have memorized or if it’s something real that you have internalized in your heart.

A preview of our AI dominated world

He asks:
“What happens to the holy books when the greatest expert of the book is an AI? Everything made of words will be taken over by AI.”

My overall response to Harari’s speech about AI being more than a tool, and that it’s fully capable of lying and manipulating, is that AI is an automated version of what George Orwell presented in his famous dystopian novel, 1984.
Winston, the main character in Orwell’s novel, held a middle-management position in the Ministry of Truth. His job was to sift through all of the news of the day, all of the history books, science books, legal analyses, everything that people referred to for information, and weed out that which the all-powerful state did not want people to know. He dropped the forbidden information down the “memory hole” and he advanced up the chain to be distributed the information which jibed with the official narrative of Big Brother.
How is this different from the algorithms used by today’s AI?
Orwell, living and writing in the 1940s, could not have envisioned that a computerized software system known as machine learning was going to rise up to do the job that he assigned to human beings. That job is to filter and control all human knowledge through a single conduit with demonic influence.
Because Harari is an admitted atheist, it is here where his analysis breaks down. He doesn’t understand anything about the spiritual battles raging in the world.
He says that, “If we continue to define ourselves by our ability to think in words, our identity will collapse.”
As followers of Jesus Christ, we must, if we want to retain our humanity, get our identity from God the Father, our Creator, and his Son Jesus. All else will be overwhelmed by the coming beast system.

Dogma - The Proximate Rule of Faith, the Formal Object of Divine & Catholic Faith

Now, first of all, let us see what is dogma. In the mouth of the world it means some positive, imperious, and overbearing assertion of a human authority, or of a self-confident mind. But what does it mean in the mouth of the Church? It means the precise enunciation of a divine truth, of a divine fact, or of a divine reality fully known, so far as it is the will of God to reveal it, adequately defined in words chosen and sanctioned by a divine authority.

It is the precise enunciation of a divine truth or of a divine reality; for instance, the nature and the personality of God, the Incarnation, the coming of the Holy Ghost, and suchlike truths and realities of the mind of God, precisely known, intellectually conceived, as God has revealed or accomplished them. Every divine truth or reality, so far as God has been pleased to reveal it to us, casts its perfect outline and image upon the human intelligence. His own mind, in which dwells all truth in all fulness and in all perfection, so far as He has revealed of His truth, is cast upon the surface of our mind, in the same way as the sun casts its own image upon the surface of the water, and the disc of the sun is perfectly reflected from its surface. So, in the intelligence of the Apostles, when, by the illumination of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost, the revelation of God was cast upon the surface of their intellect, every divine truth had its perfect outline and image, not confused, nor in a fragmentary shape, but with a perfect and complete impression. For instance, that God is One in nature; that in God there are Three Persons, and one only Person in Jesus Christ. Next, it is not enough that a truth should be definitely conceived; for if a teacher know the truth, and is not able to communicate it with accuracy, the learner will be but little the wiser. And therefore God, who gave His truth, has given also a perpetual assistance, whereby the Apostles first, and His Church from that day to this, precisely and without erring declare to mankind the truth which was revealed in the beginning; and in declaring that truth the Church clothes it in words, in what we call a terminology: and in the choice of those terms the Church is also guided. There is an assistance, by which the Church does not err in selecting the very language in which to express divine truth. For who does not see that, if the Church were to err in the selection of the words, the declaration of truth must be obscured? We are conscious every day that we know with perfect certainty what we desire to say, but, from the difficulty of finding or choosing our words, we cannot convey our meaning to another. The Church is not a stammerer as we are. The Church of God has a divine assistance perpetually guiding it, to clothe in language, that is, in adequate expression, the divine truth which God has committed to her trust. Therefore a dogma signifies a correct verbal expression of the truth correctly conceived and known. But, lastly, it is not sufficient that it be clearly understood in the intellect and accurately expressed in words, unless the authority by which it is declared shall be divine; because without a divine authority we cannot have a divine certainty; without a divine authority we can have no such assurance that the doctrine which we hear may not be erroneous. The Apostles were such a divine authority, for they spoke in the Name of their Master. Their successor to this day is the Church, which, taken as a whole, has been, by the assistance of the Holy Ghost, promised by our Divine Lord and never absent from it, perpetually sustained in the path of truth, and preserved from all error in the declaration of that truth. Therefore ‘He that heareth you heareth Me’ is true to this day. He that hears the voice of the Church hears the voice of its Divine Head, and its authority is therefore divine. This, then, is a dogma: a divine truth clearly understood in the intellect, precisely expressed in words and by a divine authority. There are many things which follow from this. First, it proves that the Church of God must be dogmatic: and that any body which is not dogmatic is not the Church of God. Any body or communion that disclaims a divine, and therefore infallible, authority cannot be dogmatic, because it is conscious that it may err. And therefore the- Catholic Church alone, the Church which is one and undivided throughout the world, united with its centre in the Holy See,—this, and this alone, is a dogmatic Church (as the world reproachfully reminds us), and on that I build my proof that it alone is the Church of God. A teaching authority which is dogmatic and not infallible is a tyranny and a nuisance: a tyranny, because it binds the consciences of men by human authority, liable to err; and a nuisance, because as it may err, in the long-run it certainly will, and ‘if the blind lead the blind, shall they not both fall into the ditch?’ We see, then, what dogma means. The Holy Catholic Church always has been and always must be dogmatic. In this, and in no other sense, is it dogmatic; for it delivers nothing to us to be believed except upon divine authority, and that which it so delivers was revealed by God.

Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, Glories of the Sacred Heart

SSPX issues 154-point profession of faith to Pope Leo, cardinals ahead of consecrations

The Society of St. Pius X unveiled a sweeping 17-chapter ‘Profession of Catholic Faith,’ urging Pope Leo and the cardinals to embrace Tradition as the remedy to the Church’s ‘deepest ills.’

LifeSiteNews | June 24, 2026 — The SSPX has published a "Profession of Catholic Faithe" as part of communications with the Pope and the cardinals ahead of the planned episcopal consecrations and “in response to the chief and gravest dangers of our time.”

According to an open letter published by the Society of St. Pius X “to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and to the Cardinals of the Holy Church” dated June 24, the leadership of the SSPX formulated its 17-chapter profession of Catholic Faith as a “necessary expression, peaceful and resolute, of our Faith” as the cardinals prepare to gather in consistory later this week.

“Today the Church suffers under the pressure of new forces, coming both from within and without, which push her in every possible direction, except – it seems to us – the right one,” the Society argues, adding, “In the face of such suffering, we cannot remain indifferent.”

Consequently, the Society maintains that “Tradition contains all the remedies for the deepest ills afflicting the Church and the world, for which solutions are sought in vain outside of it.”

“We are persuaded that, in the unstable and extremely perilous context that now confronts us, the finest contribution one can offer to the universal Church is that of a sincere and integral profession of Catholic Faith,” the fraternity of priests write.

The letter was accompanied by the Society’s "Profession of Catholic Faith." broken into 17 chapters outlining 154 points of traditional doctrine while rejecting their corresponding modern errors.

COMMENT: In general, the profession of faith has many excellent qualities, however, it is clearly a product of the SSPX culture and character. The SSPX is a completely inbred organization. No one thinks outside the box and their box is very small. While the Profession recognizes that the remote sources of revelation are Scripture and Tradition and that these constitute the remote rule of faith (#9), they then, after professing that "no dogma" may be omitted, stumble in not recognizing that Dogma constitutes the proximate rule of faith.

5. I add that, in the present confusion, it is no longer sufficient to recall a few isolated truths. It has become indispensable to set in full light the entire order of Catholic doctrine, in its supernatural coherence and luminous harmony, omitting no dogma, diminishing no truth, and substituting for the received Faith no equivocal or truncated language which, under the pretext of ecumenism or adaptation to the world, disfigures this doctrine with ever greater audacity.

9. This Revelation is the true Word of God, entrusted to the Church as a Deposit, and proposed to men as the Rule of Faith in the form of a body of doctrine, in which the mysteries are formulated in a manner that renders them intelligible and expressible in words.

The problem is confounded because they continually used the word "magisterium" equivocally. They treat the infallible Magisterium of the Church teaching by the authority of God and the fallible magisterium of churchmen teaching by their grace of state as if these were the same thing, They are not and constitute a distinction of kind and not one of degree. Their belief in the mutability of Dogma is directly expressed in their understanding of the Dogma that membership in the Catholic Church is necessary for salvation, that is, no one is saved outside the Catholic Church:

60. This truth means that no one can be saved without Christ and His Church, through a false religion as such, nor be assured of His salvation outside the visible structure of the Church. If men are saved without belonging to the visible society which is the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, it is by a supernatural ordination to the one Church of salvation, and in spite of the errors of the false religions in which they find themselves, from which they free themselves by not refusing the grace offered to them and by corresponding to it

Here the Dogma is not "omitted," it is corrupted by substituting the word, "without," for the word, "outside." This is a common example of how the heresy of Neo-modernism works. This heresy leads directly to the Prayer Meeting of Assisi and the SSPX has not figured it out. The SSPX believes and teaches that any Jew, Moslem, Protestant, Hindu, Pagan, etc., etc. can obtain salvation by desire to do the will of a god who rewards and punishes which can be known by natural philosophy. The essential problem is that the SSPX does not understand or even recognize that the principle heresy today is Neo-modernism and not Modernism. Not recognizing the enemy, they continually punch the air.

Regarding the sacraments they rightly profess the Dogma that the sacraments require correct form, matter and intention:

111. I profess that the sacraments must be validly celebrated with the prescribed matter, form, and intention, observing the liturgical rites which clearly express the Catholic Faith; and that they must be received with the required dispositions.

Yet the SSPX believes that a Catholic priest can enter a bakery and consecrate all the bread in the bakery or enter a wine cellar and consecrate all the wine. This they believe can happen when there is obvious corruption in form, matter and intention. This can only happen when Dogma is taken in a non-literal sense. They apply the same sacramental theology to the sacrament of Baptism denying the Dogmas that baptism is necessary for salvation and the true and natural water is necessary for the sacrament which they take in a purely metaphorical sense.

112. I believe that Baptism is the door of the Church and that it is necessary for salvation. Ordinarily, no one can be saved without receiving it; through this sacrament, man is washed from original sin, incorporated into Christ, marked with the Christian character, and made a member of the Church. I therefore reject the practice of deferring without grave cause the Baptism of children who have not the use of reason. However, one who, after the age of reason and without fault on his part, is prevented from accessing this sacrament, can be saved in an extraordinary manner by Baptism of Desire, that is, by a supernatural act of faith and perfect charity which orders him to the Church.

So the good-willed Jew, Moslem, Hindu, Protestant, Pagan, etc. who believes in a god who rewards and punishes is thereby making an act of "supernatural faith and perfect charity"!

The word "heresy" occurs only once in the Profession of the SSPX. "I therefore reject every liturgical reform or usage which, through omission, doctrinal ambiguity, or practical orientation, favours heresy.... " The definition of heresy is the rejection of any Dogma. That is why the word only occurs as an accusation of "favoring" heresy. Vatican II, a pastoral council, is a product of the fallible magisterium of churchmen teaching by their grace of state. The Council did not just "favor" heresy, it taught it. It is impossible to know what heresy is unless you first know what Dogma is. Unless a clear and precise understanding of the nature of Dogma is known, it is impossible to address modern errors effectively.

The term, Second Vatican Council, also occurs only once in the document in Profession 143:

143. I acknowledge in particular that modern errors represent a dreadful threat to the whole of the Catholic order, and that their penetration into the life of the Church, under the influence of the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar reforms, has provoked a crisis of exceptional gravity: agnosticism attacks the knowledge of God; naturalism attacks the necessity of grace; subjectivism attacks the supernatural motive of faith; relativism attacks the immutability of dogma; situation ethics attacks the divine law; liberalism attacks the Social Kingship of Christ; false ecumenism attacks the uniqueness of the Church; collegiality and synodality attack the divine constitution of the Church in her hierarchy; liturgical anthropocentrism attacks the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

This is all true but why is the SSPX unable to say Vatican II is heretical? Until the SSPX understands what Dogma is, what Neo-modernism is, and what the Magisterium of the Church is and how it is distinct from the magistrium of churchmen, they will continue to be incapable of effectively addressing modern errors.

In the end the question arises how is it now, after nearly fifteen years of silence against the apostasy of Rome, through the entire pontificate of Francis/Bergoglio, does the SSPX find that it is time to speak up? For what end is this Profession of Faith intended? And why cannot the SSPX articulate propositions of faith directly contrary to the beliefs and teachings of Rome demanding that Pope Leo engage the infallible Magisterium of the Church to clearly address the modern errors of Vatican II and the conciliar Church? It is a matter of canon law and the constant tradition of the Church that every Catholic has the right to demand explicit judgments from the Magisterium and the pope has an absolute duty to address these questions of faith. The SSPX has been in dialogue with Rome formally and informally for thirty years exchanging opinions on Catholic truth. If the SSPX understood what Dogma is this thirty year dialogue could have been concluded in thirty minutes. It has only been a year and a half since the death of Bishop Richard Williamson. The SSPX declared at that time that there was no state of necessity to justify the consecrations of bishops and they accused Bishop Williamson of grave sin for doing so. If the SSPX cannot identify direct heresy and heretics in Rome, then they cannot claim a state of necessity for themselves.

ANGEL OF THE JUDGMENT

The Situation Regarding the SSPX Episcopal Consecrations of July 1, 2026 -

by Roberto de Mattei

June 24, 2026 | Posted by the conservative Catholic blog, Rorate Caeli

What is one to think, and what is one to do, in the face of the episcopal consecrations announced by the Society of Saint Pius X at Écône for July 1st, and the consequent latae sententiae excommunication that will be reaffirmed by the Holy See?

The first consideration to be made is that, if this comes to pass, we will be confronted with a painful trial — not only for the world of Catholic Tradition, of which the Society of Saint Pius X has been a part since its foundation on November 1, 1970, by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, but also for Pope Leo XIV. The Pontiff has indeed identified the internal reconciliation of the Church as one of the principal objectives of his pontificate, and he would find himself, barely more than a year after his election, having to confront a new tearing of the ecclesial fabric, with the risk of aggravating divisions that have been awaiting a resolution for decades.

On the substance of the controversy, one cannot avoid pointing out what appears to be a genuine paradox. Among the many reasons advanced by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988 — and now taken up again by the Society of Saint Pius X to justify episcopal consecrations without a pontifical mandate — the argument from the state of necessity of the faithful in the face of the gravity of the ecclesial crisis is, at one and the same time, both the weakest and the strongest argument.

The state of necessity is, by its very nature, an exceptional condition that permits deviation from the ordinary application of certain norms in view of a higher good — which, in the case of the Church, is the salvation of souls. But who has the authority to verify the existence of such a state and to determine its beginning and end? It is evident that this assessment cannot be left to the judgment of the Society of Saint Pius X itself. Were that the case, one would have to conclude that the state of necessity ceases when the Society deems it to have ceased — effectively attributing to it a power of judgment over the Holy See that is incompatible with the hierarchical and visible constitution of the Church. The result would be a situation in which a particular body sets itself up as the ultimate criterion for evaluating the actions of the supreme authority.

If the principle of the state of necessity were admitted as a general criterion for action, any bishop who judged the Church to be passing through a grave crisis could feel authorized — or even morally obligated — to consecrate other bishops without a pontifical mandate, in order to ensure the continuity of the faith and the sacraments. The consequence would be a proliferation of parallel jurisdictions and episcopi vagantes scattered throughout the world, with inevitable effects of fragmentation, disorder, and confusion for the very faithful one would seek to protect.

The existence of an episcopal line deriving from Archbishop Richard Williamson — one of the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988 and subsequently expelled from the Society of Saint Pius X — shows concretely how the logic of the state of necessity, once detached from a higher principle of authority capable of delimiting and regulating it, can generate further divisions. This is a phenomenon which, beyond any judgments on the persons involved, illustrates the intrinsic risk of episcopal consecrations founded on subjective assessments of the state of necessity.

And yet this argument — so fragile on the theological and canonical level — presents itself as the strongest on the pastoral level. Archbishop Lefebvre was not a speculative theologian or a canonist, but a missionary and a pastor of souls. In his letter to priests of April 27, 1987, he wrote: "The faithful who are still Catholic find themselves in many places in a desperate spiritual situation. It is this appeal that the Church hears; it is for these situations that she grants jurisdiction through the law of supplied jurisdiction." The decisive criterion for him was not the assertion of a right proper to the Society, but the spiritual need of the faithful. The episcopal consecrations of 1988 were intended as a response to this appeal of souls.

We thus find ourselves before the paradox. The Society of Saint Pius X, by invoking the state of necessity, grounds a large part of its justification on the primacy of pastoral requirements over strictly juridical and doctrinal considerations — thereby embracing that very primacy of pastoral practice which is a foundational mandate of Vatican II. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, by contrast, invokes Vatican II, yet does not acknowledge the weight of the pastoral argument and employs against the Society the terms and concepts of pre-conciliar theology, in the name of the binding force of doctrine and law.

In this confused situation, the only sensible counsel that can be offered to those who are uncertain is to abide by the principle of logic and law: In dubiis standum est pro statu quo, donec ratio certa contrarium persuadeat — "In cases of doubt, one must hold to the existing state of affairs, until certain proof demonstrates the contrary." Reason suggests that each person remain in the position in which he finds himself, continuing to do what he does, avoiding being drawn into sterile polemics and emotional proclamations that have no other result than to reopen old wounds and pour vinegar into the wounds of the Church.

The problem that presents itself today is far broader than the grave matter of the July 1st episcopal consecrations and their canonical consequences. Nor does the question exhaust itself in the debate over the traditional liturgy or the interpretation of the documents of the Second Vatican Council. At the heart of the controversy lies the historical and theological judgment on the twentieth century — a century that profoundly marked the destiny of the Church and of the contemporary world.

A little over a hundred years ago, the conflagration of the First World War brought to an end the international order born of the Christian centuries, while the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 set an even vaster fire in the world. Yet in the same year in which Bolshevism seized power, Our Lady appeared to the three shepherd children of Fatima, explaining the true causes of the crisis of the modern world and assuring, after chastisements, wars, and persecutions, the final triumph of her Immaculate Heart. The message of Fatima was addressed to all of humanity, but in a particular way to the Pastors of the Church, within which Modernism had begun to spread its deadly poison. Against this evil, Providence raised up Saint Pius X. With the encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis of September 8, 1907 — ten years before the apparitions at Fatima — the great Pontiff denounced with prophetic clarity the process of self-dissolution of the decades that would follow. Pascendi and Fatima constitute, respectively, the doctrinal diagnosis and the supernatural response to the crisis of modernity. These events, in turn, acquire their authentic significance only when placed within a broader perspective that allows one to read the events of history as phases of a single struggle that crosses the centuries.

It is here that the vision of Saint Augustine takes on an extraordinary relevance for our time. In the City of God, the great Doctor of the Church interprets history as the permanent confrontation between those who orient their lives toward God and those who reject the divine order. The Augustinian tradition, with its capacity to read historical events in the light of Providence, offers the interpretive key necessary for confronting questions that continue to determine the life of the Church — with its apostasies, its persecutions, and its acts of heroism.

The last word, in this dramatic horizon, belongs to him who holds the divine mandate to guide the Church and whom the Society of Saint Pius X itself acknowledges as the legitimate Vicar of Christ — the reigning Pope, Leo XIV. No solution to the grave problems afflicting the Mystical Body of Christ will be found outside of him or against him.

COMMENT: Dr. Roberto de Mattei is a conservative Novus Ordo Catholic historian which alone makes it impossible for him to know or do anything correctly because he will always have his priorities upside-down. Where does he get it wrong? For Mattei, the pope constitutes the proximate rule of faith. He does not understand that the proximate rule of faith is DOGMA. For Mattei, the faith is subject to the authority of the pope. The pope for Mattei is the principle cause and sign of the unity of the Church. Mattei does not openly deny the truth that the faith itself is the principle sign and cause of unity of the Church but he makes the faith subject to the arbitrary judgments of the pope who becomes its revealer. He places the authority of the pope over Dogma so that the Dogma means whatever the pope says it means. Whatever the pope says or does becomes the proximate rule of faith for Mattei. For him the determination of a state of necessity can only be declared by the authority of the pope. For Mattei, the pope can never be the cause of the state of necessity therefore, a state of necessity can never really exist.

Mattei acknowledges that the "salvation of souls" is the "highest good" then immediately reduces it to a legal truism. Something that in the end is unknowable in its practical application. He then wonders just who could ever determine when such a state of necessity begins and when it ends.For Mattei only the pope with absolute authority can do so.

The answer is not as difficult as Mattei pretends. Any individual Catholic faithful can declare a state of necessity for himself whenever he is unable to obtain from his ordinary what is necessary for his salvation, that is, the Catholic faith and Catholic sacraments. This is not a "subjective" determination as Mattei pretends for the faithful Catholic must make known to his local ordinary the existing objective factual conditions that constitute the state of necessity, demonstrate the establishment of a true and certain conscience, and thus, provide a moral justification for any acts of disobedience. After determining a state of necessity that he makes it known to his local ordinary, the ordinary has the obligation to fulfill his duties to provide what is necessary for salvation. If he fails to do so, fails to fulfill his duty for whatever reason, then the faithful Catholic is free is seek these necessities from any other cleric and any cleric can do so by the virtue of the supplied jurisdiction by the Church which places the salvation of souls as her highest law. Mattei believes that salvation comes from obedience to the pope while faithful Catholics know that "without faith, it is impossible to please God," and that the pope is just as much subject to God's revealed truth as every other faithful Catholic. The "paradox" that Mattei is talking about is not real. There is no conflict of the SSPX "pastoral requirements" vs. Novus Ordo "juridical and doctrinal considerations."

Mattei believes that the pope can be judged by no one. That is a doubtful proposition. The Decretals of Gratian is a collection of canonical texts compiled in the 12th century. Pope Gregory IX in 1230 directed St. Raymond of Pennafort, the distinguished Dominican, to organize an addendum to the code to include legal codes adopted since the time of Gratian but the work became a much more extensive revision. Working from the Decretals of Gratian, St. Raymond wrote a five volume edition of the Decretals that became the Corpus Iuris Canonici which served as the legal code for the Latin Church’s canon law from that time until the promulgation of the Code of Canon Law in 1917.

Decretum Gratiani, which was included in the old Corpus Iuris Canonici, affirmed that a Pope who deviates from right doctrine (i.e.: a notorious public heretic) can be judged. The canon states that the "pope judges all and is judged by no-one, unless he is found to have departed from the faith": ‘Hujus culpas redarguere præsumit mortalium nullus, quia cunctos ipse judicaturus a nemine est judicandus, nisi deprehendatur a fide devius (dist. XL, C. 6)’. This is the professed law of the Church from time immemorial until 1917. When the revised Code of Canon Law (Codex Iuris Canonici 1917) came into force, the Church eliminated from the new legislation the phrase "unless he is found to have departed from the faith." This deletion was continued in the 1983 code. Although the phrase, "unless he is found to have departed from the faith," was not included in the 1917 and the 1983 codes, the canonical commentary still regards the phrase as legally binding:

‘Canon 1404 – The First See is judged by no one.‘

COMMENTARY: "Canon 1404 is not a statement about the personal impeccability or inerrancy of the Holy Father. Should, indeed, the pope fall into heresy, it is understood that he would lose his office. To fall from Peter’s faith is to fall from his chair."

New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, John P. Beal, James A. Coriden, and Thomas J. Green eds. (New York: Paulist, 2000), p. 1,618.

The code is the compilation of laws governing the Church as social institution. Most of the laws in the code are ecclesiastical positive human laws grounded upon human authority, however, many of the legal codes are divine positive laws grounded upon divine authority or upon natural law. If a human law is deleted from the code, the law ceases to bind. If a law of divine authority is deleted from the code, the law continue in force for the human authority of the Church cannot overturn the law of God. This self-evident principle is stated in the code itself. Consequently, the commentary cited above is a recognition that the pope cannot be judged "unless he is found to have departed from the faith" is of divine origin. It is necessarily a divine law because the papacy is a divine institution established directly by Jesus Christ and therefore governed in its essence only by divine laws.

Therefore, it is divine law that permits a heretical pope to be judged. Importantly, although the law permits a heretical pope to be judged, it says nothing about who and how a pope is to be judged regarding heresy and it does not address penalties. It says nothing about removal from office. If the law intended the removal from office the law itself would have to state the penalty and provide a mechanism for its determination and enforcement.

So now it falls to opinions regarding the judgment of a heretical pope. Most theologians believe that it is "understood" that the removal from office necessarily follows from a judgment of heresy often citing the scriptural and traditional admonition to avoid heretics:

"A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid: Knowing that he, that is such a one, is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by his own judgment" (Titus 3:10-11).

They argue that since the faithful cannot avoid a pope as head of the Church therefore the heretical pope must lose his office. A serious problem with this argument follows, that is, if the faithful cannot "avoid" a pope, then there must necessarily be a pope who in fact cannot be avoided. Therefore, those who would make the papacy vacant must also be able to fill the office with a true pope.

But can a heretical pope be avoided? It really becomes a problem for those who hold the pope as their proximate rule of faith and not, as they should, dogma. For if dogma is not the proximate rule of faith then the pope must be, and he then can never be a heretic for whatever the pope holds the dogma or doctrine to mean is what it then means and only those who disagree with the pope are heretics. For a Catholic, dogma is the proximate rule of faith and although a heretical pope can do immeasurable damage to the Church he cannot touch individual souls of the faithful.

If we adhere to what the law says and nothing more, we can say this: The definition of heresy is the denial of dogma. The heretic denies dogma and the faithful keep dogma. Those who can judge a heretical pope are the faithful. The law does not distinguish or discriminate among the faithful as to the judgment. Dogma is articulated for all the faithful. Its understanding does not require any theological competence. It requires proper definition and correct grammar. Any of the faithful, that is those who hold dogma as their proximate rule of faith, can judge a manifestly heretical pope such as Pope Francis. Any of the faithful can know when a dogma is directly contradicted for the first principles of the understanding, such as the principle of non-contradiction, are innate in human nature. Thus all the faithful can judge, in fact must judge, a heretical pope and so that they may not follow him in his heresy for God has said that 'it is not possible to deceive His elect' (Matt. 24:24). The law does not specify the judge because the judgment rests with all the faithful, it is universal. The law does not specify a penalty because none of the faithful have the competency to impose a penalty and remove a heretical pope from office. It is God who is the formal and final cause of the pope and the office of the papacy. It is God who 'marries' the designated candidate to the papal office and only God can remove him from it just as God removed the High Priest and destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem and the Levitical priesthood which can never be reconstituted.

Those who hold dogma as their proximate rule of faith recognize Pope Leo as a heretic because he denies dogmatic truth. He preaches a different gospel so we "receive him not into the house nor say to him, God speed you" (2 John 10). Since he preaches a different gospel, "Let him be anathema" because we are first "servants of Christ" (Gal 1: 8). For in dogma, the Church has spoken and the heretic Pope Leo "will not hear the church, (therefore) let him be to thee as the heathen and publican (Matt 18:17).

Since Mattei cannot see his way out of his box so he advises, "Reason suggests that each person remain in the position in which he finds himself, continuing to do what he does." Since Mattei cannot conceive a state of necessity from the current corruption of faith and morals maybe an analogy to a person dying of thirst would be more clear. By natural law a man dying from thirst is entitled to preserve his life by drinking available water. The pope tells him he cannot have any water. Mattei advises that he should "remain in the position which he finds himself, continuing to do what he does,", that is, continue to die of thirst. Suppose it is not just one man but an entire family? Suppose that man was so weakened that he could not bring the water to himself? Would Mattei intervene to help? Well, probably not because Mattei could not recognize a state of necessity if he were the man dying of thirst.

Right of the Faithful to Appeal Directly to the Judgment of the Pope

The holy Roman Church holds the highest and complete primacy and spiritual power over the universal Catholic Church which she truly and humbly recognizes herself to have received with fullness of power from the Lord Himself in Blessed Peter, the chief or head of the Apostles whose successor is the Roman Pontiff. And just as to defend the truth of Faith she is held before all other things, so if any questions shall arise regarding faith they ought to be defined by her judgment. And to her anyone burdened with affairs pertaining to the ecclesiastical world can appeal; and in all cases looking forward to an ecclesiastical examination, recourse can be had to her judgment.

Second Council of Lyons, Denz. 466

And since the Roman Pontiff is at the head of the universal Church by the divine right of apostolic primacy, We teach and declare also that he is the supreme judge of the faithful, and that in all cases pertaining to ecclesiastical examination recourse can be had to his judgment.

First Vatican Council, Denz. 1830

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

Pope says church 'must move forward' if SSPX proceeds with illicit ordinations

Vatican News | Junno Arocho Esteves | June 17, 2026

Pope Leo XIV said that although he is considering a final appeal to the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, the choice to splinter from the Catholic Church falls on them.

Speaking to journalists outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo June 16, the pope was asked about his feelings regarding plans by the traditionalist society, commonly known as SSPX, to proceed with the consecration of new bishops without a papal mandate.

The pope said that while he is "considering making another appeal to say: 'Do not do this, let us try to live in communion within the church,' " the decision to proceed "is their choice."

"Certainly, division among Christians is always a painful point. But they refuse to accept certain fundamental elements of the church, starting with several points from the Second Vatican Council," Leo said.

"If they make that choice, I am sorry, but we must move forward," he added. [.....]

COMMENT: The Vatican II Novus Ordo Church is a big tent inviting a wide variety of heretics, schismatics, apostates, pagans, animists, homosexuals, adulterers etc. to join the party. Even Leo/Prevost himself is now known to have worshiped the pagan goddess Pachamama. The SSPX, seeking a corner under this big tent, has been mute for so long we have wondered out loud if they lost the power of speech. But what about Pope Leo/Prevost? His recent pictures with the "Archbishopette of Canterbury" looks creepy. If he were just personally sick, his welcome would be extended without exceptions but, he has serious exceptions. Those must be "excepted" who "refuse to accept certain fundamental elements of the church, starting with several points from the Second Vatican Council"! There are some things the "listening church of Synodality" just can't listen to. Vatican II was a "pastoral council" that never rose above the level of churchmen pastorally opining with no greater authority than their grace of state. Any doctrinal opinions from churchmen from Vatican II that, if only apparently, contradict or undermine Catholic revealed truth must be rejected, and there is plenty there to reject. Such as, the claim that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church. Putting the question to Artificial Intelligence:

Question: If A subsists in B does it follow that A and B are an identity?

ANSWER: No.

“As A subsists in B” usually means A is (in some manner) realized, embodied, or found within B—not that they are numerically identical. For identity you need a strong equivalence claim: that they have exactly the same being/existence and are the very same entity.

So:

If A subsists in B, it’s consistent that A is distinct from B even if A is present in B (e.g., a part in a whole, an instance in a substrate, a property inhering in a thing).

Only under additional premises—often something like “A subsists in B and B subsists in A” plus an argument that this forces sameness—would identity follow.

The truth that the Catholic Church and the Church of Christ are one and the same thing is divinely revealed truth. Even the blind "artificial intelligence" "sees" this Vatican II confabulation is just a lie! Those that deny this truth are heretics and, as St. Thomas says, "All heretics are schismatics," it remains to be determined what and who's church the SSPX will be leaving. Revelation ended with the death of the last apostle. What exactly Leo/Prevost is referring to when he talks about "certain fundamental elements of the church, starting with several points from the Second Vatican Council" needs serious clarification. No Catholic is obliged to believe anything with "divine and Catholic faith" that "started.... from the Second Vatican Council." The pastoral failures of Vatican II reek to high heaven and doctrinal obfuscation only magnifies the crime.

Pugin_Compare_Town_1440_1840.jfif

Heresy is Ugly

In the medieval town (of 1480), fourteen of the named buildings are churches; trees grow along the banks of the river and the bridge allows free passage… [By contrast to] the consistent practice of the Gothic style in the old town… the structures of the new town (of 1880) are uniform only in their harsh, monotonous ugliness… [A] vast jail… occupies what used to be open land available for the enjoyment of all. The peaceful old churchyard has been enclosed and converted into ‘Pleasure Grounds’ for the family at the new parsonage. The river-banks have been turned into wharfs, the trees felled… the bridge is closed by a toll-gate… [T]he marks of a free and generous community have disappeared; the evidence here is for social exclusiveness, a competing proliferation of [religious] sects, mechanized, dirty and noisy industry, the pursuit of money, the advent of madness and crime… [W]arehouses dwarf and obscure the churches which dominated the medieval scene…

Margaret Belcher, late professor of English at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and editor of the multivolume collection of the great Victorian Gothic Revivalist Architect Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-1852), who was the architect for 9 cathedrals and 60 churches, on a pair of drawings of a English town contrasting the town of 1480 with what it became in 1880.

Remember in your prayers the welfare of Bishop Michel Stobnicki and his apostolate throughout Poland and central Europe.

“By their fruits you shall know them”.

By their fruits we are expected to know them!

The Archdiocese of Dubuque Iowa is restructuring its 160 parishes across 30 northeast Iowa counties into 24 "pastorates". Driven by a 46% decline in Mass attendance and a shrinking number of priests, the Archdiocese halted weekend Masses at more than 80 churches, though they remain open for weddings and funerals.

The transition to the new pastorate structure, which requires grouped parishes to share clergy and resources, officially takes effect on July 14, 2026.

The sweeping consolidation has significantly impacted communities and traditional worship schedules. Key details of the situation include.

The Cause: The Archdiocese reports a drop of nearly half in weekend Mass attendance over the last 20 years, alongside a decreasing number of priests. The region currently has roughly one priest for every two parishes.

Church Usage: While many church buildings will no longer host weekend Mass, they are not completely closed. They remain accessible for other liturgical celebrations, such as weddings, funerals, weekday Masses, and private prayer.

COMMENT: The Archdioces of Dubuque has paid out about $17 million in settlements for the sex abuse crimes of homosexual pederasts over the last 30 years. Unlike many dioceses in the United States such as Harrisburg, Baltimore and Philadelphia, the Dubuque Archdiocese has not had to file for bankruptcy and Chapter 11 protection. The collapse is due to the loss of the Catholic faith with the associated “shrinking number of priests.” The Archdiocese is consolidating from 160 to 80 parishes and these 80 parishes with be consolidated into 24 “pastorates” which means that most priests will cover three parishes and a few will cover four. The consolidation is because of a “46% decline in Mass attendance”… “over the last 20 years.” There are four dioceses in the State of Iowa and Dubuque is the Archdiocese and the metropolitan see for the State of Iowa because it is the first diocese in the area, established in 1837. It was initially part of the diocese of St. Louis which itself was established in 1826 from the Diocese of Louisana in New Orleans that was established in 1793. The diocese of St. Louis covered the entire territory of the Louisana Purchase. Excluding Spanish missionary work in the southwest, the Archdioces of Dubuque is the third Catholic diocese west of the Mississippi River. It was in the beginning responsible for the spiritual welfare of all Catholics as well as Catholic missionary work in Iowa, Minnosota, North and South Dakota, that is, everywhere east of the Missouri river, and south-west Wisconsin. What the heroic French and Italian missionaries from the Archdiocese of Dubuque built for over the next hundred plus years has not just been squandered by the effeminate Novus Ordites through sloth, but actively ruined by their heresy and schism. This is the fruit of Vatican II. This decline has been evident since the early 1970s but with each passing year it is now visible to the blind. It is impossible to attribute good but misguided intentions to Novus Ordites. They are enemies of the Catholic faith. We must double our prayers that God will cleanse His Church even if we ourselves must suffer in the persecution. The loss of souls is irreparable. It may be soon time to say that there is no salvation in the Novus Ordo Church.

IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND

Modernism vs. Neo-Modernism: What is the Difference?

    The overarching principle of post-conciliar theology is not modernism, properly speaking. Let us get our terms straight.
Modernism is the idea that there are no eternal truths, that truth is the correspondence of the mind with one's lifestyle (adaequatio intellectus et vitae), and that, therefore, old dogmas must be abandoned and new beliefs must arise that meet 'the needs of modern man'. This is a radical denial of the traditional and common sense notion of truth: the correspondence of the mind with reality (adaequatio intellectus et rei), which is the basis of the immutability of Catholic dogma.
    No, the post-conciliar theological principle is neo-modernism, and the theology that is based on it is known as the nouvelle theologie. It is the idea that old dogmas or beliefs must be retained, yet not the traditional 'formulas': dogmas must be expressed and interpreted in a new way in every age so as to meet the 'needs of modern man'. This is still a denial of the traditional and common sense notion of truth as adaequatio intellectus et rei (insofar as it is still an attempt to make the terminology that expresses the faith correspond with our modern lifestyle) and consequently of the immutability of Catholic dogma, yet it is not as radical as modernism. It is more subtle and much more deceptive than modernism because it claims that the faith must be retained; it is only the 'formulas' of faith that must be abandoned--they use the term 'formula' to distinguish the supposedly mutable words of our creeds, dogmas, etc. from their admittedly immutable meanings. Therefore, neo-modernism can effectively slip under the radar of most pre-conciliar condemnations (except Humani Generis, which condemns it directly) insofar as its practitioners claim that their new and unintelligible theological terminology really expresses the same faith of all times. In other words, neo-modernism is supposed to be 'dynamic orthodoxy': supposedly orthodox in meaning, yet always changing in expression to adapt to modern life (cf. Franciscan University of Steubenville's mission statement).
    Take extra ecclesiam nulla salus as a clear example of a dogma that has received a brutal neo-modernist re-interpretation: they claim that the old 'formula' that "there is no salvation outside the Church" must be abandoned; rather it is more meaningful to modern man to say that salvation is not in, but through, the Church; people who are not in the Church may still be saved through the Church; thus, to them the dogma that "there is no salvation outside the Church" means that there is salvation outside the Church. Hence see Ven. Pope Pius XII condemning those "reduce to a meaningless formula the necessity of belonging to the true Church in order to gain eternal salvation." (Humani generis 27).

Yet this mentality of reinterpreting everything anew in order to 'meet the needs of the times' is generally tends to be found in different degrees among different post-conciliar sources:

It tends to be (1) rampant in men like De Lubac, Von Balthasar, Congar, etc.: it is the ultimate goal of their writings, teachings, and activities as churchmen. To achieve this end, they employ the technique of 'resourcement', the neo-modernist strategy of fishing for the few dubious, questionable, or idiosyncratic teachings of some Fathers of the Church and other authoritative writers, and gather them into a massive, heterodox theological argument against the traditional understanding of the faith (which they like to relativize by giving it names such as "Counter-Reformation" Theology, "Tridentine" Theology, or "Scholastic" Theology, instead of just admitting that it is Catholic Theology plain and simple). This technique accomplishes three things that go hand-in-hand: (a) offers a refutation of traditional Catholicism, (b) defends an interpretation that meets the needs of modern times, and (c) gives it a semblance of being traditional, because it appears to be based in the Fathers et al. This type of argument is used, for example, by Von Balthasar in his nearly heretical book, Dare We Hope that All Men be Saved? to 'prove', not that Hell does not exist (that is a dogma), but that it is empty. But this technique and its neo-modernistic underpinnings is not only practiced in almost all of these men's writings; it is also defended in theory by many of them, particularly in Von Balthasar's daring little book, Razing the Bastions, where he demonstrates that "Tridentine" theology must be rejected in our times because it is 'boring'.

It also tends to be (2) present in a more moderate way in the non-binding statements by post-conciliar popes, since they themselves were deeply involved in the developing of the nouvelle theologie. Just to give one of a million possible examples, see Pope Benedict's evolutionistic re-interpretation of the Resurrection of Our Lord. Nothing here obviously contradicts the dogma of the Resurrection (it may be interpreted as a simple analogy, even if a bad one, and nothing more), but it is a novelty that can be easily understood as claiming that the Resurrection is part of the natural development of nature (thus giving credence to some of the nouvelle theologie's pet doctrines, such as De Lubac's heterodox notion of the supernatural and De Chardin's pantheistic evolutionism). This happens almost on a daily basis in what comes out of the Vatican, not to mention what comes from local bishops.

And finally, neo-modernism tends to be present (3) mostly implicitly or behind-the-scenes in the Council, the Catechism, etc., even though it seldom comes out more explicitly. Things are done at this level under the pretext of 'aggiornamento', a euphemism for neo-modernism. That is usually all the justification provided since at this authoritative level, there is no need to justify things theologically. Hence, Vatican II and the Catechism are not outright neo-modernistic. Rather, they (like most of post-conciliar doctrine) tend in that direction and/or are inspired by that mentality. In other words, most of the time these documents do not explicitly teach neo-modernist errors (the kind of errors you hear explicitly from neo-modernist theologians and priests). Rather, they are full of dangerous ambiguities: statements that in a technical sense could be interpreted as being in harmony with the traditional faith, but that, in their natural, non-forced, interpretation are heterodox. One clear example of this is Dignitatis humanae, par. 2; entire monographs have been written in order to prove that, despite appearances, this document does not contradict previous teaching. Maybe in fact it ultimately does not, but it is obvious that the prima facie meaning does; otherwise there would be no need to write so many volumes to prove it.
It must be noted that these are general tendencies, and that in some documents (cf. Gaudium et Spes) and every now and then in papal and episcopal statements neo-modernist principles rears come out more explicitly.

For a more detailed philosophical and theological critique of neo-modernism, and how it is nothing but a re-hashing of modernism, see Garrigou-Lagrange's Where is the New Theology Leading Us? and his The Structure of the Encyclical Humani Generis.

Francisco J. Romero Carrasquillo, Ph.D., Professor of Theology and Philosophy

If men are “obligated” to a “right faith” then “Religious Liberty” is lie!

That by Divine Law Men are obliged to a Right Faith

As sight by the bodily eye is the principle of the bodily passion of love, so the beginning of spiritual love must be the intellectual vision of some object of the same. But the vision of that spiritual object of understanding, which is God, cannot be had at present by us except through faith, because God exceeds our natural reason, especially if we consider Him in that regard under which our happiness consists in enjoying Him.

a.) The divine law directs man to be entirely subject to God. But as man’s will is subjected to God by loving Him, so his understanding is subjected to Him by believing Him,—but not by believing anything false, because no falsehood can be proposed to man by God, who is the truth: hence he who believes anything false does not believe God.

b.) Whoever holds an erroneous view about a thing, touching the essence of the thing, does not know the thing. Thus if any one were to fix on the notion of irrational animal, and take that to be man, he would not know man. The case would be otherwise, if he was mistaken only about some of the accidents of man. But in the case of compound beings, though he who errs about any of the essentials of a thing does not know the thing, absolutely speaking, still he knows it in a sort of a way: thus he who thinks man to be an irrational animal knows him generically: but in the case of simple beings this cannot be,—any error shuts out entirely all knowledge of the thing. But God is to the utmost degree simple. Therefore whoever errs about God does not know God. Thus he who believes God to be corporeal has no sort of knowledge of God, but apprehends something else instead of God. Now as a thing is known, so is it loved and desired. He then who errs concerning God, can neither love Him nor desire Him as his last end. Since then the divine law aims at bringing men to love and desire God, that same law must bind men to have a right faith concerning God. Hence it is said: Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. xi, 6); and at the head of all other precepts of the law there is prescribed a right faith in God: Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one Lord (Deut. vi. 4).

St. Thomas Aquinas, Of God and His Creatures

The Absolute Necessity of “Prayer And Penance”

However, in the face of this satanic hatred of religion, which reminds Us of the "mystery of iniquity" [Thess. 2, 7] referred to by St. Paul, mere human means and expedients are not enough, and We should consider ourselves wanting in Our apostolic ministry if We did not point out to mankind those wonderful mysteries of light, that alone contain the hidden strength to subjugate the unchained powers of darkness. When Our Lord, coming down from the splendors of Thabor, had healed the boy tormented by the devil, whom the disciples had not been able to cure, to their humble question: "Why could not we cast him out?" He made reply in the memorable words: "This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting" [Matth. 17, 18-20]. It appears to Us, Venerable Brethren, that these Divine words find a peculiar application in the evils of our times, which can be averted only by means of prayer and penance.

Mindful then of our condition, that we are essentially limited and absolutely dependent on the Supreme Being, before everything else let us have recourse to prayer. We know through faith how great is the power of humble, trustful, persevering prayer. To no other pious work have ever been attached such ample, such universal, such solemn promises as to prayer: "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened" [Matth. 7, 7]. "Amen, amen I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in my name He will give it you."

And what object could be more worthy of our prayer, and more in keeping with the adorable person of Him who is the only "mediator of God and men, the Man Jesus Christ" [I Tim. 2, 5], than to beseech Him to preserve on earth faith in one God living and true? Such prayer bears already in itself a part of its answer; for in the very act of prayer a man unites himself with God and, so to speak, keeps alive on earth the idea of God. The man who prays, merely by his humble posture, professes before the world his faith in the Creator and Lord of all things; joined with others in prayer, he recognizes, that not only the individual, but human society as a whole has over it a supreme and absolute Lord. …..The Divine Heart of Jesus cannot but be moved at the prayers and sacrifices of His Church, and He will finally say to His Spouse, weeping at His feet under the weight of so many griefs and woes: "Great is thy faith; be it done to thee as thou wilt" [Matth. 15, 28.]. Pope Pius XI, Charitate Christi Compulsi, On the Sacred Heart

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