
.....
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.
Dedication of the
Archbasilica of the Holy Savior
(St. John Lateran)
Twenty-Second Sunday after
Pentecost
St. Theodore, Martyr
November 9, 2025
Among the rich and splendid Roman basilicas
where the ceremonies of Christian worship were celebrated in great pomp, after
the era of persecution, there is one of first rank whose dedication is
solemnized on this anniversary. The
palace of the Lateran on the Coelian Hill belonged to Fausta, the wife of
Constantine. The Emperor, after his
conversion gave it to the Pope as his private residence, and founded there the
church of the Lateran which became the mother and mistress of all the churches
of Rome and of the world.
On November 9, 324, A.D., Pope St.
Sylvester consecrated it under the name of Basilica of St. Savior. This was the first public consecration of a
church. A long time after, under Lucius
II in the twelfth century, it was dedicated to St. John the Baptist, whose name
had been given to the adjoining baptistery.
Wherefore it has been given nowadays the title of St. John Lateran.
In this basilica and the adjoining palace
were held, from the fourth to the sixteenth centuries, more than twenty-five
councils, five which were ecumenical. On
the most solemn days the Station was held there. Holy Orders were conferred there, penitents
were reconciled, catechumens were baptized on Easter Day, and as neophytes they
came there in precession during the whole octave.
St. John Lateran is inaugurated, on the
first Sunday in Lent, the great liturgical season consecrated to penance; there
is held the assembly on Palm Sunday and that on Rogation Tuesday, there are
carried out the ceremonies on Maundy Thursday and Easter Eve and Mass is
celebrated on Saturday in Albis and on the eve of Pentecost.
The Church which had been destroyed was
rebuilt and consecrated anew by Benedict XIII, in 1726, and the commemoration
of this consecration was fixed, as that of the first church, on November 9.
St. Theeodore, a soldier in the Roman
legion at Amasea in Pontus, was arrested on account of his Christian
faith. He was cast into prison, and torn
with iron hooks until his ribs were laid bare.
The martyr, filled with joy, never ceased singing the verse of the
Psalm: “I will bless the Lord at all times.”
He was then burned alive and gave up his soul to God in 306 A.D.
As we have seen, the breviary lessons throughout October are taken from the Book of Machabees.
Judas Machabeus had heard very great things of the power of Rome, of far-off countries brought to subjection and many kings compelled to pay yearly tribute; and on the other hand, of the willingness of the Roman people to accede to requests made to them, and of their readiness to swear friendship with any nation that approached them for the purpose. Judas, therefore, decided to take the step of sending messengers to Rome itself, to seek the friendship and alliance of its people. This request was received favorably by the senate, who later twice renewed the treaty of peace, first with Jonathan and then with Simon, who had succeeded their brother Judas Machabeus as a ruler. Soon however, the little kingdom was torn by civil war, brothers in hostile camps disputing the power between them. One of these thought fit to summon the Romans to his assistance; the invitation was accepted, and in 63 B. C. Pompey took Jerusalem.
It must be remembered that Rome never gave back what it had taken by force of arms. Palestine became and remained a Roman colony, the Senate appointing Herod, king of the Jews. This ruler, by way of pleasing the Jews richly rebuilt and enlarged the Temple at Jerusalem, and it was into this third Temple that our divine Lord made His triumphal entry later on.
From the moment of this conquest the Chosen People had to pay tribute to Rome, a fact which is alluded to in today’s Gospel. This incident marks one of the last days of our Lord’s life, and it was an occasion when the Master, in an answer full of heavenly wisdom, put to confusion His enemies, who from then on, were more than ever bent upon His destruction.
The necessity of paying tribute to Caesar was all the more odious to the Jews, since it went quite contrary to their instinct for universal supremacy, the promise of which Israel believed it had received. It followed that anyone who maintained the duty of payment had public opinion against him, while those who held the opposite view incurred the anger of the Roman authority in possession, and of those among the Jews who approved it and who formed the party of the Herodians. When therefore, the Pharisees thought to drive our Lord on to one or the other of the horns of this dilemma, it was in order to embroil Him either with the people or with the Roman power; on one count or the other they thought they could secure His arrest.
The better to attain their end, they sent Him a deputation of Jews consisting of members of both parties, of “their disciples with the Herodians,” as St. Matthew puts it. To get an answer to their question, these men began by telling our Lord that they knew that He “taught the way of God in truth” without “regarding the person of men.” And then they laid their snare before Him. “Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?” But Jesus, knowing the malice that was in them, answers: “Why do ye tempt me, ye hypocrites?” And then, evading their attack with the greatest skill, He bade them show Him “the coin of the tribute” to force them, as He always did on these occasions, to answer their own question.
For when the Jews had offered Him “a penny” of this money, He asks them: “Whose image and inscription is this?” “They say to Him: Caesar’s.” As a matter of fact, before the tribute could be paid it was a necessary preliminary to change the money of the country for coins bearing the image of the emperor; and since a coin is only of value in the country of the monarch whose image it bears, by this very exchange the Jews acknowledged that they were under Caesar’s rule, and that they intended to pay tribute to him. “Render therefore to Caesar,” says our Lord, “the things that are Caesar’s,” and then suddenly becoming the Judge of His hearers, He adds: “And to God the things that are God’s,” which means that since the soul of a man belongs to God who made it in His image, all the faculties ought to return to Him, in the sense of paying the tribute of their worship and service.
“We,” says St. Augustine, “are the coins of God stamped with His image, and God demands the return of His coins as Caesar did the return of his,” And St. Jerome adds: “Let us give to Caesar the money which bears his inscription, since we cannot do otherwise, but let us give ourselves freely and of our own accord to God, for what our soul bears it the glorious imprint of the face of God and not the more or less majestic head of an emperor.” Bossuet says: “This image will one day pass again through the hands and before the eyes of Jesus Christ, and some day He will look at us and say: ‘Whose image and inscription is this?’ And the very depth of our being will answer: ‘God’s.’ “It is for Him that we were made and we must bear His stamp upon us. It had to be restored in baptism of which it is the effect and character. But what has become of the divine features which we ought to bear? Christian soul, may God’s image be in your reason! But this you have drowned in drunkenness; you have sunk it in the love of pleasure; you have surrendered it to ambition; you have made it the slave of gold, which is a form of idolatry; you have sacrificed it to your appetites of which you have made a god; you have made of it an idol of vain glory, and instead of praising and blessing God day and night, it is itself constantly praised and admired.”
And the divine Redeemer will say: “Amen, Amen, I know you not: you are not my work, no longer do I see in you what I put there. You have chosen to form yourself in your own way: you are the work of pleasure and ambition: you are the work of the devil, whose works you have done, and whom, by taking him as you model, you have made your father. Go with him who knows you, and whose promptings you have followed; go to fire eternal which has been prepared for him. O just Judge! And where shall I be found? Shall I acknowledge myself, when my Creator has disowned me?”
It is in this sense that we must interpret this Sunday’s Gospel, one of the last of the ecclesiastical year and in which the Church reminds us of the end of the world. Thus the Epistle twice speaks of the coming of Christ as nigh at hand. St. Paul prays that “He who hath begun a good work in you, will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus,” since the grace of final perseverance comes from Him alone. Again the apostle asks that our “charity may more and more abound in knowledge and in all understanding”; that we “may approve the better things”; that we “may be sincere and without offense unto the day of Christ” (Epistle). For in this dread moment: If the Lord “shall observe iniquities…. Who shall endure it?” (Introit).
But the Lord is the “helper and protector” of them that hope in Him (Alleluia), for there is propitiation with the God of Israel (Introit, Secret). And we shall ourselves experience this mercy if we are merciful to our neighbour. “How good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,” says the Gradual. Especially must we be found in prayer in the hour of danger, for if we cry to the Lord, He will hear us (Communion).
The prayer, in the highest degree social and fraternal, to which almighty God is especially attentive is the prayer of His bride the Church. He hears and answers her, like Assuerus the king, when as the Offertory reminds us, Esther his wife approached him that he might save God’s people from death.”
INTROIT:
Gen. 28: Awesome is this place: it is the
house of God and the gate of heaven; and it shall be called the court of God.
Ps. 83: How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of
hosts! my soul longeth and fainteth for
the courts of the Lord. Glory be,
etc. Awesome is this place, etc.
COLLECT:
O God, who with each returning
year bringest round once more the day of the consecration of this Thy holy
temple, and dost lead us again in safety to take part in these holy mysteries,
graciously hear Thy people’s prayer, and grant that whosoever shall enter this
temple to ask good things from Thee may be gladdened by receiving them
all. Through out Lord, etc.
O God, our refuge and strength,
who art the author of all goodness, hear, we pray, the devout prayers of Thy
Church, and grant that what we faithfully ask we may effectually obtain. Through our Lord, etc.
O God, who dost encompass and
shield us by the glorious confession of blessed Theodore, Thy Martyr, grant
that we may profit by his example and be strengthened by his prayers, Through
our Lord, etc.
LESSON: Apoc, 21,
2-5:
In
those days: I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven
from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne,
saying: Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and he will dwell with them. And
they shall be his people; and God himself with them shall be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be
any more, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat on the throne, said: Behold,
I make all things new.
GRADUAL:
This place has been made by God;
it is a mystery beyond measure, it is free from all stain. O God, before whom the choir of angels
stands, give ear to the prayer of thy servants.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Ps. 137: I will worship towards thy holy temple, and I
will give glory to thy name. Alleluia
GOSPEL: St. Luke, 19, 1-10
At that time: Jesus entering in, he
walked through Jericho. And behold,
there was a man named Zacheus, who was the chief of the publicans, and he was
rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he
was, and he could not for the crowd, because he was low of stature. And running before, he climbed up into a
sycamore tree, that he might see him; for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus was come to the place, looking
up, he saw him, and said to him: Zacheus, make haste and come down; for this
day I must abide in thy house. And he made haste and came down; and received
him with joy. And when all saw
it, they murmured, saying, that he was gone to be a guest with a man that was a
sinner. But Zacheus standing, said to
the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have
wronged any man of any thing, I restore him fourfold. Jesus said to him: This day is salvation come
to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save
that which was lost.
OFFERTORY:
1 Par. 29: O Lord
God, in the simplicity of my heart I have joyfully offered all these things;
and I have seen with great joy thy people, who are present: O God of Israel, keep
this will.
SECRET:
Favorably
incline to our prayers, O Lord, we pray, that we who are enclosed within the
limits of this temple, whose dedication we celebrate on this anniversary, may
please Thee by an entire and perfect devotion of body and soul; that while we
make these our present offerings, we may by Thy assistance deserve to arrive at
eternal rewards. Through our Lord, etc.
Grant,
O merciful God, that this saving oblation may unceasingly deliver us from the
liabilities of our wrong-doing and preserve us from all adversities. Through our Lord, etc.
Receive,
O Lord, the prayers of the faithful with the offerings which they bring; and
through the intercession of blessed Theodore, they Martyr, may these offices of
loving devotion bring us to the glory of heaven. Through our Lord, etc.
COMMUNION:
Matt. 21: My house shall be called the house of prayer, saith the Lord; every one that asks therein receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.
POSTCOMMUNION:
O God,
who preparest of living and chosen stones an eternal dwelling for Thy majesty,
assist Thy suppliant people, that as Thy Church grows in corporal space, it may
be enlarged by spiritual increase.
Through our Lord, etc.
We have received,
O Lord, the gifts of this sacred mystery, humbly imploring Thee that what Thou
hast bidden us do in memory of Thee may avail for the assistance of our
weakness. Who liveth and reigneth, etc.
Grant, we
pray, O Lord, through the intercession of blessed Theodore, Thy Martyr, that
what we take with the mouth we may receive with a clean heart. Through our Lord, etc.
LAST GOSPEL: Matt. 22, 15-21
At that time, the Pharisees went and
consulted among themselves how to ensnare Jesus in his speech. And they send to
him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying: Master, we know that thou art
a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for
any man, for thou dost not regard the person of men: tell us, therefore, what
dost thou think? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? But Jesus
knowing their wickedness, said: Why do you tempt me, ye hypocrites? Show me the
coin of the tribute. And they offered him a penny. And Jesus saith to them:
Whose image and inscription is this? They say to him: Caesar's. Then he saith
to them: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God
the things that are God's.
Why did the Pharisees try to
ensnare Jesus in His speech?
In order to find some reason to accuse Him before the emperor, or to make Him hated by the Jews; for had He denied tribute to Caesar, they would have accused Him before the emperor as guilty of high treason; had He, on the contrary made it obligatory to pay tribute, then they would have denounced Him as a destroyer of the liberty of the people, who considered themselves a free nation owing allegiance only to God. Like the Pharisees are all those who, under the appearance of friendship, only cause vexation and misfortune to their neighbor.
Who are really hypocrites?
Those who in order to cheat their neighbor, appear outwardly pious and holy, whilst inward they are full of malice; those who have honey on the tongue, but gall in the heart, and sting like scorpions, when we least expect it. Because there are so many vices connected with hypocrisy (Matt. 23), therefore Christ has denounced no sin more emphatically than this one. Hypocrites are brethren of Cain, Joab, and Judas, of whom the first killed his brother, the second his cousin and the third betrayed his divine Master with a kiss. Such false men are cursed by God (Mal. 1, 14). I hate a mouth with a double tongue (Prov. 8, 13). "The devil silently possesses the hearts of hypocrites and quietly sleeps in them, whilst he gives them no peace," says St. Gregory; and St. Jerome writes: "Pretended holiness is double malice." Better is an open enemy, before whom we can be on our guard, than a hypocritical friend of whom we have no suspicion, because we look upon him as a friend. Beware, therefore, my dear Christian, of the vice of hypocrisy, which is so hateful to God; endeavor always to be sincere with God, thyself and thy neighbor, and to walk in-true humility before God, then mayest thou carry His image within thee.
PRAYER Help me, O Lord, for the number of the saints is decreasing and truth is becoming rare among men. They speak vain things each with his neighbor: their lips are deceitful, and they speak with double hearts. Let the Lord destroy all those who say: We will magnify our tongue; our lips are our own; who is Lord over us? O Lord, deliver my soul from wicked lips and deceitful tongues give me grace to preserve Thy image in my soul, by piety and virtue. Direct my heart to justice and keep it from avarice, that I may give to each his own.
PROPER OF THE SAINTS FOR THE
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 9th:
Date
Day Feast
Rank Color F/A Mass Time
|
9 |
Sun |
Dedication of the
Basilica of Our Savior 26th Sunday
after Pentecost St. Theodore, Martyr |
d2cl |
W |
|
Mass 9:00 AM; Confessions
8:00 AM; Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM |
|
10 |
Mon |
St. Andrew Avellino, C St. Tryphon & Comp., Mm |
d |
W |
|
Mass 8:30 AM: Rosary of
Reparation before Mass |
|
11 |
Tue |
St. Martin of Tours, BpC St. Mennas, M |
d |
W |
|
Mass 8:30 AM: Rosary of
Reparation before Mass |
|
12 |
Wed |
St. Martin I, PM |
sd |
R |
|
Mass 8:30 AM: Rosary of
Reparation before Mass |
|
13 |
Thu |
St. Didacus, C |
sd |
W |
|
Mass 8:30 AM: Rosary of
Reparation before Mass |
|
14 |
Fri |
St. Josaphat, BpM |
d |
R |
A |
Mass 8:30 AM: Rosary of
Reparation before Mass |
|
15 |
Sat |
St. Albert the Great, BpCD BVM-Mather of Divine Providence |
d |
W |
|
Mass 9:00 AM; Confessions
8:00AM; Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM |
|
16 |
Sun |
23rd
Sunday after Pentecost St. Gertrude, V, Abbess |
sd |
G |
|
Mass 9:00 AM; Confessions
8:00 AM; Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM |

Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and he will dwell
with them. And they shall be his people; and God himself with them shall be
their God
"Oh, how awful is this
place! Truly it is no other than the
house of God, and the gate of heaven."
Vespers Antiphon of the Magnificat for the feast of a dedication of a
Church
Constantine had placed
the imperial treasure at the disposal of the bishops; and he himself stimulated
their zeal for what he called in his edicts the work of the churches. Rome, the place of his victory by the cross,
the capital of the now Christian world, was the first to benefit by the
prince’s munificence. In a series of
dedications, to the glory of the holy apostles and martyrs, Sylvester, the
pontiff of peace, took possession of the eternal city in the name of the true
God.
Today is the birthday
of the mother and mistress of churches, called ‘of our Saviour, Aula Dei
(God’s palace), the golden basilica’; it is a new Sinai, whence the apostolic
oracles and so many Council have made known to the world the law of
salvation. No wonder this feast is
celebrated by the whole world.
Dom Gueranger, The
Liturgical Year, Dedication of the
Basilica of the Saint Saviour
Domum Dei decet
sanctitudo: Sponsum ejus Christum adoremus in ea. Such is the Invitatory antiphon, which sums
up the liturgical thought of the day: ‘Holiness becometh the house of God: let
us adore therein Christ her Spouse.’
What is this mystery of a house that is at the same time a bride? Our churches are holy because they belong to
God, and on account of the celebration of the holy Sacrifice therein, and the
prayer and praise offered to the divine Guest who dwells there. More truly than the figurative tabernacle or
the ancient temple, they are separated solemnly and for ever by their
dedication from all the dwellings of men, and exalted far above all earthly
palaces…. ‘I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven
from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne,
saying: Behold the tabernacle of God.’
Dom Gueranger, The
Liturgical Year, Dedication of a Church
Every Christian has
participation in Christ; and having become the temple of the Holy Ghost, ‘bears
God in his body.’ This ‘temple of God,’
says the apostle, ‘is holy, which you are’; the temple is the individual
Christian; it is also the Christian assembly… It is bone of His bone, flesh of
His flesh, one body with Him, and, together with Him, the one victim which is
to burn eternally with the fire of love upon the altar of heaven. At the same time, Christ is the Corner-stone
on which other living stones, all the predestined, are built up by the
apostolic architects into the holy temple of the Lord. Thus the Church is the bride, and by and with
Christ she is the house of God. She is
such already in this world, where in labour and suffering the elect stones are
chiseled, and are laid successively in the places assigned them by the divine
plan…I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from
God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And heard a great voice from the throne,
saying: Behold the tabernacle of God” (Apoc. 21, 2-3).
Dom Gueranger, The
Liturgical Year, Dedication of a Church
When Solomon dedicated the temple, he reminded Jehovah of His former
promises concerning the place He would choose for His name to dwell in. Our churches are far superior to the ancient
temple, for they have in them more than the name of the Lord; moreover, every
Christian is now the dwelling place of God.
How much more excellently such is Mary, the predestined tabernacle,
sanctified and dedicated from the first moment of her existence to the God who
was to take Flesh in her and thus begin to dwell among us!
Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Dedication of a Church
“I have loved, O Lord,
the beauty of Thy house, and the place where Thy glory dwelleth.” May this word remain with us as a lingering
fragrance of the great solemnity. Thy house,
O God, is our church, unspeakably beautiful with the splendor of the divine
mysteries. Compared with her, what was
the tabernacle that sheltered the Ark of the Covenant of Sinai? And yet the thought of it filled the heart of
David in the desert, and made him faint like the stag panting after the
fountains of water. Let us learn from
our fathers, who lived in the ages of expectation, how to love the courts of
the Lord.
Christian! The exile
which afflicted David can never be your fate; for in Baptism you became the
sanctuary of God. Let this Dedication
day remind you of the consecration which took you from yourself to make you the
temple of the Holy Ghost; to give you to Christ together with whom your life is
henceforth hidden in the sweet and fruitful secrecy of the Father’s Face. Learn to render to the blessed Trinity in
your soul a homage worthy of His
presence.
Lastly, baptized and
consecrated soul, remember that you are not alone at the banquet of God’s love;
that divine charity which unites you to Christ the Spouse must link you to His
members, and fit you, a living stone, to the other stones; preparing you here
below for your future place in the structure of the heavenly sanctuary.
Dom Gueranger,
Dedication of a Church
Three thousand six hundred and sixty churches
dedicated to St. Martin in France alone, and well nigh as many in the rest of
the world, bear witness to the immense popularity of the great
thaumaturgus. In the country, on the
mountains, and in the depth of the forests; trees, rocks, and fountains,
objects of superstitious worship to our pagan ancestors, received, and in many
places still retain, the name of him who snatched them from the dominion of the
powers of darkness to restore them to the true God. Martin’s mission was to complete the
destruction of paganism, which had been driven from the towns by the martyrs
but remained up to his time master of the vast territories removed from the
influence of the cities. It was Satan
who said to St. Martin, ‘I will beset thy path at every turn’, and he kept his
word. He has kept his word to this very
day; century after century, he has been working ruin around the glorious tomb
which once attracted the whole world to Tours; in the sixteenth, he delivered
to the flames, by the hands of the Huguenots, the venerable remains of the
protector of France.
Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, St. Martin de Tours
"The greater and more persistent your
confidence in God, the more abundantly you will receive all that you ask.
"
St Albert the Great
It is related of St.
Andrew Avellino, that ten thousand devils came to tempt him at his death.
The conflict that he had in his agony with the powers of hell was so terrible
that all the good religious who assisted him trembled. They saw the saint's
face swelled to such a degree from agitation, that it became quite black, every
limb trembled and was contorted; his eyes shed a torrent of tears, his head
shook violently; all gave evidence of the terrible assault he was enduring on
the part of his infernal foes. All wept with compassion, and redoubled
their prayers, and at the same time trembled with fear on seeing a saint die
thus. They were, however, consoled at seeing, that often, as if seeking
for help, the saint turned his eyes towards a devout picture of Mary; for they
remembered that during life he had often said that at death Mary would be his
refuge. At length God was pleased to put an end to the contest by
granting him a glorious victory; for the contortions of his body ceased, his
face resumed its original size and color, and the saint, with his eyes
tranquilly fixed on the picture, made a devout inclination to Mary (who it is
believed then appeared to him), as if in the act of thanking her, and with a
heavenly smile on his countenance tranquilly breathed forth his blessed soul
into the arms of Mary. At the same moment, a Capuchiness, who was in her
agony, turning to the nuns who surrounded her, said, "Recite a Hail Mary;
for a saint has just expired."
St. Alphonsus de
Ligouri, The Glories of Mary, On the Death of St. Andrew Avellino
But Poland left in a state of humiliating inferiority
the clergy and people of the Graeco-Slavonic rite, who had taken shelter in her
bosom; her politicians never could be true Catholics on an equality with their
Latin brethren. Soon, however, the Latin
Poles were engaged in deadly combat with the Muscovites, and we know how the
former were vanquished. Historians lay
down the causes of Poland’s defeat; but they usually forget the principal one,
which rendered it irremediable, that is the almost total destruction of the
Union of Brzesc (Brest), the forced return to schism of the immense majority of
the Ruthenians whom St. Josaphat had brought into the Catholic Church. The consummation of this execrable work
contributed more than political circumstances or military triumphs, to
establish Russia’s victory. Poland,
reduced to nine million Latins could no longer struggle against her former
rival now become her stern ruler.
Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Feast of
St. Josaphat
St. Josaphat, a native
of Wladimir, in Vokhynia, and belonging to a noble family of Kuncewitcz,
embraced monastic life in the Order of St. Basil the Great. He always kept fresh the flower of chastity,
which he had from his youth consecrated to Mary. Commissioned in spite of his early age to
govern the monastery of Bytene, he became shortly afterwards archmandrite of
Vilna and lastly very much against his
wish archbishop of Polotzk, of the Ruthenian rite.
The apostolic zeal of the youthful
Archbishop excited against him the hatred of hell. Attacked at Vitebsk by the schismatic and
heretical Orthodox, he was cruelly put to death in 1623, and obtained from God
the conversion of his murderers.
Let us pray through the intercession of
St. Josaphat that the blood he willingly shed for the conversion of the
Orthodox may bring about their return to the holy Catholic Church outside of
which there is no salvation.
Feast of St. Josaphat,
Bishop and Martyr
I adore You, O Precious
Blood of Jesus, flower of creation, fruit of virginity, ineffable instrument of
the Holy Spirit, and I rejoice at the thought that You came from the drop of
virginal blood on which eternal Love impressed its movement; You were assumed
by the Word and deified in His person. I am overcome with emotion when I think
of Your passing from the Blessed Virgin's heart into the heart of the Word,
and, being vivified by the breath of the Divinity, becoming adorable because
You became the Blood of God.
I adore You enclosed in
the veins of Jesus, preserved in His humanity like the manna in the golden urn,
the memorial of the eternal Redemption which He accomplished during the days of
His earthly life. I adore You, Blood of the new, eternal Testament, flowing
from the veins of Jesus in Gethsemane, from the flesh torn by scourges in the
Praetorium, from His pierced hands and feet and from His opened side on
Golgotha. I adore You in the Sacraments, in the Eucharist, where I know You are
substantially present....
I place my trust in
You, O adorable Blood, our Redemption, our regeneration. Fall, drop by drop,
into the hearts that have wandered from You and soften their hardness.
O adorable Blood of
Jesus, wash our stains, save us from the anger of the avenging angel. Irrigate
the Church; make her fruitful with Apostles and miracle-workers, enrich her
with souls that are holy, pure and radiant with divine beauty.
St. Albert the Great
Now, how is charity to be perfected in them? It must abound, more and more, in knowledge and in all understanding of salvation, that is, in faith. It is faith that constitutes the basis of all supernatural virtue. A restricted, a diminished, faith could never support a large and high-minded charity. Those men, therefore, are deceiving themselves whose love for revealed truth does not keep pace with their charity! Such Christianity as that believes as little as it may; it has nervous dread of new definitions; and out of respect for error, it cleverly and continually narrows the supernatural horizon. Charity, they say, is the queen of virtues; it makes them take everything easily, even lies against truth; to give the same rights to error as to truth is, in their estimation, the highest point of Christian civilization grounded on love! They quite forget that the first object of charity, God who is substantial Truth, has no greater enemy than a lie; they cannot understand how it is that a Christian does not do a work of love by putting on the same footing the Object beloved and His mortal enemy! The apostles had very different ideas; in order to make charity grow in the world, they gave it a rich sowing of truth… But now, with the connivance of those whose Baptism made them, too, children of light, error has regained its pretended rights. As a natural consequence, the charity of an immense number has grown cold in proportion; darkness is again thickening over the world, as though it were in the chill of its last agony.
Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost
It is by the path of
love, which is charity, that God draws near to man, and man to God. But where
charity is not found, God cannot dwell. If, then, we possess charity, we
possess God, for "God is Charity" (1John 4:8).
St. Albert the Great
Thus, the more
violently they try to occupy the places of worship, the more they separate
themselves from the Church. They claim that they represent the Church; but in
reality, they are the ones who are expelling themselves from it and going
astray. Even if Catholics faithful to the Tradition are reduced to a handful,
they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ.
St. Athanasius
The apostolate should
always be exercised in a saintly manner, with such purity of intention, such
interior union with God, such generous forgetfulness and abnegation of self,
and with so great a love for souls that the apostolate flows from the interior
spirit which informs it and at the same time nourishes and renews this same
spirit.
Pope Pius XII, Primo
Feliciter
Eternal Father, I offer the precious Body, Blood,
Soul and Divinity of Thy only begotten Son, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, sinners everywhere, sinners in the Universal
Church and those within my home and within my family. Our Lord to St. Gertrude, if said with true
devotion, would free 1000 souls from Purgatory
INSTRUCTION ON THE FOLLY OF HUMAN RESPECT
Thou art a true speaker ' neither carest thou or any man, for thou dost
not regard the person of men (Matt. 22, 16).
In this Christians ought especially to follow the Saviour, and not permit themselves to be deterred from piety, and the practice of virtue by fear or human respect. What matters it, what people think and say of us, if we only please God? He alone can truly benefit or injure us; therefore he alone is to be feared, as Christ says: Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt. 10, 28).
How foolishly, therefore, do those act
who through fear of displeasing certain people, are afraid to serve God and
practice piety; who even go so far as to commit sin; who in order to be
pleasing to others, oppress innocent, poor and forsaken people; who adopt the
latest and most scandalous fashions and customs; those who eat meat on days of
abstinence, or give it to others; those who sing sinful songs, or what is still
worse, do not hesitate to ridicule sacred things to give others occasion to
laugh, or in order to be considered strong-minded. Implore God daily and
sincerely, that He may take from you this vain fear of men and give you instead
the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom.
INSTRUCTION ON THE VALUE AND DIGNITY OF THE SOUL
Whose image is this? (Matt. 22, 20)
Thus
we should often ask ourselves with respect to our soul, particularly when we
are tempted to stain and ruin it by sin, Whose image is this? We should then
say to ourselves, "Is it not the likeness of God, a likeness painted with
the blood of Jesus, an image for which the Saviour gave His life? Should I
defile and deform this by sin and voluptuousness? God forbid!" For in
truth, what among all created things, except the angels, is more beautiful and more
precious than a human soul, which is in the state of grace? "Could
we," says St. Catherine of Sienna, "behold with our corporal eyes a
soul in the state of grace, we would see with astonishment that it surpasses in
splendor all flowers, all stars, the whole world, and there is probably no one
who would not wish to die for such beauty." It is a dwelling of the
Blessed Trinity! Christ did not give His life for all the goods and treasures
of this earth, but for the human soul. And yet many estimate their soul at such
little value that they sell it for a momentary pleasure, for a present not
worth a penny! For shame! The body we estimate so highly that we take all pains
to decorate it and keep it alive, and the soul the image and likeness of God,
we take no pains to keep in the state of grace, and adorn with virtues! What
folly!
Some say they are not
bound by the doctrine, explained in Our Encyclical Letter [Mystici Corporis]
of a few years ago, and based on the Sources of Revelation, which teaches that
the Mystical Body of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one and the same
thing. Some reduce to a meaningless formula the necessity of belonging to the
true Church in order to gain eternal salvation. Others finally belittle the
reasonable character of the credibility of Christian faith.
These and like errors,
it is clear, have crept in among certain of Our sons who are deceived by
imprudent zeal for souls or by false science. To them We are compelled with
grief to repeat once again truths already well known, and to point out with
solicitude clear errors and dangers of error.
Pope Pius XII, Humani
Generis
It follows that ignorance has the nature of mortal sin on account of
either a preceding negligence, or the consequent result; and, for this reason,
ignorance is reckoned one of the general causes of sin. All sin proceeds from ignorance.
St. Thomas Aquinas
TWENTY‑SECOND
SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST OUR DUTIES
PRESENCE OF GOD ‑ Teach me, O Lord,
to fulfill all my duties in homage to Your sovereign Majesty.
I. The teachings contained in the Mass of this
Sunday can be synthesized in the well-known statement of Jesus, which we read
in the Gospel (Mt 22, I5‑21) of this day.
"Render. . . to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God,
the things that are God's "; in other
words,
fulfill with exactness your duties toward God and toward your neighbor, by
giving to each one his due.
The
Epistle (Phil I, 6‑11) presents St. Paul to us as a model of charity
toward those whom God has confided to his care. "I have you in my
heart," writes the Apostle to the Philippians, "for that in my bands
and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, you all are partakers of my
joy." St. Paul is keenly aware of
his spiritual paternity toward the souls he has begotten in Christ; even from a
distance, he feels responsible for their success, is preoccupied with their
perseverance in good, sustains them with his fatherly affection and wise
counsels : "Being confident of this very thing, that He, who hath begun a
good work in you, will perfect it unto the day, of Christ Jesus." He does
not want them to be frightened because he is far away from them: he is nothing
but a poor instrument, God alone is the true guide of souls, and He will
complete the work begun. As for him, they may be certain that he does not cease
to love them: "For God is my witness how I long after you all in the heart
of Jesus Christ."
St. John Chrysostom asserts that the heart
of Paul is the heart of Christ because of the great love for souls which makes
him so like the Redeemer; thus should it be possible to say of the heart of
every apostle. When God has put us in contact with a soul and has asked us to
occupy ourselves with it, we can no longer be disinterested; this soul is
henceforth bound to ours, we should feel responsible for it, and bound to help
it even to the end.
After having spoken to us of the solicitude
we should have for those confided to our care, the Epistle reminds us also of
charity toward our neighbor in general : "That your charity may more and
more abound in knowledge and in all understanding : that you may approve the
better things." He speaks of a charity increasingly delicate in its
understanding of the souls of others, adapting itself with an ever more refined
tact to the mind, the demands, the tastes of others; a charity which must urge
us, as St. Paul says, to "approve"‑ and therefore, to do ‑"the
better things," in order that we "may be sincere and without offence
unto the day of Christ.”
2.
The Gospel outlines, clearly and distinctly, the position of the
Christian toward civil authority. The insidious question : "Is it lawful
to give tribute to Caesar, or not?" gives Jesus the occasion to solve the
problem of the relation between religious and civil duties. He asks for a coin
and says : "Whose image and inscription is this? They say to Him :
Caesar's. Then He saith to them : Render, therefore, to Caesar the things that
are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
There is no opposition between the rights
of political power and the rights of God, since "there would be no power
unless it were given from above" (cf. Jn. 19, 11) : political authority,
legitimately constituted, comes from God and must be respected as a reflection
of the divine authority. This is precisely the reason why every Christian is
bound to fulfill all the duties of a good citizen, and, consequently, must obey
political authority, unless its orders are opposed to the law of God; for, in
this case, it would no longer represent divine authority and then, as St. Peter
says, "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5,29).
We must not believe that because we are
vowed to the apostolate or dedicated to religious works, we are, by this fact,
dispensed from civic duties; on the contrary, even in this domain Catholics
should be in the front rank. Emperors, kings, statesmen, soldiers, whom the
Church honors as saints, tell us that sanctity is possible everywhere and for everyone,
that it can be realized by those who dedicate themselves to the service of the
State, because even here it is a question of serving God in His creatures.
By telling us to render to Caesar what is
Caesar's, Jesus teaches us to give to the State all that falls under its jurisdiction,
that is, everything that concerns temporal order and the public good. But Jesus
does not stop there, He says more
"Give
to God what is God's." If the coin which bears the image of Caesar should
be restored to Caesar, with much greater reason should our soul, which bears
the image of God, be restored to God. To say that we must give our soul to God,
is to say that we owe Him everything, because, as a matter of fact, we have
received everything from Him. In this sense, to fulfill our duties toward our
neighbor, toward our equals or our inferiors, toward our ecclesiastical or
civil superiors, is to fulfill our duty toward God; it is to restore to Him
everything He has given us, by submitting our freedom to His law, by putting
our will in the service of His will.
"O my God, since I am Yours for so
many reasons, and have so many obligations to serve You, permit no longer that
sin, or Satan, or the world, usurp, even in the slightest degree, that which is
entirely Yours. But, if it please You, take complete and absolute possession of
my being and of my life. Here I am, O my God, I give myself entirely to You,
protesting to You that I do not wish to exist but for You, and that I do not
want to think, or say, or do, or suffer anything but for Your love, today,
tomorrow, and always" (St. John Eudes).
`'O my Lord Jesus, You gave Yourself to me
and You ask only for my heart. But, O my Lord, what is this poor heart of mine
when You are all? If my heart were worth a more than those of all the children
of men combined, and all the love of the angels, and if its capacity were so
great, that it could contain more than all the empyreal heaven, I would
consecrate it wholly to You. It would be a very poor gift, and even almost
nothing, to so great a Lord. ` But, how
much more shall I not give You, and wholly repose in You, this little spark of
a heart which I find in myself! Because this is for me a very great thing, that
You should deign to keep my heart. Would
it not be folly if I should consecrate it henceforth to some creature, when my
God wills it for Himself? I do not want
it to remain any longer in me, but to repose entirely in You, who have created
it to praise You. It is better that I
place my heart in eternal Joy, in divine majesty and in immense goodness,
rather than in my frailty; that I place it in Your deity, rather than in my
iniquity” (St. Bonaventure).

Then he saith to them: Render therefore to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.
To
be open to the truth of real things and to live by perceived truth: these
constitute the essence of the moral person.
Only one who sees and affirms this objective reality is also able to recognize
how deeply the ruin penetrates that an unchaste heart allows to happen within
itself.
Josef
Pieper, Brief Reader on the Virtues of
the Human Heart
Bishop Guido Marini, Pope Benedict’s Master of Ceremonies, said that there is no difference in the
traditional Church before Vatican II (1962-1965) and after. He stated:
"Terms like 'preconciliar' and 'postconciliar,' belong to an outdated
language, and if they are used with the intention of indicating a discontinuity
in the Church's journey, I maintain that they are mistaken and typical of highly
reductive ideological views."
Cardinal Kasper teaches:
… today we no longer understand ecumenism in the sense of a return, by which the others would ‘be converted’ and return to being Catholics. This was expressly abandoned by Vatican II.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, Prefect of Vatican Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Feb. 26, 2001
The Church Infallibly
Teaches:
…
the union of Christians can only be promoted
by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are
separated from it.
Pope
Pius XI, Mortalium
Animos
The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives….
Pope
Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Cantate Domino
Cardinal Kasper teaches:
The old theory of substitution (of the New Covenant for the Old) is gone since the Second Vatican Council… Therefore, the Church believes that Judaism, that is, the faithful response of the Jewish people to God’s irrevocable covenant, is salvific for them, because God is faithful to his promises.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, Prefect of Vatican Council for Promoting Christian Unity, May 1, 2001
The Church Infallibly Teaches:
The
Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and teaches that the matter
pertaining to the law of the Old Testament, of the Mosaic Law, which are
divided into ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments, because they
were established to signify something in the future, although they were suited
to divine worship at that time, after our Lord’s coming had been signified by
them, ceased, and the sacraments of the New Testament began; and that whoever,
even after the passion, placed hope in these matters of the law and submitted
himself to them as necessary for salvation, as if faith in Christ could not
save without them, sinned mortally. Yet it does not deny that after the
passion of Christ up to the promulgation of the Gospel they could have been
observed until they were believed to be in no way necessary for salvation; but
after the promulgation of the Gospel it asserts that they cannot be observed
without the loss of eternal salvation. All, therefore, who after that
time (the promulgation of the Gospel) observe circumcision and the Sabbath and
the other requirements of the law, it declares alien to the Christian faith and
not in the least fit to participate in eternal salvation, unless someday they
recover from these errors.
Pope
Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Cantate
Domino
Let us begin with regulating
the understanding and the will.
The primary means is
prayer, by which is sought the light of the Holy Ghost… The second is a
persistent application to the serious and diligent examination of every object
in order to distinguish the good from the evil. A judgment is formed which is
not in accord with external appearances, the testimony of our senses, or the
standards of a corrupt world, but which is conformable to the judgment of the
Holy Ghost.
Then we shall clearly
see that what the world pursues with such eagerness and affection is mere
vanity and illusion; that ambition and pleasure are dreams which, once
shattered, are succeeded by sorrow and regret; that ignominy is a subject of
glory, and sufferings a source of joy; that nothing can be more noble or
approach the Divine nature more closely than to forgive those who injure us,
and to return good for evil.
We shall see clearly
that it is greater to despise the world than to have it at one's command; that
it is infinitely preferable to submit to the humblest of men for God's sake,
than to command kings and princes; that an humble knowledge of ourselves
surpasses the deepest sciences; in short, that greater praise is due to him who
curbs his passion on the most trivial occasions, than to him who conquers the
strongest cities, defeats entire armies, or even works miracles and raises the
dead to life.
Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, The
Spiritual Combat
If the Son of God will have all men to be saved, how is it that so many
suffer the torments of Hell? I answer in
one word: They wish it. He sends
preachers of His Gospel to all parts of the world to proclaim: “He who
believes, and is baptized, shall be saved.”
And if any are unwilling to enter on this way, they perish by their own
fault and not by the lack of will on the part of the Redeemer. For an hour the perfidious Jews exulted over
Christ in His sufferings; Judas for an hour enjoyed the price of his avarice;
for an hour Pilate gloried that he had regained the friendship of Herod and not
lost the friendship of Caesar. But for
nearly two thousand years they have all been suffering the torments of Hell;
and their cries of despair will be heard forever and ever.
St. Robert Bellarmine
"There are two things that kill
the soul, despair and perverted hope."
St. Augustine
The
Church of Christ, therefore, is one and the same for ever; those who leave it
depart from the will and command of Christ, the Lord - leaving the path of
salvation they enter on that of perdition. "Whosoever is separated from
the Church is united to an adulteress. He has cut himself off from the promises
of the Church, and he who leaves the Church of Christ cannot arrive at the
rewards of Christ....He who observes not this unity observes not the law of
God, holds not the faith of the Father and the Son, clings not to life and
salvation" (S. Cyprianus, De Cath. Eccl. Unitate, n. 6)…..
The Church, founded on these principles and
mindful of her office, has done nothing with greater zeal and endeavour than
she has displayed in guarding the integrity of the faith. Hence she regarded as
rebels and expelled from the ranks of her children all who held beliefs on any
point of doctrine different from her own. The Arians, the Montanists, the
Novatians, the Quartodecimans, the Eutychians, did not certainly reject all
Catholic doctrine: they abandoned only a certain portion of it. Still who does
not know that they were declared heretics and banished from the bosom of the
Church? In like manner were condemned all authors of heretical tenets who
followed them in subsequent ages. "There can be nothing more dangerous
than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by
one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by
our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition" (Auctor Tract. de Fide
Orthodoxa contra Arianos).
The practice of the Church has always been
the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont
to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would
recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her
authoritative Magisterium. Epiphanius, Augustine, Theodore:, drew up a long
list of the heresies of their times. St. Augustine notes that other heresies
may spring up, to a single one of which, should any one give his assent, he is
by the very fact cut off from Catholic unity. "No one who merely disbelieves
in all (these heresies) can for that reason regard himself as a Catholic or
call himself one. For there may be or may arise some other heresies, which are
not set out in this work of ours, and, if any one holds to one single one of
these he is not a Catholic" (S. Augustinus, De Haeresibus, n. 88)….
Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum
By their fruit you shall know
them!
Attendance at Mass. - A
1958 Gallup Poll reported that three in four Catholics attended church on Sundays.
A recent study by the University of Notre Dame found that only one in four now
attend. Only 10 percent of lay religious teachers now accept church teaching on
contraception. Fifty-three percent believe a Catholic can have an abortion and
remain a good Catholic. Sixty-five percent believe that Catholics may divorce
and remarry. Seventy-seven percent believe one can be a good Catholic without
going to mass on Sundays. By one New York Times poll, 70 percent of all
Catholics in the age group 18 to 44 believe the Eucharist is merely a
"symbolic reminder" of Jesus.
Religious Orders - For
religious orders in America, the end is in sight. In 1965, 3,559 young men were
studying to become Jesuit priests. In 2000, the figure was 389. With the
Christian Brothers, the situation is even more dire. Their number has shrunk by
two-thirds, with the number of seminarians falling 99 percent. In 1965, there
were 912 seminarians in the Christian Brothers. In 2000, there were only seven.
The number of young men studying to become Franciscan and Redemptorist priests
fell from 3,379 in 1965 to 84 in 2000.
Catholic schools -
Almost half of all Catholic high schools in the United States have closed since
1965. The student population has fallen from 700,000 to 386,000. Parochial
schools suffered an even greater decline. Some 4,000 have disappeared, and the
number of pupils attending has fallen below 2 million -- from 4.5 million.
Though the number of U.S. Catholics has risen by 20 million since 1965, Jones'
statistics show that the power of Catholic belief and devotion to the Faith are
not nearly what they were.
Patrick Buchanan
comments on Kenneth Jones, Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The
Church Since Vatican II.
Obedience to the will of God was, for the Jews, at all times, an
impregnable rampart against all their enemies; it turned a Saul, a persecutor
of the Church, into a Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles; it turned the early
Christians into martyrs, for martyrdom does not consist in suffering and dying
for the Faith; it consists, rather, in the conformity of the martyr’s will to
the Divine will, which requires such a kind of death and not another.
Fr. Michael Mueller, C.SS.R., Prayer,
The Key to Salvation
Therefore it is Our duty to help men and nations who are in distress,
and to eliminate all present and threatening evils [...] If ever anything
deters, prevents, or delays any one of us from performing this task, what a
disgraceful sin he will commit! Therefore, omit no watchfulness, diligence,
care, and effort, in order to "guard the deposit" of Christ's
teaching whose destruction has been planned, as you know, by a great
conspiracy.
Pope Pius VII, Diu Satis, On
the Return to Gospel Principles
Efforts must therefore
be made to bring about an organization of society in which the life of the
people will not be subordinate to and at the mercy of Stock Exchange operations
and financial coups by the few. Already, in the great Encyclical Rerum
Novarum, May 15th, 1891, Pope Leo XIII had alluded to the havoc wrought by
usury. “For the ancient working-men's guilds were abolished in the last century
and no other organization took their place. Public institutions and the very
laws have set aside the ancient religion. Hence, by degrees, it has come to
pass that workingmen have been surrendered, all isolated and helpless, to the
hard-heartedness of employers and the greed of unchecked competition. The
mischief has been increased by rapacious usury, which, although more than once
condemned by the Church, is nevertheless, under a different guise, but with the
like injustice still practiced by covetous and grasping men. To this must be
added … the concentration of so many branches of trade in the hands of a few
individuals, so that a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon
the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of
slavery itself.”
Rev. Denis Fahey, The
Kingship of Christ According to the Principles of St. Thomas
Blessed Margaret Mary received from our Divine Lord another communication
relative to Charity. He showed her the soul of a deceased person who had to
undergo but a light chastisement, and he told her that among all the good works
which this person had performed in the world, He had taken into special
consideration certain humiliations to which she had submitted in the world,
because she had suffered them in the spirit of charity, not only without
murmuring, but even without speaking of them. Our Lord added, that, in
recompense, He had given her a mild and favorable judgment.
Fr. Paul Sullivan, O.P., How to Avoid Purgatory
The Church is One, Holy, Catholic Apostolic,
and Roman : unique, the Chair founded on Peter. Outside her fold is to be found nether the true
faith nor eternal salvation, for it is impossible to have God for a Father if
one does not have the Church for a Mother.
Blessed Pope Pius IX, Singulari Quidem
The (natural) moral virtues can
make a man honest and virtuous, and can regulate his actions according to
reason, but they can in no way bring him into friendship with God or even give
him the possibility of meriting eternal life.
Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary
Magdalen, Divine Intimacy
“The
New Evangelization” – Without a foundation of repentance, prayer, and penance
there will be no fruit for, “The Interior Life is the Soul of the Apostolate.”
The purpose of the struggle
against our passions, the practice of the virtues, recollection, prayer, the
practice of the presence of God, and frequent reception of the Sacraments, is
to foster union with God and the growth of charity. The interior life is a secret hearth where a
soul in contact with God is inflamed with His love, and precisely because it is
inflamed and forged by love, it becomes a docile instrument which God can use
to diffuse love into the hearts of others.
Therefore, it is very important to recall frequently this great
principle: the interior life is the soul
of the apostolate. A deep interior
life therefore, from it will spring a fruitful apostolate, a true sharing in
Christ’s work of saving souls… Where there is little or no interior life,
charity and friendship with God are in danger of being extinguished; and if
this interior flame be extinguished, then the apostolate will be emptied of its
substance and reduced to mere external activity which may make a great noise,
but will not bring forth and fruit.
Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary
Magdalen, O.C.D., Divine Intimacy
This is the goal of those secret sects which have come forth from the darkness
to destroy and desolate both the sacred and civil commonwealth. [.....]
"It is an act of great piety to expose the concealments of the impious and
to defeat there the devil himself whose slaves they are" (Pope Leo the
Great). Therefore we entreat you to use
every means of revealing to your faithful people the many kinds of plots,
pretense, errors, deceit and contrivance which are enemies use.[....] Also
exhort them unceasingly to flee from the sects and societies of the impious as
from the presence of the Serpent earnestly avoiding everything which is at
variance with the wholeness of the faith, religion and morality.
Blessed Pius IX, Qui Pluribus,
(Against the Secret Societies)
Therefore the sacred
partnership of true marriage is constituted both by the will of God and the
will of man. From God comes the very institution of marriage, the ends for
which it was instituted, the laws that govern it, the blessings that flow from
it; while man, through generous surrender of his own person made to another for
the whole span of life, becomes, with the help and cooperation of God, the
author of each particular marriage, with the duties and blessings annexed
thereto from divine institution. Now when We come to explain, Venerable
Brethren, what are the blessings that God has attached to true matrimony, and
how great they are, there occur to Us the words of that illustrious Doctor of
the Church whom We commemorated recently in Our Encyclical Ad salutem on
the occasion of the fifteenth centenary of his death: "These," says
St. Augustine, "are all the blessings of matrimony on account of which
matrimony itself is a blessing; offspring, conjugal faith and the
sacrament." And how under these three heads is contained a splendid
summary of the whole doctrine of Christian marriage, the holy Doctor himself
expressly declares when he said: "By conjugal faith it is provided that
there should be no carnal intercourse outside the marriage bond with another
man or woman; with regard to offspring, that children should be begotten of
love, tenderly cared for and educated in a religious atmosphere; finally, in
its sacramental aspect that the marriage bond should not be broken and that a
husband or wife, if separated, should not be joined to another even for the
sake of offspring. This we regard as the law of marriage by which the
fruitfulness of nature is adorned and the evil of incontinence is restrained.
Pope Pius XI, Casti Connubii, On Christian Marriage
The belief in the existence of one God who rewards and punishes,
known by natural reason, is the necessary precondition for receiving the virtue
of supernatural faith.
But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to
God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him. Heb. 1,
6
Of course charity itself is
impossible without faith and hope. Could anyone love a man if he did not
believe it was possible to be or become his friend? Or if he despaired of ever
gaining his friendship? So it is with man in relation to God as He is in
Himself. Man must believe it is possible to attain a perfect friendship with
God in Heaven and he must hope to attain this friendship through God’s power
before he can love God as his supernatural destiny.
Fr. Walter Farrell, O. P. and
Fr. Marin Healy, My Way of Life – The
Summa Simplified for Everyone
There
is no difference between this example of Jewish “truth” and Novus Ordo theology
and praxis?
Lying is now a
“heightened version of reality” because it may be “true in a higher
metaphysical sense”!?
. . . . What anti-Semites keep insisting are
“fake Holocaust stories” need to be seen in a more positive light as “the truth
of imagination,” to quote the famous phrase of the poet John Keats. If
something is perceived as true by the mind, though strictly speaking it may not have happened, and if that
event is subsequently seen as a living truth in the minds of millions of other
good people who have been exposed to that same heightened version of reality,
then it must on no account be dismissed as a “lie” ( . . . ) All
such stories are true in a higher metaphysical sense, and to deny them is a
sacrilege ( . . . ) We have a sacred obligation to the six
million who died under the tyranny of the evil Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler to
remember the dead and dismiss with contempt all attempts to deny the Holocaust
by referring to “fake Holocaust stories.” I repeat: there is
no such thing as a fake Holocaust story. Every Holocaust story is true, 100 per
cent true, whether it happened or not. ( . . . ) In
the sublime words of Elie Wiesel: “In literature, certain things are true
though they didn’t happen, while others are not true, even if they did happen.”
Seymour Zak, defending “fake Holocaust stories” after Herman
Rosenblat’s holocaust story, An Angel at
the Fence, was publically exposed as a pure fabrication. Hollywood was unmoved. The film production based upon the book
proceeded as planned.
Dogma
is the proximate Rule of Faith. Deny this Catholic truth and this is what
follows. So now we have an infallibly infallible magisterium and an infallibly
non-infallible magisterium! The pope becomes the revealer of truth rather than
its divinely appointed guardian!
This false accusation railed against Pope Francis, claiming that he is teaching
or prompting heresy in part of his Ordinary Magisterium is in effect a denial
of the one of the essential truths behind the teaching authority of the Roman
Pontiff, who is granted Divine assistance which prevents him from erring in
matters of faith and morals, even when teaching non-infallibly.
So while there may be certain deficiencies present in the Ordinary
Magisterium, the faithful are still required to submit their will and intellect
to its higher prudential judgment by giving religious assent, and such
deficiencies can never fall into error in matters of faith and morals through
the promise of Divine assistance accorded to even these non-infallible
pronouncements.
Emmett O'Regan, published by Vatican Insider
"Knowest thou what it is to love Me in
truth? It is to realize that everything
which is not pleasing to Me is a lie."
Our Lord, Jesus Christ to St. Teresa of Avila
[.....] Moreover, because the preceding errors and many others are
contained in the books or writings of Martin Luther, we likewise condemn,
reprobate, and reject completely the books and all the writings and sermons of
the said Martin, whether in Latin or any other language, containing the said
errors or any one of them; and we wish them to be regarded as utterly condemned,
reprobated, and rejected. We
forbid each and every one of the faithful of either sex, in virtue of holy
obedience and under the above penalties to be incurred automatically, to read,
assert, preach, praise, print, publish, or defend them. They will incur these
penalties if they presume to uphold them in any way, personally or through
another or others, directly or indirectly, tacitly or explicitly, publicly or
occultly, either in their own homes or in other public or private places.
Indeed immediately after the publication of this letter these works, wherever
they may be, shall be sought out carefully by the ordinaries and others
[ecclesiastics and regulars], and under each and every one of the above
penalties shall be burned publicly and solemnly in the presence of the clerics
and people. As far as Martin himself is concerned, O good God, what have we
overlooked or not done? What fatherly charity have we omitted that we might
call him back from such errors? [.....]
Pope Leo X, Exsurge Domine,
condemnation of Martin Luther and all those who embrace his heresy.
The world is governed by very different personages to what is imagined
by those who are not behind the scenes....
That mighty revolution which is at the moment preparing in Germany, and
which will be, in fact, a second and greater Reformation, and of which so
little is yet known in England, is developing entirely under the auspices of
the Jews. [.....]
One can trace Jewish influence in the last revolutionary explosions in Europe
(1848). An insurrection has taken place against traditions, religion and
property, the destruction of the semitic principle, the extirpation of the
Jewish religion, either under its Mosaic or Christian form, the natural
equality of men and the annulment of property are proclaimed by the secret
societies which form the provisional government, and men of Jewish race are
found at the head of each of them. The People of God cooperate with atheists,
the most ardent accumulators of property link themselves with communists. The
select and chosen race walks hand in hand with the scum of the lower castes of
Europe. And all this because they wish to destroy this Christianity which owes
them its very name and whose tyranny they can no longer bear.
Benjamin Disraeli, Jewish Prime Minister of Great Britain, from Vicomte
Leon De Poncins, The Secret Powers behind
Revolution, Freemasonry and Judaism, 1929
And, lastly, to sum all up in a word. As the Incarnation is God’s Book
of Life, the knowledge of his Sacred Heart is the interpretation and the
unfolding of that Book. The whole mystery of God and of man, and the relations
of God and man in grace and in glory, are all written in the Sacred Heart. They
that know the Sacred Heart know God; they that love the Sacred Heart love God;
and they that are made like to the Sacred Heart are made like to God. It is the
compendium of the whole science of God, of the whole way of salvation, of the
whole gospel of eternal life.
Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, The
Sacred Heart, God's Way of Love
Religious
Liberty from Vatican II has its root in the Americanist Heresy
On every side the dread phantom of war holds
sway: there is scarce room for another thought in the minds of men. The
combatants are the greatest and wealthiest nations of the earth; what wonder,
then, if, well provided with the most awful weapons modern military science has
devised, they strive to destroy one another with refinements of horror. There
is no limit to the measure of ruin and of slaughter; day by day the earth is
drenched with newly-shed blood, and is covered with the bodies of the wounded
and of the slain. Who would imagine as we see them thus filled with hatred of
one another, that they are all of one common stock, all of the same nature, all
members of the same human society? ....We implore those in whose hands are
placed the fortunes of nations to hearken to Our voice. Surely there are other
ways and means whereby violated rights can be rectified. Let them be tried
honestly and with good will, and let arms meanwhile be laid aside.
Benedict XV, Ad beatissimi apostolorum, November 1, 1914
“We consider the establishment of our
country’s independence, the shaping of its liberties and laws, as a work of
special Providence, its framers ‘building better than they knew,’ the
Almighty’s hand guiding them. We believe that our country’s heroes were the
instruments of the God of nations in establishing this home of freedom; to both
the Almighty and to His instruments in the work we look with grateful
reverence. And to maintain the inheritance of freedom which they have left us,
should it ever–which God forbid—be imperiled, our Catholic citizens will be
found to stand forward as one man, ready to pledge anew ‘their lives, their
fortunes, and their sacred honor.’”
Archbishop (soon to be Cardinal) James
Gibbons, addressing the American bishops at the Third Plenary Council of
Baltimore, 1884 attended by 14 archbishops and 61 bishops.
Moved to the very depths of our hearts by the
stirring appeal of the President of the United States, and by the action of our
national Congress, we accept whole-heartedly and unreservedly the decree of
that legislative authority proclaiming this country to be in a state of war.
Inspired neither by hate nor fear, but by the holy sentiments of truest
patriotic fervor and zeal, we stand ready, we and all the flock committed to
our keeping, to cooperate in every way possible with our President and our
national government, to the end that the great and holy cause of liberty may
triumph and that our beloved country may emerge from this hour of test stronger
and nobler than ever. Our people, as ever, will rise as one man to serve the
nation.
Pledge of U.S. Catholic Archbishops, April
18, 1917; sent to President Woodrow Wilson by Cardinal James Gibbons,
Archbishop of Baltimore, the leading Catholic prelate in the United States.
“The primary duty of a citizen is loyalty to
country. It is exhibited by an absolute and unreserved obedience to his
country’s call.”
Cardinal James Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore
(1877-1921), April 1917 in support of the U.S. declaration of war against
Germany and Austria-Hungary. The Balfour Declaration agreement committed the
British to deliver Palestine into Jewish hands in return for the Jews bringing
the United States into WWI in support of the British. Cardinal James Gibbons
was the chief propagator of the heresy of Americanism which became settled
Novus Ordo doctrine after Vatican II (religious liberty) primarily by the work
of Fr. John Courtney Murray who greatly admired Cardinal Gibbons. Gibbons did
his best to align American Catholics with Jewish interests to bring the United
States into the Great War. In doing so Gibbons worked directly to undermine the
peace plans of Pope Benedict XV. Pope Benedict devised a generous peace plan
and contacted Cardinal Gibbons to do what he could to influence the United
States government to back his offer of a negotiated peace. Gibbons did nothing
of the sort. While giving lip service to the Pope's peace plan six months too
late, he in fact never contacted President Wilson or any official of the
government to even mention Pope Benedict's peace plan. Gibbons was too busy
building the National Catholic War Council (NCWC) and supporting the call of
universal military service. The purpose of the NCWC as Gibbons said in a letter
to all American bishops was to form “the mental and moral preparation of our
people for the war.”
To
Congar's credit, he at least told the truth about what he helped destroy!
“It cannot be denied that the Declaration
on Religious Liberty does say materially something else than the Syllabus of
1864; it even says just about the opposite of
Propositions 15 and 77 to 79 of this document..... I collaborated on the
final paragraphs which left me less satisfied. It involved demonstrating that the theme of
religious liberty was already contained in Scripture. Now, it isn't there.”
Cardinal Yves Marie Joseph Congar, O.P., forbidden to teach by
the Church and whose books were suppressed in the early 1950s, made a peritus
at Vatican II by Novus Ordo St. John XXIII, and is considered by many to have
been the most influential of all the periti. He was raised to the cardinalate
by Novus Ordo St. John Paul II. He rejected the dogmatic teaching of Trent
which his teacher and mentor, Fr. Marie-Dominique Chenu, O.P., derisively called “Baroque
theology”.
Excerpts
from the Diary of Msgr. Joseph Fenton:
·
“He
[Cardinal Ottaviani] remarked that we were on the eve of the Council, and that
no one knew who the Council’s theologians were to be.” (Sept. 28, 1962)
·
“It is a
crime that we did not take the Anti-Modernist Oath. Poor O[ttaviani] must have
failed to have our own profession passed by the central commission. It
contained his condemnation of [Fr. John Courtney] Murray [the Americanist
heretic who structured the Council teaching on Religious Liberty].” (Oct. 9,
1962)
·
“I had
always thought that this council was dangerous. It was started for no
sufficient reason. There was too much talk about what it was supposed to
accomplish. Now I am afraid that real trouble is on the way.” (Oct. 13,
1962)
·
“I
started to read the material on the Liturgy, and I was shocked at the bad
theology. They actually have been stupid enough [to say] that the Church
is ‘simul humanam et divininam, visibilem et invisibilem’ [at the same
time human and divine, visible and invisible]. And they speak of the Church
working ‘quousque unum ovile fiat et unus pastor’ [until there be one fold
and one shepherd], as if that condition were not already achieved.” (Oct. 19,
1962)
·
“I do not
think that any little work on our part is going to bring good to the Church. We
should, I believe, face the facts. Since the death of [Pope] St. Pius X the
Church has been directed by weak and liberal popes, who have flooded the
hierarchy with unworthy and stupid men. This present conciliar set-up makes
this all the more apparent. [Fr.] Ed Hanahoe, the only intelligent and
faithful member of [Cardinal] Bea’s secretariat has been left off the list of
the periti. Such idiots as [Mgr. John
S.] Quinn and the sneak [Fr. Frederick] McManus have been put on. [Fr. George]
Tavard is there as an American, God help us. From surface appearance it
would seem that the Lord Christ is abandoning His Church. The thoughts of many
are being revealed. As one priest used to say, to excuse his own
liberalism, which, in the bottom of his heart he knew was wrong, ‘for the
last few decades the tendency in Rome has been to favor the
liberals.’ That is the policy now. We can only do what we can to overt
an ever more complete disloyalty to Christ.” (Oct. 19, 1962)
·
“[Fr.] Ed
Hanahoe gave me two books on Modernism. In one of them I found evidence that
the teaching in the first chapter of the new schema on the Church [that became
the Vatican II dogmatic constitution Lumen
Gentium] and the language are those of [the excommunicated Modernist Fr.
George Tyrrell [who died outside the Catholic Church and was denied
ecclesiastical burial]. May God preserve His Church from that chapter. If it
passes, it will be a great evil. I must pray and act.” (Sept. 24, 1963)
Paul
VI declared Novus Ordo Saint. So just what is a “Novus Ordo Saint”?
A Novus Ordo Saint is a man-made saint. Contrasted with Catholic saints
who are God-made saints. In virtue of their union with God they are sanctified,
and therefore, Catholic Saints exhibit heroic virtue in their lives. God
confirms their sanctity by working miracles through their intercession and
thus, a cult of veneration (dulia) develops and spreads throughout the Church.
The Church recognizes God's evidence that they are saints and declares this
fact to the universal Church. Contrary to this, Novus Ordo Saints are man-made
saints and their elevation to the title of sainthood is for the purpose of
promoting the human ideology exemplified in their lives. There is no real cult
of veneration (dulia) among the faithful to Novus Ordo Saints. Since God does
not work true miracles through the intercession of man-made saints, only man-made
miracles are required for the beatification of man-made Novus Ordo Saints.
Finally, the Novus Ordo beatification process does have a promotor fidei,
the so-called “devil’s advocate,” although his role has been change as the promotor ideologiae. The greatest
difference between Catholic Saints and Novus Ordo Saints is that the former are
in heaven and the latter, very well may not be.
The day when society, forgetting her (the Church’s) doctrinal
decisions, has asked the press and the tribune, newspapers and assemblies, what
is truth and what is error, on that day error and truth are confounded in all
intellects, society enters on the regions of shadows, and falls under the
empire of fictions….. The doctrinal intolerance of the Church has saved the world
from chaos. Her doctrinal intolerance has placed beyond question political,
domestic, social, and religious truths, - primitive and holy truths, which are
not subject to discussion, because they are the foundation of all discussions;
truths which cannot be called into doubt for a moment without the understanding
on that moment oscillating, lost between truth and error, and the clear mirror
of human reason becoming soiled and obscured… Doubt perpetually comes from
doubt, and skepticism from skepticism, as truth from faith, and science from
truth.
Donoso Cortes, Essays
The
necessary first act of liturgical corruption is the 'Dialogue Mass' whose end
is to destroy liturgical recollection and contemplation!
In recollection and contemplation - kindred but not identical attitudes
- we encounter two more basic constituents of religious life. Recollection is a
condition of all truly wakeful and deep modes of living, and hence
indispensable for our transformation in Christ.
Contemplation, again, is the source
that feeds all life in Christ, and at the same time, the end in which that life finds its fulfillment.
Dietrich Von Hildebrand, Transformation
in Christ
COMMENT
ON THE MODERN MIND DEVOID OF GOD’S GRACE
“But
instead of a mind, universal literacy has given [the common man] a rubber
stamp, a rubber stamp inked with advertising slogans, with editorials, with
published scientific data, with the trivialities of tabloids and the
profundities of history, but quite innocent of original thought. Each man's
rubber stamp is the twin of millions of others, so that when these millions are
exposed to the same stimuli, all receive identical imprints. [...] The amazing
readiness with which large masses accept this process is probably accounted for
by the fact that no attempt is made to convince them that black is white.
Instead, their preconceived hazy ideas that a certain gray is almost black or
almost white are brought into sharper focus. Their prejudices, notions, and
convictions are used as a starting point, with the result that they are drawn
by a thread into passionate adherence to a given mental picture.”
Edward
Bernays, from his book, The Minority
Rules, 1927. Bernays was a Jewish double nephew of Sigmund Freud and a
pioneer in public relations and propaganda. He was called "the father of
public relations" in his obituary. Bernays was named one of the 100 most
influential Americans of the 20th century by Life Magazine. He was the subject
of a full-length biography called The Father of Spin (1999) and later an
award-winning 2002 documentary for the BBC called The Century of the Self. (Wiki)
“As the
blossom without the sun can give no fruit, so the will, without the assistance
of the Holy Ghost, can produce no good works for heaven.”
St.
Bonaventure
Do you want to be sure of never resisting God? Then remember always our
Lord's own words: The spirit indeed is
willing, but the flesh is weak. We must watch and pray, as He bids us, that
we enter not into temptation. Watch, so as not to expose ourselves or give
advantage to the enemy; pray, in order that we may obtain from God the strength
we need. Abiding, thus, in the salutary fear of being unfaithful to grace, God
will preserve us from all evil. Or, if He permits us from time to time to
realize our weakness, it will never be by a deadly fall; He will interpose His
own hand between us and the blow, to prevent it from doing us harm. He will
quickly raise us up again, and we shall be all the stronger afterwards.
Rev. John Grou, S.J., Spiritual
Maxims
“And we saw in an immense
light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when
they pass in front of it’ a Bishop dressed in White – ‘we had the impression
that it was the Holy Father.’ Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going
up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn
trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father
passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step,
afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met
on his way.”
Sister Lucia of Fatima,
the Third Secret, as she transcribed it.
If the damned
were asked 'Why are you in hell?', they would answer: 'For having resisted the
Holy Ghost.' If the Saints were asked:
'Why are you in heaven?', they would answer: 'For having listened to the Holy
Ghost.'
St. John Mary
Vianney, Cure d'Ars
"Pray for
the conversion of Russia." Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima
Your must understand. The leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were
not Russians. They hated Russians. They hated Christians. Driven by ethnic
hatred they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of
human remorse. The October Revolution was not what you call in America the
"Russian Revolution." It was an invasion and conquest over the
Russian people. More of my countrymen suffered horrific crimes at their
bloodstained hands than any people or nation ever suffered in the entirety of human
history. It cannot be understated. Bolshevism was the greatest human slaughter
of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant of this reality is
proof that the global media itself is in the hands of the perpetrators. We
cannot state that all Jews are Bolsheviks. But: without Jews there would have
been no Bolshevism. For a Jew nothing is more insulting than the truth. The
blood maddened Jewish terrorists murdered sixty-six million in Russia from 1918
to 1957.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), Noble Prize winning novelist,
historian and victim of Jewish Bolshevism
American
Catholic Apostasy: PEW POLE 2025
29% of U.S. Catholics say they attend Mass weekly.
59% of Catholics say abortion should be legal.
76% U.S. Catholics say society should be accepting of
homosexuality.
61% U.S. Catholics support legal homosexual
"marriage."
80% of Catholics view Pope Francis favorably.
84% of U.S. Catholics say they have a favorable view of Leo although 67% say they know little about Leo, and 25% know nothing at all.
Pope Leo XIV commemorates
Nostra Aetate anniversary with interfaith celebrations
Catholic
NewsAgency | Vatican City |Kridina Millare
| Oct 29, 2025
Pope
Leo XIV joined faith leaders on Tuesday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of
Nostra Aetate, the Church’s declaration on building relationships with
non-Christian religions.
Approximately
300 representatives of world religions and cultures joined the Holy Father for
an evening ecumenical prayer service for peace organized by the Community of
Sant’Egidio and held at the Colosseum in Rome.
“Peace
is a constant journey of reconciliation,” the Holy Father said at the Oct. 28
event.
Thanking
religious leaders for coming together in Rome, he said their interfaith meeting
expressed their shared “conviction that prayer is a powerful force for
reconciliation.”
“This is our witness: offering
the immense treasures of ancient spiritualities to contemporary humanity,” he
said.
“We
need a true and sound era of reconciliation that puts an end to the abuse of
power, displays of force, and indifference to the rule of law,” he added.
“Enough of war, with all the pain it causes through death, destruction, and
exile!”
In his remarks, the pope urged
people not to be indifferent to the “cry of the poor and the cry of the earth”
in their pursuits for peace in countries scarred by ongoing conflict and
injustice.
“In
the power of prayer, with hands raised to heaven and open to others, we must
ensure that this period of history, marked by war and the arrogance of power,
soon comes to an end, giving rise to a new era,” he said.
“We cannot allow this period to continue. It
shapes the minds of people who grow accustomed to war as a normal part of human
history,” he continued.
Pope
Leo and other religious leaders lit candles to symbolize their shared prayer
and renewed commitment to engage in interfaith dialogue.
Several
people waved small blue banners with the word “peace” in different languages
while Pope Leo and the other religious leaders lit candles to symbolize their
shared prayer and renewed commitment to engage in interfaith dialogue.
After the prayer gathering at Rome’s iconic landmark, the Holy Father
returned to the Vatican to join colorful celebrations jointly organized by the
Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and the Dicastery for Promoting Christian
Unity.
To mark the 60th anniversary of Nostra
Aetate, several
multicultural music and dance performances were held inside the Vatican’s Paul
VI Audience Hall as well as a presentation highlighting papal initiatives to
promote the Church’s dialogue with other religions since the pontificate of
Pope Paul VI.
Pope
Leo’s appearance and special address toward the end of the two-hour gathering
highlighted the Church’s reverence for all people and its desire to collaborate
with others for the common good.
“We belong to one human family,
one in origin, and one also in our final goal,” he said. “Religions everywhere
try to respond to the restlessness of the human heart.”
“Each in its own way offers
teachings, ways of life, and sacred rites that help guide their followers to
peace and meaning,” he said.
Emphasizing the common mission
shared among people of different religions to “reawaken” the sense of the
sacred in the world today, the Holy Father encouraged people to “keep love
alive.”
“We
have come together in this place bearing the great responsibility as religious
leaders to bring hope to a humanity that is often tempted by despair,” Leo
said.
“Let
us remember that prayer has the power to transform our hearts, our words, our
actions, and our world,” he said.
COMMENT: Now for the third time in his short pontificate Leo/Provost
quotes Leonard Boff's Cry of the Earth,
Cry of the Poor. Boff is a former Franciscan priest who was censored by the
liberal Cardinal Ratzinger when he headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith under the liberal JPII for his extreme Marxist liberation theology.
Boff is famous for his development of an integrated theology of Marxism, Gaia
cult earth worship and "social justice." He was admired by Francis/Bergoglio
and he is admired thrice as much by Leo/Provost. The picture with its Satanic
imagery was reportedly published by the Vatican. Leo/Provost, like
Francis/Bergoglio, wants to restore native American culture and religious
traditions. It should be remembered that Christopher Columbus encountered cannibalism
on his second voyage of exploration and ritual murder was widespread not only
among the Aztecs and Incas but in smaller tribes across both North and South
America as reported by Jesuit missionaries. In the interfaith celebrations at
the Vatican a young native American boy half dressed paraded an image of a
snake into the assembly before Leo/Provost. Is this the native American
tradition that the Vatican wants to recover?
Doctrinal Note on Marian
titles: Mother of the faithful, not Co-redemptrix
The document of the
Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, approved by Pope Leo XIV, offers
clarifications on titles applied to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and calls for
special attention to the use of the expression, “Mediatrix of all graces.”
Vatican News
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith
on Tuesday, 4 November 2025, published Mater populi fidelis (“The Mother of the
Faithful People”), a Doctrinal Note “On Some Marian Titles Regarding Mary’s
Cooperation in the Work of Salvation.” Signed by the Prefect, Cardinal Víctor
Manuel Fernández, and the Secretary for the Dicastery’s Doctrinal Section,
Monsignor Armando Matteo, the Note was approved by the Pope on 7 October.
Mater
populi fidelis (MPF) is the fruit of a long and complex collegial effort. It is
a doctrinal document on Marian devotion, centred on the figure of Mary, who is
associated with the work of Christ as Mother of believers. The Note provides a
significant biblical foundation for devotion to Mary, as well as marshalling
various contributions from the Fathers, the Doctors of the Church, elements of
Eastern tradition, and the thought of recent Popes.
In
this positive framework, the doctrinal text analyses a number of Marian titles,
encouraging the adoption of some of those appellations and warning against the
use of others. Titles such as “Mother of Believers,” “Spiritual Mother,”
“Mother of the Faithful” are noticed with approval in the Note. Conversely, the title of
“Co-redemptrix” is deemed inappropriate and problematic. The title of
“Mediatrix” is considered unacceptable when it takes on a meaning that excludes
Jesus Christ; however, it can used appropriately so long as it expresses an
inclusive and participatory mediation that glorifies the power of Christ. The
titles “Mother of Grace” and “Mediatrix of All Graces” are considered
acceptable when used in a very precise sense, but the document also warns of
particularly broad explanations of the meaning of the terms.
Essentially,
the Note reaffirms Catholic doctrine, which has always emphasised that
everything in Mary is directed towards the centrality of Christ and His
salvific work. For this reason, even if some Marian titles admit of an orthodox
interpretation through correct exegesis, Mater populi fidelis says it is
preferable to avoid them.
In
his presentation of the Doctrinal Note, Cardinal Fernández expresses
appreciation for popular devotion but warns against groups and publications
that propose a certain dogmatic development and raise doubts among the
faithful, including through social media. The main problem in interpreting
these titles applied to Our Lady, he says concerns the way of understanding
Mary's association with Christ's work of redemption (paragraph 3).
Co-redemptrix
Regarding
the title “Co-redemptrix,” the Note recalls that “some Popes have used the
title “without elaborating much on its meaning.” Generally, it continues, “they
have presented the title in two specific ways: in reference to Mary’s divine
motherhood (insofar as she, as Mother, made possible the Redemption that Christ
accomplished) or in reference to her union with Christ at the redemptive Cross.
The Second Vatican Council refrained from using the title for dogmatic,
pastoral, and ecumenical reasons. Saint John Paul II referred to Mary as
‘Co-redemptrix’ on at least seven occasions, particularly relating this title
to the salvific value of our sufferings when they are offered together with the
sufferings of Christ, to whom Mary is united especially at the Cross” (18).
The
document cites an internal discussion within the then-Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, which in February 1996 had discussed the request to
proclaim a new dogma on Mary as “Co-redemptrix or Mediatrix of all graces.”
Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was opposed to such a definition, arguing, “the
precise meaning of these titles is not clear, and the doctrine contained in
them is not mature. […] It is not clear how the doctrine expressed in these
titles is present in Scripture and the apostolic tradition.”
Later,
in 2002, the future Benedict XVI expressed himself publicly in the same way:
“The formula ‘Co-redemptrix’ departs to too great an extent from the language
of Scripture and of the Fathers and therefore gives rise to misunderstandings…
Everything comes from Him [Christ], as the Letter to the Ephesians and the
Letter to the Colossians, in particular, tell us; Mary, too, is everything that
she is through Him. The word ‘Co-redemptrix’ would obscure this origin.”
The
note clarifies that Cardinal Ratzinger did not deny the good intentions behind
the proposal, nor the valuable aspects reflected in it, but nonetheless
maintained that they were “being expressed in the wrong way” (19).
Pope
Francis also expressed his clear opposition to the use of the title
Co-Redemptrix on at least three occasions.
Tuesday’s
Doctrinal Note concludes: “It is always inappropriate to use the title
‘Co-redemptrix’ to define Mary’s cooperation. This title risks obscuring
Christ’s unique salvific mediation and can therefore create confusion and an
imbalance in the harmony of the truths of the Christian faith. […] When an
expression requires many, repeated explanations to prevent it from straying
from a correct meaning, it does not serve the faith of the People of God and
becomes unhelpful” (22).
Mediatrix
The
Note emphasises that “the biblical statement about Christ’s exclusive mediation
is conclusive. Christ is the only Mediator” (24).
At
the same time, MPF recognises “the fact that the word ‘mediation’ is commonly
used in many areas of everyday life, where it is understood simply as
cooperation, assistance, or intercession. As a result, it is inevitable that
the term would be applied to Mary in a subordinate sense. Used in this way, it
does not intend to add any efficacy or power to the unique mediation of Jesus
Christ, true God and true man” (25).
Further,
“it is clear that Mary has a real mediatory role in enabling the Incarnation of
the Son of God in our humanity” (26).
Mother of believers and
Mediatrix of all graces
Mary’s
maternal role “in no way obscures or diminishes” the unique mediation of
Christ, “but rather shows its power […] Understood in this way, Mary’s
motherhood does not seek to weaken the unique adoration due to Christ alone
but, rather, seeks to enkindle it.”
Therefore, the Note states, “one
must avoid titles and expressions that present Mary as a kind of ‘lightning
rod’ before the Lord’s justice, as if she were a necessary alternative before
the insufficiency of God’s mercy” (37b).
Thus,
the title “Mother of Believers” “enables us to speak of Mary’s role in our
relation to our life of grace”. However, MPF goes on to urge caution concerning
the use of expressions that may convey “less acceptable notions” (45).
“Cardinal Ratzinger already
affirmed” for example, “that the title ‘Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces’ was not
clearly grounded in Revelation.” So, the Note continues, “in line with this
conviction, we can recognize the difficulties this title poses, both in terms
of theological reflection and spirituality” (45). In fact, “no human person —
not even the Apostles or the Blessed Virgin — can act as a universal dispenser
of grace. Only God can bestow grace, and he does so through the humanity of
Christ” (53).
“Some titles, such as ‘Mediatrix
of All Graces,’ have limits that do not favour a correct understanding of
Mary’s unique place,” MPF explains, adding, “In fact, she, the first redeemed,
could not have been the mediatrix of the grace that she herself received”
(67).
Nonetheless,
the Doctrinal Note acknowledges that “the term ‘graces,’ when seen in reference
to Mary’s maternal help at various moments in our lives, can have an acceptable
meaning. The plural form expresses all the aids — even material — that the Lord
may grant us when He heeds His Mother’s intercession” (68).
COMMENT: Amazing
to hear these apostates chirping about the lack of "precise meaning"
of theological terms while obscurity in definition is, and has been since
Vatican II, the calling card of the Novus Ordo theologian and prelates. They
like to muddle what is clear. Let's start with the title, "Mother of
Believers" and "Mother of the Faithful." These are, in fact,
worthy titles of the Mother of God and frequently occur in St. Mary of Agreda's
City of God, yet the Novus Ordo clerics would never be found offering a precise
definition and meaning for the term "faithful" and then identify
exactly who the "faithful" are.
The
term "faithful" has a precise Catholic definition. It refers to those
who have been baptized into the Catholic Church and profess the one, holy,
catholic and apostolic faith. By virtue of this incorporation by baptism they
have become "children of God." They faithfully believe all the truths
that God has revealed on the authority of God the Revealer. Only those who have
become thus members of the Mystical Body of Christ share by participation in
His divine nature and become brothers and sister of Jesus Christ and therefore,
sons of His Mother. This definition excludes all heretics, schismatics, Jews,
pagans, and any other form of idolaters. Novus Ordo clerics heretically teach that
everyone is a child of God by virtue of the Incarnation. Everyone by nature is
a creature of God created in His image and likeness with the spiritual soul
with the powers of reason and free will, but every creature is born in original
sin and cut off from the friendship of God. He is only a "child of
God" in potentia. Without the
sacrament of Baptism and the Catholic faith they can never become
"children of God." This obscurity of definition as to who is a child
of God and thus a child of the Blessed Virgin Mary ultimately obscures what is
necessary as a necessity of means to obtain salvation.
The
title Mediatrix of all grace is long established and of sound and precise
theological understanding. Those that pretend otherwise are ignorant, proud,
and deceitful. They have no excuse. 'The law of prayer determines the law of
belief' is, as affirmed by St. Pius X in Pascendi,
a canon of faith from the time of Celestine I, that is, a dogma of the Catholic
Church. The immemorial Roman rite has a Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, Mediatrix of all grace celebrated on May 31 established by Pope Benedict
XV. Regarding this feast, Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B. of the Abby of St. Andrew
teaches:
"The
will of God is that we should have everything through Mary," says St.
Bernard. The Father has sent us His Son, but His will was to make His coming
depend upon the Fiat of the Virgin, which He commanded to the angel Gabriel to
solicit on the day of the Annunciation.
The
Father and the Son send us the Holy Ghost, but it is through Mary that He comes
down to men. On the day of Pentecost, according to an ancient Tradition, the
heavenly fire which descended on the Cenacle first rested on Mary, and then on
the apostles. This is a figure of what happens every day in the Church where
the Holy Ghost is sent invisibly into our souls. "All the gifts of the
Holy Ghost are distributed by Mary to those whom she chooses, whenever she
wishes and as much as she wishes," says St. Bernardine of Siena.
The
graces which the Holy Ghost pours down on us are due to the merits of Christ on
Calvary; but in order that God may bestow them on the world, it is necessary
that Mary should intervene. Having cooperated by her divine maternity and by
her sufferings at the foot of the Cross in the Incarnation and Redemption, she
has deserved to co-operate when they are continually applied to creatures by
the most High. "By the communion of sorrows and of will between Christ and
Mary," says St. Pius X, "she has deserved to become the dispenser of
all the blessings which Jesus acquired for us by His blood" (Encyclical
2-2-1904). Such is His will, but it is essential that she should constantly
intercede for each one of us. This she does, relying on the blood of Christ by
whom she was herself saved, and who alone saves us. This actual intervention of
Mary plays a preponderating part in the salvation of the world. It is important
that we should realize this, and it is the object of the feast of Mary
Mediatrix of all Graces. A clear idea of the fact may be obtained by simple
reading the texts of the Mass and Vespers.
"Through
the Virgin," says St. Bernardine of Siena, "life-giving graces flow
from Christ, who is the head, into His mystical body." "Through
her," adds St. Antoninus, "come from heaven all the graces granted to
the world." "What all the saints united to thee may obtain for us by
their intercession," writes St. Anselm, "thy pleading alone may
obtain without the help of their prayers." The maternal solicitude of Mary
for the whole human race is therefore continual, and it is because of this that
unceasingly, through the Mass, the sacraments, the hierarchy and other channels
of grace, the merits of Calvary are applied to our souls. "We may
affirm," declared Pope Leo XIII, "that by the will of God, nothing is
given to us without Mary's mediation, in such a way that just as no one can approach the almighty
Father but through His Son, so no one, so to speak, can approach Christ but
through Hid Mother" (Encyclical, 9-22-1891).
Let
us therefore not consider as of small importance the efforts made to establish
this point of doctrine of Mary's mediation, since this doctrine enables us to
understand the divine plan, and clearly manifests the mediation of the Son of
God of which it is a corollary.
St. Mary of Agreda at
the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven, writes that Jesus
Christ addressed the entire heavenly assembly of angels and saints saying:
"My Father and
eternal God, this is the Woman, that gave Me my human form in her virginal
womb, that nourished Me at her breast and sustained labors for Me, that shared
in my hardships and so-operated with Me in the works of Redemption. This is
She, who was always most faithful and fulfilled our will according to our
entire pleasure; She, pure and immaculate as my Mother, through her own works,
has reached the summit of sanctity according to the measure of the gifts We
have communicated to Her; and when She had merited her reward and could have
enjoyed it forever, She deprived Herself of it for Our glory and returned to
attend to the establishment, the government, and instruction of the Church
militant; and We, in order that She might live in it for the succor of the
faithful, deferred her eternal rest, which She has merited over and over again.
In the highest bounty and equity of our Providence it is just, that my Mother
should be remunerated for her works of love beyond all other creatures; and
toward Her the common law of the other mortals should not apply. If I have
merited for all infinite merits and boundless graces, it is proper that my
Mother should partake of them above all the others who are so inferior; for She in her conduct
corresponds to our liberality and puts no hindrance or obstacle to our infinite
power of communicating our treasures and participating them as the Queen and
Mistress of all that is created."
Sanctifying grace is
the created participation in the divine nature. The Blessed Virgin is the
"Queen and Mistress of all that is created." In this Mass the Church
prays:
" O Lord Jesus
Christ, our Mediator with the Father, who hast appointed the most blessed
Virgin, Thy mother, to be our mother also and our mediatrix before Thee: Grant
that whosoever draweth nigh to Thee to beseech any benefit, may receive all
things through her and rejoice.
Rev. Gregory
Alastruey's theological work titled, The
Blessed Virgin Mary, says that, "There are five principle titles and offices due Mary, the Mother
of God, by reason of her cooperation in redemption: Mediatrix, Co-redemptrix,
Mother of Christians, Patroness or Advocate, and Queen and Mistress of the
universe. I would recommend those who deny this proper honor to the
Mother of God obtain a copy of the book and have their stupidity erased. I do
not say, ignorance erased because willful ignorance is stupidity. Fr. Alastruey affirms that
"Mary is truly mediatrix of the human race and this doctrine pertains to
the deposit of
faith."
He then draws from Scripture, the Fathers, and theologians in support of this
truth. He proves from the Church Fathers that the word "mediatrix"
was explicitly used by St. Ephrem, St. Epiphanius, St. John Chrysostom, St.
Basil of Seleucia, St. Andrew of Crete, St Germanus of Constantinople, St. John
Damascene, St Theodore, St. Antoninus and Denis the Carthusian. He draws richly
from the divine liturgy from both Eastern and Roman traditions. The errors of
the Protestant heretics are addressed and exposed which are curiously the same
as expressed by the Novus Ordo popes.
Lastly, it is worth
asking Why do the Novus Ordo popes hate these proper titles of the Mother of
God? The answer is simple. The Blessed Virgin asked the three children at
Fatima on June 13, 1917, "Are
you willing to offer yourselves to God to bear all the sufferings He wills to
send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of
supplication for the conversion of sinners?" To which question all
answered, "Yes, we are willing." The Mother of God said on July 13
after the children had seen a vision of Hell, "Sacrifice yourselves for
sinners, and say many times, especially whenever you make some sacrifice: O
Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation
for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary." On August 13
the Mother of God continued saying, "Pray, pray very much, and make
sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell, because there are none to
sacrifice themselves and to pray for them." The Blessed Virgin is asking
the children to be co-redemptors and co-mediators of grace with her in union
with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the conversion and salvation of
sinners. If the title of Co-Redemtrix and Mediatrix of all Grace can be taken
away from the Mother of God then no one is responsible to do penance for their
own sins or the sins of others. This falls back to the Protestant heresy on the
dogma of justification and the very nature of our incorporation into the divine
nature in the Mystical Body of Christ. Leo/Provost, like his predecessor
Francis/Bergoglio, believes that proselytism is "solemn nonsense."
They attack the titles to excuse their own faithless sloth. They are working to
obscure the very means of salvation. As Jesus Christ said: "But woe to you
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the kingdom of heaven against
men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you
suffer not to enter" (Matt 23:13).
Pope Leo is just
another heretic who denies the Blessed Virgin Mary her just titles of Mediatrix
of all Grace and Co-Redemtrix. Only a few days ago, he celebrated with
heretics, schismatics, Jews, Moslems, and a variety of idolaters a shared
communion praying to their common god a united petition for peace in the world.
He continues to ignore the peace plan offered by the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mediatrix of all Grace, at Fatima. Pope Leo will soon learn that those who
insult the Mother have made an enemy of the Son.

Remember in your charity:
Remember the welfare of our expectant mother: Victoria Dimmel, Vanessa LoStrocco, and
Elizabeth Allen,
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 Lenny 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, and the
conversion of Dawn Keithley,
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
The health and spiritual welfare of Nate Schaeffer is the petition
of Gene Peters,
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,
For the health and
spiritual welfare of Peggy Cummings, the neice of Camila Meiser,
who is gravely ill,
Kaitlyn McDonald, for the recovery of her health and spiritual
welfare,
Roco
Sbardella,
for his health and spiritual welfare,
The Vargas’ request our prayers for the spiritual
welfare of their son, Nicholas,
Family, for the welfare of Lazarus Handley, his mother, Julia, and his brother, Raphael, with Down’s Syndrome,
Fr. Waters requests prayers for the spiritual and
physical welfare of Frank McKee,
Nancy
Bennett, for the recovery of her
health,
For the spiritual welfare of Mark Roberts, a Catholic faithful to tradition,
Joe Sentmanet request prayers for Scott Nettles (who is in need of
conversion), who is gravely ill,
Michael Brigg requests our prayers for the health of John Romeo,
The health and welfare of Gene Peters and his sons,
Conversion of Anton
Schwartzmueller, is the paryer 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,
Mary Mufide,
requests our prayers for her family,
Abbe Damien
Dutertre,
traditional Catholic priest arrested by Montreal police while offering Mass,
Francis
(Frank) X. McLaughlin, for the recovery of his
health,
Nicholas
Pell,
for his health and spiritual welfare is the petition of Camilla Meizer,
Mary Kaye
Petr,
her health and welfare is petitioned by Camilla Meizer,
The welfare of Excellency Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò,
The welfare of Rev.
Fr. Martin Skierka, who produces the traditional Ordo in the U.S.,
For the health and welfare of Katie Wess, John Gentry, Vincent Bands, Todd Chairs, Susan Healy and
James O’Gentry is the petition of Camilia,
Marieann
Reuter, recovery of her health, Kathy Kepner, for her health, Shane Cox, for his health,
requests of Philip Thees,
The Joseph
Cox Family, their spiritual welfare,
Luis Rafael
Zelaya,
the brother of Claudia Drew, spiritual welfare,
For the health of Kim Cochran, the daughter-in-law of Joseph and Brenda
Cochran, the wife of their son Joshua,
Louie
Verrecchio,
Catholic apologist, who has a health problem,
John
Minidis, Jr. family, for help in their spiritual
trial,
Joann
DeMarco, for her health and spiritual
welfare,
Regina
(Manidis) Miller, her spiritual welfare and health,
Melissa
Elena Levitt, her conversion, and welfare of her children,
For the grace of a holy death, Nancy Marie Claycomb,
Conversion of Annette
Murowski, and her son Jimmy,
Brent Keith from Indiana has petitioned our prayers
for the Keith Family,
The welfare of the Schmedes Family, and the Mike and Mariana Donohue Family,
The spiritual welfare Robert Holmes Family,
For the spiritual and temporal welfare of Irwin Kwiat,
Fr. Waters asks our prayers for Elvira Donaghy,
Kimberly Ann, the daughter of John and
Joann DeMarco, for her health and spiritual welfare,
Mufide Rende, a traditional Catholic from
India has asked our prayers for her welfare and he family members, living and
deceased,
Mary Glatz, her health and the welfare
of her family,
Barbara
Harmon,
who is ill, and still cares for her
ailing parents,
Jason Green, a father of ten children,
recovery of his health,
For the health and welfare of Sorace family,
Fr. Waters asks our prayers for the health and
spiritual welfare of Brian Abramowitz,
Thomas
Schiltz family, in grateful appreciation for their contribution to the beauty of our
chapel,
Welfare of Bishop
Richard Williamson, for strength and courage in the greater battles to
come,
John Rhoad, for his health and
spiritual welfare,
Kathy Boyle, requests our prayers for
her welfare,
Joyce
Laughman and Robert Twist, for their conversions,
Michael J.
Brigg & his family, who have helped with the needs of the Mission,
Nancy Deegan, her welfare and conversion
to the Catholic Church,
Francis Paul
Diaz,
who was baptized at Ss. Peter & Paul, asks our prayers for his spiritual
welfare,
The conversion of Rene McFarland, Lori Kerr, Cary Shipman
and family, David Bash, Crystal and family, Larry Reinhart, Costanzo Family,
Kathy Scullen, Marilyn Bryant, Vicki Trahern and Time Roe are
the petitions of Gene Peters,
For the conversion of Ben & Tina Boettcher family, Karin Fraessdorf, Eckhard Ebert,
and Fahnauer family,
Fr. Waters requests our prayers for Br. Rene, SSPX who has been ill,
and for Fr. Thomas Blute,
For the health and conversion of Kathryn Lederhos, the aunt of David Drew,
For the welfare of Fr. Paul DaDamio and Fr. William T. Welsh,
The Drew’s ask our prayers for the welfare of Joe & Tracey Sentmanat family, Keith
& Robert Drew, Christy Koziol & her children, Fred Nesbit and Michael
Nesbit families, and Gene Peters Family,
the John Manidis Family, the Sal Messinio Family, Michael Proctor Family,
Ryan Boyle grandmother, Jane Boyle, who is failing health,
Mel Gibson
and his family, please remember in our prayers,
Rev. Timothy A. Hopkins requested our prayers for the
welfare of his Fr Jean-Luc Lafitte,
Ebert’s request our prayers for the Andreas & Jenna Ortner Family,
Joyce Paglia has asked prayers for George Richard Moore Sr. & his
children, and her brother, George
Panell,
Philip Thees asks our prayers for his family, for McLaughlin Family, the welfare
of Dan & Polly Weand, the
conversion of Sophia Herman,
Tony Rosky, the welfare Nancy Erdeck, the wife of
the late Deacon Erdeck, John Calasanctis, Tony Rosky, James Parvenski, Kathleen Gorry, health of mind and body of Cathy Farrar.
Pray for the
Repose of the Souls:
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.
Requiem aeternam dona eis
domine; et lux perpetual luceat eis.
Requiescant in pace. Amen.
(Eleternal rest grant unto
them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.)
· Sunday O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the
Precious Blood, which Thy divine Son Jesus shed in the Garden, deliver the
souls in purgatory, and especially that one which is the most forsaken of all,
and bring it into Thy glory, where it may praise and bless Thee for ever.
Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Eternal
rest, etc.
· Monday O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the
Precious Blood which Thy divine Son Jesus shed in His cruel scourging, deliver
the souls in purgatory , and among them all, especially that soul which is
nearest to its entrance into Thy glory, that it may soon begin to praise Thee
for ever. Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary,
Eternal rest, etc.
· Tuesday O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the
Precious Blood of Thy divine Son Jesus that was shed in His bitter crowning
with thorns, deliver the souls in purgatory, and among them all, particularly
that soul which is in the greatest need of our prayers, in order that it may
not long be delayed in praising Thee in Thy glory and blessing Thee for
ever. Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary,
Eternal rest, etc.
· Wednesday
O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech
Thee by the Precious Blood of Thy divine son Jesus that was shed in the streets
of Jerusalem whilst He carried on His sacred shoulders the heavy burden of the
Cross, deliver the souls in purgatory and especially that one which is richest
in merits in Thy sight, so that, having soon attained the high place in glory
to which it is destined, it may praise Thee triumphantly and bless Thee for
ever. Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary,
Eternal rest, etc.
· Thursday O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the
Precious Body and Blood of Thy divine Son Jesus, which He himself on the night
before His Passion gave as meat and drink to His beloved Apostles and
bequeathed to His Holy Church to be the perpetual Sacrifice and life-giving
nourishment of His faithful people, deliver the souls in purgatory, but most of
all, that soul which was most devoted to this Mystery of infinite love, in
order that it may praise Thee therefor, together with Thy divine Son and the
Holy Spirit in Thy glory forever. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Eternal rest, etc.
· Friday O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the
Precious Blood which Jesus Thy divine Son did shed that day upon the tree of
the Cross, especially from His Sacred Hands and Feet, deliver the souls in
purgatory, and particularly that soul for whom I am most bound to pray, in
order that I may not be the cause which hinders Thee from admitting it quickly
to the possession of Thy glory where it may praise Thee and bless Thee for
evermore. Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary,
Eternal rest, etc.
· Saturday O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the
precious Blood which gushed forth from the sacred Side of Thy divine Son Jesus
in the presence and to the great sorrow of His most holy Mother, deliver the
souls in purgatory and among them all especially that soul which has been most
devout to this noble Lady, that it may come quickly into Thy glory, there to
praise Thee in her, and her in Thee through all the ages. Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Eternal rest, etc.
Heroic Act of
Charity for the Souls on Purgatory
An "Heroic Act of
Charity" is the offering of the satisfactory value (not the merits)
of all of our sufferings and works of our rest of our lives and of
any time we may spend in Purgatory for the relief of the souls in Purgatory. We
do this by first deciding to do so, and then praying (using our own words or
the more formal prayer below) to offer these things to God through Mary's
hands.
Doing this is not a matter of taking a vow; it doesn't bind under pain of sin,
and it is revokable (unless one vows never to revoke the Act). But it is a
tremendous sacrifice, hence the name. It is truly heroic, a giving up of one's
own earned relief from the temporal effects of sin -- even relief of the
sufferings of Purgatory -- for the good of others.
In addition to asking God to use their satisfactory works for the souls in
Purgatory, those who make this Act also receive a plenary indulgence (under the
usual conditions) for the souls in Purgatory each time they receive Communion,
and each time they hear Mass on Mondays for the sake of the departed. Words to
a formal Act of Heroic Charity are as follows:
O Holy and Adorable Trinity, desiring to aid in the relief and release
of the Holy Souls in Purgatory, through my devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary,
I cede and renounce, on behalf of these souls, all the satisfactory part of my
works, and all the suffrages which may be given to me after my death. In their
entirety, I offer them to Mary, the Most Holy Mother of God, that she may use
them, according to her good pleasure, for those souls of the faithful departed
whom she desires to alleviate their suffering. O my God, deign to accept and
bless my offering which I make to Thee through the most august Queen of Heaven
and Earth. Amen.
Between 2000 and 2010, the number of Brazilians describing themselves
as Catholics has dropped by 12.2%. This record fall brings the proportion of
Catholics down to 65% – the lowest share since religious affiliations was first
surveyed in 1872. In 2000, 74% of the population had classified themselves as
Catholics.
Brazilian census: Catholic
population falls to 57%
Catholic News Agency | Nathália
Queiroz | Sao Paulo,
Brazil, Jun 9, 2025
The percentage of Brazilians
who identify as Catholic fell to 56.75% in 2022, a reduction of 8.4% compared
with 2010, according to data from the 2022 demographic census released by the
Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. [....]
If only the
“New-Evangelization” by the laity was modeled upon the Old-Evangelization by
the laity
“Everyone can help his neighbor if he does his duty. There would be no pagans if Christians were
real Christians, if they really kept the commandments. A good life sounds clearer and louder than a
trumpet.”
St. John Chrysostom
“The
Rosary is the most powerful weapon for defending ourselves on the field of
battle.”
… The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the
consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this
disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommended recitation of the Rosary with
such insistence. And since the Rosary is, after the holy Eucharistic liturgy,
the prayer most apt for preserving faith in souls, the devil has unchained his
struggles against it. Unfortunately, we see the disasters he has caused.
… We must defend souls against the errors which can make them stray
from the good road. … We cannot and we must not stop ourselves, nor allow, as
Our Lord says, the children of Darkness to be wiser than the children of Light
… The Rosary is the most powerful weapon for defending ourselves on the field
of battle.
Sr. Lucy of Fatima, Letter to Dom Umberto Pasquale
“Necessity
Knows No Law”
In 1976, the head of the UGCC, Cardinal Josef Slipyj, living in exile
in Rome after 18 years in the Soviet gulag, feared for the future of the UGCC.
Would it have bishops to lead it, given that Slipyj himself was now over 80? So
he ordained three bishops clandestinely, without the permission of the Holy
Father, Blessed (sic) Paul VI. At the time, the Holy See followed a policy of
non-assertiveness regarding the communist bloc; Paul VI would not give
permission for the new bishops for fear of upsetting the Soviets. The consecration
of bishops without a papal mandate is a very grave canonical crime, for which
the penalty is excommunication. Blessed (sic) Paul VI—who likely knew,
unofficially, what Slipyj had done—did not administer any penalties.
Fr. Raymond J. DeSouza
John
Henry Newman: A Novus Ordo Saint and, fittingly, a Doctor of the Novus Ordo
Church
"I see much danger of an English
Catholicism of which Newman (Cardinal John Henry Newman) is the highest type. It
is the old Anglican, patristic, literary, Oxford tone transplanted into the
Church. It takes the line of deprecating exaggerations, foreign devotions,
Ultramontanism, anti-national sympathies. In one word, it is worldly
Catholicism."
Cardinal Manning, Primate of England, Letter
to Monsignor Talbot, written in 1866, the second year of his reign as
archbishop
Salvation by “Implicit”
Faith?
But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to
God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him. Heb. 1,
6
Of course charity itself is
impossible without faith and hope. Could
anyone love a man if he did not believe it was possible to be or become his
friend? Or if he despaired of ever
gaining his friendship? So it is with
man in relation to God as He is in Himself.
Man must believe it is possible to attain a perfect friendship with God
in Heaven and he must hope to attain this friendship through God’s power before
he can love God as his supernatural destiny.
Fr. Walter Farrell, O. P. and
Fr. Marin Healy, My Way of Life – The
Summa Simplified for Everyone
Looming ahead is the
Great Apostasy predicted by St. Paul to the Thessalonians when the Antichrist,
“the man of sin” (2 Thess. 2: 3), will engage mankind in wholesale flight from
God and reality. From him can be
expected perfect acquiescence to the three temptations by which the devil
failed to seduce Christ in the desert.
Turning stones into bread by substituting false teaching for true
doctrine, he will confirm the satanic religion by false miracles, (that is
“lying wonders”), as it were casting himself down from the pinnacle of the
temple to be borne up by spiritual hands.
Given “all the kingdoms of the world and all their glory” (Matt. 4: 8-9)
in return for falling down and adoring Satan, Antichrist the King will
establish a universal empire in the fallen angel’s name. Aping as closely as possible Christ’s
consummation of the law and the prophets, he will capitulate in his person the
whole of the world’s apostatic tradition.
Solange Strong Hertz, Apostasy
in America
The Reason the
Message of LaSalette is Rejected or Unknown? They Are NOT 'Her People'!
It was 1846
and France was suffering social and political upheaval. Catholic churches had
been abandoned and the Sacraments neglected… On the eve of the Feast of Our
Lady of Sorrows, eleven-year-old Maxim Giraud and fourteen-year-old Melanie
Mathieu beheld a luminous sphere, radiating like the sun, curiously unfolding
before their eyes. Gradually they made out a woman seated with her face in her
hands, weeping. She slowly arose and crossed her arms on her breast, her head
some what inclined.
The children
were drawn immediately to the lady's tears that adorned her face like perfectly
cut diamonds glimmering the in the sun's rays. Her dynamic features were framed
delicately in a white-satin headdress, on which rested a crown of roses, a
bouquet in all shades of reds and pinks. A crucifix with pincers on one end and
a hammer on the opposite end hung over her satin shawl, which was lined with
more roses. The Madonna wore a long ivory dress embroidered in precious pearls
and a yellow apron tied neatly to her waist. Wearing pearl slippers that peeked
out from underneath her satin robe, she sheltered herself atop a bouquet of
roses.
"Come to
me, my children," she tenderly addressed the two who stood afar,
motionless. "Be not afraid. I am here to tell you something of the
greatest importance."
As soon as
they were in touching distance of her, she began to speak with the urgency of
an ending world:
"If my
people will not obey, I shall be compelled to loose my Son's arm. It is so
heavy, so pressing that I can no longer restrain it."
She told the children that her Son was especially
concerned that people were not keeping holy Sunday, and that religion had lost
its place in their country…. "You will make this known to all my people;
you will make this known to all my people," she repeated to them. Solange
Hertz, Our Lady of LaSalette
"It is a sin to believe there is salvation outside the
Catholic Church!"
Blessed Pope Pius IX
The Church is One, Holy, Catholic Apostolic,
and Roman : unique, the Chair founded on Peter. Outside her fold is to
be found nether the true faith nor eternal salvation, for it is impossible to
have God for a Father if one does not have the Church for a Mother.
Blessed Pope Pius IX, Singulari Quidem
The Great Error of Vatican
II –
The “pastoral” blunder that
there exists a disjunction between Divine Revelation and Dogma
The greatest concern of the
Ecumenical Council is this: that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine
should be guarded and taught more efficaciously….. the authentic doctrine…
should be studied and expounded through the methods of research and through the
literary forms of modern thought. The
substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the
way in which it is presented is another. And it is the latter that must
be taken into great consideration with patience if necessary, everything being
measured in the forms and proportions of a Magisterium which is predominantly
pastoral in character. Pope John XXIII,
Opening Speech for Vatican II
“The New
Evangelization” – Without a foundation of repentance, prayer, and penance there
will be no fruit for, “The Interior Life is the Soul of the Apostolate.”
The purpose of the struggle
against our passions, the practice of the virtues, recollection, prayer, the
practice of the presence of God, and frequent reception of the Sacraments, is
to foster union with God and the growth of charity. The interior life is a secret hearth where a
soul in contact with God is inflamed with His love, and precisely because it is
inflamed and forged by love, it becomes a docile instrument which God can use
to diffuse love into the hearts of others.
Therefore, it is very important to recall frequently this great principle: the interior life is the soul of the
apostolate. A deep interior life
therefore, from it will spring a fruitful apostolate, a true sharing in
Christ’s work of saving souls… Where there is little or no interior life,
charity and friendship with God are in danger of being extinguished; and if
this interior flame be extinguished, then the apostolate will be emptied of its
substance and reduced to mere external activity which may make a great noise,
but will not bring forth and fruit.
Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary
Magdalen, O.C.D., Divine Intimacy
Efforts must therefore
be made to bring about an organization of society in which the life of the
people will not be subordinate to and at the mercy of Stock Exchange operations
and financial coups by the few. Already, in the great Encyclical Rerum
Novarum, May 15th, 1891, Pope Leo XIII had alluded to the havoc wrought by
usury. “For the ancient working-men's guilds were abolished in the last century
and no other organization took their place. Public institutions and the very
laws have set aside the ancient religion. Hence, by degrees, it has come to
pass that workingmen have been surrendered, all isolated and helpless, to the
hard-heartedness of employers and the greed of unchecked competition. The
mischief has been increased by rapacious usury, which, although more than once
condemned by the Church, is nevertheless, under a different guise, but with the
like injustice still practiced by covetous and grasping men. To this must be
added … the concentration of so many branches of trade in the hands of a few
individuals, so that a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon
the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of
slavery itself.”
Rev. Denis Fahey, The
Kingship of Christ According to the Principles of St. Thomas
Peace Plan of Our Lady of
Fatima
1.
WHAT DOES THE MESSAGE OF FATIMA REQUEST?
At Fatima Our Lady said that God wished to
establish in the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our Lady said that
many souls would be saved from Hell and the annihilation of nations averted if,
in time, devotion to Her Immaculate Heart were established principally by these
two means:
A. the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary by the Pope together with the world's bishops in a solemn public
ceremony, and
B. the practice or receiving Holy Communion (and
other specific devotions of about 1/2 hour in duration) in reparation for the
sins committed against the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the first Saturdays of five
consecutive months--a practice known to Catholics as "the First
Saturday" devotion.
2.
HAVE THESE REQUESTS OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA BEEN HONORED?
No, not entirely. A
number of the Faithful practice the "First Saturday" devotion, but
Russia has yet to be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in a solemn
public ceremony conducted by the Pope together with the world's Catholic
bishops.
In 1982 the last
Fatima seer, Lucia, when a cloistered nun living in Coimbra, Portugal, was
asked if an attempted consecration by Pope John Paul II had sufficed. She
replied that it did not suffice, because Russia was not mentioned and the
world's bishops had not participated. Another attempted consecration in 1984
likewise did not mention Russia or involve the participation of many of the
world's bishops, and Sister Lucia stated immediately afterwards that this
consecration, too, had failed to meet Our Lady's requirements.
3. WHAT DOES THE MESSAGE OF FATIMA WARN?
It warns that if the
requests of Our Lady of Fatima for the Consecration of Russia and the First
Saturday devotion are not honored, the Church will be persecuted, there will be
other major wars, the Holy Father will have much to suffer and various nations
will be annihilated. Many nations will be enslaved by Russian militant
atheists. Most important, many souls will be lost.
4.
WHAT DOES THE MESSAGE OF FATIMA PROMISE?
The Message of
Fatima promises that if the requests of Our Lady of Fatima are carried out
"My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will Consecrate Russia
to Me, which will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to
mankind."
The
United States is, as much as Israel, guilty for the Genocide of the Palestinian
People.
“I love Israel. I’m with you all the way...... Thanks to
the bravery and incredible skill of the Israeli Defense Forces and Operation
Rising Lion, the forces of chaos, terror, and ruin now stand weakened, isolated,
and totally defeated.”
“The story of fierce Israeli
resolve and triumph since October 7 should be proof to the entire world that
those who seek to destroy this nation are doomed to bitter failure.”
President Donald Trump, addressing the Israeli Knesset with Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
“Donald Trump is the greatest friend that the State of Israel
has ever had in the White House. No American president has ever done more for
Israel, and, as I said in Washington, it ain’t even close. It’s really not a
match.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing Israeli
Knesset with President Trump
"It is sentiments like these (from President Trump) – backed by a long list of pro-Israel actions
over two terms, including moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing
Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, recognizing Jewish claims in Judea
and Samaria for a 'Greater Israel', brokering the Abraham Accords, striking
Iran alongside Israel, decapitation strikes against Iranian and Hamas peace negotiators,
and directly supporting the Israeli genocide of Gaza with over $30 billion
direct aid, billions more in indirect air with military, intelligence,
logistical and political support both in the United States and at the United
Nations including censorship in mainstream media and suppression of free speech
at college campuses."
Catholic political commentary
“For the Jews, ‘Anti-Semitism’ is anything that is in
opposition to the naturalistic Messianic domination of their nation over all
the others.”
Rev. Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp., B.A., D.Ph., D.D.
On the Charge of
Anti-Semitism in Our Time
“…Two reasons can be assigned to the fact
that Our Lord’s faithful members will often be betrayed by those who should be
on the side of Christ the King. Firstly, many Catholic writers speak of Papal
condemnations of Anti-Semitism without explaining the meaning of the term, and
never even allude to the documents which insist on the Rights of Our Divine
Lord, Head of the Mystical Body, Priest and King. Thus, very many are
completely ignorant of the duty incumbent on all Catholics of standing
positively for Our Lord’s Reign in society in opposition to Jewish Naturalism.
The result is that numbers of Catholics are so ignorant of Catholic doctrine
that they hurl the accusation of Anti-Semitism against those who are battling
for the Rights of Christ the King, thus effectively aiding the enemies of Our
Divine Lord. Secondly, many Catholic writers copy unquestioningly what they
read in the naturalistic or anti-Supernatural Press and do not distinguish
between Anti-Semitism in the correct Catholic sense, as explained above, and
‘Anti-Semitism’ as the Jews understand it. …”
Fr. Fahey’s Preface in Grand Orient
Freemasonry Unmasked: As the Secret Power Behind Communism by Monsignor George
F. Dillon, D.D.
Jews have
hated & persecuted the Catholic Church from the time of Jesus Christ to
this very day!
[The Jews are] a people who,
having imbrued their hands in a most heinous outrage [Jesus’ crucifixion], have
thus polluted their souls and are deservedly blind. . . . Therefore we have
nothing in common with that most hostile of people the Jews. We have received
from the Savior another way . . . our
holy religion. . . . On what subject
will that detestable association be competent to from a correct judgment, who
after that murder of their Lord . . .
are led… by. . . their innate fury?
Council of Nicaea, 325 AD
Jewish
Power is inversely proportional to the spiritual health of the Catholic Church
“Jews should not be placed in
public offices, since it is most absurd that a blasphemer of Christ should
exercise power over Christians.”
Fourth Lateran Council
Good Night, Sweet Princeton! By Fr. Leonard Feeney, 1952
Maritainism is a system of thought which
allows Catholics to be both Catholic and acceptable in the drawing rooms of
Protestant and Jewish philosophers. Maritainism is not a seeking and a finding
of the Word made flesh. It is a perpetual seeking for un-fleshed truth in an
abstract scheme called Christianity. Maritainism is the scrapping of the
Incarnation in favor of a God Whose overtures to us never get more personal or
loving than the five rational proofs for His existence. This plot to encourage
only pre-Bethlehem interest in God takes its name from its perpetrator, that
highly respected religious opportunist, Jacques Maritain.
The slightest acquaintance with Maritain’s
history is sufficient to indicate how awry he must be in his Catholicism. He is
a former Huguenot who married a Jewish girl named Raïssa. During their student
days in Paris, both Jacques and Raïssa felt a double pull in the general
direction of belief. Intellectually they were attracted to the religious
self-sufficiency of a Jewish intuitionist named Henri Bergson. Sociologically
they were attracted to the spurious Catholicism of Leon Bloy, a French
exhibitionist who made a liturgy of his own crudeness and uncleaness and tried
to attach it to the liturgy of the Church. At some point in their association
with an unbaptized Bergson and an unwashed Bloy, the Maritains figured out that
there was a promising future ahead of them in Catholicism.
Jacques Maritain is noted for his
solemn-high, holier-than-thou appearance. For this reason, more than one priest
reports that by the time a Maritain lecture is over, any priest who is present
has been made to feel that the Roman collar is around the wrong neck and that
perhaps he, the priest, ought to put on a necktie and kneel for Maritain’s
blessing.
One explanation of Maritain’s distant expression
is that he fancies himself to be the Drew Pearson of the Christian social
order. Judging by Maritain’s passion for the abstract, the fulfillment of all
his prophecies will come in an era when mothers can sing such songs as
“Rock-a-bye Baby, on the Dendrological Zenith,” and children recite such
bedtime prayers as “The Hail Mariology.”
Jacques Maritain prefers Thomism to Saint
Thomas Aquinas and, similarly, he much prefers the notion of the papacy to the
person of the Pope. He could not, however, turn down the prestige of an
appointment as French ambassador to the Vatican. Maritain went to Rome, but he
protected himself against over exposure to Italian faith by visits to Dr.
George Santayana. In Maritain, Santayana recognized a brother, the kind of
European intellectual cast-off that is annually being grabbed-up by American
Universities.
That Jacques Maritain should now be found
preaching at Princeton University is not so strange. It did not require too
much insight on Princeton’s part to see that a Catholic who hates Franco,
speaks at Jewish seminaries, and favors “theocentricity” in place of Jesus,
would be a bizarre, but harmless, addition to anybody’s faculty club.
Perhaps Princeton realized also that a
Catholic’s admirers are a good measure of his militancy. Among Maritain’s more
prominent sympathizers are John Wild, Charles Malik and Mortimer Adler (N.B.
Adler was converted and received into the Catholic Church in 1999 only 18
months before he died at 98 years of age), who are, respectively, an Anglican,
a Greek schismatic, and a Jew. Naturally Maritain could not insult
intellectuals like these by telling them that although they are outside the
Church they can get into Heaven because of their “invincible ignorance.” It was
necessary that Maritain concoct a new way of getting around the dogma, “No
Salvation Outside the Catholic Church.”
After a lot of abstract deliberation,
Maritain decided that a man could be “invisibly, and by a motion of his heart,
a member of the Church, and partake of her life, which is eternal life.”
According to Maritain’s new covenant, the important salvation-actions in our
world are no longer a head bowed to the waters of Baptism, a hand raised in
Absolution, a tongue outstretched to receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. “A
motion of his heart,” says Maritain, is all that is required before a man may
partake of eternal life.
The Sacred Heart might have saved Himself a
lot of inconvenience had He only known this, one Friday afternoon on Calvary.
COMMENT: Jacques Maritain was Paul VI’s favorite philosopher. Maritain's reputation as a great philosopher is based on his supposed integration of the Scholastic principles of St. Thomas with the modern world. He had a world-wide reputation and following that extending beyond his
native France to hold visiting professorships
at Princeton and the University of Chicago, as well as a visiting lecturer at Notre Dame, Yale, Harvard, and the University of Toronto. Pope Paul VI publicly confessed his
profound respect and influence by
Maritain’s thought on his Credo of the People of God (1968). At
the close of the Second Vatican Council on December 8, 1965, the pope’s “Address
to Men of Thought and Science” was dedicated to his “dear friend and mentor, Jacques Maritain.” Pope Paul offered Maritain a cardinal’s hat, but the philosopher declined
it. Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Freedom—Dignitatis Humanae—which teaches that the dignity of man is so exalted
that he possesses the inalienable right to neither conform his mind to God’s
revealed truth nor obey God’s commandments, drew as its inspiration Maritain’s book Man and the State (1951) which is an
articulation of the language
of “rights” that Dignitatis
Humanae employs.
“By
their fruit you shall know them!”; & by their fruit you had better well
know them!
For such false
apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of
Christ. And no wonder: for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of
light. Therefore it is no
great thing if his (Satan's) ministers be transformed as the ministers of
justice, whose end shall be according to their works.
II Corinthians
11:13-15
The order of divine justice exacts that
whosoever consents to another's evil suggestion, shall be subjected to him in his punishment; according to II Peter
2:19: "By whom a man is overcome, of the same also he is the
slave."
St. Thomas Aquinas
The proper literal understanding of this dogma from the
Council of Trent:
Canon 4 on the sacraments in
general: If anyone says that the
sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous,
and that without them or without the desire of them men obtain from God
through faith alone the grace of justification, though all are not necessary
for each one, let him be anathema.
The Dogma defines two revealed doctrinal truths:
1.
If anyone says: that the sacraments of the
New Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous, let him be
anathema.
2.
If anyone says: that without the
sacraments or (if anyone says) without the desire of the sacraments
men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification, let him be
anathema.
Both the Sacrament of Baptism and the will to
receive the Sacrament are necessary for salvation!
“But
God desired that his confession should avail for his salvation, since he preserved him in this life until the
time of his holy regeneration.” St. Fulgentius
“If anyone is not baptized, not only in
ignorance, but even knowingly, he can in no way be saved. For his path to salvation was through the confession,
and salvation itself was in baptism.
At his age, not only was confession
without baptism of no avail: Baptism
itself would be of no avail for salvation if he neither believed nor
confessed.” St. Fulgentius
Notice,
both the CONFESSION AND THE BAPTISM are necessary for salvation, harkening back
to Trent’s teaching that both the laver AND the “votum” are required for
justification, and harkening back to Our Lord’s teaching that we must be born
again of water AND the Holy Spirit.
In fact, you see the language of St. Fulgentius reflected in the Council of
Trent. Trent describes the votum (so-called “desire”) as the PATH
TO SALVATION, the disposition to Baptism, and then says that “JUSTIFICATION
ITSELF” (St. Fulgentius says “SALVATION ITSELF”) follows the dispositions in
the Sacrament of Baptism.
Yet another solid argument for why Trent is teaching that BOTH the votum
AND the Sacrament are required for justification.
“Hold
most firmly and never doubt in the least that not only all pagans but also all
Jews and all heretics and schismatics who end this present life outside the
Catholic Church are about to go into the eternal fire that was prepared for the
Devil and his angels.” St. Fulgentius
“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes,
professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church,
not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share
in life eternal; but that they will go into the ‘eternal fire which was
prepared for the devil and his angels.’”
Pope Eugene IV, Cantate Domino
Ladislaus, CathInfo
We will see
the same from Pope Leo!
The
end of dialogue is to produce opinion. The purpose of logical argument is to
appeal to the intellect to arrive at truth.
Rhetoric appeals to the will and poetry to the imagination. The emphasis
of the Novus Ordo Church since Vatican II on dialogue is therefore a
repudiation of any claim to truth offering in its place only the opinions of
churchmen. It is the debasement of Jesus Christ’s gospel from Truth to just
another opinion, from historical fact to mythology. It is only incidental that
Novus Ordo Church, having turned its back against the truth, has also turned
away from rhetoric and poetry which explains why it is both effeminate and
ugly.
“The Church will have to opt for dialogue as her style and method,
fostering an awareness of the existence of bonds and connections in a complex
reality. . . . No vocation, especially within the Church, can be placed outside
this outgoing dynamism of dialogue . . . . [emphasis added].”
Pope Francis’ Instrumentum
Laboris, XV ORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF SYNOD OF BISHOPS: YOUNG
PEOPLE, THE FAITH AND VOCATIONAL DISCERNMENT
And
thus, the 'spirit of Vatican II' - dialogue so that everyone can reach an
accomodation of error and the repudiation of logical argument appealing to
truth!
“Don’t proselytize; respect others’ beliefs. We can inspire others
through witness so that one grows together in communicating. But the worst
thing of all is religious proselytism, which paralyzes: ‘I am talking with you
in order to persuade you,’ No. Each person dialogues, starting with his and her
own identity. The church grows by attraction, not proselytizing.”
Pope Francis
Explicit Supernatural
Faith in God’s Revealed Truth is Necessary as a Necessity of Means for
Salvation.
If you do not
believe this, you do not possess Supernatural Faith!
Responses of the Holy Office under Pope Clement XI, 1703:
Q. Whether a minister
is bound, before baptism is conferred on an adult, to explain to him all the
mysteries of our faith, especially if he is at the point of death, because this
might disturb his mind. Or, whether it is sufficient, if the one at the point
of death will promise that when he recovers from the illness, he will take care
to be instructed, so that he may put into practice what has been commanded him.
Resp. A promise is not
sufficient, but a missionary is bound to explain to an adult, even a dying one
who is not entirely incapacitated, the mysteries of faith which are necessary by a necessity of means, as
are especially the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation.
Q. Whether it is
possible for a crude and uneducated adult, as it might be with a barbarian, to
be baptized, if there were given to him only an understanding of God and some
of His attributes, especially His justice in rewarding and in
punishing, according to this passage of the Apostle "He that
cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder' [Heb . 11:23],
from which it is inferred that a barbarian adult, in a certain case of urgent
necessity, can be baptized although he does not believe explicitly in Jesus
Christ.
Resp. A missionary should not baptize
one who does not believe explicitly in the Lord Jesus Christ, but is bound to
instruct him about all those matters which are necessary, by a necessity of
means, according to the capacity of the one to be baptized.”
COMMENT: The infamous 1949 Holy Office Letter, sent privately to
Cardinal Richard Cushing of Boston for the purpose of censoring Fr. Lenard
Feeney for his belief in the Dogma that there is no salvation outside the
Catholic Church, affirmed the novel doctrine of 'salvation by implicit desire'.
The "implicit desire" was to be a "member of the Church"
and the evidence of this "implicit desire" was an explicit belief in
a 'god who rewards and punishes'. The Letter teaches that the only requirement
for salvation is found in St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 11:13. No longer
were the belief in any revealed truth, the reception of any sacrament, or being
a subject of the Roman Pontiff necessary as necessities of means for salvation.
This Letter teaches that any "good-willed" Jew as a Jew, Hindu as a
Hindu, Mohammedan as a Mohammedan, Protestant as a Protestant, etc., etc. can
be members of the Church and can obtain salvation because they believe in a
'god who rewards and punishes'. The Holy Office response of 1703 makes it clear
that the belief in a God who rewards and punishes is only the natural philosophical
prerequisite for receiving the gospel good-news of salvation and of itself is
insufficient grounds for receiving the sacrament of Baptism.
After
40 Years of Dialogue, Rabbi identifies papal “conundrum.”
The real conundrum that faces Benedict XVI on his visit to Israel… is
should he be loyal to the Gospels which claim that only acceptance of Christ
can bring the messianic age, or should he endorse Vatican II which acknowledges
that Jews… can find the kingdom of God via a different route? Should he look inwards, backwards or
forwards?
Rabbi Jonathan Romain, The Pope’s Jewish Dilemma, The Guardian
There is yet a time of stillness and indifference. Liberalism is a
twilight state in which all errors are softened, in which no persecution for
religion will be countenanced. It is the stillness before the storm. There is a
time coming when nothing will be persecuted but truth, and if you possess the
truth, you will share the trial.
Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, Archbishop of Westminster
Pope Leo calls for unity in climate action on 10-year anniversary of
Laudato si’
Pope Leo XIV appealed to all of humanity to unite, overcome
differences, and work together to respond to climate change and ecological
destruction
The Tablet | Aili Winstanley Channer | 02
October 2025
He was speaking to climate activists and
religious leaders commemorating the ten-year anniversary of the encyclical Laudato si’ at Castel Gandolfo
yesterday.
It was the opening of the three-day
“Raising Hope for Climate Justice” conference organised by the Laudato si’
Movement in collaboration with ecclesial and institutional partners. Pope Leo reiterated Pope
Francis’ concern about “those who deride climate change” in the 2023
Apostolic Exhortation Laudate
Deum, and asserted, “there
is no room for indifference”.
He asked, “What must be done now to ensure that caring for our common
home and listening to the cry of the earth and the poor do not appear as mere
passing trends or, worse still, that they be seen and felt as divisive
issues?”
Attendees at the conference include
Christine Allen of Cafod. Bishop John Arnold, the lead bishop for the
environment for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said, “Pope Leo reminded us that Pope
Francis had emphasised that ‘the most effective solutions will not come from
individual efforts alone, but above all from major political decisions on the
national and international levels’. More than ever, we need to work together,
to think of future generations, and take urgent action if we are to truly
respond to the scale of this climate crisis: a crisis which affects those who
are poorest and most vulnerable and have done least to cause it.”
This view reflects Pope Leo’s call for ecological conversion at all
levels of society, including by strengthening democracy: “Citizens need to take
an active role in political decision-making at national, regional and local
levels. Only then will it be possible to mitigate the damage done to the
environment.”
Pope Leo was joined by Marina Silva,
Brazil’s minister of the environment and climate change and the head of the
United Nations Global Ethical Stocktake, an initiative to foster societal
reflection on ethical responsibility for climate change ahead of the 2025 UN
Conference of Parties (COP30), which will be held in Belem, Brazil, in
November. Pope Leo expressed his hope that COP30 and other upcoming
international summits “will
listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, families, indigenous
peoples, involuntary migrants and believers throughout the world”.
But Pope Leo also emphasised that although these challenges are “of a
social and political nature”, they are “first and foremost of a spiritual
nature: they call for conversion”. He reaffirmed the spiritual
importance of caring for the Earth as God’s creation and its inseparability from
our responsibility towards the poor and vulnerable: “We cannot love God, whom we cannot see, while
despising his creatures. Nor can we call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ
without participating in his outlook on creation and his care for all that is fragile
and wounded.”
The film star Arnold Schwarzenegger, known for his roles in
high-profile action films as well as his climate activism as Governor of
California and head of the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative, spoke alongside
Pope Leo and called him an “action hero” for his message on the environment.
Pope Leo smiled as he began his address. He affirmed the crucial and diverse
contributions made to mitigating the crisis by every individual at the
conference: “There is
indeed an action hero with us this afternoon: it is all of you, who are working
together to make a difference.”
As he closed, he said: “God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared
for the world that he created, for the benefit of all and for future
generations, and if we have taken care of our brothers and sisters. What will
be our answer?”
Pope Leo XIV Blesses Huge 20,000-Year-Old Chunk Of Greenland Ice
Forbes | Leslie Katz | Oct 06, 2025
Pope Leo XIV stood on stage at a climate
conference in Rome last week and laid his right hand on a massive chunk of ice,
blessing it.
This wasn’t just any ice. It had broken off
the vast Greenland Ice Sheet, a key regulator of global climate that’s
shrinking quickly as it melts due to climate change. The resulting rise in
global sea levels could flood many tens of millions of homes, scientists warn.
Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson
transported the ice to the Raising Hope Conference with the help of Danish
geologist Minik Rosing to serve as a stark symbol of how quickly the world’s
glaciers are disappearing.
“Lord of life, bless this water,” the pope
said after touching the dripping ice. “May it awaken our hearts, cleanse our
indifference, soothe our grief and renew our hope through Christ our lord.”
Eliasson is known for his installation
art using light, water, and air. Eliasson called it “striking” to
witness the pope bless the 20,000-year-old piece of Greenlandic glacial ice.
“We felt the presence of the fragile ice underscored the importance of
recognizing that nature is not separate from humanity,” the artist wrote on
Instagram.
COMMENT: Pope Leo,
celebrating the 10th anniversary of Laudato si', the earth worshiping
encyclical of Pope Francis, blessed a block of Ice to counteract the diabolical
forces of global warming striking a grave and focused posture that was in
marked contrast to the stupidity of the gesture. The act says a lot more about
Leo than it does about climatology. Leo, like Francis, is believer in the pagan
Gaia cult of Mother Earth worship. Leo refers twice in his sermon to the
"Cry of the Earth, the Cry of the Poor." Leo took this phrase from
Francis' Laudato si' and Francis took
the quote without attribution from Leonard Boff's Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. Boff is a former Franciscan
priest who was censored by the liberal Cardinal Ratzinger when he headed the
CDF under the liberal JPII for his extreem Marxist liberation theology. Boff is
famous for his development of an integrated theology of Marxism, Gaia cult
earth worship and "social justice." He was admired by Francis and he
is admired twice as much by Leo.
If
the ice block is 20,000 years old then the Genesis creation account and the
global flood of Noe is reduced to mythology and not divine revelation. The fact
is, ancient mythology ended with the Christian revelation of Jesus Christ but
the modern scientific world is doing its best to resurrect the cult of
mythology. The world likes to talk about the scientific fables of Big Bang,
primordial soups with lightening bubbling forth proteins that congeal into
cellular life with the teleological purpose of producing the DNA of Darwinian
man. These fables are believed and shamelessly pandered by our neo-modernists
popes. The absurdity is that the neo-modernists popes have embraced the myths
of scientology when science itself has discredited their claims. Scientists
have been predicting global flooding of coastal areas for the last fifty years
with no evidence of rising sea levels. Global warming is not science. It is
liberal ideology applied to climatology that always calls for a one-world
governance to enforce its dictatorial and anti-Catholic mandates. The alleged
global warming is always without exception a man made assault on Mother Earth
that requires the ritual murder of 6.5 billion people for a world
"sustainable" population of 500 million for expiation. Never is it
considered in their calculus that the increase
of global temperature would make available millions of more acres of arable
land and lengthen the growing season in millions of additional acres creating a
massive increase in the food supply and areas of habitable land. Scientists
have no idea whatsoever if global warming, if it is in fact happening at all,
would have overall beneficial or harmful effects. While Pope Leo is a resident
in Rome he might ask what became of Rome's ancient Port City of Ostia which was
at the time of Jesus Christ located directly on the sea at the mouth of the
Tiber River. It is today three kilometers from the coast. Citizens of Ostia may
have lost their beach front property but they are not under water.
“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
Exsurge Domine - USA; Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
The Association Exsurge Domine is committed to provide assistance, support and material aid for
clerics, religious and consecrated persons who are victims of the Bergoglian
Regime. It is of highest importance to act, to defend the immutable Tradition
of the Catholic Faith, to preserve and promote the Apostolic Mass, and to save
Christendom. In this decisive moment, we must choose to counter evil, or be
swallowed up by its most pestilent breath. Only those who fight as the
Maccabee’s did shall merit victory.
DEFENDE
ECCLESIAM TUAM
In many nations that are no longer
Catholic-such as England, Germany or the Netherlands, for example-you can still
see small chapels carved out of attics and cellars, or home altars hidden in
invisible closets or niches: they were used for the clandestine celebration of
Mass in times of persecution, when it was a crime to be faithful to the Church
of Rome and priests had to hide to avoid imprisonment or the death sentence.
Without going back to Diocletian, even in the 16th and 17th centuries “papists”
were considered a threat, and were barely tolerated as long as they had no
churches, convents, seminaries, or schools.
These
persecutions are recurring today, in perhaps a less bloody form, and the
perpetrators are not Lutherans or the thugs of Olivier Cromwell, but Cardinals,
Bishops and Prelates of the Conciliar sect, infiltrated into the Vatican and
well determined to wipe out all traces of the “old religion” and the “old Mass”
that they have replaced with the religion of ecology, of welcome, of
inclusiveness, of the New World Order.
The
apostasy we are experiencing is not very different from that of the bishops who
swore allegiance to Henry VIII in order not to lose rents and benefits: the
difference is that today the act of obedience is required toward Bergoglio, the
Second Vatican Council, the Novus Ordo, the “synodal church,” Pachamama.
Those
who do not yield, those who remain faithful to the Priesthood or Religious Vows
are ostracized, mocked, vilified, persecuted and above all deprived of
ministry, a dwelling place and means of livelihood. Without mercy, without
charity, without humanity.
Exsurge Domine is the response of those who do not
surrender to this betrayal of the modernist Hierarchy: it joins us to our
brothers of past ages, to the faithful who gave hospitality to the monk wanted
by the soldiers of Elizabeth I, a hot meal to the nun with no convent left in
revolutionary France, a hiding place to the Mexican priest pursued by the
soldiers of the Masonic government. We can help those persecuted priests, religious
men and women who in anonymity, silence, and humble acceptance of trials show
us the suffering face of Christ ascending Golgotha.
Let
us therefore prove that we know how to accompany the Faith we profess with good
works, with prayer, with charity and almsgiving. For these priests, these
friars, these nuns can stop the arm of divine Justice and give hope for the
future in our children.
“Exsurge Domine – USA”
Address: PO Box 121, Rice Lake, WI 54868
Email: info@exsurgedomineusa.org
501(c)3 approved Tax Code: 93-3884604
EXCERPT: The Vatican has been covering-up the crimes of homosexual pederasts
since 1922 but the practice became actively enforced policy since 1962!!!
The total payouts by the
Catholic Church for sex abuse claims in the United States have exceeded $5
billion over the past two decades with almost all of this for homosexual
crimes.
FROM FORGIVENESS, TO
SILENCE... TO BETRAYAL, By Michael Kenny
THE FEAR OF
SCANDAL: A DEEPENING MOTIF
As the Church gained public visibility and institutional structure, the
fear of scandal – that is, anything that could bring shame or doubt upon the
Church – grew proportionally. This concern is not without biblical foundation.
Apparently Christ Himself warned that:
“Scandals must come, but woe to the one through whom they come.”
In a world where the Church was often maligned, the temptation to
protect its reputation – even at the cost of truth – grew strong.
This approach reached its most formal expression in the
20th century.
CRIMEN
SOLICITATIONIS: CODIFYING SECRECY
In 1962, the Vatican issued a secret instruction titled CRIMEN
SOLICITATIONIS. Which laid out procedures for dealing with priests accused
of using the confessional to solicit sexual acts (an update of canon 904 in
1741). While its original focus was on confessional abuse – a particularly
grievous offense – it extended its protocols to cover ALL sexual misconduct by
clergy, including child abuse.
This document mandated
strict secrecy:
“Cases of this nature
are subject to the strictest pontifical secret – under pain of
excommunication.”
This meant the victims, witnesses, and Church authorities were all
bound by silence, ostensibly to protect the sacrament and the dignity of the
Church. But in practice, this secrecy protected the perpetrators and silenced
the victims.
The same theological instinct that once prompted Origen to counsel forgiveness
now found its legal expression in institutional concealment.
The Church fathers were not wrong to value forgiveness. But forgiveness
without justice is not sanctity – it is surrender. And the Church must never
surrender the innocent to the sins of the powerful.
THE COST OF
MISAPPLIED MERCY
What unites the early Christian response to personal violation with the
institutional culture of silence centuries later is a tragic misapplication
mercy – a prioritizing of the Church's image, or of the offender's soul, over
the immediate demands of justice and the protection of the innocent.
In the name of forgiveness, the Church failed to act.
In the name of avoiding scandal, it created a greater one.
In the name of unity, it tolerates wolves among the sheep.
The very teachings of Christ – meant to uphold truth, protect the weak,
and heal the broken – were twisted into realizations for secrecy and inaction.
TOWARD A NEW ETHOS
OF ACCOUNTABILITY
The path forward must involve more than policy reform. It requires
a re-examination of the Church's spiritual instincts – a return to the full
Gospel, where mercy and justice walk hand in hand.
Forgiveness does not mean the abandonment of truth.
Compassion does not mean the protection of the predator.
The Church must rediscover the moral courage to expose evil, even when
it dwells in its own house.
EPILOGUE: A WAR ON
INNOCENCE
There is a deeper layer to this crisis. Darker than secrecy. Worse than
betrayal. It is diabolical.
Satan hates God. This hatred is total, consuming and unrelenting. But
Satan can't hurt God directly – God is beyond his reach. So he strikes where it
hurts most: at what God loves – CHILDREN.
Jesus told us to let the children come to Him. Jesus warned about the
millstone. So, what then is a perfect way for Satan's followers to do his
bidding and please him, and hate God at the same time...
VIOLATE A CHILD,
and do it wearing the robes of Christ
In this perverse inversion of the priesthood, the altar becomes a
hunting ground, and the confessional, a trap. [....]
COMMENT: The problem was magnified in the 1983 Code of Canon Law
protecting homosexual predators. Their hypocrisy is evident when compared to
the treatment given to Fr. Samuel Waters. Homosexual predators are given the
full canonical rights of due process while Fr. Waters was denied canonical due
process for the "crime" of offering the "received and
approved" immemorial Roman rite of Mass.
COMMENT: From the 1917 Code of Canon Law, clerical homosexual predators
and other sex offenders who were found
guilty were laicized and turned over to the state for suffer criminal
penalties. Such a response was necessary to restore justice, protect the
faithful, and begin the hard work of rebuilding. Everything changed in 1922
with a new canon law which required all bishops of the world to violate
mandatory reporting laws of the state by concealing child abuse and
homosexuality by clerics from criminal state law enforcement. This document, Crimens
Sollicitationis, was included in the 1983 Code of Canon Law and remained
in force until 2001.
Abp. Vigano the former apostolic nuncio to the United States was
required first by Crimens Sollicitationis and then by Sacramentum Sanctitatis Tutela of
2001 and then by Graviora Delicta of 2010 to conceal any knowledge of
sexual crimes by clergy from public disclosure. The “Spotlight” investigation
of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in 2002 revealed that many clerics found
guilty of child sexual abuse were repeatedly returned to Catholic ministry
where they repeated their crimes on new children. Following this investigation,
the United States was the only country that received an exemption from the
Vatican policy to conceal sexual abuse from state criminal law enforcement.
Canon 1341 of the current 1983 Code of Canon Law, requires bishops
whenever possible to ask priests to stop committing crimes, instead of
punishing them for their actions. What is perhaps worse, Canon 1324 in the 1983
Code is used to decrease punishment for pedophiles on the grounds that
pedophiles have less freedom than non-pedophiles to control their perverse
passions. Thus, a diagnosis of pedophilia lessens culpability and imputability
of the crime of pedophilia. As a result, bishops have concluded pedophiles
should receive a lesser punishment for pedophilia than other sex offenders.
The SSPX follows the 1983 Code and has used it cover up sexual
offenders within the SSPX. This includes the former district superios in the
United States for the SSPX, Fr. Arnaud Rostand who was sentenced to a French
prison after conviction of homosexual pederasty in France, Spain and
Switzerland against seven boys on scouting trips between 2002 and 2018. The
purpose of this is not detraction of the SSPX but to point out an ugly fact
that every faithful Catholic should be aware of when receiving their
sacraments, attending their schools or participating in their supervised camps
and other summer activities. They as an organization follow the Vatican policy
to cover up any crimes of sexual abuse of children.
"Only the Prudent man can be brave."
Josef Pieper
Pro-abortion Sen. Durbin
says he’s ‘overwhelmed’ by Pope Leo’s apparent defense of his award
‘It is amazing to me. It’s
quite a moment,’ Durbin said about Pope Leo appearing to support the
pro-abortion and pro-LGBT senator’s ‘lifetime achievement award’ from Cdl.
Blase Cupich.
LifeSiteNews | Emily Mangiaracina | Oct
2, 2025 — Pro-abortion Senator Dick Durbin said he is “overwhelmed” by
Pope Leo XIV’s apparent support for his “lifetime achievement award” from
Cardinal Blase Cupich.
Leo
on Tuesday appeared to imply that he was not opposed to Cupich’s decision to
give the award to the radically pro-abortion and pro-LGBT Durbin, when asked
about the matter by a journalist.
“I
think that it is very important to look at the overall work that a senator has
done during … 40 years of service in the United States Senate,” he stated. “I
understand the difficulty and the tensions but I think, as I myself have spoken
to in the past, it is important to look at many issues that are related to what
is the teaching of the Church.”
“Someone
who says I’m against abortion but says I’m in favor of the death penalty is not
really pro-life. Someone who says I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement
with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if
that’s pro-life,” Leo then said. He went on to conclude, “So, they are very
complex issues, I don’t know if anyone has all the truth on them.”
On
the same day Leo appeared to defend Sen. Durbin receiving the lifetime award
from Cupich, the pro-abortion politician announced that he will decline the
award from the Archdiocese of Chicago after facing a strong backlash, including
criticism from several U.S. bishops.
Durbin
told NBC News he was surprised by “the level of controversy” over the award,
and that he declined it “because the reaction has been so controversial against
the cardinal who proposed it, and I see no point in going forward with that.”
Commenting
on the pope’s defense of his award, Durbin said, “It is amazing to me. It’s
quite a moment. I didn’t expect it. I didn’t know it was gonna happen.”
As
the Lepanto Institute has pointed out on X, Durbin’s award violates the very
laws of Cupich’s archdiocese. Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield has
affirmed, “The U.S. bishops have clearly taught that support for abortion
disqualifies individuals from receiving honors from Catholic institutions.”
Durbin’s
award, and Leo’s failure to denounce his award, is even more shocking
considering that since his election to the U.S. Senate in 1997, Durbin has
supported every possible brutal method of abortion, as well as even
post-abortion infanticide: He voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act,
the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, and the Born-Alive Abortion
Survivors Protection Act.
He
also supported legislation aimed at codifying and expanding Roe v. Wade – the
“Women’s Health Protection Act” – despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that it
was unconstitutional.
COMMENT: Pope Leo is defending the pro-abortion Sen. Durbin while at the same
time slandering faithful Catholics. His appeal to the 'seamless garment,'
subsequently called the "consistent ethic of life," is grounded on
the Vatican II novelty that the dignity of the human person is so great that he
is not obligated to believe the truths that God has revealed or obey the
commandments God. The novelty was developed by his Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of
Chicago in 1984 who was a notorious and clever homosexual who did as much
damage to the Church as the notorious Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. To say as
Leo has that Catholics who oppose abortion are not really pro-life if they do
not oppose the death penalty for convicted murderers is to claim that a
murderer has a greater right to life than his victim. As for opposing unjust
wars the homosexual crowd and their liberal Catholic supporters have done
precious little over the last 35 years.
Vatican
Council I listing the beneficial Fruits of the Council of Trent which are in
every detail exactly the opposite which we have seen from Vatican Council II
Now this redemptive
providence appears very clearly in unnumbered benefits, but most especially is
it manifested in the advantages which have been secured for the Christian world
by ecumenical councils, among which the council
of Trent requires special mention, celebrated though it was in evil
days.
Thence came:
1. a closer definition and more fruitful
exposition of the holy dogmas of religion and
2. the condemnation and repression of errors;
thence too,
3. the restoration and vigorous strengthening
of ecclesiastical discipline,
4. the advancement of the clergy in zeal for
·
learning and
·
piety,
5. the founding of colleges for the training
of the young for the service of religion; and finally
6. the renewal of the moral life of the
Christian people by
· a more accurate instruction of the faithful, and
· a more frequent reception of the sacraments. What is more, thence also
came
7. a closer union of the members with the
visible head, and an increased vigour in the whole Mystical Body of Christ.
Thence came:
1. the multiplication of religious orders and
other organisations of Christian piety; thence too
2. that determined and constant ardour for the
spreading of Christ’s kingdom abroad in the world, even at the cost of shedding
one’s blood.
While we recall with grateful hearts, as is
only fitting, these and other outstanding gains, which the divine mercy has
bestowed on the church especially by means of the last ecumenical synod, we
cannot subdue the bitter grief that we feel at most serious evils, which have
largely arisen either because
o the authority of the sacred synod was held in contempt by all too many,
or because
o its wise decrees were neglected.
First Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution on the Faith, listing some of the manifold beneficial fruits from
the Council of Trent!
Regarding the Sin of Schism
and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
There are no manifest acts of schism with one
and only one important exception which will be identified below. This means
there are no acts that are necessarily always and everywhere evidence of a
schismatic motive in the internal forum excepting one. Contrasted, for example,
with abortion and blasphemy which are acts that are manifest sins because they
can never be done with a morally right intention; the act itself reveals the
intent of the internal forum as being vicious. These are always and everywhere
necessarily mortal sins. As St. Paul says, "Some
men's sins are manifest, going before to judgment: and some men they follow
after" (1Tim 5:24). St. Paul gives specific examples of "manifest
sins": "Nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind
(sodomites), nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor
extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6:10). What exactly
is the schismatic motive that a contentious canonical process must discover for
conviction and attribution of imputability of the crime?
The canonical definition for both heresy and
schism are taken directly almost verbatim from St. Thomas Aquinas:
"Schismatics are those who refuse to submit to the Sovereign Pontiff, and
to hold communion with those members of the Church who acknowledge his supremacy."
Schism is the repudiation of the universal jurisdiction of Sovereign Pontiff
and communion with those who accept it. It is the burden of the canonical trial
to prove the schismatic intention for all schismatics are disobedient to the
Sovereign Pontiff but not all who are disobedient to the Sovereign Pontiff are
schismatics. St. Thomas' in his examination identifies schism as a specific species of sin. St. Thomas says,
"Hence the sin of schism is, properly speaking, a special sin, for the
reason that the schismatic
intends to sever himself from that unity which is the effect of charity:
because charity unites not only one person to another with the bond of
spiritual love, but also the whole Church in unity of spirit." The genus to which schism belongs is acts
opposed to peace which is the fruit of "that unity which is the effect of charity."
Regarding peace, St. Thomas continues: "Peace implies a twofold union...
The first is the result of one's own appetites being directed to one object;
while the other results from one's own appetite being united with the appetite
of another: and each of these unions is effected by charity." All acts
that disturb the fruit of peace are directed against the cause of peace which
is charity."
Acts of disobedience against properly
constituted authority are only acts of schism when the intention is to overturn
the peace of unity caused by charity. This intention constitutes the species difference of schism from other
acts opposed to peace, as St. Thomas says, the schismatic "intends to separate
himself from the unity that charity makes" (Q.39, a.1.) among the faithful. St.
Thomas is offering an essential
definition of schism which is the best of all definitions because it is the
most intelligible because it identifies the essence.
Schism, just as other acts opposed to peace enumerated by St. Thomas, which
include discord, contention,
war, strife and sedition, requires contextualization. Specifically for the case
of Archbishop Viganò, St. Thomas says that morality of contention, which is the opposition to
another in speech, is determined by the intention: "As to the intention,
we must consider whether he contends against the truth, and then he is to be
blamed, or against falsehood, and then he should be praised." Archbishop
Carlo Maria Viganò's "contention" against Pope Francis is the
contention of truth against falsehood and is therefore praiseworthy and not
schismatic. This is why a canonical trial is called "contentious" for
it is intended to reveal who is contending for truth.
The poles of contention are truth-falsehood
which is the same for dogmas of faith. As St. Jude admonishes: "I was
under a necessity to write unto you: to beseech you to contend earnestly for
the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3). Schism is the
rejection of the divinely revealed truth of papal universal jurisdiction, a
dogma of faith since Vatican I. Schism is manifested by disobedience but all
disobedience is not schism. Obedience to God is unqualified. All other acts of
obedience are morally good only to the degree that they are properly regulated
by the virtue of Religion which is the primary subsidiary virtue under Justice.
Any act of obedience that violates the virtue of Religion is a sin. The virtue
of Religion above all requires that we "give unto God the things that are
God's." This first and necessary act of obedience is to believe all that
God has revealed and to keep his commandments. Without this first necessary
condition, it is impossible to keep the greatest commandment to love God above
all things and it is impossible to have "the unity that charity
makes."
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò was
administratively "excommunicated" for "schism" because the
administrative process avoided the canonical requirement to prove that his
intent was to "separate himself from the unity that charity makes"
among the faithful. They denied the right of Archbishop Viganò to defend
himself in a contentions
forum against the charge which would obviously have included discussing the
heretical acts of Pope Francis which are manifest. The ultimate purpose of the
canonical process is to determine truth and bring those who have deviated from
truth back from error. But for many the contention itself irrespective of truth
or falsehood is the manifest evidence of schism. The reason for this will
become clearer after discussing the relationship in the context of faith and
charity, and heresy and schism.
Schismatics "refuse to submit to the
Sovereign Pontiff" because they deny that the pope possesses universal
jurisdiction conferred by God for the
legitimate exercise of the papal office which produces unity and peace.
Universal jurisdiction of the pope is a divinely revealed truth that was
dogmatized at Vatican I Council. St. Thomas says:
"Heresy and schism are distinguished in
respect of those things to which each is opposed essentially and directly. For
heresy is essentially opposed to faith, while schism is essentially opposed to
the unity of ecclesiastical charity. Wherefore just as faith and charity are different virtues, although
whoever lacks faith lacks charity, so too schism and heresy are different
vices, although whoever is a heretic is also a schismatic, but not
conversely."
Since the universal jurisdiction of the pope
has become a dogma at Vatican Council I, a schismatic is now also conversely
always a heretic. Importantly, faith precedes charity. "Without faith, it
is impossible to please God" (Heb 11-6) because "whoever lacks faith lacks charity."
The keys of universal jurisdiction were promised to St. Peter after his
profession of faith which is its proximate material cause. Many Church Fathers,
such as St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom, describe an analogical identity
of the rock (petra) with divine faith, with St. Peter, with Jesus Christ the
"cornerstone," and the Church itself. The faith proceeds and is the proximate cause of the
universal jurisdiction conferred by Jesus Christ because faith is indispensible
to the bond of unity which is charity.
Cardinal Henry Edward Manning wrote:
“The
interpretation by the Fathers of the words ‘On this rock; etc. is fourfold, but
all four interpretations are not more than four aspects of one and the same
truth, and all are necessary to complete its full meaning. They all implicitly
or explicitly contain the perpetual stability of Peter’s faith...:’
“In
these two promises [i.e. Lk 22:32, Mt 16:18] a divine assistance is pledged to
Peter and to his successors, and that divine assistance is promised to secure
the stability and indefectibiity of the Faith in the supreme Doctor and Head of
the Church, for the general good of the Church itself.”
Cardinal
Henry Edward Manning, “The Vatican Council and Its Definitions: A Pastoral
Letter to the Clergy”, p. 83-84, 1870
All
this is nicely summed up by St. Paul who admonishes "that you walk worthy
of the vocation in which you are called; With all humility and mildness, with
patience, supporting one another in charity. Careful to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one
Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one
baptism" (Eph. 4:1-5). The primary
and essential cause and sign of the unity in the Church is the faith. The pope
is only secondarily and accidentally the sign and cause of unity in the Church.
If the pope falls from the faith he is to be confronted as St. Paul did to St.
Peter when he "walked not uprightly unto the truth of the gospel" and
accommodated the Judaizers leading others into "dissimulation" (Gal.
2:11). If the pope is a heretic he "lacks faith (and) lacks charity".
Without charity he breaks the bond of unity in the Church and necessarily
becomes schismatic. Manifest Heresy is the one and only sin that identifies a
schismatic because it manifests a schismatic intent.
Tikkun olam (Hebrew תיקון
עולם, literally, 'repair of the world') is
a concept in Judaism, often interpreted as aspiration to behave and act
constructively and beneficially. Documented use of the term dates back to the Mishnaic
period (ca. 10-220 AD), (that is, the time when the oral traditions of the Jews
were committed to the written form in the Mishna, also called the Oral Torah).
Since medieval times, kabbalistic literature has broadened use of the term. In
the modern era, among the post-Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment, 1770-1880)
movements, tikkun olam is the idea that Jews bear responsibility not only for
their own moral, spiritual, and material welfare, but also for the welfare of
society at large. For many contemporary pluralistic rabbis, the term refers to
"Jewish social justice" or "the establishment of Godly qualities
throughout the world". Wikipedia
COMMENT: Jews
repeatedly since the time of Jesus Christ are the passionate creators and
principle instigators of ideological movements conceived as necessary for the
moral and material improvement of political and social order. When one after
the other proves to be a political and social failure, it is simply dropped and
they move on to another. They recognize a ‘fall from grace’ because they
recognize the ‘world needs to be repaired.’ Since they have rejected Jesus
Christ, the incarnate Logos, the eternal Wisdom of the Father, they have
rejected His divine plan for the ‘repair of the world’ and in its place offer
what Fr. Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp. described as “Organized Naturalism” in opposition
to the Supernatural Order of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the truth of the
matter is that whoever is not working for God is working for the Devil. There
is no middle ground. As Jesus said, “He that is not with me, is against me: and
he that gathereth not with me, scattereth” (Matthew 12:30).
Where
Tikkun Olam can lead
OPINION:
Stalin’s Jews
Israel News |
ynetnews | Sever Plocker
Here's
a particularly forlorn historical date: More than 100 years ago, between the
19th and 20th of December 1917, in the midst of the Bolshevik revolution and
civil war, Lenin signed a decree calling for the establishment of The
All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and
Sabotage, also known as Cheka.
Within a short period of time, Cheka became the largest and cruelest
state security organization. Its organizational structure was changed every few
years, as were its names: From Cheka to GPU, later to NKVD, and later to
KGB.
We cannot know with certainty the number of deaths Cheka was
responsible for in its various manifestations, but the number is surely at
least 20 million, including victims of the forced collectivization, the hunger,
large purges, expulsions, banishments, executions, and mass death at
Gulags.
Whole population strata were eliminated: Independent farmers, ethnic
minorities, members of the bourgeoisie, senior officers, intellectuals,
artists, labor movement activists, "opposition members" who were
defined completely randomly, and countless members of the Communist party
itself.
In his new, highly praised book "The War of the World,"
Historian Niall Ferguson writes that no revolution in the history of mankind
devoured its children with the same unrestrained appetite as did the Soviet
revolution. In his book on the Stalinist purges, Tel Aviv University's Dr. Igal
Halfin writes that Stalinist violence was unique in that it was directed
internally.
Lenin, Stalin, and their successors could not have carried out their
deeds without wide-scale cooperation of disciplined "terror
officials," cruel interrogators, snitches, executioners, guards, judges,
perverts, and many bleeding hearts who were members of the progressive Western
Left and were deceived by the Soviet regime of horror and even provided it with
a kosher certificate.
All these things are well-known to some extent or another, even though
the former Soviet Union's archives have not yet been fully opened to the
public. But who knows about this? Within Russia itself, very few people have
been brought to justice for their crimes in the NKVD's and KGB's service. The
Russian public discourse today completely ignores the question of "How
could it have happened to us?" As opposed to Eastern European nations, the
Russians did not settle the score with their Stalinist past.
And us, the Jews? An Israeli student finishes high school without ever
hearing the name "Genrikh Yagoda," the greatest Jewish murderer of
the 20th Century, the GPU's deputy commander and the founder and commander of
the NKVD. Yagoda diligently implemented Stalin's collectivization orders and is
responsible for the deaths of at least 10 million people. His Jewish deputies
established and managed the Gulag system. After Stalin no longer viewed him
favorably, Yagoda was demoted and executed, and was replaced as chief hangman
in 1936 by Yezhov, the "bloodthirsty dwarf."
Yezhov was not Jewish but was blessed with an active Jewish wife. In
his Book "Stalin: Court of the Red Star", Jewish historian Sebag
Montefiore writes that during the darkest period of terror, when the Communist
killing machine worked in full force, Stalin was surrounded by beautiful, young
Jewish women.
Stalin's close associates and loyalists included member of the Central
Committee and Politburo Lazar Kaganovich. Montefiore characterizes him as the
"first Stalinist" and adds that those starving to death in Ukraine,
an unparalleled tragedy in the history of human kind aside from the Nazi
horrors and Mao's terror in China, did not move Kaganovich.
Many Jews sold their soul to the devil of the
Communist revolution and have blood on their hands for eternity. We'll mention
just one more: Leonid Reichman, head of the NKVD's special department and the
organization's chief interrogator, who was a particularly cruel sadist.
In
1934, according to published statistics, 38.5 percent of those holding the most
senior posts in the Soviet security apparatuses were of Jewish origin. They
too, of course, were gradually eliminated in the next purges. In a fascinating
lecture at a Tel Aviv University convention this week, Dr. Halfin described the
waves of soviet terror as a "carnival of mass murder," "fantasy
of purges", and "essianism of evil." Turns out that Jews too,
when they become captivated by messianic ideology, can become great murderers,
among the greatest known by modern history.
The
Jews active in official communist terror apparatuses (In the Soviet Union and
abroad) and who at times led them, did not do this, obviously, as Jews, but
rather, as Stalinists, communists, and "Soviet people." Therefore, we
find it easy to ignore their origin and "play dumb": What do we have
to do with them? But let's not forget them. My own view is different. I find it
unacceptable that a person will be considered a member of the Jewish people
when he does great things, but not considered part of our people when he does
amazingly despicable things.
Even
if we deny it, we cannot escape the Jewishness of "our hangmen," who
served the Red Terror with loyalty and dedication from its establishment. After
all, others will always remind us of their origin.
“Don’t Jews still believe in a Messias to come?” asks
the credulous Christian. “And don’t they believe in the same Biblical Heaven
and Hell that we do?”
The answer to both these
questions is — no. And it is an emphatic “No!” as the subsequent Jewish
testimony will verify.
Concerning the Messias: The Jews of today reject the notion of a
personal redeemer who will be born of them and lead them to the fulfillment of
the Old Testament prophecies. The Jews believe that the whole Jewish race is to
be elevated to a position of prosperity and overlordship and that, when this
happy day arrives (the Messianic Age), they will have achieved all that is
coming to them by way of savior and salvation. In his recent book, The Messianic Idea in Israel, Jewish
theologian Dr. Joseph Klausner explains: “Thus the whole people Israel in the
form of the elect of the nations gradually became the Messiah of the world, the redeemer of
mankind.”
Concerning Heaven and Hell: A succinct summary of Jewish
teaching on “life after death” was given in the May, 1958 issue of B’nai
B’rith’s National Jewish Monthly. Under the caption, “What Can A Modern Jew Believe?” there
appeared: “Judaism insists that ‘heaven’ must be established on this earth. The
reward of the pious is life and happiness in this world, while the punishment
of the wicked is misery on earth and premature death … By hitching its star to
the Messianic future on this earth, Israel became the eternal people.” The
article goes on: “The best Jewish minds have always held that a physical hereafter
is a detraction from mature belief.” And the conclusion: “There is neither hell
nor paradise, God merely sends out the sun in its full strength; the wicked are
consumed by its heat, while the pious find delight and healing in its rays.”
Fr. Leonard Feeney, MICM, The
Point, October 1958
Mons. Carlo
Maria Viganò: Replies to the claim that obedience is unqualified even when the
faith itself is in question!!
NON SEQUITUR
Further Clarifications in Response to the Reply of
Prof. Daniele Trabucco
I can only agree with almost everything that Professor Trabucco has stated in
response to my comment [1]. As he writes at the Duc in Altum blog [2]:
A saint who obeys
a disciplinary measure that is unjust but not contrary to faith (as in the case
of Padre Pio) performs an act of heroic self-denial, because he recognizes that
even in harshness and iniquity, a command does not break the bond with the
revealed deposit of faith. The situation, however, is different when an
ecclesiastical authority commands something that contradicts faith: in that
case, the order is no longer authentically disciplinary but is transformed into
a deviation that strikes at the very rationale of the authority. Here, refusal
is not rebellion, but fidelity.
Given that this principle is valid – and which I agree with sine glossa
– I find it difficult to accept as valid the exception that Trabucco adds
immediately afterwards:
However […] such
refusal can never translate into schismatic acts, nor into attitudes that cause
public scandal. For if it is true that discipline and faith complement each
other, it is equally true that discipline, as a visible order, also serves to
preserve the unity of the Church. And unity is part of the supernatural common
good of the Mystical Body. Therefore, the truth of faith cannot be defended at
the cost of tearing apart ecclesial communion.
It is true that “discipline, as a visible order, also serves to
safeguard the unity of the Church. And unity is part of the supernatural common
good of the Mystical Body.” But the unity achieved through obedience is the
effect, not the cause, of the profession of the same Faith: the faithful are
united in the Church under the authority of the Roman Pontiff because they
believe the same doctrine, not the other way around. And this is the error that
undermines Professor Trabucco’s argument on obedience. The refusal to obey an
ecclesiastical authority, when that authority commands something that
contradicts the Faith, cannot constitute an attack on unity, because it is the
illegitimate order of the Superior that is schismatic and scandalous in nature,
not the disobedience of the subject who remains faithful to God.
If the refusal to obey an illegitimate authority or order “is not rebellion,
but fidelity”; if the Regula Fidei is the supreme principle that finds its
rationale in the Truth coessential and consubstantial with God [3]; if
obedience itself, as a moral virtue, is ordered toward the good and therefore
toward the Truth – because Faith and discipline, as Professor Trabucco states,
“though different in object, are united in purpose: the glory of God and the
salvation of souls” – how can the Professor affirm: “Therefore, one cannot
defend the truth of faith at the cost of tearing apart ecclesial communion”?
Given an absolute principle, how is it possible to derogate from it with an
exception that makes unity in obedience absolute while the Truth becomes
relative and secondary to obedience?
In fact, just the opposite is true: ecclesial communion cannot be defended at
the cost of tearing apart the Truth of the Faith, because it is obedience that
is ordered to the Faith, and not vice versa [4].
I would add that anyone who contradicts, adulterates, or silences the Faith is
the first to cause scandal, especially if he finds himself in the position of
exercising coercive force as an ecclesiastical Superior over a priest or
religious. It is the duty of every baptized person to defend and proclaim sound
doctrine and to denounce anyone in authority who abuses it, causing grave
scandal to the common people. They are rightly accustomed to
obeying—instinctively, I would almost say—the authority of the Hierarchy and
consider its deviation unthinkable under normal circuмstances. This is
especially true for the priest subject to the jurisdiction of his Superiors and
the sanctions they can impose: dutiful disobedience to an abusive and illicit
order entails canonical sanctions for anyone who dutifully resists, as Trabucco
hopes. This punishment of the disobedient is the scandal – not the act of denouncing
the corruption of ecclesiastical authority. Just as it is a scandal that
heretics, schismatics, corrupt individuals, and notorious fornicators are not
prosecuted but rather encouraged, while anyone who denounces the crisis,
identifies its causes, and identifies those responsible, who have fraudulently
held power for sixty years and can abuse it at will, is declared schismatic and
excommunicated.
The Communion of Saints—which is the archetype and model of ecclesial
communion—is founded in God, who is Truth, not obedience. God is not obedient,
because that would presuppose an authority superior to Him. The obedience of
the Son—factus obœdiens usque ad mortem (Phil 2:8)—is a unity of will (idem
velle) between the Three Divine Persons, without an internal hierarchical
relationship between Them [5]. At the same time, God is the primary recipient
of all obedience, because by obeying the Superiors to whom He has granted
authority, we also obey God. But obedience cannot exist if the Superior who
asks to be obeyed does not in turn recognize God’s authority over himself. Such
obedience would accept the premise, even if only theoretical, of being able to
disobey God in order to obey men, contravening the precept of Saint Peter (Acts
5:29) and making earthly authority self-referential and therefore potentially
tyrannical. In this, the concept of synodality is shown to be absolutely
subversive of the order willed by God, in that it tampers with the monarchical
structure of the Church—on the model of Christ the King and Pontiff who is her
Head—by placing sovereignty in the hands of “the people” (even if in reality,
power, as in civil republics, is in the hands of an elite) and by affirming
“that Christ wanted His Church to be governed in the manner of a republic.” [6]
Only universal submission to a true and good God makes obedience a sure means
of sanctity for those who obey their Superiors. And this is why we have both
reason and the Sensus Fidei: to discern when obedience is a virtuous act and
when instead “it transforms into a deviation that strikes at the very rationale
of authority.”
If Professor Trabucco recognizes the possibility that ecclesiastical superiors
may issue orders contrary to Faith or Morals (a possibility confirmed by daily
abuses of authority against traditional Catholics and the equally daily
tolerance of unprecedented scandals), he must also acknowledge the possibility
that subordinates may reject the illegitimate orders of their superiors. The
Church’s hierarchical ladder allows for appeal to a higher authority when one
finds oneself in conflict with another authority subordinate to it. But if the
highest echelons of the hierarchical ladder—in this case, the Roman Pontiff and
the Roman Dicasteries—are themselves implicated in a general subversion of the
Faith (beginning with Leo’s recent declaration that “we must change attitudes”
before we can change doctrine [7]), it is clear that hierarchical recourse is
impracticable and that no earthly authority can remedy the disobedience of
those who are Superiors.
In a nutshell: amidst the obvious general disobedience of Church Authority to
God’s law at all levels, how can a priest or a simple believer subjected to
this Authority remain obedient to it, if one is still bound to continue to obey
God rather than men?
The true h0Ɩ0cαųst of the will that the mystics speak of is
this: knowing how to be obedient unto death, even death on a cross, in
obedience to God. But never, under any circuмstances, can one even
imagine sycophantically obeying heretical and schismatic Superiors, for fear of
shattering “with acts of a schismatic nature” the apparent unity of their
church. Because the unity they claim is a simulacrum, a fiction, a grotesque
imposture hiding the indifferentism of the synodal pantheon, which includes both
the conservatives of Summorum Pontificuм as well as the LGBTQ+
progressives of James Martin, both Our Lady of Fatima as well as the Pachamama,
the Mass of the ages along with the Novus Ordo. The only inalienable dogma is
that everyone must recognize the Second Vatican Council: its ecclesiology, its
morality, its liturgy, its saints and martyrs, and above all its excommunicated
people and its heretics—that is, the “radical traditionalists” who refuse to be
tamed by the new synodal demands. As for the rest of what we believe, Leo has
explicitly said that one can safely gloss over it in the name of
ecuмenical and synodal unity, including the Filioque of the Creed. But
not Vatican II: it is the founding act of a church born in 1962 which claims
the authority of the True Church, from whose Magisterium, however, it distances
itself and opposes it.
We therefore find ourselves before an Authority—the supreme authority—that is
clearly disobedient to Christ, the Head of the Mystical Body, but which,
usurping Christ’s authority, claims to decide in what respects those subject to
it must obey it, disobeying God’s commands.
Can we even imagine recognizing this authority as legitimate and owing it
obedience, lest we tear apart the “unity” that the Hierarchy has already shattered
with its own disobedience to God? How could we possibly ratify its abuses,
making ourselves accomplices of those who are betraying the Truth?
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop, 23 September 2025
NOTE
1 – Cfr. https://exsurgedomine.it/250917-trabucco-ita/
2 – Cfr. https://www.aldomariavalli.it/2025/09/21/a-proposito-di-obbedienza-note-sulle-osservazioni-di-monsignor-vigano/
3 – Saint Augustine, De Trinitate, VIII, 2: God is truth itself – ipsa veritas
–, and everything that is true comes from Him, because He is the origin of all
truth.
4 – The decree of the Holy Office of 20 December 1949 condemning the
ecuмenical movement also recalls this: This unity cannot be achieved
except in the recognition of Catholic truth.
5 – Saint Augustine, In Joannis Evangelium tractatus, 51, 8: Christ’s obedience
is not a diminution of His divinity, but an expression of His perfect union
with the Father, for the will of the Son is one with that of the Father.
6 – Pius VI, Brief Super Soliditate of 28 November 1786 condemning Febronianism.
This doctrine fits into the context of the Enlightenment and the tensions
between the temporal power of states and the authority of the Catholic Church,
promoting a vision that limited the primacy of the Pope and strengthened the
autonomy of national Churches and local bishops. Febronius (the pseudonym of
Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, Bishop of Trier) argued that the authority of the
Pope was not absolute, but derived from the universal Church, understood as the
community of the faithful and bishops. Febronianism also influenced the Council
of Pistoia (1786), in which there appeared heretical demands that are
substantially identical to those that would re-appear in Vatican II.
7 – Cfr. https://chiesaepostconcilio.blogspot.com/2025/09/papa-leone-parla-con-elise-ann-allen-di.html
8 – Cfr. https://youtube.com/watch?v=IkPJn2L9BBs&si=oGcPhGwR5nxQ6jva
TO KNOW THE
FAITH, YOU MUST KNOW THE RULE
The Rule of Faith was given to the Church in the very act of Revelation
and its promulgation by the Apostles. But for this Rule to have an actual and
permanently efficient character, it must be continually promulgated and
enforced by the living Apostolate, which must exact from all members of the
Church a docile Faith in the truths of Revelation authoritatively proposed, and
thus unite the whole body of the Church, teachers and taught, in perfect unity
of Faith. Hence the original promulgation is the remote Rule of Faith, and the
continuous promulgation by the Teaching Body, (i.e.: DOGMA) is the proximate
Rule.
Rev. Scheeben’s Manual of Catholic Theology
“O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties
of words, and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called. Which some promising, have erred concerning the faith.
Grace be with thee. Amen.” St. Paul, letter to his disciple, Bishop St. Timothy
(1 Timothy 6:20-21)
... We wish to make our own the important words employed by the
Council; those words which define its spirit, and, in a dynamical synthesis,
form the spirit of all those who refer to it, be they within or without the Church.
The word “NOVELTY”, simple, very dear to today’s men, is much
utilized; it is theirs... That word... it was given to us as an order, as a
program... It comes to us directly from the pages of the Holy Scripture: “For,
behold (says the Lord), I create new heavens and a new earth”. St. Paul echoes
these words of the prophet Isaiah (II Corinthians 5, 17); then, the Apocalypse:
“I am making everything new” (II Corinthians 21, 5). And Jesus, our Master, was
not He, himself, an innovator? “You have heard that people were told in the
past ... but now I tell you...” (Matthew 5) – Repeated in the
“Sermon on the Mount”.
It is precisely thus that the
Council has come to us. Two terms characterize it: “RENOVATION” and “REVISION”.
We are particularly keen that this “spirit of renovation” – according to the
expression of the Council – be understood and experienced by everyone. It
responds to the characteristic of our time, wholly engaged in an enormous and
rapid transformation, and generating novelties in every sector of modern life.
In fact, one cannot shy away from this spontaneous reflection: if the whole
world is changing, will not religion change as well? Between the reality of
life and Christianity, Catholicism especially, is not there reciprocal
disagreement, indifference, misunderstanding, and hostility? The former is
leaping forward; the latter would not move. How could they go along? How could
Christianity claim to have, today, any influence upon life?
And it is for this reason that
the Church has undertaken some reforms, especially after the Council. The
Episcopate is about to promote the “renovation” that corresponds to our present
needs; Religious Orders are reforming their Statutes; Catholic laity is
qualified and found its role within the life of the Church; Liturgy is
proceeding with a reform in which anyone knows the extension and importance;
Christian education reviews the methods of its pedagogy; all the canonical
legislations are about to be revised. And how many other consoling and
promising novelties we shall see appearing in the Church! They attest to Her
new vitality, which shows that the Holy Spirit animates Her continually, even
in these years so crucial to religion. The development of ecumenism, guided by
Faith and Charity, itself says what progress, almost unforeseeable, has been
achieved during the course and life of the Church. The Church looks at the
future with Her heart brimming with hope, brimming with fresh expectation in
love... We can say... of the Council: It marks the onset of a new era, of which
no one can deny the new aspects that We have indicated to you.
Pope Paul VI, General Audience
of July 2, 1969
And Then, Only Three Years Later:
Through some cracks the smoke of Satan has
entered the temple of God: there is doubt, uncertainty, problematic, anxiety,
confrontation. One does not trust the Church anymore; one trusts the first
prophet that comes to talk to us from some newspapers or some social movement,
and then rush after him and ask him if he held the formula of real life. And we
fail to perceive, instead, that we are the masters of life already. Doubt has
entered our conscience, and it has entered through windows that were supposed
to be opened to the light instead....
Even in the Church this state of uncertainty
rules. One thought that after the Council there would come a shiny day for the
history of the Church. A cloudy day came instead, a day of tempest, gloom,
quest, and uncertainty. We preach ecumenism and drift farther and farther from
the others. We attempt to dig abysses instead of filling them.
How has all this come about? We confide to
you our thought: there has been the intervention of a hostile power. His name
is the Devil; this mysterious being who is alluded to even in the letter of St.
Peter. So many times, on the other hand, in the Gospel, on the very lips of
Christ, there recurs the mention of this enemy of man. We believe in something
supernatural (post-correction: “preternatural”!), coming into the world
precisely to disturb, to suffocate anything of the Ecumenical Council, and to
prevent that the Church would explode into the hymn of joy for having regained
full consciousness of Herself (!!).
Pope Paul VI, June 29, 1972
Pope Leo on
LGBTQ: ‘We have to change attitudes before we ever change doctrine’
In this first
extended interview he’s just done with Crux Now, Leo XIV has basically said
that the Church’s teaching on sexual morality could change.
LifeSiteNews
| Sep 18, 2025
Friends, you are not going to
believe this.
In this first extended
interview he’s just done with Crux Now, Leo XIV has basically said
that the Church’s teaching on sexual morality could change. He actually even
went there and implied that he could – in his words – “change the Church’s
teaching” on women’s ordination.
Take a listen to what he said
first on sexual morality. This is what he says after having been talking about
LGBT issues for a while:
People want the Church doctrine to change, want attitudes to change. I
think we have to change attitudes before we ever change doctrine.
That’s right,
he’s strongly implying – well, he’s saying – that Church
teaching could shift, if attitudes change first.
Might that be why we’ve had so
much LGBT stuff in Rome lately, from Fr. James Martin to the LGBT pilgrimage?
Are they trying to get our “attitudes to change”?
And what do you think the
so-called “LGBT Catholics” are hearing when they hear Leo saying such a thing? It’s a very clear
invitation and instruction: work to change attitudes, then we can change the
teaching. Wow.
And rather than stating such
changes were impossible, Leo said he thought it was unlikely that it would
happen soon:
I find it highly unlikely, certainly in the immediate future, that the
Church’s doctrine in terms of what the Church teaches about sexuality, what the
Church teaches about marriage [will change].
Later, instead of stating that
the Church’s teaching could not change, he merely said that
he thought that it would remain the same:
I think that the Church’s teaching will continue as it is, and that’s
what I have to say about that for right now.
You think it’s going
to continue as it is? Aren’t you supposed to be the Pope – the one responsible
for making sure that it continues as it is?
Look friends, this is just
stunning. Catholic teaching on sexual morality – including the sinfulness of
homosexual acts, as well as fornication, adultery and others – aren’t matters
of probabilities or personal conjecture, or contingent and waiting to be
changed.
They’re definitive, grounded in
both the natural law and divine revelation – and so
they’re incapable of being changed.
Reason alone tells us that
sexual activity outside marriage – and thus, obviously, all sexual activity
between two same sex couples – is contrary to the natural law.
This is also and separately
a dogma – divinely revealed in Scripture and proposed by the
universal ordinary magisterium of the Church.
Vatican I taught that such
truths which are to be believed with divine and Catholic faith.
Female ordination
Leo also talked about the
possibility of the ordination of women to the diaconate in similar terms:
What the synod had spoken about specifically was the ordination,
perhaps, of women deacons, which has been a question that’s been studied for
many years now. There’ve been different commissions appointed by different
popes to say, what can we do about this? I think that will continue to be an
issue.
Ok, so in the early Church,
there was indeed an office of “deaconess” – but everyone knows that these women
were not ordained to any sacramental holy order of the diaconate.
But Leo calls even this into
question by equating the female diaconate with that of the permanent diaconate
established after the Second Vatican Council. He gives a long anecdote about
meeting deacons and their wives in Rome before concluding:
[T]here are parts of the world that never really promoted the permanent
deaconate, and that itself became a question: Why would we talk about ordaining
women to the diaconate if the diaconate itself is not yet properly understood
and properly developed and promoted within the church?
He also expressed his
willingness for study and debate on the matter to continue, saying he was “certainly willing to continue
to listen to people,” and pointing to the study groups in Rome on the
subject. “We’ll walk with
that and see what comes,” he said.
But do you know what’s even
more shocking? Leo said this:
I at the moment don’t have an intention of changing the teaching of the
Church on the topic.
Friends, if you say a thing
like that, it’s clear what you think. You’re saying you do have the
power to “change the teaching of the Church.”
The immutability of dogma
But the teaching of the Church
says that this isn’t possible. Can that be changed too?
Vatican I denied that
the Pope could change the Church’s teaching or introduce new dogmas. It taught:
For the holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that
they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine.
It
goes on to say that the purpose of the papacy is to safeguard and preserve the
deposit of faith. Not to consider whether the time is right to change it.
Oh, some will say, we’re not
talking about changes. This is just a development of dogma.
Come on. That’s what they always
say to justify this stuff. And anyway, Leo was pretty clear: he’s the one who
was talking about changing Church teaching.
And anyway, that defense is
excluded too. There’s a legitimate sense of the development of doctrine, but
changing the meanings of dogmas to something totally different isn’t it.
Such an idea has been condemned
time and again by the Church.
Pope Pius IX condemned, in the Syllabus
of Errors, the idea that divine revelation is “subject to a continual and
indefinite progress.”
Vatican I declared that the “meaning of the sacred dogmas is ever to
be maintained” and that “there must never be any abandonment of this sense
under the pretext or in the name of a more profound understanding.”
That same Council anathematized anyone who says dogma can be
assigned “a sense different from that which the Church has understood and
understands.”
Pope St Pius X cited all these teachings in his encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis against
Modernism.
In his Oath Against Modernism,
he also required clergy to profess that dogma is handed down “in exactly the
same meaning and always in the same purport.”
This oath also states that the idea “that dogmas evolve and change from
one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously”
is a – get this – “heretical misrepresentation.”
Grave implications
“Heretical” is a big word. But
the truth is clear: homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered, marriage is
between one man and one woman, and these teachings cannot change.
As I said above, both the
Church’s teaching on sexual morality, and the immutability of dogma are the
sorts of truths we have to believe with divine and Catholic faith.
The censure attached to the
obstinate denial or doubt of such truths is indeed heresy. (Can. 751 of
1983 CIC, Can. 1325 of 1917 CIC)
So, where does that leave us?
The hugely problematic
situation of Leo XIV raising hopes for an impossible change in the future.
And claiming the power to
change Church teaching, which he certainly does not have.
And… publicly doubting (or even
denying) these two sets of truths in a video interview – which, as I said, is
heresy.
You know what St. Paul said
about those who try to introduce new dogmas, doctrines or Gospels:
If I, or an angel from heaven, preach to you a Gospel different to that
which we have preached to you, which you have received: let him be anathema.
COMMENT: The very essence of the
Modernist heresy is the denial of immutability of dogma because they deny that
dogma is divine revelation of an immutabile truth from an immutable God. The
Modernist believe that dogma is not a truth revealed by God but rather a human
expression of the subjective religious sentiment and therefore dogma must
change over time as the human sentiment changes. Leo the Heretic professes that
the "attitudes" of Catholics will change only gradually. therefore,
when there is a sufficient number expressing the new attitude then the dogmas
will change to express the new religious attitude. It is absolutely impossible
to hold this belief and be a faithful Catholic at the same time. Leo is just
another Bergoglian who will bring ruin to himself and others.
Pope Leo is
now the CEO of the same HomoLobby his predecessor chaired! It is impossible to
be a defender of homosexuality and a Catholic at the same time.
Bishop Schneider: Vatican
‘LGBTQ pilgrimage’ an ‘abomination,’ Pope Leo must make ‘public reparation’
Pope Leo must ‘urgently’
make reparation after the Vatican endorsed an LGBT Jubilee ‘pilgrimage’ and
allowed unrepentant homosexuals to pass the Holy Doors at St. Peter’s, Bishop
Schneider said.
LifeSiteNews
| Sept 10, 2025— Bishop Athanasius Schneider expressed “horror” at the
Vatican’s endorsement of the “LGBTQ Jubilee pilgrimage,” rebuking priests who
support homosexuality as “spiritual criminals” and “murderers of souls.”
“My
reaction was a silent cry of horror, indignation, and sorrow,” the auxiliary of
Astana, Kazakhstan, said regarding the Vatican’s approval of an LGBT-themed
“pilgrimage” on its Jubilee website, in an interview with Diane Montagna, a
journalist in Rome.
Montagna
had highlighted the fact that photos captured an array of rainbow paraphernalia
in St. Peter’s Basilica, as well homosexual male couple “brazenly holding hands
there, one with a backpack saying F*** the Rules,” at the conclusion of their
“pilgrimage.”
What
took place there could be described as an “abomination of desolation standing
in the holy place,” in the words of Christ (cf. Mt. 24:15), said Bishop
Schneider.
He
pointed out that the embrace of homosexuality by these “pilgrims” contradicted
one of the very key meanings of the Jubilee Year and the Holy Door: “Leading
man to conversion and penance,” as Pope John Paul II explained in the Bull of
Indiction of the Holy Year 2000.
“There
were no signs of repentance and renunciation of objectively grave homosexual
sins … on the part of the organizers and participants in this pilgrimage,”
noted Schneider. “To pass through the Holy Door and participate in the Jubilee
without repentance, while promoting an ideology that openly rejects God’s Sixth
Commandment, constitutes a kind of desecration of the Holy Door and a mockery
of God and the gift of an indulgence.”
The
bishop had strong words for the Vatican authorities who “collaborated de facto”
in this open rejection of God’s commandment, expressed aptly in the “f*** the
rules” message.
“They
stood by and allowed God to be mocked and His commandments to be scornfully cast
aside,” said Schneider.
When
asked to compare it to the Pachamama scandal, he noted that while direct
transgression of the First Commandment is even more grave, the endorsement of
sodomy – a sin that cries to Heaven for vengeance – “amounts to a form of
indirect idolatry.”
“Both
events must be publicly repaired by the Pope himself. This is urgently needed,
before it is too late, for God will not be mocked,” said the bishop.
Bishop
Francesco Savino, vice president of the Italian Bishops Conference, welcomed
“everyone” to receive Holy Communion at a Mass for the “pilgrims,” Montagna
then pointed out. Schneider affirmed that assent to “all of the Church’s
teaching” is a precondition for receiving Christ in the Eucharist, as was
expressed by St. Paul: “Anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body
eats and drinks judgment on himself. (1 Cor. 11:29).
He
added that this has been clearly stated by the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Anyone aware of having
sinned mortally must not receive Communion without having received absolution
in the sacrament of penance” (n.1415).
Furthermore,
it notes, “Sacred Scripture ‘presents homosexual acts as acts of grave
depravity, [and] tradition has always declared that homosexual acts are
intrinsically disordered.… Under no circumstances can they be approved’ (n.
2357).”
Thus,
by granting these LGBT groups passage through the Holy Door and approving their
“pilgrimage,” Vatican authorities in effect rejected “the very doctrine they
are bound to uphold.”
Schneider
said his message for participants in the LGBT “pilgrimage” is one of
compassion, and he called for all Christians to show compassion towards not
just those living homosexual lifestyles, but those who support its
legitimization and “persist in it unrepentant and even proudly.”
“For
when a person consciously rejects God’s explicit commandment prohibiting any
sexual activity outside a valid marriage, he places himself in the gravest
danger – that of losing eternal life and being eternally condemned to Hell,” said
the prelate.
“True
love for such persons consists in calling them, gently yet persistently, to
genuine conversion to God’s revealed will,” he continued, adding that such
people are “ultimately unhappy” even when they have suppressed their
conscience.
“We
must be filled with great zeal to save these souls, to free them from poisonous
deceits. Those priests who confirm them in their homosexual activity or in a
homosexual lifestyle are spiritual criminals, murderers of souls, and God will
demand a strict account from them,” Schneider declared.
To
those who defend Pope Leo XIV amid the Vatican’s approval of the LGBT
scandalous “pilgrimage” because he did not receive a delegation from them or
send them a message, Schneider said that “one cannot reasonably presume naivety
on his part,” because it was “entirely foreseeable” that an LGBT activist group
would take advantage of the Holy Door to promote their sinful lifestyle.
Furthermore,
by meeting with Father James Martin, S.J., a heretical pro-LGBT priest, as well
as pro-homosexual “marriage” Sister Lucia Caram, Pope Leo XIV has expressed
that he is not opposed to their “heterodox and scandalous teaching and behavior
– particularly since the Holy See offered no clarification afterward and did
not correct Fr. James Martin’s triumphant messages circulated on social media,”
noted Schneider.
He pointed out that in doing so, Pope Leo
XIV broke with the precedent of all popes before Francis, who “neither received
officially nor posed for photographs with those who, by word or deed, openly
rejected the doctrinal and moral teaching of the Church.”
“There
is a common saying that goes: ‘Qui tacet consentire videtur’ – ’He who is
silent is taken to agree,’” Schneider added.
The
prelate called upon all Catholics to “make a collective act of reparation for
the outrage committed against the sanctity of God’s house and the holiness of
His commandments,” and implored Pope Leo XIV to follow in the footsteps of Pope
John Paul II, who Montagna noted had denounced the first “World Pride” event in
Rome during the Great Jubilee of 2000.
“Should
Pope Leo XIV make public acts of regret and even reparation, he will lose
nothing; should he fail to do so, he will forfeit something before the eyes of
God – and God alone matters,” said Schneider.
“May
Our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV take to heart the following words of Our Lord
which He once spoke through St. Bridget of Sweden to one of his predecessors
(Pope Gregory XI)”:
Uproot, pluck out and destroy
all the vices of your court! Separate yourself from the counsel of
carnal-minded and worldly friends and follow humbly the spiritual counsel of My
friends. Get up like a man and clothe yourself confidently in strength! Start
to reform the Church that I purchased with My Own Blood in order that it may be
reformed and led back spiritually to its pristine state of holiness, for
nowadays more veneration is shown to a brothel than to My Holy Church. My son,
heed My counsel. If you obey Me in what I told you, I will welcome you
mercifully like a loving father. Bravely approach the way of justice and you
shall prosper. Do not despise the One Who loves you. If you obey, I will show
you mercy and bless and dress you and adorn you with the precious pontifical
regalia of a holy pope. I shall clothe you with Myself in such a way that you
will be in Me and I in you, and you shall be glorified in eternity (The Book of
Revelations, Book IV, chap. 149).
Argumentum ex
concessis
Notes in the Margin of an Article by Abbé Claude Barthe
For
if you live according to the flesh, you will die;
but if by the Spirit
you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live.
Rom
8: 13
The
essay by Abbé Claude Barthe’s, recently published in an Italian translation at
Aldo Maria Valli’s blog Duc in altum [1], deserves some attention.
What is most interesting in it is not so much his assessment of the newly
elected Leo XIV, nor the pragmatic realism with which he recognizes Prevost’s
continuity with his predecessor or calls for a loosening of restrictions on the
traditional liturgy.
Abbé
Barthe writes:
There
is a paradox, even a risk, for those who invoke freedom for the traditional
liturgy and catechism: that of being granted a sort of “authorization” for
liturgical and doctrinal Catholicism. We have already cited as an example the
paradoxical situation that arose in the 19th-century French political system,
when the most staunch supporters of the monarchical Restoration, enemies in
principle of the modern freedoms introduced by the Revolution, continually
fought to be granted a space for life and expression, freedom of the press, and
freedom of teaching. All things being equal, in the ecclesiastical system of
the 21st century, at least in the immediate future, a relaxation of the
ideological despotism of the Reformation could be beneficial. But while it may
be advantageous in the short and medium term, it could ultimately prove
radically unsatisfactory.
What
I believe should be highlighted is the not-so-veiled warning that Abbé Barthe
addresses to those who resort to the adversary’s arguments to gain legitimacy
in the ecclesial world, applying the argumentum ex concessis [2]. In this
case, “those who invoke freedom for the traditional liturgy and catechism” –
and who condemn Bergoglian synodality – appeal to that same synodality so that
the “Summorum Pontificum communities” may be recognized as one among the
many expressions of the composite ecclesial polyhedron.
Abbé
Barthe’s denunciation reveals not a paradox,
but the paradox, the contradiction that fundamentally undermines any
claim to orthodoxy on the part of self-styled conservatives: the acceptance of
the revolutionary principles of the so-called “synodal church” as the
(incomplete, moreover) counterpart to being tolerated by it. In reality, this
exchange is far from equal. The “synodal church” merely applies to
conservatives the same legitimacy of existence it grants to any other
“movement” or “charisma” present in the multifaceted ecclesial fabric, but it
carefully avoids acknowledging that their demands might go beyond a mere aesthetic
and ceremonial concession. The unwritten contract between conservatives and the
post-Bergoglian Hierarchy stipulates that the “liturgical preferences” of a
group of clerics and faithful can be tolerated if and only if they
refrain from highlighting the heterogeneity, incompatibility, and alienation
between the ecclesiology and the entire doctrinal framework underlying
the Vetus Ordo and those expressed in the reformed Montinian rite.
Abbé
Barthe does not ignore the critical issues: referring to Leo XIV’s Electors, he
calls them “all of the conciliar menagerie,” demonstrating a certain courage,
especially considering his public role and his dependence
on those Prelates. Nor does he ignore the deception embraced by those
who exploit religious liberty to invoke for themselves a tolerance
that is not denied even to the worshippers of Amazonian idols.
The
deception is twofold: not only because of the paradox that Abbé Barthe has
rightly highlighted; but also and above all because of a much worse trap, consisting
of accepting at least implicitly the forced, unnatural, and impossible
separation between the ceremonial form of the rite and its doctrinal substance.
This
is an operation of de-signification of the Liturgy, which consists in
being recognized with the right to celebrate in the Tridentine Rite on the
condition that the celebrant does not also accept the doctrinal and moral
implications of that rite. But if that “Summorum priest” accepts this
principle, he must also accept its inverse application. Indeed, the moment one
admits that the Liturgy can be celebrated without regard for the traditional
doctrine it expresses – a doctrine the “synodal church” does not recognize and
considers to be other than itself – one ends up accepting that even
the reformed liturgy can ignore the errors and heresies it insinuates, errors
which no Catholic worthy of the name can absolutely ratify. In doing so,
however, one plays into the hands of the adversary, under the illusion of being
more cunning than the devil. It all comes down to a question of dress and
choreography, of aesthetics and sentiment that satisfies or does not satisfy
personal taste, as Cardinal Burke’s recent words confirmed: “You don’t
take something so rich in beauty and begin to strip away the beautiful elements
without having a negative effect.” [3] Nothing could be more alien to the
mindset of the Roman Liturgy, according to which the beauty of ceremonies is
such because it is a necessary expression of the Truth it teaches and the Good
it practices.
The
“synodal church” includes conservatives in its coveted pantheon not
only because it gives them what they want – solemn pontifical liturgies
celebrated by influential prelates, without doctrinal implications – but also
because none of the Holy See’s interlocutors has the slightest intention of
demanding more; and even if someone were to dare ask for more,
the gatekeeper on duty – literally, the ostiarius –would
promptly intervene, calling for “prudence” and “moderation,” more concerned with
preserving his own prestige than with the fate of the Catholic resistance. This
is accompanied by the “Zip it” [4] policy advocated by Trad Inc. [5], according
to which the possible concessions the moderates hope to obtain from Leo suggest
they should not criticize him openly so as not to alienate him.
The
path of being persecuted, ostracized, and excommunicated do not seem to be
among the options for my brothers: it seems they are already resigned to a fate
of tolerance, in which they can neither be truly Catholic nor fully synodal;
neither friends of those who fight the enemy infiltrated into the Church, nor
of those who seek to replace her with a human surrogate of Masonic inspiration.
The Lord will hold these lukewarm priests accountable with greater severity
than He will many poor parish priests who have other, more pressing pastoral
priorities. Let us hope that Abbé Barthe’s warning does not fall on deaf ears,
for the hour of battle approaches, and to be found defenseless and unprepared,
in these circumstances, would be irresponsible.
And
it is precisely in times of persecution that we must rediscover the relevance
and validity of the words of Saint Vincent of Lérins:
In
ipsa item catholica ecclesia magnopere curandum est ut id teneamus quod semper,
quod ubique, quod ab omnibus creditum est; hoc est etenim vere proprieque
catholicum. [6]
If
anything does not meet these three criteria – semper, ubique, et ab
omnibus – it must be rejected as heretical. This norm protects us from the
errors spread by false pastors, in the serene certainty of acting in accordance
with Tradition and thus being able to compensate, due to the present state of
emergency, for the absence of ecclesiastical authority.
+
Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
3
September MMXXV
S.cti
Pii X Papæ, Conf.
FOOTNOTES
1
– Abbé Claude
Barthe, Leone, il pompiere nella Chiesa divorata dal fuoco della
divisione. Ma quale unità ricerca?, published at Duc in Altum on
August 9, 2025 – https://www.aldomariavalli.it/2025/08/09/analisi-leone-il-pompiere-nella-chiesa-divorata-dal-fuoco-della-divisione-ma-quale-unita-ricerca/ – English translation: https://www.resnovae.fr/the-pontificate-of-leo-xiv-a-transitional-stage/
2
– Argumentum ex
concessis is a rhetorical and logical technique in which an interlocutor
uses the premises, arguments, or claims accepted by an opponent to construct
their own argument, often to refute them or demonstrate the inconsistency of
their position. This strategy is based on the idea of temporarily accepting the
opponent’s claims (the “concessions”) and using them to draw conclusions that
either challenge them or support their own thesis.
3
– Cfr. https://x.com/mljhaynes/status/1954919906492747838
5
– “Trad Inc.” is the
American expression which refers to conservative believers and blogs organized
like companies, which operate according to market logic and are dependent on
their shareholders.
6
– Commonitorium, 2. “In this
same Catholic Church, we must take the greatest care to maintain what has
always been believed, everywhere and by all; this is in fact truly and properly
Catholic.”
COMMENT: It is encouraging for us who have refused the compromises of
faith that conservative Catholics have made in return for their privileged
Indult to have a man of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò's stature agree and defend what we have been
doing at Ss. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Mission for the last 25 years. We
hope and pray that he may have a greater influence on other resistance bishops
and priests.
The
proper understanding of this dogma from the Council of Trent:
Canon 4 on the sacraments in general: If anyone says that the
sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous,
and that without them or without the desire of them men obtain from God
through faith alone the grace of justification, though all are not necessary
for each one, let him be anathema.
The Dogma
defines two revealed doctrinal truths:
3.
If anyone says: that the sacraments of the
New Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous, let him be
anathema.
4.
If anyone says: that without the
sacraments or (if anyone says) without the desire of the sacraments
men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification, let him be
anathema.
Both
the Sacrament of Baptism and the will to receive the Sacrament
are necessary for salvation!
“But God desired that his
confession should avail for his salvation, since he preserved him in this life until the time of his holy
regeneration.” St. Fulgentius
“If anyone is not baptized, not only in
ignorance, but even knowingly, he can in no way be saved. For his path to salvation was through the confession,
and salvation itself was in baptism.
At his age, not only was confession
without baptism of no avail: Baptism
itself would be of no avail for salvation if he neither believed nor
confessed.” St. Fulgentius
Notice, both the CONFESSION AND
THE BAPTISM are necessary for salvation, harkening back to Trent's teaching
that both the laver AND the “votum” are required for justification, and
harkening back to Our Lord's teaching that we must be born again of water AND
the Holy Spirit.
In fact, you see the language of St. Fulgentius reflected in the Council of
Trent. Trent describes the votum (so-called “desire”) as the PATH
TO SALVATION, the disposition to Baptism, and then says that “JUSTIFICATION
ITSELF” (St. Fulgentius says “SALVATION ITSELF”) follows the dispositions in
the Sacrament of Baptism.
Yet another solid argument for why Trent is teaching that BOTH the votum
AND the Sacrament are required for justification.
“Hold most firmly and never
doubt in the least that not only all pagans but also all Jews and all heretics
and schismatics who end this present life outside the Catholic Church are about
to go into the eternal fire that was prepared for the Devil and his angels.”
St. Fulgentius
“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes,
professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church,
not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share
in life eternal; but that they will go into the ‘eternal fire which was
prepared for the devil and his angels.’”
St. Eugene IV, Cantate Domino
Ladislaus,
CathInfo
John Cardinal Newman,
another Novus Ordo "saint" soon to be declared a "Doctor"
of the Novus Ordo Church, comments following the dogmatic declaration of papal
infallibility.
“But we must hope, for one is obliged to hope
it, that the Pope (Pius IX) will be driven from Rome, and will not continue the
Council (Vatican I), or that there will be another Pope. It is sad he should
force us to such wishes.”
John H. Newman, Letter to his companion, Fr.
Ambrose St. John, 22 August, 1870
“We have come to a climax of tyranny. It is
not good for a Pope to live 20 years. It is anomaly and bears no good fruit; he
becomes a god, has no one to contradict him, does not know facts, and does cruel
things without meaning it.”
John H. Newman, The Letters and Diaries of
John Henry Newman, v. XXVI by Charles Stephen Dessain
"This
(Divine) law, as apprehended in the minds of individual men, is called
"conscience;" and though it may suffer refraction in passing into the
intellectual medium of each, it is not therefore so affected as to lose its
character of being the Divine Law, but still has, as such, the prerogative of
commanding obedience."
John
Henry Cardinal Newman
"It seems, then, that there are extreme cases in which Conscience
may come into collision with the word of a Pope, and is to be followed in spite
of that word."
John Henry Cardinal Newman
COMMENT: Pope Gregory XVI said, "This shameful font of
indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims
that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone." Conscience is
not the Divine Law. St. Thomas says that, "Conscience is nothing else than
the application of knowledge to some action." He is referring to the
knowledge of the Law of God. The Law of God, whether the eternal law or the
positive revealed law of God, is the objective criteria by which the conscience
is obligated to use as the standard by which any judgment regarding the moral
goodness or evil of any particular act is made.
All men are obligated to obey their conscience because they are
obligated to apprehend the objective Divine Law as the proper criteria. They
are not free to invent their personal subjective criteria in determining what
is the right or the wrong thing to do.
Liberalism claims the exact opposite. It is a fundamental axiom of
liberalism that the conscience is free to establish its own moral criteria.
This has been condemned by popes Gregory XVI, PiusIX and Pius X. John Henry Cardinal
Newman can be identified as the "Spirit of Vatican II."
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!
Hermeneutics
of Continuity/Discontinuity
Catholic
Faith:
Physical substances come into being through the union of substantial
form and primary matter. The Soul is the Substantial Form of the Human Body; it
is immortal and will be judged after the death of the person and directed to
Heaven or Hell for all eternity awaiting to be joined again to its Body at the
Resurrection of the Dead for the Last Judgment.
“In order that all may know the truth of the faith in its purity and
all error may be excluded, we define that anyone who presumes henceforth to
assert defend or hold stubbornly that the rational or intellectual soul is not
the form of the human body of itself and essentially, is to be considered a
heretic.”
Council of Vienne
Neo-Modernists
Ideology: [Ratzinger quotes provided by James Larson, War Against Being]
“The medieval concept of substance has long since become inaccessible
to us.”
Rev. Joseph Ratzinger, Faith and the Future
“The proper Christian thing, therefore, is to speak, not of the soul’s
immortality, but of the resurrection of the complete human being [at the Final
Judgment] and of that alone… The idea that to speak of the soul is unbiblical
was accepted to such an extent that even the new Roman Missal (i.e.: the Novus
Ordo) suppressed the term anima in its liturgy for the dead. It also disappeared
from the ritual for burial.”
Rev. Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology:
Death and Eternal Life
“‘The soul’ is our term for that
in us which offers a foothold for this relation [with the eternal]. Soul is
nothing other than man’s capacity for relatedness with truth, with love
eternal.”
Rev. Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology:
Death and Eternal Life
“The challenge to traditional theology today lies in the negation of an
autonomous, ‘substantial’ soul with a built-in immortality in favor of that
positive view which regards God’s decision and activity as the real foundation
of a continuing human existence.”
Rev. Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology:
Death and Eternal Life
And
those who have denied the reality of substantial
being are those who are responsible for the “dictatorship of relativism.”
“Every day new sects are created and what Saint
Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw
those into error (Eph 4, 14). Having a clear faith, based on the Creed
of the Church, is often labelled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas,
relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and ‘swept along by every wind
of teaching,’ looks like the only attitude (acceptable) to today’s standards.
We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognise
anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one’s own ego and
one’s own desires.”
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Homily of the
Dean of the College of Cardinals, 2005
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
Pius XII - the man responsible for planting the seed of
liturgical destruction!
Fr. Annibale Bugnini had been making clandestine visits to the Centre
de Pastorale Liturgique (CPL), a progressivist conference centre for liturgical
reform which organized national weeks for priests.
Inaugurated in Paris in 1943 on the private initiative of two Dominican priests
under the presidency of Fr. Lambert Beauduin, it was a magnet for all who
considered themselves in the vanguard of the Liturgical Movement. It would play
host to some of the most famous names who influenced the direction of Vatican
II: Frs. Beauduin, Guardini, Congar, Chenu, Daniélou, Gy, von Balthasar, de
Lubac, Boyer, Gelineau etc.
It could, therefore, be considered as the confluence of all the forces
of Progressivism, which saved and re-established Modernism condemned by Pope
Pius X in Pascendi.
According to its
co-founder and director, Fr. Pie Duployé, OP, Bugnini had requested a
“discreet” invitation to attend a CPL study week held near Chartres in
September 1946.
Much more was
involved here than the issue of secrecy. The person whose heart beat as one
with the interests of the reformers would return to Rome to be placed by an
unsuspecting (?) Pope (Pius XII) in charge of his Commission for the General
Reform of the Liturgy.
But someone in the Roman Curia did know about the CPL – Msgr. Giovanni Battista Montini, the acting
Secretary of State and future Paul VI – who sent a telegram to the CPL dated
January 3, 1947. It purported to come from the Pope with an apostolic blessing.
If, in Bugnini’s estimation, the Roman authorities were to be kept in the dark
about the CPL so as not to compromise its activities, a mystery remains. Was
the telegram issued under false pretences, or did Pius XII really know and
approve of the CPL? [.....]
This agenda (for liturgical reform) was set out as early as 1949 in the
Ephemerides Liturgicae, a leading
Roman review on liturgical studies of which Fr. Annabale Bugnini was Editor
from 1944 to 1965.
First, Bugnini denigrated
the traditional liturgy as a dilapidated building (“un vecchio edificio”),
which should be condemned because it was in danger of falling to pieces
(“sgretolarsi”) and, therefore, beyond repair. Then, he criticized it for its alleged
“deficiencies, incongruities and difficulties,” which rendered it spiritually
“sterile” and would prevent it appealing to modern sensibilities.
It is difficult to understand how, in the same year that he published this
anti-Catholic diatribe, he was made a Professor of Liturgy in Rome’s Propaganda
Fide (Propagation of the Faith) University. His solution was to return to the
simplicity of early Christian liturgies and jettison all subsequent
developments, especially traditional devotions.
These ideas expressed in 1949 would form the foundational principles of Vatican
II’s Sacrosanctum Concilium. For all practical purposes, the Roman Rite was
dead in the water many years before it was officially buried by Paul VI.
Dr.
Carol Byrne, How Bugnini Grew Up under
Pius XII
Wisdom
is only possible for those who hold DOGMA as the Rule of Faith!
Besides, every dogma of faith
is to the Catholic cultivated mind not only a new increase of knowledge, but
also an incontrovertible principle from which it is able to draw conclusions
and derive other truths. They present an endless field for investigation so
that the beloved Apostle St. John could write at the end of his Gospel, without
fear of exaggeration: “But there are also many other things which Jesus did:
which if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be
able to contain the books that should be written.”
The Catholic Church, by
enforcing firm belief in her dogmas—which are not her inventions, but were
given by Jesus Christ—places them as a bar before the human mind to prevent it
from going astray and to attach it to the truth; but it does not prevent the
mind from exercising its functions when it has secured the treasure of divine
truth, and a “scribe thus instructed in the kingdom of heaven is truly like a
man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things
and old.” He may bring forth new illustrations, new arguments and proofs; he
may show now applications of the same truths, according to times and circumstances;
he may show new links which connect the mysteries of religion with each other
or with the natural sciences as there can be no discord between the true faith
and true science; God, being the author of both, cannot contradict Himself and
teach something by revelation as true which He teaches by the true light of
reason as false. In all these cases the householder “brings forth from his
treasure new things and old.” They are new inasmuch as they are the result of
new investigations; and old because they are contained in the old articles of
faith and doctrine as legitimate deductions from their old principles.
Fr. Joseph Prachensky, S.J.,
The Church of Parables and True Spouse of the Suffering Saviour, on the Parable
of the Scribe
Baptism imprints
in your soul a spiritual character, which no sin can efface. This character is
a proof that from this time you do not belong to yourself, but that you are the
property of Jesus Christ, who has purchased you by the infinite price of his
blood and of his death. You are not of yourself, but you are of Christ;
wherefore, St. Paul concludes, “that the Christian should no longer live for
himself, but for Him who died and rose again for him;” that is to say, that the
Christian should live a life of grace, and that he should consecrate to his
Redeemer his spirit, his heart, and all his actions. […..]
First, is true penance; for, as the holy Council of Trent teaches,
penance is no less necessary for those who have sinned after Baptism, than
Baptism is necessary for those who have not received it. The Holy Scripture
informs us, that there are two gates by which we are to enter into
heaven—baptismal innocence, and penance. When a Christian has shut against
himself the gate of innocence, in violating the holy promises of Baptism, it is
necessary that he should strive to enter by that of penance; otherwise there is
no salvation for him. On this account, Jesus Christ, speaking of persons who
have lost innocence, says to them: “Unless you do penance, you shall all
perish.”
But in order that penance may prevent us from perishing—it must be true
Penance. Confessors may be deceived by the false appearance of conversion, and
it is too often the case; but God is never deceived. If, therefore, those who
receive absolution are not truly penitent and worthy of pardon, their sins are
not forgiven before God. In order to do true penance, it is not sufficient to
confess all our sins and to fulfill what is enjoined on us by the priest. There
are two other things which are necessary: First; to renounce sin with all your
heart, and for all your life… and second; to fly the occasions of sin, and to
use the means to avoid it.
St. John Eudes, Man’s Contract
with God in Baptism
Again, in the Office
for the feasts of our Lady, the Church applies the words of Sirach to
the Blessed Virgin and thus gives us to understand that in her we find all
hope: In me is all hope of life and of virtue. In Mary is every
grace: In me is all grace of the way and of the truth. In Mary we
shall find life and eternal salvation: Those who serve me shall never
fail. Those who explain me shall have life everlasting (Sir. 24:25,
30, 31--- Vulgate). And in the Book of Proverbs: Those who find me find life
and win favor from the Lord (8:35). Surely such expressions are enough to
prove that we require the intercession of Mary.
St. Alphonsus de
Liguori, The Glories of Mary
THE NOVUS ORDO CHURCH OF SLOTH
AND ENVY
The first effect of
charity is joy in the goodness of God. But this joy can only live through the
union of man’s will with God in charity. And charity demands that man keep all
the commandments. Charity demands a fellowship in good between God and man.
When the effort to live in this fellowship in good begins to appear too
difficult to man he begins to be sorrowful about the infinite goodness of God.
This sorrow weighs down the spirit of man and leads him to neglect good. This
sorrow is the sin of sloth, sorrow about the goodness of God. Sloth is a
capital sin. It leads men into other sins. To avoid the sorrow or weariness of
spirit which is sloth men will turn from God to the sinful pleasures of the
world.
When a man falls victim
to sloth and is sorrowful because of the goodness of God it is only natural
that he will begin to be grieved also at the manifestation of the goodness of
God in other men. He will resent good men simply because they are good. This
resentment is envy, hatred of someone else’s good. Since the love of our
neighbor flows from our love of God, it is natural that when we cease to love
God’s goodness, we will also begin to hate the goodness of men. Envy, like
sloth, is a capital sin. It will lead men to commit other sins to destroy the
goodness of their neighbors.
When a man’s heart is
filled with sloth and envy the interior peace of his soul which was the effect
of charity is destroyed. The loss of the interior peace leads to the
destruction of the peace of society. When a man’s heart is no longer centered
in God, then his life loses all proper direction. When the love of God is gone
he has nothing left but the love of himself. When a man loves himself without
loving God then he can brook no opposition to his own judgment or arbitrary
will. He can tolerate goodness in no one else. He will even, by the sin of
scandal, by his own words and example, lead other men into sin. He must
disagree with all men. He must dispute with them, separate himself from them,
quarrel with them, go to war with them, set the whole of the community at war
with itself.
Wherever the goodness
of God is most manifest, there will the heart of the man who no longer loves
God be most energetic in sowing the seeds of discord, contentiousness, strife
and war. That is why religion and the true Church of God are so viciously
attacked in the world today. Those who do not love God are driven by sloth and
envy to attack God’s tabernacle on earth.
Fr. Walter Farrell and
Fr. Martin Healy, My Way of Life, Pocket
Edition of St. Thomas
Amoris Laetitia was published in 2016. No answer or corrective action to
this "appeal" was ever made. That is because no clarification was
ever needed. Why? That is because the "numerous propositions in Amoris
Laetitia (that) can be construed as heretical upon the natural reading of the
text" is exactly what the author intended! So in 2016 these "academics
and pastors" did "not accusing the pope of heresy", but what
about now?
“Amoris
Laetitia.... scandalous, erroneous in faith, and ambiguous...”
Catholic academics and
pastors appeal to the College of Cardinals over Amoris Laetitia
A
group of Catholic academics and pastors has submitted an appeal to Cardinal
Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals in Rome, requesting that the
Cardinals and Eastern Catholic Patriarchs petition His Holiness, Pope Francis,
to repudiate a list of erroneous propositions that can be drawn from a natural
reading of the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia. During the coming weeks this submission will be
sent in various languages to every one of the Cardinals and Patriarchs, of whom
there are 218 living at present.
Describing the exhortation as containing
“a number of statements that can be understood in a sense that is contrary to
Catholic faith and morals,” the signatories submitted, along with their appeal,
a documented list of applicable theological censures specifying “the nature and
degree of the errors that could be attributed to Amoris laetitia.”
Among the 45 signatories are Catholic prelates, scholars, professors, authors, and clergy from various pontifical universities, seminaries, colleges, theological institutes, religious orders, and dioceses around the world. They have asked the College of Cardinals, in their capacity as the Pope’s official advisers, to approach the Holy Father with a request that he repudiate “the errors listed in the document in a definitive and final manner, and to authoritatively state that Amoris laetitia does not require any of them to be believed or considered as possibly true.”
“We are not accusing the pope of heresy,” said a spokesman for the authors, “but we consider that numerous propositions in Amoris laetitia can be construed as heretical upon a natural reading of the text. Additional statements would fall under other established theological censures, such as scandalous, erroneous in faith, and ambiguous, among others.” [......]
Atheists are really
anti-theists. They oppose the God who is God with an idol of their own making.
No atheist chooses
merely to deny God. For the atheist’s spiritual posture against God is at the
same time his posture in preference for some other Being above God. As he
dismisses the true God he is welcoming his New God. Why must this be so?
Because every personal commitment of man presupposes, deep in the metaphysical
core of his being, a hunger for being as truth and goodness. Man is
intrinsically burdened with an incurable hunger for transcendence. If being
abhors a vacuum, the vacuum it most violently shrinks from is the total absence
of Infinite Being. And history demonstrates that man is inconsolable without
the True God.
Fr. Vincent Miceli,
S.J., The Gods of Atheism
‘When
men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing,
they believe in anything.’
There are men who will
ruin themselves and ruin their civilization if they may ruin also this old
fantastic tale (of the Catholic faith). This is the last and most astounding
fact about this faith; that its enemies will use any weapon against it, the
sword that cuts their own fingers, and the firebrands that burn their own
homes. … (The atheist fanatic) sacrifices the very existence of humanity to the
non-existence of God. He offers his victims not to the altar, but merely to
assert the idleness of the altar and the emptiness of the throne. He is ready
to ruin even that primary ethic by which all things live, for his strange and
eternal vengeance upon some one who (he affirms) never lived at all.
G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
“Cultivate a great
desire to be firmly rooted in the sublime virtue of confidence. Do not fear, but be courageous in
serving and loving our Most Adorable and Amiable Jesus, with great perfection
and holiness. Undertake courageously great tasks for His glory, in proportion
to the power and grace He will give you for this end. Even though you can do
nothing of yourself, you can do all things in Him and His help will never fail
you, if you have confidence
in His goodness. Place your entire physical and spiritual welfare in His
hands. Abandon to the paternal solicitude of His Divine Providence every care
for your health, reputation, property and business, for those near to you, for
your past sins, for your soul’s progress in virtue and love of Him, for your
life, death, and especially for your salvation and eternity, in a word, all
your cares. Rest in the
assurance that, in His pure goodness, He will watch with particular
tenderness over all your responsibilities and cares and dispose all things for
the greatest good.”
St. John Eudes, The Life and Kingdom of Jesus in Christian
Souls
Cardinal Burke
offers the correction for two mistranslations in the English publication of the
Motu proprio of Pope Francis, “TRADITIONIS CUSTODES”
Art. 1. The liturgical books promulgated by Saint Paul VI (sic) and
Saint John Paul II (sic), in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II,
are the unique only expression of
the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.
Art. 4. Priests ordained after the publication of the present Motu
Proprio, who wish to celebrate using the Missale Romanum of 1962, should must submit a formal
request to the diocesan Bishop who shall consult the Apostolic See before
granting this authorization.
"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".
Leo XIV Reinstates Convicted
Child-Porn Priest who was protected by Francis
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 owns 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.

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, August 22, 2021
Bottom:
First Lutheran Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 6, 2025
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