“…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… 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” immemorial Roman rite of Mass
Seventeenth Sunday after
Pentecost
St. Eustace and Companions,
Martyrs
September 20, 2026
Tobias seems to have lived in the reign of Salmanasar towards the end of the eight-century before
Christ, at the time of the deportation to Assyria of the Israelites of the
northern kingdom. This holy man gave
proof, like Job, of his constancy and fidelity to God in the midst of all his
trials. “He…. forsook not the way of
truth: but every day gave all he could get to his brethren, his fellow captives
that were of his kindred. And when he was
younger than any of the tribe of Nephtali, yet did he
no childish thing in his work.”
The
Introit psalm can be applied to him because it speaks of a young man who from
his youth up, has walked in the Law of the Lord. “These and such like things,” says Holy
Scripture, “did he observe when but a boy according to the Law of God. But when he was a man, he took to wife Anna
of his own tribe, and had a son by her whom he called after his own name. And from his infancy he taught him to fear
God and remembered God with all his heart, and went about looking for his
fellow captives to whom he gave ‘wholesome admonitions’, comforted them and
distributed to everyone as he was able out of his goods. He fed the hungry and gave cloths to the
naked, and was careful to bury the dead and those that were slain.”
Later on almighty God allowed Tobias to be
stricken with blindness, so that his patience, like that of holy Job, might be
an example to posterity. For whereas he
had always feared God from his infancy and kept his commandments, he repined
not against God, because the evil of blindness had befallen him: but continued
immovable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his
life. “We are,” said he, “the children
of saints, and look to that life which God will give to those that never change
their faith in Him.”
When his wife spoke offensively about his
misfortune, Tobias lamented, and began to pray with tears, using nearly the
same words as those of the Introit: “Thou art just, O Lord, and all Thy
judgments are just; and all Thy ways mercy and truth and judgment….And now, O
Lord, deal with me according to Thy will.”
Later, when giving what he thought was a final charge to his son, he
said: “My son….all the days of thy life have God in thy mind and take heed thou
never consent to sin. Give alms out of
thy substance and turn not away thy face from any poor person. According to thy ability be merciful. See thou never do to another what thou
wouldst hate to have done to thee by another.”
Here we have that same precept of love to
God and our neighbor, translated into practice, which is taught in the Epistle
and Gospel for today. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with
thy whole soul and with thy whole mind,” and “Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself” (Gospel).
“Walk…. with all humility and mildness, with patience supporting one
another in charity, careful to keep the unity of the Spirit with a bond of
peace” (Epistle).
When Tobias sent his son to Gabelus at Rages under the guidance of the archangel
Raphael, during the journey the angel told the young man to “draw to” him a
fish that wanted to devour him, and to keep its liver as a means of driving
away all kinds of devils. Again, he
showed him how to take his kinswoman Sara to wife without coming to any harm at
the hands of the devil who had killed her seven former husbands. “They,” said the angel, “who in such manner
receive matrimony, as to shut out God from themselves, and from their mind, and
to give themselves to their lust….over them the devil hath power.”
So we pray in the Collect: “Grant unto Thy
people, O Lord, to withstand the temptations of the devil: and pure in heart,
to follow Thee, the only God.”
“We,” said Tobias to Sara, “are children of
saints: and we must not be joined together like heathen that know not
God.” So they prayed earnestly both
together, “to the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and the sea and the
fountains, and the rivers and all creatures,” that health might be given
them. And God blessed their marriage, as
He has blessed that of the Patriarchs, that they might have children of the
race of Abraham (Gradual).
Tobias then returned home with Sara and
cured his father’s blindness, whereupon the old man sang a hymn of thanksgiving
in which the most magnificent Messianic prospects were disclosed. Jerusalem had been chastised for her deeds,
but she would shine with a glorious light, and rejoice forever. Nations from afar should come to her,
bringing gifts and adoring the Lord in her.
They that despise her should be accursed, and they that blasphemed her
condemned. “Blessed,” he goes on, “are
all they that love thee…. Happy shall I be if there shall remain of my seed to
see the glory of Jerusalem. The gates of
Jerusalem shall be built of sapphire and of emerald: and all the walls thereof round about of precious stones. All its streets shall be paved with white and
clean stones: and Alleluia shall be sung in its streets… Furthermore the
destruction of Nineveh is at hand: for the word of the Lord must be fulfilled.”
Here indeed is the “new canticle” which the
Gradual psalm bids us sing (v. 3ff).
“the word of the Lord is right…. The Lord bringeth
to naught the counsels of nations…and casteth away the
counsels of princes…. Blessed is…. the people whom He hath chosen for His
inheritance…Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped in Thee.”
And the Communion psalm adds that God has
broken all hostile forces, scattered proud kings and destroyed their
armies. “Vow ye and pay…. to Him that is
terrible, for He has looked favorably upon the people upon whom His name is
invoked” (Offertory).
By Jerusalem where God reigns and to which
all nations come to praise the Lord is meant the kingdom of God, the heavenly
Jerusalem. To her all are summoned by an
universal call, to form “one body” that is the Church, called by St. Gregory a
new creation (Gradual), and quickened by “one Spirit”, the Holy Ghost given at
Pentecost, for there exists for all but “one Lord, one faith, one baptism”
(Epistle).
This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and
Son of David, whom “the one God and Father of all” has made to sit on His right
hand until His enemies have become His footstool (Heb. 1, 13).
INTROIT:
Ps. 118. Thou
art just, O Lord, and Thy judgment is right; deal with Thy servant according to
Thy mercy.
Ps. Blessed
are the undefiled in the way; who walk in the law of the Lord. Glory be, etc. Thou art just, etc.
COLLECT:
Grant to Thy people, we pray, O
Lord, to avoid the defilements of the devil: and with a pure mind to follow
Thee, the only God. Through our Lord,
etc.
O God, who dost permit us to keep
the birthday of Thy holy Martyrs Eustace, his wife and children, grant that we
may enjoy their fellowship in everlasting happiness. Through our Lord, etc.
EPISTLE: Ephes. 4, 1-6.
Brethren, I, a prisoner in the Lord,
beseech you 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. One God, and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in
us all. Who is blessed forever and ever. Amen.
ADMONITION: Implore God continually for grace to accomplish and make certain your vocation by practicing these virtues, recommended by St. Paul.
GRADUAL:
Ps.
32. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord:
the people whom He hath chosen for His inheritance. By the word of the Lord the heavens were
established; and all the power of them by the spirit of His mouth.
Alleluia,
alleluia. Ps. 101. O Lord, hear
my prayer; and let my cry come unto Thee.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL: Matt. 22,
35-46.
At that time, the Pharisees came to Jesus, and one of them, a doctor of the law, asked him, tempting him: Master, which is the great commandment of the law? Jesus said to him: Thou shaft love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets. And the Pharisees being gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying: What think you of Christ; whose son is he? They say to him: David's. He saith to them: How then doth David in spirit call him Lord; saying: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool? If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word: neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.
What is meant by loving God?
It means to find one’s pleasure, happiness and joy in God, because He is he highest and most perfect Good; to rejoice in His infinite majesty and glory; to direct one’s thoughts, words, and actions towards Him as our only end: to do His will in all things, and be prepared always rather to lose everything, even life itself, than His friendship.
What is meant by loving God with
our whole heart, our whole soul, etc.?
These different expressions all properly mean the same thing, namely, that we should cling to God with a true, sincere and heartfelt love, but by our heart our will may be understood, that power by which we wish God all glory, and desire nothing more than that He be known, loved, and honored by all men. The soul signifies the intellect by means of which we should endeavor to arrive at the knowledge and love of God, praise and glorify Him above all things. The mind may signify our memory, with which we continually remember God and the innumerable benefits bestowed on us by Him, praise Him for them, thank Him, and always walk irreproachably before Him. Finally, we love God with all our strength, if we employ all the powers and faculties of our body in His service, and direct all our actions to Him as to our last end.
Is it true love, if we love God
only because He is good to us?
This is grateful love, which is good and praiseworthy, but it is not perfect love, because the motive is self-love and self-interest.
What, therefore, is perfect love?
When we love God only because He is in Himself the highest Good, and most worthy of all love. In this manner we should endeavor to love Him; not through self-interest not through hope of reward, not through fear of punishment, but only because He, as the greatest Good, contains all goodness and, therefore, deserves to be loved only on account of Himself. Such love had St. Francis Xavier, which he very beautifully expressed in the canticle, composed by himself:
O God, Thou art the object of my love, not for the hope of endless joys above,
nor the fear of endless pains below, which those who love Thee not must undergo.
For me, and such as me, Thou once didst bear, the ignominious cross, the nails, the spear
A thorny crown transpierced Thy sacred brow; what bloody sweats from every member flow!
Such as then was and is Thy love for me, such is and shall be still my love for Thee;
Thy love O Jesus, will I ever sing-----O God of love, sweet Savior, dearest King!
Can fear exist with love?
Servile fear cannot, but filial fear may. Servile fear is rather a fear of punishment than a fear of offending God. Where such fear exists, love cannot dwell; for in love, writes St. Augustine (in Joann. Tr. 9), there is no fear, for perfect love casteth out fear (I John 4, 18). Filial fear, on the contrary, is the fear of offending God. This fear leads to love and is also an effect of love; it is the beginning of wisdom (Eccles. 1, 16). Let us cherish this fear, for it will drive away sin, as sentinels expel thieves (Ecclus. 1,16): it will replenish us with joy, and gladness, and obtain for us in our last moments divine blessings and a holy death (Ecclus. 1, 27).
How may we obtain a perfect love
of God?
By meditating on His infinite, divine perfections, such as His almighty power, His wisdom, His splendor, His beauty, etc.; by contemplating His boundless love for us, in the incarnation, sufferings, and death of His only-begotten Son; by frequently practicing this virtue; by fervent prayer; and by making acts of love, such as are found in good prayer-books.
When should we practice the virtue of love of God?
As soon as we have arrived at the age of reason; when the world, the devil and the flesh, endeavor to withdraw us from God, by their apparent goods and pleasures; when we have separated ourselves from God by mortal sin; when we receive the holy Sacraments, particularly holy Communion; when we receive a particular grace from God; when we use food and drink and other lawful enjoyments; when we contemplate God's creatures; often during the day; and especially in the hour of death.
Why is the commandment to love
God and our neighbor called the ‘greatest commandment’?
Because in it are contained all the other commandments, for Christ says, in it consists the whole law. He who loves God with his whole heart, does not separate himself from God by infidelity, does not practice public or private superstition and idolatry; he does not murmur against God, does not desecrate the name of God by cursing and swearing; he does not profane the Sabbath, because he knows that all this is displeasing to God. On the contrary, he hopes in God, keeps Sundays and days of obligation holy, and observes all the commandments of the Church, because God wishes that we hear the Church; he honors his parents, inflicts no evil upon his neighbor; does not commit adultery, does not steal, calumniates no one, does not bear false witness, does not judge rashly, is not envious, malicious or cruel, but rather practices the corporal and spiritual works of mercy; and all this, because he loves God and his neighbor.
What is the meaning of the
question, "What think you of Christ?"
Christ asked the Pharisees this question in order to convince them, from their own answer, that He was not only the Son of David, but that He as the only-begotten Son of God was the Lord of David and of all men from eternity (Ps. 2, 7). Unhappily, even today there are men who like the Pharisees deny the divinity of Christ, the Son of the living God, consider Him merely a very wise and virtuous man, and do not receive His doctrine, confirmed by so many miracles. Beware, my dear Christian, of these men who rob you of the peace of the soul, and the consoling hope of a future resurrection and eternal life, together with faith in Christ, the divine Redeemer. But if you believe Christ to be the Son of God and our Lord, Lawgiver, Instructor, and Redeemer, follow His teaching, and do not contradict indeed what you profess with your lips.
PRAYER: O most amiable Jesus! Who hast admonished us so affectionately to love God and our neighbor, pour the fire of Thy love into our hearts, that all our deeds and actions, our thoughts and words may begin and end with Thy love. Grant, that we may love Thee with all the powers of our body and soul, and thereby be so united to Thee, that, like St. Paul, no temptation, no tribulation, no danger, not even death, may be able to separate us from Thee. Grant us also, that we may love our neighbors, friends, and enemies as ourselves for Thy sake, and thus be made worthy to possess Thee as our Redeemer and merciful judge.
OFFERTORY:
Dan.
9. I,
Daniel, prayed to my God, saying, hear, O Lord, the prayers of Thy servant;
show Thy face upon Thy sanctuary, and favorably look down upon this people,
upon whom Thy name is invoked, O God.
SECRET:
We
humbly implore Thy majesty, O Lord, that these holy mysteries we celebrate may
rid us of past offenses and keep us from wrong-doing in the future. Through our Lord, etc.
We
present to Thee, O Lord, these gifts for our sacrifice; as honoring Thy holy
ones may they please Thee, and, out of Thy pity may they become profitable for
us. Through our Lord, etc.
COMMUNION:
Ps. 75. Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God. All you that
round about Him bring presents: to Him that is terrible, even to Him who taketh away the spirit of princes; to Him who is terrible
to all the kings of the earth.
POSTCOMMUNION:
By Thy
holy rites, O almighty God, may our vices be cured, and remedies be given us
that will avail everlasting. Through our
Lord, etc.
Grant us,
we pray, O Lord, through the intercession of Thy holy Martyrs, Eustace, his
wife and children, that what we take with the mouth we may receive with a clean
heart. Through our Lord, etc.

Jesus said to him: Thou
shaft love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and
with thy whole mind. This is the
greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
PROPER
OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 20th:
Date
Day Feast
Rank Color F/A Mass Time|Notes
|
20 |
Sun |
17th Sunday after
Pentecost St. Eustace & Comp.,
Mm |
sd |
G |
|
Mass 9:00 AM, Confessions
8:00 AM, Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Mass offered for the members of Ss. P
& P |
|
21 |
Mon |
St. Matthew, ApEv |
d2cl |
R |
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of
Reparation before Mass |
|
22 |
Tue |
St. Thomas of Villanova, BpC St. Maurice & Comp., Mm |
d |
W |
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of
Reparation before Mass |
|
23 |
Wed |
St. Linus,
PM St. Thecla, VM |
sd |
R |
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of
Reparation before Mass |
|
24 |
Thu |
Our Lady of Ransom |
|
W |
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of
Reparation before Mass |
|
25 |
Fri |
Ferial Day [Mass of Preceding Sunday] |
|
G |
A |
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of
Reparation before Mass |
|
26 |
Sat |
Ss. Isaac Jogues & Comp. Mm Ss. Cyprian & Justina, V, Mm |
d2cl |
R |
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of
Reparation before Mass |
|
27 |
Sun |
18th Sunday after
Pentecost Ss. Cosmas
& Damian, Mm |
sd |
G |
|
Mass 9:00 AM, Confessions 8:00
AM, Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Mass offered for the members of Ss. P &
P |
The Few are
Saved
· For
Many Are Called, But Few Are Chosen.
Jesus Christ, Mark 20, 16
· Do
not be deceived; there are only two roads: one that leads to life and is narrow;
the other that leads to death and is wide. There is no middle way. St. Louis Marie de Montfort
· What
do you think? How many of the
inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved?
Out of this thickly populated city, not one hundred people will be saved! I doubt whether there will even be as many as
that! St. John Chrysostom
· Scarcely
anyone is saved. St. Alphonsus
Maria Liguori
· So
vast a number of miserable souls perish, and so comparatively few are
saved! St. Philip Neri
· The
number of the saved is as few as the number of grapes left after the pickers
have passed. St. John Mary Vianney
· Only
a few will be saved; only few will go to Heaven. The greater part of mankind will be lost
forever. St. John Neumann
· There
are a select few who are saved. St.
Thomas Aquinas
· The
number of the Elect is so small – so small – that, were we to know how small it
is, we would faint away with grief. One
here and there, scattered up and down the world! St. Louis Marie de Montfort
· How
narrow is the gate and how strait the way that leads to life, and few there are
who find it. Jesus Christ, Matthew 7,
13-14.
"His
Majesty desires and loves courageous souls if they have no confidence in
themselves but walk in humility."
St. Teresa of
Jesus
One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. (Ephes. 4, 5-6)
These words of the great Apostle of the Gentiles show clearly, that it is not a matter of indifference, what faith or religion we profess. Yet in our times so poor in faith, we often hear the assertion from so-called enlightened men: “It is all the same to what religion we belong, we can be saved in any, if we only believe in God and live uprightly." This assertion is impious! Consider, my dear Christian, there is but one God, and this one God has sent only one Redeemer; and this one Redeemer has preached but one doctrine, and has established but one Church. Had God wished that there should be more than one Church, then Christ would have founded them, nay, He would not have preached a new doctrine, established a new, Christian Church; for the Jews also believed in one God. But Jesus cast aside Paganism and Judaism, promulgated a new religion, and founded a new Church. Nowhere does He speak of Churches, but always of one Church. He says that we must hear this Church, and does not add, that if we will not hear this Church, we may hear some other. He speaks of only one shepherd, one flock, and one fold, into which all men are to be brought. In the same manner He speaks always of one kingdom upon earth, just as there is only one kingdom in heaven; of only one master of the house and one family, of one field and one vineyard, whereby He referred to His Church; of one rock, upon which He would build His Church. On the day before His death, He prayed fervently to His Heavenly Father, that all who believe in Him, might be and remain one, as He and the Father are one, and He gave His disciples the express command to preach His gospel to all nations, and to teach them all things, whatsoever He had commanded them. This command the apostles carried out exactly. Everywhere they preached one and the same doctrine, establishing in all places Christian communities, which were all united by the bond of the same faith. Their principal care was to prevent schisms in faith, they warned the faithful against heresy, commanded all originators of such to be avoided, and anathematized those who preached a gospel different from theirs. As the apostles, so did their successors. All the holy Fathers speak with burning love of the necessary unity of faith, and deny those all claim to salvation who remain in schism and separation from the true Church of Christ.
Learn hence, dear Christian, that there can be but one true Church; if there is but one true Church, it naturally follows that in her alone salvation can be obtained, and the assertion that we can be saved by professing any creed, is false and impious. Jesus who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life , speaks of but one Church, which we must hear, if we wish to be saved. He who does not hear the Church, He says, should be considered as a heathen and publican. He speaks furthermore of one fold, and He promises eternal life only to those sheep who belong to this fold, obey the voice of the shepherd and feed in His pasture. The apostles were also convinced that only the one, true Church could guide us to salvation. Without faith it is impossible to please God, writes St. Paul to the Hebrews (11, 6), and this faith is only one, he teaches the Ephesians (4, 5). If the apostles had believed that we could be saved in any religion, they would certainly not have contended so strenuously for unity, they would not have declared so solemnly, that we should not belong to any other than to Christ alone, and that we must receive and obey His doctrine. As the apostles taught so did their successors and all the Fathers agree that there is no salvation outside of the true Church. St. Cyprian writes: "If any one outside Noah's ark could find safety, then also will one outside the Church find salvation" (De unit. eccl. c. 7). From all this it follows, that there is only one true Church which insures salvation, out of which no one can be saved.
But which is this Church? The Roman Catholic, Apostolic Church, for she alone was founded, by Christ, she alone was watered with the blood of the apostles and of thousands of holy martyrs, she alone has the marks of the true Church of Christ, against which He has promised that the powers of hell shall not prevail. Those who fell away from the Church nearly five hundred years ago do, indeed contend that the Church fell into error and no longer possessed the true, pure gospel of Jesus. Were they right, Jesus might be blamed, for He established this Church, promising to remain with her and guide her through the Holy Ghost until the end of the world. He would, therefore, have broken His word, or He was not powerful enough to keep it. But who dare say this? On the contrary, she has existed for nearly two thousand years, whilst the greatest and most powerful kingdoms have been overthrown, and the firmest thrones crumbled away. If she were not the only true and saving Church, founded by Christ, how could she have existed so long, since Jesus Himself said: Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up (Matt. 15, 13.) If she were not the Church of Christ, she would have been destroyed long ago, but she still stands today, whilst her enemies who battled against her have disappeared, and will continue to disappear; for the gates of hell shall not prevail against her, says our Lord. He has kept His promise and will keep it, notwithstanding all the oppositions and calumnies of her implacable enemies.
You see, therefore, my dear Christian, that the Catholic Church is the only true, the only saving Church; be not deceived by those who are neither cold nor warm, and who say: "We can be saved in any religion, if we only believe in God and live uprightly," and who wish to rob you of your holy faith, and precipitate you into the sea of doubt, error, and falsehood. Outside of the Catholic Church there is no salvation; hold this firmly, for it is the teaching of Jesus, His apostles, and all the Fathers; for this doctrine the apostles and a countless host of the faithful have shed their blood. Obey the teaching of this Church, follow her laws, make use of her help and assistance, and often raise your hands and heart to heaven to thank God for the priceless grace of belonging to this one, true Church; forget not to pray for your erring brethren, who are still outside of the Church that the Lord may lead them into the only Ark of Salvation, that His promise: ‘There will be one fold, and one shepherd’, may be fulfilled in them.
·
"There
is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is
saved." Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215
·
"We
declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the
salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff." Pope
Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam,
1302
·
"The
most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of
those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and
heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal;
but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil
and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so
important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining
within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation,
and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their
almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian
soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he
pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain
within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church." Pope Eugene
IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441
The chief elements of
this duty (as Catholics) consist in professing openly and unflinchingly the
Catholic doctrine, and in propagating it to the utmost of our power. For, as is
often said, with the greatest truth, there is nothing so hurtful to Christian
wisdom as that it should not be known, since it possesses, when loyally
received, inherent power to drive away error.
Pope Leo XIII, Sapientiae Christianae,
January 10, 1890
The apostles and their successors are God's vicars in governing the
Church which is built on faith and the sacraments of faith. Wherefore, just as
they may not institute another Church, so neither may they deliver another
faith, nor institute other sacraments.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica,
III, 64, ad. 3
At the hour of death that soul having committed so many mortal sins, to
whom shall she turn her eyes? To the eternal Father, being so long despised? To
the Son, being so many times crucified? Or to the angels, being always ready to
lift up their sword to punish that soul? Or to the Saints who participate in
the glory of the happiness of heaven? To whom then must she turn her eyes? Ah,
to the Mother of God, Mary, the only Refuge of sinners. We have recourse to
thee, O Mary.
St. Charles of Mt. Argus, C. P., Sermon
A religious error is the
main root of all social and political evils.
Pope Leo XIII, Inscrutabili Dei Consilio
O humility, humility!
It is the lack of this which prevents us from making progress, for the
foundation of the whole spiritual edifice is humility, and, if you have not
true humility, the Lord will not raise it very high for it lacks solidity.
St. Terese
of Avila
O Jesus, the duty of
souls admitted to Your intimacy is to suffer with You, to raise the Cross on
high, not to allow it to leave their hands, whatever the perils in which they
find themselves, and not to let themselves be found wanting in suffering. Now that You have shown me what a single
blessing it is to suffer trials and persecutions for Your sake, I find I cannot
cease from desiring trials; for those who follow You must take the way which
You took, unless they want to be lost.
Blessed are their labors which, even here in this life, have such
abundant recompense! O Jesus, what
greater proof of Your love could You give me than to choose for me all that You
willed for Yourself? To die or to
suffer: this is what I should desire.
St. Teresa of
Jesus
St. Matthew, also
known as Levi, was a Galilean and the son of Alphaeus. He was employed as tax-gatherer at Capharnaum when called by Christ. Tradition holds that he
preached first in Palestine and wrote the first Gospel for the Jewish converts,
in which he shows that Jesus is the Messiah foretold by the prophets. He is claimed as the Apostle of Ethiopia and
said to have been martyred during Mass in Ethiopia because of his encouragement
of virginity. Another tradition says
that he was stoned at Mabbug in Hierapolis on the
Euphrates.
Levi, occupied in a
profession that was hated by the Jews and despised by the Gentiles, belonged to
the lowest rank of society; but still more humble was he in heart, when, laying
aside the delicate reserve shown in his regard by the other evangelists, he
openly placed his former ignominious title beside the glorious one of apostle. By so doing, he published the magnificent
mercy of Him, who had come to heal the sick not the healthy, and to call not
the just but sinners.
Dom Gueranger,
The Liturgical Year, Feast of St. Matthew
Pope St. Linus was the first to succeed St. Peter in the government
of the Church. His faith and holiness
were so great, that he not only cast out devils, but even raised the dead to
life. He wrote the Acts of St. Peter and
decreed that no woman should enter a church with her head uncovered. His name is commemorated in the canon of the
Mass. He was beheaded by the command of Saturninus, a wicked and ungrateful ex-consul, whose
daughter St. Linus had delivered from the tyranny of
the devils. He was buried next to St.
Peter.
Dom Gueranger,
The Liturgical Year, Feast of St. Linus
Finding their power
crushed in Spain, and in the east checked by the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem,
the Saracens, in the twelfth century, became wholesale pirates, and scoured the
seas to obtain slaves for the African markets.
We shudder to think of the numberless victims, of every age, sex and
condition, suddenly carried off from the coasts of Christian lands, or captured
on the high seas, and condemned to the disgrace of the harem or the miseries of
the bagnio. Here, nevertheless, in many
an obscure prison, were enacted scenes of heroism worthy to compare with those
witnessed in the early persecutions; here was a new field for Christian
charity; new horizons opened out for heroic self-sacrifice. Is not the spiritual good thence arising a
sufficient reason for the permission of temporal ills? ….The Order of Mercy
founded by St. Peter Nolasco at the command of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, originally numbered more knights than clerks. It was called the Order of Our Lady for the
Ransom of Captives. The clerics
celebrated the Divine Office in the commandaries, the
knights guarded the coasts, and undertook the perilous enterprise of ransoming
Christian captives. St. Peter Nolasco was the first Grand Master of the Order; when his
relics were discovered, he was found armed with sword and cuirass.
Dom Gueranger,
Our Lady of Ransom, The Liturgical Year
You see what need I
have of the powerful aid of prayers while amidst these savages. I will have to
remain among them, almost without liberty to pray, without Mass, without
Sacraments, and be responsible for every accident among the Iroquois, French, Algonquins, and others. But what shall I say? My hope is in
God, who needs not us to accomplish his designs. We must endeavor to be
faithful to Him and not spoil His work by our shortcomings.... My heart tells
me that if I have the happiness of being employed in this mission, I shall go
and shall not return; but I shall be happy if our Lord will complete the
sacrifice where He has begun it, and make the little blood I have shed in that
land the earnest of what I would give from every vein of my body and my
heart. In a word, this people is "a
bloody spouse" to me (Exodus 4, 25). May our good Master, who has
purchased them in His blood, open to them the door of His Gospel, as well as to
the four allied nations near them.
St. Isaac Jogues
It was at the First
Vespers of All Saints (i.e.: Halloween) that Luther broached, at Wittenberg,
his famous theses against indulgences and the authority of the Roman Pontiff;
within a month, on November 25th of the same year, Thomas of
Villanova pronounced his vows at Salamanca, and filled up the place left vacant
in the Augustinian order by the heresiarch.
Amid the storms of social disorder, and the noise of the world’s
disturbances, the glory rendered by one saint to the ever-tranquil Trinity,
outweighs all the insults and blasphemies of hell.
Dom Gueranger,
The Liturgical Year, Feast of St. Thomas of Villanova
Today,
is there anyone left to talk with?
The Apostles and their disciples had such a horror of heresy, that they
would not speak one single word to those who had corrupted the truth.
St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Church Father
Think not that these
calamities were reserved for the Jewish people only. All the nations that have
known God's law and despised it have been the objects of His just and terrible
anger. "Did not I bring up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the
Philistines out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of Cyrene? Behold the eyes
of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the
face of the earth" (Amos 9:7-8). From this we can understand that wars and
revolutions, the downfall of some kingdoms and the rise of others, are due to
the sins of men.
Ven. Louis of Granada, The
Sinners’s Guide
We met the dawn within
sight of the settlement, having walked all night without the least
distress. While we were still in sight
of the town, some inhabitants of the place came out to welcome us. I inquired whether there were any sick
people. They said no – only that an old
lady had died the day before and they were getting ready to bury her. We arrived at the town and I asked for the
Indian woman’s house. They told me not to
bother going to see her since she was already dead. “Let us go,” I replied; “I will say a few responsories for her.”
I entered the house. It was so
murky that nothing of her could be seen.
I asked aloud, “Where is the dead woman?” The woman answered, “Here I am, Father. I am not dead; I am waiting to go to
confession to you.” I heard her
confession with great consolation to myself.
Her confession over, she lost her power of speech and handed her soul to
the Creator, who so greatly values those souls of his who were redeemed by his
blood.
Fr. Antonio Ruiz de
Montoya, S. J., The Spiritual Conquest,
Personal Account of the Jesuit Paraguay Reductions
St. Peter also describes the grace of our vocation in the most beautiful
terms, and assures us that the very design of God in calling us was that we
might make a suitable return to Him by declaring His praises. "Ye are a
chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people, that
ye may declare the virtues (or praises) of Him Who hath called you out of
darkness into His admirable light" (1 Pet. 2: 9). How great an obligation
does all this lay us under of living good and studying in all things to do the
will of God, especially when Christ Himself expressly says, "So let your
light shine before men, that they, seeing your good works, may glorify your
Father Who is in Heaven!
Bishop George Hay of Scotland, The Sincere Christian
The chief elements of
this duty (as Catholics) consist in professing openly and unflinchingly the
Catholic doctrine, and in propagating it to the utmost of our power. For, as is
often said, with the greatest truth, there is nothing so hurtful to Christian
wisdom as that it should not be known, since it possesses, when loyally
received, inherent power to drive away error.
Pope Leo XIII, Sapientiae
Christianae, January 10, 1890
FRATERNAL
UNION
SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
PRESENCE
OF GOD ‑ O my
God, give me the grace to preserve union with my neighbor by the bonds of charity
and peace.
MEDITATION:
I.
As Jesus during His earthly life never ceased to recommend fraternal charity
and union, so the Church in the Sunday Masses continually preaches this virtue.
She does it today by making use of a passage in St. Paul's Epistle to the
Ephesians (4, 1‑3).
"I,
therefore . . . beseech you, 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." The call which we have received is the vocation to Christianity,
which is to say, the vocation to love. God, infinite Charity, adopts us as His
children, that we may so emulate His charity that love becomes the bond which
unites us all in one heart, as the Father and Son are united in one Godhead by
the bond of the Holy Spirit. "As Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee; that
they also may be one in Us" (Jn 17,21), was the prayer of Jesus for us.
To "keep unity in the bond of
peace" is easy and difficult at the same time. It is easy because when the
heart is truly humble, meek, and patient, it bears everything with love,
carefully trying to adapt itself to the feelings and desires of others, rather
than asserting its own. It is difficult because, as long as we are here below,
self‑love, even when mortified, always tends to rise and assert its rights,
thus creating continual occasions of clashes, the avoidance of which calls for
much self‑renunciation and much delicacy toward
others. We should be persuaded that all that disturbs, weakens, or worse still,
destroys fraternal union, does not please God; it does not please Him even if
done under pretext of zeal. We should always prefer to renounce our own ideas‑although they be good‑rather than
dispute with our neighbor, except when it is a question of fulfillment of duty
or respect for the law of God. An act of humble renunciation for the sake of
union and peace among our brethren gives much more glory to God than a glorious
deed which might cause discord or disagreement.
2.
Very often the cause of division among good people is excessive self‑assertion:
the desire to do things one's own way. Given our limitations, there can be
nothing so absolute in our ideas that it cannot give way to the ideas of
others. If our ideas are good, upright, and brilliant, those of others may be
equally good, or even better. Therefore, it is much wiser, more humble and
charitable to accept the views of others and to try to reconcile our views with
theirs, rather than to reject them, lest we be obliged to give up our personal
ways and views. This individualism is the enemy of union; it is a hindrance to
good works as well as to spiritual progress.
In today's Epistle, St. Paul puts before us
all the reasons why we should preserve union with our neighbor. Be "one
body and one spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all." If God has willed to
save and sanctify us all in Christ, uniting us in Him in one body, giving us
one same vocation, one faith, and one hope, and being Himself the Father of
all, how shall we pretend to save and sanctify ourselves if we are not united
with one another? If we do not wish to frustrate God's plan and endanger our salvation
and sanctification, we should be ready to make any personal sacrifice
whatsoever in order to maintain and strengthen union. Let us bear in mind that
Jesus has asked for us not only union, but perfect union: "That they may
be made perfect in one " (Jn 17,23).
Today's Gospel (Mt 22,34‑46) also
strengthens this exhortation to union, since in it Jesus repeats that the
commandment to love our neighbor is, together with the commandment to love God,
the basis of "the whole law," that is, of all Christianity. Let us
not turn a deaf ear to these repeated appeals for charity and union; the Church
insists on these points because Jesus has insisted on them, and because charity
is "the precept of the Lord; if this only is done, it is enough" (St.
John the Evangelist).
COLLOQUY:
"O Word, Son of God, You look with
more complacency on one work done in fraternal union and charity than on a
thousand done in discord; one tiny little act, like the closing of an eye,
performed in union and charity, pleases You more than if I were to suffer
martyrdom in disunion and without charity. Where there is union, You are
present, for You call Yourself charity: 'Deus caritas est,'
God is charity. You call Yourself the God of peace and union: 'Deus pacis,' God of peace. You are the source of all peace,
and without You there can be neither true peace nor union. False is the peace
and union among sinners; it cannot last long, because as their hearts are
dominated by the tyranny of sin and of passions, the bond which unites them quickly
breaks; it is a weak bond no stronger than a thread of tow. Therefore, from You
alone, O God, comes perfect union, and where there is disunion, confusion
reigns because of sin and the devil. With what great desire should we seek this
union and love it with all our heart! Where there is union, there is all good,
there is an abundance of all things, of all celestial and terrestrial riches.
"O Most Holy Trinity, give us, then,
the grace to live always united with one another, preserving union of spirit,
having one will and opinion, imitating the indivisible unity which exists among
the three divine Persons" (St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi).
"Where charity and love are, You are
there also, O Lord! Your love, O Christ, has united us in one body and one
heart; grant, then, that we may love one another with a sincere heart. Keep far
from us all quarrels and contentions; grant that our hearts may be always
united in You, and do You dwell always in our midst" (The Liturgy).
The world is on
fire. Men try to condemn Christ once
again, as it were, for they bring a thousand false witnesses against Him. They would raze His
Church to the ground… It breaks my heart to see so many souls traveling to
perdition. I would the evil were not so
great… I felt that I would have laid down a thousand lives to save a single one
of all the souls that were being lost.
St. Teresa of Jesus
The Damnable Doctrine of
Martin Luther
·
God's
commandments are all equally impossible. (De Lib. Christ., t. ii., fol. 4.)
·
No sins can
damn a man, but only unbelief. (De Captiv. Bab., t.
ii., fol. 171.)
·
God is
just, though by his own will he lays us under the necessity of being damned,
and though he damns those who have not deserved it. (Tom. ii., fol. 434, 480.)
·
God works
in us both good and evil. (Tom. ii., fol. 444.)
·
Christ's
body is in every place, no less than the divinity itself. (Tom. iv., fol. 3)
·
Believe
strongly that you are absolved, and absolved you will be, whether you have
contrition or no. (11th article against Pope Leo)
·
The
contrition which is acquired by examining, recollecting, and detesting one's
sins, whereby a man calls to mind his life past, in the bitternesses
of his soul reflecting on the heinousness and multitude of his offenses, the
loss of eternal bliss, and condemnation to eternal woe,-- this contrition, I
say, makes a man a hypocrite, nay, even a greater sinner than he was before.
(6th article against Pope Leo)
Pope John XXIII said
that the Church must leave her mark on every epoch and every land – not vice
versa. But today what do we see?… What
we are seeing is not the struggle against the Prince of this world who is
present in so-called ‘progress’; not the attempt to imprint the Church’s image
on the age. We are witnessing the very
opposite; the poison of our epoch is slowly seeping into the church herself,
and many have failed to recognize the apocalyptic decline of our time.
Dietrich von
Hildebrand, Devastated Vineyard, published 1973
"Meekness makes a man master of himself."
St. Thomas Aquinas
A Prayer for the Virtue of
Meekness
O Holy Ghost, give me a
simple heart which will not retire within itself to savor its own sorrows, a
heart magnanimous in giving itself, easily moved to compassion, a faithful, generous
heart, which does not forget any favor received, nor hold resentment for any
injuries done to it. Make my heart meek
and humble, quick to forgive and capable of bearing tranquilly all opposition,
a heart which will love without expecting love in return, content to vanish in
the hearts of others, sacrificing itself before the heavenly Father, a great
and indomitable heart, that no ingratitude can close and no indifference can
weary, a heart tormented by the glory of Jesus Christ, wounded by His love,
with a wound which cannot be healed except in heaven.
Fr. Leonce
de Grandmaison, S. J.

"In these days,
prelates and preachers are chained to the earth by the love of earthly
things. The care of souls is no longer
their concern they are content with the receipt of revenue... The preachers
preach to please princes and to be praised by them. They have done worse. They have not only destroyed the Church of
God, they have built up a new church about their own pattern. Go to Rome and see. Dost thou not know what I
tell thee? What doest
thou O Lord? Arise and come to deliver
Thy Church from the hands of devils, from the hands of tyrants, from the hands
of iniquitous prelates."
Savonarola
These
"Rights," legally affirmed, flow from Moral Obligations
Among the rights of the
faithful —which the Pope is bound to respect according to the 1983 Code of
Canon Law— are the right to make known their spiritual needs to the pastors of
the Church; the right and even the duty to manifest their opinion on matters
that pertain to the good of the Church; the right to receive help from the
sacred pastors out of the spiritual goods of the Church, especially the Word of
God and the Sacraments; the right to worship God according to the prescriptions
of their own rite; the right to a Catholic education; and the right not to have
their reputation damaged or their privacy violated.
Canon Law Commentary
Difference
between Schism and Disobedience:
Remember
that the one any only act that is always associated with schism is manifest
heresy for, as St. Thomas says, "All heretics are schismatics."
St. Thomas Aquinas explains
that schism pertains to the moral order and that “the essential is that
which is intended...” This brings us to the subject of schism. Schism is
defined in Canon 751 as the obstinate post-baptismal refusal of submission
to the Roman Pontiff and of communion
with the members of the Church subject to him. A Catholic who breaks the strict
letter of Canon Law in order to uphold the Faith cannot be accused of Schism.
It is explained in the article on schism in the Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique,
the greatest Catholic reference work ever published, that schism and disobedience
are often confused. Every act of schism involves disobedience, but not every
act of disobedience is schismatic. The true meaning of schism, as expounded
within the context of Catholic theology by such theologians as Aquinas and Cajetan, is that the act of schism is found primarily in
the intention of the accused person. The guilt of schism, properly so-called,
is incurred only when a baptized Catholic intends to sever himself from the
unity of the Church by rejecting the existence of the papal office itself, that
is by denying that the Pope has the right to Command, or by refusing communion
with those Catholics subject to him, that is, by refusing to recognize them as
fellow Catholics. The refusal, even the pertinacious refusal, to obey the Pope
in a particular instance does not constitute schism. St. Thomas Aquinas
explains that the sin of schism pertains to the moral order, and that in the
moral order “the essential is that which is intended. ... Accordingly, schismatics properly so-called are those who willfully and
intentionally separate themselves from the unity of the church.” By no
possible stretch of the imagination could it be claimed that Archbishop
Lefebvre intended to do this. If he had wished to do so he could have ordained
bishops years before 1988, and he would not have entered into protracted
negotiations with the Holy See.
[....] Even if it is accepted that
Archbishop Lefebvre could not be considered schismatic for consecrating the
four bishops, it can still be argued that he incurred excommunication in any
case because this offense carries an automatic penalty of excommunication. But
any laws in the Code which establish a penalty are subject to what is called a
strict interpretation. Where any doubt exists, these laws must be interpreted
in favor of the accused.
[.....]Canon 1323 states that if one
violates a law in the code because a state of necessity or emergency exists
that person does not incur a penalty. If, therefore, a state of emergency does
exist in the Church Archbishop Lefebvre was not even excommunicated. But let us
argue that there is not a state of emergency in the Church. Let us argue that
everything is marvelous and that Mass attendance is rising rather than
declining each year, that the religious orders are holier than they have ever
been, and that children in Catholic schools are learning more and sounder
Catholic doctrine than ever before. Would this mean that the penalty was
incurred and the excommunication was
valid? By no means. Canon 1323, which has just been cited, also states that a
penalty has not been incurred if the person accused believes that a state of
emergency exists. There can be no doubt at all about the fact that Archbishop
Lefebvre believed a state of emergency existed, which means that he did not
incur the penalty of excommunication.
Michael Davies, Apologia Pro Marcel Lefebvre
Martin Luther,
Liturgical Visionary
Let all the vestments, the
altar, the candles be until they get used up, or we decide to change them – and
if somebody wants to do things differently, let him do it. But for the real Mass among true Christians,
the altar should not remain in its current form, and the priest should always
face the people.
Martin Luther
An
“Encounter” with Martin Luther to Learn Where He “Stands Before God” –
You may have
to go to Hell to find out!
The question: what
is God’s position towards me, where do I stand before God? – Luther’s burning
question must once more, doubtless in a new form, become our question too, not
an academic question, but a real one. In my view, this is the first summons we
should attend to in our encounter with Martin Luther.
Pope Benedict XVI,
with the Lutherans in Erfurt, Germany
The spirit of Protestantism, or the
spirit of revolt against God and his Church, sprung up from the Reformers'
spirit of incontinency, obstinacy, and covetousness. Luther, in despite of the
vow he had solemnly made to God of keeping continency,
married a nun, equally bound as himself to that sacred religious promise; but,
as St. Jerome says, " it is rare to find a heretic that loves
chastity."
Father Michael Müller, C.S.S.R, The
Great Revolt Against Christ
Obedience is
governed by the virtue of Religion, which is itself perfected by the Gift of
Piety
Incited by that profound cry of
“Father!” (Gal. 4, 6) which the Holy Ghost repeats within us, we rise toward
heaven, longing to win God’s heart and to behave in all things as His true
children…. This is how the gift of piety helps virtue of justice as well as the
virtue of religion…..If we aspire to live in close union with God, it is right
for us to desire and pray for the gift of piety. Under its influence our prayer will become
more affectionate, more filial, and we shall attend with greater facility to
all that concerns divine worship. Let us
ask for this gift, especially when we seem to be very dry and cold, so that in
time of trial and interior suffering by its help we shall go to God as a child
to its Father. Furthermore, our
diligent, constant application to prayer, notwithstanding the lack of sensible
devotion, is one of the best dispositions for bringing us the life-giving
breath of the gift of piety.
Rev. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., Divine
Intimacy
The Spirit of Vatican II – A
Cowardly Denial of Reality
St. Thomas Aquinas, the
great teacher of Western Christianity, endeavored to express the Christian
image of man in seven theses, which can be summarized in the following manner:
First: the Christian is
one who, in faith, becomes aware of the reality of the triune God. Second: the Christian strives, in hope, for
the total fulfillment of his being in eternal life. Third: the Christian directs himself, in the
divine virtue of love, to an affirmation of God and neighbor that
surpasses the power of any natural love.
Fourth: the Christian is prudent; namely, he does not allow his
view on reality to be controlled by the Yes or No of his will, but rather he
makes this Yes or No of the will dependent upon the truth of real things. Fifth: the Christian is just; that is,
he is able to live “with the other” in truth; he sees himself as a member among
members of the Church, of the people, and of any community. Sixth: the Christian is brave, that
is, he is prepared to suffer injury and, if need be, death for the truth and
for the realization of justice. Seventh:
the Christian is temperate; namely, he does not permit his desire to
possess and his desire for pleasure to become destructive and inimical to his
being.
Josef Pieper, A Brief
Reader on the Virtues of the Human Heart
“The Catholic Church…. Demands”?
The Catholic Church firmly advocates that due recognition be given to
the public dimension of religious adherence. In an overwhelmingly pluralist
society, this demand is not unimportant. Care must be taken to guarantee that
others are always treated with respect. Mutual respect grows only on the basis
of agreement on certain inalienable values that are proper to human nature, in
particular the inviolable dignity of every single person. Such agreement does
not limit the expression of individual religions; on the contrary, it allows
each person to bear witness explicitly to what he believes, not avoiding
comparison with others.
Pope Benedict XVI to the Muslims in Germany
COMMENT: Rights are derived from duties. God has imposed no duty to worship false
gods. So how is it that the “Catholic
Church firmly advocates” and “demands” that “due recognition be given to the
public dimension of religious adherence” to false gods? How does it follow that treating one “with
respect… allows each person to bear witness explicitly to what he believes”?
The term nature
is not abstract. Human nature is the essence of man, that is what he is before
being a person. Man is a person, a holder of inalienable rights, because he has
a soul. And he has a soul given that, unlike any other living being, he has a
rational nature. Natural is not what originates from the instincts and desires
of man, but what corresponds to the rules of reason, which must in turn,
conform itself to an objective order and immutable principles. The natural law
is rational and immutable, [thus] because it is immutable inasmuch as it is
spiritual, it is the nature of man. All individuals of the same nature act or
should act in the same manner, since the natural law is written in the nature
not of this or that man, but in human nature regarded in itself, in its
permanence and stability.
Professor Roberto
de Mattei, defending Natural Law against Cardinal
Kasper
Pope Galesius in his 9th Letter (Chap. 26) to
the Bishops of Lucania condemned the evil practice
which had been introduced of women serving the priest at the celebration of
Mass. Since this abuse had spread to the Greeks, Innocent IV strictly forbade
it in his letter to the bishop of Tusculum: "Women should not dare to
serve at the altar; they should be altogether refused this ministry." We
too have forbidden this practice in the same words....
Pope Benedict XIV, Allatae Sunt, 1755
A Word on the Origin
of the Saying: “Roma Locuta, Causa
Finite”
Pope Zosimus, in the presence of the Roman
clergy, recognized as orthodox the heretical statements of Pelagius, which had
been condemned by Pope Innocent I and the two Councils of Carthage. Pelagianism, which denied the doctrine of Original Sin and
man’s need for grace, was a virulent heresy of the time, against which St.
Augustine wrote numerous tracts (The Remission of Sins and the Baptism of
Children, The Spirit and the Letter, Letter to Hilary, Nature and Grace,
Perfect Justice, The Acts of Pelagius, The Grace of Christ, and Original Sin).
The Pope condemned those who held the orthodox Catholic faith as calumniators
(Letter Postquam nobis,
November 21, 417; Letter Magnum pondus) and demanded a formal retraction from the
orthodox African bishops, St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Aurelius of Carthage.
In response, St. Augustine and St. Aurelian took a solemn oath with God as
witness (obtestatio), affirming that the prior
Catholic doctrine prevailed over the judgment of the Pope, which was upheld by
a plenary council of all Africa assembled. Confronted with resistance to his
part in perpetuating heresy, Pope Zosimus finally
recanted and renewed the excommunication of the heretic Pelagius. It was around
this time that St. Augustine uttered the famous words: Roma locuta est; causa finita est,
in a Sermon CXXXI of September 417. Pope Zosimus was
waffling on his predecessor’s, Pope St. Innocent I’s, anathema against the
heretic Pelagius. St. Augustine meant by his statement since Rome had already
spoken on the matter (a reference to Pope St. Innocent I’s anathema against
Pelagius), the case ought not to be reopened, even by Pope Zosimus,
who ought to give his assent to the solemn judgment of his predecessor. St.
Augustine made his statement, then, at a time when a Pope was in the process of
lending aid and comfort to heretics, when he should have been holding fast to
what his predecessor had decreed. The great Saint was not saying that every
decision of Rome must be blindly obeyed; otherwise, he would have supported the
reigning Pope. He was warning people, the Pope included, that Rome had already
spoken on this matter and that it would be gravely wrong for anyone (even,
presumably, a Pope) to attempt to reverse a solid and sound judgment on a
matter of Catholic doctrine.
Taken from: www.traditio.com
The Missionary Spirit of St.
Francis Xavier Among the Japanese
On Francis refusing to dine with the Prince the young monarch said:
"My Friend and Father, I know well you have no need of my table; but if
you were a Japanese you would know that a ruler cannot give a greater sign of
his favour and good-will than by inviting anyone to
eat with him. I love you and desire to show my love. Therefore, O Father Bonze,
you must needs dine with me. I shall hereby receive a greater honour than I bestow.
Francis bowing low kissed the royal scimitar, a mark of profoundest
respect in Japan, and said : "I entreat the God of Heaven to reward your
Majesty for the kindnesses you have shown me by bestowing on you the light of
faith and all Christian virtues, to the end you may serve God faithfully during
life, and enjoy Him eternally after death." Then the Prince embraced the
Saint and hoped they might be together in Heaven.
The bonzes present at all these outward marks of esteem were choking
with stifled rage. And more so when they saw how all these honours
brought great multitudes to hear the Apostle. Whole days and nights were spent
in instructing and baptizing, so that his Portuguese friends remonstrated on
the physical strain to which he was subjecting his body. He would beg them not
to mind it, for his meat and drink and sleep were to snatch souls from the
slavery of Satan…
Great was the grief of the Prince on hearing of his departure, for he
loved Father Francis as a father. The chains of the flesh hindered him from
embracing Christianity then. But his
esteem for the new religion was very marked, and several years after, like St.
Augustine, he made the great renunciation. He took in baptism the name of
Francis, and was foremost among the saints of Japan. Wherever Francis put his
foot it was as a conqueror. This fact so infuriated the bonzes that they
determined to make a final effort to overthrow him. To this end they invited to
Funai a celebrated bonze, called Fucarandono,
promising him if triumphant, to carry him back on their shoulders to his
monastery.
Just as the farewell interview between the Father and the Prince was
ending, there arrived at the palace the retinue of bonzes headed by their
chief. The Prince was much troubled at this inopportune challenge, for he
feared a defeat for his father and friend from the formidable foe. But the
Saint, reading his thoughts, said: "Trouble not yourself for me, O Prince!
The law I teach is no earthly science; neither can all the bonzes of Japan, nor
all the scholars of the world prevail against it any more than the shades of
night can withstand the beams of the rising sun." The dispute began. So
completely and at every point was Fucarandono
defeated, that he burst out into coarse and revolting abuse. His insolence
roused the anger of the Prince and the court, who bade his removal by force. In
revenge for this overthrow, the bonzes closed all the temples, saying the angry
gods could only be appeased by the expulsion of the Portuguese. These fled in
terror to their ships. But Francis remained unmoved to all their entreaties,
saying he was as much bound to guard his infant flock as they their
merchandize; and that to die for Christ was a privilege he was unworthy of.
Courage is infectious. So come what might, all were determined to stay with the
Saint and face all odds.
Sr. Mary Bernard, Japan’s
Martyred Church
Nothing should be
untried that can train children from early childhood in good morals and in the
earnest practice of Christianity. To this end nothing is more effective than
pious instructions in Christian doctrine. Children should be entrusted only to
good and God-fearing teachers… Reform must begin with high and low alike, with
superiors and inferiors. Yet the reformers must look first to those who are set
over the rest, so that reform can begin at the point from which it may spread
to others… it must begin with cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops,
bishops and priest… Those who want to work for moral reform in the
world must seek the glory of God before all else. Because he is the source of
all good, they must wait for His help, and pray for it in this difficult and
necessary undertaking. They must then present themselves to those they seek to
reform, as mirrors of every virtue and as lamps on a lamp stand. Their upright
lives and noble conduct must shine before all those who are in the house of
God. In this way they will gently entice the members to reform instead of forcing
them, lest, in the words of the Council of Trent, they demand of the body what
is not found in the head, and thus upset the whole order of the Lord’s
household.
St. John Leonard, Letter to Pope Paul V
"Only the Prudent man can be brave."
Josef Pieper
Charity seeks not its own
convenience. We must give the spur to
this jade of a body of ours, to make it trot on and get forwards. The good soldier dies in battle, the good
sailor on the sea, and the good minister of the sick in the hospital.
St. Camillus of Lellis
Our Lady of Fatima will have the last word!
But a resounding explicit confirmation came from Benedict XVI himself, who, during an unexpected pilgrimage to Fatima on May 13, 2010, affirmed: “He deceives himself who thinks that the prophetic mission of Fatima is concluded.”
He added: “there are indicated future
realities of the Church which little by little are manifesting themselves… and
therefore it is the sufferings of the Church which are announced.”
But
could such prophecies be found in that text [of the vision]?
These
two phrases of the Pope in that discourse at Fatima prompt reflection: “Man has the power to unleash a
cycle of death and terror, but he is not able to stop it.” And then: “The faith
in vast regions of the earth risks being extinguished, like a flame without
fuel.”
From
these words of Pope Benedict one discerns, therefore, that there is truly
something else in the Third Secret and that it is dramatic for the world and
the Church. Perhaps it is precisely due to that visit by the Pope that this
book was released, from which another precious little piece of the truth
filters out.
The
volume in fact draws from the letters of Sister Lucia and from the unpublished
diary “My Way.” Impressive, among things previously unpublished, is the account
of how Sister Lucy overcame the terror that prevented her from writing down the
Third Secret.
The Unpublished Account
At
around 4 p.m. on January 3, 1944, in the chapel of the convent, before the
Tabernacle, Lucia asked Jesus to make known His will: “I then felt a friendly
hand, maternal and affectionate, touch my shoulder.”
And
the Mother of God said to her: “be at peace, and write what I have commanded
you, but not, however, that which has been given to you to understand its
meaning,” intending to allude to the meaning of the vision which the Virgin
herself had revealed.
Immediately
afterward, said Sister Lucia, “I felt my spirit inundated by a mystery of light that is God and in
Him I saw and heard: the point of a lance like a flame that is detached,
touches the axis of the earth, and it trembles: mountains, cities, towns and
villages with their inhabitants are buried. The sea, the rivers, the clouds,
exceed their boundaries, inundating and dragging with them, in a vortex, houses
and people in a number that cannot be counted. It is the purification of the
world from the sin in which it is immersed. Hatred, ambition, provoke the
destructive war. After I felt my racing heart, in my spirit a soft voice
said: ‘In time, one faith, one baptism, one Church, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic.
In eternity, Heaven!’ This word ‘Heaven’ filled my heart with peace and
happiness in such a way that, almost without being aware of it, I kept
repeating to myself for a long time: Heaven, Heaven.”
From
this came the strength to write the Third Secret.
Antonio
Socci, APOCALYPTIC NEWS FROM FATIMA (THE LATEST MYSTERY: THE SILENCE
OF THE SISTERS, BUT WHO IS SILENCING THEM?, August 17, 2014
“Remember,
O man, that dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt
return.”
"An
excessive desire for liberty at the expense of everything else is what
undermines democracy and leads to the demand for tyranny." Plato
In a 2022 lecture at Notre Dame, Alasdair MacIntyre
argued that the claims and conceptions of universal and inalienable human
dignity as reflected in documents such as the 1948 United Nations’ Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and in various post-war European constitutions are
puzzling, since this dignity requires a duty of respect to everyone just for
being human, no matter their behavior or character, so Stalin the mass murderer
has as much dignity and deserves as much respect as Mother Teresa. Aquinas’ view of dignitas as interpreted by Charles De Koninick is a challenge to this view, for it assigns human
dignity, not to the mere fact of being human, but to the end to which we are
called, which is supernatural, union with God, which might not be attained due
to one’s choices on earth against those common goods which enable our
attainment of the supernatural end, and so human dignitas could be lost. According to this view, the 20th-century concept
of human dignity is much too individualistic, and because it is not based in
justice and the common good, can only provide negative prescriptions against
the undignified treatment of humans. It is unable to provide positive
prescriptions that enable persons to obtain the common goods and the virtues
they need to attain their supernatural end. For MacIntyre, we need to speak
of human dignity in terms of justice, what we owe to each other for the sake of
enabling persons to attain their personal and common goods and final end, which
is the knowledge and love of God in this life and the next.
Thaddeus Kozinski, PhD, Introduction to his
article, From Liberal Democracy to Global Totalitarianism, September 26, 2023
Slowing the rise in human
numbers is essential for the planet--but it doesn't require population control
By
Robert Engelman Scientific American | May 17, 2009
Educating (i.e.: Education is code word for ideological indoctrination) girls reduces birthrates. Worldwide, according to a calculation provided for this article by demographers at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, women with no schooling have an average of 4.5 children, whereas those with a few years of primary school have just three. Women who complete one or two years of secondary school have an average of 1.9 children apiece—a figure that over time leads to a decreasing population. With one or two years of college, the average childbearing rate falls even further, to 1.7. And when women enter the workforce, start businesses, inherit assets and otherwise interact with men on an equal footing, their desire for more than a couple of children fades even more dramatically.
Conservative
Catholics: Some at least recognize that unqualified obedience is non-Catholic.
The power that Christ conferred
upon Peter and his Successors is, in an absolute sense, a mandate to serve. The
power of teaching in the Church involves a commitment to the service of
obedience to the faith. The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and
desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of
obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but
rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in
the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of
opportunism. […..] To put this question into sharp relief: the feet of
whom should be washed in the Mass of Maundy Thursday? Those of men or of women?
The feet of Christians or non-Christians? Why? With all due respect I submit
that any answer based solely on “. . . because the pope did it” is insufficient
if not downright ultramontane. Such reasoning will not do. Such positivism is
simply foreign to the Catholic faith. Papal preference is not the arbiter of
the church’s liturgy: sound liturgical and theological principles are. The
Bishop of Rome exercises his authority rightly when, in liturgical matters, he
bases his judgments on these principles. If he ignores them in his judgments or
personal practice he risks causing confusion, scandal, and disunity. The
exercise of authority in respect of the sacred liturgy and the personal liturgical
behavior of all popes, prelates, other clergy, and laity are rightly evaluated
according to these criteria.
Dom Alcuin Reed, 2014
But the Novus Ordo is an
“arbitrary” man-made creation, not in “obedience to the faith” but rather a
product of servile human respect for the sensibilities of heretics, and
therefore, it has no “religious respect of the mystery of the liturgy.”
"For
this reason no sacramental rite may be modified or manipulated at the will of the
minister or the community. Even the supreme authority in the Church may not
change the liturgy arbitrarily, but only in the obedience of faith and with
religious respect for the mystery of the liturgy."
Catechism
of the Catholic Church, 1125
Pro-life groups
estimate that around 53,000,000 unborn children have been killed since 1973,
which is at the same rate that Jews were killed during the Shoah. Given that about 40 percent of these are
Catholic children, and that another 40 percent are children of other
denominations that may consider themselves Christian, these numbers indicate a
failure of Catholics, and others, to protect their own. This is not something to be proud of, nor is
it a sign of progress. The World Almanac
and Book of Facts 2009 shows that the most dangerous place for an American to
be is in the womb of his mother. In
1980, near the height of the abortion boom in the USA, there were 3.6 million
live births and 1.3 million abortions.
In 1997, the last year abortion statistics were received from all 50
states by the Center for Disease Control, there were 3.88 million live births
and about 1.2 million abortions. While
the number of abortions dipped, a full 21 percent of all pregnancies resulted in
the child being sucked into a sink before birth.
Mr. David Wemhoff, Culture Wars
COMMENT: The Novus Ordo
Church will soon canonize Bishop Fulton J. Sheen a Catholic prelate very
popular with conservative Catholics. The miracle in support of his canonization
is a "stillborn" infant who may very well not in fact been dead. Like
the recent Novus Ordo canonization of Cardinal John
Henry Newman, Sheen is thought by conservatives to represent an example for
faithful Catholics but the Novus Ordo Church
recognizes that he endorsed many modernist heretical first principles and thus
can be used as a weapon against the Catholic faith. Bishop Sheen, while
participating in the Sabbath service, did not remind his Jewish hosts of their
need to convert to the Catholic faith to save their souls. Cheers to Fulton
Sheen!
Bishop Sheen Pulpit Guest at
New York Synagogue Sabbath Services
Jewish
Telegraphic Agency | January 19, 1968
The Mount Neboh
Synagogue here conferred a brotherhood award on Fulton J. Sheen, Bishop of
Rochester, at its regular Friday Sabbath service. The ceremony marked the first
time in the New York Archdiocese that a Catholic prelate has addressed
worshippers from a Jewish pulpit on the Hebrew Sabbath.
The
award, an illuminated parchment scroll with doves of peace in 14th century
character lettering, opened with an inscription from Psalm 133: “Behold how
good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” Bishop Sheen
accepted the award from Dr. Edward Jacobs, president of the Metropolitan
Conference of the National Federation of Temple Brotherhoods, and hailed recent
advances in ecumenicity within Christianity. He emphasized a growing
rapprochement between Jews and Christians. Rabbi Philip Hiat,
spiritual leader of the congregation, stressed that “with all our so-called
differences, there is a host of aims and goals toward which both faiths can
work together in perfect harmony.”
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: 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. Carlo Maria 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 adolescent victims. 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.
The problem was magnified in the 1983 Code of Canon Law protecting
homosexual predators. Canon 1341 of the current 1983 Code of Canon Law,
requires bishops whenever possible to ask priests to please stop committing
crimes, instead of punishing them for their criminal 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. 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 and
"administratively laicized" which itself is a violation of canon law!
The SSPX follows the 1983 Code and has used it cover up sexual
offenders within the SSPX. This includes the former district superior 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 have followed the Vatican
policy to cover up any crimes of sexual abuse of children. Perhaps, now that
they have been "excommunicated" from the Novus Ordo
they will stop following the Novus Ordo code of canon
law.
LEO
the Absurd and Erroneous
"This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd
and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be
maintained for everyone."
Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos, 1832
"Among the most cherished principles is religious freedom - the
right of every person to worship according to his conscience."
Pope Leo XIV, Letter on the 250th anniversary of the U. S. Declaration
of Independence
Surrogacy
magnate to bring child trafficking to Poland
The Ukrainian
company BioTexCom will hold a surrogacy fair from
September 12–13 in Warsaw.
LifeSiteNew | Sep 7, 2026 -
ORDO IURIS Publication— Here is a harrowing testimony from a woman born through
surrogacy:
“I was programmed to be
abandoned. My mother was supposed to disappear from my life. This separation
was not accidental. It was the purchase of a product (…)
Throughout my childhood I felt
a sense of abandonment, rejection, and emptiness. I had the feeling that
something very important was missing. (…) I spent years trying to escape this
pain through alcohol, drugs, and self-destructive behavior, and at one point I
even tried to take my own life.”
These words from Olivia Maurel shook those gathered at the June Ordo
Iuris Converence. They
resonated powerfully within the walls of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, lending emotional weight to
the voices of international experts demanding the global outlawing of
surrogacy.
The need to ban “womb renting”
– which leads to child trafficking, to the enslavement of women, and also to
the growth of abortion and the IVF industry – was argued at the time by experts
from Poland, France, Chile, and the United Kingdom, as well as the UN Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem.
After the conference, the Ordo Iuris publishing house
reached an agreement with Olivia Maurel to publish
her book in Poland – a powerful testimony and a professional analysis of the
terrible mechanisms of the global surrogacy industry.
Ordo Iuris took up this important issue literally moments before
the surrogacy industry’s assault on Poland.
The surrogacy business wants to enter Poland
In just a few days, a surrogacy
fair is set to take place in Poland—in
the very center of Warsaw.
The Ukrainian company BioTexCom has announced that on September 12–13 it will
hold a conference in Poland’s capital, at which attendees will be able to learn
about its offer of so-called surrogate parenthood.
Surrogacy is 21st-century
slavery. Poor women are treated like living incubators, and children are sold
like goods. “Defective” goods are killed, and “used-up” surrogate mothers are
thrown out onto the street. The fuel for this inhuman industry is supplied by
well-off couples (often same-sex) who buy themselves children at surrogacy
fairs.
Until recently, these
modern-day slavery fairs took place only in Germany, Belgium, or France.
Protests led to the fairs being driven out of Paris, which gave hope for a
broad condemnation of this repugnant practice. All along, it seemed that Poland
was a country free from surrogacy barbarism.
The September fair organized by
the Ukrainian surrogacy magnate is meant to change that. And it is counting on
the leniency of the Polish authorities.
That is why we have a duty to
speak loudly about what surrogacy truly is.
As lawyers, we must also state
clearly that surrogacy should meet with a firm response from criminal law. That
is why, for years, we have been helping to build the international group of
experts behind the “Casablanca Declaration;” they are demanding the global,
treaty-based outlawing of surrogacy. Proof of the effectiveness of these
efforts is the resolute ban on surrogacy in Italy, where both domestic
surrogacy and “surrogacy tourism” are subject to punishment.
Surrogacy is a barbaric practice
The links between surrogacy and
abortion cannot be emphasized enough. Recent weeks provide an example. On
August 12 of this year, little Gabriel was born in Texas – a boy with a heart
defect, miraculously saved from abortion. His mother is the surrogate McKenna
West, who refused to carry out the contract and kill the child that his
biological parents, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, no longer wanted. The surrogate had to flee to
Texas, where the law protected the child’s life.
And so, for “failing to perform
the contract” and refusing an abortion, she was sued for $250,000 in damages.
For now, a court has barred the surrogate mother from contact with the child…
Gabriel was very lucky, but
thousands of other children are not given such a chance. If they fail to meet
the excessive expectations of those who commissioned them, they fall victim to
abortion.
In the surrogacy procedure, the
killing of children and trafficking in them very often go hand in hand with the
modern-day enslavement of women. Surrogate mothers are subjected to humiliating
selection and control. Very often they must live on so-called surrogacy farms –
isolated from their families. And immediately after giving birth, they are
forced to hand over the child at once.
According to the price list on BioTexCom’s website, the “standard” package costs €39,900,
“standard plus” €49,900, and “VIP” €64,900. For that price, BioTexCom
gives its clients access to a database with photographs, video interviews, and
3D footage – so they can view the women from various angles. The company’s
clients themselves select both the egg donor and the woman who is to carry the
pregnancy and give birth to the child.
Ordo Iuris
against surrogacy
In Poland, surrogacy is
illegal. That is why Ordo Iuris
lawyers have prepared a notification to prosecutors of a reasonable
suspicion that a crime has been committed.
In it, we point out that
surrogacy-based child trafficking meets the conditions of Art. 189a § 2 of the
Criminal Code, which provides for a penalty of up to 5 years’ imprisonment for
preparing to commit the offense of human trafficking.
We also cite Art. 211a § 1, §
2(a), and § 3 of the Criminal Code, which provide that the illegal organizing
of a child’s adoption for financial gain is an offense punishable by up to 5
years’ imprisonment. The same penalty applies to everyone involved in the
transaction – including those who “buy” the child by declaring their intention
to assume parental authority over it.
In addition – because the
operating model of the “surrogacy business” is not a one-off but constitutes an
entire, well-coordinated industry – we direct the prosecutors’ attention to
Art. 258 § 1 and § 3 of the Criminal Code, concerning the direction of and
participation in an organized criminal group. Those taking part in the
activities of such a group face up to 8 years’ imprisonment, while those
performing leadership roles face up to 15 years’ imprisonment.
We have launched an online
information campaign revealing what surrogacy really is, along with a petition,
"No to Surrogacy in Poland", in which we call on Poland’s Minister of
Justice and Prosecutor General, Waldemar Żurek, to intervene urgently in this matter.
The response to the surrogacy
fair in the center of the Polish capital is part of a strategy pursued for
years, aimed at introducing an effective ban on surrogacy – both at the
national and international level.
We must stand up in defense of
the victims of surrogacy.
No one will do it for us.
COMMENT:
The
company, BioTexCom, is NOT a "Ukrainian"
company. BioTexCom is a Swiss‑registered
fertility clinic based in Kyiv, Ukraine, and its registered owner is Albert
Tochilovsky. Tochilovsky is an Ashkenazi Jew. Tochilovsky says that the three
dynamic trends in reproductive medicine are genome editing to produce designer
babies; mitochondrial replacement to enable women in their 50s and 60s to
become pregnant; and ectogenesis, or artificial
wombs. He said, "I think that we will acquire ectogenesis
within 5-7 years, and our clinic keeps working in this direction. I doubt, though, that Ukraine
will let us do something like that because Ukraine is afraid of everything.
Most likely, ectogenesis will be allowed in the
mentioned above America and Great Britain.... This is a highly developed
society, where women build their careers before they reach the age of 40-45,
after that they want to have children. Nowadays, immigrants help to solve this
issue. I believe, in future this problem will be solved through the use of ectogenesis and mitochondrial replacement."
So
the "Ukraine is afraid of everything" while Poland is expected to not
"afraid" of offending God? This technology is so offensive to God that
only the Godless will dive in. The Jews were the main profiteers and promoters
of the slave trade historically. They are largely responsible for bringing
abortion to the United States. They were
in the forefront of promoting pornography, homosexual "marriage,"
"no-fault divorce," the 'Epstein Class' and anything else that
destroys the traditional family and Catholic morality.
The
Jewish intellectual, Yuval Noah Harari, is a featured
speaker at the Davos Forum for the elites who plan of
the New World Order. In 2016 Harari spoke about the
Fourth Industrial Revolution where "humanity will be divided between a superelite of improved humans and a mass of 'useless
people'" that will have "power is in the hands of those who control
the algorithms" (WIKI). Harari says he was influenced greatly by the Jewish writer,
Jared Diamond, author of the popular best-seller, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The
Fates of Human Societies, A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000
Years. Unlike the Catholic historian, Christopher Dawson, Diamond holds that
religion and the spiritual life have nothing to do with civilization and
culture. It is purely a mechanical determinist process. Harari
believes that through the use of technologies like that of BioTexCom
they will someday determine all human life forms. This is the technology that
Tochilovsky hopes to bring into Poland. In the United State it is already a
multi-billion dollar industry.
Surely
God cannot permit this destruction of humanity to proceed. Pray God that
this foul pestilence is prohibited from Poland.
EXCLUSIVE:
Abp. Viganò says Leo XIV has intensified Francis’s
agenda, not slowed it
In this
exclusive interview, Abp. Viganò argues that changing
the way Catholics worship ultimately changes what they believe, making the
liturgical reform central to the post-conciliar
crisis.
LifeSiteNews—
In Part 1 of this interview, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
claimed that the reforms associated with the Second Vatican Council weakened
the Church’s role as the katéchon,
the force that restrains the spread of the Antichrist’s spirit in history. He
discussed the nature of papal authority, the distinction between the papacy as
a divine institution and individual popes while critiquing of post-conciliar developments, the rise of synodality,
and women in Vatican leadership.
This second part of the
interview centers on Viganò’s critique of the post-conciliar Church, focusing on liturgical reform and Traditionis Custodes as
instruments of a broader theological transformation. He also discusses the
pontificate of Leo XIV, particularly the allegations of networks of protection
among ecclesiastical elites, and the influence of ideological and global forces
on the contemporary hierarchy.
LifeSiteNews: Throughout this entire
crisis, you have always identified the liturgical reform not as a consequence
but as a cause. Why is the question of the Mass, in your judgment, prior to and
more decisive than the doctrinal one? And what meaning does the relentlessness
of Traditionis Custodes,
maintained intact by Leo XIV, have in this context?
Archbishop Carlo
Maria Viganò: Because the Church has always known what the modernists deliberately
forgot: ut legem credendi lex statuat
supplicandi (“that the law of prayer may
establish the law of belief”). It is the law of prayer that establishes the law
of faith, and not vice versa. The Christian people do not learn dogma from
manuals: they breathe it in at the altar. A man who for years knelt before the
Blessed Sacrament, who has seen the priest turned toward God and not toward the
assembly, who witnessed the Consecration in the sacred silence of the Roman
Canon, believes in the Real Presence and in the Sacrifice, even if he would not
know how to formulate the corresponding dogmas; and no theologian will succeed
in taking that faith away from him. Change the way a person prays, and you
change what he believes, without him noticing and without anyone ever having to
state a single heretical proposition.
That is why I say that the
liturgical reform was not a consequence of the crisis: it was its instrument.
It was the fastest and safest way to obtain what a definition would never have
achieved. Let it be noted: it is the perfect application of that Bergoglian principle according to which “time is superior
to space.” Nothing is defined, a process is initiated, and then all it takes is
a couple of generations for the rest to fall into place. Anyone who wants
confirmation of this method should read the Short Critical Study of
the New Order of Mass by Cardinals Ottaviani
and Bacci, who as early as 1969 warned that the new
rite “departs impressively, as a whole and in detail, from the Catholic
theology of the Holy Mass as formulated in Session XXII of the Council of
Trent.” They were not two seditionists: one was the former secretary of the
Holy Office [NOTE: Indeed, the office of
Prefect of the Supreme Sacred Congregation was reserved to the Pope himself. Ottaviani served as the Congregation’s Secretary] and the other a curial cardinal. They were
ignored, and today the statistics on belief in the Real Presence confirm how
right they were. Cranmer understood four centuries earlier that changing the
Mass is enough to change the religion of a people, and he did not need to deny
any dogma in order to eradicate the Holy Sacrifice from England.
As for Traditionis Custodes,
it is the most eloquent confession our adversaries could have made. If the two
rites truly expressed the same faith [the vetus
ordo and novus
ordo], persecuting one of them would be an
inexplicable whim: they persecute it because they know perfectly well that they
do not express the same faith, and that as long as a single altar safeguards
the ancient lex orandi,
the new one cannot claim victory.
It should also be noted that
under Prevost, Traditionis Custodes has neither been withdrawn nor mitigated: instead,
it has been applied even more rigidly, with a meticulousness that Bergoglio did not have time to exercise. That Leo himself –
who speaks so much of welcome and listening – should be so relentless in
opposing the Mass of all time proves to those who still hoped in him that in
the synodal church there is room for everything
except the rite in which the Church prayed for centuries.
LifeSiteNews: Prevost was elected
thanks to those who hoped for a restoration of the juridical order, but in fact
he seems to be continuing his predecessor’s agenda, simply slowing its pace and
delegating the most contentious decisions to the Curia. Does this more
phlegmatic and “dialoguing” style not risk being even more insidious for the
defense of dogma than Francis’s direct authoritarianism?
Archbishop Carlo
Maria Viganò: I must correct the premise of the question, because it is precisely the
misunderstanding on which Prevost relies. It is not at all accurate to say that
Leo is proceeding “little by little.” He is proceeding by means of forced
marches, without the slightest concern for reactions – also because negative
reactions are few, and those few are promptly suppressed. What changed, if
compared with Bergoglio, is not the speed: it is the
face. Bergoglio shouted, and whoever shouts wakes
people up; Prevost smiles, and whoever smiles puts people to sleep. But it is
an icy smile, the smirk of one who knows he will meet no resistance.
Look at the facts, not at the
manner. The agenda has not been slowed down: it has been intensified on every
front – synodality, environmentalism, pro-immigration
policies, syncretic ecumenism, normalization of LGBT
ideology. And above all, look at the appointments, which are the acid test of a
pontificate: there is not a single one that makes an exception; not one man of
sound doctrine promoted, not one enemy of the faith removed. On every front,
Prevost has gone beyond his predecessor.
On August 13, in Cusco, at a
conference preparing for Prevost’s journey to Peru, Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu – pontifical
commissioner of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the
Faith – placed coca leaves in an offering to the infernal idol Pachamama together with Bishop Lizardo
Estrada Herrera, auxiliary bishop of Cusco and secretary general of CELAM, and
Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas,
bishop of Iquitos. Under Bergoglio, the Pachamama entered the Vatican Gardens and St. Peter’s
Basilica as a scandalous gesture; under Prevost, the Pachamama
entered the dicastery whose task ought to be to
condemn it – and that idol entered it at the hands of the man who, within that dicastery, administers justice. This is not a slowing down:
it is an institutionalization.
Leo’s style is measured only in
appearance. The Latin here and there, the mozzetta
worn even in inappropriate circumstances – even when getting off the plane –
the courteous tone: these are anesthetics administered to a body now incapable
of reacting. And the anesthetic does not lessen the violence: the anesthetic is
what makes the violence possible.
The conservatives have allowed
themselves to be enchanted by the form. But in truth there is not even that.
Those who were satisfied by the mozzetta got the mozzetta and nothing else, and are now paying for that
piece of cloth with silence about everything else.
Finally, there is the aspect
that reveals the authentically tyrannical nature of this government, and that
is delegation. Prevost delegates to the Curia, to the dicasteries,
to episcopal conferences, to the “synodal
processes,” so that no decision bears his signature and each one can be
presented as the fruit of collective discernment. This is not mildness: it is
the most perfect form of absolute power, one that exercises command without
assuming responsibility for it. The ancient tyrant signed his edicts and bore
the hatred they generated; the synodal tyrant has
others deliberate and remains above them, an arbiter and never the accused. It
is the dissolution of the pope’s personal responsibility – exactly what synodality sets out to achieve – and whoever never makes
decisions can never be contradicted. The pope who does not decide is the pope
who decided to let others act, and who found a way not to be held accountable
by anyone.
LifeSiteNews: You intervened publicly
in the case of Eleuterio Vásquez
González, known as Lute, the Peruvian priest accused
of serious abuse of girls in the Diocese of Chiclayo. When Leo XIV was bishop
of that diocese, the canonical investigation was described by an ecclesiastical
delegate as “a farce”; yet today the Pope has as his personal secretary Edgard Rimaycuna, a priest who
was raised precisely within Lute’s pastoral and vocational circle.
Another prominent prelate, the
Venezuelan Edgar Peña Parra – formerly Substitute for
General Affairs of the Secretariat of State and now Apostolic Nuncio to Italy
and San Marino – was reported by you in 2002 over extremely serious
allegations, ranging from the abuse of underage seminarians to alleged links to
violent deaths, allegations that were then systematically ignored by Bergoglio.
In light of these and other
cases, do you believe that under Bergoglio a genuine
“network” of reciprocal protection among men of power has become consolidated
in the Church, in which omissions and responsibilities are covered up in order
to preserve internal balances? And, if so, how extensive is this phenomenon at
the highest levels of the Holy See?
Archbishop Carlo
Maria Viganò: The Lute case reproduces with astonishing precision the modus operandi of
other extremely serious cases, from McCarrick to Rupnik: victims who report and are not heard; an
investigation conducted in such a way as to find nothing; the dicastery that closes the case by invoking the statute of
limitations; the accused who not only remains unpunished, but is actually
protected.
Alongside this, the necessary
reverse side: whoever exposes the crimes and defends the victims is destroyed.
Bishop Ricardo Coronado, the canon lawyer who had taken up the defense of the
three young women, had his ecclesiastical forensic authorization revoked by the
Peruvian Episcopal Conference in August 2024, and four months later was
dismissed from the clerical state by a decree that – please note – did not bear
Bergoglio’s handwritten signature.
Whoever accuses loses the
priesthood; whoever is accused keeps everything. There is nothing to interpret
here: the bishop of Chiclayo who conducted that investigation, described as “a
farce” by those who knew the details closely, now sits on the Chair of Peter,
and he has chosen beside him, as his personal secretary, a priest formed within
Fr. Lute’s circle. These are not biographical details or unfortunate
coincidences: they are proof that in this system, proximity to certain circles
is not an obstacle to a career, but in fact the very condition for having one.
Also, observe a coincidence
that is no coincidence. The same Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu who offered coca leaves to Pachamama
in Cusco is the man who, in the Dicastery for the
Doctrine of the Faith, inaugurated – and justified in principle – that
interpretation of canon law whereby ordinary procedures, with the safeguards
they guarantee to the accused, are replaced by parallel structures and
extraordinary commissarial powers. It is the juridical doctrine that makes the
fate of Bp. Coronado possible: wherever procedure gives way to the will of the
commissioner, whoever causes trouble is lost from the outset, and is not even
left with the right to defend himself. Before being dismissed from the clerical
state, Coronado was accused of infamous acts without a shred of evidence.
This is not an isolated case.
When a Peruvian priest, Father Omar Sánchez, publicly
criticized Bertomeu’s handling of matters, 22 days
later an allegation of abuse against him appeared in the press – an allegation
that the supposed complainant subsequently publicly denied, declaring that he
had never filed any complaint.
Whoever raises his voice
against the system discovers that he has a file already opened against him. And
the man who places coca leaves before Pachamama is the
same man who strips the priesthood from the man who defended the three young
victims of Fr. Lute in Chiclayo. This gives us the measure of what the Holy
Office has now become.
As for Peña
Parra, allow me a clarification that I consider important. I dealt with his
case much earlier, when I was Delegate for Pontifical Representations at the
Secretariat of State. The allegations – his seduction of two underage
seminarians in Maracaibo in September 1990, and his connection with the
circumstances surrounding two violent deaths in August 1992 – had been
transmitted to the Secretariat of State in 2002 by the Apostolic Nuncio to
Venezuela, Archbishop André Dupuy. But this did not
prevent Peña Parra’s career from advancing. And I
will add a detail that says much about the role of the media: I spoke about
that case in a lengthy interview with the Washington Post,
and it was precisely the part concerning the Venezuelan abuser that never saw
the light of day. Bergoglio wanted him as Substitute;
and Prevost has now sent him as nuncio to Italy.
Yes, a network exists. I do not
say this as a conjecture. I know it to be true from direct experience of
decades in the Roman Curia and in nunciatures. It is
founded on a simple principle: whoever can be blackmailed can be controlled by
whoever holds the blackmail material. Moral corruption is not an accident of
the system: it is the glue that holds the entire system together. That is why
the guilty party or accomplice is promoted, while the person who reports him is
isolated and struck down.
How extensive is this network
of corruption? You need only to see how many among McCarrick’s
“progeny” still occupy positions of authority in the United States and in the
Vatican; how many of the cardinals created by Bergoglio
were chosen precisely for their corruption and susceptibility to blackmail; and
how many, in the Secretariat of State and in the dicasteries,
owe their position not to doctrine or holiness, but to membership in a faction.
The answer lies in the facts, and the facts speak for themselves.
LifeSiteNews: Who benefits from this
mechanism? Was Bergoglio its architect, or did he
become entangled in it against his will?
Archbishop Carlo
Maria Viganò: Neither one nor the other, in the terms in
which the question is posed. Bergoglio was not a
victim of a system, but neither was he its inventor: he was its beneficiary and
then its guarantor. He was elected thanks to the Mafia of Saint Gallen, that is, thanks to a network that spent years
planning its own seizure of power, and that found in him the right man because
he was unscrupulous, devoid of doctrinal scruples, and extraordinarily skilled
in the use of power – qualities refined through a long Jesuit formation whose
method he retained throughout his life: ostensible obedience united with
subterranean maneuvering, outwardly proclaimed poverty while simultaneously
wielding absolute command.
Once elected, he did what every
illegitimate power does: he surrounded himself with men who could not betray
him because he knew their corruption and crimes, and he removed those who,
being in no way blackmailable, could not be
controlled. It is no coincidence that his closest collaborators – from Zanchetta to Peña Parra – are
figures burdened by extremely serious allegations, which he systematically
covered up and promoted.
Above all, the case of Marko Rupnik, S.J., is no coincidence: expelled from the Society
of Jesus, already excommunicated for absolving an accomplice, and nevertheless
protected for years, along with the entire faction that owes its position to
that protection – beginning with the then-Cardinal Vicar Angelo De Donatis, whose transfer from the Vicariate of Rome to the
Apostolic Penitentiary took place precisely in the wake of that case. That was
not at all a promotion, as people wanted to make it appear, but a way of
shielding him, removing him from the questions he would no longer have been
able to evade in Rome.
Who benefits? Internally, it
benefits a clerical caste that made the Church its private property and that
needs impunity in order to survive. Externally, it benefits those financial,
political, and supranational powers – that is, globalists – who have an
interest in keeping the Catholic Church under blackmail, because a blackmailed
Church does not speak, condemn, or evangelize: it collaborates. The link
between deep church and deep state is
not a theory: it is the reason why the Holy See docilely supported every
globalist agenda – from climate to migration, from the pandemic to universal
fraternity, from vaccine advocacy to pan-sexualism –
and why it has signed and stubbornly renewed the secret agreement with
Communist China, handing over faithful bishops and the underground Church to
their persecutors, while remaining silent about everything that the Gospel
ought to require it to proclaim loudly.
Moral corruption and doctrinal
corruption are two sides of the same coin. Whoever betrays the faith also
betrays morality, and whoever is blackmailable on
morality is willing to betray the faith – even to the point of idolatry, as the
coca leaves placed at Cusco by an official of the former Holy Office
demonstrate to anyone who has eyes to see.
LifeSiteNews: While the 2025 Papal
Conclave was underway, a high-ranking Masonic authority told me confidentially
during an investigation I was conducting: “You will see that they will elect
Francis’s useful idiot.” When I asked for an explanation, this Freemason
contact – who was, in fact, very close to the circles of the Roman Curia – told
me that Francis appointed cardinals “with skeletons in their closets” from the
peripheries of the world, with the request that they elect “his man” and
preserve his “synodal legacy.” When Prevost was
elected, this same Freemason told me sarcastically: “Habemus
Papam! They elected him.” At first I was very cautious,
and even hopeful about Prevost. Now that one year and several months have
passed, I wonder how far this Masonic authority’s interpretation was from
reality… What do you think?
Archbishop Carlo
Maria Viganò: I cannot confirm words that I did not hear, nor am I interested in
giving credence to the boasts of circles that have always enjoyed attributing
to themselves credit for governing the Church. But I can say that this reading
coincides exactly with what the facts make evident to anyone willing to look at
them.
Bergoglio
created the overwhelming majority of the College of Cardinals, choosing men
whom no one knew, with very poor formation, coming from irrelevant sees, whose
only qualification was personal loyalty to Bergoglio
and, almost always, a vulnerability that made them controllable. A conclave
composed in this way could only elect a man like Prevost, that is, a man who
would guarantee the continuity of Bergoglio’s “synodal legacy.”
Freemasonry takes pleasure in
this election, and this is not surprising at all: it also rejoiced at the
election of John XXIII. For three centuries now it has pursued a single design,
namely to demolish the Catholic Church: first by emptying her of her
supernatural dimension and reducing her to a philanthropic organization, then
by subverting her from within, and finally by transforming her into the
anti-church, that is, into the Universal Religion of Humanity, which is its
true goal.
Synodality,
as a permanent revolution and the quintessence of all the demands of modernism,
is the closest thing to that project ever accomplished from within. There is no
need to imagine conspiracies: it is enough to read the Permanent Instruction of
the Alta Vendita, which describes a century and a
half in advance a pope formed in the ideas of the revolution, elected by
cardinals formed in the same ideas.
If a Masonic authority rejoiced
at Prevost’s election, it is because what was being sought was achieved. The
regret belongs to those cardinals and faithful who, for a few months, wanted to
delude themselves. The expression “useful idiot” is offensive, and I would not
make it my own; but I fear that whoever used it knows well the nature of the
usefulness expected from the man they elected.

Remember in your charity:
Remember the welfare of our expectant mother:
Fr. Paul
Sretenovic, a faithful priest who works in California,
Drews petition prayers for the spiritual and
temporal welfare of the Christian
& Irene Melnick family,
Gene Peters asks our prayers for the spiritual
welfare of Beverly Wood and Bonnie
Cormesser,
Mr. & Mrs. Hall request prayers for the health
of their daughter, Erika Smith,
Drews request your prayers for Phyllis Virgil, for her health and spirital welfare,
For Anthony
Niekrewicz, spiritual and temporal welfare is the petition of all the
members of Ss. Peter & Paul,
Mary Lou Loftus' aunt, Susan Hendricks, who is gravely ill after emergency surgery,
Fred Holder,
for his spiritual
and physical welfare,
Thomas Soul,
a
nursing home patient who has suffered a stroke,
Donna Kallal, a dear friend of the
Schiltz family who is dying,
Philip Thees requests our prayers for the heath of Mary Glatz and Agnus Messineo,
For the welfare of Aaron, a York resident in need of conversion,
For the spiritual welfare of Margaret Connelly is the petition of Camilla Meiser,
Linda Boyd, for her health,
Pete
Schiffbauer, a cousin of Monic Bandlow who is gravely ill,
Joan R.
Barr,
the widow of F. Donald Barr who died March 7, they were married 70 years
Cole
Schneider, prayers for his welfare are requested by Camilla Meiser,
JoAnn
Niekrewicz,
for her recovery from a recent fall and shoulder injury,
The Drews ask prayers for the spiritual and physical
welfare of Robert Carballo,
Conversion of Jack
Gentry, the nephew of Camilla Meiser,
For Sr.
Maria Junipera, who took her final vows as a nun with the Slaves of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary in Richmond, New Hampshire April 8,
Stephen
Bryan,
the brother of a devout Catholic religious, for his spiritual welfare,
Marie
Kolinsky,
for her health and spiritual welfare is the petition of her family,
Gene Peters requests our prayers for the conversion
of Shirley Young and Carl Loy who are dying, the
conversion of Dawn Keithley
and Nate Schaeffer,
Rev. Leo
Carley,
an eighty-nine year old priest faithful to Catholic tradition, who is seriously
ill,
For the recovery of Hayden Yanchek, the grandson of Francis Yanchek, injured in
a farming accident,
Maureen Nies,
for the
recovery of her health is the petition of Camilla Meiser,
Daniel
Vargs, for
his health is the petition of his parents,
Art Noel, for the restoration of his
health,
For the welfare of Peg Berry and her husband, Bill,
Marianne Connelly asks prayers for Chris Foley, who is gravely ill,
and the welfare of his wife, Mary
Beth,
The spiritual welfare of the Sal & Maria Messineo family is the petition of the
Drew’s,
Liz Agosta, who is seriously ill, for her
spiritual and temporal welfare,
Warren
Hoffman, a
long time member of our Mission who is in failing health,
Patrick
Boyle,
for the recovery of his health and his spiritual welfare,
For the spiritual welfare of the Drew children,
Monica Bandlow request our prayers for the welfare of
Ray who is recovering from a
MVA, and his daughter, Sonya,
and Tera Jean Kopczynski, who
is in failing health, and for a good death for Mr. Howald, Kathy
Simons, Regina Quinn, James Mulgrew, Ruth Beaucheane, John Kopczynski, Roger
& Mandy Owen
Peg Berry requests our prayers for her brother, William Habekost,
For the recently widowed, Maike Hickson, and her children,
For the spiritual welfare of the Carmelite nuns in Fairfield, PA,
Geralyn
Zagorski, recovery of her health and spiritual welfare and
the conversion of Randal Pace is the petition of Philip Thees,
For the grandson of
Joe & Liz Agusta,
Fr. Waters requests our
prayers for the health and spiritual welfare of Elvira Donaghy,
For the health and
conversion of Stephen Henderson,
Fr. Paul DaDamio requests
our prayers for the welfare of Rob Ward, and his sister, Debra
Wagaman,
Kaitlyn McDonald, for the recovery of her health and spiritual
welfare,
Roco
Sbardella,
for his health and spiritual welfare,
The Vargas’ request our prayers for the spiritual
welfare of their son, Nicholas,
Family, for the welfare of Lazarus Handley, his mother, Julia, and his brother, Raphael, with Down’s Syndrome,
Fr. Waters requests prayers for the spiritual and
physical welfare of Frank McKee,
Nancy
Bennett, for the recovery of her
health,
For the spiritual welfare of Mark Roberts, a Catholic faithful to tradition,
Michael Brigg requests our prayers for the health of John Romeo,
The health and welfare of Gene Peters and his sons,
Conversion of Anton
Schwartzmueller, is the prayer request of his children,
Christine
Kozin, for
her health and spiritual welfare,
Teresa
Gonyea,
for her conversion and health, is the petition of her grandmother, Patricia
McLaughlin,
For the health of Sonya Kolinsky,
Jackie Dougherty asks our prayers for her brother, John Lee, who is gravely ill,
For the health and spiritual welfare, Meg Bradley, the granddaughter
of Rose Bradley,
Timothy
& Crisara, a couple from Maryland have requested our prayers for their spiritual welfare,
Celine
Pilegaard, the seven year old daughter of Cynthia Pilegaard, for her recovery from
burn injuries,
Rafaela de
Saravia, for
her health and welfare,
Abbe Damien
Dutertre,
traditional Catholic priest arrested by Montreal police while offering Mass,
Francis
(Frank) X. McLaughlin, for the recovery of his
health,
Nicholas
Pell,
for his health and spiritual welfare is the petition of Camilla Meizer,
Mary Kaye
Petr,
her health and welfare is petitioned by Camilla Meizer,
The welfare of Excellency Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò,
The welfare of Rev.
Fr. Martin Skierka, who produces the traditional Ordo in the U.S.,
For the health and welfare of Katie Wess, John Gentry, Vincent Bands, Todd Chairs, Susan Healy and
James O’Gentry is the petition of Camilia,
Marieann
Reuter, recovery of her health, Kathy Kepner, for her health, Shane Cox, for his health,
requests of Philip Thees,
The Joseph
Cox Family, their spiritual welfare,
For the health of Kim Cochran, the daughter-in-law of Joseph and Brenda
Cochran, the wife of their son Joshua,
Louie
Verrecchio,
Catholic apologist, who has a health problem,
John
Minidis, Jr. family, for help in their spiritual
trial,
Joann
DeMarco, for her health and spiritual
welfare,
Regina
(Manidis) Miller, her spiritual welfare and health,
Melissa
Elena Levitt, her conversion, and welfare of her children,
For the grace of a holy death, Nancy Marie Claycomb,
Conversion of Annette
Murowski, and her son Jimmy,
Brent Keith from Indiana has petitioned our prayers
for the Keith Family,
The welfare of the Schmedes Family, and the Mike and Mariana Donohue Family,
The spiritual welfare Robert Holmes Family,
For the spiritual and temporal welfare of Irwin Kwiat,
Fr. Waters asks our prayers for Elvira Donaghy,
Kimberly Ann, the daughter of John and
Joann DeMarco, for her health and spiritual welfare,
Rende and
Mary Mufide, a traditional Catholics from India ask our prayers for her welfare and
he family members, living and deceased,
Mary Glatz, her health and the welfare of
her family,
Barbara
Harmon,
who is ill,
Jason Green, a father of ten children,
his health,
For the health and welfare of Sorace family,
Fr. Waters asks our prayers for the health and
spiritual welfare of Brian Abramowitz,
Thomas
Schiltz family, in grateful appreciation for their contribution to the beauty of our
chapel,
John Rhoad, for his health and
spiritual welfare,
Kathy Boyle, requests our prayers for
her welfare,
Joyce
Laughman and Robert Twist, for their conversions,
Michael J.
Brigg & his family, who have helped with the needs of the Mission,
Nancy Deegan, her welfare and conversion
to the Catholic Church,
Francis Paul
Diaz,
who was baptized at Ss. Peter & Paul, asks our prayers for his spiritual
welfare,
The conversion of Rene McFarland, Lori Kerr, Cary Shipman
and family, David Bash, Crystal and family, Larry Reinhart, Costanzo Family,
Kathy Scullen, Marilyn Bryant, Vicki Trahern and Time Roe are
the petitions of Gene Peters,
For the conversion of Ben & Tina Boettcher family, Karin Fraessdorf, Eckhard Ebert,
and Fahnauer family,
Fr. Waters requests our prayers for Br. Rene, SSPX, and for Fr. Thomas Blute,
For the welfare of Fr. William T. Welsh,
The Drew’s ask our prayers for the welfare of Joe & Tracey Sentmanat family, Keith
& Robert Drew, Christy Koziol & her children, Fred Nesbit and Michael
Nesbit families, and Gene Peters Family,
the John Manidis Family, the Sal Messinio Family, Michael Proctor Family,
Ryan Boyle grandmother, Jane Boyle, who is failing health,
Mel Gibson
and his family, please remember in our prayers,
Rev. Timothy A. Hopkins requested our prayers for the
welfare of his friend, Fr Jean-Luc Lafitte,
Ebert’s request our prayers for the Andreas & Jenna Ortner Family,
Joyce Paglia has asked prayers for George Richard Moore Sr. & his
children, and her brother, George
Panell,
Philip Thees asks our prayers for his family, for McLaughlin Family, the welfare
of Dan & Polly Weand, the
conversion of Sophia Herman,
Tony Rosky, the welfare Nancy Erdeck, the wife of
the late Deacon Erdeck, John Calasanctis, Tony Rosky, James Parvenski, Kathleen Gorry, health of mind and body of Cathy Farrar.
Pray for the
Repose of the Souls:
Shanon
Smuckers,
a thirty-three year old mother of three, died July 15,
John
Callisanti, a faithful Catholic, died June 23, prayers petitioned by Philip Thees,
Christian
Joseph Melnick, died June 19, a 56 year old faithful Catholic and devoted husband and
father of nine,
Fr.
Radoslav, a
relatively young faithful priest who was working with Bishop Stobnicki in
Poland,
Leonard Messineo, a long time traditional
Catholic, dies May 18,
Fr. Paul
DaDamio, ordained
conditionally by Bishop Richard Williamson, and warmly devoted to the Blessed
Virgin Mary, died March 27, 2026,
For Jo Ann
Niekrewicz, our dear friend, died March 1, for the blessed repose of
her soul is the petition of all the members of Ss. Peter & Paul,
Shirley
Rotondo, died
February 2-26, and Louisa McBride,
died February 27, is the petition of Monica Bandlow,
Katherine
Veronica Wedel, the mother of Mary Baer, died February 6,
James
Condit, Jr., traditional Catholic activist, died December 27,
Beverly
Harmon, died
December 16, requested by the Sentmanat family,
Rev.
Nicholas DeProspero, a faithful Ruthenian Eastern rite Catholic priest, died December 10,
Monica Bandlow petitions our prayers for her friend, Patricia Messineo, died November
28,
Guy
Berthault,
died November 23, a great Catholic scientist whose work in sedimentology destroyed
Lyellian geology and the theory of evolution,
Thomas Soul,
died
November 8 after receiving the last rites of the Church,
Etta Van Der
Werken, a
dear friend of Barbara Taffe, died 10-21-2025,
Gary Potter, Catholic writer and apologist
and great long time defender of Catholic doctrine and tradition, died 9-9-2025,
Elizabeth
Gorska,
who died September 9, a relative of Lidia Gjec,
Camilia Meiser request our prayers for the souls of Peggy Cummings and Elizabeth Genter,
Thomas A. Nelson, founder
of TAN Books and Publishers, died August 16,
Juan D.
Gonzalez,
our former sacristan, choir director, and dear friend, died July 23,
Sal
Messineo,
a faithful traditional Catholic, died Augsut 14,
Patricia
Askew, a
friend of Camilla Meiser, died July 3,
Joseph
Kerney, a
young man whose family provided the statues of the Sacred Heart, Mary and
Joseph in our sanctuary, died May 30,
Louis
Richard Ajlouny, the father of Randa Sharpe, died May 15,
Rene Guidicessi, died April 25, an old
friend of the Drews,
F. Donald
Barr, died
March 7 at 94 years of age, co-founder of Robert Francis Religious Goods, in
Philadelphia,
Dr. David
Allen White, a well known defender of the Catholic faith, died February 11,
Bishop
Richard Williamson, a renowned defender of the Catholic faith and most charitable gentleman,
died January 29,
Rodolfo
Alberto Lacayo, a cousin of Claudia Drew, died January 4,
Genieve
Wallace, died
Christmas day,
Ruth Marion
Beaucheane, died December 8, is the
petition of Monica Bandlow,
Ana Maria Salcedo, the sister of Mario Fiol, died November 26,
Fr. Johin Cardaro, a
traditional Catholic priest who was found dead in his home November 2,
Robert Carballo asks that we
remember his parents, Roberto & Aida Carballo, and his friend, David Duclos,
who died April 15,
Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais who may have been responsible for preventing the SSPX's public reconciliation with Rome in 2012, died October 8,
Lorna
Edwards, our
dear friend and loyal supporter of this Mission, died August 10,
Lois Petti, died July 28 two hours after
receiving the Last Sacraments from Fr. Waters,
Wolfgang
Smith, a
renowned Catholic scholar, mathematician, scientist, philosopher, who helped
the Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation, died July 19,
Willaim Glatz,
a good
and faithful Catholic, died July 17,
Alicio
Gonzalez, a
Catholic who asked for the sacrament of Extreme Unction, unfortunately did not
receive, died July 9,
John
Zavodny, a faithful Catholic who died wearing the
scapular of Mt Carmel on the first Saturday of May, requested by Phyllis Virgil,
Catherine
Martel, a lapsed Catholic, received
the last sacraments in a good disposition from Fr. Waters on March 25 and died
on April 4,
Father
Basilio Méramo, a faithful priest, died March 5, removed from the SSPX for opposing
their accommodation with Rome,
Julia
McDonald,
the mother of Kyle McDonald, died March 1,
Agnus
Melnick,
died February 28, a long time faithful Catholic and mother of eight children,
including a traditional priest,
Kathryn
(Drew) Lederhos, of Wellesley, MA, died
February 3, 2024,
Chris Foley, the
brother of Mary Lou Loftus, died February 1,
Louis Zelaya, the brother of Claudia
Drew, died January 30,
Fr. James
Louis Albert Campbell, a faithful priest who died December 18 at 91 years of age, and her
mother and father, Teresa and Thomas
Maher,
Charles
Harmon,
the father of Tracey Sentmanet, died October 1, after receiving the rites of
the Church,
Fr. Waters requests prayers for Elvira Donaghy, his friend and former secretary a for Bishop
Gerado Zendejas, died September 9,
Robert
Hickson,
a faithful Catholic apologist who died Septembber 2,
Monica Bandlow requests prayers for her parents, Thomas & Teresa Maher, her
husband, William Bandlow, her
brother-in-law, Richard Bandlow,
her sister, Mary Maher, Fr. Christopher Darby, SSPX, who died March 17, Robert Byrne, Michelle Donofrio McDowell, her cousin, Patricia Fabyanic, the Prefect
of Our Lady’s Sodality, March 8, for
John Pfeiffer who died August 20, Theresa
Hanley, died July 23, Fr.
Juan-Carlos Iscara, SSPX, who died December 20, John Kinney, died December 21, Willaim Price, Jr., and Robert Arch Ward, died January 10,
and Myra, killed in a MVA
June 6,
John Sharpe,
Sr.,
died July 20,
Maria Paulette
Salazar,
died June 6,
Dale Kinsey requests prayers for his wife, Katherine Kinsey, died May 17,
Richard
Giles,
who died April 29, the father of Traci Sentmanat who converted to the Catholic
faith last All Saints' Day,
Joseph
Sparks,
a devout and faithful Catholic to tradition died February 25,
Joyce Paglia, died
January 21, and Anthony Paglia,
died January 28, who were responsible for the beautiful statuary in our chapel,
Joe Sentmanet request prayers for Richard Giles and Claude Harmon who converted to
the Catholic faith shortly before their deaths,
Rodolfo
Zelaya, the brother of Claudia Drew,
died January 9,
Elizabeth Agosta petitions our prayers for Joseph Napolitano, her brother,
who died January 2,
Michael
Dulisse,
died on December 26,
Michael
Proctor, a close friend of the Drews,
died November 9,
Richard
Anthony Giles, the father-in-law of Joe Sentmanat converted to the Catholic faith on
All Saints Day, died November 5,
Robert
Kolinsky,
the husband of Sonja, died September 18,
Gabriel
Schiltz,
the daughter of Thomas & Gay Schiltz, died August 21,
Mary Dimmel, the
mother –in-law of Victoria Drew Dimmel, died July 18,
Michael
Nesbit,
the brother-in-law and dear friend of the Drew's, died July 14,
Thomas
Thees, the brother of Philip, died
June 19,
Carmen Ragonese,
died June 22,
Juanita
Mohler, a friend of Camella Meiser,
died June 14,
Kathleen
Elias, died February 14,
Hernan Ortiz, the
brother of Fr. Juan Carlos Ortiz, died February 3,
Mary Ann
Boyle,
the mother of a second order Dominican nun, a first order Dominican priest, and
a SSPX priest, died January 24,
John DeMarco, who
attended this Mission in the past, died January23,
Charles
O’Brien, the father of Marlene Cox,
died December 30,
Mufide Rende requests our prayers for the repose of
the souls of her parents, Mehmet
& Nedime,
Kathleen
Donelly,
died December 29 at 91 years of age, ran the CorMariae website,
Matthew
O'Hare,
most faithful Catholic, died at age 40 on November 30,
Rev. Patrick
J. Perez, a Catholic priest faithful to
tradition, pastor Our Lady Help of Christians, Garden Grove, CA, November 19,
Elizabeth
Benedek,
died December 14, requested by her niece, Agnes Vollkommer,
Dolores
Smith and Richard Costello, faithful Catholics, died
November,
Frank
D’Agustino,
a friend of Philp Thees, died November 8,
Fr.
Dominique Bourmaud, of the SSPX, Prior of St.
Vincent in Kansas City, died September 4,
Pablo Daniel
Silva, the brother of Elizabeth
Vargas, died August 18,
Rose Bradley, a
member of Ss. Peter & Paul, died July 14,
Patricia
Ellias, died June 1, recently
returned to the Church died with the sacraments and wearing the brown scapular,
Joan Devlin, the sister-in-law of Rose
Bradley, died May 18,
William
Muligan, died April 29, two days after
receiving the last sacraments,
Robert Petti, died
March 19, the day after receiving the last sacraments,
Mark
McDonald, the father of Kyle, who died
December 26,
Perla Otero, died December 2020, Leyla Otero, January 2021,
cousins of Claudia Drew,
Mehmet Rende, died
December 12, who was the father of Mary Mufide,
Joseph
Gravish, died November 26, 100 year
old WWII veteran and daily communicant,
Jerome
McAdams,
the father of, died November 30,
Rev. James
O’Hara, died November 8, requested by
Alex Estrada,
Elizabeth
Batko, the sacristan at St. John the
Baptist in Pottstown for over 40 years, died on First Saturday November 7
wearing the brown scapular,
William Cox, the
father of Joseph Cox, who died September 3,
James Larson, Catholic
apologists, author of War Against Being
publication, died July 6, 2020,
Hutton
Gibson, died May 12,
Sr. Regina
Cordis,
Immaculate Heart of Mary religious for sixty-five years, died May 12,
Leslie Joan
Matatics, devoted Catholic wife and
mother of nine children, died March 24,
Victoria
Zelaya, the sister-in-law of Claudia
Drew, died March 20,
Ricardo
DeSilva,
died November 16, our prayers requested by his brother, Henry DeSilva,
Rev. Fr.
Joseph F. Collins, died April 27, 2019 to whom we are indebted for establishing our traditional
pre-Bugnini Holy Week in all its beauty,
Roland H.
Allard,
a friend of the Drew’s, died September 28,
Stephen
Cagorski
and John Bogda, who
both died wearing the brown
scapular,
Cecilia
LeBow, a most faithful Catholic,
Rose Cuono, died Oct 23,
Patrick
Rowen,
died March 25, and his brother, Daniel
Rowen, died May 15,
Sandra
Peters, the
wife of Gene Peters, who died June 10 receiving the sacraments and wearing our
Lady’s scapular,
Rev. Francis
Slupski, a
priest who kept the Catholic faith and its immemorial traditions, died May 14,
Martha
Mochan, the
sister of Philip Thees, died April 8,
George
Kirsch,
our good friend and supporter of this Mission, died February 15,
For Fr.
Paul J. Theisz, died October 17, is the petition of Fr. Waters,
Fr. Mecurio
Fregapane,
died Jan 12, was not a traditional priest but always charitable,
Fr. Casimir
Peterson,
a priest who often offered the Mass in our chapel and provided us with sound
advice, died December 4,
Fr.
Constantine Bellasarius, a faithful and always
charitable Eastern Rite Catholic Melkite priest, who left the Roman rite, died
November 27,
Christian
Villegas,
a motor vehicle accident, his brother, Michael, requests our prayers,
John Vennari, the former editor of
Catholic Family News, and for his family’s welfare, April 4,
Mary Butler, the aunt of Fr. Samuel
Waters, died October 17,
Joseph
DeMarco,
the nephew of John DeMarco, died October 3,
John Fergale, died September 25 after
receiving the traditional sacramental rites of the Church wearing the brown
scapular,
John Gabor, the brother of Donna
Marbach, died September 9,
Fr. Eugene
Dougherty,
a faithful priest, fittingly died on the Nativity of the BVM after receiving
the traditional Catholic sacraments,
Phyllis
Schlafly,
died September 5,
Helen
Mackewicz,
died August 14,
Mark A.
Wonderlin,
who died August 2,
Fr. Carl
Cebollero,
a faithful priest to tradition who was a friend of Fr. Waters and Fr. DeMaio,
Jessica
Cortes,
a young mother of ten who died June 12,
Frances
Toriello, a
life-long Catholic faithful to tradition, died June3, the feast of the Sacred
Heart, and her husband Dan,
died in 1985,
John
McLaughlin, a friend of the Drew’s, died May 22,
Angela
Montesano,
who died April 30, and her husband, Salvatore,
who died in July 3, 2013,
Charles Schultz, died
April 5, left behind nine children and many grandchildren, all traditional
Catholics,
Esperanza Lopez de Callejas,
the aunt of Claudia Drew, died March 15,
Fr. Edgardo Suelo, a
faithful priest defending our traditions who was working with Fr. Francois
Chazal in the Philippines, died February 19,
Conde McGinley, a long time
laborer for the traditional faith, died February 12, at 96 years,
The Drew family requests
your prayers for Ida Fernandez and Rita Kelley,
parishioners at St. Jude,
Fr. Stephen
Somerville,
a traditional priest who repented from his work with the Novus Ordo English
translation, died December 12,
Fr. Arturo
DeMaio,
a priest that helped this Mission with the sacraments and his invaluable
advice, died December 2,
J. Paul
Carswell,
died October 15, 2015,
Solange
Hertz, a
great defender of our Catholic faith, died October 3, the First Saturday of the
month,
Paula P.
Haigh,
died October 22, a great defender of our Catholic faith in philosophy and
natural science,
Gabriella
Whalin,
the mother of Gabriella Schiltz, who died August 25,
Mary
Catherine Sick, 14 year old from a large traditional Catholic family, died August 25,
Fr. Paul
Trinchard,
a traditional Catholic priest, died August 25,
Stephen J.
Melnick, Jr., died on August 21, a long-time faithful traditional Catholic husband
and father, from Philadelphia,
Patricia
Estrada,
died July 29, her son Alex petitions our prayers for her soul,
Fr. Nicholas
Gruner,
a devoted priest & faithful defender of Blessed Virgin Mary and her Fatima
message, died April 29,
Sarah E.
Shindle,
the grandmother of Richard Shindle, died April 26,
Madeline
Vennari,
the mother of John Vennari, died December 19,
Salvador
Baca Callejas, the uncle of Claudia Drew, died December 13,
Robert Gomez, who died in a motor vehicle
accident November 29,
Catherine
Dunn,
died September 15,
Anthony
Fraser,
the son of Hamish Fraser, died August 28,
Jeannette
Rhoad,
the grandmother of Devin Rhoad, who died August 24,
John Thees, the uncle of Philip Thees,
died August 9,
Sarah
Harkins, 32 year-old mother of four
children, died July 28,
Msgr. Donald
Adams, who
offered the Indult Mass, died April 1996,
Anita Lopez, the aunt of Claudia Drew,
Fr. Kenneth
Walker,
a young traditional priest of the FSSP who was murdered in Phoenix June 11,
Fr. Waters petitions our prayers for Gilberte Violette, the mother of
Fr. Violette, who died May 6,
Pete Hays petitions our prayers for his brothers, Michael, died May 9, and James, died October 20, his
sister, Rebecca, died March17, and his mother, Lorraine Hayes who died May 4,
Philip
Marbach,
the father of Paul Marbach who was the coordinator at St. Jude in Philadelphia,
died April 21,
Richard
Slaughtery,
the elderly sacristan for the SSPX chapel in Kansas City, died April 13,
Bernedette
Marie Evans nee Toriello, the daughter of Daniel Toriello, died March 31, a
faithful Catholic who suffered many years with MS,
Natalie
Cagorski,
died march 23,
Anita Lopez
de Lacayo,
the aunt of Claudia Drew, who died March 21,
Mario Palmaro, Catholic lawyer,
bioethicist and professor, apologist, died March 9, welfare of his widow and
children,
Daniel Boyle, the
uncle of Ryan Boyle, died March 4,
Jeanne
DeRuyscher,
who died on January 25,
Arthur
Harmon,
died January 18,
Fr. Waters petitions our prayers for the soul of Jeanne DeRuyscher, who died
January 17,
Joseph
Proctor,
died January 10,
Susan Scott, a devote traditional
Catholic who made the vestments for our Infant of Prague statue, died January
8,
Brother
Leonard Mary, M.I.C.M., (Fred Farrell), an early supporter and friend of Fr. Leonard
Feeney, died November 23,
John Fergale, requests our prayers for his sister Connie, who died December 19,
Jim Capaldi, died December 15,
Brinton
Creager,
the son of Elizabeth Carpenter, died December 10,
Christopher
Lussos,
age 27, the father of one child with an expecting wife, died November 15,
Jarett
Ebeyer,
16 year old who died in his sleep, November 17, at the request of the
Kolinsky’s,
Catherine
Nienaber,
the mother of nine children, the youngest three years of age, killed in MVA
after Mass, 10-29,
Nancy Aldera, the sister of Frances
Toriello, died October 11, 2013 at 105 years of age,
Mary Rita
Schiltz,
the mother of Thomas Schiltz, who died August 27,
William H.
(Teddy) Kennedy, Catholic author of Lucifer’s Lodge, died August 14, age 49, cause of
death unknown,
Alfred
Mercier,
the father of David Mercier, who died August 12,
The Robert Kolinsky asks our prayers for his friend, George Curilla, who died August
23,
John Cuono, who had attended Mass at
our Mission in the past, died August 11,
Raymond
Peterson,
died July 28, and Paul Peterson,
died February 19, the brothers of Fr. Casimir Peterson,
Margaret
Brillhart,
who died July 20,
Msgr. Joseph
J. McDonnell, a priest from the diocese of Des Moines, who died June 8,
Patrick
Henry Omlor, who wrote Questioning The Validity of the Masses using
the New, All English Canon, and for a series of newsletters which were
published as The Robber Church, died May 2, the feast of St Athanasius,
Bishop
Joseph McFadden, died unexpectedly May 2,
Timothy
Foley,
the brother-in-law of Michelle Marbach Folley, who died in April,
William
Sanders,
the uncle of Don Rhoad, who died April 2,
Gene Peters ask our prayers for the repose of the
soul of Mark Polaschek, who
died March 22,
Eduardo
Gomez Lopez, the uncle of Claudia Drew, February 28,
Cecelia
Thees,
died February 24,
Elizabeth
Marie
Gerads, a
nineteen year old, the oldest of twelve children, who died February 6,
Michael
Schwartz,
the co-author with Fr. Enrique Rueda of “Gays, Aids, and You,” died February 3,
Stanley W.
Moore,
passed away in December 16, and Gerard (Jerry) R. Pitman, who died January 19,
who attended this Mission in the past,
Louis
Fragale,
who died December 25,
Fr. Luigi
Villa, Th.D. author of Vatican II About
Face! detailing the heresies of Vatican II, died November 18 at the age of 95,
Rev. Michael
Jarecki,
a faithful traditional Catholic priest who died October 22,
Jennie Salaneck, died September 19 at 95
years of age, a devout and faithful Catholic all her life,
Dorothy Sabo, who died September 26,
Cynthia
(Cindy) Montesano Reinhert, the mother of nine children, four who are still at
home, died August 19,
Stanley
Spahalski, who died October 20, and his wife, Regina
Spahalski, who died June 24, and for the soul of Francis Lester, her son,
Julia
Atkinson,
who died April 30,
Antonio P.
Garcia,
who died January 6, 2012 and the welfare of his teenage children, Andriana and
Quentin,
Helen Crane, the aunt of David Drew who
died February 27,
Fr. Timothy
A. Hopkins,
of the National Shrine of St. Philomena, in Miami, November 2,
Frank Smith, who died February 7, and
the welfare of his wife, Delores,
Eduardo
Cepeda,
who died January 26,
Larry Young, the 47 year old father of
twelve who died December 10 and the welfare of his wife Katherine and their
family,
Sister Mary
Bernadette, M.I.C.M., a founding member of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, died
December 16,
Joeseph
Elias,
who died on September 28,
William, the brother of Fr. Waters,
who died September 7,
Donald
Tonelli,
died August 1,
Rev. Fr.
Gregory Hesse, of Austria, a great defender of Catholic Truth, died January 25, 2006,
Emma
Colasanti, who died May 29,
Mary
Dullesse,
who died April 12, a Catholic convert who died wearing our Lady’s scapular,
Ruth Jantsch, the grandmother of Andre
Ebert, who died April 7, Derrick and Denise Palengat, his godparents,
Philip D.
Barr,
died March 5, and the welfare of his family,
Judith Irene
Kenealy,
the mother of Joyce Paglia, who died February 23, and her son, George Richard
Moore, who died May 14,
For Joe
Sobran who died September 30,
Fr. Hector
Bolduc,
a great and faithful priest, died, September 10, 2012,
James &
Jean Rowan
and their sons, Patrick & Daniel,
John Vennari asks our prayers for Dr. Raphael Waters who died
August 26,
Stanley
Bodalsky,
the father of Mary Ann Boyle who died June 25,
Mary Isabel
Kilfoyle Humphreys, a former York resident and friend of the Drew’s, who died June 6,
Rev. John
Campion,
who offered the traditional Mass for us every first Friday until forbidden to
do so by Bishop Dattilo, died May 1,
Joseph
Montagne, who
died May 5,
For Margaret
Vagedes, the aunt of Charles Zepeda, who died January 6,
Fr. Michael
Shear, a
Byzantine rite Catholic priest, died August 17, 2006,
Fr. James
Francis Wathen, died November 7, 2006, author of The
Great Sacrilege and Who Shall
Ascend?, a great defender of dogma and liturgical purity,
Fr. Enrique
Rueda,
who died December 14, 2009, to whom our Mission is indebted,
Fr. Peterson asks to remember, Leonard Edward Peterson, his cousin, Wanda, Angelica Franquelli, and the six
priests ordained with him.
Philip Thees petitions our prayers for Beverly Romanick, Deacon Michael Erdeck,
Henry J. Phillips, Grace Prestano, Connie DiMaggio, Elizabeth Thorhas,
Elizabeth Thees, Theresa Feraker, Hellen Pestrock, and James & Rose Gomata,
and Kathleen Heinbach,
Fr. Didier
Bonneterre,
the author of The Liturgical Movement, and Fr. John Peek, both were traditional
priests,
Brother
Francis, MICM, the superior of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in
Richmond, NH, who died September 5,
Rodolfo
Zelaya Montealegre, the father of Claudia Drew, who died May 24,
Rev. Francis
Clifford,
a devout and humble traditional priest, who died on March 7,
Benjamin Sorace, the uncle of Sonja Kolinsky.
SPECIAL
FAVORS FOR THOSE DEVOTED TO THE
SORROWS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
The
graces which Our Lord promises to those who are devoted to the sorrows of His
Blessed Mother are very great. St. Alphonsus, in his discourse on the dolors of
Mary, states: It was revealed to St. Elizabeth that some years after the
Blessed Virgin was assumed into heaven, St. John, the beloved disciple, was
seized with an ardent desire to see her again. This favor was granted him. His
dear Mother appeared to him in company with our Divine Lord. Then St. John
heard Mary asking of her Son some special graces for those who were devoted to
her dolors. Our Lord promised the four following graces:
1.
Those who invoke the Heavenly Mother through her sorrows will obtain true
sorrow for their sins before death.
2.
Our Savior will protect them in their tribulations, especially at the hour of
death.
3.
He will impress upon them the memory of His Passion, and will reward them for
it in Heaven.
4.
He will commit such devout servants to the hands of Mary, that she may dispose
of them according to her pleasure, and obtain for them all the graces she
desires.
St.
Alphonsus Ligouri, Devotion to the Sorrowful Mother
Besides these great graces, Father Faber
enumerates others which are obtained through devotion to Mary's sorrows:
1.
This devotion has a remarkable connection with great interior holiness.
2.
It reveals the emptiness of worldly joys. Worldliness finds no soul harder to
attack than one entrenched in the sorrows of our Blessed Lady. The world can
graft itself upon nothing in this devotion.
3.
It gives us a permanent share in the sorrow for sin which Jesus and Mary felt.
4.
It keeps our thoughts close to Jesus Christ, and to Him Crucified.
5.
It communicates to our souls the spirit of the Cross, and gives strength to
endure our own sufferings with resignation to the holy will of God.
6.
This devotion is wholly covered with the Precious Blood of Jesus and leads us
directly into the depths of the Heart of our Savior.
7.
Anyone who during his lifetime has cherished compassion for this afflicted
Mother may consider this as a most assured sign of predestination.
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!
Pope Pius IX professes the
Catholic Faith at the Opening of Vatican Council I
I likewise receive and accept the rites of the Catholic Church which
have been received and approved in the solemn administration of all the
aforesaid (seven) sacraments. [.....]
I resolutely assert that images of Christ and the ever virgin mother of
God, and likewise those of the other saints, are to be kept and retained, and
that due honour and reverence is to be shown them. [.....]
Likewise all other things which have been transmitted, defined and
declared by the sacred canons and the ecumenical councils, especially the
sacred Trent, I accept unhesitatingly and profess; in the same way whatever is
to the contrary, and whatever heresies have been condemned, rejected and anathematised
by the Church, I too condemn, reject and anathematise. This true Catholic
faith, outside of which none can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly
hold, is what I shall steadfastly maintain and confess, by the help of God, in
all its completeness and purity until my dying breath, and I shall do my best
to ensure that all others do the same. This is what I, the same Pius, promise,
vow and swear. So help me God and these holy gospels of God.
Profession of Faith, made by Pope Pius
IX before the bishops of the Church at the opening of the First Vatican Council
Regarding the Crime 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 has led in the past and is now leading in Gaza
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
“In the name of the Gospel, and in the light of the Encyclicals of the
last four Popes, Gregory XVI, Pius IX, Leo XIII, and Pius X, I do not hesitate
to affirm that this indifference to religion which puts on the same level the
religion of divine origin and the religions invented by men in order to include
them in the same skepticism is the blasphemy which calls down chastisement on
society far more than the sins of individuals and families.”
Cardinal Désiré Félicien François Joseph Mercier, Archbishop of Mechelen in Belgium and
Catholic scholar, 1918, The Lesson of
Events, quoted by Fr. Denis Fahey in The
Kingship of Chirst and Organized Naturalism
Men have imagined that the acknowledgment of the divinity of Christ
relieves them of the obligation of taking His words seriously. They have
twisted certain texts of the Gospel so as to get out of them the meaning they
want, while they have conspired to pass over in silence other texts which do
not lend themselves to such treatment. The precept ‘render to Caesar the things
that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s’ is consistently quoted
to sanction an order of things which gives Caesar all and God nothing. The
saying “My Kingdom is not of this world’ is always being used to justify and
confirm the paganism of our social and political life, as though Christian
society were destined to belong to this world and not to the Kingdom of Christ.
On the other hand the saying “All power is given Me in heaven and earth’ is
never quoted. Men are ready to accept Christ as sacrificing Priest and atoning
Victim; but they do not want Christ the King. His royal dignity has been ousted
by every kind of pagan despotism, and Christian peoples have taken up the cry
of the Jewish rabble: ‘We have no king but Caesar!’ Thus history has witnessed
and we are still witnessing, the curious phenomenon of a society which
professes Christianity as its religion but remains pagan not merely in its life
but in the very basis of that life.
Vladimir Solovyev, 1853-1900, Russian theologian, philosopher, poet who
worked to bring the Orthodox into the Catholic Church. He made a profession of
faith before an Eastern rite unite Catholic priest and was received into the
Catholic Church in 1896. He died in extreme poverty.
Infallibility is primarily
and essentially an attribute of the God's Church because it is an attribute of
God!
“Infallibility is not a quality inherent in any person, but an
assistance attached to an office”
Cardinal Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892)
“There is no greater enemy of the Immaculata and her Knighthood than today’s
ecumenism, which every Knight must not only fight against, but also neutralize
through diametrically opposed action and ultimately destroy.”
St. Maximilian Kolbe
COMMENT:
GREAT INTERVIEW! Archbishop Viganò clearly understands and articulates the
current problems in the Church, their causes, and the modus operandi of the
apologists of evil. Now that the enemy is stripped naked, it is much easier
matter to clean his mess up.
Archbishop Viganò says restraint on
Antichrist loosened at Vatican II
In Part 1 of an interview with
LifeSiteNews, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò discusses Leo XIV, the Antichrist,
women in Vatican leadership roles, and more.
LifeSiteNews | Sep 10, 2026 — Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has become
one of the most controversial and, for many Catholics attached to Tradition,
courageous voices in the contemporary ecclesial crisis. After serving as
Apostolic Nuncio to the United States from 2011 to 2016, Viganò definitively
entered the center of ecclesial debate in August 2018 when he published his
denunciation concerning the case of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick,
accusing Pope Francis and several members of the Curia of having ignored
information already available about the conduct of the then-prelate and calling
for Francis’ resignation.
Subsequently, his opposition to the Francis pontificate became
increasingly radical, eventually raising fundamental questions on Petrine
authority, the Second Vatican Council, and the legitimacy of the post-conciliar
ecclesial direction. In July 2024, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith
declared him guilty of schism and announced his excommunication latæ sententiæ, specifically charging
him with refusing to recognize the Pontiff and the legitimacy of Vatican II.
It is precisely in light of this long and dramatic affair that his new
book, The Capital Schism: When the Pope Is the First Enemy of the Papacy,
should be read. READ: Archbishop Viganò publishes book on ‘when the pope is the
first enemy of the papacy’ Published in August, the essay represents Viganò’s
reflection on the crisis in the Church. He distinguishes between the papacy
understood as a divine institution and the person who occupies its Chair, culminating
in the thesis that the current crisis represents a profound rupture between the
Petrine office and the one who exercises it.
The book also addresses such themes as a state of necessity, resistance
to commands deemed illicit, and the eschatological dimension of the ecclesial
crisis through the biblical figure of the katéchon, “the one who restrains” the
Antichrist spirit that is already at work in the world. LifeSiteNews
interviewed Archbishop Viganò to discuss these issues and, above all, the theme
that runs throughout the entire book: what happens when the crisis no longer
concerns merely certain men of the Church or certain decisions, but the one who
sits upon the Throne of St. Peter?
LIFESITENEWS:
Your Excellency, in your new book you argue that today the first enemy of the
papacy is the Pope himself. How do you explain this paradox?
Archbishop Archbishop
Viganò: The paradox is only apparent, and it is resolved as soon as one
distinguishes what Catholic theology always distinguished: the Papacy as a
divine institution, willed by Our Lord when He said to Peter, “Tu es Petrus,”
and the individual person who at any given moment in history occupies the Chair
of Peter. The Papacy is indefectible, because it is of Christ; the person of
the Pope is a man, with his free will, who may correspond to the grace of state
or reject it. On the other hand, the Church prays for the Supreme Pontiff,
asking the Divine Majesty to preserve the Domnum
Apostolicum in Holy Religion, precisely because she knows that his perseverance
in the Faith is not automatically guaranteed by the office. If this were not
so, that is, if the Pope were exempt from the possibility of failing in his
mandate, praying for him would make no sense. When a Pontiff uses the authority
that has been conferred upon him ad
ædificationem to instead demolish what that authority is called to
safeguard — doctrine, liturgy, discipline, the very monarchical and
hierarchical constitution of the Church — he places himself in contradiction
with his own munus. He is no longer
the servant of the Papacy: he becomes its first adversary, because no external
enemy could wound the Church as much as one who wounds her from within, clothed
in the garment of Peter. I have called this phenomenon a capital schism in the proper
sense of the word: a schism that begins from the caput, from the head.
Classical schism is the separation of a portion of the body from the head; here
we witness the opposite: it is the head that separates itself from the mystical
body and from the Tradition that precedes it, that rebels against what its
predecessors taught and what it would have the obligation to transmit intact.
Saint Paul says it in words that admit no reply: sed licet nos aut angelus de cœlo evangelizet vobis præterquam quod
evangelizavimus vobis, anathema sit (Gal 1:8-9). Not even an angel, not
even an Apostle, not even the Successor of the Apostle Peter may proclaim
another gospel. The Pope is the custodian of the Depositum, not its owner; and
he who, from custodian, makes himself owner, betrays the very reason for which
Our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Papacy in vicarial form.
LIFESITENEWS:
You compare the current situation to the removal of the katéchon spoken of by
Saint Paul (cf. 2 Thess 2:6-8). What role does the figure of Leo XIV play in
this dramatic removal of the “restraint” on iniquity?
Archbishop Archbishop
Viganò: The Fathers and the great commentators understood the katéchon,
“the one who restrains,” as both the Christian Roman Empire and, together with
it, the authority of the Church, and eminently the authority of the Papacy,
which for centuries had opposed a barrier to the mysterium iniquitatis. That restraint began to be loosened from the
moment when the hierarchy, with the Second Vatican Council, renounced exercising
its authority in the sense willed by Christ, in order to seek reconciliation
with the world, with modern thought, with the Revolution. From then on, those
who should have restrained began to accommodate. Leo XIV fits into this process
not as an innovator, but as the one who consolidates it and makes it
presentable. Bergoglio dismantled the Papacy violently; Prevost gives that
dismantling an institutional, “orderly,” almost reassuring form. His task — and
I believe he is perfectly aware of it — is to make synodality irreversible,
that is, that “permanent revolution” which brings the Council to its extreme
consequences, and to ensure that the Catholic Church definitively ceases to be
an obstacle to the Masonic and globalist project. When the Pope is no longer a
restrainer but an accelerator, the removal of the katéchon is not a future
event: it is happening right now before our very eyes. And the Lord warned us: tunc revelabitur ille iniquus. I do not
say this with apocalyptic relish, but with the sorrow of a Bishop seeing the
Bride of Christ handed over to her enemies by those who should defend her.
LIFESITENEWS:
In the face of canonical sanctions, you invoke a state of necessity, just as
the Society of Saint Pius X has done for its new episcopal consecrations. How
do you respond to the many conservatives who accuse you of formal disobedience
to the Pope? Archbishop
Viganò: I respond that obedience is a virtue, not an idol. Obedience is
to be given to a legitimate command given by a legitimate authority for the
purpose for which that authority exists. When a command is contrary to the
Faith, divine law, or the good of souls, it not only does not bind, but obliges
one not to obey: obœdire oportet Deo
magis quam hominibus (Acts 5:29). This principle is not an invention of
traditionalists: it is taught by Saint Peter, it is taught by Saint Thomas, it
is taught by the perennial Magisterium, it is demonstrated in practice by the
conduct of the Saints who resisted Pontiffs when they erred, from Saint Paul who
resisted Peter in faciem, to Saint
Athanasius, to Saint Catherine of Siena. A state of necessity is not an
invention for evading the law: it is a principle of law itself, according to
which the salus animarum, which is
the supreme law, prevails over positive norms when these, applied literally,
would produce irreparable harm to souls. The Society of Saint Pius X, in
consecrating its Bishops this past July, did exactly what Archbishop Lefebvre
did in 1988, and for the same reason: Rome is not giving Tradition the bishops
it needs, and without bishops there are no priests, and without priests there
are no Sacraments. And it is significant that, in threatening the Society,
Prevost let the pretext of the Consecrations fall away in order to confess that
the real fault is the rejection of the Council. In doing so he revealed —
perhaps involuntarily — the fraud: canonical sanctions are a political
instrument, wielded against those who remain Catholic and never against those
who openly deny the Faith. To the conservatives who reproach me I say with
affection: you obey a man who asks you to disobey Our Lord, and you call this
contradiction “fidelity.” I have never intended to separate myself from
Apostolic Communion; I have asked and continue to ask Leo XIV to tell me in
what way I contradict the Depositum Fidei.
I have received no answer. Which of the two, then, is in a state of schism?
LIFESITENEWS:
In a now-distant 1999 address to the European bishops given by Cardinal Carlo
Maria Martini – pioneer of the St. Gallen Mafia and, as he liked to define
himself, not an antipope, but the “antepapa” (the one who would prepare the way
for the “new” pope) – Martini declared that the Church, in order to “update”
itself, had to urgently untie a series of knots. And he identified the first
knot as the “shortage of ordained ministers,” to be untied by abolishing
celibacy or at least making it optional. Recently, Bishop Johan Bonny in
Antwerp announced that he will ordain married men by 2028. Not to mention that
the Vatican has just appointed a new archbishop of Vienna, Josef Grünwidl, a
former member of the dissident movement “Call to Disobedience,” which has
advocated for the same abolition of clerical celibacy. Rome watches all of this
in silence and, unlike in other situations, does not threaten sanctions even
though canon law is systematically trampled upon. It almost seems that Rome is
encouraging all this. What do you think?
Archbishop Viganò:
It does not “seem” that Rome is encouraging this – Rome is encouraging this.
Rome is not a distracted spectator of a process that is escaping it; it is the
director. The method is the one tested by the conciliar Revolution:
disobedience is allowed to begin from the periphery, it is allowed to
consolidate itself as a “fait accompli,” and then the center intervenes not to
repress it but to “accompany” it, invoking synodality, listening, pastoral
needs. The Bonny Case is emblematic: a Bishop publicly announces that he will
violate the law of the Church, and no Dicastery calls him to account. The
Grünwidl case is even more eloquent, because it is not a matter of tolerating a
dissident, but of promoting him to one of the most important sees in Europe.
Someone who belonged to a movement literally called “Call to Disobedience” is
rewarded by a Pontiff who excommunicates those who ask to be able to obey the
Church of all time. But the question goes deeper than celibacy. The “shortage
of ordained ministers” is the poisoned fruit of sixty years of emptying the
Priesthood of its substance. When people ceased to believe that the priest is
the alter Christus, that he ascends
the altar to renew the Sacrifice of the Cross, celibacy ceased to make sense,
because it makes sense only as total configuration to Christ the High Priest.
Cardinal Martini knew this well: the list of his “knots” is not a list of
problems to be solved, but a program of demolition, in which each point is a
stepping stone to the next. First celibacy is abolished, then women are
admitted, then morality is rewritten, then marriage is dissolved… It is a plan,
and its executors are called by other names today but pursue the same design.
The fact that Martini called himself “antepapa” says much about the awareness
with which the St. Gallen Mafia prepared what we see today.
LIFESITENEWS:
The second knot identified by Martini concerned the role of women and the
question of women’s ordination. The bishops promoted by Leo XIV — I am thinking
of Mackinlay, Grögli, Satué, Grünwidl, and many others — have openly expressed
support for the female diaconate. The Vatican Commission on the subject
reiterated “no” to the sacramental ordination of women, but it defined this
judgment as “not definitive.” Consequently, numerous bishops today avoid
addressing the question directly, preferring to enhance women’s presence in the
governance of dioceses or to propose “inclusive” liturgical reforms. In your
view, is this strategy aimed at progressively shifting the Overton Window on
the issue of women’s ordination?
Archbishop Viganò:
It is exactly the Overton Window technique, and not even particularly
disguised. John Paul II, with his Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, did not define something new: he declared
that this doctrine belongs to the Depositum
Fidei and has been taught infallibly by the ordinary and universal
Magisterium — as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith confirmed in
its Responsum of 1995. To say today that this judgment is “not definitive”
therefore means not reopening a disciplinary question, but denying the very
infallibility of the ordinary and universal Magisterium. The female diaconate
is the lever, because the Sacrament of Orders is one in its three degrees:
admitting a woman to the diaconate means admitting that she is capable of
receiving Orders, and at that point exclusion from the priesthood would appear
to be nothing more than discrimination to be removed. It is no coincidence that
the admission of women to orders is promoted by anti-Catholic movements in the
name of gender equality, which the synodal church embraces and makes its own.
The neo-modernists know this perfectly well, and for this reason they do not
immediately ask for priestly ordination: they ask for governing roles, a
presence in the Curias, “instituted ministries,” “inclusive” liturgies. Each
step prepares the next, and each step is presented as harmless. The Bishops
appointed by Prevost were not chosen despite their positions on the female
diaconate, but precisely because of them: whoever appoints a Bishop knows his
ideas, and whoever appoints many with the same ideas is building an Episcopate
that, at the appropriate moment, will ask “from below” for what the Pope wishes
to grant “from above.” This is synodality: the staging of a play in which
actors present a demand whose answer has already been decided. To all this is
added an aspect that I consider even more serious, and about which there is a
culpable silence: the promotion of women to head Roman Dicasteries. We have two
religious sisters, Sister Simona Brambilla and Sister Tiziana Merletti,
respectively Prefect and Secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of
Consecrated Life, who now command authority over Cardinals, Bishops, Abbots and
priests; another religious sister, Sister Reffaella Petrini, President of the
Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and President of the
Governatorate; a laywoman, Maria Montserrat Alvarado, at the head of the
Dicastery for Communication, which is coordinating and reorganizing the entire
communications system of the Holy See; and also women appointed as members and
consultants of various Dicasteries, including the Congregation for Bishops,
that is, called upon to decide on promotions to the Episcopate. Now, the power
of governance in the Church is not an administrative function that can be
attributed to just anyone by decree: by its nature it is connected to sacra potestas, which flows from the
Sacrament of Orders, because in the Church — which is a supernatural society
and not a business corporation — one governs insofar as one is configured to
Christ the King and High Priest. Separating jurisdiction from Orders, by
conferring upon those who cannot receive Orders the power to govern those who
have received them, means overturning the hierarchical constitution that Our
Lord gave to His Church. This is why I say that Bergoglio, and now Prevost, do
much more and much worse than conferring Holy Orders upon these women. An
invalid ordination would be a sacrilege, but it would remain a null act; here,
instead, the sacramental order is being dismantled piece by piece, sacra potestas is being rendered a
superfluous accessory, and the clergy are being accustomed to obeying those who
have no divine title whatsoever to command them. It is a deadly assault on the
divine constitution of the Church, that is once again being carried out in
practice, without the need to touch a single dogma.
LIFESITENEWS:
The third and fourth knots identified by Martini concerned, respectively,
sexual morality and the discipline of marriage. In his official book-length
interview with Elise Ann Allen, Leo XIV stated that people’s “attitudes” must
be “changed” before doctrine itself is changed. In your opinion, what are the
means that the neo-modernists in power intend to use to bring about this
change?
Archbishop Viganò:
That sentence deserves to be weighed, because it is a confession. “Changing
attitudes before changing doctrine” is to admit that doctrine will be changed —
just not at first. Doctrine will be changed last, when by then no one believes
in it anymore, and its formal abrogation will appear as a mere notarial act. It
is the modernist method described by Saint Pius X in Pascendi: one does not attack dogma head-on, one transforms the
mentality that sustains it, one separates faith from life, and one allows life,
thus separated, to drag faith along with it. In reality, it is not even
necessary to change the dogma: one renders it irrelevant through pastoral
practice. And this method today has its theoretical charter, which almost no
one has wanted to read for what it is. In Evangelii
Gaudium, Bergoglio set out four principles, and the first of them — “time
is greater than space” — is the key that opens all the others: “giving priority
to time means being concerned with initiating processes rather than possessing
spaces.” In other words: do not define, but initiate; do not establish a
result, but trigger a dynamic that no one will ever again be able to stop.
Space is the bounded territory; the boundary, the dogmatic definition, the
canon that says how far it is permissible to go; time is the process that
erodes that boundary without ever declaring an intention to tear it down. And
note the cunning: whoever guards a space must defend a position, and a position
can be besieged, debated, refuted; whoever initiates a process has no positions
to defend, and is therefore unassailable. Nothing can be opposed to him,
because he has not yet asserted anything. Someone will object that this is not
Hegel but Romano Guardini, whose writings Bergoglio studied extensively without
ever completing his doctoral thesis. Guardini’s polarity — the Gegensatz — is
conceived precisely against dialectical contradiction, since tensions are to be
held together and not resolved in a higher synthesis. Whether one calls it
Hegelian synthesis or an unfinished process, the result is that no truth
remains a fixed point, but becomes a mere moment in a process of becoming. And
what in Hegel was philosophy of history, and in Marx became revolutionary
praxis (praxis preceding the principle, judging it and subverting it), in the
synodal church is now simply called “pastoral ministry.” And here is the work
taking place before our eyes: Amoris
Lætitia does not abrogate the indissolubility of Marriage, it merely opens
a “process”; Fiducia Supplicans does
not declare an irregular union licit, it simply “blesses” those who are in one;
the synodal path decides nothing, and precisely for this reason it decides
everything. Doctrine is never formally touched, and precisely for this reason
there is no new doctrine that can ever be formally challenged. There is no
proposition to censure, no heresy to condemn, nothing upon which to pronounce
an anathema. The faithful are left with the intact wording of a dogma that no
longer prevails in the life of the Church. But this is precisely what the First
Vatican Council condemned with an anathema, forbidding that the dogmas proposed
by the Church should ever be attributed a meaning different from that which she
understood and understands: eodem sensu
eademque sententia. The means are those that we have seen at work for
decades. The first is language: “sin” is replaced with “fragility,”
“conversion” with “journey,” “truth” with “discernment,” “law of God” with
“ideal.” The second is pastoral practice, deliberately made ambiguous: Amoris Lætitia with its footnotes, Fiducia Supplicans with its blessings
that bless without blessing; and now Prevost’s strategy, which has not
withdrawn any of this but allows it to operate “calmly.” The third is
formation: seminaries, theological faculties, catechesis, in which for sixty years
it has been taught that Catholic morality is a historical remnant to be
overcome. The fourth is the choice of pastors: those who practice ambiguity and
error are promoted, while those who speak clearly are marginalized. And beneath
all this there is an alliance that I never hesitated to denounce: that between
the synodal church and the globalist agenda. This is not one ideology among
others, but the synthesis of all the ideologies of the right and the left,
which for two centuries have pretended to fight one another while leading men
toward the same destination; a synthesis of neo-Malthusian origin, which no
longer sees in man the image of God but an excess to be managed, and which is
therefore anti-human even before it is anti-Christian. We know its components,
and each strikes a precise aspect of the order willed by the Creator: the
dissolution of the natural family; pansexualism and gender ideology, which deny
man created masculum et feminam;
vaccinism, which makes the body the property of the State; environmentalism,
which replaces the worship of the Creator with that of the creature; mass
immigration ideology, which dissolves nations and with them Christian peoples;
and at the summit transhumanism, which promises man divinization without God,
already promised in Eden by the serpent: eritis
sicut dii. The conciliar church does not suffer this process: it
participates in it. She has renounced judging the world and accepted being
judged by it; she stopped converting it, and allowed herself to be converted by
it. This is why Martini’s third and fourth knots are not knots to be untied at
all: indissoluble marriage and sexual morality are not the historical shell of
a bygone age, but the very flesh of the Gospel, and they are the words of Our
Lord — quod ergo Deus coniunxit, homo non separet. Whoever claims — as
Pope — to change them does not reform the Church: he founds another religion,
and founds it upon the ruins of the one he received into his custody.
Meditate often on the sorrows
of the Holy Mother, sorrows inseparable from those of her beloved Son. If you seek the Cross, there you will find
the Mother; and where the Mother is, there also is the Son.
St. Paul of the Cross
September is
dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows
NOVENA TO THE SEVEN SORROWS OF THE
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows September 6th to the 14th

Ant.
There stood by the cross of Jesus His Mother and His Mother’s sister,
Mary Cleophas, and Salome and Mary Magdalen.
V.
Woman, behold thy son.
R.
Son, behold thy mother
Let us Pray
O
God, at Whose Passion, according to the prophecy of holy Simeon, a sword of
grief pierced the most sweet soul of glorious Mary, virgin and mother, grant in
Thy mercy that we who honor the memory of her sorrows may obtain the happy
fruit of Thy sufferings. Who livest and
reignest, world without end. AMEN
V. Incline unto my aid, O God.
R. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, etc.
1. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate
thee, in the grief thy tender heart underwent when the holy old man Simeon
prophesied to thee. Dear Mother, through
that afflicted heart obtain for me the virtue of humility and the gift of the
holy fear of God. Hail Mary, etc.
2. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate
those afflictions which thy most sensitive heart endured during the flight into
Egypt and the dwelling there. O beloved
Mother, by that afflicted heart obtain for me the virtue of liberality,
specially toward the poor, and the gift of piety. Hail Mary, etc.
3. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate that
intense distress which thine anxious heart experienced in the loss of thy
dearest Jesus. O beloved Mother, by that
deeply troubled heart obtain for me the virtue of chastity and the gift of
knowledge. Hail Mary, etc.
4. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate the
consternation which thy maternal heart experienced when thou didst meet Jesus
bearing His cross. O beloved Mother, by
that deep distress of thy tender heart, obtain for me the virtue of patience
and the gift of fortitude. Hail Mary,
etc.
5. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate that
martyrdom which thy generous heart endured in witnessing the last agony of
Jesus. O beloved Mother, by that
martyred heart obtain for me the virtue of temperance and the gift of
counsel. Hail Mary, etc.
6. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate that
wound which thy mournful heart endured from the lance which tore the side of
Jesus and wounded His most lovely Heart.
O beloved Mother, by thy heart then pierced through, obtain for me the
virtue of fraternal charity and the gift of understanding. Hail Mary, etc.
7. O most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate
thee, for the anguish felt by thy loving heart when Jesus’ body was laid in the
sepulcher. Dear Mother, by all the
bitterness of desolation thou didst then know, obtain for me the virtue of
diligence and the gift of wisdom. Hail
Mary, etc.
V.
Pray for us, most sorrowful Mother.
R.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Grant,
we beseech Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Thy
Mother, may intercede for us before the throne of Thy mercy, now, and at the
hour of our death; through whose most holy soul in the hour of Thine own
Passion the Sword of sorrow passed.
Through Thee, Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, Who livest and reignest
with the Father and the Holy Ghost forever and ever.
Amen
Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows
Most
holy and afflicted Virgin, Queen of Martyrs, thou stood beneath the cross,
witnessing the agony of thy dying Son.
Look with a mother’s tenderness and pity on me, who kneel before thee. I venerate thy sorrows and I place my
requests with filial confidence in the sanctuary of thy wounded heart.
Present
them, I beseech thee, on my behalf to Jesus Christ, through the merits of His
own most sacred passion and death, together with thy sufferings at the foot of
the cross. Through the united efficacy
of both, obtain the granting of my petition.
To
whom shall I have recourse in my wants and miseries if not to thee, Mother of
Mercy? Thou who have drunk so deeply of
the chalice of thy Son, thou can compassionate our sorrows.
Holy
Mary, thy soul was pierced by a sword of sorrow at the sight of the passion of
thy divine Son. Intercede for me and
obtain from Jesus Christ this grace, if it be for His honor and glory and for
the good of my soul. Amen
“Nothing is more insolent than a fact.” Dom
Gueranger
A Look into a Dark Future: A Note on the “Nobel
Savage” before the Gospel Message
For if, flying from the pollutions of the world, through
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they be again entangled in
them and overcome: their latter state is become unto them worse than the
former. (2 Peter 2:20)
Nothing is more difficult than the
conversion of these Indians; It is a miracle of the Lord's mercy. It is
necessary first to transform them into men, and afterwards to labor to make
them Christians. As they are absolute masters of themselves, without being
subject to any law, the independence in which they live enslaves them to the
most brutal passions. There are, however chiefs among them, but they have no
authority. If they should resort to threats, so far from making themselves
feared, they would find themselves immediately abandoned by the very persons
who had chosen them to their office. They do not draw to themselves
consideration and respect, except when they have, as they express it here, something
to fill the kettle, that is, something with which to give feasts to those who
should obey them.
It is this independence indeed which is
the origin of all kinds of vices which rule them. They are lazy, treacherous,
fickle and inconstant, deceitful, naturally thievish, so as even to glory in
their success in stealing, brutal, without honor, without truth ready to
promise anything for those who are liberal to them but at the same time
ungrateful and without thankfulness. The only effect produced by conferring a
favor freely upon them, is to strengthen them in their natural arrogance; it
only renders them more insolent. "He fears me," they say, "for
he courts me." Thus, whatever good will one may have to oblige them must
be restrained, that he may force them to value any little services he may
render them.
Gluttony and the love of pleasure are
above all those vices which are most prominent among our Indians. They become
addicted to a most disgraceful habit of life, even before they are of sufficient
age to know the shame which is attached to it. If you add to this the wandering
life they pass in the forests in pursuit of wild beasts, you will easily agree
that reason must be entirely stupefied in this race, and that they are almost
incapable of submitting themselves to the yoke of the Gospel. But the farther
they are removed from the kingdom of God, so much the more should our zeal be
animated to cause them to approach it, and to make them enter there. Persuaded
that we can do nothing of ourselves, we know at the same time that all things
are possible through the aid of Him for whom we labor. We have even this
advantage in the conversions which God has been willing to effect through our
ministry, that we are freed from all danger of pride, or any reference we might
make to ourselves. We cannot attribute these conversions, either to the
forcible arguments of the Missionary, or to his eloquence, or to his other
talents which might be useful in other countries, but can produce no impression
on the minds of our Indians: we can render the glory to Him alone, who even of
the stones knows how to make, when it pleases Him, children unto Abraham.
Fr.
Gabriel Marest, S.J., Letter to his superior, Fr. Germon, work among the
Indians of Michigan and Illinois, November 9, 1712
Rights
Created from Duties - In the conflict of Law - The "Ends" Determine
the Law that Must be Followed
Let us examine these words of Aquinas. First, he says that "since a precept of law is binding, it is about
something to be done." This is a truth to which we seldom if ever
advert, namely, that although right and duty are correlatives, duty is
ultimately the basis of right - not vice versa. And this is so because right
and duty are grounded upon law. Law, as we saw, is a directive norm of action
which carries with it an obligation. It binds us to do or avoid something. The
Eternal, Natural and Positive Laws are ordinations, commands of reason. The
fundamental notion of law then is obligation - not the concept of right. We
have rights because we have duties. Since a precept of law is binding it is
about something to be done.
Secondly, "that a thing must be done
arises from the necessity of some end." Whenever a man does
anything, i.e., whenever he acts as a reasonable being, he acts for an end - to
obtain some good; and so the necessity of his doing anything as a man must come
from the end. However, because man is a rational being he is free and
consequently the necessity exercised by any particular end or good cannot be
psychological; it must be moral. That is, man's will
remains free but he is obliged morally, he has a duty to seek the end - and
that because a precept of law binds him to do so.
Rights, therefore, are founded upon duties, duties are grounded upon
Natural or Positive Law, and because these laws are themselves based upon the
Eternal Law all rights and duties have their ultimate source in the same Eternal Law.
Rev. John A. Driscoll, O.P., S.T.Lr.,
Ph.D., Rights and Duties - Their
Foundation
Remembered Ecumenical
Outrages of Benedict/Ratzinger
Pope Benedict greeting the spiritual
sons of Luther the Liar
As the Bishop of Rome, it is deeply moving for me to be meeting
representatives of Council of the Lutheran Church of Germany here in the
ancient Augustinian convent in Erfurt. This is where Luther studied theology.
This is where he was ordained a priest in 1507. Against his father’s wishes, he
did not continue the study of Law, but instead he studied theology and set off
on the path towards priesthood in the Order of Saint Augustine. On this path,
he was not simply concerned with this or that. What constantly exercised him
was the question of God, the deep passion and driving force of his whole life’s
journey. "How do I receive the grace of God?": this question struck
him in the heart and lay at the foundation of all his theological searching and
inner struggle. For him theology was no mere academic pursuit, but the struggle
for oneself, which in turn was a struggle for and with God. “How do I receive
the grace of God?" The fact that this question was the driving force of
his whole life never ceases to make an impression on me.
Pope Benedict to the Lutherans in Germany, September 22, 2011
Hermeneutics
of Continuity/Discontinuity
Tradition:
from an Objective Truth Received reduced to a Subjective Impression of
Historical Events
Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; By which also you are saved, if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received.
St. Paul, 1 Cor. 15: 1-3
Concluding and summing up, we can therefore say that Tradition is
not the transmission of things or words, a collection of dead things.
Tradition is the living river that links us to the origins, the living river in
which the origins are ever present, the great river that leads us to the gates
of eternity.
Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, April 26, 2006
Both the Catholic and Protestant interpretation of Christianity have
meaning each in its own way; they are true in their historical moment... Truth becomes
a function of time... fidelity to yesterday’s truth consists precisely in
abandoning it, in assimilating it into today’s truth. [.....] The truth is whatever
serves progress, that is, whatever serves the logic of history.
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Principles
of Catholic Theology: Building Stones for a Fundamental Theology
Pope Benedict to the Jews in Germany: Maybe he never
heard of the Talmud?
I would also like to express my gratitude for the deepening dialogue between the Catholic Church and Judaism. The Church feels a great closeness to the Jewish people. With the Declaration Nostra Aetate of the Second Vatican Council, an “irrevocable commitment to pursue the path of dialogue, fraternity and friendship” was made (cf. Address in the Synagogue in Rome, 17 January 2010). This is true of the Catholic Church as a whole, in which Blessed John Paul II committed himself to this new path with particular zeal. [....]
Alongside these important initiatives, it seems to me that we Christians must also become increasingly aware of our own inner affinity with Judaism, to which you made reference. For Christians, there can be no rupture in salvation history. Salvation comes from the Jews (cf. Jn 4:22). When Jesus’ conflict with the Judaism of his time is superficially interpreted as a breach with the Old Covenant, it tends to be reduced to the idea of a liberation that mistakenly views the Torah merely as a slavish enactment of rituals and outward observances. Yet in actual fact, the Sermon on the Mount does not abolish the Mosaic Law, but reveals its hidden possibilities and allows more radical demands to emerge. It points us towards the deepest source of human action, the heart, where choices are made between what is pure and what is impure, where faith, hope and love blossom forth.
The message of hope contained in the books of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament has been appropriated and continued in different ways by Jews and Christians. “After centuries of antagonism, we now see it as our task to bring these two ways of rereading the biblical texts – the Christian way and the Jewish way – into dialogue with one another, if we are to understand God’s will and his word aright” (Jesus of Nazareth. Part Two: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, pp. 33f.). This dialogue should serve to strengthen our common hope in God in the midst of an increasingly secularized society. Without this hope, society loses its humanity.
Pope
Benedict to the Jews in Germany, September 22, 2011
“Strengthen Our
common hope in God”??? – Society lost “its humanity” after Vatican II
96% of Jewish Leaders Support Abortion
The study also found that on a variety
of issues involving sexual morality that have roiled other religious groups,
Jews are much more liberal than other Americans. Jews take a less critical view of homosexuality,
abortion, birth control and pornography than do Gentiles," the study
found. In each case, Jewish leaders are
even more tolerant than the Jewish public.
For example, 48 percent of non-Jews say homosexuality is
wrong, compared to 23 percent of Jews and 7 percent of Jewish leaders. And
while 56 percent of non-Jews support abortion
rights, 88 percent of Jews and 96 percent of Jewish leaders do.
Only 38 percent of Jews support allowing the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools, compared to 65 percent of non-Jews; 39 percent of Jews would allow the teaching of creationism, compared with 63 percent of non-Jews; and 22 percent of Jews would support vouchers that could be used at religious schools, compared with 43 percent of non-Jews.
Pew
Charitable Trusts, examining the contemporary role of religious groups in the
United States
Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity
The novel
theory that Dogma contains "perennial truths" and contingent
accretions
My
fundamental impulse, precisely from the Council, has always been to free the
very heart of the faith from under any ossified strata, and to give this heart
strength and dynamism. This impulse is the constant in my life.
Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger, Salt of the Earth
The
steps taken by the Council towards the modern era which had rather vaguely been
presented as ‘openness to the world’ [aggiornamento], belong in short to the
perennial problem of the relationship between faith and reason that is
re-emerging in ever new forms.... The Council had to find a new definition of
the relationship between the Church and the modern age.... Here I shall cite
only John XXIII’s well-known words, which unequivocally express this
hermeneutic when he says that the Council wishes "to transmit the doctrine
pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion". And he continues: "Our duty is not only
to guard this precious treasure, as if we were concerned only with antiquity,
but to dedicate ourselves with an earnest will and without fear to that work
which our age demands of us…" It is necessary that "adherence to all
the teaching of the Church in its entirety and preciseness…" be presented
in "faithful and perfect conformity to the authentic doctrine, which,
however, should be studied and expounded through the methods of research and
through the literary forms of modern thought. The substance of the ancient
doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is
presented is another…", retaining the same meaning and message.... It is
clear that this commitment to expressing a specific truth in a new way demands
new thinking upon it and a new relationship with it.
Pope
Benedict XVI, speech to Roman Curia on Dec 22, 2005, outlining his papal
agenda
Catholic
teaching that Dogma once defined is the irreformable formal object of Divine
and Catholic Faith
For
the doctrine of faith which God has revealed has not been proposed like a
philosophical invention, to be perfected by human ingenuity; but has been
delivered as a divine deposit to the Spouse of Christ, to be faithfully kept
and infallibly declared. Hence, also, that meaning of the sacred dogmas is
perpetually to be retained which our holy Mother the Church has once declared;
nor is that meaning ever to be departed from, under the pretence or pretext of
a deeper comprehension of them. Vatican Council I
If
anyone shall assert it to be possible that sometimes, according to the progress
of science, a sense is to be given to doctrine propounded by the Church
different from that which the Church has understood and understands; let him be
anathema.
Vatican
Council I, Canon III, on Faith and Reason
“It is the crime of the
age not to hate Evil.”
We ought clearly to understand what is meant by charity. The more glorious a word, the more dangerous it may be. It
is impossible to overstate the importance of language. Words are terrible in
their complaisance. They lend themselves to any abuse, and make no protest.
It is just because charity is of all things most sublime, that the
abuse of charity, and the employment of its name in a false sense, is
exceptionally dangerous. Optimi
corruption pessima. The grander the word, the more awful it is; and if the
power which was intended to give life be directed against Truth, what service
may not thereby be rendered to death?
Now, we use the word charity
as a weapon against Light, every time when instead of crushing error we parley
with it, under pretext of consideration for the feelings of others. We employ
the word charity as a weapon against
Light, every time we make it serve as an excuse for relaxing our execration of
evil. As a general rule, men love to relax their efforts. There is something in
the very act of faltering pleasing to human nature; and besides, the absence of
any horror of error, evil, sin, and the devil, becomes a plausible excuse for
the evil there is in us. To feel less detestation of evil in general is only
perhaps a way of excusing ourselves for the particular evil we cherish in our
own soul.
There is a verse in the Psalms to which little attention is paid. It is
this: Qui diligitis Dominum, odite malum.
(You who love the Lord, hate evil.)
At the close of a long war, when each side is exhausted, kings have
often been known to cede to each other such and such fortresses. They are tired
of fighting, and these concessions have the effect of silencing the cannon. But
truths cannot be treated like fortresses. When it is a question of making peace
in spirit and in truth, it is conversion we must have, and not compromise.
Justice demands it, and it is not for us to tamper with justice.
In the relations between man and man, a reconciliation seems sometimes
to take place, and yet there is no change in the heart of the offender, who
thinks that a simple handshake will do instead of repentance and compunction
for the wrong he has wrought. But it is not long before this false
reconciliation reveals its true tendency, which is to lead inevitably to a
second separation fro wider than the first. The same holds good with regard to
doctrines. Apparent peace, purchased by concession, is as contrary to charity
as to justice, and opens out an abyss where before there was only a ditch.
Charity must have Light, and Light avoids even the shadow of a compromise. All
beauty implies completeness. Peace is perhaps, at bottom, victory sure of
itself.
It is the crime of the age not to hate Evil, but to discuss terms of
peace with it and make it proposals. There is only one proposal to make to it –
that it should disappear.
Earnest Hello, French Catholic writer & apologist, 1828-1885, Life, Science and Art
All Art of Christendom has as its
foundation the immemorial “received and approved rite” of the Mass, while only
the most “mediocre man” could ever embrace the Novus Ordo!
ART
is the remembrance of the universal presence of God.
Art
is Beauty expressed in ways that can be grasped by the senses. It is the form
assumed by the Ideal under the laws of the natural world.
How
shall it succeed in entering this land of exile?
Time
and Space guard the frontiers of our world, and seize on all that enter.
Nothing escapes them. And so Art condescends to submit its infinite and gracious
splendour to human limitations. It does not violate its unity; but since the
finite mind of man cannot grasp it as a whole, it reveals itself in different
modes.
Forced
to submit to Time and Space, it begs their aid to help it to retain its beauty
while it sojourns in the country which they rule. And Time lends it language,
Space lends it light.
The
laws of Time are summed up in arithmetic; the laws of Space in algebra. In the
world of Art, arithmetic—the science of numbers—is the basis of poetry and music;
for Time determines measure, and measure is rhythm. Geometry is the basis of
architecture, sculpture, and painting, for it is Space which decides their
proportions. Love is the life of Art, yet the arts are founded on mathematics,
inflexible and absolutely exact. It is as though Love and Order, which men sometimes regard as opposed
to each other, had determined to demonstrate their essential unity by the
loftiest of their forms.
Art
is an ascension. Its law is to rise. By its very nature it seeks the eternal
types of things, and tends towards the Ideal. It may, indeed, lose sight of the
Polar Star and make for a false ideal. Still, through every error we catch a
glimpse of THE IDEAL, the corruption of which, in one way or another, explains
the deviations of Art. Through every error we perceive the shattered form of
Truth perverted.
Every
artist—every artist worthy of the name—helps the human soul to breathe. Art, to
a certain extent and at a given moment, is a force which blows the roof off the
cave where we crouch imprisoned. What mighty levers does it employ? What
massive weights have been placed at its service? Language! Music! A mere breath
from human lips!
Poor
fugitive notes, poor syllables caught away by the breeze! How invisible your
majesty! How weak you seem! Yet you have power to shake earth to its
foundations, and Heaven itself stoops to listen to you. In the solemn moments
when we yield ourselves to your sway, our soul breathes a purer air; she
breathes, and she is conscious of herself. She says: "Yes, my God, I am
great, and I had forgotten it." [.....]
Contempt for Art is one of the
commonest of sentiments, not only among ordinary men, but among artists and
critics. To have a
contempt for Art is to permit it to lie. The artist despises Art when he aims
at anything but the realization of Truth. The critic despises Art when he
pardons it for adopting an ideal which is not true.
Every day we hear this absurd
expression with reference to some error clothed in brilliant language: “It is
poetry.” When the mediocre man, speaking of a lie, has declared that it is
poetry, he thinks he has excused the liar. On the contrary, he has brought a
fresh accusation against him; for if the liar lies poetically, he has laid hold
of the loftiest form of language and forced to utter a lie.
When the mediocre man desires
pander to the disorderly life of another man, he says: “He is an artist.” If
the man is really an artist, the disorder is most criminal. Music is founded on
mathematics, poetry and painting depend on rigorous laws. Every artist should
live in austere conformity to Order.
Earnest
Hello, French Catholic writer & apologist, 1828-1885, Life, Science and Art
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
And we DO know them!
"BY THEIR FRUITS YOU WILL KNOW THEM ... A GOOD TREE CANNOT BEAR BAD FRUIT, NOR CAN A
BAD TREE BEAR GOOD FRUIT." JESUS CHRIST,
MATTHEW 7:15-18
Pope Leo XIV appoints Freemason to
Vatican committee
Umberto Longo, appointed to the
Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, appears repeatedly in Masonic
records.
LifeSiteNews | VATICAN CITY | Fri Aug 14, 2026 — Pope Leo has appointed a historian who
appears repeatedly in Masonic records to a Vatican historical committee.
On August 13, Pope Leo XIV appointed
Umberto Longo, director of the Italian Historical Institute for the Middle Ages
and professor of medieval history at Sapienza University of Rome, as a member
of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences.
The appointment comes despite documentary evidence connecting him
to Freemasonry, including records from the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
and later appearances by Longo at events organized within the sphere of the
major Masonic lodge in Italy, the Grand Orient of Italy (GOI).
On February 9, 2019, for example, Longo participated in the
conference “God and People. Roman Republic. 170 years of love,” organized in
Rome by the GOI and the District College of Worshipful Masters of Lazio. The
surviving video provides visual evidence of Longo speaking at the event, opened
by Giuseppe Bramucci, a Master Mason. In particular, Longo gave a lecture
titled “The Legacy of the Roman Republic.”
The Roman Republic of 1849 was deeply influenced by the ideals of
liberty, equality, and fraternity that spread through Europe after the
Enlightenment and the French Revolution, and was founded in hatred against the
Roman Pontiff. The Republic’s leaders – including Giuseppe Mazzini – were
mostly Freemasons and shared with the Masonic tradition a vision of a moral and
civic regeneration of humanity, grounded in reason and universal brotherhood
rather than religious authority. […..]
During his lecture, Longo describes with remarkable precision the
stages of the Masonic initiation ritual: the chamber of reflection, the
divesting of metals, the inner journey. He presents them not merely as a
subject of historical study, but as a “complete representation” which he
interprets using the kind of language of someone well-versed in the Order’s
symbolism.
At the end of his lecture, Longo concludes by placing himself, Hugo
Pratt, Corto Maltese, and the audience within a single shared category: “Corto
and Ugo know well that an initiate can only be a traveler… Pratt and Corto
embody all of this, with a gentle smile, without dogmas, without claims to
primacy; they are gentlemen of fortune. And, after all, so are we.”
Even more striking is that, at the conclusion of the conference, a
man introduced as the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite took the floor to thank the speaker, referring to him verbatim as
“Brother Professor Longo.”
Pagan Gaia earth
worship officially part of Novus Ordo liturgical prayer service!
Pope asks Catholics to acknowledge
'unfaithful' attitudes for care of creation
National Catholic Reporter | Justin McLellan | Vatican
Correspondent | September 1, 2026
Celebrating a new form of the Catholic Mass "for the care of
creation," Pope Leo XIV urged Catholics to contemplate nature as well as
the ways they have shirked their responsibility to care for it.
"From contemplating creation and encountering its creator,
there arises an awareness of our particular place within God's wondrous plan,
and of the responsibility that we bear both personally and collectively for
preserving the original harmony," Leo said while celebrating Mass in the
papal gardens at Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome, on Sept. 1.
During the intimate Mass marking the church's celebration of World
Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and attended by Vatican staff, Leo
remarked that the Gospel invites believers to contemplate God's creation,
"a task that is certainly not difficult in the setting of these beautiful
gardens."
It was only the second time the pope has celebrated a Mass
"for the care of creation" using a new formulary for the Mass he
introduced into the Roman Missal last July.
Pope Leo XIV
celebrates Mass for the Care of Creation on the grounds of the Borgo Laudato
Si’ ecology center in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sept. 1, 2026. (CNS/Vatican
Media)
The Vatican's liturgy office promulgated the Latin text of the new
formulary last year. But English and Spanish translations were approved only
last month (August), making this the first year in which Catholic communities
in the United States can celebrate the new Mass during the Season of Creation —
a month long period devoted to prayer and action for the care of creation which
runs from Sept. 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, through
Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
This year's observance ends during the 800th anniversary of the
death of St. Francis: the founder of the Franciscan order, namesake of Pope
Francis and a central inspiration for the late pope's encyclical on the care of
creation, "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home."
In a nod to the patron saint of ecology, Leo quoted extensively in
his homily from St. Francis' "Canticle of the Sun."
Beginning Mass amid the lush green surroundings of the papal garden
on Tuesday, Leo invited the congregation to "recognize with humility the
ways in which we have been unfaithful in safekeeping creation and caring for
the dignity of each person."
In his homily, the pope asked the faithful in the coming weeks to
"set aside a few moments to pause from the frenzy of our daily lives, in
order to savor the profound harmony of which we ourselves are a part."
"Let us place in 'silent mode' the many noises generated by
human activity, so that we may hear the melodious voice of creation, through
which God, the author of all things, speaks to us," he said.
Contemplation of nature, Leo added, "is a first step towards an
authentic ecological conversion."
"It is not yet too late, and the Season of Creation calls us
to a profound conversion," he said.
Celebrating Mass in the same spot as he did last year to inaugurate
the new formulary, the pope prayed "for the conversion of many people,
inside and outside of the church, who still do not recognize the urgency of
caring for our common home."
Leo, who has continued the church's advocacy for environmental
issues which was championed by his predecessor Francis, warned in his
encyclical Magnifica Humanitas of the far-reaching environmental consequences
of the AI revolution.
One of the prayer intentions offered during the Mass asked that the
work and research of those working in artificial intelligence "may be
increasingly oriented toward the common good, safeguarding human work and
service of fraternity and peace."
The pope's celebration came as local churches worldwide seek to
better understand and embrace the new formulary of the Mass.
Bishops' councils across Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia
with other Catholic organizations hosted a webinar in June to explain how to
celebrate the new formulary of the Mass and why it should be celebrated on the
day of prayer for creation.
"The new Mass is a significant step to enable our liturgical
celebrations of this special day, aligning our faith and deeds," said
Bishop Allwyn D'Silva, chair of the Office for Human Development at the
Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences said in a statement on the new
formulary. "Ultimately, the Eucharistic celebration of Creation Day is an
opportunity to celebrate God as Creator and renew our appreciation of the
sacred gift of creation, while inspiring us to care for it more
fervently."
Mass for care of creation ready for
US churches after Vatican finalizes translations
National Catholic Reported | Brian
Roewe | environment correspondent | August 27, 2026
The Mass for safeguarding the environment that Pope Leo XIV first
celebrated last summer is now available for Catholic churches in the U.S., just
in time for the upcoming ecumenical Season of Creation.
The Vatican's Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of
the Sacraments finalized Aug. 4 English and Spanish translations of the Mass
"for the care of creation," a new set of prayers and texts the
Vatican added to the Roman Missal in June 2025.
The completion of the translations proved providential for the
Seattle Archdiocese, which plans to use the new texts (known as a formulary) at
a Mass Sept. 2 celebrated by Archbishop Paul Etienne at St. James Cathedral to
open its celebration of the Season of Creation. The monthlong period of prayer
and actions for God's creation runs from Sept. 1, the World Day of Prayer for
the Care of Creation, to Oct. 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.
"The timing is ideal to be able to celebrate it when it's new
and fresh and just start a new tradition, I guess, to do this each year,"
said Corinna Laughlin, the cathedral's pastoral assistant for liturgy and
consultant for the archdiocese's liturgy office.
Pope Leo XIV
leads the Mass for the Care of Creation, in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 9,
2025. (Pool Via AP/Yara Nardi)
The Mass for creation joins 17 other "civil needs"
formularies in the Roman Missal, among others for particular needs and other
circumstances. Several touch on environment-related themes, such as times of
harvest and famine along with prayers for good weather.
Vatican officials said its development was in response to requests
for a liturgical means to celebrate the messages of Pope Francis' 2015
encyclical, "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home." In that papal
teaching document, Francis bemoaned the numerous ecological threats facing the
planet, including climate change and biodiversity loss, and called on
Christians to act.
"At this time it is evident that the work of creation is
seriously threatened because of the irresponsible use and abuse of the goods
God has endowed to our care," Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the divine
worship dicastery, wrote in the decree issuing the new formulary.
The first iteration of the Mass for creation was celebrated in July
2025 by Leo at the Borgo Laudato Si' ecology project in Castel Gandolfo outside
Rome. He is set to do so again on Sept. 1. But before it could be used in most
churches in the U.S., it first needed to be translated from Latin.
Along with the exemplar original Latin text, the Vatican released
working translations to assist national bishops' conferences in preparing them
for use in their native languages. The English translation was led by the
International Commission on English in the Liturgy, which includes the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops. In June, the U.S. bishops' unanimously approved
the translation, which were then sent back to Rome for final confirmation.
A similar process unfolded for the Spanish translation, which was
undertaken through a collaboration by the U.S. bishops' conference and the
Mexican Episcopal Conference.
Fr. Dustin Dought, executive director of the U.S. bishops'
Secretariat of Divine Worship, said the procedure for approving adaptations of
liturgical texts was outlined in Francis' 2017 motu proprio ("on his own
initiative") Magnum Principium. That document gave bishop conferences
responsibility for translating into local languages.
"His insight there was that the conference of bishops is
closest to the culture and language that it serves," Dought said.
The new formulary will be included in
future editions of the Catholic Lectionary for Mass. In the meantime, the U.S.
bishops' conference has posted translations for both the English and Spanish
versions of the Mass for the care of creation on its website, as well as
bulletin inserts.
Along with creation-themed prayers, the formulary suggests readings
for the Liturgy of the Word, including passages from Matthew's Gospel where
Jesus calms the sea and where he instructs his disciples to learn from the
birds in the air and flowers in the field to trust in God's providence.
Before the Mass for creation was issued, some Catholic churches
prepared ecological liturgies at various times, even at the occasion of the
first Earth Day in 1970. The practice has grown in the past decade, including
with "Green Masses," following Francis' invitation for Catholics to
join fellow Christians in marking the Season of Creation.
Tuty Gunawan
sings during a prayer service marking the summer solstice and celebrating the
beauty of creation at the motherhouse campus of the Sisters of St. Joseph of
Brentwood, N.Y., June 20, 2024. (OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)
Having a Mass for the care of creation formally added to the Roman
Missal is a major step, said Jesuit Fr. James Hug, who for years has developed
liturgical resources for the Season of Creation.
"It's official, and that makes it legitimate to use," he
said, calling the prayers "lovely" and affirming the Christian
mission to care for the world God has created.
That stamp of approval from the Vatican is important, Hug added,
for many priests who may have been hesitant to use other creation-centered
liturgical resources in the past, whether ones he prepared or from groups like
the Catholic Climate Covenant or Laudato Si' Movement.
"It says that this is the concern of the whole church,"
Laughlin said. "This isn't just a thing we pray about but a really
important universal concern."
At Seattle's St. James Cathedral, the
new formulary will be used at the Mass with the archbishop as well as a weekend
Mass later in the month. Other parishes have also expressed an interest in
planning their own liturgies for creation.
Dought said his office has received many inquiries about when the
Mass for the care of creation would be available.
Preparations are already in the works in at least a half-dozen
dioceses to celebrate the Mass for the care of creation. That includes the St.
Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese, where Archbishop Bernard Hebda will be the lead
celebrant Sept. 6 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Lake St Croix
Beach, situated along the St. Croix River in Minnesota.
School Sister of Notre Dame Kathleen Storms, who too for decades
has developed creation prayer services, is eagerly anticipating the first use
of the new formulary in the Twin Cities region.
"Even with everything we've seen just this summer — with the
fires and the floods and the huge hurricanes and all of the rest — sometimes
there is no connection between what's going on there and
what the church teaches about care for creation," she said.
Sr. Kathleen
Storms shows tomatoes grown in a raised garden bed made by her brother with
recycled cedar planks at her apartment in West St. Paul, Minn., Aug. 17, 2022.
(CNS/The Catholic Spirit/Dave Hrbacek)
Storms hopes the new Mass for creation will lead more priests to
uplift Catholic social teaching on creation and to preach on environmental
concerns. How and when a formulary is used is mostly left to the discretion of
the pastor, who weighs it against other feast days and holy dates on the
liturgical calendar.
Catholics who have been eagerly anticipating the new formulary see
in it the potential to expand awareness of Laudato Si' and other church
teachings on creation, as well as cultivate the ecological conversion both Leo
and Francis have said is essential to spur the level of collective action
needed to address crises like climate change and deforestation.
"The liturgy does something that a lecture can't do. The
liturgy does something that a catechism can't do," Dought said.
Laughlin, the liturgical consultant in the Seattle Archdiocese,
turned to the church adage "Lex orandi, lex credendi" — how we pray
expresses what we believe.
"What we lift up at Mass really shapes our understanding of
what church teaching is, even without going to other documents. ... It tells us
this is part of what we believe. This is significant enough and substantial
enough that this is part of the Mass, which is source and summit. "So I
think planting the seeds there will make a difference, because obviously we
need to be praying about this."
COMMENT:
Freemasonry is the creation of
gnostic Jewish Cabalism. Its mystical symbology is taken from Jewish Cabalism.
Freemasonry is a secret society that reveals itself to its initiates as they
progress to greater degrees of depravity for everyone begins by choosing evil
under the appearance of good. At the apex of freemanonry, like Jewish
Cabalism, it is unadulterated Satanism.
Pope Leo has been pictured paying religious homage to the pagan goddess,
Pachamama, an Andean earth goddess, like the Greek goddess Gaia. Common in pre-Columbian Andean worship was
ritual human sacrifice. Thier ritual murder seems to have largely involved
children, like our present day abortion and the ancient worship paid to the
pagan deities Baal and Moloch in the Old Testament. Every faithful Catholic
knows that "All the gods of the gentiles are devils" and Pope Leo
knows this as well. The Novus Ordo offers the "fruit of the earth and the
work of human hands" like the ritual offering of Cain who killed his
brother Abel. He killed his brother out
of envy because God would not accept his man-made worship and, rather than
repenting, he looked for another who would accept his worship. Like freemasonry
that reveals itself in degrees, we now see the direct unification of earth
worship and the Novus Ordo service by a pope who worships the earth goddess and
honors professed enemies of Jesus Christ.
Conservative Catholics are critical
of Pope Leo just as they slowly became critical with Pope Francis but the
tragedy is that they argue as a correction against this blasphemy for a return
to days of Pope Benedict. It was Pope
Benedict who was present at, participated in, and personally endorsed the
Aparecida Document (2007) that was produced by the Fifth General Conference of
Latin American and Caribbean bishops. This document explicitly promoted the
integration of the Catholic faith with native American pre-Columbian paganism. The document claims that the
proclamation of Jesus Christ did not alienate pre-Columbian religions of
indigenous cultures but sought a synthesis between the gospel values and
existing cultural expressions. Pope Benedict in meeting with pagans
acknowledged the richness of native American rituals, symbols and spiritual
practices and advocated for their integration into Catholic worship. Pope Benedict praised the Jews, he praised
Luther and the Lutheran religion, and he praised the native American pagans.
Pope Francis and Pope Leo are doing nothing more than following his example and
the example of John Paul II who kissed the Koran, received the blessing of a
Hindu priestess, and established the syncretistic Prayer Meeting of Assisi.
Conservative Catholics are just retarded liberals who prefer style over
substance. Conservative Catholics prefer the style of Benedict's apostasy to
the crude style of Francis and Leo. They do not defend the Catholic faith. We
are witnessing as participants the punishment of God that will bring about the
restoration of the Church but we cannot forget our Lady of Fatima said,
"the good will be martyred."
We must keep the faith and recognize the face of the enemy. We do not
seek the approval of the Novus Ordites but their conversion.
On the other hand, it is certain that the Jewish Cabalistic tradition
was one of the principal mediums through which Eastern occultism, which has so
many times come to the surface in European history, has been transmitted to
modern Europe; and that many, if not all, of the recognized founders of the
eighteenth-century Illuminism, including Weishaupt, Pasqualis, and Cagliostro,
were initiated into its secrets by Jewish Cabalists or drew their inspiration and their methods
from the Jewish esoteric writings. The
Jewish apologist, Bernard Lazare, states that “there were Cabalistic Jews around
the cradle of Freemasonry, as certain rites still in existence conclusively show.”
Rev. E. Cahill, S.J., Freemasonry
and the Anti-Christian Movement, 1930
When
our Saviour conquered Satan He left him power over those who make themselves
slaves to the sensual pleasures, and thus there exists an evil force against
the Church, and it will exist to the end of time. This is a fact that we must
keep in view in order to fully understand and judge the conditions. The realm
darkness, Satan’s realm, stands opposed to the realm of Christ. Satan and his
adherents carry on the warfare against the Church of Christ, as they assaulted
Christ Himself. “As they have persecuted they will also persecute you,” so did
Christ prophecy. The Church of Christ demands the subjection of the flesh; she
preaches against luxury, pride and selfishness. She preaches chastity
submission to the commandments of God; she preaches penance to those of high
and low station in life. This angers all those who would indulge in the evil
things of this world. They cry: “Let us break her bonds asunder; and let us
cast away her yoke from us.” But as Christ foretold the persecution of His
Church, so He also foretold that the gates of hell would not prevail against
her. The Church of God will in due time conquer all her enemies, some will be
converted, while others who are obstinate will perish in the battle. In all
these battles and victories of the Church, Mary, blessed mother of her divine
Founder, co-operates with the Church through her intercession. Mary was already
spoken of in paradise as the one who would come to tread upon the head of the
serpent, the spirit of darkness. This she has done by becoming the mother of
God, by bringing forth the Redeemer. And as Jesus through Mary’s co-operation
came into this world, so He desires her cooperation in ruling the world. The
history of the contests and victories of the Church verify this throughout the
centuries.
The evil spirit
has a twofold weapon with which he assails and combats God’s Church; namely,
the godless rulers of the world and heresy. Through the godless authorities of
the world Satan has endeavored since the beginning to crush the Church; through
heresy he attempts to destroy the Church by internal dissension. Both weapons
are used together, for heresy and calumny cannot prevail without substantial
support, and heretics seek worldly power and assistance. On every page
of Church history we find recorded , the clashes planned by these evil forces,
from which the Church always came out not conquered, but a conqueror.
The history of the veneration of Mary tells us that the Blessed Virgin
Mary helped to win these victories. During the early times, when fierce battles
against the Church were raging, bishops and priests knew of no more efficacious
means to avert these dangers than to exhort the faithful to pray to the Blessed
Virgin.
Cardinal Henry Edward Manning
In such a time as this, then, it is most opportune to be reminded, that
the age of martyrs is not over yet; that it is continual; that the conflict is
endless; that not peace, but a sword, is the perpetual portion of the Church.
And for this the following pages will bear witness. The sixteenth, seventeenth,
eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries have their martyrs as great and as
glorious as the first, the second, and the third. Not Asia and Africa alone,
but Europe; not remote lands only, but France and England have been steeped
with blood sacred to Jesus. In these modem days of the nineteenth century,
which seem so unheroic and so commonplace, while we have been treading the
every-day path of life, martyrs have been continually ascending to their crown.
Hardly a year has passed but in China some servant of our Lord has been
conformed to his Master’s Passion. It is well that we
should bear this in mind, and make it familiar to our thoughts. For it
is most certain that, if we would be faithful, we must learn to be ready for
the sword. In some form it will come to us. If we would be crowned with Him, we
must also suffer with him; amid though not martyrs in deed, we must bear a
martyr’s will; for if we be not martyrs, at least in will, we should not be
even confessors in the hour of trial; and if not confessors, how Christians? It
would be a fearful scrutiny into our life if we were now to be asked, ‘what
have you ever suffered, what have you ever risked for the truth, and for our
Lord’s sake?’
It is good, then, to have the realities of martyrdom brought home to us
in our own land and day, and to see how it looks in the context of modern
society, and to put it to ourselves how we should endure in such an hour.
Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, preface to Pictures of Christian Heroism
Our Lady of LaSalette
“Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat
of the Antichrist.” “The demons of the air, together with the Antichrist, will
work great wonders on the earth and in the air, and men will become ever more
perverted. God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will;
the Gospel will be preached everywhere, all peoples and all nations will have
knowledge of the Truth.”
Blessed Virgin Mary addressing the children at LaSalette, September 19,
1846
“When the Secret has been scorned, misunderstood ... held back for
money, one must be surprised at nothing. The Church will endure forever, our
Lord said so; but among the teaching members of the Church, what traitors, what
apostates, what mercenaries, what sectarians, who bear the imprint or the sign
of the beast with ten horns St. John speaks of in his vision on Patmos! But
this beast similar to the Lamb, who rises out of the earth, isn't it the figure
of faithless ecclesiastics? I firmly believe so. Happy those who die in God's
grace, for those who live will see sad and terrifying things. We still haven't
reached the beginning of the end.”
Melanie Calvat, visionary of LaSalette, Letter to Fr. Roubaud, January
2, 1892), quoted by Solange Hertz
"Souls who are God's friends can guess the Secret's meaning
without help, and the others won't want to because it applies to them too
closely." Melanie Calvat, to her spiritual director in 1903, quoted by
Solange Hertz
Leo XIV says we shouldn’t ‘retreat into our own
religious certainties’
Contrary to what Leo suggested, the Church has never
seen a conflict between 'religious certainties' and an 'authentic relationship
with Christ.'
LifeSiteNews
| Robert T. Morrison | August 24, 2026
— In his recent Angelus message, Leo XIV
introduced a puzzling dichotomy to call into question “religious certainties”:
"Dear
brothers and sisters, let us seek not to retreat into our own convictions and
religious certainties, but to remain open to an authentic relationship with
Christ."
According
to Leo, one must choose between our “convictions and religious certainties” on
the one hand, and an “authentic relationship with Christ” on the other.
Although it should be evident to Catholics that the Church has never seen a
conflict between religious certainties and an authentic relationship with
Christ, it is worthwhile to recall how St. Paul viewed this matter:
But
though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which
we have preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say
again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received,
let him be anathema. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please
men? If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. (Galatians
1:8-10)
St.
Paul’s words tell us that we must absolutely adhere to the convictions and
religious certainties handed down through the Church. Indeed, anyone telling us
that we ought to do otherwise is anathema. Moreover, St. Paul tells us that
choosing to adhere to the immutable Christian truth is the way to serve and
please God, which necessarily means that it is the way to cultivate “an
authentic relationship with Christ.”
Perhaps,
though, Leo simply misspoke or was mistranslated? Unfortunately, he continued
with an even more emphatic call to reject St. Paul’s admonition:
"At
times, when it comes to the Christian faith, we may be content with what we
have merely ‘heard,’ with common assumptions or with what has been handed down
to us, perhaps even with the best of intentions. Yet Jesus calls us to give a
personal response, to know him more closely and to allow ourselves to be shaped
by friendship with him through an ever-new encounter. This may also ask us to
follow unfamiliar paths and to make choices different from those we had
imagined. This is true both for our personal journey and for the journey of the
Church, as well as for our pastoral choices, when we may sometimes think that
it is enough simply to continue doing things as we have always done them."
It
seems that the most astounding piece of this is the notion that the Church
itself must be willing to “follow unfamiliar paths and to make choices
different from those we had imagined.” As he said, neither individual Catholics
nor the Church cannot simply “continue doing things as we have always done
them.”
As
awful as this is, at least he is being honest. As LifeSiteNews reported, Bishop
Robert Mutsaerts recently published an open letter to Leo, which respectfully
critiqued the Synod on Synodality. Bishop Mutsaerts’ criticism of the synod
includes a passage which essentially condemns what Leo said in his Angelus
message:
"Faith
does not arise because the Church first inventories what people believe and
then distills a common conviction from all those experiences. Faith is
received. Paul constantly uses words such as receive, hand down, and preserve
for this. The Church possesses Revelation not because she conceived it, but
because she received it. This means that Christianity cannot, in essence, be
democratic. Not because democracy as a form of government is bad, but because
truth does not arise by a majority vote. If tomorrow 90 percent of Catholics
were no longer to believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist,
Christ would not be any less truly present. If 80 percent reject a certain
moral doctrine, that doctrine does not automatically become untrue. Truth is
not produced by consensus. That constitutes the first major area of tension
surrounding the synodal project."
All
of the pre-Vatican II saints would surely agree with Bishop Mutsaerts on this,
and indeed many of them chose martyrdom because they were convinced that this
was necessarily true. But, as Leo has affirmed, the Synodal Church sees matters
differently.
All
of this also ties to the Vatican’s condemnation of the Society of St. Pius X
(SSPX). Before the SSPX proceeded with the consecrations of four bishops
without Rome’s approval, Leo explained that the Vatican’s real conflict with
the SSPX was about religious convictions rather than permission to consecrate
bishops:
"Certainly,
division among Christians is always a painful matter. But they refuse to accept
certain fundamental elements of the Church, beginning with various points of
the Second Vatican Council. And if they make those choices, I am sorry. But we
must move forward."
As
discussed in a previous article, Leo XIV rejects many of the portions of
Vatican II that simply reaffirm Church teaching – so we cannot take his words
at face value without concluding that he and his Vatican are guilty of the
charges he levels at the SSPX. That said, the overall sentiment is entirely
consistent with what Leo said in his recent Angelus: the Synodal Church wants
to move forward, so it cannot accompany those like the SSPX and other
Traditional Catholics who want to follow what St. Paul said.
So
while Leo’s dichotomy is a false one that can lead souls to hell, there is a
true dichotomy presented to us today. Do we accept the ideas of Leo or the
ideas that the Church has always taught? With points 80 to 83 of its Profession
of Catholic Faith (June 24, 2026), the SSPX reiterated the Church’s teaching on
this all-important matter:
80.
I believe that the Roman Pontiff enjoys infallibility when he speaks ex
cathedra, that is, when, fulfilling his office as pastor and doctor of all
Christians, he defines, by virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, that a
doctrine concerning faith or morals is to be held by the universal Church.
81.
I further profess that the power of the Magisterium in the Church is
essentially ordered to the safeguarding of the revealed Deposit and, through
this means, to the salvation of souls. The Holy Ghost was not promised to the
successors of Peter so that they might manifest new doctrine, but so that they
might guard holily and expound faithfully the Deposit transmitted by the
Apostles.
82.
This is why the present Magisterium cannot substantially contradict the prior
Magisterium. The living Magisterium is not current preaching set in opposition
to past preaching; it is the continual and uninterrupted preaching of the same
truth of Faith with the same meaning throughout the centuries. The Pope and the
bishops are not the masters of Revelation; they are its guardians and are
subject to it as a disciple is subject to his master. They can neither change
the Faith, nor modify the divine constitution of the Church, nor declare good
what is contrary to the law of God.
83.
I therefore reject every evolutionist conception of dogma, according to which
revealed truths would change their meaning over the course of history. There
can be within the Church a homogeneous progress in understanding, which
perceives better, in a more distinct and explicit manner, the meaning of
revealed truth, but never a mutation in the meaning of that truth. What has
already been taught by the living Magisterium of the Teaching Church, and
believed in the profession of Faith of the Church Taught, cannot become false;
what has been condemned as contrary to the Faith cannot become legitimate; what
belongs to the divine constitution of the Church cannot be remodelled according
to the categories of the modern world or the historico-cultural context.
Whether
or not one agrees with the SSPX, Catholics really ought to ponder whether they
agree with this clear statement of what the Church has always taught. If so,
then they are in conflict with Leo and his Vatican. If not, they are in
conflict with St. Paul and the constant teaching of the Church prior to Vatican
II. In His loving Providence, God is permitting it to become increasingly clear
that we cannot pretend to serve two masters – we can follow Catholic teaching
or the teaching of today’s Vatican, but not both.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
COMMENT: Salvation is only possible for
those who are united to Jesus Christ. Unity with Jesus is effected by the
sacramental grace received in baptism conferred on a person who professes the
Catholic faith. The
Catholic faith is believing what God has revealed on the authority of God the
Revealer, who can neither deceive nor be deceived, in Whom there is no shadow
of change or alteration. What God has revealed are, in fact, “religious
certainties.” Whosoever does not received God’s revelation as a “religious
certainty” does not have the Catholic faith, without which it is impossible
please God. The grace that unites us with God is charity. Charity does
not exist in a person who does not have the Catholic faith. The is why, as St.
Thomas said, "all heretics are schismatics." Pope Leo is purposing
that Catholics deny the “religious certainties” that God has revealed in order
to have an “authentic relationship with Christ” by charity. What Leo proposes
makes impossible any relationship of friendship to Christ and therefore, any
possibility of salvation. It is a grave sin for any cleric to fail in his duty
to work for the salvation of others. It is a more serious sin when through his
example he drives others away from salvation. What can we say about the cleric
who actively works for the damnation of others while hypocritically pretending
to draw them to God? And how must this grave sin be magnified when the cleric
is the pope?
Keep thyself therefore, and thy soul carefully. Forget not the words that thy eyes have seen, and let them not go out of thy heart all the days of thy life. Thou shalt teach them to thy sons and to thy grandsons.
Deut 4:9
"It is
a sin to believe there is salvation outside the Catholic Church!"
Blessed Pope
Pius IX
PREVIOUS BULLETIN POSTING
WORTH REMEMBERING:
But
What Is a “State of Necessity”? What About the Econe Consecrations?
Roberto
de Mattei | August 3, 2026
I wish to dwell on a concept that
is frequently invoked in an ambiguous and contradictory manner — above all to
justify the episcopal consecrations that took place at Écône on July 1, 2026:
the “state of necessity.”
A fundamental point must be
clarified at the outset: one must not confuse the term “state of necessity”
with the grave crisis the Church is passing through today. This crisis is an
undeniable historical and sociological datum. Some trace its origins to Pope
Francis, others to the post-conciliar period, others still to the Second
Vatican Council itself. These historical references contain a measure of truth,
but the phenomenon is broader and more remote in time. Already Saint Pius X, in
the prophetic encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis of September 8, 1907,
diagnosed the existence of the gravest evils penetrating the Church through
Modernism. Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, in his now-classic work Revolution
and Counter-Revolution, published in 1959, situated this crisis within the
framework of a centuries-long process begun with the dissolution of medieval
Christendom. Romano Amerio, in his Iota Unum: A Study of Changes in the
Catholic Church in the Twentieth Century, published in 1985, offered a broad
and penetrating diagnosis of the ills of the Church of his time. That same
year, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, published The Ratzinger Report together with
Vittorio Messori, sounding the alarm about the state of contemporary
Catholicism. Having become Pope under the name of Benedict XVI, he devoted his
final year of pontificate precisely to the crisis of faith. Since then the situation has
deteriorated dramatically, and only someone who is spiritually or
intellectually blind could deny the evidence of this crisis.
The historical fact of a gravissimo crisis in the
Church does not coincide, however, with the juridical and moral category of the
“state of necessity.” These are two distinct notions that must not be confused.
The state of necessity presupposes an exceptional situation, but is not
identical with it. It is an institution of moral theology and law, developed to
govern extraordinary situations in which the ordinary observance of the law
appears to conflict with the good that the law itself intends to protect. The ecclesial crisis may
certainly constitute the context within which the problem of the state of
necessity arises, but between the historical situation and the moral and
juridical judgment there exists a further step, one requiring prudence and a
rigorous evaluation of the facts.
Moral doctrine defines the state of
necessity as the condition in which a person, in order to avoid a grave,
imminent, and unavoidable evil, performs an act that, under ordinary
circumstances, would be illicit or forbidden. In other words, it concerns not
so much the external situation in itself as the prudential judgment of one who
must act in the face of that situation. For this reason, the state of necessity arises from the
encounter between an exceptional situation and the personal responsibility of
whoever must decide how to act. The crisis may be objective; the state
of necessity, by contrast, concerns the subjective assessment of the concrete
action to be taken in that crisis.
The Code of Canon Law of 1983 expressly governs this
matter in canons 1323 and 1324. Canon 1323 establishes that no penalty attaches
to one who has violated a law when “compelled by grave fear, even if only
relatively grave, or by necessity or grave inconvenience, unless, however, the
act is intrinsically evil or tends to the harm of souls.” The norm does not create
an arbitrary derogation from the law, but acknowledges that exceptional
circumstances may arise in which juridical responsibility is extinguished or
diminished.
A first characteristic of the state
of necessity is its essentially exceptional and provisional character. It
arises to respond to a concrete and temporally delimited situation. It cannot
be transformed into a permanent condition, nor constitute an ordinary regime of
government or ecclesial life. If the necessity were to become permanent, it would
cease to be a genuine “exception” and would end by emptying the ordinary
discipline of the Church of its very meaning.
A historical crisis may extend over
decades; the state of necessity, by contrast, concerns specific acts, performed
in precise circumstances, in order to confront a concrete and immediate danger.
The crisis constitutes the
context; the state of necessity is the prudential judgment which can, in
rigorously delimited cases, justify or excuse a particular course of conduct.
There is, finally, an inviolable
limit upon which both moral theology and canon law insist. The state of
necessity can never justify an intrinsically evil act. The principle formulated
by Saint Paul and constantly reaffirmed by the Magisterium of the Church
applies here: evil may never be done so that good may come of it — non sunt
facienda mala ut veniant bona (Rom 3:8). Certain acts, by reason of their
very moral object, remain always illicit, regardless of circumstances and
historical context.
It is precisely on this point that
the theological and canonical debate is focused. The act performed on the basis
of the state of necessity cannot contradict principles of divine law or norms
that, by their nature, admit of no derogation. Now, episcopal consecrations performed without a mandate
and against the will of the Pope have, as their objective end, the creation of
a reality independent of the Roman Pontiff and of the bishops in communion with
him. But this is intrinsically illicit, whatever historical circumstances may
be adduced to justify the gesture.
The true problem, therefore, does
not consist in establishing whether or not a crisis exists in the Church —
whose existence is evident to all. The decisive question is another: whether,
in the presence of a crisis however grave, it is morally and juridically licit
to perform an act that constitutes a violation of the hierarchical constitution
of the Church, as divinely instituted by Jesus Christ — an act that in effect
refuses the primacy of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff and introduces a
practice that finds no precedent in the two-thousand-year tradition of the
Church.
If all of this is not clear, the
“state of necessity” risks being nothing more than a state of confusion.
COMMENT:
Roberto
de Mattei, an eminent Catholic historian, said on July 18, “It is the duty of
every Christian to maintain coherence between words and deeds.” He was
referring to the SSPX who “publicly proclaims respect for and obedience to the
Roman Pontiff and then, in fact, publicly defies him before the entire
Christian people” by consecrating four bishops on July 1 without a papal
mandate and in direct opposition to his will. In this editorial Mattei
correctly distinguishes between the objective crisis in the Church, which he
fails to properly identify, and the subjective judgment in the internal forum
as to what to do about it. Since he does not understand the nature of the
crisis, he does not have a clue about what to do about it.
Mattei published article, Ultramontanists:
Godfathers of the Trad Movement July 28, 2022. In this article he
explicitly affirms and defends the claim that the pope is above Catholic dogma. What Mattei does not recognize is that he is
defending the Neo-modernist heresy that is the proximate cause of the crisis in
the Church. So Mattei, a honest heretic, “maintains coherence between words and
deeds” by directly implying that disobedience to the pope is an intrinsically
evil act. For Mattei, who makes the pope his proximate rule of faith, the pope
can never be a heretic because heresy is anything that disagrees with what the
pope says or does.
This
is not true. Dogma is the proximate rule of faith for every Catholic and that
includes the pope. The pope is only the necessary material and instrumental
cause of dogma. It is God who is the formal and final cause of dogma. Once a
doctrine of revealed truth is dogmatically defined, it becomes a formal object
of divine and catholic faith for all the faithful. The very definition of heresy, both moral and
legal, is the denial of dogma. Furthermore, outside of a formal public rejection of the
universal jurisdiction of the pope, there is one and only one act that is
necessarily schismatic and that is manifest heresy. St. Thomas says that
“All heretics are schismatics” and, if Mattei would learn that dogma is the
proximate rule of faith, he would recognize that Vatican II and the
post-counciliar popes have without exception committed formal acts of heresy. What “finds no precedent in the
two-thousand-year tradition of the Church” are openly heretical popes who
actively work as neo-iconoclasts to destroy every immemorial image of our
faith.
It
is God’s Church. It is God who endowed His Church with divine attributes of
Authority, Infallibility and Indefectibility. These are attributes of the Church
and not personal attributes of the pope and those that claim otherwise are
divinizing the pope and are guilty of idolatry, a grave sin. The pope alone can
access these attributes under specific conditions for specific ends. However,
the universal jurisdiction of the pope cannot be legitimately employed to
corrupt worship, corrupt doctrine, and corrupt Catholic morality.
Furthermore,
every Catholic faithful has an obligation, a grave duty from God to profess the
Catholic faith, to keep God’s moral law, and to worship God according to His
prescriptions according the “received and approved” rites of the Church.
It
is unfortunate for all the Catholic faithful that the SSPX has failed to
correctly identify the Neo-modernist heresy and, consequently, failed to
articulate the proper justification for the “state of necessity,” but
nevertheless, we “maintain coherence between words and deeds” in defense of the
Catholic faith both in the internal and external forum. That is why for nearly
25 years the local ordinaries in Harrisburg and the Vatican officials have
failed to answer any of our claims. Remember, without faith, there is no
charity and the greatest evidence of charity is the virtue of justice which
underpins charity. The first obligation of justice is to “render to God the
things that are God’s.” There is no virtue of justice in the Novus Ordo
religion. Our prayer is that some day conservative Catholics like Mattei will
learn that they must obey God rather than man. The virtue of justice does not
permit any Catholic to subject what is of God in himself to what is of man in
other men, and that includes the pope.
John Cardinal Newman, another Novus Ordo
"saint" and now 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: "This shameful font of
indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims
that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone." Pope Gregory
XVI
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, Pius IX
and St. Pius X. John Henry Cardinal Newman can be identified with the
"Spirit of Vatican II" which, like Newman, proposes the liberty of
conscience against the Magisterium of the Church which is the word of God.
No One, not even the Pope in Rome, has
the authority to impose any act or suspend any immemorial tradition that leads
to the diminution of Faith or the committing of sacrilege to the Blessed
Sacrament. No One, not even the Pope in Rome, has the authority to command that
any Catholic participate in such acts!
Fr.
Janis Pawlowski I knew personally, he was my parish priest in Estonia during
four years. It was he who heard my first confession and who gave me the First
Holy Communion. He celebrated the Holy Mass with such a devotion and reverence
that it left in my soul a deep unforgettable impression. All his words and his
gestures irradiated holiness. When I for the first time felt in my soul the
attraction to the priesthood at the age of twelve, in my memory appeared
suddenly the holy face of this priest. He was really a man of God. I received
the great grace that I could meet him in Riga (Latvia) after I have not seen
him during 27 years. He was already 86 years old, yet he conserved the same
fresh and spiritually irradiating face. The three days I spent with him, were
for me a kind of spiritual exercises. He helped me to put on the liturgical
vestments and served me during my Mass with the simplicity and humility of a
little altar boy.[....] When in 1973 my family left Soviet Union and we said
goodbye to Fr. Janis
Pawlowski, he gave us this admonition: “When you come to Germany, please don’t
go in the churches where Holy Communion is given in the hand”. When we
heard these words, we all had a deep shock; we could not imagine that the
Divine and Most Blessed Sacrament could be received in such a banal manner. It is now a proven fact that a
considerable part of those who receive the Holy Communion habitually in hand,
especially the younger generation which had not known the manner of receiving
Communion kneeling and on the tongue, has not more the full Catholic faith in the
Real Presence, because they treat the consecrated host almost in the
same exterior manner as they take ordinary food. The exterior minimalistic
gesture has a causal connection to the weakening or even loss of the faith in
the Real Presence.[.....] It is an honor and a privilege
to be faithful to the Divine Truth and to the spiritual and liturgical
traditions of our forefathers and of the saints and being therefore
marginalized by those who currently occupy administrative power in the Church.
This your fidelity and courage constitute the real power in the Church. You are
the real ecclesiastical periphery, which with God’s power renews the Church.
Living the true tradition of dogma, liturgy and holiness is a manifestation of
the democracy of the Saints, because tradition is the democracy of the Saints.
With Saint Athanasius I would like to tell you these words: Those in the Church
who oppose, humiliate and marginalize you, have occupied the churches, while
during this time you are outside; it is a fact that they have the premises –
but you have the Apostolic Faith. They claim that they represent the Church,
but in reality, they are the ones who are expelling themselves from it and
going astray.
Archbishop
Athanasius Schneider, excerpt from recent interview published August 10, 2015
COMMENT: Those
who accuse Ss. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Mission of being
"schismatic" because we keep the Apostolic Faith and the Immemorial
Traditions of the Roman Catholic Church (and are thus united to the
"Communion of Saints" existing from Jesus Christ's founding of His
Church), have declared themselves in schism from us and everything we believe
and do. They have cut themselves off by
breaking the bond of Charity from the Communion of Saints. We appreciated Mons. Schneider's comments but
he falls short in his understanding of the nature of the problem and its most
important cause. Archbishop
Athanasius Schneider identifies "five wounds in Christ's liturgical
mystical body" that must necessarily be healed without which the Church
cannot hand on the True Faith. This is
an admission that the Novus Ordo is not the indefectible Church founded by
Jesus Christ. The five wounds are: 1)
The priest turned towards the congregation and away from God; 2) Holy Communion
taken in the hand which has seriously damaged faith in the True Presence; 3)
the new (Novus Ordo) Offertory prayers which are the worship offered by Cain, ;
4) the disappearance of Latin in liturgical celebrations; and 5) the performing
of some liturgical ministries by women.
Mons. Schneider believes that the answer lies in the Reform of the
Reform. This is because he has
overlooked the greatest "liturgical wound" which is the total
disregard of the dogma of Faith from Trent which categorically condemns anyone
who holds that the "received and approved rites customarily used in the
solemn administration of the sacraments..... may be changed into other new
rites by any pastor of the Churches whomsoever." They have thus corrupted the liturgy by
treating it as a matter of mere Church discipline subject to the free and
independent will of the legislator. They
have taken the work of God and made it the work of man. When divinely revealed Truth is overturned
the results will always and everywhere end in radical revolutionary corruption
of God's Truth.
What the Novus Ordo has excluded from its Psalter - Lex Orandi,
Lex Credendi, a Profession of False Faith, or is it just an example of the old
proverb: 'In the house of the hanged, don't talk about the rope!'
At the Sacra Liturgia conference in New York City in June 2015, one of the speakers reminded us of a startling fact that, while well known among scholars, has received far too little attention in the public sphere: the flagrant omission of so many psalms and psalm verses from the Divine Office or “Liturgy of the Hours” promulgated by Pope Paul VI in the Apostolic Constitution Laudis Canticum on November 1, 1970. In addition to the unprecedented novelty of praying the Psalter over four weeks rather than in the course of a single week, there was the equally unprecedented novelty of skipping verses that had been deemed “difficult” or problematic for modern Christians.
Three Psalms (57/58, 82/83, and 108/109) were expunged in their entirety from the pages of the Liturgy of the Hours (have a look at them some time), while three others (77/78, 104/105, 105/106) were confined to Advent, Christmastide, Lent, and Eastertide. The following verses were removed from other psalms:
Psalm 5 – 10 Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of their many transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.
Psalm 20/21 – 8 Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you. 9 You will make them like a fiery furnace when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them. 10 You will destroy their offspring from the earth, and their children from among humankind. 11 If they plan evil against you, if they devise mischief, they will not succeed. 12 For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows.
Psalm 27/28 – 4 Repay them according to their work, and according to the evil of their deeds; repay them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward. 5 Because they do not regard the works of the LORD, or the work of his hands, he will break them down and build them up no more.
Psalm 30/31 – 17 Do not let me be put to shame, O LORD, for I call on you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go dumbfounded to Sheol. 18 Let the lying lips be stilled that speak insolently against the righteous with pride and contempt.
Psalm 34/35 – 3 Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers. 4 Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life. Let them be turned back and confounded who devise evil against me. 5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them on. 6 Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them. 7 For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life. 8 Let ruin come on them unawares. And let the net that they hid ensnare them; let them fall in it to their ruin. … 20 For they do not speak peace, but they conceive deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land. 21 They open wide their mouths against me; they say, “Aha, Aha, our eyes have seen it.” … 24 Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness, and do not let them rejoice over me. 25 Do not let them say to themselves, “Aha, we have our heart’s desire.” Do not let them say, “We have swallowed you up.” 26 Let all those who rejoice at my calamity be put to shame and confusion; let those who exalt themselves against me be clothed with shame and dishonor.
Psalm 39/40 – 14 Let all those be put to shame and confusion who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my hurt. 15 Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”
Psalm 53/54:5 – He will repay my enemies for their evil. In your faithfulness, put an end to them.
Psalm 54/55:15 – Let death come upon them; let them go down alive to Sheol; for evil is in their homes and in their hearts.
Psalm 55/56:6b-7 – As they hoped to have my life, 7 so repay them for their crime; in wrath cast down the peoples, O God!
Psalm 58/59 – 5 You, LORD God of hosts, are God of Israel. Awake to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah 6 Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. 7 There they are, bellowing with their mouths, with sharp words on their lips—for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?” 8 But you laugh at them, O LORD; you hold all the nations in derision. … 11 Do not kill them, or my people may forget; make them totter by your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield. 12 For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter, 13 consume them in wrath; consume them until they are no more. Then it will be known to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob. Selah 14 Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. 15 They roam about for food, and growl if they do not get their fill.
Psalm 62/63 – 9 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; 10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword, they shall be prey for jackals. 11 But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.
Psalm 68/69 – 22 Let their table be a trap for them, a snare for their allies. 23 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually. 24 Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them. 25 May their camp be a desolation; let no one live in their tents. 26 For they persecute those whom you have struck down, and those whom you have wounded, they attack still more. 27 Add guilt to their guilt; may they have no acquittal from you. 28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
Psalm 78/79 – 6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name. 7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. … 12 Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors the taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord!
Psalm 109/110:6 – He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter heads over the wide earth.
Psalm 136/137 – 7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem’s fall, how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down! Down to its foundations!” 8 O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! 9 Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!
Psalm 138/139 – 19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—20 those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil! 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.
Psalm 139/140 – 9 Those who surround me lift up their heads; let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them! 10 Let burning coals fall on them! Let them be flung into pits, no more to rise! 11 Do not let the slanderer be established in the land; let evil speedily hunt down the violent!
Psalm 140/141:10 – Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I alone escape.
Psalm 142/143:12 – In your steadfast love cut off my enemies, and destroy all my adversaries, for I am your servant.
For
2,000 years, Christians Eastern and Western had been praying the psalter of
David in its integrity, and now, Catholics
were handed an expurgated or abridged version, with verses removed by “experts”
who knew better than the Holy Spirit, knew better than the Israelites, knew
better than the Church Fathers and Doctors, knew better than Tradition. But
of course they knew better: this was the Age of Enlightenment breaking
in at last upon a fortress-like Church, an age in which we should shake
ourselves free from the shackles of unenlightened piety, with its gnarled,
enigmatic, sharp-edged, implacable expressions, and its archaic, earthy, tribal
atmosphere. Razing the bastions, making the world safe for democracy, and all
that good stuff.
This observation dovetailed with
another talk given at the Sacra Liturgia conference about the reform of the
lectionary, in which the speaker looked at how
the Novus Ordo lectionary for Mass also suppresses “difficult” verses
from both Testaments—verses that had always been present in the
traditional Roman lectionary but were excluded from the new lectionary,
in spite of its boast of being so much bigger and better. These “difficult”
verses include among them this spiritually poignant passage from St. Paul:
Therefore
whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily,
shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove
himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he
that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself,
not discerning the body of the Lord. (1Co 11:27-29)
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
CCC
841 also references Vatican IIDeclaration 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.
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
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!
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
To be baptized is to become one with the Church, and one with Christ.
Thus the ritual can say:
The effecting this incorporation into Christ, Baptism marks the soul as
permanently His; it stamps upon the soul a spiritual For this reason, and
putting the cause for the effect, the rite of Baptism was itself called
The word
Basically, two words give the same meaning: a seal imprints an image,
and an anathema.
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 Body of Christ.
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.
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
Rev. John J. Fernan, S.J.,
Theology, Christ Our High Priest, Baptismal Seal
Excommunication decreed for Lefebvrite episcopal
ordinations
A document signed by Cardinal V
Vatican News
The bishops of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard FellaySivry, and Marc Hanappier have incurred
sententiae
This
was stated in a decree released on July 2 and signed by Cardinal V
The
decision came twenty-four hours after the solemn ceremony celebrated in ,
Switzerland, on the morning of July 1, 2026.
The
Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith
The
painful epilogue was the consequence of the decision taken by the Lefebvrites
against the will repeatedly expressed by Pope Leo XIV.
The
excommunication newly separates the bishops and priests of the Fraternity of
Saint Pius X from the Church of Rome.
As
for the lay faithful, those who formally adhere to the Fraternity are to be
considered excommunicated.
Further
details are contained in an
From
the time of Saint Paul VI up to the most recent talks, held recently at this
Dicastery, the many attempts to bring the members of the movement begun by
Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre back into full communion with the Catholic Church
have proved vain.
This
situation has been further aggravated by the recent episcopal consecrations
celebrated without pontifical mandate, against the will of the Holy Father, and
in open violation of canon law.
Therefore,
this Dicastery, in the faithful exercise of the functions entrusted to it,
considers it necessary to state that this act constituted the delict of schism,
with the canonical consequences for the sacred ministers and lay faithful
involved. Indeed, as was already declared in 1988,
In
this regard, from now on:
1.
The sacred
ministers belonging to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X are in schism
and must therefore be considered schismatics (cf. Ecclesia Dei, 5 c; Pontifical
Council for Legislative Texts, Explanatory Note on the excommunication for
schism incurred by those adhering to the movement of Bishop Marcel Lefebvre,
24.08.1996, 5-6), and are subject to the excommunication prescribed by law
(can. 1364
2.
As regards
the lay faithful, those who formally adhere to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint
Pius X are to be considered schismatics and excommunicated under the conditions
established in the 1996 Explanatory Note of the Pontifical Council for
Legislative Texts (cf. ibidem, 7), which remains in force and which this
Dicastery adopts as its own.
3.
Finally,
the holy People of God are warned that the sacred ministers of the Priestly
Fraternity of Saint Pius X administer the sacraments illicitly, and that the
sacrament of penance administered by them and marriages assisted by them are
invalid.
The
Church, as a caring mother, will welcome with sincere affection and lively
solicitude all those who wish to return to full communion. The Apostolic
Nuncios will arrange the procedures that Ordinaries may use in the various
cases.
Finally,
all the faithful are urged to remain steadfast in communion with the Roman
Pontiff, with the Bishops in communion with him, and with the whole Church (cf.
Lumen Gentium, 22; can. 751 CIC), and to refrain from taking part in
celebrations and activities promoted by the aforementioned Priestly Fraternity
of Saint Pius X.
COMMENT:
The SSPX has placed itself in an indefensible position
by failing to hold dogma as the proximate rule of faith. The SSPX has been
compromising with Novus Ordo Church heretics for the past thirty years that
culminated in their leadership making the 1989 Profession of Faith where they
swore unconditional obedience to the person of the pope to obtain concessions
of ordinary jurisdiction.During the entire pontificate of the heretic
Francis/Bergoglio, the SSPX followed the conditions established by the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by Ratzinger under JPII and said
nothing critical regarding the heresies and corruption of Catholic morality
under Francis/Bergoglio. That being said, the decree of excommunication under
Leo/Prevost is problematic for all Catholic faithful.
The illicit consecration of bishops is not canonically
under the canonical section that deals with schism. It is not and never has
been an act that is always and every where a necessary sign of schism. Schism
necessarily requires the rejection of the universal jurisdiction of the pope as
the motive for the act of disobedience. The decree against the SSPX says,
There is one and only one act that always and
everywhere is necessarily manifests schism, that is, manifest heresy. St.
Thomas says that We have pictures of Leo/Prevost kneeling before a procession
of Pachamama, a pagan deity; pictures of him blessing a block of Nordic ice in
the pagan cult of earth worship; pictures of him in common prayer with a
variety of heretics, schismatics, Jews, Muslims and pagans; pictures of him in
common communion with the lay women who pretends to be the Archbishop of
Canterbury. These are without exception signs of heresy and, therefore, schism
by Leo/Prevost. That same can be said for his councillor predecessors. This
decree of excommunication is nothing more than an administrative declaration
that the SSPX is no longer in communion with the Novus Ordo Church.
The question then regards their declaration that These
are empty assertions because Rome has failed to prove that the SSPX rejects the
universal jurisdiction of the pope as their motive for consecrating bishops,
and having failed to do this, argumentum
a fortiori, they can hardly make the charge against the The Novus Ordo cult
has inadvertently ruined their case by referring to those who adhere formally
to the
Regarding the validity of the sacraments of marriage and confessions Rome commits a massive blunder. The Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ. He called it
Jesus Christ provides for the needs of His faithful
with publically to marry according to the laws of the Catholic Church. The
Church requires that the parish priest of the woman exercising ordinary
jurisdiction must be a witness to the sacrament for its validity. However, the
Church has always held that if the priest holding ordinary jurisdiction cannot
be had for a period greater than thirty days, the couple can validly and
licitly proceed with their marriage without that priest being a witness to the
sacrament. The only requirement for a valid and licit marriage is for the bride
to notify her parish priest of her intent to marry and request that he be a
witness to the event for canonical regularity. If he refuses, the couple is
free to proceed on their own to seek another priest who does not exercise
ordinary jurisdiction to bless their marriage.
Can Theology Be Measured? Groundbreaking
Study Measures a 270-Year Shift in Catholic Teaching
Wim Varnaes | July 22, 2026
ItVanraes discovered measurable data patterns showing that traditional
Catholic concepts like sin, grace, salvation, doctrine, obedience, truth,
heaven, and judgment steadily declined, while words emphasizing encounter,
dialogue, social concerns, poverty, inclusion, and pastoral language steadily
increased. This is one of the first empirical, data-driven demonstrations of a
theological transformation many Catholics have argued about for decades.
The Statistical Case for the Crisis in
the Church
'When tenderness is detached from the
source of tenderness, its logical outcome is terror.'
FLANNERY O
recovered her warning for the current moment, and the recovery is
timely. When truth and tenderness, both good in themselves, are separated, each
becomes something it was never meant to be. The Group 9 May 5 Final Report from
the Synod on Synodality offers a perfect example of how language shapes new
ideas. Those new ideas are not necessarily Catholic ones, but substituting the
traditional ideas for new ones under the guise of the old, familiar Catholic
words.
Both O
This article would not be the first to name formation networks as the
vehicle of such new ideas. One could point at Liberation theology, how
Libertatis Nuntius offered a stern warning, which was ignored by its proponents
such as Father Gustavo Guti
Some went on to lead groups such as Pax Christi, others, such as
Cardinal Turkson, became head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace,
and others still, such as Fr. John Dear, became peace activists. When Cardinal
Turkson held the 2016 peace conference at the Vatican, people from Pax Christi
and John Dear spoke, rejecting not just war by itself, but the whole Just War
doctrine. Their final statement became the foundation for Pope Francis
This does not require any conspiracy to make that happen, just the slow
change in schools, then in organizations, which then seeps into the Church as
highly respectable activists, missionaries, and aid workers.
I mentioned a corpus data analysis at the opening of this article.
Looking at 30 encyclicals, from 6 historical periods (from 1750 to Francis),
using 11 thematic word clusters and normalized word frequency, it shows how the
vocabulary used by the Church changed over time, supporting the claim that a
materialist anthropology quietly entered, substituting the traditional Catholic
moral and theological discourse.
This was a preliminary study, using normalized word counts of a
selection of teaching documents, and not a full semantic analysis over all
available documents. The results were surprising in their detail.
Three of those findings bear on the present moment. First, we can see a
soteriological collapse, where words such as sin, grace, and salvation are,
under Francis, at their lowest point in 270 years, lower even than pre-1850.
Instead of talking about what humans are to be saved from, how such salvation
is received, there is a shift towards more structural economic words, such as
poverty and economy, at the cost of words such as property, labor and capital.
[.....]
Next, it is very interesting to see what happens to words such as love
and hope. Love rises continuously, peaks under Benedict, and remains elevated
under Francis, but the problem lies elsewhere: truth declines. In a move that
mirrors O
At the same time, under Francis the
Lastly, we can see a boundary collapse in the word frequencies. Even
before Vatican II we see terms such as error, heresy, condemnation, and
judgment decline strongly after 1850, matching the current state where a final
report from the Synod on Synodality openly signals that it replaced
At the same time, the use of the word Church declines to its lowest
level, while words such as authority, doctrine, and obedience collapse
completely. Now
This is important, and it maps cleanly on the situation modern thinking has created. Very quietly, the nominalist ideas underpinning a lot of enlightenment ideas, later growing into Marxism and Modernism, trained many people, even good Catholics, that every sign only held one and only one signified. Such an innocent looking poison of the mind! This is the root of the problem where people think in
Where Catholic teaching gave rise to both Fr. Ryan, looking at the
immediate needs of the poor, and also to Cardinal O
Notice also how O
The final reports from the Synod on Synodality show something
different, however. They worry about tenderness, dialogue, encounter, (social
and environmental) justice, but are averse of the harsh language of sin,
conversion, doctrine, obedience, and sacrifice. Not in continuity with
tradition, but hiding behind the words of tradition, smuggling in a philosophical
framework that is not compatible with the faith. [.....]
COMMENT: The
corruption of language is the stock and trade of the enemies of the Catholic
faith. Semanticists is a philosophical system, that along with Empiricism,
developed with the failure of philosophical Rationalism. Semanticists, like all
Nominalists who deny the existence of essential
reality, said that the material world is always changing therefore words and
language must necessarily change or they will no longer reflect the world as it
is. They held that since the world is irrational, therefore, the mind must be
irrational as well.They began by openly denying the first principles of the
Understanding; that innate sense in all men that a thing is what it is, that it
cannot be and not be at the same time, that things require a sufficient cause,
sufficient reason, etc., etc. They openly denied the principle of
non-contradiction. They eventually denied the intentionality of all language
becoming known as Deconstructionalists. The immediate effect of this was the
realization that if language must change to reflect new realities then new
realities can be created by changing the language. George Orwell's 1984
dystopian novel told the story of a world run by Semanticists. With the developments
of "automated intelligence" (AI), the ability to create a false
reality has been greatly enhanced and will lead to all those who are not
grounded in Catholic dogma to be swept away. The Neo-modernist heretics that
have had complete control of the Church since Vatican II are Semanticists. This
article is a beginning in recognizing this fact. Once the techniques of
semantics are recognized by faithful Catholics, and the absolute corruption of
Nominalism is understood, the Neo-modernist methodology of attacking the
Catholic faith and destroying her dogmas will be completely exposed.
On the Inerrancy of
Sacred Scripture
Vatican preparatory document for the October Synod of Bishops
(2008) Teaches:
In summary, the following can be said with certainty … — with regards to what might be inspired in the many parts of Sacred Scripture, inerrancy applies only to ‘that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation’.
Instrumentum laboris, The Word
of God in the Life and the Mission of the Church, article 15, a “working
document” for the upcoming October Synod of Bishops; released from the Vatican
June 12th; emphasis added.
The Catholic Church Teaches:
The Old and New Testaments, “whole and
with all their parts … [have] been written by the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost [and] have God as their author.”
Vatican I
For all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical, are written wholly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the Holy Ghost; and so far is it from being possible that any error can co-exist with inspiration, that inspiration not only is essentially incompatible with error, but excludes and rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it is impossible that God Himself, the supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true. This is the ancient and unchanging faith of the Church, solemnly defined in the Councils of Florence and of Trent, and finally confirmed and more expressly formulated by the Council of the Vatican. These are the words of the last: ‘The Books of the Old and New Testament, whole and entire, with all their parts, as enumerated in the decree of the same Council (Trent) and in the ancient Latin Vulgate, are to be received as sacred and canonical. And the Church holds them as sacred and canonical, not because, having been composed by human industry, they were afterwards approved by her authority; nor only because they contain revelation without error; but because, having been written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author.’ Hence, because the Holy Ghost employed men as His instruments, we cannot therefore say that it was these inspired instruments who, perchance, have fallen into error…
Pope Leo XIII, Providentissimus
Deus
Divine inspiration does not extend to all
of Sacred Scripture so that it renders its parts, each and every one free
from every error.
Pope Saint Pius X’s Syllabus of
Errors against the Modernists, condemned proposition
It is absolutely forbidden to pretend
that the sacred writer himself has fallen into error, since Divine inspiration
not only excludes any and all possible error in itself, but even loathes and
excludes it, since God, Who is sovereign truth, cannot be the author of any
possible error…. This doctrine which was so forcefully explained by our
predecessor Leo XIII, We also propose with our pontifical authority, and We
insist that it be held rigorously by all. Pope Pius XII, Divini Afflante
Spiritu
Some boldly pervert the meaning of the
definition of the Vatican Council, with respect to God as the author of Sacred
Scripture and they revive the opinion, many times condemned, according to which
the immunity of the Sacred Writings from error extends only to those matters
which are handed down regarding God and moral and religious subjects.
Pius XII, Humani Generis
Lapide on Luke 23:32 -
An Important Distinction
“But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” “For thee”, because I destine thee to be the head and chief of the Apostles and of My Church, that thy faith fail not in believing Me to be the Christ and the Saviour of the world. Observe that Christ in this prayer asked and obtained for Peter two especial privileges before the other Apostles : the first was personal, that he should never fall from faith in Christ; for Christ looked back to the sifting in the former verse, that is the temptation of His own apprehension when the other Apostles flew off from Him like chaff and lost their faith, and were dispersed, and fled into all parts. But Peter, although he denied Christ with his lips, at the hour foretold, and lost his love for Him, yet retained his faith. So S. Chrysostom (Horn, xxxviii.) on S. Matthew; S. Augustine (de corrept. et Grat. chap, viii.); Theophylact and others. This is possible but not certain, for F. Lucas and others think that Peter then lost both his faith and his love, from excessive perturbation and fear; but only for a short time, and so that his faith afterwards sprang up anew, and was restored with fresh vitality. Hence it is thought not to have wholly failed, or to have been torn up by the roots, but rather to have been shaken and dead for a time.
Another and a certain privilege was common to Peter with all his
successors, that he and all the other bishops of Rome (for Peter, as Christ
willed, founded and confirmed the Pontifical Church at Rome), should never
openly fall from this faith, so as to teach the Church heresy, or any error
contrary to the faith. So S. Leo (semi.xxii.), on Natalis of SS. Peter and
Paul; S. Cyprian (Lib. i. ep. 3), to Cornelius; Lucius I., Felix I., Agatho,
Nicolas I., Leo IX.,Innocent III., Bernard and others, whom Bellarmine cites
and follows (Lib. i. de Poniif. Roman).
For it was necessary that Christ, by His most wise providence, should provide for His Church, which is ever being sifted and tempted by the devil, and that not only in the time of Peter, but at all times henceforth, even to the end of the world, an oracle of the true faith which she might consult in every doubt, and by which she might be taught and confirmed in the faith, otherwise the Church might err in faith, quod absit! For she is, as S. Paul said to Timothy, “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. lii. 15). This oracle of the Church then is Peter, and all successive bishops of Rome. This promise made to Peter and his successors, most especially applies to the time when Peter, as the successor of Christ, began to be the head of the Church, that is, after the death of Christ.
And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. “From the sifting of Satan, that is from his temptation and from the sin by which thou wilt deny Me; for by this thou wilt be turned aside from Me, and My grace and love.” So Euthymius, Theophylact, Jansen, F. Lucas, and others.
Cornelius a Lapide, The Great Commentary,
Luke 22, 32
COMMENT ON THE RECENT CONSECRATION OF BISHOPS BY
THE SSPX:
The recent consecration of bishops by the
SSPX and their
Rome has manipulated the SSPX into a trap
that was explained to them more than fifteen years ago. Rome embraced the
heresy of Neo-modernism before Vatican II and the purpose of Vatican II was to
infect this heresy into the life blood of the Church. The heresy severs the
form and matter of Dogma professing that the form is a divine truth revealed by
God but the matter, that is, the words, are a human approximation of that
divine truth that must progressively evolve and be purified of human
accretions, distortions and historical contingencies to arrive at a more
perfect expression of the divine truth. It is a claim that we know the faith
better than our fathers and our children will know the faith better than us.
Thus Dogma, which never reaches its term, no longer is the proximate rule of
faith. It is replaced by the pope who guides the dogma into a progressively
more perfect expression.
Once the pope becomes the proximate rule of
faith the infallible Magisterium of the Church is replaced by the personal
fallible magisterium of the pope grounded upon his grace of state, and then
whatever the pope says or does becomes what every faithful Catholic is expected
to say or do. This corruption was taught in the Vatican II document Lumen
Gentium which established the new
ecclesiology. The term Lumen Gentium says, sensus fidei for
all Catholics. The proposition of unconditional obedience to the
Fr. Joseph Fenton, the editor of the
American Ecclesiastical Review and a peritas at Vatican II, wrote an excellent article, Infallilillity in
the Encyclicals, AER, 1953, in which
he addressed the term, Comillas in Spain. The
Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who had his own
problems with Neo-modernism, recognized that the insertion of the addendum of
unconditional obedience to the
Rome imposes the 1989 Profession of Faith
and Oath of Fidelity on any cleric or any lay person as a condition for
exercising any office in the Church. The SSPX leadership stupidly accepted this
demand and swore, certainly by 2015, unconditional obedience to the publically
disobeyed him on insufficient doctrinal or moral grounds. They have associated
every faithful traditional Catholic in their worthless scheming.
The SSPX sooner or later must recognize that
Dogma is the proximate rule of faith and that Neo-modernism is a heresy that
they are standing so close to they cannot recognize. Dogma is infallible both
in the truth it proposes and in the words used to express that truth. That is,
both the form and the matter of Dogma, which constitute one substantial being, are the infallible work of God, or as St.
Pius X said, ipso facto in the
external forum without canonical due process simply because the pope says so in
his personal
Comments from those who have read the Third Secret of Fatima:
Ø One concerns the Pope. The other, logically the continuation of the words: In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.[3] [emphasis added]
Joseph Schweigel, S.J., d. 1964 (interrogated Sister Lucia about the Third Secret on behalf of Pope Pius XII on Sept. 2, 1952)[4]
Ø These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they?If it is quite possible that in this intermediate period which is in question (after 1960 and before the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary), the text makes concrete references to the crisis of the Faith of the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves.[5] [emphasis added]
Fr. Joaquin Alonso, C.M.F., d. 1981 (Cleratian priest and official Fatima archivist for over sixteen years; had unparalleled access to Sister Lucia)
Ø Speaks neither of atomic bombs, nor nuclear warheads, nor Pershing missiles, nor SS-20. Its content concerns only our faith. To identify the Secret with catastrophic announcements or with a nuclear holocaust is to deform the meaning of the message. The loss of faith of a continent is worse than the annihilation of a nation; and it is true that faith is continually diminishing in Europe.[6] [emphasis added]
Bishop Alberto Cosme do Amaral, d. 2005 (former bishop of Fatima-Leiria; remarks made in Vienna, Austria on Sept. 10, 1984)
Ø The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against apostasy in the Church.
Cardinal Silvio Oddi, d. 2001 (Vatican diplomat and personal friend of Pope John XXIII, from whom he knew certain details concerning the Third Secret) [7]
Ø The great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.
Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, O.P., d. 1996 (personal theologian to Popes John XXIII-John Paul II) [8]
The Whole Truth about
Fatima, [2],
Volume 3.
"The Providence of God is
unfailing!"
St. Augustine, On the Soul and Its
Origin, 3, 13
Leo XIV Reinstated 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 own s his promotions to bishop and
cardinal. It was Francis who protected this pervert from criminal charges in
the United States and in Canada and now it is Francis' protégé who has restored
him the a high level position in the Vatican. This does not portend well for
any serious reform of the Novus Ordo Church which has become a sinecure for
homosexuals and others perverts.
As
time goes by, there are fewer and fewer Novus Ordo Catholics every year!
St. John himself, the Apostle
of love, who seems in his Gospel to have revealed the secrets of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus, and who never ceased to impress upon the memory of his
disciples the new commandment Therefore, since the foundation of charity is faith pure and inviolate,
it is chiefly by the bond of one faith that the disciples of Christ are to be
united. A federation of Christians is inconceivable in which each member
retains his own opinions and private judgment in matters of faith, even though
they differ from opinions of all the rest. How can men with opposite convictions belong to one and
the same federation of the faithful: those who accept sacred Tradition as a
source of revelation and those who reject it; those who recognize as
divinely constituted the hierarchy of bishops, priests and ministers in the
Church, and those who regard it as gradually introduced to suit the conditions
of the time; those who adore Christ really present in the Most Holy Eucharist
through that wonderful conversion of the bread and wine, Transubstantiation,
and those who assert that the body of Christ is there only by faith or by the
signification and virtue of the Sacrament; those who in the Eucharist recognize
both Sacrament and Sacrifice, and those who say that it is nothing more than
the memorial of the Lord
Pope Pius XI, Mortalium
Animos
Unless the Lord build a
house, they labor in vain that build it.
Unless the Lord keep the
city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it. Ps. 126
From Tradition In Action:
You don't have to be a liturgical EXPERT to see that there is no
essential difference in the act!
The question is: Is there any essential difference in the actors?
Top: St. Patrick Catholic Church, Chatham, New Jersey
(44:43 mark on their August 22, 2021
Bottom: First Lutheran Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
(49:30 mark on their July 6 2025
Jewish morality is openly demonstrated in Gaza, the West Bank, and
Lebanon with the wonton killing of thousands of men, women and children. Over
95% of Jewish religious and political leaders support abortion and same-sex
'marriage'. AI is intended to enforce Jewish morality.
Yuval Harari at Davos:
by Leo Hohmann 1-20-2026
Israeli historian and philosopher Yuval Harari spoke January 20th at
the World Economic Forum 2026 conference in Davos and hit on crucial themes
about the future of artificial intelligence and humanity.
If Klaus Schwab and Larry Fink represent the legal and geostrategic
views of the Davos crowd, Harari represents its spiritual soul. And a dark soul
it is, devoid of anything truly from the heart of God.
He seems to describe a mass psychological control grid getting ready to clamp
down on humanity.
Harari stated in his WEF speech that:
The most important thing
to know about AI is that it is not just another tool. It is an agent. It can
learn and change by itself and make decisions by itself. A knife is a tool. You
can use a knife to cut salad or to murder someone, but it is your decision what
to do with the knife. AI is a knife that can decide by itself whether to cut
salad or to commit murder.
The second thing to know about AI is that it
can be a very creative agent. AI is a knife that can invent new kinds of knives
as well as new kinds of music, medicine and money.
The third thing to know about AI is that it
can lie and manipulate. Four billion years of evolution have demonstrated that
anything that wants to survive learns to lie and manipulate. The last four
years have demonstrated that AI agents can acquire the will to survive and that
AIs have already learned how to lie.
How many times have you heard that AI is just a tool that can be used for good
or for evil? Well, Yuval Harari, the philosophical/spiritual voice of the WEF,
says it
So, AI can
Harari
speaking at Davos 2026: AI is already an agent capable of making decisions,
lying, manipulating.
Harari
is a valuable source because, whether you think he
Well, now Harari is letting the cat out of the bag, probably because he knows
it
Harari stated:
Harari said AI will first take over everything that consists of words. That
includes law, articles and books, even religion. You can see that is happening
already. News writers and gatherers are being replaced. Legal assistants and
lawyers are being replaced. And people are consulting AI for advice related to
life, faith and spiritual matters.
He does hint that if your religious faith is real, you may want to find
out if it
A
preview of our AI dominated world
He
asks:
My
overall response to Harari
Winston, the main character in Orwell
How is this different from the algorithms used by today
Orwell, living and writing in the 1940s, could not have envisioned that a
computerized software system known as machine learning was going to rise up to
do the job that he assigned to human beings. That job is to filter and control
all human knowledge through a single conduit with demonic influence.
Because Harari is an admitted atheist, it is here where his analysis breaks down.
He doesn
He says that,
Dogma
- The Proximate Rule of Faith, the Formal Object of Divine & Catholic Faith
Now, first of all, let us see
what is dogma. In the mouth of the world it means some positive, imperious, and
overbearing assertion of a human authority, or of a self-confident mind. But
what does it mean in the mouth of the Church? It means the precise enunciation
of a divine truth, of a divine fact, or of a divine reality fully known, so far
as it is the will of God to reveal it, adequately defined in words chosen and
sanctioned by a divine authority.
It is the precise enunciation
of a divine truth or of a divine reality; for instance, the nature and the
personality of God, the Incarnation, the coming of the Holy Ghost, and suchlike
truths and realities of the mind of God, precisely known, intellectually
conceived, as God has revealed or accomplished them. Every divine truth or
reality, so far as God has been pleased to reveal it to us, casts its perfect
outline and image upon the human intelligence. His own mind, in which dwells
all truth in all fulness and in all perfection, so far as He has revealed of
His truth, is cast upon the surface of our mind, in the same way as the sun
casts its own image upon the surface of the water, and the disc of the sun is
perfectly reflected from its surface. So, in the intelligence of the Apostles,
when, by the illumination of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost, the
revelation of God was cast upon the surface of their intellect, every divine
truth had its perfect outline and image, not confused, nor in a fragmentary
shape, but with a perfect and complete impression. For instance, that God is
One in nature; that in God there are Three Persons, and one only Person in
Jesus Christ. Next, it is not enough that a truth should be definitely
conceived; for if a teacher know the truth, and is not able to communicate it
with accuracy, the learner will be but little the wiser. And therefore God, who
gave His truth, has given also a perpetual assistance, whereby the Apostles
first, and His Church from that day to this, precisely and without erring
declare to mankind the truth which was revealed in the beginning; and in
declaring that truth the Church clothes it in words, in what we call a terminology:
and in the choice of those terms the Church is also guided. There is an
assistance, by which the Church does not err in selecting the very language in
which to express divine truth. For who does not see that, if the Church were to
err in the selection of the words, the declaration of truth must be obscured?
We are conscious every day that we know with perfect certainty what we desire
to say, but, from the difficulty of finding or choosing our words, we cannot
convey our meaning to another. The Church is not a stammerer as we are. The
Church of God has a divine assistance perpetually guiding it, to clothe in
language, that is, in adequate expression, the divine truth which God has
committed to her trust. Therefore a dogma signifies a correct verbal expression
of the truth correctly conceived and known. But, lastly, it is not sufficient
that it be clearly understood in the intellect and accurately expressed in
words, unless the authority by which it is declared shall be divine; because
without a divine authority we cannot have a divine certainty; without a divine
authority we can have no such assurance that the doctrine which we hear may not
be erroneous. The Apostles were such a divine authority, for they spoke in the
Name of their Master. Their successor to this day is the Church, which, taken
as a whole, has been, by the assistance of the Holy Ghost, promised by our
Divine Lord and never absent from it, perpetually sustained in the path of
truth, and preserved from all error in the declaration of that truth. Therefore
any body which is not dogmatic is not the Church of God. Any body or communion
that disclaims a divine, and therefore infallible, authority cannot be
dogmatic, because it is conscious that it may err. And therefore the- Catholic
Church alone, the Church which is one and undivided throughout the world,
united with its centre in the Holy See,
Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, Glories of the Sacred Heart
SSPX issues
154-point profession of faith to Pope Leo, cardinals ahead of consecrations
The Society of St. Pius X unveiled a sweeping
17-chapter ‘Profession of Catholic Faith,’ urging Pope Leo and the cardinals to
embrace Tradition as the remedy to the Church’s ‘deepest ills.’
LifeSiteNews
| June 24, 2026 — The SSPX has published a "Profession of Catholic
Faithe" as part of communications with the Pope and the cardinals ahead of
the planned episcopal consecrations and “in response to the chief and gravest
dangers of our time.”
According
to an open letter published by the Society of St. Pius X “to His Holiness Pope
Leo XIV and to the Cardinals of the Holy Church” dated June 24, the leadership
of the SSPX formulated its 17-chapter profession of Catholic Faith as a
“necessary expression, peaceful and resolute, of our Faith” as the cardinals
prepare to gather in consistory later this week.
“Today
the Church suffers under the pressure of new forces, coming both from within
and without, which push her in every possible direction, except – it seems to
us – the right one,” the Society argues, adding, “In the face of such
suffering, we cannot remain indifferent.”
Consequently,
the Society maintains that “Tradition contains all the remedies for the deepest
ills afflicting the Church and the world, for which solutions are sought in
vain outside of it.”
“We
are persuaded that, in the unstable and extremely perilous context that now
confronts us, the finest contribution one can offer to the universal Church is
that of a sincere and integral profession of Catholic Faith,” the fraternity of
priests write.
The
letter was accompanied by the Society’s "Profession of Catholic
Faith." broken into 17 chapters outlining 154 points of traditional
doctrine while rejecting their corresponding modern errors.
COMMENT: In general, the profession of faith has many excellent
qualities, however, it is clearly a product of the SSPX culture and character.
The SSPX is a completely inbred organization. No one thinks outside the box and
their box is very small. While the Profession recognizes that the remote
sources of revelation are Scripture and Tradition and that these constitute the
remote rule of faith (#9), they then, after professing that "no
dogma" may be omitted, stumble in not recognizing that Dogma constitutes
the proximate rule of faith.
5. I add that, in the present
confusion, it is no longer sufficient to recall a few isolated truths. It has
become indispensable to set in full light the entire order of Catholic
doctrine, in its supernatural coherence and luminous harmony, omitting no dogma, diminishing
no truth, and substituting for the received Faith no equivocal or
truncated language which, under the pretext of ecumenism or adaptation to the
world, disfigures this doctrine with ever greater audacity.
9. This Revelation is the true
Word of God, entrusted to the Church as a Deposit, and proposed to men as the Rule of Faith in the form
of a body of doctrine, in which the mysteries are formulated in a manner
that renders them intelligible and expressible in words.
The problem is confounded
because they continually used the word "magisterium" equivocally.
They treat the infallible Magisterium of the Church teaching by the authority
of God and the fallible magisterium of churchmen teaching by their grace of
state as if these were the same thing, They are not and constitute a
distinction of kind and not one of degree. Their belief in the mutability of Dogma is directly
expressed in their understanding of the Dogma that membership in the Catholic
Church is necessary for salvation, that is, no one is saved outside the Catholic
Church:
60. This truth means that no one can be saved without
Christ and His Church, through a false religion as such, nor be assured
of His salvation outside the visible structure of the Church. If men are saved
without belonging to the visible society which is the Church, the Mystical Body
of Christ, it is by a supernatural ordination to the one Church of salvation,
and in spite of the errors of the false religions in which they find
themselves, from which they free themselves by not refusing the grace offered
to them and by corresponding to it
Here the Dogma is not
"omitted," it is corrupted by substituting the word,
"without," for the word, "outside." This is a common
example of how the heresy of Neo-modernism works. This heresy leads directly to
the Prayer Meeting of Assisi and the SSPX has not figured it out. The SSPX
believes and teaches that any Jew, Moslem, Protestant, Hindu, Pagan, etc., etc.
can obtain salvation by desire to do the will of a god who rewards and punishes
which can be known by natural philosophy. The essential problem is that the
SSPX does not understand or even recognize that the principle heresy today is
Neo-modernism and not Modernism. Not recognizing the enemy, they continually
punch the air.
Regarding the sacraments they
rightly profess the Dogma that the sacraments require correct form, matter and
intention:
111. I profess that the
sacraments must be validly celebrated with the prescribed matter, form, and
intention, observing the liturgical rites which clearly express the Catholic
Faith; and that they must be received with the required dispositions.
Yet the SSPX believes that a
Catholic priest can enter a bakery and consecrate all the bread in the bakery
or enter a wine cellar and consecrate all the wine. This they believe can
happen when there is obvious corruption in form, matter and intention. This can
only happen when Dogma is taken in a non-literal sense. They apply the same
sacramental theology to the sacrament of Baptism denying the Dogmas that baptism is necessary for
salvation and the true and natural water is necessary for the sacrament
which they take in a purely metaphorical sense.
112. I believe that Baptism is
the door of the Church and that it is necessary for salvation. Ordinarily, no one can be saved
without receiving it; through this sacrament, man is washed from
original sin, incorporated into Christ, marked with the Christian character,
and made a member of the Church. I therefore reject the practice of deferring
without grave cause the Baptism of children who have not the use of reason. However, one who, after the age
of reason and without fault on his part, is prevented from accessing this
sacrament, can be saved in an extraordinary manner by Baptism of Desire, that
is, by a supernatural act of faith and perfect charity which orders him to the
Church.
So the good-willed Jew,
Moslem, Hindu, Protestant, Pagan, etc. who believes in a god who rewards and
punishes is thereby making an act of "supernatural faith and perfect
charity"!
The word "heresy"
occurs only once in the Profession of the SSPX. "I therefore reject every
liturgical reform or usage which, through omission, doctrinal ambiguity, or
practical orientation, favours heresy.... " The definition of heresy is
the rejection of any Dogma. That is why the word only occurs as an accusation
of "favoring" heresy. Vatican II, a pastoral council, is a product of
the fallible magisterium of churchmen teaching by their grace of state. The
Council did not just "favor" heresy, it taught it. It is impossible
to know what heresy is unless you first know what Dogma is. Unless a clear and
precise understanding of the nature of Dogma is known, it is impossible to
address modern errors effectively.
The term, Second Vatican
Council, also occurs only once in the document in Profession 143:
143. I acknowledge in
particular that modern
errors represent a dreadful threat to the whole of the Catholic order, and that
their penetration into the life of the Church, under the influence of the
Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar reforms, has provoked a crisis of
exceptional gravity: agnosticism attacks the knowledge of God;
naturalism attacks the necessity of grace; subjectivism attacks the
supernatural motive of faith; relativism attacks the immutability of dogma;
situation ethics attacks the divine law; liberalism attacks the Social Kingship
of Christ; false ecumenism attacks the uniqueness of the Church; collegiality
and synodality attack the divine constitution of the Church in her hierarchy; liturgical
anthropocentrism attacks the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
This is all true but why is
the SSPX unable to say Vatican II is heretical? Until the SSPX understands what
Dogma is, what Neo-modernism is, and what the Magisterium of the Church is and
how it is distinct from the magistrium of churchmen,they will continue to be
incapable of effectively addressing modern errors.
In the end the question arises how is it now, after nearly fifteen years of silence against the apostasy of Rome, through the entire pontificate of Francis/Bergoglio, does the SSPX find that it is time to speak up? For what end is this Profession of Faith intended? And why cannot the SSPX articulate propositions of faith directly contrary to the beliefs and teachings of Rome demanding that Pope Leo engage the infallible Magisterium of the Church to clearly address the modern errors of Vatican II and the conciliar Church? It is a matter of canon law and the constant tradition of the Church that every Catholic has the right to demand explicit judgments from the Magisterium and the pope has an absolute duty to address these questions of faith. The SSPX has been in dialogue with Rome formally and informally for thirty years exchanging opinions on Catholic truth. If the SSPX understood what Dogma is this thirty year dialogue could have been concluded in thirty minutes. It has only been a year and a half since the death of Bishop Richard Williamson. The SSPX declared at that time that there was no state of necessity to justify the consecrations of bishops and they accused Bishop Williamson of grave sin for doing so. If the SSPX cannot identify direct heresy and heretics in Rome, then they cannot claim a state of necessity for themselves.
ANGEL OF THE JUDGMENT
The Situation Regarding the SSPX Episcopal Consecrations of July 1,
2026 -
by Roberto de Mattei
June
24, 2026 | Posted by the conservative Catholic blog, Rorate Caeli
What
is one to think, and what is one to do, in the face of the episcopal consecrations
announced by the Society of Saint Pius X at for July 1st, and the consequent latae
sententiae excommunication that will
be reaffirmed by the Holy See?
The
first consideration to be made is that, if this comes to pass, we will be
confronted with a painful trial
On the substance of the controversy, one
cannot avoid pointing out what appears to be a genuine paradox. Among the many reasons advanced by
Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988
The state of necessity is, by its very
nature, an exceptional condition that permits deviation from the ordinary
application of certain norms in view of a higher good
If
the principle of the state of necessity were admitted as a general criterion
for action, any bishop who judged the Church to be passing through a grave
crisis could feel authorized episcopi vagantes scattered throughout the world, with inevitable effects of
fragmentation, disorder, and confusion for the very faithful one would seek to
protect.
The existence of an episcopal line deriving
from Archbishop Richard Williamson This is a phenomenon which, beyond any judgments on the persons
involved, illustrates the intrinsic risk of episcopal consecrations founded on subjective assessments of the
state of necessity.
And
yet this argument :
"The faithful who are still Catholic find themselves in many places in a
desperate spiritual situation. It is this appeal that the Church hears; it is
for these situations that she grants jurisdiction through the law of supplied
jurisdiction." The decisive criterion for him was not the assertion
of a right proper to the Society, but the spiritual need of the faithful. The
episcopal consecrations of 1988 were intended as a response to this appeal of
souls.
We thus find ourselves before the paradox.
The Society of Saint Pius X, by invoking the state of necessity, grounds a
large part of its justification on the primacy of pastoral requirements over
strictly juridical and doctrinal considerations
In this confused situation, the only
sensible counsel that can be offered to those who are uncertain is to abide by
the principle of logic and law: In dubiis standum est pro statu quo, donec ratio certa
contrarium persuadeat , avoiding being drawn into sterile polemics
and emotional proclamations that have no other result than to reopen old wounds
and pour vinegar into the wounds of the Church.
The
problem that presents itself today is far broader than the grave matter of the
July 1st episcopal consecrations and their canonical consequences. Nor does the
question exhaust itself in the debate over the traditional liturgy or the
interpretation of the documents of the Second Vatican Council. At the heart of
the controversy lies the historical and theological judgment on the twentieth
century
A
little over a hundred years ago, the conflagration of the First World War
brought to an end the international order born of the Christian centuries,
while the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 set an even vaster fire in the
world. Yet in the same year in which Bolshevism seized power, Our Lady appeared
to the three shepherd children of Fatima, explaining the true causes of the
crisis of the modern world and assuring, after chastisements, wars, and
persecutions, the final triumph of her Immaculate Heart. The message of Fatima
was addressed to all of humanity, but in a particular way to the Pastors of the
Church, within which Modernism had begun to spread its deadly poison. Against
this evil, Providence raised up Saint Pius X. With the encyclical Pascendi
Dominici Gregis of September 8, 1907 Pascendi and Fatima constitute, respectively, the
doctrinal diagnosis and the supernatural response to the crisis of modernity.
These events, in turn, acquire their authentic significance only when placed
within a broader perspective that allows one to read the events of history as
phases of a single struggle that crosses the centuries.
It
is here that the vision of Saint Augustine takes on an extraordinary relevance
for our time. In the City of God,
the great Doctor of the Church interprets history as the permanent confrontation
between those who orient their lives toward God and those who reject the divine
order. The Augustinian tradition, with its capacity to read historical events
in the light of Providence, offers the interpretive key necessary for
confronting questions that continue to determine the life of the Church
The last word, in this dramatic horizon,
belongs to him who holds the divine mandate to guide the Church and whom the
Society of Saint Pius X itself acknowledges as the legitimate Vicar of Christ
COMMENT: Dr. Roberto de Mattei is a conservative Novus Ordo Catholic historian
which alone makes it impossible for him to know or do anything correctly
because he will always have his priorities upside-down. Where does he get it
wrong? For Mattei, the
pope constitutes the proximate rule of faith. He does not understand
that the proximate rule of faith is DOGMA. For Mattei, the faith is subject to
the authority of the pope. The pope for Mattei is the principle cause and sign
of the unity of the Church. Mattei does not openly deny the truth that the
faith itself is the principle sign and cause of unity of the Church but he
makes the faith subject to the arbitrary judgments of the pope who becomes its
revealer. He places the authority of the pope over Dogma so that the Dogma
means whatever the pope says it means. Whatever the pope says or does becomes
the proximate rule of faith for Mattei. For him the determination of a state of necessity can
only be declared by the authority of the pope. For Mattei, the pope can
never be the cause of the state of necessity therefore, a state of necessity
can never really exist.
Mattei
acknowledges that the "salvation of souls" is the "highest
good" then immediately reduces it to a legal truism. Something that in the
end is unknowable in its practical application. He then wonders just who could
ever determine when such a state of necessity begins and when it ends.For
Mattei only the pope with absolute authority can do so.
The answer is not as difficult as Mattei
pretends. Any individual Catholic faithful can declare a state of necessity for
himself whenever he is unable to obtain from his ordinary what is necessary for
his salvation, that is, the Catholic faith and Catholic sacraments. This is not a "subjective"
determination as Mattei pretends for the faithful Catholic must make known to
his local ordinary the existing objective factual conditions that constitute
the state of necessity, demonstrate the establishment of a true and certain
conscience, and thus, provide a moral justification for any acts of
disobedience. After determining a state of necessity that he makes it known to
his local ordinary, the ordinary has the obligation to fulfill his duties to
provide what is necessary for salvation. If he fails to do so, fails to fulfill
his duty for whatever reason, then the faithful Catholic is free is seek these
necessities from any other cleric and any cleric can do so by the virtue of the
supplied jurisdiction by the Church which places the salvation of souls as her
highest law. Mattei believes that salvation comes from obedience to the pope
while faithful Catholics know that "without faith, it is impossible to
please God," and that thepope is just as much subject to God's revealed
truth as every other faithful Catholic. The "paradox" that Mattei is
talking about is not real. There is no conflict of the SSPX "pastoral
requirements" vs. Novus Ordo "juridical and doctrinal
considerations."
Mattei
believes that the pope can be judged by no one. That is a doubtful proposition.
The Decretals of Gratian
is a collection of canonical texts compiled in the 12th century. Pope Gregory
IX in 1230 directed St. Raymond of Pennafort, the distinguished Dominican, to
organize an addendum to the code to include legal codes adopted since the time
of Gratian but the work became a much more extensive revision. Working from the
Decretals of Gratian, St. Raymond wrote a five volume edition of the Decretals
that became the Corpus Iuris Canonici which served as the legal code for the
Latin Church
Decretum Gratiani, which was included in the old Corpus Iuris Canonici, affirmed that a Pope who deviates from right doctrine (i.e.: a notorious public heretic) can be judged. The canon states that the "pope judges all and is judged by no-one, unless he is found to have departed from the faith":
culpas
redarguere pr mortalium nullus, quia cunctos ipse judicaturus a nemine est
judicandus, nisi deprehendatur a fide devius (dist. XL, C. 6)Iuris Canonici
1917) came into force, the Church eliminated from the new legislation the
phrase "unless he is found to have departed from the faith." This
deletion was continued in the 1983 code. Although the phrase, "unless he is found to have
departed from the faith," was not included in the 1917 and the 1983 codes,
the canonical commentary still regards the phrase as legally binding:
COMMENTARY: "Canon 1404 is not a statement about
the personal impeccability or inerrancy of the Holy Father. Should, indeed, the
pope fall into heresy, it is understood that he would lose his office. To fall
from Peter
New
Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, John P. Beal, James A. Coriden, and Thomas
J. Green eds. (New York: Paulist, 2000), p. 1,618.
The
code is the compilation of laws governing the Church as social institution.
Most of the laws in the code are ecclesiastical positive human laws grounded
upon human authority, however, many of the legal codes are divine positive laws
grounded upon divine authority or upon natural law. If a human law is deleted
from the code, the law ceases to bind. If a law of divine authority is deleted
from the code, the law continue in force for the human authority of the Church
cannot overturn the law of God. This self-evident principle is stated in the
code itself. Consequently, the commentary cited above is a recognition that the
pope cannot be judged "unless he is found to have departed from the
faith" is of divine origin. It is necessarily a divine law because the
papacy is a divine institution established directly by Jesus Christ and therefore
governed in its essence only by divine laws.
Therefore,
it is divine law that permits a heretical pope to be judged. Importantly,
although the law permits a heretical pope to be judged, it says nothing about
who and how a pope is to be judged regarding heresy and it does not address
penalties. It says nothing about removal from office. If the law intended the
removal from office the law itself would have to state the penalty and provide
a mechanism for its determination and enforcement.
So
now it falls to opinions regarding the judgment of a heretical pope. Most
theologians believe that it is "understood" that the removal from
office necessarily follows from a judgment of heresy often citing the
scriptural and traditional admonition to avoid heretics:
"A
man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid: Knowing
that he, that is such a one, is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by his
own judgment" (Titus 3:10-11).
They
argue that since the faithful cannot avoid a pope as head of the Church therefore
the heretical pope must lose his office. A serious problem with this argument
follows, that is, if the faithful cannot "avoid" a pope, then there
must necessarily be a pope who in fact cannot be avoided. Therefore, those who
would make the papacy vacant must also be able to fill the office with a true
pope.
But
can a heretical pope be avoided? It really becomes a problem for those who hold
the pope as their proximate rule of faith and not, as they should, dogma. For
if dogma is not the proximate rule of faith then the pope must be, and he then
can never be a heretic for whatever the pope holds the dogma or doctrine to
mean is what it then means and only those who disagree with the pope are
heretics. For a Catholic, dogma is the proximate rule of faith and although a
heretical pope can do immeasurable damage to the Church he cannot touch
individual souls of the faithful.
If
we adhere to what the law says and nothing more, we can say this: The
definition of heresy is the denial of dogma. The heretic denies dogma and the
faithful keep dogma. Those who can judge a heretical pope are the faithful. The
law does not distinguish or discriminate among the faithful as to the judgment.
Dogma is articulated for all the faithful. Its understanding does not require
any theological competence. It requires proper definition and correct grammar.
Any of the faithful, that is those who hold dogma as their proximate rule of
faith, can judge a manifestly heretical pope such as Pope Francis. Any of the
faithful can know when a dogma is directly contradicted for the first
principles of the understanding, such as the principle of non-contradiction,
are innate in human nature. Thus all the faithful can judge, in fact must
judge, a heretical pope and so that they may not follow him in his heresy for
God has said that 'it is not possible to deceive His elect' (Matt. 24:24). The
law does not specify the judge because the judgment rests with all the
faithful, it is universal. The law does not specify a penalty because none of
the faithful have the competency to impose a penalty and remove a heretical
pope from office. It is God who is the formal and final cause of the pope and
the office of the papacy. It is God who 'marries' the designated candidate to
the papal office and only God can remove him from it just as God removed the
High Priest and destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem and the Levitical priesthood
which can never be reconstituted.
Those
who hold dogma as their proximate rule of faith recognize Pope Leo as a heretic
because he denies dogmatic truth. He preaches a different gospel so we
"receive him not into the house nor say to him, God speed you" (2
John 10). Since he preaches a different gospel, "Let him be anathema"
because we are first "servants of Christ" (Gal 1: 8). For in dogma,
the Church has spoken and the heretic Pope Leo "will not hear the church,
(therefore) let him be to thee as the heathen and publican (Matt 18:17).
Since Mattei cannot see his way out of his box so he advises, "Reason suggests that each person remain in the position in which he finds himself, continuing to do what he does."Since Mattei cannot conceive a state of necessity from the current corruption of faith and morals maybe an analogy to a person dying of thirst would be more clear. By natural law a man dying from thirst is entitled to preserve his life by drinking available water. The pope tells him he cannot have any water. Mattei advises that he should "remain in the position which he finds himself, continuing to do what he does,", that is, continue to die of thirst. Suppose it is not just one man but an entire family? Suppose that man was so weakened that he could not bring the water to himself? Would Mattei intervene to help? Well, probably not because Mattei could not recognize a state of necessity if he were the man dying of thirst.
The holy Roman Church holds the highest and
complete primacy and spiritual power over the universal Catholic Church which
she truly and humbly recognizes herself to have received with fullness of power
from the Lord Himself in Blessed Peter, the chief or head of the Apostles whose
successor is the Roman Pontiff.And just as to defend the truth of Faith she is
held before all other things, so if any questions shall arise regarding faith
they ought to be defined by her judgment.And to her anyone burdened with
affairs pertaining to the ecclesiastical world can appeal; and in all cases
looking forward to an ecclesiastical examination, recourse can be had to her
judgment.
Second Council of Lyons, Denz.
466
And since the Roman Pontiff is at the head of the universal Church by the divine right of apostolic primacy, We teach and declare also that he is the supreme judge of the faithful, and that in all cases pertaining to ecclesiastical examination recourse can be had to his judgment.
First Vatican Council, Denz. 1830
Not only do we know God
through Jesus Christ, but we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ; we only
know life and death through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ we cannot
know the meaning of our life or our death, of God or of ourselves. Thus without
Scripture, whose only object is Christ, we know nothing, and can see nothing
but obscurity and confusion in the nature of God and in nature itself.
Blaise Pascal, Pens
Pope says church 'must move forward' if SSPX proceeds with illicit
ordinations
Vatican News | Junno
Arocho Esteves | June 17, 2026
Pope
Leo XIV said that although he is considering a final appeal to the
traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, the choice to splinter from the Catholic
Church falls on them.
Speaking
to journalists outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo June 16, the pope was
asked about his feelings regarding plans by the traditionalist society,
commonly known as SSPX, to proceed with the consecration of new bishops without
a papal mandate.
The
pope said that while he is "considering making another appeal to say: 'Do
not do this, let us try to live in communion within the church,' " the decision
to proceed "is their choice."
"Certainly,
division among Christians is always a painful point. But they refuse to accept
certain fundamental elements of the church, starting with several points from
the Second Vatican Council," Leo said.
"If
they make that choice, I am sorry, but we must move forward," he added.
[.....]
COMMENT: The Vatican II Novus Ordo Church is a big
tent inviting a wide variety of heretics, schismatics, apostates, pagans,
animists, homosexuals, adulterers etc. to join the party. Even Leo/Prevost
himself is now known to have worshiped the pagan goddess Pachamama. The SSPX,
seeking a corner under this big tent,has been mute for so long we have wondered
out loud if they lost the power of speech. But what about Pope Leo/Prevost? His
recent pictures with the "Archbishopette of Canterbury" looks creepy.
If he were just personally sick, his welcome would be extended without
exceptions but, he has serious exceptions. Those must be "excepted"
who "refuse to accept certain fundamental elements of the church, starting
with several points from the Second Vatican Council"! There are some
things the "listening church of Synodality" just can't listen to.
Vatican II was a "pastoral council" that never rose above the level
of churchmen pastorally opining with no greater authority than their grace of
state.Any doctrinal opinions from churchmen from Vatican II that, if only
apparently, contradict or undermine Catholic revealed truth must be rejected,
and there is plenty there to reject. Such as, the claim that the Church of
Christ subsists in the Catholic Church. Putting the question to Artificial
Intelligence:
Question:If
A subsists in B does it follow that A and B are an identity?
ANSWER:
No.
So:
If
A subsists in B, it
Only
under additional premises
The
truth that the Catholic Church and the Church of Christ are one and the same
thing is divinely revealed truth. Even the blind "artificial
intelligence" "sees" this Vatican II confabulation is just a
lie! Those that deny this truth are heretics and, as St. Thomas says, "All
heretics are schismatics," it remains to be determined what and who's
church the SSPX will be leaving. Revelation ended with the death of the last
apostle. What exactly Leo/Prevost is referring to when he talks about "certain
fundamental elements of the church, starting with several points from the
Second Vatican Council" needs serious clarification. No Catholic is
obliged to believe anything with "divine and Catholic faith" that
"started.... from the Second Vatican Council." The pastoral failures
of Vatican II reek to high heaven and doctrinal obfuscation only magnifies the
crime.
Heresy is Ugly
In
the medieval town (of 1480), fourteen of the named buildings are churches;
trees grow along the banks of the river and the bridge allows free
passagearehouses dwarf and obscure the churches which dominated the medieval
scene
Margaret
Belcher, late professor of English at the University of Canterbury, New
Zealand, and editor of the multivolume collection of the great Victorian Gothic
Revivalist Architect Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-1852), who was the architect
for 9 cathedrals and 60 churches, on a pair of drawings of a English town
contrasting the town of 1480 with what it became in 1880.
By their fruits we are expected to know them!
The
Archdiocese of Dubuque Iowa is restructuring its 160 parishes across 30
northeast Iowa counties into 24 "pastorates". Driven by a 46% decline
in Mass attendance and a shrinking number of priests, the Archdiocese halted
weekend Masses at more than 80 churches, though they remain open for weddings
and funerals.
The
transition to the new pastorate structure, which requires grouped parishes to
share clergy and resources, officially takes effect on July 14, 2026.
The
sweeping consolidation has significantly impacted communities and traditional
worship schedules. Key details of the situation include.
The
Cause: The Archdiocese reports a drop of nearly half in weekend Mass attendance
over the last 20 years, alongside a decreasing number of priests. The region
currently has roughly one priest for every two parishes.
Church
Usage: While many church buildings will no longer host weekend Mass, they are
not completely closed. They remain accessible for other liturgical celebrations,
such as weddings, funerals, weekday Masses, and private prayer.
COMMENT: The Archdioces of Dubuque has paid out about $17 million in settlements
for the sex abuse crimes of homosexual pederasts over the last 30 years. Unlike
many dioceses in the United States such as Harrisburg, Baltimore and
Philadelphia, the Dubuque Archdiocese has not had to file for bankruptcy and
Chapter 11 protection. The collapse is due to the loss of the Catholic faith
with the associated The consolidation is because of a Louisana in New Orleans
that was established in 1793. The diocese of St. Louis covered the entire
territory of the Louisana Purchase. Excluding Spanish missionary work in the
southwest, the Archdioces of Dubuque is the third Catholic diocese west of the Mississippi
River. It was in the beginning responsible for the spiritual welfare of all
Catholics as well as Catholic missionary work in Iowa, Minnosota, North and
South Dakota, that is, everywhere east of the Missouri river, and south-west
Wisconsin. What the heroic French and Italian missionaries from the Archdiocese
of Dubuque built for over the next hundred plus years has not just been
squandered by the effeminate Novus Ordites through sloth, but actively ruined
by their heresy and schism. This is the fruit of Vatican II. This decline has
been evident since the early 1970s but with each passing year it is now visible
to the blind. It is impossible to attribute good but misguided intentions to
Novus Ordites. They are enemies of the Catholic faith. We must double our
prayers that God will cleanse His Church even if we ourselves must suffer in
the persecution. The loss of souls is irreparable. It may be soon time to say
that there is no salvation in the Novus Ordo Church.
IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND
Modernism vs. Neo-Modernism: What is the
Difference?
The
overarching principle of post-conciliar theology is not modernism, properly
speaking. Let us get our terms straight.
Modernism is the idea that there
are no eternal truths, that truth is the correspondence of the mind with one's
lifestyle (adaequatio intellectus et vitae), and that, therefore, old dogmas
must be abandoned and new beliefs must arise that meet 'the needs of modern
man'. This is a radical denial of the traditional and common sense notion of truth:
the correspondence of the mind with reality (adaequatio intellectus et rei),
which is the basis of the immutability of Catholic dogma.
No, the post-conciliar theological principle is neo-modernism, and the theology that is based on it is known as the
nouvelle theologie. It is the idea that
old dogmas or beliefs must be retained, yet not the traditional 'formulas':
dogmas must be expressed and interpreted in a new way in every age so as to
meet the 'needs of modern man'. This is
still a denial of the traditional and common sense notion of truth as
adaequatio intellectus et rei (insofar as it is still an attempt to make the
terminology that expresses the faith correspond with our modern lifestyle) and
consequently of the immutability of Catholic dogma, yet it is not as radical as
modernism. It is more subtle and much
more deceptive than modernism because it claims that the faith must be
retained; it is only the 'formulas' of faith that must be abandoned--they use
the term 'formula' to distinguish the supposedly mutable words of our creeds,
dogmas, etc. from their admittedly immutable meanings. Therefore, neo-modernism can effectively slip
under the radar of most pre-conciliar condemnations (except Humani Generis,
which condemns it directly) insofar as its practitioners claim that their new
and unintelligible theological terminology really expresses the same faith of
all times. In other words, neo-modernism
is supposed to be 'dynamic orthodoxy': supposedly orthodox in meaning, yet
always changing in expression to adapt to modern life (cf. Franciscan
University of Steubenville's mission statement).
Take extra ecclesiam nulla salus as a clear example of a dogma that has
received a brutal neo-modernist re-interpretation: they claim that the old
'formula' that "there is no salvation outside the Church" must be
abandoned; rather it is more meaningful to modern man to say that salvation is
not in, but through, the Church; people
who are not in the Church may still be saved through the Church; thus, to them
the dogma that "there is no salvation outside the Church" means that
there is salvation outside the Church.
Hence see Ven. Pope Pius XII condemning those "reduce to a
meaningless formula the necessity of belonging to the true Church in order to
gain eternal salvation." (Humani generis 27).
Yet
this mentality of reinterpreting everything anew in order to 'meet the needs of
the times' is generally tends to be found in different degrees among different
post-conciliar sources:
It
tends to be (1) rampant in men like De Lubac, Von Balthasar, Congar, etc.: it is
the ultimate goal of their writings, teachings, and activities as
churchmen. To achieve this end, they
employ the technique of 'resourcement', the neo-modernist strategy of fishing
for the few dubious, questionable, or idiosyncratic teachings of some Fathers
of the Church and other authoritative writers, and gather them into a massive,
heterodox theological argument against the traditional understanding of the
faith (which they like to relativize by giving it names such as
"Counter-Reformation" Theology, "Tridentine" Theology, or
"Scholastic" Theology, instead of just admitting that it is Catholic
Theology plain and simple). This technique
accomplishes three things that go hand-in-hand: (a) offers a refutation of
traditional Catholicism, (b) defends an interpretation that meets the needs of
modern times, and (c) gives it a semblance of being traditional, because it
appears to be based in the Fathers et al.
This type of argument is used, for example, by Von Balthasar in his
nearly heretical book, Dare We Hope that All Men be Saved? to 'prove', not that
Hell does not exist (that is a dogma), but that it is empty. But this technique and its neo-modernistic
underpinnings is not only practiced in almost all of these men's writings; it
is also defended in theory by many of them, particularly in Von Balthasar's
daring little book, Razing the Bastions, where he demonstrates that
"Tridentine" theology must be rejected in our times because it is 'boring'.
It
also tends to be (2) present in a more
moderate way in the non-binding statements by post-conciliar popes,
since they themselves were deeply involved in the developing of the nouvelle
theologie. Just to give one of a million
possible examples, see Pope Benedict's evolutionistic re-interpretation of the
Resurrection of Our Lord. Nothing here
obviously contradicts the dogma of the
Resurrection (it may be interpreted as a simple analogy, even if a bad one, and
nothing more), but it is a novelty that can be easily understood as claiming
that the Resurrection is part of the natural development of nature (thus giving
credence to some of the nouvelle theologie's pet doctrines, such as De Lubac's heterodox notion of the supernatural
and De Chardin's pantheistic evolutionism).
This happens almost on a daily basis in what comes out of the Vatican,
not to mention what comes from local bishops.
And
finally, neo-modernism tends to be present (3) mostly implicitly or
behind-the-scenes in the Council, the Catechism, etc., even though it
seldom comes out more explicitly. Things
are done at this level under the pretext of 'aggiornamento', a euphemism for
neo-modernism. That is usually all the
justification provided since at this authoritative level, there is no need to
justify things theologically. Hence,
Vatican II and the Catechism are not outright neo-modernistic. Rather, they (like most of post-conciliar doctrine)
tend in that direction and/or are inspired by that mentality. In other words, most of the time these
documents do not explicitly teach neo-modernist errors (the kind of errors you
hear explicitly from neo-modernist theologians and priests). Rather, they are
full of dangerous ambiguities: statements that in a technical sense could be
interpreted as being in harmony with the traditional faith, but that, in their
natural, non-forced, interpretation are heterodox. One clear example of this is Dignitatis
humanae, par. 2; entire monographs have been written in order to prove that,
despite appearances, this document does not contradict previous teaching. Maybe in fact it ultimately does not, but it
is obvious that the prima facie meaning does; otherwise there would be no need
to write so many volumes to prove it.
It must be noted that these are general tendencies, and that in some documents
(cf. Gaudium et Spes) and every now and then in papal and episcopal statements
neo-modernist principles rears come out more explicitly.
For
a more detailed philosophical and theological critique of neo-modernism, and
how it is nothing but a re-hashing of modernism, see Garrigou-Lagrange's Where
is the New Theology Leading Us? and his The Structure of the Encyclical Humani
Generis.
Francisco J. Romero Carrasquillo, Ph.D., Professor of Theology and Philosophy
By
Divine Law Men are obliged to a Right Faith
As sight by the bodily eye is
the principle of the bodily passion of love, so the beginning of spiritual love
must be the intellectual vision of some object of the same. But the vision of
that spiritual object of understanding, which is God, cannot be had at present
by us except through faith, because God exceeds our natural reason, especially
if we consider Him in that regard under which our happiness consists in
enjoying Him.
a.) The divine law directs man
to be entirely subject to God. But as man
b.) Whoever holds an erroneous
view about a thing, touching the essence of the thing, does not know the thing.
Thus if any one were to fix on the notion of irrational animal, and take that
to be man, he would not know man. The case would be otherwise, if he was
mistaken only about some of the accidents of man. But in the case of compound
beings, though he who errs about any of the essentials of a thing does not know
the thing, absolutely speaking, still he knows it in a sort of a way: thus he
who thinks man to be an irrational animal knows him generically: but in the
case of simple beings this cannot be,
St. Thomas Aquinas, Of
God and His Creatures
The Absolute Necessity of
However,
in the face of this satanic hatred of religion, which reminds Us of the
"mystery of iniquity" [Thess. 2, 7] referred to by St. Paul, mere
human means and expedients are not enough, and We should consider ourselves
wanting in Our apostolic ministry if We did not point out to mankind those
wonderful mysteries of light, that alone contain the hidden strength to
subjugate the unchained powers of darkness. When Our Lord, coming down from the
splendors of Thabor, had healed the boy tormented by the devil, whom the disciples
had not been able to cure, to their humble question: "Why could not we
cast him out?" He made reply in the memorable words: "This kind is
not cast out but by prayer and fasting" [Matth. 17, 18-20]. It appears to
Us, Venerable Brethren, that these Divine words find a peculiar application in
the evils of our times, which can be averted only by means of prayer and
penance.
Mindful then of our condition, that we are
essentially limited and absolutely dependent on the Supreme Being, before
everything else let us have recourse to prayer. We know through faith how great
is the power of humble, trustful, persevering prayer. To no other pious work
have ever been attached such ample, such universal, such solemn promises as to
prayer: "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and
it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that
seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened" [Matth. 7,
7]. "Amen, amen I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in my name He
will give it you."
And what object could be more worthy of our
prayer, and more in keeping with the adorable person of Him who is the only
"mediator of God and men, the Man Jesus Christ" [I Tim. 2, 5], than
to beseech Him to preserve on earth faith in one God living and true? Such
prayer bears already in itself a part of its answer; for in the very act of
prayer a man unites himself with God and, so to speak, keeps alive on earth the
idea of God. The man who prays, merely by his humble posture, professes before
the world his faith in the Creator and Lord of all things; joined with others
in prayer, he recognizes, that not only the individual, but human society as a
whole has over it a supreme and absolute Lord. Pope Pius XI, Charitate Christi
Compulsi, On the Sacred Heart
Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, fountain of eternal
life, Your Heart is a glowing furnace of Love. You are my refuge and my sanctuary.
O my adorable and loving Savior, consume my heart with the burning fire with
which Yours is aflamed. Pour down on my soul those graces which flow from Your
love. Let my heart be united with Yours. Let my will be conformed to Yours in
all things. May Your Will be the rule of all my desires and actions. Amen. St.
Gertrude the Great
CAN
POPE LEO XIV RESTORE CATHOLIC MORALITY? Impossible without repentance!
When
Pope Francis taught that Catholics living in a state of adultery can under
certain circumstances receive Holy Communion without repenting of Sin, he
overturned the First Principle of Catholic Moral Theology and thus destroyed
all Morality permitting any and every kind of sin.
St. Thomas lists the following
as principles or sources of morality: 1) the moral object, that is, that to
which the action tends of its very nature primarily and necessarily; 2) the circumstances of the act; 3) the
purpose of the act.
FIRST PRINCIPLE: The primary
and essential morality of a human act is derived from the object considered in
its moral aspect.
The primary and essential
morality of a human act is that which acts as the invariable basis of any
additional morality. Now it is the moral object which provides such a
foundation. This will be clear from an example. The moral object of adultery is
the transgression of anotherThis moral object remains the invariable basis of
the moral character of the act, no matter what further circumstances or motives
accompany the act. It cannot be objected that in human acts the first
consideration should be given to the motive rather than to the object of the
act. For this motive is either the objective purpose of the act itself which is
identical with the moral object, or the subjective purpose (the end of the
agent) which presupposes moral goodness or evil in the object.
Rev. Dominic Prummer, O.P., Handbook
of Moral Theology
"For the
Christian doctrine of the Incarnation is not simply a theophany
Christopher
Dawson, The Christian View of History
Novus Ordo Church: The Lesser
and Disordered Good
"A good proportionate to the common condition of human nature is
found in many..., but the good that is above the common condition of nature is
a small number... And since eternal bliss, consisting in the vision of God,
surpasses the common condition of nature, there are but a few who are saved.
And this shows the mercy of God that raises some to that salvation that the
majority of men do not attain."
St. Thomas Aquinas
COMMENT: All that God has created
is good coming from that hand of God. All creation is hierarchically directed
to the glory of the greatest good which is God Himself. Man is created in the
image of God which consists in the spiritualization of a soul with the powers
of reason and will. The reason of man is directed to know truth and the will of
man is created to choose good. Man fails to obtain salvation when he lives on
lies and thus the good he chooses is not good enough. It is not a good enough
because it is a good that has a disordered reference to God and a disordered
reference to God's creation. It is a disordered lie. Every saint commenting on
the number saved says that very few men are saved. Jesus Christ said that the
way of salvation is straight and the gate narrow while the way to damnation is
broad and the gate wide. We are to strive to enter by the narrow gate with the
few and turn away from the many. The narrow gate demands that the reason
adheres to truth and the will to the greatest good which is God. The Novus Ordo
Church uniformly is complacent and satisfied with lies and "a good
proportionate to the common condition of human nature found in many."
There is no possibility for salvation for anyone who is satisfied with lies and
a lesser disordered "good proportionate to the common condition of human
nature."
Modernists and Neo-Modernists are willfully
blind to Essence, that is, they are in the end the most
heatless of all!
"Here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with the heart
that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye."
Antoine de Saint ExupThe
Little Prince
The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, BVM -Queen of All Saints & Mother of Fair Love, and BVM-Mediatrix of
All Grace are feasts of the Blessed Mother Mary normallycelebrated on May 31.
The Queenship is translated to the following day and the other two are
suppressed this year because of Trinity Sunday. Since the current occupant of
the papal throne, like his predecessor Francis/Bergoglio, despise the
immemorial tradition of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Mediatrix of
All Graces, we should offer prayers to her today in memory of this title.
Prayer
to Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces
O heavenly treasure of all
graces, Mary, Mother of God and our dear Mother, since you are the first-born
daughter of the Eternal Father, and you held in your hands His omnipotence, be
moved to pity for our souls and grant us the graces which we fervently ask of
you, our dear Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces. [Make your requests here] Hail
Mary, etc.
O merciful dispenser of divine
graces, Mary most Holy, Mother of the Eternal Incarnate Word, who has crowned
you with His immense wisdom, look tenderly upon the greatness of our sorrows,
and grant us the necessary graces we need so much to fulfill the will of our
Creator, God the Father. Hail Mary, etc.
Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces, pray for us.
Pope
Leo endorses Francis/Bergoglio's Heretical Document, Evangelii
Gaudium
Neo-Modernists
belief:
"Non-Christians, by God's
gracious initiative, when they are faithful to their own consciences, can live,
'justified by the grace of God' and thus be 'associated to the paschal mystery
of Jesus Christ.'"
Pope Francis the Pelagian, Evangelii
Gaudium
"Pope Francis masterfully
concretely set forth in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium ....."
Pope Leo XIV
Catholic
Faith:
"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.... and that nobody can be saved, no matter how
much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed blood in the name of
Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic
Church."
Pope Eugene IV, Council of
Clorence, Cantate Domino, 1441
SSPX
announces four candidates to be consecrated as bishops for the SSPX
The SSPX has been in doctrinal
discussions with Rome since 1997 and since around 2015 their leadership made
the 1989 Profession of Faith with its third addendum of vowing in a Catholic
profession of faith to unconditional obedience to the "authentic
(authorized) magisterium" of the pope and were, because of that,
regularized in the Novus Ordo Church. The authentic (authorized) magisterium is
a modern term used to identify the person of the pope in his 'authorized' acts
and has no other meaning beyond that. When the pope arranges the seating
assignments at a papal dinner it is an act of the "authentic (authorized)
magisterium" of the pope. Archbishop Lefebvre considered this addendum
unacceptable. Why? Because unconditional obedience, or as the Vatican II
document Lumen Gentium terms
it, unconditional 'submission of the mind and soul', can only be given to God.
All human acts of obedience are necessarily conditional. The SSPX since 2012
has expelled or driven out over one-hundred clerics from their society because
they would not go along with the compromising of the leadership. They insisted,
as did Archbishop Lefebvre, that there could be no accommodation with Rome
without first addressing the doctrinal errors of Vatican II and its corrupting
'spirit'. The most notable of those expelled was Bishop Richard Williamson.
Bishop Williamson before his death consecrated six bishops to aid traditional
Catholics throughout the world because there exists a state of necessity in the
Catholic Church to defend the faith and preserve the purity of worship. Our
Mission of Ss. Peter & Paul benefitted much from his charity. When Bishop
Williamson died in January of 2025 the SSPX published a notice in which they
censored his consecrations of bishops as an unnecessary act and a grave sin.
They expressed their hope that he sincerely repented from this grave sin before
his death! Now, a little over a year later, the SSPX has discovered their own
'state of necessity' and propose to consecrate four clerics as bishops. This
'state of necessity' has nothing to do with the defense of the Church, Catholic
tradition and purity of worship but only with the needs of the SSPX. This is
not amorally acceptable ground for the consecrations and the SSPX knows it. A
dishonorable motive vitiates what in other respects is a honorable act.
Furthermore, the priests of
the SSPX without exception were ordained with the understanding that they would
not be exercising ordinary jurisdiction. The SSPX believes erroneously that
supplied jurisdiction is provided by the Church directly to the clerics because
of the state of necessity in the Church. This is not true. Supplied
jurisdiction is provided by the Church for the needs of the faithful. Any
cleric may provide for the spiritual needs of the faithful when those holding
ordinary jurisdiction either will not or cannot. When a faithful Catholic
cannot obtain Catholic doctrine and Catholic sacraments from those exercising
ordinary jurisdiction over him, he is free to obtain these from any other
cleric who is willing to help. Now SPPX clerics WILL NOT provide the sacraments
to any faithful Catholic who does not conform to the doctrine and worship of
the SSPX and who is unwilling to pay for these sacraments. The SSPX clerics
believe that supplied jurisdiction is provided to them directly by the Church
independent of the needs of the faithful and they are free to give or withhold
spiritual aid. This is why Fr. John Fullerton, the current and former district
superior of the SSPX for the United States once vowed a threat to Ss. Peter
& Paul Roman Catholic Mission that unless the property was turned over to
them or to the local ordinary, he would personally see that no Catholic
attending our Mission would ever received any sacraments from any traditional
priest whomsoever. He vowed that we would enter a "spiritual desert."
This is objectively a grave sin. It demonstrates more convincingly than any
argument that the SSPX exists for itself and not the good of the Church or the
needs of the faithful. The SSPX has no right to consecrate bishops based upon
the personal needs of their own society.
Council of
Trent, Canon XIII, On the Sacraments
Bugnini in 1948) this assumption in altering
almost every aspect of the liturgy, adding and deleting material according to
their own theories. Therefore what they produced is not and can never be an
expression of Catholic tradition; it will always remain a foreign body.
Peter Kwasniewski, Ph.D.
St. John
Eudes:
THE name of contract is given
to any agreement entered into by two or more persons, in which the parties
contracting incur mutual obligations. This clearly shows that a contract. has
been entered into by the most Blessed Trinity and you in Baptism; since you
have incurred many obligations towards the Blessed Trinity, and the Blessed
Trinity has also obliged itself in regard to you. What is the nature of this
contract? It is a reciprocal contract of gifts, the highest and most entire
that can
It is a contract of adoption,
since God the Father has taken you for his child, and has conferred on you the
right of his inheritance with his only Son, and you have taken God for your
Father, and have promised to entertain for him all the love and respect which a
child owes to a so good a parent.
Behold the admirable effect of
the contract which you have made with God in Baptism, from being the child of
wrath and an heir of hell, you have become the child of God and an heir to
heaven! What you should not do to acknowledge the infinite goodness of God in
your regard?
It is a contract of alliance
with the Son of God, since in receiving Baptism you have united yourself to him
as to your head, your master, and your sovereign, and since the Son has taken
you for His servant and one of the members of his body, which is his Church.
How great is the goodness of God, says St. Paul to the newly converted
Christians of Corinth;
What were you before Baptism
but the unhappy slave of Satan, and subject like him to eternal punishment? But
by Baptism you have been delivered from this unhappy subjection, through the
divine alliance which you have contracted with Jesus Christ, which procures you
the enjoyment of eternal happiness, if you observe all its conditions.
Finally, it is a contract of
alliance with the Person of the Holy Ghost; for faith teaches us, that the Holy
Ghost takes the Christian soul as his spouse, and that the Christian
reciprocally takes the Holy Ghost for his spouse. In consequence of this sacred
alliance, the Holy Ghost calls you
When you had been presented to
the church to receive Baptism, you were treated as a person in the possession
of the devil, for the priest pronounced over you the exorcism of the church,
commanding the wicked spirit to depart from you, and to give place to the Holy
Ghost.
This ceremony teaches you that
by original sin you were really in possession of the devil, and that he abided
in you, but that, through Baptism, he has been cast out of you; that your soul
has been purified from the horrible stain which disfigured it, and that the
Holy Ghost, having sanctified and ornamented it with his grace, comes to take
up his abode in it. [
That Baptism imprints in your
soul a spiritual character, which no sin can efface. This character is a proof
that from this time you do not belong to yourself, but that you are the
property of Jesus Christ, who has purchased you by the infinite price of his
blood and of his death. You are not of yourself, but you are of Christ
The Priest introduced you into
the Church, by saying,
St. John Eudes, excerpt from Man
COMMENT:
St. John Eudes
makes clear what every faithful Catholic should already know, that is, it is by
virtue of the sacrament of Baptism received with Faith that makes a person a
Child of God. The Neo-modernist popes since Vatican II heretically teach that
everyone is a child of God by virtue of the Incarnation of the Logos, the Word
becoming flesh, where the second Person of the Trinity, by personally uniting
Himself with our human nature, thereby elevated all humanity to being children
of God by virtue of this shared humanity. For them, Baptism is only an outward sign signifying what has already taken place. It reduces Baptism from a performative
sign that is necessity of means for salvation to a simple necessity
of precept which obligates only those
who feel some inner compulsion to obey. It is this fundamental corruption of
revealed truth that makes modern ecumenism with such events as the blasphemous
It is an unfortunate fact that
the many traditional Catholics and conservative Catholics believe this tripe
and profess that any This error is derived essentially from the more
fundamental error of denying Dogma
as Dogma, by overturning Dogma
in its very nature. For these Neo-modernists, Dogma is not the revealed truth
of God but only a human axiom open to unending refinement and new
interpretations.
But the truth is that Dogma is divine revelation formally and infallibly defined by the Magisterium of the Church.It is irreformable in both the truth it declares and the words that it uses to define. It constitutes the formal object of divine and Catholic faith and is the proximate rule of faith for every faithful child of God. Not until every traditional Catholic recognizes and defends this truth will any effective resistance to Neo-modernist error be effectively mounted.
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