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| Pope Francis praises Fr. James Martin’s pro-LGBT conference as promoting ‘the culture of encounter’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-03-2022, 07:57 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Pope Francis praises Fr. James Martin’s pro-LGBT conference as promoting ‘the culture of encounter’
Faithful Catholics had protested the LGBT conference organized by Fr. Martin,
an event which Pope Francis said ‘enriches us with our differences.’
![[Image: Francis-James-Martin-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Francis-James-Martin-810x500.jpg)
Pope Francis and Fr. James Martin SJ
Aug 2, 2022
(LifeSiteNews [adapted]) — Pope Francis has once again written to dissident, pro-LGBT Jesuit Father James Martin, praising the priest for a scandalous LGBT conference he recently hosted and for the “culture of encounter” he promotes amongst “LGBT Catholics.”
Fr. Martin S.J. announced that Outreach – “a new LGBTQ Catholic resource” he recently set up – had sent the Pope details about Outreach’s recent conference, which featured a range of pro-LGBT speakers advocating positions contrary to the Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality.
Pro-LGBT Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv., of Lexington, Kentucky, gave the keynote address the first day of the conference, while Fr. Bryan Massingale, a dissident, openly homosexual priest and Fordham University professor who supports same-sex “marriage,” delivered a keynote speech the second day.
Martin noted that accompanying the conference brochure sent to the Pope was a letter “describing what happened at the conference, especially the panel conversations among people with various viewpoints.”
On the morning of August 2, Outreach received a signed letter in Spanish from Francis by way of a response, which was dated July 20. Fr. Martin’s tweet, announcing the letter, was “liked” by the Pontifical Academy for Life.
Quote:News: I’m happy to share with you this warm letter from Pope Francis, received this morning, in response to our mailing him a copy of the Outreach 2022 brochure. We’re grateful to the Holy Father for his support and his prayers. English translation here: https://t.co/NT5AjHFhqE pic.twitter.com/G42mJVpIAP
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) August 2, 2022
Addressing Martin as “brother,” the Pope congratulated the dissident priest for the conference, saying that “the most valuable thing” was what “happened in the interpersonal meetings.”
Referencing the COVID-19 “pandemic,” Francis wrote that it “taught us that there are things that are irreplaceable, among them being able to look at each other ‘face to face,’ even with those who think differently or with whom differences seem to separate and even confront us.” (The full text is found below.)
“When we overcome those barriers,” he continued, “we realize that there is more that unites us than what keeps us apart.”
The 85-year-old Pontiff also praised Martin for “working in the culture of encounter,” which, he said, “shortens distances and enriches us with our differences, just as Jesus did.”
Fr. Martin’s Outreach conference, held at the liberal “Catholic” Fordham University, was attended by over 200 people from across North America, Europe, Africa and South America, who Martin described as “theologians and writers; high school teachers and college professors; pastors and parish lay leaders; mothers and fathers; gay, straight, bisexual, lesbian and transgender people — all part of the same church.”
Faithful Catholics had organized prayerful protests against the conference, arguing that Martin’s “public revolt against Catholic moral teaching causes scandal, especially among faithful Catholic students.” “Moreover, the summit features a line-up of dissident speakers who share a common objective: Normalize unnatural vice inside the Holy Catholic Church,” TFP Student Action warned.
One of the non-clerical speakers at the event was Dr. Colt St. Amand, a woman who presents herself as a “transgenderqueer Two Spirit man.” St. Amand, a psychologist, provides “mental health letters” for “face, chest/breast, and genital surgeries” for “transgender” clients and assists them to obtain puberty blockers and “transition in school,” her website states.
The conference operated with a marked degree of ecclesiastical approval, not only from Francis – who wrote a letter welcoming conference attendees – but also from New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who praised Outreach’s “important ministry” as promoting the “virtue of chastity.”
Outreach itself operates “under the auspices of America Media,” which oversees the far-left, Jesuit-run America Magazine. The group is the brainchild of Martin and his past pro-LGBT activities, as it looks to become a global resource center “where church leaders, both clergy and lay, can encounter the LGBTQ faithful, in their ‘joys and hopes’ and ‘griefs and anxieties’ as well as engage in respectful dialogue.”
Increasing signs of Papal support for Fr. Martin
The Pope’s letter is not the first time he has written in support of the relatively new Outreach group. In May, Outreach announced that Francis had responded to a letter sent him by Martin on May 5, asking the Pope questions often posed by “LGBTQ Catholics.” Francis took just three days to respond, sending a hand-written message on May 8, only days after having undergone knee surgery on May 3.
Francis decried “rejection from the Church,” saying that for LGBT individuals “I would have them recognize it not as ‘the rejection of the church,’ but instead of ‘people in the church.’ The church is a mother and calls together all her children.”
READ: Pope Francis addresses ‘LGBT Catholics’ via Fr. James Martin: A ‘selective’ Church is a ‘sect’
The letter was used in a PR campaign to officially launch Outreach.
Francis and Martin met privately in September 2019, in what was reportedly their third meeting, although their first substantial conversation. Both Martin, and America Magazine of which he is an “editor-at-large,” proclaimed the meeting as being “a public sign” of the pontiff’s “support” for Martin’s work promoting LGBT ideology in the name of Catholicism.
In April 2017, Martin was appointed by the Pope as one of the 13 consultors who advise the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications, and the Vatican then invited him to speak at the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Dublin on “Exploring how Parishes can support those families with members who identify as LGBTI+.”
More recently, Francis has notably made a number of statements in support of dissident nun Sister Jeannine Grammick and her previously condemned pro-LGBT group New Ways Ministry. Grammick is a collaborator with Martin in Outreach.
Full text of Pope Francis’ letter to Fr. Martin is found below:
Quote:Dear Brother,
Thank you for the letter you sent me a few weeks ago together with the brochure “Outreach 2022.” Congratulations for having been able to make this year’s event happen in person.
I am aware that the most valuable thing is not what appears in the brochures and photos, but what happened in the interpersonal meetings. In fact, the pandemic made us look for alternatives to shorten the distances. It also taught us that there are things that are irreplaceable, among them being able to look at each other “face to face,” even with those who think differently or with whom differences seem to separate and even confront us. When we overcome those barriers, we realize that there is more that unites us than what keeps us apart.
I encourage you to continue working in the culture of encounter, which shortens distances and enriches us with our differences, just as Jesus did, who made himself close to everyone.
I assure you of my prayers. Do not stop praying for me. May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin watch over you.
Fraternally, Francisco
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| Feast of Our Lady of the Angels - August 2nd |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-02-2022, 08:17 AM - Forum: Our Lady
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Our Lady of the Angels - August 2nd
We know in simple, childlike faith that the Blessed Virgin Mary is, in flesh and blood, holier, more beautiful, more powerful and closer to God in divine union than all the choirs and hierarchies of angels put together. Mary is the Queen of Angels. The angels obey her slightest command with royal, angelic love.
A little ruined church, belonging to the Benedictines of Subasio, about a mile from Assisi and called the Portiuncula, which Saint Francis of Assisi repaired in 1207 and which had been named for Our Lady of the Angels, gave us the first feast of Our Lady under this title. It was on the feast of Our Lady, Queen of Angels, August 2, 1492, that Christopher Columbus knowing there was a plenary indulgence granted to all who received Holy Communion on that day, went with all his crew to Mass, received Holy Communion, finished packing his boat — called the Santa Maria, the Holy Mary — and set sail for the New World. It took Columbus seventy-two days to cross the ocean. The day of his landing in America was a special feast of Our Lady, October 12, and we will speak of that day when it comes. There is a church called Our Lady of the Angels in Rome, dedicated to the Mother of God by Pope Pius IV in the year 1561. This was to secure her protection for Catholics against the horrors of the heretics that were beginning in that century.
![[Image: The_Virgin_with_Angels_William-Adolphe_B...=600&ssl=1]](https://i0.wp.com/catholicism.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2000/08/The_Virgin_with_Angels_William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_1900.jpg?w=600&ssl=1)
The Virgin with Angels, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1900 |
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| Pope Francis on the Church’s ban of birth control: Morality is ‘always on a path of development’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-01-2022, 12:48 PM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Pope Francis on the Church’s ban of birth control: Morality is ‘always on a path of development’
Pope Francis' comments appear to lend further credence to speculation that he might soon issue an encyclical overturning the Church's ban on contraception.
![[Image: POPE-FRANCIS-flight-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/POPE-FRANCIS-flight-810x500.jpg)
Pope Francis speaking to journalists on his return flight from Canada
Vatican News screenshot
Aug 1, 2022
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — During his return flight from Canada on Saturday Pope Francis replied to a question regarding the Catholic Church’s prohibition on contraceptives, saying that dogma and morality are “always on a path of development.”
Speaking to selected reporters, Francis responded to questions regarding his health, possible retirement, Germany’s Synodal Way and international politics.
While many headlines addressed his comments hinting at a possible retirement, his remarks on contraception passed relatively un-noticed. “Many Catholics, but also many theologians, think that development is needed in the Church’s doctrine regarding contraceptives,” said Claire Giangrave of Religion News Service.
“Are you open, in short, to a reevaluation in this regard?,” she asked, “or does the possibility exist for a couple to consider contraceptives?”
Pope Francis called the question “very timely,” adding that “dogma, morality, is always on a path of development, but always developing in the same direction.”
In a lengthy response, Francis alluded to the 5th century theologian St. Vincent of Lerins, whose famous Canon has been increasingly used as the basis for modern arguments proposing “development” in doctrine.
For the theological development of a moral or dogmatic issue,” Francis said St. Vincent “says that true doctrine, in order to go forward, to develop, must not be quiet, it develops ut annis consolidetur, dilatetur tempore, sublimetur aetate.”
This “true doctrine…”expands and consolidates, and becomes always more solid, but always progressing,” he said. The “duty of theologians is research, theological reflection,” he said.
Quote:You cannot do theology with a ‘no’ in front of it. Then it is up to the Magisterium to say no, you’ve gone too far, come back, but theological development must be open, that’s what theologians are for. And the Magisterium must help to understand the limits.
During the flight back to Rome from #Canada, @Pontifex was asked if the Church’s ban on contraception could be “reconsidered.”
Instead of saying, “No,” he distorted St. Vincent of Lérins’ (5th cen.) teaching on doctrinal development and denigrated Trads: https://t.co/jiwN1TLoEI pic.twitter.com/wxWIYOSwNI
— Matt Gaspers (@MattGaspers) July 30, 2022
Francis also referenced the Pontifical Academy for Life’s (PAV) new book which proposes both contraception and artificial insemination as morally acceptable. Recently published by the Vatican’s publishing house Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the book is a collection of essays taken from a three-day interdisciplinary seminar sponsored by the PAV in 2021.
The pontiff said:
Quote:On the issue of contraception, I know there is a publication out on this and other marital issues: these are the acts of a congress, and in a congress, there are hypotheses, then they discuss among themselves and make proposals.
Francis defended the work, and the seminar which prompted the book, saying the theologians involved “did their duty” by seeking to “move forward in doctrine…in an ecclesial sense”:
Quote:We have to be clear: those who participated in this congress did their duty, because they have sought to move forward in doctrine, but in an ecclesial sense, not out of it, as I said with that rule of St. Vincent of Lerins.
The answers to the questions posed by the PAV now lie with the “Magisterium,” who “will say, yes it is good or it is not good,” he added. “Many things fall under this.”
Fuelling speculation about new encyclical
In light of the PAV’s new book, speculation has arisen regarding a potential new encyclical from the Pope contradicting the Church’s prohibition on contraception. A theologian adviser to the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), recently published an article in the Vatican reviewed La Civilta Cattolica, asking if Francis would write “a new encyclical or apostolic exhortation on bioethics” in line with the PAV’s book.
The PAV welcomed Francis’ in-flight comments, using them as another opportunity to promote the book at the center of current controversy.
When posing her question to the Pope, Giangrave referenced Pope John Paul I’s reported opposition to the Church’s ban on contraception as a basis for allowing “development” of doctrine to permit the practice.
Giangrave is not alone in paying particular attention to John Paul I’s views on the subject. In the build up to his September beatification, Vatican News, the Vatican’s in-house news outlet, is currently focusing heavily on John Paul I’s short reign in a new podcast, led by Andrea Tornielli – the editorial director of the Dicastery for Communications. Both Tornielli and the vice postulator of the pontiff’s sainthood cause, Stefania Falasca, have recently written on John Paul I’s position on contraception in the Vatican’s paper and the paper of the Italian bishops’ conference.
Tradition a ‘dead faith’ which needs updating
Defending his position on the “development” of morals, Francis continued by attacking those attached to “tradition.”
“I think this is very clear: a Church that does not develop its thinking in an ecclesial sense, is a Church that is going backward,” he said, describing it as “today’s problem, and of many who call themselves traditional.”
Such “people looking to the past, going backward, without roots” are sinning, he said, as “looking backward is a sin because it does not progress with the Church.”
Employing now familiar phraseology, Francis slated adherents of tradition for clinging to a “dead faith.”
Quote:Tradition is the living faith of those who have died. Instead, for those people who are looking backward, who call themselves traditionalists, it is the dead faith of the living. Tradition is truly the root, the inspiration by which to go forward in the Church, and this is always vertical.
Consequently, he defended the proposed “development” of morals, stating that “thinking and carrying forward faith and morals, as long as it is going in the direction of the roots, of the sap [of the tree], that’s ok. With these three rules of Vincent of Lerins that I mentioned.”
Catholic teaching on contraception
Writing in 1930, Pope Pius XI encylical Casti Connubi stated that “every use of the faculty given by God for the procreation of new life is the right and the privilege of the married state alone, by the law of God and of nature, and must be confined absolutely within the sacred limits of that state.”
He also condemned birth control, ordering that “any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offense against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of a grave sin.”
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| Abp. Viganò: Pope Francis’ pagan smudging ritual was an ‘act of submission to the New World Order’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-01-2022, 12:26 PM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Abp. Viganò: Pope Francis’ pagan smudging ritual was an ‘act of submission to the New World Order’
Seeing Bergoglio impassively watch the satanic rites of evocation of the dead performed by a shaman unbelievably worsens the scandal of having rendered idolatrous worship to the infernal pachamama in the Vatican Basilica.
![[Image: Pope-Francis-1-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Pope-Francis-1-810x500.jpg)
Pope Francis in Edmonton, Canada on July 24, 2022
Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images
Aug 1, 2022
(LifeSiteNews) — Redde rationem villicationis tuæ, jam enim non poteris villicare: “Give an account of thy stewardship, for now thou canst be steward no longer.”
“My wife, when asked who converted her to Catholicism, always answers, “the devil’.” – G.K. Chesterton
It is not by chance that Satan is called a διάβολος, with the double meaning of liar and accuser. Satan lies because he hates the Truth, that is, God in His Essence. He lies because if he were to tell the truth he would reveal his own deceptions. He lies because only by lying can he also be the accuser of our brothers, “he who day and night accuses them before our God” (Ap 12:10). And just as the Most Blessed Virgin, the tabernacle of the Incarnate Word, is advocata nostra, so Satan is our accuser and the one who inspires false testimony against the just.
The Revolution – which is the overturning of the divine kosmos in order to establish infernal chaos – having no arguments to discredit the Church of Christ and the Christian society that has been inspired and guided by Her down the centuries, resorts to slander and the manipulation of reality. Cancel Culture is nothing other than the attempt to put the Civitas Dei on trial in order to condemn her without proof, imposing the civitas diaboli as its counterpart of alleged liberty, equality, and fraternity. In order to do this, as is evident, it prevents the masses from having a knowledge of the truth, because its deception is based on ignorance and bad faith.
This premise is necessary in order to understand the gravity of the behavior of the one who usurps the vicarious power deriving from the supreme authority of the Church to slander and accuse her before the world, in a grotesque parody of Christ’s trial before the Sanhedrin and Pilate. On that occasion also the civil authority listened to the false accusations made against Our Lord, and although recognizing His innocence, had Him scourged and crowned with thorns in order to please the people who were stirred up by the High Priests and the scribes, and then sent Him to death, crucifying Him with the most humiliating of tortures. The members of the Sanhedrin thus abused their spiritual authority, as the Prefect of Judea abused his civil authority.
The same farce has been repeated throughout history thousands and thousands of times, because hiding behind every lie, behind every unfounded accusation against Christ and against His Mystical Body which is the Church, is the devil, the liar, the accuser. And it is evident, beyond any reasonable doubt, that this Satanic action is inspiring the events reported in the press in the last few days, from the perfidious mea culpa of Bergoglio for the alleged sins of the Catholic Church committed in Canada against the indigenous peoples, to his participation in pagan rites and infernal ceremonies of evocation of the dead.
Regarding the “faults” of the Jesuit missionaries, I think Corrispondenza Romana (here) has answered exhaustively, enumerating the brutality to which the Martyrs of Canada were subjected at the hands of the Iroquois Indians. The same applies to the alleged accusations relating to the Indian residential schools that the State had entrusted to the Catholic Church and the Anglicans in order to civilize the indigenous people and favor the assimilation of the Christian culture of the country.
We thus discover that “the Oblates [of Mary Immaculate] were the only defenders of the traditional language and way of life of the Indians of Canada, unlike the government and the Anglican Church, which insisted on an integration that uprooted the indigenous people from their origins.” We also learn that the alleged “cultural genocide” of the indigenous people that the Commission de vérité et réconciliation had to deal with in 2008 was then transformed, without any basis of truth or probability, into “physical genocide,” thanks to an absolutely false media campaign that was supported by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a pupil of Klaus Schwab and a notorious proponent of globalism and the Davos Agenda.
But if the truth has also been officially recognized by experts and non-partisan historians, nevertheless the cult of lies has continued its inexorable process, culminating in the official apologies of the head of the Church, demanded by Trudeau and immediately made his own by Bergoglio, who could not wait to humiliate once again the institution he unworthily represents. In their eagerness to indulge the official narrative and please their masters, Trudeau and Bergoglio consider as a negligible detail the total non-existence of evidence about the phantom mass graves in which hundreds of children were supposedly secretly buried. This ought to be enough to demonstrate their bad faith and the pretentiousness of their accusations and mea culpa; also because the press regime demands the heads of the enemies of the people with summary trials, but is careful not to rehabilitate the innocent people who are falsely accused.
The purpose of this filthy media operation is all too obvious: to discredit the past of the Catholic Church as being guilty of the worst atrocities, in order to legitimize her present persecution, both by the State and by the Hierarchy itself. Because that Church, the “intolerant,” “rigid” Catholic Church, which preached the Gospel to all peoples and which allowed its missionaries to be martyred by tribes immersed in the barbarity of paganism, must no longer be allowed to exist, must not “proselytize” – “a solemn nonsense,” “a very serious sin against ecumenism” – and she must not claim to have any Truth to teach the nations for the salvation of souls. And Bergoglio wants us to know that he has nothing to do with that Church, just as he detests the doctrine, morality and liturgy of that Church, to the point of mercilessly persecuting the many faithful who have not yet resigned themselves to following him towards the abyss of apostasy and who would like to honor God with the Apostolic Mass.
Not that anyone has ever thought that Jorge Mario can in any way be Catholic: every expression, every gesture, every movement he makes betrays such impatience for that which even remotely recalls Our Lord that by now his attestations of irreligiosity and sacrilegious impiety are superfluous. Seeing him impassively watch the satanic rites of evocation of the dead performed by a shaman unbelievably worsens the scandal of having rendered idolatrous worship to the infernal pachamama in the Vatican Basilica, thereby desecrating it directly above the burial place of the Prince of the Apostles.
Asking forgiveness for the non-existent “sins of the missionaries” is a despicable and sacrilegious act of submission to the New World Order that finds perfect correspondence in the complicit silences and scandalous protections for which Bergoglio is responsible towards the true abuse victims of his protégés. We may hear him ask for forgiveness in China, in Africa, and among the icebergs of Antarctica, but we will never hear him pronounce a mea culpa for abuses and crimes committed in Argentina, for the horrors of the lavender mafia of McCarrick and his accomplices, and those he promoted as his collaborators. We will never hear him make credible apologies for having lent himself to be the celebrity endorser of the vaccine campaign, a vaccine which today we know is the cause of a terrifying number of sudden deaths and adverse effects. He will never beat his breast for these sins; indeed he is proud of them and knows that a gesture of sincere repentance would not be appreciated by his principal supporters, who are no less guilty than him.
So here we are, standing before the liar, the accuser. Here we are before the ruthless persecutor of the good clergy and faithful both of yesterday and today, the zealous ally of the enemies of Christ and of the Church: the fierce opponent of the Catholic Mass who is an ecumenical participant in satanic rites and pagan ceremonies – a man divided in soul by his dual role as head of the sect that occupies the Vatican and as inquisitor of the Catholic Church. At his side, in this squalid performance, is his altar boy Trudeau, who propagates gender doctrine and LGBTQ ideology in the name of inclusiveness and freedom, but who did not hesitate for a moment to repress in blood the just and legitimate revolts of the Canadian people, which was deprived of its fundamental rights with the excuse of the pandemic emergency.
They make a nice couple, without a doubt! Both have been sponsored in their careers by the anti-Christian globalist elite. Both have been placed at the head of an institution with the task of demolishing it and dispersing its members. Both are betrayers of their role, of justice, and of truth.
These summary trials may perhaps be appreciated by contemporaries in bad faith or in ignorance, but they do not withstand the judgment of history, much less the unappealable judgment of God.
The day will come when he will be called to render an account of his administration: “Redde rationem villicationis tuæ: jam enim non poteris villicare – Give an account of thy stewardship, for now thou canst be steward no longer” (Lk 16:2), says the master in the parable of yesterday’s Gospel. Until that moment, as baptized and living members of the Mystical Body, let us pray and do penance, in order to remove from us the punishments that these scandals call down upon the Church and the world. Let us invoke the intercession of the Martyrs of Canada, who have been outraged by the accuser who is seated on the Throne of Peter, so that they may obtain from the Throne of God the liberation of the Church from the present scourge.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
1 August 2022
Ss. Petri ad Vincula & Ss. Martyrum Machabæorum
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| Israel's War On Cash Is About To Get More Drastic |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-01-2022, 09:37 AM - Forum: Global News
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Israel's War On Cash Is About To Get More Drastic
ZH | JUL 31, 2022
Starting Monday, it will be a criminal offense in Israel to pay more than the equivalent of $1,700 in cash to a business or $4,360 in cash to individual, as the government intensifies its ongoing war on tangible money.
It's a war that began in earnest with the 2018 passage of the Law for the Reduction in the Use of Cash. Israeli businesses and individuals began facing limits on cash transactions in January 2019. However, on Aug 1, those limits are being slashed nearly in half.
Quote:“We want the public to reduce the use of cash money,” Tamar Bracha, who's responsible for carrying out the law for Israel’s Tax Authority, told The Media Line.
“The goal is to reduce cash fluidity in the market, mainly because crime organizations tend to rely on cash. By limiting the use of it, criminal activity is much harder to carry out.”
Israel also limits the extent to which cash is used in transactions involving multiple payment methods. If the total transaction value is more than the above thresholds, cash may only be used for 10% of the purchase. Car purchases are given a higher, 50,000 NIS (New Israeli Shekels) limit -- about $14,700.
Violators are subject to penalties that can reach 25% of the transaction for individuals and 30% for businesses. According to Israel National News, the government has amassed the equivalent of $5 billion in fines since restrictions began in 2019.
Not all transactions are affected, as The Media Line explains:
Quote:There are some exemptions to the new law: charitable institutions, which are most common in ultra-Orthodox society; and trade with Palestinians from the West Bank, who are not citizens of Israel. In the case of the latter, deals including large amounts of cash will be allowed, yet they will require a detailed report to Israel’s Tax Authority.
However, in Israel's phased approach to eliminating cash from society, those exceptions are destined to expire.
Next, Israel's finance ministry plans to deliver a proposal to parliament to criminalize the mere possession of cash exceeding a certain sum. One version of the proposal set the possession cap at the shekel equivalent of just $14,700.
Limits like Israel's are just one way to work toward "de-cashing" a population. A 2017 International Monetary Fund paper outlined other tactics, including abolishing large-denomination bills, imposing reporting requirements on cash transactions over a certain threshold, requiring the declaration of cash when entering or leaving a country, or applying an additional tax when cash is used. Various countries and economic blocs have already started implementing measures from this menu.
A war on cash isn't the only way Israel is leading the way to an authoritarian future; it has also:
Quote:I once warned that the architecture of oppression was near.
It has arrived.https://t.co/Ph9s3qhlwH
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) November 8, 2021
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| Commentary by Pope Pius II: Joan of Arc Victory at Orleans |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-01-2022, 08:46 AM - Forum: The Saints
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One of the earliest commentaries on Joan of Arc's victory at Orleans was written by Pope Pius II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini) while he was Pope (1458-1464) as part of his autobiography known as his Commentaries which were published in 1584 after his death. His remarks about Joan and the raising of the siege of Orleans provide an interesting perspective from a world leader who lived during the time of the Battle of Orleans however his knowledge seems to have been limited to a general overview as his specifics about the events of the battle are not consistent with the known facts.
The matter was discussed in council for some time with various opinions. Some said the girl was crazy, others said she was bewitched, others that she was inspired by the Holy Ghost, and these last recalled the fact that Bethulia and other cities had in the past been saved by woman; the kingdom of France had often been aided by Heaven; it might be that now too it was defended by a maid sent by God and that the task had been committed to the weaker sex that the French with their accustomed pride might not be overconfident of their own powers; in any case a girl whose advice was so sensible could not be called mad.
This opinion prevailed and they entrusted the matter of Orleans to the Maid. A woman was put in command of war. Arms were brought, horses led up. The girl mounted the most spirited steed; then in her gleaming armor brandishing her spear like Camilla in the tale she made him leap, run, and curvet. When the nobles saw this, none of the them scorned to be commanded by a woman. All the noblest took arms and eagerly followed the Maid, who, when all was ready, set out on the march.
The approach to Orleans by land was very difficult. All the roads were blocked by the English and at each of the three gates they had a camp fortified with a moat and a rampart. The Maid, knowing that the river Loire flows by the walls of the city, loaded ships with grain in a secluded place and embarked with her troops, sending word to the besieged that she had started. By rowing quickly and taking advantage of the swift current she appeared in sight of the city before the enemy knew she was coming. Armed English troops rushed up and putting out in small boats tried in vain to prevent her landing. They were forced to retreat with many wounds.
The Maid entered the city, where she was received with great rejoicing by the people, and brought supplies of all kinds to a populace near starvation. The next day at dawn she at once furiously attacked the camp of the enemy which was besieging the main gate. Filling the moats and shattering the mound and rampart she routed the English in confusion, captured their fortifications, and set fire to the towers and bulwarks which they had built. Having thus heartened the townsmen, she made sallies through the other gates and did the same in other camps.
Since the English forces were stationed in several different places and one camp could not come to the help of another, the siege of Orleans was weakened by these tactics and then utterly broken. All the enemy who had fought against the Maid fell so that there was hardly anyone left to carry news of the disaster. The glory of this exploit was credited to the Maid alone, though very brave and experienced soldiers who had often commanded troops took part in it.
Such a massacre of his men and such humiliation was unbearable to Talbot, the most celebrated of the English commanders, and with 4,000 horsemen picked from the entire army he marched against Orleans to fight the Maid if she dared meet him, never doubting that when she came through the gate he could either capture or kill her. But the event proved quite otherwise. The Maid led out her troops and as soon as she saw the enemy, with loud shouts and terrific force she charged the English lines. Not a man dared to stand fast or show his face; sudden panic and horror seized them all. Although they were superior in numbers they had supposed they would be fewer and thought countless forces were fighting for the Maid. Some even thought angels were fighting on the opposite side and had no hope of victory if they found themselves battling against God. Their drawn swords fell from their hands; everyone threw away shield and helmet to be unencumbered for flight. Talbot's shouts of encouragement were unheard and his threats unheeded. It was a most shameful rout. They presented only their backs to the Maid, who followed up the fugitives and took or killed every man except a few - including the commander, who when he saw that his men could not be rallied, made his escape on a swift horse.
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| Diocese of Arlington announces sweeping new restrictions on Latin Mass |
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Posted by: Stone - 07-31-2022, 06:49 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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Diocese of Arlington announces sweeping new restrictions on Latin Mass
The new policy, published by Bishop Michael Burbidge on Friday, wipes out 13 Latin Mass locations in the diocese.
![[Image: burbidge-1-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/burbidge-1-810x500.jpg)
Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge
YouTube / screenshot
Jul 31, 2022
(LifeSiteNews [adapted]) – The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, has become the latest U.S. diocese to announce sweeping restrictions on the Latin Mass following recent Vatican directives cracking down on traditional worship.
A new policy published by Bishop Michael Burbidge on Friday eliminates 13 of 21 Latin Mass locations in the diocese in accordance with Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes (TC). The diocese’s policy takes effect on September 8, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Of the remaining eight parishes allowed to offer the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), also known as the Extraordinary Form or usus antiquior, five may only do so in school facilities or older church buildings: Saint John the Baptist Church in Front Royal, Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Winchester, All Saints Church in Manassas, Saint John the Apostle Church in Leesburg, and Saint Patrick Catholic Church in Fredericksburg.
TLM-goers at Saint John the Baptist will be relegated to a school gymnasium, while parishioners at Saint Patrick will be forced to celebrate the Latin Mass in a small 1960s church building, which is currently without pews. The Fredericksburg parish had just dedicated a new, more traditional church last year.
“Forcing St. John the Baptist to hold Latin Mass in a gymnasium is such a gratuitous insult to the faithful there,” commented Noah Peters, a parishioner at St. John the Beloved in McLean, Virginia, who had launched a petition urging Bishop Burbidge to protect the Extraordinary Form. “I have never seen a religious community treated more shabbily by the people who are supposed to care for it.”
St. John the Beloved and two other parishes – Saint Anthony Mission in King George and Saint Rita’s Church in Alexandria – may continue to offer the Latin Mass in their main churches for a two-year period under dispensations granted by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (DDWDS), headed by aggressively anti-traditional Cardinal-designate Arthur Roche.
READ: Georgia bishop says the Vatican ordered him to end all Latin Masses in his diocese by May 2023
Those dispensations “may be extended upon the approval of the Dicastery,” as long as the parishes demonstrate “ongoing work” in transitioning to the Novus Ordo Mass, the diocese’s policy states.
The Arlington diocese noted in a statement that Bishop Burbidge, who has a record of supporting the Latin Mass and had offered Confirmation in the Extraordinary Form, submitted a request to the DDWDS for a dispensation from Traditionis Custodes. The motu proprio prohibits local bishops from allowing the TLM in parish churches unless it is “not possible” to find another location.
The diocese’s statement framed Bishop Burbidge’s policy a compromise that “ensures regional availability of the Traditional Latin Mass” while complying with Pope Francis’ restrictions.
“Since the publication of Traditionis Custodes, Bishop Burbidge has consistently emphasized two points. First, the Diocese of Arlington will be obedient to the Holy Father’s directives, working toward unity in our use of liturgical rites. Second, the diocesan instruction related to Traditionis Custodes would be sensitive to those who attend the Traditional Latin Mass,” the statement read.
The Diocese of Arlington has been known for widespread availability of the Latin Mass, with around 30 percent of parishes regularly offering the TLM in recent years, and for a large traditionalist community. Christendom College, one of the few Catholic institutions of higher education in the U.S. still recognized by the Newman Guide as faithful to the Magisterium, is located within the diocese.
No TLM in Holy Week, no advertising in parish bulletins
The times permitted for celebration of the Latin Mass in the Diocese of Arlington are still “to be determined,” but may not include Holy Week or the Easter Triduum, according to the new policy.
In line with Traditionis Custodes, all Mass readings must also be proclaimed in the vernacular, no new Latin Mass groups may be formed, and priests must obtain written permission to celebrate the TLM, which they may only do if they were ordained prior to the publication of TC in July, 2021. The deadline for priests to request permission is August 31.
Moreover, the pastors of any parish where the Latin Mass may still be offered must “develop a pastoral plan” in order “to lead the faithful who are attached to the antecedent liturgy towards the celebration of the liturgy according to the liturgical books reformed by decree of the Second Vatican Council, and which form the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite,” the diocese’s policy adds, echoing Traditionis Custodes.
The most recent edition of the Roman Missal, promulgated in English in 2011 and in Spanish in 2018, “is to take priority in the schedule of Sunday Masses,” the policy additionally specifies. “It is expected that priests will celebrate Mass using this Missal every Sunday and on weekdays as the principal, public celebration(s) of the day,” including at parishes that may offer the Latin Mass.
Bishop Burbidge previously banned the celebration of other sacraments in the Extraordinary Form in January, in conformity with a December 2021 Responsa ad Dubia from Cardinal-designate Roche which announced a slate of further restrictions on traditional worship.
Parishes may not even advertise Latin Masses in the Arlington diocese in their bulletins: “Per the Responsa ad Dubia and as directed by the Dicastery, the parish may not publish the times of the Mass in the usus antiquior in the bulletin or on the parish website or social media sites.”
LifeSiteNews has reached out to the Diocese of Arlington for comment. This article will be updated with any response.
Bishop Burbidge’s announcement of the new restrictions comes one week after Cardinal Wilton Gregory of the neighboring Archdiocese of Washington eviscerated all Latin Mass parishes in Washington, D.C., and pushed the Old Mass to just three churches across his archdiocese.
Vatican ‘tyranny’ against the Latin Mass
Traditionalist liturgical scholar Peter Kwasniewski described the Arlington diocese’s policy as a “severe implementation,” which he said “does not read like” Bishop Burbidge.
“There is every reason to believe Rome insisted” on the restrictions, Kwasniewski said, urging priests who celebrate the Latin Mass and traditional sacraments not to “comply with this tyranny.”
“This much is clear: my intel points to increasing behind-the-scenes attacks from the DDW, targeting dioceses known for their diocesan TLMs,” he added.
Bishop Burbidge is considered to be orthodox and is one of a few bishops who has publicly supported San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s decision to ban U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Communion over her unrepentant abortion promotion. The Arlington bishop has affirmed that he will enforce the ban in his diocese.
Burbidge has also been outspoken in defense of life and critical of the LGBT movement. Last year, he drew the ire of dissident, liberal Catholics, including Fr. James Martin, for releasing a catechesis on gender declaring that “no one is transgender” and stressing that Catholics should not use pronouns that do not conform to an individual’s biological sex. He faced criticism in 2020, however, for suspending all public Masses due to COVID-19.
The global crackdown on the Latin Mass and traditional communities continues to accelerate even as the Vatican increasingly allows prelates close to Pope Francis to affirm heresy with no repercussions.
Luxembourgish Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, remains relator general of the Pope’s Synod on Synodality despite his recent claims that the Church’s millennia-old teaching against homosexual behavior is now “false” because “the sociological-scientific foundation of this teaching is no longer correct.” Australian Cardinal George Pell has denounced those comments as “explicit heresy.”
Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the prefect of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy and a member of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinal Advisers, likewise asserted in March that homosexual acts are not sinful and disparaged the authoritative Catechism of the Catholic Church as “not set in stone.”
Pope Francis, meanwhile, has yet to take concrete action against the ongoing “Synodal Way,” a heterodox initiative of the Church in Germany demanding changes to settled Catholic doctrine on contraception, homosexuality, marriage, and the priesthood, among other things.
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| Pope St. Pius X: The Greatest Strength of the Evil Lies in the Weakness of the Good |
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Posted by: Stone - 07-31-2022, 06:27 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching
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The Greatest Strength of the Evil Lies in the Weakness of the Good
Discourse of Pius X on the Day of Joan of Arc’s Beatification in Orléans, France, December 13, 1908
Already in 1908, Pope St. Pius X forewarned Catholics that it is those inside the Church, the supposed friends of Christ, who are inflicting the greatest wounds upon Him and His Bride the Church. How do they do this? By doing nothing to defend the Holy Church and, instead, becoming accomplices of the enemy. This is what we see fulfilled today, with that complicity with the enemy being promoted by the highest authorities of the Catholic Church since Vatican II.
Quote:Difficulties come from those who create and exaggerate them, from those who trust in themselves without the help of Heaven, from those who give in vilely, fearful of the mocking and derision of the world. From this it must be concluded, that in our days more than ever the greatest strength of evil men is the cowardice and weakness of those who are good, and all the backbone of the kingdom of Satan lies in the weakness of Christians.
Oh! if I were allowed, as the prophet Zechariah did in spirit, to ask the divine Redeemer: What are these wounds are in the middle of your hands: quid sunt plagae istae in medio manuum Tuarum? The answer would not be doubtful: 'These have been given to Me in the house of those who loved me: his plagatus sum in medio eorum qui diligebant Me. I was wounded by my friends, who have done nothing to defend Me and who in every meeting have become the accomplices of my adversaries.
And this reproach, which can be leveled at the infamous and fearful Christians of all countries, one cannot exempt many Christians of France.
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| Bishop Williamson further extends his ecumenism—this time to the Anglicans |
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Posted by: Stone - 07-29-2022, 07:24 AM - Forum: True vs. False Resistance
- Replies (5)
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NB: It has, from the beginning, been the stance of The Catacombs to share articles that highlight some aspect of the true Catholic Faith, even if the website from which they originate may be problematic in some way, e.g. sedevacantist, Indult-esque, etc. As long as the subject matter in that particular instance is an accurate mirror of the teachings of the Faith, it is shared here. The source of the article that follows below is a similar situation. The Catacombs does not endorse the entire Catholic Candle website but what follows below does reflect Catholic teaching, hence it is shared here.
-Admin, The Catacombs
Bishop Williamson further extends his ecumenism—this time to the Anglicans
Taken from here - adapted.
God is offended by the errors of the new Conciliar Religion, of the Feeneyites, and of the Sedevacantists. [...] With Bishop Williamson having promoted attending the New mass and the services of Feeneyites and Sedevacantists,he now also extends his ecumenism by promoting the (supposed) truth and worship of another false religion, viz., the Anglicans.
Bishop Williamson tells people that Anglicans possess some truth and some of “the true worship of God”. Here are his words (July 2016):
Quote:If you look for the truth, and you look for the true worship of God, you may find some of it in an Anglican Church. But you start talking to the minister, probably his principles are—most likely are—not completely true [emphasis - The Catacombs].
As discussed below, Bishop Williamson’s scandalous words are ecumenical and false for four reasons:
1. He is wrong that the Anglicans have any “true worship of God”; their worship can never please God because they are heretics and are outside the one True Church;
2. He is wrong and ecumenical for implicitly encouraging Catholics to participate in the false worship of these heretics;
3. He is wrong and ecumenical for saying that Catholics will find the truth in the (heretical) Anglican “church”; and
4. He is wrong and scandalous in saying that there is any possibility of Anglican ministers having principles which are “completely true”.
1. The Anglicans cannot have any “true worship of God”
Bishop Williamson causes the grave scandal of telling his followers that the “true worship of God” can be found in the Anglican “church”. This is false!
Anglicans cannot have “true worship of God” (as Bishop Williamson claims they can), because the worship of all heretics offends God because they are heretics.
The reason for this is obvious: heretics (and schismatics) are outside the Catholic Church and so they maintain the posture of being enemies of God, since all those not in the Catholic Church, are enemies of Christ.
(It is unreasonable and un-Catholic to call such individuals “Christian” or speak about them as truly following Christ. [...] Of course, we don’t judge the interior culpability of particular individuals who are outside the visible Church, and we don’t declare we know they are going to Hell, even though it is true that outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation.)
Vatican II is wrong that there can be any “partial communion”. We are either with Our Lord, or against Him. St. Matt., 12:30. Only Catholics can be with our Lord because only they are part of His Mystical Body.
Heretics do not have Sanctifying Grace. Summa, IIa IIae, Q.5, a.3, Sed contra. God is not moved by the prayers of those who are not in the state of Sanctifying Grace. Summa, IIa IIae, Q.178, a.2, ad 1. This is because:
Quote:whosoever has not charity is wicked, because this gift alone of the Holy Ghost distinguishes the children of the kingdom from the children of perdition, as Augustine says (De Trin. xv, 18).
Summa, IIa IIae, Q.178, a.2, Sed contra.
[...]Also, as the Council of Florence and Pope Eugene IV taught about heretics (among whom are the Anglicans):
Quote:[S]o important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body [viz., the Catholic Church] that only those remaining within this unity ... 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 ... can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.
Cantate Domino.
St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, further explains why the heretics (including the Anglicans) can never have true worship of God, i.e., worship which pleases Him:
Quote:f they [viz., heretics] distribute of themselves their own substance to the poor, as many do, … in the different heretical bodies [i.e., sects] … they cannot attain to eternal salvation, even with all those good things, which profit them not.
[i]On Baptism, against the Donatists, Bk. 1, ch.9 (bracketed words added).[/i]
Conclusion of this section
The Anglicans and other heretics have no “true worship of God” because they are outside the Catholic Church, outside of which, it is impossible to please God or worship Him as He wants to be worshipped.
note
2. Bishop Williamson implicitly encourages the Faithful to worship with the Anglicans if it “helps” us.
First, notice the grave harm Bishop Williamson causes by teaching something favorable about Anglican worship ([i]viz., you can find the “true worship of God” there). And he does not warn people to stay away from that heretical group and completely avoid their “worship”.
However, a superficial reading of Bishop Williamson’s words might cause a person to think that Bishop Williamson did not encourage anyone to worship with the Anglicans. He “merely” said they have some “true worship of God”. But look at the context of Bishop Williamson’s false and ecumenical statements about the Anglican heretics:
[/i]- He publicly and repeatedly instructs people to “do whatever you need to nourish your faith.” (June 28, 2015)
- He approves of attending the worship of three other false religions, viz., the new conciliar religion, the Feeneyites and the Sedevacantists. (See here)
- He did not remind people to avoid the Anglicans.
- He told his followers the Anglicans have some “true worship of God”.
The reasonable understanding of Bishop Williamson’s words is that a person should attend the (supposed) “true worship of God” of the Anglican heretics, just as with the three other false religions ([i]viz., Conciliar, Feeneyite, Sedevacantist), if that is what “you need to nourish your faith”.
Bishop Williamson’s ecumenical words about the Anglican heretics are an echo of Vatican II’s promotion of interreligious “worship” with Anglicans and other heretics, whom Vatican II calls “separated brethren”. Here is what Vatican II teaches:
Quote:t is allowable, indeed desirable, that Catholics join in prayer with their separated brethren. [i]Unitatis Redintegratio, §8.
This is the opposite of the consistent teaching of the Church before Vatican II. The Catholic Church has constantly forbidden Her children to hold any communication, in religious matters, with those who are separated from her communion including the Anglican heretics. (The Sincere Christian, by Bishop George Hay, Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh, 1871, vol. 2, p.373.)
From the earliest times, the Church has decreed that: If any bishop, or priest, or deacon, shall join in prayers with heretics, let him be suspended from communion (Id., quoting Canon 44 of the Apostolic Canons). Thus, we must not pray with the Anglicans!
Further, If any clergyman or laic [i.e., layman] shall go into the synagogue of the Jews or the meetings of heretics, to join in prayer with them, let him be deposed and deprived of communion" (Id., quoting Canon 63 of the Apostolic Canons).
So also,
Quote:in one of Her [viz., the Catholic Church’s] most respected councils, held in the year 398, at which the great St Augustine was present, She speaks thus: None must either pray or sing psalms with heretics; and whosoever shall communicate with those who are cut off from the communion of the Church, whether clergyman or laic [i.e., layman], let him be excommunicated, Council of Carthage, iv, §§72 & 73.
Id. Thus, the Council of Carthage is telling us that any prayer or worship, however good in itself, is ruined when said with heretics and that this worship offends God. Notice that the Council of Carthage’s condemnation (of praying with heretics) does not make any exception for such prayers which (supposedly) “nourish your faith”!
Further, the Council of Laodicea decreed the same thing: No one shall pray in common with heretics or schismatics. Council of Laodicea, Canon 33.
Even the Sacraments of the Catholic Church (as pleasing to God as they are in themselves) are offensive to God among the heretics (such as the Anglicans). As St. Augustine teaches:
Quote:For all the sacraments of Christ, if not combined with the Charity which belongs to the unity of Christ [i.e., the unity of the Catholic Church], are possessed not unto salvation, but unto judgment.[/i][/i]
[i]St. Augustine, [i]ad Petilian, the Donatist, Bk. III, ch.40, ¶46 (bracketed words added)[/i][/i]
[i].
These Councils and Canons all condemn Bishop Williamson’s erroneous promotion of the (offensive) “worship” of the Anglican heretics. Further, those Catholic authorities also all condemn Bishop Williamson’s evil promotion of praying with the conciliar religion (in the new mass), and with the Feeneyites and Sedevacantists.
Conclusion of this section
The councils and canons of the Catholic Church condemn Bishop Williamson’s promotion of the worship of the Anglicans and other groups which are objectively heretical and schismatic. It would be complete stupidity to attempt to please God or “worship” Him by joining with those who are postured as His enemies.
3. Bishop Williamson is wrong and ecumenical in saying that Catholics will find the truth among the heretics.
As quoted above, Bishop Williamson teaches that a person looking for the truth “may find some of it in an Anglican church”. This is scandalous and un-Catholic!
Because the Anglicans are heretics, their faith is merely human and is not even supernatural. Summa, IIa IIae, Q.5, a.3, [i]Respondeo.
Further, not only is the Anglican “religion” merely human (and inspired by the devil), but this “religion” is inherently a mixture of many poisons, i.e., heresies. Bishop Williamson’s teaching that people might find the truth in the Anglican “church” is like telling people that they might find nutrition in a pie which contains a mixture of many poisons.
4. Bishop Williamson is wrong and scandalous in saying that there is any possibility of Anglican ministers having principles which are “completely true”.
As quoted above, Bishop Williamson teaches that “probably” an Anglican minister’s principles are “not completely true”. Bishop Williamson’s assertion is false and evil. That statement means that it is possible that the Anglican minister’s principles are completely true. This is like saying that a person who dies in mortal sin “probably” won’t go to heaven, whereas the truth is that no Anglican minister has the complete truth and no one who dies in mortal sin goes to heaven.
Among principles held by every Anglican minister are that: 1) the Catholic Church is not the one and only true Church of Christ; and 2) that the Anglican “religion” is not false and is not a man-made tool of the devil. In other words, all Anglican ministers deny the truth that there can be no salvation in the (false) Anglican “religion”. For, if any Anglican minister held the Catholic Truth on this matter, he would not be Anglican.
In other words, in this and many other matters, all Anglican ministers hold heresy. It is impossible for an Anglican minister to ever have principles that are “completely true”, as Bishop Williamson teaches to be possible.
Let us pray for the Anglicans, who are poor, lost sheep who are outside Christ’s one true Sheepfold. They need to be told the truth, viz., that the only truth and the only true worship of God are in the Catholic Church.
Let us also pray for Bishop Williamson, that he returns from his grave ecumenical errors against the Faith![/i][/i]
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| Pope Francis and Canadian bishops take part in pagan ‘smudging’ ritual invoking ‘sacred circle of sp |
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Posted by: Stone - 07-28-2022, 11:05 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Pope Francis and Canadian bishops take part in pagan ‘smudging’ ritual invoking ‘sacred circle of spirits’
'We will honor earth, wind, water, and fire,' an indigenous elder stated during the ritual.
'We will honor the mineral aspect, the vegetable aspect, and the human aspect.'
![[Image: PF-Smudge-810x500.jpeg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/PF-Smudge-810x500.jpeg)
Pope Francis receives a ritual feather from an indigenous elder, Quebec City, Canada, July 27, 2022
YouTube Screenshot/Vatican News
28, 2022
QUEBEC CITY (LifeSiteNews) – On the fourth day of his Apostolic “pilgrimage” to Canada, Pope Francis joined a pagan “smudging” ritual during his visit to Quebec, partaking in the indigenous practice before delivering a lengthy speech in which he expressed “deep shame and sorrow” for the part played by Catholic Church members in government-funded residential school abuses.
The Pope arrived in Quebec Wednesday afternoon, traveling first to the Archbishopric before transferring to the Citadelle de Quebec, the official home of Governor General Mary Simon, where a welcoming ceremony took place.
After brief introductions, Pope Francis, along with civil dignitaries, was greeted into the reception hall as an indigenous man chanted while beating a drum. According to the emcee, a “traditional Inuit lamp was lit.”
A number of high-ranking prelates were also in attendance, including the Archbishop of Toronto, Cardinal Christopher Collins; Archbishop of Quebec and Primate of Canada Gerald Lacroix; Cardinal Michael F. Czerny, S.J., prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; Cardinal Marc A. Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops; Archbishop of Edmonton Richard W. Smith; and the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
As part of the planned welcome ceremony, an elder from the Huron-Wendat nation opened proceedings by initiating what is known as a ritual “smudge to the four directions,” using sweetgrass and animal feathers to waft smoke around the room.
As noted by LifeSiteNews, the ritual, which apes the use of Catholic sacraments and sacramentals, “is a clear act of pagan superstition,” reminiscent of the Holy Father’s veneration of the pagan pachamama idol at the Vatican in 2019.
The ritual is intended as “a ritual of purification” in which “mother earth” is prayed to as a kind of pantheistic deity.
The elder explained that he would “light the sweetgrass and make my link with the four directions,” after which he takes “the sweetgrass to Pope Francis and a feather from a wild turkey, which is an element of survival for the Huron-Wendat nation on the land.”
“Sweetgrass purifies through the smell,” the elder said, urging that it is “important that Pope Francis receive this sweetgrass and this feather to participate in the smudge to the four directions.”
The Pope was presented with a turkey feather and sweetgrass, which he took from the elder who then asked all to participate in a “circle in spirit,” from which “we can visualize a sacred fire.” He added that “the sacred fire unites everything that exists in creation.”
“We will honor earth, wind, water, and fire,” the elder stated. “We will honor the mineral aspect, the vegetable aspect, and the human aspect.”
Continuing the ritual, the elder said he “will ask the east direction to open its door so we can have access to that direction. I will as the southern direction to open its door as well to have access to that direction,” he added while fanning the smoking sweetgrass with the turkey feather.
“I will ask the western direction to open that door,” which he called “the grandmother door,” adding lastly that he will “honor the northern direction,” which he called “the direction of grandfathers.”
All present were asked to place their hands over their hearts. Video footage shows Pope Francis participating, as well as the high-ranking bishops and cardinals in the front row of the audience all following suit.
To “open the four directions” the elder whistled through a bone instrument four times before saying: “I ask the western grandmother to give us access to the sacred circle of spirits so they can be with us, so we can be united and stronger together.”
Following the ritual, Francis delivered a speech condemning “ideological colonization,” lamenting a past “colonialist mentality” which he said “disregarded the concrete life of people and imposed certain predetermined cultural modes.”
Continuing, the Holy Father appeared to endorse the paganistic rituals of the indigenous peoples, stating that “the Holy See and the local Catholic communities are concretely committed to promoting the indigenous cultures through specific and appropriate forms of spiritual accompaniment that include attention to their cultural traditions, customs, languages and educational processes, in the spirit of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
Earlier during his Canadian visit, the Pope, donning traditional indigenous headwear, also attended a “healing dance,” replete with drumbeats apparently supposed to imitate “the heartbeat of mother earth.”
As in the “smudge,” reference was made to the “four elements” and the “four directions.” An indigenous leader said that “[f]rom the west side we have the wind, the oxygen that we breathe, this is the government of mother earth. And on the north side we have mother earth, mother earth is who we are. Mother earth is all the plant life, mother earth, our mother, is also the mother of all insect life, mother earth is also the mother of all animals on the ground, in the water, in the air.”
“Mother earth, is of course, the mother of all humanity,” the leader added.
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| Articles from Problematic Sites |
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Posted by: Stone - 07-28-2022, 09:48 AM - Forum: Welcome
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It has, from the beginning, been the stance of The Catacombs to share articles that highlight some aspect of the true Catholic Faith, even if the website from which they originate may be problematic in some way, e.g. sedevacantist, Indult-esque, etc.
As long as the subject matter in that particular instance is an accurate mirror of the teachings of the Faith it may be shared here, whilst leaving aside all references to any problematic content (i.e. sedevacantist references, promotion of Vatican II, etc.).
-Admin, The Catacombs
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| Fr. Hewko: The Conspiracy Against Christ - Then and Now |
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Posted by: Stone - 07-28-2022, 07:49 AM - Forum: Rev. Father David Hewko
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Fr. Hewko: The Conspiracy Against Christ - Then and Now
The Defeat Modernism YouTube Channel recently republished one of Fr. Hewko's Palm Sunday sermons, highlighting the long history of 'the Conspiracy against Christ'. The Catacombs does not agree with Defeat Modernism's sedevacantism stance but as this is simply a republishing of one of Fr. Hewko's excellent sermons, it is gladly presented here.
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| Two Years after the Consecrations: We Must Not Waver, We May Not Compromise |
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Posted by: Stone - 07-28-2022, 07:41 AM - Forum: Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre
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Two Years after the Consecrations: We Must Not Waver, We May Not Compromise
The problem
Concerning the future, I would like to say a few words on questions which the laity may ask you, questions which I often get asked by people who do not know too much about what is happening in the Society, such as, "Are relations with Rome broken off? Is it all over?"
A lightweight solution
I received a few weeks ago, maybe three weeks ago, yet another telephone call from Cardinal Oddi:
"Well, Excellency, is there no way to arrange things, no way?" I replied, "You must change, come back to Tradition. "It is not a question of the Liturgy, it is a question of the Faith."
The cardinal protested,
No, no, it is not a question of Faith, no, no. The pope is ready and willing to receive you. Just a little gesture on your part, a little request for forgiveness and everything will be settled.
That is just like Cardinal Oddi.
But he is going nowhere. Nowhere. He understands nothing, or wants to understand nothing. Nothing. Unfortunately, the same holds true for our four more or less traditional Cardinals, Cardinals Palazzini, Stickler, Gagnon and Oddi. They have no weight, no influence in Rome, they have lost all influence, all they are good for any longer is performing ordinations for St. Peter's Fraternity, etc. They are going nowhere. Nowhere.
The heavyweight problem
Meanwhile the problem remains grave, very, very grave. We absolutely must not minimize it. This is how we must reply to the layfolk who ask such questions as, "When will the crisis come to and end? Are we getting anywhere? Isn't there a way of getting permission for our liturgy, for our sacraments?"
Certainly the question of the liturgy and the sacraments is important, but it is not the most important. The most important question is the question of the Faith. This question is unresolved in Rome. For us it is resolved. We have the Faith of all time, the Faith of the Catechism of the Council of Trent, of the Catechism of St. Pius X, hence the Faith of the Church, of all the Church Councils, of all the Popes prior to Vatican II. Now the official Church is persevering, we might say pertinaciously, in the false ideas and grave errors of Vatican II, that much is clear.
Fr. Tam is sending us from Mexico a number of copies of a piece of work he is doing, most interesting work, because he is compiling cuttings from the Osservatore Romano, hence cuttings from Rome's official newspaper with speeches of the Pope, of Cardinal Casaroli and Cardinal Ratzinger, official texts of the Church, and so on. It is interesting, because such documents of public record are irrefutable, being published by the Osservatore Romano, so there is no doubting their authenticity.
Ours an ancient struggle
Well, these texts are astounding, quite astounding! I shall quote you a few texts shortly. It is incredible. In the last few weeks (since I am now unemployed!) I have been spending a little time re-reading the book by Emmanuel Barbier on Liberal Catholicism. And it is striking to see how our fight now is exactly the same fight as was being fought then by the great Catholics of the 19th century, in the wake of the French Revolution, and by the Popes, Pius VI, Pius VII, Pius VIII, Gregory XVI, Pius IX, Leo XIII, and so on, Pius X, down to Pius XII. Their fight is summed up in the encyclical Quanta Cura with the Syllabus of Pius IX, and Pascendi Dominici Gregis of Pius X. There are the two great documents, sensational and shocking in their day, laying out the Church's teaching in face of the modern errors, the errors appearing in the course of the Revolution, especially in the Declaration of the Rights of Man. This is the fight we are in the middle of today. Exactly the same fight.
There are those who are for the Syllabus and Pascendi, and there are those who are against. It is simple. It is clear. Those who are against are adopting the principles of the French Revolution, the modern errors. Those who are for the Syllabus and Pascendi remain within the true Faith, within Catholic doctrine. Now you know very well that Cardinal Ratzinger has said that as far as he is concerned Vatican II is "an anti-Syllabus". Therewith the Cardinal placed himself clearly amongst those who are against the Syllabus. If then he is against the Syllabus, he is adopting the principles of the Revolution. Besides, he goes on to say quite clearly, "Indeed we have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers but which come from modern society," i.e., as everyone understands, the principles of 1789, the Rights of Man.
We stand exactly where Cardinal Pie, Bishop Freppel, Louis Vueillot stood, and Deputy Keller in Alsace, Cardinal Mermillod in Switzerland, who fought the good fight together with the great majority of the then bishops. At that time they had the good fortune to have the large majority of the bishops on their side. Bishop Dupanloup and the few bishops in France who followed Bishop Dupanloup were the odd ones out. The few bishops in Germany, the few in Italy, who were openly opposed to the Syllabus, and in effect opposed to Pius IX, they were the exception rather than the rule. But obviously there were the forces of the Revolution, the heirs of the Revolution, and there was the hand reached out by Dupanloup, Montalembert, Lamennais and others, who offered their hand to the Revolution and who never wanted to invoke the rights of God against the rights of man - "We ask only for the rights of every man, the rights shared by everyone, shared by all men, shared by all religions, not the rights of God," said these Liberals.
We must not waver
Well, we find ourselves in the same situation. We must not be under any illusions. Consequently we are in the thick of a great fight, a great fight. We are fighting a fight guaranteed by a whole line of popes. Hence, we should have no hesitation or fear, hesitation such as, "Why should we be going on our own? After all, why not join Rome, why not join the pope?" Yes, if Rome and the Pope were in line with Tradition, if they were carrying on the work of all the Popes of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, of course. But they themselves admit that they have set out on a new path. They themselves admit that a new era began with Vatican II. They admit that it is a new stage in the Church's life, wholly new, based on new principles. We need not argue the point. They say it themselves. It is clear. I think that we must drive this point home with our people, in such a way that they realize their oneness with the Church's whole history, going back well beyond the Revolution. Of course. It is the fight of the City of Satan against the City of God. Clearly. So we do not have to worry. We must after all trust in the grace of God.
"What is going to happen? How is it all going to end?" That is God's secret. Mystery. But that we must fight the ideas presently fashionable in Rome, coming from the Pope's own mouth, Cardinal Ratzinger's mouth, Cardinal Casaroli's mouth, of Cardinal Willebrands and those like them, is clear, clear, for all they do is repeat the opposite of what the Popes said and solemnly stated for 150 years. We must choose, as I said to Pope Paul VI: "We have to choose between you and the Council on one side, and your predecessors on the other; either with your predecessors who stated the Church's teaching, or with the novelties of Vatican II." Reply - "Ah, this is not the moment to get into theology, we are not getting into theology now." It is clear. Hence we must not waver for one moment.
A false charity
And we must not waver for one moment either in not being with those who are in the process of betraying us. Some people are always admiring the grass in the neighbor's field. Instead of looking to their friends, to the Church's defenders, to those fighting on the battlefield, they look to our enemies on the other side. "After all, we must be charitable, we must be kind, we must not be divisive, after all, they are celebrating the Tridentine Mass, they are not as bad as everyone says" - but THEY ARE BETRAYING US - betraying us! They are shaking hands with the Church's destroyers. They are shaking hands with people holding modernist and liberal ideas condemned by the Church. So they are doing the devil's work.
Thus those who were with us and were working with us for the rights of Our Lord, for the salvation of souls, are now saying, "So long as they grant us the old Mass, we can shake hands with Rome, no problem." But we are seeing how it works out. They are in an impossible situation. Impossible. One cannot both shake hands with modernists and keep following Tradition. Not possible. Not possible. Now, stay in touch with them to bring them back, to convert them to Tradition, yes, if you like, that's the right kind of ecumenism! But give the impression that after all one almost regrets any break, that one likes talking to them? No way! These are people who call us corpse-like Traditionalists, they are saying that we are as rigid as corpses, ours is not a living Tradition, we are glum-faced, ours is a glum Tradition! Unbelievable! Unimaginable! What kind of relations can you have with people like that?
This is what causes us a problem with certain layfolk, who are very nice, very good people, all for the Society, who accepted the Consecrations, but who have a kind of deep-down regret that they are no longer with the people they used to be with, people who did not accept the Consecrations and who are now against us. "It's a pity we are divided", they say, "why not meet up with them? Let's go and have a drink together, reach out a hand to them" - that's a betrayal! Those saying this give the impression that at the drop of a hat they would cross over and join those who left us. They must make up their minds.
We cannot compromise
That is what killed Christendom, in all of Europe, not just the Church in France, but the Church in Germany, in Switzerland - that is what enabled the Revolution to get established. It was the Liberals, it was those who reached out a hand to people who did not share their Catholic principles. We must make up our minds if we too want to collaborate in the destruction of the Church and in the ruin of the Social Kingship of Christ the King, or are we resolved to continue working for the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ? All those who wish to join us, and work with us, Deo Gratias, we welcome them, wherever they come from, that's not a problem, but let them come with us, let them not say they are going a different way in order to keep company with the liberals that left us and in order to work with them. Not possible.
Catholics right down the 19th century were torn apart, literally torn apart, over the Syllabus: for, against, for, against. And you remember in particular what happened to the Count of Chambord. He was criticized for not accepting to be made king of France after the 1870 Revolution in France on the grounds of changing the French flag. But it was not so much a question of the flag. Rather, he refused to submit to the principles of the Revolution. He said, "I shall never consent to being the lawful King of the Revolution." He was right! For he would have been voted in by the country, voted in by the French Parliament, but on condition he accept to be a Parliamentary King, and so accept the principles of the Revolution. He said "No. If I am to be King, I shall be King like my ancestors were, before the Revolution." He was right. One has to choose. He chose to stay with the Pope, and with pre-Revolutionary principles.
We too have chosen to be Counter-revolutionary, to stay with the Syllabus, to be against the modern errors, to stay with Catholic Truth, to defend Catholic truth. We are right!
Vatican II is profoundly wrong
This fight between the Church and the liberals and modernism is the fight over Vatican II. It is as simple of that. And the consequences are far-reaching.
The more one analyzes the documents of Vatican II, and the more one analyzes their interpretation by the authorities of the Church, the more one realizes that what is at stake is not merely superficial errors, a few mistakes, ecumenism, religious liberty, collegiality, a certain Liberalism, but rather a wholesale perversion of the mind, a whole new philosophy based on modern philosophy, on subjectivism. A book just published by a German theologian is most instructive. It shows how the Pope's thinking, especially in a retreat he preached at the Vatican, is subjectivist from start to finish, and when afterwards one reads his speeches, one realizes that indeed that is his thinking. It might appear Catholic, but Catholic it is not. No. The Pope's notion of God, the Pope's notion of Our Lord, come up from the depths of his consciousness, and not from any objective revelation to which he adheres with his mind. No. He constructs the notion of God. He said recently in a document - incredible - that the idea of the Trinity could only have arisen quite late, because man's interior psychology had to be capable of defining the Trinity. Hence the idea of the Trinity did not come from a revelation from outside, it came from man's consciousness inside, it welled up from inside man, it came from the depths of man's consciousness! Incredible! A wholly different version of Revelation, of Faith, of philosophy! Very grave! A total perversion! How we are going to get out of all this, I have no idea, but in any case it is a fact, and as this German theologian shows (who has, I believe, another two parts of his book to write on the Holy Father's thought), it is truly frightening.
So, they are no small errors. We are not dealing in trifles. We are into a line of philosophical thinking that goes back to Kant, Descartes, the whole line of modern philosophers who paved the way for the Revolution.
Pope John Paul II's ecumenism
Let me give you a few relatively recent quotations, for example, on ecumenism, in the Osservatore Romano of June 2, 1989, when the Pope was in Norway: "My visit to the Scandinavian countries is a confirmation of the Catholic Church's interest in the work of ecumenism, which is to promote unity amongst Christians, amongst all Christians. Twenty-five years ago the Second Vatican Council insisted clearly on the urgency of this challenge to the Church. My predecessors pursued this objective with persevering attention, with the grace of the Holy Ghost which is the divine source and guarantee of the ecumenical movement. Since the beginning of my pontificate, I have made ecumenism the priority of my pastoral concern." It is clear.
Now when one reads a quantity of documents on ecumenism - he makes speech after speech on ecumenism because he receives delegation after delegation from the Orthodox, from all religions, from all sects, so the subject is always ecumenism, ecumenism, ecumenism. But he achieves nothing - the end result has been nothing, nothing at all, except on the contrary re-assuring the non-Catholics in their errors without seeking to convert them, the confirming of them in their error. The Church has made no progress, not the least progress, by this ecumenism. So all that he says is a veritable mish-mash, "communion", "drawing closer", "desire of imminent perfect communion", "hope of soon communing in the sacrament", "in unity", and so on - a mish-mash. No real progress. They cannot progress this way. IMPOSSIBLE.
Cardinal Casaroli's humanism
Take next Cardinal Casaroli, from L'Osservatore Romano in February, 1989, speaking to the United Nations Commission of the Rights of Man - just see what a speech it is! "In responding with great pleasure to the invitation extended to me to come before you, and bringing to you the encouragement of the Holy See, I desire to spend a few moments, as all of you will understand, on one specific aspect of the basic liberty of thought and action in accordance with one's conscience, religious liberty." Such things coming from the mouth of an archbishop! Liberty of thought and action according to one's conscience, hence religious liberty!
John Paul II did not hesitate to state last year in a message for the World Day of Peace, that religious liberty constitutes a cornerstone in the edifice of the rights of man. The Catholic Church and its Supreme Pastor, who has made the rights of man one of the major themes of his preaching, have not failed to recall that in a world made by man, and for man...
- Cardinal Casaroli's own words! -
...the whole organization of society only has meaning insofar as it makes of the human dimension a central preoccupation.
God? God? No divine dimension in man! It is appalling! Paganism! Appalling! Then he goes on:
Every man and all of man, that is the Holy See's preoccupation; such, no doubt, is yours also.
What can you do with people like that? What do we have in common with people like that? Nothing! Impossible.
Cardinal Ratzinger's way out
On to our well-known Cardinal Ratzinger who made the remark that the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes was a Counter-Syllabus. He finds it nevertheless awkward to have made such a remark, because people are now constantly quoting it back to him, as a criticism: "You said that Vatican II is a Counter-Syllabus! Hey, wait a moment, that is serious!" So he has found an explanation. He gave it just a little while ago, on June 27, 1990.
You know that Rome recently issued a major document to explain the relationship between the Magisterium and theologians. With all the problems theologians are causing them on all sides, Rome no longer knows what to do, so they have to try to keep the theologians in line without coming down too hard on them, so they go on and on, page after page after page in this document. Now in the presentation of the document Cardinal Ratzinger gives us his thinking on the possibility of saying the opposite of what Popes have previously decided one hundred years ago or whatever.
The Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian, says the cardinal, "states for the first time with such clarity..." - and indeed I think it is true! -
...that there are decisions of the Magisterium which cannot be and are not intended to be the last word on the matter as such, but are a substantial anchorage in the problem...
- ah, the cardinal is an artful dodger! So there are decisions of the Magisterium (that is not just any decisions!) which cannot be the last word on the matter as such, but are merely a substantial anchorage in the problem! The Cardinal continues - "...and they are first and foremost an expression of pastoral prudence, a sort of provisional disposition..." - Listen! - definitive decisions of the Holy See being turned into provisional dispositions!! The Cardinal goes on -
...Their core remains valid, but the individual details influenced by the circumstances at the time may need further rectification. In this regard one can refer to the statements of the Popes during the last century on religious freedom as well as the anti-modernistic decisions at the beginning of this century, especially the decisions of the Biblical Commission of that time...
The magisterium dissolved
Those are the decisions the cardinal could not digest! Hence three definitive statements of the Magisterium may be put aside because they were only "provisional"! Listen to the cardinal, who goes on to say that these anti-modernist decisions of the Church rendered a great service in their day by "warning against hasty and superficial adaptations", and "by keeping the Church from sinking into the liberal-bourgeois world...But the details of the determinations of their contents were later suspended once they had carried out their pastoral duty at a particular moment" (Osservatore Romano, English edition, July 2, 1990, p. 5). So we turn over the page and say no more about them!
So you see how the Cardinal has got out of the accusation of going a bit far when he calls Vatican II an Anti-Syllabus, when he opposes the Pontifical decisions and the Magisterium of the past? - He's found the way out! - "...the core remains valid..." - what core? No idea! - "...but the individual details influenced by the circumstances at the time may need further rectification..." - and there he has it, he is out of his difficulty!
Servants of globalism
So by way of conclusion, either we are the heirs of the Catholic Church, i.e., of Quanta Cura, of Pascendi, with all the Popes down to the Council and with the great majority of bishops prior to the Council, for the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ and for the salvation of souls; or else we are the heirs of those who strive, even at the price at breaking with the Catholic Church and her doctrine, to acknowledge the principles of the Rights of Man, based on a veritable apostasy, in order to obtain a place as servants in the Revolutionary World Government. That is it. They will manage to get quite a good place as servants in the Revolutionary World Government because, by saying they are in favor of the Rights of Man, religious liberty, democracy and human equality, clearly they are worth being given a position as servants in the World Government.
Our strength is in the Lord
I think that if I say these things to you, it is to put our own fight in its historical context. It did not begin with Vatican II, obviously. It goes much further back. It is a tough fight, very painful, blood has flowed in this fight, and in quantities! And then the persecutions, separation of Church and State, religious and nuns driven into exile, the sequestering of Church property, and so on, and not only in France but also in Switzerland, in Germany, in Italy - the occupation of the Pontifical States driving the Pope back into the Vatican - abominations against the Pope, frightening!
Well, are we with all these innovators, and against the doctrine professed by the Popes, against their voice raised in protest to defend the Church's rights, Our Lord's rights, to defend souls? I think we have truly a strength and a base to stand on which do not come from us, and that is what is good - it is not our fight, it is Our Lord's fight, which the Church has carried on. So we cannot waver. Either we are for the Church, or we are against the Church and for the new Conciliar Church which has nothing to do with the Catholic Church, or less and less to do with it. For when the Pope used to speak about the Rights of Man, to begin with he used to allude also to the duties of men, but no longer. No longer. The Rights of Man, and this insistence on everything for man, everything by man. Truly appalling!
The Society fights on
I wished to lay out a few of these thoughts for you to fortify yourselves and to realize the fight you are carrying on. With the grace of God, because it is obvious we would no longer be in existence if the Good Lord was not with us. That is clear. There have been at least four or five occasions when the Society of St. Pius X should have disappeared. Well, here we are, still, thanks be to God! And goodness gracious, we carry on. We should especially have disappeared at the time of the Consecrations in 1988. So we were told beforehand. All the prophets of doom, and even amongst those close to us said: "No, no, your Grace, do not do that, that is the end of the Society, you can be sure, we assure you, that is the end, it will all be over, you can close down." Yet we survived!
No, the Good Lord does not want his fight to come to and end, a fight in which there have been many martyrs, the martyrs of the Revolution and all those who have been moral martyrs by dint of the persecutions they underwent through the nineteenth century. Even in our own century, St. Pius X was a martyr. All there heroes of the Faith, the persecuted bishops, the sequestered convents, the exiled nuns; all these are to be nothing? That whole fight is to have been a fight for nothing, a fight in vain? A fight which condemns those who were its victims? And martyrs? Impossible. So we find ourselves caught up in the same current, in the continuation of the same fight, and we thank God.
The Society being persecuted
That we are being persecuted is obvious. How could we not be persecuted? We are the only ones to be excommunicated. No one else is. We are the only ones being persecuted, even in material matters. For example, our Swiss colleagues are being obliged again to do their military service. That is persecution by the Swiss government. In France they are persecuting the Society's French District by blocking legacies from being handed over to the District, this in the attempt to stifle us, by cutting off our income. This is persecution, of such a kind as history is full of, it is merely continuing. And God works his way round it. Normally, our French District should have been stifled, and we should have had to shut down our schools, to close down all the institutions which cost us money, but that situation has now gone on for over two years and Providence has allowed for our benefactors to be generous and for the funds to come in, so we have been able to continue despite this iniquitous persecution. Iniquitous, because the law, the state of the law is on our side. But there is a letter to the French Minister from Cardinal Lustiger asking him to block our legacies, and this letter did not come out of nowhere, it was written under the influence of Msgr. Perl. It is he, the damned soul. It is he. He was all smiles when he came on the official Visitation of the Society in 1987, but he was the evil genius of that Visitation. He thought he had us where he wanted us when he cut off our funds!
So we must not worry, for when we look behind us, we see we are still not as unfortunate as those Catholics expropriated at the beginning of this century, who found themselves out on the street with nothing. That may happen to us one day, I do not look forward to it, but the more we expand, the more we will arouse jealousy on the part of all those who do not care for us. But we must count on the Good Lord, on the grace of the Good Lord.
No easy solutions
What is going to happen? I do not know. Perhaps the coming of Elias! I was just reading this morning in Holy Scripture, Elias will return and put everything back in place! "Et omnia restituet" - "and he will restore all things." Goodness gracious, let him come straightaway! I do not know. But humanly speaking, there is no chance of any agreement between Rome and ourselves at the moment.
Someone was saying to me yesterday, "But what if Rome accepted your bishops and then you were completely exempted from the other bishops' jurisdiction?" But firstly, they are a long way right now from accepting any such thing, and then, let them first make us such an offer! But I do not think they are anywhere near doing so. For what has been up till now the difficulty has been precisely their giving to us a Traditionalist bishop. They did not want to. It had to be a bishop according to the profile laid down by the Holy See. "Profile". You see what that means! Impossible. They knew very well that by giving us a traditional bishop they would be setting up a Traditionalist citadel able to continue. That they did not want. Nor did they give it to St. Peter's Society. When St. Peter's say they signed the sane Protocol as we did in May, 1988, it is not true because in our Protocol there was one bishop, and two members of the Roman Commission, of which their Protocol had neither. So they did not sign the same Protocol as we did. Rome took advantage of drawing up a new Protocol to remove those two concessions. At all costs they wanted to avoid that. So we had to do as we did on June 30, 1988...
On the bright side
In any case I am happy to be able to encourage you and congratulate you on the work you are doing - the complaints now are rare, and how many people write to me their gratitude for the work of the priests of the Society of St. Pius X. For them the Society is their life. They have rediscovered the life they wanted, the way of the Faith, the family spirit they need, the desire for Christian education, all these schools, together with all that our Sisters and Fathers are doing, and all our friends who work together to continue Tradition. All that is marvelous, in the age we are living in. The people are truly grateful, deeply grateful. So carry on your work and organize - I hope that little by little our various communities will be able to increase in numbers so as to provide more mutual support for you all, moral and physical, so that you can maintain your present fervor.
I wish to thank all the Superiors for their zeal and devotion. I truly think the Good Lord has chosen the Society, has wanted the Society. In November we reach the Society's 20th anniversary and I am intimately convinced that it is the Society which represents what the Good Lord wants, to continue and maintain the Faith, maintain the truth of the Church, maintain what can still be saved in the Church, thanks to the bishops grouped around the Superior General, playing their indispensable part, of guardians of the Faith, of preachers of the Faith, giving the grace of the priesthood, the grace of Confirmation, things that are irreplaceable and absolutely necessary.
So all that is highly consoling. I think we should thank God, and enable it to carry on, so that one day people are forced to recognize that although the Visitation of 1987 bore little fruit, it showed that we were there and that good was being done by the Society, even if they did not wish to say so explicitly outside of our circles after the Visitation. However, one day they will be obliged to recognize that the Society represents a spiritual force and a strength of the Faith which is irreplaceable and which they will have, I hope, the joy and the satisfaction to make use of, but when they have come back to their Traditional Faith.
Let us pray to the Blessed Virgin and let us ask Our Lady of Fatima for all our intentions on all the pilgrimages we make in various countries, that she come to the aid of the Society, that it may have numerous vocations. Obviously we would like to have some more vocations. Our seminaries are not filled. We would like them to be filled. However, with the grace of God, it will come. So, once more, thank you, and please pray for me that I die a good and holy death, because I think that is all that I still have to do!
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