The Most Pressing Need in the World Today: Restoring the Belief in Immutable Catholic Truth

Quote:“The truth is unchangeable; it is the bread of the soul, refreshing others, without diminution to itself; changing him who eats into itself, itself not changed. This truth is the Word of God, which put on flesh for our sakes, and lay hid; not meaning to bury itself, but only to defer its manifestation, till its suffering in the body, for the ransoming of the body of sin, had taken place.” (from St. Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea)

Quote:“I wonder that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel. Which is not another, only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema.” (Galatians 1:6-9)

Quote:“Such fictitious tenets of evolution which repudiate all that is absolute, firm and immutable, have paved the way for the new erroneous philosophy which, rivaling idealism, immanentism and pragmatism, has assumed the name of existentialism, since it concerns itself only with existence of individual things and neglects all consideration of their immutable essences. There is also a certain historicism, which attributing value only to the events of man's life, overthrows the foundation of all truth and absolute law, both on the level of philosophical speculations and especially to Christian dogmas.”

Quote:“Confirmation of this treachery comes to us today, from the very lips of those representing this New Theology. A mouthpiece of theirs is the journal Communio and in an article of November-December, 1990, the Jesuit Fr. Peter Henrici (born 1928) tells us that: . . . Behind that facade of official studies, modernist texts and tracts were secretly circulated to the most brilliant and promising seminarians. Those same modernist concepts, secretly passed around, would later reappear as the New Theology. Those who showed interest and promise in theology, would be given the modernist Fr. Henri de Lubac's book: The Supernatural - the most forbidden of forbidden books! Then they would receive another of his books, Corpus Mysticum. This was done to inculcate them with the principle that identical theological terms could have different meanings with the passage of time or when looked at in another context. Thus we say goodbye to unchanging divine and apostolic Tradition! Goodbye to the homogenous development of dogma! Goodbye to unchangeable truths!”

Quote:“Father John Courtney Murray, who belonged to the intellectual and religious elite, has shown that, materially saying quite the opposite from the Syllabus — this latter is from 1864 and it is, as Roger Aubert has proven, conditioned by precise historical circumstances — the Declaration [Dignitatis Humanae] was the consequence of the battle by which, in the face of Jacobism and the totalitarianisms, the Popes more and more strongly led the fight for the dignity of the liberty of the human person made to the image of God.” (p. 185)

Quote:“On the contrary, we have seen that Roger Aubert and John Courtney Murray are themselves prisoners of the historicist prejudice which makes them erroneously relativize the doctrine of the Popes of the nineteenth century! In reality, the Popes have condemned religious liberty in itself, as a freedom that is absurd, ungodly, and leading the peoples to religious indifference. This condemnation remains, and, with the authority of the constant ordinary magisterium of the Church (if not of the extraordinary magisterium, with Quanta Cura), it weighs on the conciliar declaration.” (pp. 185-196)

Quote:“Among the proposals expressed by the dialogues, the call for a Catholic ‘re-reception’ or official commentary of Vatican I seems particularly important. Assuming the hermeneutical rule that the dogmas of Vatican I must be read in the light of Vatican II, especially its teaching on the People of God (LG, chapter II) and collegiality (LG 22–23), some dialogues reflect that Vatican II did not explicitly interpret Vatican I but, while incorporating its teaching, complemented it (LG, chapter III, 18).”

Quote:“It is now almost forty years since, in late autumn of 1949, a friend gave me a copy of de Lubac’s book Catholicism. For me, the encounter with this book became an essential milestone on my theological journey. . . It was not only for me that de Lubac’s book marked such a turning point. It fascinated theologians in the fifties everywhere and his fundamental insights became the patrimony of theological reflection. The narrow-minded individualistic Christianity against which he strove is hardly our problem today. Everyone is teaching about the social dimension of dogma.”

Quote:“Finally, ecumenism. I do not want to enter now into these problems, but it was obvious – especially after the ‘passions’ suffered by Christians in the Nazi era – that Christians could find unity, or at least seek unity, yet it was also clear that God alone can bestow unity. And we are still following this path.”

Quote:“There is also a certain historicism, which attributing value only to the events of man's life, overthrows the foundation of all truth and absolute law, both on the level of philosophical speculations and especially to Christian dogmas.”

Quote:“From what we have just seen, it logically follows that true restoration can only come by traveling along in a reverse direction from the one which led to the rupture or breaking away from the Doctrinal Tradition of the Church: a return to constant and durable philosophy, and therefore to Scholastic Theology, therefore to the Dogmatic tradition of the Church in faithful obedience to the constant directives and teachings of the Magisterium of all the Popes.”

Vatican officials deny involvement in rumored Latin Mass crackdown
The papal nuncio to France, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, and Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti have both denied to this correspondent that they are involved in fresh efforts to restrict the Traditional Latin Mass.



Abp. Migliore (L), Cdl. Gugerotti ®
Nanovic Institute for European Studies/Mazur/cbcew.org.uk

Quote:the very same sources that revealed to Rorate that the Vatican had sent out a survey to bishops on Summorum Pontificum (in preparation for what would become Traditionis Custodes), and Rorate was the first source to post this; and the very same sources who first revealed that a document like Traditionis Custodes would come (and Rorate was also the first to reveal it at the time). [Emphasis original]

Quote:We cannot answer your question because the topic is not our responsibility but that of the Dicastery for Divine Worship. [Emphasis original]

Cardinal Parolin (center) with Abp Gugerotti ® in 2015. Credit: Paval Hadsinzki/Flickr

Quote:Short question, short answer: these are conjectures, to say the least, fanciful.

Quote:Thank you for your kind request, of which His Eminence Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches, has taken careful note. In this regard, I would like to inform you that no information appears on the subject to which you refer.

In two parts:

The Vatican’s Response to the Olympic Scandal Rewards the Mental Gymnastics of Conservative Catholics

Quote:“If it is desirable to offer a diagnosis of the text [Gaudium et Spes] as a whole, we might say that (in conjunction with the texts on religious liberty [Dignitatis Humanae] and world religions [Nostra Aetate]) it is a revision of the Syllabus of Pius IX, a kind of countersyllabus. . . Let us be content to say that the text serves as a countersyllabus and, as such, represents, on the part of the Church, an attempt at an official reconciliation with the new era inaugurated in 1789.” (Principles of Catholic Theology, 1987, pp. 381-2)

Quote:* 15. Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true.

* 16. Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation, and arrive at eternal salvation.

* 17. Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ.

* 79. Moreover, it is false that the civil liberty of every form of worship, and the full power, given to all, of overtly and publicly manifesting any opinions whatsoever and thoughts, conduce more easily to corrupt the morals and minds of the people, and to propagate the pest of indifferentism.

* 80. The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization.

Quote:“. . . this National Assembly has arrogated to itself the power of the Church, going so far as to establish so many strange things, which are contrary both to the Dogma and to ecclesiastical discipline, forcing the Bishops and all the Ecclesiastics to swear to carry out what it has decreed. Furthermore, anyone who notes from the Constitution of the Assembly itself should not be surprised by this fact that it aims at nothing else and seeks nothing else other than the abolition of the Catholic Religion and, with this, also of the obedience due to Kings. With this plan precisely establishes as a principle of natural law that man living in Society must be fully free, that is to say that in matters of Religion he must not be disturbed by anyone, and can freely think as he pleases, and write and even publish by means of print anything related to Religion.”

Quote:“The Assembly itself has declared that these statements . . . derive from the equality of men among themselves and from natural freedom. But what greater foolishness can be imagined than to consider all men equal and free in such a way that nothing is accorded to reason, with which man has mainly been provided by nature and by which he distinguishes himself from beasts? When God created the first man and placed him in the earthly Paradise, did he not at the same time impose the death penalty on him if he tasted the fruits of the tree of the science of good and evil? Didn't he immediately put a brake on his freedom with this first precept? And after man had made himself guilty by his disobedience, did not God add many other precepts, which were promulgated by Moses? . . . Where then is that freedom to think and act, which the decrees of the Assembly attribute to man living in society as an immutable right of nature? Therefore, for what results from these decrees, according to them it will be necessary to contradict the right of the Creator, through whom we exist, and from whose liberality everything that we are and that we have must be recognized.”

Quote:“We certainly do approve your endeavor to defend and explain the decisions of our Syllabus, especially those points which condemn the so-called ‘Catholic Liberalism,’ which has a large number of adherents among honest men. This error seems to be close to the truth and thus becomes very dangerous since it so easily deceives those who are not on their guard, and, because it unperceivebly and secretly destroys the Catholic mind, it greatly reduces Catholic strength while increasing that of the enemy’s.” (quoted by Fr. A. Roussel in Liberalism & Catholicism, p. 122)

Quote:“The Holy See was saddened by certain scenes during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games and can only join the voices that have been raised in recent days to deplore the offence caused to many Christians and believers of other religions. At a prestigious event where the whole world comes together to share common values, there should be no allusions ridiculing the religious convictions of many people. The freedom of expression, which is clearly not called into question here, is limited by respect for others.”

Quote:“The social nature of man, however, itself requires that he should give external expression to his internal acts of religion: that he should share with others in matters religious; that he should profess his religion in community. Injury therefore is done to the human person and to the very order established by God for human life, if the free exercise of religion is denied in society, provided just public order is observed.”

Quote:"The freedom of expression, which is clearly not called into question here, is limited by respect for others.”

Quote:“As for me, I will not resign; I will not content myself with being present, my arms dangling, at the death-throes of my Mother the Holy Church. . . If this is how things are, you will understand that, in spite of everything, I am not a pessimist. The Holy Virgin will have the victory. She will triumph over the great apostasy, the fruit of Liberalism. One more reason not to twiddle our thumbs! We have to fight more than ever for the social Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In this battle, we are not alone: we have with us all the Popes up through Pius XII inclusively. All of them combatted Liberalism in order to deliver the Church from it. God did not grant that they succeed, but this is no reason to lay down our weapons! We have to hold on. We have to build, while the others are demolishing.” (pp. 250-251)

Hotez Calls For Police Deployment Against "Anti-Vaxxers"

Quote:What I’ve said to the Biden administration is, the health sector can’t solve this on its own. We’re going to have to bring in Homeland Security, the Commerce Department, Justice Department to help us understand how to do this.

I’ve said the same with…I met with [WHO general director] Dr. Tedros last month…to say, I don’t know that the World Health Organization can solve this on our own. We need the other United Nations agencies—NATO. This is a security problem, because it’s no longer a theoretical construct or some arcane academic exercise. Two hundred thousand Americans died because of anti-vaccine aggression, anti-science aggression.

And so, this is now a lethal force…and now I feel as a pediatric vaccine scientist…it’s important, just as important for me to make new vaccines, to save lives. The other side of saving lives is countering this anti-vaccine aggression.

Quote:The problem is the disinformation empire is so vast and pervasive that until we do something more definitive to get to the source of the disinformation and stop it, it’s not going to have that much of an impact. And that’s where everybody moves away from me.

And I tend to be out on a…out on my own here.

Quote:Dear brother,

Thank you very much for your [10 July] e-mail.

I am happy that Cardinal Gregory will preside over a Eucharist; I will be spiritually with him and with all of you, united in prayer.

Thank you for praying for me. I do the same for you. May Jesus bless you and the Blessed Virgin protect you.