At his Mass of Coronation, I mean, the inaugural of Pope Benedict XVI, the Holy Father said, “Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.”
Obviously, we didn’t pray nearly enough.
In any case, now that nearly nine months have passed since the abdication, are we prepared to acknowledge the hard truth that the wolves are now running the show?
I am.
Let’s revisit Pope Benedict’s surprise announcement:
After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the Barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.
Looking back, do we have any more clarity as to what Pope Benedict considered to be those “questions of deep relevance for the life of faith” that required more strength of mind and body than he presently had?
Maybe not, but let’s take a stab at it just the same.
The list below contains half-a-dozen items that one might reasonably consider to be the kinds of matters Pope Benedict had in mind as he spoke on February 11, 2013, followed by the current pontificate’s approach to the same, such as it has been at this early stage in Pope Francis’ papacy.
1. Initially, there was much speculation that the “questions of deep relevance” referred in some measure to the contents of that infamous 300-page report that allegedly detailed, among other things, mismanagement of the Vatican Bank, as well as an underground network of high-ranking gay clergy.
On this note, Pope Francis may have offered a unique twist on killing two birds with one stone by appointing Monsignor Battista Ricca, a man with a decades-long rap sheet filled with allegations of homosexual improprieties, to serve as his representative in reforming the troubled financial institution.
But who are we to judge.
In any event, while it was tempting to believe that Benedict’s “questions of deep importance” referred to some largely unknown matters that once met head-on just might set the Church aright, it now seems far more likely that he simply had in mind the very same matters to which he gave priority throughout his papacy.
For instance:
2. Pope Benedict will ultimately be best remembered for his attempt to restore the Church’s liturgical life to its former glory, Summorum Pontificum being by far the most profound act of his entire papacy.
The wolves, as one may recall, were beside themselves when the motu proprio was issued. The late uber-liberal Cardinal Carlo Martini, for example, immediately went to the press to express his displeasure, alleging that it represented an undoing of the Council wherein “there was a real step forward in understanding the liturgy.” He even made it clear that even though he could speak Latin, he refused to celebrate the traditional Mass.
Pope Francis, for his part, has made no attempt to hide the fact that he idolizes Cardinal Martini, and one of his most significant acts as Roman Pontiff, perhaps not so surprisingly, therefore, has been to approve of a decree placing restrictions on the celebration of the traditional liturgy, in direct contravention of Summorum Pontificum.
3. Throughout his pontificate, Pope Benedict reintroduced some of the traditional and long since forgotten accoutrements associated with the papacy, some of which directly point to the regal dignity of the Petrine Office; e.g., the papal mantum, ermine lined mozzette and camauri, lace albs, and fiddle back chasubles, etc.
Ever since 13 March 2013, these so-called “trappings” of the papacy have been treated as museum pieces at best (more realistically as articles of a shameful past) by a pope who only with difficulty can bring himself to sit upon the papal throne.
4. Reportedly, one of Pope Benedict’s deepest regrets upon leaving office was his failure to reconcile with the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). In 2009, two years after liberating the traditional Mass, the Holy Father poked the liberal hornets’ nest but good by lifting the excommunications from the three SSPX bishops, setting in motion discussions ordered toward their canonical regularization.
By mid-June 2012, all indications were that an act of reconciliation was imminent; then, at the eleventh hour, the process fell apart, allegedly after the wolves, both within the Church and without, enforced their collective will and put an end to the process. (See “No Rome/SSPX Accord?” – Catholic Family News, December 31, 2012).
From the earliest days of the current pontificate, Pope Francis, who has reached out with great affection to all manner of heathens, heretics, humanists, atheists, Muslims and Jews, has repeatedly criticized and belittled so-called “traditionalist” Catholics, making it exceedingly clear that Benedict’s overtures will not be repeated on his watch.
5. On December 22, 2005, during his first Christmas Address to the Roman Curia, Pope Benedict arguably positioned as the centerpiece of his pontificate the desire to establish continuity between all that Vatican Council II stated and the timeless teachings of the Catholic Church as articulated throughout the centuries. While this task has proven impossible based on what the present writer considers deficiencies in the conciliar text, at the very least, the Holy Father wanted to refute the idea that a rupture had occurred, even if non-dogmatically and only on paper.
Pope Francis, by contrast, has given every indication that he is quite comfortable with at least some degree of rupture, for example, in his criticism of “these groups that return to practices and to disciplines that I lived through … things that in that moment took place, but not now, they do not exist today.”
Likewise has Pope Francis’ handpicked advisor, Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, articulated a vision of the Church (one presumably shared by the pope) that cannot be understood in any other way than as the product of a rupture.
For instance, the cardinal said that Vatican II “meant an end to the hostilities between the Church and modernism,” and that in the Council’s aftermath “the Church could not continue posing as a reality facing the world, as a parallel ‘perfect society,’ which pursued her own autonomous course.”
6. On 12 September 2006, Pope Benedict delivered an address on Islam at the University of Regensburg, wherein he indirectly called Muslims to account for their long and shameful history of perpetrating violence against innocent human beings in the name of religion.
The wolves dwelling within were quick to criticize the Holy Father for his ham-handedness, among them, the Archbishop of Buenos Aries who reportedly said, “These statements will serve to destroy in 20 seconds the careful construction of a relationship with Islam that Pope John Paul II built over the last twenty years.”
Since his elevation, Pope Francis has practically fawned over the Muslims, even going so far as to assure them that their Ramadan observances, which intend to “magnify Allah,” the false god hatched in imagination of the false prophet Muhammad, “will bear abundant spiritual fruit.”
This list is by no means exhaustive, but I believe it gives an adequate overview of what one might reasonably consider to be the various battlefronts upon which Pope Benedict XVI felt too weak to prevail, compelling him to turn the See of Peter over to a younger, more vigorous successor.
If that be the case, who can deny that Benedict grossly miscalculated the degree to which the College of Cardinals, the same that would promptly elect Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as his replacement, was comprised of the very wolves from whom he had hoped not to flee?
Could Benedict have been tricked or forced in to retiring? Would Francis be infallible if elected thru fraud? It sure seems like he’s been testing the limits of infallibility
‘Miscalculation’ is the mildest term I can use for Benedict’s Blunder. I think his goals were as you’ve stated here, but I think he thought it would be safe to take a short cut instead of doggedly plodding on to the end of the race. Once the shock of his announced resignation was past, conservatives everywhere were hailing it as a brilliant masterstroke. After all, hadn’t he “hand-picked” all those cardinals who’d be voting for his successor? He’d be able to smoothly pass the baton to a younger man who’d have the necessary years before him to carry the war against the modernists to a successful conclusion. Why, he might even continue on as an influential voice in the background!
Needless to say, all this optimism was proven to be groundless when Bergoglio was chosen. Benedict thought that the Church was like a machine; he’d set it up properly, and he thought he could trust it to just automatically continue in the expected course. He thought it would be safe to drop the controls – what could go wrong? He, and we, found out very quickly. No wonder he looked as if he’d aged 10 years the week after the conclave; he was seeing his life’s work flushed down the toilet, and there was no one but himself to blame.
Pope Francis will be choosing the men (nah, Chick Cardinals ain’t happening) who will be the newest members of The Cardinalate and if there is one man amongst them who embodies Tradition I will eat every single Palm Tree in Florida – without BBQ Sauce.
Wolves took over at Vatican II – they’ve been in control ever since.
Alicia Barrios a long-standing friend of Cardinal Bergoglio said she thinks that Benedict was the only one who knew that Bergoglio would be the next pope.
http://www.infobae.com/2013/09/06/1507132-que-no-extrane-que-alguno-los-curas-villeros-pronto-sea-obispo
In her opinion Card. Bergoglio´s preparation of the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean in Aparecida and the Aparecida Document to which Card. Bergoglio was a major contributor had a profound effect on Pope Benedict XVI. Most of his Address to the Members of the Curia in December 2007 was devoted to the visit and the Document.
Link for more details about Aparecida:
http://idlespeculations-terryprest.blogspot.de/2013/07/aparecida.html
Fr Malachi Martins Windswept House seems awfully reminiscent of all we`re going through ..although JPII didn`t cave when it came to abdicating….they must have had a better strategy when BXVI came along.
“From the frying pan (Benedict) into the fire (Francis).”
Lord, have mercy!
I agree that Summorum Pontificum will be the greatest achievement of Benedict’s papacy. It seems to me that through this papal act God in his providence has drawn many Catholics to this supreme divine gift to the Church, to reclaim their patrimony. It may be that by freeing up this the most noble expression of true Catholic worship, that by providing greater access to this supreme source of grace we are being protected and strengthened by God in face of the tribulations now upon us and in preparation for even greater sufferings for the Church still to come in the very near future.
God Bless you dear Fr Mann…..I`ll keep you in my rosaries.
I thought I saw a pattern of Benedict attempting to set some limits on the next pontiff during his last few months. Which also implies that he likely made his decision months in advance of the public announcement.
Specifically I’m thinking of the motu propio “ON THE SERVICE OF CHARITY”:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/motu_proprio/documents/hf_ben-xvi_motu-proprio_20121111_caritas_en.html
Do you remember that one? Nobody else does either, apparently — especially those heading up Catholic charities. They politely acknowledged it and then went right on working in the same partnerships with anti-Catholic organizations.
However, when Francis even informally suggests that the Catholic Church should be primarily about the “service to the poor” (rather than saving souls), their canine ears perk right up and the saliva drips from their tongues as they expose their incisors. Wolves indeed!
When the Church forced the New Mass on all of us, most (not all), assumed that the Holy Tridentine Mass was juridically banned and prohibited. Before his resignation, Pope Benedict XVI again clarified that the Latin Mass had never been abrogated. Therefore there is no papal document abrogating the papal bull of St. Pope Pius V ‘Quo Primum’. Neither there is any prohibition in Pope Paul VI’s ‘Missale Romanum” Such truth, a right of every Catholic, that God has given to us to have the Tridentine Mass which the authorities of the church have un-lawfully taken away. Catholics shall no longer be the begging dog for crumbs but children of God treated with respect, when it comes to how we ought to worship God Almighty.
Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI……not long ago was a young Catholic priest, very much curious about many things In his heart he was to some extend ‘traditional’, but his mind was attracted to New Theology, which stood opposed to Thomism, and, as a consequence, and which unfortunately ended up shaping not only the ‘spirit of Vatican II’ but much of the content of the Vatican II documents…..such as style and method. This so-called ‘conservative—liberal’ camp, was a radical departure from holy Tradition. This new Theology was a departure from dogma and with dogma, the faith, as also departure from common sense, and right reason…..simply put it……Modernism.
In Brazil in 1990 to the daily ‘O Estado de S. Paulo, he affirmed………’I do not see a real, profound difference between my work at Vatican Council II and my present day work’.
One moment the Pope is condemning the ‘hermeneutic of rupture’, and the next moment he is promoting, EVEN giving the RED HAT, to rupturists. One moment Benedict lifts the excommunications of the bishops of the SSPX, and then the next moment he appoints the Society’s greatest detractor to head up the relations with the Society.
Joseph Ratzinger, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), had certainly been reading those files of the diocesan reports of pedophile and homosexual priests, the heart-wrenching letters of victims and families addressed to the Vatican as a last recourse effort for justice – all ended on his desk. As the one responsible for overseeing the Church’s internal judicial process resulting from accusations of sexual abuse against a minor, he had to be aware of all the case files.
For 24 years, Cardinal Ratzinger responded to the abuse accusations by referring Bishops to the rules of Crimen Sollicitationis, in force since 1962. The instruction calls for secrecy – specifically in cases where priests are accused of abusing the Sacrament of Confession to sexually proposition penitents, and in extension, to clerics accused of homosexuality, child sexual abuse and bestiality. In effect, he used that document to insure secrecy and cover up sexual abuse by priests and Bishops. There is no doubt that Ratzinger was aware of the details of those scandals for a long, long time.
Card. Ratzinger also endorsed the key clause Item 13, under the Preliminaries section of the 1962 Instruction, which states: “The oath of keeping the secret must be given in these cases also by the accusers or those denouncing [the priest] and the witnesses.” In effect, this enabled Bishops to use their authority to silence the victims of priestly abuse by swearing them to secrecy under pain of excommunication.
In 2006, Pope Ratzinger signed an unmistakably “soft” document setting out new guidelines regarding homosexuals entering the seminary. Instead of condemning the sin against nature and firmly barring those who practice it or have tendencies toward it from the sacred priesthood, the document takes a more tolerant view. Only those with “deep-seated tendencies” toward homosexuality are barred from priesthood; those with “transitory problems” or “chaste” homosexuals can be accepted. New Oxford Review editor Dale Vree rightly noted that “the priesthood will continue to be or become a ‘gay’ profession, thanks to this document.”
Benedict’s comforting words to the masses on the pedophilia crisis are enough for justice to be done and the Church morally healed. Nothing will change unless the Church addresses the root of the moral crisis, the toleration and favoring of both pedophilia and homosexuality in the clergy.
“Over two thousand years of history, how many Popes have reigned in good health and have not witnessed the decline of their powers and have not suffered from illnesses and moral trials of every kind? Physical well-being has never been a criterion of governance of the Church. Will it be so beginning with Benedict XVI…….The image of the pontifical institution, in the eyes of public opinion all over the world, would in fact be stripped of its sacrality to be handed over the criteria of judgment of modernity.:…..(Roberto de Mattei)
So, who is Pope Francis……if, not a creation of those of the same mind………Miserere! The ‘wolves’ have reigned for the last 50 years……
So, the Doctor St. Augustine told us that we should ‘boldly’ resist superiors, including the Pope, ‘without fear’, when we are defending the Faith……
In old Norse the word for outlaw means ‘wolf’, among out things (robber, miscreant). The outlaws who raised the idol of V2 in the Churches across the earth are still going strong. That spirit of V2, restless indifferentist and thereby ‘inclusivist’ (unless you are ‘traditionalist’) where we must be left to be our own lone wolf to find our own way – we can declare each one us pope by virtue of our inner conclave and like Pilate, ask, standing right in the face of the King of Kings, the Way the Truth and the Life, Quid est veritas ? then go searching high and low with our athiest, satanist, and pagan brothers and sisters for ‘it’; knowing full well that Our Lord has already told us He is to be found in His Father’s House. The House that our athiest, satanist and pagan kindred either outright reject, don’t understand because no one’s told them (and I don’t think they should hold their breath waiting for this Pope to explain) or just plain cannot see, since these days the Church mostly roams incognito so as not to draw attention on the ground, or dresses down in court so as not draw attention to the Awesomeness and Glory of God – so as not to remind or inform anyone that there is a King of Kings to be preached. It’s like an inversion of St Paul in Athens, ‘For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship–and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.’ Now, after 2000 years of knowing and worshipping the One Who, through the Church, has been proclaimed to us, He is thrown behind the Bishops’ backs for the new-unknown-god out there somewhere in the land of unChurch. So the ‘loyal sons of the Church’ have gone all prodigal son – will they tire of the world and its pig stys and hunger? Will they come running Home? And of those truly loyal sons who never decided the Truth and Life, the Way was grown on greener grasses ex ecclesia, will they stand up for the flock of the One True God? Or like hirelings keep mute or look away as the wolves have their fill.
Yes. The Wolves.
They are always there. Tempting God to call down fire on those who offend Him (them?). Selling Him for silver. Denying Him. Abandoning Him. Persecuting His followers. There are always wolves. There are also those who die a martyr’s death for Him. Those who write His Gospels. Those who lead His Church through trying times. Those who spread His Gospels to the ends of the earth. Those who experience conversion and become His strongest Advocates. And, unfortunately, those who kill themselves in despair after confronting the gravity of their sins.
Those were just the Apostles. Wheat. Chaff. It is difficult to recognize which is which from one time to another. But we do know that there will be wolves who will offend against Christ in the most serious of ways. We also know that there will be those who will die for Christ. What we often do not see is that these are often the same person.
The only thing sure is that we must never leave the Barque of Peter, and that we must pray, putting our trust in Him who orders all things sweetly for the benefit of His Elect.
I think that it will be a trying time ahead, but I think if we keep the faith, we will see seas parted, beacons of fire in the night and smoke by day, and will receive water from the rock to quench our thirst, and bread from the sky to fill our bellies. We will also see the overthrow of the Egyptians, Amorites, Hittites, Babylonians, Philistines, Canaanites, Arians, Donatists, Gnostics, Cathars, Free-Masons, and any and all enemies of Christ be vanquished before this is through.
We just have to persevere in faith.
Today, more than ever, the Church needs many good men for such crack units that will win hearts and minds for Christ, for saving souls.”
These should be Christ’s true warriors! These should be the men to replace the strangers that have been planted in our Father’s House!
“Remember the Head and the Body to which you belong”….St. Leo
Wolves indeed.
However, the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit to counter the wolves and their modernist heresy has not been Benedict and his SP, but rather Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the SSPX. If not for the SSPX, it would long ago have been game, set and match for the Faith. The VII wolves did a masterful job of eliminating Catholicism from the New Church, with a brutal suppression the likes of which a Stalin or Mao could never have imagined. An entire institution instantaneously transformed itself from a religion into a revolutionary ideology over the span of a couple of years. I remember the Indult masses of the early ’80 were a direct response to the SSPX’s growing popularity, especially in the US. It was the SSPX, with their turbulent past, from which sprang both the Bishop Dolan’s/Reverend Cekada’s as well as the Ecclesia Dei Commission and that crowd. And in my humble opinion, it is the SSPX that the Holy Spirit instituted as the guarantor that our Faith will survive and the “gates of hell shall not prevail” over the Bride of Christ.
And the wolves can’t do squat about it!
And folks, that is just the objective reality of the matter.
Archbishop Lefebvre, ora pro nobis.
OMT. Yes it is depressing in general.
But I draw strength each time I see a Holy Sacrifice of Mass (1962 MR or earlier) being offered at one of them space ship churchs. I can imagine the rage that it must inspire among the Bugnini’ites and goes a long way in explaining the resulting hatred that flows for the “Pelagians”.
PS After all, they are latins, and they do have problems controling their emotions. 🙂
PPS How unCatholic.
……. the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit to counter the wolves and their modernist heresy has NOT been Benedict and his SP, but rather Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the SSPX. If not for the SSPX, it would long ago have been game, set and match for the Faith.
May those who have eyes SEE, and those who have ears Hear!……
St. Pius X, ora pro nobis!
St. John Fisher, ora pro nobis!
St. Thomas More, ora pro nobis!
Archbishop Lefebvre, ora pro nobis!!!
Halina: And it will come to pass, that the great crowds on St. Peter’s Square will shout from the top of thier lungs: “Archbiship Lefebvre, Santo Subito ” And the wolves will scatter.
My dear brother in Christ!…….I have NO doubt!
Our Father Who Art in Heaven………has put His arms around His persecuted, mocked, despised…..very ‘worthy’ son, who fought the good fight to the end….such a worthy son, who understood……….’DUM SPIRAMUS TUEBIMUR’…….’WHILE WE BREATH, WE SHALL DEFEND!!!
Indeed, very worthy to imitate in true fidelity to Jesus Christ Our Lord and Saviour, to His Catholic Church………let the ‘proud’, the ‘blind’…….’gnash their teeth!
In Jesus Christ Our King and Mary Our Queen,
Halina
I am sorry Louie but I disagree with you and think you are wrong. Benedict said clearly that he was resigning due to continual weakness or loss of strength do an advancing age. That is it period. If it were any other reason he would surely have said so as Truth was his motto. He had fallen while in México and had a minor injury that caused bleeding from his head and the doctor said no more foreign trips. He also has hinted many times that when he felt he could no longer rule he would step done. Otherwise we are calling him a life. Francis is troubling on many issues yes but he recently celebrated Mass at John Paul II tomb facing East and last week said the whole Mass for departed clerics in Latin.
Dear Michael Leon,
Insightful comment. Thank you for it.
At the same time, Mr. V., regarding your last statement, no one can deny it.
St. Pius X, pray for us.
Archbishop Lefebvre, pray for us.
I don’t know enough about SSPX to agree or disagree with the comments but I do know this: If I had been who I am now (a lover of the TLM and the Traditional Church, a true child of God and a disciple of Christ the King) back in the 1960’s when Vatican II ripped out Catholic culture, liturgy and heritage I honestly don’t know what I would have done…for I would have had 50 years of spiritual starvation in front of me to bear. Can you imagine if we had another “pastoral council”…a Vatican III…and they proposed all other kinds of insane things? What if they snuff out the TLM again? What do faithful Catholic do when their birthright is snatched away and the wolves want to feast on them? God bless~
S.Armaticus: “it is the SSPX that the Holy Spirit instituted as the guarantor that our Faith will survive and the “gates of hell shall not prevail” over the Bride of Christ.”
‘Know the Truth and it shall set you free!’
Pope Benedict himself was one of the wolves.
Let’s not forget his being one of the very real mover-and-shakers at the Council.
I suppose as Pope, he became a little apprehensive as to what he and his co-destructors had unleashed on the world, but make no mistake, he was to the end committed to the Revolution.
He was something like Severus Snape – a Deatheater with a guilty conscience, and still carrying a flame, perhaps, for a former love.
Summorum Pontificum was a nice little gesture, but being only a motu proprio may easily be reversed by the next pontiff, and was, besides, utterly unnecessary.
Let us not deceive ourselves. Were it not for all those ‘rebellious’ priests and bishops who were actively engaged in doing what this motu suddenly made kosher again, the document itself would NEVER had been put forth, as Pope Benedict would never have just pulled it out of the blue by pure inspiration.
He would have been perfectly content to let the past die out, just as blithely as Pope Francis.
The traditional life of the Faith was not re-freshed by the motu proprio; the ongoing true and traditional life of the Church, continuing with or without the present Vatican establishment, merely made it necessary as a reactionary gesture.
Correction.
I’ve been thinking on it.
Perhaps I was a tad too harsh.
I shall not say that the motu proprio was UTTERLY unnecessary, lest I should behave like the older brother in the parable of the prodigal.
I freely admit that the motu did enable a (growing) number of the faithful to come into contact with the true Roman Rite, especially priests – some of whom I know personally, and whose preaching may be heard on Audio Sancto. These are what I like to call ‘Proprio Babies.’
By God’s good providence, nothing should be seen as pointless. And even though there are those of us who have “labored in the heat of the day,” Our Lord may indeed do with his two pence as He wills, and so I should not see it with an evil eye.
No.
I will not be the grudging older brother. I will rejoice, for this my brother has come home, “he was dead, and is alive again.”
But I still say this has happened because of those who fought the good fight as ‘hipster Catholics:’ who were traditional before it was cool.
“Christians and Muslims (Jews), we have many things in common, as believers and as humans beings…..We believe in the same God, the one God, the living God, the God who created the world and brings his creatures to their perfection”……these were the words of Pope JPII in 1985…….same yesterday and same today– 2013A.D. All of Christ’s teaching insists on the necessity of going through Him to reach the Father. The Catholic God is Triune God……Father, Son, Holy Ghost!……NO POPE from JPII, to Benedict XVI, to Pope Francis…… has ever said the contrary. No other Pope in history has ever visited as many synagogues as Benedict XVI……
“Catholic doctrine tells us that the primary duty of charity does not lie in the toleration of false ideas, however sincere they may be, nor in the theoretical or practical indifference towards the errors and vices in which we see our brethren plunged…..Further, whilst Jesus was kind to sinners and to those who went astray, He did not respect their false ideas, however sincere they might have appeared. He loved them all, but He instructed them in order to convert them and save them”……St. Pius X (Notre Charge Apostolique).
The post-Vatican II project of false ecumenism casts a long shadow over the modern Church……..Pope Benedict’s vision is a journey…..toward the truth…….rather contrary, to what we know from St. Thomas Aquinas regarding theological truth and Divine Revelation as being propositions or articles of faith.
….quoting John Vennari…….Pope Benedict XVI never said that the answer to the crisis in the Church is to return the admonition of Pope Agatho who said “nothing of the things appointed ought to be diminished; nothing changed; nothing added; but they must be preserved both as regards expression and meaning” (from Pope Gregory XVI Mirari Vos #7).
Pope Benedict never said that the answer to today’s ecclesiastical chaos is to return to the formula contained in the Oath Against Modernism, that the Catholic is bound to …..sincerely hold that the doctrine of Faith was handed down to us from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers ‘in exactly the same meaning and always in the same explanation’. He cannot use terminology like this because it conflicts with the new teachings of Vatican II, with the new teachings concerning religious liberty and ecumenism. These new teachings are clearly ‘different from the one which the Church held previously.’
Pope Benedict XVI is not a Pope of Tradition.
2. Pope Benedict will ultimately be best remembered for his attempt to restore the Church’s liturgical life to its former glory, Summorum Pontificum being by far the most profound act of his entire papacy…….
……..If that was true…….let us just imagine for a moment………What a Glory to God woud be, what a witness to the enemies of the Latin Mass, witness to the godless world …..IF…… Holy Father would offer the last Mass of his Pontificate, the Mass of All Times, the Most Holy Worship of God, for the love of God, for the love of holy Tradition, fearing no one, but God…….as a true Soldier of Christ ought to!……..he would go down in history as a courageous Pope, in imitation of Christ, of martyrs, of saints, of fearless Popes……this was not to be. Miserere, Domine!
“The devil is after those who believe in the Holy Trinity…satan is the lord of this world. When you want to do evil and useless things, there’ll be few obstacles…when the church’s ‘shepherds’ want to do evil and useless things they find it completely easy – when you want to do some good…”
Theodore Shoebat – rescues Christians from Islam.
Shoebat reckons Islam grew out of the Arian heresy – this Arian-Islamic heresy has a great hatred for the Triune God and those who worship Him.
Dear Leo,
I get that way all the time. That is-“a tad too harsh.”
The walking wounded can get that way.
Thank you for your compassion, Linda. The times are tough, to be sure, and we can lose perspective; but, we just get back up, re-lift the cross, and keep trudging along, what?
And getting back to this wolf theme, it would seem that the wolf was indeed “at the door” in 1907 – effectively kept at bay by good Pope Pius X, who sounded the alarm.
But when the faithful Catholic Van Winkle crawls out of bed today, and begins looking around the household of the Church, he will find not a single lupus freeloader: there’s a wolf sitting on his toilet reading the paper and smoking a cigarette; another lounging on his couch and commanding the remote with fierce adamant; and yet another rummaging through his refrigerator, disgruntled at the poor contents which he perceives to be inadequate for his sustenance.
“He [Christ, in the Sermon on the Mount] did not say: Blessed are they who suffer persecution from the Gentiles; that you may not think he alone is blessed who suffers persecution for refusing to worship idols. Therefore he who suffers persecution from heretics, for refusing to abandon the truth, is also blessed: for he suffers for justice sake. And if one of the mighty of this world, who seems to be a Christian, corrected by you because of his sins, persecutes you; you are blessed in the company of John the Baptist. For if it is true that the Prophets who were slain by their own people were martyrs, then without doubt he who suffers anything for God’s sake, even though he suffered it from his own people, shall have the martyr’s reward. Because of this Scripture does not attach importance to the persons of the persecutors, but solely to the reason of the persecution: that you may not dwell on who it is that persecutes you, but why.”
— St. John Chrysostom, Opus Imperfectum
Look, I think the SSPX has got many, many things right, and sure, they helped indirectly with SP. But they are not Rome. And Fellay does not sit on the throne of Peter. Period. Perhaps the Lord will allow this period of disorientation for punishments for sins, perhaps SSPX and those like them will keep the Faith more faithfully than many a V2 prelate, but to not believe the promises of Christ to the successors of Peter is to lose a serious, core part of the ROMAN CATHOLIC FAITH.
Mike…the SSPX does NOT deny that Francis is the pope, nor are they excommunicate. In other words, they are CATHOLIC, albeit in an irregular status. They do say that while Francis is the legitimate successor of Peter, he is saying some seriously messed up stuff that is: 1) making matters much much worse; 2) causing extreme confusion (note the news stories in the past few days that cited Illinois Catholic legislators using Francis’ words to justify (in fact change) their thinking and voting on ‘gay marriage’); and 3) just seriously, egregiously out of continuity with Traditional Catholic thought and teaching. In all of this they are 100% correct.
Of all the sites out there with a Catholic conversation, this lot most certainly believe in Christ’s promise – the hows and wherefores of that promise seem more than a little hidden right now. As for Popes, Christ even once called his chosen first Pope ‘satan’, for his selfish understanding of who Christ is. His first Pope denied Him three times. His first Pope was chastised by a late Apostle – St Paul. His first 30 odd Popes were all martyrs for the Faith – taking on the role of Pope pretty much meant Calvary proper – and these loyal sons knew this. When, some time later, Pope no. 267 instructs young people to not look back and to ‘make a mess’, has people living in a state of grave sin feeling encouraged in that state, and all this when following on the footsteps of a watershed in vocations, brutalisation of existing sanctuaries to resemble a masonic lodge more than a Catholic Church of several hundred years standing; when Catholic schools have their curriculum largely written for them by satan than and Church, when the Faithful cry out for a Pope to defend the Faith and are told to stop ‘saying’ prayers, (especially when his namesake, St Francis of Assisi encouraged recitation of the Gloria Patri and the Magnificat with great dedication – and isn’t the Mass a ‘said’ prayer?) that they have made an idol of the Faith they are practicing?! The Faith vouchsafed to them by his own predecessors?!
The Rock will stand, but those who stand on it may decide to jump into the sand – like any of us. That this Pope so determinedly turns his back on the royal aspects of his role, encouraging a horizontalization – a stew of laity and clergy, and like post-concilliar Popes, a continual breaking down of the boundaries that are proper to the Sanctuary, the Heirarchy. What one has to figure out is what God wants us to make of such a Pope – in Mass lately we are reminded to read the signs of the times…since we are all largely left to make whatever we will of whatever we will, I guess we will – some of us without too many ruffled feathers simply accept that we haven’t been hoodwinked for 1900 years on the Truth that sets us free. If a Pope becomes a protestant, or a practical atheist while still ‘believing’, then we have to wait for another Pope to come along who is Faithful to the Catholic mission. Like miracles and visitations, you have to wait till a papacy is over to know weather its something to laud or take as a lesson best not forgotten – usually – the pace at which Pope Francis is motoring on in his bulldozer is not exactly leaving a lot of room for doubt.
Mike, Susan: “THE FAITH” is what a person needs to get to heaven. All else is secondary. Jesus did appoint Peter as his successor, but Jesus did not guarantee that Peter will keep his FAITH, nor that Peter’s successors will likewise keep their FAITH. And only Jesus himself knows how many of Peter’s successors have actually kept the Faith. But regardless of how many good (kept the FAITH) or bad (lost the FAITH) popes the Bride of Christ has produced over the past 2 millennium, She is still here. Therefore, I would not get too hung up on Francis or the post VII popes for that matter. I think it would be fair to say that Francis is a heretic, by all objective standards. He might even be in apostasy, but only God would know that with certainty. Yet the objective reality of the matter is that he is the pope today. And until the College of Cardinals does something about it, Francis will still be the pope tomorrow, and the day after. But having said that, and regardless of what kind of a pope is sitting on Peter’s throne, and what kind of heresy’s he might be teaching, one still needs the FAITH to be saved. And the FAITH is not the pope, but rather the Magisterium. And I think in this day and age, most Catholics possess the faculties to know what is in the Magisterium and assess if that what is taught by the present pope/Church hierarchy, is that which was always taught by the pope/Church hierarchy, and specifically, if it is the same as the Deposit of FAITH that our Lord passed on to Peter. And if the above is a correct assessment of the present situation, than I think it is also correct to say that the SSPX has kept the FAITH as it has always been taught by the Magisterium and is the same FAITH that Our Lord handed to Peter when he installed him as the Vicar of Christ. In other words, the FAITH that the SSPX has kept and teaches, is the one and the same FAITH that the Church has always taught, and more importantly, the FAITH that is the precondition for a person’s salvation.
The Popes, Saints, Fathers, Doctors and approved theologians of the Roman Catholic Church have told us through the ages that a pope can be a heretic against the Roman Catholic faith and attempt to destroy the Church through inappropriate policies. Such a pope is to be disobeyed and resisted as a matter of duty.
First pope St. Peter (+67)…….’We ought to obey God, rather then men”…Acts 5:29.
Saint ‘Thomas Aquinas (+1274)……’It is written: ‘….were the Pope to command anything against Holy Scripture, or the articles of faith, or the truth of Sacraments, or the commands of the natural or divine law, he ought no to be obeyed, but in such commands, to be passed over.’ (Summa de Ecclesia)
The great Scripture commentator Cornelis a Lapide (+1637) wrote:……”truth must be defended’.
Pope Innocent III (+1216) stated that a pope can ‘wither away into heresy’ and ‘not believe’ the Faith. ‘The pope should not flatter himself about his power, nor should he rashly glory in his honour and high estate, because the less he is judged by man, the more he is judged by God.’
Pope Adrian VI (+1523 stated that ‘it is beyond question’ that a pope can ‘err in matters touching the Faith’, he can ‘teach heresy’ in decrees.
This same pope also stated ‘many Roman Pontiffs were heretics’.
Venerable Pope Pius IX (+1878) recognised the danger that a future pope would be a heretic and ‘teach contrary to the Catholic Faith’, and he instructed, ‘do not follow him’ (a letter written to Bishop Brizen)
Pope Honorius I (+638) was anathematised as a heretic by the ecumenical Council of III Constantinople, whose Acts were confirmed by Pope Leo II (+683)……”We forsaw that, together that, together with them, also Honorius, before Pope of Old Rome, is cast out of the Holy Catholic Church of God and anathematized, for we have found by his writings sent to (the heretic) Sergius, that he followed the thinking of the latter in everything, and continued his impious principles. To Sergius, the heretic, anathema! To Cyrus, the heretic, anathema! To Honorius, the heretic, anathema!
(WOW!……how low the hierarchy of today’s Church of ‘nice’ have fallen!!!)
THE FIRST Doctor of the Church, St. AThanasius (+373), told us that “Catholics faithful to TRADITION’, can be ‘reduced to a handful”.
St. Vincent of Lerins (+) is the Father of the Church……..he foresaw that if the whole Church should go into heresy we MUST keep to the traditional Faith handed down from the Fathers.
The theologian Tommaso Cardinal de Vio Gaetani Cajetan (+1534) declared:
“It is ‘imperative’ to resist a pope who is openly DESTROYING THE CHURCH”
The theologian Sylvester Prieras (+1523) …..’as he (Pope) has papal power ONLY to build up the Church and NOT to destroy it, it is “lawful to oppose him.” He is to be ‘resisted and the fulfi.ment of his commands prevented.’; “Open resistance” is a right and duty………
Council Vatican I (1870) defined that a pope has no power or right to come out with new doctrines or to change the Faith which has been handed down from the Apostles but only to maintain and preach it. “For the Holy Ghost was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by His revelation, make know some new doctrine, BUT THAT, by His assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or Deposit of Faith transmitted by the Apostles (Pastor Aeternus, cap. 4)
…..may I also suggest to go to Oltyn Library (john Vennari, Catholic Family News), or on youtube…….and listen to Father Gregory Hesse…….he is ‘crystal clear’.
In Christo et Maria,
Halina
May he rest in peace!
@S. Armaticus
Bravo. Well communicated!
Besides, the Bishop of Rome (as he prefers) is all about collegiality, right? And if a fellow bishop in communion with him (such as are the bishops of the SSPX) is seeking the Lord and doing their best to keep the Faith, I’m sure he’d say “who am I to judge?”
Either way, I’ll ask him when he gives me a call.
@ Leo,
Somehow I don’t think the Bishop of Rome’s mercy, luv, joyfulness, non-judgementalism and the rest of the VII happy-clappy talk extends to the Pelagians. Nope, can’t find that in any of his musings. And as far as Francis calling goes, unless you’ve redirected your phone line throught a Favela switchboard, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
You either have to believe that the Holy Spirit guided the cardinals in electing Francis, because God clearly knows what’s best for our church, or you have to now accept the fact that the Cath Church is NOT the one true church and is simply one among many imperfect paths toward the Kingdom of God.
The alternative, based on most comments above and knowing that most of you probably believe that the Cath Church is superior to all other Christian denominations, is that God got it wrong this time.
@ Billy
Are you a Protestant?
The Holy Spirit can be resisted as all the countless Protestant denominations show because God wants his Church not to be divided. But the Holy Spirit forces nobody.
The Holy Spirit can be resisted by the free will of the Cardinals too.
God knew from all eternity that Judas with complete free will would betray Jesus Christ. God´s providence let this happen for a greater good that is the redemption.
The same with the conclave: God´s providence let happen that the Cardinals chose Pope Francis.
Louis: You are right about the wolves. However, I think, the wolves took control at Vatican II, or maybe even at the 58 conclave. These wolves have their conciliar daggers raised, poised and ready to plunge at anything traditional, especially if the SSPX is mentioned. Summorum Pontificum, lifting of the excommunications was just too much. The line was drawn in the sand…..there would be no regularization of the SSPX. Benedict could have helped the traditional cause by publically offering our TLM. I guess that would have been too much for the wolves.
@Billy: In addition to Martina’s excellent example of Judas and how the Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways, I would just like to remind you of the Borgia’s. Never, ever (ever,ever,…)) forget the Borgia’s.
@general: What you have to understand about Benedict is that he was one of the modernist movers and shakers at VII. However, and to his credit, and possessing probably the most brilliant mind of his generation, he was sober enough to realize the damage that VII wrought upon the Church. There is a great passage (going around on the internet) where he comments on the demolition of the Church in the Netherlands in the 1970’s and the detachment from reality of the Dutch hierarchy (they were all going on about the new springtime) and asks whether a business owner would react similarly if he saw his accounts performing in a similar manner. But no matter how intelligent and truly humble Benedict was, he could (or maybe “would” is the more accurate term) not admit to the mistake (explicitly). What he tried to do instead was to find a middle ground (dialectic, anyone?), hence the hermeneutic of continuity was born. Benedict’s idea was to reintroduce the Immemorial Mass and allow it to “blend” in with the Bugninian rite. At the end of this process, and with time (a lot of it) a “synthesis” was supposed to happen whereby a single rite would “evolve”, and the circle would have become squared. When you read some of the neo-con blogs about how the N.O. could be “celebrated” reverently, this is the underlying idea. But Benedict made to many enemies, and hence… he is now the pope emeritus. On a final note, Benedicts idea was clever. But it just goes to show how truly revolutionary the modernist forces at VII were, and how “ideologically” entrenched the Bugnini’ites presently are in their new theology, so entrenched that they could not even accept a synthetic Novus Ordo. They will settle for nothing but a complete and unconditional “mess”.
Where is it stated in Catholic dotrine that the Pope is chosen by the Cardinals under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit such that the Cardinals are acting infallibly in making their choice? Citation please.
Billy, our Protestant friend, has inspired me.
Let’s take a time out from our squabbling and sing, shall we?
Here we go. 1-2-3…
“Francis loves me, this I know,
For the media tells me so;
Fringe dwellers to him belong,
Their reasoning’s weak but his is wrong:
Yes, Francis loves me.
Yes, Francis loves me.
Yes, Francis loves me,
The media tells me so.”
Good job everybody.
Indeed the wolves have taken over. Cardinal Sepe of Naples announced that polluters are no longer able to receive the Blessed Sacrament in his diocese, but apparently it is still okay to receive the Blessed Sacrament as a public dissenter against the Church’s teachings on abortion, gay marriage, and the like. Really Your Eminence??!! I definitely don’t like pollution, however it is not even close to the same level of importance as intrinsic evils. No doubt this is the diabolical disorientation that Sister Lucia warned us about.
Can you hear an ‘echo’ as old as the world is…….same yesterday, today and until the end of the world.
“Why did God make you?…………God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven……
‘Why God allows suffering in the Church?’……..God allows suffering in the Church because of SIN, because of ‘blasphemy’, because of ‘heresy’……..because, of the ‘episcopal councils’, because of the ‘parish councils’, because of the ‘priest councils’……etc.
To understand the suffering of the holy Church, we ought to understand the ‘sufferings of Christ’, we should meditate deeply on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the holy Rosary.
The Holy Ghost did not abandon the Church, the Holy Ghost protected us from the Vatican Council II, because it never became obligatory to follow, it never became obligatory to use the New Missal…..there’s no documents with a signature stating contrary.
It was Pope John Paul II (followers obediently followed), who proclaimed the ‘new Pentecost of Vatican II’, the ‘new Advent Church’, the ‘new conciliar church’…….etc.!
Obedient Catholics, loving God, His Church, His teachings, the Mass of All Times……the Most Noble Worship of God……. Holy Tradition that came down to us from the time of Our Lord Jesus Christ, from the time of the holy Apostles………simply, faithfully continue living and practicing their holy Faith…….in the Roman Catholic Church of 2000 years old!!!
Another ‘echo’ follows….from Pope Pius VI:
“All of you Catholics……We exhort you, with all our heart, to remember the Religion and Faith of your Fathers, to remain faithful to it, since religion is the first and greatest good, because it will procure for you eternal felicity in heaven, and is yet on earth the only means of assuring the salvation of empires and the happiness of civil society. GUARD against the preaching of deceivers, of the philosophies of the century, which would lead you to death; distance yourself from all usurpers under whatever guise they present themselves….Archbishops, Bishops, priests (Popes….my emphasis); have nothing in common with them, above all in the practice of religion……”
Dan Burke – http://www.ncregister.com/blog/dan-burke/the-devils-war-on-silence-in-mass/#When:2013-11-5 – is suggesting a split between Traditionalist and Traditionalism – he is pretty snarky and scathing about these ‘traditionalismites’. How can one be a Traditionalist without upholding and supporting Traditionalism? More Hegelian double-speak. And this, because Mr Burke wants some more silence, solemnity in Mass. The thing is the NO Mass is not constructed for silences and solemnity. It’s like an amateur community orchestra where the priest just sort of lets every one play along while he’s conducting matters behind the table, that is altar. The NO is what it is.
the devils war on silence in the Mass, on discernment of the Real Presence, on grasping the sacrificial nature of the Mass, the sanctity of the sanctuary, and much more, has been pretty much won through the NO.
Whereas the TLM hasn’t let the devil get a stinky toenail through the door. By their fruits…
Well, if Novoordolators, and Popolators, and Heresolators and worldolators want the Peace of Christ in the Mass they’ll have to find that obscure Mass time when no one else attends, then maybe they’ll get a glimpse of what was brutally violated in the dismissal of the Mass the Holy Spirit formed over centuries and which could be shared in silence, solemnity, awe and thanksgiving in with other understanding and worshipful sheeps.
Dear roguehop,
Ahh–beautiful. Thank you. Consolation to this old trad heart–who can still smell the incense and hear the weeping of the repentant –as a 4 yr old Lutheran girl holding the hand of her Catholic Dad in a jam-packed weekday Mass, while folks pounded their chests in a mea culpa here in the Bronx in nyc in 1951.
This, yes, THIS–is what converted me.
Wait–I can’t talk about that—Oh, I forgot,
\yes I can – because-
here, I am among friends. I love you all.
God bless you Linda et al.
The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy protection upon thy right hand. The sun shall not burn thee by day: nor the moon by night. The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: may the Lord keep thy soul. May the Lord keep thy coming in and thy going out; from henceforth now and for ever.
And Louie, amongst the vanguard of the beset Church Militant.
Leo
like the ditty
for future youth who may feel inspired to honour the Holy Father with a wonderful rosary bouquet:
Don’t give Frank the rosary
or he’ll get somewhat snooty
gentle faithful without guile
make him feel he’s out of style
yes frankie’s snazzy
yes Frankie’s groovy
yes Frankie’s pc
the spin docs tell us so.
and apparently ‘he has “no problem” with the ‘old rite’. Tepid or intolerant, which is he?
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=19632
Say a prayer for our Filipino Brethren, that Faith be redoubled in the clergy and their flocks at this time. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.
And may our current Pope be given the grace to consecrate the nation of Russia to the Immaculate Heart in unity with the Bishops. The disasters are stacking up, let the shepherds no longer delay.
Our Mother of Perpetual Succour, intercede.
Dear Mr. Verrecchio,
Your silence is becoming a ‘mystery’. Are you surprised, that the comments are not what you wished for? Are the comments, just what you hoped for? Above all, I pray that you are well.
May the love of God, His Truth, be your heart’s ‘priority’.
May you and all you love, be blessed!
Sincerely in Christ,
Halina
In light of this….
http://mundabor.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/francis-tango-mass/#comments
I believe I have to answer the headline question with heavy heart and deep groan saying, “apparently yes. yes they have.”
Matthew 24:15-16 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”
drip, drip, drip.
Armaticus,
Good points. I was not actually refering to what the SSPX says, but what some on this comments section wrote.
Rome is still Rome: let us pray that sanity will return to the See of Peter and the Church.
Since we’re talking amongst ourselves here’s a pertinent post:
http://marymagdalen.blogspot.co.nz/2013/11/public-spat-and-papal-correction.html
apparently lessers have something to teach the Pope.
Wise talk by Msgr. Patrick Perez on how to spot a Modernist:
‘modernism is modern in a false sense of the word…it is a morbid state of conscience among Catholics…that expresses manifold ideals, opinions and tendencies, from time to time these work out into systems; modernism is a remodelling, or renewal according to the ideas of the 20th century of the Catholic Religion.’
Alfred Loisy – archmodernist: ‘the avowed modernist form a fairly definite group of thinking men united in the common desire to adapt Catholicism to the intellectual, moral and social needs of the day…our religious attitude is ruled by the single wish to be one with Christians and Catholics who live in harmony with the spirit of the age – a spirit of complete emancipation of the private conscience whose aspiriations must not be overridden by Papal definitions or anathemas…also a spirit of movement and change with an inclination to a sweeping form of evolution such as abhors anything fixed and stationary – including liturgy, sacraments – their forms – the teaching of the Church…also a spirit of reconciliation among all men through the feelings of the heart many and varied also are the modernist dreams of an understanding between the different religions nay even between religion and a species of atheism, and all on a basis of agreement that must be superior to mere doctrinal differences…’
Msgr. Patrick Perez: No real modernist keeps the Catholic understanding of Dogma intact; for a modernist words mean what they want them to mean – they can take the oath of modernism and feel no compunction because in themselves they have redifined everything in it…In short modernism is a critique of our supernatural knowledge [revealation, dogma etc.] according to the false postulates of contemporary philosophy. JPII based his world view on these false postulates.
Pius IX – the syllabus of errors – declaring anathema (outside the Church, accursed, in a state of mortal sin – these beliefs are condemened) THAT:…:Divine revealation is imperfect and therefore subject to a continual and indefinite progress corresponding with the advancement of human reason…:Everyman is free to embrace and profess that religion, which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true, or man may, in the observance of any religion whatsoever, find the way of eternal salvation and arrive at eternal salvation or good hope is at least to be entertained of the eternal salavation of all those who are not at all in the True Church of Christ…. :The Roman Pontiffs have, by their too arbitrary conduct, contributed to the division of the Church into Eastern and Western [it was in fact the Patriarch of Constantinople that ‘excommunicated’ the West]….:in the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the state to the exclusion of other forms of worship. [Pope Pius X: ‘separation of Church and State is a pernicious heresy’]. Paul VI = separation of Church and State in Spain, JPII = seperation of the Church and State in Ireland.
http://www.fatimathepathtopeace.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=159&Itemid=8
2 Timothy 4
I charge thee, before God and Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by his coming, and his kingdom: Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables.
Mike: Not a problem.
I am just a bit too sensitive (God, I hate that word) when it comes to all the internecine fighting among the loyal Faithful. God, through the person of the Holy Spirit has fortified our one true Faith against all forms of heresy, apostasy and error.. All that the Faithful need to do is keep their priorities straight, and the the “gates of hell shall not prevail”. It’s like the old cliche, “If you don’t sweat the little stuff, the big stuff won’t kill you.”
LINEN ON THE HEDGEROW
Something missing? – A ten minute film that encapsulates what we have lost…. “architecturally bankrupt” a nice turn of phrase……
4 hours ago
…..something strange is going on……..It was removed too quickly……
http://www.linenonthehedgerow.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/something-missing.html
Divine revealation is imperfect and therefore subject to a continual and indefinite progress corresponding with the advancement of human reason
That statement is perfect in its complete reversal of the correct hierarchy. It clearly demonstrates how modernism reverses the priority of Divine revelation over human reason.
First of all, I need to apologize for monopolizing this post thread. Having said that…. :), my favorite hobby horse is the internicine warfare raging between the faithful Catholics presently. I would like it to stop.
Below is a part of an interview on the blog Eponymous Flower with the German writer Martin Mosebach on a topic near and dear to all our hearts (including the fifth columnists :-)), namely the current situation of the Church. http://eponymousflower.blogspot.com/2013/11/martin-mosebach-only-chance-for.html
The last question and answer is as follows:
Q: “Six months after the election of Pope Francis’ it seems that there is not much left of the liturgical reform of Pope Benedict: Is it so?”
A:” Mosebach: Basically this is conceivable. We see, for example, the intervention of the Vatican in the religious life of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, that every traditional religious community in which there is not one unbroken common will uniting all members, is endangered in its existence. On the other hand, of course, we can say that the official church in Western Europe has become much weaker and therefore does not have the total strength to readily with which they could operate in the 70s and 80s, for their work of destruction. And the tradition of groups on the other hand have become stronger, they can no longer simply be intimidated and swept away, as so many bishops were “in the spirit of the Council”.
The chances for tradition are not so bad, if it focuses on staying hard inside and not to get bogged down in arguments, especially to gain young people, young priests for themselves. We had a short vacation, and now it needs to proceed without Rome again; but we know that already.”
A few things of note in the above (aside from the terrible transalation):
1) The Perfidious Old Ordinary Form’ers (or POOF’s for short) are on their last legs. They have demolished the Church (read collection plate takes and trust funds) to the point where they are not a significant threat to the Faithful.
2) The congregations of the POOF’s are being depleated (the Big Drip if you will), and the new Faithful coming online are not of the POOF variety, i.e.no sentimental attachments to the space ship buildings, the felt banners and the hippie masses.
Therefore, and here is the key (besides, it’s my hobby horse as I mentioned earlier):
3) If the Faithful stop the infighthing, and stay focused on the goal, i.e.returning to the Faith of our fathers and grandfather, we will be successful in restoring the one true Faith back in the Bride of Christ.
And the wolves will be scattered. That is, the ones who don’t make it to the “big back 9” in the mean time.
St. Michael Archangle, ora pro nobis.
S.Armaticus said:
“The chances for tradition are not so bad, if it focuses on staying hard inside and not to get bogged down in arguments,… If the Faithful stop the infighthing, and stay focused on the goal, i.e.returning to the Faith of our fathers and grandfather, we will be successful in restoring the one true Faith back in the Bride of Christ.”
I’m sorry, my friend, and you may determine me to be the arch-pessimist, but this looks to me like the most egregious wishful thinking.
We haven’t even gone into the bad part yet. The past 50 years have been but a soft-peddling dress rehearsal for what is on the horizon.
For I see the day coming when traditional Catholics will be so tattered and strained by the present regime which has taken control of the Vatican, that we will not be considered kooks, fuddy-duddies or spiteful old schoolers, but rather we will be considered to be no part of the Church in any manner
whatsoever.
Our Lady at Fatima warned of a time of persecution which would be more horrible than anything the Church has ever experienced in her entire history.
That does not mean arrests, night-time disappearances, camps, and the like. It means the day by day agony of living through what would appear to be a near total eclipse of the Church Militant.
I don’t think any of us can really conceive just how horrible this will be. Pray for our children. Pray for our, and especially their, perseverance. And hope that this generation – still very ill-prepared – will not see it come into being.
Pope Francis is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
I’m sorry, S.Armaticus. Had a glitch. That last post under “I” was me.
Leo, you are no fool, nor blind.
….few thoughts from John Vennari (Blessed Pius IX, a Model in our struggle”……”I would never allow Pope Francis to teach religion to my children”. Bergolio is thoroughly of the Vatican II orientation. I see the need to ‘step up’ our resistance to the Vatican II chaos, greater than ever, since John Paul II, Benedict XVI and now Pope Francis have more and more established the new orientation as the new norm. Too many of today’s Catholics believe the ‘spirit of Assisi’ and ecumenical gatherings constitute the true face of Catholicism.
WORSE, even too many traditional Catholics have become accustomed to the scandal; have become used to the temperature of the water. These scandals no longer shock them, nor do they leap to their feet to counter them.
We have a model in Blessed Pius IX who said in ‘Qui Pluribus’;
“YOU MUST FIGHT ENERGETICALLY, since you know well what great wounds the undefiled Spouse of Christ Jesus has suffered, and how vigorous is the destructive attack of Her enemies. You must also care for and defend the Catholic faith……….entrusted to you stand to the end firm and unmoved in the faith. For unless one preserves the faith entire and uninjured, he will without doubt perish forever……..
Indeed Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in his unyielding fight against Conciliar errors was a ‘true son’ of Blessed Pius IX. God bless him!!!
.
Dear Leo,
“Wishful thinking” is not my bag. Sure it looks bad, but how bad it looks depends on your point of reference. If your point of reference is the 1950’s, I agree. However, if your point of reference is the late 1980’s, then today it looks like the new springtime for the true Faith. My personal experience is as follows: born Catholic, raised in a conservative parish where each day began with holy mass (alter boy during 1969/70 liturgical blasphemy), moved to a suburban space ship church parish ( had no intention of serving, too weird), graduated from high school (Catholic) in 1977. Once parents lost control, stopped going to parish church altogether. Heard in late “80’s about Indult masses that started being offered in one of the old inner-city Church’s (St. John Cantius in Chicago). At the beginning, there were literally 1 priest, 1 server and 3 people at the 12:30 High Mass. These days, the High Mass at St. John’s has a large turnout, about 5 or 6 priests in residence. Moved to London in mid 1990’s. No LTM’s anywhere to be found. Stumbled upon the beginnings of the rebirth at the London Oratory. Small side chapel, couple of regulars in the beginning. Now, the LTM is in the main Church and draws crowds (from what I read on web sites). And I could go on. Check out the following website:
http://honneurs.free.fr/Wikini/wakka.php?wiki=PagePrincipalEn.
And when you are looking through the Mass locations, always keep in mind that in 1984, this page was “BLANK”.
On a final note, you have to believe that the Holy Spirit will not allow “the gates of hell to prevail” against the Bride of Christ. It’s part and parcel of the doctrinal certainty that breeds the triumphalism of us legalistic types. 🙂
God Bless you and yours, and remember the words of St. Paul: “bonum certate certavi”. And if we, as individuals, “fight the good fight”, keep the Faith and pass it on to our children, everything will be ok.
S.Armaticus,
My original issue was with your idea of us all being united, and that’s when things will change.
I contend that it is our divisions which allow all these concessions to thrive.
It’s not about just having the Latin Mass. That’s easily dolled out in order to mollify and appease.
Indeed, under Pope Francis, we may see more of it for all the little groups that like that old time religion, stay in bounds, and pay their dues.
It’s about actually living the Faith.
When all those who hold the Catholic Faith are actually united more perfectly in their resistance to the Revolution under which we presently labor in a scattered fashion, then look out.
In this sense, I am kind of fearful as to whether or not I will be able to persevere in the assembly of the saints. For even now I am fudging, and compared to what’s coming, yeah, sure, we got it pretty good here in the States.
We must brace ourselves for that inevitable unifying of the bride of Christ in true Faith.
For those few – very few – who actually incorporate it, there’ll be hell to pay.
Literally.
Leo,
First of all, you misunderstood what I wrote. The worst thing that could happen now is for a “uniting”. The only leverage that we Faithful have against the wolves is that the wolves can’t get their paws on the SSPX. This leverage is actually creating a huge problem for the wolves on the inside. They tried to be clever by allowing for the Ecclesia Dei commission to come into being, in order to try and pull the Faithful into the NO church. But this backfired on them in a huge way. Not only couldn’t they “canabalize” the SSPX Faithful, but instead the NO types in the pews started converting to the true Faith and attending the EC masses. And now the LTM is speading like wildfire in the NO church and the wolves don’t know how to deal with it. A good case in point is what happened with the FFI. The FFI took advantage of the EC and the SP architecture. (They foolishly thought it was created for the NO clergy and faithful). The wolves paniced, came in guns blazing and smashed the ONLY “growing” religious order that they have, just because the FFI were spreading the LTM among their faithful. A pure case of supply and demand if ever there was one. :). Besides, it was something that nominally the FFI thought they had a right to do. So the wolves found 6 renegade monks in upstate NY who had an ax to grind with their Superior, and used a bogus letter to overturned the entire order. Now it turns out that up to 200 monks (that’s most of them) want to break off and form a new order exclusively around the LTM, just like it is written in the SP, and in the EC constitution. Touche! And the wolves don’t know what to do. And as far as I am concerned, this is all due to the SSPX and the wise decision of remaining outside the NO church all these years. And I will be so bold as say that the longer the SSPX remain on the outside, the better the situation for the true Faithful will be inside the Church. Pray for the Superior of the SSPX so that he does not do anything stupid. I do.
But now back to my point. My idea is that the true Faithful both on the inside and on the outside should declare an armistice. As an example, I see no need for the FSSP to open a mission in the same location a couple weeks after the SSPX opens a mission there, as happened in Florida recently. The real enemy are the wolves. And if the FSSP was a “legitimate” organization dedicated to spreading the true Faith instead of a “tool” doing the wolves dirty work, they would use the resources as their disposal to open chapels where there is no LTM, but where the Faithful are longing to get back to the true Faith. Plenty of those places around. Anyways, that is my idea. But I understand that the FSSP doesn’t want to bite the hand that feeds them. Wouldn’t want anything bad to happen now, would we? I was actually thinking about taking a collection for the FSSP so that they could buy insurance from Loyd’s of London against getting FFI’d.
So as you see Leo, I think we are both on the same page. And now it’s just a question of whether the glass is half empty or half full.
S.Armaticus,
Well clarified. I understand your position clearly now, and I confer that we are in complete agreement.
Sorry for any misunderstanding, or the abrasive manner in which I may have expressed myself.
As for the glass half empty or half full comparison, I personally think the far bigger question is this:
Who the hell didn’t put a coaster under it?
………..they lured into demonic pleasure others as their supposed erotic partners……children not excluded.
I am reading “An open letter to Pope Francis” by Randy Engel………but, cannot continue…..I am sick to my stomach!!!
In all honesty, is Pope Francis the only one to be blamed for this evil in the church? I really like Randy Engel, but she’s writing in such a style, as if Pope Francis is suppose to undo all the evils of 50 some years of total devastation, of abusive behaviour, with an iron fist…..
Francis against the evil hierarchy! Francis the bold and the brave Soldier of Christ!!!……this is a man who came from performing a ‘baloon Mass’……He does not hide, who he is…….he reveals himself to the world everyday……he is crystal clear……..Modernist!
BUT: ‘the wolves in the sheep’s clothes’……… the brains IN THEOLOGY, admired by the world!!!…….one Polish theologian, another German theologian……..you mix those two together, and you gonna get nothing less then CONFUSION!
What happened doing the 26 years of Pontificate of Blessed John Paul II the GREAT? What happened doing the 24 years of the glorious reign of Joseph Ratzinger, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), and 6 years of his glorious Pontificate? These popes (including John XXIII, Pope Paul VI)………had their hands dipped in the blood of these evils! They knew more then anybody else…….instead of pronouncing ‘anathema’…….they kept decorating them with ‘red hat’……..today, they are advisors of Francis.
Pope Francis with the establishment of the ‘conciliar church’…….in the ‘spirit of the evils’……..is their creation. Don’t blame Francis, he is molded by his ‘masters’ accordingly to their plan.
……..anathema!!!
Domine Jesus Christe, MISERERE!!!!
Something to think about:
In the first link is an interview with ++Bartolucci, the former maestro of the Sistine Chapel Choir. A life long faithful cleric who offered the Immemorial Mass til the end. It is very telling from the article in the link where he stood with respect to the VII novelties.
http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2013/11/cardinal-bartolucci-interviewed-on.html
The second link is the funeral “service” of ++Bartolucci. And the question is, what is WRONG with this picture?
http://eponymousflower.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-funeral-of-dominico-cardinal.html
The moral of this story folks is that the VII wolves wouldn’t even give the good Cardinal a proper funeral. So much for the SP?
REQUIEM aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.
Excellent video from M.Voris.
http://www.churchmilitant.tv/daily/?today=2013-11-15
Take away lines. Popes can be heretics. As a matter of fact, all heresy’s emanated from the clerical class.
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Lou, again thank you for such a salient and courageous post. I believe that you are spot on in your assessment of where we are as Church. I also believe there is much that has gone on, and much hidden evil effected by the masonry control of the Vatican which now has reached the top. Through machinations too underhanded and brutal for our imaginations to conjure, Pope Benedict was forced out. He had to know what would happen if he abdicated, but I believe his ‘choice’ to throw in the towel was not a choice at all, but unmerciful pressure that we cannot fathom.
The destruction this present man in Rome will effect is only beginning, and I do believe that each person will be left with a very painful choice. The way it will break down each person will have to into the core of his heart and soul and answer the question, ‘Wh am I serving/’ there will be no way to carry water on both shoulders. My advice: follow the Holy Eucharist.
if a pope is a manifest heretic or even if he has heresy in his past he is not eligible for the papacy. That is church dogma. Frankly, Frank is not a pope. it is time for the laity to stand up.. We cannot allow the manafest heretics running the church to continue. They must be driven out. there are so many situations where Saints had to correct and reprimand Popes. It is not a cult of personality. the faithful are not obligated to be ping pong balls beat around at the whims of each cult of personality Pope. This is over. .If he is not faithful to the office, he is out, out, out. Please let us unite and stop bickering about small things and get the Curia purified.
Please excuse the previous mistake in capitalization etc. I am using voice recognition software.