Fr. Michael Rodriguez was so impressed with your resourcefulness, that he has asked if you might assist him once again by finding the exact source of the papal quotations listed below.
Thank you in advance! No doubt, God is being glorified through your efforts.
“Let them innovate in nothing, but keep the traditions.” Pope St. Stephen I
“Let nothing novel be introduced!” Pope Pius XII
“The preaching of the faith has lost nothing of its relevance in our times. The Church has a sacred duty to proclaim it without any whittling-down, just as Christ revealed it, and no consideration of time or circumstance can lessen the strictness of this obligation.” Pope Pius XII
“I have neither permitted, nor shall I permit, the things which have been settled by the holy fathers to be violated by any innovation.” Pope St. Leo the Great
“Let nothing new be introduced, but only what has been handed down.” Pope Benedict XV
“Let whoever attempts to disseminate anything other than what we have received be anathema.” Pope St. Simplicius
“Nothing new is allowed, for nothing can be added to the old. Look for the faith of the elders, and do not let our faith be disturbed by a mixture of new doctrines.” Pope St. Sixtus III
“Nothing can ever pass away from the words of Christ, nor can anything be changed in the doctrine which the Catholic Church received from Christ to guard, protect, and preach.” Ven. Pope Pius IX
“From the time the Christian religion began to be spread, she has held unchangeable and taught uncorrupted throughout the world the doctrines which she has received once and for all from her patron and founder, Saint Peter.” Pope St. Nicholas I
“Is the hierarchy perhaps free to teach what they find most to their liking on matters of religion, or what they expect will be most pleasing to the proponents of certain current views opposed to all doctrine? Certainly not! The prime duty of the episcopate is to transmit strictly and faithfully the original message of Christ, the sum total of the truths which He revealed and confided to the Apostles as necessary for salvation.” Pope Paul VI
“The sacred deposit of truth must be safeguarded. It is absolutely vital that the Church never for an instant lose sight of the holy patrimony of truth inherited from the Fathers … This is the certain and unchangeable doctrine to which the faithful owe obedience.” Pope John XXIII
Sounds like Father Rodrigues is preparing for battle after his enforced sabbatical. Our Dear Father in Heaven always brings good out of evil. Father’s obedience to the harsh, unjust order of his bishop is a lesson to us all.
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Louie, we are all waiting with bated breath for your promised announcement re Father R…
I think the above quotes demonstrate perfectly well one of the problems with the internet – despite the great uses that can be made of it (as an academic, I can greatly attest to that), quotes of dubious authenticity are often circulated around through twitter, facebook etc etc… NOT saying that all those quotes are false (I certainly don’t think so), but there is a good chance that at least one of those might be an apocryphal quote, or at least a modified version of the original quote. Problem is – how do you know which one might be the apocryphal/modified quote?
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Be that as it may, I ran across a quote from the holy pontiff Pius XII, on a somewhat similar theme to the exact quote above (the third in the list above):
“Preaching on the first truths of the faith and the final ends, has not only lost nothing of its opportuneness in our time, but has become more necessary and urgent than ever, including preaching about Hell. Of course this subject must be treated with dignity and wisdom. But, as for the substance of this truth, the Church has the sacred duty before God and before men to announce and teach it without watering it down in any way, just as Christ revealed it, and there is no circumstance of time that could ever lessen the force of this obligation. It binds in conscience every priest entrusted, in ordinary or extraordinary ministry, with the task of instructing, warning, and guiding the faithful. It is true that the desire for Heaven is in itself a more perfect motivation than the fear of eternal punishment, but that does not mean that for all men it is the most effective motivation to keep them from sin and convert them to God.” March 23. 1949
http://www.clairval.com/lettres/en/2006/08/20/2230806.htm
The first quote appears to have been sourced by Denzinger from Cyprian’s Epistle 73 (Denzinger, 30th ed., has this as Letter 74). The first paragraph of this epistle contains the following quote attributed to Pope St. Stephen I:
“If any one, therefore, come to you from any heresy whatever, let nothing be innovated (or done) which has not been handed down, to wit, that hands be imposed on him for repentance; since the heretics themselves, in their own proper character, do not baptize such as come to them from one another, but only admit them to communion.”
This is a link to Cyprian’s letter:
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050673.htm
The quote is also listed in Denzinger as item #46.
Some context for this quote may be found in The Catholic Encyclopedia article on “Baptism”, which reads, in part, as follows:
“The controversy on rebaptism is especially connected with the names of Pope St. Stephen and of St. Cyprian of Carthage. The latter was the main champion of the practice of rebaptizing. The pope, however, absolutely condemned the practice, and commanded that heretics on entering the Church should receive only the imposition of hands in paenitentiam. In this celebrated controversy it is to [be] noted that Pope Stephen declares that he is upholding the primitive custom when he declares for the validity of baptism conferred by heretics.”
The following quote from Pope Pius IX is taken from the allocution “Ubi primum”, 17 Dec 1847:
“[Let them, moreover, who are against us remember, that Heaven and Earth shall indeed pass away, but] nothing can ever pass away from the words of Christ, nor can anything be changed in the doctrine which the Catholic Church received from Christ to guard, protect and preach.”
http://www.fatherfeeney.org/other/masonry.html
Sixtus III quote: this document gives source for his quote at Ref 4: http://immaculata-one.com/section_9.html
E SUPREMI
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS X ON THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS IN CHRIST http://www.catholictradition.org/Encyclicals/supremi.htm
Regarding the last two quotes – if they did dare to say these things – hypocrites.
Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum 1914 Pope Benedict XV, “Such is the nature of Catholicism that it does not admit of more or less, but must be held as a whole or as a whole rejected…”
Pope Leo XIII Satis Cognitum: “There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition.”
“Sounds like Father Rodrigues is preparing for battle…”
It sure does, doesn’t it? God bless him. I look forward to hearing from him again.
This is a great website run by some anonymous traditional Priests, aligning themselves with a Spanish Priest’s website that started the same thing. I tried doing some searching there but had no luck. Maybe someone out there is better at searching than me?
http://denzingerbergoglio-en.com/
If they have not been covered already, the second quote could be Pius XII quoting Benedict XV – the fifth quote.
In his Allocution, Si Diligis, delivered on the occasion of the canonisation of St. Pius X, Pius XII states the following:
“And if there are any present-day teachers making every effort to produce and develop new ideas, but not to repeat ‘that which has been handed down,’ and if this is their whole aim, they should reflect calmly on those words which Benedict XV, in the Encyclical just referred to [Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum Principis], proposes for their consideration: ‘We wish this maxim of our elders held in reverence: Nihil innovetur nisi quod traditum est (Let nothing new be introduced but only what has been handed down); it must be held as an inviolable law in matters of faith, and should also control those points which allow of change, though in these latter for the most part the rule holds: Non nova sed noviter (Not new things but in a new way)’.”
Link is here:
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12SIDIL.HTM
The fifth quote appears in Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum Principis itself as follows:
“Therefore it is Our will that the law of our forefathers should still be held sacred: ‘Let there be no innovation; keep to what has been handed down.’ In matters of faith that must be inviolably adhered to as the law; it may however also serve as a guide even in matters subject to change, but even in such cases the rule would hold: ‘Old things, but in a new way’.”
Link here:
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Ben15/b15adbea.htm
The fourth quote is from Letter 119 of Pope St. Leo the Great, part III of which includes the following:
“[B]ecause my respect for the Nicene canons is such that I never have allowed nor ever will the institutions of the holy Fathers to be violated by any innovation.”
Link is here:
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3604119.htm
The sixth quote appears in Denzinger, #160 as a quote by Pope St. Simplicius of St. Paul (Gal 1:8 f.). It is sourced as follows:
“From the epistle ‘Cuperem quidem’ to Basiliscus Augustus January 10, 476”.
Link here:
http://www.catecheticsonline.com/SourcesofDogma2.php
The ninth quote appears at the end of Pope St. Nicholas I’s Letter to Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims and the Bishops of the Western Empire, October 23, 867 A.D..
This letter is included on p.318 et seq. of Readings In Church History Volume I: From Pentecost To The Protestant Revolt, by Colman J. Barry (Editor).
Dear Dumb Ox, Very impressive searching! You must have access to one great library – or an encyclopaedic mind!! Are you a Dominican friar? Your sister in Christ, Lynda
(Thank you, Lynda. I am blushing as I type.)
The last quote may be an extraction and combination of parts of three separate sentences in the Address of October 11, 1962 at the Opening of Vatican II. I have listed these sentences as follows:
1) “The major interest of the Ecumenical Council is this: that the sacred heritage of Christian truth be safeguarded and expounded with greater efficacy.”
2) “If this doctrine is to make its impact on the various spheres of human activity—in private, family and social life—then it is absolutely vital that the Church shall never for an instant lose sight of that sacred patrimony of truth inherited from the Fathers. But it is equally necessary for her to keep up to date with the changing conditions of this modern world, and of modern living, for these have opened up entirely new avenues for the Catholic apostolate.”
3) “What is needed is that this certain and immutable doctrine, to which the faithful owe obedience, be studied afresh and reformulated in contemporary terms.”
Link here:
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?RecNum=3233