According to today’s Bollettino from the Holy See Press Office:
His Holiness Francis intends to participate in a joint ceremony of the Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, scheduled to take place in Lund, Sweden on Monday 31 October 2016.
That Francis would participate in some sort of celebration of the Protestant Revolt, honoring the man who pioneered it, Martin Luther, has long been rumored, but now it is a certainty – a certainty that he intends to so participate, at any rate.
Before I comment more directly on this crucial distinction, I must say that the diabolically disoriented state of those who champion the ecumenical movement could not possibly be made more obvious than it is in this situation.
Take Pope Francis, for example.
He never tires of imploring the faithful to engage in ecumenical dialogue in search of that oh-so-elusive “Christian unity” for which Our Blessed Lord prayed (as if His prayer had gone unanswered.)
Likewise, he often speaks of disunity and those who foment it as among the gravest of sins and sinners. For example:
In a Christian community division is one of the most serious sins, because it does not allow God to act. (General Audience, 27 Aug 2014)
So, how will the Ecumenist-in-Chief go about setting an example for the faithful, and indeed the world, that underscores the reality of Christian division as an offense against the Divine will?
He shall celebrate the very event that set in motion the great divide that now exists between the Roman Catholic Church and heretical sects too numerous to number, of course!
This makes about as much logical sense as Elie Wiesel taking part in a parade commemorating the birth of Adolf Hitler.
You can’t make this stuff up, folks!
Now, that’s not to say that it doesn’t make sense. It actually makes perfect sense as the abandonment of reason is a hallmark of men Hell bent on evil, and let’s not kid one another – Pope Francis is Exhibit A when it comes to such things.
As for whether or not he does so knowingly or unknowingly, I am content to repeat after Pope St. Pius X:
We number such men among the enemies of the Church, if, leaving out of consideration the internal disposition of soul, of which God alone is the judge… (cf Pascendi Dominici Gregis – 3)
Now that Francis’ intention to join the Lutherans in celebrating the Protestant Revolt has been made official, one can pretty much predict how our friends in Catholic media will react.
Jimmy Akin (bless his heart for trying as hard as he does) will probably issue a list of “things to know and share” in defense of this travesty.
EWTN/CNA/National Catholic Register will likely report on this terrible offense against all that is holy in their typical “nothing-to-see-here-folks” style.
Church Militant.tv may have one of its perpetual interns mention it, but Michael Voris won’t be granted permission to address the matter himself; at least not as he would if it were Cardinal Dolan who decided to join in the heretic hoedown.
From my confreres in the “traditionalist” (aka Catholic) camp, I fully expect to find a great deal of righteous outrage being expressed, and properly so. We might even encounter a dash of comedic indignation too, as truly we are the only ones left in the Church with a sense of humor.
As for my reaction?
I would like to begin by returning to the fact that today’s Bollettino simply confirms Pope Francis’ intention “to participate in a joint ceremony” that will not take place for yet another nine or so months.
Much can happen in that period of time to effectively prevent Pope Francis from shaming Holy Mother Church and scandalizing her children in this way.
With this in mind, it seems to me that there are three things for which the faithful might pray:
– Lord, in Your mercy, grant Pope Francis the grace of conversion; that he may come to embrace the Catholic faith whole and entire.
Needless to say, we must continue to pray, and to fast, for this intention until… well, I’ll get to that. A conversion of this sort would be wonderful, but let’s be honest; while greater miracles than this have occurred, it’s difficult to imagine that this scenario is likely.
– Lord, in Your mercy, usher Pope Francis swiftly along the way of Benedict the Abdicator; that he might renounce the papacy and depart from Rome, and soon.
This too would be cause for a celebration, albeit a rather brief one since the next guy isn’t likely to be all that much better. Even so, it’s difficult to imagine his successor being any worse.
Now, while it’s impossible to know just how the Lord may respond to such pleas, one thing about which we can be entirely certain is that He will not force Pope Francis to do either of these things; i.e., He will not so directly “take matters into His own hands” as to preempt his (or anyone’s) free will.
This brings me to prayer number three; the one intention that does entail the Lord’s direct intervention…
– Lord, in Your mercy, by Your hand may Pope Francis breathe his last before he can heap further insult upon You, and greater injury upon Your people.
I can already imagine the hue and cry from the Cotton Candy Catholic Choir decrying the sheer horror of anyone putting such thoughts into writing, and in the form of a prayer no less!
They can rent their offended little garments all the way to the festivities in Lund for all I care, but if any one of them wishes to be consistent they should also denounce King David (we’ll get to the Lord who inspired his words in a moment) who on a number of occasions uttered such prayers (called imprecatory) as:
May his days be few: and his bishopric let another take. (Psalm 108:8) Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell. (Psalm 54:16) [Douay-Rheims Bible]
Come to think of it, they may as well denounce Almighty God Himself, who on numerous occasions, as Sacred Scripture also most surely attests, took the lives of many who were intent on misleading His people in ways that pale in comparison to the effrontery already committed by the current Bishop of Rome.
With all of this having been said, it seems to me that one can, in good Christian conscience, pray for the conversion of those who oppose the Lord up to the very moment that they depart from this life, while also pleading with the Lord to relieve us of their corrupting presence, even if it should mean their death.
What do you think?
BAM-!!! Louie I concur whole hardily with your views.
Surely there is a bishop out there in Tradition Land with enough fire in his belly to make a RESOUNDING REBUTTAL TO Jorge’s heresy.
Your prayer suggestions are on target, as well.
Thank you, Louie….. one more time.
I think louie there wont be another person to be elected pope , francis the destroyer is the last 1. WW3 economic collapse etc all coming very soon. The Antichrist will be the peace maker during WW3 and francis will lead all those who follow him right to him. The implantable microchip will be the mark of the beast cash is going to be done away with. If we live through the next war the Antichrist will reign over the world for 3 1/2 years then Our Lord will come to judge the living and the dead. Non of this matters really unless we are living in a state of grace , we must pray fast & do penance for all sinners. If we see problems with others then we need to pray and do penance to obtain graces for them its really quite simple but very hard to put into practice especially when we dislike someone but if we truly love GOD as we all would say we do then we have no excuses unless your like me and still find some.
“… division is one of the most serious of sins, because it does not allow God to act”, so proclaims Pope Francis. Paraphrase of Jean-Jaque Rousseau (the father of “totalitarian democracy” (cf. J. Talmon, “The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy”): Why is this so? The wills of all the individuals constituting the manifold of the body politic are ONE with the “General Will” and the “General Will” is identical with the separate wills. Without this identity of oneness, the General Will cannot act for and as the political body aka political community. If individual wills did not agree with the Directorate of the revolutionary French “Republique”, they were not considered to be citizens and were punished as subversives, in many cases, off with their heads. Enforcement produced reaction which led to chaos and …the French Revolution was forced to find a substitute “god of reason” who could enforce the will of the people, namely Napoleon, upon the individuals making up the people, or they would not be free (sic). Here in Germany I have watched the 2 hour documentary on the Nazi Nurnburg celebration of 1938 with 200,000+ separate wills and one “General Will”. After the “Spirit” of the General Will rhetorically entered into said seperate wills (it took a couple of hours), they all to the man, particularly young men, and women screamed in a oneness of delirium of, well, Pentecostal-like entuhusiasm, their unity with the bearer of the General Will, known as the Füher, with a resounding “Heil Hitler” (or I heard democratically “I vote for Hitler”). That meeting was a political version of Rousseau’s “General Will” (given the fact that Prof. Talmon was a Jew, he would appreciate my extension of his analysis). Pope Francis is no Nazi, has nothing to do materially with that Weltanschauung. Formally is another matter. He demands formally the same model of “General Will”, i.e., oneness, sameness, unity, i.e., material identity of wills without division in the community (“Volk” or “peuple”?), relative to which any deviation of a single will aka community is a SIN, one of the worst, because I see no mercy from the Pope in such a case.
I am now beginning to understand why Pope Francis hurls deprecatory insults at traditionalists aka orthodox Catholics. You see, they are not “really real” Catholics (just the hard hearted adulators of “the doctors of the law”) and, in his folksy and often crude way, Pope Francis can no more tolerate an individual will (or orthodox wills) in division with the “Spirit” (Francis seldom say “Holy Spirit”, so I wonder whom he intends),. In his “spiritual” way Francis has become but other incarnation of the “General Will”, the recipient of the “Spirit of surprises” — sort of a spiritual Napoleon. As such he is able to enable God’s activity. So long as there is unity, Francis tolerates doctrinal deviation unto heresy. But let there be deviating wills, following the truth of orthodoxy, deviate, then they effect “division”. And that means that the “Spirit” cannot act (through Francis himself). I dare to speculate that Francis is pushing a “totalitarian ecumenicalism”.
“St. Vincent of Lerins asked what Catholics should do if the entire Church was infected by a “novel contagion”. He explained that, at such a time, the safe path is to cleave to tradition. He wrote:
“What then will the Catholic Christian do, if a small part of the Church has cut itself off from the communion of the universal Faith? The answer is sure. He will prefer the healthiness of the whole body to the morbid and corrupt limb.” (R. Siscoe)
THE
VINEYARD
Disease has crept
Along the branch
Rotting from within
A pestilence
And blackened stench
Mold that smells like sin
And in a crook
On branch near Vine
There are some plants who sit
Preferring Vine
Accepting branch
Their leaves and stems are split
But years ago
A faithful farmer
Grafted growths to Vine
Broke from branches
Twisted cracked
“These shoots I know are mine.”
And to this day
Forever more
To Vine these stalks adhere
Branching churches
Priests and schools —
Glistening grapes appear!
Merci Marcel!!
Merci, Marcel!
I believe Jesus Christ would approve of the prayer for conversion, resignation, and failing that, a quick death. Consider the Scripture:
Matthew 18:6-9 But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh.
And if thy hand, or thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to go into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. 9And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Michael F Poulin
If there was a mission from God to reform the church, then which one had the true mission; Luther, Calvin, etc?
Which leads me to another question. If all of a sudden all the Jews decided they had found their Messiah, and it wasn’t Jesus of Nazareth, wouldn’t Jorge have to accept this new Messiah as God too?
Thank God at least bears still crap in the woods.
Michael F Poulin
Ive been praying for him to take his last breath for over 2 years now….just as I would have if I had been alive in the early 40’s and knew exactly how evil Hitler was. No shame in that….francis is a destroyer of souls…..he should be burned at the stake (I even outdid Louie on that one)…but I hope that Franics doesnt die suddenly, without any warning.
A wish for a quick death for francis would not be merciful towards him in any way. The last thing in the world I would want for myself is to die painlessly in my sleep. No….I hope to God that I am given fair warning, even if that includes a painful death over many months or years; that sort of death…a full acknowledgement of your end…is a TRUE blessing.
I’m sure St. Vincent of Lerins would agree with the Angelic Doctor that the faithful also need to separate from the corrupt limb:
–
“To know whom to avoid is a great means of saving our souls. […] Thus, the Church forbids the faithful to communicate with those unbelievers who have forsaken the faith by corrupting it, such as heretics, or by renouncing it, such as apostates.”
=
St. Thomas Aquinas
Yes Louie – a million times! the prayers (all three of them) are kosher! I would probably like to add “a bitter repentance” somewhere in the mix. Ecumenism is a stupid pipe dream concocted by those too lazy to get down and dirty in converting souls in the true Catholic way. Bah and humbug to this prelate and his fawning cohorts – his contempt for the flock is only exceeded by his total ignorance of the Roman Catholic Church and her Tradition – so he (and his ilk) are making it up as they go along – with their “besties” – the Lutherans! Words have now officially failed me!
Sooner or later this spiritual chastisement culminates in physical chastisement. That it hasn’t happened yet boggles my mind (the canonizations of John XXIII and John Paul II was the line I thought the Lord wouldn’t allow to be crossed). So will the Lord allow this? If He so chooses. But again, sooner or later…
Lord, in Your Mercy, send us a Saint who will deliver us from this madness!
Malachi Martin said everything would be finished by the end of 2017. That would seem to support you statement. Vatican Insider Leo Zagami says the Francis will resign this summer when he gets to Argentina. Then there’s the unknowable speculation that B16 was forced out and the election of Francis is null and void. At this point, I don’t think it matters who the Vatican’s front man is.
When all seems lost, I will raise up a Holy Father who is dear to me, and the world will be made new. -thirdsecret.net
The sword is meant to divide and dismember.
Your point is well made, Louie. The contradiction — and sheer madness —- here is that while Francis places ‘Christian disunity’ as the gravest of all sins, he is willing to celebrate the achievements of a man who was the arch-engineer of Christian disunity, namely Luther.
Let no man wield the sword but Christ! Vengeance will alone be His!
Since Pope Francis seems to obey whatever the Rabbi of Rome commands, perhaps we should all send the Rabbi this excerpt from the ravings of Martin Luther, posted recently on Rorate Caeli: http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2016/01/luther-and-holy-roman-church-in-his-own.html
When the Rabbi reads that, surely he will command Francis to have nothing further to do with the Lutherans!
Torkay–Thank you for your comment regarding Luther and his radical anti-Semitic rants. Many historians believe that the monster Hitler was inspired by Luther. Maybe Bergoglio could explain this to his Jewish friends as he exults Luther!
Excellent. But it won’t be in the Rabbi’s interest to do so.
I was at a Latin Mass years ago. The sermon had some halting praise of Luther. When the time for the Consecration came, the priest elevated the Chalice first. That told me all I needed to know about Luther’s influence on the present day.
Just finished reading Fr Denis Faheys book The Rulers of Russia, the PDF can be found at Tradition in Action web…the Vatican II papacies leading up to Francis have all contributed to what we are living and in my mind this papacy is the fulfillment of all the evil that the Marxist, Zionist , Freemasonic sects have planned for The Mystical Body of Christ….. I’m certain that those who frequent this safe haven of Catholicism are aware that we must obey Our Lady’s requests for First Saturday’s reparation and Rosary as well as praying for a holy Pope to Consecrate Russia to Her Sorrowful Immaculate Heart…and this cannot be stressed enough…. while I miss Fr Gruner very much , I’m glad he is not here to witness these atrocities. The year ahead will be the pivotal moment for priests , Bishops and Cardinals to stand for The Kingship of Christ and I pray that they won’t play Russian Roulette with their souls by waiting till the last minute.
I’m currently reading Fr Fahey’s “The Mystical Body of Christ in the Modern World” first published in 1935. Some souls saw this coming…but most refused to listen.
The question of how we got into this situation with everything converging into a perfect storm (globally, politically, economically, morally, etc.) is one that needles at me all the time. Fr Fahey’s writings, along with the pre V2 popes, Hillare Bello and some others, helps to answer it. Not easy reading, but worth it if one is so inclined.
REFLECTIONS ON LUTHER
87 Protestant questions very well answered
32)You deny, then, that Luther was a man sent by God, or that he had any divine mission at all?
I do. He persuaded himself that he had a divine mission. But that was not a difficult thing for a man of his temperament to do. And there are no more grounds to believe in the divine mission of Martin Luther than to believe in the divine mission of Mrs. Eddy to propagate Christian Science, or of Judge Rutherford to establish the Witnesses of Jehovah. Luther was as deluded in his claim to a divine mission as he was in so many other matters
70)When the sight of his sins tempted him to doubt his salvation, he exclaimed, “Write across all my sins: The Blood of Christ cleanseth me.”
Exclaiming that would not make it true. When Luther was reproached by his conscience, as he had every reason to be, he blamed the devil for his uneasy thoughts, and so justified himself in ignoring them. And even as he spoke of God’s mercy, he made that mercy an excuse for continuing in his evil conduct, and offending God the more. To find peace of soul, Luther preferred to adjust his conscience to his conduct, rather than adjust his conduct to his conscience; and instead of forsaking his sins and doing penance for them, he went on with them, crying out, “But Christ died for me,” as a boy would whistle in a cemetery to keep up his courage.
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=7260
Craig V – I completely agree with you on that line. I could not understand for the life of me why those canonizations took place and with such haste – given that 50 years is supposed to be the yardstick (correct me if I am wrong). Do you have any further light on this extraordinary event? Thank you – Eirene
Can anyone recommend a Traditional Catholic history book that goes over what happened in Europe over the Protestant Revolt? Thank you in advance! God bless~
“Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray, and may thou, o prince of the heavenly host by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen”
“Lord, in Your mercy, by Your hand may Pope Francis breathe his last before he can heap further insult upon You, and greater injury upon Your people.”
I wouldn’t pray that. What if it comes back on you? Let him who is w/out sin cast the first stone. I think Jesus came to perfect the law and that maybe you are going back to the Old Law. Think Jesus would say to you what he said to the Sons of Thunder: “And when you come into the house, salute it, saying: Peace be to this house. And if that house be worthy, your peace shall come upon it; but if it be not worthy, your peace shall return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city shake off the dust from your feet. Amen I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.” Matt 10:12-15
“And it came to pass, when the days of his assumption were accomplishing, that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers before his face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for him. And they received him not, because his face was of one going to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John had seen this, they said: Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them? And turning, he rebuked them, saying: You know not of what spirit you are. The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save. And they went into another town.” Luke 9:51-56
“You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? do not also the heathens this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matt 5:43-48
“Bless them that persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep. Being of one mind one towards another. Not minding high things, but consenting to the humble. Be not wise in your own conceits. To no man rendering evil for evil. Providing good things, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men. Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good.” Rom 12:14-21
Definitely, though think that once you have identified a false shepherd/teacher, false tree/bearing bad fruit, you need to separate yourself from that group (COMPLETELY – as the post earlier quoting Jesus, like as if you severed your own arm to save your body from gangrene): “And now I beseech thee, lady, not as writing a new commandment to thee, but that which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is charity, that we walk according to his commandments. For this is the commandment, that, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in the same: For many seducers are gone out into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh: this is a seducer and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that you lose not the things which you have wrought: but that you may receive a full reward. Whosoever revolteth, and continueth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that continueth in the doctrine, the same hath both the Father and the Son. If any man come to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house nor say to him, God speed you. For he that saith unto him, God speed you, communicateth with his wicked works.” 2 John 1:5-10
Be careful that Bergoglio isn’t the stumbling block that leads us to hell. The devil is a roaring lion seeking to devour us all.
Well, I’ve come to find out they weren’t the first two questionable canonizations of the post v2 era. It’s going to take a future pope / council to straighten this mess out. I don’t think for a second it’s going to happen before the Chastisement “goes hot.”
All I can figure is we’re in the Apostasy spoken of in Scripture, and everything coming out of the Vatican now has to be taken with caution and checked to see whether it contradicts the pre V2 teaching. Horrible situation.
Dear Craig V – Do you have a link on this where I can get more detailed information from. I have heard bits and pieces of all of it along the way but have never been able to comprehend it! Confusion reigns in my mind on it all. Thank you and God bless you!
Eirene
And your point? (Apart from Copy/Paste)?
MMC- I think you will find this interview with Dr. Peter Chojnowski very enlightening regarding Martin Luther.
http://www.voiceofcatholicradio.com/walk,120729,chojnowski_bagnoli_interview_regarding_martin_luther_arc,32_min.mp3
I’ll try to dig up a few links later.
The founder of Opus Dei was one of the previous canonizations that is ridiculous. There’s plenty of stuff online about that if you search.
And leading up the the canonizations of John XXIII and JP2 there were some good articles put out by the SSPX and others detailing the issue of the post v2 canonization process, and how it’s been stripped of so many common sense safeguards (by JP2). That plus the very concept of sanctity and heroic virtue has become so distorted in the post V2 era, that the canonization process right now is simply a joke.
Our Lord with the briefest of thoughts could have deposed Caiphas, but He didn’t. My Father told me that “we (meaning Catholics in general) have the pope we deserve”. What he means by that is, just like a liberal government, it’s what the people (the world) want!
I think the point is that we must not wish evil on anyone – and death is a great evil to wish. Death is an evil because at death a soul cannot merit nor receive graces for salvation.
What Jesus said about loving our enemies goes for Francis and ALL his pals that are creating such havoc in our beloved Church.
Did Jesus really mean it when he said to do good to those who persecute us? How do we love Francis? How do we love Cardinal Burke? How do we love Cardinal Dolan?
I think we need to meditate on this commandment: love thy neighbour as yourself.
We can talk a good game – “oh, heck yeah, I love the pope but I criticize him daily, call him names, detract from his reputation, impute motives to him that I cannot even imagine let alone know, and I pray that God would take him from this earth and bring us a better pope.”
Doesn’t Jesus’ commandment mean we have to find another way to describe and discuss this crisis in the Church – while we love our neighbours as ourselves.
We are in the presence of God 24/7. He knows our every word, he sees what we comment here and on other blogs, he knows what we think. There is no escape from this constant scrutiny God has over our every moment.
How will we account to Jesus at the moment of our death? Will we try to excuse ourselves by telling Jesus that the Pope is a really bad guy and it was our duty to tell everyone about it? I’m not sure what I will say but can I presume on Jesus’ mercy? Or should I meditate on all this and develop a new attitude?
Just thinkin’
Thanks My2Cents:+) God bless~
When did Fr. Malachi Martin say everything would be finished by the end of 2017?
Hello CraigV I have often heard that there were issues with Jose Marie Escriva. What were some of these issues? I’m just asking because it’s hard to find things on the internet where he is criticized. Thanks. God bless.
Hello Maximus X —
Here are 2 sources from just a quick search.
Although I have read much negative info about Opus Dei and Jose Marie Escriva, I have not reviewed these two sources before. A cursory glance looks like they may be helpful to you.
You will most likely find enough truth here to answer your questions:
http://archives.sspx.org/miscellaneous/opus_dei.htm
——
http://www.catholicapologetics.info/modernproblems/currenterrors/jopus.htm
I doubt Pope Francis will participate in such a Lutheran celebration because the Lutheran services are too high-church for him. Too much Bach. No beach balls.