Vatican II: Concilium contra Papa Ratti – Part Two
Louie,
We continue with a look at those subjects the treatment of which stand out as prime examples of a Concilium contra Papa Ratti [Part One]:
Ecumensim
“On the 6th day of January, on the Feast of the Epiphany of Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the year 1928,” Pope Pius XI promulgated his Encyclical on Religious Unity, Mortalium Animos; inarguably the most important piece of papal magisterium of the last century on the topic of ecumenism.
The Decree on Ecumenism of Vatican II, Unitatis Redintegratio, footnotes this supremely important reaffirmation of immutable Catholic doctrine precisely zero times, and the reason is rather obvious:
The teaching expressed in MortaliumAnimos, based as it is upon Scripture and Tradition, is a crystal clear condemnation of the ecumenical aims of the Second Vatican Council. In fact, it reads as if the Holy Father, Pius XI, had the specific activities of today’s Roman ecumenists in mind as he wrote.
For instance, the Holy Father states:
And here it seems opportune to expound and to refute a certain false opinion … For authors who favor this view are accustomed, times almost without number, to bring forward these words of Christ: “That they all may be one…. And there shall be one fold and one shepherd,” with this signification however: that Christ Jesus merely expressed a desire and prayer, which still lacks its fulfillment. [MortaliumAnimos]
Oh, how many times do our churchmen, including Pope Francis, misappropriate Our Blessed Lord’s prayer (as recorded in Gospel according to St. John, chapter 17) in support of their unbridled ecumenical aims!
Pope Pius XI continues:
For they are of the opinion that the unity of faith and government, which is a note of the one true Church of Christ, has hardly up to the present time existed, and does not to-day exist. They consider that this unity may indeed be desired and that it may even be one day attained through the instrumentality of wills directed to a common end, but that meanwhile it can only be regarded as mere ideal. [ibid.]
This, my friends, is precisely the mindset of the disciples of Roncalli’s Council, who labor to encourage earthbound expressions of human cooperation under the guise of “Christian unity.”
In truth, as Pope Pius XI states with unassailable precision, there is but one way to unity:
The union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it. [ibid.]
By contrast, how did the Council choose to proceed?
In answer to this question, I can perhaps do no better than to provide firsthand testimony from someone who was involved from the earliest days of the newly established Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity, all the way to the Council’s conclusion and beyond:
“No one can tell us this is the way they did it last year…” – Cardinal Augustine Bea
Of even lesser concern still was the way Pope Pius XI “did it” back in 1928; with “it” meaning defend the Apostolic faith with “wondrous wisdom and heroic courage, to enlighten the minds and strengthen the wills of the shepherds of souls and of the faithful,” to quote Cardinal Ruffini yet again.
The work of the Council with respect to ecumenism would be “a completely new tradition” indeed.
Unitatis Redintegratio fails to suggest even once that the goal of authentic ecumenism is the conversion of heretics and schismatics to the one true faith; instead it issues more than ten calls for “dialogue” in order to “prepared the way for cooperation between” Catholics and all manner of self-identified “Christians” in supposed service to the common good.
Pope Pius XI understood very well the grave dangers associated with such activities, and so he declared:
It is clear that the Apostolic See cannot on any terms take part in their assemblies [those wherein Catholics join forces with the heretics and schismatics], nor is it anyway lawful for Catholics either to support or to work for such enterprises; for if they do so they will be giving countenance to a false Christianity, quite alien to the one Church of Christ. [ibid.]
Today, with the Council’s winds in their sails, our churchmen do not hesitate to travel the world in order to take part in such interreligious services; in fact, all-too-often, it is the pope himself who leads the way.
As for what is at stake in the matter, Pope Pius XI left no room for doubt:
The Catholic Church is alone in keeping the true worship. This is the fount of truth, this the house of Faith, this the temple of God: if any man enter not here, or if any man go forth from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation. Let none delude himself with obstinate wrangling. For life and salvation are here concerned, which will be lost and entirely destroyed, unless their interests are carefully and assiduously kept in mind. [ibid. NOTE: Here Pope Pius XI quotes Lactantius, a fourth century Christian apologist]
Did you get that?
At stake here is nothing less serious than “the hope of life and salvation,” to which those outside the Church are “strangers.”
As for the Council’s treatment of ecumenism under the direction of Cardinal Bea whose secretariat, let us recall, was given a mandate from Pope John XIII to operate unconnected to any tradition?
It gave schismatics and heretics every reason to remain within their defective communities – outside of the fount of truth, the house of Faith, and the temple of God that is the Holy Catholic Church alone:
The brethren divided from us also use many liturgical actions of the Christian religion … These liturgical actions must be regarded as capable of giving access to the community of salvation … For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them [the communities of the schismatics and heretics] as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church.
The question must be asked, if indeed the liturgical services and communities of the “brethren divided” are “means of salvation,” why should they depart from their comfortable confines in favor of the Catholic Church?
The answer: There is no reason beyond mere preference.
Cardinal Bea
If the Council is to be believed, membership in the Holy Catholic Church versus a protestant community is rather like the difference between traveling by boat or by raft – regardless of choice, either one will suffice in reaching the desired destination; salvation.
To be clear: Be not fooled by the qualifier “which derive their efficacy…”
The reality is that the liturgies and the communities of the “brethren divided” have no efficacy as liturgies and communities. It is for this reason that Pope Pius XI, a truly Holy Father indeed, expressed a longing for the day when:
Those who are separated from Us: if these humbly beg light from heaven, there is no doubt but that they will recognize the one true Church of Jesus Christ and will, at last, enter it, being united with us in perfect charity. [ibid.]
May we live to see the day when Our Lord will grant us a faithful pope who loves the “brethren divided” enough to speak likewise.
Communism
“On the feast of St. Joseph, patron of the universal Church, on the 19th of March, 1937,” Pope Pius XI issued the Encyclical Divini Redemptorisin order to “expose once more in a brief synthesis the principles of atheistic Communism as they are manifested chiefly in bolshevism.”
Note well that the condemnation of Communism to follow was not an entirely new initiative, but rather an attempt to “once more” warn the faithful of its dangers.
Why reiterate this warning then?
As the Holy Father explains, it was necessary in order to counteract “the insidious deceits with which Communists endeavor, all too successfully, to attract even men of good faith.”
Pope Pius XI could have hardly spoken more clearly in describing the Communist menace:
Communism offers the world as the glad tidings of deliverance and salvation! It is a system full of errors and sophisms. It is in opposition both to reason and to Divine Revelation. It subverts the social order, because it means the destruction of its foundations; because it ignores the true origin and purpose of the State; because it denies the rights, dignity and liberty of human personality. [ibid.]
Leaving no room whatsoever for misunderstanding, the Sovereign Pontiff ordered the bishops throughout the world to protect their flocks from any temptation to believe that they may fruitfully cooperate with the Communists:
See to it, Venerable Brethren, that the Faithful do not allow themselves to be deceived! Communism is intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever. [ibid.]
As every Catholic worthy of the name surely knows, it is never permissible to collaborate in any endeavor that is intrinsically wrong, and yet, in its approach to Communism, the Second Vatican Council chose the path of cooperation in pursuit of yet another “dialogue” partner.
According to Franco Bellegrandi, longtime L‘OsservatoreRomano journalist, Vatican insider, and former member of the Vatican Noble Guard during the pontificates of Pius XII, John XXIII and Paul VI:
In the course of the Council, firmly bridled in the large hand of Roncalli, when it comes to the “Church of Silence” the password is “hold-your-tongue.” Certain things, unpleasant and irritating to the “conciliatory” at all costs, must not be uttered. So that the men of the West believe in the communist “good will,” even toward religion. Therefore, the directive in the Council is to keep quiet, if not smile, before the incredible evolution of that communism in respectable disguise that now claims to be ready to deal with the Vatican. [See Bellegrandi, Nikita Roncalli, pg. 134]
John XXIII, you see, had dispatched Dean of the College of Cardinals, Eugène Cardinal Tisserant to make a deal with the Devil:
Cardinal Tisserant
In a 2007 book called The Metz Agreement, veteran French essayist Jean Madiran gathers a number of sourced claims, testifying that a deal was hatched during Soviet-arranged secret talks in 1962. The meeting, Madiran says, took place in Metz, France, between Metropolitan Nikodim, the Russian Orthodox Church’s then-“foreign minister,” and Cardinal Eugène Tisserant, a senior French Vatican official. Metropolitan Nikodim was, according to Moscow archives, a KGB agent.
Various sources have since confirmed that an agreement was reached, instructing the Council not to make any direct attack on Communism. The Orthodox then agreed to accept the Vatican’s invitation to send a number of observers to the Council. [Edward Pentin, Catholic World Report, 10 December, 2012]
And so it is that Communism, the system described by Pope Pius XI as “full of errors and sophisms … in opposition both to reason and to Divine Revelation,” was never directly addressed, much condemned, at Vatican Council II.
Religious Liberty
It is often assumed that an examination of religious liberty as traditionally understood versus the novelties that emerged from the Council is rather complex. Indeed, volumes have been written by Catholic scholars seeking to reconcile the two approaches for more than fifty years now.
In truth, however, the matter is really quite simple and easily understood once one comes to recognize the disparate foundations upon which these two irreconcilable propositions are built.
The conciliar approach is constructed squarely upon the “dignity of the human person” and the rights of man as the very title to the conciliar document, Dignitatis Humanae, suggests.
Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with recognizing and asserting the rights that belong to man; the same being reflective of human dignity. A problem arises, however, when these rights are asserted apart from their corresponding duties.
When this approach prevails, one risks losing sight of the reality that all authentic human rights come from God. In other words, one may fall prey to the lie that man’s rights flow directly from himself and his dignity.
In truth, God is the Source of both human dignity and human rights, and each of these can be lost as man wanders far from Him and His Divine Law.
Consider:
By sinning man departs from the order of reason, and therefore falls away from human dignity, in so far as man is naturally free and exists for his own sake, and falls somehow into the slavery of the beasts… [Aquinas – Summa Theologica – II – II Q. 64 A. 2]
As for the loss of rights, even in civil affairs, men justly lose certain rights when acting outside of the law; e..g., the right to vote, drive, own a firearm, etc.
The Council’s treatment of religious liberty turns even these most basic truths on their head, beginning with its foundation:
The council declares that the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person as this dignity is known through the revealed word of God and by reason itself. [cf Dignitatis Humanae]
Ah, the defenders of the Council will be quick to point out, but the document clearly says ‘as known’ through Divine revelation!
Again, be not fooled: While the inclusion of this phrase was evidently enough to placate the concerns of certain of the more tradition-minded bishops, it is one thing to say that our knowledge of human dignity, upon which this alleged right to religious freedom is supposedly founded, comes to us from God; it is quite another to affirm that He is the Source of said dignity, as well as the right in question.
The latter (the truth) places man’s obligation toward God where it belongs; in the first place – the former invites man to assert, as we shall see, an autonomy that is not his own.
The Council paid lip service to the traditional understanding of man’s obligation to seek the truth with respect to the right to religious liberty, saying:
[This Council] leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ. [ibid.]
Further in the text, however, the traditional doctrine is obliterated, even going so far as to declare that the right in question persists even apart from man upholding his duty toward God:
Therefore the right to religious freedom has its foundation not in the subjective disposition of the person, but in his very nature. In consequence, the right to this immunity continues to exist even in those who do not live up to their obligation of seeking the truth and adhering to it and the exercise of this right is not to be impeded, provided that just public order be observed. [ibid.]
In speaking of “immunity,” the Council is referring to man’s supposed freedom to embrace and publicly disseminate whatever religion he may so choose, even if it directly opposes Christ, the one true Church, and her divinely given mission; a concept that couldn’t possibly be further from the same “traditional Catholic doctrine” it claims to leave untouched.
In fact, this very idea has been consistently condemned by the Church. For instance, in his Syllabus of Errors, Pope Pius IX condemned the following proposition:
Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true.
According to Pope Benedict XVI, however, at stake in the conciliar debate about religious liberty was precisely “the freedom to choose and practice religion, and the freedom to change it, as fundamental human rights and freedoms.”
Did you get that?
The Council’s aim in the matter of religious liberty, founded upon “the very dignity of the human person,” is ordered toward protecting and preserving a “right” and a “freedom” that does not truly exist.
By contrast, let’s now turn to that upon which the traditional doctrine is founded:
It is founded upon the simple proposition that Jesus Christ is King; He to whom all authority in Heaven and on earth has been given.
No Roman Pontiff expressed the rights and prerogatives that flow from Our Lord’s Sovereignty more concisely and more clearly than Pope Pius XI in his magnificent Encyclical Quas Primas (which I invite you to explore in detail HERE.)
To summarize the traditional doctrine as briefly as possible:
Given that the Catholic faith is the one true faith, and the Holy Catholic Church is the solitary church established by Christ who is King, naturally, the Church and her members enjoy certain rights and privileges that do not properly belong to the false religions and to those who adhere to them – among these exclusive rights is the liberty to practice and profess the true faith free from any and all constraint.
This is why Pope Leo XIII could say:
The Church is a society eminently independent, and above all others, because of the excellence of the heavenly and immortal blessings towards which it tends. [Pope Leo XIII, Officio Sanctissino, 22 Dec 1887]
As for the other, “false religions” and their adherents, none can legitimately claim such an absolute right to freedom for the simple reason that the King of kings granted them no such thing. The Church, therefore, considers their activities to be at best tolerable under certain conditions, but otherwise subject to regulation and restriction for the good of society.
The text of DignitatisHumanae would lead one to believe otherwise, which is precisely why the “sons of the Council” now in power in Rome treat QuasPrimas as a dead letter.
Conclusion
As I write on Ash Wednesday of 2016, there are those in the Church who, meaning well, shudder at the very thought that the Second Vatican Council could possibly be, not just an exercise contra Pius XI, but, as Yves Congar plainly admitted, the Church’s “October Revolution.”
To these I would humbly suggest undertaking a journey of discovery this Lent; one that includes a firsthand examination of “the wondrous wisdom and heroic courage” of the pre-conciliar popes; in particular, the former Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti.
This was a well written and very interesting article. It makes me sad to think of how things were supposed to work out with Pius XI. This Pope was supposed to Consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Vatican II need not have happened at all.
I’m not a silver tongued proselytizer. I know, these things to be so very true, but how does one explain theses things to an unbeliever, a Protestant or to a Modernist-? I recently had an online discussion with a Modernist Catholic and wound up being called a heretic for my Traditional beliefs. I wound up promising to add this soul to my prayer list that he might discover the “Objective Truth” in the matter.
Let God’s will be done.
You do your best and move on. I always think about the sermon given by St. Leonard of Port Maurice on the topic of how few people will ever be saved (its truly profound if you havent read it)….and that sermon was given almost 300 years ago. My point is that most souls will go to hell, including most Catholic souls. You do your best to get yourself to Heaven and of course do your best to encourage others to get on the right path at least….but at the end of the day reality is reality.
Simply use quotes – both from the Popes and the Saints. You cannot improve on the way they spoke about the one true faith. I would warn you that you are actually falling for the trap the modernists did. “How can we make this all appealing to others? How will atheists and communists and Protestants understand us?” Well, preach the Truth! Fully! Let him who has ears to hear, hear. Do not fear if they don’t “get it” right away. Plant seeds. Give them resources. Pray for them. Keep moving on and kick the dust off your feet. Their world is being rocked when you speak to them and they don’t know how else to defend themselves other than to call you a heretic or a schismatic. Pius X’s encyclicals on modernism tend to wake some people up.
Thank you, rich. I found St. Leonard’s sermon online and will carefully study it. God bless you, sir.
Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia
24. Orthodox and Catholics are united not only by the shared Tradition of the Church of the first millennium, but also by the mission to preach the Gospel of Christ in the world today. This mission entails mutual respect for members of the Christian communities and excludes any form of proselytism.
We are not competitors but brothers, and this concept must guide all our mutual actions as well as those directed to the outside world. We urge Catholics and Orthodox in all countries to learn to live together in peace and love, and to be “in harmony with one another” (Rm15:5). Consequently, it cannot be accepted that disloyal means be used to incite believers to pass from one Church to another, denying them their religious freedom and their traditions. We are called upon to put into practice the precept of the apostle Paul: “Thus I aspire to proclaim the gospel not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on another’s foundation” (Rm15:20).
25. It is our hope that our meeting may also contribute to reconciliation wherever tensions exist between Greek Catholics and Orthodox. It is today clear that the past method of “uniatism”, understood as the union of one community to the other, separating it from its Church, is not the way to re–establish unity. Nonetheless, the ecclesial communities which emerged in these historical circumstances have the right to exist and to undertake all that is necessary to meet the spiritual needs of their faithful, while seeking to live in peace with their neighbours. Orthodox and Greek Catholics are in need of reconciliation and of mutually acceptable forms of co–existence.
Archbishop Lefebvre:
“The pope said that it was necessary to attempt humanist ideas, that it was necessary to discuss such ideas; that it was necessary to have dialogs. At this stage, it is important to state that dialogs are contrary to the doctrines of the Catholic faith. Dialogs presuppose the coming together of two equal and opposing sides; therefore, in no way could (dialog) have anything to do with the Catholic faith.
We believe and accept our faith as the only true faith in the world. All this confusion ends up in compromises, which destroy the Church’s doctrines, for the misfortune of mankind and the church alike.” (interview, 1978)
“So by way of conclusion, either we are the heirs of the Catholic Church, i.e., of Quanta Cura, of Pascendi, with all the Popes down to the Council and with the great majority of bishops prior to the Council, for the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ and for the salvation of souls; or else we are the heirs of those who strive, even at the price at breaking with the Catholic Church and her doctrine, to acknowledge the principles of the Rights of Man, based on a veritable apostasy, in order to obtain a place as servants in the Revolutionary World Government. That is it. They will manage to get quite a good place as servants in the Revolutionary World Government because, by saying they are in favour of the Rights of Man, religious liberty, democracy and human equality, clearly they are worth being given a position as servants in the World Government.” (Econe, 1990)
“The adulterous union of the Church and the Revolution is cemented by
“dialogue.” Our Lord said “Go, teach all nations and convert them.” He did
not say “Hold dialogue with them but don’t try to convert them.” Truth and
error are incompatible; to dialogue with error is to put God and the devil on
the same footing. This is what the Popes have always repeated and what
was easy for Christians to understand because it is also a matter of common
sense. In order to impose different attitudes and reactions it was necessary
to do some indoctrinating so as to make modernists of the clergy needed to
spread the new doctrine. This is what is called “recycling,” a conditioning
process intended to refashion the very faculty God gave man to direct his
judgment.”
(Marcel Lefebvre by Bishop Tissier de Mallerais, pp. 547-548)
Excellent comment Stephen, preach the truth in all its entirety.
“What For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword” St Paul to the Hebrews 4:4 Douay-Rheims.
“The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.”
― Augustine of Hippo
God bless,
Jacinta
Hello everyone. If you would like to find meaning in this madness or seek relief I suggest you read the first to 2 pages of the book I will post which is a pfd you could read online. It is the words of St. Jean Baptiste and St. Jean Claude de la Columbiere. The book is: Trustful Surrender to Devine Providence.
I have found relief in realizing more clearly that it is Our Lord who is doing all this. These are the instruments He chooses to use. Nothing is done without His direction and Authority, as Christ the King. They would have no power over the Church unless it was given to them from above. Jesus suffered for original sin. Our Father chose the means to salvation-through Jesus’ crucifixion-they who crucified Him had no power over Him unless it was given to them from above. The Church is FINE!! It too shall rise again. Our Catholic Church is purely beautiful, unstained, and all good. These “leaches” were applied by Our Lord because this is what He has chosen. He is the doctor-the author of it all! We, still delirious from or sinful state, are waking up to find these grotesque leaches all over us. We are horrified. We scream “Why?” “Why?” “When will this be over?” The answer- whenever God wants. This is the remedy for our sins which He has mercilessly, in this time of mercy, has chosen. We should now do what Our Lady has told us- wear the brown scapular and say the daily rosary.
Yes, this is truly the only way. We get ourselves pretty mixed up when we ‘defend’ against the arguments of those who don’t believe. The best defence is an effective offence. Stephen is right when he suggests we should use the words of those who have been inspired to speak.
And let’s not rely on Scripture so much! Many Protestants can run rings around any Catholic and then begins the ‘verse’ battle. Instead use the words of obviously holy people, saints, popes, doctors of the Church etc. Just put it out there and then stop. When we start to argue each side simply hardens his position and there is no understanding possible.
I really appreciate this stuff from the good Archbishop Lefebvre. No matter what we believe about the status of the SSPX teaching like this is as gold.
Cortez, you have found true treasure in that little book. I bought 10 copies and have been giving it away over the years. Whenever I truly feel we have hit rock bottom I get this book out and read it. How consoling it is to be reminded that there is nothing that Our Dear Father does not know.
Pope Francis would not be able to draw another breath, his heart would not be able to beat one more beat unless God allowed it. This tells us that God is giving Francis every single nano-second possible to turn away from the false path, do penance, and be saved.
In the same way we are being allowed to suffer this crisis because Our Dear Father wants us to mine the gold there. The so-called “problem of evil” is so easy to explain. God will allow us to have our own way right up to our last breath – because He loves us with an infinite love, not because He can’t stop evil-doers.
Thanks for bringing up this little gold-mine of a book.
Louie, another terrific post. It is consoling to read the words of past good Popes. When I read these words I feel so much comfort and peace. Bad things are happening, bad teaching is washing over us and confusing the weak. But the truth has been spoken and will never disappear. Thank God.
Sorry to bring in something off-topic but here is the latest from Michael Matt and Chris Ferrera on the missionaries of mercy, and Francis latest bad teaching on Confession. What Francis says, as quoted by Mr. Ferrera is truly shocking.
Let’s arm ourselves with the truth, perhaps not to be able to argue with others, but to console ourselves. Sometimes we are told to just take a deep breath and chill. I want to take that deep breath but with that breath breathe in the sweet, sweet TRUTH. You help present that truth to us, Louie, thanks.
This is a very impressive and dense post. Kudos, and thank you
These issues will become moot after the Warning, Illumination of Conscience, sixth seal in Revelation, since invincible ignorance will be eliminated by God. Everyone will have to choose to be fully Catholic or choose hell with full knowledge. Expect that by the 100th anniversary of Fatima, which is also the 500th anniversary of Protestantism. In the mean time Bergoglio will create his one world church.
Regarding the “status” of the SSPX, they are the last Roman Rite group. The SSPX preserved the link with Tradition, no one else. The FSSP was founded to take priests away from the SSPX. The FSSP signed a document stating that they as a group, accept Vatican II and the New Mass. That puts the FSSP outside of the Church (formally). The same thing is true with the ICKSP. Canon Law states that when a state of emergency exists, jurisdiction is given by the competent authority OR by the Church herself. End of Story.
Excellent research once again, Mr. Verrecchio.
Thank you.
Yes, Barbara and Cortez. I, too, have found comfort in this book and have given it away many a time.
Thank you for providing the link, Cortez.
——
Thank you, Louie, for providing this connection for us Catholics to learn from you and to communicate with each other.
Yes, Barbara, what I feel even more relieved to learn from these saints is that Our Lord actually controls and does all. He doesn’t just KNOW it is all happening and sustain the life of we sinners, but IS the Artist of all the work. He, for example, uses the fist that, perhaps, may punch a victim. Whether the victim is completely innocent or not it is actually God who Ordains this treatment. The ONLY thing He does not have responsibly for is the sin contained in the person. This is a concept HUGE for my small mind to contemplate, yet it so consoles me in these extremely extreme times. I used to think-How much more of this evil will He allow? Now I can’t even use the word “evil” in that question. God is all GOOD. This is ALL His doings minus the evil wicked intentions within each sinner. How much more will He allow? ? No. How much should we thank God for in choosing whatever it is He chooses is best for us. Think of Job right now. Sometimes a punch in the face is nothing compared to other treatments He gives us. This whole”church mess” is God’s doing-for us. It is a beautiful Fatherly punishment in action upon us all here in His world. He is with us. We are blessed to feel His Wrath. I am thankful for such a loving Father. He will take care of us. We are in Our Lord’s Hands-Completely-no one else’s. Christ the King, Lord of all!
And thank you Louie, a most important instrument Our Lord chooses to use in order for us to grow closer to Him. It is through your woderful, God given mind and body that Our Lord chooses to teach through. I thank Our Lord for imparting these gifts to you for my soul’s benefit.
Both articles in this series are fantastic. Unfortunately, I found them to be thoroughly depressing. It seems no matter what a pope or a council commands or proclaims, there’s nothing to stop a future pope/council from tearing up the document and starting all over again. I used to believe, before my eyes were opened, that the Holy Ghost had things covered. Now, its almost impossible for me to take the notion of infallibility, especially as exercised through the ordinary universal magisterial, as a serious proposition. If the Catholic Church is really the Mystical Body of Christ outside of which there is no salvation, how come it went completely off the rails in the 1960s into liberal la-la land like every other protestant denomination did? It seems to me that a bunch of bad dudes who hated Catholicism decided to essentially get rid of it. They dared God to protect his Church from their filth and instead God gave them the keys to the front door and went out of town for the weekend. If God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, how come He didn’t strike those scumbags dead as He was wont to do with scumbags in the Old Testament, especially if the preservation of His Holy Religion for future generations (i.e. me) was at stake? If all of this is the result of Divine Wrath, I’d much rather be punished with plagues and pestilence than uncertainty about what to believe…for 50+ friggin’ years! I’m so exhausted trying to pound this square peg of V2 nonsense into the round hole of Sacred Tradition. I’m going to go make a sandwich.
Archbishop Lefebvre (Spiritual Journey):
“Just as the Israel of the Old Testament had a troubled history because of continuous infidelities towards God, which were often the works of its leaders and its Levites, so does the Church Militant in this world know without end periods of trial on account of the infidelity of its clerics and their compromises with world.
The higher they come from, the more scandals provoke disasters. Certainly, the Church itself guards its sanctity and its sources of sanctification, but the control of its institutions by unfaithful popes and apostate bishops ruins the faith of the faithful and the clergy, sterilizes the instruments of grace, and favors the assault of all the powers of Hell which seem to triumph.
This apostasy makes its members adulterers, schismatics opposed to all Tradition, separated from the past of the Church, and separated from the Church of today, in the measure that it remains faithful to the Church of Our Lord. Everyone who remains faithful to the true Church is the object of savage and continuous persecution.
But we are not the first to be persecuted by false brothers for having kept the Faith and Tradition. The Martyrology teaches us this every day. The more Holy Church is insulted, the more we must cling to Her, body and soul, the more we must force ourselves to defend Her and to assure Her continuity by drawing from Her treasures of sanctity to reconstruct Christianity.”
+Lefebvre:
“Therefore we must save the true Church and Peter’s successor from this diabolical assault which calls to mind the prophecies of the Book of Revelation.
Let us pray unceasingly to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, the Holy Angels, St. Pius X, to come to our help so that the Catholic Faith may triumph over errors. Let us remain united in this Faith, let us avoid disputations, let us love one another, let us pray for those who persecute us and let us render good for evil.”
Consider it a job well done and move on while always being open to later inquiries. When one shares objective Truth and is met with insults, you have hit a nerve, which is a positive sign. Our job is not to convert but to share and defend the Truth. We plant and water, the Lord converts and reaps the harvest. We must always remember to speak first to our Lord about our family, friends and associates before speaking to them about our Lord. It’s amazing how he uses us if we ask Him to be His instrument. No matter what, we must never stop.
We continue with a look at those subjects the treatment of which stand out as prime examples of a Concilium contra Papa Ratti [Part One]:
This was a well written and very interesting article. It makes me sad to think of how things were supposed to work out with Pius XI. This Pope was supposed to Consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Vatican II need not have happened at all.
I’m not a silver tongued proselytizer. I know, these things to be so very true, but how does one explain theses things to an unbeliever, a Protestant or to a Modernist-? I recently had an online discussion with a Modernist Catholic and wound up being called a heretic for my Traditional beliefs. I wound up promising to add this soul to my prayer list that he might discover the “Objective Truth” in the matter.
Let God’s will be done.
You do your best and move on. I always think about the sermon given by St. Leonard of Port Maurice on the topic of how few people will ever be saved (its truly profound if you havent read it)….and that sermon was given almost 300 years ago. My point is that most souls will go to hell, including most Catholic souls. You do your best to get yourself to Heaven and of course do your best to encourage others to get on the right path at least….but at the end of the day reality is reality.
Simply use quotes – both from the Popes and the Saints. You cannot improve on the way they spoke about the one true faith. I would warn you that you are actually falling for the trap the modernists did. “How can we make this all appealing to others? How will atheists and communists and Protestants understand us?” Well, preach the Truth! Fully! Let him who has ears to hear, hear. Do not fear if they don’t “get it” right away. Plant seeds. Give them resources. Pray for them. Keep moving on and kick the dust off your feet. Their world is being rocked when you speak to them and they don’t know how else to defend themselves other than to call you a heretic or a schismatic. Pius X’s encyclicals on modernism tend to wake some people up.
Thank you, rich. I found St. Leonard’s sermon online and will carefully study it. God bless you, sir.
Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia
24. Orthodox and Catholics are united not only by the shared Tradition of the Church of the first millennium, but also by the mission to preach the Gospel of Christ in the world today. This mission entails mutual respect for members of the Christian communities and excludes any form of proselytism.
We are not competitors but brothers, and this concept must guide all our mutual actions as well as those directed to the outside world. We urge Catholics and Orthodox in all countries to learn to live together in peace and love, and to be “in harmony with one another” (Rm15:5). Consequently, it cannot be accepted that disloyal means be used to incite believers to pass from one Church to another, denying them their religious freedom and their traditions. We are called upon to put into practice the precept of the apostle Paul: “Thus I aspire to proclaim the gospel not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on another’s foundation” (Rm15:20).
25. It is our hope that our meeting may also contribute to reconciliation wherever tensions exist between Greek Catholics and Orthodox. It is today clear that the past method of “uniatism”, understood as the union of one community to the other, separating it from its Church, is not the way to re–establish unity. Nonetheless, the ecclesial communities which emerged in these historical circumstances have the right to exist and to undertake all that is necessary to meet the spiritual needs of their faithful, while seeking to live in peace with their neighbours. Orthodox and Greek Catholics are in need of reconciliation and of mutually acceptable forms of co–existence.
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2016/02/it-is-with-joy-that-we-have-met-like.html
You’re welcome OTC.
What a bunch of non-Catholic trash that is.
Archbishop Lefebvre:
“The pope said that it was necessary to attempt humanist ideas, that it was necessary to discuss such ideas; that it was necessary to have dialogs. At this stage, it is important to state that dialogs are contrary to the doctrines of the Catholic faith. Dialogs presuppose the coming together of two equal and opposing sides; therefore, in no way could (dialog) have anything to do with the Catholic faith.
We believe and accept our faith as the only true faith in the world. All this confusion ends up in compromises, which destroy the Church’s doctrines, for the misfortune of mankind and the church alike.” (interview, 1978)
“So by way of conclusion, either we are the heirs of the Catholic Church, i.e., of Quanta Cura, of Pascendi, with all the Popes down to the Council and with the great majority of bishops prior to the Council, for the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ and for the salvation of souls; or else we are the heirs of those who strive, even at the price at breaking with the Catholic Church and her doctrine, to acknowledge the principles of the Rights of Man, based on a veritable apostasy, in order to obtain a place as servants in the Revolutionary World Government. That is it. They will manage to get quite a good place as servants in the Revolutionary World Government because, by saying they are in favour of the Rights of Man, religious liberty, democracy and human equality, clearly they are worth being given a position as servants in the World Government.” (Econe, 1990)
“The adulterous union of the Church and the Revolution is cemented by
“dialogue.” Our Lord said “Go, teach all nations and convert them.” He did
not say “Hold dialogue with them but don’t try to convert them.” Truth and
error are incompatible; to dialogue with error is to put God and the devil on
the same footing. This is what the Popes have always repeated and what
was easy for Christians to understand because it is also a matter of common
sense. In order to impose different attitudes and reactions it was necessary
to do some indoctrinating so as to make modernists of the clergy needed to
spread the new doctrine. This is what is called “recycling,” a conditioning
process intended to refashion the very faculty God gave man to direct his
judgment.”
(Marcel Lefebvre by Bishop Tissier de Mallerais, pp. 547-548)
Excellent comment Stephen, preach the truth in all its entirety.
“What For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword” St Paul to the Hebrews 4:4 Douay-Rheims.
“The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.”
― Augustine of Hippo
God bless,
Jacinta
Hello everyone. If you would like to find meaning in this madness or seek relief I suggest you read the first to 2 pages of the book I will post which is a pfd you could read online. It is the words of St. Jean Baptiste and St. Jean Claude de la Columbiere. The book is: Trustful Surrender to Devine Providence.
I have found relief in realizing more clearly that it is Our Lord who is doing all this. These are the instruments He chooses to use. Nothing is done without His direction and Authority, as Christ the King. They would have no power over the Church unless it was given to them from above. Jesus suffered for original sin. Our Father chose the means to salvation-through Jesus’ crucifixion-they who crucified Him had no power over Him unless it was given to them from above. The Church is FINE!! It too shall rise again. Our Catholic Church is purely beautiful, unstained, and all good. These “leaches” were applied by Our Lord because this is what He has chosen. He is the doctor-the author of it all! We, still delirious from or sinful state, are waking up to find these grotesque leaches all over us. We are horrified. We scream “Why?” “Why?” “When will this be over?” The answer- whenever God wants. This is the remedy for our sins which He has mercilessly, in this time of mercy, has chosen. We should now do what Our Lady has told us- wear the brown scapular and say the daily rosary.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=11&rct=j&q=trustful%20surrender%20to%20divine%20providence&ved=0ahUKEwiep-D35fTKAhWMKCYKHRxsDToQFghSMAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.saintsbooks.net%2Fbooks%2FFr.%2520Jean%2520Baptiste%2520Saint-Jure%2520and%2520St.%2520Claude%2520de%2520la%2520Columbiere%2520-%2520Trustful%2520Surrender%2520to%2520Divine%2520Providence.pdf&usg=AFQjCNELfsXDDtK30eDWO5O_skCs4bVZ5A
Yes, this is truly the only way. We get ourselves pretty mixed up when we ‘defend’ against the arguments of those who don’t believe. The best defence is an effective offence. Stephen is right when he suggests we should use the words of those who have been inspired to speak.
And let’s not rely on Scripture so much! Many Protestants can run rings around any Catholic and then begins the ‘verse’ battle. Instead use the words of obviously holy people, saints, popes, doctors of the Church etc. Just put it out there and then stop. When we start to argue each side simply hardens his position and there is no understanding possible.
I really appreciate this stuff from the good Archbishop Lefebvre. No matter what we believe about the status of the SSPX teaching like this is as gold.
Cortez, you have found true treasure in that little book. I bought 10 copies and have been giving it away over the years. Whenever I truly feel we have hit rock bottom I get this book out and read it. How consoling it is to be reminded that there is nothing that Our Dear Father does not know.
Pope Francis would not be able to draw another breath, his heart would not be able to beat one more beat unless God allowed it. This tells us that God is giving Francis every single nano-second possible to turn away from the false path, do penance, and be saved.
In the same way we are being allowed to suffer this crisis because Our Dear Father wants us to mine the gold there. The so-called “problem of evil” is so easy to explain. God will allow us to have our own way right up to our last breath – because He loves us with an infinite love, not because He can’t stop evil-doers.
Thanks for bringing up this little gold-mine of a book.
Louie, another terrific post. It is consoling to read the words of past good Popes. When I read these words I feel so much comfort and peace. Bad things are happening, bad teaching is washing over us and confusing the weak. But the truth has been spoken and will never disappear. Thank God.
Sorry to bring in something off-topic but here is the latest from Michael Matt and Chris Ferrera on the missionaries of mercy, and Francis latest bad teaching on Confession. What Francis says, as quoted by Mr. Ferrera is truly shocking.
http://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/remnant-television/item/2316-the-missionaries-of-mercy-coming-soon-to-a-theater-near-you
Let’s arm ourselves with the truth, perhaps not to be able to argue with others, but to console ourselves. Sometimes we are told to just take a deep breath and chill. I want to take that deep breath but with that breath breathe in the sweet, sweet TRUTH. You help present that truth to us, Louie, thanks.
This is a very impressive and dense post. Kudos, and thank you
These issues will become moot after the Warning, Illumination of Conscience, sixth seal in Revelation, since invincible ignorance will be eliminated by God. Everyone will have to choose to be fully Catholic or choose hell with full knowledge. Expect that by the 100th anniversary of Fatima, which is also the 500th anniversary of Protestantism. In the mean time Bergoglio will create his one world church.
Regarding the “status” of the SSPX, they are the last Roman Rite group. The SSPX preserved the link with Tradition, no one else. The FSSP was founded to take priests away from the SSPX. The FSSP signed a document stating that they as a group, accept Vatican II and the New Mass. That puts the FSSP outside of the Church (formally). The same thing is true with the ICKSP. Canon Law states that when a state of emergency exists, jurisdiction is given by the competent authority OR by the Church herself. End of Story.
Excellent research once again, Mr. Verrecchio.
Thank you.
Yes, Barbara and Cortez. I, too, have found comfort in this book and have given it away many a time.
Thank you for providing the link, Cortez.
——
Thank you, Louie, for providing this connection for us Catholics to learn from you and to communicate with each other.
Yes, Barbara, what I feel even more relieved to learn from these saints is that Our Lord actually controls and does all. He doesn’t just KNOW it is all happening and sustain the life of we sinners, but IS the Artist of all the work. He, for example, uses the fist that, perhaps, may punch a victim. Whether the victim is completely innocent or not it is actually God who Ordains this treatment. The ONLY thing He does not have responsibly for is the sin contained in the person. This is a concept HUGE for my small mind to contemplate, yet it so consoles me in these extremely extreme times. I used to think-How much more of this evil will He allow? Now I can’t even use the word “evil” in that question. God is all GOOD. This is ALL His doings minus the evil wicked intentions within each sinner. How much more will He allow? ? No. How much should we thank God for in choosing whatever it is He chooses is best for us. Think of Job right now. Sometimes a punch in the face is nothing compared to other treatments He gives us. This whole”church mess” is God’s doing-for us. It is a beautiful Fatherly punishment in action upon us all here in His world. He is with us. We are blessed to feel His Wrath. I am thankful for such a loving Father. He will take care of us. We are in Our Lord’s Hands-Completely-no one else’s. Christ the King, Lord of all!
And thank you Louie, a most important instrument Our Lord chooses to use in order for us to grow closer to Him. It is through your woderful, God given mind and body that Our Lord chooses to teach through. I thank Our Lord for imparting these gifts to you for my soul’s benefit.
Yeah. But most folks calling themselves ‘Catholic’ are like any schismatist or R&R – they decide in opposition to Christ and His Bride.
–
http://www.novusordowatch.org/wire/francis-meets-kirill-cuba.htm
Both articles in this series are fantastic. Unfortunately, I found them to be thoroughly depressing. It seems no matter what a pope or a council commands or proclaims, there’s nothing to stop a future pope/council from tearing up the document and starting all over again. I used to believe, before my eyes were opened, that the Holy Ghost had things covered. Now, its almost impossible for me to take the notion of infallibility, especially as exercised through the ordinary universal magisterial, as a serious proposition. If the Catholic Church is really the Mystical Body of Christ outside of which there is no salvation, how come it went completely off the rails in the 1960s into liberal la-la land like every other protestant denomination did? It seems to me that a bunch of bad dudes who hated Catholicism decided to essentially get rid of it. They dared God to protect his Church from their filth and instead God gave them the keys to the front door and went out of town for the weekend. If God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, how come He didn’t strike those scumbags dead as He was wont to do with scumbags in the Old Testament, especially if the preservation of His Holy Religion for future generations (i.e. me) was at stake? If all of this is the result of Divine Wrath, I’d much rather be punished with plagues and pestilence than uncertainty about what to believe…for 50+ friggin’ years! I’m so exhausted trying to pound this square peg of V2 nonsense into the round hole of Sacred Tradition. I’m going to go make a sandwich.
Archbishop Lefebvre (Spiritual Journey):
“Just as the Israel of the Old Testament had a troubled history because of continuous infidelities towards God, which were often the works of its leaders and its Levites, so does the Church Militant in this world know without end periods of trial on account of the infidelity of its clerics and their compromises with world.
The higher they come from, the more scandals provoke disasters. Certainly, the Church itself guards its sanctity and its sources of sanctification, but the control of its institutions by unfaithful popes and apostate bishops ruins the faith of the faithful and the clergy, sterilizes the instruments of grace, and favors the assault of all the powers of Hell which seem to triumph.
This apostasy makes its members adulterers, schismatics opposed to all Tradition, separated from the past of the Church, and separated from the Church of today, in the measure that it remains faithful to the Church of Our Lord. Everyone who remains faithful to the true Church is the object of savage and continuous persecution.
But we are not the first to be persecuted by false brothers for having kept the Faith and Tradition. The Martyrology teaches us this every day. The more Holy Church is insulted, the more we must cling to Her, body and soul, the more we must force ourselves to defend Her and to assure Her continuity by drawing from Her treasures of sanctity to reconstruct Christianity.”
+Lefebvre:
“Therefore we must save the true Church and Peter’s successor from this diabolical assault which calls to mind the prophecies of the Book of Revelation.
Let us pray unceasingly to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, the Holy Angels, St. Pius X, to come to our help so that the Catholic Faith may triumph over errors. Let us remain united in this Faith, let us avoid disputations, let us love one another, let us pray for those who persecute us and let us render good for evil.”
Consider it a job well done and move on while always being open to later inquiries. When one shares objective Truth and is met with insults, you have hit a nerve, which is a positive sign. Our job is not to convert but to share and defend the Truth. We plant and water, the Lord converts and reaps the harvest. We must always remember to speak first to our Lord about our family, friends and associates before speaking to them about our Lord. It’s amazing how he uses us if we ask Him to be His instrument. No matter what, we must never stop.