Many will see the title to this post and assume that it’s hyperbole. Others, like perhaps most regular readers of this space, will answer the question aloud in the affirmative even before reading what follows.
After all, it certainly wasn’t the influence of Almighty God that moved Pope John Paul II to orchestrate the Assisi events, to take part in pagan rituals, and to publicly pray for the intercession of St. John the Baptist to “protect Islam.”
Even so, the thing that moves me to pose this question here today is a video (below) that a friend recently shared on Facebook. It shows footage of the Polish pope at a gathering with high school students in New York at Madison Square Garden in 1979.
Please, take a look.
The pope is formally introduced at roughly the 0:40 mark, after which the raucous cheers of the crowd begin. Pope John Paul II doesn’t respond vocally, however, for more than a minute-and-a-half.
For the sake of expedience, the video will begin playing at the 2:20 mark.
The New York Times, described what you just saw as follows:
After a roaring, singing, brass‐band welcome for Pope John Paul II by almost 19,000 teen‐agers in Madison Square Garden yesterday, it was time for him to respond. The crowd came to a hush and the Pope, seated, leaned toward his microphone …
The Pope’s eyebrows danced and his broad Slavic face beamed. Someone started to coo and everyone could hear the sounds, low‐register tones on the public address system: “Woo, woo, woo.” What was this? It was the Pope…
Those who could stand watching the video to the end will have seen that the pope continued whipping the crowd up into a frenzy for another five-and-a-half minutes with an assortment of senseless sounds – woos, mmmhumms, and ooohs.
At the 5: 40 mark in the video, after more than three minutes of this odd behavior, the pope speaks his first words at the event: “A charismatic moment.”
Yes, indeed, a certain spirit was stirring that day…
Some of you have perhaps seen this video before. Today was the first time for me, and I have to admit that initially I wasn’t entirely certain that it was real. I literally sat dumbfounded.
This is the Vicar of Christ?
While neo-conservatives, the same who, like Karl Keating, will even go so far as to explain away the aforementioned prayer to St. John the Baptist to “protect Islam,” likely consider this a moment of harmless jocularity on the part of a charming pope, it strikes me as nothing less than a sign of the diabolical.
It wasn’t until Cardinal Terrence Cooke approached the pope, apparently reminding him of his schedule, that he began to deliver his address in earnest.
Following is an excerpt taken from that address as found on the website of the Holy See.
Speaking to the students, John Paul II proclaimed:
With the aid of your Catholic education, you have received the greatest of gifts: the knowledge of Christ.
This statement may initially seem harmless, but it is not.
Surely, the knowledge of Christ is not the greatest of gifts. The offer of salvation; made possible through Baptism, wherein one is cleansed of original sin, made an heir of Almighty God, and thus a sharer in the Divine life – this is the greatest of gifts.
Oh, give the Holy Father a break. Surely he didn’t mean to be taken so literally!
Oh, really?
Before we consider just how literally John Paul II intended his words to be taken, one will note that he immediately went on to cite Philippians 3:8-9 in support of his claim, saying:
Of this gift Saint Paul wrote: “I believe nothing can happen that will outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For him I have accepted the loss of everything and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him.”
Following is how the same passage reads in the Douay Rheims translation:
Furthermore, I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ. And may be found in him, not having my justice, which is of the law, but that which is of the faith of Christ Jesus, which is of God: justice in faith.
One wonders how John Paul II can justify going from either “the supreme advantage” or “the excellent” to “the greatest of gifts.” That’s quite a leap, is it not?
In any case, that his claim is to be taken literally becomes evident when it is placed in context with Redemptor Hominis, a document wherein John Paul II had articulated the program for his pontificate some seven months earlier.
In this, the inaugural document of his papacy, John Paul II stated:
Man as “willed” by God, as “chosen” by him from eternity and called, destined for grace and glory – this is “each” man, “the most concrete” man, “the most real”; this is man in all the fullness of the mystery in which he has become a sharer in Jesus Christ, the mystery in which each one of the four thousand million human beings living on our planet has become a sharer from the moment he is conceived beneath the heart of his mother. [Emphasis added] (Redemptor Hominis, Article 13)
NB: All men, according to this proposal – not only Christians – are already sharers in the grace and glory willed for him by God.
This man is the way for the Church – a way that, in a sense, is the basis of all the other ways that the Church must walk – because man – every man without any exception whatever – has been redeemed by Christ, and because with man – with each man without any exception whatever – Christ is in a way united, even when man is unaware of it: “Christ, who died and was raised up for all, provides man”-each man and every man- “with the light and the strength to measure up to his supreme calling.” [Emphasis added] (ibid, Article 14)
First, let us ask, what did Our Lord say? He said, “I am the way…”
Insofar as John Paul II was concerned, however, “man is the way for the Church.”
According to him, every man is united to Christ; every man is redeemed, every man shares in the life for which Our Lord died. And this, even when man is unaware of it.
This, my friends, is why John Paul the Great Ecumenist told those poor children that knowledge of Christ is the greatest of gifts.
You see, in his view, the Church’s primary obligation is simply to inform man of the fact of his union with Christ; a present reality wherein grace and glory are already his. This knowledge, therefore, is the greatest gift that she has to offer.
Is it any wonder that he behaved, over the course of his entire pontificate, as if it mattered not one iota to which religion one belongs; i.e., as if Baptism is of precious little concern?
Consider the solitary mention Baptism received in the more than 20,000 word text of Redemptor Hominis:
In the mystery of the Redemption, that is to say in Jesus Christ’s saving work, the Church not only shares in the Gospel of her Master through fidelity to the word and service of truth, but she also shares, through a submission filled with hope and love, in the power of his redeeming action expressed and enshrined by him in a sacramental form, especially in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the centre and summit of the whole of sacramental life, through which each Christian receives the saving power of the Redemption, beginning with the mystery of Baptism, in which we are buried into the death of Christ, in order to become sharers in his Resurrection, as the Apostle teaches. (ibid, Article 20)
At first blush, this may seem inoffensive to Catholic sensibilities.
When read carefully, however, in particular in light of his lengthy pontificate, one comes to realize that for John Paul II (as the emphasized text above attests) the sacraments do nothing more than express the redeeming action that he is at pains to insist already applies to every man without exception.
If ever one was interested in finding clues that might provide an answer to the question posed in the title to this post, the video helps, but Redemptor Hominis seals the deal.
Our Lord commissioned His Church to Baptize the nations and to teach.
The Devil says, “To Hell with Baptism! Tell them the glory is already theirs.”
Now you tell me, which one influenced Pope John Paul II?
Your assistance in keeping akaCatholic going is both necessary and greatly appreciated.
I’ve never seen even a rock star bask in the adulation of the crowd like that. Disturbing! The crowd too. It’s like a mass psychosis. Yes, demonic seems most fitting. Diabolical disorientation at the very least.
Yes, Louie, I did see this video a couple of years ago. It was then, and still is, quite disturbing and difficult to watch.
But not difficult to believe when you consider all things: the bent crucifix with the distorted corpus (a satanic symbol) he carried all those 26+ years, his “theology of the body” built upon his “phenomenology,” Assisi, kissing the koran, and so much more. Father Luigi Villa says it best here:
http://www.padrepioandchiesaviva.com/uploads/Chiesa_viva_430_S_en_tip-web.pdf
Regnum Christi ,the Legion and Opus Dei organized these trips and supplied the youth to fill the crowds. RC taught their adherents to scream ,”Pope John Paul Two ,we love you !”
The absolute worst displays ,aside from Assissi, were during the World Youth Days.
I have never seen this video before either but I have to say it is so reminiscent of when Francis stepped onto the loggia. I got that same “sick-in-the-gut” feeling watching this as when I watched Francis that ominous day 4 1/2 years ago.
Only through the Eucharist is it possible to live the heroic virtues of Christianity: charity, to the point of forgiving one’s enemies;
love for those who make us suffer;
chastity in every age and situation of life;
patience in suffering and when one is shocked by the silence of God in the tragedies of history or of one’s own personal existence.
You must always be Eucharistic souls in order to be authentic Christians
JPII
Louie, I remember seeing this on TV back in 1979. It scared the living daylights out of me and I was wondering what on earth is going on here. After a while, some of the youth in the audience look somewhat perplexed. This is the Vicar of Christ? It appeared to me that JP2, the consummate actor, was loving this moment. He appeared to be saying “I am The Pope and anything I say or do will be accepted without question. I have the Power! I am God!” Bergoglio isn’t any better or, God forbid, even worse! When Our Lord said the Peter “Get thee behind me, Satan” was he speaking to these men who have convinced the world that they are His Vicar? Stephen King could not have written a worse scenario. Our Lady of Fatima, we need you NOW and at the hour of our death.
Proverbs 15:2
The tongue of the wise adorneth knowledge: but the mouth of fools bubbleth out folly.
Scary to see how much he enjoyed the adulation. Just soaking it in and enjoying every second. He was a man of the world and the world loved him as its own. How tragic.
Jeremiah 10
20 My tabernacle is laid waste, all my cords are broken: my children are gone out from me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
21 Because the pastors have done foolishly, and have not sought the Lord: therefore have they not understood, and all their flock is scattered.
Relate this to the subject. Or are you just virtue-signaling yet again?
We are told that canonizations are infallible acts of a valid pontiff. There is no way this modernist is a saint. Ergo…
Those wooing sounds remind me of Sufism, on top of that he promoted the portrait of OurLord in a whirling dervish.
Creepy !
Where will that “ergo” be if/when Fr Ratzinger dies first? You’ll have to re-name yourself “sedeprofessor”. When you do I’ll be the first to welcome you to the fold.
Are you saying that, “ergo” he is in Hell? If so you’ve just gone way beyond your paygrade.
Having survived three WYD’s I can attest that the pervading atmosphere was one of deep humanism—a profound celebration of man and especially the cult of youth. The medium is the message and that was what WYD was set up to promote—the Church as a panthesitic entity.
Ps I didn’t find the video at all shocking as I witnessed this behavior firsthand on many occasions…..
Ps ps Bono said “he was the best ‘front man’ the church ever had” for good reason!!! Takes one to know one.
sorry last one…kids keep distracting me….new brainwaves. Same phenomenon with this U2 concert clip…..”the spirit is in the house”. Bono himself in fact was a “charismatic” as a 18 year old in 1979. Same religion in essence as JPII…one of experience, phenomena, emotionalism and of course ecumenical….without dogma. Watch….
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_bhahpMuIo
He’s saying that either canonizations aren’t infallible or that Francis isn’t a valid pope.
Seems to be plenty of “ vice – signalling” already taking place.
————
“Simple Remedies for the Household.”
It was in her grandmother’s handwriting. As she idly turned over the leaves, to her surprise her eye fell upon the heading: ” A household remedy against discontent.” She read it eagerly; it ran thus: ” Whenever you feel miserable or are out of temper, go to the picture of the ‘ Ecce Homo,’ and place yourself at its feet. Contemplate it attentively for the space of three minutes, and recite three Our Fathers before you go away: this will restore peace and content to your mind. My confessor advised me to do this. I have tried the remedy for thirty years, and 1 have never found it to fail.” The lady remembered that by a mere chance she had kept the picture in question, which had belonged to her grandmother; it was upstairs in the garret. She went up at once, dusted it carefully, and hung it on a nail in her room. Whenever she felt that a quarrel was impending, she tried the simple remedy her grandmother recommended. Through gazing at the countenance of Our Lord, so sorrowful and yet so gentle, she became so much more forbearing and complaisant that her husband remarked upon the change. She answered him with a smile: ” I have found an excellent teacher.” He wanted to know who that teacher was. So she told him everything quite frankly. Before long her husband also had recourse to this same remedy, when he foresaw that some household annoyance was in store for him. Thus in course of time peace and happiness prevailed in that family circle.
Spirago
1904
There’s so much that could be said about this article, but the usual crew of commenters have covered most of it.
My only comment is that the opening paragraph of the article is probably your best ever Louie – I laughed out loud!
Thank you for sharing this Ever Mindful. You are always a man of good will here.
I believe Louie presents us food for thought and offers puzzle pieces for figuring out how we got to the terrible place we are today. Not
always comfortable to contemplate. We would do well to present our angst about these bizarre vocalizations by JPII before Ecce Homo.
Canonizations rely on human testimony, “ergo”, they cannot be classified as “de fide” infallible no matter who is pope.
He said: “There is no way this modernist (Karol Wojtyła) is a saint.”. So he must be in Hell? … one thing is for sure, tradprofessor is not infallible so there is no way he can know if Karol Wojtyla is saved or not.
Apparently, JP2 never heard of the First Commandment. Also, World Youth Day has been referred to as the “catholic” Woodstock.
Yet again, Ever mindful, you’ve failed to explain how this has any relation to the topic. But of course you must be quite holy, quite above the fray, to offer such quotations. Displaying this is the real point of incessantly offering such quotations, isn’t it?
tradprofessor’s point wasn’t about Karol Wojtyla’s salvation. It was about the infallibility of canonizations and the validity of Francis as pope.
Related, here’s Francis speaking of demonic possession:
Pope urges Christians to watch out against worldliness
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/10/13/pope_santa_marta_mass_homily_worldliness_demon/1342757
What an incoherent mess.
I recall the televised youth day from Canada. The pope appeared somnambulant, while older gray haired women with varying shades of pink to violet flowing scarves whirled and ran the disabled in wheelchairs across the stage in front of him.
My teen aged daughter was appalled and remarked that this looked like an exploitation of the disabled rather than a celebration for a Pope. The wheelchair bound had for the most part, expressions ranging from apprehension to outright fear. It was a spectacle I will never forget.
Aside from the theatrics of Mass in our local Novus Ordo parishes, that was the point when I as sure the insane diabolical disorientation went all the way to the top !
Good Saturday morning John314,
In Truth, all things, “deFide”, rely on what you refer to as “human testimony”, as how could it be any other way?, while at once, “deFide”, is an ideology defined, by humans. You apparently fail to realize that everything that emanates from the human person, this side the veil, is ideologically contrived, including that which ultimately is pronounced to be, “deFide”. The moment in which the true Holy Roman Pontiff, in union with his true Bishops, pronounces that ideology, which has first undergone theological discourse, with your so called “human testimony” being an example of this discourse, as “deFide”, that pronouncement then holds the charism, from the Holy Ghost, of Ecclesiastical infallibility, period and end. As if it did not, then the gates of hell would prevail each and every time these definitions and teachings occurred, period and end, as the intellect of Lucifer is beyond our ability to even imagine, yet alone know. The Holy Ghost holds Lucifer at bay. The Holy Roman Pontiff, when acting as theologian in the midst of this theological discourse, himself can err but not as Holy Roman Pontiff, in union with his Bishops, when defining and/or teaching anything Dogmatic or Moral, period and end. That is the teaching of the Holy Catholic Faith. If anyone rejects this, they are outside the Church, where there is no salvation, deFide.
Lastly, you are in error as well when you suggest that, if so called “Pope” John Paul II is not, “a Saint”, then as you claim, “…he must be in Hell.”. As only Saints can enter the Kingdom of God and as there are those undergoing purgation in Purgatory, who are not yet in Heaven, and therefore not yet Saints, but they are not “in Hell”, you misstated the reality as deception in lieu of truth, with your attempt to indict tradprofessor, suggesting that he is claiming that Wojtyla is in Hell. Focus on the argument at hand, John314, then you will avoid the ad hominem, which is never Catholic, as it is perfectly devoid of Charity. I pray this helps. In caritas.
Dear Akita,
So called, “good will”, is only good when it is offered in Truth, as He is a divine Person, the Son of God, as God Himself. He commanded: You think I came to bring peace. I came to bring the sword…. As it is in division where the truth springs forth and is plainly seen. Deception is a powerful tool as it is the principal weapon of Lucifer, whose instrument is the dialectic of Hegel. It always presents itself with a smiley face, a certain allure. If you place a putrid roast in your crockpot, you can dress it up with all the wonderful accoutrements you wish, and the roast remains rotten. The “beautiful” is only “beautiful” when it is offered in Truth, and only then is it “good”, as only then does it come from Goodness Himself. In caritas.
Dearest Louie,
Within the query of your rhetorical title to this essay, you speak, and this to be understood as res ipsa loquitur. Karol Wojtyla was an apostate to the One True Faith, as his rejection of the same, One True Faith, speaks objectively in his acts and through his words. As an apostate to the One and only True Faith, he was outside of it, a place where not only is there no salvation, deFide, but where a true Holy Roman Pontiff of the Church established by the Son of God as God Himself, cannot be found. As a man outside of Christ’s Mystical Body and spotless Bride, His Church, is not Catholic although be may be Baptized, that same man cannot, with divine certitude, be the true Vicar of Christ.
Gaze ever so carefully upon Wojtyla in this video clip which you have so rightfully provided us. Discern it in your heart. Listen to the rhythm he develops with his cooing, that which appeals to the passions, the rhythm, while melody (Gregorian Chant) appeals to the intellect, and harmony, the heart. He is mesmerizing his audience while appealing not to their intellects but to their passions. Understand his facial expression and watch his body move, ever so subtly. This is diabolical and this speaks as res ipsa loquitur, for those with eyes which see and ears which hear. This man was a pope for his Prince, the same Prince who controls this world. The one to whom all of the kingdoms of this world were given and he is empowered to give them to whom ever he chooses. The Prince’s church is the church of the Antichrist, established by Lucifer and his minions in 1958 and while all dressed up Catholic in the metaphysical “accidentals”, as it fully controls and captivates the temporal edifice, it is fully devoid of all things Christ Jesus–which includes true Sacraments, as being cannot both be and not be, at the same time, and under the same respect. The so called, “Second Vatican Council”, is in truth a singular council and that is why the minions of Lucifer, while all dressed up in the clerical robes of the Church, demand submission to it. It is the council of Lucifer’s church and that of his Antichrist, whom the world awaits.
The “operation of error” is being received by the overwhelming majority of the population of the world today, both the Baptized and the unwashed who have never received God’s grace through Baptism, as this is the time of the Great Apostasy, which is to occur in spite of the Gospels having been spread to all ends of the earth. The “operation of error” perfectly blinds all those who receive it, as it is sent by Almighty God Himself. It is not humanly possible to overcome this blindness of the intellect thus and it is only overcome by once again, or for the first time, receiving God’s grace, in lieu of the human person’s embrace of iniquity as Saint Paul proclaimed in 2 Thess 2: 10,11:
”
10 And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying: 11 That all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but have consented to iniquity.”.
I pray this helps. In caritas.
If all you got out of Louie’s post is the sensationalist video clip, you’re missing the point.
The point is the theology of the late Pope, and what it means for the future of the Catholic Church. Louie has given us ample quotations here that should leave little doubt about John Paul II’s universalism.
When you combine the Pope’s theology with his outrageous inter-religious activities, the most shocking being the Assisi Prayer spectacle, it should make perfect sense to you.
This Pope believed that something new was revealed at Vatican II; that this new something was a “deeper penetration” of the mystery of Christ; and that this new understanding of the Christian mystery was of a Christ united to each and every man forever. Moreover, Pope John Paul II does not shy away from attributing these changes to the Holy Spirit!
Now that he has been canonized by Pope Francis, the image of John Paul II as “Saint John Paul II the Great” is firmly ensconced in the minds of this generation’s Catholics. His persona, image, and brand are unassailable. It doesn’t MATTER that he taught an alien, strange, heterodox gospel; he’s a STAR. He’s adored by the world.
You cannot turn on EWTN, EWTN radio, Ave Maria Radio, Relevant Radio, or any other Catholic media outlet without being bombarded by references to Saint Pope John Paul II the Great. Their hubris knows no limits; their adulation is unrestrained.
This leaves the Catholic concerned for the salvation of his own soul with only two options:
John Paul II was either all the way right, or all the way wrong.
God have mercy on us!
“Entrusting myself fully to the Spirit of truth, therefore, I am entering into the rich inheritance of the recent pontificates. This inheritance has struck deep roots in the awareness of the Church in an utterly new way, quite unknown previously, thanks to the Second Vatican Council…
…The opening made by the Second Vatican Council has enabled the Church and all Christians to reach a more complete awareness of the mystery of Christ, “the mystery hidden for ages” in God, to be revealed in time in the Man Jesus Christ, and to be revealed continually in every time.
…Accordingly, what is in question here is man in all his truth, in his full magnitude. We are not dealing with the “abstract” man, but the real, “concrete”, “historical” man. We are dealing with “each” man, for each one is included in the mystery of the Redemption and with each one Christ has united himself for ever through this mystery.
…this is “each” man, “the most concrete” man, “the most real”; this is man in all the fullness of the mystery in which he has become a sharer in Jesus Christ, the mystery in which each one of the four thousand million human beings living on our planet has become a sharer from the moment he is conceived beneath the heart of his mother.”
Pope John Paul II, Redemptor hominis, 1979
“…utterly new way, quite unknown previously…”
“…to reach a more complete awareness of the mystery of Christ…”
“…with each one Christ has united himself for ever through this mystery.”
“…this is “each” man …in all the fullness of the mystery in which he has become a sharer in Jesus Christ…”
Astonishing what you see when you isolate the novel phrases.
St. Thomas Aquinas and Saint Robert Bellarmine disagree with you:
St. Thomas Aquinas (Quodlibet IX, Q. 8, a. 16) holds that canonization is a middle case (medium) and terms the opinion that the judgment that the Church cannot err in such cases as merely a pious belief
(pie credendum est), not a dogma. Other theologians hold canonization not to be a matter of Faith. St. Robert Bellarmine holds that it is quite possible
for the pope “to err in particular controversies of fact which depend chiefly on human information and testimony.” This is exactly the situation in which
we find ourselves in the post-Vatican II Church.
Read the entire essay (scroll down) here:
http://www.traditio.com/tradlib/faq10.txt
2nd Thessalonians 2:10-11. Two more verses that didn’t survive the editor’s knife in the “much more exhaustive” Novus Ordo Lectionary.
Dear John314,
The intent of the discussion above was not to suggest that the true process of canonization is a “Dogma” of the Faith, which would then mean that it would have a specific Ecclesiastical definition as such, which it does not. If it was a “Dogma”, it would then require the free will assent of every human person, for the purpose of their own salvation, while at once it would not be open for theological discourse, as it is. Rather, the purpose was to discuss whether true canonization by the Church, which Jesus Christ our Lord established, is infallible, as you were commenting on the question of canonization, relative to its being infallible. Whether a person is a Saint, is a matter of the Faith, as if it is not a matter of the Faith, then what is it? It does not have to be a “Dogma”, to carry the charism of infallibility. The formula in the true Church for canonization is:
” “In honour of . . . we decree and define that Blessed N. is a Saint, and we inscribe his name in the catalogue of saints, and order that his memory by devoutly and piously celebrated yearly on the . . . day of . . . his feast.”
When the true Holy Roman Pontiff, in union with his Bishops, defines or teaches on matters of the Faith, the charism of Ecclesiastical infallibility is given by the Holy Ghost, or the gates of hell prevail, period and end.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Saint Thomas Aquinas had this to say about canonization:
“St. Thomas says: “Since the honour we pay the saints is in a certain sense a profession of faith, i.e., a belief in the glory of the Saints [quâ sanctorum gloriam credimus] we must piously believe that in this matter also the judgment of the Church is not liable to error.” These words of St. Thomas, as is evident from the authorities just cited, all favouring a positive infallibility, have been interpreted by his school in favour of papal infallibility in the matter of canonization, and this interpretation is supported by several other passages in the same Quodlibet. This infallibility, however according to the holy doctor, is only a point of pious belief.”
Saint Thomas, in saying that it is a matter of “pious belief”, is saying that at once it is not a matter of Ecclesial “Dogma”, rather it is a matter of “pious belief”, and not that canonization does not carry the charism of Ecclesiastical infallibility, which indeed the Angelic Doctor believed it is. In caritas.
While reading “Crossing the Threshold of Hope”, I circled every time JP2 used the word “man”. Let’s just say I ran out of ink.
Verreccchio’s piece is another of his own conspiracy theories.
I remember Pope John Paul II clearly. I can clearly recall the circumstances of his election, and the novelty of a young pope (aged 58) being the first elected pope from outside of Italy in over 400 years. And a Polish Pope to boot.
I can remember too the prevailing depths at the time, that was called the Cold War. The stand off between “the West” and the USSR was deep, antagonistic and looked set to be with us for decades to come.
Maybe due to his former lifestyle Verreccchio cannot recall the excitement and the novelty of a pope being elected in all of those prevailing circumstances.
I can recall those times. Clearly. Therefore the human reaction of audience to the Pope fits exactly to the prevailing political and societal circumstances.
If you recognise him as a Pope, then you’d better submit to all his teaching and follow his example. You could start imitating him by going to pagan temples and kissing korans, and go around professing universal salvation. Knock yourself out pal.
The prevailing political and societal circumstances were, as they are now, that of post-conciliar diabolical disorientation. True, in 1979 this diabolical disorientation was still somewhat novel. This novelty doesn’t excuse the madness displayed in the video, but it does somewhat explain it. What explains it above all isn’t novelty, but total diabolical disorientation.
Yes, 1979 was a very wicked time. Modernism reigned triumphant and society was literally coming apart at the seams. The real sexual revolution was just getting into high gear with promiscuity among young women exploding into the new normal we have today. It was by no means some idyllic age. One small anecdote, my brother related being at a Catholic High school mass around that time where the teachers discovered that several dozen students had spat out hosts they had taken and had crushed them into the carpet underfoot. This was in a small city. Imagine the evil these 15000 teens in NYC were already exposed to. Do you think these were little angels responding to God’s grace or were many jubilant at seeing the secular spirit finally victorious against the ‘bad old Catholic faith’ and its demands with a pontiff who told them they were all saved so party on. I contend that JPII was simply Aggiornamento Phase Two: get away from the ‘reform meme’ and establish a universalist, dogma-less religion. This seems to be the one over-arching design and outcome of his pontificate.
Do you think he was a true Pope Johnny?
Yes, he was a true Pope. But he was a partisan of the New Theology, a theology forcefully condemned by several Popes prior to John XXIII.
I love it when folks “declare” post conciliar popes as true popes but deride others as having no authority to declare the See vacant. If one cannot opine the See is vacant then neither can one opine it is occupied. I am not sure if you, Catholic Johnny, are one of these folks. So I am not implicating you, only using your post to illustrate my point.
Well, he was trained as an actor, right?
It seems more probable that the was having fun with an audience comprised primarily of youth?
Imagine the scandal caused if you were to see a vid of a Pope smoking a cigarette…
The Pope who spent every morning on his knees before The Blessed Sacrament was under demonic influence?
Doesn’t appear to fit the sign of influence
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features/framorth_excerpt2_aug04.asp
“The Devil…alive and active in this world” by Corrado Balducci (Msgr. Balducci has degrees in Theology, Philosophy, Canon Law, Civil Law, Psychology and Parapsychology) notes, beginning on page110. that Saints have had diabolical possession – St. Catherine of Siena, St Francis Xavier, St. Theresa of Avila, St Rose of Lima etc etc
Were one to read this book on would not be making such questionable and rash judgments because the diagnosis for such an event refers to phenomena that far far exceeds this questionable video: Therefore, personal diabolical infestation can also declassified as a particularly violent and prolonged temptation that is characterized by frightening and external phenomena…
O, and one last thing: who is not under demonic influence seeing as Satan is the ruler of this world and it is he who tempts us to sin?
There is a reason why trads are always reminding one another of our ancient and permanent enemies – The World, The Flesh, and The Devil.
ALL of those are our enemy and all of them have influence over us
Dear Catholic Johnny,
In the One, True Church, established by the Son of God made Man, as God Himself, there simply is not any so called, “New Theology”, as there cannot be any “new” theology, which is commanded by and is to be understood from, divine Revelation and Sacred Tradition. Divine Revelation and Sacred Tradition do not change, and therefore there is nothing new or novel to be known. As the Holy Catholic Church’s theology may deepen but it does not change, as God does not change, and as it is His Church, there is not, as there cannot be, anything “new” as novel, or to be known as novelty, to be found within the true Church. “New” or novel theology comes from Lucifer, as a perversion of Truth, Who is the divine Person of Jesus the Christ.
You write therefore, evidencing internal contradiction within your intellect, as you plainly state, “…a theology forcefully condemned by several Popes prior to John XXIII.” One true Pope cannot contradict another true Pope, as that is a contradiction, and there can be no contradiction found within Christ’s Church, in Her Universal Magisterium, as Christ Jesus Himself commanded this in Matthew 16:18. If there was to be one internal contradiction within the Magisterium, the Church would fall to the gates of hell, which cannot happen as commanded by the Son of God. Further, Christ our Lord and our God commanded that Peter’s faith cannot fail in Luke 22: 31,32, period and end. To suggest otherwise is to deny God Himself. Everything in the Holy Writ was placed there in time, for a time and for all time, until the end of time, period and end. The singular explanation in the cosmos for, as you write, “several Popes prior to John XXIII” having condemned this so called, “new theology”, is that the popes who contradict this true teaching of Holy Mother Church, simply are NOT Popes of the Catholic Church at all, rather they are popes of the antichurch, the so called “conciliar church”, which is the church of the Antichrist, proclaiming the religion of man and not the Religion of the Catholic Church, which does not, as it cannot change. I pray this helps. In caritas.
If the following Churchmen, most S.T.D.s did not hold the sedevacantist position, then neither will I:
Canon Gregory Hesse
Abbe de Nantes
Fr. Johannes Dormann
Fr. Dominic Bourmaud
Monsignor Marcel Lefebvre
Fr. Luigi Villa
Monsignor Bruno Gherardini
Professor Roberto de Mattei
Mr. Michael Davies
Each of these men renounced the Nouvelle Theologie without passing personal judgment on whether or not the occupants of the Seat of Peter were true Popes. I defer to their erudition and competency.
He might have been on his knees in front of the Blessed Sacrament each morning but he betrayed His same Lord by promoting universalism, humanism and modernism. God bless~
But it was a Novus Ordo host, so validity is doubtful.