SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Mission

P.O. Box 7352, York, PA, 17404

717-792-2789

SaintsPeterandPaulRCM.com

SaintsPeterandPaulRCM@comcast.net

To Restore and Defend Our Ecclesiastical Traditions of the Latin Rite to the Diocese of Harrisburg

SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Chapel

129 South Beaver Street, York PA 17401

..... this missal is hereafter to be followed absolutely, without any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment or censure, and may freely and lawfully be used ..... Nor are superiors, administrators, canons, chaplains, and other secular priests, or religious, of whatever title designated, obliged to celebrate the Mass otherwise than as enjoined by Us. ..... Accordingly, no one whatsoever is permitted to infringe or rashly contravene this notice of Our permission, statute, ordinance, command, precept, grant, direction, will, decree and prohibition. Should any person venture to do so, let him understand he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

Pope St. Pius V, Papal Bull, QUO PRIMUM,

Tridentine Codification of the “received and approved” traditional Roman Rite of the Mass.

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Twenty-fourth & Last Sunday after Pentecost

St. Clement, Pope & Martyr

St. Felicitas, Martyr

November 23, 2025

The Liturgical cycle ends with this last week of the ecclesiastical year, and with it the history of the world which it has recalled to our minds, throughout its course from Advent to this last Sunday after Pentecost.

For this reason, the breviary lessons for today are taken from the prophet Micheas, a contemporary of Osee and Isaias, together with St. Basil’s commentary in which he treats of the last Judgment, while at Mass the Gospel deals with the coming of the divine Judge. “For behold,” says Micheas, “the Lord will come forth out of His place; and the mountains shall be melted under Him: and the valleys shall be cleft as wax before the fire and as water that run down a steep place. For the wickedness of Jacob is all this and for the sins of the house of Israel” (Fifth Sunday in November, first Nocturn).

From these threats the prophet turns to promises of salvation. “I will assemble and gather together all of thee, O Jacob: I will bring together the remnant of Israel. I will put them together as a flock in the field.”

The Assyrians have destroyed Samaria, and the Chaldeans have laid waste Jerusalem; but all this desolation will be repaired by the Messias, when He comes. And Micheas goes on to foretell that Christ will be born at Bethlehem, and that His kingdom, that of the heavenly Jerusalem, will have no end.

The prophets Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias and Malachias, whose books are read in the divine office in the course of this same week, add their testimony to that of Micheas. In our Lord’s first words in today’s Gospel he quotes Daniel’s prophecy of the total and final ruin of the Temple at Jerusalem and of the Jewish nation at the hands of the Roman army, this “abomination of desolation” being the punishment incurred by the people of Israel for having crowned their long career of infidelity by the rejection of Christ.

As a matter of fact this prediction was fulfilled some years after our Lord’s death, amidst such circumstances of distress, that if it had lasted long, not a single Jew would have escaped alive. It was God’s will, however, that the siege of Jerusalem should be shortened for the sake of those who were converted as a result of so severe a lesson. It will be the same at the end of the world of which the destruction of this city is a type. For “then”, at our Lord’s coming, there will be tribulations of a still more agonizing kind.

Many impostors, among them Antichrist, will work wonders by Satan’s power, in order to be taken for Christ Himself, and then another type of ‘abomination of desolation’ will reign in the Temple, identified by St. Jerome with “the man of sin, who opposeth and is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the Temple of God, showing himself as if he were God.” He will come through the instrumentality of the devil, to destroy, and drive into banishment from God those whom he shall have gathered to his standard” (Third nocturn).

“But in this case also,” St. Jerome continues: “God will shorten those days; lest even the elect, if that were possible, be deceived” (ibid).

For the rest, our Lord warns us to make no mistake as to the coming of the Son of Man in glory, without limitation of space or time and with the rapidity of lightning, in contrast to His first coming, veiled in sacred mystery and in one little corner of the world.

Then all the elect will go to meet Him as eagles flock to their prey. His coming will be heralded by all kinds of catastrophes on earth and in the sky, while all the tribes of the earth shall mourn; “and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty” (Gospel).

“When,” says St. Basil, “the inclination to sin comes upon you, I wish you would think of this dread and awful tribunal of Christ, where He will sit and judge on His throne on high. There every creature will appear, and stand trembling in His presence, and there shall we be led, one by one, to give an account of the actions of our life. And immediately afterwards those who in life have wrought much evil will be surrounded by fearful and hideous angels, who will throw them headlong into a bottomless pit where in impenetrable darkness burns a fire which gives no light; where worms whose bite is intolerable anguish, ceaselessly gnaw the flesh; and where, sharpest of all punishments, shame and confusion reign without end.

Fear these things and pierced by this dread, use it as a bridle to help your soul from being drawn away by concupiscence into sin” (Third nocturn).

Further, in the Epistle, the Church exhorts us in the apostle’s words to “walk worthy of God” and to be “fruitful in every good work,” so that strengthened with all might according to the power of His Glory “we may endure all things in patience and joy,” giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light, both now in spirit and at the last day both in body and soul through the redeeming blood of “the Son of His love.”

Amid all the tribulation at the end of the world and of the last Judgment and in the agony of our own death, our souls will cry from the depth to out Lord that we “may receive more abundant helps from His Mercy” (Collect). And God, who has told us through His servant Jeremias, that He thinks thoughts of peace and not of affliction (Introit) and who has promised to hear the prayer of Faith (Communion) will hear us by delivering us from earthly desires (Secret) by “turning away our captivity” (Introit), and by opening to us that eternal heaven where the glorious consummation of Christ’s triumph will be reached.

Wholly victorious over His enemies, who will rise from the dead to receive their punishment, and undoubted king of all the elect, who have believed in His coming and will rise to eternal glory of both body and soul, Christ will restore to His Father that kingdom which He has conquered at the cost of His own blood, as an act of perfect homage from Head and members alike. This will be the true pasch, the full passing into the real land of promise, and the taking eternal possession by Christ and His people of the heavenly Jerusalem where, in the temple not made with hands, God reigns as acknowledged sovereign “in whom we will glory all the day; and in whose name we will give praise forever” (Gradual).

And through our High Priest Jesus, we shall render eternal homage to the most Blessed Trinity, saying: Glory by to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”

INTROIT:

Jer. 29: The Lord saith, I think thoughts of peace, and not of affliction: you shall call upon Me, and I will hear you; and I will bring back your captivity from all places.

Ps 84. Lord, Thou hast blessed Thy land: Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob. Glory be, etc. The Lord saith, etc.

COLLECT:

Quicken, O Lord, we pray, the wills of Thy faithful people, that they, more earnestly seeking after the fruit of divine grace, may more abundantly receive the healing gifts of Thy mercy. Through our Lord, etc.

Being appeased, turn to Thy flock, eternal Shepherd, and through blessed Clement Thy Martyr and Supreme Pontiff, whom Thou didst make the Pastor of the whole Church, guard and protect it forever. Through our Lord, etc.

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we who are keeping the festival of blessed Felicitas, Thy Martyr, may be shielded by her merits and prayers. Through our Lord, etc.

EPISTLE: Col. 1, 5-14

Brethren, We cease not to pray for you, and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom, and spiritual understanding: That you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God: Strengthened with all might, according to the power of his glory, in all patience and longsuffering with joy: Giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love: In whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins.

EXPLANATION In this epistle St. Paul teaches us to pray for our neighbor, and to thank God especially for the light of the true, only saving faith. Let us endeavor to imitate St. Paul in his love and zeal for the salvation of souls, then we shall also one day partake of his glorious reward in heaven.

GRADUAL:

Ps. 43. Thou hast delivered us, O Lord, from them that afflict us; and hast put them to shame that hate us. In God we will glory all the day: and in Thy name we will give praise forever. Alleluia, alleluia.

Ps. 92. Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my prayer. Alleluia

GOSPEL: Matthew 24, 15-35

At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: When you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth, let him understand: then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains: and he that is on the house-top, let him not come down to take anything out of his house: and he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck, in those days. But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the Sabbath. For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be: and unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect, those days shall be shortened. Then, if any man shall say  to you: Lo, here is Christ, or there: do not believe him: for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold, I have told it to you before hand: if therefore they shall say to you:  Behold, he is in the desert, go ye not out; Behold, he is in the closets, believe it not. For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together.   And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be moved: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty: and he shall send his angels with a trumpet and a great voice, and they shall gather together his elect  from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them. And from the fig-tree learn a parable: when the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors.  Amen I say to you, that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not pass.

EXPLANATION When you shall see the abomination of desolation. The abomination of desolation of which Daniel (9, 27) and Christ here speak, is the desecration of the temple and the city of Jerusalem by the rebellious Jews by perpetrating the most abominable vices, injustices and robberies, &c., but principally by the pagan Romans by putting up their idols. This destruction which was accomplished in the most fearful manner about forty years after the death of Christ, was foretold by Him according to the testimony of St. Luke (21, 20). At the same time He speaks of the end of the world and of His coming to judgment, of which the desolation of Jerusalem was a figure.

Pray that your flight be not in the winter or on the Sabbath. Because, as St. Jerome says, the severe cold which reigns in the deserts and mountains would prevent the people from going thither to seek security, and because it was forbidden by the law for the Jews to travel on the Sabbath.

There shall rise false Christs and false prophets. According to the testimony of the Jewish historian Josephus, who was an eyewitness of the destruction of Jerusalem, Eleazar, John, Simon, &c., were such false prophets who under the pretence of helping the Jews, brought them into still greater misfortunes; before the end of the world it will be Antichrist with his followers, whom St. Paul calls the man of sin and the son of perdition (II Thess. 2, 3), on account of his diabolical malice and cruelty. He will rise up, sit in the temple, proclaim himself God, and kill all who will not recognize him as such. His splendor, his promises and his false miracles will be such that even the holy and just will be in danger of being seduced, but for their sake God will shorten these days of persecution.

Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together. That is, where the wicked are, who have aimed at spiritual corruption, there punishment will overtake and destroy them.

This generation shall not pass till all these things be done. By these words Christ defines the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and says that many of His hearers would live to see it, which also happened. But when the end of the world will come, He says, not even the angels in heaven know (Matt. 24, 36). Let us endeavor to be always ready by leading a holy life, for the coming of the divine Judge, and meditate often on the words of our divine Lord: Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not pass.

PRAYER Remove from us, O Lord, all that is calculated to rob us of Thy love. Break the bonds with which we are tied to the world, that we may not be lost with it. Give us the wings of eagles that we may soar above all worldly things by the contemplation of Thy sufferings, life and death, that we may hasten towards Thee now, and gather about Thee, that we may not become a prey to the rapacious enemy on the day of judgment. Amen.

OFFERTORY:

Ps. 129. Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my prayer: out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord.

SECRET:

Give kindly ear, O Lord, to our supplications and receive the offerings and prayers of Thy people, and turn all our hearts to Thee, that we may be delivered from earthly lusts and pass to heavenly desires. Through our Lord, etc.

By the offered gifts, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that Thou kindly enlighten Thy Church, so that Thy flock may everywhere progress and prosper, and Thy shepherds, under Thy guidance, may be pleasing to Thy name. Through our Lord, etc.

Look, O Lord, with favor upon the offerings of Thy people; and make us to enjoy her intercession whose festival Thou givest us to celebrate. Through our Lord, etc.

COMMUNION:

Mark 11,24. Amen, I say to you, whatsoever you ask when you pray, believe that you shall receive, and it shall be done unto you.

POSTCOMMUNION:

Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that by this sacrament which we have received, everything wrong in our hearts may be set right, thanks to its wholesome working. Through our Lord, etc.

Being appeased, O Lord, guide Thy Church, which has been nourished by holy refreshment, that under Thy direction and powerful rule it may receive increase of liberty and may continue in religious integrity. Through Christ our Lord, etc.

We humbly beseech Thee, almighty God, that, through the intercession of Thy saints, Thou wouldst increase within us Thy gifts and order our days by Thy grace. Through our Lord, etc.

“Amen, I say to you: Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a child, shall not enter into it.”

Luke 18:17

For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be: and unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect, those days shall be shortened.

PROPER OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 23^rd:

23	Sun	24^th Last Sunday after Pentecost St. Clement, PM St. Felicitas, M	sd	G		Mass 9:00 AM; Members; Confession 8:00 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
24	Mon	St. John of the Cross, CD St. Chrysogonus, M	d	W		Mass 8:30 PM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
25	Tue	St. Catharine of Alexandria, VM	d	R		Mass 8:30 PM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
26	Wed	St. Sylvester, Ab St. Peter of Alexandria, BpM St. Leonard of Port Maurice, C	d	W		Mass 8:30 PM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
27	Thu	Ferial Day BVM- Miraculous Medal		G		Mass 8:30 PM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
28	Fri	Ferial Day		G	A	Mass 8:30 PM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass
29	Sat	Vigil of St. Andrew St. Saturninus, M		V		Mass 9:00 AM; Rosary of Reparation & Confession 8:30
30	Sun	1^st Sunday of Advent	sd	V		Mass 9:00 AM; Members; Confession 8:00 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass

The just man cannot possibly remain stationary in this world; he must either descend or ascend; and whatever may be the degree of perfection to which grace has led him, he must be ever going still higher as long as he is left in this life…. If the new year of the Church, which is so soon to begin, finds us faithful and making fresh progress, we shall be repaid with new aspects of truth in the garden of the Spouse, and the fruits we shall produce there will be more plentiful, and far sweeter, than in any bygone year. Therefore, let us make up our minds to walk worthy of God, ‘with dilated hearts,’ and bravely; for the eye of His approving love will be ever upon us, as we toil along. Oh, yes, let us run on in that uphill path, which will lead us to eternal repose in the beatific vision!

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, The Last Sunday after Pentecost

The road and ascent to God, then, necessarily demands a habitual effort to renounce and mortify the appetites; the sooner this mortification is achieved, the sooner the soul reaches the top. But until the appetites are eliminated, a person will not arrive, no matter how much virtue he practices. For he will fail to acquire perfect virtue, which lies in keeping the soul empty, naked, and purified of every appetite.... Until slumber comes to the appetites through the mortification of sensuality, and until this very sensuality is stilled in such a way that the appetites do not war against the spirit, the soul will not walk out to genuine freedom, to the enjoyment of union with its Beloved.

St. John of the Cross

"Live in the world as if God and your soul only were in it; so shall your heart be never made captive by any earthly thing."

St. John of the Cross

Blessed be the Lady who intends me to quit this life on a Saturday… Glory be to God, I am to chant matins in Heaven…. By the mercy of God, I am going to recite matins in Heaven.

St. John of the Cross, his last words, who in answer to his prayers, died only moments before midnight on Friday

The soul that is attached to anything however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matter not, if it really holds it fast; for, until the cord be broken the bird cannot fly.

St John of the Cross

God dwells and is present substantially in every soul, even in that of the greatest sinner in the world. And this kind of union is ever wrought between God and all the creatures, for in it He is preserving their being: if union of this kind were to fail them, they would at once become annihilated and would cease to be. And so, when we speak of union of the soul with God, we speak not of this substantial union which is continually being wrought, but of the union and transformation of the soul with God, which is not being wrought continually, but only when there is produced that likeness that comes from love; we shall therefore term this the union of likeness, even as that other union is called substantial or essential. The former is natural, the latter supernatural. And the latter comes to pass when the two wills -- namely that of the soul and that of God -- are conformed together in one, and there is naught in the one that repugnant to the other. And thus, when the soul rids itself totally of that which is repugnant to the Divine will and conforms not with it, it is transformed in God through love.

St. John of the Cross

O spiritual soul, when thou seest thy desire obscured, thy will arid and constrained, and thy faculties incapable of any interior act, be not grieved at this, but look upon it rather as a great good, for God is delivering thee from thyself, taking the matter out of thy hands; for however strenuously thou mayst exert thyself, thou wilt never do anything so faultlessly, so perfectly, and securely as now because of the impurity and torpor of thy faculties—when God takes thee by the hand, guides thee safely in thy blindness, along a road and to an end thou knowest not, and whither thou couldst never travel guided by thine own eyes, and supported by thy own feet.

St. John of the Cross, The Obscure Night of the Soul

Rome honours to-day one of her own illustrious sons. Chrysogonus, who gave his life for Christ at Aquileia in the reign of Diocletian. His splendid church in the Trastevere, which possesses his venerable head, was first built at the very time of the triumph of the Faith over idolatry. Chrysogonus instructed in that holy faith the blessed martyr Anastasia, whose memory is so touchingly united with that of our Saviour’s birth, the Aurora Mass on Christmas day having been from time immemorial celebrated in her church. The names of both Chrysogonus and his spiritual daughter are daily pronounced in the holy Sacrifice.

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year

THE END OF THE WORLD LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

PRESENCE OF GOD ‑ My God, in the evening of life You will judge me according to my love. Help me to grow in love each day.

MEDITATION:

I. The Mass for today, the last Sunday of the liturgical year, is a prayer of thanksgiving for the year that is ending, and one of propitiation for that which is about to begin; it is a reminder that the present life is fleeting, and an invitation to keep ourselves in readiness for the final step which will usher us into eternity.

In the Epistle (Col 1:9‑14), St. Paul prays and gives thanks in the name of all Christians: “We... cease not to pray for you and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will... that you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work.” This is a beautiful synthesis of the task which the interior soul has endeavored to accomplish during the whole year: to adapt and conform itself to God’s holy will, to unite itself to it completely, and, being moved in all things by that divine will alone, to act in such a manner as to please Our Lord in everything. God be praised if, thanks to His help, we have succeeded in advancing some steps along that road which most surely leads to holiness. Making our own the sentiments of the Apostle, we should give thanks to “the Father who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light.” The lot, the inheritance of the saints, of those who tend toward holiness, is union of love with God‑ here below in faith, hereafter in glory. This heritage is ours because Jesus has merited it for us by His Blood, and because in Jesus “we have redemption, the remission of sins”; thus, cleansed from sin and clothed in grace by His infinite merits, we also can ascend to that very lofty and blessed state of union with God.

If, with God’s help, we have succeeded in making some progress, there still remains more and greater work to be done. The Church, therefore, has us ask in the Collect: “Stir up, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the wills of Thy faithful people, that by more earnestly seeking the fruit of good works, they may receive more abundantly the gifts of Thy loving kindness.” So it is: the more we correspond to grace, the greater the graces Our Lord will grant us; the more we press on toward Him, the more He will draw us to Himself, so that the result of this continuous interplay of the divine assistance and our correspondence will be the sanctification of each one of us.

2. With the description of the end of the world and the coming of Christ to judge the living and the dead, the Gospel (Mt 24:5‑35) reminds us that just as the liturgical year passes and comes to an end, so does the life of man on earth. Everything will have an end, and, at the end of all, will come the majestic epilogue: “Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven [the Cross]: and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty” Jesus who once came upon earth in poverty, hiddenness and pain, to teach us the way to heaven and to redeem our souls, has every right to return glorious at the end of time, to gather the fruit of His labor and His Blood. He will be our judge, and will judge us, as He Himself has said, according to our love: “Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you .... For I was hungry and you gave Me to eat... thirsty and you gave Me to drink .... As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me” (Mt 25:34‑35‑40). His sweet precept of love, love of God and of neighbor, will be the law by which we shall be examined. Blessed shall we be if we have loved, and loved much! “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Lk 7:47), Jesus said, referring to the sinful woman. The greater and deeper our love, the more effectively will it efface all the sins, miseries, and faults into which, despite our good will, we fall daily.

“For this reason it is a great thing,” says St. John of the Gross, “for the soul to exercise itself constantly in love, so that, being perfected here below, it may not stay long, either in this world or in the next, without seeing God face to face” (LF, 1,34). The Saint is alluding to a soul inflamed with divine love and longing anxiously for heaven in order to see its God face to face and be able to love Him more. Only an intense exercise of love, however, can of itself lead to union with God, both here on earth and in a blessed eternity. Happy the soul who, at the end of life, after having exercised itself much in love, can be immediately admitted to the beatifying union of heaven. Then it will have nothing to fear from the judgment of Jesus, for this judgment will be its eternal joy and happiness.

COLLOQUY:

“Deign, O Lord, to grant me the experience of true love before You take me from this life, for it will be a great thing at the hour of my death to realize that I shall be judged by One whom I have loved above all things. I shall be able to meet You with security, certain that I shall not be going into a foreign land, but into my own country, for it belongs to the One whom I have loved so truly and who has loved me in return.

“How sweet will be the death of that soul who has done penance for all its sins and does not have to go to purgatory! It may be that it will begin to enjoy glory even in this world, and will know no fear, but only peace!” (T.J. Way, 40).

“To You, O Lord our God, we must always cling, that with Your continual help we may live in all holiness, godliness and uprightness. The weight of our weakness drags us down but by Your grace, may we be enkindled and raised on high, may we be inflamed so as to climb from the depths, arranging in our hearts to ascend by steps. Let us, then, sing the song of `ascents,’ burning with Your holy fire and journeying on toward You.

“Where are we going? On high, to the peace of the heavenly Jerusalem, as it is written: ‘I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord.’ There, good will shall be so ordered in us that we shall have no other desire than to remain there eternally. So long as we live in this mortal body we journeying toward You, O Lord; here below we have no lasting dwelling place, but seek one which is to come, since our home is in heaven. Therefore, with the help of Your grace, I enter into the secrecy of my heart, and lift up songs of love, to You, my King and my God!” (St. Augustine).

St. Gertrude, the Great, from her very infancy, felt a special attraction towards the glorious virgin Catharine. As she was desirous of knowing how great were her merits, our Lord showed her St. Catharine seated on a throne so lofty and so magnificent, that it seemed her glory was sufficient to have filled the courts of heaven had she been its sole queen; while from her crown a marvelous brightness was reflected on her devout clients. It is well known how St. Joan of Arc, entrusted by St. Michael to guidance of St. Catharine and St. Margaret, received aid and counsel from them during seven years; and how it was at Saint Catherine-de-Fierbois that she received her sword.

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Feast of St. Catharine, Virgin and Martyr

St. Peter, bishop of Alexandria, famous for wisdom and holiness, was as St. Eusebius said, “a model of charity and zeal, severe towards himself, merciful to sinners, a divine model of the Christian teacher.” While imprisoned, he was petitioned by some priests to remove his condemnation of the heretic Arius. St. Peter replied to them that Jesus had appeared to him that very night with a torn garment, and when he sought an explanation, the Lord answered, “Arius has torn asunder My garment which is My Church.” Peter’s foremost virtue was perseverance; once he had made a decision he never vacillated. He was beheaded on November 25, 311 and is known as “the last martyr” of the Diocletian persecution.

St. Peter, Bishop of Alexandria and Martyr

St. Sylvester founded the Sylvestrine Order, a reform congregation of the Order of St. Benedict, in 1231. Upon seeing the corpse of an aristocrat relative, who had been very handsome, in the coffin, he cried out, “I am what this man was, I will be what this man is!” After the funeral services the words of our Lord kept ringing in his ears, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). He betook himself to a hermitage, led a life of perfection, and died at the age of ninety in 1267.

St. Sylvester, Abbot

INSTRUCTION CONCERNING PERJURY
Amen, I say to you (Matt. 24, 34)

The Son of God here, and elsewhere in the gospel, confirms His word by an oath, as it were, for swearing is nothing else than to call upon God, His divine veracity, His justice, or upon His creatures in the name of God, as witness of the truth of our words. — Is swearing, then, lawful, and when? — It is lawful when justice or necessity or an important advantage requires it, and the cause is true and equitable (Jer.4, 2). Those sin grievously, therefore, who swear to that which is false and unjust, because they call upon God as witness of falsehood and injustice, by which His eternal truthfulness and justice is desecrated; those sin who swear in a truthful cause without necessity and sufficient reason, because it is disrespectful to call upon God as witness for every trivial thing. In like manner, those sin grievously and constantly who are so accustomed to swearing as to break out into oaths, without knowing or considering whether the thing is true or false, whether they will keep their promise or not, or even if they will be able to keep it; such expose themselves to the danger of swearing falsely. “There is no one,” says St. Chrysostom, “who swears often, who does not sometimes swear falsely, just as he who speaks much, sometimes says unbecoming and false things.” Therefore Christ tells those who seek perfection, not to swear at all (Matt. 5, 34), that they might not fall into the habit of swearing and from that into perjury. He who has the habit of swearing should, therefore, take the greatest pains to eradicate it; to accomplish which it will be very useful to reflect that if we have to render an account for every idle word we speak, (Matt. 12, 36) how much more strictly will we be judged for unnecessary false oaths! God’s curse accompanies him who commits perjury, in all his ways, as proved by daily experience. He who commits perjury in court, robs himself of the merits of Christ’s death and will be consumed in the fire of hell, which is represented by the crucifix and burning tapers, in presence of which the oath (in some places) is taken. If you have had the misfortune to be guilty of perjury, at once be truly sorry, weep for this terrible sin which you have committed, frankly confess it, repair the injury you may have caused by it, and chastise yourself for it by rigorous penance.

The world is on fire. Men try to condemn Christ once again, as it were, for they bring a thousand false witnesses against Him. They would raze His Church to the ground… It breaks my heart to see so many souls traveling to perdition. I would the evil were not so great…. I felt that I would have laid down a thousand livers to save a single one of all the souls that were being lost.

Alas, Lord, who is it that has dared to make this petition in the name of all… When this sovereign Judge sees how bold I am, it may well move Him to anger, as would be right and just. But behold, Lord, You are a God of mercy; have mercy upon this poor sinner, this miserable worm who is so bold with You. Behold my desires, my God, and the tears with which I beg this of You; forget my sins, for Your name’s sake, and have pity on all these souls who are being lost, and help Your Church.

St. Teresa of Jesus, Way of Perfection

Baronius relates that after Julian the Apostate’s infamous apostasy, he conceived such great hatred against Holy Baptism that day and night he sought a way in which he might erase his own. To that purpose he had a bath of goat’s blood prepared and placed himself in it, wanting this impure blood of a victim consecrated to Venus to erase the sacred character of Baptism from his soul. Such behavior seems abominable to you, but if Julian’s plan had been able to succeed, it is certain that he would be suffering much less in hell.

St. Leonard of Port Maurice, Excerpt from his sermon on the fewness of those who are saved.

Just as it is licit to resist a Pontiff who attacks the body, so also is it licit to resist him who attacks souls or destroys the civil order or above all, tries to destroy the Church. I say that it is licit to resist him by not doing what he orders and by impeding the execution of his will. It is not licit, however, to judge him, to punish him, or to depose him, for these are acts proper to a superior.

St. Robert Bellarmine, De RomanoPontifice, II. 29.

Study, my son, to do rather the will of another than thine own. Ever choose rather to have less than more. Always seek the lowest place, and to be subject to every one. Desire always and pray that the will of God may be entirely fulfilled in thee. Behold, such a one entereth within the borders of peace and rest.

Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, III, 23

I often ask myself how it came that pictures of hell did not lead me to fear these pains as they deserve. Now I feel a killing pain at sight of the multitudes who are lost. This vision was one of the greatest graces the Lord has given me. From it arise also these vehement desires to be useful to souls. Yes, I say it with all truth: to deliver one soul from these terrible torments, I would gladly, it seems to me, endure death a thousand times.

St. Theresa of Jesus

“Mortification must include the whole man, body and soul; for each of our faculties unless well-disciplined may be the cause of sin. It is true, indeed, that the will alone sins, but it has for accomplices and instruments our body with its exterior senses and our soul with all its faculties. Hence, it is the whole man that must be disciplined, that is, mortified.”

Rev. Adolphe Tanquerey

“Baptism is the distinctive mark of all Christians, and serves to differentiate them from those who have not been cleansed in this purifying stream and who, consequently, are not members of Christ.”

Pope Pius XII, Mediator

This could equally be said by one who in alliance with the forces of hell is aflame with the fire of revenge!

“One deceives himself who thinks that the prophetic mission of Fatima is concluded.”

Pope Benedict XVI, May 2010

[The Ancient Doctors] knew the capacity of innovators in the art of deception. In order not to shock the ears of Catholics, they sought to hide the subtleties of their tortuous maneuvers by the use of seemingly innocuous words such as would allow them to insinuate error into souls in the most gentle manner. Once the truth had been compromised, they could, by means of slight changes or additions in phraseology, distort the confession of the faith which is necessary for our salvation, and lead the faithful by subtle errors to their eternal damnation. This manner of dissimulating and lying is vicious, regardless of the circumstances under which it is used. For very good reasons it can never be tolerated in a synod of which the principal glory consists above all in teaching the truth with clarity and excluding all danger of error.

Moreover, if all this is sinful, it cannot be excused in the way that one sees it being done, under the erroneous pretext that the seemingly shocking affirmations in one place are further developed along orthodox lines in other places, and even in yet other places corrected; as if allowing for the possibility of either affirming or denying the statement, or of leaving it up the personal inclinations of the individual – such has always been the fraudulent and daring method used by innovators to establish error. It allows for both the possibility of promoting error and of excusing it.

It is as if the innovators pretended that they always intended to present the alternative passages, especially to those of simple faith who eventually come to know only some part of the conclusions of such discussions which are published in the common language for everyone’s use. Or again, as if the same faithful had the ability on examining such documents to judge such matters for themselves without getting confused and avoiding all risk of error. It is a most reprehensible technique for the insinuation of doctrinal errors and one condemned long ago by our predecessor Saint Celestine who found it used in the writings of Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, and which he exposed in order to condemn it with the greatest possible severity. Once these texts were examined carefully, the impostor was exposed and confounded, for he expressed himself in a plethora of words, mixing true things with others that were obscure; mixing at times one with the other in such a way that he was also able to confess those things which were denied while at the same time possessing a basis for denying those very sentences which he confessed.

In order to expose such snares, something which becomes necessary with a certain frequency in every century, no other method is required than the following: WHENEVER IT BECOMES NECESSARY TO EXPOSE STATEMENTS WHICH DISGUISE SOME SUSPECTED ERROR OR DANGER UNDER THE VEIL OF AMBIGUITY, ONE MUST DENOUNCE THE PERVERSE MEANING UNDER WHICH THE ERROR OPPOSED TO CATHOLIC TRUTH IS CAMOUFLAGED.

Pope Pius VI, Auctorem Fidei, August 28, 1794, condemning the Gallican and Jansenist acts of the Synod of Pistoia (1786).

On the Number of Sins Beyond Which God Will Not Pardon

A Sermon by St. Alphonsus de Ligouri

In this day’s Gospel we read that having gone into the desert, Jesus Christ permitted the Devil to set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and say to Him: “If Thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down”; for the angels shall preserve Thee from all injury. But the Lord answered that in the Sacred Scriptures it is written: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.   The sinner who abandons himself to sin without striving to resist temptations, or without at least asking God’s help to conquer them, and hopes that the Lord will one day draw him from the precipice, tempts God to work miracles, or rather to show to him an extraordinary mercy not extended to the generality of Christians. God, as the Apostle says, “will have all men to be saved” - I Tim. 2:4; but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when He calls us to repentance. Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement. I intend to show in this discourse that when sins reach a certain number, God pardons no more. Be attentive. 1. St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine and other fathers, teach, that as God according to the words of Scripture, “Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight” - Wis. 11:21 has fixed for each person the number of the days of his life, and the degrees of health and talent which He will give him, so He has also determined for each the number of sins which He will pardon; and when this number is completed, He will pardon no more. 2. “The Lord hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart” - Isa. 61:1 God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those who are determined to offend Him. Nor can we demand from God a reason why He pardons one a hundred sins, and takes others out of life and sends them to Hell, after three or four sins. By His Prophet Amos, God has said: “For three crimes of Damascus, and for four, I will not convert it” - 1:3. In this we must adore the judgments of God, and say with the Apostle: “O the depth of the riches, of the wisdom, and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments” - Rom. 11:33. He who receives pardon, says St. Augustine, is pardoned through the pure mercy of God; and they who are chastised, are justly punished. How many has God sent to Hell for the first offense? St. Gregory relates that a child of five years, who had arrived at the use of reason, for having uttered a blasphemy, was seized by the Devil and carried to Hell. The divine Mother revealed to that great servant of God, Benedicta of Florence, that a boy of twelve years was damned after the first sin. Another boy of eight years died after his first sin, and was lost. You say: I am young; there are many who have committed more sins than I have. But is God on that account obliged to wait for your repentance if you offend Him? In the Gospel of St. Matthew (21:19), we read that the Savior cursed a fig tree the first time He saw it without fruit. “May no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And immediately the fig tree withered away.” You must then tremble at the thought of committing a single mortal sin, particularly if you have already been guilty of mortal sins. “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin to sin” - Eccl. 5:5. Say not then, O sinner: “As God has forgiven me other sins, so He will pardon me this one if I commit it.” Say not this; for, if to the sin which has been forgiven you add another, you have reason to fear that this new sin shall be united to your former guilt, and that thus the number will be completed, and that you shall be abandoned. Behold how the Scripture unfolds this truth more clearly in another place. “The Lord patiently expecteth, that when the day of judgment shall come, He may punish them in the fullness of sins” - II. Mac. 6:14. God waits with patience until a certain number of sins is committed but, when the measure of guilt is filled up, He waits no longer, but chastises the sinner. “Thou hast sealed up my offenses as it were in a bag” - Job 14:17. Sinners multiply their sins without keeping any account of them; but God numbers them, that, when the harvest is ripe, that is, when the number of sins is completed, He may take vengeance on them. “Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe” Joel 3:13. 4. Of this there are many examples in the Scriptures. Speaking of the Hebrews, the Lord in one place says: “All the men that have tempted Me now ten times. . . .shall not see the land” - Num. 14:22, 23. In another place, He says, that He restrained His vengeance against the Amorrhites, because the number of their sins was not completed. “For as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full” - Gen. 15:16. We have again the example of Saul who, after having disobeyed God a second time, was abandoned. He entreated Samuel to interpose before the Lord in his behalf. “Bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord” - I Kings 15:25. But, knowing that God had abandoned Saul, Samuel answered: “I will not return with thee, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee,” etc. - 5:26. Saul, you have abandoned God, and He has abandoned you. We have another example in Balthassar, who, after having profaned the vessels of the Temple, saw a hand writing on the wall, Mane, Thecel, Phares. Daniel was requested to expound the meaning of these words. In explaining the word Thecel, he said to the king: “Thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting” - Dan. 5:27. By this explanation, he gave the king to understand that the weight of his sins in the balance of divine justice had made the scale descend. “The same night Balthassar, the Chaldean king, was killed” - Dan. 5:30. Oh! how many sinners have met with a similar fate! Continuing to offend God till their sins amounted to a certain number, they have been struck dead and sent to Hell! “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to Hell” - Job 21:13. Tremble, brethren, lest if you commit another mortal sin, God should cast you into Hell. If God chastised sinners the moment they insult Him, we should not see Him so much despised. But, because He does not instantly punish their transgressions, and because through mercy He restrains His anger and waits for their return, they are encouraged to continue to offend Him. “For, because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of men commit evil without any fear” - Eccles. 8:11. But it is necessary to be persuaded, that though God bears with us, He does not wait, nor bear with us forever. Expecting, as on former occasions, to escape from the snares of the Philistines, Samson continued to allow himself to be deluded by Delilah. “I will go out as I did before, and shake myself” - Judges 16:20. But “the Lord departed from him.” Samson was at length taken by his enemies, and lost his life. The Lord warns you not to say: I have committed so many sins, and God has not chastised me. “Say not: I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me; for the Most High is a patient rewarder” - Eccl. 5:4. God has patience for a certain term, after which He punishes the first and last sins. And the greater has been His patience, the more severe His vengeance. Hence, according to St. Chrysostom, God is more to be feared when He bears with sinners, than when He instantly punishes their sin. And why? Because, says St. Gregory, they to whom God has shown most mercy shall, if they do not cease to offend Him, be chastised with the greatest rigor. The saint adds that God often punishes such sinners with a sudden death, and does not allow them time for repentance. And the greater the light which God gives to certain sinners for their correction, the greater is their blindness and obstinacy in sin. “For it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice, than, after they had known it, to turn back” - II Pet. 2:21. Miserable the sinners, who, after having been enlightened, return to the vomit. St. Paul says that it is morally impossible for them to be again converted. “For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated-have tasted also the Heavenly gifts. . . and are fallen away, to be renewed again to penance” - Heb. 6:4, 6. 7. Listen, then, O sinner, to the admonition of the Lord: “My son, hast thou sinned? Do so no more, but for thy former sins pray that they may be forgiven thee” - Eccl. 21:1. Son, add not sins to those which you have already committed, but be careful to pray for the pardon of your past transgressions; otherwise, if you commit another mortal sin, the gates of divine mercy may be closed against you, and your soul may be lost forever. When then, beloved brethren, the devil tempts you again to yield to sin, say to yourself: If God pardons me no more, what shall become of me for all eternity? Should the Devil in reply, say: fear not, God is merciful; answer him by saying: What certainty or what probability have I that, if I return again to sin, God will show me mercy or grant me pardon? Behold the threat of the Lord against all who despise His calls: “Because I have called and you refused... I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared” - Prov. 1:24, 26. Mark the words “I also”; they mean that, as you have mocked the Lord by betraying Him again after your confession and promises of amendment, so He will mock you at the hour of death. I will laugh and will mock. But, “God is not mocked” - Gal. 6:7. “As a dog,” says the Wise Man, “that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly” - Prov. 26:11. Bl. Denis the Carthusian gives an excellent exposition of this text. He says that, as a dog that eats what he has just vomited is an object of disgust and abomination, so the sinner, who returns to the sins which he has detested and confessed, becomes hateful in the sight of God. O folly of sinners! If you purchase a house, you spare no pains to get all the securities necessary to guard against the loss of your money; if you take medicine, you are careful to assure yourself that it cannot injure you; if you pass over a river, you cautiously avoid all danger of falling into it: and for a transitory enjoyment, for the gratification of revenge, for a beastly pleasure, which lasts but a moment, you risk your eternal salvation, saying: I will go to confession after I commit this sin. And when, I ask, are you to go to confession? You say: On tomorrow. But who promises you tomorrow? Who assures you that you shall have time for confession, and that God will not deprive you of life as He has deprived so many others, in the act of sin? “Diem tenes” says St. Augustine, “qui horam non tenes.” You cannot be certain of living for another hour, and you say: I will go to confession tomorrow.  Listen to the words of St. Gregory: “He who has promised pardon to penitents, has not promised tomorrow to sinners” - Hom. 12 in Evan. God has promised pardon to all who repent; but He has not promised to wait until tomorrow for those who insult Him. Perhaps God will give you time for repentance, perhaps He will not. But, should He not give it, what shall become of your soul? In the meantime, for the sake of a miserable pleasure, you lose the grace of God and expose yourself to the danger of being lost forever. Would you, for such transient enjoyments, risk your money, your honor, your possessions, your liberty, and your life? No, you would not. How then does it happen that, for a miserable gratification, you lose your soul, Heaven, and God? Tell me: do you believe that Heaven, Hell, eternity, are truths of faith? Do you believe that, if you die in sin, you are lost forever? Oh! what temerity, what folly is it, to condemn yourself voluntarily to an eternity of torments with the hope of afterwards reversing the sentence of your condemnation! “Nemo,” says St. Augustine, “sub spe salutis vult aegrotare.” No one can be found so foolish as to take poison with the hope of preventing its deadly effects by adopting the ordinary remedies. And you will condemn yourself to Hell, saying that you expect to be afterwards preserved from it. O folly! which, in conformity with the divine threats, has brought, and brings every day, so many to Hell. “Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, and evil shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know the rising thereof” - Isa. 47:10, 11. You have sinned, trusting rashly in the divine mercy: the punishment of your guilt shall fall suddenly upon you, and you shall not know from whence it comes. What do you say? What resolution do you make? If, after this sermon, you do not firmly resolve to give yourself to God, I weep over you and regard you as lost.

Martyrdom - To be "freed by a great victory"

Saint Catherine has told me that I shall have succour, and I do not know if it is to be that I shall be freed from my prison, or if when I am being sentenced there will be some disturbance there by means of which I could be freed. I think that it will be one or the other. Most often my voices tell me that I shall be freed by a great victory. And afterwards my voices say, "Accept all willingly, heed not your martyrdom, you shall come at last into the Kingdom of Paradise." And this my voices have told me simply and absolutely, that is, assuredly. I call it martyrdom because of the pain and oppression that I suffer in prison. I do not know if I shall suffer a greater; that I leave with our Lord. I firmly believe what my voices have told me, which is that I shall be saved, as firmly as if I were already there.

St. Joan of Arc, Virgin & Martyr, her message from St. Catherine of Alexandria, March 14, 1431

“Grant, O Lord, that my soul may no longer have any affections of the will or acts of knowledge of the understanding, nor any thought or action which is not wholly turned to Thee. Grant that I may know naught save how to love Thee, O my divine Spouse… Permit not that I should seek my own gain nor pursue my own tastes nor busy myself in other things and in intercourse that has naught to do with Thee. May I have no other style or manner of intercourse save the exercise of love. May all in me be moved by and in love. In laboring, I wish to do all with love; in suffering I wish to endure all for love…. My Beloved, I desire for Thy sake to have all that is hard and wearisome, and all that is sweet and delectable I desire for Thee.”

St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle

Do not, therefore, lose heart, although you may think that it is a difficult task to absorb the attacks of so many enemies, that this warfare will continue your entire lifetime, and that inescapable ruin threatens you on all sides. But remember this------neither the power nor the trickery of your enemies can hurt you without the permission of Him for Whose honor you fight. He delights in this kind of battle and, as far as possible, encourages everyone to engage in it. But He is so far from permitting your enemies to accomplish their evil plans that He will fight on your side and sooner or later crown your endeavors with victory, though the battle may end only with your life. All He asks of you is that you defend yourself courageously, and that, despite any wounds you may receive, you never lay down your arms or leave the battleground. You must not shirk your duty. This war is unavoidable, and you must either fight or die. The obstinacy of your enemies is so fierce that peace and arbitration with them is utterly impossible.

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, The Spiritual Combat

“Deign, O Lord, to grant me the experience of true love before You take me from this life, for it will be a great thing at the hour of my death to realize that I shall be judged by One whom I have loved above all things, I shall be able to meet You with security, certain that I shall not be going into a foreign land, but into my own country, for it belongs to the One whom I have loved so truly and who has loved my in return. How sweet will be the death of that soul who has done penance for all its sins and does not have to go to purgatory! It may be that it will begin to enjoy glory even in this world, and will know no fear, but only peace!”

St. Teresa, Way of Perfection

The “received and approved rites of the Catholic Church, accustomed to be used in the solemn administration of the sacraments”:

…..Because, as we will see, Catholics must celebrate only the “received and approved rites” of the Church as a matter of Divine Law.

God revealed this truth in Scripture through St. Paul. Before St. Paul teaches the Corinthians liturgical and theological details concerning the Holy Mass (consecration formula, Real Presence), he prefaces his teaching by affirming: “For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you…” (I Cor 11:23). St. Paul says again: “For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received” (1Cor 15:3). In these and other verses, St. Paul emphasizes that we must believe and practice only what we have “received” from Christ and the apostles which has been “delivered” unto us, and which includes the liturgical rites of the Church. This is a divinely revealed truth and a matter of Faith.

The Church has taught this divine truth throughout her history. For example, in the Papal Oath of Coronation, which originates at least as far back as Pope St. Agatho in 678 A.D. (and which was set aside by Paul VI), every Pope swore to change nothing of the “received tradition.” Pope Pius IV’s Tridentine Profession of Faith, which is binding on the souls of all Catholics, likewise expresses this principle by requiring adherence to the “received and approved rites of the Catholic Church used in the solemn administration of the sacraments.” The “received and approved rites of the Church” originate from the Spirit of Christ and the traditions of the apostles which have been handed down to us through the ages.
Because the “received and approved rites” are part of the Church’s infallible expression of the unchanging Deposit of Faith, as inspired and nurtured by the Holy Ghost, they cannot be set aside or changed into new rites. This is why the Ecumenical Council of Trent (1545-1563) infallibly declared:

“If anyone says that the received and approved rites of the Catholic Church, accustomed to be used in the administration of the sacraments, may be despised or omitted by the ministers without sin and at their pleasure, or may be changed by any pastor of the churches to other new ones, let him be anathema.”

Because the Council declares anathema (that is, condemned, or severed from the Body of Christ) anyone who would set aside or change into new rites the already “received and approved rites” of the Church, proves that adherence to the “received and approved rites” is a matter of Divine Law. The absolute necessity to preserve the substance of the Church’s ancient liturgical rites is a requirement of the Faith because the rites preserve and express that Faith. To hold that the Church’s rites can change implies a belief that the Church’s doctrines can change, because the rites preserve and express the doctrines. Hence, those who do not preserve the Church’s rites (by omitting or changing them) are objectively anathema because they sin against the Faith itself.
In light of the foregoing condemnation, the Holy Council of Trent directed that the Roman Missal be restored so that the faithful would know once and for all what is the “received and approved rite” of Mass. To that end, Pope St. Pius V issued his papal bull Quo Primum Tempore to legally codify “the decrees of the Holy Council of Trent” and render a definitive application of the Divine Law dogmatized by the Council. This judgment mandated a single usage of the Roman rite for the Latin Church, with some minor exceptions for usages greater than 200 years old, “in order that what has been handed down by the most holy Roman Church, the Mother and Teacher of the rest of the churches may be accepted and observed by all everywhere.” Hence, the sainted Pope declared the oft-called “Tridentine Mass” to be the “received and approved rite” of the Church, and which precluded the creation of any “new rite” of Mass in the future. Further, because Quo Primum is an infallible application of Divine Law (that is, we must use only the “received and approved rites”), St. Pius V rightly declared the decree to be irreformable and valid forever.
This brings us to the inevitable and troubling question: Is the Novus Ordo a “new rite” of Mass that comes under the anathema of the Council of Trent, as definitively interpreted by St. Pius V in Quo Primum? The name of the rite itself (Novus Ordo which means “new order” or “new ordinary” of the Mass) certainly suggests the same. More importantly, so do the words of Pope Paul VI. In his November 19, 1969 General Audience address, Paul VI refers to the Novus Ordo as a “new rite” of Mass several times, for example: “We wish to draw your attention to an event about to occur in the Latin Catholic Church: the introduction of the liturgy of the new rite of the Mass.” He also says, “In the new rite you will find the relationship between the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist...”
We also consider the statements of the members of Paul VI’s liturgical commission that created the New Mass, such as the secretary and head of the commission, Fr. Annibale Bugnini, who said: “It is not simply a question of restoring a valuable masterpiece, in some cases it will be necessary to provide new structures for entire rites…it will truly be a new creation.” Bugnini’s assistant, Fr. Carlos Braga, also stated that the New Mass has “an entirely new foundation of Eucharistic theology” and whose “ecumenical requirements” are “in harmony with the Church’s new positions.” Fr. Joseph Gelineau, one of the most influential members of the commission, also said: “To tell you the truth, it is a different liturgy of the Mass. This needs to be said without ambiguity: the Roman rite as we knew it no longer exists.” Therefore, both Paul VI and his appointed authors of the Novus Ordo admitted that the New Mass is not the rite “received” from tradition, but rather a rite created by innovation – an entirely unprecedented act in the history of the Church.
But we should not rely on these statements alone. While they may reveal the intent of the innovators, it is still necessary to look at the substance of the Novus Ordo rite itself. As we have seen, the Council of Trent and St. Pius V intended to preserve the substantial identity of the Roman rite forever. If the New Mass does not preserve this identity, then it cannot be considered the “received and approved rite” of the Catholic Church no matter what anyone says. Even the Second Vatican Council, which did not (and could not) mandate the creation of a new rite of Mass, recognized this truth by directing that the rites “be revised carefully in the light of sound tradition” with “due care being taken to preserve their substance.”
The Council of Trent’s condemnation of omitting or changing the “received and approved rites” into “new rites” is best understood by referring to one of the oldest maxims of the Church’s sacred theology: “legem credendi statuit lex orandi.” This is a Latin phrase which means “the rule of prayer determines the rule of faith” (often referred to as “lex orandi, lex credendi”). In other words, the way we pray determines what we believe. If a liturgical tradition which expresses a doctrine of the Faith is altered or removed altogether, the underlying doctrine will necessarily be compromised. This is why the “received and approved rites” must be faithfully preserved and never transformed into “other new ones” as declared by Trent.

…… However, the Novus Ordo Missae deviates from the Roman Missal of St. Pius V to such an extent that it no longer retains the substantial identity of the Roman rite. Even before the introduction of such abuses as audible canons, vernacular and versus populum (toward the people) celebrations, lay ministers, Communion under both species, Communion in the hand to standing communicants and the like, Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci advised Paul VI that “the Novus Ordo represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session XXII of the Council of Trent.” Consequently, Cardinal Ottaviani (who, as head of the Holy Office, was responsible for safeguarding the doctrine of the Faith), in his famous intervention, concluded that the Novus Ordo was indeed a different rite of Mass.
For example, Ottaviani says: “To abandon a liturgical tradition which for four centuries stood as a sign and pledge of unity in worship, and to replace it with another liturgy which, due to the countless liberties it implicitly authorizes, cannot but be a sign of division – a liturgy which teems with insinuations or manifest errors against the integrity of the Catholic Faith – is, we feel bound in conscience to proclaim, an incalculable error.” He also says, “It is obvious that the New Order of Mass has no intention of presenting the Faith taught by the Council of Trent. But it is to this Faith that the Catholic conscience is bound forever.” Accordingly, Ottaviani appealed to Paul VI “not to deprive us of the possibility of continuing to have recourse to the integral and fruitful Missal of St. Pius V, so highly praised by Your Holiness, and so deeply venerated by the whole Catholic world.” Therefore, both the critics and the creators of the New Mass, including Paul VI himself, agree that the Novus Ordo differs in substance from the Tridentine Missal and, hence, constitutes a “new rite” of Mass.

John Salza, J.D., The Novus Ordo Mass and Divine Law, excerpt from Catholic Family News

He failed on two occasions, 1942 & 1952, to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as our Lady requested! He contributed his share in liturgical destruction by establishing the liturgical commission under Bugnini in 1948 and having Bea, his personal confessor, undertake a new Latin translation of the Psalms.

“I am concerned about the messages of the Virgin to the little Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of the Good Lady in face of the danger that threatens the Church is a divine warning against the suicide that the alteration of the Faith, in its liturgy, its theology, and its soul, would represent. I hear around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject her ornaments, and make her remorseful for her historical past.”

Pope Pius XII, 1933

Question: Is it proper in our own age to preach on hell?

We answer thus: First, it is certainly better to go to God by the way of lover than that of fear. The redemptive Incarnation invites us continually to the way of love. But fear is today a necessary element of salvation, just as surely as it was when the Fathers preached the gospel. We conclude, with the author of the article on hell in the Dictionnaire de Theologie: “Preachers must indeed omit all purely imaginary descriptions. The simple truth is sufficient. But to keep systematic silence on any portion of Christian teaching, particularly on forethought for our last end, is to ignore radically the spirit of Christianity. This life is a road, which ends inevitably either in hell or in heaven.”

Rev. Garrigou-LaGrange, Life Everlasting

Whenever the desire to sin cometh over thee, I would that thou couldest think on certain things.  God’s mind concerning sin and its consequences is set forth under dread and mysterious symbols, that on these we may reflect, and become possessed by a consuming desire for holiness.  Think then of the awful and overwhelming judgment seat of Christ. There the Judge shall sit upon a throne high and lifted up.  Every creature shall stand before him, quaking because of the glory of his presence.  Unto that bar of judgment are we to be led up, one by one, to give account for those things which we have done in life.  Presently, there will be found, standing by the sides of those who have in life wrought much evil, dreadful and hideous angels with faces of fire, and burning breath, appointed thereto, and shewing their evil will, in appearance like the night, in their despair and hatred of mankind.

Matins, Lesson St. Basil the Great, on the Thirty-Third Psalm

Dr. Scott Hahn Teaches: When Paul began that road as Saul on the way to Damascus, he was a devout Jew who was waiting for the Messiah. And at the end of that journey, he didn’t switch from one religion (Judaism) to another (Christianity); he had found his fulfillment of his deepest longings as a devout Jew. He had discovered that the Messiah had in fact come.

Dr. Scott Hahn, Professor of Theology and Scripture at Franciscan University of Steubenville, lecture to the Harrisburg Diocese Symposium on St. Paul

St. Paul replies: And my life indeed from my youth…. all the Jews do know…. that according to the most sure sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee…. And I indeed did formerly think, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth…. and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority of the chief priests: and when they were put to death, I brought the sentence. And oftentimes punishing them, in every synagogue, I compelled them to blaspheme: and being yet more mad against them, I persecuted them even unto foreign cities. Whereupon when I was going to Damascus…. the Lord answered: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise up, and stand upon thy feet: for to this end have I appeared to thee, that I may make thee a minister…. To open their eyes, that they may be converted from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and a lot among the saints, by the faith that is in Me (Acts 26)… And Ananias…. entered into the house. And laying his hands upon him, he said: Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus hath sent me, he that appeared to thee in the way as thou camest; that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight; and rising up, he was baptized (Acts 9: 17-18)

The souls in Purgatory are most certainly there on account of their sins, sins which they have detested and still do detest above all things. Their pain arises from delay, from deprivation for a time of the blessed joys and love of paradise. But this pain they endure with the loving song: “Thou are just, O Lord, and Thy judgment is right.”

St. Francis de Sales

"The rigor of suffering corresponds properly speaking to the gravity of the fault, and the duration of the suffering corresponds to the rootedness which the sin has in the subject."

St. Thomas on Purgatory

Which View is Ideologically Driven?

The Catholic doctrine will have to be proposed and exposed totally and integrally: what the Catholic Church teaches about the true nature and means of justification, about the constitution of the Church, about the primacy of the jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, about the only true union which is accomplished with the return of the dissidents to the only true Church of Christ, must not be passed over in silence or covered over in ambiguous words.

Pope Pius XII, “On the Ecumenical Movement,” 12-20-1949

The Catholic Church has no right to absorb the other Churches ... [A] basic unity—of Churches that remain Churches, yet become one Church— must replace the idea of conversion, even though conversion retains its meaningfulness for those in conscience motivated to seek it.

Rev. Joseph Ratzinger, Theological Highlights of Vatican II, from Lumen Gentium

And now, addressing the “false prophets that exploit fear and hopelessness to sell magical formulas of hate and cruelty,” Pope Francis again insults the Catholic Faith as known and practiced by all our forefathers!

COMMENT: Pope Francis often references St. Vincent of Lérins as if his understanding of Tradition is in accord with that of the great Church Father. It most certainly is not which is evident to anyone familiar with his writings. This corruption can only be attributed to malice. Francis the Lutheran and St. Vincent the Catholic do not profess the same Faith and only one of them is the Faith without which it is impossible to please God. Francis characterizes faithfulness to the revelation of God as “rigidity” which is itself attributed to deeper psychological and moral failings of traditional Catholics. “Love is not rigid,” claims Francis while he counsels the overthrow of God’s commandments, but St. John the Apostle of Love and devotee of the Sacred Heart reports a very different Gospel of Jesus Christ:

· If you love me, keep my commandments. John 14:15

· If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; as I also have kept my Father’ s commandments, and do abide in his love. John 15:10

· He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. John 14:21

· Jesus answered, and said to him: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him. John 14:23

· In this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God, and keep his commandments. 1 John 5:2

· And by this we know that we have known him, if we keep his commandments. 1 John 2:3

Love is never lax or slothful in its pious attention to duty. The laxism and sloth of Pope Francis is because without Faith, he has no true love of God.

In Pascendi, St. Pius X’s condemnation of the heresy of Modernism, the word novelty occurs twelve times always in a severely critical sense. After the 50^th anniversary of the Modernist Novus Ordo Missa, Paul VI was right in that “This novelty is no small thing.”

“We must prepare for this many-sided inconvenience. It is the kind of upset caused by every novelty that breaks in on our habits. We shall notice that pious persons are disturbed most, because they have their own respectable way of hearing Mass, and they will feel shaken out of their usual thoughts and obliged to follow those of others. Even priests may feel some annoyance in this respect. So what is to be done on this special and historical occasion? First of all, we must prepare ourselves. This novelty is no small thing.”

Pope Paul VI, Changes in Mass for Greater Apostolate, General Audience, November 26, 1969

“If you wish to be a Catholic, do not venture to believe, to say, or to teach that they whom the Lord has predestinated for baptism can be snatched away from his predestination, or die before that has been accomplished in them which the Almighty has predestined.’ There is in such a dogma more power than I can tell assigned to chances in opposition to the power of God, by the occurrence of which casualties that which He has predestinated is not permitted to come to pass. It is hardly necessary to spend time or earnest words in cautioning the man who takes up with this error against the absolute vortex of confusion into which it will absorb him, when I shall sufficiently meet the case if I briefly warn the prudent man who is ready to receive correction against the threatening mischief.”

St. Augustine, On the Soul and Its Origin 3, 13

Ss. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Mission has rejected the Indult and offers only the “received and approved” (pre-Bugnini) Immemorial Roman rite of Mass.

Bishop Pozzo, secretary of Ecclesia Dei and a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, says that the 1962 Indult Missal can be ‘prohibited by Authority.’

Monday, November 17, 2014

Msgr. Pozzo: “The Authority may prohibit the celebration of religious orders and under certain conditions in the ancient rite.”

We draw from Chiesa Council and Post this article about the serious matter of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, in particular a statement of Msgr. Pozzo, according to which the Authority has power to prohibit religious orders, in particular circumstances, the celebrations according to the ancient rite. The reasons given by the Secretary of Ecclesia Dei is not convincing at all.

Posted by the Mass in Latin in Italy web page

“In addition, as the heretic is an enemy of the Church, natural law provides protection against such a Pope according to the rules of self-defense, because she can defend herself against an enemy as is a heretical Pope; therefore, she can act (in justice) against him” (In Secunda Secundae, q. 1 a. 7, disp. II, a. III.).

John of St. Thomas, Dominical theologian

“Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished.”

The Prophet Isaias (66:24) quoted three times by Jesus Christ (Mark 9:43-47)! Those who doubt or question the eternity of Hell, as Pope Francis has done, will learn the truth of the matter through direct experience.

The Gospel of St. John speaks repeatedly of the opposition between eternal life and eternal loss. “He that believeth not in the Son shall not see life.” To the obstinate Pharisees Jesus says: “You shall die in your sin. Wither I go, you cannot come.” “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. Now the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth forever.” “If anyone abideth not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch and shall wither; and they shall gather him up and cast him into the fire, and he shall burneth.”

The epistles of St. Paul, too, announce to the just souls eternal life and to the obstinate in evil eternal death. “Those who do the works of the flesh shall not enter the kingdom of God.” These are those who perish (II Cor. 2:15, 16; 4:3; 13:5). There are two irreconcilable cities, that of Christ and that of Belial (II Cor. 6:14-18). These are those who are condemned forever (I Tim. 5:6, 11-15; II Tim. 2:12-20). We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” St. Peter announces to the false prophets that they are going to eternal loss (II Peter 2:1-4; 12, 13; 3:7). The Epistle of St. James threatens judgment without mercy on him who does not do mercy. Wicked men, without heart for the poor, amass treasures of anger for the last day (Jas 2: 13).

Lastly, the Apocalypse contrasts the victory of Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem with the damnation of all those who will be thrown into the abyss of fire and sulphur (Apoc 21:27; 22:15). This eternal damnation is called a second death. It is the privation of divine life, of the vision of God, in a place of eternal punishment, where those will be tormented by fire who wear the sign of the beast, and hence are excluded from the book of life (Apoc. 13:18; 14:10, 11; 20:6, 14).

This is the doctrine already announced by the great prophets and in particular by Isaias (Isa. 66:15-24). From the time of these prophets to the Apocalypse the revelation about eternal hell-fire never ceased to become more precise, just as the doctrine of eternal life became more precise. Among these punishments we find those of loss, of fire, of inequality in pain, of eternal duration. Mortal sin unrepented has left the soul in a habitual state of rebellion against an infinite good.

Rev. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Treatise on the Four Last Things

Ven. Bartholomew Holzhauser on the 7 ages of the church:

· Status Seminativus, AD 30-70, Apostles, from Christ and the Apostles

· Status Irrigativus, AD 70-330, Martyrs, Persecutions of the Church

· Status Illuminativus, AD 330-500, Doctors

· Status Pacificus, AD 500-1517, Christendom, from Pope Leo III to Leo X

· Status Afflictionis et Purgativus, 1517-?, Heresy/Decline

· Status Consolationis, Triumph (based on all the approved prophecies not longer than 25-30 years) from the Holy pope until the Antichrist

· Status Desolationis, Antichrist/End

ADVENT is a season of Penance in preparation for Christmas! Penance is the distinguishing mark of the Catholic, that is, the Catholic faithful to Tradition!

PILATE, having renounced his power and right to administer justice, yields to the will and passions of the multitude. The sentence of death is pronounced, and received with fiendish pleasure by the multitude. Their prayer is granted, their thirst for innocent blood about to be satiated. The cross, the instrument of shame and torture, is already prepared. Jesus welcomes it; henceforth it shall be the trophy of His victory over sin and hell, the badge of His elect, the standard to be borne before him as He advances in great power and majesty to judge all men.

Jesus receives the cross. He embraces it with love and tenderness, placing it with His own hands upon His bleeding and mangled shoulders! If the holy Apostle St. Andrew, as it is related in the history of his martyrdom, was so overjoyed at the sight of the cross on which he was to die that he cried out: “Hail, O precious cross, so long desired, and at last prepared for my craving heart! Give me back to Christ, my Master, who has hung on thee!”—if this was so with the servant, how much more did Jesus Christ cherish the cross, since “the disciple is not above the Master”! Is not the love of this holy cross a distinguishing characteristic of the one true Catholic Church, particularly when compared with the modern sects? They have altogether discarded it; they have torn it from the steeples of churches, and broken it into pieces when they demolished Catholic altars. They have trampled it under foot, in order to gain access to pagan nations for the purpose of traffic, as we see by the conduct of the Dutch in Japan.

The sects, moreover, teach that Christ suffered for us, in order that we might be free from punishment; they therefore reject the necessity of penitential works and ridicule the conduct of Catholics, who consider it a duty to chastise themselves and carry their cross with Jesus Christ. What reasons can a pious Protestant, then, have to love suffering, to love the cross of Christ, when he is taught that his sufferings avail him nothing, as Christ Himself alone has undergone all the salutary suffering? But not so with a good Catholic; he loves his sufferings for the sake of Jesus Christ, because the Divine Word teaches him that if he “has suffered with Christ, he also shall be glorified with Him.” He knows that it is not sufficient to repent of his sins, he must likewise do penance for them; for, says Christ: “Except you do penance, you shall perish all together.” If the good Catholic glories in anything it is in the cross of Jesus Christ—that is to say, in the amount of suffering which has been allotted to him to bear for the love of his Divine Master. And even if, like Simon of Cyrene, he is forced to carry the cross after Jesus, he will make a virtue of necessity, and bear his sufferings cheerfully and without complaint as long as God wills it, remembering those words of Christ: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” Where is there, or ever was there, one pious Protestant who, like St. Teresa, would ask our Lord: “Aut pati, aut mori”—either to suffer or to die; or like St. Magdalen de Pazzi: “Pati et non mori”— let me suffer and not die; or with St. Francis Xavier, when he saw in a vision numberless crosses coming down upon him from heaven, signifying how much he should have to suffer in India and Japan: “Amplius, Domino, amplius”—Yet more, O Lord! yet more? It is only the Catholic Church that teaches her children “to glory in the cross of Jesus Christ.” To those who are outside her pale this cross will be always a “stumbling-block and a folly.” When the Divine Victim arrives at the summit of Calvary “they offer him wine mingled with myrrh.” This was intended to intoxicate Him and stupefy the senses, in order to render the pains of crucifixion less sensible; but our Lord, having tasted, refused to drink. He did not seek to avoid the least pain, but endured the extremity of agony. Wine mixed with gall is the only comfort which the world, delicate to excess in its own pleasures, has to offer its dying Saviour. The pleasures of the world are intoxicating they are never pure, and only too often are mixed with the gall of bitterness and disappointment;

they stupefy the senses, it; is true, and make men forget that they are destined not to seek a paradise on earth, but the cross as the surest and safest means to attain the everlasting paradise of heaven. “They who are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with its concupiscences.” They shun worldly pleasures, centre their affections on heaven, and place their treasure in the commandments of the Most High. No wonder that we see thousands of both sexes in the Catholic Church renouncing the world and all its allurements to embrace a crucified and laborious life in some religious order or other, which they know to be a state much despised and calumniated by the sects! Rev. Joseph Prachensky, S.J., The Church of the Parables and The True Spouse of the Suffering Saviour

How the will is moved by grace to co-operate with grace is a mystery which we do not fully comprehend; but it is certain that if we go to heaven we shall then render thanks for our salvation to the mercy of God alone: "The mercies of the Lord will I sing for ever." [Ps. 88, 2]  We may therefore say with holy King David, and be fully persuaded of its truth, that human nature is weaker and more impotent than we can imagine, because in the nature which we have received of God we have only, through the fall of Adam, ignorance of mind, weakness of reason, corruption of will, disorder of the passions, sickness and misery of the body. We have nothing therefore in which to glory, but in all things we can find fit cause for humiliation. “Humble thyself in all things,” [Ecclus 3, 20] says the Holy Ghost, and He does not tell us to humble ourselves in some things only but in all things-----in omnibus.

Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo, Humility of Heart

Catholic Truth against Modernist ERRORS:

“Science… cannot be successfully studied without final reference to God's place in it.”

We deny that God is unknown by the light of human reason. He is known by means of the visible things He has made. We set against Modernism the trenchant words of St. Paul to the Gentiles, which apply to their Modernist followers, in the paths of agnosticism. 'What is known of God is manifested in them. For the invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made: His eternal power also and His Divinity, so that they are inexcusable. Because when they knew God they did not glorify Him as God . . . but became vain in their thoughts . . . Professing themselves wise (Philosophers), they became fools' (Rom. i. 20, 21, 22). God can never be excluded from the domain of science, so the Modernist dogma that science is atheistic is inadmissible. We can no more leave God out of the sciences than we can shut out the light of the sun from our earth. Every branch of science, directly or indirectly, manifests in its own way the Divine Mind that is its ultimate end. As the whole of Nature, so the science of Nature is like a stream flowing from God, the Ocean of all truth and of all knowledge. Science, then, is not atheistic, it cannot be successfully studied without final reference to God's place in it. 'Vain is the mind of man in which is not found the knowledge of God' (Wisdom).

Rev. Norbert Jones, C.R.L., Old Truths, Not Modernist Errors

It is not surprising that the Incarnate Word of God should have spent so much of His three short years of public life among men teaching and preaching, and confirming His doctrine by a profusion of miracles. For this is man’s great privilege, his supreme sharing in the government of the universe: that by his efforts, other men may have truth. Truth is crucial to men’s living; so crucial, that the Lord could say of Himself: “For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth.” To His disciples He promised: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Man perishes in the darkness for he was made for truth’s kingdom of light.

Fr. Walter Farrell, O.P., S.T.M., My Way of Life

In the interior life to which God introduces us, it is He also who regulates our speed, causing some to advance more rapidly, others more slowly. Our part is never to resist the hand that is urging us on, and to do nothing to retard our progress. Now this progress is retarded, or arrested altogether, in various ways and for various reasons, which it would be as well to explain. It is retarded by cowardice, faint-heartedness, infidelity, inconstancy, and be a great number of tiny faults into which we fall, either for want of vigilance over ourselves, or of attention to what God is telling us in the depths of our heart. Our progress is arrested when, like a careless traveler, we look to right and left, and stop to examine the things we see.

John Nicholas Grou, S. J., Spiritual Maxims

Two principles form the unalterable basis of the virtue of abandonment. Firstly, nothing is done, nothing happens, either in the material or in the moral world, which God has not foreseen from all eternity, and which He has not willed, or at least permitted. Secondly, God can will nothing, He can permit nothing, but in view of the end He proposed to Himself in creating the world, that is, in view of His glory and the glory of the Man-God, Jesus Christ, His only Son. To these two principles we shall add a third, which will complete the elucidation of this whole subject: As long as man lives upon earth, God desires to be glorified through the happiness of this privileged creature; and consequently in God’s designs the interest of man’s sanctification and happiness is inseparable from the interest of the divine glory.

Fr. F. X. Lasance, Peace Not As The World Gives

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“One must resist the Pope who openly destroys the Church.”

St. Cajetan

“When a foulness invades the whole Church, we must return to the Church of the past.”

St. Vincent of Lerins

“Just as it is licit to resist a Pontiff who attacks the body, so it is licit to resist him who attacks souls, or who disturbs the civil order, or, above all, him who tries to destroy the Church. It is licit to resist him by not doing what he orders and by impeding the execution of his will.”

St. Robert Bellarmine

“They (the keys of authority given Jesus Christ to St. Peter) will never cease to be durable, they will last forever and they will never break.”

God the Father to St. Catherine of Siena

“We have had enough of exhortations to be silent! Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues. I see that the world is rotten because of silence.”

St. Catherine of Siena

“The devil is always discovering something novel against the truth.”

Pope Leo the Great

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Leo the Homosexual following in the way of Francis the Homosexual.

Pictured below is Leo and Francis both greeting homosexual "married" couples for public photo-ops. The other pictures are Francis and Leo both slumming around with the pervert James Martin.

The Vatican is in the hands of the Homosexual Lobby. We must pray to God to purge His Church of this gross perversion.

Preaching to the DEAF!

You gather here today, present-day apostles, as the Church and, therefore, the world stand perched on the edge of a cliff. And yet you who are entrusted with the keeping of souls choose to speak not a word of the spiritual danger which abounds. Today we stand on the cusp of all that has been prophesied about the Church and the abominations which would come forth in these times, a time when all of hell attacks the Church of Jesus Christ, and a time when the fallen angels of hell no longer seek entry into her sacred halls but instead stand inside, peeking out of her windows and unlocking doors to welcome in more diabolical destruction.

Do you not know that Our Lord will send forth His avenging angels to heap coals of fire upon the heads of those who were called to be His apostles and who have not guarded what He has given unto them?

And yet almost all of you, my brothers, stood by silently watching as the Synod on Synodality took place, an abomination constructed not to guard the Deposit of Faith, but to dismantle it, and yet few were the cries heard from you – men who should be willing to die for Christ and His Church.

The Synod’s final document has been released, yet with the sleight of hand which is so characteristic of the Francis-controlled Vatican. By drawing attention to the issues which worried many, they have slipped in what was always their real goal without anyone even noticing. What they were after in the first place was the dismantling of Christ’s Church by replacing the structure of the Church as Our Lord instituted it with a diabolically-inspired new structure of “synodality” which in actuality is a new church that is in no way Catholic.

Bishop Joseph Strickland, former bishop of Tyler, TX who was removed from his office by Pope Francis the Diabolical for preaching Catholic truth, addressing the U.S. bishops gathered at their annual meeting

“Fly to the water, for this alone can extinguish the fire. He who will not come to the water still carries around with him the spirit of insanity for the sake of which he will not come to the living water for his own salvation.” (Homilies 11:26)

St. Hippolytus of Rome

“I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.”

Captain Edward John Smith of the Titanic

Remember in your charity:

Remember the welfare of our expectant mother: Cecilia Zepeda, Victoria Dimmel, Vanessa LoStrocco, and Elizabeth Allen,

Monica Bandlow petitions our prayers for her friend, Patricia Messineo, who has not long to live,

Rev. Nicholas DeProspero, a faithful Ruthenian Eastern rite Catholic priest recently hospitalized, for his welfare,

Fred Holder, for his spiritual and physical welfare,

Thomas Soul, a nursing home patient who has suffered a stroke,

Donna Kallal, a dear friend of the Schiltz family who is dying,

Philip Thees requests our prayers for the heath of Mary Glatz and Lenny and Agnus Messineo,

For the welfare of Aaron, a York resident in need of conversion,

For the spiritual welfare of Margaret Connelly is the petition of Camilla Meiser,

Linda Boyd, for her health,

Pete Schiffbauer, a cousin of Monic Bandlow who is gravely ill,

Joan R. Barr, the widow of F. Donald Barr who died March 7, they were married 70 years

Cole Schneider, prayers for his welfare are requested by Camilla Meiser,

JoAnn Niekrewicz, for her recovery from a recent fall and shoulder injury,

The Drews ask prayers for the spiritual and physical welfare of Robert Carballo,

Conversion of Jack Gentry, the nephew of Camilla Meiser,

For Sr. Maria Junipera, who took her final vows as a nun with the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Richmond, New Hampshire April 8,

Stephen Bryan, the brother of a devout Catholic religious, for his spiritual welfare,

Marie Kolinsky, for her health and spiritual welfare is the petition of her family,

Gene Peters requests our prayers for the conversion of Shirley Young and Carl Loy who are dying, and the conversion of Dawn Keithley,

Rev. Leo Carley, an eighty-nine year old priest faithful to Catholic tradition, who is seriously ill,

For the recovery of Hayden Yanchek, the grandson of Francis Yanchek, injured in a farming accident,

Maureen Nies, for the recovery of her health is the petition of Camilla Meiser,

Daniel Vargs, for his health is the petition of his parents,

Art Noel, for the restoration of his health,

For the welfare of Peg Berry and her husband, Bill,

Marianne Connelly asks prayers for Chris Foley, who is gravely ill, and the welfare of his wife, Mary Beth,

The spiritual welfare of the Sal & Maria Messineo family is the petition of the Drew’s,

Liz Agosta, who is seriously ill, for her spiritual and temporal welfare,

Warren Hoffman, a long time member of our Mission who is in failing health,

Patrick Boyle, for the recovery of his health and his spiritual welfare,

For the spiritual welfare of the Drew children,

Monica Bandlow request our prayers for the welfare of Ray who is recovering from a MVA, and his daughter, Sonya, and Tera Jean Kopczynski, who is in failing health, and for a good death for Mr. Howald, Kathy Simons, Regina Quinn, James Mulgrew, Ruth Beaucheane, John Kopczynski, Roger & Mandy Owen

The health and spiritual welfare of Nate Schaeffer is the petition of Gene Peters,

Peg Berry requests our prayers for her brother, William Habekost,

For the recently widowed, Maike Hickson, and her children,

For the spiritual welfare of the Carmelite nuns in Fairfield, PA,

Geralyn Zagorski, recovery of her health and spiritual welfare and the conversion of Randal Pace is the petition of Philip Thees,

For the grandson of Joe & Liz Agusta,

Fr. Waters requests our prayers for the health and spiritual welfare of Elvira Donaghy,

For the health and conversion of Stephen Henderson,

Fr. Paul DaDamio requests our prayers for the welfare of Rob Ward, and his sister, Debra Wagaman,

For the health and spiritual welfare of Peggy Cummings, the neice of Camila Meiser, who is gravely ill,

Kaitlyn McDonald, for the recovery of her health and spiritual welfare,

Roco Sbardella, for his health and spiritual welfare,

The Vargas’ request our prayers for the spiritual welfare of their son, Nicholas,

Family, for the welfare of Lazarus Handley, his mother, Julia, and his brother, Raphael, with Down’s Syndrome,

Fr. Waters requests prayers for the spiritual and physical welfare of Frank McKee,

Nancy Bennett, for the recovery of her health,

For the spiritual welfare of Mark Roberts, a Catholic faithful to tradition,

Joe Sentmanet request prayers for Scott Nettles (who is in need of conversion), who is gravely ill,

Michael Brigg requests our prayers for the health of John Romeo,

The health and welfare of Gene Peters and his sons,

Conversion of Anton Schwartzmueller, is the paryer request of his children,

Christine Kozin, for her health and spiritual welfare,

Teresa Gonyea, for her conversion and health, is the petition of her grandmother, Patricia McLaughlin,

For the health of Sonya Kolinsky,

Jackie Dougherty asks our prayers for her brother, John Lee, who is gravely ill,

For the health and spiritual welfare, Meg Bradley, the granddaughter of Rose Bradley,

Timothy & Crisara, a couple from Maryland have requested our prayers for their spiritual welfare,

Celine Pilegaard, the seven year old daughter of Cynthia Pilegaard, for her recovery from burn injuries,

Rafaela de Saravia, for her health and welfare,

Mary Mufide, requests our prayers for her family,

Abbe Damien Dutertre, traditional Catholic priest arrested by Montreal police while offering Mass,

Francis (Frank) X. McLaughlin, for the recovery of his health,

Nicholas Pell, for his health and spiritual welfare is the petition of Camilla Meizer,

Mary Kaye Petr, her health and welfare is petitioned by Camilla Meizer,

The welfare of Excellency Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò,

The welfare of Rev. Fr. Martin Skierka, who produces the traditional Ordo in the U.S.,

For the health and welfare of Katie Wess, John Gentry, Vincent Bands, Todd Chairs, Susan Healy and James O’Gentry is the petition of Camilia,

Marieann Reuter, recovery of her health, Kathy Kepner, for her health, Shane Cox, for his health, requests of Philip Thees,

The Joseph Cox Family, their spiritual welfare,

Luis Rafael Zelaya, the brother of Claudia Drew, spiritual welfare,

For the health of Kim Cochran, the daughter-in-law of Joseph and Brenda Cochran, the wife of their son Joshua,

Louie Verrecchio, Catholic apologist, who has a health problem,

John Minidis, Jr. family, for help in their spiritual trial,

Joann DeMarco, for her health and spiritual welfare,

Regina (Manidis) Miller, her spiritual welfare and health,

Melissa Elena Levitt, her conversion, and welfare of her children,

For the grace of a holy death, Nancy Marie Claycomb,

Conversion of Annette Murowski, and her son Jimmy,

Brent Keith from Indiana has petitioned our prayers for the Keith Family,

The welfare of the Schmedes Family, and the Mike and Mariana Donohue Family,

The spiritual welfare Robert Holmes Family,

For the spiritual and temporal welfare of Irwin Kwiat,

Fr. Waters asks our prayers for Elvira Donaghy,

Kimberly Ann, the daughter of John and Joann DeMarco, for her health and spiritual welfare,

Mufide Rende, a traditional Catholic from India has asked our prayers for her welfare and he family members, living and deceased,

Mary Glatz, her health and the welfare of her family,

Barbara Harmon, who is ill, and still cares for her ailing parents,

Jason Green, a father of ten children, recovery of his health,

For the health and welfare of Sorace family,

Fr. Waters asks our prayers for the health and spiritual welfare of Brian Abramowitz,

Thomas Schiltz family, in grateful appreciation for their contribution to the beauty of our chapel,

Welfare of Bishop Richard Williamson, for strength and courage in the greater battles to come,

John Rhoad, for his health and spiritual welfare,

Kathy Boyle, requests our prayers for her welfare,

Joyce Laughman and Robert Twist, for their conversions,

Michael J. Brigg & his family, who have helped with the needs of the Mission,

Nancy Deegan, her welfare and conversion to the Catholic Church,

Francis Paul Diaz, who was baptized at Ss. Peter & Paul, asks our prayers for his spiritual welfare,

The conversion of Rene McFarland, Lori Kerr, Cary Shipman and family, David Bash, Crystal and family, Larry Reinhart, Costanzo Family, Kathy Scullen, Marilyn Bryant, Vicki Trahern and Time Roe are the petitions of Gene Peters,

For the conversion of Ben & Tina Boettcher family, Karin Fraessdorf, Eckhard Ebert, and Fahnauer family,

Fr. Waters requests our prayers for Br. Rene, SSPX who has been ill, and for Fr. Thomas Blute,

For the health and conversion of Kathryn Lederhos, the aunt of David Drew,

For the welfare of Fr. Paul DaDamio and Fr. William T. Welsh,

The Drew’s ask our prayers for the welfare of Joe & Tracey Sentmanat family, Keith & Robert Drew, Christy Koziol & her children, Fred Nesbit and Michael Nesbit families, and Gene Peters Family, the John Manidis Family, the Sal Messinio Family, Michael Proctor Family,

Ryan Boyle grandmother, Jane Boyle, who is failing health,

Mel Gibson and his family, please remember in our prayers,

Rev. Timothy A. Hopkins requested our prayers for the welfare of his Fr Jean-Luc Lafitte,

Ebert’s request our prayers for the Andreas & Jenna Ortner Family,

Joyce Paglia has asked prayers for George Richard Moore Sr. & his children, and her brother, George Panell,

Philip Thees asks our prayers for his family, for McLaughlin Family, the welfare of Dan & Polly Weand, the conversion of Sophia Herman, Tony Rosky, the welfare Nancy Erdeck, the wife of the late Deacon Erdeck, John Calasanctis, Tony Rosky, James Parvenski, Kathleen Gorry, health of mind and body of Cathy Farrar.

Pray for the Repose of the Souls:

Thomas Soul, died November 8 after receiving the last rites of the Church,

Etta Van Der Werken, a dear friend of Barbara Taffe, died 10-21-2025,

Gary Potter, Catholic writer and apologist and great long time defender of Catholic doctrine and tradition, died 9-9-2025,

Elizabeth Gorska, who died September 9, a relative of Lidia Gjec,

Camilia Meiser request our prayers for the souls of Peggy Cummings and Elizabeth Genter,

Thomas A. Nelson, founder of TAN Books and Publishers, died August 16,

Juan D. Gonzalez, our former sacristan, choir director, and dear friend, died July 23,

Sal Messineo, a faithful traditional Catholic, died Augsut 14,

Patricia Askew, a friend of Camilla Meiser, died July 3,

Joseph Kerney, a young man whose family provided the statues of the Sacred Heart, Mary and Joseph in our sanctuary, died May 30,

Louis Richard Ajlouny, the father of Randa Sharpe, died May 15,

Rene Guidicessi, died April 25, an old friend of the Drews,

F. Donald Barr, died March 7 at 94 years of age, co-founder of Robert Francis Religious Goods, in Philadelphia,

Dr. David Allen White, a well known defender of the Catholic faith, died February 11,

Bishop Richard Williamson, a renowned defender of the Catholic faith and most charitable gentleman, died January 29,

Rodolfo Alberto Lacayo, a cousin of Claudia Drew, died January 4,

Genieve Wallace, died Christmas day,

Ruth Marion Beaucheane, died December 8, is the petition of Monica Bandlow,

Ana Maria Salcedo, the sister of Mario Fiol, died November 26,

Fr. Johin Cardaro, a traditional Catholic priest who was found dead in his home November 2,

Robert Carballo asks that we remember his parents, Roberto & Aida Carballo, and his friend, David Duclos, who died April 15,

Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais who may have been responsible for preventing the SSPX's public reconciliation with Rome in 2012, died October 8,

Lorna Edwards, our dear friend and loyal supporter of this Mission, died August 10,

Lois Petti, died July 28 two hours after receiving the Last Sacraments from Fr. Waters,

Wolfgang Smith, a renowned Catholic scholar, mathematician, scientist, philosopher, who helped the Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation, died July 19,

Willaim Glatz, a good and faithful Catholic, died July 17,

Alicio Gonzalez, a Catholic who asked for the sacrament of Extreme Unction, unfortunately did not receive, died July 9,

John Zavodny, a faithful Catholic who died wearing the scapular of Mt Carmel on the first Saturday of May, requested by Phyllis Virgil,

Catherine Martel, a lapsed Catholic, received the last sacraments in a good disposition from Fr. Waters on March 25 and died on April 4,

Father Basilio Méramo, a faithful priest, died March 5, removed from the SSPX for opposing their accommodation with Rome,

Julia McDonald, the mother of Kyle McDonald, died March 1,

Agnus Melnick, died February 28, a long time faithful Catholic and mother of eight children, including a traditional priest,

Kathryn (Drew) Lederhos, of Wellesley, MA, died February 3, 2024,

Chris Foley, the brother of Mary Lou Loftus, died February 1,

Louis Zelaya, the brother of Claudia Drew, died January 30,

Fr. James Louis Albert Campbell, a faithful priest who died December 18 at 91 years of age, and her mother and father, Teresa and Thomas Maher,

Charles Harmon, the father of Tracey Sentmanet, died October 1, after receiving the rites of the Church,

Fr. Waters requests prayers for Elvira Donaghy, his friend and former secretary a for Bishop Gerado Zendejas, died September 9,

Robert Hickson, a faithful Catholic apologist who died Septembber 2,

Monica Bandlow requests prayers for her parents, Thomas & Teresa Maher, her husband, William Bandlow, her brother-in-law, Richard Bandlow, her sister, Mary Maher, Fr. Christopher Darby, SSPX, who died March 17, Robert Byrne, Michelle Donofrio McDowell, her cousin, Patricia Fabyanic, the Prefect of Our Lady’s Sodality, March 8, for John Pfeiffer who died August 20, Theresa Hanley, died July 23, Fr. Juan-Carlos Iscara, SSPX, who died December 20, John Kinney, died December 21, Willaim Price, Jr., and Robert Arch Ward, died January 10, and Myra, killed in a MVA June 6,

John Sharpe, Sr., died July 20,

Maria Paulette Salazar, died June 6,

Dale Kinsey requests prayers for his wife, Katherine Kinsey, died May 17,

Richard Giles, who died April 29, the father of Traci Sentmanat who converted to the Catholic faith last All Saints' Day,

Joseph Sparks, a devout and faithful Catholic to tradition died February 25,

Joyce Paglia, died January 21, and Anthony Paglia, died January 28, who were responsible for the beautiful statuary in our chapel,

Joe Sentmanet request prayers for Richard Giles and Claude Harmon who converted to the Catholic faith shortly before their deaths,

Rodolfo Zelaya, the brother of Claudia Drew, died January 9,

Elizabeth Agosta petitions our prayers for Joseph Napolitano, her brother, who died January 2,

Michael Dulisse, died on December 26,

Michael Proctor, a close friend of the Drews, died November 9,

Richard Anthony Giles, the father-in-law of Joe Sentmanat converted to the Catholic faith on All Saints Day, died November 5,

Robert Kolinsky, the husband of Sonja, died September 18,

Gabriel Schiltz, the daughter of Thomas & Gay Schiltz, died August 21,

Mary Dimmel, the mother –in-law of Victoria Drew Dimmel, died July 18,

Michael Nesbit, the brother-in-law and dear friend of the Drew's, died July 14,

Thomas Thees, the brother of Philip, died June 19,

Carmen Ragonese, died June 22,

Juanita Mohler, a friend of Camella Meiser, died June 14,

Kathleen Elias, died February 14,

Hernan Ortiz, the brother of Fr. Juan Carlos Ortiz, died February 3,

Mary Ann Boyle, the mother of a second order Dominican nun, a first order Dominican priest, and a SSPX priest, died January 24,

John DeMarco, who attended this Mission in the past, died January23,

Charles O’Brien, the father of Marlene Cox, died December 30,

Mufide Rende requests our prayers for the repose of the souls of her parents, Mehmet & Nedime,

Kathleen Donelly, died December 29 at 91 years of age, ran the CorMariae website,

Matthew O'Hare, most faithful Catholic, died at age 40 on November 30,

Rev. Patrick J. Perez, a Catholic priest faithful to tradition, pastor Our Lady Help of Christians, Garden Grove, CA, November 19,

Elizabeth Benedek, died December 14, requested by her niece, Agnes Vollkommer,

Dolores Smith and Richard Costello, faithful Catholics, died November,

Frank D’Agustino, a friend of Philp Thees, died November 8,

Fr. Dominique Bourmaud, of the SSPX, Prior of St. Vincent in Kansas City, died September 4,

Pablo Daniel Silva, the brother of Elizabeth Vargas, died August 18,

Rose Bradley, a member of Ss. Peter & Paul, died July 14,

Patricia Ellias, died June 1, recently returned to the Church died with the sacraments and wearing the brown scapular,

Joan Devlin, the sister-in-law of Rose Bradley, died May 18,

William Muligan, died April 29, two days after receiving the last sacraments,

Robert Petti, died March 19, the day after receiving the last sacraments,

Mark McDonald, the father of Kyle, who died December 26,

Perla Otero, died December 2020, Leyla Otero, January 2021, cousins of Claudia Drew,

Mehmet Rende, died December 12, who was the father of Mary Mufide,

Joseph Gravish, died November 26, 100 year old WWII veteran and daily communicant,

Jerome McAdams, the father of, died November 30,

Rev. James O’Hara, died November 8, requested by Alex Estrada,

Elizabeth Batko, the sacristan at St. John the Baptist in Pottstown for over 40 years, died on First Saturday November 7 wearing the brown scapular,

William Cox, the father of Joseph Cox, who died September 3,

James Larson, Catholic apologists, author of War Against Being publication, died July 6, 2020,

Hutton Gibson, died May 12,

Sr. Regina Cordis, Immaculate Heart of Mary religious for sixty-five years, died May 12,

Leslie Joan Matatics, devoted Catholic wife and mother of nine children, died March 24,

Victoria Zelaya, the sister-in-law of Claudia Drew, died March 20,

Ricardo DeSilva, died November 16, our prayers requested by his brother, Henry DeSilva,

Rev. Fr. Joseph F. Collins, died April 27, 2019 to whom we are indebted for establishing our traditional pre-Bugnini Holy Week in all its beauty,

Roland H. Allard, a friend of the Drew’s, died September 28,

Stephen Cagorski and John Bogda, who both died wearing the brown scapular,

Cecilia LeBow, a most faithful Catholic,

Rose Cuono, died Oct 23,

Patrick Rowen, died March 25, and his brother, Daniel Rowen, died May 15,

Sandra Peters, the wife of Gene Peters, who died June 10 receiving the sacraments and wearing our Lady’s scapular,

Rev. Francis Slupski, a priest who kept the Catholic faith and its immemorial traditions, died May 14,

Martha Mochan, the sister of Philip Thees, died April 8,

George Kirsch, our good friend and supporter of this Mission, died February 15,

For Fr. Paul J. Theisz, died October 17, is the petition of Fr. Waters,

Fr. Mecurio Fregapane, died Jan 12, was not a traditional priest but always charitable,

Fr. Casimir Peterson, a priest who often offered the Mass in our chapel and provided us with sound advice, died December 4,

Fr. Constantine Bellasarius, a faithful and always charitable Eastern Rite Catholic Melkite priest, who left the Roman rite, died November 27,

Christian Villegas, a motor vehicle accident, his brother, Michael, requests our prayers,

John Vennari, the former editor of Catholic Family News, and for his family’s welfare, April 4,

Mary Butler, the aunt of Fr. Samuel Waters, died October 17,

Joseph DeMarco, the nephew of John DeMarco, died October 3,

John Fergale, died September 25 after receiving the traditional sacramental rites of the Church wearing the brown scapular,

John Gabor, the brother of Donna Marbach, died September 9,

Fr. Eugene Dougherty, a faithful priest, fittingly died on the Nativity of the BVM after receiving the traditional Catholic sacraments,

Phyllis Schlafly, died September 5,

Helen Mackewicz, died August 14,

Mark A. Wonderlin, who died August 2,

Fr. Carl Cebollero, a faithful priest to tradition who was a friend of Fr. Waters and Fr. DeMaio,

Jessica Cortes, a young mother of ten who died June 12,

Frances Toriello, a life-long Catholic faithful to tradition, died June3, the feast of the Sacred Heart, and her husband Dan, died in 1985,

John McLaughlin, a friend of the Drew’s, died May 22,

Angela Montesano, who died April 30, and her husband, Salvatore, who died in July 3, 2013,

Charles Schultz, died April 5, left behind nine children and many grandchildren, all traditional Catholics,

Esperanza Lopez de Callejas, the aunt of Claudia Drew, died March 15,

Fr. Edgardo Suelo, a faithful priest defending our traditions who was working with Fr. Francois Chazal in the Philippines, died February 19,

Conde McGinley, a long time laborer for the traditional faith, died February 12, at 96 years,

The Drew family requests your prayers for Ida Fernandez and Rita Kelley, parishioners at St. Jude,

Fr. Stephen Somerville, a traditional priest who repented from his work with the Novus Ordo English translation, died December 12,

Fr. Arturo DeMaio, a priest that helped this Mission with the sacraments and his invaluable advice, died December 2,

J. Paul Carswell, died October 15, 2015,

Solange Hertz, a great defender of our Catholic faith, died October 3, the First Saturday of the month,

Paula P. Haigh, died October 22, a great defender of our Catholic faith in philosophy and natural science,

Gabriella Whalin, the mother of Gabriella Schiltz, who died August 25,

Mary Catherine Sick, 14 year old from a large traditional Catholic family, died August 25,

Fr. Paul Trinchard, a traditional Catholic priest, died August 25,

Stephen J. Melnick, Jr., died on August 21, a long-time faithful traditional Catholic husband and father, from Philadelphia,

Patricia Estrada, died July 29, her son Alex petitions our prayers for her soul,

Fr. Nicholas Gruner, a devoted priest & faithful defender of Blessed Virgin Mary and her Fatima message, died April 29,

Sarah E. Shindle, the grandmother of Richard Shindle, died April 26,

Madeline Vennari, the mother of John Vennari, died December 19,

Salvador Baca Callejas, the uncle of Claudia Drew, died December 13,

Robert Gomez, who died in a motor vehicle accident November 29,

Catherine Dunn, died September 15,

Anthony Fraser, the son of Hamish Fraser, died August 28,

Jeannette Rhoad, the grandmother of Devin Rhoad, who died August 24,

John Thees, the uncle of Philip Thees, died August 9,

Sarah Harkins, 32 year-old mother of four children, died July 28,

Msgr. Donald Adams, who offered the Indult Mass, died April 1996,

Anita Lopez, the aunt of Claudia Drew,

Fr. Kenneth Walker, a young traditional priest of the FSSP who was murdered in Phoenix June 11,

Fr. Waters petitions our prayers for Gilberte Violette, the mother of Fr. Violette, who died May 6,

Pete Hays petitions our prayers for his brothers, Michael, died May 9, and James, died October 20, his sister, Rebecca, died March17, and his mother, Lorraine Hayes who died May 4,

Philip Marbach, the father of Paul Marbach who was the coordinator at St. Jude in Philadelphia, died April 21,

Richard Slaughtery, the elderly sacristan for the SSPX chapel in Kansas City, died April 13,

Bernedette Marie Evans nee Toriello, the daughter of Daniel Toriello , died March 31, a faithful Catholic who suffered many years with MS,

Natalie Cagorski, died march 23,

Anita Lopez de Lacayo, the aunt of Claudia Drew, who died March 21,

Mario Palmaro, Catholic lawyer, bioethicist and professor, apologist, died March 9, welfare of his widow and children,

Daniel Boyle, the uncle of Ryan Boyle, died March 4,

Jeanne DeRuyscher, who died on January 25,

Arthur Harmon, died January 18,

Fr. Waters petitions our prayers for the soul of Jeanne DeRuyscher, who died January 17,

Joseph Proctor, died January 10,

Susan Scott, a devote traditional Catholic who made the vestments for our Infant of Prague statue, died January 8,

Brother Leonard Mary, M.I.C.M., (Fred Farrell), an early supporter and friend of Fr. Leonard Feeney, died November 23,

John Fergale, requests our prayers for his sister Connie, who died December 19,

Jim Capaldi, died December 15,

Brinton Creager, the son of Elizabeth Carpenter, died December 10,

Christopher Lussos, age 27, the father of one child with an expecting wife, died November 15,

Jarett Ebeyer, 16 year old who died in his sleep, November 17, at the request of the Kolinsky’s,

Catherine Nienaber, the mother of nine children, the youngest three years of age, killed in MVA after Mass, 10-29,

Nancy Aldera, the sister of Frances Toriello, died October 11, 2013 at 105 years of age,

Mary Rita Schiltz, the mother of Thomas Schiltz, who died August 27,

William H. (Teddy) Kennedy, Catholic author of Lucifer’s Lodge, died August 14, age 49, cause of death unknown,

Alfred Mercier, the father of David Mercier, who died August 12,

The Robert Kolinsky asks our prayers for his friend, George Curilla, who died August 23,

John Cuono, who had attended Mass at our Mission in the past, died August 11,

Raymond Peterson, died July 28, and Paul Peterson, died February 19, the brothers of Fr. Casimir Peterson,

Margaret Brillhart, who died July 20,

Msgr. Joseph J. McDonnell, a priest from the diocese of Des Moines, who died June 8,

Patrick Henry Omlor, who wrote Questioning The Validity of the Masses using the New, All English Canon, and for a series of newsletters which were published as The Robber Church, died May 2, the feast of St Athanasius,

Bishop Joseph McFadden, died unexpectedly May 2,

Timothy Foley, the brother-in-law of Michelle Marbach Folley, who died in April,

William Sanders, the uncle of Don Rhoad, who died April 2,

Gene Peters ask our prayers for the repose of the soul of Mark Polaschek, who died March 22,

Eduardo Gomez Lopez, the uncle of Claudia Drew, February 28,

Cecelia Thees, died February 24,

Elizabeth Marie Gerads, a nineteen year old, the oldest of twelve children, who died February 6,

Michael Schwartz, the co-author with Fr. Enrique Rueda of “Gays, Aids, and You,” died February 3,

Stanley W. Moore, passed away in December 16, and Gerard (Jerry) R. Pitman, who died January 19, who attended this Mission in the past,

Louis Fragale, who died December 25,

Fr. Luigi Villa, Th.D. author of Vatican II About Face! detailing the heresies of Vatican II, died November 18 at the age of 95,

Rev. Michael Jarecki, a faithful traditional Catholic priest who died October 22,

Jennie Salaneck, died September 19 at 95 years of age, a devout and faithful Catholic all her life,

Dorothy Sabo, who died September 26,

Cynthia (Cindy) Montesano Reinhert, the mother of nine children, four who are still at home, died August 19,

Stanley Spahalski, who died October 20, and his wife, Regina Spahalski, who died June 24, and for the soul of Francis Lester, her son,

Julia Atkinson, who died April 30,

Antonio P. Garcia, who died January 6, 2012 and the welfare of his teenage children, Andriana and Quentin,

Helen Crane, the aunt of David Drew who died February 27,

Fr. Timothy A. Hopkins, of the National Shrine of St. Philomena, in Miami, November 2,

Frank Smith, who died February 7, and the welfare of his wife, Delores,

Eduardo Cepeda, who died January 26,

Larry Young, the 47 year old father of twelve who died December 10 and the welfare of his wife Katherine and their family,

Sister Mary Bernadette, M.I.C.M., a founding member of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, died December 16,

Joeseph Elias, who died on September 28,

William, the brother of Fr. Waters, who died September 7,

Donald Tonelli, died August 1,

Rev. Fr. Gregory Hesse, of Austria, a great defender of Catholic Truth, died January 25, 2006,

Emma Colasanti, who died May 29,

Mary Dullesse, who died April 12, a Catholic convert who died wearing our Lady’s scapular,

Ruth Jantsch, the grandmother of Andre Ebert, who died April 7, Derrick and Denise Palengat, his godparents,

Philip D. Barr, died March 5, and the welfare of his family,

Judith Irene Kenealy, the mother of Joyce Paglia, who died February 23, and her son, George Richard Moore, who died May 14,

For Joe Sobran who died September 30,

Fr. Hector Bolduc, a great and faithful priest, died, September 10, 2012,

James & Jean Rowan and their sons, Patrick & Daniel,

John Vennari asks our prayers for Dr. Raphael Waters who died August 26,

Stanley Bodalsky, the father of Mary Ann Boyle who died June 25,

Mary Isabel Kilfoyle Humphreys, a former York resident and friend of the Drew’s, who died June 6,

Rev. John Campion, who offered the traditional Mass for us every first Friday until forbidden to do so by Bishop Dattilo, died May 1,

Joseph Montagne, who died May 5,

For Margaret Vagedes, the aunt of Charles Zepeda, who died January 6,

Fr. Michael Shear, a Byzantine rite Catholic priest, died August 17, 2006,

Fr. James Francis Wathen, died November 7, 2006, author of The Great Sacrilege and Who Shall Ascend?, a great defender of dogma and liturgical purity,

Fr. Enrique Rueda, who died December 14, 2009, to whom our Mission is indebted,

Fr. Peterson asks to remember, Leonard Edward Peterson, his cousin, Wanda, Angelica Franquelli, and the six priests ordained with him.

Philip Thees petitions our prayers for Beverly Romanick, Deacon Michael Erdeck, Henry J. Phillips, Grace Prestano, Connie DiMaggio, Elizabeth Thorhas, Elizabeth Thees, Theresa Feraker, Hellen Pestrock, and James & Rose Gomata, and Kathleen Heinbach,

Fr. Didier Bonneterre, the author of The Liturgical Movement, and Fr. John Peek, both were traditional priests,

Brother Francis, MICM, the superior of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Richmond, NH, who died September 5,

Rodolfo Zelaya Montealegre, the father of Claudia Drew, who died May 24,

Rev. Francis Clifford, a devout and humble traditional priest, who died on March 7,

Benjamin Sorace, the uncle of Sonja Kolinsky.

My heart is penetrated with grief when I think of the almost infinite number of souls who are damned for lack of knowing the true God and the Christian religion.  The greatest misfortune, O my God, is not to know Thee, and the greatest of punishments not to love Thee ... The knowledge of Jesus Christ is the science of Christians and the science of salvation; it surpasses, says Saint Paul, all human sciences in value and perfection ...Because of its necessity; for no one can be saved without the knowledge of Jesus Christ, while a person who knows absolutely nothing of any other science will be saved as long as he is enlightened by the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

St. Louis Marie de Montfort

It follows that ignorance has the nature of mortal sin on account of either a preceding negligence, or the consequent result; and, for this reason, ignorance is reckoned one of the general causes of sin. All sin proceeds from ignorance.

St. Thomas Aquinas

British Public Indoctrination – England’s “seeds of future destiny” are now evident – in one generation from the world’s greatest power to a rotten little lonely island buried under usury!

The poor in Townshend’s day (Sir Charles Townshend, 2^nd Viscount Townshend, British statesman, leader of Whig faction, 1714) were illiterate. Therefore, so long as they were not educated at all, there was no necessity to educate them wrong. As a result there remained among them a strange and clouded memory that there had been good times in the past before the dissolution of the monasteries. This memory was quite unconnected with any present Catholic sympathies: it came from the fact that it was the coining of the monastic plate (i.e.: the sacred vessels melted down and coined) that started the rise in prices.

“I’ll tell thee what, good fellow,

Before the friars went hence

A bushel of the best wheat

Was sold for fourteen pence,

And forty eggs a penny

That were both good and new,”

sings Ignorance in the Percy (Protestant, Rev. Thomas Percy) Ballad of Plain Truth (the Protestant) and Blind Ignorance (the Catholic). And, though ‘Truth’ is made to win the theological debate, he specifically refuses even to try to refute Ignorance’s economic history. The Rev. C. L. Marson (Protestant, d. 1914) in his book on Glastonbury (King Arthur was buried at Glastonbury Abbey) tells how the Somerset labourers in the last century (18^th) still spoke of the Glastonbury monks as a “wonderful good class of people served terrible bad”. It has taken but two generations of compulsory education and text-book history to make the poor as ignorant as the rich. […..]

Meanwhile, Dr. (Matthew) Arnold, the founder of the public-school system, when appointed Regius Professor of History at Oxford, was telling his biographer, Stanley, that he “could not bear to plunge (himself) into the very depths of that noisome cavern”, the Middle Ages, “and to have to toil through centuries of dirt and darkness” —centuries in which, as Thorold Rogers was to show, the poor were materially some six times better off than they were in Dr. Arnold’s England. In preference to such a painful theme the doctor would prefer to dwell on “the deep calm of the first seventy years of the eighteenth century . . as containing within itself the seeds of our future destiny.”

Christopher Hollis, The Two Nations, A Financial Study of English History, 1935

Latae sententiae crimes in the external forum require a determination of guilt!

“A sentence declaratory of the offence is always necessary in the forum externum, since in this tribunal no one is presumed to be excommunicated unless convicted of a crime that entail such a penalty.”

Pope Benedict XIV, De syndod, X, I, 5

COMMENT: Recently a group of young men and women missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) were doing their required missionary work in central city York. A friendly theological discussion took place on the steps of our Mission chapel. The friendly exchanged ended and the climate cooled when the question about the exact number of Joseph Smith's and Brigham Young's wives was brought up. Mormons believe that Jesus Christ founded one Church. They believe that that Church became corrupted and God abandoned it. God then, centuries later, reconstituted His Church when the angel Moroni lead the illiterate Joseph Smith to a hidden book and provided him with mystical spectacles permitting him to read it. When you ask a Mormon how is it that Jesus Christ promised to be with His Church until the end of time and taught that marriage is between one man and one woman until death, why is it that they believe Joseph Smith or Brigham Young and not believe Jesus Christ? They answer by walking away. Jesus Christ uses the metaphor of marriage to describe His relationship with His Church and with each of the faithful individually. Every man-made heretical and schismatic sect eventually repudiates marriage because they cannot abide the metaphor. Luther permitted bigamy. The Orthodox permit divorce and remarriage three times. Joseph Smith had "up to forty wives" and Brigham Young had "fifty-six wives, twenty-one had never been married before; seventeen were widows; six were divorced; six had living husbands; and the marital status of six others is unknown. Nine of his wives had previously been plural wives of Joseph Smith, and Young was sealed to them as a proxy for Smith" (WIKI). The first clue to the Mormons that they were being lead into a spiritual desert was polygamy but some like the desert. Mormons claim that Brigham Young saw the light and abandoned the practice for the Latter Day Saints but this occurred only after the U.S. government told they to give it up or get out. Although Mormons are no longer polygamists, they permit divorce and "temple" remarriage which is just serial polygamy. These "missionaries" now know that Jesus Christ did not abandon His Church and will not do so no matter how corrupt churchmen become. The Catholic Church alone offers the possibility of salvation.

It’s Official: Mormon Founder Had Up to 40 Wives...

Mormon leaders have acknowledged for the first time that the church’s founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, portrayed in church materials as a loyal partner to his loving spouse Emma, took as many as 40 wives, some already married and one only 14 years old.... The biggest bombshell for some in the essays is that Smith married women who were already married, some to men who were Smith’s friends and followers.

Efforts must therefore be made to bring about an organization of society in which the life of the people will not be subordinate to and at the mercy of Stock Exchange operations and financial coups by the few. Already, in the great Encyclical Rerum Novarum, May 15th, 1891, Pope Leo XIII had alluded to the havoc wrought by usury. “For the ancient working-men's guilds were abolished in the last century and no other organization took their place. Public institutions and the very laws have set aside the ancient religion. Hence, by degrees, it has come to pass that workingmen have been surrendered, all isolated and helpless, to the hard-heartedness of employers and the greed of unchecked competition. The mischief has been increased by rapacious usury, which, although more than once condemned by the Church, is nevertheless, under a different guise, but with the like injustice still practiced by covetous and grasping men. To this must be added … the concentration of so many branches of trade in the hands of a few individuals, so that a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself.”

Rev. Denis Fahey, The Kingship of Christ According to the Principles of St. Thomas

Blessed Margaret Mary received from our Divine Lord another communication relative to Charity. He showed her the soul of a deceased person who had to undergo but a light chastisement, and he told her that among all the good works which this person had performed in the world, He had taken into special consideration certain humiliations to which she had submitted in the world, because she had suffered them in the spirit of charity, not only without murmuring, but even without speaking of them. Our Lord added, that, in recompense, He had given her a mild and favorable judgment.

Fr. Paul Sullivan, O.P., How to Avoid Purgatory

And, lastly, to sum all up in a word. As the Incarnation is God’s Book of Life, the knowledge of his Sacred Heart is the interpretation and the unfolding of that Book. The whole mystery of God and of man, and the relations of God and man in grace and in glory, are all written in the Sacred Heart. They that know the Sacred Heart know God; they that love the Sacred Heart love God; and they that are made like to the Sacred Heart are made like to God. It is the compendium of the whole science of God, of the whole way of salvation, of the whole gospel of eternal life.

Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, The Sacred Heart, God's Way of Love

Religious Liberty from Vatican II has its root in the Americanist Heresy

On every side the dread phantom of war holds sway: there is scarce room for another thought in the minds of men. The combatants are the greatest and wealthiest nations of the earth; what wonder, then, if, well provided with the most awful weapons modern military science has devised, they strive to destroy one another with refinements of horror. There is no limit to the measure of ruin and of slaughter; day by day the earth is drenched with newly-shed blood, and is covered with the bodies of the wounded and of the slain. Who would imagine as we see them thus filled with hatred of one another, that they are all of one common stock, all of the same nature, all members of the same human society? ....We implore those in whose hands are placed the fortunes of nations to hearken to Our voice. Surely there are other ways and means whereby violated rights can be rectified. Let them be tried honestly and with good will, and let arms meanwhile be laid aside.

Benedict XV, Ad beatissimi apostolorum, November 1, 1914

“We consider the establishment of our country’s independence, the shaping of its liberties and laws, as a work of special Providence, its framers ‘building better than they knew,’ the Almighty’s hand guiding them. We believe that our country’s heroes were the instruments of the God of nations in establishing this home of freedom; to both the Almighty and to His instruments in the work we look with grateful reverence. And to maintain the inheritance of freedom which they have left us, should it ever–which God forbid—be imperiled, our Catholic citizens will be found to stand forward as one man, ready to pledge anew ‘their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.’”

Archbishop (soon to be Cardinal) James Gibbons, addressing the American bishops at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, 1884 attended by 14 archbishops and 61 bishops.

Moved to the very depths of our hearts by the stirring appeal of the President of the United States, and by the action of our national Congress, we accept whole-heartedly and unreservedly the decree of that legislative authority proclaiming this country to be in a state of war. Inspired neither by hate nor fear, but by the holy sentiments of truest patriotic fervor and zeal, we stand ready, we and all the flock committed to our keeping, to cooperate in every way possible with our President and our national government, to the end that the great and holy cause of liberty may triumph and that our beloved country may emerge from this hour of test stronger and nobler than ever. Our people, as ever, will rise as one man to serve the nation.

Pledge of U.S. Catholic Archbishops, April 18, 1917; sent to President Woodrow Wilson by Cardinal James Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, the leading Catholic prelate in the United States.

“The primary duty of a citizen is loyalty to country. It is exhibited by an absolute and unreserved obedience to his country’s call.”

Cardinal James Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore (1877-1921), April 1917 in support of the U.S. declaration of war against Germany and Austria-Hungary. The Balfour Declaration agreement committed the British to deliver Palestine into Jewish hands in return for the Jews bringing the United States into WWI in support of the British. Cardinal James Gibbons was the chief propagator of the heresy of Americanism which became settled Novus Ordo doctrine after Vatican II (religious liberty) primarily by the work of Fr. John Courtney Murray who greatly admired Cardinal Gibbons. Gibbons did his best to align American Catholics with Jewish interests to bring the United States into the Great War. In doing so Gibbons worked directly to undermine the peace plans of Pope Benedict XV. Pope Benedict devised a generous peace plan and contacted Cardinal Gibbons to do what he could to influence the United States government to back his offer of a negotiated peace. Gibbons did nothing of the sort. While giving lip service to the Pope's peace plan six months too late, he in fact never contacted President Wilson or any official of the government to even mention Pope Benedict's peace plan. Gibbons was too busy building the National Catholic War Council (NCWC) and supporting the call of universal military service. The purpose of the NCWC as Gibbons said in a letter to all American bishops was to form “the mental and moral preparation of our people for the war.”

To Congar's credit, he at least told the truth about what he helped destroy!

“It cannot be denied that the Declaration on Religious Liberty does say materially something else than the Syllabus of 1864; it even says just about the opposite of Propositions 15 and 77 to 79 of this document..... I collaborated on the final paragraphs which left me less satisfied. It involved demonstrating that the theme of religious liberty was already contained in Scripture. Now, it isn't there.”

Cardinal Yves Marie Joseph Congar, O.P., forbidden to teach by the Church and whose books were suppressed in the early 1950s, made a peritus at Vatican II by Novus Ordo St. John XXIII, and is considered by many to have been the most influential of all the periti. He was raised to the cardinalate by Novus Ordo St. John Paul II. He rejected the dogmatic teaching of Trent which his teacher and mentor, Fr. Marie-Dominique Chenu, O.P., derisively called “Baroque theology”.

Excerpts from the Diary of Msgr. Joseph Fenton:

· “He [Cardinal Ottaviani] remarked that we were on the eve of the Council, and that no one knew who the Council’s theologians were to be.” (Sept. 28, 1962)

· “It is a crime that we did not take the Anti-Modernist Oath. Poor O[ttaviani] must have failed to have our own profession passed by the central commission. It contained his condemnation of [Fr. John Courtney] Murray [the Americanist heretic who structured the Council teaching on Religious Liberty].” (Oct. 9, 1962)

· “I had always thought that this council was dangerous. It was started for no sufficient reason. There was too much talk about what it was supposed to accomplish. Now I am afraid that real trouble is on the way.” (Oct. 13, 1962)

· “I started to read the material on the Liturgy, and I was shocked at the bad theology. They actually have been stupid enough [to say] that the Church is ‘simul humanam et divininam, visibilem et invisibilem’ [at the same time human and divine, visible and invisible]. And they speak of the Church working ‘quousque unum ovile fiat et unus pastor’ [until there be one fold and one shepherd], as if that condition were not already achieved.” (Oct. 19, 1962)

· “I do not think that any little work on our part is going to bring good to the Church. We should, I believe, face the facts. Since the death of [Pope] St. Pius X the Church has been directed by weak and liberal popes, who have flooded the hierarchy with unworthy and stupid men. This present conciliar set-up makes this all the more apparent. [Fr.] Ed Hanahoe, the only intelligent and faithful member of [Cardinal] Bea’s secretariat has been left off the list of the periti. Such idiots as [Mgr. John S.] Quinn and the sneak [Fr. Frederick] McManus have been put on. [Fr. George] Tavard is there as an American, God help us. From surface appearance it would seem that the Lord Christ is abandoning His Church. The thoughts of many are being revealed. As one priest used to say, to excuse his own liberalism, which, in the bottom of his heart he knew was wrong, ‘for the last few decades the tendency in Rome has been to favor the liberals.’ That is the policy now. We can only do what we can to overt an ever more complete disloyalty to Christ.” (Oct. 19, 1962)

· “[Fr.] Ed Hanahoe gave me two books on Modernism. In one of them I found evidence that the teaching in the first chapter of the new schema on the Church [that became the Vatican II dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium] and the language are those of [the excommunicated Modernist Fr. George Tyrrell [who died outside the Catholic Church and was denied ecclesiastical burial]. May God preserve His Church from that chapter. If it passes, it will be a great evil. I must pray and act.” (Sept. 24, 1963)

Paul VI declared Novus Ordo Saint. So just what is a “Novus Ordo Saint”?

A Novus Ordo Saint is a man-made saint. Contrasted with Catholic saints who are God-made saints. In virtue of their union with God they are sanctified, and therefore, Catholic Saints exhibit heroic virtue in their lives. God confirms their sanctity by working miracles through their intercession and thus, a cult of veneration (dulia) develops and spreads throughout the Church. The Church recognizes God's evidence that they are saints and declares this fact to the universal Church. Contrary to this, Novus Ordo Saints are man-made saints and their elevation to the title of sainthood is for the purpose of promoting the human ideology exemplified in their lives. There is no real cult of veneration (dulia) among the faithful to Novus Ordo Saints. Since God does not work true miracles through the intercession of man-made saints, only man-made miracles are required for the beatification of man-made Novus Ordo Saints. Finally, the Novus Ordo beatification process does have a promotor fidei, the so-called “devil’s advocate,” although his role has been change as the promotor ideologiae. The greatest difference between Catholic Saints and Novus Ordo Saints is that the former are in heaven and the latter, very well may not be.

COMMENT ON THE MODERN MIND DEVOID OF GOD’S GRACE

“But instead of a mind, universal literacy has given [the common man] a rubber stamp, a rubber stamp inked with advertising slogans, with editorials, with published scientific data, with the trivialities of tabloids and the profundities of history, but quite innocent of original thought. Each man's rubber stamp is the twin of millions of others, so that when these millions are exposed to the same stimuli, all receive identical imprints. [...] The amazing readiness with which large masses accept this process is probably accounted for by the fact that no attempt is made to convince them that black is white. Instead, their preconceived hazy ideas that a certain gray is almost black or almost white are brought into sharper focus. Their prejudices, notions, and convictions are used as a starting point, with the result that they are drawn by a thread into passionate adherence to a given mental picture.”

Edward Bernays, from his book, The Minority Rules, 1927. Bernays was a Jewish double nephew of Sigmund Freud and a pioneer in public relations and propaganda. He was called "the father of public relations" in his obituary. Bernays was named one of the 100 most influential Americans of the 20th century by Life Magazine. He was the subject of a full-length biography called The Father of Spin (1999) and later an award-winning 2002 documentary for the BBC called The Century of the Self. (Wiki)

"Pray for the conversion of Russia." Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima

Your must understand. The leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were not Russians. They hated Russians. They hated Christians. Driven by ethnic hatred they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of human remorse. The October Revolution was not what you call in America the "Russian Revolution." It was an invasion and conquest over the Russian people. More of my countrymen suffered horrific crimes at their bloodstained hands than any people or nation ever suffered in the entirety of human history. It cannot be understated. Bolshevism was the greatest human slaughter of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant of this reality is proof that the global media itself is in the hands of the perpetrators. We cannot state that all Jews are Bolsheviks. But: without Jews there would have been no Bolshevism. For a Jew nothing is more insulting than the truth. The blood maddened Jewish terrorists murdered sixty-six million in Russia from 1918 to 1957.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), Noble Prize winning novelist, historian and victim of Jewish Bolshevism

American Catholic Apostasy: PEW POLE 2025

29% of U.S. Catholics say they attend Mass weekly.

59% of Catholics say abortion should be legal.

76% U.S. Catholics say society should be accepting of homosexuality.

61% U.S. Catholics support legal homosexual "marriage."

80% of Catholics view Pope Francis favorably.

84% of U.S. Catholics say they have a favorable view of Leo although 67% say they know little about Leo, and 25% know nothing at all.

Pope Leo XIV commemorates Nostra Aetate anniversary with interfaith celebrations

Catholic NewsAgency | Vatican City |Kridina Millare | Oct 29, 2025

Pope Leo XIV joined faith leaders on Tuesday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Church’s declaration on building relationships with non-Christian religions. 

Approximately 300 representatives of world religions and cultures joined the Holy Father for an evening ecumenical prayer service for peace organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio and held at the Colosseum in Rome.

“Peace is a constant journey of reconciliation,” the Holy Father said at the Oct. 28 event. 

Thanking religious leaders for coming together in Rome, he said their interfaith meeting expressed their shared “conviction that prayer is a powerful force for reconciliation.”

“This is our witness: offering the immense treasures of ancient spiritualities to contemporary humanity,” he said.

“We need a true and sound era of reconciliation that puts an end to the abuse of power, displays of force, and indifference to the rule of law,” he added. “Enough of war, with all the pain it causes through death, destruction, and exile!”  

In his remarks, the pope urged people not to be indifferent to the “cry of the poor and the cry of the earth” in their pursuits for peace in countries scarred by ongoing conflict and injustice.

“In the power of prayer, with hands raised to heaven and open to others, we must ensure that this period of history, marked by war and the arrogance of power, soon comes to an end, giving rise to a new era,” he said.

“We cannot allow this period to continue. It shapes the minds of people who grow accustomed to war as a normal part of human history,” he continued.

Pope Leo and other religious leaders lit candles to symbolize their shared prayer and renewed commitment to engage in interfaith dialogue.

Several people waved small blue banners with the word “peace” in different languages while Pope Leo and the other religious leaders lit candles to symbolize their shared prayer and renewed commitment to engage in interfaith dialogue.

After the prayer gathering at Rome’s iconic landmark, the Holy Father returned to the Vatican to join colorful celebrations jointly organized by the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

To mark the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, several multicultural music and dance performances were held inside the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall as well as a presentation highlighting papal initiatives to promote the Church’s dialogue with other religions since the pontificate of Pope Paul VI.

Pope Leo’s appearance and special address toward the end of the two-hour gathering highlighted the Church’s reverence for all people and its desire to collaborate with others for the common good. 

“We belong to one human family, one in origin, and one also in our final goal,” he said. “Religions everywhere try to respond to the restlessness of the human heart.”

“Each in its own way offers teachings, ways of life, and sacred rites that help guide their followers to peace and meaning,” he said. 

Emphasizing the common mission shared among people of different religions to “reawaken” the sense of the sacred in the world today, the Holy Father encouraged people to “keep love alive.”

“We have come together in this place bearing the great responsibility as religious leaders to bring hope to a humanity that is often tempted by despair,” Leo said.

“Let us remember that prayer has the power to transform our hearts, our words, our actions, and our world,” he said.

COMMENT: Now for the third time in his short pontificate Leo/Provost quotes Leonard Boff's Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. Boff is a former Franciscan priest who was censored by the liberal Cardinal Ratzinger when he headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under the liberal JPII for his extreme Marxist liberation theology. Boff is famous for his development of an integrated theology of Marxism, Gaia cult earth worship and "social justice." He was admired by Francis/Bergoglio and he is admired thrice as much by Leo/Provost. The picture with its Satanic imagery was reportedly published by the Vatican. Leo/Provost, like Francis/Bergoglio, wants to restore native American culture and religious traditions. It should be remembered that Christopher Columbus encountered cannibalism on his second voyage of exploration and ritual murder was widespread not only among the Aztecs and Incas but in smaller tribes across both North and South America as reported by Jesuit missionaries. In the interfaith celebrations at the Vatican a young native American boy half dressed paraded an image of a snake into the assembly before Leo/Provost. Is this the native American tradition that the Vatican wants to recover?

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Doctrinal Note on Marian titles: Mother of the faithful, not Co-redemptrix

The document of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, approved by Pope Leo XIV, offers clarifications on titles applied to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and calls for special attention to the use of the expression, “Mediatrix of all graces.”

Vatican News

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on Tuesday, 4 November 2025, published Mater populi fidelis (“The Mother of the Faithful People”), a Doctrinal Note “On Some Marian Titles Regarding Mary’s Cooperation in the Work of Salvation.” Signed by the Prefect, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, and the Secretary for the Dicastery’s Doctrinal Section, Monsignor Armando Matteo, the Note was approved by the Pope on 7 October.

Mater populi fidelis (MPF) is the fruit of a long and complex collegial effort. It is a doctrinal document on Marian devotion, centred on the figure of Mary, who is associated with the work of Christ as Mother of believers. The Note provides a significant biblical foundation for devotion to Mary, as well as marshalling various contributions from the Fathers, the Doctors of the Church, elements of Eastern tradition, and the thought of recent Popes.

In this positive framework, the doctrinal text analyses a number of Marian titles, encouraging the adoption of some of those appellations and warning against the use of others. Titles such as “Mother of Believers,” “Spiritual Mother,” “Mother of the Faithful” are noticed with approval in the Note. Conversely, the title of “Co-redemptrix” is deemed inappropriate and problematic. The title of “Mediatrix” is considered unacceptable when it takes on a meaning that excludes Jesus Christ; however, it can used appropriately so long as it expresses an inclusive and participatory mediation that glorifies the power of Christ. The titles “Mother of Grace” and “Mediatrix of All Graces” are considered acceptable when used in a very precise sense, but the document also warns of particularly broad explanations of the meaning of the terms.

Essentially, the Note reaffirms Catholic doctrine, which has always emphasised that everything in Mary is directed towards the centrality of Christ and His salvific work. For this reason, even if some Marian titles admit of an orthodox interpretation through correct exegesis, Mater populi fidelis says it is preferable to avoid them.

In his presentation of the Doctrinal Note, Cardinal Fernández expresses appreciation for popular devotion but warns against groups and publications that propose a certain dogmatic development and raise doubts among the faithful, including through social media. The main problem in interpreting these titles applied to Our Lady, he says concerns the way of understanding Mary's association with Christ's work of redemption (paragraph 3).

Co-redemptrix

Regarding the title “Co-redemptrix,” the Note recalls that “some Popes have used the title “without elaborating much on its meaning.” Generally, it continues, “they have presented the title in two specific ways: in reference to Mary’s divine motherhood (insofar as she, as Mother, made possible the Redemption that Christ accomplished) or in reference to her union with Christ at the redemptive Cross. The Second Vatican Council refrained from using the title for dogmatic, pastoral, and ecumenical reasons. Saint John Paul II referred to Mary as ‘Co-redemptrix’ on at least seven occasions, particularly relating this title to the salvific value of our sufferings when they are offered together with the sufferings of Christ, to whom Mary is united especially at the Cross” (18).

The document cites an internal discussion within the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which in February 1996 had discussed the request to proclaim a new dogma on Mary as “Co-redemptrix or Mediatrix of all graces.” Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was opposed to such a definition, arguing, “the precise meaning of these titles is not clear, and the doctrine contained in them is not mature. […] It is not clear how the doctrine expressed in these titles is present in Scripture and the apostolic tradition.”

Later, in 2002, the future Benedict XVI expressed himself publicly in the same way: “The formula ‘Co-redemptrix’ departs to too great an extent from the language of Scripture and of the Fathers and therefore gives rise to misunderstandings… Everything comes from Him [Christ], as the Letter to the Ephesians and the Letter to the Colossians, in particular, tell us; Mary, too, is everything that she is through Him. The word ‘Co-redemptrix’ would obscure this origin.”

The note clarifies that Cardinal Ratzinger did not deny the good intentions behind the proposal, nor the valuable aspects reflected in it, but nonetheless maintained that they were “being expressed in the wrong way” (19).

Pope Francis also expressed his clear opposition to the use of the title Co-Redemptrix on at least three occasions.

Tuesday’s Doctrinal Note concludes: “It is always inappropriate to use the title ‘Co-redemptrix’ to define Mary’s cooperation. This title risks obscuring Christ’s unique salvific mediation and can therefore create confusion and an imbalance in the harmony of the truths of the Christian faith. […] When an expression requires many, repeated explanations to prevent it from straying from a correct meaning, it does not serve the faith of the People of God and becomes unhelpful” (22).

Mediatrix

The Note emphasises that “the biblical statement about Christ’s exclusive mediation is conclusive. Christ is the only Mediator” (24).

At the same time, MPF recognises “the fact that the word ‘mediation’ is commonly used in many areas of everyday life, where it is understood simply as cooperation, assistance, or intercession. As a result, it is inevitable that the term would be applied to Mary in a subordinate sense. Used in this way, it does not intend to add any efficacy or power to the unique mediation of Jesus Christ, true God and true man” (25).

Further, “it is clear that Mary has a real mediatory role in enabling the Incarnation of the Son of God in our humanity” (26).  

Mother of believers and Mediatrix of all graces

Mary’s maternal role “in no way obscures or diminishes” the unique mediation of Christ, “but rather shows its power […] Understood in this way, Mary’s motherhood does not seek to weaken the unique adoration due to Christ alone but, rather, seeks to enkindle it.”

Therefore, the Note states, “one must avoid titles and expressions that present Mary as a kind of ‘lightning rod’ before the Lord’s justice, as if she were a necessary alternative before the insufficiency of God’s mercy” (37b).

Thus, the title “Mother of Believers” “enables us to speak of Mary’s role in our relation to our life of grace”. However, MPF goes on to urge caution concerning the use of expressions that may convey “less acceptable notions” (45).

“Cardinal Ratzinger already affirmed” for example, “that the title ‘Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces’ was not clearly grounded in Revelation.” So, the Note continues, “in line with this conviction, we can recognize the difficulties this title poses, both in terms of theological reflection and spirituality” (45). In fact, “no human person — not even the Apostles or the Blessed Virgin — can act as a universal dispenser of grace. Only God can bestow grace, and he does so through the humanity of Christ” (53).

“Some titles, such as ‘Mediatrix of All Graces,’ have limits that do not favour a correct understanding of Mary’s unique place,” MPF explains, adding, “In fact, she, the first redeemed, could not have been the mediatrix of the grace that she herself received” (67).

Nonetheless, the Doctrinal Note acknowledges that “the term ‘graces,’ when seen in reference to Mary’s maternal help at various moments in our lives, can have an acceptable meaning. The plural form expresses all the aids — even material — that the Lord may grant us when He heeds His Mother’s intercession” (68).

COMMENT: Amazing to hear these apostates chirping about the lack of "precise meaning" of theological terms while obscurity in definition is, and has been since Vatican II, the calling card of the Novus Ordo theologian and prelates. They like to muddle what is clear. Let's start with the title, "Mother of Believers" and "Mother of the Faithful." These are, in fact, worthy titles of the Mother of God and frequently occur in St. Mary of Agreda's City of God, yet the Novus Ordo clerics would never be found offering a precise definition and meaning for the term "faithful" and then identify exactly who the "faithful" are.

The term "faithful" has a precise Catholic definition. It refers to those who have been baptized into the Catholic Church and profess the one, holy, catholic and apostolic faith. By virtue of this incorporation by baptism they have become "children of God." They faithfully believe all the truths that God has revealed on the authority of God the Revealer. Only those who have become thus members of the Mystical Body of Christ share by participation in His divine nature and become brothers and sister of Jesus Christ and therefore, sons of His Mother. This definition excludes all heretics, schismatics, Jews, pagans, and any other form of idolaters. Novus Ordo clerics heretically teach that everyone is a child of God by virtue of the Incarnation. Everyone by nature is a creature of God created in His image and likeness with the spiritual soul with the powers of reason and free will, but every creature is born in original sin and cut off from the friendship of God. He is only a "child of God" in potentia. Without the sacrament of Baptism and the Catholic faith they can never become "children of God." This obscurity of definition as to who is a child of God and thus a child of the Blessed Virgin Mary ultimately obscures what is necessary as a necessity of means to obtain salvation.

The title Mediatrix of all grace is long established and of sound and precise theological understanding. Those that pretend otherwise are ignorant, proud, and deceitful. They have no excuse. 'The law of prayer determines the law of belief' is, as affirmed by St. Pius X in Pascendi, a canon of faith from the time of Celestine I, that is, a dogma of the Catholic Church. The immemorial Roman rite has a Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of all grace celebrated on May 31 established by Pope Benedict XV. Regarding this feast, Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B. of the Abby of St. Andrew teaches:

"The will of God is that we should have everything through Mary," says St. Bernard. The Father has sent us His Son, but His will was to make His coming depend upon the Fiat of the Virgin, which He commanded to the angel Gabriel to solicit on the day of the Annunciation.

The Father and the Son send us the Holy Ghost, but it is through Mary that He comes down to men. On the day of Pentecost, according to an ancient Tradition, the heavenly fire which descended on the Cenacle first rested on Mary, and then on the apostles. This is a figure of what happens every day in the Church where the Holy Ghost is sent invisibly into our souls. "All the gifts of the Holy Ghost are distributed by Mary to those whom she chooses, whenever she wishes and as much as she wishes," says St. Bernardine of Siena.

The graces which the Holy Ghost pours down on us are due to the merits of Christ on Calvary; but in order that God may bestow them on the world, it is necessary that Mary should intervene. Having cooperated by her divine maternity and by her sufferings at the foot of the Cross in the Incarnation and Redemption, she has deserved to co-operate when they are continually applied to creatures by the most High. "By the communion of sorrows and of will between Christ and Mary," says St. Pius X, "she has deserved to become the dispenser of all the blessings which Jesus acquired for us by His blood" (Encyclical 2-2-1904). Such is His will, but it is essential that she should constantly intercede for each one of us. This she does, relying on the blood of Christ by whom she was herself saved, and who alone saves us. This actual intervention of Mary plays a preponderating part in the salvation of the world. It is important that we should realize this, and it is the object of the feast of Mary Mediatrix of all Graces. A clear idea of the fact may be obtained by simple reading the texts of the Mass and Vespers.

"Through the Virgin," says St. Bernardine of Siena, "life-giving graces flow from Christ, who is the head, into His mystical body." "Through her," adds St. Antoninus, "come from heaven all the graces granted to the world." "What all the saints united to thee may obtain for us by their intercession," writes St. Anselm, "thy pleading alone may obtain without the help of their prayers." The maternal solicitude of Mary for the whole human race is therefore continual, and it is because of this that unceasingly, through the Mass, the sacraments, the hierarchy and other channels of grace, the merits of Calvary are applied to our souls. "We may affirm," declared Pope Leo XIII, "that by the will of God, nothing is given to us without Mary's mediation, in such a way that just as no one can approach the almighty Father but through His Son, so no one, so to speak, can approach Christ but through Hid Mother" (Encyclical, 9-22-1891).

Let us therefore not consider as of small importance the efforts made to establish this point of doctrine of Mary's mediation, since this doctrine enables us to understand the divine plan, and clearly manifests the mediation of the Son of God of which it is a corollary.

St. Mary of Agreda at the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven, writes that Jesus Christ addressed the entire heavenly assembly of angels and saints saying:

"My Father and eternal God, this is the Woman, that gave Me my human form in her virginal womb, that nourished Me at her breast and sustained labors for Me, that shared in my hardships and co-operated with Me in the works of Redemption. This is She, who was always most faithful and fulfilled our will according to our entire pleasure; She, pure and immaculate as my Mother, through her own works, has reached the summit of sanctity according to the measure of the gifts We have communicated to Her; and when She had merited her reward and could have enjoyed it forever, She deprived Herself of it for Our glory and returned to attend to the establishment, the government, and instruction of the Church militant; and We, in order that She might live in it for the succor of the faithful, deferred her eternal rest, which She has merited over and over again. In the highest bounty and equity of our Providence it is just, that my Mother should be remunerated for her works of love beyond all other creatures; and toward Her the common law of the other mortals should not apply. If I have merited for all infinite merits and boundless graces, it is proper that my Mother should partake of them above all the others who are so inferior; for She in her conduct corresponds to our liberality and puts no hindrance or obstacle to our infinite power of communicating our treasures and participating them as the Queen and Mistress of all that is created."

Sanctifying grace is the created participation in the divine nature. The Blessed Virgin is the "Queen and Mistress of all that is created." In this Mass the Church prays:

" O Lord Jesus Christ, our Mediator with the Father, who hast appointed the most blessed Virgin, Thy mother, to be our mother also and our mediatrix before Thee: Grant that whosoever draweth nigh to Thee to beseech any benefit, may receive all things through her and rejoice.

Rev. Gregory Alastruey's theological work titled, The Blessed Virgin Mary, says that, "There are five principle titles and offices due Mary, the Mother of God, by reason of her cooperation in redemption: Mediatrix, Co-redemptrix, Mother of Christians, Patroness or Advocate, and Queen and Mistress of the universe. I would recommend those who deny this proper honor to the Mother of God obtain a copy of the book and have their stupidity erased. I do not say, ignorance erased because willful ignorance is stupidity. Fr. Alastruey affirms that "Mary is truly mediatrix of the human race and this doctrine pertains to the deposit of faith." He then draws from Scripture, the Fathers, and theologians in support of this truth. He proves from the Church Fathers that the word "mediatrix" was explicitly used by St. Ephrem, St. Epiphanius, St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil of Seleucia, St. Andrew of Crete, St Germanus of Constantinople, St. John Damascene, St Theodore, St. Antoninus and Denis the Carthusian. He draws richly from the divine liturgy from both Eastern and Roman traditions. The errors of the Protestant heretics are addressed and exposed which are curiously the same as expressed by the Novus Ordo popes.

Lastly, it is worth asking Why do the Novus Ordo popes hate these proper titles of the Mother of God? The answer is simple. The Blessed Virgin asked the three children at Fatima on June 13, 1917, "Are you willing to offer yourselves to God to bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?" To which question all answered, "Yes, we are willing." The Mother of God said on July 13 after the children had seen a vision of Hell, "Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially whenever you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary." On August 19 (the apparition did not occur on the August 13 because the children were in prison) the Mother of God continued saying, "Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and to pray for them." The Blessed Virgin is asking the children to be co-redemptors and co-mediators of grace with her in union with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the conversion and salvation of sinners. If the title of Co-Redemtrix and Mediatrix of all Grace can be taken away from the Mother of God then no one is responsible to do penance for their own sins or the sins of others. This falls back to the Protestant heresy on the dogma of justification and the very nature of our incorporation into the divine nature in the Mystical Body of Christ. Leo/Provost, like his predecessor Francis/Bergoglio, believes that proselytism is "solemn nonsense." They attack the titles to excuse their own faithless sloth. They are working to obscure the very means of salvation. As Jesus Christ said: "But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter" (Matt 23:13).

Pope Leo is just another heretic who denies the Blessed Virgin Mary her just titles of Mediatrix of all Grace and Co-Redemtrix. Only a few days ago, he celebrated with heretics, schismatics, Jews, Moslems, and a variety of idolaters a shared communion praying to their common god a united petition for peace in the world. He continues to ignore the peace plan offered by the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of all Grace, at Fatima. Pope Leo will soon learn that those who insult the Mother have made an enemy of the Son.

This demonstrats the fruit of the “New Evangelization” - which is shameless apostasy!

Brazil: Catholic Church on the decline

Catholic Church loses followers to Evangelicals

Between 2000 and 2010, the number of Brazilians describing themselves as Catholics has dropped by 12.2%. This record fall brings the proportion of Catholics down to 65% – the lowest share since religious affiliations was first surveyed in 1872. In 2000, 74% of the population had classified themselves as Catholics.

Brazilian census: Catholic population falls to 57%

Catholic News Agency | Nathália Queiroz | Sao Paulo, Brazil, Jun 9, 2025

The percentage of Brazilians who identify as Catholic fell to 56.75% in 2022, a reduction of 8.4% compared with 2010, according to data from the 2022 demographic census released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. [....]

“The Rosary is the most powerful weapon for defending ourselves on the field of battle.”

… The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommended recitation of the Rosary with such insistence. And since the Rosary is, after the holy Eucharistic liturgy, the prayer most apt for preserving faith in souls, the devil has unchained his struggles against it. Unfortunately, we see the disasters he has caused.

… We must defend souls against the errors which can make them stray from the good road. … We cannot and we must not stop ourselves, nor allow, as Our Lord says, the children of Darkness to be wiser than the children of Light … The Rosary is the most powerful weapon for defending ourselves on the field of battle.

Sr. Lucy of Fatima, Letter to Dom Umberto Pasquale

“Necessity Knows No Law”

In 1976, the head of the UGCC, Cardinal Josef Slipyj, living in exile in Rome after 18 years in the Soviet gulag, feared for the future of the UGCC. Would it have bishops to lead it, given that Slipyj himself was now over 80? So he ordained three bishops clandestinely, without the permission of the Holy Father, Blessed (sic) Paul VI. At the time, the Holy See followed a policy of non-assertiveness regarding the communist bloc; Paul VI would not give permission for the new bishops for fear of upsetting the Soviets. The consecration of bishops without a papal mandate is a very grave canonical crime, for which the penalty is excommunication. Blessed (sic) Paul VI—who likely knew, unofficially, what Slipyj had done—did not administer any penalties.

Fr. Raymond J. DeSouza

John Henry Newman: A Novus Ordo Saint and, fittingly, a Doctor of the Novus Ordo Church

"I see much danger of an English Catholicism of which Newman (Cardinal John Henry Newman) is the highest type. It is the old Anglican, patristic, literary, Oxford tone transplanted into the Church. It takes the line of deprecating exaggerations, foreign devotions, Ultramontanism, anti-national sympathies. In one word, it is worldly Catholicism."

Cardinal Manning, Primate of England, Letter to Monsignor Talbot, written in 1866, the second year of his reign as archbishop

Salvation by “Implicit” Faith?

But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him. Heb. 1, 6

Of course charity itself is impossible without faith and hope. Could anyone love a man if he did not believe it was possible to be or become his friend? Or if he despaired of ever gaining his friendship? So it is with man in relation to God as He is in Himself. Man must believe it is possible to attain a perfect friendship with God in Heaven and he must hope to attain this friendship through God’s power before he can love God as his supernatural destiny.

Fr. Walter Farrell, O. P. and Fr. Marin Healy, My Way of Life – The Summa Simplified for Everyone

Looming ahead is the Great Apostasy predicted by St. Paul to the Thessalonians when the Antichrist, “the man of sin” (2 Thess. 2: 3), will engage mankind in wholesale flight from God and reality. From him can be expected perfect acquiescence to the three temptations by which the devil failed to seduce Christ in the desert. Turning stones into bread by substituting false teaching for true doctrine, he will confirm the satanic religion by false miracles, (that is “lying wonders”), as it were casting himself down from the pinnacle of the temple to be borne up by spiritual hands. Given “all the kingdoms of the world and all their glory” (Matt. 4: 8-9) in return for falling down and adoring Satan, Antichrist the King will establish a universal empire in the fallen angel’s name. Aping as closely as possible Christ’s consummation of the law and the prophets, he will capitulate in his person the whole of the world’s apostatic tradition.

Solange Strong Hertz, Apostasy in America

The Reason the Message of LaSalette is Rejected or Unknown? They Are NOT 'Her People'!

It was 1846 and France was suffering social and political upheaval. Catholic churches had been abandoned and the Sacraments neglected… On the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, eleven-year-old Maxim Giraud and fourteen-year-old Melanie Mathieu beheld a luminous sphere, radiating like the sun, curiously unfolding before their eyes. Gradually they made out a woman seated with her face in her hands, weeping. She slowly arose and crossed her arms on her breast, her head some what inclined.

The children were drawn immediately to the lady's tears that adorned her face like perfectly cut diamonds glimmering the in the sun's rays. Her dynamic features were framed delicately in a white-satin headdress, on which rested a crown of roses, a bouquet in all shades of reds and pinks. A crucifix with pincers on one end and a hammer on the opposite end hung over her satin shawl, which was lined with more roses. The Madonna wore a long ivory dress embroidered in precious pearls and a yellow apron tied neatly to her waist. Wearing pearl slippers that peeked out from underneath her satin robe, she sheltered herself atop a bouquet of roses.

"Come to me, my children," she tenderly addressed the two who stood afar, motionless. "Be not afraid. I am here to tell you something of the greatest importance."

As soon as they were in touching distance of her, she began to speak with the urgency of an ending world:

"If my people will not obey, I shall be compelled to loose my Son's arm. It is so heavy, so pressing that I can no longer restrain it."

She told the children that her Son was especially concerned that people were not keeping holy Sunday, and that religion had lost its place in their country…. "You will make this known to all my people; you will make this known to all my people," she repeated to them. Solange Hertz, Our Lady of LaSalette

"It is a sin to believe there is salvation outside the Catholic Church!"

Blessed Pope Pius IX

The Church is One, Holy, Catholic Apostolic, and Roman : unique, the Chair founded on Peter. Outside her fold is to be found nether the true faith nor eternal salvation, for it is impossible to have God for a Father if one does not have the Church for a Mother.

Blessed Pope Pius IX, Singulari Quidem

The Great Error of Vatican II –

The “pastoral” blunder that there exists a disjunction between Divine Revelation and Dogma

The greatest concern of the Ecumenical Council is this: that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine should be guarded and taught more efficaciously….. the authentic doctrine… should be studied and expounded through the methods of research and through the literary forms of modern thought. The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another. And it is the latter that must be taken into great consideration with patience if necessary, everything being measured in the forms and proportions of a Magisterium which is predominantly pastoral in character. Pope John XXIII, Opening Speech for Vatican II

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“Only take heed to yourself and guard your soul diligently.” Deut 4:9

"It is a sin to believe there is salvation outside the Catholic Church!"

Blessed Pope Pius IX

Peace Plan of Our Lady of Fatima

1. WHAT DOES THE MESSAGE OF FATIMA REQUEST?

At Fatima Our Lady said that God wished to establish in the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our Lady said that many souls would be saved from Hell and the annihilation of nations averted if, in time, devotion to Her Immaculate Heart were established principally by these two means:

A. the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Pope together with the world's bishops in a solemn public ceremony, and

B. the practice or receiving Holy Communion (and other specific devotions of about 1/2 hour in duration) in reparation for the sins committed against the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the first Saturdays of five consecutive months--a practice known to Catholics as "the First Saturday" devotion.

2. HAVE THESE REQUESTS OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA BEEN HONORED?

No, not entirely. A number of the Faithful practice the "First Saturday" devotion, but Russia has yet to be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in a solemn public ceremony conducted by the Pope together with the world's Catholic bishops.

In 1982 the last Fatima seer, Lucia, when a cloistered nun living in Coimbra, Portugal, was asked if an attempted consecration by Pope John Paul II had sufficed. She replied that it did not suffice, because Russia was not mentioned and the world's bishops had not participated. Another attempted consecration in 1984 likewise did not mention Russia or involve the participation of many of the world's bishops, and Sister Lucia stated immediately afterwards that this consecration, too, had failed to meet Our Lady's requirements.

3. WHAT DOES THE MESSAGE OF FATIMA WARN?

It warns that if the requests of Our Lady of Fatima for the Consecration of Russia and the First Saturday devotion are not honored, the Church will be persecuted, there will be other major wars, the Holy Father will have much to suffer and various nations will be annihilated. Many nations will be enslaved by Russian militant atheists. Most important, many souls will be lost.

4. WHAT DOES THE MESSAGE OF FATIMA PROMISE?

The Message of Fatima promises that if the requests of Our Lady of Fatima are carried out "My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will Consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to mankind."

The United States is, as much as Israel, guilty for the Genocide of the Palestinian People.

“I love Israel. I’m with you all the way...... Thanks to the bravery and incredible skill of the Israeli Defense Forces and Operation Rising Lion, the forces of chaos, terror, and ruin now stand weakened, isolated, and totally defeated.”

“The story of fierce Israeli resolve and triumph since October 7 should be proof to the entire world that those who seek to destroy this nation are doomed to bitter failure.”

President Donald Trump, addressing the Israeli Knesset with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

“Donald Trump is the greatest friend that the State of Israel has ever had in the White House. No American president has ever done more for Israel, and, as I said in Washington, it ain’t even close. It’s really not a match.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing Israeli Knesset with President Trump

"It is sentiments like these (from President Trump) – backed by a long list of pro-Israel actions over two terms, including moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, recognizing Jewish claims in Judea and Samaria for a 'Greater Israel', brokering the Abraham Accords, striking Iran alongside Israel, decapitation strikes against Iranian and Hamas peace negotiators, and directly supporting the Israeli genocide of Gaza with over $30 billion direct aid, billions more in indirect air with military, intelligence, logistical and political support both in the United States and at the United Nations including censorship in mainstream media and suppression of free speech at college campuses."

Catholic political commentary

“For the Jews, ‘Anti-Semitism’ is anything that is in opposition to the naturalistic Messianic domination of their nation over all the others.”

Rev. Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp., B.A., D.Ph., D.D.

On the Charge of Anti-Semitism in Our Time

“…Two reasons can be assigned to the fact that Our Lord’s faithful members will often be betrayed by those who should be on the side of Christ the King. Firstly, many Catholic writers speak of Papal condemnations of Anti-Semitism without explaining the meaning of the term, and never even allude to the documents which insist on the Rights of Our Divine Lord, Head of the Mystical Body, Priest and King. Thus, very many are completely ignorant of the duty incumbent on all Catholics of standing positively for Our Lord’s Reign in society in opposition to Jewish Naturalism. The result is that numbers of Catholics are so ignorant of Catholic doctrine that they hurl the accusation of Anti-Semitism against those who are battling for the Rights of Christ the King, thus effectively aiding the enemies of Our Divine Lord. Secondly, many Catholic writers copy unquestioningly what they read in the naturalistic or anti-Supernatural Press and do not distinguish between Anti-Semitism in the correct Catholic sense, as explained above, and ‘Anti-Semitism’ as the Jews understand it. …”

Fr. Fahey’s Preface in Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked: As the Secret Power Behind Communism by Monsignor George F. Dillon, D.D.

Jews have hated & persecuted the Catholic Church from the time of Jesus Christ to this very day!

[The Jews are] a people who, having imbrued their hands in a most heinous outrage [Jesus’ crucifixion], have thus polluted their souls and are deservedly blind. . . . Therefore we have nothing in common with that most hostile of people the Jews. We have received from the Savior another way . . . our holy religion. . . . On what subject will that detestable association be competent to from a correct judgment, who after that murder of their Lord . . . are led… by. . . their innate fury?

Council of Nicaea, 325 AD

Jewish Power is inversely proportional to the spiritual health of the Catholic Church

“Jews should not be placed in public offices, since it is most absurd that a blasphemer of Christ should exercise power over Christians.”

Fourth Lateran Council

Good Night, Sweet Princeton! By Fr. Leonard Feeney, 1952

Maritainism is a system of thought which allows Catholics to be both Catholic and acceptable in the drawing rooms of Protestant and Jewish philosophers. Maritainism is not a seeking and a finding of the Word made flesh. It is a perpetual seeking for un-fleshed truth in an abstract scheme called Christianity. Maritainism is the scrapping of the Incarnation in favor of a God Whose overtures to us never get more personal or loving than the five rational proofs for His existence. This plot to encourage only pre-Bethlehem interest in God takes its name from its perpetrator, that highly respected religious opportunist, Jacques Maritain.

The slightest acquaintance with Maritain’s history is sufficient to indicate how awry he must be in his Catholicism. He is a former Huguenot who married a Jewish girl named Raïssa. During their student days in Paris, both Jacques and Raïssa felt a double pull in the general direction of belief. Intellectually they were attracted to the religious self-sufficiency of a Jewish intuitionist named Henri Bergson. Sociologically they were attracted to the spurious Catholicism of Leon Bloy, a French exhibitionist who made a liturgy of his own crudeness and uncleaness and tried to attach it to the liturgy of the Church. At some point in their association with an unbaptized Bergson and an unwashed Bloy, the Maritains figured out that there was a promising future ahead of them in Catholicism.

Jacques Maritain is noted for his solemn-high, holier-than-thou appearance. For this reason, more than one priest reports that by the time a Maritain lecture is over, any priest who is present has been made to feel that the Roman collar is around the wrong neck and that perhaps he, the priest, ought to put on a necktie and kneel for Maritain’s blessing.

One explanation of Maritain’s distant expression is that he fancies himself to be the Drew Pearson of the Christian social order. Judging by Maritain’s passion for the abstract, the fulfillment of all his prophecies will come in an era when mothers can sing such songs as “Rock-a-bye Baby, on the Dendrological Zenith,” and children recite such bedtime prayers as “The Hail Mariology.”

Jacques Maritain prefers Thomism to Saint Thomas Aquinas and, similarly, he much prefers the notion of the papacy to the person of the Pope. He could not, however, turn down the prestige of an appointment as French ambassador to the Vatican. Maritain went to Rome, but he protected himself against over exposure to Italian faith by visits to Dr. George Santayana. In Maritain, Santayana recognized a brother, the kind of European intellectual cast-off that is annually being grabbed-up by American Universities.

That Jacques Maritain should now be found preaching at Princeton University is not so strange. It did not require too much insight on Princeton’s part to see that a Catholic who hates Franco, speaks at Jewish seminaries, and favors “theocentricity” in place of Jesus, would be a bizarre, but harmless, addition to anybody’s faculty club.

Perhaps Princeton realized also that a Catholic’s admirers are a good measure of his militancy. Among Maritain’s more prominent sympathizers are John Wild, Charles Malik and Mortimer Adler (N.B. Adler was converted and received into the Catholic Church in 1999 only 18 months before he died at 98 years of age), who are, respectively, an Anglican, a Greek schismatic, and a Jew. Naturally Maritain could not insult intellectuals like these by telling them that although they are outside the Church they can get into Heaven because of their “invincible ignorance.” It was necessary that Maritain concoct a new way of getting around the dogma, “No Salvation Outside the Catholic Church.”

After a lot of abstract deliberation, Maritain decided that a man could be “invisibly, and by a motion of his heart, a member of the Church, and partake of her life, which is eternal life.” According to Maritain’s new covenant, the important salvation-actions in our world are no longer a head bowed to the waters of Baptism, a hand raised in Absolution, a tongue outstretched to receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. “A motion of his heart,” says Maritain, is all that is required before a man may partake of eternal life.

The Sacred Heart might have saved Himself a lot of inconvenience had He only known this, one Friday afternoon on Calvary.

COMMENT: Jacques Maritain was Paul VI’s favorite philosopher. Maritain's reputation as a great philosopher is based on his supposed integration of the Scholastic principles of St. Thomas with the modern world. He had a world-wide reputation and following that extending beyond his native France to hold visiting professorships at Princeton and the University of Chicago, as well as a visiting lecturer at Notre Dame, Yale, Harvard, and the University of Toronto. Pope Paul VI publicly confessed his profound respect and influence by Maritain’s thought on his Credo of the People of God (1968). At the close of the Second Vatican Council on December 8, 1965, the pope’s “Address to Men of Thought and Science” was dedicated to his “dear friend and mentor, Jacques Maritain.” Pope Paul offered Maritain a cardinal’s hat, but the philosopher declined it. Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Freedom—Dignitatis Humanae—which teaches that the dignity of man is so exalted that he possesses the inalienable right to neither conform his mind to God’s revealed truth nor obey God’s commandments, drew as its inspiration Maritain’s book Man and the State (1951) which is an articulation of the language of “rights” that Dignitatis Humanae employs.

“By their fruit you shall know them!”; & by their fruit you had better well know them!

For such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no wonder: for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his (Satan's) ministers be transformed as the ministers of justice, whose end shall be according to their works.

II Corinthians 11:13-15

The order of divine justice exacts that whosoever consents to another's evil suggestion, shall be subjected to him in his punishment; according to II Peter 2:19: "By whom a man is overcome, of the same also he is the slave."

St. Thomas Aquinas

The proper literal understanding of this dogma from the Council of Trent:

Canon 4 on the sacraments in general: If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous, and that without them or without the desire of them men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification, though all are not necessary for each one, let him be anathema.

The Dogma defines two revealed doctrinal truths:

1. If anyone says: that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous, let him be anathema.

2. If anyone says: that without the sacraments or (if anyone says) without the desire of the sacraments men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification, let him be anathema.

Both the Sacrament of Baptism and the will to receive the Sacrament are necessary for salvation!

“But God desired that his confession should avail for his salvation, since he preserved him in this life until the time of his holy regeneration.” St. Fulgentius

“If anyone is not baptized, not only in ignorance, but even knowingly, he can in no way be saved. For his path to salvation was through the confession, and salvation itself was in baptism. At his age, not only was confession without baptism of no avail: Baptism itself would be of no avail for salvation if he neither believed nor confessed.” St. Fulgentius

Notice, both the CONFESSION AND THE BAPTISM are necessary for salvation, harkening back to Trent’s teaching that both the laver AND the “votum” are required for justification, and harkening back to Our Lord’s teaching that we must be born again of water AND the Holy Spirit.

In fact, you see the language of St. Fulgentius reflected in the Council of Trent.  Trent describes the votum (so-called “desire”) as the PATH TO SALVATION, the disposition to Baptism, and then says that “JUSTIFICATION ITSELF” (St. Fulgentius says “SALVATION ITSELF”) follows the dispositions in the Sacrament of Baptism.

Yet another solid argument for why Trent is teaching that BOTH the votum AND the Sacrament are required for justification.

“Hold most firmly and never doubt in the least that not only all pagans but also all Jews and all heretics and schismatics who end this present life outside the Catholic Church are about to go into the eternal fire that was prepared for the Devil and his angels.” St. Fulgentius

“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the ‘eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels.’” Pope Eugene IV, Cantate Domino

Ladislaus, CathInfo

We will see the same from Pope Leo!

The end of dialogue is to produce opinion. The purpose of logical argument is to appeal to the intellect to arrive at truth. Rhetoric appeals to the will and poetry to the imagination. The emphasis of the Novus Ordo Church since Vatican II on dialogue is therefore a repudiation of any claim to truth offering in its place only the opinions of churchmen. It is the debasement of Jesus Christ’s gospel from Truth to just another opinion, from historical fact to mythology. It is only incidental that Novus Ordo Church, having turned its back against the truth, has also turned away from rhetoric and poetry which explains why it is both effeminate and ugly.

“The Church will have to opt for dialogue as her style and method, fostering an awareness of the existence of bonds and connections in a complex reality. . . . No vocation, especially within the Church, can be placed outside this outgoing dynamism of dialogue . . . . [emphasis added].”

Pope Francis’ Instrumentum Laboris, XV ORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF SYNOD OF BISHOPS: YOUNG PEOPLE, THE FAITH AND VOCATIONAL DISCERNMENT

And thus, the 'spirit of Vatican II' - dialogue so that everyone can reach an accomodation of error and the repudiation of logical argument appealing to truth!

“Don’t proselytize; respect others’ beliefs. We can inspire others through witness so that one grows together in communicating. But the worst thing of all is religious proselytism, which paralyzes: ‘I am talking with you in order to persuade you,’ No. Each person dialogues, starting with his and her own identity. The church grows by attraction, not proselytizing.”

Pope Francis 

Explicit Supernatural Faith in God’s Revealed Truth is Necessary as a Necessity of Means for Salvation.

If you do not believe this, you do not possess Supernatural Faith!

Responses of the Holy Office under Pope Clement XI, 1703:
Q. Whether a minister is bound, before baptism is conferred on an adult, to explain to him all the mysteries of our faith, especially if he is at the point of death, because this might disturb his mind. Or, whether it is sufficient, if the one at the point of death will promise that when he recovers from the illness, he will take care to be instructed, so that he may put into practice what has been commanded him.
Resp. A promise is not sufficient, but a missionary is bound to explain to an adult, even a dying one who is not entirely incapacitated, the mysteries of faith which are necessary by a necessity of means, as are especially the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation.
Q.  Whether it is possible for a crude and uneducated adult, as it might be with a barbarian, to be baptized, if there were given to him only an understanding of God and some of His attributes, especially His justice in rewarding and in punishing, according to this passage of the Apostle "He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder' [Heb . 11:23], from which it is inferred that a barbarian adult, in a certain case of urgent necessity, can be baptized although he does not believe explicitly in Jesus Christ.
Resp. A missionary should not baptize one who does not believe explicitly in the Lord Jesus Christ, but is bound to instruct him about all those matters which are necessary, by a necessity of means, according to the capacity of the one to be baptized.”

COMMENT: The infamous 1949 Holy Office Letter, sent privately to Cardinal Richard Cushing of Boston for the purpose of censoring Fr. Lenard Feeney for his belief in the Dogma that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church, affirmed the novel doctrine of 'salvation by implicit desire'. The "implicit desire" was to be a "member of the Church" and the evidence of this "implicit desire" was an explicit belief in a 'god who rewards and punishes'. The Letter teaches that the only requirement for salvation is found in St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 11:13. No longer were the belief in any revealed truth, the reception of any sacrament, or being a subject of the Roman Pontiff necessary as necessities of means for salvation. This Letter teaches that any "good-willed" Jew as a Jew, Hindu as a Hindu, Mohammedan as a Mohammedan, Protestant as a Protestant, etc., etc. can be members of the Church and can obtain salvation because they believe in a 'god who rewards and punishes'. The Holy Office response of 1703 makes it clear that the belief in a God who rewards and punishes is only the natural philosophical prerequisite for receiving the gospel good-news of salvation and of itself is insufficient grounds for receiving the sacrament of Baptism.

After 40 Years of Dialogue, Rabbi identifies papal “conundrum.”

The real conundrum that faces Benedict XVI on his visit to Israel… is should he be loyal to the Gospels which claim that only acceptance of Christ can bring the messianic age, or should he endorse Vatican II which acknowledges that Jews… can find the kingdom of God via a different route? Should he look inwards, backwards or forwards?

Rabbi Jonathan Romain, The Pope’s Jewish Dilemma, The Guardian

There is yet a time of stillness and indifference. Liberalism is a twilight state in which all errors are softened, in which no persecution for religion will be countenanced. It is the stillness before the storm. There is a time coming when nothing will be persecuted but truth, and if you possess the truth, you will share the trial.

Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, Archbishop of Westminster

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Pope Leo calls for unity in climate action on 10-year anniversary of Laudato si’

Pope Leo XIV appealed to all of humanity to unite, overcome differences, and work together to respond to climate change and ecological destruction

The Tablet | Aili Winstanley Channer | 02 October 2025

He was speaking to climate activists and religious leaders commemorating the ten-year anniversary of the encyclical Laudato si’ at Castel Gandolfo yesterday.

It was the opening of the three-day “Raising Hope for Climate Justice” conference organised by the Laudato si’ Movement in collaboration with ecclesial and institutional partners. Pope Leo reiterated Pope Francis’ concern about “those who deride climate change” in the 2023 Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, and asserted, “there is no room for indifference”.

He asked, “What must be done now to ensure that caring for our common home and listening to the cry of the earth and the poor do not appear as mere passing trends or, worse still, that they be seen and felt as divisive issues?”

Attendees at the conference include Christine Allen of Cafod. Bishop John Arnold, the lead bishop for the environment for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said, “Pope Leo reminded us that Pope Francis had emphasised that ‘the most effective solutions will not come from individual efforts alone, but above all from major political decisions on the national and international levels’. More than ever, we need to work together, to think of future generations, and take urgent action if we are to truly respond to the scale of this climate crisis: a crisis which affects those who are poorest and most vulnerable and have done least to cause it.”

This view reflects Pope Leo’s call for ecological conversion at all levels of society, including by strengthening democracy: “Citizens need to take an active role in political decision-making at national, regional and local levels. Only then will it be possible to mitigate the damage done to the environment.”

Pope Leo was joined by Marina Silva, Brazil’s minister of the environment and climate change and the head of the United Nations Global Ethical Stocktake, an initiative to foster societal reflection on ethical responsibility for climate change ahead of the 2025 UN Conference of Parties (COP30), which will be held in Belem, Brazil, in November. Pope Leo expressed his hope that COP30 and other upcoming international summits “will listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, families, indigenous peoples, involuntary migrants and believers throughout the world”.

But Pope Leo also emphasised that although these challenges are “of a social and political nature”, they are “first and foremost of a spiritual nature: they call for conversion”. He reaffirmed the spiritual importance of caring for the Earth as God’s creation and its inseparability from our responsibility towards the poor and vulnerable: “We cannot love God, whom we cannot see, while despising his creatures. Nor can we call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ without participating in his outlook on creation and his care for all that is fragile and wounded.”

The film star Arnold Schwarzenegger, known for his roles in high-profile action films as well as his climate activism as Governor of California and head of the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative, spoke alongside Pope Leo and called him an “action hero” for his message on the environment. Pope Leo smiled as he began his address. He affirmed the crucial and diverse contributions made to mitigating the crisis by every individual at the conference: “There is indeed an action hero with us this afternoon: it is all of you, who are working together to make a difference.”

As he closed, he said: “God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world that he created, for the benefit of all and for future generations, and if we have taken care of our brothers and sisters. What will be our answer?”

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Pope Leo XIV Blesses Huge 20,000-Year-Old Chunk Of Greenland Ice

Forbes | Leslie Katz | Oct 06, 2025

Pope Leo XIV stood on stage at a climate conference in Rome last week and laid his right hand on a massive chunk of ice, blessing it.

This wasn’t just any ice. It had broken off the vast Greenland Ice Sheet, a key regulator of global climate that’s shrinking quickly as it melts due to climate change. The resulting rise in global sea levels could flood many tens of millions of homes, scientists warn.

Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson transported the ice to the Raising Hope Conference with the help of Danish geologist Minik Rosing to serve as a stark symbol of how quickly the world’s glaciers are disappearing.

“Lord of life, bless this water,” the pope said after touching the dripping ice. “May it awaken our hearts, cleanse our indifference, soothe our grief and renew our hope through Christ our lord.”

Eliasson is known for his installation art using light, water, and air. Eliasson called it “striking” to witness the pope bless the 20,000-year-old piece of Greenlandic glacial ice. “We felt the presence of the fragile ice underscored the importance of recognizing that nature is not separate from humanity,” the artist wrote on Instagram.

COMMENT: Pope Leo, celebrating the 10th anniversary of Laudato si', the earth worshiping encyclical of Pope Francis, blessed a block of Ice to counteract the diabolical forces of global warming striking a grave and focused posture that was in marked contrast to the stupidity of the gesture. The act says a lot more about Leo than it does about climatology. Leo, like Francis, is believer in the pagan Gaia cult of Mother Earth worship. Leo refers twice in his sermon to the "Cry of the Earth, the Cry of the Poor." Leo took this phrase from Francis' Laudato si' and Francis took the quote without attribution from Leonard Boff's Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. Boff is a former Franciscan priest who was censored by the liberal Cardinal Ratzinger when he headed the CDF under the liberal JPII for his extreem Marxist liberation theology. Boff is famous for his development of an integrated theology of Marxism, Gaia cult earth worship and "social justice." He was admired by Francis and he is admired twice as much by Leo.

If the ice block is 20,000 years old then the Genesis creation account and the global flood of Noe is reduced to mythology and not divine revelation. The fact is, ancient mythology ended with the Christian revelation of Jesus Christ but the modern scientific world is doing its best to resurrect the cult of mythology. The world likes to talk about the scientific fables of Big Bang, primordial soups with lightening bubbling forth proteins that congeal into cellular life with the teleological purpose of producing the DNA of Darwinian man. These fables are believed and shamelessly pandered by our neo-modernists popes. The absurdity is that the neo-modernists popes have embraced the myths of scientology when science itself has discredited their claims. Scientists have been predicting global flooding of coastal areas for the last fifty years with no evidence of rising sea levels. Global warming is not science. It is liberal ideology applied to climatology that always calls for a one-world governance to enforce its dictatorial and anti-Catholic mandates. The alleged global warming is always without exception a man made assault on Mother Earth that requires the ritual murder of 6.5 billion people for a world "sustainable" population of 500 million for expiation. Never is it considered in their calculus that the increase of global temperature would make available millions of more acres of arable land and lengthen the growing season in millions of additional acres creating a massive increase in the food supply and areas of habitable land. Scientists have no idea whatsoever if global warming, if it is in fact happening at all, would have overall beneficial or harmful effects. While Pope Leo is a resident in Rome he might ask what became of Rome's ancient Port City of Ostia which was at the time of Jesus Christ located directly on the sea at the mouth of the Tiber River. It is today three kilometers from the coast. Citizens of Ostia may have lost their beach front property but they are not under water.

Exsurge Domine - USA; Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò

The Association Exsurge Domine is committed to provide assistance, support and material aid for clerics, religious and consecrated persons who are victims of the Bergoglian Regime. It is of highest importance to act, to defend the immutable Tradition of the Catholic Faith, to preserve and promote the Apostolic Mass, and to save Christendom. In this decisive moment, we must choose to counter evil, or be swallowed up by its most pestilent breath. Only those who fight as the Maccabee’s did shall merit victory.

DEFENDE ECCLESIAM TUAM

In many nations that are no longer Catholic-such as England, Germany or the Netherlands, for example-you can still see small chapels carved out of attics and cellars, or home altars hidden in invisible closets or niches: they were used for the clandestine celebration of Mass in times of persecution, when it was a crime to be faithful to the Church of Rome and priests had to hide to avoid imprisonment or the death sentence. Without going back to Diocletian, even in the 16th and 17th centuries “papists” were considered a threat, and were barely tolerated as long as they had no churches, convents, seminaries, or schools.

These persecutions are recurring today, in perhaps a less bloody form, and the perpetrators are not Lutherans or the thugs of Olivier Cromwell, but Cardinals, Bishops and Prelates of the Conciliar sect, infiltrated into the Vatican and well determined to wipe out all traces of the “old religion” and the “old Mass” that they have replaced with the religion of ecology, of welcome, of inclusiveness, of the New World Order.

The apostasy we are experiencing is not very different from that of the bishops who swore allegiance to Henry VIII in order not to lose rents and benefits: the difference is that today the act of obedience is required toward Bergoglio, the Second Vatican Council, the Novus Ordo, the “synodal church,” Pachamama.

Those who do not yield, those who remain faithful to the Priesthood or Religious Vows are ostracized, mocked, vilified, persecuted and above all deprived of ministry, a dwelling place and means of livelihood. Without mercy, without charity, without humanity.

Exsurge Domine is the response of those who do not surrender to this betrayal of the modernist Hierarchy: it joins us to our brothers of past ages, to the faithful who gave hospitality to the monk wanted by the soldiers of Elizabeth I, a hot meal to the nun with no convent left in revolutionary France, a hiding place to the Mexican priest pursued by the soldiers of the Masonic government. We can help those persecuted priests, religious men and women who in anonymity, silence, and humble acceptance of trials show us the suffering face of Christ ascending Golgotha.

Let us therefore prove that we know how to accompany the Faith we profess with good works, with prayer, with charity and almsgiving. For these priests, these friars, these nuns can stop the arm of divine Justice and give hope for the future in our children.

“Exsurge Domine – USA”

Address: PO Box 121, Rice Lake, WI 54868

Email: info@exsurgedomineusa.org

501(c)3 approved Tax Code: 93-3884604

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EXCERPT: The Vatican has been covering-up the crimes of homosexual pederasts since 1922 but the practice became actively enforced policy since 1962!!!

The total payouts by the Catholic Church for sex abuse claims in the United States have exceeded $5 billion over the past two decades with almost all of this for homosexual crimes.

FROM FORGIVENESS, TO SILENCE... TO BETRAYAL, By Michael Kenny

THE FEAR OF SCANDAL: A DEEPENING MOTIF

As the Church gained public visibility and institutional structure, the fear of scandal – that is, anything that could bring shame or doubt upon the Church – grew proportionally. This concern is not without biblical foundation. Apparently Christ Himself warned that:

“Scandals must come, but woe to the one through whom they come.”

In a world where the Church was often maligned, the temptation to protect its reputation – even at the cost of truth – grew strong.

This approach reached its most formal expression in the 20th century.

CRIMEN SOLICITATIONIS: CODIFYING SECRECY

In 1962, the Vatican issued a secret instruction titled CRIMEN SOLICITATIONIS. Which laid out procedures for dealing with priests accused of using the confessional to solicit sexual acts (an update of canon 904 in 1741). While its original focus was on confessional abuse – a particularly grievous offense – it extended its protocols to cover ALL sexual misconduct by clergy, including child abuse.

This document mandated strict secrecy:

“Cases of this nature are subject to the strictest pontifical secret – under pain of excommunication.”

This meant the victims, witnesses, and Church authorities were all bound by silence, ostensibly to protect the sacrament and the dignity of the Church. But in practice, this secrecy protected the perpetrators and silenced the victims.

The same theological instinct that once prompted Origen to counsel forgiveness now found its legal expression in institutional concealment.

The Church fathers were not wrong to value forgiveness. But forgiveness without justice is not sanctity – it is surrender. And the Church must never surrender the innocent to the sins of the powerful.

THE COST OF MISAPPLIED MERCY

What unites the early Christian response to personal violation with the institutional culture of silence centuries later is a tragic misapplication mercy – a prioritizing of the Church's image, or of the offender's soul, over the immediate demands of justice and the protection of the innocent.

In the name of forgiveness, the Church failed to act.

In the name of avoiding scandal, it created a greater one.

In the name of unity, it tolerates wolves among the sheep.

The very teachings of Christ – meant to uphold truth, protect the weak, and heal the broken – were twisted into realizations for secrecy and inaction.

TOWARD A NEW ETHOS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

The path forward must involve more than policy reform. It requires a re-examination of the Church's spiritual instincts – a return to the full Gospel, where mercy and justice walk hand in hand.

Forgiveness does not mean the abandonment of truth.

Compassion does not mean the protection of the predator.

The Church must rediscover the moral courage to expose evil, even when it dwells in its own house.

EPILOGUE: A WAR ON INNOCENCE

There is a deeper layer to this crisis. Darker than secrecy. Worse than betrayal. It is diabolical.

Satan hates God. This hatred is total, consuming and unrelenting. But Satan can't hurt God directly – God is beyond his reach. So he strikes where it hurts most: at what God loves – CHILDREN.

Jesus told us to let the children come to Him. Jesus warned about the millstone. So, what then is a perfect way for Satan's followers to do his bidding and please him, and hate God at the same time... 

VIOLATE A CHILD, and do it wearing the robes of Christ

In this perverse inversion of the priesthood, the altar becomes a hunting ground, and the confessional, a trap. [....]

COMMENT: The problem was magnified in the 1983 Code of Canon Law protecting homosexual predators. Their hypocrisy is evident when compared to the treatment given to Fr. Samuel Waters. Homosexual predators are given the full canonical rights of due process while Fr. Waters was denied canonical due process for the "crime" of offering the "received and approved" immemorial Roman rite of Mass.

COMMENT: From the 1917 Code of Canon Law, clerical homosexual predators and other sex offenders who were found guilty were laicized and turned over to the state for suffer criminal penalties. Such a response was necessary to restore justice, protect the faithful, and begin the hard work of rebuilding. Everything changed in 1922 with a new canon law which required all bishops of the world to violate mandatory reporting laws of the state by concealing child abuse and homosexuality by clerics from criminal state law enforcement. This document, Crimens Sollicitationis, was included in the 1983 Code of Canon Law and remained in force until 2001.

Abp. Vigano the former apostolic nuncio to the United States was required first by Crimens Sollicitationis and then by Sacramentum Sanctitatis Tutela of 2001 and then by Graviora Delicta of 2010 to conceal any knowledge of sexual crimes by clergy from public disclosure. The “Spotlight” investigation of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in 2002 revealed that many clerics found guilty of child sexual abuse were repeatedly returned to Catholic ministry where they repeated their crimes on new children. Following this investigation, the United States was the only country that received an exemption from the Vatican policy to conceal sexual abuse from state criminal law enforcement.

Canon 1341 of the current 1983 Code of Canon Law, requires bishops whenever possible to ask priests to stop committing crimes, instead of punishing them for their actions. What is perhaps worse, Canon 1324 in the 1983 Code is used to decrease punishment for pedophiles on the grounds that pedophiles have less freedom than non-pedophiles to control their perverse passions. Thus, a diagnosis of pedophilia lessens culpability and imputability of the crime of pedophilia. As a result, bishops have concluded pedophiles should receive a lesser punishment for pedophilia than other sex offenders.

The SSPX follows the 1983 Code and has used it cover up sexual offenders within the SSPX. This includes the former district superios in the United States for the SSPX, Fr. Arnaud Rostand who was sentenced to a French prison after conviction of homosexual pederasty in France, Spain and Switzerland against seven boys on scouting trips between 2002 and 2018. The purpose of this is not detraction of the SSPX but to point out an ugly fact that every faithful Catholic should be aware of when receiving their sacraments, attending their schools or participating in their supervised camps and other summer activities. They as an organization follow the Vatican policy to cover up any crimes of sexual abuse of children.

"Only the Prudent man can be brave."

Josef Pieper

Pro-abortion Sen. Durbin says he’s ‘overwhelmed’ by Pope Leo’s apparent defense of his award

‘It is amazing to me. It’s quite a moment,’ Durbin said about Pope Leo appearing to support the pro-abortion and pro-LGBT senator’s ‘lifetime achievement award’ from Cdl. Blase Cupich.

LifeSiteNews | Emily Mangiaracina | Oct 2, 2025 — Pro-abortion Senator Dick Durbin said he is “overwhelmed” by Pope Leo XIV’s apparent support for his “lifetime achievement award” from Cardinal Blase Cupich.

Leo on Tuesday appeared to imply that he was not opposed to Cupich’s decision to give the award to the radically pro-abortion and pro-LGBT Durbin, when asked about the matter by a journalist.

“I think that it is very important to look at the overall work that a senator has done during … 40 years of service in the United States Senate,” he stated. “I understand the difficulty and the tensions but I think, as I myself have spoken to in the past, it is important to look at many issues that are related to what is the teaching of the Church.”

“Someone who says I’m against abortion but says I’m in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life. Someone who says I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life,” Leo then said. He went on to conclude, “So, they are very complex issues, I don’t know if anyone has all the truth on them.”

On the same day Leo appeared to defend Sen. Durbin receiving the lifetime award from Cupich, the pro-abortion politician announced that he will decline the award from the Archdiocese of Chicago after facing a strong backlash, including criticism from several U.S. bishops.

Durbin told NBC News he was surprised by “the level of controversy” over the award, and that he declined it “because the reaction has been so controversial against the cardinal who proposed it, and I see no point in going forward with that.”

Commenting on the pope’s defense of his award, Durbin said, “It is amazing to me. It’s quite a moment. I didn’t expect it. I didn’t know it was gonna happen.”

As the Lepanto Institute has pointed out on X, Durbin’s award violates the very laws of Cupich’s archdiocese. Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield has affirmed, “The U.S. bishops have clearly taught that support for abortion disqualifies individuals from receiving honors from Catholic institutions.”

Durbin’s award, and Leo’s failure to denounce his award, is even more shocking considering that since his election to the U.S. Senate in 1997, Durbin has supported every possible brutal method of abortion, as well as even post-abortion infanticide: He voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, and the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.

He also supported legislation aimed at codifying and expanding Roe v. Wade – the “Women’s Health Protection Act” – despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that it was unconstitutional.

COMMENT: Pope Leo is defending the pro-abortion Sen. Durbin while at the same time slandering faithful Catholics. His appeal to the 'seamless garment,' subsequently called the "consistent ethic of life," is grounded on the Vatican II novelty that the dignity of the human person is so great that he is not obligated to believe the truths that God has revealed or obey the commandments God. The novelty was developed by his Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago in 1984 who was a notorious and clever homosexual who did as much damage to the Church as the notorious Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. To say as Leo has that Catholics who oppose abortion are not really pro-life if they do not oppose the death penalty for convicted murderers is to claim that a murderer has a greater right to life than his victim. As for opposing unjust wars the homosexual crowd and their liberal Catholic supporters have done precious little over the last 35 years.

Vatican Council I listing the beneficial Fruits of the Council of Trent which are in every detail exactly the opposite which we have seen from Vatican Council II

Now this redemptive providence appears very clearly in unnumbered benefits, but most especially is it manifested in the advantages which have been secured for the Christian world by ecumenical councils, among which the council of Trent requires special mention, celebrated though it was in evil days.

Thence came:

1. a closer definition and more fruitful exposition of the holy dogmas of religion and

2. the condemnation and repression of errors; thence too,

3. the restoration and vigorous strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline,

4. the advancement of the clergy in zeal for

· learning and

· piety,

5. the founding of colleges for the training of the young for the service of religion; and finally

6. the renewal of the moral life of the Christian people by

· a more accurate instruction of the faithful, and

· a more frequent reception of the sacraments. What is more, thence also came

7. a closer union of the members with the visible head, and an increased vigour in the whole Mystical Body of Christ.

Thence came:

1. the multiplication of religious orders and other organisations of Christian piety; thence too

2. that determined and constant ardour for the spreading of Christ’s kingdom abroad in the world, even at the cost of shedding one’s blood.

While we recall with grateful hearts, as is only fitting, these and other outstanding gains, which the divine mercy has bestowed on the church especially by means of the last ecumenical synod, we cannot subdue the bitter grief that we feel at most serious evils, which have largely arisen either because

o the authority of the sacred synod was held in contempt by all too many, or because

o its wise decrees were neglected.

First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Faith, listing some of the manifold beneficial fruits from the Council of Trent!

Regarding the Sin of Schism and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò

There are no manifest acts of schism with one and only one important exception which will be identified below. This means there are no acts that are necessarily always and everywhere evidence of a schismatic motive in the internal forum excepting one. Contrasted, for example, with abortion and blasphemy which are acts that are manifest sins because they can never be done with a morally right intention; the act itself reveals the intent of the internal forum as being vicious. These are always and everywhere necessarily mortal sins. As St. Paul says, "Some men's sins are manifest, going before to judgment: and some men they follow after" (1Tim 5:24). St. Paul gives specific examples of "manifest sins": "Nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind (sodomites), nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6:10). What exactly is the schismatic motive that a contentious canonical process must discover for conviction and attribution of imputability of the crime?

The canonical definition for both heresy and schism are taken directly almost verbatim from St. Thomas Aquinas: "Schismatics are those who refuse to submit to the Sovereign Pontiff, and to hold communion with those members of the Church who acknowledge his supremacy." Schism is the repudiation of the universal jurisdiction of Sovereign Pontiff and communion with those who accept it. It is the burden of the canonical trial to prove the schismatic intention for all schismatics are disobedient to the Sovereign Pontiff but not all who are disobedient to the Sovereign Pontiff are schismatics. St. Thomas' in his examination identifies schism as a specific species of sin. St. Thomas says, "Hence the sin of schism is, properly speaking, a special sin, for the reason that the schismatic intends to sever himself from that unity which is the effect of charity: because charity unites not only one person to another with the bond of spiritual love, but also the whole Church in unity of spirit." The genus to which schism belongs is acts opposed to peace which is the fruit of "that unity which is the effect of charity." Regarding peace, St. Thomas continues: "Peace implies a twofold union... The first is the result of one's own appetites being directed to one object; while the other results from one's own appetite being united with the appetite of another: and each of these unions is effected by charity." All acts that disturb the fruit of peace are directed against the cause of peace which is charity."

Acts of disobedience against properly constituted authority are only acts of schism when the intention is to overturn the peace of unity caused by charity. This intention constitutes the species difference of schism from other acts opposed to peace, as St. Thomas says, the schismatic "intends to separate himself from the unity that charity makes" (Q.39, a.1.) among the faithful. St. Thomas is offering an essential definition of schism which is the best of all definitions because it is the most intelligible because it identifies the essence. Schism, just as other acts opposed to peace enumerated by St. Thomas, which include discord, contention, war, strife and sedition, requires contextualization. Specifically for the case of Archbishop Viganò, St. Thomas says that morality of contention, which is the opposition to another in speech, is determined by the intention: "As to the intention, we must consider whether he contends against the truth, and then he is to be blamed, or against falsehood, and then he should be praised." Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò's "contention" against Pope Francis is the contention of truth against falsehood and is therefore praiseworthy and not schismatic. This is why a canonical trial is called "contentious" for it is intended to reveal who is contending for truth.

The poles of contention are truth-falsehood which is the same for dogmas of faith. As St. Jude admonishes: "I was under a necessity to write unto you: to beseech you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3). Schism is the rejection of the divinely revealed truth of papal universal jurisdiction, a dogma of faith since Vatican I. Schism is manifested by disobedience but all disobedience is not schism. Obedience to God is unqualified. All other acts of obedience are morally good only to the degree that they are properly regulated by the virtue of Religion which is the primary subsidiary virtue under Justice. Any act of obedience that violates the virtue of Religion is a sin. The virtue of Religion above all requires that we "give unto God the things that are God's." This first and necessary act of obedience is to believe all that God has revealed and to keep his commandments. Without this first necessary condition, it is impossible to keep the greatest commandment to love God above all things and it is impossible to have "the unity that charity makes."

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò was administratively "excommunicated" for "schism" because the administrative process avoided the canonical requirement to prove that his intent was to "separate himself from the unity that charity makes" among the faithful. They denied the right of Archbishop Viganò to defend himself in a contentions forum against the charge which would obviously have included discussing the heretical acts of Pope Francis which are manifest. The ultimate purpose of the canonical process is to determine truth and bring those who have deviated from truth back from error. But for many the contention itself irrespective of truth or falsehood is the manifest evidence of schism. The reason for this will become clearer after discussing the relationship in the context of faith and charity, and heresy and schism.

Schismatics "refuse to submit to the Sovereign Pontiff" because they deny that the pope possesses universal jurisdiction conferred by God for the legitimate exercise of the papal office which produces unity and peace. Universal jurisdiction of the pope is a divinely revealed truth that was dogmatized at Vatican I Council. St. Thomas says:

"Heresy and schism are distinguished in respect of those things to which each is opposed essentially and directly. For heresy is essentially opposed to faith, while schism is essentially opposed to the unity of ecclesiastical charity. Wherefore just as faith and charity are different virtues, although whoever lacks faith lacks charity, so too schism and heresy are different vices, although whoever is a heretic is also a schismatic, but not conversely."

Since the universal jurisdiction of the pope has become a dogma at Vatican Council I, a schismatic is now also conversely always a heretic. Importantly, faith precedes charity. "Without faith, it is impossible to please God" (Heb 11-6) because "whoever lacks faith lacks charity." The keys of universal jurisdiction were promised to St. Peter after his profession of faith which is its proximate material cause. Many Church Fathers, such as St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom, describe an analogical identity of the rock (petra) with divine faith, with St. Peter, with Jesus Christ the "cornerstone," and the Church itself. The faith proceeds and is the proximate cause of the universal jurisdiction conferred by Jesus Christ because faith is indispensible to the bond of unity which is charity. Cardinal Henry Edward Manning wrote:

“The interpretation by the Fathers of the words ‘On this rock; etc. is fourfold, but all four interpretations are not more than four aspects of one and the same truth, and all are necessary to complete its full meaning. They all implicitly or explicitly contain the perpetual stability of Peter’s faith...:’

“In these two promises [i.e. Lk 22:32, Mt 16:18] a divine assistance is pledged to Peter and to his successors, and that divine assistance is promised to secure the stability and indefectibiity of the Faith in the supreme Doctor and Head of the Church, for the general good of the Church itself.”

Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, “The Vatican Council and Its Definitions: A Pastoral Letter to the Clergy”, p. 83-84, 1870

All this is nicely summed up by St. Paul who admonishes "that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called; With all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity. Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Eph. 4:1-5). The primary and essential cause and sign of the unity in the Church is the faith. The pope is only secondarily and accidentally the sign and cause of unity in the Church. If the pope falls from the faith he is to be confronted as St. Paul did to St. Peter when he "walked not uprightly unto the truth of the gospel" and accommodated the Judaizers leading others into "dissimulation" (Gal. 2:11). If the pope is a heretic he "lacks faith (and) lacks charity". Without charity he breaks the bond of unity in the Church and necessarily becomes schismatic. Manifest Heresy is the one and only sin that identifies a schismatic because it manifests a schismatic intent.

Tikkun olam (Hebrew תיקון עולם, literally, 'repair of the world') is a concept in Judaism, often interpreted as aspiration to behave and act constructively and beneficially. Documented use of the term dates back to the Mishnaic period (ca. 10-220 AD), (that is, the time when the oral traditions of the Jews were committed to the written form in the Mishna, also called the Oral Torah). Since medieval times, kabbalistic literature has broadened use of the term. In the modern era, among the post-Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment, 1770-1880) movements, tikkun olam is the idea that Jews bear responsibility not only for their own moral, spiritual, and material welfare, but also for the welfare of society at large. For many contemporary pluralistic rabbis, the term refers to "Jewish social justice" or "the establishment of Godly qualities throughout the world". Wikipedia

COMMENT: Jews repeatedly since the time of Jesus Christ are the passionate creators and principle instigators of ideological movements conceived as necessary for the moral and material improvement of political and social order. When one after the other proves to be a political and social failure, it is simply dropped and they move on to another. They recognize a ‘fall from grace’ because they recognize the ‘world needs to be repaired.’ Since they have rejected Jesus Christ, the incarnate Logos, the eternal Wisdom of the Father, they have rejected His divine plan for the ‘repair of the world’ and in its place offer what Fr. Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp. described as “Organized Naturalism” in opposition to the Supernatural Order of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that whoever is not working for God is working for the Devil. There is no middle ground. As Jesus said, “He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth” (Matthew 12:30).

Where Tikkun Olam can lead

OPINION: Stalin’s Jews

We mustn't forget that some of greatest murderers of modern times were Jewish

Israel News | ynetnews | Sever Plocker

Here's a particularly forlorn historical date: More than 100 years ago, between the 19th and 20th of December 1917, in the midst of the Bolshevik revolution and civil war, Lenin signed a decree calling for the establishment of The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage, also known as Cheka. 

Within a short period of time, Cheka became the largest and cruelest state security organization. Its organizational structure was changed every few years, as were its names: From Cheka to GPU, later to NKVD, and later to KGB. 

We cannot know with certainty the number of deaths Cheka was responsible for in its various manifestations, but the number is surely at least 20 million, including victims of the forced collectivization, the hunger, large purges, expulsions, banishments, executions, and mass death at Gulags. 

Whole population strata were eliminated: Independent farmers, ethnic minorities, members of the bourgeoisie, senior officers, intellectuals, artists, labor movement activists, "opposition members" who were defined completely randomly, and countless members of the Communist party itself.

In his new, highly praised book "The War of the World," Historian Niall Ferguson writes that no revolution in the history of mankind devoured its children with the same unrestrained appetite as did the Soviet revolution. In his book on the Stalinist purges, Tel Aviv University's Dr. Igal Halfin writes that Stalinist violence was unique in that it was directed internally. 

Lenin, Stalin, and their successors could not have carried out their deeds without wide-scale cooperation of disciplined "terror officials," cruel interrogators, snitches, executioners, guards, judges, perverts, and many bleeding hearts who were members of the progressive Western Left and were deceived by the Soviet regime of horror and even provided it with a kosher certificate. 

All these things are well-known to some extent or another, even though the former Soviet Union's archives have not yet been fully opened to the public. But who knows about this? Within Russia itself, very few people have been brought to justice for their crimes in the NKVD's and KGB's service. The Russian public discourse today completely ignores the question of "How could it have happened to us?" As opposed to Eastern European nations, the Russians did not settle the score with their Stalinist past.

And us, the Jews? An Israeli student finishes high school without ever hearing the name "Genrikh Yagoda," the greatest Jewish murderer of the 20th Century, the GPU's deputy commander and the founder and commander of the NKVD. Yagoda diligently implemented Stalin's collectivization orders and is responsible for the deaths of at least 10 million people. His Jewish deputies established and managed the Gulag system. After Stalin no longer viewed him favorably, Yagoda was demoted and executed, and was replaced as chief hangman in 1936 by Yezhov, the "bloodthirsty dwarf."

Yezhov was not Jewish but was blessed with an active Jewish wife. In his Book "Stalin: Court of the Red Star", Jewish historian Sebag Montefiore writes that during the darkest period of terror, when the Communist killing machine worked in full force, Stalin was surrounded by beautiful, young Jewish women.

Stalin's close associates and loyalists included member of the Central Committee and Politburo Lazar Kaganovich. Montefiore characterizes him as the "first Stalinist" and adds that those starving to death in Ukraine, an unparalleled tragedy in the history of human kind aside from the Nazi horrors and Mao's terror in China, did not move Kaganovich. 

Many Jews sold their soul to the devil of the Communist revolution and have blood on their hands for eternity. We'll mention just one more: Leonid Reichman, head of the NKVD's special department and the organization's chief interrogator, who was a particularly cruel sadist. 

In 1934, according to published statistics, 38.5 percent of those holding the most senior posts in the Soviet security apparatuses were of Jewish origin. They too, of course, were gradually eliminated in the next purges. In a fascinating lecture at a Tel Aviv University convention this week, Dr. Halfin described the waves of soviet terror as a "carnival of mass murder," "fantasy of purges", and "essianism of evil." Turns out that Jews too, when they become captivated by messianic ideology, can become great murderers, among the greatest known by modern history. 

The Jews active in official communist terror apparatuses (In the Soviet Union and abroad) and who at times led them, did not do this, obviously, as Jews, but rather, as Stalinists, communists, and "Soviet people." Therefore, we find it easy to ignore their origin and "play dumb": What do we have to do with them? But let's not forget them. My own view is different. I find it unacceptable that a person will be considered a member of the Jewish people when he does great things, but not considered part of our people when he does amazingly despicable things. 

Even if we deny it, we cannot escape the Jewishness of "our hangmen," who served the Red Terror with loyalty and dedication from its establishment. After all, others will always remind us of their origin.

“Don’t Jews still believe in a Messias to come?” asks the credulous Christian. “And don’t they believe in the same Biblical Heaven and Hell that we do?”

The answer to both these questions is — no. And it is an emphatic “No!” as the subsequent Jewish testimony will verify.

Concerning the Messias: The Jews of today reject the notion of a personal redeemer who will be born of them and lead them to the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. The Jews believe that the whole Jewish race is to be elevated to a position of prosperity and overlordship and that, when this happy day arrives (the Messianic Age), they will have achieved all that is coming to them by way of savior and salvation. In his recent book, The Messianic Idea in Israel, Jewish theologian Dr. Joseph Klausner explains: “Thus the whole people Israel in the form of the elect of the nations gradually became the Messiah of the world, the redeemer of mankind.”

Concerning Heaven and Hell: A succinct summary of Jewish teaching on “life after death” was given in the May, 1958 issue of B’nai B’rith’s National Jewish Monthly. Under the caption, “What Can A Modern Jew Believe?” there appeared: “Judaism insists that ‘heaven’ must be established on this earth. The reward of the pious is life and happiness in this world, while the punishment of the wicked is misery on earth and premature death … By hitching its star to the Messianic future on this earth, Israel became the eternal people.” The article goes on: “The best Jewish minds have always held that a physical hereafter is a detraction from mature belief.” And the conclusion: “There is neither hell nor paradise, God merely sends out the sun in its full strength; the wicked are consumed by its heat, while the pious find delight and healing in its rays.”

Fr. Leonard Feeney, MICM, The Point, October 1958

Mons. Carlo Maria Viganò: Replies to the claim that obedience is unqualified even when the faith itself is in question!!
NON SEQUITUR
Further Clarifications in Response to the Reply of Prof. Daniele Trabucco
I can only agree with almost everything that Professor Trabucco has stated in response to my comment [1]. As he writes at the Duc in Altum blog [2]:

A saint who obeys a disciplinary measure that is unjust but not contrary to faith (as in the case of Padre Pio) performs an act of heroic self-denial, because he recognizes that even in harshness and iniquity, a command does not break the bond with the revealed deposit of faith. The situation, however, is different when an ecclesiastical authority commands something that contradicts faith: in that case, the order is no longer authentically disciplinary but is transformed into a deviation that strikes at the very rationale of the authority. Here, refusal is not rebellion, but fidelity.

Given that this principle is valid – and which I agree with sine glossa – I find it difficult to accept as valid the exception that Trabucco adds immediately afterwards:

However […] such refusal can never translate into schismatic acts, nor into attitudes that cause public scandal. For if it is true that discipline and faith complement each other, it is equally true that discipline, as a visible order, also serves to preserve the unity of the Church. And unity is part of the supernatural common good of the Mystical Body. Therefore, the truth of faith cannot be defended at the cost of tearing apart ecclesial communion.

It is true that “discipline, as a visible order, also serves to safeguard the unity of the Church. And unity is part of the supernatural common good of the Mystical Body.” But the unity achieved through obedience is the effect, not the cause, of the profession of the same Faith: the faithful are united in the Church under the authority of the Roman Pontiff because they believe the same doctrine, not the other way around. And this is the error that undermines Professor Trabucco’s argument on obedience. The refusal to obey an ecclesiastical authority, when that authority commands something that contradicts the Faith, cannot constitute an attack on unity, because it is the illegitimate order of the Superior that is schismatic and scandalous in nature, not the disobedience of the subject who remains faithful to God.
If the refusal to obey an illegitimate authority or order “is not rebellion, but fidelity”; if the Regula Fidei is the supreme principle that finds its rationale in the Truth coessential and consubstantial with God [3]; if obedience itself, as a moral virtue, is ordered toward the good and therefore toward the Truth – because Faith and discipline, as Professor Trabucco states, “though different in object, are united in purpose: the glory of God and the salvation of souls” – how can the Professor affirm: “Therefore, one cannot defend the truth of faith at the cost of tearing apart ecclesial communion”? Given an absolute principle, how is it possible to derogate from it with an exception that makes unity in obedience absolute while the Truth becomes relative and secondary to obedience?
In fact, just the opposite is true: ecclesial communion cannot be defended at the cost of tearing apart the Truth of the Faith, because it is obedience that is ordered to the Faith, and not vice versa [4].
I would add that anyone who contradicts, adulterates, or silences the Faith is the first to cause scandal, especially if he finds himself in the position of exercising coercive force as an ecclesiastical Superior over a priest or religious. It is the duty of every baptized person to defend and proclaim sound doctrine and to denounce anyone in authority who abuses it, causing grave scandal to the common people. They are rightly accustomed to obeying—instinctively, I would almost say—the authority of the Hierarchy and consider its deviation unthinkable under normal circuмstances. This is especially true for the priest subject to the jurisdiction of his Superiors and the sanctions they can impose: dutiful disobedience to an abusive and illicit order entails canonical sanctions for anyone who dutifully resists, as Trabucco hopes. This punishment of the disobedient is the scandal – not the act of denouncing the corruption of ecclesiastical authority. Just as it is a scandal that heretics, schismatics, corrupt individuals, and notorious fornicators are not prosecuted but rather encouraged, while anyone who denounces the crisis, identifies its causes, and identifies those responsible, who have fraudulently held power for sixty years and can abuse it at will, is declared schismatic and excommunicated.
The Communion of Saints—which is the archetype and model of ecclesial communion—is founded in God, who is Truth, not obedience. God is not obedient, because that would presuppose an authority superior to Him. The obedience of the Son—factus obœdiens usque ad mortem (Phil 2:8)—is a unity of will (idem velle) between the Three Divine Persons, without an internal hierarchical relationship between Them [5]. At the same time, God is the primary recipient of all obedience, because by obeying the Superiors to whom He has granted authority, we also obey God. But obedience cannot exist if the Superior who asks to be obeyed does not in turn recognize God’s authority over himself. Such obedience would accept the premise, even if only theoretical, of being able to disobey God in order to obey men, contravening the precept of Saint Peter (Acts 5:29) and making earthly authority self-referential and therefore potentially tyrannical. In this, the concept of synodality is shown to be absolutely subversive of the order willed by God, in that it tampers with the monarchical structure of the Church—on the model of Christ the King and Pontiff who is her Head—by placing sovereignty in the hands of “the people” (even if in reality, power, as in civil republics, is in the hands of an elite) and by affirming “that Christ wanted His Church to be governed in the manner of a republic.” [6]
Only universal submission to a true and good God makes obedience a sure means of sanctity for those who obey their Superiors. And this is why we have both reason and the Sensus Fidei: to discern when obedience is a virtuous act and when instead “it transforms into a deviation that strikes at the very rationale of authority.”
If Professor Trabucco recognizes the possibility that ecclesiastical superiors may issue orders contrary to Faith or Morals (a possibility confirmed by daily abuses of authority against traditional Catholics and the equally daily tolerance of unprecedented scandals), he must also acknowledge the possibility that subordinates may reject the illegitimate orders of their superiors. The Church’s hierarchical ladder allows for appeal to a higher authority when one finds oneself in conflict with another authority subordinate to it. But if the highest echelons of the hierarchical ladder—in this case, the Roman Pontiff and the Roman Dicasteries—are themselves implicated in a general subversion of the Faith (beginning with Leo’s recent declaration that “we must change attitudes” before we can change doctrine [7]), it is clear that hierarchical recourse is impracticable and that no earthly authority can remedy the disobedience of those who are Superiors.
In a nutshell: amidst the obvious general disobedience of Church Authority to God’s law at all levels, how can a priest or a simple believer subjected to this Authority remain obedient to it, if one is still bound to continue to obey God rather than men?
The true h0Ɩ0cαųst of the will that the mystics speak of is this: knowing how to be obedient unto death, even death on a cross, in obedience to God. But never, under any circuмstances, can one even imagine sycophantically obeying heretical and schismatic Superiors, for fear of shattering “with acts of a schismatic nature” the apparent unity of their church. Because the unity they claim is a simulacrum, a fiction, a grotesque imposture hiding the indifferentism of the synodal pantheon, which includes both the conservatives of Summorum Pontificuм as well as the LGBTQ+ progressives of James Martin, both Our Lady of Fatima as well as the Pachamama, the Mass of the ages along with the Novus Ordo. The only inalienable dogma is that everyone must recognize the Second Vatican Council: its ecclesiology, its morality, its liturgy, its saints and martyrs, and above all its excommunicated people and its heretics—that is, the “radical traditionalists” who refuse to be tamed by the new synodal demands. As for the rest of what we believe, Leo has explicitly said that one can safely gloss over it in the name of ecuмenical and synodal unity, including the Filioque of the Creed. But not Vatican II: it is the founding act of a church born in 1962 which claims the authority of the True Church, from whose Magisterium, however, it distances itself and opposes it.
We therefore find ourselves before an Authority—the supreme authority—that is clearly disobedient to Christ, the Head of the Mystical Body, but which, usurping Christ’s authority, claims to decide in what respects those subject to it must obey it, disobeying God’s commands.
Can we even imagine recognizing this authority as legitimate and owing it obedience, lest we tear apart the “unity” that the Hierarchy has already shattered with its own disobedience to God? How could we possibly ratify its abuses, making ourselves accomplices of those who are betraying the Truth?
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop, 23 September 2025

NOTE
1 – Cfr. https://exsurgedomine.it/250917-trabucco-ita/
2 – Cfr. https://www.aldomariavalli.it/2025/09/21/a-proposito-di-obbedienza-note-sulle-osservazioni-di-monsignor-vigano/
3 – Saint Augustine, De Trinitate, VIII, 2: God is truth itself – ipsa veritas –, and everything that is true comes from Him, because He is the origin of all truth.
4 – The decree of the Holy Office of 20 December 1949 condemning the ecuмenical movement also recalls this: This unity cannot be achieved except in the recognition of Catholic truth.
5 – Saint Augustine, In Joannis Evangelium tractatus, 51, 8: Christ’s obedience is not a diminution of His divinity, but an expression of His perfect union with the Father, for the will of the Son is one with that of the Father.
6 – Pius VI, Brief Super Soliditate of 28 November 1786 condemning Febronianism. This doctrine fits into the context of the Enlightenment and the tensions between the temporal power of states and the authority of the Catholic Church, promoting a vision that limited the primacy of the Pope and strengthened the autonomy of national Churches and local bishops. Febronius (the pseudonym of Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, Bishop of Trier) argued that the authority of the Pope was not absolute, but derived from the universal Church, understood as the community of the faithful and bishops. Febronianism also influenced the Council of Pistoia (1786), in which there appeared heretical demands that are substantially identical to those that would re-appear in Vatican II.
7 – Cfr. https://chiesaepostconcilio.blogspot.com/2025/09/papa-leone-parla-con-elise-ann-allen-di.html
8 – Cfr. https://youtube.com/watch?v=IkPJn2L9BBs&si=oGcPhGwR5nxQ6jva

TO KNOW THE FAITH, YOU MUST KNOW THE RULE

The Rule of Faith was given to the Church in the very act of Revelation and its promulgation by the Apostles. But for this Rule to have an actual and permanently efficient character, it must be continually promulgated and enforced by the living Apostolate, which must exact from all members of the Church a docile Faith in the truths of Revelation authoritatively proposed, and thus unite the whole body of the Church, teachers and taught, in perfect unity of Faith. Hence the original promulgation is the remote Rule of Faith, and the continuous promulgation by the Teaching Body, (i.e.: DOGMA) is the proximate Rule.

Rev. Scheeben’s Manual of Catholic Theology

“O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties of words, and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called. Which some promising, have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.” St. Paul, letter to his disciple, Bishop St. Timothy (1 Timothy 6:20-21)

... We wish to make our own the important words employed by the Council; those words which define its spirit, and, in a dynamical synthesis, form the spirit of all those who refer to it, be they within or without the Church. The word “NOVELTY”, simple, very dear to today’s men, is much utilized; it is theirs... That word... it was given to us as an order, as a program... It comes to us directly from the pages of the Holy Scripture: “For, behold (says the Lord), I create new heavens and a new earth”. St. Paul echoes these words of the prophet Isaiah (II Corinthians 5, 17); then, the Apocalypse: “I am making everything new” (II Corinthians 21, 5). And Jesus, our Master, was not He, himself, an innovator? “You have heard that people were told in the past ... but now I tell you...” (Matthew 5) – Repeated in the “Sermon on the Mount”.

It is precisely thus that the Council has come to us. Two terms characterize it: “RENOVATION” and “REVISION”. We are particularly keen that this “spirit of renovation” – according to the expression of the Council – be understood and experienced by everyone. It responds to the characteristic of our time, wholly engaged in an enormous and rapid transformation, and generating novelties in every sector of modern life. In fact, one cannot shy away from this spontaneous reflection: if the whole world is changing, will not religion change as well? Between the reality of life and Christianity, Catholicism especially, is not there reciprocal disagreement, indifference, misunderstanding, and hostility? The former is leaping forward; the latter would not move. How could they go along? How could Christianity claim to have, today, any influence upon life?

And it is for this reason that the Church has undertaken some reforms, especially after the Council. The Episcopate is about to promote the “renovation” that corresponds to our present needs; Religious Orders are reforming their Statutes; Catholic laity is qualified and found its role within the life of the Church; Liturgy is proceeding with a reform in which anyone knows the extension and importance; Christian education reviews the methods of its pedagogy; all the canonical legislations are about to be revised. And how many other consoling and promising novelties we shall see appearing in the Church! They attest to Her new vitality, which shows that the Holy Spirit animates Her continually, even in these years so crucial to religion. The development of ecumenism, guided by Faith and Charity, itself says what progress, almost unforeseeable, has been achieved during the course and life of the Church. The Church looks at the future with Her heart brimming with hope, brimming with fresh expectation in love... We can say... of the Council: It marks the onset of a new era, of which no one can deny the new aspects that We have indicated to you.

Pope Paul VI, General Audience of July 2, 1969

And Then, Only Three Years Later:

Through some cracks the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God: there is doubt, uncertainty, problematic, anxiety, confrontation. One does not trust the Church anymore; one trusts the first prophet that comes to talk to us from some newspapers or some social movement, and then rush after him and ask him if he held the formula of real life. And we fail to perceive, instead, that we are the masters of life already. Doubt has entered our conscience, and it has entered through windows that were supposed to be opened to the light instead....

Even in the Church this state of uncertainty rules. One thought that after the Council there would come a shiny day for the history of the Church. A cloudy day came instead, a day of tempest, gloom, quest, and uncertainty. We preach ecumenism and drift farther and farther from the others. We attempt to dig abysses instead of filling them.

How has all this come about? We confide to you our thought: there has been the intervention of a hostile power. His name is the Devil; this mysterious being who is alluded to even in the letter of St. Peter. So many times, on the other hand, in the Gospel, on the very lips of Christ, there recurs the mention of this enemy of man. We believe in something supernatural (post-correction: “preternatural”!), coming into the world precisely to disturb, to suffocate anything of the Ecumenical Council, and to prevent that the Church would explode into the hymn of joy for having regained full consciousness of Herself (!!).

Pope Paul VI, June 29, 1972

Pope Leo on LGBTQ: ‘We have to change attitudes before we ever change doctrine’

In this first extended interview he’s just done with Crux Now, Leo XIV has basically said that the Church’s teaching on sexual morality could change.

LifeSiteNews | Sep 18, 2025

Friends, you are not going to believe this.

In this first extended interview he’s just done with Crux Now, Leo XIV has basically said that the Church’s teaching on sexual morality could change. He actually even went there and implied that he could – in his words – “change the Church’s teaching” on women’s ordination.

Take a listen to what he said first on sexual morality. This is what he says after having been talking about LGBT issues for a while:

People want the Church doctrine to change, want attitudes to change. I think we have to change attitudes before we ever change doctrine.

That’s right, he’s strongly implying – well, he’s saying – that Church teaching could shift, if attitudes change first.

Might that be why we’ve had so much LGBT stuff in Rome lately, from Fr. James Martin to the LGBT pilgrimage? Are they trying to get our “attitudes to change”?

And what do you think the so-called “LGBT Catholics” are hearing when they hear Leo saying such a thing? It’s a very clear invitation and instruction: work to change attitudes, then we can change the teaching. Wow.

And rather than stating such changes were impossible, Leo said he thought it was unlikely that it would happen soon:

I find it highly unlikely, certainly in the immediate future, that the Church’s doctrine in terms of what the Church teaches about sexuality, what the Church teaches about marriage [will change].

Later, instead of stating that the Church’s teaching could not change, he merely said that he thought that it would remain the same:

I think that the Church’s teaching will continue as it is, and that’s what I have to say about that for right now.

You think it’s going to continue as it is? Aren’t you supposed to be the Pope – the one responsible for making sure that it continues as it is?

Look friends, this is just stunning. Catholic teaching on sexual morality – including the sinfulness of homosexual acts, as well as fornication, adultery and others – aren’t matters of probabilities or personal conjecture, or contingent and waiting to be changed.

They’re definitive, grounded in both the natural law and divine revelation – and so they’re incapable of being changed.

Reason alone tells us that sexual activity outside marriage – and thus, obviously, all sexual activity between two same sex couples – is contrary to the natural law.

This is also and separately a dogma – divinely revealed in Scripture and proposed by the universal ordinary magisterium of the Church.

Vatican I taught that such truths which are to be believed with divine and Catholic faith.

Female ordination

Leo also talked about the possibility of the ordination of women to the diaconate in similar terms:

What the synod had spoken about specifically was the ordination, perhaps, of women deacons, which has been a question that’s been studied for many years now. There’ve been different commissions appointed by different popes to say, what can we do about this? I think that will continue to be an issue.

Ok, so in the early Church, there was indeed an office of “deaconess” – but everyone knows that these women were not ordained to any sacramental holy order of the diaconate.

But Leo calls even this into question by equating the female diaconate with that of the permanent diaconate established after the Second Vatican Council. He gives a long anecdote about meeting deacons and their wives in Rome before concluding:

[T]here are parts of the world that never really promoted the permanent deaconate, and that itself became a question: Why would we talk about ordaining women to the diaconate if the diaconate itself is not yet properly understood and properly developed and promoted within the church?

He also expressed his willingness for study and debate on the matter to continue, saying he was “certainly willing to continue to listen to people,” and pointing to the study groups in Rome on the subject. “We’ll walk with that and see what comes,” he said.

But do you know what’s even more shocking? Leo said this:

I at the moment don’t have an intention of changing the teaching of the Church on the topic.

Friends, if you say a thing like that, it’s clear what you think. You’re saying you do have the power to “change the teaching of the Church.”

The immutability of dogma

But the teaching of the Church says that this isn’t possible. Can that be changed too?

Vatican I denied that the Pope could change the Church’s teaching or introduce new dogmas. It taught:

For the holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine.

It goes on to say that the purpose of the papacy is to safeguard and preserve the deposit of faith. Not to consider whether the time is right to change it.

Oh, some will say, we’re not talking about changes. This is just a development of dogma.

Come on. That’s what they always say to justify this stuff. And anyway, Leo was pretty clear: he’s the one who was talking about changing Church teaching.

And anyway, that defense is excluded too. There’s a legitimate sense of the development of doctrine, but changing the meanings of dogmas to something totally different isn’t it.

Such an idea has been condemned time and again by the Church.

Pope Pius IX condemned, in the Syllabus of Errors, the idea that divine revelation is “subject to a continual and indefinite progress.”

Vatican I declared that the “meaning of the sacred dogmas is ever to be maintained” and that “there must never be any abandonment of this sense under the pretext or in the name of a more profound understanding.”

That same Council anathematized anyone who says dogma can be assigned “a sense different from that which the Church has understood and understands.”

Pope St Pius X cited all these teachings in his encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis against Modernism.

In his Oath Against Modernism, he also required clergy to profess that dogma is handed down “in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport.”

This oath also states that the idea “that dogmas evolve and change from one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously” is a – get this – “heretical misrepresentation.”

Grave implications

“Heretical” is a big word. But the truth is clear: homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered, marriage is between one man and one woman, and these teachings cannot change.

As I said above, both the Church’s teaching on sexual morality, and the immutability of dogma are the sorts of truths we have to believe with divine and Catholic faith.

The censure attached to the obstinate denial or doubt of such truths is indeed heresy. (Can. 751 of 1983 CIC, Can. 1325 of 1917 CIC)

So, where does that leave us?

The hugely problematic situation of Leo XIV raising hopes for an impossible change in the future.

And claiming the power to change Church teaching, which he certainly does not have.

And… publicly doubting (or even denying) these two sets of truths in a video interview – which, as I said, is heresy.

You know what St. Paul said about those who try to introduce new dogmas, doctrines or Gospels:

If I, or an angel from heaven, preach to you a Gospel different to that which we have preached to you, which you have received: let him be anathema.

COMMENT: The very essence of the Modernist heresy is the denial of immutability of dogma because they deny that dogma is divine revelation of an immutabile truth from an immutable God. The Modernist believe that dogma is not a truth revealed by God but rather a human expression of the subjective religious sentiment and therefore dogma must change over time as the human sentiment changes. Leo the Heretic professes that the "attitudes" of Catholics will change only gradually. therefore, when there is a sufficient number expressing the new attitude then the dogmas will change to express the new religious attitude. It is absolutely impossible to hold this belief and be a faithful Catholic at the same time. Leo is just another Bergoglian who will bring ruin to himself and others.

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Pope Leo is now the CEO of the same HomoLobby his predecessor chaired! It is impossible to be a defender of homosexuality and a Catholic at the same time.

Bishop Schneider: Vatican ‘LGBTQ pilgrimage’ an ‘abomination,’ Pope Leo must make ‘public reparation’

Pope Leo must ‘urgently’ make reparation after the Vatican endorsed an LGBT Jubilee ‘pilgrimage’ and allowed unrepentant homosexuals to pass the Holy Doors at St. Peter’s, Bishop Schneider said.

LifeSiteNews | Sept 10, 2025— Bishop Athanasius Schneider expressed “horror” at the Vatican’s endorsement of the “LGBTQ Jubilee pilgrimage,” rebuking priests who support homosexuality as “spiritual criminals” and “murderers of souls.”

“My reaction was a silent cry of horror, indignation, and sorrow,” the auxiliary of Astana, Kazakhstan, said regarding the Vatican’s approval of an LGBT-themed “pilgrimage” on its Jubilee website, in an interview with Diane Montagna, a journalist in Rome.

Montagna had highlighted the fact that photos captured an array of rainbow paraphernalia in St. Peter’s Basilica, as well homosexual male couple “brazenly holding hands there, one with a backpack saying F*** the Rules,” at the conclusion of their “pilgrimage.”

What took place there could be described as an “abomination of desolation standing in the holy place,” in the words of Christ (cf. Mt. 24:15), said Bishop Schneider.

He pointed out that the embrace of homosexuality by these “pilgrims” contradicted one of the very key meanings of the Jubilee Year and the Holy Door: “Leading man to conversion and penance,” as Pope John Paul II explained in the Bull of Indiction of the Holy Year 2000. 

“There were no signs of repentance and renunciation of objectively grave homosexual sins … on the part of the organizers and participants in this pilgrimage,” noted Schneider. “To pass through the Holy Door and participate in the Jubilee without repentance, while promoting an ideology that openly rejects God’s Sixth Commandment, constitutes a kind of desecration of the Holy Door and a mockery of God and the gift of an indulgence.”

The bishop had strong words for the Vatican authorities who “collaborated de facto” in this open rejection of God’s commandment, expressed aptly in the “f*** the rules” message. 

“They stood by and allowed God to be mocked and His commandments to be scornfully cast aside,” said Schneider.

When asked to compare it to the Pachamama scandal, he noted that while direct transgression of the First Commandment is even more grave, the endorsement of sodomy – a sin that cries to Heaven for vengeance – “amounts to a form of indirect idolatry.”

“Both events must be publicly repaired by the Pope himself. This is urgently needed, before it is too late, for God will not be mocked,” said the bishop.

Bishop Francesco Savino, vice president of the Italian Bishops Conference, welcomed “everyone” to receive Holy Communion at a Mass for the “pilgrims,” Montagna then pointed out. Schneider affirmed that assent to “all of the Church’s teaching” is a precondition for receiving Christ in the Eucharist, as was expressed by St. Paul: “Anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. (1 Cor. 11:29). 

He added that this has been clearly stated by the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Anyone aware of having sinned mortally must not receive Communion without having received absolution in the sacrament of penance” (n.1415).

Furthermore, it notes, “Sacred Scripture ‘presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, [and] tradition has always declared that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.… Under no circumstances can they be approved’ (n. 2357).”

Thus, by granting these LGBT groups passage through the Holy Door and approving their “pilgrimage,” Vatican authorities in effect rejected “the very doctrine they are bound to uphold.”

Schneider said his message for participants in the LGBT “pilgrimage” is one of compassion, and he called for all Christians to show compassion towards not just those living homosexual lifestyles, but those who support its legitimization and “persist in it unrepentant and even proudly.”

“For when a person consciously rejects God’s explicit commandment prohibiting any sexual activity outside a valid marriage, he places himself in the gravest danger – that of losing eternal life and being eternally condemned to Hell,” said the prelate.

“True love for such persons consists in calling them, gently yet persistently, to genuine conversion to God’s revealed will,” he continued, adding that such people are “ultimately unhappy” even when they have suppressed their conscience.

“We must be filled with great zeal to save these souls, to free them from poisonous deceits. Those priests who confirm them in their homosexual activity or in a homosexual lifestyle are spiritual criminals, murderers of souls, and God will demand a strict account from them,” Schneider declared.

To those who defend Pope Leo XIV amid the Vatican’s approval of the LGBT scandalous “pilgrimage” because he did not receive a delegation from them or send them a message, Schneider said that “one cannot reasonably presume naivety on his part,” because it was “entirely foreseeable” that an LGBT activist group would take advantage of the Holy Door to promote their sinful lifestyle.

Furthermore, by meeting with Father James Martin, S.J., a heretical pro-LGBT priest, as well as pro-homosexual “marriage” Sister Lucia Caram, Pope Leo XIV has expressed that he is not opposed to their “heterodox and scandalous teaching and behavior – particularly since the Holy See offered no clarification afterward and did not correct Fr. James Martin’s triumphant messages circulated on social media,” noted Schneider.

He pointed out that in doing so, Pope Leo XIV broke with the precedent of all popes before Francis, who “neither received officially nor posed for photographs with those who, by word or deed, openly rejected the doctrinal and moral teaching of the Church.”

“There is a common saying that goes: ‘Qui tacet consentire videtur’ – ’He who is silent is taken to agree,’” Schneider added.

The prelate called upon all Catholics to “make a collective act of reparation for the outrage committed against the sanctity of God’s house and the holiness of His commandments,” and implored Pope Leo XIV to follow in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II, who Montagna noted had denounced the first “World Pride” event in Rome during the Great Jubilee of 2000.

“Should Pope Leo XIV make public acts of regret and even reparation, he will lose nothing; should he fail to do so, he will forfeit something before the eyes of God – and God alone matters,” said Schneider. 

“May Our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV take to heart the following words of Our Lord which He once spoke through St. Bridget of Sweden to one of his predecessors (Pope Gregory XI)”: 

Uproot, pluck out and destroy all the vices of your court! Separate yourself from the counsel of carnal-minded and worldly friends and follow humbly the spiritual counsel of My friends. Get up like a man and clothe yourself confidently in strength! Start to reform the Church that I purchased with My Own Blood in order that it may be reformed and led back spiritually to its pristine state of holiness, for nowadays more veneration is shown to a brothel than to My Holy Church. My son, heed My counsel. If you obey Me in what I told you, I will welcome you mercifully like a loving father. Bravely approach the way of justice and you shall prosper. Do not despise the One Who loves you. If you obey, I will show you mercy and bless and dress you and adorn you with the precious pontifical regalia of a holy pope. I shall clothe you with Myself in such a way that you will be in Me and I in you, and you shall be glorified in eternity (The Book of Revelations, Book IV, chap. 149).

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Argumentum ex concessis

Notes in the Margin of an Article by Abbé Claude Barthe

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die;
but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live.

Rom 8: 13

The essay by Abbé Claude Barthe’s, recently published in an Italian translation at Aldo Maria Valli’s blog Duc in altum [1], deserves some attention. What is most interesting in it is not so much his assessment of the newly elected Leo XIV, nor the pragmatic realism with which he recognizes Prevost’s continuity with his predecessor or calls for a loosening of restrictions on the traditional liturgy.

Abbé Barthe writes:

There is a paradox, even a risk, for those who invoke freedom for the traditional liturgy and catechism: that of being granted a sort of “authorization” for liturgical and doctrinal Catholicism. We have already cited as an example the paradoxical situation that arose in the 19th-century French political system, when the most staunch supporters of the monarchical Restoration, enemies in principle of the modern freedoms introduced by the Revolution, continually fought to be granted a space for life and expression, freedom of the press, and freedom of teaching. All things being equal, in the ecclesiastical system of the 21st century, at least in the immediate future, a relaxation of the ideological despotism of the Reformation could be beneficial. But while it may be advantageous in the short and medium term, it could ultimately prove radically unsatisfactory.

What I believe should be highlighted is the not-so-veiled warning that Abbé Barthe addresses to those who resort to the adversary’s arguments to gain legitimacy in the ecclesial world, applying the argumentum ex concessis [2]. In this case, “those who invoke freedom for the traditional liturgy and catechism” – and who condemn Bergoglian synodality – appeal to that same synodality so that the “Summorum Pontificum communities” may be recognized as one among the many expressions of the composite ecclesial polyhedron.

Abbé Barthe’s denunciation reveals not a paradox, but the paradox, the contradiction that fundamentally undermines any claim to orthodoxy on the part of self-styled conservatives: the acceptance of the revolutionary principles of the so-called “synodal church” as the (incomplete, moreover) counterpart to being tolerated by it. In reality, this exchange is far from equal. The “synodal church” merely applies to conservatives the same legitimacy of existence it grants to any other “movement” or “charisma” present in the multifaceted ecclesial fabric, but it carefully avoids acknowledging that their demands might go beyond a mere aesthetic and ceremonial concession. The unwritten contract between conservatives and the post-Bergoglian Hierarchy stipulates that the “liturgical preferences” of a group of clerics and faithful can be tolerated if and only if they refrain from highlighting the heterogeneity, incompatibility, and alienation between the ecclesiology and the entire doctrinal framework underlying the Vetus Ordo and those expressed in the reformed Montinian rite.

Abbé Barthe does not ignore the critical issues: referring to Leo XIV’s Electors, he calls them “all of the conciliar menagerie,” demonstrating a certain courage, especially considering his public role and his dependence on those Prelates. Nor does he ignore the deception embraced by those who exploit religious liberty to invoke for themselves a tolerance that is not denied even to the worshippers of Amazonian idols.

The deception is twofold: not only because of the paradox that Abbé Barthe has rightly highlighted; but also and above all because of a much worse trap, consisting of accepting at least implicitly the forced, unnatural, and impossible separation between the ceremonial form of the rite and its doctrinal substance.

This is an operation of de-signification of the Liturgy, which consists in being recognized with the right to celebrate in the Tridentine Rite on the condition that the celebrant does not also accept the doctrinal and moral implications of that rite. But if that “Summorum priest” accepts this principle, he must also accept its inverse application. Indeed, the moment one admits that the Liturgy can be celebrated without regard for the traditional doctrine it expresses – a doctrine the “synodal church” does not recognize and considers to be other than itself – one ends up accepting that even the reformed liturgy can ignore the errors and heresies it insinuates, errors which no Catholic worthy of the name can absolutely ratify. In doing so, however, one plays into the hands of the adversary, under the illusion of being more cunning than the devil. It all comes down to a question of dress and choreography, of aesthetics and sentiment that satisfies or does not satisfy personal taste, as Cardinal Burke’s recent words confirmed: “You don’t take something so rich in beauty and begin to strip away the beautiful elements without having a negative effect.” [3] Nothing could be more alien to the mindset of the Roman Liturgy, according to which the beauty of ceremonies is such because it is a necessary expression of the Truth it teaches and the Good it practices.

The “synodal church” includes conservatives in its coveted pantheon not only because it gives them what they want – solemn pontifical liturgies celebrated by influential prelates, without doctrinal implications – but also because none of the Holy See’s interlocutors has the slightest intention of demanding more; and even if someone were to dare ask for more, the gatekeeper on duty – literally, the ostiarius –would promptly intervene, calling for “prudence” and “moderation,” more concerned with preserving his own prestige than with the fate of the Catholic resistance. This is accompanied by the “Zip it” [4] policy advocated by Trad Inc. [5], according to which the possible concessions the moderates hope to obtain from Leo suggest they should not criticize him openly so as not to alienate him.

The path of being persecuted, ostracized, and excommunicated do not seem to be among the options for my brothers: it seems they are already resigned to a fate of tolerance, in which they can neither be truly Catholic nor fully synodal; neither friends of those who fight the enemy infiltrated into the Church, nor of those who seek to replace her with a human surrogate of Masonic inspiration. The Lord will hold these lukewarm priests accountable with greater severity than He will many poor parish priests who have other, more pressing pastoral priorities. Let us hope that Abbé Barthe’s warning does not fall on deaf ears, for the hour of battle approaches, and to be found defenseless and unprepared, in these circumstances, would be irresponsible.

And it is precisely in times of persecution that we must rediscover the relevance and validity of the words of Saint Vincent of Lérins:

In ipsa item catholica ecclesia magnopere curandum est ut id teneamus quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus creditum est; hoc est etenim vere proprieque catholicum. [6]

If anything does not meet these three criteria – semper, ubique, et ab omnibus – it must be rejected as heretical. This norm protects us from the errors spread by false pastors, in the serene certainty of acting in accordance with Tradition and thus being able to compensate, due to the present state of emergency, for the absence of ecclesiastical authority.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop

3 September MMXXV

S.cti Pii X Papæ, Conf.

FOOTNOTES

1 – Abbé Claude Barthe, Leone, il pompiere nella Chiesa divorata dal fuoco della divisione. Ma quale unità ricerca?, published at Duc in Altum on August 9, 2025 – https://www.aldomariavalli.it/2025/08/09/analisi-leone-il-pompiere-nella-chiesa-divorata-dal-fuoco-della-divisione-ma-quale-unita-ricerca/ – English translation: https://www.resnovae.fr/the-pontificate-of-leo-xiv-a-transitional-stage/

2 – Argumentum ex concessis is a rhetorical and logical technique in which an interlocutor uses the premises, arguments, or claims accepted by an opponent to construct their own argument, often to refute them or demonstrate the inconsistency of their position. This strategy is based on the idea of temporarily accepting the opponent’s claims (the “concessions”) and using them to draw conclusions that either challenge them or support their own thesis.

3 – Cfr. https://x.com/mljhaynes/status/1954919906492747838

4 – Cfr. https://www.radiospada.org/2025/09/leone-xiv-lipotesi-zip-e-la-contropartita-per-i-conservatori-una-strategia-gia-tentata-e-che-lascia-perplessi-in-7-punti/

5 – “Trad Inc.” is the American expression which refers to conservative believers and blogs organized like companies, which operate according to market logic and are dependent on their shareholders.

6 – Commonitorium, 2. “In this same Catholic Church, we must take the greatest care to maintain what has always been believed, everywhere and by all; this is in fact truly and properly Catholic.”

COMMENT: It is encouraging for us who have refused the compromises of faith that conservative Catholics have made in return for their privileged Indult to have a man of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò's stature agree and defend what we have been doing at Ss. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Mission for the last 25 years. We hope and pray that he may have a greater influence on other resistance bishops and priests.

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The proper understanding of this dogma from the Council of Trent:

Canon 4 on the sacraments in general: If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous, and that without them or without the desire of them men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification, though all are not necessary for each one, let him be anathema.

The Dogma defines two revealed doctrinal truths:

3. If anyone says: that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous, let him be anathema.

4. If anyone says: that without the sacraments or (if anyone says) without the desire of the sacraments men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification, let him be anathema.

Both the Sacrament of Baptism and the will to receive the Sacrament are necessary for salvation!

“But God desired that his confession should avail for his salvation, since he preserved him in this life until the time of his holy regeneration.” St. Fulgentius

“If anyone is not baptized, not only in ignorance, but even knowingly, he can in no way be saved. For his path to salvation was through the confession, and salvation itself was in baptism. At his age, not only was confession without baptism of no avail: Baptism itself would be of no avail for salvation if he neither believed nor confessed.” St. Fulgentius

Notice, both the CONFESSION AND THE BAPTISM are necessary for salvation, harkening back to Trent's teaching that both the laver AND the “votum” are required for justification, and harkening back to Our Lord's teaching that we must be born again of water AND the Holy Spirit.

In fact, you see the language of St. Fulgentius reflected in the Council of Trent.  Trent describes the votum (so-called “desire”) as the PATH TO SALVATION, the disposition to Baptism, and then says that “JUSTIFICATION ITSELF” (St. Fulgentius says “SALVATION ITSELF”) follows the dispositions in the Sacrament of Baptism.

Yet another solid argument for why Trent is teaching that BOTH the votum AND the Sacrament are required for justification.

“Hold most firmly and never doubt in the least that not only all pagans but also all Jews and all heretics and schismatics who end this present life outside the Catholic Church are about to go into the eternal fire that was prepared for the Devil and his angels.” St. Fulgentius

“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the ‘eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels.’” St. Eugene IV, Cantate Domino

Ladislaus, CathInfo

John Cardinal Newman, another Novus Ordo "saint" soon to be declared a "Doctor" of the Novus Ordo Church, comments following the dogmatic declaration of papal infallibility.

“But we must hope, for one is obliged to hope it, that the Pope (Pius IX) will be driven from Rome, and will not continue the Council (Vatican I), or that there will be another Pope. It is sad he should force us to such wishes.”

John H. Newman, Letter to his companion, Fr. Ambrose St. John, 22 August, 1870

“We have come to a climax of tyranny. It is not good for a Pope to live 20 years. It is anomaly and bears no good fruit; he becomes a god, has no one to contradict him, does not know facts, and does cruel things without meaning it.”

John H. Newman, The Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman, v. XXVI by Charles Stephen Dessain

"This (Divine) law, as apprehended in the minds of individual men, is called "conscience;" and though it may suffer refraction in passing into the intellectual medium of each, it is not therefore so affected as to lose its character of being the Divine Law, but still has, as such, the prerogative of commanding obedience."

John Henry Cardinal Newman

"It seems, then, that there are extreme cases in which Conscience may come into collision with the word of a Pope, and is to be followed in spite of that word."

John Henry Cardinal Newman

COMMENT: Pope Gregory XVI said, "This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone." Conscience is not the Divine Law. St. Thomas says that, "Conscience is nothing else than the application of knowledge to some action." He is referring to the knowledge of the Law of God. The Law of God, whether the eternal law or the positive revealed law of God, is the objective criteria by which the conscience is obligated to use as the standard by which any judgment regarding the moral goodness or evil of any particular act is made. All men are obligated to obey their conscience because they are obligated to apprehend the objective Divine Law as the proper criteria. They are not free to invent their personal subjective criteria in determining what is the right or the wrong thing to do. Liberalism claims the exact opposite. It is a fundamental axiom of liberalism that the conscience is free to establish its own moral criteria. This has been condemned by popes Gregory XVI, PiusIX and Pius X. John Henry Cardinal Newman can be identified as the "Spirit of Vatican II."

Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity

The woman saith to him: Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers adored on this mountain, and you say, that at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore. Jesus saith to her: Woman, believe me, that the hour cometh, when you shall neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, adore the Father. You adore that which you know not: we adore that which we know; for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore him. God is a spirit; and they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth.

John 4:19-24

Novus Ordo Doctrine: Moslems and Novus Ordo Catholics Worship the same God!

CCC 841, quoting the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium 16, from Vatican II, declared:

"The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day."

CCC 841 also references Vatican II’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate, 3, that makes the teaching of the Council perhaps even clearer:

"The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even his inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God."

Catholic Church Doctrine: Catholics and Moslems DO NOT worship the same God.

“Now the Samaritans had a false idea of God in two ways. First of all, because they thought He was corporeal, so that they believed that He should be adored in only one definite corporeal place. Further, because they did not believe that He transcended all things, but was equal to certain creatures, they adored along with Him certain idols, as if they were equal to Him. Consequently, they did not know Him, because they did not attain to a true knowledge of Him. So the Lord says, you adore that which you do not know [John 4:22], that is, you do not adore God because you do not know Him, but rather your imagination, by which you apprehend something as God, just as the Gentiles also walk in the foolishness of their mind (Eph 4:17).” St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary On John 4:22

“How then did the Samaritans know not what they worshipped? Because they thought that God was local and partial; so at least they served Him, and so they sent to the Persians, and reported that the God of this place is angry with us [2 Kings 26], in this respect forming no higher opinion of Him than of their idols. Wherefore they continued to serve both Him and devils, joining things which ought not to be joined.” St. John Chrysostom, Homily 33 On The Gospel of John

COMMENT: When Jesus said to the Samaritan Woman, " You adore that which you know not," He is not saying that they adore the One True God that they are ignorant of. He is saying, that in their ignorance they do not know who they are adoring meaning that they are adoring in ignorance a devil, for "all the gods of the gentiles are devils" (Psalm 95:5). Jesus then says, that "true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth..... they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth." To adore in "spirit" means that to adore God you must be baptized and made sons of God for as Jesus said: "Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit" (John 3:5-7). And to adore in "truth" means who must believe what has been revealed by God. Without the true faith it is "impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6). As such, right knowledge of God is essential to true worship. This is the great sin of Modernism and Neo-modernism: They make a right knowledge of God impossible!

Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity

Catholic Faith:

Physical substances come into being through the union of substantial form and primary matter. The Soul is the Substantial Form of the Human Body; it is immortal and will be judged after the death of the person and directed to Heaven or Hell for all eternity awaiting to be joined again to its Body at the Resurrection of the Dead for the Last Judgment.

“In order that all may know the truth of the faith in its purity and all error may be excluded, we define that anyone who presumes henceforth to assert defend or hold stubbornly that the rational or intellectual soul is not the form of the human body of itself and essentially, is to be considered a heretic.”

Council of Vienne

Neo-Modernists Ideology: [Ratzinger quotes provided by James Larson, War Against Being]

“The medieval concept of substance has long since become inaccessible to us.”

Rev. Joseph Ratzinger, Faith and the Future

“The proper Christian thing, therefore, is to speak, not of the soul’s immortality, but of the resurrection of the complete human being [at the Final Judgment] and of that alone… The idea that to speak of the soul is unbiblical was accepted to such an extent that even the new Roman Missal (i.e.: the Novus Ordo) suppressed the term anima in its liturgy for the dead. It also disappeared from the ritual for burial.”

Rev. Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life

“‘The soul’ is our term for that in us which offers a foothold for this relation [with the eternal]. Soul is nothing other than man’s capacity for relatedness with truth, with love eternal.”

Rev. Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life

“The challenge to traditional theology today lies in the negation of an autonomous, ‘substantial’ soul with a built-in immortality in favor of that positive view which regards God’s decision and activity as the real foundation of a continuing human existence.”

Rev. Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life

And those who have denied the reality of substantial being are those who are responsible for the “dictatorship of relativism.”

“Every day new sects are created and what Saint Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw those into error (Eph 4, 14). Having a clear faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labelled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and ‘swept along by every wind of teaching,’ looks like the only attitude (acceptable) to today’s standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognise anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one’s own ego and one’s own desires.”

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Homily of the Dean of the College of Cardinals, 2005

Sacrament of Baptism: Significance of the Baptismal Character and why it is absolutely necessary for salvation. Explains why St. Ambrose said regarding catechumens who die before receiving the sacrament of Baptism, they are “forgiven but not crowned”.

To be baptized is to become one with the Church, and one with Christ. Thus the ritual can say: “enter into the temple of God, that you may have part with Christ, unto life everlasting.” The two ideas are correlative: to be baptized into the Church and to be baptized into Christ; they are the visible and invisible aspects of the same real effect. [….]

The effecting this incorporation into Christ, Baptism marks the soul as permanently His; it stamps upon the soul a spiritual “character”, or, as antiquity more commonly called it, a “seal”. For this reason, and putting the cause for the effect, the rite of Baptism was itself called “the seal”, or “the seal of faith”, or “the seal of water”, or “the seal of the Trinity” (which last appellation endures still in the liturgical prayers for the dying, wherein God is asked to remember His promises to the soul that in its lifetime was “stamped with the seal of the Most Holy Trinity”).

The word “seal” derives from a group of texts in St. Paul, which suggest this stamping of the soul at Baptism: “And in Him (Christ), you too, when you had heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, and believed in it, were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise” (Eph. 1:13); “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in Whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). However, nowadays we are accustomed to speak rather of the baptismal “character”, a term that suggests the text wherein Christ is called “the brightness of His (the Father’s) glory and the image (in Greek, character) of His substance” (Hebr. 1:3).

Basically, two words give the same meaning: a seal imprints an image, and a “character”, in the original sense of the word, means image. Baptism, therefore, stamps the soul with the image of Christ, Who is Himself the image of the Father. And in the Scripture, this stamping is attributed to the Holy Spirit, Who is the Spirit of Christ. The fact that we are stamped with such a character is clearly defined by the Council of Trent:

“If anyone says that by the three Sacraments, to wit, Baptism, Confirmation and Orders, there is not imprinted in the soul a Character, that is a certain spiritual and indelible sign on account of which they cannot be repeated; let him be anathem.” (Denz. 852).

The Council of Trent teaches that this seal, once stamped on the soul, is indelible. Just as Baptism irrevocable makes one a member of the Church, so also it irrevocably makes one a member of Christ. Not the gravest sin, nor even final impenitence and self-condemnation to eternal separation from Christ in Hell, can avail to erase this baptismal seal. And the indelibility of the seal is the immediate reason why Baptism can never be repeated, once it has been validly received. [….]

The sense in which Baptism stamps us with the image of Christ is suggested in the rite itself, by the anointing which follows the ablution. It is done with Sacred Chrism, a mixed unguent of oil and balm, specially consecrated by the bishop on Holy Thursday. Kings and priests in antiquity (and even today) were anointed with chrism in token of their royal and priestly dignity. And the baptism anointing signifies, therefore, that the new Christian has entered into the “royal priesthood” of the Christian people, and shares in the royal Priesthood of Christ Himself. He bears the image of Christ, inasmuch as Christ was the Priest of all humanity, Who offered Himself in sacrifice on the Cross.

The baptismal seal or character, therefore, endows the Christian with a priestly function, and a priestly power. It is not that special power and function given by the Sacrament of Holy Orders to certain selected members of the Church, who are made her official ministers, and authorized to offer her sacrifice and dispense her Sacraments. But it is the priestly function and power which is common to all the members of the Body of Christ. As He was born as Priest, His whole life orientated toward the Passion and Death which was His priestly Sacrifice, so too, they are priests from their birth into the Christian life at Baptism; and their lives are essentially orientated toward sacrifice, in a double sense.

First of all, they receive a function and a power with respect to the ritual Sacrifice of the Church, which is the Mass. [….] They are empowered to assist actively in the offering of the Mass, as members of the Church, in whose name her specially qualified members, priests and bishops, offer the Mass, which is the sacrifice of the whole Church through her official ministers. In union with the Priest, the Christian offers up Christ as a Victim Who belongs to him and to Whom he belongs. An unbaptized person cannot do this….

Secondly, the baptismal character consecrates the Christian to sacrifice in a wider sense: it gives him the function, the duty, the power to lead a life of sacrifice, since He is in the image of Christ whose life was one long sacrifice – a life of complete obedience to the will of His Father: “I seek not My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me” (Jn. 3:50).The will of the Father is the supreme law of the Christian’s life; it is all embracing and all pervasive; and constant and total obedience to it necessarily gives a sacrificial quality to the whole of life, since it demands the renunciation of many ideas, and a steady refusal to be led by one’s own emotions or to seek one’s own pleasure and profit – in a word, it demands the sacrifice of selfishness in all its forms. St. Peter, therefore, was thinking of Baptism when he wrote:

“Lay aside therefore all malice and all deceit, and pretense, and envy, and all slander…. Be you yourselves as living stones, built thereon (i.e., on Christ) into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:1,5).

Rev. John J. Fernan, S.J., Theology, Christ Our High Priest, Baptismal Seal

Pius XII - the man responsible for planting the seed of liturgical destruction!

Fr. Annibale Bugnini had been making clandestine visits to the Centre de Pastorale Liturgique (CPL), a progressivist conference centre for liturgical reform which organized national weeks for priests.
Inaugurated in Paris in 1943 on the private initiative of two Dominican priests under the presidency of Fr. Lambert Beauduin, it was a magnet for all who considered themselves in the vanguard of the Liturgical Movement. It would play host to some of the most famous names who influenced the direction of Vatican II: Frs. Beauduin, Guardini, Congar, Chenu, Daniélou, Gy, von Balthasar, de Lubac, Boyer, Gelineau etc.

It could, therefore, be considered as the confluence of all the forces of Progressivism, which saved and re-established Modernism condemned by Pope Pius X in Pascendi.
According to its co-founder and director, Fr. Pie Duployé, OP, Bugnini had requested a “discreet” invitation to attend a CPL study week held near Chartres in September 1946.

Much more was involved here than the issue of secrecy. The person whose heart beat as one with the interests of the reformers would return to Rome to be placed by an unsuspecting (?) Pope (Pius XII) in charge of his Commission for the General Reform of the Liturgy.
But someone in the Roman Curia did know about the CPL – Msgr. Giovanni Battista Montini, the acting Secretary of State and future Paul VI – who sent a telegram to the CPL dated January 3, 1947. It purported to come from the Pope with an apostolic blessing. If, in Bugnini’s estimation, the Roman authorities were to be kept in the dark about the CPL so as not to compromise its activities, a mystery remains. Was the telegram issued under false pretences, or did Pius XII really know and approve of the CPL? [.....]

This agenda (for liturgical reform) was set out as early as 1949 in the Ephemerides Liturgicae, a leading Roman review on liturgical studies of which Fr. Annabale Bugnini was Editor from 1944 to 1965.
First, Bugnini denigrated the traditional liturgy as a dilapidated building (“un vecchio edificio”), which should be condemned because it was in danger of falling to pieces (“sgretolarsi”) and, therefore, beyond repair. Then, he criticized it for its alleged “deficiencies, incongruities and difficulties,” which rendered it spiritually “sterile” and would prevent it appealing to modern sensibilities.
It is difficult to understand how, in the same year that he published this anti-Catholic diatribe, he was made a Professor of Liturgy in Rome’s Propaganda Fide (Propagation of the Faith) University. His solution was to return to the simplicity of early Christian liturgies and jettison all subsequent developments, especially traditional devotions.
These ideas expressed in 1949 would form the foundational principles of Vatican II’s Sacrosanctum Concilium. For all practical purposes, the Roman Rite was dead in the water many years before it was officially buried by Paul VI.

Dr. Carol Byrne, How Bugnini Grew Up under Pius XII

Wisdom is only possible for those who hold DOGMA as the Rule of Faith!

Besides, every dogma of faith is to the Catholic cultivated mind not only a new increase of knowledge, but also an incontrovertible principle from which it is able to draw conclusions and derive other truths. They present an endless field for investigation so that the beloved Apostle St. John could write at the end of his Gospel, without fear of exaggeration: “But there are also many other things which Jesus did: which if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written.”

The Catholic Church, by enforcing firm belief in her dogmas—which are not her inventions, but were given by Jesus Christ—places them as a bar before the human mind to prevent it from going astray and to attach it to the truth; but it does not prevent the mind from exercising its functions when it has secured the treasure of divine truth, and a “scribe thus instructed in the kingdom of heaven is truly like a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old.” He may bring forth new illustrations, new arguments and proofs; he may show now applications of the same truths, according to times and circumstances; he may show new links which connect the mysteries of religion with each other or with the natural sciences as there can be no discord between the true faith and true science; God, being the author of both, cannot contradict Himself and teach something by revelation as true which He teaches by the true light of reason as false. In all these cases the householder “brings forth from his treasure new things and old.” They are new inasmuch as they are the result of new investigations; and old because they are contained in the old articles of faith and doctrine as legitimate deductions from their old principles.

Fr. Joseph Prachensky, S.J., The Church of Parables and True Spouse of the Suffering Saviour, on the Parable of the Scribe

Baptism imprints in your soul a spiritual character, which no sin can efface. This character is a proof that from this time you do not belong to yourself, but that you are the property of Jesus Christ, who has purchased you by the infinite price of his blood and of his death. You are not of yourself, but you are of Christ; wherefore, St. Paul concludes, “that the Christian should no longer live for himself, but for Him who died and rose again for him;” that is to say, that the Christian should live a life of grace, and that he should consecrate to his Redeemer his spirit, his heart, and all his actions. […..]

First, is true penance; for, as the holy Council of Trent teaches, penance is no less necessary for those who have sinned after Baptism, than Baptism is necessary for those who have not received it. The Holy Scripture informs us, that there are two gates by which we are to enter into heaven—baptismal innocence, and penance. When a Christian has shut against himself the gate of innocence, in violating the holy promises of Baptism, it is necessary that he should strive to enter by that of penance; otherwise there is no salvation for him. On this account, Jesus Christ, speaking of persons who have lost innocence, says to them: “Unless you do penance, you shall all perish.”

But in order that penance may prevent us from perishing—it must be true Penance. Confessors may be deceived by the false appearance of conversion, and it is too often the case; but God is never deceived. If, therefore, those who receive absolution are not truly penitent and worthy of pardon, their sins are not forgiven before God. In order to do true penance, it is not sufficient to confess all our sins and to fulfill what is enjoined on us by the priest. There are two other things which are necessary: First; to renounce sin with all your heart, and for all your life… and second; to fly the occasions of sin, and to use the means to avoid it.

St. John Eudes, Man’s Contract with God in Baptism

Again, in the Office for the feasts of our Lady, the Church applies the words of Sirach to the Blessed Virgin and thus gives us to understand that in her we find all hope: In me is all hope of life and of virtue. In Mary is every grace: In me is all grace of the way and of the truth. In Mary we shall find life and eternal salvation: Those who serve me shall never fail. Those who explain me shall have life everlasting (Sir. 24:25, 30, 31--- Vulgate). And in the Book of Proverbs: Those who find me find life and win favor from the Lord (8:35). Surely such expressions are enough to prove that we require the intercession of Mary.

St. Alphonsus de Liguori, The Glories of Mary

THE NOVUS ORDO CHURCH OF SLOTH AND ENVY

The first effect of charity is joy in the goodness of God. But this joy can only live through the union of man’s will with God in charity. And charity demands that man keep all the commandments. Charity demands a fellowship in good between God and man. When the effort to live in this fellowship in good begins to appear too difficult to man he begins to be sorrowful about the infinite goodness of God. This sorrow weighs down the spirit of man and leads him to neglect good. This sorrow is the sin of sloth, sorrow about the goodness of God. Sloth is a capital sin. It leads men into other sins. To avoid the sorrow or weariness of spirit which is sloth men will turn from God to the sinful pleasures of the world.

When a man falls victim to sloth and is sorrowful because of the goodness of God it is only natural that he will begin to be grieved also at the manifestation of the goodness of God in other men. He will resent good men simply because they are good. This resentment is envy, hatred of someone else’s good. Since the love of our neighbor flows from our love of God, it is natural that when we cease to love God’s goodness, we will also begin to hate the goodness of men. Envy, like sloth, is a capital sin. It will lead men to commit other sins to destroy the goodness of their neighbors.

When a man’s heart is filled with sloth and envy the interior peace of his soul which was the effect of charity is destroyed. The loss of the interior peace leads to the destruction of the peace of society. When a man’s heart is no longer centered in God, then his life loses all proper direction. When the love of God is gone he has nothing left but the love of himself. When a man loves himself without loving God then he can brook no opposition to his own judgment or arbitrary will. He can tolerate goodness in no one else. He will even, by the sin of scandal, by his own words and example, lead other men into sin. He must disagree with all men. He must dispute with them, separate himself from them, quarrel with them, go to war with them, set the whole of the community at war with itself.

Wherever the goodness of God is most manifest, there will the heart of the man who no longer loves God be most energetic in sowing the seeds of discord, contentiousness, strife and war. That is why religion and the true Church of God are so viciously attacked in the world today. Those who do not love God are driven by sloth and envy to attack God’s tabernacle on earth.

Fr. Walter Farrell and Fr. Martin Healy, My Way of Life, Pocket Edition of St. Thomas

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Amoris Laetitia was published in 2016. No answer or corrective action to this "appeal" was ever made. That is because no clarification was ever needed. Why? That is because the "numerous propositions in Amoris Laetitia (that) can be construed as heretical upon the natural reading of the text" is exactly what the author intended! So in 2016 these "academics and pastors" did "not accusing the pope of heresy", but what about now?

“Amoris Laetitia.... scandalous, erroneous in faith, and ambiguous...”

Catholic academics and pastors appeal to the College of Cardinals over Amoris Laetitia

A group of Catholic academics and pastors has submitted an appeal to Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals in Rome, requesting that the Cardinals and Eastern Catholic Patriarchs petition His Holiness, Pope Francis, to repudiate a list of erroneous propositions that can be drawn from a natural reading of the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia. During the coming weeks this submission will be sent in various languages to every one of the Cardinals and Patriarchs, of whom there are 218 living at present.
Describing the exhortation as containing “a number of statements that can be understood in a sense that is contrary to Catholic faith and morals,” the signatories submitted, along with their appeal, a documented list of applicable theological censures specifying “the nature and degree of the errors that could be attributed to Amoris laetitia.”

Among the 45 signatories are Catholic prelates, scholars, professors, authors, and clergy from various pontifical universities, seminaries, colleges, theological institutes, religious orders, and dioceses around the world. They have asked the College of Cardinals, in their capacity as the Pope’s official advisers, to approach the Holy Father with a request that he repudiate “the errors listed in the document in a definitive and final manner, and to authoritatively state that Amoris laetitia does not require any of them to be believed or considered as possibly true.”

“We are not accusing the pope of heresy,” said a spokesman for the authors, “but we consider that numerous propositions in Amoris laetitia can be construed as heretical upon a natural reading of the text. Additional statements would fall under other established theological censures, such as scandalous, erroneous in faith, and ambiguous, among others.” [......]

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Atheists are really anti-theists. They oppose the God who is God with an idol of their own making.

No atheist chooses merely to deny God. For the atheist’s spiritual posture against God is at the same time his posture in preference for some other Being above God. As he dismisses the true God he is welcoming his New God. Why must this be so? Because every personal commitment of man presupposes, deep in the metaphysical core of his being, a hunger for being as truth and goodness. Man is intrinsically burdened with an incurable hunger for transcendence. If being abhors a vacuum, the vacuum it most violently shrinks from is the total absence of Infinite Being. And history demonstrates that man is inconsolable without the True God.

Fr. Vincent Miceli, S.J., The Gods of Atheism

‘When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they believe in anything.’

There are men who will ruin themselves and ruin their civilization if they may ruin also this old fantastic tale (of the Catholic faith). This is the last and most astounding fact about this faith; that its enemies will use any weapon against it, the sword that cuts their own fingers, and the firebrands that burn their own homes. … (The atheist fanatic) sacrifices the very existence of humanity to the non-existence of God. He offers his victims not to the altar, but merely to assert the idleness of the altar and the emptiness of the throne. He is ready to ruin even that primary ethic by which all things live, for his strange and eternal vengeance upon some one who (he affirms) never lived at all.

G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

“Cultivate a great desire to be firmly rooted in the sublime virtue of confidence. Do not fear, but be courageous in serving and loving our Most Adorable and Amiable Jesus, with great perfection and holiness. Undertake courageously great tasks for His glory, in proportion to the power and grace He will give you for this end. Even though you can do nothing of yourself, you can do all things in Him and His help will never fail you, if you have confidence in His goodness. Place your entire physical and spiritual welfare in His hands. Abandon to the paternal solicitude of His Divine Providence every care for your health, reputation, property and business, for those near to you, for your past sins, for your soul’s progress in virtue and love of Him, for your life, death, and especially for your salvation and eternity, in a word, all your cares. Rest in the assurance that, in His pure goodness, He will watch with particular tenderness over all your responsibilities and cares and dispose all things for the greatest good.”

St. John Eudes, The Life and Kingdom of Jesus in Christian Souls

Cardinal Burke offers the correction for two mistranslations in the English publication of the Motu proprio of Pope Francis, “TRADITIONIS CUSTODES”

Art. 1. The liturgical books promulgated by Saint Paul VI (sic) and Saint John Paul II (sic), in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, are the unique only expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.

Art. 4. Priests ordained after the publication of the present Motu Proprio, who wish to celebrate using the Missale Romanum of 1962, should must submit a formal request to the diocesan Bishop who shall consult the Apostolic See before granting this authorization.

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"Not a stone upon a stone" - 9th Sunday after Pentecost

The 'Western Wall' (Wailing Wall) in Jerusalem is held by Jews as a remnant of Herod's Temple destroyed by the Romans in 72 A.D. Yet, Jesus prophesized not only that the Temple would be destroyed but also that there would not remain a "stone upon a stone." So how is it that there remains a large wall on the western side at the south end of the 'Temple Mount'? Some Catholics claim the prophecy of Jesus was referring only to the edifice itself and not the entire foundation for the Temple. Jesus words must be taken in literally unless there it is clearly manifest that the metaphorical sense is intended exclusively. Therefore, the 'Wailing Wall' where the Jews worship is not a remnant of the ancient Temple, and the 'Temple Mount', on which is currently situated the Al-Aqsa mosque and the "Dome of the Rock", is not the location of the Temple destroyed in 72 A.D. The 36 acre 'Temple Mount' is actually the location of the Roman fortress Antonia built by Herod.

What is the evidence for this? The current popular claim is the fortress Antonia was located on a five-acre section on the north-west side of the 'Temple Mount' while the Temple occupied the remaining 30 acres. Five acres is far too small to accommodate a Roman legion (6,000 soldiers plus auxiliary staff) which we know from the writings of Flavius Josephus that the fortress Antonia did in fact hold. Many Roman fortresses have been examined by archeologists and they typically are between 45 and 55 acres but some are as small as 36 acres. As far as the area needed for the Temple of Herod itself, consider this, the ancient pagan temple complex at Baalek in Lebanon built by the Romans is less than six acres in total area and encloses the largest temple to Jupiter in the Roman Empire as well as a smaller temple dedicated to Bacchus and another to Venus. The Temple built by Herod was a single temple and much smaller in overall dimensions.

Furthermore, when Solomon was designated by King David to succeed him (3 Kings 1), King David directed the prophet Nathan and the high priest Sadoc to take Solomon on the king's mule to be anointed king at the "Gihon spring" with oil taken from the tabernacle. The Gihon spring is located in the City of David directly south and adjacent to the present-day 'Temple Mount'. There Solomon was anointed with oil taken from the Tabernacle, proclaimed king and celebrated by the populace with great jubilation and the sounding of trumpets that could be heard outside the city. The Temple built by Solomon was in the same location as the Tabernacle established by King David on the threshing floor of the land he purchased Areuna the Jebusite as God had commanded by the mouth of Gad (2 Kings 24 and 2 Paralipomenon 3:1).

The water from the Gihon spring was essential for the sacrificial offerings of the Temple. There is no living water source on the 'Temple Mount' which was required in the washing of the priests and the sacrifices offered. The water source for the Antonia fortress was provided by large cisterns located just north of the Antonia fortress and under the 'Temple Mount' that are still present today.

There is a Catholic tradition the there was a church called the Church of the Judgment that was built over and enclosed the Rock that is now enclosed under the Dome of the Rock built by the Moslems in 692 A.D. The Dome of the Rock is located directly north of the Al-Aqsa mosque on the 'Temple Mount'. The Church of the Judgment was destroyed either by the Persians who conquered Jerusalem in 614 A.D. with the help of 26,000 Jewish allies during the Byzantine-Sasanian War 602-628 A.D. (during which many churches were destroyed including the Church of the Ascension on Mount Olivet), or the church was destroyed by the Moslems who conquered Jerusalem in 637 A.D. No living Jew at the time would have knowledge of the exact location of Herod's Temple because the Jews were forbidden to enter Jerusalem by the Romans since the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 A.D. on the pain of death. Two hundred years later, the Catholic emperor Constantine permitted the Jews to enter Jerusalem once a year on the feast of Tisha B'Av (the ninth of Av) which is regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar because it is the anniversary of the destruction of both the Temple of Solomon and the Temple of Herod! Be that as it may, many of the pillars used in the construction of the interior of the Dome of the Rock have Christian markings indicating that they were salvaged from a destroyed Catholic church.

The Rock itself is regarded (WIKI) as The Foundation Stone (Hebrew אֶבֶן הַשְּׁתִיָּה, romanized: ʾEḇen haŠeṯīyyā,  lit. 'Foundation Stone'), or the Noble Rock (Arabic:الصخرة المشرفة, romanized: al-Saḵrah al-Mušarrafah, lit.  'The Noble Stone') is the rock enclosed by the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. It is also known as the Pierced Stone, because it has a small hole on the southeastern corner that enters a cavern beneath the rock, known as the Well of Souls. Traditional Jewish sources mention the stone as the place from which the creation of the world began. Jewish sources also identify its location with that of the Holy of Holies. Yet, it is not possible for a threshing floor to be around a large rock or stone.

Before the Muslim conquest, the Rock was enclosed in the Catholic church known as the Church of the Judgment (destroyed by the Persians) because it is believed to have been the place where the condemned stood to hear the judgment against them by the Roman authorities. The Rock is held to be where Jesus stood when His official condemnation was decreed by Pontius Pilate and thus, if it is the stone where the "creation of the world began," it is the stone from which the creation of the world began anew. John 19:13 says: "Now when Pilate had heard these words, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat, in the place that is called Lithostrotos, and in Hebrew Gabbatha." Lithostrotos in Greek refers to a stone and Gabbatha in Hebrew an elevated place. According to St. Mary Agreda after Jesus was condemned by Pilate the decree of condemnation, which she quotes in its entirety, was then formally read to the Jewish mob assembled outside the north entrance to Fortress Antonia where Jesus was taken to bear His cross.

Of the Temple of Herod destroyed in 72 A.D. there does not remain a "stone upon a stone".

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Leo XIV Reinstates Convicted Child-Porn Priest who was protected by Francis

Carlo Alberto Capella was Vatican diplomat who was convicted by a Vatican tribunal of possessing and sharing child pornography. Capella admitted guilt to the charges. He is the only one who has served a prison sentence in the Vatican jail for this crime or for any sexually related crime against minors.

Monsignor Capella was ordained a priest in 1993 for the Archdiocese of Milan. After studies of canon law he entered the Vatican diplomatic corps. He was assigned to the papal nunciature in India in 2003 and to the nunciature in Hong Kong in 2007. In 2008 he was created Chaplain of His Holiness, which entitled him to the title of Monsignor.  In 2011 he was transferred to the Vatican to serve in the Secretariat of State. In 2016 he was assigned to the papal nunciature to the United States.

In 2017, Capella was recalled to the Vatican by Pope Francis after United States officials informed the Vatican that he was under investigation for possession and sharing of child pornography. The government of Canada has issued a warrant for his arrest, alleging that during his time in Canada in December, 2016 he had possessed and shared child pornography. He was returned to the Vatican which claimed diplomatic immunity for Capella protecting him from prosecution in the United State or Canada.

In 2018, he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, which he served in the Vatican jail. As of 2021, he was allowed out during the day to work in an office that sells papal blessings. In 2023, following the end of his prison sentence, Capella was permitted to return to work in the Vatican Secretariat of State. Now Pope Leo XIV has reinstated Msgr. Capella to a senior diplomatic position in the Vatican Secretariat of State.

COMMENT: Pope Leo is protégé of Francis to whom he owns his promotions to bishop and cardinal. It was Francis who protected this pervert from criminal charges in the United States and in Canada and now it is Francis' protégé who has restored him the a high level position in the Vatican. This does not portend well for any serious reform of the Novus Ordo Church which has become a sinecure for homosexuals and others perverts.

From Tradition In Action:

You don't have to be a liturgical EXPERT to see that there is no essential difference in the act!

The question is: Is there any essential difference in the actors?

Top: St. Patrick Catholic Church, Chatham, New Jersey, August 22, 2021

Bottom: First Lutheran Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 6, 2025

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