Remnant On The Scalfari Hell Interview

A few days ago, another conversation between Pope Francis and Eugenio Scalfari happened.  As happened several times before, heretical statements were ascribed to the pope: statements that to date have not been specifically repudiated by either the pope or the Vatican Communications Office.  When Scalfari asked about the punishment of souls who die in mortal sin, the pope allegedly said that they aren't punished and they simply cease to exist.  Right there you have heresies against the existence of hell and the immortality of souls.

This conversation is all over mainstream media.  The pope needs to clarify his statements immediately if he never uttered those heresies.  If he did make those statements as reported, we will need to come to grips with the possibility that our pope has uttered heresies.

The God Of Surprises Ain't So Surprising

Last Saturday I opined how this upcoming "youth synod" is appearing to be quite similar in intent to the "family synods" of a few years back that resulted in the dung heap known as Amoralis Lamentia.  Today's post from One Peter Five confirms my suspicions.  It seems that a number of young people who participated in the English-speaking contingent of the "Pre-Synodal Meeting of Young People" are keenly interested in the promotion of traditional practices such as adoration, Gregorian chant and of course the Latin Mass in Extraordinary Form. 

The meeting took place from March 19-24 in Rome, with approximately 300 in attendance.  Lickety-split, on March 24, the Final Document of the Pre-Synodal Meeting of Young People was released.  My!  That document was produced with remarkable speed and alacrity!  Why, a suspicious sort of person might insinuate that it was typed and ready to go even before the attendees arrived on March 19th.  Perish the thought!  Why, that has never, ever happened in the Church's history, right?  Right??!? (/sarc)

Some of the faithful Catholics have voiced displeasure at the short shrift that their concerns received in that document.  They understand that their numbers are significant and would have expected to have their wishes treated in a commensurate fashion.  But let's face it.  We are dealing with a Vatican - and a pontiff - who seem to be doing all they can to obliterate Tradition - both in worship and in teaching.  If they manipulated the 2014 meeting to such an extent that Cardinal Pell had to openly rebuke them, why should we be surprised at any manipulation of the meeting that ended a few days ago?  I don't know for certain that such subterfuge occurred, but there is precedent for such a hypothesis.

Their "god of surprises" is being revealed as a "god of the ssame-old-same-old".  By the way - check out what my blogging colleaague, Catholic American Thinker, has to say on the matter.

Another Synod Is On Its Way - So Too Is Another Amoralis Lamentia

This one, scheduled for this coming October, will be called "Synod of Bishops on Youth, focusing on: youth, women, moral issues, and leadership.  I agree with One Peter Five that this one, like the infamous one of 2-3 years ago, that this one will be used as a front to forward a progressive agenda.  Read his commentary.  Some of those young people criticize the Church as being "severe" and "associated with excessive moralism".  C'mon!  Teenagers have been grousing at their parents for the same reasons for countless generations!  They are simply bucking the policies that keep their lives from being ruined because they are too driven by emotions and hormones.  As the wise parents stand their ground, so too must the Church and not think of such youthful rebellion as real guidance.  Robert Royal of Catholic Thing said that he would have found such toadying "pathetic" had he been approached by adults like that when he was a teen.

Such "severe" aspects include the Church's teachings on homosexuality, abortion, shacking up, etc.  The kids have gotten their hopes up that the Church will change her teachings on these matters.  That is impossible of course, for the Church's teachings on morals are those of Jesus Christ.  They won't change for God Himself doesn't change.  But the fact that these heretical hopes are being entertained may well be a convenient smoke screen for those progressives within the Church who do want to insinuate such changes under the guise of "being pastoral" and "accompanying", etc.

As the synod on the family was a disguise for the promulgation of Amoralis Lamentia, I dread the thing that will be published after this youth synod.  It is probably already written and simply is waiting for this October dog-and-pony show to happen.

From The Carhart Carnage Department: He Did It Again! When Will Ambulance #2 Show Up At His Bethesda Mill?

In mid-October of 2017, Leroy Carhart resumed his butchering of babies in the wombs of their mothers.  Operation Rescue learned a few days ago that one scant month after setting up shop in Bethesda, he also resumed sending women to the hospital via ambulance.

There are two things that should be mentioned.  First, the other tenants in that building better get used to seeing ambulances pull up on a regular basis as happened in Germantown.  Their patients and clients will be treated to the sight of badly injured - maybe even dying women - being hauled away.  There will be the sight of blood and smell of vomit in the hallways.  Why will these other tenants - themselves payers of rent - have to put up with this?  More importantly, many of them are also medical professionals.  How can their professional consciences not be outraged by the obvious incompetence displayed by Carhart?  How can they countenance baby-slaughter?

Second, the OR piece mentions that an NIH ambulance took the woman to Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital.  I've lived in Montgomery County most of my life whereas the OR author didn't so I notice some things that she may not have.  Why did they summon an ambulance from NIH when the fire department at the corner of Old Georgetown and Cedar Lane was much closer?  Why did they haul the woman all the way to Walter Reed when Suburban Hospital was just a few miles south on Old Georgetown?  The OR piece raises the possibility of improper use of federal funds for this transport.   Moreover, if a woman is hemorrhaging, speed and efficiency are of the essence.  They did not happen in November 2017.   I agree that much stinks about such an arrangement.

We will bring you news of any other episodes.  They will happen - and some may have already occurred between November and today.

With The Lettergate Fiasco, We See Once Again That Personnel Is Policy

On Saturday, the Church and even the entire world were witnesses to the skulduggery of the Vatican Communications Office.  Today it was announced that Msgr Vigano, Prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for Communications resigned.  Apparently he is taking responsibility for the "lettergate" fiasco - their attempt at deception that blew up in their faces after the Pope Emeritus refused to be their dupe.

So now we know that Pope Francis is entirely innocent of the whole debacle for he accepted the resignation and rid the Vatican of that dastardly perpetrator - right?  Ehhh...not quite!  It seems that in his same letter in which he accepted Vigano's resignation from his prior position, Pope Francis created a new position in the same office, an "assessore" of the same office he held.  It's akin to "second in command".  That is Vigano's new role.  A devious mind might think that Vigano's still going to call the shots around there, with the new prefect serving as a "front-man" puppet.  But of course that would be the furthest thing from the minds of the Vaticanistas now, wouldn't it?  (Stop that snickering immediately, you cynical neo-pelagians!)

As the saying goes, "personnel is policy".  Once again we are left with no doubt regarding their policies.  Please pray for the Church and continue to shine the light on the cockroaches.

Archbishop Sample To Offer Pontifical Mass At Shrine Of The Immaculate Conception

Courtesy of One Peter Five.

More Of Pope Benedict's Real Letter Is Revealed

Two days ago, I posted the news that the Vatican had owned up to its dishonest alterations of a letter written by Pope Benedict XVI.  It turns out that even their "owning up" wasn't completely honest.  Edward Pentin and Sandro Magister reveal what we think and hope is the real complete letter penned by the pope emeritus.  It turns out that Benedict refused to write the review because those works contained contributions by Peter Huenermann, a dissident theologian who took potshots at Benedict during his pontificate.  Eponymous Flower has more on his screeds.

While I'm sure that there has been corruption in the Vatican for some time, I now believe that under this pontificate, the corruption is not so much endured as applauded and even mandated.  If there isn't a major personnel shake-up in the Vatican communication operations over this latest debacle, then there is no denying where the current pontiff stands on these matters.

CFO Fired From Catholic Institution For Her Second Amendment Advocacy - Time For Us To Act

Sister Carol Keehan, wielder of the Pen of Perfidy, sits on the board of Catholic Charities as do quite a number of those who've contributed to pro-abortion politicians.  Cardinal Cheesehead Dolan wined and dined the Messiah Most Miserable at the Al Smith Dinner and gave approval of gays marching in New York's St Patrick's Day parade.  The progressives have absolutely no problem hob-nobbing with pro-aborts - provided they can get money thrown their way.

Contrast all that schmoozing with the treatment meted out to the now-former CFO of Miami's St Thomas University.  What was Anita Britt's "high crime and misdemeanor"?  Why, she sits on the board of American Outdoor Brands Co, parent company to Smith and Wesson.  You've heard of them, no doubt.  They are manufacturers of those eeeevulll guns that, of their own power and volition, randomly go out and shoot people!  Of course that last sentence was facetious, but for the progressive lemmings who troll our blogs, I must spell out what is obvious to those with two brain cells that fire in syncopation.  She was given a choice: resign from AOB, or lose her job.  She chose the latter which I believe was a wise decision.

The Crud article states that the president of the university, Msgr Franklyn Casale, put the choice to Britt as his reaction to public opinion and backlash.  So, Msgr Casale doesn't like "backlash", right?  Perhaps it's time for us faithful Catholics to provide some backlash of our own and make known our disgust for his linguine-like spine.

From the website, we see Msgr's contact information:

Casale, Franklyn M.
President
President's Office
fcasale@stu.edu
(305) 628-6663

Call and email him.  We cannot let them get away with such kowtowing to politically correct nonsense.

The Pope Benedict Letter That Wasn't

The blogosphere has been all aflutter with the news/rumors that a letter from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI confirmed his beliefs that he and Pope Francis were essentially in alignment as far as philosophy and theology goes.  Some blogs evincing sedevacantist leanings went so far as to say that the pope emeritus is just another modernist, heretic, etc.  I personally have been slow to comment on this, both because of time-consuming personal matters and because I sensed that there was more to this than meets the eye.  Lo and behold, we find that the latter is true.

LifeSiteNews and other sources published the news today that the Vatican distorted the letter that Benedict XVI issued.  They obscured a paragraph to give the impression that the Pope Emeritus was giving endorsement to some books on the theology of Pope Francis.  In fact, that omitted paragraph states that the Pope Emeritus could not give an educated opinion because he hadn't read the works in question.

Now to the perpetually naive who find it impossible to imagine that the Vatican would stoop so low as to essentially falsify what Benedict XVI said, recall some recent history.  Recall the reason why Cardinal Baldiserri is known as "Book Thief Baldi".  Two years ago, many of us hypothesized that the sin-nods were dog-and-pony shows designed to foist some heresy on the Church.  We now know that heresy to be called Amoris Laetitia - or, as I call it, Amoralis Lamentia.  Cardinal Pell even called them out on it quite loudly.  So yes indeed, the Vatican of Pope Francis is well-practiced in all the skulduggery tricks of the trade.

Still, all this seems not to be enough for our sede friends.  They obviously don't appreciate the fact that Benedict XVI just politely told the Vatican mafia that they can take those books on Francis' theology with them as they take a flying leap.

There's no gainsaying that this stunt of the Vatican has backfired into a major fiasco for them.  Now the real question is, "will people understand the significance of this"?  This question should be answered not only by progressives but by sedes.

The DACA Drivel Of The Archdiocese Of Washington

Once again I missed an issue of the Catholic Standard.  Owing to some pressing personal matters, I didn't realize it until I saw it in the lobby of Blessed Sacrament (DC) this weekend.  When I saw page 3, I understood why it might have been omitted from my mail.  It was all about DACA and that insipid telephone campaign of the USCCB to beg Congress to extend de facto amnesty to the so-called "Dreamers".  The online version didn't have that precise article but here is an online article along a similar bent.  For more articles, search "DACA" on the Standard's website.

Several months ago I wrote a post explaining why I believe that support of illegal immigration is inherently sinful.  I still do.  For those reasons I believe that the USCCB's "call-in" campaign was likewise inherently sinful, for the specific reasons stated in that post.  In that post I wrote "One troubling aspect about the hierarchy's embrace of progressive positions is that church authorities too often strike hands with politicians who foment the Culture of Death."  That happened at Blessed Sacrament earlier today, as I learned in its bulletin yesterday.  The only difference is that this time it was not an errant politician, but an errant priest.

Go to page 3 of the linked bulletin, bottom left.  You'll see that this morning they hosted Father Peter Daly, former pastor of St. John Vianney from Prince Frederick, MD.  Because he's retired and no longer pollutes the pages of the Catholic Standard, I haven't had occasion lately to write about him, but in the past I sure did.  In one post, I commented on an article that he wrote for the Not-At-All Catholic Reporter, in which he publicly condoned homosexual acts.  This is the sort of person that Blessed Sacrament thought qualified to teach their parishioners.  They've hosted both Chris Matthews and Mark Shriver in prior years - appearances that we picketed.

Here's an oddity about Daly's selection as a speaker.  He lives in Prince Frederick Maryland.  That's southern Maryland.  Between that and Blessed Sacrament is a two-hour drive each way.  What?  Blessed Sacrament couldn't find a more local illegal-amnesty shill?  In loony-liberal Montgomery County, these people abound.  That truly puzzles me.  Why?