Blasphemies And Outrages Pouring From The Vatican

Three months ago, I wrote that the bishops of Malta are allowing divorced/remarried Catholics, that is, Catholics embroiled in the mortal sin of adultery, to receive Holy Communion while continuing with their adultery.  They compounded their sin by ordering their priests, on pain of suspension, to imperil their own souls by thus complying with mortal sin and sacrilege.  What was Pope Francis' response to it?  Why, he thanked them for their interpretation of Amoralis Lamentia.  If nothing else, he at least removed any reasonable doubt as to what he intends Amoralis Lamentia to do.

Just days later comes the news that one of the Maltese bishops, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, is stating that contraception is permissible.  Oh, yes, right now he's stipulating that only married couples should use it, but we see how that worked out in 1930 for the Anglicans, didn't we?  Remember - this is just days after the Pope approved their interpretation of Amoralis Lamentia.  It is reasonable to believe that this lurch into immorality also meets with the Pope's approval.  Has Amoralis Lamentia paved the way for the Catholic version of the 1930 Lambeth Conference?  Remember - at that time, the Anglicans allowed for disobedience to God's commands for sexuality and marriage "only in limited circumstances.  Eighty years later they celebrate baby-murder, sodomy, etc.  They've gone so far as to recognize lesbian "bishops".  God forbid that this poison progresses much further in Holy Mother Church.

But the poison has manifest itself in another, more insidious way.  One Peter Five has news of a troubling homily that the pope gave within this past week.  I ask you to read it in its entirety as it features a translation of the homily by my friend Andrew Guernsey.  Both men are correct in saying how the theology is mostly accurate, but for the gross error thrown in there.  In other words, we're talking of a healthy, nutritious meal laced with just a little bit of arsenic.  In a nutshell, the pope isn't merely saying that Christ took on our sins for our redemption, he's saying that Christ became the devil.  This is both a horrid blasphemy and a logical absurdity.  Let's not kid ourselves.  He knows exactly what he is saying.  While he may wish to hide under the "lovable bumpkin who gets his words jumbled sometimes" veneer, one must admit that excuse is getting rather old.  You might recall that the pope once said that the boy Jesus probably had to beg forgiveness from His parents when He remained behind in Jerusalem.  Last month he joked that "the Holy Trinity is arguing behind closed doors".

Yes, these quips are blasphemous, but they also betray an abysmal lack of appreciation for Who God is.  If that is lacking, is it any wonder that doctrinal errors spew forth from the Vatican on a regular basis?  Without an adequate intellectual and philosophical understanding of God and His Holy Nature, there will be no sound basis for proclaiming the laws dictated by God.  With that kind of willful ignorance at the helm of Holy Mother Church, it behooves us all to pray, frequent the Sacraments and educate ourselves regarding the tenets of our Faith.  We will also have to actively resist error as it slaps us and our loved ones in the face.  Read some words of wisdom from Venerable Fulton Sheen on this topic.  Now I'll end with a recording of a homily regarding Amoralis Lamentia.

Akita And Fatima Prophesies Playing Out Before Our Eyes

Our Lady of Akita warned that bishops would be pitted against bishops.  Again Our Lady of Fatima she prophesied that the final battle would revolve around the family.  Today we are seeing both these words bear fruit as we see the smoke of Satan issuing forth - with some of it coming from the pope.

Today Catholic Herald published details of an exchange between the pope and some Lutheran pilgrims from Finland.  He told them that "the intention of Martin Luther 500 years ago was to renew the Church, not divide her".  How he divines such an intention is beyond me.  Luther's rebellion spawned many wars, but that's not the worst of it.  His errors led countless millions into eternal damnation as souls cut themselves off from the One True Church.  Unless there is evidence of Luther's repentance and reversion to the Faith, we have reason to believe he's not in a good place.  His life is a lesson to us, true, but it is a lesson in the sorry effects of rebellion, disobedience and deliberate eschewing of the Sacraments.

That being said, why, oh why, is the Vatican commemorating Luther by having its post office issue stamps commemorating him?  Can it be because Luther, who was an ordained priest, jettisoned his vows of celibacy and married?   Well, if they really want to showcase people in Church history who have made mockeries of marriage, perhaps they should issue stamps commemorating King Henry VIII of England.  They could make several of him, showing him with different wives.  Maybe they'll want to go back to the time Christ walked the earth and have one commemorating Herod and Herodias.  Perhaps I shouldn't be saying these things because I might just give them ideas.

Meanwhile, dissident bishops are becoming more brazen.  We heard last week of the scandal being instituted by the bishops of Malta in permitting adulterers to receive Holy Communion to the detriment of their eternal well-being.  One of them, Bishop Mario Grech of the Diocese of Gozo, is compounding his disobedience, heaping disgrace upon his miter, by ordering his priests, under pain of suspension, to distribute Holy Communion to known adulterers.  This insult to Our Lord Himself has precedence, some of it stemming from my own parish almost five years ago.  Recall how the Archdiocese of Washington ejected Father Marcel Guarnizo when Father would not give Holy Communion to a flagrant lesbian.  I've no doubt that had Father Guarnizo been incardinated in this diocese, that he would have been suspended.

In contradiction of the bishops of Malta and in standing for the teachings of Jesus Christ, three bishops of Kazakhstan - including Bishop Athanasius Schneider - released a letter urging that we pray for Pope Francis to revoke "guidelines" such as those issued by the Maltese bishops.  The letter reiterates that God's teachings on marriage and the Eucharist are sacrosanct and immutable.

The bishops of Malta are again being quite flagrant - so flagrant that they cannot be ignored.  If the pope pretends not to notice, I believe we will know where he truly stands on these matters.

Maltese Scandal - Exemplifying The Need For The Dubia

The Catholic blogosphere is alight with the scandalous statement of the bishops of Malta, erroneously claiming that adulterers can be admitted to Holy Communion.  LifeSite News has details of the scandal, with links to the original document AND to the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano.  The latter published the Maltese heresy, giving it an unmistakable aura of approval from the Vatican.

The sections of the Maltese heresy to which LSN refers are paragraphs 9 and 10.  Notice how it's peppered with references to Amoralis Lamentia (my name for the AL heresy seems most appropriate in this context).  I'm going to unpack this in "bullet format".

• "divorced person, living in a new relationship, manages, with informed and enlightened conscience,  to acknowledge and believe that he or she are at peace with God, he or she cannot be precluded from participating in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist".  That's a mouthful, not to mention a mountain of pure spiritual poison.
• "informed and enlightened conscience"  In the context of justifying both mortal sin and sacrilege, this phrase is a misnomer.  It is God's teachings, as communicated through the Catholic Church in her 2000-year old tradition, that is the only true enlightenment.  What the Maltese bishops are calling "informed and enlightened conscience" is one that has been seduced and deformed by progressivism.
• "he or she cannot be precluded"  These bishops, in addition to thumbing their noses at both Canons 915 and 916, are setting souls, already mired in mortal sin, on the road to sacrilege and (if the situation isn't soon corrected) eternal damnation.  They are doing the same for their own souls.
• "manages..to acknowledge and believe"  Doesn't that sound like a bit of a process involving some effort?  It's a tacit admission that it takes some considerable mental gymnastics and convolution to pretend that God's Holy and Immutable Law now allows for mortal sin to continue and for that sin to be compounded by sacrilege.
• "There are complex situations where the choice of living as brothers and sisters becomes humanly impossible and gives rise to greater harm."  More poison
• "complex situations"  The only time complexity would arise is if someone did not want to obey the Sixth Commandment.  The Ten Commandments are very simply stated.  They are not complex at all.
• The commandments are simple to understand.  But they often are not easy to obey.  The words "simple" and "easy" are not synonyms.  God's grace is needed to obey the Commandments.  God's grace will only be available to those who will submit to His will and who will do what is necessary to obey Him.
• "greater harm"?  What harm can exist that is greater than the loss of salvation and the condemnation to hell for all eternity?  One unrepentant mortal sin will condemn a soul to hell.  Adultery is one such sin.  These Maltese bishops, by this "guidelines", will numb the consciences of such adulterers so that they have no incentive to take serious stock of their lives.  Again, these bishops not only imperil the souls of their flocks, but their own as well.

My previous sentence might just apply to Pope Francis himself if he continues to stonewall the four cardinals and ignore the dubia.  He is trifling with the souls of millions of people - perhaps his own, as well.

There is one tiny silver lining in this cloud.  I've seen talk in traditional Catholic circles of people wishing to flee to a Catholic land and not fight this sick culture any more.  Malta was high on many of their lists.  I hope this most recent event has served notice on them that they cannot attempt to run from this fight.  We must stand and act like the Church Militant that we are.  If we keep running and ceding ground to progressivism and evil, eventually there will be nowhere else to hide.

Is The Pope Assuming Dictatorial Attitudes?

Let's see now.  There was the thinly-disguised manipulation of the two synods on the family during the past two years.  There was his dismissal of the Pontifical Academy of Life.  There was the heavy-handed treatment meted out to Cardinal Burke and others.  There was him flat out telling Cardinal Muller "because I'm the pope" when the latter asked why he was ordered to dismiss three good priests from the CDF.

Now, in the wake of him trying to meddle in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, we see this from Catholic News Service. (HT to Vox Cantoris for alerting us to this).  This commission claims their authority relates "to the authority he exercises directly and immediately over all baptized faithful, whether lay or clerical".

There is no such authority, save for matters having to do with Catholic faith and morals.  Are we bloggers obliged to submit to "investigations" owing to our concerns regarding Amoris Laetitia?  Progressives tend to snoot and carry on about "freedom", but when they assume positions of authority, they quickly abuse their powers; take the "politically correct" speech codes on liberal campuses for example.  Also consider the draconian treatment meted out to Father Guarnizo almost five years ago by the Archdiocese of Washington.  Progressives, since they really don't adhere to the Faith and to the Author of that Faith, also acknowledge no moral bounds nor restraints upon their whims.  Therefore they have no problem arrogating to themselves authority that isn't their's, while at the same time eschewing responsibility that is their's.

We see that happening at the Vatican, all the way to the top.  We laity do have rights that clergy do not have; thus we have responsibilities that they may not be able to exercise.  Let's do it.

The Vendetta Against Cardinal Burke Continues

Recall from my Christmas Eve post how the pope seems to be meddling in the internal governance of the Order of Malta.  Many of us suspected that this was a direct jibe at Cardinal Burke for his prominent role in the issuance of the dubia.  Father Z's blog quotes from the Tablet that in turn alleges that Pope Francis did not want the condom-dealing chancellor evicted from his post at the Knights of Malta.  Some are snooting and snorting that the Order of Malta defied the pope, not considering that in matters of internal governance the pope has no authority to meddle.

I'll now post a podcast from Lepanto Institute that reveals, among other things, that the alleged communication from the Vatican was issued after Boeslager was removed from his post.  Many of us understand that this is a ploy to discredit Cardinal Burke and by extension the dubia.