The Church Is At A Crossroads

In the early phases of Francis' papacy, my morning offerings to Our Lord included the typical intentions, including "for the intentions of the Holy Father".  As time progressed, I started to wake up to his real intentions, but that awakening was gradual.  I soon amended my Morning Offering to "for the legitimate intentions of the Holy Father", thinking that the pope was a mixed bag.

My eyes continued opening as Francis' misdeeds multiplied.  The papal intention in my Morning Offering reflected my growing awareness, so I started praying "for the conversion of the Holy Father".  The malevolence behind his actions became all too apparent so my final change to the Morning Offering was for "a truly Catholic and capable pope".  Obviously that still included the possibility of his conversion, but my main concern was more for the souls of millions of Catholics and others worldwide, who were being led astray by this man.  If he wasn't going to be converted, then I prayed that he be replaced, and quickly.

Three days ago, the first phase of his replacement happened.  While I pray for God's mercy on him, I pray all the more that the souls he led astray would receive God's mercy if they died in the confusion that was fomented by Francis.  For those who are still on this side of the grave, I pray that any errors foisted upon them by Francis and his various cronies be corrected in their eyes.

A few days ago, the Grand Masonic Lodge of Italy eulogized Francis, saying that his work was "deeply resonant with the principles of Freemasonry".   Its "grand master" specifically cited Francis' encyclical Fratelli Tutti as elevating three masonic ideals of "fraternity, equality, and liberty".  The student of history will recognize these three words as being the motto of the French revolutionaries who wielded their guillotines with great ferocity, but I digress. 

New Way Ministries carries an article composed of the praises heaped upon Francis by prominent "gay Catholics".  That phrase in is quotes for they are Catholics living in mortal sin, endangering not only their own souls, but those whom they falsely profess to "love".  They cite the ways that Francis sought to mainstream their various perversions into Catholic circles.

So we have both freemasons and sexual perverts citing ways in which Francis promoted their dubious causes.  Sadly, they are correct.  Francis used his position in the Vatican to insinuate these spiritual poisons into Catholic circles, inducing confused souls into embracing these errors.  Some may have died in those resultant mortal sins, meaning that Francis jeopardized their eternal salvation.

To those who insist that we not "speak ill of the dead" and other such rot, STOP THAT NOW!  We must speak objective truth, no matter how "inconvenient" or "mean" it may seem.  We must call out the errors so that those flirting with the errors might see them for what the are, and reverse course.

Right now, we need to be praying that a pope be selected who is not only personally holy, but also one who is knowledgeable about Catholic doctrine, and who has the wisdom, strength and courage to deal with the threats to Holy Mother Church, especially those threats that lurk within the ranks of the prelates and the halls of the Vatican and chanceries throughout the world.

Pope Francis Is Dead

Less than three weeks after the passing of his former ally, Ted McCarrick, Pope Francis has gone to his reward, such as that reward might be.  I would suggest that we pray that God had mercy on him and granted him the grace of final repentance; else, his eternity doesn't look too promising.

Francis' chequered legacy includes (but is not limited to) these:

• the pachamama idol worship in the Vatican gardens and St Peter's Basilica
• dismissing the pro-life champions in the Pontifical Academy for Life and replacing them with pro-aborts
• issuing Amoris Laetitia that calls for admittance of active adulterers to Holy Communion
• contradicting Tradition regarding the death penalty
• hob-nobbing with abortionist Emma Bonino
• dissuaded Tony Palmer, a protestant official, from converting to Catholicism when the latter expressed his wish to do so.
• his vendetta against the Traditional Latin Mass, in direct disobedience to the Papal Bull, Quo Primum

I have a whole anthology of misdeeds of Francis', as do others.  I cannot list them all, as I lack both time and space.

In a few weeks' time, the process for selecting a new pope will begin.  Starting right now, we need to beg God to give to the Church a truly Catholic and capable pope, one who is "wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove" (Matt 10:16).  Ask God to give us a pope that we need, not what we deserve.

If you are not yet in the habit of praying a daily Rosary, now is a good time to start.

Did The US Deep State Force The Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI?

As we all know, Pope Francis is critically ill.  There is well-founded concern that he may be in his final days.  Calls for prayers on his behalf have been all over the internet.  We certainly must pray for his repentance and conversion to the One True Faith.  Let's face it.  He has done much to deconstruct the Church: the full-on attacks of the Traditional Latin Mass, cancelation of faithful bishops and priests, foisting the abortion-tainted Covid vaccine at every opportunity, hob-nobbing with Jeffrey Sachs and promoting earth-worship under the guise of "protecting the climate" etc.  That list could go and on.

Should he recuperate without repentance, that list would no doubt lengthen.  Therefore, with no sign of repentance, I will withhold prayer for physical healing.  Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot loose sight of the forest (millions of Catholics) for the sake of one tree (Francis).  Thanks to his wreck-o-vation of the Church, millions have had their faith compromised and weakened, perhaps at the cost of their eternal salvation.  Do we accuse Francis in this matter?  No, but by the same token, neither do we excuse him.  We look at his actions and see what has happened.

It's only natural to think about possible successors to Francis, especially in light of how he stacked the College of Cardinals over the years.  We also need to reevaluate whether or not Benedict's resignation was valid or invalid, and the integrity of the conclave that "elected" Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to the papacy.  Why now, you may ask?  Because any underhanded machinery that most likely engineered that transition will be brought back into action when Francis passes to his reward.

We've known for some time that there was undue influence regarding the election of Bergoglio.  McCarrick made no bones about that.  Other pertinent articles are here. 

On Feb 20, LifeSiteNews published some very relevant pieces.  I urge you to read them and to watch the videos embedded therein, as well as reading the linked articles.  See here and here. 

Linked here is a petition to ask President Trump to investigate alleged pressure placed by the US government on Pope Benedict to resign the papacy.  Understand that if the investigation determines that such coercion happened, then by canon law, Benedict's resignation would invalid and thus the papacy of Bergoglio would likewise be null and void.

Again, please pray for his conversion and repentance.  Pray also that no more US deep state interference occurs, so that there is some slim chance of a truly holy, capable Catholic being elevated to Peter's Chair.

Francis Goes Into A Panic Over Trump's Border Reinforcement

Francis has now removed any shred of doubt that he is part and parcel of what Archbishop Vigano and others have dubbed as the "deep church".  He has issued a letter to the United States bishops that orders them to help illegal immigrants flout United States immigration laws.  Here it is - straight from the Vatican's website.

So let's take a look at this thing.  Right off the bat, we see Francis trotting out that tired old fantasy about the Holy Family immigrating to Egypt.  There are two major facts that Francis conveniently omits.  First, they were immigrating nowhere.  Both Egypt and Israel were subsumed into the Roman Empire.  Differences in local customs aside, they were not foreigners.  Second, the Holy Family broke no laws as a result of their travels.

Then in section 4 he states, "The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.   "  That is sheer, utter nonsense.  Criminality is determined by the commission of illegal actions.  In the eyes of Francis, if law enforcement cannot determine illegal status, perhaps they shouldn't be allowed to determine if someone is a victim of human trafficking.  If Francis really believes that, he must have flunked out of his moral theology class in seminary.  I'd like to go on, but I haven't the time.

If Francis really thinks he should exhort nations to dissolved their own national borders, why does he not lead by example?  He could easily order that the walls around Vatican City be dismantled and allow all sorts of folks to gallop into St Peter's Square and even the living quarters there.  If he's still staying in that hotel, then the papal apartments should be available for immigrant use, right?  Perhaps he should read Matthew 23:4.

It is plain to see that Francis is in a panic.  He, and most likely his handlers, understand that their hold is slipping.  They are seeing in Trump and other good people - traditional Catholics among them - threats to their schemes to bring about a new world order that is under their heels.  This is a lash-out.  However, it will lend to those US bishops, who are also part of the "deep church", moral credibility to pursue their clarion cry for open borders.  I wonder how loud that will be, though, seeing that Catholic Charities funds may soon be drying up?   Case in point - Detroit is getting a new archbishop (and so soon after DC got a new one!  But I digress!)  His name is Edward Weisenburger, a bishop hailing from Arizona.  He's starting off with a bang, suggesting that those Catholics who enforce our immigration laws be subject to "canonical penalties" and even excommunication.

Hmmm!  Funds drying up!  Might we have stumbled upon another motivator for this obvious papal temper tantrum?  Speaking of funds, give the chanceries not one penny of your funds.  The Sixth Precept of the Church does not mean rewarding those who advocate that our national borders and immigration laws be trashed with impugnity.

Francis' Apostacy Is Blatant And In Our Faces

Yesterday on the World Over, Raymond Arroyo interviewed Bishop Athanasius Schneider.  That portion of the program begins at the 31:00 mark on the clip below.   When asked about the Pope's heretical statement last week, namely the heresy of indifferentism uttered in Singapore, His Excellency stated, "regrettably, Pope Francis contradicts the First Commandment of God and the entire Gospel."  When Arroyo asked him how Catholics should process what happened, the bishop replied that Peter, the first Vicar of Christ, denied Jesus three times.  What came to my mind was Peter's almost immediate repentance and the fact that these sorts of antics were far from habitual for Peter.

The bishop then stated that we must pray that Francis repents and then proclaim that there is no other name but Jesus' name, by which we can be saved.

Likewise, Archbishop Vigano released his own statement that condemned Francis' words.  An excerpt is published at LifeSiteNews.  He reiterated that the Church is the "only arc of salvation", and that "to deny this truth is to apostatize from the Faith and to trample on the Cross".

Pope's Namby-Pamby Response To The Olympics Blasphemy

Pope Francis finally issued a statement about the Olympics blasphemy, if only to salvage some semblance of moral credibility that he may still have in the eyes of some.  Here it is.  Notice that there is not one mention of the offense and insult offered to Our Lord Jesus Christ, nor is there any mention about the inherent evils of homosexuality, transgenderism and other perversions.  There is only some blather about "sensibilities" of religious people. 

Also notice that it came eight days after the fact.  It seems that Francis had to be cajoled into issuing the statement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  Erdogan is Muslim.  That is to say, a Muslim displayed more zeal for the honor of Jesus Christ than did the Vicar of Christ.  Such is the disgraceful state of affairs in the Vatican today.  How can that be?

The answer to that last question really isn't so mysterious, considering events of this past weekend in Washington DC.  Recall how Francis enthused over the Georgetown gab-fest.  Oh, he issued his congratulations to Fr. Martin with all kinds of alacrity, didn't her?  Perversion was celebrated at the Georgetown orgy that Francis congratulated.  Now can we see why Francis would be reluctant to speak against that Olympics debacle?

We congratulate the prelates who issued their own open letter regarding the slap in the face to Our Lord.  I understand that more of them are joining them with their signatures; may that list of signers grow long.

We also thank Turkish President Erdogan for lighting that fire under the papal posterior to get him to speak (albeit weakly) like a Catholic - for a change.

God Will NOT Be Mocked!

On Monday I wrote of an impending insult to the dignity of the Vatican vis-a-vis some very worldly comedians being invited to a meeting with the pope.  It happened today, and quite frankly, I don't know who offered more insults to our Lord - the pope or the comedians.  The reports go into more detail about what the pope said as opposed to the comedians, so I think that booby-prize goes to the pope.

He gave a pep-talk of sorts to the comedians, lauding their abilities to "spread peace and smiles".  He also said that "you unite people because laughter is contagious".  Full stop!  What kind of "unity" does he advocate?  Unity is not a supreme good, especially when the basis of that unity is evil.  For instance, no one can gainsay that in its early days, Nazi Germany was united.  But that unity was evil as it was designed by Adolf Hitler to further his warped purposes.

He also praised the comedians because they "know how to bring together diverse and sometimes contrary realities".  Another full stop!  "Contrary realities"??  Boys and girls, can we all say "oxymoron??  There can only be one reality, based on objective truth that in turn has its basis in God.  Recall that Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life".  He never said that He was one of several different but equal "truths".  There can be no other "reality" other than what God has created.  I suspect we have here an attempt to legitimize the heresy of indifferentism.

He also told the comedians that it's ok to "laugh at God" as "we play and joke with the people we love".  His comparison is quite faulty, if not downright deceptive.  The "people we love" are our fellow creatures, of equal status as human beings.  Not so God, the Lord and Creator of the universe.  His dignity is infinitely greater than ours.  The love we are to give Him will surpass what we give to our fellow humans.  Moreover, we owe Him reverence, as we would a king if we lived in a worldly kingdom.  

Here he is justifying the downright blasphemous and sacrilegious bile that often oozes out of the mouths of several of these comedians.  One might state that the pope is not aware of that, but I think he is; else he would be a complete dunderhead.  That the pope is suggesting that we should "laugh AT God" is nothing short of a supreme sacrilege.  Galatians 6:7-8 states very clearly that "God will not be mocked".  Anyone who suggests that it's fine to do so, says so to his/her own eternal peril.

Cardinal Burke - Latest Target Of Papal "Accompaniment"

Frankly, this latest comes as no surprise.  It was just a matter of time.  From LifeSiteNews today, we read that the New Daily Compass reported on Francis' alleged intentions to evict Cardinal Burke from his apartment in Rome and to terminate his salary.   During a meeting with the heads of the Roman curia on November 20th, he is reported as saying, "Cardinal Burke is my enemy, so I am taking away his flat and salary."  My!  Isn't all this "papal accompaniment" so, so ... special?

Of course this is right on the heels of Francis kicking Bishop Strickland out on his ear.  As in the case of Strickland, Cardinal Burke himself has received no official notice of these proceedings.  This almost has the feel of some mafia don giving orders for hits, all the while making plain that the chopping block orders came from him.Francis' marginalization of Cardinal Burke began early in his seizure of Peter's Chair.   Pope Benedict had appointed Burke as Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura; Francis dismissed him as punishment for criticizing his "papacy".  Burke was also part of the Congregation of Bishops.  Again, Francis axed him, replacing him with the liberal Cardinal Wuerl.

Now two questions come to mind:

1. What else will Francis do to Burke?  Bear in mind that Francis is reportedly having health issues.  Burke, presently a Cardinal, is eligible to vote in the next papal conclave.
2. Who is next?

BREAKING - Francis Fires Strickland, Kicks Him To The Curb

Bishop Joseph Strickland, formerly  Bishop of Tyler Texas, has always been a champion for the One True Faith, even in the face of Francis' wayward ways.  Therefore it is really no surprise that Francis fired Strickland as Bishop of Tyler.  So much for "accompaniment".  I suppose that only works if one is a flaming gay or some other type of dissident.  The true faithful, such as adherents to the Traditional Latin Mass, Cardinal Burke, now Strickland are treated like so much dung.

So what was Strickland's high crime and misdemeanor for which he was fired?  He warned his flock about Francis' so-called "reforms", such as allowing gays to baptize their babies without raising them with Catholic Faith and Morality, women to elect the next pope, etc.

By the way!  Am I the only one who thinks it interesting that this hatchet job happened today, Saturday?  It's like the Vatican is borrowing ideas from the Democrat handbook, to execute draconian measures over the weekend when folks may be less likely to pay attention.  Sorry, guys!  It didn't work!

Of course Francis is trying to make an example of him.  Let us pray that this attempt backfires, that more bishops will stand with Strickland, and more importantly, stand with the Church and her Teachings as defined over the centuries, not the last 60 years.

Archbishop Vigano And Bishop Schneider Stand With Bishop Strickland

Bishop Strickland made a statement regarding the news of the Vatican's desire for his resignation.  He acknowledged the pope's right to remove him from his post.  However, he says that he will not resign, thus running from the charge given to him by Pope Benedict.  I for one support Strickland's stance.  If the pope wants Strickland out, he will have to get ugly about it.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider sent to Bishop Strickland a very supportive letter, and it was shared by LifeSiteNews.  In that letter, Schneider told Strickland that future popes would thank Strickland for his fidelity to Christ's teachings.  Likewise, Archbishop Vigano communicated his thoughts to Strickland, encouraging him to continue his course and not quit his post voluntarily.  We await communications from other prelates.  Surely Schneider and Vigano cannot be the only ones who, like Strickland, understand what it truly means to be a bishop.

So what will be Francis' next move?  Whatever it is, it will have to wait.  It seems that Francis is going to address the Clinton Foundation on September 18.  This will take the form of a "special conversation" with Bill Clinton regarding favorite pet causes of the progressives, such as "climate change" and unbridled amnesty for border-crashers.  Other attendees of this conference include Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, some of our less-than-favorite left-wing governors such as the ones from California, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan.  Among others, there is a representative from an outfit called "Black Trans Liberation".  Now take a look at this guy.  Would you want to meet him in a dark alley?

Somehow when Francis chats with Bill Clinton, I suspect that he won't be calling the Clintons and the rest of that cabal to repentance for their promotion of baby-slaughter and sexual perversions.  I expect that conversation to be all happy-clappy with mutual praise and admiration flowing ad nauseum. 

Understand the reason why Francis is only too happy to chat with a pro-abortion left-wing cabal while drawing long knives upon faithful clergy.  He and the ilk led by George Soros, Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, etc are in cahoots with each other.  Faithful prelates stand in their way because the leftwing agenda is at complete odds with the teachings of Our Lord.  Not only do the progressives consider bishops like Joseph Strickland to be fair game, but the bulls-eyes are trained on us as well.  We need to acknowledge that.

The Cancellation Of Another Faithful Prelate Is On The Horizon

Please see this for an anthology of posts regarding Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, TX.  From these accounts (and posts from other sites), you can see that Bishop Strickland has been outspoken for the truth, even to the extent of pointing out papal errors.

You will note from the July 4 post that Strickland was the target of an "apostolic visitation".  One of the delightful little "visitors", Kicanas, is no pillar of orthodoxy.  Of course, in the eyes of the current occupant of Peter's chair, that is a good thing, making him quite qualified to quash bishops who actually uphold the Faith.

Just two months later, well-founded rumors are spewing from the Vatican that Francis is set to ask Bishop Strickland to resign.  While this leaves Strickland's future in doubt, to be asked by this pope to resign is most definitely a badge of honor.  By far, he is not the first.  There was Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton PA.  Fifteen years ago, US hierarchy arranged for his ouster after he took aim at pro-abortion Catholic politicians, ordering his priests to withhold Communion from known pro-aborts.  Archbishop Vigano is literally in hiding for going public about his knowledge of the McCarrick mess.  Cardinal Burke was ousted from his posts at the Vatican, to be replaced by flaming dissidents.

Speaking of Cardinal Burke, he and Cardinal Brandmuller are still awaiting answers to the dubia that they posted to the Vatican several years ago.  Yet a scant two months after a bullying visitation, they are feverishly getting ready to give Bishop Strickland the heave-ho.  Perhaps it was Strickland's pastoral letter to his flock, warning them about the Sin-nod on Sin-odomy.

I am not a canon lawyer and don't know what rights (if any) that Strickland has in this matter.  I hope and pray that he uses any rights and not just fade quietly into the night.

Interfaith Dialog - For What?

On May 17th per the Catholic Standard, the Embassy of Argentina hosted an "interfaith dialog of religious leaders".  Cardinal Gregory was there, along with Jews, Muslims and several pagan leaders.  The Hindu woman said "what pope Francis is trying to tell us is please come together, work together, be together", then "when people come together, we can do a lot of great things".

What "great things"?  Things that only have to do with temporal matters?  The Church was instituted to save souls by bringing them to obedience to the Faith through the Sacraments.  Read that article closely.  You'll see no hint of that.  What is not said is just as important as what is said.  The complete lack of focus on the conversion of these people reeks of religious indifferentism on the part of Catholic hierarchy.

They yammer about the "human disaster of bigotry..anti-semitism, islamophobia, bigotry".  That's nice, but what about bigotry against Christians, Catholics in particular?    The three previous posts in this blog give indications of how pervasive this is - or is this gathering considering us to be the proverbial n1qq@r$ of the new age?  Side note- I must engage in this misspelling to get past the electronic censors.  People are more upset with the description of reality than reality itself.

Anyway, the whole thing is a useless tome to the heresy of indifferentism.  Of course the non-Catholics don't know that, but our prelates, including Francis and Cardinal Gregory, do.  For that, and the souls being led astray and denied truth needed for their salvation, these feckless leaders will have much to answer.

Glenn Beck Interviews Taylor Marshall Regarding State Of The Church

Glenn Beck interviewed Taylor Marshall on his program yesterday.  They discussed some aspects of the Church's current situation, and Pope Benedict's book that was just released posthumously.  They went into some details regarding Archbishop Vigano's work for Benedict and how Vigano came to expose so much of the Church's corruption, particularly as it pertained to the now-disgraced Theodore McCarrick.  Please see below. 

By the way - the title of this clip is "How Vatican City's Dark Secrets Are Relevant To You".  Make no mistake, they ARE relevant to each and every one of us.  No one can excuse themselves from the obligation to inform themselves of such matters.  No one can pretend that what happens in the Vatican has no bearing on their individual life.  It most certainly does, as what happens in the Church can have decisive consequences for eternal salvation, particularly if they remain culpably ignorant of them.

More Information On Father Pavone

From Father Pavone's website, we have a history of his interactions with Church hierarchy, from his first involvement with Priests for Life until present.  He intends to fight this, as well he should.

The Code of Canon Law, sections 1717 - 1731, seem to indicate that the accused (in this case, Father Pavone) has a right to appeal and to present his case.  Specifically that is stated in section 1723.  There is one exception to that requirement: if the action is done by the pope.  That is the input from Father Gerald Murray, a canon lawyer who is associated with Robert Royal and Raymond Arroyo in the Papal Posse.  Moreover, a copy of the letter from the Papal Nuncio is now online.  The Papal Nuncio acts on behalf of the pope.  Hitherto, I had thought that maybe Francis wasn't involved with Father's removal, that it might have been too "small potatoes" for him.  I stand corrected, as it seems that Francis has bared his teeth here.

Now Canon 193 sec 4 states that removal from the office (priesthood) must be communicated in writing.  Father Pavone heard about his laicization in the same manner that most of us did - through the Catholic News Agency announcement yesterday. The Nuncio's letter was only made public today.  I still am uncertain as to whether or not Pavone received formal notice of this action.  Irregularities abound.

So do double standards.  One of the trumped up charges stems from Father displaying an aborted baby on a table that he sometimes used for Mass.  Zurek called that table "an altar" when in fact it was never consecrated as such.  However, if Bishop Zurek wants to get outraged over altar desecrations, the current occupant of the chair of Peter has provided at least two occasions for such indignation.   When Francis returned home from World Youth Day in 2013, he placed on an altar of St Mary Major Basilica, next to the Tabernacle, a beach ball and sports jersey.  In 2019, at a closing Mass in St Peter's after one of the countless synods, Francis placed on the altar a pachamama idol-plant.  Yes, the reputed pope placed an idol on a consecrated altar during Mass.  Bishop Zurek's anger would be more appropriately directed at that actual outrage.

Taylor Marshall below offers some insight into this whole vindictive attack on Father Pavone.

Marshall ended by exhorting us to prayer, fasting, personal holiness.  I take issue for that is not all we must do.  Yes we are laity, but some of us also have a few dollars - that should NOT go to the diocesan appeals and especially NOT to the Peter's Pence collections.  Now when (not if, when) we boycott these collections, it is not sufficient to refrain from contributions.  We must also drop into the collection baskets notes explaining precisely why we are boycotting - and sign your names.  The time for demure silence is long past.  They might cancel clerics, but we laity have rights that they don't.  Let's use them.

By the way - it appears that Father Pavone has at least one friend among the bishops.  Bishop Strickland decried the nuncio's letter in a tweet.

The blasphemy is that this holy priest is canceled while an evil president promotes the denial of truth & the murder of the unborn at every turn, Vatican officials promote immorality & denial of the deposit of faith & priests promote gender confusion devastating lives…evil https://t.co/ASzjW7IuAv

— Bishop J. Strickland (@Bishopoftyler) December 18, 2022

"I Do Not Say Person Because This Is Debated But A Living Human Being

Did this nonsense come from Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi?  We'd expect such distortions of logic to come from them or some other pro-abort now, wouldn't we?  Nope!  It comes from the current occupant of the chair of Peter, Francis.  This came from a recent interview that he gave to the Jesuit kitty-litter known as "America".  Please see the tweet below.

❌ @Pontifex on unborn children: "I do not say a person, because this is debated, but a living human being."

✅ CCC: "From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person..." (para. 2270). https://t.co/HmHxhwtVnd

— Matt Gaspers (@MattGaspers) November 28, 2022

In past years, I never could understand how the bishops could be so spineless when it came to making a stand for innocent human life and rebuking pro-aborts in their midst.  I thought they were just being weak and/or currying political and financial favors.  Then their masks started sliding off and I realized that many if not most of the bishops are just as pro-abortion as Biden, Pelosi, Ted Kennedy et al.  I now believe that Francis just tipped his hand in that regard - if he bothers to hide his cards in the first place.

We simply must stop blindly taking this man's prattling as though it were God's word, lest we find our souls in danger.

Refuting Attempts To Discredit The Mass Of The Ages

Over a month ago, three theologians, Drs. Mary Healy and John Cavadini, with Father Thomas Weinandy, wrote a series of articles that appeared in Church Life Journal.  I haven't read all the articles, but what I read seems to be an attempt at justifying the heavy-handedness of Francis' Traditionis Custodes.  I'm not going into all the detail of the errors here.  Two other theologians, Drs Joseph Shaw and Peter Kwasniewski, have done an excellent job.  I suggest that all links be read, even the links contained in the linked articles.

I am not acquainted with Dr. Cavadini, but am with Dr. Healy and Father Weinandy, although it's been quite a few years since I've seen either of them.  That acquaintance goes back to our days in the Mother of God Community, a group that was part of the so-called "charismatic renewal" that fell under scrutiny owing to cultish behaviors on the part of the leadership in the early 1990s.  I parted ways with that group at that time.  A major reason for my departure was the overemphasis on personal experience over adherence to Catholic doctrine.  The Novus Ordo Mass is geared to personal experience whereas the Traditional Latin Mass is geared towards worship of God exclusively.  

That last word "exclusively" is key.  You'll not find sloppy dress nor conduct in a church dedicated to the Traditional Latin Mass.  Women dress decently and modestly: no exposed body parts, cloths modest and in good repair.  Similarly, men are not dressed as though they were just in a drunken brawl: no jeans, tee-shirts but lots of suits and ties.  Before and after Mass in the nave of the church, there is no chit-chat going on between adults.  One might hear the occasional cooing of babies.  Speaking of which, there are many young families with many children at at Traditional Latin Mass, more so than at a Novus Ordo.

I myself attend both.  On Sundays I will attend a Traditional Latin Mass, although I must drive some distance to do so.  That Mass isn't available other days for me so I will attend the Novus Ordo Masses.  Often at those Masses I am reminded of why I prefer the Traditional Latin Mass.  However, if I truly believed that the Novus Ordo Mass was an inherent danger to my faith, I would not attend (barring Holy Days of Obligation).  I personally don't know anyone who attends the Traditional Latin Mass who believes it would be dangerous and even sinful to attend.  The CHW series intimates, though, that this mindset is so prevalent as to justify Francis' draconian actions towards the Traditional Latin Mass.  I realize that a few attendees of the Traditional Latin Mass do hold those erroneous attitudes towards the Novus Ordo, but to attribute such mindsets towards all the attendees, including me, and to publish such attributions veers into sins of slander and libel.

Some faithful and courageous prelates are not taking this attack on the Latin Mass lying down.  Archbishop Vigano penned an open letter to another Italian bishop, taking him to task for his senseless quashing of the Latin Mass.  There have been others.  As I track them down, I will repost.

Addendum as of November 28  Mr. Kwasniewski offered more commentary exposing the errors underlying the CHW piece.

Biden Slams Conservative Republicans While Francis Slams Traditional Catholics

Quite the parallel, isn't it?  Why, one might think it to be a coordinated effort to remove obstacles to the New World Order.  That is what the evidence indicates.

Is The Church's Teachings On Contraception In Francis' Cross-Hairs?

While returning to Rome after his recent trip to Canada (a disaster in and of itself), Francis gave yet another lackluster plane interview.  The official transcript is on the Vatican website.   The question of concern is towards the bottom.  Even more concerning than the question is the answer.

In actuality, the question was one that would have been answered with a simple "yes" or "no", with "no" being the correct answer.  Francis never answered the question.  Rather, he segued into an overly wordy session of verbal diarrhea.  Read it for yourselves, as he blathers about "development of doctrine".  Somehow he manages to badmouth faithful Catholics who hold to the Church's timeless traditions.

Francis incorrectly invoked Saint Vincent of Lerins as the latter spoke of doctrine.  Catholic Answers has an excellent article that unpacks Francis' misquote of St. Vincent.  Please read it.  I need not rehash it here except to emphasize that doctrine, as it develops correctly, will always clarify truth.  Never will authentic development of Church doctrine lead to its contradiction.  Please recall that is what Francis did when he attempted to change Church teaching regarding the death penalty.  The Church had always recognized the death penalty to be a legitimate option to be used by civil governments in the restoration of justice.  Francis falsely stated that the death penalty is "intrinsically evil".  Not only is that false, it is rank heresy.

As I said in earlier posts, I think Francis used the death penalty matter as a trial balloon to see how much heresy the faithful were willing to swallow before coming to see that Francis might be an anti-pope.  At first glance, it appears that his gambit worked.  Now with him potentially rattling his saber against several papal documents condemning contraception, it appears that more are willing to consider the sad possibility that an anti-pope rules the Vatican.  How much more before faithful Catholics wake up?

Of Pachamamas And Western Grannys

Taylor Marshall asked some questions about Francis (I don't know if I can call him pope any longer) and his obvious sin against the First Commandment.  First he asked if Francis can be called "Vicar of Christ" after this stunt, for in participating in pagan rites, he and the cardinals in attendance most likely excommunicated themselves.  Second, he asks how he could ban the Traditional Latin Mass yet still allow pachamama and western-granny idolatries to abound.  I don't think they are contradictory at all.  Everything he's done has as an objective the deconstruction of the One True Faith.  In actuality, that can never happen simply because God Himself cannot be moved aside.

Don't mess with this
western Granny!

Afterwards, Francis headed back to Rome on a plane and gave another interview.  Yep!  Here we go again - another episode of high-altitude-induced verbal diahrea!  Apparently we who hold to Tradition have "dead faith".  If by that he means that we don't believe in these pachamamas, western grandmothers, four directions, climate change and the such, I'll wear that badge with honor.  This is the same interview where he attempted verbal tap-dances in response to a question about contraception.  I touched on this Wednesday.  In that example of the death penalty, he called evil what the church has always held to be a good.  Now with contraception, it appears that he is preparing to call an intrinsic evil a good.  All this is heresy.  God's teachings cannot change for God Himself is immutable. 

Perhaps that is why he dislikes Latin.  Latin is a dead language.  The meanings of its vocabulary cannot change.  Thus prayers offered in Latin mean exactly the same as they meant centuries ago.  Here is an excellent article on the subject.

We must not only pray, but resist.  Attend the Latin Mass.  Withhold donations where the Latin Mass is restricted.

The Traditional Latin Mass, And All The Church's Patrimony, Threaten The Pope And His Progressive Agendas

Let's recap events of the past few weeks - events that involved the attempts to quash the Mass of the Ages.  Cardinal Cupich effectively suppressed the Institute of Christ the King, evicting them from their Chicago church for which their congregation raised  $4 million  after a 2015 fire damaged it.  Meanwhile in Inverness IL, at Holy Family Catholic Community (site of the guitar blessing) a lay person gave the homily at Pentecost Mass and soon afterwards, the whole place erupted in dance music and blowing bubbles.  To date I have heard nothing of Cardinal Cupich bringing this bunch to heel.

He has no words of admonishment for Father Pfleger either, after this latest debacle of a mass.

A similar injustice happened in Benedict, MD after Cardinal Gregory's tyrannical edict;   Those attending the Traditional Latin Mass there raised $250k for renovations and decorations.  Now they will have to go elsewhere to attend the Latin Mass.

Any honest person can only surmise that those trying to suppress the Latin Mass are simply full of spite.  Yes, that includes the pope.  Read this and this to see how some faithful Catholics are calling out this obvious pettiness and hatred.  There is quite a succinct comment on social media regarding the fanaticism with which the pope is grinding his axe against the Traditional Latin Mass.  It reads:

Have you noticed how often, in the last 18 months, the pope’s off-the-cuff comments have focused on traditionalists? There are 50 grave problems in the Church that need major papal attention, and THIS is what smolders on his mind constantly? PF's priorities are clear in this: to heck with all those other problems. It’s the 1% traddies who need to be 'dealt with', not the 99% of dreadful masses, the 99% of heretical 'catholic' colleges, the 99% of degenerate bishops, etc. Even if traddies were wrong in loving Tradition, his inattention to the vastly larger problems is mind-boggling."

This obsessive and seemingly disproportionate campaign against the traditionalists is in fact perfectly logical. Pope Francis realizes that the only effective resistance to the modernist remake of Catholic doctrine, morals, and liturgy is coming from this zealous minority, who have shown every sign of growing numbers and influence. Remember, it is creative minorities who change the course of history, not the majority who float along with the spirit of the age.

What is at stake is not merely "liturgical preference" but the dogmatic structure of Catholicism, the historical-theological continuity of the Church, and the soundness of Christian morality. His tactical hits in all of these areas show that the ultimate aim is the transformation of the Catholic Faith into something quite, quite other than it has been.

That is why our opposition to his entire agenda, which has TC as its poster-child, must be inflexible, determined, and indefatigable, and why "obedience" must be tendered only to what is true and good, not to what is false and wicked.

Actually only the first paragraph is the viral comment.  The other paragraphs are the thoughts of Peter Kwasniewski.  So there is a broad attempt to tear down all Catholic worship and teaching - including morals.  Eric Sammons echoed similar theories.  The interview to which Sammons alluded can be found here.  By the way - notice what he said about "true doctrine progressing".  Now remember how the pope erroneously, and probably sinfully, condemned the death penalty as intrinsically evil?  I opined then that he was floating a trial balloon with that, to see how Catholics would react, given that many of them are themselves confused about the death penalty.  Apparently he was pleased enough with the results of that experiment to start broaching contraception.  If he does, by some Jesuitical verbal trickery, manage to hoodwink the faithful into thinking that contraception might be acceptable in some circumstances, we'll have deadly history repeating itself.  We'll be having the 1930 Lambeth Conference all over again and that could actually lead to the horrors of baby-slaughter being condoned by Church hierarchy. 

One would hope that would be enough for some timid souls in the hierarchy to declare Francis an imposter to the papacy.  Note that I am not a sedevacantist for I do not believe Benedict's "resignation" to have been properly performed.  My blogging colleague at Les Femmes posted on the situation in her home diocese of Arlington, site of one of the recent draconian attacks on the Faith.  She challenges her priests, as I do the priests in my own Archdiocese of Washington, where Cardinal Gregory has been chomping at the bit for his turn to beat down faithful Catholics.   

We laity have a responsibility to positively resist, too.  Prayer and fasting are necessary, but by no means sufficient.  Ora et labora.  I post below a note from another Arlington Catholic to the chancery.

One language the corrupt bishops understand and heed is money.  We must use ours to good advantage, and sometimes one must starve the beasts.  Not one more red cent to these wolves in shepherd's clothing.  It's high time we stop kissing the hands that slap us and rob our children of their patrimony.