The Disaster Known As Vatican II

In the middle of this video, Michael Matt shows the opening ceremonies of Vatican II.  One thing that one immediately notices is the grandeur that one belonged to the Catholic Church.  This was when she knew her place as the Bride of Christ, entrusted to bring the Gospel of Jesus to the world and to lead them to salvation via the Sacraments and her Teachings.  Alas, some nefarious elements had already insinuated themselves into the hierarchy by stealth.  They sought to undermine the Church's teaching authority to her clerics and laity; in large part, they succeeded.

After watching the video, please scroll below it for there is much more to be said.

Some have opined that the Vatican II fathers might have meant well and the whole thing simply ran amok in its implementation.  Those good intentions might well have been held by the majority of the bishops, but enough of them, particularly those in high offices of the Vatican, seem to have had intentions to undermine the Church.  Pope John XXIII was either their willing dupe or their accomplice.  Michael Matt, in another piece, detailed how the then-pope undermined and directly thumbed his nose at an encyclical written by his immediate predecessor, Pope Pius XII.  That encyclical is Humani Generis.  That link takes you to the English translation on the Vatican website.  Please read it in its entirety.

Take a look at Matt's piece and study closely some of the quotes from John XXIII.  Regarding the errors condemned by Pius XII, he said, "Frequently she has condemned them with the greatest severity. Nowadays, however, the spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity.'

Now who else has yammered about "mercy" as though it is superior to God's justice?  We also know that quite a few dissidents were invited to Vatican II, such as Yves Congar and Hans Kung, along with various Protestant leaders.  Francis continues that practice today.

There is no gainsaying that highly placed dissidents planned the deconstruction of the Church during Vatican II.  Today, they are making no secret of it.  Do we have eyes and ears to perceive what is so plainly set before us?  Do we have the resolve to resist them with prayer and fidelity to the One True Church as she has always existed before she was deformed during these past 60 years?

"NeverTrump" + "Seamless Garment" = Spiritual And Political Toxicity

We've all dealt with those who have taken on the slogan "#nevertrump".  They are those who are so taken aback by Trump's personality (I suppose this is preferable?) and media hype, that they rail constantly against him.  They have planned to squander their vote by either voting for some third-party candidate or not voting at all.  I hear them rail incessantly about Trump's faults while uttering nary a peep about Hillary's outright evils.  They have allowed themselves to be deceived (and in some cases, engaged in self-deception) into believing that there is essentially no difference between the two: all along ignoring facts that stare them in the face.  Now this error of false equivalency has taken a sad yet foreseeable turn for the worse.

An individual, once well-known as a leader in the pro-life community, announced on facebook (and maybe other venues) that he intends to vote for Hillary.  He's involved in some "social justice" issues along the "seamless garment" bent, and Hillary's positions on those do jive with his.  If he believes along the lines of the #nevertrump folks that there is no essential difference on life issues between Trump and Hillary, then I for one can see how he'd succumb to the temptation to evaluate things through those "seamless garment" topics that are geared towards seduction into the culture of death.   For now, I won't identify him.  For the sake of this post, I'll call him A.

I discovered this during a discussion on the facebook wall of another pro-life leader.  Again, I won't identify (for now) but will call this one B.  When I stated that those who vote for Hillary risk their immortal souls, B rebuked me, stating that A and his family simply came to "different conclusions" and that their decision to vote for the most pro-abortion candidate in this race posed no danger to their salvation because they were "sincere".

Needless to say, I and others felt like we had stepped into the Twilight Zone.  One the one hand, we have former pro-life leader A announcing his intention to vote for Hillary.  On the other hand, current pro-life leader B is so muddled in his own thinking that he won't listen to the words of pro-life priests (here, here) and just common sense regarding the evil (not just inadvisability) of voting for Hillary.

Again, I believe that the erroneous mindset of A is one that logically follows from the somewhat lesser erroneous mindset of the #nevertrump crowd.  I understand that at least most of the #nevertrump crowd isn't voting for Hillary; that's a plus.  However, now we'll need one more vote to offset the vote of A.

I post now a talk given by a Catholic priest.  I find his analogies to be quite helpful.  Please pay close attention to the quote from Pope Pius XII towards the end.  The late pontiff makes very clear that a vote for an evil candidate is sinful, "sincerity" notwithstanding.

UPDATE - My friend and CMC colleague at Les Femmes put up her own piece regarding the muddled thinking of some pro-lifers as evinced by A and (to a lesser extent) B.

Evolution, Deism And Disregard Of God

Yesterday Pope Francis spoke to the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences and made some rather startling statement regarding evolution, the big bang theory and how mankind came into being.  To put a little perspective on things, Venerable Pope Pius XII stated that the Catholic faith was not necessarily incompatible with the big bang theory and evolution as far as the human body originated.  (See Humani Generis, paragraph 36).

Please note the emphasis on "body", recalling that we are constituted both body and soul.  I'm not a theologian, but I think it stands to reason that there were two parents, endowed by God with immortal souls, from which we all descended, called Adam and Eve.  It is through them that we, their descendants, bear the image and likeness of God and the scars of original sin.  Many who hold to an exaggerated adherence to evolution do so to minimize original sin and even make a mockery regarding our need for the redemption promised in Genesis.

Leaving that aside for the moment, let's look at other disconcerting words uttered by the Holy Father.  He said, "when we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything — but that is not so."  It is not so that God is able to do everything?  Yes He is!  He's omnipotent!

What I also find troubling is that the Holy Father seems to touting evolution in an almost doctrinaire fashion as opposed to any belief in a literal interpretation of Genesis.  This does appear to run counter with Pope Pius' encyclical cited above.  There also seem to be strong undercurrents of deism in the Pope's address (whether or not he realized it), with the picture of God holding Himself aloof after the initial work of creation.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Many of those touting evolution today do so with the intention of shoving God to the sidelines of our lives, and eventually out of our lives altogether.  I pray we're not going to see these ends furthered by this address.

Why Did Pope Francis Make A Joke Out Of The Creation Of Eve?

I've said it before and I'll say it now.  The Holy Father's attempts at spontaneous interviews often yield disastrous results.  He gave an interview to Il Messagero, and the reporter seems to have been a feminist.  She was implying that there's misogyny in the Church.  He attempted to reply in the form of a joke: "the fact is that woman was taken from a rib..(laughes)... I'm kidding, that's a joke."

Really?  The Genesis account of the creation of man and woman is a joke?  Since when is Holy Scripture a joke?  There has been some discussion about the creation of the universe and other animal species, but the Church has always taught that Adam and Eve were real people who were created immediately by God and infused with souls.  See Humani Generis by Pope Pius XII.   Pope Francis' lame attempt at humor (presuming it's that innocent) undermines the teaching of the Church in that matter.  I only hope and pray that he did not deny the Genesis account of the creation of Adam and Eve.

When Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio accepted the papal election last year, he accepted a calling that is his 24/7/365.  There is no "punching the clock", as it were.  In the eyes of so many, every deed and utterance is taken as God's holy will for the Church.  Most of his deeds and utterances will not happen ex cathedra but he will bear immense responsibility for any scandal caused by any carelessness.

These interviews should cease immediately.  What we are seeing is a key reason why his predecessors never granted these.  Why does he not learn from their wise practices?

The Truth About Pope Pius XII

This episode of Catholic Investigative Agency exposes the politically-correct fairy tales about the late pontiff for what they are - malicious lies.  Click here if you cannot see embedded video.