This month’s edition of Catholic Family News contains the articles listed below. Only a few of these are reprinted on this website. To read all of the articles contained in this month’s edition, choose one of our subscription options, each of which comes with access to the E-Edition of the paper so you can start reading these articles now.
September 2023 Contents
World Youth Day 2023: Epitome of the Francis Pontificate (Matt Gaspers)
Another World Youth Day has come and gone (Aug. 1-6, 2023), this one held in Portugal, the nation in which the Mother of God chose to appear to three shepherd children in 1917. In stark contrast to Our Lady’s Fatima Message, however, the latest World Youth Day contained many of the same disturbing elements as past iterations, as well as some features which seem uniquely aligned with concerning themes of the Francis Pontificate. We will survey a few examples in this article, which is not intended to provide a comprehensive summary of the event but rather to focus on a few areas of concern. There are no doubt people of good will involved with the planning and execution of World Youth Day whose sincere goal is to help young people grow in their faith. This is article does not focus on them and their efforts; instead, it seeks to address concerns about certain themes and elements present at World Youth Day by design, and how such things serve not to build up but rather to undermine Catholic faith and morals.
Religious Indifferentism on Display
Upon surveying the official WYD 2023 website, I couldn’t help but notice the emphasis placed on “interfaith dialogue,” a misnomer since the theological virtue of faith — by which we believe in God and all God has revealed — is unique to the true religion. The website has a page devoted to this subject, which explains: “Lisbon is one of the largest and safest ports on Europe’s Atlantic coast. Cultures and religions coexisted there. [They omit mention of the conquest and subjugation of the Iberian Peninsula by Muslim invaders beginning in A.D. 711.] Take advantage of WYD Lisbon 2023 to visit the places we suggest. We are waiting for you there to lead you through art and architecture to the spiritual dimension they represent.”
Those suggested locations included not only Catholic churches but also a Jewish synagogue, two Islamic mosques, a Hindu temple, and several Buddhist centers. Never mind that Jews and Muslims reject the divine nature of Our Lord and His identity as the promised Messiah, or the fact that “all the gods of the Gentiles [e.g., Hindus] are devils” (Ps. 95:5). According to the organizers of World Youth Day, interreligious dialogue is more important than keeping the First Commandment or working to convert souls to Christ and His one true Church. To continue reading, subscribe to Catholic Family News
Unwanted Priest: Review of Fr. Bryan Houghton’s Autobiography (Brian M. McCall)
I remember that a few years after we found the Traditional Mass, someone recommended a book. Mitre and Crook is a fictional alternate history written by Fr. Bryan Houghton. It tells the thrilling tale of one lone bishop in England in the years following the introduction of the New Mass. This bishop decides the changes have not been for the best and tries to stem the dyke. He grants unfettered permission for priests in his diocese to offer the Traditional Mass and makes significant changes to the Mass of Paul VI if offered in his diocese, including substituting the Traditional Mass offertory for the non-offertory of the Mass of Paul VI. It is not only excellently written fiction but an interesting thought experiment about what might have been if more diocesan bishops had resisted.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book two decades ago but knew little about the author other than that he was a priest (clearly from his byline). I assumed but did not know that he offered the Traditional Latin Mass. Thus, when Angelico Press announced the publication of Unwanted Priest: The Autobiography of a Latin Mass Exile, I was intrigued and knew I had to obtain a copy.
History of the Book
Gerard Deighan came across the autobiography of Fr. Houghton in French, entitled Prêtre Rejecté, in 2009. Knowing that Fr. Houghton was English, he sought after an original copy written in English that he assumed was used to produce the French translation. Eventually his search led him to Horatio Covington, who indeed had the original English text that was used to produce this volume. The autobiography is written by Fr. Houghton in the style of a conversational memoir. Reading it, one feels as if he is sitting with Fr. Houghton who is telling him his life’s story. One unusual aspect of the text is that the story is interrupted at several points at which Fr. Houghton includes a few articles and other published papers in the midst of the text. Mr. Deighan explains in the preface that he considered moving these texts to an appendix but opted to leave them where Fr. Houghton had inserted them. They really do not interrupt the story but support it; however, one who is not interested in reading these original works of Fr. Houghton can easily skip over them if he chooses. To continue reading, subscribe to Catholic Family News
*The Popes Speak* Excerpt from Benedict XV’s Encyclical Humani Generis Redemptionem on Preaching the Word of God
1. It was the desire of Jesus Christ, once He had wrought the Redemption of the human race by His death on the altar of the Cross, to lead men to obey His commands and thus win eternal life. To attain this end, He used no other means than the voice of His heralds whose work it was to announce to all mankind what they had to believe and do in order to be saved. “It pleased God, by the foolishness of our preaching, to save them that believed.” [I Cor. 1:21] He chose therefore His Apostles, and after infusing into their minds by the power of the Holy Ghost the gifts in harmony with their high calling, “Go ye into the world,” He told them, “and preach the Gospel.” [Mark 16:15] Their preaching renewed the face of the earth. For if the religion of Christ has withdrawn the minds of men from errors of every kind to the truth, and won their hearts from the degradation of vice to the excellence and beauty of every virtue, assuredly it has done so by means of that very preaching. “Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ.” [Rom. 10:17] Wherefore since by God’s good pleasure, things are preserved through the same causes by which they were brought into being, it is evident that the preaching of the wisdom taught us by the Christian religion is the means divinely employed to continue the work of eternal salvation, and that it must with just reason be looked upon as a matter of the greatest and most momentous concern. That preaching, therefore, must form the object of Our special care and attention, particularly so, if in any way, it may have lost perhaps some of its original perfection or its efficacy may have been impaired.
2. Here then, Venerable Brethren, is a burden added to the other misfortunes of these times, with which, more than anyone else, We are tried. For if We look around us and count those who are engaged in preaching the Word of God, We shall find them more numerous perhaps than they have ever been before. If on the other hand We examine the state of public and private morals, the constitutions and laws of nations, We shall find that there is a general disregard and forgetfulness of the supernatural, a gradual falling away from the strict standard of Christian virtue, and that men are slipping back more and more into the shameful practices of paganism. Click here to continue reading
Understanding the Place of Gregorian Chant in the Mass, Part I (Peter A. Kwasniewski, Ph.D.)
Editor’s Note: The following is the first half of a sample chapter from Dr. Peter Kwasniewski’s latest book, Good Music, Sacred Music, and Silence (TAN Books, 2023). The second half will appear in next month’s issue. Catholic Family News thanks Dr. Kwasniewski and the publisher for permission to share this sample chapter with our readers. We encourage readers to consider purchasing a copy of the book.
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In his First Epistle to Saint Timothy, Saint Paul says that he is not sure when he can come to visit Timothy, but meanwhile he is giving him instructions “so that . . . you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth” (1 Tm 3:14–15, RSVCE).
This statement raises a question for us too: How ought we to behave — or, as other translations have it, “conduct ourselves” — in the Church? More particularly, since the liturgy is the expression and summation of the Church’s life, how ought we to behave when we enter a church and step into the sacred domain of the liturgy that takes place within its walls? The liturgy, with all its complex dimensions — vertical and horizontal, transcendent and immanent, literal and symbolic, visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly — is a microcosm of the whole of Catholic life. The way Holy Mass is celebrated, the way we worship in and through it, not only expresses everything we believe but also, and for that very reason, shapes our faith and transmits it. If the celebration misses the mark, the result over time will be a malformed and eventually falsified faith.
Pope Benedict XVI once spoke of the need to “intensify the celebration of the faith in the liturgy, especially in the Eucharist.” Sometimes Catholics feel that simply showing up for Mass is participation enough; why should we, or how could we, intensify that participation? I have often been surprised at how frequently even men and women of orthodox faith and irreproachable morals are unaware of the profound centrality, the all-encompassing role, the Church’s liturgy should have in their own personal and family lives. We may detect the influence of a Protestant, individualist mentality that has to be gently but firmly put aside, not just in our thoughts but in the structuring of our daily life. Catholics should take time to read Pius XII’s encyclical Mediator Dei (1947), the single finest magisterial treatment of the subject of the liturgy. To continue reading, subscribe to Catholic Family News
Tradition Continues to Grow in Charlotte While Diocesan Priests Warn Against “Spiritual Danger” of Attending SSPX (Brian Mershon)
The pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church in Charlotte, Fr. Timothy Reid, has been offering the Traditional Latin Mass and sacraments to the lay faithful since March 2013 with an initial congregation of 50 families that now has a regular Sunday attendance of more than 300. A few minutes away in downtown Charlotte, the Traditional Latin Mass is also offered every single Sunday at St. Thomas Aquinas parish with hundreds of Catholics.
In addition, the Society of St. Pius X has served Catholics in the Charlotte area (and beyond) since 1981 by priests who offer the Mass and sacraments at a chapel located in nearby Mount Holly.
During and following the COVID scamdemic, congregations at all three locations have expanded considerably. And with the recent crackdowns emanating from Pope Francis and Cardinal Roche in their attempts to snuff out Tradition and replace it with their own traditions, the Society chapel in Mount Holly has been stuffed to the gills during the Sacred Triduum the past two years following its ban in diocesan churches in 2021 by the bishop of Charlotte.
Rumors of Further TLM Crackdowns
In a city the size of Charlotte, the needs of traditional Catholics, up to now, have been met generously it would seem. However, last spring, rumors that the consolidation of multiple Traditional Latin Mass locations was coming to the Charlotte diocese, which has several other locations within the diocese. The rumors, often cited either privately or publicly by diocesan priests in the know, fanned the flames of Catholics considering where they would attend the TLM and receive the traditional sacraments with their families. Could it be that an Arlington, Virginia, diocesan consolidation (21 to 8 remaining diocesan locations and now with a flourishing SSPX chapel) were forthcoming as rumored?
So as Catholic families that had grown accustomed to living the Church’s fruitful traditional liturgical year regularly for 10 years began to organize and consider their next options, a sermon delivered by Fr. Brandon Jones, the parochial vicar at St. Ann’s, seemed to not only fan the rumor flames of an imminent crackdown, but included primarily an apologetic of sorts against the SSPX and its nearby chapel. Fr. Jones began by explaining that beginning in December 2003, he attended the SSPX’s chapel, now a priory, in Sanford, Florida. Fr. Jones explained that “the liturgy was beautiful, decent, and in order,” but then quickly he moved away due to his perceiving “a disquiet within myself,” to which soon translated into a “return to my local parish,” he said. To continue reading, subscribe to Catholic Family News
The Precious and Life-Giving Cross: An Eastern Catholic Perspective (John A. Monaco)
One of the distinguishing features of the Byzantine Rite is its liturgical feasts, seasons, and traditions. Whereas the Roman Rite begins its liturgical year with the First Sunday of Advent, the Byzantine Rite begins its liturgical year on September 1. This is partially due to the Roman Empire’s taxation cycle, known as the “indiction”, which signified the new year following the harvest of August. It also follows from the ancient Jewish feast of tabernacles, known also as the ingathering (see Ex. 23:16; Lev. 23:39), in which the crops were gathered in preparation for autumn. The Byzantine liturgical year is guided by twelve feasts — eight commemorating events of Our Lord and four in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary — and these are called the “Great Feasts”. The first of these twelve feasts is the Nativity of the Theotokos, commemorated on September 8. The last of these feasts is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15. The first Christic feast is that of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14). For us Byzantine Catholics, there is a historical and spiritual significance to this feast that can help shed light on its importance for Latin Catholics.
Historical Roots of the Feast
There are two main historical dimensions to this feast. The first is the finding of the True Cross by St. Helena (A.D. 246-330), the mother of Emperor Constantine. St. Helena was a pious woman, and would often take pilgrimages in order to deepen her connection to the Catholic Faith. According to the historian Socrates Scholasticus, Helena had a dream in which she was told to travel to Jerusalem. In A.D. 326, she arrived and discovered a desolate Jerusalem, one which had fallen into disarray and paganism. The pagans, detesting Christianity, erected a shrine to Venus where Christ was laid in the tomb. St. Helena gave the order to the Roman troops to destroy and dismantle the pagan idol. Underneath the debris, she found three crosses — the Cross on which the Savior was hung, and the two crosses belonging to the two thieves crucified next to Him. According to tradition, Helena initially doubted whether or not one of the three was indeed the True Cross. When she brought it to Macarius, the Bishop of Jerusalem, he asked God for a sign of confirmation. Macarius had the three crosses brought to a woman long-suffering from a deadly disease. The first two crosses — those believed to be that of the thieves — were applied to her, but she continued suffering. When the True Cross was brought to her and touched her, she was immediately healed and restored to full strength. Constantine then ordered a church to be built upon the site, a church which is now famously known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. To continue reading, subscribe to Catholic Family News
Pope’s Latest Screed Against Traditional Catholicism (Anthony P. Stine, Ph.D.)
One of the oldest truisms of this pontificate is that Francis has placed a remarkable amount of his focus on a tiny minority of Catholics, namely, traditionalists. More broadly, he is focused on Catholics who are too conservative, which would include those who attend the Novus Ordo and typically defend the post-conciliar changes while offering honest criticism of them when they feel it is warranted. But Francis has made clear that those who are concerned with orthodoxy regarding Catholic faith and morals — in other words, with the Church retaining her integrity — are not to be trusted and that they are to be re-educated into the new paradigm that he is ushering into the Church under the guise of Synodality.
Francis made this clear in an interview he gave to a Spanish news outlet that was published during the recent World Youth Day festivities. Later, Francis directed his words at those “rigid” and “clericalist” priests in Italy in the form of a letter that was addressed to them but has since gone viral on social media and then spread to news outlets around the world. His words are clear: all are welcome in the Church, except for those who insist on clinging to the same Catholic Faith that our ancestors all held.
Francis on “Rigidity”
The interview was conducted and published by Vida Nueva and translated into English by the Catholic blog Cathcon. In this interview, Pope Francis repeats many of his tired lines of attack against traditional priests and laity. He also declares himself to be a “victim of the Holy Spirit,” implying that the Holy Spirit personally chose him to be the Pope against his own wishes, despite the admissions made by his allies of having engaged in political maneuvering at the 2013 conclave that elected him.[i] Francis states that “rigidity” is a disease and that those who rigidly cling to the laws and morals of the Church are akin to the religious authorities of the Old Testament who hated Our Lord…
Pope Francis’ ideal priest is one who doesn’t possess the missionary spirit to spread the Gospel and call souls to Christ by coming home to the Catholic Church. That’s a revealing statement. To continue reading, subscribe to Catholic Family News
The Grand Superstition: A Lighthearted Look at the Dark Age of Scientific Mythology, Part II (Christopher A. Ferrara)
In Part I of this series, the Introduction, I observed that thanks to the dominance of scientism in academia and public opinion, we live in the age of the Grand Superstition, according to which “one is expected to believe that from nothing came everything; that everything that exists, including our minds as well as our bodies, is merely an arrangement of quantized matter-energy packets surrounded by empty space; that living beings arose by chance; that nothing has a fixed nature or inherent purpose; and that there is no first cause for the continuing existence of anything from one moment to the next. In short: from nothing came everything; everything is mostly nothing; and nothing sustains the existence of the universe but the universe. Or, even shorter: There is no God.”
At the conclusion of the Introduction, I likened this situation to an immense farce in which even scientists who know there is a Creator God are expected to “dutifully read their lines or be expelled from the cast by the producers,” meaning the scientistic ideologues of the Grand Superstition, whom I call its Keepers. This series critiquing the pretensions of modern scientific mythology thus proceeds within the allegorical framework of a farcical stage play in three acts. Herewith, Act I:
ACT I: SOMETHING FROM NOTHING
Act 1, Scene 1: The Universe Creates Itself
Unable to answer the most basic scientific question of all — Why is there something rather than nothing? — the scientist as playwright must begin his truly fabulous account of the existence of all things with the opening scene of the self-creation of a primordial universe, seriously proposed by such masters of scientific mythos as the late Stephen Hawking.
Hawking specialized in discovering things that cannot be shown to exist, for which he received endless accolades from the Keepers for what he “discovered.” Hawking received a Nobel Prize for “discovering” that black holes emit what is now called Hawking radiation, even though Hawking radiation has never been observed, and the very existence of black holes has yet to be demonstrated conclusively and is indeed being questioned by black whole deniers in the astrophysics community.
How could Hawking be awarded a Nobel Prize for discovering something that has never been observed, you ask? Exactly. Here is Hawking’s ipse dixit on another of his “discoveries”: the self-creation of the universe. Quoth Hawking:
“Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.” First of all, according to the science Hawking himself defends, gravity is but a curvature of space-time caused by the presence of gravitational masses. So where did all that mass come from? To continue reading, subscribe to Catholic Family News
The Fatima Apparitions and the Signs of God’s Presence, Part IV (Marianna Bartold)
As noted in a previous issue, at Fatima, Portugal in 1917, a new sign — a luminous globe — was seen in September and October, gliding from east to west. The symbolism of this globe, also earlier explained, descended to the holmoak tree, over which the Lady always appeared to the three children. The time was high noon and, according to a letter written by witness Fr. John Quaresma, who later became the Vicar General of Leiria, Portugal, there was not “a cloud in the deep blue sky.” Then, as Fatima historian Frère Michel of the Holy Trinity wrote, “the sun’s brightness diminished, the atmosphere became golden yellow, like the other times. Some people even reported being able to distinguish the stars in the sky.”
Stars in the Scriptures
Continuing in this part my examination of the “sensible signs” witnessed during the Fatima apparitions of 1917, I will again extensively quote from my book, Fatima: The Signs and Secrets. (For lack of space, just as in the last issue, I will not include the copious footnotes featured in my Fatima book.) This section will focus extensively on the biblical symbolism of a star or stars.
According to Fr. Bernard Kramer, “In the Septuagint [the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures — i.e., the Old Testament — approved by the Catholic Church but rejected by Orthodox Jews and Protestant sects] the word [sign] is used for celestial phenomena.” With the exception of the sun, which is Scripture’s “day star” and the symbol of Jesus Who is the Son of Justice (but also representative of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, per St. John Eudes), rare is the sight of a star during the daylight hours. Writing on the invisible power behind the sign of the Star of Bethlehem, which shone in the day, St. John Chrysostom observed, “…one may see this from the time also. For it [a star] appears not in the night, but in mid-day, while the sun is shining; and this is not within the power of a star.” Such a manifestation is, however, within the omnipotent power of God, Who uses the lights of heaven when He wishes to give His people a sign. The Holy Bible infallibly confirms that the lights of the firmament are intended for many purposes, including “for signs”… To continue reading, subscribe to Catholic Family News
*Apologetics Series* Msgr. Fenton’s Handbook on Catholic Apologetics: The Holiness and Wisdom of Jesus (Matthew Plese)
Why Consider the Manifest Holiness of Jesus in Apologetics?
After having considered the reliability of the Apostles’ testimony, we come to Msgr. Fenton’s chapter dedicated to the holiness and wisdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In his opening words, Msgr. Fenton beautifully highlights the importance of this consideration in the arsenal of a Catholic apologist:
“For there would be absolutely no need to take seriously the claims set forth by an individual who was mentally unbalanced or morally dishonest, and thus we must seek naturally attainable evidence of sanity and uprightness in Jesus. Actually, the opponents of Christianity whose vocal acerbity far surpasses their sense of historical criticism have uttered challenges which make the investigation absolutely imperative for an effective presentation of Christian credibility. However, the result of serious study on this matter shows very clearly that Jesus of Nazareth was not only demonstrably sane and righteous, but that His moral and intellectual goodness were of such an order that they could never be explained merely by the unaided forces of human nature. In other words, the holiness and the wisdom of Jesus are visibly miracles of the intellectual and moral order, manifestly attached to the teaching He presented to the world. As such they are positive indications that this doctrine is rationally credible as divine revelation.”
Msgr. Fenton further demonstrates why this consideration is important by explaining how it also adds a negative motive of credibility:
“The mere sanity and moral goodness visible in Jesus, as He is known through the reliable historical documents telling of His words and works, constitute a negative motive of credibility. It would be rash in the extreme to accept as a divine message some body of teaching which had been set forth by an individual suffering from delusions or hallucinations. It would be folly rather than virtue to take seriously claims to divine messengership advanced by a person who lived in violation of the moral law. When we show, as we are able easily to do, that Jesus of Nazareth was manifestly sane and righteous, we have demonstrated that there is nothing to stand in the way of a serious and scientific consideration of those signs which He claimed as indicative of the divine origin of that message which He presented to the world.”
Sadly, the vile accusations of some that Our Lord was either mentally insane or a deliberate deceiver make such a study necessary. As such blasphemies continue, the apologist must be well informed to decisively neutralize them. To this end, we dive into this topic with our erudite instructor. To continue reading, subscribe to Catholic Family News
Rediscover the Spirituality and Practice of Ember Days (Matthew Plese)
Although Ember Days have been widely ignored since Vatican II except for the remnant upholding of Catholic Tradition, these ancient days of prayer and penance can and should still be observed by the faithful. In fact, many traditional priests still rightfully encourage the laity to observe these days.
What are Ember Days? When did they originate? How does the Church traditionally observe them? And how can we live their spirit today?
The Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal provides a succinct summary of Ember Days for the faithful:
“At the beginning of the four seasons of the Ecclesiastical Year, the Ember Days have been instituted by the Church to thank God for blessings obtained during the past year and to implore further graces for the new season. Their importance in the Church was formerly very great. They are fixed on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday: after the First Sunday of Lent for spring, after Pentecost Sunday for summer, after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (14th September) for autumn, and after the Third Sunday of Advent for winter. They are intended, too, to consecrate to God the various seasons in nature, and to prepare by penance those who are about to be ordained. Ordinations generally take place on the Ember Days. The faithful ought to pray on these days for good priests. The Ember Days were until c. 1960 fastdays of obligation.”
The Ancient Institution of Ember Days
Hence, Ember Days were characterized by three elements: prayers of thanksgiving and petition, penance in the form of fasting and abstinence, and ordinations. Like Rogation Days, Ember Days developed early in these times, taking the form that would continue for centuries. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains:
“At first the Church in Rome had fasts in June, September, and December; the exact days were not fixed but were announced by the priests. The Liber Pontificalis ascribes to Pope Callistus (217-222) a law ordering the fast, but probably it is older. Leo the Great (440-461) considers it an Apostolic institution.”
By the time of Pope Gregory I, who died in A.D. 601, they were observed for all four seasons though the date of each of them could vary. In the Roman Synod of 1078 under Pope Gregory VII, they were uniformly established for the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after December 13th (St. Lucia), after Ash Wednesday, after Pentecost Sunday, and after September 14th (Exaltation of the Cross). To continue reading, subscribe to Catholic Family News
CFN Interviews Archbishop Viganò (Matt Gaspers
Editor’s Note: In this interview with CFN’s Matt Gaspers, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò comments on a wide variety of topics including the Francis pontificate after ten years, the 2013 Conclave, Donald Trump’s efforts to obtain a second term as President, the Russia-Ukraine war in light of Our Lady’s Fatima Message, child trafficking and the new film Sound of Freedom, and more. “The failures of the deep church, like those of the deep state, can be hidden and denied, but they are apparent in all of their disastrous consequences,” His Grace says, while emphasizing that in these difficult times we must rely on “the sane (Catholic and Roman) pragmatism which combines the omnipotence of God in deciding the fate of the world with the generous cooperation of man whom He has created and redeemed. In a word, it is the multiplication of the few loaves and fishes.”
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CFN: Your Grace, we are now in the tenth year of Francis’s pontificate. From his comment, “Who am I to judge?” to Amoris Laetitia, from the Abu Dhabi Declaration to the Pachamama incident (and the ongoing Synod on Synodality), we have witnessed truly unprecedented papal scandals over the past decade — scandals touching on both faith and morals. In your opinion, what has been the most damaging affair of this pontificate and how can the Church recover from it?
Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò: It is difficult — and I think many will agree with me — to identify the single issue that has had the most negative influence out of all of Bergoglio’s actions and words. His every gesture is deliberately provocative and histrionic, deliberately designed to leave the interlocutor baffled, or to offend him, or to make fun of him. Those who think that Bergoglio is naïve are mistaken: his every word is spoken with the purpose of arousing scandal, distancing himself from all his predecessors, and criticizing the Church’s past, falsifying it and misrepresenting it with irritating simplifications. And above all: he never affirms. If you have noticed, his most controversial utterances are not the result of an autonomous statement, but the answer to questions asked by others according to the directions they have received, giving the appearance that the topic has been chosen by the interviewer or interlocutor. It is curious, if you pay attention, that all of his most puzzling statements — from “Who am I to judge” to his latest zinger “God loves you as you are” — are answers to questions. Bergoglio himself confirmed this during the press conference returning from Portugal when he said: “Thank you for the courage to ask this question. Thank you.”
In practice, regardless of the topic, all Bergoglio’s words are based a priori on a fiction, a lie. In some cases, these manipulations take place with systems that are more elaborate but always dishonest and disloyal: think of the maneuvers to impose his agenda at the recent Synods and his absolute contempt for the rules. Add to this the mocking contempt with which he attributes to other circumstances and other people what he ostentatiously does first himself. Beyond all of the individual scandals, I believe that the greatest damage done to the Church by this “pontificate” has been the discredit and dishonor that has been thrown on the Papacy, on the Church, on the clergy, and on the faithful. His hatred for Tradition knows no rest, and this necessarily has repercussions on what is a natural expression of that Tradition: doctrine, morality, liturgy, and spirituality. The demolition is systematic and starts mainly from authority, which is corrupt and subservient to the enemy, abusing its power for the opposite purpose to that which legitimizes it. The democratization of the Church, conciliar “collegiality,” and Bergoglio’s “synodality” are all colossal lies, behind which tyranny hides: the parallel with governments subjected to the globalist elite is evident and confirms a single coordination of the two subversive actions. Both institutions, as we see, are discredited and delegitimized by those who hold positions of authority. In this way, if in the future this crisis should come to an end, restoring trust in the Church and restoring her authority will be almost impossible, humanly speaking. Click here to continue reading
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