I believe the "bad Council and bad Mass to come in the near future" applies to the time period when the 3rd secret was actually meant to be released as per Our Lady of Fatima's instructions, i.e., in 1960. If you re-read that article, it goes on to say that this is the reason Pope BXVI tried to undo some of the errors (of Vatican II) by issuing Summorum Pontificum and 'giving back dignity' to the SSPX. +
OnePeterFive is often dismissed as sensationalist but their sources in both those articles are above reproach. Two independent sources saying that the great apostasy will begin at the top shouldn't be dismissed as conspiracy theorists. Fr. Malachi Martin hinted something along the same lines, and another source quoted Pope Benedict linking the Akita prophecy to Fatima. Nevertheless, it doesn't automatically mean that Pope Francis is an apostate.
It's hard to tell what Pope Benedict meant. The Vatican issued a denial of the conversation between Pope Benedict and Fr. Dollinger: https://onepeterfive.com/on-fatima-story-pope-emeritus-benedict-xvi-breaks-silence/ The recent controversy about the book co-authored by Pope Benedict and Cardinal Sarah throws a different light on the supposed denial of the conversation between Pope Benedict and Fr. Dollinger. It's a pity that Fr. Amorth never named the prelate(s) who prevailed upon Pope John Paul to omit naming Russia at the consecration. I wonder if Cardinal Sodano was one of those prelates.
Alice von Hildebrand has spoken about this before (there is an interview somewhere). She has also related how her husband spoke with Pope Paul VI about the heresies of Vatican II. https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2015/06/50-years-ago-today-dietrich-von.html#more +
Making it up as they go along.....and what the heck is a "synodal path"?? A lot of little boys playing with fire. German bishops’ synod working doc calls for approval of contraception, homosexuality, women’s ordination The 'synodal path' working doc defended the use of contraception, masturbation, and homosexuality. January 29, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – The working documents in preparation for the assemblies of the German bishops’ “Synodal Path” defend the use of contraception, the practice of masturbation, and an active homosexual lifestyle. Additionally, neither the question of the ordination of women nor that of making celibacy optional for priests is taken off the table. In 2019, four panels of experts were preparing working documents to serve as the basis for discussion among the participants of the Synodal Path, a process that begins Jan. 30. A careful study of those four documents reveals that the Church in Germany would, in fact, be reinvented, in spite of claims to the contrary made by Cardinal Reinhard Marx. The head of the German Bishops’ Conference had stated in an interview that the Synodal Path does not want to “reinvent the Church.” With the first assembly being scheduled for the end of January and the beginning of February, the two-year long “Synodal Path” is focusing on sexual morality, the lifestyle of priests, women in the Church, and the abuse of power. The working documents essentially follow the agenda of Professor Eberhard Schockenhoff to loosen the Church's moral teaching, which he outlined for the German bishops at their conference last March. The working document’s chapter dealing with sexual morality is revealingly titled, “On the further development of Catholic teaching on sexuality.” The document demands sexual morality must develop “on the basis of insights of the human sciences, including the life experience […] of (faithful) loving people.” The document describes that relying on the human sciences, namely “psychology, sociology, anthropology,” would open up the many prohibitions of sexual morality as proposed by the teaching authority of the Church, “which sees sexual activity only within marriage, and still directed strongly towards procreation.” Consequently, the document justifies the use of contraception, the practice of masturbation, and an active homosexual lifestyle. Regarding contraception, the document states, “Not every sexual act must remain open to procreation: the principle of responsible parenthood is extended to include the element of family planning through the free choice of a means of contraception appropriate to the respective life situation. Family planning, even by means of artificial contraception, is not a hostile act, but supports the right of a couple to make a responsible joint decision on the number of children, the intervals between births and the concrete means of family planning.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church, on the other hand, refers to the encyclical Humanae Vitae by Pope Paul VI, teaching “that ‘each and every marriage act must remain open ‘per se’ to the transmission of life.’” The Catechism adds, “This particular doctrine, expounded on numerous occasions by the Magisterium, is based on the inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act.” Pope John Paul II wrote in Familiaris Consortio, “When couples, by means of recourse to contraception, separate these two meanings that God the Creator has inscribed in the being of man and woman and in the dynamism of their sexual communion, they act as ‘arbiters’ of the divine plan and they ‘manipulate’ and degrade human sexuality – and with it themselves and their married partner – by altering its value of ‘total’ self-giving.” Without using the term “masturbation,” the working document in preparation of the Synodal Path in Germany states, “The joyful experience of one’s own body (self sex) can also mean a responsible approach to one’s own sexuality.” Again, the Catechism teaches on this, quoting from a document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “‘Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action.’ ‘The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose.’ For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of ‘the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved.’” cont'd below
cont'd from above: Finally, according to the working document, “homosexual acts also realize positive meaningful values, insofar as they are an expression of friendship, reliability, loyalty and support in life.” Homosexuality, it adds, should no longer be considered as intrinsically evil. A blessing of homosexual unions is not excluded by the working document. These statements also contradict the teaching of the Church as expressed in the Catechism. There, it says, “Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.” Signaling where the church in Germany is headed,Cardinal Marx, who is the head of the German Bishops' Conference, stated in an interview earlier this month that homosexuals belong to the Church’s “sacramental community” and has defended “blessing” homosexual couples. The working document on sexual morality includes a number of charts. The left column of the charts always presents the majority opinion within the panel of experts. Without fail, the majority opinion is liberal and progressive, which is then also reflected in the actual positions of the working document, as described. While the other working documents are more careful in putting forward controversial positions, none of today’s hot button issues are taken off the table. The document on the role of women in the Church says that not only should women participate more in the life of the Church, but the “question of the sacramental ordination of women needs to be asked.” In this context, the documents poses the question, “Is there even the possibility of achieving certainty about the will of God on this subject with human power of cognition?” Then, the document asks about the degree of authority of the magisterial documents on this question. Considerable time is spent within the document on the question of female deacons, advocating for a “revival of the tradition of the ordination of deaconesses.” Regarding women priests, Pope John Paul II had declared already in 1994, “Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church’s judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force.” He added, “Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.” The panel of experts focusing on the lifestyle of priests mentioned the question of female priests, too, but referred it to the panel studying the role of women in the Church. However, when it comes to priests being unmarried, the document asks, while not giving any answers, “Is celibacy the only lifestyle suitable to the nature of the priesthood?” Only recently, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had admitted that celibacy is not absolutely required by the nature of the priesthood,” but went on to say that “it arises in the most intimate appropriateness from the nature of this sacrament as a representation of Christ as the bridegroom of his bride, the church and the head of his body, the Church, in the power of his mission and his form of life of the total gift of self to God.” “Fundamentally, the church has to work towards a celibate priesthood,” he said. Müller also emphasized that even in the early Church, celibacy was the norm, adding, “In the Eastern Church – departing from the tradition of the early Church, and by no means in its continuation – it was allowed to priests and deacons by the Quinisext Council (691/692), which was characteristically held in the imperial palace and not in a church, to continue married life.” The first assembly of the Synodal Path will take place in Frankfurt, in the heart of Germany, from January 30 to February 1. Roughly 230 people are members of the assembly, including all bishops in Germany, but also representing the Central Committee of German Catholics and other organizations. Earlier this month, an international coalition of lay Catholics called Acies ordinata mobilized in Munich to silently pray in “firm protest against the German Episcopal Conference and its President” Cardinal Marx on account of the prelates’ plan to embark on the controversial “synodal path.” https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/w...book-critical-of-trudeau-during-2019-election
etoa, Thank you for posting this. I came across two other videos which discuss what Michael Matt is discussing in the video that you posted above. Here they are:
The text: Guest Editorials, News Viganò reveals the friendship between Maciel and Cardinal Sandri, who will oversee the next Conclave January 31, 2020 From Rome Editor 1 Comment by Marco Tosatti Authorized English Translation by FromRome.Info READ THE ORIGINAL IN ITALIAN AT MARCOTOSATTI.COM Dear Friends and Enemies of Stilum Curiae, we offer you today an extremely interesting document from the ex-Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, regarding one of the recent nominations by the Bridge-Builder: that of Cardinal Leonardo Sandi, as Vice Deacon of the College of Cardinals. It will be Leonardo Sandri, who at 76 years of age, who will oversee in reality the functions of the Dean of the Conclave, Giovanni Battista Re, who being 85 years of age cannot participate. It is a nomination which has stunned us, seeing that Leonardo Sandri was the Sostituo to the Secretary of State (then, Cardinal Sodano) when there was published the unsigned “note” in which it was affirmed there was no ongoing investigation against Marcial Maciel, the diabolic founder of the Legionaires of Christ. Moreover, the good will of the reigning Pontiff towards Sandri is extraordinary. He has already completed two tours of duty of 5 years each, since 20o7, as Prefect of the Congregation for Oriental churches (and is in the middle of a third) and has completed 76 years, when 75 is already the limit imposed for heads of the Dicasteries and for Bishops. But let us read what Archbishop Viganò has written: §§§ The Faithful have the right to know We have just been witnesses to one of the most indecent episodes where we have looked upon the work of the prince of lies intent upon falsifying the book of Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Robert Sarah, by covering them with ignoble insults and vulgar insinuations, by means of the actions of the papal prison guard, who is now serving as a hit-man. And now again we find him to be involved in another masterpiece of trickery: the confirmation on the part of the Bridge-Builder in the election of Cardinal Bishops and of the new Dean and Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals. These acts have passed unobserved, while they conceal a subtle strategy. It is necessary to keep in mind, indeed, that in June of 2019, Papa Francesco increased the number of Cardinal Bishops, which had remained unchanged for centuries, by promoting 4 new ones at a single stroke. In this manner he insured for himself a majority favorable to himself, a thing which he has always done with new members of the College of Cardinals. To Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, named Dean at the age of 86, but excluded form the next Conclave, I wish a longer life than his father. But his nomination is a cover for the more decisive one – that of Cardinal Sandri – who is now positioned to steer the next Conclave secundum Franciscum, that is, according to the updated and augmented version of the Mafia of St. Gall. With Cardinal Leonardo Sandri I am bound by a long friendship, which had its beginning in the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, and then throughout 11 years in the same office as secretary to the Sostituto of the Secretary of State, and then 7 years of collaboration, from when he returned from a mandate as Nuncio to Mexico, after only 6 months, and was named the Sostotuto. Amicus Plato sed magis amica veritas — This maxim, attributed to Aristotle, and then taken up by Plato in regard to Socrates, and successively by Cicero, is explained in this way by Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Sententia libri Ethicorum, Book 1, Lesson 6, nn. 4-5: Quod autem oporteat veritatem praeferre amicis, ostendit hac ratione. Quia ei qui est magis amicus, magis est deferendum. Cum autem amicitiam habeamus ad ambo, scilicet ad veritatem et ad hominem, magis debemus veritatem amare quam hominem, quia hominem praecipue debemus amare propter veritatem et propter virtutem… Veritas autem est amicus superexcellens cui debetur reverentia honoris; est etiam veritas quiddam divinum, in Deo enim primo et principaliter invenitur. Et ideo concludit, quod sanctum est praehonorare veritatem hominibus amicis. In my own translation, it goes like this: Then, that it be necessary to prefer truth to friends, is demonstrated with this reckoning. To him to whom one is more a friend there goes greater honor. Being friends of both, that is, of truth and of neighbor, we ought to love more the truth than our neighbor, because we ought to love the neighbor above all according to truth and virtue. Truth, indeed, is the most excellent friend to which one owes the reverence of honor. Truth is something of the divine, it finds itself in the first seat, and in its first principle in God. From which one must conclude, that it is something holy to prefer the honor of truth to friends. Moreover, what constrains me to write about Cardinal Leonardo Sandri is inspired solely by the friendship which binds me to him for nearly 50 years, for the good of his soul, for the love of the Truth which is Christ Himself and for the Church His Bride, whom we have served together. In the first audience which Francis conceded to me after that which I already mentioned on June 23, 2013, in which he asked me about Cardinal McCarrick, he asked me a similar question: “What is Cardinal Sandri like?” Struck with surprise by that question in regard to my dear friend, I did not reply out of embarrassment. Francis, then, opened his hands and moved them up and down like scales — as if to say: “Which one is heavier?” — and he looked me straight in the eyes to see if I agreed. In reply, I moved to confide in him: “Holy Father, I do not know if you know that the Nuncio Justo Mullor, President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, was removed from the Apostolic Nunciature in Mexico because he opposed the directives coming from the Secretary of State aimed at covering for the grave accusations against Marcial Maciel”. I said this to the pope, so that he might reckon it for an eventual remedy to the injustice which Mons. Mullor suffered for not joining in the compromise, for remaining faithful to the truth and for his love of the Church. And this is the truth, which we reaffirm to the honor of this faithful servant of the Holy See, on the tomb of which I celebrated a Holy Mass in suffrage, in the Cathedral of Almeria, Spain. I have already written in my first testimonial that the principal responsible for covering the misdeeds committed by Maciel was the then Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the recent acceptance of whose own resignation as Dean of the College of Cardinals was tied to his being implicated in the affair with Maciel. He, in addition to having protected Maciel, was certainly not outside of the loop in regard to the promotion of McCarrick … In the mean time, it is just that it be known that Cardinal Francis Arinze duly opposed himself, inside the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to the attempt by Sodano to coverup the case of Maciel. Unfortunately for him, even Sandri let himself be involved by Sodano in this coverup operation for the horrible misdeeds of Maciel. To replace Mons. Mullor in Mexico City, it was necessary to name someone securely loyal to Sodano. Sandri had already given proof as Assessor of the Secretary of Sate. And so, the Nuncio in Venezuela, who was only there for 2 years, was transferred to Mexico. Of these shady maneuvers, which the ones in charge qualified as normal events, I was a direct witness in a conversation held by them on January 25, 2000, the Feast of Saint Paul, while we were on our way to the Basilica which bears the Saint’s name, for the closure of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The connection of these dates for the transfers is also significant: June 19, 2000, the transfer to Moscow of Mons. Giorgio Zur, after being President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy for only 1 year; February 11, 2000, the nomination of Mons. Justo Mullor as President of the same Academy, after having been only 2 and a half years in Mexico; March 1, 2000, the transfer to Mexico of Mons. Sandri after only 2 and a half years spent in Venezuela. Only six months after this, on Sept 16, 2000, Sandri was promoted to the position of Sostituto of the Secretary of State, as the right hand man of Sodano. The Legionaires of Christ did not omit to show Sandri their thanks. In the occasion of a pranzo held in the Paul VI Hall in honor of the Cardinals created in the consistory of Nov. 24, 2007, among whom was Sandri himself, we were left shocked when he cut in front of me as I stood in line to speak with Pope Benedict, as the Pope was making his entrance, saying: “Holy Father, excuse me, but I cannot stay for Pranzo, as I am the invited guest of 500 Legionaries of Christ.” Look how Francis, after having repeatedly and obsessively indicated as the cause of sexual abuse a very vaguely defined “clericalism”, to avoid in this way denouncing the plague of homosexuality, has himself exhibited the worst kind of clericalism, which he has accused others of: to promote Sandri, the Cardinal-Priest in May 2018 to being Cardinal-Bishop only one month later, so that he might be able to name him as Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals, as the candidate chosen beforehand by Francis to preside over the next Conclave. The Faithful have the right to know of these sordid intrigues in a corrupt court. In the heart of the Church, it seems to us, there has invaded the shadow of the synagogue of Satan (Apocalypse 2:9). + Carlo Maria Viganò Arciv. tit. di Ulpiana Nunzio Apostolico
BREAKING: Pope Francis opens door to abolish priestly celibacy according to leaked Amazon Synod doc Pope Francis’ post-synodal exhortation of the Amazon Synod will abolish celibacy, according to several bishops who have leaked the document. Fri Jan 31, 2020 - 1:43 pm EST | https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/b...-according-to-leaked-amazon-synod-exhortation John-Henry Westen / LifeSiteNews.com By Diane Montagna Jan. 31, 2020 4:47 PM EST update: This report now includes comments from Professor Roberto de Mattei. ROME, January 31, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Catholic historian Roberto de Mattei is claiming, based on documents he has received from “several bishops,” that Pope Francis’ post-synodal exhortation on the Amazon Synod will open the door to abolishing priestly celibacy in the Latin church. According to documents obtained by Corrispondenza Romana, the apostolic exhortation, due for release in February, reproduces verbatim a paragraph dedicated to priestly celibacy in the synod’s final document. De Mattei argues that the positive inclusion of this text in the apostolic exhortation would effectively “open the door” for the German Bishops, and others, to create a married clergy. “There is no reason to prohibit in other regions of the world what will be permitted in some parts of the Amazon,” he writes. LifeSite spoke with Roberto de Mattei this evening in Rome. He confirmed that in recent days a group of bishops was sent a “part” of the draft apostolic exhortation, and that at least one bishop shared this text with him. De Mattei confirmed that paragraph 111 of the Amazon Synod’s final document is reproduced verbatim in the draft apostolic exhortation. He said it was unclear why the bishops were sent only part of the draft text but speculated the move may have been intended to gauge bishops’ reactions. De Mattei was also careful to note that the draft text which the bishops received may not be the final text promulgated by Pope Francis. This is not “fake news,” the respected Italian historian said. Benedict XVI and Cardinal Robert Sarah have co-authored a new book on priestly celibacy, taking a firm stand against the priestly ordination of married men in the Latin Church. In the work, Benedict XVI writes: The ability to renounce marriage in order to place oneself totally at the Lord’s disposal is a criterion for the priestly ministry. As for the concrete form of celibacy in the ancient Church, it should also be pointed out that married men could only receive the sacrament of Holy Orders if they had committed themselves to sexual abstinence, that is to say, to a Josephite marriage. Such a situation seems to have been quite normal during the first centuries. This statement echoes his reaffirmation of the sacred meaning and obligatory character of priestly celibacy, in his 2007 post-apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist, Sacramentum Caritatis: “In union with the great ecclesial Tradition, with the Second Vatican Council and my Predecessors in the Petrine Ministry, I affirm the beauty and the importance of a priestly life lived in celibacy as an expressive sign of total and exclusive dedication to Christ, to the Church and to the Kingdom of God, and consequently confirm its obligatory character for the Latin tradition” (n. 24).” In a recent interview on their co-authored book, Cardinal Robert Sarah has also asserted: Priestly celibacy is not a simple canonical discipline. If the law of celibacy is weakened, even for a single region, it will open a breach, a wound in the mystery of the Church. There is an ontological-sacramental link between the priesthood and celibacy. This link reminds us that the Church is a mystery, a gift from God that does not belong to us. We cannot create a priesthood for married men without damaging the priesthood of Jesus Christ and His Bride, the Church. (Synod on the Amazon, final document, n. 111) Here below is an English translation of Prof. Roberto de Mattei’s article, published this evening in Rome. *** The news we are now reporting was in the air, but the confirmation has come to us confidentially from several bishops who have received a part (not all) of Pope Francis’s post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation on Amazon Synod. This part substantially reproduces paragraph 111 that was approved in the synod’s final document Many of the Church communities in the Amazonian territory have enormous difficulties in attending the Eucharist. Sometimes it takes not just months but even several years before a priest can return to a community to celebrate the Eucharist, offer the sacrament of reconciliation or anoint the sick in the community. We appreciate celibacy as a gift of God to the extent that this gift enables the missionary disciple, ordained to the priesthood, to dedicate himself fully to the service of the Holy People of God. It stimulates pastoral charity, and we pray that there will be many vocations living the celibate priesthood. We know that this discipline “is not demanded by the very nature of the priesthood” (PO 16) although there are many practical reasons for it. In his encyclical on priestly celibacy, St. Paul VI maintained this law and set out theological, spiritual and pastoral motivations that support it. In 1992, the post-synodal exhortation of St. John Paul II on priestly formation confirmed this tradition in the Latin Church (cf. PDV 29). Considering that legitimate diversity does not harm the communion and unity of the Church, but rather expresses and serves it (cf. LG13; OE 6), witness the plurality of existing rites and disciplines, we propose that criteria and dispositions be established by the competent authority, within the framework of Lumen Gentium 26, to ordain as priests suitable and respected men of the community with a legitimately constituted and stable family, who have had a fruitful permanent diaconate and receive an adequate formation for the priesthood, in order to sustain the life of the Christian community through the preaching of the Word and the celebration of the Sacraments in the most remote areas of the Amazon region. Therefore, the door is open. There is no reason to prohibit in other regions of the world what will be permitted in some parts of the Amazon. The German bishops, and others, are ready to extend access to the presbyterate to married men deemed suitable by the competent authorities. What is being gotten rid of is not only a “ecclesiastical discipline” subject to change, but a law of the Church based on a precept of divine and Apostolic origin. Fifty years ago, at the symposium of European bishops held in Chur in July 1969, Cardinal Leo-Joseph Suenens, during his concluding conference, read an appeal by Hans Küng to suppress priestly celibacy. This request was consistent with the role which progressive theology assigned to sexuality: an instinct that man should not repress through asceticism, but “liberate,” by finding in sex a form of “realization” of the human person. Since then, this demand has expanded and accompanied the process of the Church’s secularization and self-demolition. In reality, the transgression of celibacy and simony were the great plagues that have always afflicted the Mystical Body of Christ in times of crisis. And the call to continence and evangelical poverty was the battle standard of the great reforming saints. In the coming days of February, the anti-Reformer will not be, as has happened so often, a bishop or a group of bishops, but the successor of Saint Peter himself. Ecclesiastical celibacy is a glory of the Church and what he is demeaning is the very will of Christ, transmitted by the Apostles even to our day. How can we possibly imagine Catholics to remain silent in the face of this scandal? Translated from the Italian by Diane Montagna of LifeSiteNews. *** Diane Montagna also wrote the following piece: Abp Viganò raises concerns about Cardinal in charge of next papal election ‘In the Heart of the Church we seem to glimpse the approaching shadow of Satan’s synagogue (Rev 2:9).’ Fri Jan 31, 2020 - 8:56 am EST | https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/a...inal-put-in-charge-of-the-next-papal-election
We have been lied to so repeatedly by the Holy Father and his confederates it wout make you dizzy. This does not surprise me. This is what evil people do What does surprise me is that good people believe the lies. This confuses me But for the record Pipe Francis is a totally evil serial liar
Pedro Regis' message have been consistent over the years. The messages have said, "stay with the true teachings of the magisterium", indicating the doctrines would be challenged. One thing I have always found interesting with current prophecy is, none call out the pope in apostasy or heresy. Yet, we can clearly see this to be the case today and going forward. So God wants us to know the doctrines, which can never change, and hold fast to them, and not a pope, a cardinal, a bishop or a priest who is not in alignment with the unchangeable truths. But here is the crux..... so few in the church have a clue what can and cannot change. Doctrines on faith and morals can never change, while church disciplines can and do. Our beloved church is under attack. God wins in the end!
While I truly understand this, what kicks us all here is the 2000 year honor and understanding our Pope has the final authority of staying true to the Magisterium....until now???
An interesting fact: During more than 250 years of persecution of the Catholic Japanese from 1563 to 1853, no priests were allowed to enter Japan and many catholic Japanese were martyred, but the Japanese lay people kept the Catholic faith alive! In 1853 it became possible for foreigners to live in Japan but proselytizing was still banned. In 1858 Christian clergymen were sent from Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Churches but the Japanese Catholic faithful were suspicious of Christian clergymen as they realised there were different sects of Christians that had preachers who were married, (therefore not like Jesus Christ) and they wanted only the true Catholic priests as their forefathers had instructed them. Over the centuries of the persecution, the faith was authentically handed down by their Japanese forefathers. These wonderful Catholic forefathers handed down the knowledge of how to know when the true Catholics priests had returned. Firstly........... they would have a love and devotion to the most Holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of God! Secondly..... the priests would be like Christ Himself and would be celibate and not married. Thirdly.......... these Priests would follow the Pope of Rome. Celibacy is a sign of a True Catholic Priest! Even handed down by the hidden Catholics of Japan! Amazingly this fact is even recorded on the wikipedia page I googled! Posted below and highlighted in the last paragraph. Early Persecution of Catholics in Japan [edit] The Tokugawa shogunate finally decided to ban Catholicism. The statement on the "Expulsion of all missionaries from Japan", drafted by Zen monk Konchiin Suden (1563–1633) and issued in 1614 under the name of second shogun Hidetada (ruled 1605–1623), was considered the first official statement of a comprehensive control of Kirishitan.[23] It claimed that the Christians were bringing disorder to Japanese society and that their followers "contravene governmental regulations, traduce Shinto, calumniate the True Law, destroy regulations, and corrupt goodness".[24] It was fully implemented and canonized as one of the fundamental Tokugawan laws. In the same year, the bakufu required all subjects of all domains to register at their local Buddhist temple; this would become an annual requirement in 1666, cementing the Buddhist temples as an instrument of state control.[25] Forced to secrecy, and having a small number of clergymen working underground, the Japanese Church was able to recruit leadership from among lay members. Japanese children caused admiration among the Portuguese and seem to have participated actively in the resistance. Nagasaki remained a Christian city in the first decades of the 17th century and during the general persecutions other confraternities were founded in Shimabara, Kinai and Franciscans in Edo. The Christian martyrs of Nagasaki. 17th-century Japanese painting. The number of active Christians is estimated to have been around 200,000 in 1582.[28] There were likely around 1,000 known martyrs during the missionary period. In contrast, Christians attach a great importance to martyrdom and persecution, noting that countless more people were dispossessed of their land and property leading to their subsequent death in poverty. Fumi-e, a picture of Christ used to reveal practicing Christians. The Japanese government used fumi-e to reveal practicing Catholics and sympathizers. Fumi-e were pictures of the Virgin Mary or Christ. People reluctant to step on the pictures were identified as Christian and taken to Nagasaki. If they refused to renounce their religion, they were tortured; those who still refused were executed. The Catholic remnant in Japan were driven underground, and its members became known as the "Hidden Christians". Some priests remained in Japan illegally, including 18 Jesuits, seven Franciscans, seven Dominicans, one Augustinian, five seculars and an unknown number of Jesuit irmao and dojuku. Since this time corresponds to the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants in Germany, it is possible that the checking of Catholic power in Europe reduced the flow of funds to the Catholic missions in Japan, which could be why they failed at this time and not before. During the Edo period, the Kakure Kirishitan kept their faith. Biblical phrases or prayers were transferred orally from parent to child, and secret posts (mizukata) were assigned in their underground community to baptize their children, all while regional governments continuously operated fumi-e to expose Christians. Rediscovery and return[edit] Monument to Kirishitan martyrs in Nagasaki Japan was forced to open to foreign interaction by Matthew Perry in 1853. It became possible for foreigners to live in Japan with the Harris Treaty in 1858. Many Christian clergymen were sent from Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Churches, though proselytizing was still banned. In 1865, some of the Japanese who lived in Urakami village near Nagasaki visited the new Ōura Church which had been built by the Paris Foreign Missions Society (Missions étrangères de Paris) barely a month before. A female member of the group spoke to a French priest, Bernard Petitjean, and confessed that their families had kept the Kirishitan faith. Those Kirishitan wanted to see the statue of St. Mary with their own eyes, and to confirm that the priest was single and truly came from the pope in Rome. After this interview, many Kirishitan thronged toward Petitjean. He investigated their underground organizations and discovered that they had kept the rite of baptism and the liturgical years without European priests for nearly 250 years. Petitjean's report surprised the Christian world; Pope Pius IX called it a miracle.
Thanks for the link. It's an interesting article. Nevertheless, I doubt very much that Pope Benedict would say that Vatican 11 was a bad Council. Since he was among the more liberal theologians at the Council, I would be very surprised if he were to see himself as having been an active participant in the beginning of the Great Apostasy. When I read what Cardinal Ottaviani said about the Fatima secret being in a drawer where it belonged, I wondered whether he reflected on that statement as he was being shouted down at the Council. Pope John XX111 dismissed the Fatima messages, went ahead and opened the Council, subsequently got cancer and died before the close of the Council. Pope Paul V1 ignored the messages and came to wonder how the smoke of Satan had infiltrated the Church. He ended up being betrayed by his liberal friends. Pope John Paul 11 got a nudge from Heaven with the attempted assassination but stumbled over the consecration and subsequently succumbed to a debilitating illness. Pope Benedict went along with the Sodano interpretation of the third secret and his papacy ended in a controversial resignation and as recently as a few weeks ago was dismissed as irrelevant by people very close to his successor. According to the Catechism, the Church must pass through her own passion just as Christ suffered. Looking at the attacks on the faith via pastoral practice and questionable documents by our hierarchy who are ordained to defend and spread the same faith, I'm reminded of the Scribes and Pharisees in Jesus' time. What Jesus said to the women of Jerusalem keeps popping into my head: “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ At that time people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’o for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?” Our leaders making these changes live comfortably. The Pope, ruler of an independent country, is answerable to nobody on earth. The wood is green yet the changes are designed to save our leaders from verbal attacks. What will the same prelates do when the wood is dry? When that time comes, whoever is alive then won't have any trouble telling the wolves from the shepherds. In fact, I think that deep down in their hearts people know already but aren't willing to face up to it. The "come down from the cross" message is too appealing.
Imminent financial meltdown, resurgent Eastern plagues and locust storms of biblical proportions in East Africa might be evidence that the wood is losing its gloss.
They say of bankruptcy that it comes on very slowly, then instantly. This pattern reflects the human capacity for denial and self-delusion. It is probably for many a necessary quality to enable survival in a world that inevitably ends in death, rather than being anything peculiarly wicked. For many, it may merely be a symptom of hope. Those who are quietly and morally going about their business in innocent ignorance are probably the lucky ones and are to be envied.
