In John Westen's youtube video on the partially approved recent apparition at Civittivechia (sp??) Archbishop Vigano is asked whether Masonry exists within the Vatican. His response: "That the Masonic octopus clutches the Catholic Church in its tentacles is neither a rumor nor a secret. Right in the Vatican, the very stronghold of the Catholic Church, Masonry has armed itself with diabolical patience and waited until it reached the levers of power and command. The heart of Catholicity which by divine mandate must be a beacon has long been home to a pomp and pretention that decays it." According to his statement masonry has reached the apex of the Catholic Church so perhaps Francis himself is a freemason. If freemasonry has achieved control within the Vatican it gives more evidence to the argument that God's divine providence is protecting the papacy in an unprecedented fashion. By the way, Pope Emeritus Benedict has left the Vatican to be with his brother in Germany who is in poor health. If he is still pope maybe he'll sneak over to Russia.
I have wondered before if Pope Francis is a Freemason. I have seen photos but of course they could be photoshopped. So I keep it to myself.
The most important of these in our days is the intention of the priest. If the priest does not believe in the Real Presence then many theologians say no sacrament is confected. With this in mind, let us consider the greatest Eucharistic Miracle of the Catholic Church and the unbelieving priest who consecrated the bread and wine. The miracle occurred in the 700s in the town of Lanciano, then known as Anxanum, an ancient Roman city, located southeast of Rome. There the monks of St. Basil had established a monastery under the patronage of St. Longinus, traditionally believed to be the centurion at the crucifixion who proclaimed, Truly, this was the Son of God (Mt 27:54) and pierced the side of our Lord with his lance (Jn 19:34). One day, a certain monk was offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Although we do not know his identity, an ancient document described him as ...versed in the sciences of the world but ignorant in that of God. Apparently, he had been plagued by doubts about transubstantiation: he doubted. the bread and wine changed substantially into the Body and Blood of our Lord at the words of consecration, and whether our Lord was truly present in the Holy Eucharist. At this Mass when the monk pronounced the words of consecration, the host was miraculously changed into flesh and the wine into blood. The monk was awestruck. Weeping joyously, he regained his composure. He called the congregation around the altar and said, O fortunate witnesses, to whom the Blessed God, to confound my unbelief, has wished to reveal Himself visible to our eyes! Come, brethren, and marvel at our God, so close to us. Behold the Flesh and Blood of our Most Beloved Christ. Those who witnessed the miracle soon spread the news throughout the surrounding area. Below are Some interesting facts regarding the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano The Host-Flesh, as can be very distinctly observed today, has the same dimensions as the large host used today in the Latin church; it is light brown and appears rose-colored when lighted from the back. The Blood is coagulated and has an earthy colour resembling the yellow of ochre. Various ecclesiastical investigation ("Recognitions") were conducted since 1574. In 1970-'71 and taken up again partly in 1981 there took place a scientific investigation by the most illustrious scientist Prof. Odoardo Linoli, eminent Professor in Anatomy and Pathological Histology and in Chemistry and Clinical Microscopy. He was assisted by Prof. Ruggero Bertelli of the University of Siena. The analyses were conducted with absolute and unquestionable scientific precision and they were documented with a series of microscopic photographs. These analyses sustained the following conclusions: The Flesh is real Flesh. The Blood is real Blood. The Flesh and the Blood belong to the human species. The Flesh consists of the muscular tissue of the heart. In the Flesh we see present in section: the myocardium, the endocardium, the vagus nerve and also the left ventricle of the heart for the large thickness of the myocardium. The Flesh is a "HEART" complete in its essential structure. The Flesh and the Blood have the same blood-type: AB (Blood-type identical to that which Prof. Baima Bollone uncovered in the Holy Shroud of Turin). In the Blood there were found proteins in the same normal proportions (percentage-wise) as are found in the sero-proteic make-up of the fresh normal blood. In the Blood there were also found these minerals: chlorides, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium. The preservation of the Flesh and of the Blood, which were left in their natural state for twelve centuries and exposed to the action of atmospheric and biological agents, remains an extraordinary phenomenon.
SgC. You are the kind of devout, faithful and committed Catholic that I can only aspire to be, but you're wrong about the Novus Ordu being a bad Mass. You may well be correct that it isn't as good as the TLM but that doesn't equate to it being bad. I think that with a few changes it could be every bit as good and maybe better than the TLM. Perhaps Pope Paul V1 thought or hoped that it would be beneficial for the faithful to at least hear the readings in a language they understood. As to Vatican 11, it wasn't great but calling it a bad Council isn't a determination I'm qualified to make.
An ecumenical council with a majority of Bishops who were appointed by Pope Francis is the last thing I would wish for now. His Synods are bad enough. Do you really want to endure the torture of holding your breath while praying that the Church doesn't definitively declare that God wills as many sexes as He does religions?
In the course of discussions on a previous thread about Holy Mass, I remember checking out questions and answers on a Canon Lawyer's website. If memory serves me, one of the factors which could make a difference to whether transubstantiation happens is not whether the priest believes in it but whether, when he says the words of consecration, he intends what the Church intends. They're my words - no doubt the Canon Lawyer explained it more clearly. I think that Synodality and Ecumenism could bring us a bad Mass sanctioned by the Church. They were already laying the groundwork in Italy before the pandemic. I think it was in the diocese of Turin (I could be wrong about the diocese) where they were doing some kind of "your Church this time, our Church next time" exchange with Protestants. All the Catholics received Communion at the Protestant service and all the Protestants were given Communion at the Catholic Mass. There was nothing clandestine about it because it was featured on the Diocesan website. If the Pope gives authority to individuals Bishops to change the Mass, couldn't that bring a whole new meaning to "what the Church intends"? Think Teilhard de Chardin's Mass on the World. I enjoyed that video with Dr. Pink. The comments section was also interesting. Someone there referred to a Dr. John Lamont taking a different view to Dr. Pink on Dignatis Humanae. I found a document of Dr. Lamont's although I don't think it is the specificic documents referred to. Nevertheless it is very interesting. It's long and much of it goes over my head but it was worth reading just for these few words: "Teilhard was an intellectual charlatan". Here's a link: https://tradicat.blogspot.com/2014/11/determining-content-and-degree-of.html Those of you in the US might also find this video interesting. It's Archbishop Vigano giving a talk at Notre Dame University in 2012 when he was Papal Nuncio to the US. The topic is Religious Freedom, Persecution of the Church and Martyrdom. I don't know whether that was before or after they hid the crucifix pandering to Obama but he was a brave man giving that speech in that nest of vipers. Hope I don't shock you by saying that at least there was one faithful Catholic in that room on that day. He was already a marked man when he warned Pope Francis about McCarrick. The intros last about ten or twelve minutes before Archbishop Vigano's speech begins.
Haven’t watched the video yet but I immediately thought of Our Lord calling out the “brood of vipers.” Just as you called it.
Yes. I was tying up the phrase quoted by Fr Dollinger -“ a bad council and a bad mass to come in the near future”, with Our Lady’s explicit instruction to release the Third Secret in 1960 “because then it would become clearer” and the obvious fact that the Vatican II council happened and the Novus Ordo Mass emerged at that time. I certainly didn’t come up with the terms ‘bad council and bad mass’ on my own. edit: That phrase quoted by Fr Dollinger is from Cardinal Ratzinger himself. +
I posted the reply just above this one before I read your post. I hope it works well as a reply to your post too. As for the readings being in a language we can understand, we can always follow the readings using a missal which gives a side by side translation. It always helps, too, if we read them as preparation before going to Mass. One advantage of having everything in Latin is that it is truly universal for the Catholic Church, and when one travels to another country with another language, Holy Mass remains the same as always. You are too generous with the terms used on me; I am just like all of you, working out my salvation with fear and trembling. +
Yes, I read your earlier reference to Fr. Dollinger. I simply don't agree that the Novus Ordo is a bad Mass. I think that Mass is coming down the line. I agree with you about the advantage of Latin for people visiting or living in foreign countries but I don't think that reason alone is enough to require that the faithful read rather than hear Scripture at Holy Mass. Many Catholics can't read. Very many are too poor to buy missals. Many parishes in poor countries can't afford to provide vernacular translations for everyone attending every Mass. Retaining Latin for some parts of the Mass and having the Scripture readings in the vernacular would be my preference. In my opinion, the priest facing the people was the worst change in the Mass. It has resulted in people thinking that the priest is offering the Holy Sacrifice to them rather than to God the Father. There was an example of that in another thread on this forum when someone asked what's the point of the priest's prayers if he can't hear them! Incidentally, I was surprised to learn that the Pope Emeritus was strong enough to travel to his dying brother's bedside in Germany. If Pope Benedict has any other living relatives, nobody ever mentions them. May the Lord bless and protect them both. I wonder will being away from the Vatican and/or the passing of his brother prompt the Pope Emeritus to speak more openly about what led to his retirement. I reckon that he wouldn't be best pleased with Archbishop Vigano's criticisms of Vatican 11 and the hermeneutic of continuity. He might take that as a criticism of him, and the Pope Emeritus has responded in the past to perceived criticisms of him/his papacy. I'm thinking of his response to the Bishop who was less than enthusiastic about his resignation and the Pope Emeritus title. I'm fairly sure that that Bishop had been considered to be close to the Pope Emeritus. P.S. I'm having terrible trouble with my computer. It seems to have a mind of its own.
I am quite puzzled by this thinking. Why would Our Lady say that it would become clearer in 1960, if that 'bad mass' was going to come in our future? Wasn't that Cardinal Walter Brandmuller? And as I remember, Pope Benedict responded by saying something like "if you know of a better way, tell me". +
This pretended obsession with Protestantism seems only a ruse, one weaponised to destroy the Mass. Most of the type of Protestant they're dealing with seem to be tending heretical or atheistic. We don't see much dealings with the bible-thumping, Trump-supporting evangelicals of America, for example, who are actual, real Christians.
Quite clearly there has been a LOL - that is so brilliant and funny. A drawing can sum up a 1000 words so easily - every time I hear the phrase 'hermenuity of continuity' I will think of that image --
One thing I think we can all agree on. The priest facing he congregation during the offertory has been a liturgical disaster. A 'diabolical' disorientation introduced into the heart of the Mass. Our enemy is so subtly crafty.
