A Journal of 2017
2017. 05.26
Ja, es ist wahr, viele “Deutschen haben im Nationalsozialismus unvergleichliche Verbrechen begangen”, aber ab und zu, als US-Amerikaner, habe ich den Eindruck, dass ich die Deutschen von heute daran erinnern sollte, was die ganze Welt weiß, nämlich, dass es damals auch Deutschen gab, die unvergleichliche heldenhafte Leistungen vollbracht haben.
Nur eine geringe Anzahl von Deutschen? Das stimmt, aber darin liegt der Unterschied.
(“Und Abraham sprach: Ach zürne nicht, HERR, daß ich nur noch einmal rede. Man möchte vielleicht zehn Gerechte darin finden. Der Herr aber sprach: Ich will die Stadt nicht verderben um der zehn willen.”)
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2017.05.27
Replying to @LifeSite @LaCatholicState
May God profoundly bless parents who are homeschooling their children. They are our real future – the future of all of us.
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2017.05.29
A message to the FSSP in Germany:
I must apologize for writing in English, but my German is inadequate for what I would like to say.
I think the FSSP tries to be faithful to the liturgy as it was before Vatican II, so I thought the following statement from an article in English (https://goo.gl/wfLQlq) in Crisis magazine might be of interest:
“(Before the Council) High Mass…employing Gregorian chant, required chanted responses and prohibited any singing in the vernacular.”
I am told that this prohibition was not adhered to here in Germany, before Vatican II, but it was the rule in my home country, the United States.
I think it is very sad that this rule is not followed now by FSSP priests in Germany, at least in some cases. It is not a question of “taste.” Many German hymns are very beautiful, but they are simply not suitable for the splendor of the Traditional Latin Mass, whereas Gregorian Chant is profoundly suitable.
——
For Marion Luscombe and Kelly Bowring:
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for posting this article (https://goo.gl/UYxhY7)!
It’s the most encouraging and hopeful piece of writing that I’ve read in MONTHS, maybe even YEARS!
This sentence, especially, makes a HUGE impression: “The only national episcopates that he can count on today are those of Germany, Austria, and Belgium, nations in which the Catholic Church is in the most dramatic decline.” Yes, it’s sad that the Church is in decline in these countries, but if they are the main areas of support for Bergoglio, then his support is very weak indeed.
After all, it may turn out that Bergoglio can appoint all the cardinals he wants, so that the next papacy is as catastrophic as this one, but the resistance of faithful Catholics will continue.
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2017.05.30
What an excellent column! (https://goo.gl/oTem3s)
Roger Cohen’s summary of the beliefs that Trump supporters hold is especially brilliant, as are his suggestions about approaches that can lead to dialogue.
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2017.05.31
Yes, nice video (https://goo.gl/NbQSiZ). I wonder, though, if it makes any difference that the victims or potential victims shown in the film are all Muslim.
Is there a subliminal message here that “love” counts only for Muslims, not necessarily for “unbelievers.”
The video does nothing to erase Sura 2, Verse 191, from the Holy Book of The Great Religion of Peace, which still reads: “And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out.”
——
The other day I saw the film “The Wizard of Lies,” about Bernie Madoff. As I watched it, it occurred to me that just as Madoff conned people, took their money, and left them with nothing, so Donald Trump, in exactly the same way, conned people, took their votes, and left them with nothing.
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(https://goo.gl/IcmrzX) BMW manufactures more cars in the United States than it does in Germany. The BMW factory in Spartanburg is BMW’s largest facility IN THE WORLD. (https://goo.gl/ko7VOl)
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2017.06.01
@Pontifex Holy Mother of God, today is the feast day of St. Justin, a “rigid” martyr; please ask your son to make us all – even Bergoglio – rigid too.
@Pontifex Mother of God, today is the feast day of St. Justin; what would Bergoglio have done in his place? Sacrifice to the gods? Or remain “rigid”?
@Pontifex “Maradiaga’s unprovoked rant signals desperation. He senses the wind is shifting away from the merciful Pope.” https://goo.gl/VfderD
@Pontifex “With Cardinal Sarah, a master of silence and of interior prayer, the liturgy is in good hands.” – Benedict XVI https://goo.gl/UCkMDH
@Pontifex “There’s an old saying: the louder they scream, the scare-der they are. This applies to Cardinal Maradiaga.” https://goo.gl/VfderD
@Pontifex Bergoglio is very thin-skinned. The series of Resistance conferences is getting under his skin. Keep the heat on. https://goo.gl/VfderD
@Pontifex This superficiality, godlessness and disdain of the human person in the Church itself is painful. – Cardinal Sarah https://goo.gl/UCkMDH
@Pontifex Too bad the Vatican is in Italy. Things would be SO much easier for Bergoglio and his masters if the Vatican were in Berlin instead of Rome.
@Pontifex You can’t blame Bergoglio for being obedient to the Germans. The last time a pope seriously disobeyed them, they started the Reformation.
@Pontifex Office of None today – Psalm 78: “They have profaned your holy temple, O God…How long will it last?…Hear your people groan.”
——
Ja, es ist wahr, dass die britische Labour Party ein großes Antisemitismusproblem hat, aber keine Sorge: ganz Großbritannien wird bald anfangen, ein gigantisches Brexitproblem zu haben.
Und in den kommenden Jahren wird dieses Problem zu einem so großen wirtschaftlichen, politischen und sozialen Zugunglück (wie wir Amerikaner es nennen) führen, dass der Antisemitismus der Labour Party absolut winzig erscheinen wird, im Vergleich dazu.
——
“Corbyn honored PLO official believed behind Munich massacre” (https://goo.gl/RflDPp)
Yes, this is DEFINITELY “beyond the pale,” outrageous!
Honestly, I didn’t think Corbyn was all that bad, until now.
In any case, he won’t be elected British Prime Minister next week.
What may happen, though, is that Labour will win just enough seats in Parliament, to screw things up (as we Yanks put it) and make sure that when the UK slams into that iceberg known as Brexit, the UK will sink even faster than it otherwise would have.
In fact, the UK may not be the “United” Kingdom for very long after Brexit, if Scotland, Northern Ireland, and even Wales decide to declare independence and apply for EU membership.
And incidentally, if Putin’s machinations were the reason the Brits voted for Brexit in the first place – as seems likely to many people – then there must be wild celebrations in the Kremlin now. The last sixty years or so have not only seen the disappearance of the British Empire, we may all now also be on the verge of witnessing the disappearance if Britain itself.
“There’ll always be an England.”
Sure.
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2017.06.01
In response to an article about Trump’s decision not to move the US embassy to Jerusalem:
Appeasement? Sure, for 1400 years it’s worked so well against the onslaught of The Great Religion of Peace. And it works in other contexts as well, doesn’t it? Munich in 1938 is another good example.
——
Against the proposal to kill the Consumer Protection Bureau:
Crash the economy again? Why not? It worked out well for the banks and financial predators in 2008. And anyway, consumers don’t really need protection, do they?
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2017.06.02
@Pontifex Meanwhile, Amoris Laetitia weakens belief in the Real Presence, encourages sacrilegious Communions, and contributes to family breakdowns.
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This video (https://goo.gl/99L7FE) reminds me of the one about the man who accidentally fell off the top of a 100-storey building. As he plunged passed the 75th floor, he was heard to shout, “I’m not worried! Still 75 storeys to go!”
——
Wally Kent wrote on Facebook: “So Trump has retroactively granted ethics waivers for Steve Bannon’s past violations. Apart from the question of whether such a waiver is legal, is anyone surprised that Trump thinks that he is all-powerful and that the rules don’t apply to him and his staff?”
Who could be surprised? Well, I’ll tell you: it’s those of us who were conned into voting for Trump, mostly out of revenge for the way Hillary and the DNC screwed Bernie. THAT’s who could be surprised! Boy, were we stupid? Or were we STUPID?
——
Response to a comment about the head of the Jesuits speculating that maybe Satan isn’t real (with a remark about someone called “Mr. Pastry”:
Who’s Mr. Pastry? Must be a Brit thing? I can (just barely) remember the war, but I never heard of Mr. Pastry over there on the Yank side of the Pond. Anyway, it does seem that nearly ALL the Jesuits, including – or maybe especially – Bergoglio himself, really have slipped off into a parallel universe or into Cloud-Cuckoo-Land or wherever. Satan must be overjoyed that Catholics are now being discouraged from believing in him. He does his best work in secret, doesn’t he? (Like the cabal that engineered Bergoglio’s election.)
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2017.06.03
A Tweet sent, quoting another writer:
@Pontifex “There’s no future in being misled by the Superior General of the Jesuits into abandoning Christ” https://goo.gl/LtX8zF
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@Pontifex The suffering that this pontificate imposes on faithful Catholics sometimes seems almost boundless.
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@Pontifex Ramadan means more jihad https://goo.gl/cx6b3X but the “Vatican message for Ramadan focuses on ecology” https://goo.gl/Ke3KsE
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Again, to be honest, when I see a video (https://goo.gl/V4glGa )like this, I’m glad Hillary and the Democrats didn’t win – even though I’ve been a Democrat all my life.
——
“But…but…shouldn’t we show tolerance toward The Great Religion of Peace? Heaven forbid that we should appear to be Islamophobic or something!” (https://goo.gl/xHv7vX)
With a prayer for Bergoglio’s conversion or for his ability to comprehend what St. John Bosco meant when he wrote, “Muhammad established his religion with violence and arms; Jesus Christ established His Church with words of peace using His poor disciples. Muhammad incited the passions; Jesus Christ commanded the denial of self.” (https://goo.gl/tRZzR8)
——
Cardinal Burke says, “(W)e see within the Church ‘the sentimental embrace of a secular culture’,” and with that, this great man pretty much says it all.
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2017.06.04
People like me can blame ourselves for having voted for Donald Trump. Bergoglio, on the other hand, is a problem that another group created.
——
Über den Film „Antisemitismus in Europa“:
Der Brief beginnt: „(W)ir, eine Gruppe jüdischer Deutscher….“ Aber natürlich nicht nur Juden und nicht nur Deutschen interessieren sich für diesen Film. Ich bin Katholik und Amerikaner und würde sehr gern den Film sehen.
Übrigens ist dieser Satz aus dem Brief brillant: “Ja, der Film ist parteiisch. Denn einen Antisemitismus-rechtfertigenden Aspekt gibt es nicht.”
Dieser Film MUSS gezeigt werden. Wenn kein Fernsehsender das tun will, dann können die Filmmacher nicht den Film bei YouTube zu Verfügung stellen? Was würden die verlieren? Der Film ist schon bezahlt, oder?
WDR würde es bestimmt nicht zu verbieten wagen, dass der Film auf YouTube gestellt werden.
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2017.06.06
Joseph Sciambra has created a brilliant video (https://goo.gl/e74OFm), resplendent with the truth of Christ. The video also exposes the depths to which a once great Catholic order, the Jesuits, the Society of Jesus, has now sunk.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, raise up the priests and brothers of your once great order to your level again, to the level of St. Francis Xavier, to the level of St. Jean de Brébeuf, and to the level of all the other countless Jesuit saints, known and unknown, who made such enormous sacrifices for Christ and for us, His Mystical Body.
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2017.06.09
A friend read this article (https://goo.gl/yn3T2q), and then said the following:
“So let me get this straight. A couple who are not married but having a sexual relationship can receive the Eucharist in, for example, the East German town of Neissemuende and be assured by their parish priest that they are going to heaven. But if they try to receive the Eucharist a mile or so away, across the border in Poland, in the town of Kosarzyn, for example, the priest will refuse and tell them they would be committing a sacrilege and be on the way straight to hell.”
I told him we have Bergoglio and his German bishops, with all of their money, to thank for this situation – unprecedented in the 2000 years of the Church. We have to do penance and pray to the Mother of God that she will beg her Son to send us a good pope.
——
Some people on the Left are bound to see this, and oh boy, I can just IMAGINE the blowback Michael and Church Millitant are going to get for THIS Vortex episode! But everything Michael says here is STUNNINGLY, falling-off-your-chair TRUE. For anyone wanting more information about the true face of Islam, you can turn to Catholics like Robert Spencer at his Jihad Watch website, and Protestants like David Wood in his YouTube videos. Or you can just google what Cardinal Burke – as Michael mentions – has to say about this whole question. The good cardinal DOES say that Islam is not a religion, it’s a form of government that claims world domination. And we ignore it at our peril. Islam has threatened our world several times in the past, and it’s threatening us again, especially here in Europe, through its politics and growing population. (Wikipedia points out that cities like Marseilles are already around 25% Muslim, starting at practically zero some decades ago.) And the Left? They forget what the Germans used to say in the 1930s, when THEY were under the control of a movement that claimed the right to dominate the world. To paraphrase one of their slogans: “Heute Europa, morgen die Welt.” (Today Europe, tomorrow the world.) Islam, in a sense, is saying the same thing. Only they’ve been very, very successful in their efforts for the last 1400 years.
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2017.06.15
Lieber Pater Elias,
es gab, glaube ich, eine merkwürdige Predigt heute Morgen bei der Messe um 8 Uhr 30.
Man hätte fast den Eindruck haben können, dass der Priester dachte, dass die Eucharistie nicht das Fleisch des lebendigen Gottes ist, sondern einfach ein kostbares Souvenir, das man in einer Schatzkiste aufbewahrt, wie eine gehaltvolle Kollektion von Briefen und Karten oder eine Haarlocke eines Kindes.
Ich weiß aber, dass so ein Eindruck ist falsch und lächerlich. Das kann es nicht sein, was der Priester meinte. Das ist aber nur die komische Idee eines alten Mannes (ich bin 76). Ich hätte natürlich versuchen können, mit dem Priester nach der Messe zu sprechen, aber mein gesprochenes Deutsch ist schrecklich. Ich kann Deutsch ziemlich gut lesen und schreiben, aber nicht sehr gut sprechen und verstehen. Außerdem werde ich mit zunehmendem Alter ein bisschen taub, was eine weitere Schwerigkeit ist. Also wahrscheinlich habe ich die heutige Predigt einfach nicht sehr gut verstanden.
Übrigens, in Bezug auf meine andere Nachricht, muss ich sagen, dass ich meine Ideen nicht sehr gut erklärt habe. Ich glaube nicht, dass es das Konzil war, das die Kirche in Amerika und Europa in den letzten fünfzig Jahren dezimiert hat. Es war das , was wir auf Englisch „the Spirit of the Council“ nennen, „den Geist des Konzils“, oder mit anderen Worten all diese sonderbare und, ja, auch falsche Interpretationen davon, was das Konzil wirklich lehrte. Man könnte fast denken, dass dieser „Geist des Konzils“ sich als ein Dämon entpuppt hat.
Schließlich ist es mein Problem, dass ich alt genug bin, um mich an die Herrlichkeit der Kirche zu erinnern, wie sie einmal war und wie sie jetzt kaum zu erkennen ist, in dieser etwas schäbigen und heruntergekommenen Institution von heute. Ich meine, schäbig und heruntergekommen in jeder Hinsicht, moralisch, theologisch, liturgisch, intellektuell und vor allem in ihrem geistigen Leben. Ja, und ich kann mir gut vorstellen, was man über meine Erinnerungen sagen würde: unrealistisch, falsch, romantisch und aus einem „Museum“ der Vergangenheit. Na ja, so geht es.
Glücklicherweise bin ich auch alt genug, um besser zu greifen, dass diese Phase meiner Existenz, auf dieser Erde, irgendwann, wirklich, ein Ende haben wird. Ich hoffe, dass ich in der kommenden Phase, im kommenden Leben, werde verstehen können, warum Gott diesen tragischen Verfall der Kirche erlaubt hat.
Mit einem Gebet
Robert John Bennett
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2017.06.17
Steve Skojec himself makes an important and very true comment on this article in his report on the Diocese of Trier in Germany (https://goo.gl/KeSXbz). Here you have it. In few words, his articulate explanation of the reasons for the decline of the Church in Europe and America.
“Does (Bishop Stephan Ackermann) believe that in an environment where the people who come to Mass are given the same moral framework as they are in the surrounding, secular culture, that they will be drawn into the life of the Faith? For what reason would such people make sacrifices, follow moral precepts (when they are discouraged from doing so by their shepherd), or in any way live their Catholicism?”
——
Steve Skojec writes, “(T)he picture that emerges for the moment is less one of parish closings and more of parish consolidation.”
I appreciate the fact that accuracy is important, along with kindness to Bishop Ackermann, but you have to wonder if there is REALLY a difference here between “closing” and “consolidation”? Isn’t the “consolidation” of parishes at least a partial euphemism for simply closing many of them?
Or turning them into mosques? (https://goo.gl/KbtfCC)
And Steve is certainly right about one thing with regard to Catholics here in Germany: “And yet good, orthodox Catholics remain there, desperate for a way to truly worship God and live their faith. May God grant them consolation and hope amidst this bitter trial.” Believe me, we do need all the consolation and hope we can get. Even the “Traditional” Latin Masses that FSSP priests say here are celebrated in such a way that some of the time it’s hard to see much difference between them and Novus Ordo Masses.
——
In all the discussions of “The Putin Interviews” hardly anyone ever mentions Putin’s illegal annexation of Crimea, the reason for most of the current sanctions on Russia.
That act of aggression was the first time any nation had invaded another European country since Hitler marched into the Czech Sudetenland in 1938, and that invasion was at least “legalized” by the infamous Munich Agreement.
Putin is counting on everyone simply forgetting about Crimea, until he decides to strike elsewhere, anyway. Filmmakers like Oliver Stone are “useful idiots” who are just helping Putin’s efforts along.
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2017.06.20
To President Trump:
Though I’m fairly liberal in many ways, there IS one area in which President Trump has my wholehearted. strong, solid, and absolutely unshakable support: the area of radical Islamic terrorism.
Islam, as even some Catholic clergy have pointed out (https://goo.gl/hvQfp5), is not a religion, it’s a dangerous ideology that calls for submission of the entire world to its laws and teachings. And violence is at the core of Islam, as these verses from the Koran show.
“Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them.” Koran 2:191
“Make war on the infidels living in your neighborhood.” Koran 9:123
“When opportunity arises, kill the infidels wherever you catch them.” Koran 9:5
“Any religion other than Islam is not acceptable.” Koran 3:85
“The Jews and the Christians are perverts; fight them.”… Koran 9:30
“Maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam” Koran 5:33
“Punish the unbelievers with garments of fire, hooked iron rods, boiling water; melt their skin and bellies.” Koran 22:19
“The unbelievers are stupid; urge the Muslims to fight them.” Koran 8:65
“Muslims must not take the infidels as friends.” Koran 3:28
“Terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an.” Koran 8:12
“Muslims must muster all weapons to terrorize the infidels.” Koran 8:60
The President is right to impose any and all restrictions on Islam and Muslims that he believes necessary.
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Dear Archbishop Broglio / Your Excellency:
Thank you for your message. I can understand the way things are often distorted on social media.
I think I can also understand how difficult it must be, in today’s rather divided Church, to find priests who are prepared and able to “serve all people,” whether those people prefer the Traditional Latin Mass or the Novus Ordo.
I believe, however, that ultimately, though it may take decades or even generations, as it sometimes did in earlier Church crises, these divisions will be healed and the surrounding issues resolved. I believe that the Church will one day again display the unity we experienced for so many centuries, the unity that is the Church’s destiny.
I pray that your own efforts in this process will, with God’s grace, meet with success.
With further prayers,
Robert John Bennett
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2017.06.22
Feast of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More.
https://goo.gl/tuAKbv
St. Thomas More wrote, “I will not mistrust him, Meg, though I shall feel myself weakening and on the verge of being overcome with fear. I shall remember how Saint Peter at a blast of wind began to sink because of his lack of faith, and I shall do as he did: call upon Christ and pray to him for help. And then I trust he shall place his holy hand on me and in the stormy seas hold me up from drowning.”
Silly man, right? And such “rigid” thinking!
No doubt today, if More were alive and in a similar situation, sentenced to death for opposing
the annulment of the King’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Bergoglio would advise him to read Amoris laetitia. After a period of “discernment,” More could then “dialogue” with the King and in the end suggest that he “follow his conscience,” divorce Catherine and happily marry Anne Boleyn. In the name of “mercy.” No problem.
Obviously, martyrdom would then be unnecessary. Martyrdom, so tasteless, so PELAGIAN, and straight out of the “museum”-Church.
(Um, okay, in case somebody out there doesn’t get it, I’m being purely SARCASTIC here!)
——
EVERYTHING Michael says, EVERY DAY, is so stunningly TRUE. (https://goo.gl/2gWfFG) It coincides with everything people of my generation learned about the Faith and about the Church.
And I guess the reason we think that way is because we’re all old enough to have been taught the truths of the Church as expressed in that classic, the Baltimore Catechism.
Sure, I suppose that catechism seems unbearably out of date these days, unbearably “rigid,” especially to the Church of Nice people, but, dear God, I can’t imagine any better or more profound or more accurate or more thorough summary of the truths of the Faith.
God help those who see the Church as expressed in the “alpha” program.
And may God continue to shower His graces on the people at Church Militant.
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2017.07.02
Oh yes, Trudeau’s right. We Americans shouldn’t even think about rejecting anyone who believes in the Qu’ran, the Holy Book of The Great Religion of Peace. Here are some important verses:
“Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them” (Koran 2:191)
“Make war on the infidels living in your neighbourhood” (Koran 9:123)
“When opportunity arises, kill the infidels wherever you catch them” (Koran 9:5)
“Maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam” (Koran 5:33)
“Punish the unbelievers with garments of fire, hooked iron rods, boiling water; melt their skin and bellies” (Koran 22:19)
“Terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an” Koran 8:12.
What else is there to say? Except maybe: God help the Canadians.
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2017.07.05
I support the President in many areas. For example, I’m very concerned about Islamic terrorism and I’m pro-life and for religious freedom.
However, there’s one thing about the President that puzzles me. He’s extremely focused on Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, and on CNN.
But when it comes to concern about Kim Jong-un and his ICBM? Well, the President’s not too worried about those issues, it seems. At least he doesn’t tweet about any of that. Not the way he tweets about Scarborough and Brzezinski.
The President’s priorities seem a little odd to me.
Best regards,
Robert John Bennett
——
For kids in school, there is sometimes a bully who everyone knows is “just asking for it,” as the saying goes.
Kim Jong-un is asking for it.
China and Russia won’t like it, but THEY’re not the ones threatened by Kim’s ICBMs. We are.
——-
“Bâtards” is a French word, the meaning of which I think you can guess. All I can say to Michael and everyone else at Church Militant is this: it’s good that you won’t let the “bâtards” get you down. The Church needs you. Someday you and other faithful Catholics will be all that’s left of the Church in America.
And please, never, ever forget this: ““Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
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I didn’t know what Trump was really like, because I haven’t been back to the United States in over thirty years, and most of that time, there was no US television available overseas. So I had no chance to see “The Apprentice” and get a sense of what Trump was really like. Now I can better understand everything you wrote about him during the campaign.
As for Kim Jong-un, we could go on and on forever arguing about the guy, so maybe we should just give it a rest. Japan and South Korea have some pretty large dogs in that fight, and I think they will make sure that Trump does nothing unless they agree to it.
Kim could do significant damage to Seoul and even Japanese population centers before the US finally took him out. Yes, I know, I know. For most of the last fifteen or twenty years I believed in the dialogue and diplomacy that we’ve tried with North Korea. I believed in the pressure that China could supposedly put on him. I believed in Madeleine Albright and Bill Richardson and other negotiators. I believed in it all – just NOT a military solution.
But now, decades later, when nothing’s worked, I ask myself, “Do we really want to sit around and wait until Kim levels Anchorage or Honolulu?”
I think the guy’s just crazy enough to try it. Sure, Trump might be crazy, but I think Kim Jong-un’s even crazier.
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2017.07.06
I’m sure it’s all clear now to the good Cardinal Meisner – all of it. I think now he understands what God is doing in the Church.
Cardinal Meisner was the head of this archdiocese (Cologne) for years before he retired, and there were many of us who loved and respected him greatly. (Those who were not faithful Catholics disliked him intensely, of course, and even despised him.)
I believe that for good people like him, death is like waking from a dream, into the light of the real world. I think he must be praying now, more than ever, for an end to the destruction the current pontificate is causing in the Church.
He’s probably able to do even more good than when he joined the other cardinals in submitting the five Dubia to Bergoglio.
——-
I think of Our Lady’s promises – in the course of various apparitions, at Fatima, at Akita, at Quito – concerning her final triumph. I think of the prophecy in Genesis, that “she will crush his head.”
Yes, things may even get worse before they get better, but in the end it will be to her that her Son will entrust the work of saving the Church from men like Bergoglio and his enablers.
There is no cause for discouragement, and certainly none for despair.
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2017.07.07
I’m old enough (76) to remember what the Church was like before the “spirit” of the Council took over. Priests then really were strong and wise in a quiet, solid sort of way, and they were protective of the weak, not weak themselves.
Priests at that time were former military officers or the towering sons of Irish and Italian immigrants, among others. They played football in the seminaries. They had a calm, unconquerable inner strength. Their minds were molded by St. Thomas Aquinas, not by the latest psycho-babble.
Am I idealizing the pre-conciliar period?
No.
There were no gay coke parties in the Vatican then. (See LifeSite News of July 6, 2017. “High-ranking priest caught in cocaine-fueled gay orgy in Vatican apartment”)
Someday the Church will again be what it once was – perhaps after a period of complete social, political, and economic collapse, for I fear that things will get much worse before they get better.
But they will get better.
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2017.07.08
Enforcing Sharia on the streets of Berlin?
I’m an American living in Germany, in Dusseldorf, and believe me, it’s not just Berlin. It’s starting everywhere.
We already have our own no-go areas in the suburbs here, as these (German) newspaper articles describe: https://goo.gl/ZSjDDi and https://goo.gl/DfUvpe
Anyone who googles “Dusseldorf no-go area” will find much additional information, in English and German.
This is something Canada has to look forward to.
And the United States?
——
Some have called Bergoglio “the worst and most evil pope since the Borgias.”
In the past, I thought statements like that were a little over the top, but now I’m not so sure.
Still, God can perform miracles of grace, converting evil souls – even souls like Bergoglio – in an instant.
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2017.07.09
Funny thing is, the majority of Americans DO agree with the Canadians in this video: “A recent survey from the Economist/YouGov found that a majority of Americans support “expanding Medicare to provide health insurance to every American.” (https://goo.gl/w7XYSw)
The problem is, of course, it doesn’t matter to our rich and powerful masters (the corporations, the lobbyists, the wealthy) WHAT “a majority of Americans” want. What matters is what THEY want.
You think Americans live in a democracy? Oh man, dream on. That idea is SO twentieth century!
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2017.07.10
Arrest her? Deport her? Impossible. She’ll just get a smart lawyer and have the charges dismissed.
I’m afraid Linda Sarsour, and thousands like her, are with us for the long haul.
Elites in America, the UK, and elsewhere are living in Cloud-Cuckoo-Land when it comes to Islam. They won’t see what’s going on until the jihadists are pounding on the doors of the White House and Number 10.
And even then….
——
Impressive. Too bad there’s so little information about him (St. Mark Ji Tianxiang). If you google his name, about all you can find out is that he was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II as one of a group of around 120 Chinese saints. Still, from what we do know about him, he led a praiseworthy and – in the end – a splendid life.
——
Yesterday, July 9, on Meet the press, Lindsey Graham kept saying over and over again that he doesn’t understand why Trump has a blind spot when it comes to Putin. Isn’t the reason clear? Putin’s got something ON Trump, and Trump knows Putin will use it if Trump doesn’t do what Putin wants.
——
Toronto Catholic Witness writes: “The Vatican is a cesspool of homosexuality, corruption, decadence, lies, deceit, theft, blackmail and counter blackmail.”
Just as it was under the Borgia popes in the fifteenth century.
The Council of Trent rebuilt the Church out of the ruins the Borgia popes left behind, and that rebuilt Church lasted five hundred years.
A future pope or a future council will rebuild the present Church out of the ruins Bergoglio is leaving behind.
We shouldn’t ever forget: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
——
Some time ago, I don’t remember when exactly, there was a Vortex episode in which Michael said that in fifty years the Traditional Latin Mass would again be celebrated everywhere. He indicated it would be the ONLY kind of Catholic Mass. When I heard that, I thought to myself, “Well, great, if it happens. But it will never happen.”
Lately, especially when I listen to a Vortex episode like the one today (https://goo.gl/JvdnWe), I’ve begun to realize that Michael was right. It’s not that all the priests who now say the Novus Ordo Mass are going suddenly switch, and in fifty years they’ll all be saying the Tridentine Mass.
No, not it at all. What will happen is that the Church of Nice will simply die out, or “commit suicide,” as Michael put it. And the only parishes that will be left in fifty years will be the ones where faithful Catholics attend the Traditional Latin Mass.
The shrinking, disappearing Church may be more obvious now here in Germany, and elsewhere in Europe, but the same thing will happen in America too. And soon.
——
What I’d like to know is this: what does Putin have on Trump that he’s using to manipulate Trump (or blackmail him) into even mentioning these stupid ideas?
What is it? Hotel room videos with prostitutes? Evidence of money laundering? Outstanding bank loans? Other unsavory financial information?
It must be SOMETHING, if Putin can get Trump to agree to these absurd ideas – including dropping the “Ukraine/Crimea” sanctions. It must be something PRETTY BIG. https://goo.gl/ytes9q
——
Some Tweets:
@Pontifex Also from Rome: “As the spinach and steak were served, the priest said to me: ‘And you are the dessert’.” https://goo.gl/YTx3HN
@Pontifex “If this ambiguity is allowed to continue, the consequences will be catastrophic.” https://goo.gl/oF6SGr They’re not already?
@Pontifex Oh God, free Your Church from autocrats like Bergoglio and their hypocritical and fake “mercy” and “dialogue” and “encounter.”
@Pontifex Holy Mother of God, please beg your Son to free His Church from clerics like Bergoglio, with their fake “humility.”
@Pontifex Bergoglio preaches “mercy” and “dialogue.” But in the Vatican “I’m the pope. I can do what I want. I don’t have to give a reason.”
@Pontifex According to Bergoglio and his German crowd, “All are welcome – sodomites, adulterers, anyone. BUT NO FAITHFUL CATHOLICS!”
@Pontifex “Pope Francis demands obedience from priests of Nigerian diocese” Just as infallible Church teachings demand Bergoglio’s obedience
@Pontifex Bergoglio will leave the Church in ruins. https://goo.gl/wNrJw5 But Christ said that such a pope from hell would not PREVAIL.
@Pontifex_it A France’, hai commissariato Congregazioni, decapitato i Francescani dell’Immacolata,… ma n’do sta la tua misericordia?
@Pontifex Unrepentent adulterers and sodomites receiving Communion? Sure. Women deacons? Sure. “I’m the pope and I can do what I want.”
@Pontifex Contraception okay? Sure. “I’m the pope and I can do what I want.”
@Pontifex Ignore the traditional teachings of the Church? Sure. “I’m the pope and I can do what I want.”
@Pontifex Ignore the teachings of past popes? Sure. No problem. “I’m the pope and I can do what I want.”
@Pontifex What? Me? Heresy? Impossible. “I’m the pope and I can do what I want.”
@Pontifex “Who? Me? Arrogant? Impossible. I’m the most humble pope you’ll ever find – yes, humble, and proud of it.”
@Pontifex “Manipulate the synods? Me? Yes, but it was for a good cause. The Holy Spirit made me do it. I’m the pope, I can do what I want.”
@Pontifex “I’m the pope and I can do what I want. The spirit (holy or otherwise) is on my side.”
@Pontifex What a brave man, what a faithful priest. https://goo.gl/u1sCY6 Mother of God, when will we have a pope with these qualities?
——
Excellent, objective commentary on the Trump-Putin meeting https://goo.gl/nSuff5 John Bolton has a masterful grasp of the implications of this event.
There is one sentence that should be chiseled in stone somewhere in the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon: “And it should be a fire-bell-in-the-night warning about the value Moscow places on honesty, whether regarding election interference, nuclear proliferation, arms control or the Middle East: negotiate with today’s Russia at your peril.”
——
Even here in Europe, all the way across the Atlantic, I can hear the howls of horror from those on the left who may listen to this Download (https://goo.gl/yxpktK). Western Civilization is superior to all others? Before making that statement, you should have probably issued a “trigger” warning. Too many people may have fallen off their chairs and hurt themselves.
And Islam? Of course Cardinal Burke is right. It’s not really a religion. It’s a poltitical ideology. Our polticial and intellectual elites, however, cannot bring themselves to see it that way, to see the truth of Islam. They call for “tolerance.”
If they’re not careful, they’re going to “tolerate” themselves out of existence.
Will they understand the truth before it’s too late?
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2017.07.12
I think it was Bishop Fulton Sheen who used to tell the following story – by now perhaps very familiar:
One day, God was making a sort of inspection tour of heaven, and he was surprised at some of the people he saw there. So, He went over to St. Peter to have a talk with him.
Peter looked extremely overworked and distracted, and God said, “Peter are you SURE some of the people you’re letting in really belong here? Are you screening them carefully enough?”
Peter, tired, worn out, and exasperated, looked at God and said, “Lord, I try. Honestly I try. But with a lot of these people, as fast as I turn them away from the door, Your mother pulls them in through the window!”
——
This is horrific (https://goo.gl/fUAYs9), but it’s not the first time this crisis has had to be resolved in the Church. In the eleventh century, it was so serious that St. Peter Damian, Doctor of the Church, wrote about it and condemned it in his “Liber Gomorrhianus.”
By the fourteenth century, the problem had again become a grievous one, and St. Catherine of Siena mentions it. According to a portion of her “Dialogue,” this sin disgusts even the demons in hell. Written from the viewpoint of Our Lord, one passage states, “This sin not only displeases me as I have said, but also the devils whom these wretches have made their masters. Not that the evil displeases them because they like anything good, but because their nature was originally angelic, and their angelic nature causes them to loathe the sight of the actual commission of this enormous sin.” (The Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin [London: Burns, Oates and Washbourne, Ltd., 1925], p. 255)
The eleventh century, the fourteenth century – we’ve survived this before. The Church will survive it again.
“In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
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2017.07.14
Regarding this video (https://goo.gl/6Vq375):
In an article in a link elsewhere on the Church Militant website, Antonio Spadaro, SJ, writes, “There is a shocking rhetoric used, for example, by the writers of Church Militant, a successful US-based digital platform that is openly in favor of a political ultra-conservatism and uses Christian symbols to impose itself. This abuse is called ‘authentic Christianity’.”
So authentic Christianity is now an “abuse.”
And Monsignor Capozzi’s cocaine-fueled gay orgy, I suppose, is not an abuse?
If I had to choose between these two “abuses,” the decision would not be very difficult.
So now, in addition to being “obsessed,” “doctors of the law,” “neo-pelagian,” “self-absorbed,” “restorationist,” “fundamentalist,” “rigid,” “ideological,” “hypocritical,” “idolaters,” “rebels,” and “heretics,” we are now also guilty of “abuse.”
Besides the quote in the video about “we are legion,” from Mark’s Gospel, another quote occurs to me – again and again: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and celebrate, because great is your reward in heaven.”
——
I would like to say something in response to this piece (https://goo.gl/NMgCMc), a column that is so moving I find it hard to think of words to describe it. Does that sound weird? Fine.
Here’s something that is even more weird. Some will call it sentimental, others will say it’s simply crazy: I do believe you will see your father again in a better world, and your mother as well.
In that world, everything will be aglow, and the glow will last forever.
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2017.07.15
Re an article at (https://goo.gl/jaj4Lt):
Many years ago, I spent what turned out to be one of the most unforgettable three-month periods of my life as an ulpan member on a non-religious kibbutz in northern Israel. I did that even though I am not Jewish. I was then, and still am, a conservative Catholic.
I was the only non-Jew on the kibbutz, and because of my experience of living and working and studying there, and because of all the remarkable people I met on the kibbutz, I became a stronger supporter of Israel than many American Jews seem to be.
So I believe Alan Dershowitz is right. Wherever you stand on the question of the state and religion in Israel, “The answer is not disengagement, but rather greater engagement.”
——
(I doubt that CNN will understand the sarcasm and irony of the following message.)
Good job on a report a few minutes ago regarding the negative attitude toward migrants on the part of ordinary people here in Germany.
There have been countless verified reports in local German media outlets concerning crimes such as rape and other forms of assault committed by migrants. These reports are supported by police statistics.
Many, but not all, ordinary Germans are aware of these attacks by migrants and this probably accounts for the change in attitude toward refugees.
It is good, though, that CNN mentioned none of this, and that the new negative attitude toward immigrants was instead blamed on neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists.
The conservative (and somewhat right-wing) Merkel government needs all the support it can get, and if outlets like CNN broadcast the truth about migrants here, Merkel’s support would decline and perhaps even collapse.
If that happened, the left-wing Social Democrats would probably come to power.
——
Some Tweets that may be of interest:
@Pontifex A friend read about Bergoglio’s treatment of Cardinal Mueller and said, “Dear God, preserve us from Bergoglio, this evil man.”
@Pontifex Holy Mother of God, please beg your Son not to abandon his Church any longer to Bergoglio’s evil power.
@Pontifex_it A France’, hai commissariato Congregazioni, decapitato i Francescani dell’Immacolata,… ma n’do sta la tua misericordia?
@Pontifex Bergoglio is all about “mercy,” “mercy,” but he treats people in the Vatican with all the kindness of the devil himself.
@Pontifex O God, You Who can convert the souls of evil men in an instant, convert Bergoglio; save Your Church from the ruin he’s causing.
@Pontifex O God, don’t abandon Your sheep to wolves like Bergoglio and his helpers.
@Pontifex The confusion caused by Bergoglio in the Catholic Church is out of control – resulting in grave damage. https://goo.gl/isiJXg
@ Bergoglio calls US: obsessed, self-absorbed, rigid, ideological, hypocritical, idolaters, rebels, heretics. But WE may not criticize HIM?
@Pontifex This is horrific (https://goo.gl/fUAYs9), but it’s not the first time this crisis has had to be resolved in the Church.
@Pontifex Surrender of the Catholic Media https://goo.gl/iYXQnF
@Pontifex “If Europe were to follow the Pope’s position, it would be committing suicide.” https://goo.gl/PaVQo4
@Pontifex Dear God, save us from Bergoglio.
@Pontifex How long, O Lord, how long? How long until You preserve Your Church from Bergoglio’s evils?
@Pontifex Who knew? Not only are we “neo-pelagian,” “obsessed,” “self-absorbed,” and “rigid,” we’re also Manichaeans https://goo.gl/xjW8wN
@Pontifex Bergoglio says the United States has “a distorted vision of the world”? Coming from Bergoglio, that’s rich, isn’t it?
@Pontifex Tell James Martin: Do Not Be Deceived: Christ Forbids Homosexual Acts, the Church Cannot Teach Otherwise https://goo.gl/6wbpAX
@Pontifex Holy Mother of God, please beg your Son not to allow Bergoglio to inflict any more ruin on the Church than he has already.
@Pontifex Excellent advice for Bergoglio himself: “Focus on your own potential and not on your limitations.” https://goo.gl/kBt3TX
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2017.07.22
@Pontifex “Vatican newspaper chides Macron, Merkel for failing to assist migrants” And how many migrants has the Vatican accepted?
@Pontifex “Vatican chides Merkel, Macron for not assisting migrants” And how many migrants has the Vatican accepted? Dear God, the cheek!
@Pontifex You have to wonder sometimes, if Bergoglio EVER knows what he’s talking about. https://goo.gl/xxj2yX
@Pontifex_it A France’, hai commissariato Congregazioni, decapitato i Francescani dell’Immacolata,… ma n’do sta la tua misericordia?
@Pontifex O God, when will you send us a good pope and end Your Church’s suffering?
@Pontifex This idea https://goo.gl/FvZH1m will only enrage Bergoglio and cause him to fire Cardinal Sarah, as he fired Cardinal Müller.
@Pontifex Bergoglio is just itching to get rid of Cardinal Sarah. He can’t have a rigid Manichaean like that running free in the Vatican.
@Pontifex If you read Pascendi Dominici Gregis, you might think Pope Pius X was writing about Bergoglio. https://goo.gl/jSGWke
@Pontifex Dear God, we pray for the future of the Church under Bergoglio’s evil and destructive pontificate.
@Pontifex There is the stunning possibility that even Bergoglio was not sure about the orthodoxy of Amoris Laetitia. https://goo.gl/4Z6jcS
Pope FrancisVerified account @Pontifex Jul 18 We must overcome all forms of racism, of intolerance and of the instrumentalization of the human person.
Reply: @Pontifex Does Bergoglio include intolerance toward faithful, traditional Catholics? Or intolerance toward anyone who disagrees with him? No.
@Pontifex “(T)here isn’t a question of a lavender mafia INSIDE the Vatican; the lavender mafia RUNS the Vatican.” https://goo.gl/vU2jEN
@Pontifex I can’t begin to say what a relief it is to finally come out and embrace my QTBGL identity. https://goo.gl/NYNxwT
@Pontifex Yes, I too feel a real sense of relief now that I have finally come out and embraced my QTBGL identity. https://goo.gl/NYNxwT
@Pontifex “Vatican’s Secretary of State to meet with Putin.” Now THAT should be a fun meeting: one destroyer meets another.
@Pontifex “Pope is ‘the voice of suffering Ukraine,’ Eastern prelate says.” Bergoglio? The voice of suffering? The voice of destruction.
@Pontifex Holy Mother of God, please beg your Son to free us from the evil that Bergoglio and his supporters are carrying out in the Church.
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2017.07.23
The article (https://goo.gl/9hHvjn) contains this sentence: “Lobo says when parishioners object to the emphasis on evangelism and discipleship at the parish, he asks them if their kids or grandkids still attend church. The point is that the practices of the past didn’t work.”
The practices of the past? The practices of the 1970’s, for example?
No, they didn’t work. Look at the disappearance of the Church in Europe and America.
The practices of the time before Vatican II? In that period, the Church was flourishing everywhere.
Lobo thinks that “evangelism and discipleship” will have “kids or grandkids” attending church in ten or twenty years, or beyond?
Dream on.
“Evangelism and discipleship” are foolproof guarantees that the disappearance of the church will continue – and accelerate.
——
Regarding the article at https://goo.gl/WikFGD There are people who believe that both major political parties share the blame for this situation. They believe that the GOP is not the only cause of the Trump phenomenon and all the horrors that it’s producing. Horrors? Yes. Trump isn’t making America great again, he’s continuing the efforts both major parties have made to turn America into Nicaragua. And according to the MIT economist in this article, they’ve BOTH made LOTS of progress toward that goal.
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2017.07.24
Some recent Tweets:
@Pontifex In the present calamitous state of the Church, we need God’s miraculous intervention to end the havoc Bergoglio is causing.
@Pontifex_it A France’, hai commissariato Congregazioni, decapitato i Francescani dell’Immacolata,… ma n’do sta la tua misericordia?
@Pontifex Christ has driven Satan out of so many possessed individuals. Will He now fail to drive out Satan from Bergoglio and the Church?
@Pontifex (https://goo.gl/FyYw1G) A friend said, “Don’t worry, Bergoglio will put a stop to that ‘older liturgical ceremonies’ nonsense.”
@Pontifex “Could Cardinal Sarah Bring an End to the Liturgy Wars?” https://goo.gl/6NKNSt No. Cardinal Sarah will suffer Bergoglio’s wrath.
Pope FrancisVerified account @Pontifex 4h4 hours ago When we need help, let us turn to the Father who always looks on us with love and never abandons us.
Reply: Adulterers and sodomites? Yes! But NO traditional Catholics. They can count on mercy from God, but absolutely NO MERCY from Bergoglio.
@Pontifex https://goo.gl/NM45qn Of course Bergoglio’s right. The obstacle to his destruction of the Church IS holy bishops and priests.
@Pontifex https://goo.gl/NM45qn I wonder if Bergoglio has tried “dialoguing” with these bishops and priests, instead of insulting them.
@Pontifex https://goo.gl/NM45qn When Bergoglio insults faithful Catholics and will not meet with the Dubia cardinals, what does he expect?
@Pontifex https://goo.gl/NM45qn Now it’s apparently bishops and priests who are at fault. Oh – as the Brits say – that IS rich!
@Pontifex Dear God, send us a good pope, one who will preserve the Church, not destroy it.
@Pontifex O God, when will this punishment end? Send us a good pope.
@Pontifex Holy Mother of God, how long will your Son make us suffer under this evil pope who is destroying the Church?
@Pontifex Lord, give faithful Catholics protection against Bergoglio’s evil insults, and save us from his “Dictatorship of Relativism.”
@Pontifex This video (https://goo.gl/keSY7n) is NOT for members of “the Church of Nice,” and probably not even for clergy in the Vatican.
@Pontifex The German bishops’ conference support for Amoris Laetitia sure did wonders for the Church in Germany. https://goo.gl/BWxTyK
@Pontifex O God, dear God, perform a miracle of grace: make Bergoglio a good pope, one who builds up the Church, not destroys it.
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2017.07.27
Tony, there have been times in the past when people were in similar situations and were forced to wake the f–k up. Unfortunately, what forced them to wake up was a collapse – partial or total – of the society they lived in.
I’m very much afraid we’re not far away from something similar in Europe and America. What’s important, though, is that our species has a genius for survival, and in the long run, human beings will survive.
By that time, of course, people like us will have moved on to another, better world, but in THIS world, humankind will survive, in spite of everything.
Don’t worry. Long, long ago, in another now-collapsed society, a very great lady once said, “All will be well, all will be well, and all manner of thing will be well.” And she was right. And we are right if we think the same thing now.
——
He was a Jesuit. No, he was a JESUIT. (https://goo.gl/zgV73L)
And today? Those who are allowed to write “S.J.” after their names? What are they?
Compare Father Willie Doyle to – for example – Father James Martin.
Or among countless other relevant examples, compare the North American Martyrs to today’s Jesuits.
Holy Mother of God, good St. Ignatius of Loyola, how did a great religious order ever come to THIS?
Those of us who do not have even the tiniest shred of the heroism that men like Father Willie Doyle had can only stand in awe of the lives they led.
And we can only weep over what the Jesuits have become.
——
Dear Klaus,
I heard about Grenell’s appointment, but so far there has been no news in the US about his being gay. I didn’t know that, and I had to google him to find that out.
In the US media so far, the only things that have been reported about him are that he had worked for the US State Department as a diplomat at the UN and then later was a commentator at Fox News.
You know, it’s possible that even Trump didn’t know that Grenell is gay, because in so many ways Trump is simply out of touch and, well, frankly, rather stupid.
I think the Trump administration is increasingly grotesque and ludicrous. Yesterday Trump tweets that all transgender individuals are no longer allowed to serve in the US military, and now a gay diplomat is appointed US ambassador to Germany. As they say in New York slang, “Go figure.”
A few minutes ago, on the BBC, an interview with Lindsey Graham was broadcast. As you probably know, Graham is one of the most powerful and influential Republican senators in Congress. In the interview Graham said that if Trump fires Jeff Sessions and then Robert Mueller, “it will be the end of the Trump presidency.”
Again, my fear is that Trump may eventually try to solve his problems by creating the ultimate distraction: a war, bombing North Korea, for example.
I think the world may be entering a very dangerous period. Thank God I’m so old that I won’t live to see these dangers realized, but I feel deeply sorry for younger people. Their lives won’t be at all easy.
With a prayer,
Robert
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2017.97.28
Hello Klaus,
I really don’t think Trump even knows that Grenell IS gay. (Trump seems oblivious to so many things. After all, according to that famous recent interview in The New York Times, he seems to think that health insurance works like life insurance. I.e., you pay in for fifty years, and then you get something back!)
Anyway, this is from today’s New York Times: “Also on Wednesday, Mr. Trump announced that he would nominate Sam Brownback, the governor of Kansas and a VOCAL OPPONENT OF GAY RIGHTS, to be the nation’s ambassador at large for international religious freedom.” (https://goo.gl/knXRuY)
Once again, in New York (Yiddish) slang: “Go figure” (ווייס גיי).
With a prayer,
Robert
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2017.07.29
It’s “the only way of ensuring security,” yes, and it’s a sure way of provoking the wrath of the EU. Brussels wants to see Poland become another Sweden or Norway.
Or Germany.
In Hamburg yesterday, a 26-year-old man went on a stabbing spree in a supermarket, killing one person and injuring several others. According to one witness interviewed here on German television, he was shouting “Allahu akbar.”
As always, the police are saying there is “no evidence of any connection with terrorism.” He was simply a victim of that “mental instability” which, strangely, seems to be epidemic among many Muslims.
When the rest of Europe has been Islamized, at least Poland will still be free.
——
“Was hat den Verdächtigen getrieben?” (https://goo.gl/6E1pMY)
Wenn Du das wirklich nicht verstehst, dann möge Gott Dir helfen, und möge Gott diesem ganzen Land helfen.
Kannst Du nicht verstehen, dass das, was ihn getrieben hat, war einfach das, was so viele Menschen heutzutage treibt: die Lehren der Großen Religion des Friedens?
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2017.08.02
Apparent papal approval of unrepentant adulterers and sodomites receiving communion? Seeming Church tolerance of abortion and contraception? Drug fuelled gay orgies led by a Vatican official? Homosexualist James Martin, S.J., as a Vatican communications adviser? Bergoglio embracing a notorious abortionist, and showing approval of a gay couple and a transgender “marriage”?
Whether or not Padre Pio actually said what this article (https://goo.gl/LbGf4s) alleges, many people might be tempted to think that a “false church” has in fact now come into existence.
——
Some recent Tweets:
@Pontifex Some say Bergoglio talks of canceling Summorum Pontificum in order to punish Benedict for his lack of support.
@Pontifex_it A France’, hai commissariato Congregazioni, decapitato i Francescani dell’Immacolata,… ma n’do sta la tua misericordia?
@Pontifex Is it possible Bergoglio thinks that the Church exists mainly to shape his image and grace the way the world sees him?
@Pontifex Peter, Gregory I, Pius XII, and many, many other great popes. Now we have Bergoglio. Dear God, how did it come to this?
@Pontifex The German Catholic Church is the richest in the world. So if people are leaving the Church, who cares? https://goo.gl/mWPe3V
@Pontifex May history be kind to Bergoglio in his “drunkenness.”
https://goo.gl/sUHDsq
@Pontifex “The devil’s strategy is to destabilize, secularize the liturgy.” And what is Bergoglio trying to do? https://goo.gl/pySbuU
@Pontifex Sound familiar? https://goo.gl/f8Gr79
@Pontifex “Italian Pro-Abortionist Speaks in Church” https://goo.gl/nDN3KhAnd will pro-sodomy Rev. James J. Martin, SJ, speak next?
@Pontifex “What Martin Luther could not accomplish, the German bishops are:” the death of the Church in Germany https://goo.gl/UXhEXJ
@Pontifex O God, send us a good pope.
@Pontifex Lord, how long must Your Church endure the punishment of Bergoglio’s grotesque pontificate?
Pope FrancisVerified account @Pontifex
We call on all people of faith and good will to take action and oppose modern slavery in all its forms.
Reply: More of Bergoglio’s mercy and humility, when he said to Cardinal Mueller: “I’m the pope. I do what I want. I don’t have to give a reason.”
@Pontifex Nun presiding at a wedding shows part of the Church is “from the pits of hell”? That view may be extreme but it’s on Facebook.
@Pontifex If Europe could be rebuilt from the ruins of World War II, can the Church be rebuilt from the ruins of the “spirit” of Vatican II?
@Pontifex Europe was rebuilt from the ruins of World War II, so can the Church be rebuilt from the ruins left by Bergoglio’s pontificate?
@Pontifex “Search for Jesus, sacrifice for Him, Pope says at Sunday Angelus” Good advice for Bergoglio himself to follow.
——
“The Lord placed it on my heart.” https://goo.gl/SL9tUk
One of the things that Catholics used to be taught from an early age, because it was always a part of reasoned Catholic thinking, was the danger of self-deception. That is why people were always encouraged to have a spiritual director, a wise priest as a counselor.
I suppose at some point in the last fifty years or so, that kind of thinking was found to be incompatible with the “spirit” of Vatican II.
(As time goes by, that “spirit” seems to be proving itself less and less divine, and more and more demonic.)
——
2017.08.03
Some Tweets:
Pope FrancisVerified account @Pontifex
Like Saint Ignatius of Loyola, let us be won over by the Lord Jesus and, led by Him, place ourselves at the service of others.
1st Reply: This would be good advice for Bergoglio himself to follow. O God, You can convert the souls of evil men in an instant; convert Bergoglio.
2nd Reply: O God, send us a pope who will live up to this ideal and who will follow Your teachings.
@Pontifex_it A France’, hai commissariato Congregazioni, decapitato i Francescani dell’Immacolata,… ma n’do sta la tua misericordia?
@Pontifex A friend commented, “Simply because a pope evil doesn’t mean he wasn’t validly elected.”
@Pontifex Another friend commented, “If a pope says unrepentant adulterers and sodomites may receive Communion, does that make him evil?”
@Pontifex A friend asked, “If a pope appears to support adultery, sodomy, and abortion, does that make him evil or simply in error?”
@Pontifex Bergoglio flies into rages, of course, but that alone doesn’t make him an evil person.
@Pontifex Dear God, bless us with a good pope.
@Pontifex A good pope responds to criticism not with anger, as Bergoglio does, but with kindness and gentleness, as St. John Vianney did.
@Pontifex Unrepentant adulterers, sodomites? If the money rolls in, German bishops have “mercy” for all. But try not paying your Church tax.
@Pontifex Bergoglio will have to answer for using the papacy to scandalize many to the point of losing their faith. https://goo.gl/7gU5cT
Pope FrancisVerified account @Pontifex
The Gospel is Good News filled with contagious joy, for it contains and offers new life.
Reply: O God, send us a good, wise pope, faithful to the teachings of the Church, one who does not promote personal interpretations of the Gospel.
@Pontifex Of course Bergoglio is the pope; if onlyhe could think, believe, and act like a pope.
@Pontifex O God, Your grace can convert sinners and evil popes in an instant; now we beg You to convert Bergoglio or send us a good pope.
@Pontifex O God, inspire Bergoglio and his German bishops to think about saving souls, not about raking in money from the German church tax.
@Pontifex Sodomy and adultery in Germany? No problem with the Church. Non-payment of the Church tax? Excommunication and condemned to hell.
@Pontifex O God, help Bergoglio to understand that he can demand obedience when he himself obeys the teachings of the Church.
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2017.08.04
General McMaster seems to believe that denying the nature and magnitude of the jihad threat is the best way to deal with that threat. He got rid of sensible and valuable people like Rich Higgins and Derek Harvey, because they disagreed with him in that regard.
In fact, General McMaster appears to be a national security threat himself because he simply doesn’t understand Islam. How long will President Trump and General Kelly tolerate McMaster and his dangerous thinking?
I have to admit that I disagree with President Trump on almost everything EXCEPT the threat originating from Islam. That’s the main reason I voted for him. I hope I was not wrong to do so. General McMaster should be replaced.
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2017.08.05
These stunning churches will be there for the rebuilding of the Church from the ruins created by the “spirit” of Vatican II? (https://goo.gl/HJTPQi)
I wouldn’t count on it, not with Europe in its present state.
Italy has a birth rate that is far, far below replacement level, so these churches may simply be there for the members of The Great Religion of Peace who are pouring into “multi-cultural” Europe. These churches may someday simply be gutted and turned into places of worship for The Great Religion of Peace.
Impossible? It’s happened in the UK: “The Hyatt United Church was bought by the Egyptian community to be converted to a mosque. St Peter’s Church has been converted into the Madina Mosque. The Brick Lane Mosque was built on a former Methodist church.” (https://goo.gl/8jnAMq)
——
“(T)here is no shortage of howls of “injustice” and BDS movements criticizing even the slightest perceived infringement of human rights in Israel, a country that ensures human rights and equality under the law to all its citizens. But when it comes to Turkey — sssshhhhhh…” – From the article (https://goo.gl/U33iCq)
Or do we have here, once more, the politically correct view that it is wrong to criticize any aspect of The Great Religion of Peace?
An additional thought:
Criticizing Israel could be construed as anti-Semitic, and these days that’s okay, of course.
But criticizing Turkey would be – horror of horrors – ISLAMOPHOBIC! And that certainly is NOT okay in today’s politically correct world.
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2017.08.08
Another World War II bomb was defused today in Dusseldorf. (It was in the local news here. You wonder sometimes how many bombs are defused around Germany with reports only in the local news for the affected areas. You also have to wonder how many bombs the Allies actually DID drop on Germany, since so many of them failed to explode and yet the Allies won the war nevertheless.)
——
In response to a Church Militant Vortex episode:
Keep up the good work.
In spite of everything.
And there is hope: when the Church in America and elsewhere has all but disappeared in the coming decades, and only a faithful remnant remains, those clerics and prelates who are left will, finally, “get it.”
——
2017.08.11
Certainly, as noted in the introductory paragraph, this information (https://goo.gl/ArF9cU) is “disheartening.”
In one respect, though, it is encouraging. It is good to know that congregations and dioceses where faithful Catholics prevail are thriving, in spite of everything.
It is this remnant of faithful Catholics that one day will rebuild the Church, when the horrors of the present pontificate are a thing of the past.
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2017.08.13
It is good to know that there are so many faithful Catholics. (https://goo.gl/Wy2kze)
No wonder Bergoglio is a victim of excessive anger.
He must be very afraid of us – and afraid of the strength we find in the promise of Christ that not even hell itself will prevail against the Church.
And perhaps one could add: even when that hell arises from the errors of an angry – and some might say, evil – pope.
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2017.08.14
@Pontifex Catholics must discern between the “words of the man who is Pope and the words of the Pope as Vicar of Christ.” – Cardinal Burke
@Pontifex “Cardinal Burke: Amoris Laetitia is not authoritative teaching” https://goo.gl/adefSj
@Pontifex “Priest shortage growing despite ‘Francis effect’” https://goo.gl/bcBG1q
@Pontifex This graph shows what the “spirit” of Vatican II has done to vocations, and yet Bergoglio plunges on toward the cliff.
Pope FrancisVerified account @Pontifex
When something makes us suffer, let us listen to the voice of Jesus in our hearts: “Do not fear! Go ahead! I am with you!”
Reply: Bergoglio is suffering, because of the devastation he’s causing in the Church. Does he really think Jesus is with him in that suffering?
@Pontifex O God, You can convert the souls of evil men in an instant. Convert Bergoglio, we beg You.
@Pontifex “Notes on the Unacceptable Philosophy and Theology of ‘Laudato Si’” https://goo.gl/vq4YbC
Pope FrancisVerified account@Pontifex
Dear young people, you are the hope of the Church. Do you dream about your future? Then take part in synod 18.
Reply: The hope of the Church is a good pope, one who is faithful to the teachings of the Church and the Gospel. Vocations will thrive.
@Pontifex “Let us hope and pray that excessive anger from the Vatican diminishes….” https://goo.gl/G2Wd3e
@Pontifex Excessive anger indicates fear. What is Bergoglio afraid of? https://goo.gl/G2Wd3e
@Pontifex Bergoglio thinks immigration restriction is a “narrative of fear.” And what do people in Michigan think? https://goo.gl/ar73pB
Pope FrancisVerified account@Pontifex
In Mary we see that humility is not a virtue of the weak but of the strong who don’t have to treat others badly to feel important.
Reply: What about insulting others – as Bergoglio does – in order to feel important?
@Pontifex Be ready to “accept ridicule, misunderstanding, persecution,” says Cardinal Burke https://goo.gl/TF75JN And Bergoglio’s insults?
Pope FrancisVerified account @Pontifex
In Mary we see that humility is not a virtue of the weak but of the strong who don’t have to treat others badly to feel important.
Reply: Is that why Bergoglio treats people badly? (Faithful Catholics, FFI, Knights of Malta, Cardinal Mueller, the “Dubia” cardinals, etc., etc.)
@Pontifex Does Bergoglio treat people badly to feel important? (Faithful Catholics, FFI, Knights of Malta, the “Dubia” cardinals, etc.)
——
The only reason I’ve been supporting President Trump is because I thought he understood radical Islamic terrorism. But as General McMaster gains more influence, so do the Islamists in the administration. In an article today, William Kilpatrick writes:
“Ayaan Hirsi Ali was scheduled to present a paper on radical Islamic terror at the National Security Council before being blocked by H.R. Mc Master and his recently appointed Senior Director of Counter-Terrorism, Mustafa Javed Ali. Mustafa Javed Ali is now the senior director of counter-terrorism? Could that be right?”
https://goo.gl/TBpnkU
Sometimes I start to think that where the threat from Islam is concerned, I might as well have voted for Hillary.
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2017.08.15
I’m sure people at Church Militant receive many messages like this, but here’s one more: your website and your programs provide absolutely crucial spiritual support. I live in Germany, where of course the bishops’ conference is just fine with people in adulterous or sodomite relationships receiving Communion (as long as they haven’t been automatically excommunicated by not paying their government-mandated “church tax”). The attitude of clerics here is decidedly liberal, as the churches empty more and more. And for a faithful Catholic like me – even though I know other faithful Catholics here – your website provides real strength and inspiration.
Incidentally, even the FSSP in |Germany is slightly “modernized.” In their parish here in Dusseldorf, they no longer begin the Mass with the choir singing the Introit in Gregorian Chant. No, now, even though they celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass, they ruin it by having everyone sing these awful vernacular hymns at various times during the first part of the Mass, through the Offertory. This of course makes it impossible to say the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, for example, and other Mass prayers, with any sense of recollection. I certainly hope the FSSP in the States is not doing anything like that, but in this situation, Church Militant is like a life preserver in sea of relativism and modernity, even, sadly, where the FSSP is concerned.
On the other hand, though, I have to say that after listening to this Download on St. Maximilian Kolbe, I see that here in Germany we are really living in the middle of a kind of miracle. In what sense? Well, I had a dentist appointment today, and as I walked over to his office on this bright, sunny, peaceful afternoon, I thought about your references to the Nazi period of more than seventy years ago. To compare all that with Germany today really is a wonder, and simply because we see no angels or heavenly choirs around us here doesn’t make the transformation of this country any less of a miracle!
——
Brilliant, truthful essay. https://goo.gl/asCknA The Church “was losing members and vocations faster than it could count them by 1980 (and that decline has continued essentially unabated since then).”
And there are many who think the decline will continue until only faithful Catholics are left, and it will be up to us to rebuild the Church from its present ruinous state.
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2017.08.17
The Nazi salute today in Germany?
It can get you arrested. It’s against the law.
Carrying a flag with a swastika today in Germany?
It can get you arrested. It’s against the law.
Simply hanging a swastika on a wall in your apartment so that today in Germany it can be seen from the street?
It can get you arrested. It’s against the law.
Denying the Holocaust today in Germany?
It can get you arrested. It’s against the law.
Do any of these things today in the United States?
Nothing much will happen.
——
Some recent Tweets:
Pope FrancisVerified account@Pontifex
The journey of entrusting ourselves to the Lord begins every day, starting each morning.
Reply: O God, teach Bergoglio to entrust himself to You and to obey the teachings of the Church and to stop insulting faithful Catholics.
@Pontifex “Belgian Charity Board Member Appears to Defy Pope’s Anti-Euthanasia Order” Defy BERGOGLIO?? Sure, it’s his famous “discernment.”
@Pontifex “Belgians Disobey Pope’s Anti-Euthanasia Order” Why not? Bergoglio himself disobeys the teachings of the Church and the Gospel.
Pope FrancisVerified account @Pontifex
Mary’s Assumption regards our future: it turns our gaze heavenward announcing the new heaven and new earth with Christ’s victory.
Reply: If only Mary’s Assumption would announce a Church where the pope respects and obeys Church teaching and stops insulting faithful Catholics.
@Pontifex If only Mary’s Assumption would now give us a pope who respects and obeys Church teaching and stops insulting faithful Catholics.
@Pontifex Pope Francis said (https://goo.gl/xbjTPJ), “Faith sustains us but does not exempt us from trials.” (Such as our current pope.)
@Pontifex I’ll bet Bergoglio wishes he could crush the Institute of Christ the King https://goo.gl/tDsqnw the same way he crushed the FFI.
@Pontifex O God, how long will You keep punishing us? Convert Bergoglio, please, or send us a good pope.
@Pontifex O God, give us a pope who offers real mercy, not insults and anger.
@Pontifex O God, send us a pope we can respect, one who obeys the teachings of the Church and the Gospel.
@Pontifex O God, give us a pope who will foster vocations, not destroy them because he considers them “rigid.”
@Pontifex Shameful and disgusting: https://goo.gl/uFeicV
Pope FrancisVerified account @Pontifex
May nothing stop you from living and growing in your Heavenly Father’s friendship, and from witnessing to His infinite goodness and mercy.
Reply: And may the head of the current pontificate grow in friendship with God, stop the anger and insults, and end the fake goodness and “mercy.”
@Pontifex This pope respond to a “correction”? Never. He’ll ignore it in the same way he ignored the five Dubia. https://goo.gl/8goLko
@Pontifex “Vatican document suggests excommunication for some Catholic politicians” https://goo.gl/XdHhMw Will anyone take this seriously? Will anyone take this seriously?
——
For all the TV commentators on the Barcelona attack, the motive for the attack seems to be a great mystery. Poverty? Lack of education? Lack of social integration?
In an article in a Catholic magazine (https://goo.gl/m8J9Ku), retired Boston College professor William Kilpatrick suggests – with complete political incorrectness – that the motive is simply the teachings of Islam. In the article, Professor Kilpatrick writes:
“Here is just a small sampling from the Koran:
“‘When the sacred months are over, slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush for them everywhere.’ (9.5)
“‘When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield, strike off their heads.’ (47.4)
“‘I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, strike off the very tips of their fingers!’ (8.12)
“‘There are hundreds of similar verses in the Koran.”
HUNDREDS of similar verses? If so, then the motive for attacks like the one in Barcelona is really not so mysterious at all. The motive is simply Islam, although many people in the White House, like General McMaster, will never agree with that.
You have to wonder, though, when will they ever learn? What will it take?
——
“Pope Francis says sexual abuse by priests is an ‘absolute monstrosity’.” https://goo.gl/TYAaSm And this “monstrosity” will persist as long as the “spirit” of Vatican II continues to infect the Church. It will persist as long as this pope tries to accommodate secularism, relativism, and modernism in the Church. It will persist as long as this pope tolerates confusion and chaos in the Church and refuses to be obedient to the teachings of his predecessors and to all the teachings of the Church and to the Gospel itself.
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2017.08.20
Message to President Trump:
So now the left-wing media have the knives out for Sebastian Gorka.
I hope President Trump doesn’t get rid of him too. He’s one of the few people left in the White House who understands the truth about Islam. He understands that Islam is not a religion, but an ideology of world domination under Islamic law.
Don’t get rid of Gorka, no matter General McMaster may say, or John Kelly. They don’t seem to understand that Muslims are not the problem. The problem is Islam. Gorka DOES understand that.
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2017.08.22
Message sent to the embassy of the DPRK in Berlin:
To whom it may concern:
In 1941, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is said to have remarked about the United States:
“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
The world knows what happened after that.
I hope the DPRK won’t make the same mistake.
Best regards,
Robert John Bennett
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2017.08.23
Some Tweets:
@Pontifex “They lie to souls in crisis to make themselves feel better about their own personal sin and evil.” – https://goo.gl/2CSVkp
@Pontifex Is the motive REALLY such a mystery? https://goo.gl/m8J9Ku Dialogue? When will they ever learn?
@Pontifex “Pope says sexual abuse by priests is a ‘monstrosity'” https://goo.gl/TYAaSm It will go on until the spirit of Vatican II ends.
@Pontifex O God, forgive this poor pope, save him from the fires of Hell, and save all those he has led astray with his errors.
@Pontifex Yes, consider the damage, if you can bear to: https://goo.gl/kWeJNa
@Pontifex Thank God there is increasing opposition to this catastrophe of a pontificate. (https://goo.gl/Ebf8TP)
@Pontifex “Pope ‘greatly disturbed’ by Barcelona attack, prays for victims” And yet this pope still believes Islam is a religion of peace.
@Pontifex “Cardinal Medina: no Communion for pro-abortion politicians” But they can receive Communion if they commit adultery or sodomy?
@Pontifex THIS pope? Make a formal declaration of faith? https://goo.gl/iB7UTB What a laughable idea. He’ll never do it.
@Pontifex May this pope’s blind disobedience to Church teaching no longer find room to exist in this world!
@Pontifex Many of us hope that God’s love and mercy are more genuine than this pope’s love mercy; God is not a tyrant who insults us.
@Pontifex May the Holy Spirit grant peace to the Church and heal the wounds caused by this pope.
@Pontifex Friends of the current pope try so hard to “help,” but there is “acute madness at work.” https://goo.gl/nds1si
@Pontifex If this pope is so eager to let Muslim migrants come to Europe, why doesn’t he let them into Vatican City and issue passports?
@Pontifex This pope is so concerned about migrants. Why not let them into Vatican City? There’s lots of room: bunk beds in St. Peters? Sure.
@Pontifex More fake “mercy” from this pope. He cares so much about migrants but won’t let any settle in Vatican City.
@Pontifex Many faithful Catholics don’t respect this pope? Hey, respect goes two ways. He stops the insults and respects us; we respect him.
@Pontifex O God, lift the curse; free us from this pope.
——
“Trump’s Afghanistan speech mentioned ‘terrorists’ but for first time left out ‘Islamic’.
“Trump appears to have betrayed his campaign promise to speak honestly about the motivating ideology behind jihad terror. McMaster seems to have triumphed completely with his Obamaite denial and willful ignorance regarding the jihad threat. ”
https://goo.gl/UPLizw
I’m a liberal, but I’ve been supporting President Trump ONLY because I thought he understand the threat from Islam. It appears, though, that General McMaster has gained the upper hand.
I could support Donald Trump, but not General McMaster and his PC view of Islam.
——
“If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant,…then the tolerant will be destroyed.” – Karl Popper
(But if you don’t extend unlimited tolerance to The Great Religion of Peace, even if it’s intolerant, isn’t that – horror of horrors – ISLAMOPHOBIA?)
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2017.08.24
“Fight those who believe not
In Allah nor the Last Day,
Nor hold that forbidden
Which hath been forbidden
By Allah and His Messenger,
Nor acknowledge the Religion
Of Truth, from among
The People of the Book,
Until they pay the Jizya*
With willing submission,
And feel themselves subdued.”
—The Koran, Sura 9:29 (The “Verse of the Sword”)
Although President Trump may be concerned with the Russia investigation, he and Vice-President Pence will not – we hope – forget the dangers posed by Islam. We also hope they will listen more to Sebastian Gorka (whose TV interviews are brilliant) and listen less to General McMaster, at least when it comes to Islam.
And if possible, President Trump and Vice-President Pence may also want to take a look at the book “The Grand Jihad – How Islam and the Left Sabotage America” by Andrew McCarthy.
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2017.08.28
Did St. Augustine ever suspect that what he wrote (https://goo.gl/TQbw42) would perhaps apply to the Church, now and again, until the end of time?
Whatever he may have thought, “The City of God” certainly applies to the Church of our own time, nearly sixteen centuries after Augustine wrote:
“Those, therefore, in the Church of Christ who savor anything morbid and depraved, and, on being corrected that they may savor what is wholesome and right, contumaciously resist, and will not amend their pestiferous and deadly dogmas, but persist in defending them, become heretics, and, going without, are to be reckoned as enemies who serve for her discipline.”
——
A nun said to Paul Ryan what many people are thinking:
“It seems to me that most of the Republicans in the Congress are not willing to stand with the poor and working class….”
Many of us believe that you could change the word “Republicans” to “Democrats” in that nun’s statement, and it would still be true:
“It seems to me that most of the Democrats in the Congress are not willing to stand with the poor and working class….”
And many of us also believe that this is the reason why so many Obama Democrats voted for Trump this time around.
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2017.08.29
Michael defines – with utter precision – the state America finds itself in today (https://goo.gl/E8PMKt).
Yet those of us who – like Michael – see America the same way Jonah saw Nineveh do have one small hope. Jonah prophesied that Nineveh would be destroyed unless its people turned away from a way of life that offended God. And miracle of miracles, they did turn away from their sins and repented, and the Old Testament reports that Nineveh was transformed.
Some of us have the small – and probably very remote – hope that the same thing might somehow happen to America.
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2017.08.30
Thousands of people share Michael’s indignation – I know I do. (https://goo.gl/uaTTxr)
(And this is one of those Vortex episodes that almost knocked me out of my chair!)
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2018.08.31
THIS is what the Church hierarchy should be saying (https://goo.gl/FJDr55).
One of the best parts of this video is the comment that Fr. Antonio Spadaro slams faithful Catholics, but doesn’t say a WORD about Fr. James Martin’s heresy.
That is so typical of the Vatican under the current pope, isn’t it?
And Martin was disinvited from speaking to the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in New York? That IS good news – and a small spark of hope for the Church.
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2017.09.01
“(Cardinal Sarah) said that ‘gender ideology,’ in which he includes homosexuality and radical Islam, were ‘two major threats to the family,’ calling them ‘demonic’ and saying they are both ‘destroyers of family’.” https://goo.gl/UvvjEs
He’s right about that, of course, but how long will this current pope tolerate such “rigid” thinking? Surely Cardinal Sarah will suffer the same fate as that of every other prelate or cleric who follows the teachings of Christ and His Church – and, in doing so, opposes this pope.
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2017.09.02
Yes, Goebbels was a monster. Hitler was a monster. All the Nazis were monsters. And the founders of the postwar Quandt family fortune were no innocent babes, but is it perhaps a bit disingenuous to call them “descendants” of Joseph Goebbels? (https://goo.gl/szKYUU) They were, after all, simply children of Goebbels’ wife by a previous marriage. Goebbels’ REAL descendants, his and Magda’s children, were of course murdered by the couple in the Fuehrerbunker before they themselves committed suicide. They wanted, as Magda wrote in a letter “to give our National Socialist lives the only possible, honorable ending,”
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2017.09.03
Some recent Tweets:
@Pontifex “Pontiff calls on Catholic politicians to heed Church teaching” https://goo.gl/qx7Z8H When will the pope heed Church teaching?
@Pontifex It’s pretty hard ro recognize God in THESE nuns https://goo.gl/uaTTxr
@Pontifex I wonder if this pope can recognize God in THESE nuns https://goo.gl/uaTTxr (Yes, THIS pope probably can.)
@Pontifex The Squishy Church – can you even call it a church? https://goo.gl/BghdTf
@Pontifex “Joy is a sign of vocation, Pope tells Wednesday audience.” Yes, but if you’re a joyful, “rigid” Catholic, then forget it.
@Pontifex Holy Mother of God, O Theotokos, when will we again have a good pope, a worthy pope?
@Pontifex O Jesus, we beg You: give us a pope who will build up Your Church, not tear it apart.
@Pontifex “Joy is a sign of vocation, Pope says.” Yes, be “joyful” like this pope – with threats, insults, anger, and of course “mercy.”
@Pontifex If this pope pays attention to Church teaching and to the Gospel, he will find he is close to the Lord and to others.
@Pontifex Slam faithful Catholics and coddle heretics like James Martin (https://goo.gl/FJDr55)? That’s what this pope does best.
@Pontifex “Diluting Doctrine Doesn’t Help” The German Church – richer than ever and losing more members than ever. https://goo.gl/3oFzzG
@Pontifex Pope: “May the memory of vocation rekindle hope.” And may the memory of Church teaching rekindle hope for the pope’s conversion.
@Pontifex “Before the cock crows, Francis will deny another dogma and crow about his humble and merciful heart.” https://goo.gl/TKTefW
@Pontifex “Hissy fits are so unattractive, especially in men. Why haven’t they wised up at Bergoglio’s Papal Court?” https://goo.gl/TKTefW
@Pontifex The Pope chose not to live in the papal apartment. “It’s for psychiatric reasons, I can’t live alone?” https://goo.gl/ouYtqF
@Pontifex “In new interview, Pope reveals he sought counseling.” https://goo.gl/ouYtqF Maybe the pope should seek counseling again?
@Pontifex This pope always has an “open” heart. He shows the “mercy” that is in his heart. He insults, he rages, he ignores Church teaching.
@Pontifex “Few have spoken as eloquently (https://goo.gl/S9iSWA) about the changes the Church is undergoing as Fr René Dinklo….”
@Pontifex These young Dutch Dominicans (https://goo.gl/S9iSWA) – how long before this pope finds out about them?
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2017.0906
@Pontifex A friend commented, “When this pope finds out about these young Dominicans (https://goo.gl/S9iSWA), he’ll crush them.”
@Pontifex This pope says he “can’t live alone” (https://goo.gl/ouYtqF). Why not? What’s he afraid of?
@Pontifex If only this pope would respond to God’s love by obeying the teachings of his predecessors and all the teachings of the Church.
@Pontifex This pope and his German enablers are leading the Church over a cliff, and they don’t even know it.
@Pontifex “Money can’t save German Catholicism” https://goo.gl/6NGWsz
@Pontifex Call this pope a communist?? Sure. He doesn’t mind. The Vatican now favors “a radical political agenda.” https://goo.gl/FWM2ha
@Pontifex Jesus is present in those who suffer, even in this poor pope, who suffers for the devastation he has caused in the Church.
@Pontifex For what he’s done to the Church, this pope is to be pitied.
@Pontifex When it comes to Islam, when it comes to Israel, this pope just doesn’t get it does he? https://goo.gl/fXNMye
@Pontifex “Sacrifices of gay or divorced Catholics are treated as meaningless.” https://goo.gl/N9rZxh By this pope, yes, but not by God.
@Pontifex One group needs “understanding and tenderness,” as this pope says. It’s faithful Catholics he’s insulted, attacked and scorned.
@Pontifex “European leaders know that in two or three decades, Europe will be ruled by Islam.” https://goo.gl/vRkK7W
@Pontifex My reaction to Archbishop Fernandez’ book, “Heal Me with Your Mouth”: disgust, then sadness. Dear God, how did we come to this?
@Pontifex We pray that this pope can reconcile the divisions he’s caused in the Church, we pray for his conversion, we pray for a good pope.
@Pontifex “Young people, young males, are attracted to the Traditional Latin Mass; it draws them in great numbers.” https://goo.gl/DHUquJ
@Pontifex “No text published under the name of the pope should contain an quotations of an ecumenical council.” https://goo.gl/Z5hucz
@Pontifex This “merciful” pope can get people fired for opposing him, but the truth of what they express remains. https://goo.gl/knBBX1
@Pontifex This pope has a Catholic professor fired for speaking the truth, while “Catholic” universities teach lies. https://goo.gl/knBBX1
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2017.09.07
I think this is the best brief description of the relationship between Christians and Jews that I have ever heard. Yes, I have to admit that I could almost feel the tears about to well up.
Also impressive was Michael’s discussion of Islam. That discussion was so full of hard and accurate truths that I’ll be surprised if Church Militant doesn’t get the kind of blowback we all get whenever we make some true statement about The Great Religion of Peace that its adherents don’t like, statements that they are in some cases ready to kill for.
Looked at from here in Europe, it’s obvious that we Americans are kidding ourselves if we think that the most serious problems facing the country are things like DACA or the Wall or Obama Care or the tax code or the debt ceiling or infrastructure, and so forth.
The most serious problem confronting the United States today is the slow, subtle, invisible but inexorable creep of The Great Religion of Peace within and across American society.
In Europe, where the Muslim birth rate greatly exceeds that of any other group, every reliable demographic projection foresees an Islamic-majority on this continent within three generations or so. Let’s hope the same thing doesn’t happen in the United States, where tolerating the intolerant is still the politically correct – and fatal – thing to do.
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2017.09.08
Response to a letter by Klaus Beckmann:
An excellent quote (https://goo.gl/pcxT4F). There was a time when I might not have agreed with it, but I recently saw a BBC documentary about the origins of the First World War. The narrator said that in the summer of 1914, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, the Kaiser sent a message to Emperor Franz Joseph urging Austria-Hungary not to declare war on Serbia. The message, according to this documentary, was intercepted by the Kaiser’s military advisers and changed in such a way that the advice not to attack Serbia was either deleted or completely obscured.
So I agree, the Kaiser might very well have exerted influence in the 1930’s that would have changed history. If he’d been allowed to remain on the throne, at least as a constitutional monarch, events after 1918 might have been very different indeed.
After all, even though the situation was not quite the same, such a policy worked quite well in Japan after the Second World War, when the Allies allowed Emperor Hirohito to continue his reign. Who knows what might have happened in Japan if Hirohito had been forced to abdicate?
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2017.09.10
Some recent Tweets:
@Pontifex_de Wird Voderhölzer gefeuert werden, wie so viele andere, die die Meinung dieses Papstes nicht teilen? https://goo.gl/SptWZm
@Pontifex Professor Josef Seifert, again, and “the dangerous logical consequences of Amoris Laetitia” https://goo.gl/MhbwZ7
@Pontifex “The things unworthy within the Church are the insults and threats.” – The Late Cardinal Carlo Caffarra https://goo.gl/T76ocj
@Pontifex “Cardinal Caffarra was solely inspired by deep, pure love of Christ” And what will they say about this pope? “Inspired by anger”?
@Pontifex If this pope finds out about what’s going on here, he’ll smash it in the same way he smashed the FFI. https://goo.gl/yPd1nG
@Pontifex A friend commented: “This pope’s ignored the Dubia cardinals. If he waits long enough, they’ll ALL die. So why should he worry?”
@Pontifex This pontificate is an “apocalyptic, threat to the integrity of the Faith.” https://goo.gl/69D7NS
@Pontifex Do not be afraid, even though this pope’s “reign is an apocalyptic threat to the integrity of the Faith.” https://goo.gl/cccE3z
@Pontifex If only this pope would discover the Faith and the teachings of the Church. If only he would discover what it means to be pope.
@Pontifex Reconciliation means a pope who unites the Church, not one who divides it with insults, anger, and manipulation.
@Pontifex Truth is an inseparable companion of the teachings of the Church and of the papacy itself. Truth is not insults and manipulation
@Pontifex “With decisions now clearly heretical, Pope Francis, possibly, has excluded himself from the Church.” https://goo.gl/g7Ujys
“Having lost their identity via liturgical lobotomy, people don’t realize….” https://goo.gl/9E62QM
@Pontifex O God, You said the Gates of Hell would not prevail against Your Church, but will this current pope? O God, help Your Church.
@Pontifex O God, why did Pope Benedict run from the wolves, leaving us to fend for ourselves against this current pope and his accomplices?
@Pontifex There are those who are defending the Church against the destruction caused during this pontificate https://goo.gl/8iAwo7
@Pontifex A friend said, “A Marxist professor? A Jewish psychoanalyst? Both female. No St. Ignatius? No wonder this pope is so screwed up.”
@Pontifex Does this pope believe that Christians be “satiated by God” without following the teachings of the Catholic Church?
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2017.09.11
Sohrab Ahmari’s column (https://goo.gl/ctZ2Ki) is for me so excellent that it should be, as they say, chiseled in stone. Much kudos to him.
I too am a classical liberal, and although I am not a recent convert to Catholicism, like Mr. Ahmari, I am a Catholic, and a traditional Catholic at that, one of those that the pope has called “rigid.”
Because of that, I think what Mr. Ahmari has written is a precise exposition of a central aspect of American political life today. It is an aspect that presents a problem which, if not resolved, will continue to contribute to the ongoing political and social crisis in America.
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2017.09.12
Some recent Tweets:
@Pontifex “Jesus Says: Listen to the Church” https://goo.gl/GhKNrK And that’s something this pope should start doing.
@Pontifex This pope was in psychoanalysis in order to “clarify” things? The analysis doesn’t seem to have worked. Maybe he should try again.
@Pontifex There are con men and psychopaths who steal your money or harm you, or who head large organizations, almost destroying them.
@Pontifex O God, we offer You our sufferings under this pope as a prayer that You will send us a good and worthy and decent pope.
@Pontifex Christ said that the Gates of Hell itself will not prevail against the Church, but this pope keeps trying anyway.
@Pontifex Mercy? This pope just fires those who disagree with him – Müller, Burke, Seifert and others. Is that REAL mercy? Or fake mercy?
@Pontifex “Western politicians should stop pretending that extremism and terrorism have nothing to do with Islam.” https://goo.gl/kEUyhT
@Pontifex “Francis said that true freedom is found in letting go of the superficial things we cling to.” Can he let go of insults and anger?
@Pontifex Colombians did this pope “a world of good”? We wish we could say the same for what this pope has done for the Church.
@Pontifex This pope tweets that the people of Colombia did him “a world of good”? Who is the center of this pope’s thinking? Himself?
@Pontifex God, what did we do that was so terrible that we deserve a pope like this one?
@Pontifex The Jesuits were suppressed once, in the 18th century. Is it time to suppress them and their errors again?
@Pontifex O Benedict, Benedict, why did you flee the wolves and leave them free to ravage the Church along with this pope, their accomplice?
@Pontifex I wonder sometimes among how many people has this current pope caused a loss of faith, with his antics and errors and “teachings.”
@Pontifex Another “ticking time bomb” from this pope (https://goo.gl/wLupa5) O God, how much can we bear?
@Pontifex This pope should set aside partisan and ideological interests and seek God, and the truths contained in Church teachings.
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2017.09.13
Thank you, Father Rutler. Among all the very fine things in this piece (https://goo.gl/8Lfpqk), it was great, once again, to read that immortal line, “Academic politics are so bitter because the stakes are so small.”
Perhaps the politics are also bitter because the minds of those involved are, in a way, so very small as well.
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2017.09.14
Is it possible that the Church of Nice will one day simply disappear, as is happening now in Germany, France, the Netherlands and the rest of Europe, and even in the United States? Perhaps all that remains will be a remnant of faithful Catholics celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass. O God, is that too much to hope for?
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2017.09.15
I voted for President Trump, and I just want to say that I think DACA is a good thing. I hope the President finds a way of making sure that DACA remains in effect.
Some Republicans seem so worried about the DACA “immigrants,” but these “immigrants”present no threat whatsoever.
At the same time, these same Republicans ignore the REAL threat coming from “creeping jihad,” i.e., the slow, subtle, secret attempts to spread Islam throughout US society. Here in Europe, Islam has made great inroads in countries like Sweden, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and elsewhere. The number of rapes has risen enormously. There are no-go areas in every country.
And then today, again in London….
If we Americans aren’t careful, it won’t be long before the same things continue to happen on a larger and larger scale in the United States. Stories of no-go zones like Dearborn, Michigan, already appear to be more reality than myth https://goo.gl/U57BQY
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2017.09.16
Some Tweets:
@Pontifex “Christianity is literally dying in Europe” – Conrad Hackett https://goo.gl/PNbDY9
@Pontifex “The Catholic Church’s German Crisis” https://goo.gl/88qgAf This article was published in 2015. It’s more relevant now than ever
@Pontifex A papal questioning of the ban on artificial contraception would do untold damage to the Church’s magisterium. Does the pope care?
@Pontifex This pope keeps saying Europe should accept more “refugees.” How many “refugees” has the Vatican accepted? How many Muslims?
@Pontifex So now it’s Humanae Vitae? O God, how much more of this pope’s errors can we take? Please, God, end this pontificate soon.
@Pontifex Let’s pray this pope, who has the responsibility to protect the teachings of the Church, not undermine or pervert them.
@Pontifex O God, stop this pope’s ongoing destruction of Your Church.
@Pontifex O God, the catastrophe of this pontificate – how long will it go on?
@Pontifex O, God, You give the grace of conversion even to the most evil of men. Convert this pope, before he ruins any more of the Church.
@Pontifex Hope born of the Cross, born of the love of Jesus, is this: may this pontificate – and the ruin it is causing in the Church – end.
@Pontifex Mary defend us: a bomb in London; in Paris a man shouting “Allah” attacks a soldier https://goo.gl/CbAjsC The Religion of Peace.
@Pontifex The new Church of “mercy.” Real of fake? (https://goo.gl/941RyH)
@Pontifex “Dear Pope Francis”: A Letter to the Pope — by Fr Richard Cipolla https://goo.gl/CpxnVJ
@Pontifex “You have actually deepened that threat.” https://goo.gl/CpxnVJ
@Pontifex O God, send us a worthy pope, one who will unite the Church and be faithful to its teachings, not split the Church wide open.
@Pontifex Action is needed in order to reduce the pollution of modernism in the Church and return the Church to its traditional teachings.
@Pontifex O God, the Church can’t take much more. Please, dear God, end this pontificate.
@Pontifex Holy Mother of God, Theotokos, the Church is suffering. Please, beg your Son to bring this pontificate to an end.
——
This article (https://goo.gl/5Cdmps) reminds us that something is terribly, terribly wrong in the Church. Someone like James Martin can find support and an audience for his heresy at Fordham University, while a man like Professor Joseph Seifert is fired from his post in Spain for upholding all the ancient teachings of Catholicism and of Christ himself.
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2017. 09.18
For the Nuncio:
Some recent Tweets:
@Pontifex “There are shepherds who want to have the title of shepherd without wanting to fulfill a pastor’s duties.” – St. Augustine
@Pontifex What puny Jesuit – like our current pope – can compare to the exalted heroism of Gerard Manley Hopkins? https://goo.gl/LZCb6j
@Pontifex We must – and we do – forgive this pope for all the destruction he has caused in the Church, and for all the evil he has done.
@Pontifex O God, in his anger, this pope shows no mercy to those disagreeing with him; let him spare Father Cipolla https://goo.gl/eoDhE5
@Pontifex Will Jesus occupy the center of this pope’s life, allow him to come out of himself, and bring him closer to faithful Catholics?
@Pontifex We forgive this pope for what he’s doing to the Church. Why can’t he forgive – instead of silencing – those who disagree with him?
@Pontifex Why is this pope so angry with those who disagree with him that he fires them and won’t even meet with them? Is that his “mercy”?
@Pontifex O God, we beg You: end the suffering of the Church, end this pontificate.
@Pontifex Dear God, Your suffering Church cries out to You: “Tell us, O God, when will this pontificate end?”
@Pontifex Mother of God, the Church is suffering. Please ask Your Son to end the suffering. Please ask Him to end this pontificate.
@Pontifex O Theotokos, Mother of God, Your Son ended the last pontificate. Please ask Him to end this one too. The Church is suffering.
@Pontifex O God, Your Church is suffering, desperately. Please end this pontificate, soon, one way or another.
@Pontifex O God, we are ignorant creatures. We don’t understand why we must suffer so much under this pope. Please end our suffering.
@Pontifex O God, please end our suffering. Please give us a worthy pope.
@Pontifex O God, isn’t this pope tearing Your Church apart and destroying it? If so, help us, please. End our suffering. Please, end it.
@Pontifex Ignatius of Loyola, priests of the order you founded are destroying the Church. Are you indifferent to that?
@Pontifex God, let this pope find courage to purify his heart by removing the rocks and thorns which choke faithfulness to Church teachings.
With prayers that God, Whose grace can convert the souls of evil men in an instant, will convert this present pope,
Robert John Bennett
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2017.09.20
Some Tweets:
@Pontifex “Europe is currently in the process of submitting to Islam, and America also seems destined to submit.” https://goo.gl/CYj2oP
@Pontifex What is REALLY going on with the Church? https://goo.gl/MiymYu
@Pontifex “We cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.” – St. Paul https://goo.gl/HKk5v7
@Pontifex “Proselytism is solemn nonsense.” – The words of this current pope. https://goo.gl/2nHrEy May God help us. God help the Church.
@Pontifex O God, again we pray: send us a good pope, send us a worthy pope, not like the poor pope we have now.
@Pontifex Mother of God, please. Beg your Son to send us a pope who knows what he’s doing, not one who is lost in confusion and ambiguity.
@Pontifex Dear God, have the Gates of Hell ever been as close to prevailing against the Church as they are now under this current pope?
@Pontifex With @JamesMartinSJ as a Vatican communications “consultant”, I suppose we can expect even more gay propaganda from the Vatican.
@Pontifex This current pope and @JamesMartinSJ – a match made in…. https://goo.gl/x5m9H9
@Pontifex Let us work together to find ways to help all Catholics, especially this pope and men like @JamesMartinSJ , restore their faith.
@Pontifex “Pope Francis Sets Up New John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family” In order to find new ways of undermining the family?
@Pontifex The genius @JamesMartinSJ surely has a fine heresy ready for this pope’s new John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family, right?
@Pontifex O God, when even this pope of Yours betrays You, where can we turn? Who can we go to? End this pontificate, Lord. We beg You.
@Pontifex Mother of God, Theotokos, please beg your Son to end the horrors of this pontificate, one way or another.
@Pontifex O God, this pope wants to make his changes to Your teachings “irreversible.” But aren’t Your teachings already irreversible?
@Pontifex Hope lives in a heart brightened by the ancient Faith of the Church, not locked into the fleeting present. Hope looks towards God.
——
Some additional Tweets:
@Pontifex Millions pray that this pope’s merciless destruction of the Faith will soon end, along with his reign. https://goo.gl/aqm3oD
@Pontifex “One of the most outstanding and lucid defenders of the previous Magisterium is now treated as an enemy.” https://goo.gl/aqm3oD
@Pontifex “Pope Francis has thrown upon himself the utter distrust of an immense number of faithful Catholics.” https://goo.gl/aqm3oD
@Pontifex “What is the cause of this distrust of the pope? Error has been allowed to creep into a papal document.” https://goo.gl/aqm3oD
@Pontifex The Archbishop, falsely assuming Amoris Laetitia is magisterial teaching, persecutes an orthodox Catholic. https://goo.gl/aqm3oD
@Pontifex In ancient times too, entire heretical sections of the Church – even the Papacy – persecuted the orthodox. https://goo.gl/aqm3oD
@Pontifex When this pope punishes a Catholic thinker for being orthodox, he confirms the schism in the Church. https://goo.gl/aqm3oD
@Pontifex When will this pope have Claudio Pierantoni fired too, like Josef Seifert, for being a faithful Catholic? https://goo.gl/aqm3oD
@Pontifex It is urgent that a formal correction to the pope appear. God grant this pope a heart open to hear it. https://goo.gl/aqm3oD
@Pontifex O God, Whose grace can convert the souls of evil men in an instant, we beg You again and again: convert the soul of this pope.
@Pontifex O God, show us Your mercy. Convert this pope. Make him a good man.
@Pontifex Oh, how much longer will this pope hold back from obeying Christ? (Paraphrase of St. Basil, Doctor of the Church)
@Pontifex God, teach this pope to curb his anger and to obey the teachings of the Church.
@Pontifex “Pope replaces John Paul II Institute with a school focused on Amoris Laetitia” and on the Eucharist for adulterers and sodomites.
@Pontifex O God, You said the Gates of Hell would not prevail against Your Church. But what about this pope? Will he prevail against it?
@Pontifex How long, O Lord, how long must we wait for Your help against this pope?
@Pontifex Why, O God, does this pope go on trying to destroy Your Church. Why are you letting him? Why, Lord, why?
——
Marion Luscombe – Hi, Marion. That’s an excellent question and it’s something I also wondered about for a time. The answer seems to be that in the short term the decrease in the number of Catholics hasn’t weakened the bishops’ power. The Church in Germany has enormous investments in property and capital – I’ve read, for example (https://goo.gl/NEZTCS), that the Archdiocese of Cologne by itself is wealthier than the Vatican.
Besides investment capital and property, another source of income not affected by declining membership is this (https://goo.gl/fs3WUo): if you can believe it, the German Church is STILL receiving millions in compensation for the “secularisation” process that Napoleon carried out, when he seized large Church properties in the early 19th century!
I swear I am not making that up. You can read the article I linked to above, and it’s possible to google the issue as well.
I’ve also read that another reason for the Church’s ability to maintain its wealth is the fact that incomes are rising in Germany, so that even if people here leave the Church, the ones who remain are becoming wealthier and are paying a higher Church tax.
Of course, in the long run, certainly in the VERY long run, this can’t go on. The value of investments will decline, the remaining Church members will be less wealthy, and more and more people will continue to ask (as they have been asking for quite some time) why the federal government in Berlin is still paying compensation for wrongs that were committed two hundred years ago in the time of Napoleon Bonaparte.
So, at least for a while, the future of the Church in Germany seems to be a Church that continues to be extremely wealthy, but which, paradoxically, has fewer and fewer members.
But when you have a single archdiocese, as I said, that is wealthier than the Vatican itself, it would seem that a drastic decline in the wealth of the German Church, together with a decline in the power and influence that this wealth brings with it, is very far off indeed.
I’m afraid that the practical schism, the heresies, and the ongoing catastrophe of the Catholic Church world-wide will go on for at least as long as the Arian heresy went on, and that heresy continued for a century, until the Council of Nicea in 325.
I believe that this present situation is simply the cross that faithful Catholics will have to bear. I doubt we will outlive this pope’s “mess”. We can hope, though, that if and when we reach heaven, we can watch it all play out from there.
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2017.09.21
Some recent Tweets for this current pope:
@Pontifex God in heaven, on our knees, and with tears, we beg You,: end Your Church’s suffering. End this monstrous pontificate.
@Pontifex This pope worry about money? Not if he obeys the German bishops. One diocese is richer than the Vatican https://goo.gl/NEZTCS
@Pontifex When this pope has a man like Josef Seifert fired for being faithful to the teachings of the Church, dear God, what is to come?
@Pontifex Only the Gospel is irreversible. Nothing that this pope – or the rest of the Gates of Hell – can do will prevail over the Church.
@Pontifex St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Therese of Lisieux, all you saints, can’t you see what this pope is doing to the Church? HELP US!
@Pontifex God, forgive this pope. He doesn’t know he’s trying to prevail against the Church, along with the Gates of Hell and @JamesMartinSJ
@Pontifex Forgive this pope, Lord, he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He understands so little about the teachings of the Church.
@Pontifex It’s not this pope’s fault, Lord. He’s surrounded himself with men of evil, like @JamesMartinSJ. Forgive this pope, Lord.
@Pontifex God, forgive this pope. He’s a man of limited intelligence. He doesn’t understand what evil is, but @JamesMartinSJ understands.
@Pontifex “Irreversible”? Only the Gospel is irreversible. Cardinal Burke and others know that, even if this pope and @JamesMartinSJ don’t.
@Pontifex What does it profit German bishops to gain great wealth (https://goo.gl/NEZTCS) but lose the faithful (https://goo.gl/Gc2pfd)?
@Pontifex This pope should appeal for peace in the Church, wounded by his horrific pontificate; the Church needs unity among the faithful.
@Pontifex This pope says he’d never give clemency to a child abuser. Fine, he must also get rid of gay clergy and the “spirit” of Vatican II
@Pontifex O God, give us a good pope, like the one described here: https://goo.gl/f1DtJZ What did we do to deserve this current pope?
@Pontifex “There is not iron or poison that I fear so much for you as I fear the pride of power.” – St. Bernard of Clairvaux
@Pontifex CM used an impolite “tone” in criticizing @JamesMartinSJ? Ezekial is also impolite: Sodomy – a sin crying to heaven for vengeance.
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2017.09.23
Some Tweets:
@Pontifex Forgive this pope, Lord, for his anger and for the way he insults and punishes those who are faithful to Your Church’s teachings.
@Pontifex Lord, forgive this pope for his many errors and for the way he distorts the teachings of Your Church.
@Pontifex O God, save all the souls that this poor, ignorant pope is in danger of leading to Hell.
@Pontifex “Pope reiterates promise to act firmly against sexual abuse” (CWN). Promises, promises. (All in the “spirit” of Vatican II?)
@Pontifex Why NOT just sit down and talk about it? https://goo.gl/5wufyR
@Pontifex Dear God, help this poor, misguided pope that You in Your Wisdom – for some reason – have sent us.
@Pontifex This pope says the Gospel invites us to answer to God, so shouldn’t even he obey the teachings of God and the Gospel?
@Pontifex O God, please stop this poor pope from doing any more damage to Your Church.
@Pontifex O God, come to the aid of this poor pope in his blindness.
@Pontifex Forgive this benighted pope, dear God, for the way he and his teachings have damaged or destroyed so many lives, so many souls.
@Pontifex CNA: “Pope reiterates Church’s zero tolerance on abuse of minors.” Yet he allows priests like @JamesMartinSJ to push a gay agenda.
@Pontifex The Jesuits take control of ALL Vatican media operations? https://goo.gl/BvfYfX God help us, but they can’t silence the truth.
@Pontifex So the Jesuits are in control of ALL Vatican media operations? https://goo.gl/BvfYfX Now watch them REALLY push the gay agenda.
@Pontifex Forgive this pope, O God, for all the souls he may have led to Hell by obeying his masters, the German bishops.
@Pontifex God forgive the horrors this pope has inflicted on the Church by obeying his masters, the German bishops – and the demons of Hell.
@Pontifex Jesuits are to control ALL Vatican media?? (https://goo.gl/BvfYfX) Mother of God, St. Ignatius, all you saints, please help us.
@Pontifex “If we are faithful to Christ” If only this pope could DO that. He must be faithful to – not Christ – but to the German bishops.
@Pontifex Remember, Lord, the Gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church, so this pope and the Jesuits cannot destroy it, can they?
@Pontifex The term “pastoral” often justifies downplaying unpopular teachings of Christ and His Church. https://goo.gl/PX3EfW
@Pontifex “When questions are perceived as threats, a guilty conscience is at work.” https://goo.gl/yAvivB
@Pontifex “Bishop Schneider: The Pope who ‘seems to’ permit adultery bears a ‘grave responsibility’” https://goo.gl/bJBvi9
@Pontifex Bishop Schneider: The first “discernment” was the dialogue between Eve and the serpent, about obeying God. https://goo.gl/bJBvi9
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2017.09.25
@Pontifex We pray that this pope understands that giving control of the Vatican media to the Jesuits will only prolong the Church’s agony.
@Pontifex This pope at a neuro-rehabilitation center in Rome today? Maybe he needs a little rehabilitation himself. Pray for the poor guy.
@Pontifex May God send us a good pope, one who knows what he’s doing.
@Pontifex When this pitiful pope faces You for judgement, O God, please forgive him for the destruction he has caused in Your Church.
@Pontifex God, forgive this pope for having Josef Seifert fired, even though this pope loves power, while Seifert is faithful and loves You.
@Pontifex This pope, Lord, this pitiful pope – forgive him for what he is doing to Your Church.
@Pontifex Lord, this pitiful, angry pope loves power more than anything else. Give him the grace to learn to love You more than power.
@Pontifex O God, forgive this bitter, miserable pope. He’s wrecking Your Church. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.
@Pontifex Lord, this pitiful pope, who once needed psychiatric care and even now is afraid to live alone, is wreaking havoc in Your Church.
@Pontifex God have mercy on this pitiable, power-hungry, power-mad pope. Give him the grace of conversion. Turn his evil into goodness.
@Pontifex O God, this pitiful pope is our cross. Give us the strength to bear it with joy! Give us the strength to put up with him!
@Pontifex Dear God, save and redeem all the souls this poor pope is leading to Hell with his errors.
@Pontifex God, is it “pastoral” for a priest to tell adulterers and sodomites that they are free to go on committing mortal sins?
@Pontifex God, save this pitiful pope from the evil influence of his masters, some German bishops, and from all the demons of Hell.
@Pontifex Obeying the Gospel and the true teachings of the Church – only that will produce real joy. All other joys are false.
@Pontifex This pitiable pope’s masters (some German bishops) are obsessed with gaining riches and power. Teach this pope to love only You.
@Pontifex Drugs and gay orgies in the Vatican, child porn in the US nunciature – O God, help this pope to understand You and Your Truth.
@Pontifex An Auschwitz survivor once told me that during the war, the Jews knew the Nazis couldn’t last. We know this papacy can’t last.
@Pontifex Good St. Ignatius of Loyola, have you completely abandoned the Jesuits to heretics, perverts, and sodomites?
@Pontifex O God, convert the Jesuit order so that it is no longer a refuge for heretics, perverts, and sodomites.
@Pontifex God, fill the Jesuits again with heroic giants like Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier and Jean de Brébeuf, not cowardly heretics.
@Pontifex The Fillial Correction – 62 signatories (https://goo.gl/QuzcyH) This poor pope will ignore them, but take revenge where he can.
@Pontifex A cynical friend says, “The Filial Correction accused the Pope of ‘propagating heresies’? But that’s what this pitiful pope DOES!”
@Pontifex God, help Josef Seifert as he defends himself (https://goo.gl/KQJeby) against this pitiful pope’s vengeance.
@Pontifex “When leading prelates brush aside the importance of logic, revealed truth is also undermined.” https://goo.gl/ZmCPSK
@Pontifex God, don’t allow this pope to continue obeying most German bishops and the other evil men around him. He’s wrecking the Church.
@Pontifex O Lord, please forgive this pope’s ignorance. Forgive him for what he’s doing to Your Church. Stop him from doing any more damage.
@pontifex Forgive this pope’s errors, Lord. Stop him from being influenced by the enormous wealth of those German bishops who are very evil.
@Pontifex God, forgive this pope for the way he has twisted the meaning of the Gospel and the Church’s teaching. He doesn’t know any better.
@Pontifex The first part of the first reading in today’s Liturgy of the Hours describes most German bishops and too many bishops everywhere.
@Pontifex And, dear God, forgive those deluded German bishops who are doing such great evil and wreaking so much havoc in Your Church.
@Pontifex In the second of today’s readings in the Liturgy of the Hours, St Augustine tells us what a bishop should do to rescue lost sheep.
@Pontifex May God forgive all greedy, power-hungry bishops, especially those in Germany. They are causing such destruction in the Church.
@Pontifex Why does this pope go on obeying his masters, the German bishops? Simple. He needs their money. They’re richer than the Vatican.
@Pontifex What would the Church be like if the German bishops used their vast wealth to support Church teachings instead of distorting them.
——
Copy of a letter:
Dear Klaus,
Perhaps you’ve already seen this (https://goo.gl/uRGVBG). It relates to what we were discussing this morning, especially the idea that this pope will simply ignore the “filial corrections.” The author of this piece, Robert Royal, writes, “It’s unfortunate that…there’s little to no chance he will respond. Because these questions cannot be avoided forever.”
In other words, as I see it anyway, if this pope thinks he can solve his problem by just ignoring these questions, he will be making the same mistake that President Trump made when he fired the FBI director, James Comey, in order to solve his “Russia investigation” problem. Trump just made the “problem” many times worse for himself, because it led to what is now a much deeper and wider and more thorough investigation than Comey was conducting.
So if this pope thinks he can solve his “dubia” problem or his “corrections” problem by simply ignoring everything, many learned Catholics believe he’s going to be in for a rather unpleasant surprise. As I mentioned this morning, many of these faithful, learned Catholics believe that these “corrections” are just the beginning of a long process that this pope is going to have to confront, inevitably, one way or another.
St. Robert Bellarmine, a Doctor of the Church, believed that if a pope becomes a heretic, he ceases, by that fact alone to be pope. Bellarmine wrote:
“Now the fifth true opinion, is that a Pope who is a manifest heretic, ceases in himself to be Pope and head, just as he ceases in himself to be a Christian and member of the body of the Church: whereby, he can be judged and punished by the Church. This is the opinion of all the ancient Fathers, who teach that manifest heretics soon lose all jurisdiction….” (https://goo.gl/2Ne5Te)
(Source: “De Summo Pontifice” in Robertus Bellarminus, De Controversiis Christianae Fidei: Adversus Hujus Temporis Haereticos (Ingolstadt, 1588). Translation into English by Ryan Grant, as published in St. Robert Bellarmine, De Romano Pontifice: On the Roman Pontiff (Mediatrix Press, 2015), pp. 304-310.)
With a prayer,
Robert
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2017.09.26
Dear Klaus,
I’m not sure if you can open this short (20 min.) video, but I’ll send it anyway. It’s part of a program and good interview (near the end) by a very well respected commentator on MSNBC about the frightening but very possible war between the US and North Korea.
pdv_maddow_netcast_mov-09-25-2017-214233.mov
I think that even if the present time turns out NOT to be the “End TImes” for all humanity, it is VERY likely to be the End Times for our civilization and society. But we’ve been through this before (I think of the collapse of the Roman Empire, for example) and we’ve survived.
And there was at that time, eventually, a rebirth of Christianity and Faith. I think something like that will happen again, because we have to ask ourselves, “How long can a society like ours go on as it is?” Not much longer, I believe.
With a prayer,
Robert
——
This reminds me of a perhaps well-known story told to me by a Carthusian prior that I had a chance to talk with. The prior was a convert from Judaism.
Once, so the story goes, sometime around the fifteenth century, there was a little town in Italy, far from Rome. It was one of those Renaissance periods of tremendous corruption in the Church, perhaps during the pontificate of Alexander VI, a pope who was famous for fathering at least seven illegitimate children, one of whom, Cesare Borgia, was eventually made a cardinal by his own father, Pope Alexander VI.
In this little Italian town there lived a single Jewish man, named Abram. Everyone else in the town was of course Catholic, and they all loved Abram, because he was good and kind to everyone, and the parish priest, Father Antonio, was always trying to convert him. For years, in fact, Father Antonio tried to convert Abram, but nothing worked.
Finally, one day Abram announced he was going to Rome to see what the Catholic Church “was all about.” When he heard that, Father Antonio looked up at the heavens, clapped his hands together once, and said, “Oh, Mamma Mia, what are you doing? When he sees what’s going on in Rome, he’ll NEVER become a Catholic!”
So Father Antonio did everything he could to try to dissuade Abram from going to Rome, but nothing worked.
He left.
Many months later, Abram returned to the town, and when he met Father Antonio, he announced to him, full of joy, that he’d been baptized. “BAPTIZED?” said Father Antonio. “BAPTIZED? How did that happen? Weren’t you shocked by everything you saw going on in the Church at Rome?”
“Well, yes, to tell you the truth I was, at first,” Abram replied. “But then I thought to myself, ‘If THAT Church has been able to survive for FIFTEEN HUNDRED YEARS, then it has GOT to be the One, True Church!’”
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2017.09.29
Some recent Tweets:
@Pontifex If the German bishops used their wealth to support true Church’s teachings, what a great number of vocations they would have.
@Pontifex A friend said, “Filial Corrections? This pope doesn’t care about such things. He ignores them. He cares about one thing: Power.”
@Pontifex Another friend said, “Filial Corrections? This pope laughs at things like Filial Corrections, when he’s not planning vengeance.”
@Pontifex For James Martin, a brilliant video from Church Militant, but one that Martin will be too afraid to watch https://goo.gl/ysSMqh
@Pontifex Charity is more authentic when practiced by a pope who does not fly into rages
@Pontifex Charity is more authentic when practiced by a pope who does not punish faithful Catholics who follow Church teaching.
@Pontifex Maybe this pope is trying to distinguish himself by dismantling the Church so that he’s the LAST pope. https://goo.gl/uRGVBG
@Pontifex “Let’s stop pretending. Something DID go wrong after Vatican II” https://goo.gl/AuSGtr But CAN this pope stop pretending?
@Pontifex A friend said, “Every morning I wake up and find myself asking, ‘What new heresy will this pitiable pope proclaim today?'”
@Pontifex St. Ignatius of Loyola said, “To obey isn’t hard, when we love the one we obey.” https://goo.gl/EY4t4z Does this pope love God?
@Pontifex The pope’s statements about Islam and his refusal to discuss Christian martyrdom in Muslim lands shock us. https://goo.gl/XjuJvN
@Pontifex Does this pope have any idea at all about what’s going on with Islam?
@Pontifex This pope’s statements on Islam “defy credulity” (https://goo.gl/XjuJvN)
@Pontifex There is real Christian martyrdom going on in Muslim lands. Does this pope KNOW. Or even CARE? https://goo.gl/XjuJvN
@Pontifex Where Islam is concerned, this pope is living in fantasy world. https://goo.gl/XjuJvN
@Pontifex We are alt-right Catholics, says @JamesMartinSJ But we go back 2000 years (5000 with the Jews). Who knew? https://goo.gl/Wu1ioV
@Pontifex This pope once wrote: “The people of God is infallible. The people of God does not err in faith.” https://goo.gl/cVxQZx
@Pontifex People disagree with this pope, and he responds with anger, smears, and vengeance. Tactics like that work only for a short time.
@Pontifex It’s time to let go of Vatican II https://hughosb.com/2017/09/25/vale-vatican-ii-moving-on/ via @HughOSB
@Pontifex Some people are asking, “Why won’t this pope answer his critics or answer the dubia?” Why? Because he CAN’T.
@Pontifex “Only grace can enable Pope Francis to respond as he should.” https://goo.gl/11yGmD O God, send Your grace to this pitiful pope.
@Pontifex Let us share without fear the understanding, as Aquinas wrote, that Mohammed “seduced the people” and that Islam is dangerous.
@Pontifex This pope can’t respond to his critics’ arguments (because they’re right), so he has his surrogates smear the critics.
@Pontifex Does this pope think we’re all stupid? We see clearly that instead of answering his critics, he has his underlings smear them.
@Pontifex Instead of answering critics, you have them smeared. Oh, THAT is real “mercy”! And “dialogue”! Not to mention “accompaniment.”
@Pontifex @JamesMartinSJ Hey, if you can’t answer your critics, then just SMEAR ’em, right? Or if your pope, have your underlings smear ’em.
@Pontifex Finally, thanks to this current pope I now understand what Gertrude Stein meant when she said, “There is no there there.”
@Pontifex God, help this pope to encounter Jesus, give direction to his life, correct his many errors, and fill his life with true meaning.
@Pontifex “I am not a Muslim. But I maintain that those who believe in it are doing what they are instructed to do.” https://goo.gl/hvAh4m
@Pontifex “Pope to Jesuits: Help Critics of Amoris Laetitia to See Its Morality Is Thomist” God, help the pope himself to answer his critics
@Pontifex “Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev has a warning for the West” https://goo.gl/1xQ9eF Perhaps he’s worth listening to.
@Pontifex This pitiable pope is no theologian. God, help him to see his grievous error – in this case and in others. https://goo.gl/xjpMoq
@Pontifex A friend commented, “This pope doesn’t rule by means of the truth. He rules by means of fear.” https://goo.gl/uRJfQV
@Pontifex Why doesn’t @JamesMartinSJ answer his critics instead of smearing them? Maybe he doesn’t HAVE any answers? https://goo.gl/eUWSP9
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2017.09.30
Message to a friend who met Jacob Rees-Mogg
Yes, he seems to be a very good man! You’re lucky to have been able to meet him. It’s absolutely stunning that someone who is a good and faithful Catholic could be as successful in politics as he is. As a Yank, I don’t know much more than that about him, except that he’s been attacked precisely for BEING a faithful Catholic, for example in that famous BBC morning show interview. If he were a member of The Great Religion of Peace and he’d been attacked like that, the screams and outcries would have been deafening. But a Catholic? Oh, well, that’s different. Catholics – or practically any Christian – they’re all fair game these days, for being members of such an “oppressive” religion.
——
Response to a message from Tony Maiorano:
I definitely think you are smart, Tony. You saw through Trump, while many of the rest of us were living in cloud-cuckoo-land and had no idea at all what a schmuck he was – and is.
(Yes, I’m sorry he’s the president, but at the same time, deep in my heart, I am SO glad that Hillary’s not the president either.
So what does that mean? I don’t have the vaguest idea. As Mae West [never actually] said, “”Fasten your seat belts, boys. It’s going to be a bumpy ride!”
And what does THAT mean? It means that a lot us – for example, Michael Moore – now think that Trump’s going to lead us into a war, if only to distract us all from the Mueller investigation.)
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2017.10.07
Some recent Tweets:
@Pontifex Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, teach @JamesMartinSJ the humility of God who became a man; give him the humility to obey Church teaching
@Pontifex “The dubia just won’t go away.” https://goo.gl/SEyRB8
@Pontifex Does this pope really think that if he doesn’t answer the dubia and the questions that millions have, it’ll all just go away?
@Pontifex Does this pope believe that if he just ignores the questions that millions have, they’ll all just go away and forget about it?
@Pontifex This pope is not too bright if he thinks he can just not answer the questions that millions have. The questions won’t go away.
@Pontifex Our guardian angel is a friend we do not see. This pope should listen to him when he tells the pope to obey Church teachings.
@Pontifex “Abused, marginalized, mocked and held in contempt for their fidelity” https://goo.gl/K8t7k3
@Pontifex God, help this poor, misguided pope. Send us a good pope, who knows what he’s doing.
@Pontifex Mother of God, Theotokos, please beg your Son to allow this pope to recognize and correct his many grievous errors.
@Pontifex O God, give this pope the grace to control his anger and not take revenge on those who disagree with his horrific policies.
@Pontifex Only in the silence of prayer can this pope learn to listen to the voice of God, but why doesn’t this pope OBEY the voice of God?
@Pontifex Something for this pope and @JamesMartinSJ to think about: https://goo.gl/uctdF9
@Pontifex When will this pope learn that the voice of God is heard in the teachings of the Church, which he must preserve and obey?
@Pontifex If adulterers can obey only their “conscience,” why can’t Belgian religious obey only their “conscience” and commit ethanasia?
@Pontifex Like Francis of Assisi, let this pope be transformed by the love of Christ to live in joy and obedience to Church teaching.
@Pontifex “Yes, Holy Father, You Are Right: ‘Let Us Not Play With Truths’” FR. REGIS SCANLON, O.F.M. CAP https://goo.gl/HMMZgw
@Pontifex “We must not mask the evil of sodomy under the titles ‘same-sex marriages’ or ‘civil unions’.” https://goo.gl/HMMZgw
@Pontifex “For Muslims, migration isn’t a question of loving one’s neighbor, it’s a question of who is to be master” https://goo.gl/Z3uoaV
@Pontifex “LEFTIST PRELATES MEET IN BOSTON TO PUSH HETERODOX AGENDA” https://goo.gl/DupXtn O. Dear. God.
@Pontifex The mission of a pope is to develop an understanding of all that is true. God, give us a pope who has that kind of understanding.
@Pontifex During the interview, Monsignor Bux also spoke about the apostasy that is taking place now in the Church. https://goo.gl/Vwbi9C
@Pontifex “Whoever wishes to annul the Summorum Pontificum would have to face a large resistance movement.” https://goo.gl/Vwbi9C
@Pontifex Many dispute the idea that this pope is the worst pope in history and that he’s almost destroying the Church.
@Pontifex Let us ensure that this pope’s mind contains the true teachings of the Church, not false teachings about adultery and sodomy.
@Pontifex “Bishops who authorize adultery are not guilty of scandal, but those who protest against them are.” https://goo.gl/zwhaz4
@Pontifex This pope’s doubts about moral absolutes make assertions against abortion and gender ideology worthless. https://goo.gl/9mExob
@Pontifex “This pope’s dissent from Catholic teaching on contraception is clear, and confirmed by the Vatican.” https://goo.gl/9mExob
@Pontifex “Francis…is the worst pope in history.” – Michael Matt https://goo.gl/eLp7TA
@Pontifex O God, why have you abandoned Your Church to the wolves in the Vatican and in chanceries everywhere? Save us, Lord.
@Pontifex The Rosary expresses mysteries of Christ: Mother of God, open the eyes of this pope so that he sees the Truth and is a good pope.
@Pontifex Mother of God, Theotokos, ask your Son to heal this pope’s blindness to the Truth and the Way and the Life.
@Pontifex O Theotokos, ask your Son to heal this pope’s blindness to the Teachings of the Church, and to his duty to protect them.
@Pontifex Corrictio Filialis: “A perceptible and great moment of Grace” https://goo.gl/S2nhYF
@Pontifex “The Second Vatican Council was not only unsuccessful or a failure: it was a catastrophe for the Church.” https://goo.gl/S2nhYF
——
Copy of a letter:
Lieber Richard,
vielen, VIELEN DANK für die Information über die Traditionelle Lateinische Messe heute in Sankt Cäcilia. In bin dorthin gefahren (anderthalb Stunden hin und zurück mit der Strassenbahn) und es war SOOOO herrlich, so wundervoll diese Messe noch einmal zu erfahren. Es ist die Messe, mit der ich aufgewachsen bin und ich finde sie so tiefsinning, so bedeutungsschwer, dass die Novus Ordo Messe mir ein schäbiges, ärmliches Ding scheint, im Vergleich zu ihr. (Kein Wunder, dass die Menschen die Kirche scharenweise verlassen.)
Bitte geben Sie mir Bescheid, wenn die Traditionelle Lateinische Messe noch einmal in Sankt Cäcilia gefeiert wird!
Mit einem Gebet und mit großer Dankbarkeit
Robert
————————————————————————————————————————————–
2017.10.14
Some recent Tweets:
@Pontifex “Mother of God, obtain from your Son: may those who have wandered from the truth find it again” – Pius XII https://goo.gl/gpz5wG
@Pontifex “Vatican Summons Pro-Euthanasia Hospitals,” https://goo.gl/DApC3Z If Amoris Laetitia says adultery’s okay, why not euthansia?
@Pontifex This pope knows about bitterness, what he doesn’t know about is real humility and obedience to Church teachings and to the Gospel.
@Pontifex “The liturgy is transmitted to each generation. No individual in the Church may claim dominion over it.” https://goo.gl/cC4M3q
@Pontifex “In obedience, the Church prolongs the priestly mission of Jesus Christ by means of the sacred liturgy.” https://goo.gl/cC4M3q
@Pontifex If this (https://goo.gl/x2e7Ua) is true, it means that the horrors inflicted on the Church by this pope will only continue.
@Pontifex Why does this bizarre theology (https://goo.gl/BHQabj) seem to be applied only where sexual sins are concerned?
@Pontifex A Muslim friend said, “Thanks to Vatican II, Christianity is disappearing in Europe and America. The future everywhere is ISLAM!!”
@Pontifex The search for real peace demands a good pope, one who is obedient to the Gospel and to the authentic teachings of the Church.
@Pontifex “The masterminds of the revised liturgy rejected the handiwork of God in the traditional Roman Rite.” https://goo.gl/WxHjCc
@Pontifex God does not disappoint! He has placed hope in our hearts that he will end this horrific pontificate and send us a good pope.
@Pontifex “Every case is judged separately, there is no moral law, so I can buy a slave? Pollute the environment? Defraud the wage earner?”
@Pontifex “If Spadaro is right, the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount are all meaningless.” https://goo.gl/WxHjCc
@Pontifex “The salvation of modern man is worth the recovery of the traditional Mass.” https://goo.gl/WxHjCc
@Pontifex A friend read the essay at https://goo.gl/WxHjCc, and said, “But does this pope even CARE about the salvation of modern man?”
@Pontifex I don’t grieve for the Church, for this pope can’t harm the Church; I grieve for this pope, because of his errors and stupidity.
@Pontifex Not only this pope, also @JamesMartinSJ might want to read this: https://goo.gl/Fg2S88
@Pontifex Like Saint John XXIII, who is remembered today, may this pope witness to God’s Gospel and the teachings of the Church.
@Pontifex O God, will You really allow this pope to make his wreckage of the Church “irreversible”?
@Pontifex Mother of God, how long will your Son allow this pope to keep on trying to wreck the Church?
@Pontifex How many of today’s Jesuits, like @JamesMartinSJ, for example, could live the life that this Jesuit lived? https://goo.gl/d3nDAi
@Pontifex “When Baptists defend the Catholic Faith against Catholic leaders” (for @JamesMartinSJ) https://goo.gl/qjUeHe
@Pontifex “A hellish enemy is at work in the Church” https://goo.gl/R3gFQ4 Really? This pope has “abolished” hell https://goo.gl/31yav8
@Pontifex Choose life https://goo.gl/c8m76A
@Pontifex This current pope paraphrases Dostoievski: there is no hell, so everything is permitted. https://goo.gl/5sLMjw
@Pontifex The statue of Our Lady of Aparecida was found by poor workers. May Mary bless this pope and help him to believe Church teachings.
@Pontifex May God help the souls this pope is leading to hell, and may God help this pope and those who support him.
@Pontifex May God forgive this pope for his wretched errors, for the confusion he’s caused and for misleading souls. https://goo.gl/RHoaBM
@Pontifex May Mary bless this poor pope and lead him to correct his errors and find his way to the truth of Christ.
@Pontifex “The Church is on the verge of extinction in the West….” – Michael Voris. https://goo.gl/v2cBTw
@Pontifex The next scandal in the Church? https://goo.gl/ab3pHC
@Pontifex “Using the Rosary as a weapon against Islam is not ‘the Catholic Church.’” – Prof. @MassimoFaggioli, Villanova Univ. And Lepanto?
@Pontifex O God, have mercy on this pope and on all the souls he may be leading to hell with his errors.
@Pontifex The pope is called to defend and safeguard the Gospel and the teachings of the Church, not to spread confusion and error.
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2017.10.20
Some recent Tweets:
@Pontifex One more “inconvenient truth,” but truth nevertheless. https://goo.gl/RWqAY2
@Pontifex Along with the Saints, let the joy and beauty of preaching the truth of the Gospel and of Church teachings shine through our lives
@Pontifex Christ said the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church, but what about a heretic pope?
@Pontifex A friend said, “Each day I wake up and wonder what new horror this pope will commit today.”
@Pontifex Sharing the true teachings of the Church requires this pope’s conversion, and this is a challenge.
@Pontifex “Amoris Laetitia is ‘ambiguous,’ ‘not a Thomistic document’: Filial Correction signatory” https://goo.gl/JpJDX2
@Pontifex St. Therese of Lisieux, in the shower of roses that you promised, don’t forget the Church; ask God to send us a good pope.
@Pontifex St. Longinus, saint for conversions, convert this persent pope, make him a good pope who supports Church teaching.
@Pontifex O God, end the devastation of the Church. End the catastrophe. Send us a good pope. Please. We beg You. We implore You.
@Pontifex “Change in lifestyles needed to end world hunger, Pope tells FAO” He sets a good example: he’s so thin, as if he’s always fasting.
@Pontifex O God, send us a good pope https://goo.gl/z9se8C
@Pontifex It is the duty of the pope to help free every person from the darkness of error and lead them all to the light of clear truth.
@Pontifex Dear God, send us a pope who is a good Catholic, one who still believes in You and in the truth of Your teachings.
@Pontifex God, send us a pope who doesn’t twist words and distort the truth and meaning of Your Gospel.
@Pontifex Dear God, send us a pope who will speak the truth.
@Pontifex Mother of God, Theotokos, ask your Son to send us a pope who will do everything to preserve the family, not destroy it.
@Pontifex O God, please, send us a pope who will speak the truth about Church teachings on divorce, remarriage, and receiving Communion.
@Pontifex O God, send us a pope who’ll teach the truth, without communicating distortions of Your Gospel through mouthpieces and underlings.
@Pontifex God, give us a pope who’ll speak Your truth, clearly, not distorting it and then hiding behind “spokesmen” and surrogates.
@Pontifex Woe to you @JamesMartinSJ if men speak well of you; their fathers treated the false prophets the same way https://goo.gl/4iHK78
@Pontifex May this pope spread the truth and proclaim the grandeur of God’s Gospel and His boundless love, instead of distorting it all.
@Pontifex If the USSR couldn’t kill the Church, maybe this pope and his supporters won’t be able to kill it either https://goo.gl/8DzNaL
@Pontifex “Pope Francis: answering questions is a key part of my job” – Catholic Herald. Ha! Answers to the Dubia or the Filial Correction?
@Pontifex “Further destruction” https://goo.gl/VzgSJJ
@Pontifex We’ve had other popes as bad as this one, and the Church has survived; God, strengthen our hope that we can survive this one too.
@Pontifex May this pope let himself be guided by God’s truth – not by his whims – so that he can be converted and can transform the world.
@Pontifex This pope says part of his job is answering questions. https://goo.gl/2NpwDu Is that a joke? The Dubia? The Filial Correction?
@Pontifex The denunciation of the heresies of Pope Francis has resounded from one end of the planet to the other. https://goo.gl/j8ZoGK
@Pontifex What “unity” are we talking about here? https://goo.gl/thCJcH
@Pontifex May this pope bring the flame of Christ’s love and truth, both, to humanity, which needs TRUE happiness and peace so much.
@Pontifex “Pope Francis cuts and stitches up the words of Sacred Scripture.” https://goo.gl/t7m1jV But what about Revelation 22:19?
@Pontifex Can even a pope cut and stitch up the words of Sacred Scripture (https://goo.gl/t7m1jV) so as to change what Christ said?
@Pontifex Is it heretical for a pope to delete words from Sacred Scripture so it means what he wants it to mean? https://goo.gl/t7m1jV
@Pontifex You have to ask yourself how long such a “church” can survive https://goo.gl/9L7rsL
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2017.10.21
A group that supports Catholic teaching regarding marriage is in danger of being banned from a university that considers itself Catholic? (https://goo.gl/v9ZMtB)
How did we come to this?
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2017.10.24
In this Vortex (https://goo.gl/L6i3T2), Michael mentions “the greatest collapse of the Church, dating back to the French Revolution.”
We can’t forget the fact that the Church in France miraculously recovered after the monumental destruction of that revolution, just as the Russian Orthodox Church has recovered after the Russian revolution.
So even though this really is “the greatest collapse of the Church” in modern history, this Church, as it has before, will recover again, in the end.
“My Immaculate Heart will triumph,” said Our Lady.
And who would dare doubt her?
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2017.10.31
Some Tweets:
@Pontifex The Church is alive if it has a pope who believes teachings of the Church; otherwise, the Church dies, as in Europe and the US.
@Pontifex Support for Catholic teaching on marriage banned at a US Catholic university? (https://goo.gl/v9ZMtB) How did we come to this?
@Pontifex As we remember St. John Paul II, let this current pope stop his heresy and recall John Paul’s writings in Familiaris Consortio.
@Pontifex God, this pope wants to make Vatican II “irreversible.” Will you allow him to reverse 2000 years of Church teaching?
@Pontifex “Are there any straight clergy left?” https://goo.gl/gycr6x
@Pontifex A friend said, “Jesus gave us the light that shines in the darkness, but does this pope protect that light? Don’t make me laugh.”
@Pontifex Cardinal Sarah is rebuked for blunting the pope’s effort to do what Henry VIII couldn’t: put bishops at the center of Church power
@Pontifex Mother of God, help even this pope to work with us to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the teachings of His Church.
@Pontifex Stéphane Mercier was fired by a “Catholic” university for teaching Catholic doctrine https://goo.gl/bNaDnf Success for the pope?
@Pontifex ““If the church has been so wrong about something so serious, why should we trust anything it teaches?” https://goo.gl/jMVEcH
@Pontifex Mother of God, Theotokos, please have your Son send us good pope soon, a pope who knows what he’s doing.
@Pontifex This pope wants an end to the death penalty, but he fires anyone who disagrees with him – or has them fired. Now THAT is mercy!
@Pontifex O God, make this pope a courageous witness to the truth of Christ, the complete truth of Church teachings, the truth of the Gospel
@Pontifex Righteous indignation over the real wounds in the Body of Christ: https://goo.gl/rChkoc
@Pontifex “In rebuke to Cardinal Sarah, Pope contradicts himself” https://goo.gl/r65oA4 Nothing surprising in that, is there?
@Pontifex If this pope has abolished hell, purgatory, and heaven, why worry? Why even bother with the Church, right? https://goo.gl/t7m1jV
@Pontifex “”Thus a pastor is not acting mercifully if….” https://goo.gl/AjuZuR
@Pontifex The culture of encounter means recognizing that faithful Catholics believe – not modernism – but 2000 years of Church teachings.
@Pontifex They say Francis’ private words are infallible, but popes over 2000 years are fallible – Cardinal Müller https://goo.gl/3Xyp5L
@Pontifex Yes, God loves us; He is rich in mercy; He forgives us, but we have to be sorry for our sins and determined to sin nor more.
@Pontifex How much longer, Lord, how much longer? https://goo.gl/ja6Jms
@Pontifex “He wanted us to remember those words…when it would seem all but certain that His promises were empty.” https://goo.gl/3k3GKs
@Pontifex “Cardinal Müller: orthodox theologians should not be punished” https://goo.gl/buWzow
@Pontifex I think of the great sufferings this pope will have to endure, because of his devastation of the Church. May God have mercy on him
@Pontifex Ireland – once a bulwark of the Faith. How did it ever come to this, and do we have this pope to thank? https://goo.gl/1DiRHE
@Pontifex “But this [resistance] is not any more a minority.” https://goo.gl/nyBT5z
@Pontifex Not a single new student has entered the Dublin diocesan seminary. The “spirit” of Vatican II continues. https://goo.gl/qgxr9k
@Pontifex “Cardinal Müller backs Buttiglione’s reading of Amoris Laetitia” This is the way the Church ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.
@Pontifex You mean, Islamic terrorism is ISLAMIC? Who knew? https://goo.gl/Y9ru8S
@Pontifex May Our Lady help this pope take the first step in being a good pope, one who defends the truth and the teachings of the Church.
@Pontifex Mother of God, help this pope to be a pope who defends the Church, instead of trying to destroy it.
@Pontifex “To put the matter bluntly, Christianity is a humanizing religion and Islam is not. ” – William Kilpatrick https://goo.gl/roaext
@Pontifex “Pope outlines his vision of Christian contribution to Europe’s future” Without a good and faithful pope, Europe has no future.
@Pontifex “Joint Vatican/Lutheran statement hails benefits of Reformation (Vatican Press Office)” The BENEFITS of the Reformation? Oh, God.
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2017.11.09
Some Tweets that may be of interest:
@Pontifex “Reformation ‘not an occasion to rejoice,’ notes Russian Orthodox spokesman” The Russians are not living in cloud-cuckoo-land.
@Pontifex The world needs saints, and a pope faithful to the Gospel and to the teachings of the Church, not a pope who ravages the Church.
@Pontifex May God spare the Church, and prevent any more of the suffering caused by this pope. https://goo.gl/sNJ722
@Pontifex May God bless Father Weinandy https://goo.gl/jpw6UN and may God protect him from this pope’s wrath.
@Pontifex One man calls this a “gutless statement so typical of the saltless bureaucrats who are filling the Church” https://goo.gl/2bzjgY
@Pontifex If this pope were faithful to the Gospel and Church teachings, he would not be small and defenseless before the mystery of death.
@Pontifex Last words of Pope John XXIII: “Stop the Council; stop the Council.” https://goo.gl/t9cwEr
@Pontifex “Whoever proposes to re-interpret Humanae Vitae…can only be considered heretical.” – Roberto de Mattei https://goo.gl/UK6mfv
@Pontifex “Pope Francis: Courage is needed for the Kingdom of God to grow” But not the courage to say anything this pope disagrees with.
@Pontifex When this pope prays, he should not fall asleep, while asking God to help him protect – not destroy – Church teaching.
@Pontifex Allahu akbar! https://goo.gl/21sU2J
@Pontifex The Church needs a pope who proclaims the Gospel with enthusiasm and wisdom, instilling faith, not one who ravages the Church.
@Pontifex Mercy? Dialogue? Are you kidding? No mercy, no dialogue for anyone who disagrees with this pope. They’re punished and shut out!
@Pontifex If you don’t watch any other video this week, try to watch this video https://goo.gl/HqjVg8
@Pontifex Everyone who criticizes this “merciful” pope is punished in some way. I fear for Edward Pengin. https://goo.gl/HqjVg8
@Pontifex “Those who fail to recognize the threat posed by Islam are naïve and ignorant” – Henri Boulad, S.J. https://goo.gl/z49aco
@Pontifex “Those who fail to recognize the threat posed by Islam are naïve and ignorant” – Henri Boulad, S.J. https://goo.gl/z49aco
@Pontifex Blessed are the poor: “A German cardinal is paid up to $16,000 a month, plus housing, food, auto….” https://goo.gl/uMZmYb
@Pontifex Now we know that when this pope said, “Parrhesia,” he thought it had a different meaning. He thought it meant, “Shut up!”
@Pontifex Error causes serious damage to the Church. The pope must not mislead the faithful, but rather preserve our 2000-year-old heritage.
@Pontifex Jesus of Nazareth walks at our side and mourns, by his words and the signs he performs, this pope’s denial of His teachings.
@Pontifex Jesus of Nazareth walks at our side and mourns this pope’s errors, and the way he’s spreading chaos and confusion in the Church.
@Pontifex SO MUCH FOR MERCY & DIALOGUE: Member of Vatican International Theological Commission Sacked for Questioning Pope of Mercy & Dialogue https://goo.gl/dGe2Yu
@Pontifex Only faith expressed in support of the eternal teachings of the Church can transform the end of this pope’s earthly life into the beginning of a happy eternal life.
@Pontifex Cardinal Brandmüller said (regarding Amoris Laetitia): “I am now being told that the entire moral-theological tradition of the Church can be overruled by a footnote. Here I look to the authority of the Church Fathers.” https://goo.gl/MqDxWc
@Pontifex Honesty and open-minded dialogue? Not with this pope. More like deceit and manipulation. Occupant of the Chair of St. Peter or the Chair of Judas? https://goo.gl/GA2ib9
@Pontifex “Does anyone have any doubts why we have lost so much trust in the papal promises and in his tendentious maneuvers?” https://goo.gl/GA2ib9
@Pontifex “Western Civilization exists for the Mass”? Really? It seems a stretch. Until you read the article. https://goo.gl/6aiAHJ
@Pontifex “In the wake of the jihad truck attack on a New York City bike path, politicians and the press responded with the usual reassurances that follow – like night follows day.” https://goo.gl/Z1Cq7M
@Pontifex “Committed Catholics no longer trust the hierarchy.” https://goo.gl/kydq2Z
@Pontifex Instead of saying “committed Catholics no longer trust the hierarchy” (https://goo.gl/kydq2Z), would it be too cruel to say they no longer trust the gay business executives (i.e., “bishops”) who have lost their faith but fight each other for power in the Church?
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2017.11.12
Lieber Ignatius,
vielen, vielen Dank, wirklich, für Deine lange und nachdenkliche Nachricht.
Ignatius, ich bin 76 Jahre alt, zu alt um die Größe und die Erhabenheit der Kirche, wie sie einmal war, bis in die 1960er Jahre, zu vergessen.
Und so weit wie möglich muss ich Zuflucht in den echten, wahrhaften 2000 Jahre alten Lehren der Kirche finden, und nicht in den Irrtümern, dem Chaos und der Verwirrung, die das gegenwärtige katastrophale Pontifikat tragisch verbreitet. Ja, ich weiß, der jetzige Papst würde sagen, dass ich Zuflucht in einer Illusion suche, dass ich “rigid” bin, pharisäisch, dass meine Idee der Kirche “ein Museum” ist, und so weiter und so weiter.
Ja, ich weiß all das, aber ich weiß auch, ich bin nicht allein, obwohl die alten Regeln und Lehren der Kirche heutzutage nicht sehr wichtig sind, für viele Leute, besonders in Deutschland (ausgenommen Menschen wie Josef Seifert und Robert Spaemann). Aber für Millionen von uns Katholiken auf der ganzen Welt, Laien, Priester, Bischöfe, sogar Kardinäle, sind diese Regeln und Lehren immer noch äußerst wichtig. Also fühle ich mich von diesen Millionen sozusagen umgeben, und nicht allein.
Für das, was es wert ist, sagte mein amerikanischer Beichtvater, dass es gut sein könnte, wenn ich weiter zu den Einkehrabenden des Opus Dei gehe, es sei denn, der Priester, der am letzten Einkehrabend gesprochen hat, ist derjenige, der immer sprechen wird, von jetzt an. Ich sagte, ich glaube, das scheint leider der Fall zu sein. Wenn aber treue Priester wie, zum Beispiel, Pater Irrgang, bei den Einkehrabenden noch einmal sprechen werden, Priester, die nicht vom Desaster betroffen sind, das der arme und armselige gegenwärtige Papst geschaffen hat, dann bitte gib mir Bescheid.
Mit einem Gebet
Robert John Bennett
——
Lieber Pater Rafael,
es tut mir sehr leid, dass es bei der Messe in der Maxkirche um 9:00 Uhr Probleme gibt, wenn ich zur Kommunion gehe. Wegen dieser Schwierigkeiten denke ich, dass es besser wäre, wenn ich von jetzt an ein geistliches Kommunion mache, bei dieser Messe, anstatt die Eucharistie physisch zu empfangen.
Und warum stehe ich nicht mit den anderen Leuten um den Altar herum und empfange die Kommunion mit ihnen?
Auf der EWTN-Website gibt es eine Diskussion dieser Frage in englischer Sprache (https://goo.gl/Brr69P), die zu folgendem Schluss kommt: .” (Ich würde diesen Schluss so übersetzen): “Aus den von diesen 8 römischen Dikasterien hervorgerufenen Missbräuchen ist es klar, daß eine Praxis, die die Unterscheidung von Priester und Volk verwischt, wie zum Beispiel, dass all die anwesenden Glaübigen um den Altar herumstehen dürfen, gegen den Sakramentalcharakter der eucharistischen Liturgie als Zeichen der Christus und die Kirche verstößt.” (Auf Englisch: “From the abuses pointed out by these 8 Roman dicasteries, it is clear that a practice which blurs the distinction of priest and people, such as everyone standing around the altar, is contrary to the sacramental nature of the Eucharistic liturgy as a sign of the Christ and the Church.”)
Ich weiß, dass alte Regeln und Lehren der Kirche heutzutage nicht sehr wichtig sind, für viele Leute, besonders in Deutschland (ausgenommen Menschen wie Josef Seifert und Robert Spaemann). Aber für Millionen von uns Katholiken auf der ganzen Welt, Laien, Priester, Bischöfe, sogar Kardinäle, sind diese Regeln und Lehren immer noch äußerst wichtig. Also fühle ich mich bei der Messe in der Maxkirche von diesen Millionen sozusagen umgeben.
Aber warum gehe ich nicht zur Messe in eine andere Kirche? Gute Frage. Ich bin aber 76 Jahre alt, und die Maxkirche ist bequemer für mich, ebenso die Messe um 9 Uhr. Die Maxkirche ist nicht weit von meiner Wohnung entfernt. Ja, an den anderen Tagen – Samstag, Sonntag, und Montag – ist es wahr, dass ich entweder in die Lambertuskirche oder in die Andreaskirche gehe, aber ich mache das, denn ich habe keine andere Wahl.
Noch einmal muss ich sagen, ich bedaure diese Probleme sehr. Ich weiß, dass sie meine Schuld sind, aber ich glaube, ich muss das Richtige tun, nach meinem Gewissen. Auch der jetzige Papst glaubt, wir müssen nach unserem Gewissen handeln.
Noch einmal, es tut mir leid. Aber ich denke wirklich, dass niemand in der Messe um 9 Uhr es bemerken wird, wenn ich nicht zur Kommunion gehe. Jedoch werden sie es bestimmt bemerken, wenn ich zur Kommunion gehe, und das schafft Probleme oder verursacht sogar Skandal.
Mit einem Gebet
Robert John Bennett
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2017.11.15
Some Tweets:
@Pontifex “Those who fail to recognize the real threat posed by Islam are naïve and ignorant of history,” said Henri Boulad, S.J. “and unfortunately many in the Church fall into this category.” https://goo.gl/9Gwdsr
@Pontifex Seventeen seminaries are to be closed in France. The spirit of Vatican II (whatever kind of “spirit” it may be) lives on. https://goo.gl/31qKQL
@Pontifex This pope seems not to understand that not only science, but the Church as well – especially the Church – expresses its full dignity when it serves the integral development of the person and the human family with God.
@Pontifex And let us also remember in our prayers all those who, with dedication and a spirit of sacrifice, preserve – and have preserved – the teachings of the Gospel and of the Church, without trying to change them or deform them or pervert them.
@Pontifex “Fr. Weinandy protests on behalf of Church teaching. Fr. Martin apparently protests in frustration with Church teaching; he would do well to discern the log in his own eye before blindly seeking the non-existent splinter in someone else’s eye.” https://goo.gl/kwmhkC
@Pontifex It’s true: no one can change the world alone, but this pope could try to spread the joy of the Gospel by remaining faithful to the teachings of the Church, not by spreading error, chaos, and confusion.
@Pontifex Irreversible? (https://goo.gl/THKHw3) Confusion and chaos are not reversed. They are ended.
@Pontifex As this pope states: a Christian can never be a pessimist, even when confronted with the errors, the chaos, and the confusion of the present pontificate, even when confronted with a pope who insults faithful Catholics and favors heterodox individuals.
@Pontifex Not even an error-prone, chaotic, and confused pope can block the light that Christ puts in our hearts and on the faces of His friends. Why not? Because, as Our Lady expressed it: “In the end my immaculate heart will triumph.”
@Pontifex “The Morality of Amoris Laetitia Is Not Thomistic” https://goo.gl/JEKWNY “According to Aquinas,…when it comes to some negative norms such as ‘do not commit adultery,’ there is never moral uncertainty or confusion, no matter how deeply we plunge into the details.”
@Pontifex With prayers that the madness and horror of this pontificate will soon end: https://goo.gl/LfwtZo
@Pontifex Mother of God, Theotokos, please ask your Son to listen to the prayers of His saints, those already in heaven and those still on earth, who are begging Him to end the errors, the chaos, and the confusion of this disastrous pontificate.
@Pontifex “Let’s face it, the new church of man stemming from Vatican II promises confused Catholics that they can now dispense with ‘archaic’ rules and regulations, assuring them that God accepts them as they are, and that they can even live in adultery.” https://goo.gl/4Lf8BG
@Pontifex “Cardinal Burke presents the ‘gravity’ of the situation in the Church, which he says ‘is continually worsening,’ as bishops from Philadelphia to Malta offer ‘divergent and at times incompatible interpretations’ of Amoris Laetitia.” https://goo.gl/oo1iux
@Pontifex This pope asks, “How many Christians, by their example, with their inconsistency, drive people away from the Faith?” https://goo.gl/xKJgd7 And how man clerics and prelates, and even a pope, by their example, with their inconsistency, drive people away from the Faith?
@Pontifex “One year after release of dubia, Cardinal Burke renews appeal for clarity” https://goo.gl/hJwqZb This pope probably laughs and says to himself that Burke can wait until hell freezes over before he gets any of his precious “clarity.”
@Pontifex “In the past month, Pope Francis has condemned capital punishment and nuclear deterrence, but If subjective judgments are final, how can any statement by a pope or bishops, or even Jesus Himself, be normative for Christian behavior?” Confused? https://goo.gl/GPbv7n
@Pontifex “The seminaries that form priests for the Traditional Latin Mass are bursting at the seams. Again, simply by the math, at some point, they will overtake the aging, graying, and rapidly diminishing Vatican II priests and become the majority.” https://goo.gl/BWH1gX
If only we had a pope and bishops who really believed that “faith is a great life companion, allowing us to feel the presence of a Father who never leaves His creatures alone.”
@Pontifex If only we had a pope and bishops who really believed – in the words of this current pope – that “faith is a great life companion, allowing us to feel the presence of a Father who never leaves His creatures alone.”
@Pontifex From this video we learn that there is just no such thing as a wrong answer (and maybe – as this pope seems to be trying so hard to teach us) no such thing as really immoral behavior? https://goo.gl/ZFGdCa
@Pontifex If you can, watch this https://goo.gl/1PdJQf
@Pontifex O joy, we have a pope who has had a stamp dedicated to the man who said, “Nothing in the world is to be hated and loathed so much as the hypocritical shows of this priesthood, its Masses, its piety, its religion.” Who said that? Martin Luther. https://goo.gl/zpniQc
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2017.11.16
Lieber Ignatius,
noch einmal, vielen Dank für Deinen guten, sympathischen Brief.
Eines Tages, wenn Gott uns wieder einen guten Papst gesandt hat, einen, der die Lehren der Kirche bewahrt, mit ihren 2000 Jahren von Heiligen und Kirchenlehrern, werde ich wieder an den Einkehrabenden des Opus Dei teilnehmen können.
(Und ich hoffe auch, dass diese Einkehrabende an einem geeigneteren Ort gehalten werden können. Ich habe einen Bekannten, der sagte, dass er gerne das Einkehrabende hier in Düsseldorf besucht hat, als sie in einer passenderen Wohnung mit einer kleinen Kapelle abgehalten wurden. Er sagte, die kalte, leere Atmosphäre der Kirche in Oberkassel war für ihn nicht förderlich zum Nachdenken und Gebet. Nach dem, was ich gelesen habe, glaube ich, dass der Heilige Jose Maria dieser Einstellung zustimmen würde, weil er offenbar glaubte, dass ein angemessen eingerichteter Ort sehr wichtig war, für jede Art von Zusammenkunft.)
Auf der Website https://goo.gl/6TNWVG gibt es ein Beispiel für die Art des Artikels, der so viele von uns in der englischsprachigen Welt beeinflusst hat. Ich habe versucht, den Artikel mit Hilfe von Google Translate ins Deutsche zu übersetzen, und ich hoffe, dass die Übersetzung gut genug ist, um Dir eine Vorstellung von der Art zu vermitteln, wie viele von uns heutzutage denken. Die Übersetzung ist dieser E-Mail im MSWord-Format beigefügt. (Sie steht unten in diesem Journal.)
Mit einem Gebet
Robert
——
Der langsame Tod des Novus Ordo im Westen
Während die Zahl der Berufungen im Westen, wo Priester aus Nigeria, Ghana, Kamerun, Indien, Vietnam und den Philippinen rekrutiert werden, weiter schrumpft, steht das gesamte Experiment der anthropozentrischen Religion in katholischer Gestalt am Rande des Zusammenbruchs. Die neue Religion der Mensch, der sich auf diese gegenwärtige Welt konzentriert und mit allen zurechtkommt, versagt spektakulär. Betrachtet man nur die Demographie von Priestern, wird der Zusammenbruch durch die bloße Kraft von Mathematik und Statistik absolut ungezwungen sein. Das Durchschnittsalter eines katholischen Priesters in den Vereinigten Staaten im Jahre 1970 betrug 35 Jahre. Diese Männer hatten ihre Priesterausbildung schon lange vor dem Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzil (1962-1965) begonnen, als die Berufe unter „Pastor Angelicus“, Papst Pius XII, reichlich waren. Heute beträgt das Durchschnittsalter eines katholischen Priesters in den USA 64. Auch die Demographie der Katholiken selbst fällt in atemberaubender Weise nach unten: Die Geburtenraten in Europa, Kanada, den USA und sogar in Südamerika sind unter die Ersatzquote gefallen.
Ganz abgesehen von jeder bösartigen Strategie, die die Feinde der Kirche von außen anwenden, scheint der Zusammenbruch der westlichen Kirche ein Insider-Job zu sein. Die Erhebung von unter Papst Pius XII. unterdrückten Theologen unter Papst Johannes XXIII. ist der Ort, an dem die Feinde des wahren Glaubens am Tageslicht herauskommen konnten. Papst Angelo Roncalli rehabilitierte nicht nur die neomodernen Theologen, er band die Hände jedes orthodoxen Prälaten, indem er ankündigte, dass das II. Vatikanische Konzil (und die von ihm eingeführte Orientierung) keine Irrtümer verdammen würden (die hermeneutische “Medizin der Barmherzigkeit”). So hatten wir sofort eine verurteilte Theologie und keinen Mechanismus, um sich ihr zu widersetzen.
Paul VI ging weiter, indem er das Heilige Offizium in die Kongregation für die Glaubenslehre reformierte, den Eid gegen die Moderne aufhob und den Index der verbotenen Bücher auflöste. Sein schmerzlichster Schaden wurde natürlich durch die Unterdrückung des Messbuchs von St. Pius V und die Verkündung von Annibale Bugninis künstliche Forma Normativa als Novus Ordo Missae. Papst Johannes Paul II. Reformierte 1983 den Kodex des kanonischen Rechts, der die Aufhebung von 141 Kanons beinhaltete, die sich mit dem Seligsprechungs- und Kanonisierungsprozess befassen und die Funktion des “Fürsprechers des Teufels” im Büro des Promotor Fidei auflösen. Dies entkleidete effektiv alle Versuche, die Würdigkeit von Kandidaten für die Heiligkeit zu untersuchen, und in nur 25 Jahren hat Johannes Paul II. Ein Drittel aller Seligen in der Kirchengeschichte seliggesprochen.
Die Praxis, es fast unmöglich zu machen, Irrtümer zu verurteilen oder irgendwelche kanonischen Standards auf die zeitgenössische Lehre anzuwenden, wurde für die Katholiken sogar noch selbstzerstörerischer gemacht, indem sie das doppelköpfige Spektakel der pan-christlichen Ökumene und des interreligiösen Dialogs forderte. Die Tatsache, dass alle Mittel der Bestimmung von Wahrheit und Irrtum blind in einen endlosen “Dialog” mit den Praktizierenden aller Religionen geschickt wurden, führte zu einem vorhersehbaren Ergebnis. Was einst der einzige Weg war, die ewige Errettung zu erlangen, war nur noch eine von vielen Arten des Betens und des Glaubens und eine von vielen Möglichkeiten, den Menschen und die Welt zu sehen
Nach Papst Benedikt XVI. ist die wahre Ursache der Krise in der katholischen Kirche jedoch der Zusammenbruch der heiligen Liturgie und insbesondere der Messe. Die Form der Messe, die aus den frühesten christlichen Jahrhunderten überliefert und den Aposteln zugeschrieben wurde, wurde 1970 allgemein unterdrückt. Das gab den Gläubigen die Idee, dass die Messe nun irgendwie unnötig und ineffektiv sei, oder sogar noch schlimmer, dass die Messe etwas Böses, die gescheut und gemieden werden sollte. Obwohl Indulte für die tridentinische Messe zwischen 1984 und 2006 erlaubt waren, ließen das nur wenige Bischöfe zu. Als Papst Benedikt XVI. die tridentinische Messe 2007 von der Kontrolle der feindlichen Prälaten befreite, war diese Messe 37 Jahre lang unterdrückt worden, was die Erinnerung an Jahrhunderte der liturgischen Tradition endgültig ausgelöscht hatte. Um das Stigma noch zu vergrößern, zensierten Papst Paul VI. und Papst Johannes Paul II. zu Unrecht den fruchtbarsten Missionsbischof des 20. Jahrhunderts für das “Verbrechen”, Priester für die traditionelle Liturgie zu bilden.
Jetzt dreht sich alles um die Demografie. Ein älteres Priestertum, das nur die von Menschenhand geschaffene Messe von Paul VI. im Namen einer alternden Bevölkerung von Katholiken anbietet, die sich in weniger und kleinere Familien durch Empfängnisverhütung auflösten und abgetrieben haben, hat die Torheit und Hybris der Reformer des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils umfassend demonstriert. Das Experiment der anthropozentrischen Religion ist gescheitert, und der Preis für die Annahme seiner Theorien und dadurch die Reform der Kirche ist der Zusammenbruch des Katholizismus im Westen. Bald wird es fast keine Priester mehr geben, die taufen, freisprechen und die Eucharistie feiern können.
Alles ist nicht verloren. Diejenigen, die das Gebäude der katholischen Tradition wieder aufgebaut haben, während sie im Schatten der Stigmatisierung als “Schismatiker” und “Exkommunizierte” gedeckt wurden, erfreuen sich eines tiefen Wiederauflebens von Gesundheit und Vitalität. Die Seminare, die Priester für die traditionelle lateinische Messe bilden, platzen mit neuen Berufungen aus allen Nähten. Noch einmal, einfach durch die Mathematik, werden sie irgendwann in der nicht allzu fernen Zukunft die alternden, ergrauenden und rapide abnehmenden Priester des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils überholen und die Mehrheit bilden. Wenn Christus nicht in den nächsten zwei oder drei Jahrzehnten wiederkommt, werden die konziliaren Priester einfach absterben, in die Geschichte verschwinden und als diejenigen in Erinnerung bleiben, die eine gesunde, lebendige katholische Kirche in einen nahezu unumkehrbaren Niedergang getrieben haben, nur um gerettet zu werden, von den Priestern, die sie ausgrenzten, marginalisierten und unterdrückten. Und mit diesen jungen Priestern, die Tradition praktizieren, kommen die jungen Familien mit vielen katholischen Babys.
Hier gibt es eine göttliche Lektion für diejenigen, die Augen zu sehen und Ohren zu hören haben und elementare Mathematik beherrschen können.
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2017.11.18
Although the priest’s style of delivery may be a little old-fashioned, what he delivers is the bedrock of truth. (https://goo.gl/gmNfjJ)
For me, there were two elements in his sermons that were particularly moving. The first was his idea that even though the souls in purgatory are suffering, they do feel a certain joy in the knowledge that they are conforming to the will of God. That does make the prospect of purgatory a little less frightening.
The second element that affected me in these sermons, was the priest’s repetition of the idea that we must embrace our cross and love it. Of course we’ve all heard that idea before, but something in the way he expressed this thought – despite his rather dated way of speaking – impressed itself on my mind more deeply than ever before.
It is good to consider all these things in November, the month of the souls in purgatory. I think many other people who read this blog are surely grateful for this posting.
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2017.11.20
I am a traditional, faithful Catholic, and I believe this pope spreads error, chaos, and confusion in the Church. I also think I have to be fair, though. In the video attached to the above article (https://goo.gl/6gkGNd), yes, the pope says, ““A personal, direct, immediate relationship with Jesus Christ…is harmful,” but the complete statement in the video is this: “A personal, direct, immediate relationship with Jesus Christ OUTSIDE OF THE COMMUNION AND MEDIATION OF THE CHURCH is dangerous and harmful.” This is something that the saints and the Church have over the centuries always taught. So I’m a little skeptical of the content of this entire article. Fake news? More Russian meddling?
——
2017.11.22
I think Michael Voris is correct in saying that most Westerners are “ignoring the willful destruction of their entire civilization and its replacement by a new world order.” This “new world order,” though, may turn out to be something other than what we expect at present.
According to Monsignor Mauro Longhi, a member of Opus Dei and a close friend and associate of Pope St. John Paul II, one night in 1992 the Pope had a vision. He related the content to Monsignor Longhi in this way: “I see the Church plagued by a mortal wound. More profound, more painful than those of this millennium. It is called Islam. They will invade Europe. I have seen the hordes come from the West to the East….You, Church of the third millennium, must contain the invasion. But not with weapons, weapons will not be enough, with your faith lived with integrity.”
A videotape of Monsignor Longhi relating this vision in a talk he gave a few weeks ago, on October 22, 2017, is available, in Italian, on YouTube.
Perhaps I’m more sensitive to this issue because I live in Europe. Outbreaks of violence and “no-go” zones here in Germany and in many other countries are becoming an increasingly common – and largely unreported – occurrence. I think, therefore, that the threat of this “new world order” will not come from the “globalist, elitist, atheistic” elements among us.
It will come, ultimately, from Islam.
——
2017.11.23
I’m afraid I’m rather skeptical about these “mass conversions.” (https://goo.gl/PUr9SE)
When the government start allowing churches in Saudi Arabia, when the construction of new churches in countries like Turkey and Iran are legal, and when there are no more reports of Christians killed in places like Pakistan, THEN I’ll believe that these conversions are really taking place.
Until that point, I can only hope and pray that there is some truth in what Father Pacwa reports.
——
Copies of some recent Tweets:
@Pontifex The current tremendous pope just needs to explain The Great Religion of Peace to these people. https://goo.gl/3yaHRP Then obviously everything will be okay.
@Pontifex So-called ‘Islamophobia’ serves merely to distract from the real issue, which is Islam’s teachings of intolerance of other faiths and, as a consequence of those teachings, the Ummah’s complete failure to assimilate into Western societies.” https://goo.gl/JnBous
@Pontifex Perverting the teachings of the Church, is not an accident, especially when it comes to claiming that certain sins are not as bad as they are. This process of perversion has causes that must be recognized and removed for the good of so many of our brothers and sisters.
@Pontifex Now THIS is a seminary! 437 young men studying for the priesthood! And where is it exactly? France? Ireland? The US? Well, no, it’s in, um, Nigeria., but maybe some of its graduates will one day come to Europe and America as missionaries. https://goo.gl/AP2bQR
@Pontifex “De Mattei: Friendly Criticism of Rocco Buttiglione’s Theses” https://goo.gl/EXEdhn
@Pontifex We need a pope who follows the Gospel in every way, not only when he asks us to “encounter the poor and learn how to share so that it becomes a way of life.” We need a pope who asks us to love God with our whole heart and soul and to live as that statement demands.
@Pontifex For anyone in the Church to in any way approve of a man’s continued living in a state of sin, in which he knowingly commits acts of adultery, is a monumental betrayal of the Lord’s call to admonish and assist sinners to ‘go and sin no more’.” https://goo.gl/T5U9px
@Pontifex “McDermott focuses on the crowning insult of this destructive pontificate: Amoris Laetitia and its stupefying attempt to introduce situation ethics into Catholic moral theology.” https://goo.gl/s1vKgZ
@Pontifex “Gerald McDermott, holder of a theology chair at Beeson Divinity School…concludes: ‘Tom Weinandy reminds us that God raises up prophetic lights when dark days come to his Church’….No Catholic of good will can continue to deny the obvious.” https://goo.gl/s1vKgZ
@Pontifex “The Silly Bus of Errors” https://goo.gl/EZ5MoF
@Pontifex Even with the support of the prayers of the faithful, the current Successor of Peter seems unable to fulfill his mission in the world. However, we are all begging Our Lady, asking that she obtain either his conversion or a speedy end to his catastrophic pontificate.
@Pontifex On this day, the current pope should invite the entire Church to keep its gaze fixed on the Gospel and on 2000 years of Church teaching by saints, faithful popes, and doctors of the Church; instead, what does this pope do? He goes on with error, chaos, and confusion.
@Pontifex “Clear Doctrine Strengthens the Church” – “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” (1 Corinthians 14:8) – Article by Fr. George Rutler (https://goo.gl/TBeo5K)
@Pontifex “St. John Paul II spoke clearly, and during his pontificate the number of seminarians increased from 63,882 to 114,439. The years of Pope Benedict XVI saw the numbers grow to 118, 257. Since then, there has been a consistent global decline.” https://goo.gl/TBeo5K
@Pontifex “At a time when the world has never needed more the clear and courageous witness of the Church, she appears not to know herself, her identity in Christ Who comes to us through the unbroken Apostolic Tradition,” Cardinal Raymond Burke said. https://goo.gl/e6Zsv7
@Pontifex “‘It’s unacceptable that Christians, persecuted all over the world, have been intimidated in Rome’. Vatican insider Marco Tosatti mentioned that the order to detain might have come from the Vatican itself.” And we all know it did. https://goo.gl/m9j6tP
@Pontifex Let us work together to ensure that children continue to smile: their faces serene, filled with joy and hope that this pope will stop insulting those who disagree with him and stop spreading errors, chaos, and confusion throughout the Church.
@Pontifex May Mary’s pure and simple smile lead this pope to a deep and true understanding of what it means to be pope, and may Our Lady help this pope to build up the Church and preserve the faith instead of continuing to ravage both.
@Pontifex “Whatever You Can Do to Stop Communion in the Hand Will be Blessed by God” ~ Fr. John Hardon S.J. https://goo.gl/ViwdmE
@Pontifex When we encounter others, do we bring them the truth of the Gospel and the truth of the real teachings of the Church or do we treat them to the fake warmth of “niceness” and false charity and false mercy?
@Pontifex At the end of time, when the Lord comes to meet this pope, his joy will be immense, if he’s been faithful to the Gospel and to the teachings of the Church, and if he hasn’t perverted or distorted those teachings. Then he can live in anticipation of this encounter!
@Pontifex “Another analogy could be this: that there is more dignity in using a golden chalice for the wine-turned-Blood than there is in using a paper cup.” – Laramie Hirsch https://goo.gl/z569ke
@Pontifex “They are ignorant and there is no need for dialogue with them.” – Islamic cleric in Virginia, describing Americans https://goo.gl/Wvjd83
@Pontifex Yes, by all means, more dialogue. https://goo.gl/YoLhaB
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I would like to disagree (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) with the first sentence in Paul Krugman’s article (https://goo.gl/QvbvNF).
There doesn’t HAVE “to be an umlaut in the title,” because even Germans – under certain circumstances – will write “oe” instead of an umlauted “o” (ö).
An umlauted “o” (ö) is in fact an abbreviation for “oe,” which is pronounced something like “uh” in English. (So the real pronunciation of “Schroedinger,” with or without the umlaut, is a little like “Schruhdinger.”),
I have to admit that what bothers ME, though, much more than the way German umlauted vowels are written in English, is the way German nouns are printed in English and American publications, (even like The Times).
In printed German, ALL nouns are capitalized, whether they are proper nouns or not, and for anyone who reads and writes German, that is normal. So it seems very strange (and a little irritating) to many of us purists, to see words like “Weltanschauung” or “Stolperstein” appearing in lower case in an English article or essay.
But I guess much of this depends on your weltanschauung!
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2017.11.26
Sehr geehrter Herr Präsident:
ich bin Amerikaner, also kann ich nicht in Deutschland wählen, aber ich lebe seit siebenundzwanzig Jahren sehr glücklich hier, und deshalb kümmere ich mich um dieses Land und was mit ihm passiert.
Heute morgen hörte ich eine BBC-Diskussion über das aktuelle Problem der Regierungsbildung in Berlin. Die Diskussionsteilnehmer sprachen alle über die Frage, ob man die SPD zu einer weiteren großen Koalition mit der CDU / CSU bewegen könnte. Diese BBC-Journalisten waren sich einig, dass das im Moment schwierig ist, denn auch wenn Martin Schulz dieser Idee folgen könnte, wird die SPD-Mitgliedschaft wahrscheinlich dagegen stimmen.
Dann fiel es mir ein: Warum ist jeder so darauf konzentriert, Martin Schulz und die SPD zu überzeugen? Wäre es nicht einfacher, zu versuchen Christian Lindner davon zu überzeugen, seine Opposition gegen eine große Koalition fallen zu lassen? (Lindner scheint hier das wirkliche Problem zu sein. Er spricht sieben Wochen lang mit den anderen Parteien, ALLE machen Zugeständnisse, und dann beschließt ER, keiner Koalition beizutreten. In der Zwischenzeit flüstert jeder, Lindners wahrer Grund dazu, aus den Koalitionsgesprächen auszuscheiden ist ein rein selbstsüchtiger: seine Hoffnung auf Neuwahlen, bei denen die FDP ihre Stärke erhöhen würde.)
Oder wie wäre es mit dem extremen Schritt, mit Die Linke über den Beitritt zu einer Großen Koalition mit den Grünen und der CDU / CSU zu sprechen? (Ich bin mir sicher, dass eine solche Idee die beiden letztgenannten Parteien erschrecken würde, aber es wäre vielleicht einen Versuch wert.)
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Robert John Bennett
English Version:
Dear Mr. President:
I’m an American, so I cannot vote in Germany, but I have lived here quite happily for twenty-seven years, and I therefore care about this country and what happens to it.
This morning I was listening to a BBC discussion of the current problem of forming a government in Berlin. The discussion participants all talked about the question of persuading the SPD to form another grand coalition with the CDU/CSU. They agreed that this is at the moment difficult because even though Martin Schulz might go along with that idea, the SPD membership will probably vote against it.
Then it occurred to me: why is everyone so focused on persuading Martin Schulz and the SPD? Wouldn’t it be easier to try to persuade Christian Lindner to drop his opposition to joining a grand coalition? (Lindner seems to be the real problem here. He talks with the other parties for seven weeks, THEY all make concessions, and then HE decides not to join a coalition. Meanwhile, everyone whispers that his real reason for dropping out of the coalition talks is a purely selfish one: his hope of new elections in which the FDP would increase its strength.)
Or what about taking the extreme step of talking to Die Linke about joining a grand coalition with the Greens and the CDU/CSU? (I’m sure that such an idea would horrify both of the latter two parties, but it might be worth a try.)
Best regards,
Robert John Bennett
——
Two comments (on https://goo.gl/s5P1NM):
First, some readers may miss the significance of “Chiesa Evangelica Alemanna,” i.e., the “German Evangelical Church” in Venice. The Evangelical Church is more commonly known as the Lutheran Church in the U.S.
Secondly, this passage from Decet Romanum Pontificem is really quite remarkable in the light of the present pope’s behavior; or perhaps it’s the other way around: the present pope’s behavior is quite remarkable – or worse – in the light of this passage from Pope Leo X’s document:
“(W)e lay the following injunction on each and every patriarch, archbishop, bishop…: that in the strength of their vow of obedience and on pain of the sentence of excommunication, they shall…publicly announce and cause to be announced by others in their churches, that this same Martin and the rest are excommunicate, accursed, condemned, heretics….No one whatsoever may infringe this our written decision…or rashly contravene it. Should anyone dare to attempt such a thing, let him know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.”
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2017.11.29
@Pontifex By making a good confession, with a decision not to sin again, even those who have done wrong, who live in adultery or a sodomite relationship, can be reconciled with God and begin a new life. Jesus came for this, even if this pope spreads error and confusion about it.
@Pontifex “Pope Francis needs to go to Pakistan and explain to the Pakistanis how they’re misunderstanding their peaceful, tolerant religion.” https://goo.gl/KAnLix
@Pontifex As he prepares to visit Myanmar and Bangladesh, this pope should send a message of greeting and friendship and the truth of the Gospel and the ancient, traditional teachings of the Church – a message of friendship in Christ to everyone.
@Pontifex “Pope Francis said that we should approach the celebration of the Mass as if we were approaching Calvary.” https://goo.gl/AKoUxg It’s possible to approach the Traditional Latin Mass like Calvary, but the “New Mass” with sappy hymns and improvisations? Gimme a break.
@Pontifex The current pope tweets: “Let us look to Jesus today and say to Him in our hearts: ‘Remember me, Lord, now that you are in your Kingdom!'” Yes, and let us also say: Lord, help this pope to correct his errors and stop spreading chaos and confusion in the Church.
@Pontifex “GAY PRIEST IN LA ARCHDIOCESE FEATURES GAY COUPLES IN PARISH BULLETIN” https://goo.gl/xFZnxg Will the LA archdiocese DO anything about this? Of course not! In the Church of Nice, we’re all FREEEE!! Hey, this is progress! The (unholy) Spirit of Vatican II marches on!
@Pontifex God in Heaven, this story just takes your breath away with it’s awfulness. But our current pope, of course, cheerfully ignores things like this, with a flick of the wrist and a wave of his hand. So VERY unpleasant, dontcha know? https://goo.gl/V5S1JC
@Pontifex Whether in Europe or Asia, may this pope look to Jesus today and every day, saying to Him, “Forgive me, Lord, for the errors, chaos, and confusion that I have spread throughout Your Church.”
@Pontifex Something this pope will never read. https://goo.gl/9jjjXh
@Pontifex Recently a friend prayed: “Dear God, protect Your Church from this pope and all his weak-minded ‘teachings.’ And God in Heaven, please, send us a good and worthy pope.” I was shocked that anyone could say such things. But in a way, I was not very surprised.
@Pontifex You have to wonder sometimes if this pope really knows – in the midst of all of his errors, chaos, and confusion – what “pastoral” really means https://goo.gl/9jjjXh
@Pontifex ”When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” (Quoted in the article “Sense and Nonsense: The Latest Defense of Amoris Laetitia” by Rev Msgr. Richard C. Antall) https://goo.gl/HC7LyC
@Pontifex This pope says, “I want my visit to embrace all the people of Myanmar and to encourage the building of an inclusive society.” How about building an inclusive Church, one that includes truth, clarity, all the sacred teachings, and the Gospel?
@Pontifex “Cardinal Kasper confirms that (Martin Luther) is now a ‘common church father,’ a new St. Francis of Assisi.” https://goo.gl/6GVnGY Cardinal Burke says, “The reality of the apostasy of faith in our time rightly and profoundly frightens us.” https://goo.gl/kK3x5G
@Pontifex “Two small dioceses with a combined population of 220,000 produced almost half as many ordinations as five major archdioceses with a combined population of 12.5 million! How is this possible?” https://goo.gl/ZqcbKc
@Pontifex The (almost) never-ending battle. https://goo.gl/QN4mnn
@Pontifex “Muslim believers know very well what is happening. Only a minority is violent. But as a whole, they do not ignore that their birthrate is such that one day, everything here will be theirs”. — Luc Ravel, Archbishop of Strasbourg. https://goo.gl/85LzHr
@Pontifex For a pope who does not spread error, chaos, and confusion through the Church, the love of Christ is like a “spiritual GPS” that guides us all unerringly towards God and towards the heart of our neighbor. For any other kind of pope, the “spiritual GPS” leads to hell.
@Pontifex More of the Francis Effect: “The emerging moral theology claims to uphold Church teaching, while it asserts that the teaching is impossible to follow.” https://goo.gl/gcv3X8
@Pontifex How did the Jesuits ever wind up like this? From St. Ignatius of Loyola — to James Martin? Dear God in Heaven.
——
A splendid, informative article (https://goo.gl/QEZvMU). As an American resident of Germany, I can only hope this sort of thing doesn’t begin in my home country. There seems to be little prospect of resistance to Islam here in Europe, but it may not be too late for the United States.
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2017.11.30
So let me get this straight: this venerable old priest sits in a practically empty religious house, in the midst of a kind of Catholic wasteland where hardly anyone goes to Mass anymore, and he praises “conciliar renewal”? (https://goo.gl/Vk6VsA)
It almost takes your breath away.
I don’t know if Mark Twain ever really made this remark attributed to him, but: “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.”
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2017.12.06
If you go to the website “thechicflaneuse” (https://goo.gl/cCmxUF) you find that the designer of the tennis court “installation” in the church in this video (https://goo.gl/96Weyt) is named Asad Raza. With a name like that, he’s very probably a member of The Great Religion of Peace, which has already established “no-go” zones, governed by sharia, all over Europe.
In another generation or two, if present demographic trends continue, that Great Religion of Peace will dominate Europe. And turned more churches into tennis courts, or whatever.
All thanks to our fantastic leaders in the Church of Nice.
——
Message to President Trump:
Yes, the President SHOULD recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It’s the right decision.
And I hope he will move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as soon as possible.
Although I voted for President Trump, I disagree with practically every other aspect of his administration: the disastrous tax bill, drilling in the Arctic, shrinking national parks, decimating the State Department, the EPA, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, practically everything.
BUT because of his support for Israel and his policy toward that dangerous ideology, Islam, I would vote for him again, in a second.
——
Lieber Ignatius,
vielen Dank, ehrlich, wie immer, für Deine schöne und nachdenkliche Nachricht.
Ja, Du hast Recht, eine sehr große Anzahl von uns fühlen uns in der Kirche, wie sie jetzt ist, „immer weniger zuhause“, so wie Anhänger von Männern wie dem Heiligen Athanasius und dem Heiligen Thomas More und anderen sich gefühlt haben müssen, zu anderen Zeiten in der Geschichte, als die Kirche fast von Ketzerei und Irrtum und auch Chaos überwältigt wurde.
Die Anhänger dieser Heiligen haben sich auch „überwiegend mit kirchenkritischen extremen und ,unloyalen‘ Tendenz beschäftigt“, aber am Ende hat die Geschichte diesen „Extremisten” recht und loyal gegenüber Gott und der wahren Kirche bewiesen.
Aber schließlich hast Du völlig Recht, als Du sagst, „Gott wird gerecht beurteilen und richten, nicht ich“.
Mit Gebeten für Sie und alle Mitglieder des Opus Dei und mit der Hoffnung, dass Sie alle – und wir alle – eines Tages den Weg zur Wahrheit Gottes finden werden
Robert
——
Some Tweets:
@Pontifex It’s certainly true, as this pope says, that “the most holy name of God cannot be invoked to justify hatred and violence against other human beings,” nor can it be invoked to justify a papacy that spreads errors, chaos, confusion and general destruction in the Church.
@Pontifex Let me get this straight: this venerable old priest sits in a practically empty religious house, in the midst of a Catholic wasteland where hardly anyone goes to Mass anymore, and he praises “conciliar renewal”? (https://goo.gl/Vk6VsA) It takes your breath away.
@Pontifex “Confusion and error in the Catholic Church regarding its fundamental teaching on marriage and family are so serious that the End Times may have upon us, Cardinal Raymond Burke said.” https://goo.gl/bU99sL
@Pontifex “(The bishops’) plan was not to look in the mirror….It was to look at how an anti-Catholic identity plan was working and imitate it. And the reason the number of Catholics keeps falling is because…they get a better show across the street.” https://goo.gl/ZKDC1b
@Pontifex In response to this pope: How much openness to true Church teaching is needed to welcome people who feel alone and confused as they search for a meaning in life! How great is the need to abandon the errors, chaos, and confusion – the horror – of the current pontificate!
@Pontifex The book “The Dictator Pope” looks behind the mask of Francis, revealing how he “consolidated his position as a dictator who rules by fear and has allied himself with the most corrupt elements in the Vatican to prevent and reverse the reforms that were expected of him.”
@Pontifex “When the publicity cameras are off, Pope Francis turns into a different figure: arrogant, dismissive of people, prodigal of bad language, notorious for furious outbursts of temper which are known to everyone from the cardinals to the chauffeurs.” – “The Dictator Pope
@Pontifex “The Dictator Pope” is a mysterious (because its author is unknown but very knowledgeable) new book that looks “Behind the Mask” of Francis.
@Pontifex May God help this pope to understand Islam and to recognize its true face. Dear God, before it’s too late, help this pope to see Islam for what it really is: an ideology intent on world domination. Islam does not mean “peace.” The word “Islam” means “submission.”
@Pontifex When this pope “invokes divine blessings of harmony and peace” on his “dear friends in Myanmar and Bangladesh,” Muslims do not see that as a kindness to which they ought to respond, they see it as a manifestation of weakness and an admission of the superiority of Islam.
@Pontifex This pope “invokes divine blessings of harmony and peace” on his Muslim friends. Have we ever heard an imam invoke divine blessings of harmony and peace on his Christian friends? Or his Jewish or Hindu or Buddhist friends? Again, “Islam” means “submission,” not “peace.”
@Pontifex Because, as this pope says, “every person is unique and unrepeatable,” we can hope that God will not send us another “dictator pope,” one who is so disabled that he spreads errors, chaos, and confusion throughout the Church.
@Pontifex “It is the duty…of cardinals and bishops to make clear that the Pope is teaching error and to ask him to correct it.” – Cardinal Burke. (https://goo.gl/ZG12P2) Declaring Amoris Laetitia to be part of the ‘Authentic Magisterium’ won’t save “il Papa Dittatore.”
@Pontifex A friend remarked, “But how can this arrogant, evil old man, who flies into rages and acts like a dictator – while pretending he’s so very kindly and humble – how can he really be the pope?” I answered, “We’ve survived arrogant, deceitful, evil popes in the past.”
@Pontifex When papal pronouncements (such as the one regarding AL) cannot be reconciled with the perennial doctrine and discipline of the Catholic faith, then the people’s faith finds expression in prayers for the conversion of this pope or an end to his wrecking of the Church.
@Pontifex The “Dictator Pope” says, “We are all beggars before the love of God.” Except the Dictator Pope, of course. A dictator has no need for the love of God. His dictatorship gives meaning to his existence. He doesn’t dare think about what his own eternal existence will be.
@Pontifex “No teaching of the Roman Pontiff is magisterium authenticum on account of an external declaration,…but that it is only such when from its internal content it adheres harmoniously and conformably with the Deposit of the Faith!” https://goo.gl/dwvj79
@Pontifex So this pope wants to encourage priestly vocations? Tell him it’s no mystery. Vocations will continue to plummet until homosexuals are removed from the clergy, from the staff and teachers of seminaries, and are prevented from entering seminaries in the first place.
@Pontifex This pope says, “No child of God can be discarded in His eyes.” No, not even a pope who teaches error and practically destroys the Church. This pope also says, “God entrusts a mission to each one of us.” Yes, but this pope has so far failed miserably in his mission.
@Pontifex More glorious results of “the Francis effect”: https://goo.gl/cCmxUF
@Pontifex It’s true, as this pope says, “We all possess God-given talents.” But it’s also true that no one can claim to be utterly great and wise. Even a pope can be full of anger and rage because others won’t accept his delusion of offering only goodness and truth.
@Pontifex Not as this pope says with such craftiness, but in the honesty of God: “May the Virgin Mary always be our refuge, our consolation, and the way that leads to Christ” – past the horrors that “The Dictator Pope” himself is causing in the Church (https://goo.gl/2G8Jm1).
@Pontifex A friend asked, “Why did this pope destroy the FFI?” I said the answer is in the new book ‘The Dictator Pope’.” My friend said, “Why did God allow it?” I quoted Augustine, “God permits evil so that he can draw from it a greater good than if the evil had not existed.”
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2017.12.10
Some Tweets (mostly from “The Dictator Pope”) that may be of interest:
@Pontifex Out of the evil caused by this Dictator Pope, You can, O Lord, draw the greatest good. You will continue to help and support all the good men – like Fr. Stefano Manelli of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate – whom this pope has done so much to try to destroy
@Pontifex This pope says, “We must fight corruption with determination.” He should read “The Dictator Pope,” like everyone else. The book describes his “determination” to fight corruption, his falseness, his fake humility, his anger, his “mercy,” hypocrisy, and yes, his lies
@Pontifex “We must fight corruption with determination,” says this pope. What insincerity! What hollowness! What unfaithfulness! What hypocrisy! The author of “The Dictator Pope” shows how corrupt the Vatican is, and how this this corrupt pope has contributed to that corruption
@Pontifex The new book, “The Dictator Pope,” describes in great detail how this “merciful” pope is “kind” and “humble” in public, while he rages in private and savagely punishes those who disagree with him. The book is wrong? It lies? Everyone should read it and see
@Pontifex Was there ever a pope – in recent centuries – like this one? A pope whose public face of kindness, humility, and “mercy,” was so different from his private face of coldness, rage, vengefulness, and readiness to ferociously punish anyone who disagrees with him?
@Pontifex This pope once said (https://goo.gl/YUCaJ6) participants in the synod should “bravely adopt parrhesia.” The word “parrhesia” means, to most people, “free speech” or even “speaking truth to power.” To this pope “parrhesia” means, “shut up!”
@Pontifex “The Dictator Pope” begins with a statement attributed to Abraham Lincoln, which could be paraphrased, “This pope can fool all of us Catholics some of the time, and some of us Catholics all the time, but he cannot fool all of us Catholics all the time.”
@Pontifex This pope is reportedly having Rome turned upside down in an effort to find out the true identity of the author of “The Dictator Pope.” (“Marcantonio Colonna” is a pseudonym.) God help the poor man if this pope ever finds out his real name
@Pontifex This pope wants people to speak openly to him, and that’s fine if you agree with him. But if you dare criticize or disagree with anything he does or says or writes, well, many laymen, priests, and even some bishops and cardinals have found out what happens to you then
@Pontifex This pope, the most corrupt pope since before the Reformation, says, “We must fight corruption with determination.” Oh, gimme a break. What a sense of HUMOR the guy has! He IS joking, right?
@Pontifex This pope says “we must fight corruption”? How about this: “NY (Archdiocese) ANNOUNCES $40 MILLION IN SEX ABUSE PAYOUTS…in the middle of a $200 million capital campaign for schools, seminarians, charities, but especially for parishes.” https://goo.gl/aQLdR8
@Pontifex The Church survived the corruption of the pre-Reformation popes. We can survive the corruption of this pope, too
@Pontifex This pope wants to end “corruption.” From “The Dictator Pope”:
“(I)n an astonishing papal intervention, the man suspected of flouting the Church’s moral teaching (in the Knights of Malta) was rewarded, and the superior who had tried to discipline him lost his office.”
@Pontifex This pope says he wants to end “corruption”? Seriously? Again and again, the author of “The Dictator Pope” writes of situations where this pope rewards men who ignore the Church’s moral teachings and punishes men who defend those same teachings
@Pontifex This pope tweets about political activity. This pontificate seems founded on nothing but political activity, grounded in nothing but political activity, imbued with nothing but political activity. Is that what makes this one of the most evil pontificates in history?
@Pontifex “Fear is the dominant note in the Curia under Francis’s rule, together with mutual mistrust.” – From “The Dictator Pope”
@Pontifex “In an organisation in which the morally corrupt have been left in place, and even promoted by Pope Francis, subtle blackmail is the order of the day.” – From “The Dictator Pope”
@Pontifex “One curial priest has quipped: ‘They say it’s not what you know but whom you know. In the Vatican that isn’t true: it’s what you know about whom you know’.” – From “The Dictator Pope”
@Pontifex “(T)he popularity of Francis…has plummeted in Italy and beyond…The average attendance at (the weekly audiences) since Francis became Pope are given as follows:
2013: 51,617
2014: 27,883
2015: 14,818
For 2016 no figures are available” – From “The Dictator Pope”
@Pontifex “The People’s Pope is being deserted by the people. Mass attendance has been falling in Italy, and in the rest of the world. Francis’ pontificate, which was expected to revivify the Church, after four years of hype is proving an unrelieved failure.” – The Dictator Pope
@Pontifex “By voting for a little-known outsider, they (i.e., the Conclave in 2013) elected a man who has proved unfit, by his character and by the priorities he shows, to hold his office. To many Catholics this idea is difficult to take in.” – From “The Dictator Pope”
@Pontifex “In living memory, we find no case in which such an error of judgment in the election of a pope has occurred….(F)or centuries there has been no pope who was, as one must say brutally of Francis, so plainly beneath his office.” – From “The Dictator Pope”
@Pontifex “We should bear in mind that Jorge Bergoglio is a man brought up in a debased political culture, and trained in a religious order whose traditions of obedience and of political and social involvement were…distorted by the upheaval of the 1960s.” – “The Dictator Pope”
@Pontifex “Jorge Bergoglio…was less formed in the long-rooted cultural disciplines that kept his predecessors up to certain standards.” – From “The Dictator Pope”
@Pontifex “We come back to the unprecedented blunder committed by the cardinals in 2013 in electing such a man as Jorge Bergoglio.” – From “The Dictator Pope”
@Pontifex “No election procedure is immune against mistakes, however rare the experience may be. One has to go back quite a few centuries to find popes who have been outright personal disasters, but it has happened, as one might expect.” – From “The Dictator Pope”
@Pontifex “Even the cardinals do not necessarily share Francis’ view….Let us appeal to them, and pray to God, that they may reject the disastrous vision that has brought the Church to confusion and revert to a spiritual model of what a pope ought to be.” – “The Dictator Pope”
@Pontifex “Let us pray that the participants in the next Conclave first of all make sure that there is no clique trying to turn the election to their own agenda; secondly, that they know well whom they are electing.” – From “The Dictator Pope”
@Pontifex “Let (the pope) be…a man God, not a politician; a man whose priorities are the spiritual treasures he is called to guard; a man who teaches doctrine openly and not in ambiguous back-room deals; a man who…will not ally himself with the corrupt.” – “The Dictator Pope
@Pontifex Let us pray that, rare as is the freak of nature that has been unintentionally sprung on the See of Peter, it may be equally long before another such catastrophe is again visited on the Catholic Church.” – From “The Dictator Pope”
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2017.12.13
I’m an American who’s lived in Germany for the past twenty-seven years, and I have to say that Michael’s description (https://goo.gl/iaEfsV) of the Church in America – or at least in Detroit – is absolutely astonishing.
As a faithful Catholic, I’ve sometimes thought that the Church here in Germany was kind of liberal, mainly because it has that reputation. But I’ve experienced NOTHING like what Michael reports. The priests here say a fairly standard Novus Ordo Mass, with few, if any, improvisations, my confessor is very conservative and would never think of giving me absolution without hearing my confession, and even though I always kneel and receive Holy Communion on the tongue, no one seems to think it strange. In fact, once in a while, there are others who receive the same way, and there are always, at every Mass, a number of people who receive standing and on the tongue.
I guess the really negative factor here, as far as religion is concerned, is that in another generation or so, Europe will be largely Muslim, and while the Church in America is shrinking, here it’s disappearing.
I suppose there is one consolation, though, in all this. As Michael has suggested elsewhere, once the Church of Nice is gone, the Catholic Church, filled with us faithful Catholics, will be all that’s left.
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2017.12.15
@Pontifex “The modern trend among those who believe and teach falsehoods that directly contradict the Church’s teaching is to consider these pockets of dissent as merely ‘differing tribes’ within the Catholic Church.” https://goo.gl/5Upv7k
@Pontifex This pope says, “We ask for the grace to make our faith more and more operative through acts of charity.” He should ask for grace to carry on a good, decent pontificate, not the quite evil one described in “The Dictator Pope.”
@Pontifex Did you ever wonder why fewer and fewer Catholic young men decide to become priests? This video may suggest an answer https://goo.gl/JECXvV
@Pontifex After reading the well-documented book, “The Dictator Pope,” I feel afraid for the Catholic Herald and for its anonymous “Staff Reporter.” https://goo.gl/qnQ2pQ In the past, this pope has done all he could to suppress and destroy all who opposes him.
@Pontifex “If there is any conflict between the words and acts of any member of the hierarchy, even the pope, and the doctrine that the Church has always taught, we will remain faithful to the perennial teaching of the Church.” https://goo.gl/GTHxcW Brave souls.
@Pontifex The “dictator pope” has been tweeting for five years, he says. And with him in power, will the Church – if there is another five years of these papal Tweets – really be able to hold out against the gates of hell?
@Pontifex This pope tweets that he hopes that social media will always be “rich in humanity.” “Rich in humanity”? How about “rich in an awareness of God and the Gospel of Christ”?
@Pontifex A friend commented, “You know, after reading ‘The Dictator Pope,’ I find it hard to have any respect for this pope, who all his life appears to have been consumed by questions of power, vengeance, deceit, and manipulation.”
@Pontifex “The Jesuit General wrote that Bergoglio was not suitable for such an appointment, that he was a man of devious character, lacking psychological balance, and had been a divisive figure as Provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina.” https://goo.gl/TLuRi1
@Pontifex “Pope Francis…emerges as a flawed character, who is capable of impressing people profoundly and forming warm friendships, but who, as one of his priest friends remarked, ‘manipulates people through the affections’.” https://goo.gl/TLuRi1
@Pontifex “Francis’s pontificate is absolutely unique in modern times, and can only be compared to a few disastrous pontificates of the past, when the cardinals manifestly made a mistake in their selection. This is bound to happen from time to time.” https://goo.gl/TLuRi1
@Pontifex “The current public image of Pope Francis is a PR exercise which bears no relation to reality.” https://goo.gl/TLuRi1
@Pontifex “What emerges in the book is Pope Francis’ tendency to vindictiveness. The present-day Curia lives in a state of fear…Those who wish to tell the truth are therefore compelled to anonymity, to protect not only themselves but those around them.” https://goo.gl/TLuRi1
@Pontifex “We critics, as sincere lovers of the papacy, wish to spare Francis Honorius’ fate (or perhaps one even worse). Those instead who close their eyes to the present situation are encouraging him down that path.” – Professor Claudio Pierantoni https://goo.gl/6zw2sf
@Pontifex In response to a papal Tweet: this pope is called to work honestly, openly, and unambiguously, without his customary deceit, manipulation, and fake humility, and without worrying about PR, illuminating the Church with the light that comes from God.
@Pontifex This pope’s mask has slipped. We see him for what he is.
@Pontifex Theotokos, Mother of God, please beg your Son to send us a good pope, one who will restore the Church, not try to destroy it; and also beg your Son to send good men to the Curia as cardinals and other clerics, men who will use their positions for the good of the Church.
@Pontifex More vengeance from this pope: “A person in England was misidentified as the author at one point and immediately received threatening telephone calls from Rome…They will unmask me eventually.” – Author of “The Dictator Pope” https://goo.gl/EptcZj
@Pontifex God in His wisdom saw fit to punish the Church by sending us a pope characterized by anger, deceit, manipulation, fake humility, and acts of retribution and vengeance. One day God will again send us a good pope, as so often in the past. For now, this pope is our cross.
@Pontifex May God encourage us all to bear the cross of having a deceitful, manipulative pope ruling the Church, imbued with fake humility and intent on acts of retribution and revenge. One day we will again know the joy of having a good, saintly pope, like so many in the past.
@Pontifex God help Marcantonio Colonna when this pope finds out his real identity, because this pope is sure to give him a taste of papal “mercy.” Ask anyone who has ever criticized or disagreed with this pope, and they will tell you what his “mercy” is like.
@Pontifex With this pope, it’s hard to tell the difference between “mercy” and “revenge.”
@Pontifex Evil people in leadership positions always think that if they just have better media arrangements, and better PR, then their “image” among ordinary people will improve. It won’t. People aren’t as stupid as their evil leaders think, whatever position that leader is in.
@Pontifex This pope says, “Jesus would always be with us, even if no one else remembered us.” Sadly, this pope will long be remembered for the wreckage he has already caused in the Church, unless Jesus is with him and brings about his conversion.
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2017.12.20
@Pontifex According to reports, “a new media website is the centerpiece of an updated Vatican approach to social communications.” However, it will not solve this pope’s problems. People know now what he is: deceitful, manipulative, angry, and vengeful. “You can’t fool all….”
@Pontifex Usquequo, Domine, usquequo? When will the horrors of this pontificate end?
@Pontifex “Pope Francis preaches on God’s tenderness” (Vatican Radio) (https://goo.gl/sziv7F) God is aware of the contents of “The Dictator Pope,” so He won’t be putting much stock in this pope’s preaching. No one else should, either.
@Pontifex A friend asked my why I’m so bitter and cynical about this pope. I said that disillusionment always produces bitterness and cynicism. I grew up when holy, saintly men were on the Throne of St Peter. This deceitful, manipulative, vengeful and incompetent pope is a shock.
@Pontifex “The Church hierarchy in the Vatican and around the world are all acting like Cdl. Dolan. They stand on the same platform with heretical priests like Fr. James Martin….The laity is sick of it.” https://goo.gl/kgc7ca
@Pontifex This pope tweets, “We become holy when we work for others.” So now we understand why this pope is what he is. He has worked only for power and for himself.
@Pontifex End Your Church’s suffering, O God. Please send us a good pope.
@Pontifex May the Lord grant this pope the wisdom to learn to love; may the Lord grant him the grace to control his anger and to stop being deceitful and manipulative. May the Lord grant him the grace of conversion so that he can be a good pope, not an evil one.
@Pontifex We pray for this pope, O God. Forgive him for everything evil that he has done. Help the souls he has led astray. Convert him, O God. Make him a good pope and a good man, or please send us a pope who is a good man, one who will be a great pope.
@Pontifex Forgive this pope, O Lord, for all the evil he has done; forgive him for gross errors and for all the chaos and confusion he has created in the Church; forgive him for his deceit and his anger and his fake humility. Send us a good pope, O Lord, please.
@Pontifex Forgive this pope, O Lord, for disillusioning so many people, for destroying their Faith, and leading them away from the Church; he has done this with all his errors and with the chaos and confusion he has created in the Church. O God, send us a good pope.
@Pontifex Send us a pope, O God, who is not sympathetic to the agenda of the Freemasons.
@Pontifex Help all the people, O Lord, whose faith has been destroyed by the errors of this pope, and by the chaos and confusion he has created in the Church. Reverse, somehow, O God, the effects of this catastrophic pontificate.
@Pontifex Enlighten the mind of this miserable pope, O Lord, so that he will understand what has done to the Church and will beg Your forgiveness. Help him to see how he has destroyed the Faith of so many souls, and help him to beg Your forgiveness for that as well.
@Pontifex Every stranger who knocks at this pope’s door seems to present an opportunity for this pope to exert his power, to manipulate and deceive, to vent his anger. It is, though, definitely an opportunity to spread error, chaos, confusion in the mind of one more human being.
@Pontifex “Yet still, good Catholics have this wrong. They are still ‘uncomfortable’ with saying things about a bishop or priest’s decisions that are harmful to the Church.” https://goo.gl/AiQwk8
@Pontifex Have mercy on this pope, O Lord.
@Pontifex Why, O Lord, do you allow this pope to punish faithful Catholics, while he promotes, supports, and approves of unfaithful ones? Why does evil exist, O God? Send us a good pope, Lord, or please convert this one and make him good.
@Pontifex O Lord, if only we had a pope who would, as this pope puts it, “go out to meet Jesus, spend time with Him in prayer, and entrust (his) life to His merciful love.” If only we had a good pope, Lord, one who is not given over to anger, deceit, error, and manipulation.
@Pontifex “This pope can fool all the faithful some of the time, and some of the faithful all the time, but he cannot fool all the faithful all the time.” – A paraphrase of the epigraph for “The Dictator Pope,” from a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln
@Pontifex Have mercy on this pope, Lord, and forgive him for the devastation he has caused in the Church. Make him a good pope, somehow, through your grace.
@Pontifex Send us a good pope, O Lord, one who can control his anger and will not punish faithful Catholics, a pope who will not spread error, chaos, and confusion in Your Church
@Pontifex “Manipulative, hypersensitive, and often downright vindictive, Pope Francis is certainly not the cheerful populist that his supporters make him out to be.” https://goo.gl/BT5eYg
@Pontifex Forgive this pope, O Lord.
@Pontifex Grant pardon, O Lord, to this poor pope who, through his errors and ignorance, has done such damage to Your Church. And Lord, please, repair this damage.
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“Choose life,” says Michael, quoting the Book of Deuteronomy, and this Vortex (https://goo.gl/ufuDKP) reminds me of an experience I had once.
One evening, at a certain point in my life, a not very happy point, many years ago, I was alone in my apartment in Honolulu with some television movie babbling away in the background. I was busy with something else, or at least my mind was somewhere else. I wasn’t paying any attention at all to what was on TV, except that I was vaguely aware that one of the characters was trying to convince one of the others to change sides and join some medieval army he was a member of.
I don’t even remember the title of the film – some forgettable costume epic or other, not at all religious in any way. As I said, I really wasn’t paying attention, but suddenly a line of dialogue broke through the fog in my brain.
All at once, I very clearly heard one of the actors saying, “It is better to be the servant of a kind master than the slave of a tyrant.”
The movie was forgettable, but I have never forgotten that line.
The effect on me was lasting. Not immediate, but lasting.
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2017.12.22
Re: https://goo.gl/WULQ7q
As an American, it’s not easy to remind myself of this, but the people of every great political entity, at least since the time of the Romans, seem always to have assumed that their society would last forever.
No society ever has.
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2017.12.25
@Pontifex Heaven values a pope for what he is: is this pope a good man? Is he a pope who spreads truth or error? Is he deceitful or honest? Is he manipulative or sincere? Is he vindictive or forgiving? Is he a pope who tries to wreck the Church or build it up?
@Pontifex So, this pope says the Mass is a “symphony.” Golly. Stupid me. All these years I thought the Mass is a sacrifice. And not only me, but saints, doctors of the Church, and lay people for 2000 years thought the same. Thank heaven we have this pope to set us straight.
@Pontifex Even though this pope punishes people – university professors, prelates, clerics, lay people – if they don’t agree with him, Lord, please don’t punish this pope for trying to wreck Your Church. Forgive him, Lord, and rebuild Your Church. And send us a good pope.
@Pontifex As this pope says, “Without love, both life and faith are worthless.” Without love, you wind up like this pope: obsessed with power, full of anger and vindictiveness, spreading error and confusion all around, with a life and faith that are worthless.
@Pontifex How long, Lord? Those who disagreed with this pope (and whom he later fired) he now ridicules because, he says, they make “martyrs” of themselves https://goo.gl/MyARWD He hires an LGBT activist company to run a new internet news platform https://goo.gl/HVC1sV
@Pontifex Forgive this poor pope, Lord, for all the souls he may have led to hell, and those he may be leading to hell right now, with his errors and confusion.
@Pontifex Deliver Your Church, Lord, from all the evil this sad pope has brought into it.
@Pontifex Deliver us, Lord, from the horrors that this pitiable pope has brought into your Church. And forgive him for all the evil he has done. Grant him the grace of conversion. Make him a good man. Or send us a good pope.
@Pontifex Show this pope the mercy, O Lord, that he has refused to show to anyone who disagrees with him.
@Pontifex May this pope free himself from the worldliness that has taken him hostage! A great pope loves others as God loves him. Such a pope doesn’t ridicule others, isn’t vindictive or hungry for power, doesn’t spy on others, doesn’t encourage informers, doesn’t promote error.
@Pontifex We beg you to forgive this pope, Lord, for all the evil he has done and for the way he has so greatly damaged Your Church.
@Pontifex You used the enormous riches of Your grace, Lord, to convert Dismas as he hung next to you on his cross. Please, use that same grace to convert this pope; make a good man of him. one who will stop wreaking havoc in Your Church, one who will remain faithful to You.
@Pontifex Pardon this pope, Lord, for not remaining faithful to Your teachings; help him to see the truth, even now.
@Pontifex Help this pope to see the truth, Lord, and to understand that it is You Who are the Truth – and the Life, and the Way. We beg You, O God, have mercy on this pope, this poor man.
@Pontifex If we do really want to celebrate Christmas, let’s contemplate this image: a good man on the Throne of St. Peter, a good pope, one who does not spread error, who is not angry and vindictive, who speaks of mercy and really is merciful toward those who disagree with him.
@Pontifex Enlighten this poor, benighted pope, O God. Illuminate the darkness of his mind, we beg You. Help him to understand what he has done to Your Church and help him to try to repair it.
@Pontifex If, Lord, You hear our prayers, and if this poor pope ever does comprehend the enormity of the evil he has brought to Your Church, help him not to despair but to seek Your forgiveness instead, as he tries, somehow, to repair the damage he has caused.
@Pontifex This is not a recipe for reform. https://goo.gl/RM9ZTL Not under a good pope, anyway.
@Pontifex “If Pope Francis has a new teaching to give the Church, if he is seeking as he claims to bring the true spirit of Christ to defeat a tradition of clerical legalism, why does he not proclaim it boldly and clearly….?” https://goo.gl/7RS5Z5
@Pontifex “Under the present papacy we have moved from a regime of teaching by clear dogma to insinuating by political manoeuvre.” https://goo.gl/7RS5Z5
@Pontifex “The Pope gave an address in which (conceivably inspired by some developments of the past few weeks) he has called for “precise and complete” information from the journalistic profession…I am happy to be absolutely on the Pope’s side.” https://goo.gl/7RS5Z5
@Pontifex When this pope contemplates the Baby Jesus, Who has a humble and infinite love, this pope should say to Him, “Let me have true humility, not fake humility. Make me a good man, truly loving, not angry and vindictive and power-hungry.”
@Pontifex At this Christmas season especially, let’s ask God to forgive this pope for what he has done to the Church, for the ruin he has visited on the Church, and for the suffering he has caused the faithful, through his errors, his confusion, his anger, and his vindictiveness.
@Pontifex According to the media here in Germany, this pope is calling for “compassion” for the “persecuted.” So greatly moved by anger and vindictiveness and suspicion of those around him, he no doubt includes himself among the “persecuted.”
@Pontifex Mary and Joseph are like today’s migrants? This “merceiful” pope and his gay colleagues still don’t get it. Mary and Joseph were not followers of a “religion” that is in fact an ideology intent on world domination through deceit and violence.
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2017.12.30
@Pontifex May this pope stop and look at the nativity scene: let him enter the true spirit of Christmas, bringing Jesus the converted spirit of a good pope, free of anger and vindictiveness, full of clarity and truth, faithful to the Gospel and the teachings of the Church.
@Pontifex Today, the Feast of St. Stephen, we read again that St. Paul, before his conversion, approved of Stephen’s murder. O God, who worked the miracle of Paul’s conversion and the miracle of the Good Thief’s conversion, convert this pope too. Make him a good man, a good pope.
@Pontifex “While Our Lady was perfectly sinless when she received her Lord in the incarnation, we too must be free from serious sin when we receive our Lord in the Eucharist.” – From “The Significance of the Eucharist in the Apparitions at Fatima” https://goo.gl/MChH8v
@Pontifex O Lord, forgive all men – especially this pope – who are angry, suspicious, vindictive, and deceitful, and who are prone to spreading error and confusion. Help such men, Lord. Help this poor pope.
@Pontifex This pope may be sad because he has been exposed for what he is, but he should not be sad. He should be happy. The truth is always better than delusion and deceit.
@Pontifex I respect this pope, even with the delusions he has about himself.
@Pontifex This pope wants to remember all those who suffer persecution. Is it possible that he is thinking mainly of himself as among those “who suffer persecution”? Probably. Angry and vindictive people often think like that. At any rate, we ask God to have mercy on this pope.
@Pontifex Lord, forgive this pope for all the evil he has done in Your Church, and please send us a good man to be our pope.
@Pontifex O God, send us a good pope, one who embodies the virtues You preached to us here on earth, not a pope who is angry, power-hungry, evil, vindictive, and hypocritical.
@Pontifex Please, Lord, send us a pope who will fill the ranks of the clergy with good, normal men, not a pope who fills those ranks with active homosexuals and other perverts, not a pope who allows active homosexual priests to live together with their lovers, as in New York.
@Pontifex “Pope defends embattled Cardinal Maradiaga” Of course. Accused of financial impropriety? Sexual impropriety? If this pope has power over you, he will defend you to preserve that power. But if you uphold traditional Church teachings? The pope defend you? Forget it.
@Pontifex Why are so many clerics who are close to this pope corrupt in some way? According to “The Dictator Pope,” a knowledge of their faults and flaws and corruption gives this pope power over them. And this pope is obsessed with questions of power. May God have mercy on him.
@Pontifex God is in love with us, even with evil human beings, even with this pope. God tries to draw this pope to Him with tenderness – even when this pope only pretends to be poor and fragile and humble, as God was – in reality, without pretense – when He was on this earth.
@Pontifex “5,000 Muslims desecrate church in Egypt” (https://goo.gl/rh9BXw) Obviously, these 5,000 Muslims don’t know what this pope knows, namely, that Islam is “a religion of peace.” No doubt someone will explain that to them. After 1,400 years it’s time they understood it.
@Pontifex Help us to respect this pope, Lord, despite the evil he’s done, despite his tolerance for active homosexual clerics, and despite the way he’s nearly destroyed Your Church.
@Pontifex The Apostolic Nuncio in Switzerland says he believes that “the Traditional Latin Mass is the future of the Church” (https://goo.gl/V3CmEy). I suppose he won’t be Apostolic Nuncio much longer. He probably won’t even be an archbishop much longer.
@Pontifex Today we pray for this pope, who spreads evil and deceit and confusion in the Church, who embraces supporters of abortion, who surrounds himself with corrupt homosexual clerics, and whose hand reaches out in vindictiveness instead of blessing.
@Pontifex “This horrendous exhibit, a sacrilegious attempt to turn the holy innocence of the manger in St. Peter’s Square into a lobbying tool for the homosexual rights movement, is just the latest fiendish act, symptomatic of this entire pontificate.” https://goo.gl/17jDeS
@Pontifex Lord, forgive this pope. Convert him. Make him a good man.
@Pontifex God, let this pope see how wrong – and wrong-headed – many of his ideas are, and how much they damage the Church. Help him to correct these ideas and to repair some of the ruin he has brought into the Church.
@Pontifex As God performed the miracle of Transubstantiation at Mass this morning, turning bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, so may He perform a miracle of conversion, turning this pope from what he is into a good man and a good pope.
@Pontifex This pope says, “Modesty is a virtue that is essential for anyone who wants to be like Jesus, who is meek and humble of heart.” Dear God, give this pope the virtue of modesty, take away his proud nature, his vindictiveness, his deceit, his inability to admit his errors.
@Pontifex We are all praying for this poor pope. May God have mercy on him – real mercy, not this pope’s “mercy” – for all the errors and confusion he has brought into the Church, for his anger and bitterness and vindictiveness and deceit.
@Pontifex May this pope, during these days, promote attitudes and gestures that favor peace, instead of suspicion, deceit, fake humility, vindictiveness, anger, manipulation of others, and an obsession with power.
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