True Signs Dept.: Catholic Faith summarized in four words

An assiduous reader sent us this one but didn't disclose the location of this Holy Trinity Church. (There are so many!) Anyone who knows the address is asked to put it in the comments box, which will open if you click on the headline.

Reminder

Cardinals say Church's problems stem from "progressives" undermining core Catholic beliefs

Cardinal Joseph Zen, the Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong,  has published a scathing rebuke to Jorge "Pope Francis" Bergoglio for ongoing attack on the traditional Latin Mass and other sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church.

In July, as reported here, the man who claims to be pope issued an apostolic letter, Traditionis Custodes (Guardians of Tradition - NOT!), restricting the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass in Catholic parishes and eliminating many existing accommodations for priests who wanted to use the traditional Tridentine form (called "the Extraordinary Form" by Benedict XVI) of the Catholic liturgy. 

In his post (link to English and Chinese versions at bottom), Cardinal Zen says Francis' letter contains "many tendentious generalizations" which "hurt more than expected the hearts of many good people."

The prelate goes on to say that the papal text "considers the very existence of a parallel rite [alongside the Novus Ordo or "new mass"] to be an evil," and clearly wishes "for the death of the [traditional] groups."

Traditionis Custodes was supposed to have been the result of a consultation with the bishops of the Church, but His Eminence claims it came "as a bitter surprise to me personally that the 'widespread' consultation did not reach me, a cardinal and once a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments." He writes, "Not having known either the questionnaire or the responses to the questionnaire, I cannot judge, but only suspect that there was much misunderstanding (or perhaps even manipulation) in the process."

Then comes the real sting. The real problem is not "which rite do people prefer," but rather "why don’t they go to Mass anymore?" 

Thus Cardinal Zen echoes the reflections of fellow Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former chief of the Congregation for the Defence of the Faith, who in an article published in July chided Francis for trying to suppress the traditional Latin Mass while at the same time allowing progressives to reject with impunity basic tenets of the True Faith.

Francis has "drastically restricted" the celebration of the Latin Mass (the prelate wrote) with the clear intent to "condemn the Extraordinary Form to extinction in the long run."

Worse, the Cardinal observed, by punishing the conservative peripheries, Francis "ignores the religious feelings of the (often young) participants in the Masses according to the Missal John XXIII" without the "slightest empathy.... Instead of appreciating the smell of the sheep, the shepherd here hits them hard with his crook!"

In summary, both Cardinal Zen and Cardinal Müller are saying unequivocally that the very real problems of today's Catholic Church do not come from traditionalists, but from progressives who undermine the core of Catholic belief.

Further reading: "Why do they see problem where there is none and close their eyes to the problem, for which they are also responsible?" - complete text of Cardinal Zen's blog post. And here's the Chinese version: "為什麼他們見到不存在的問題，卻見不到實在的問題，且也是他們有份造成的?"

Saints needed to stand up against the "most anti-Catholic President"

So says Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, a priest of the Diocese of Arlington VA and director of Human Life International. In his curiously-titled essay "In Gratitude for Joe Biden", published yesterday on the CatholicCulture.org website, Father Pokorsky calls Sleepy Joe "the most aggressively anti-Catholic President in history."

Why, then, should we be grateful to him? We'll come to that shortly, but first let's ask Father: But doesn't Mr Biden make a great show of being Catholic? Did he not say, in 2005, "The next Republican that tells me I'm not religious, I'm going to shove my rosary beads down their throat!"? 

That is true, says Fr. Pokorsky, but  despite Mr Biden's outward show of piety, "for most of his political life — from his consistent pro-abortion record to his officiating at a gay wedding in 2016 — despite his Catholic affiliation and public pious practices, Joe Biden has magnified and institutionalized countless major violations of the Ten Commandments."

"The hypocrisy rivals that of the chief priests and Pharisees, and is worthy of the same condemnation," Fr. Pokorsky writes. "Indeed, Biden is the most aggressively anti-Catholic President in history."

Why would the priest say that? Because of the hypocrisy -- the dichotomy between his outward show of piety on the one hand and his record of supporting evil on the other. "Biden’s habitual and unapologetic sinful acts are on full display." 

There's a lot more to being a faithful Catholic, Fr. Pokorsky says, than carrying a rosary, the priest declares. "It is presumptuous and dangerous to proclaim oneself as a devout Catholic or to encourage (or even allow) the description." Indeed, Jesus said, "Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father..." (St. Matthew 7:21 DRV)

China Joe's positions on key moral issues are hardly consistent with his description of himself as a Catholic. For instance, he has declared himself committed to codifying Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. And he has promised to appoint judges "that respect foundational precedents like Roe."

But wait, there's more.... Mr Biden has also called on Congress to quickly pass the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. And there's his nomination of Xavier Becerra to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. See "Biden names never-Trumper and gender ideologue to HHS", WWW 26/2/21.

Fr. Pokorsky argues persuasively that Mr Biden's insistent claim that he is a devout Catholic forces an "unavoidable choice." We either: stand with the Church and reject Biden's "iconic culture-of-death policies," or we join those who "celebrate Biden’s flouting of Church teaching."

So why should we be thankful that Sleepy Joe now now snoozes in the Oval Office, waking every now and then to undo some of the good done by President Trump? Because, Father says, "The election of Biden has forced a crisis. From the ashes, we can expect the Holy Spirit to raise up successors to those who opposed another anti-Catholic tyrant: Saint John Fisher and Saint Thomas More. May there be many of them!" Amen.

VIDEO: Voting for pro-abort candidates/parties is mortal sin, sez Bishop

Yesterday Walt commented on the disgraceful apology made by Most Rev. (but not "most Catholic") Michael Mulhall, Archbishop of Kingston, Canada, to the gay pride nazis.

The prelate reprimanded one of his diocesan priests for having the temerity to point out in a church bulletin that homosexual acts are contrary to Christian Faith and morals, and supporting or encouraging homosexuality is sinful. That's what the Catholic Church has always taught, and it is incomprehensible, to me, that an archbishop (no less) should back away from that teaching for the sake of "inclusivity", "diversity" or other politically correct nonsense.

Today, I'm pleased to report that there another bishop, closer to the South Pole than the North, who does not accept Pope Francis' "Who am I to judge?" philosophy, and has had the courage to speak plainly and publicly on another "controversial" sin, abortion.

Speaking on the Argentinian TV programme Keys to a Better World on Saturday, Msgr Héctor Aguer, Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of La Plata, urged the faithful not to vote for candidates or parties that support abortion. The prelate told his audience that "the abortion issue is one of the chief topics to consider," in choosing whom to vote for in Argentina's upcoming elections. "Opting for a pro-abortion candidate or for a party that includes abortion in its platform is a mortal sin." Here's the video.



Walt regrets that there are (as yet) no English subtitles, but hopes the message will register with Spanish-speaking Catholics and (more urgently) with priests and bishops like Abp Mulhall who are compromising with the secular humanists on matters of faith and morals, in the name of "accompaniment". Let us pray that Our Lord and His Blessed Mother will, by the example of Abp Aguer and others, set the modernists and those who are lukewarm in the Faith back on the right path.

A timely restatement of the True Faith

If you ask a practising Catholic -- never mind about the millions who have left the Church -- what they believe and what the Church believes, he or she might be hard-pressed to tell you. That's because their religious education has been sadly neglected, even in the so-called "Catholic schools". Not only that, the leaders of the Church (Hello, Holy Father!) are themselves unclear in their teaching, constantly contradicting themselves and confusing the faithful. Who knows what the Pope believes?

Faced with the great confusion which weakens the Faith and weakens Holy Mother Church, one courageous prelate, Gerhard Cardinal Müller, has apparently grown tired of waiting for a "Vatican III" to correct the manifest errors of Vatican II, and has this week issued a "Manifesto of Faith", in which he restates the core elements of the Faith of our fathers.

Cardinal Müller was the Prefect (= head) of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2012 until the summer of 2017, when he was fired by Pope Francis for having the temerity to suggest that the Holy Father might be leading the Church into error on such things as the necessity of being Catholic to be saved from eternal damnation. See "Battle between modernism and tradition heats up as Pope fires 3IC", WWW 3/7/17.

Cardinal Müller's manifesto echos another restatement of the Faith, "Credo of the People of God", proclaimed in 1968 by Paul VI. That was a rather late-in-the-day attempt by the Pope to pour some oil on the troubled waters which he himself had stirred up. In the wake of Vatican II, the Church was in turmoil, and many Catholics were no longer sure what to believe. So, having opened the window through which "the smoke of Satan...entered the Church" (his own words!), Pope Montini felt it his duty to reaffirm the pillars of Church doctrine, taking as a starting point the Credo of the Council of Nicaea, aka the Nicene Creed, still recited by the faithful at traditional Catholic masses.

Instead of the Nicene Creed, Cardinal Müller has taken as the guideline for his "Manifesto of Faith", the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), adopted following Vatican II. His manifesto is thus not open to challenge as being an attempt to turn back the clock to a statement of the Faith as it was prior to the great "reform" of the Council. But even though it quotes the CCC, the manifesto accurately reflects and restates the stone truths of the Catholic Faith -- the Faith of our Fathers -- that the Church has always believed.

Saint Paul wrote to Saint Timothy, "there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables. But be thou vigilant, labour in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil thy ministry." (II Timothy 4:3-5, DRV) That is what Cardinal Müller has done. Lack of space keeps us from posting his "Manifesto of Faith", but you can click here to read the complete text. This what Catholics believe. This is the True Faith.

Footnote: LifeSite News (which Walt reads regularly and recommends highly) has started a petition of support for Cardinal Müller in his efforts to correct at least some of the errors of Pope Francis' pontificate. Click here to find out more and add your signature!

Is there really no Hell? Then what are we worried about?

Just in time for the Easter Triduum, Vatican flak-catchers are scrambling to deny that sentiments attributed to Pope Francis in an interview with the founder of La Repubblica are not overt heresy. In reaction to reports that the Pontiff has denied the existence of hell, the Vatican has released a carefully worded statement that does not refute the substance of the claims.

An unsigned statement released on March 29th says (translated), "The Holy Father Francis recently received the founder of the newspaper La Repubblica in a private meeting for the occasion of Easter, without giving him an interview. What is reported by the author in today's article is the result of his reconstruction, in which the Pope's exact words are not cited. No quotation of the aforementioned article must therefore be considered as a faithful transcription of the Holy Father's words."

The article referred to is "Il Papa: 'È un onore essere chiamato rivoluzionario'" ("The Pope: 'It's an honour to be called a revolutionary'"), published on March 28th. According to the newspaper, Pope Francis, in a recent conversation with his longtime friend, Eugenio Scalfari (the founder of the paper) expressly denied the existence of hell and the immortality of the human soul.

Cutting through the spin, the Vatican statement says only that the article is not a faithful transcription of the Pope's "exact words". However, the statement doesn't take issue with the basic content of the conversation. Nor does it say that the author's reconstruction of the conversation is erroneous, or does it deny that Francis said that hell does not exist.

If the substance of the conversation is reported correctly, even those Catholics who have tied themselves into pretzels defending the unorthodox ravings of Pope Bergoglio have to admit that this latest pronouncement is a huge addition to the body of heretical statements enunciated by the Holy (?) Father.

Here is a translation of the thoughts (?) attributed to Francis by Sgnr Scalfari. "They [condemned souls] are not punished. Those who repent obtain the forgiveness of God and enter the rank of souls who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and cannot therefore be forgiven disappear. There is no hell, there is the disappearance of sinful souls."

Such a statement is overtly heretical. The Catholic Church clearly asserts the existence of hell. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire". The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

And further:
The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

By contrast, what the Pope said is more like the belief of the pagan ancient Egyptians, who believed that condemned souls are devoured by the goddess Ammit and thus deprived of eternal existence. But the de-fide Dogma of the Church, is: The souls of those who die in the condition of personal grievous sin enter Hell.

Yes, that applies to me and thee, even to popes. To say that there is no Hell and that condemned souls simply "disappear", is heresy.

Footnote: The depiction of a pope being directed by the Devil to enter hell was created by the English artist and poet, William Blake, in 1794. Entitled "Lucifer and the Pope in Hell", it shows an infernal landscape, with flames to the left, and six figures partially visible, sunk in a river or mire, wound in a serpent's coils. To the right, the nude figure of Lucifer, his body covered in scales, points a spear to the left; in front of him, the figure of a pope looking right, into a smoky landscape. A typeprint may be seen in the British Museum in London.

VIDEO: Michael Matt excoriates the latest stupidities from the Vatican

That's "stupidities", plural. Michael Matt, Editor of The Remnant newspaper, is audibly and visibly out of patience with the pontificate of Pope Francis, and with the Holy? Father himself. Was it really necessary, he asks, for the Vatican's Christmas Nativity scene to include a statue of a naked man? Does the Our Father (or Lord's Prayer, if you like) really need to be edited? The Pope's call to correct the 2000-year-old prayer dominates international headlines and confounds Catholics and Protestants alike. With Mr Matt we say, "STOP IT, FRANCIS!"

And there's more. At about 10:30 of the video, Mr Matt reports the good news -- something of a rarity in the Church today -- of the Pledge of Fidelity now being circulated and signed by pro-life and pro-family leaders throughout the world. They pledge to resist pastors -- including Pope Francis -- who deviate from authentic Church teaching on marriage and the family.

VIDEO: Catholics! Into the new catacombs! Keep the Faith!

Yes, it's a short (2:14) promo for Remnant TV, which Walt recommends highly. Leaving that aside, the message is sound and urgent. The Catholic Faith is in danger from heretics and apostates at the highest levels within the Roman Catholic Church. It's time for those who believe what the Church always taught -- up until Vatican II -- to "circle the wagons", or, to use a more religious turn of phrase, go once more into the catacombs, there to keep alive the True Faith as revealed to us by Our Lord Jesus Christ.

UPDATED 14/12 - Pope Francis - losing it or already lost it?

A few weeks ago, Francis Cardinal George, on his retirement as Archbishop of Chicago, said he was struggling to understand Pope Francis and the latter's puzzling and often contradictory pronouncements. In a November interview with Crux ("Covering all things Catholic"), the prelate posed a series of questions he’d like to ask Pope Francis, including whether the pontiff fully understands the way some of his statements "leave people wondering if he still holds the doctrine."

Francis did two things this week that could only have increased the wonderment -- perhaps we can even say "doubt" -- of Cardinal George but 1000s of other churchmen and faithful Catholics.

The Dalai Lama visited Rome this week, and, like most tourists, had a yen to visit the Vatican and meet the Pope. But Francis -- the great apostle of ecumenism -- refused! How strange! In the name of ecumenism, this pope has met with leaders of our separated (Orthodox) brethren, going so far as to bow low to Patriarch Bartholomew I and ask for his blessing.

Strange behaviour for someone who is supposed to be the successor of St. Peter, and head of the Church established by Our Lord Himself.

Pope Francis has also met with Jewish leaders and (of course) Muslim leaders, in the name of the false ecumenism which he preaches nowadays. (What he's promoting is actually a form of syncretism, the heretical notion that all religions are equal, all leading towards the same God. This is contrary to Catholic dogma.) But for the spiritual leader of millions of Buddhists? Errr, sorry, no. That might upset the Chinese Communists, with whom the Church is trying to coexist peacefully, in spite of the fact that they keep killing our clergy and faithful.

Further reading on WWW:
"China -- not a good place to be a democrat or a Catholic"
"Archbishop of Chicago talks about the high price of US citizenship"

But wait, there's more! Mysteriously unreported on Jeff Mirus's Catholic World News website -- I call it "The Daily Pope" -- was Francis's pronouncement this week that... wait for it... all dogs go to heaven!

"One day," the Pope said, "we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God's creatures." Amazing! It may be a popular sentiment -- great news for all animal lovers -- but it's completely contrary to Catholic dogma, which teaches us that only human beings can go to heaven, because only humans have souls!

We really must wonder, with Cardinal George, if, in his quest for praise and popularity from the world at large, the Humblest Pope Ever has abandoned completely the Catholic Faith which it is his solemn obligation to protect. God knows.

Comment from Ed.: Perhaps Francis intends  his pronouncement to be the new "dog"ma. Geddit?! 

UPDATE AND CORRECTION! - Apparently there was much soiling of shorts at the Vatican over reports that Pope Francis said all creatures can go to heaven.  Deputy Spokesthingy Fr. Ciro Benedettini said he received a number of calls on the story on Friday, and was taken by surprise because he didn't recall the Pope saying anything like that in remarks at his weekly general audience on Nov. 26.

The New York Times, which ran a story on Thursday about the purported comment, acknowledged its mistake in a correction on Friday that it had misattributed a remark made by Pope Paul VI. So that's OK then because we know that Paul VI is only a step from sainthood, so he must be in heaven and he hasn't sent down a correction.

Another comment from Ed.: Sadly, the misquote may dog Francis' papacy for years.

Book review: "Crucial Truths to Save Your Soul"

If you don't believe in the afterlife -- in Heaven and Hell -- you can stop reading right now. This is not for you. But if you do believe, or even if you're just unsure, you should read Crucial Truths to Save Your Soul, the latest book by Father Nicholas Gruner, "the Fatima Priest".

Father Gruner has written many short pieces -- magazine articles, papers and the like -- but this is only his second book. The first was World Enslavement or Peace, which concentrated chiefly on the Message of Our Lady of Fatima, which Father Gruner has been preaching relentlessly for nearly four decades. In Crucial Truths to Save Your Soul, Father Gruner answers the question: What is the purpose of human life?

The answer, as anyone who has been properly taught the basics of the Catholic Faith should know, is that the purpose of human life is to save our immortal souls.

Sadly, fewer and fewer people -- even highly educated people, even Catholic churchmen -- actually know the Catholic Faith. They have come of age since the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), which blurred and distorted the clear truths of the traditional Faith handed down to us from the Apostles through the great doctors, teachers and leaders of the Church. As Father Gruner says, they have not been nourished on the solid food of the true Faith, but have been fed "the sentimental pablum of our times".

This lack of formation in Catholic truth has terrible consequences. People make decisions about crucial matters -- marriage, for instance -- based on wrong information, on false ideas. As a result, their lives become a mess -- full of confusion and disorder.

In the 50 years since Vatican II, the condition of the Church and the world has grown steadily worse. Most Catholics don't understand why so many bad things are happening in our society and in their own church. In Crucial Truths to Save Your Soul, Father Gruner argues that we can no longer rely on our Church leaders to be faithful to the immemorial truths of the Deposit of Faith. He clears away the fog that has settled over the Catholic landscape since Vatican II, and shows clearly how we can separate the things we must believe to be saved from the things -- the novelties and heresies -- we must reject.

Crucial Truths to Save Your Soul is concise, factual, and easy to read -- unlike some other "Fatimist" books. Reading it is like having a conversation with Father Gruner about what his work has meant and what he has learned over the years. One of my dear Catholic friends told me "I learned things I should have known before, which became perfectly clear to me as I read this book."

The book includes, as an appendix, the interview given by Sister Lucia, the chief seer of Fatima, to Father Augustine Fuentes, on 26 December 1957. We can see now the accuracy of her prophecy of the defections and betrayals of so many priests and nuns. Her plea is even more timely for us today than when she spoke in the last known public statement she gave before being silenced almost totally for the rest of her life.

Also worth reading is the preface by James Hanisch, who collaborated with Father Gruner in the writing of Crucial Truths to Save Your Soul. He recounts his conversation with Father Gruner in April of 2013, which led to the writing of the book.

"If only [he writes] there were a brief and simple booklet...demonstrating that the true Catholic Rule of Faith is not arbitrarily subject to the whims and fads of a 'living magisterium', and that no churchman of any rank has the 'authority' to change Revealed Truth or to undermine the good of the Church."

Now, that book is available. To get a copy, send an e-mail to info@fatima.org, or call toll-free: 1-800-263-8160. Tell them Walt sent you. And no, Walt doesn't get anything for making this recommendation. I believe Crucial Truths to Save Your Soul is a book you should read for the purpose disclosed by the title, so I'm telling you about it. Period.

Vatican experts verify authenticity of miracle attributed to intercession of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Catholics praying for the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen may well offer a prayer of thanks, as a panel of theologians has approved a miracle attributed to his intercession.

The Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation announced that the Vatican experts had verified the authenticity of the miracle, which involved the revival of an infant who had appeared to be stillborn. In March, a panel of physicians had found that there was no medical explanation for the child's recovery.

The miracle still requires formal approval from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. If the Pope Francis then authorizes the release of a decree certifying the miracle, all requirements would be fulfilled for the beatification of Archbishop Sheen. Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria IL, Archbishop Sheen's hometown, said that there is "no timeline" for the final Vatican approval of the miracle, or the scheduling of a beatification ceremony. He did say, however, that the beatification would be held in Peoria.

According to Catholic tradition, beatification is the first step on the road to sainthood. Normally -- although it's hard to say what is "normal" at the Vatican these days -- a second miracle is required for canonization.

Traditional Good Friday prayers

Good Catholic friends... If you attend the Good Friday Liturgy at a mainstream Roman Catholic church today, you will hear only a "reformed", politically correct version of the Solemn Prayers which were said in all our churches, on every Good Friday for centuries, until the disorientation caused by Vatican II. Here are the old prayers in a translation bearing the imprimatur of Francis Cardinal Spellman.

1. For Holy Church
Almighty and eternal God, who in Christ hast revealed They glory to all nations: preserve the works of Thy mercy; that Thy Church, spread abroad over the whole world, may with a steadfast faith persevere in the confession of Thy Name. Through the same our Lord...

2. For the Supreme Pontiff
Almighty and eternal God, by whose judgment all things are established, mercifully regard our prayers, and in Thy goodness preserve the Chief Bishop chosen to rule over us: that the Christian people who are governed by Thine authority, may under so great a Pontiff increase in the merits of their faith. Through our Lord...

3. For all orders and degrees of the faithful
Almighty and eternal God, by whose Spirit the w hole body of the Church is sanctified and governed, hear our supplications for all the orders thereof; that by the gift of Thy grace, they may all in their several degrees faithfully serve Thee. Through our Lord...

4. For the Rulers of the State
Almighty and eternal God, in whose hands is all power and authority: look with mercy on those who govern us, that Thy right hand protecting us, integrity of faith and security of country may be preserved. Through our Lord Jesus Christ...

5. For Catechumens
Almighty and eternal God, Who dost continually enrich Thy Church with a new offspring; increase the faith and understanding of our Catechumens; that being born again in the waters of Baptism, they may be joined to the children of Thine adoption. Through our Lord...

6. For the necessities of the faithful
Almighty and eternal God, the Comfort of the sorrowful, the Support of the weary, let the prayers of them reach Thee that cry to Thee in any affliction; that all may have reason to rejoice that in their need Thy mercy hath come to their aid. Through our Lord...

7. For the Unity of the Church
Almighty and eternal God, Who saves all men, and desirest not that any should perish: look down on such souls as are deceived by the wiles of the devil; that laying aside all heretical perverseness, the hearts of those who are in error may be converted, and may return to the unity of Thy truth. Through our Lord...

8. For the conversion of the Jews
Almighty and eternal God, Who art ready to extend Thy mercy even to the Jews, hear the prayers which we offer for the blindness of that people; that by acknowledging the light of Thy truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness. Through the same our Lord...

9. For the conversion of infidels
Almighty and eternal God, Who dost ever desire the life, and not the death, of sinners: mercifully receive our prayer, and deliver them from the worship of idols, and join them to the flock of Thy holy Church, for the praise and glory of Thy Name. Through our Lord...

Cause for beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen makes progress

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was the first Catholic TV star. (OK, there was Ed Sullivan, but we're talking about a Catholic clergyman!) His programme, Life Is Worth Living, began in 1951 and attracted millions of viewers in prime time. At one time the most popular programme on American TV, it can still be seen in reruns and on YouTube.

In October of 1979, two months before the prelate's death, Pope John Paul II visited St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and embraced him, saying, "You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are a loyal son of the Church." And so he was.

In due course a cause for Archbishop Sheen's canonization was opened. Yesterday the President of the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation, Most Rev. Daniel Jenky, Bishop of Peoria, announced that a team of medical experts has verified the authenticity of a miracle attributed to Archbishop Sheen's intercession. This moves the beloved preacher a step closer to beatification.

The panel of experts, appointed by the Vatican, found no medical explanation for the case of a child who was restored to life after being stillborn. Medical personnel had tried for an hour to revive the child, without success, while the parents prayed for the intercession of Archbishop Sheen. The child, born in September 2010, is now a healthy 3-year-old.

The reported miracle will now be examined by a team of theologians. If they approve, it will then be submitted to the entire Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The final approval of the miracle would fulfill the last requirement for the beatification of Cardinal Sheen, who was proclaimed “Venerable” by Pope Benedict XVI in June 2012.

Click here to visit a website which includes links to 48 audio files (MP3) of Archbishop Sheen's teachings on Life is Worth Living. Younger Catholics raised on the wishy-washy catechism which followed Vatican II should hear these clear and powerful statements of the True Faith, the traditional Faith of Our Fathers.

Finally, Walt offers one -- just one -- of the many talks by Archbishop Sheen which you can find on YouTube. This is one of the later ones, not a recording of the TV show, although there are plenty of those too. Since we are just beginning Lent, it will do us good -- you and me -- to listen to this reflection on sin, guilt and the Sacrament of Confession. (There's no such sacrament in the modern Church. Now they call it "reconciliation" and nobody talks about it much because it makes us feel... well... you know... kind of guilty.)

Has Russia been chosen by God to chastise us, and so bring us back to the Faith?

It is said that great minds think alike. Trouble is, they don't all think alike at the same time. As a result, there are 1000s of stories, ideas, thoughts, comments and pieces of junk whirling around on the Internet, like so many rocks in the Asteroid Belt. Every now and then one of them whizzes by the window of Walt's cabin -- the Internet window, I mean -- and is noticed. And sometimes I think, hang on, I've seen that one before.

That happened this very day, when Agent 9 sent up the text of "America as the Last Man Standing", a speech made by Geert Wilders, Chairman of the Netherlands Freedom Party, at an event sponsored by the Hudson Institute in New York on 25 September 2008. Turns out Walt ran this in May of last year as "Geert Wilders warns USA: Muslims taking over Europe -- you're next!"

Walt thinks it's worth another look -- even more relevant and urgent now than it was then. Here's Agent 9's comment.

I think Hilaire Belloc foresaw this many years ago. If we don't do something about abortion, gay marriage, and pornography, God will appoint someone to do it for us! So let's pray that we will make these things illegal without the help of the Muslims. And that can only happen if we see a revival of the Catholic Faith.

Maybe the Russia/Ukraine problem is the beginning of the isolation and alienation of Russia that will lead to her being a threat to the world that will finally persuade the Pope to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart. Then Russia will be converted and there will be a period of peace for the world.

Our Lady told Sister Lucy: "It will be late, but Russia will be consecrated...etc." Then Russia may turn out to be the moral leader of the world.

Walt's greeting to all who celebrate Hallowe'en

One picture is worth 1000 words, they say. So I don't need to spell this out, do I? Walt dislikes Hallowe'en intensely.

I speak of "modern Hallowe'en", as it is celebrated in English-speaking North America in the year of Our Lord [and don't you forget it! Ed.] 2013. In some parts of our land, more money is spent on decorations and costumes and parties for Hallowe'en than is spent on celebrating Christmas. Just another sign of our sick society's abandonment of Christian values and adoption of paganism. Because that's what Hallowe'en is -- a pagan festival!

In medieval times ignorant people believed strongly in the devil and all his works -- witchcraft, vampires and zombies, ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night. As so beautifully illustrated in the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence in Disney's Fantasia, they thought that on the eve of All Hallows Day (= All Saints Day), the poor sould suffering for their sins in Purgatory rose from their graves for a night of revelry, after which they would return to the netherworld for another year. That is the origin of our modern Hallowe'en and the idea of dressing up as ghosties, etc etc.

But aren't we carrying it a bit far, these days? Why the sudden fascination with zombies, the "living dead", who tonight will be seen in their numbers stumbling along our streets? Zombies are the flavour of the month -- or year. Last year vampires, this year zombies. Go figure.

But vampires and zombies are not creatures to be admired or envied. They are the undead! In olden times, it was considered wise to drive a stake through the heart of a vampire or other evil creature, to prevent them from rising on Hallowe'en or any other night. Today we have "zombie runs" through the streets of our cities. Go figure.

Walt notes that the make-believe monsters infesting our public places are mostly teens and "young adults". Only a generation ago, Hallowe'en was for children, not juvenile delinquents. And the kids dresed up as fairies (the Tinkerbell kind), ladybugs and cute cartoon characters. All that has changed. Now it's a competition to see who can be the bloodiest and scariest. Some fun, eh, kids?

And we don't seem to have as many children calling at our cabin in the woods, because little kids are no longer allowed to be out after dark without parental supervision and "security". (That's one reason why Daylight Savings Time now ends on the first weekend of November.)

When Walt was a kid [before the earth's crust cooled. Ed.] we used to go out, by ourselves, in groups of three or four, and we roamed all over town -- OK, it was a small town -- in quest of tooth-rotting Hallowe'en kisses and other sugary goodies. Now our society is so sick that people feel the need to accompany their children, lest some pervert lure them into his lair or put something harmful -- like a razor blade concealed in an apple -- into their Gucci loot bags. And of course they only call on the houses of close neighbours, because the children must learn never to talk to strangers.

One last thought. Tomorrow is All Saints Day, and November 2nd is All Souls Day. (In countries such as Mexico and the Philippines, where Catholic tradition is still strong, All Souls Day is known as "The Day of the Dead".) At one time these were Holy Days of Obligation in the Church, and Catholics who strive to keep the Faith of our fathers should still hear Mass and pray for the souls of the faithful departed, RIP+.

Right on point (and on cue!): "Hallowe'en: when did it become so gory?", on the CBC News website.

UPDATED 23/10: Do you have to accept Vatican II to be Catholic?

Walt apologizes to non-Catholic (and even anti-Catholic) readers for posting so many items about Pope Francis, the dire state the Roman Catholic Church, and the traditional Catholic opposition to Vatican II and the mainstream Church. But, dear readers, the Church is in crisis -- more so now than ever before -- and if the Church falls, the Western world will fall, and the rest of the world with it.

That is what Our Lady of Fatima meant when She warned that if Heaven's requests are not obeyed, the consequences will be the enslavement of millions and the annihilation of nations. So please bear with me. This is important.

My post yesterday about the rather Damascene conversion of Bishop Fellay, leader of the Society of St. Pius X, echoed strong comments both for and against the bishop, from within the SSPX and from people who consider themselves good Catholics, in communion with Rome and obedient to the Magisterium of the Church and the "teachings" of Vatican II.

One such is Jeff Mirus, of Trinity Communications, publishers of Catholic World News. In an e-mail to Agent 3, he wrote "the Traditionalists (by which I mean those who reject the authority of the Church in favor of their own private reading of tradition) seem more and more sure to spin away now from any pretense of Catholicity, as Bishop Fellay has already done.... Bishop Fellay has...rejected the Church of Christ. It is impossible to reject an ecumenical Council and condemn the Church’s liturgy without rejecting the Church...."

Like Pope Francis, Jeff Mirus is in error. Traditional Catholics stand for the traditional Catholic Faith as defined by numerous truly ecumenical councils, papal bulls and encyclicals, and the infallible and unchangeable dogma of the Church. "Private reading" as nothing to do with it!

Mr Mirus is in error also when he calls Vatican II an "ecumenical" council. It was not and did not hold itself out to be, which is one of the reasons why the teachings of the Council were never defined anywhere its documents as dogma.

UPDATE, 23/10/13 - Before you go on to the talk by Father Gregory Hesse (below), take a look at "On Pope Francis’ Consecration of the World: A Reply to Jeff Mirus" by Christopher Ferrara, which appeared October 18th in Fatima Perspectives.

Agent 3 has referred Mr Mirus to a talk given some years ago, during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, by Father Gregory Hesse. Fr Hesse held doctorates in both Thomistic theology and Canon Law. From 1986-88 he served at the Vatican as Secretary to Alfons Cardinal Stickler, one of the periti on the Liturgy Commission of the Council, and one of those who spoke out -- too late -- against the Council and the New Mass.

Father Hesse spoke extensively on the true and false understanding of Papal infallibility and the modern errors in the understanding of sacred tradition, religious liberty and ecumenism brought about by the errors or obscurity and lack of definition in the documents of Vatican II.

His talk "Vatican 2 gave us a New Religion" contrasts what the Council documents (and the first encyclical of John Paul II) teach with established Church teaching derived from previous councils and Papal encyclicals. I'm sorry this "video" is really an "audio". It runs for almost 50 minutes and is well worth listening to in its entirety.

New tests date Shroud of Turin to time of Christ

Andrea Tornielli has been mentioned in WWW before as one of the preeminent Vaticanistas (Vatican watchers). It is rumored that the "Pope Emeritus", as they want us to call Benedict XVI, used to turn to Sr Tornielli's "Vatican Insider" blog to make sure he was getting the straight goods from the Great Prevaricator (Cardinal Bertone).

Sr Tornielli's column of March 26th has an extremely interesting report on the results of fresh experiments on the Shroud of Turin, conducted at the University of Padua. The latest tests confirm that the Shroud does indeed date back to the 1st Century A.D. -- the time of Our Lord Jesus Christ.   This makes its compatible with Catholic tradition, which holds that the cloth with the image of the crucified man imprinted on it is the very one Jesus' body was wrapped in when he was taken down from the cross.

The study was made by Giulio Fanti, a professor of mechanical and thermal measurement, who cooperated with Saverio Gaeta to produce a new book, Il Mistero della Sindone ("The Mystery of the Shroud"), which cites the evidence of the new tests, conducted on fibres taken from the Shroud.

Further testing was required because some years ago a different group of researchers, after making Carbon-14 tests, claimed that the cloth was manufactured in medieval times. It now appears that the fibres tested previously were taken from a part of the Shroud that had been repaired following a fire around the 13th century. But the medieval dating was at odds with the style of painting used by artists of that period. Moreover, analysis of the "paint" itself failed to match any pigments or dyes known at that time or this.

The research conducted more recently included three new tests, two chemical ones and one mechanical one. The average dating of the three tests is 33 BC ±250 years -- 95% certain and 100% compatible with the historic date of Jesus' death on the cross.

Click here for more details of this and other stories on the Shroud of Turin.   And -- believe it or not -- there’s an app for that! It’s called "Sindone 2.0" and you can get a free preview (in Italian) of the app in operation by viewing the video clip in this article from Oggi.

Pope Francis: a traditional Catholic's view

Christopher A. Ferrara, Esquire -- that's the way he likes his name to appear -- has written several books and numeours articles on the struggle to uphold the traditional Catholic Faith against the onslught of secular humanism, modernism and syncretism within the Church itself. Walt has received in the overnight e-mail Mr. Ferrara's reaction to the election of Pope Francis.

What are we to make of the new Pope? In the journalistic arena from which this is being dispatched, one feels the pressure to say something definite almost immediately or risk dying the death of being ignored amidst a welter of “first impressions.” But this writer is going to let the story evolve.

It is said that as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, the former Cardinal Bergoglio was hostile to the traditional Latin Mass, but it is far too soon to make any prognostications in that regard. And now that he is pastor of the universal Church, in which the Latin Mass is returning to use on every continent, it is difficult to see him implementing any such merely parochial prejudice contrary to the letter and spirit of Summorum Pontificum and the liturgical restoration it has already launched. Indeed, as we learned today at the Vatican press conference, the first papal Mass, this evening in the Sistine Chapel, will be in Latin, even if it will not follow the 1962 Missal.

As further revealed at the Vatican press conference, after he prayed before the famous icon of Mary under the title Salus Populi Romani (Protectress of the Roman People) at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major early this morning, Pope Francis made it a point to pray as well before the tomb of Saint Pius V, who canonized the traditional Mass in perpetuity with his Bull Quo Primum. As one Italian traditionalist blog site observed of this gesture:

The conciliatory gesture escaped no one, seeing the terror that was wrongly spread among traditionalists and that some of their expressions of opinion have emphasized. Of Ratzinger it was said that he was a Rottweiler of the Catholic Faith, but instead he was a very sweet German pastor. Of Bergoglio they now say he is a South American revolutionary, and instead is seen a Pope in the line of his predecessors, who salutes the Pontiff of the Missal rehabilitated by Benedict XVI.

This much we know with surety from what we have seen thus far: that the new Pope is a humble man with evident Marian devotion. His first devotional act as Pope was to brush aside all concerns about security in order to pay a visit to the largest Marian church in Rome, bringing Our Lady a bouquet of flowers and leaving it before the icon of Mary as Protectress of the Roman People.

The most important question now before us respecting the new Pope is this: Will he perform the Consecration of Russia to Mary's Immaculate Heart? For this we must pray, wait, and hope with renewed determination.

Walt tells you who the next Pope won't be

Will the next Pope be Catholic? By that I mean, someone who holds to the Traditional Faith, given to us by Jesus Christ, while He was here on earth with us, and handed down to us by His apostles through Holy Mother Church.

If someone who keeps the Faith is to become Pope -- as Walt hopes and earnestly prays -- that would exclude the Great Pretender, the prelate who likes to think of himself as "Deputy Pope" and "prime minister of the Church". That would be Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, perhaps the most reviled man in the curia.

Speculation is rife as to the reasoning behind Pope Ratzinger's decision to resign. The Holy Father said that he no longer had the mental and physical strength which he believes the position requires. And it is reported this morning that he told a German journalist two years ago that he would resign if he no longer felt he could carry on.

In this, one can see the Holy Father's wish to avoid the sad and sorry spectacle of Pope John Paul II, who, in the last years of his pontificate, objectively appeared to have lost some of his faculties. If JPII had been your grandfather, you'd have put him in a home! It was painful to watch him die in office, but he was determined, it seems, to carry on to the end.

But his doing so had grave consequences for his papacy and for Holy Mother Church. Some of the things he said and did, in those last years, caused many believers -- not just traditionalists either -- to question whether the pope had taken leave of his senses. I refer to the travesty of the syncretic sacrilege at Assisi, and JPII's whimsical decision to add a fourth set of Mysteries to the Holy Rosary given to us by Our Lady.

The older and more "out of it" John Paul got, the worse things became. Questions were rightly asked about who was really running the Church! The answer is that even though the pope was Polish, the powers behind the throne were the Secretaries of State: Cardinals Casaroli, Sodano and Bertone -- every one an Italian, every one a modernist, and every one behaving as if he, not the pope, was the real Vicar of Christ.

That's why Bertone will not be elected at the conclave to be held next month. There is recognition -- at last -- that the decisions made and directions taken in the last two or three decades have been not just wrong but disastrously wrong.

When John Paul II was elevated to the papacy, there was a glimmer of hope that the suicidal errors of Vatican II might be undone, and the Church set back on Her true and traditional course. But any ideas JPII may have had along those lines were thwarted by his "prime ministers" and a Roman curia rotten with Freemasons, protestants, and -- yes -- apostates.

Walt predicts that, although the Italians will lobby strenuously to have one of their own "restored to power", prelates from the Third World will campaign successfully to have not just a non-Italian but a non-European pope, for the first time in history. Lifetime pct .987.

"I declare that I renounce the ministry of the Bishop of Rome". Click here to read the English translation of Pope Benedict's statement (read in Latin).
Further reading: Fr. Divo Barsotti's criticisms of Vatican Council II. If you want to understand why I call the direction of the modern Church "suicidal", don't fail to read this! I'm no theologian, but Father Barsotti certainly was.