Cardinal Zen still fights for religious freedom and the Catholic Faith

We are happy to pass on, somewhat belatedly, this report from Hong Kong, where this past Sunday -- Corpus Christi Sunday -- Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-Kiun, the 93-year-old Archbishop Emeritus of the former British colony, celebrated the Traditional Latin Mass and led a Eucharistic procession at a parish church.

On X, he wrote (in both English and Chinese): "We celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, a feast the Church established precisely so that the faithful might allow God to enter more deeply into their daily lives through the Holy Eucharist. 

"After celebrating the Tridentine Mass (Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite) at Mary Help of Christians Parish in Hong Kong, I led a Eucharistic procession, bringing the Holy Eucharist out of the church and through the streets of the campus."

After the Eucharastic process, the prince of the Church added this touching testimony about Our Lord Jesus Christ, providing a public witness to the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in Communist-ruled Hong Kong:

"Jesus is truly Emmanuel -- God with us. He so desires to be with us that He left us this marvelous Sacrament, offering Himself under the appearance of bread and wine for us to eat and drink. The food we eat becomes part of our body, but when we receive Jesus, we become His Body. 

"Sometimes we say, 'Let us not leave Jesus alone in the tabernacle.' Of course, this is a figurative way of speaking. When Jesus revealed His Sacred Heart, He said, 'This heart has loved men so much, yet is so little loved in return.' As though He needs our consolation. In truth, it is not Jesus who needs us—but He knows that we need Him. To forget Jesus is our greatest loss."

A friend of the Cardinal wrote, "The procession (along with Cardinal Zen’s decision to publicly post his involvement in it on his X account) was a public demonstration of the unwavering hope and faith of many Chinese Catholics facing the brunt of the CCP’s persecution of religion and basic civil freedoms in Hong Kong."

Lord David Alton, a Catholic, responded to Cardinal Zen’s post with a post of his own: “Hong Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zen is the outstanding religious leader of our times. refusing to abandon his people and refusing to comply with the demands of the Chinese Communist Party. He gives inspiration to all those persecuted for their beliefs."

Just so. To many Catholics both in China and the world who treasure the sacredness, reverence, and theological value of the Traditional Latin Mass, Cardinal Zen’s fortitude in defending orthodox Catholic doctrine, traditional Catholic liturgy, and standing up to anti-Christian persecutors (like the schismatic Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association), is an inspiration.

This report was abbreviated from an article by Angeline Tan, the Singapore-based correspondent of the Remnant Newspaper. Click here to view a list of Walt's many posts about the courageous Cardinal who seems destined for sainthood.

Seen on the Babylon Bee

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent according to the Roman Church calendar. Walt [and Ed.! Ed.] did go church to be reminded that "thou are dust, and unto dust thou shalt return," while the priest marked us with a sign of our Faith. 

Let's not be silly. Those people you saw marked like this are not extremists or terrorists, although many of them will surely vote Republican in November. They are devout Catholics, and probably patriots too!

That little jape is from the Babylon Bee, of course. Our trusted source of Christian satire also features this one.

"Devout Catholic..." HAH! That's good for a belly laugh right there. You won't be seeing any cross of ashes on Joe's forehead. His handlers have strictly forbidden any such pictures less people think that the cross sends the message that his brain is dead! [You mean it's not? Ed.]

As for Catholic... any politician [or even a normal person. Ed.] who calls himself/herself "Catholic" and yet supports a woman's "right" to kill her baby, is, according to even the liberal Church of Francis, not following the precepts of the True Faith.

Click here to read the accompanying article, from the Bee,.14/2/24. 

VIDEO: Did Francis' consecration of Russia work?

Following the penitential service at Saint Peter's on the feast of Immaculate Conception, March 25th, Pope Francis performed an "act of entrustment and consecration'" of "all the people of the world, particularly Russia and Ukraine" to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Here is the video, so you can see for yourself what Francis actually did and, more important, said.

              

As Walt explained in "Notes and thoughts re Consecration of Russia & Ukraine" (WWW 16/3/22), this act of consecration was done in answer to a plea from the Catholic bishops of Ukraine that the request of Our Lady of Fatima be obeyed, by which means Russia would be converted and period of peace granted to the world.

Did it work? That is the question uppermost in the minds of traditional Catholics, particularly those who, like the late Father Nicholas Gruner, believed in the Message of Fatima and worked tirelessly for decades to make it known. 

A succession of post-Vatican II popes attempted a type of consecration, but not in the manner the Blessed Virgin requested. Did Francis, in his lengthy and convoluted prayer, say the right things, and did enough of the world's bishops join in spiritual union, to call down from Heaven the graces promised by Our Lady of Fatima?

So far, none of the commentators Walt follows has weighed in on the sufficiency of this latest act of consecration. To do so is difficult, because we really don't know exactly what is supposed to happen, and when. Certainly there has been no flash of heavenly light, no chorus of alleluias from the heavenly choir.

The Russian dictator has not fallen to his knees to beg forgiveness of God. Nor has he ordered his invading army to withdraw from Ukraine. He hasn't even agreed to a ceasefire. But it may be significant that, on the day of the Consecration, Western "military experts" reported signs that Putin had shifted his war aims to concentrate on only those parts of eastern Ukraine that he had claimed before the invasion began. Is that the start of a Russian retreat? Maybe.

There has been no startlingly positive result of the Consecration as yet, but nor has there has been any negative consequence. Mr Putin did not, so far as we know, fly into a towering rage and press the nuke button. Nor did the Orthodox churches, of whose wrath Vatican diplomats were terrified, hurl down anathemas on Francis and all who pray for the conversion of Russia.

In sum, not much has happened... yet.... But Heaven works in mysterious ways. God and His Blessed Mother will give us the peace and such other mercies and blessings as we deserve... in Their own good time.

Let us keep praying for a speedy resolution of the conflict in the Ukraine, for the restoration of peace and freedom to that troubled land, and for peace in the world geneerally. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

VIDEO: For the sake of civilization, Francis must be stopped!

Jorge Bergoglio, the man who calls himself "Pope Francis", must be stopped. That's the message in the latest video from Michael Matt, editor of the Remnant newspaper. Whether or not you’re a Catholic, I urge you to pay attention to Mr Matt's plea. It's not just about rescuing Holy Mother Church from the haqndes of the globalists, but about saving civilization, by which we mean Western/Christian civilization. 

Christian patriots of every denomination have a common enemy -- the cabal of globalist one-worlders. Their worldview is antithetical to the worldview of Christianity, which is why they are the obedient servants, not of Jesus Christ, but of population controllers, climate change fanatics, and globalist operatives such as Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, and George Soros. 

Theologians are examining the options for how to remove an evil man intenton gaining total control of the Catholic Church. But in the meantime, resistance is key and not just from Catholics. All those who understand the power and influence of the Catholic Church on geopolitics will recognize how perilous the situation is. 

Mr Matt is at the forefront of a rapidly growing movement of Catholic traditionalists, including YVT, who make this appeal for the sake of Christian civilization as a whole. Powerful globalist entities are still hell bent on co-opting the Catholic Church, with Her two billion adherents worldwide, because they know very well that if the Church blesses and approves their diabolical plan to take over the world, there will be little to no opposition to their geopolitical agenda. 

Francis is key to the globalist vision for humanity. So even if we wanted to leave the Church (which we do not!), that would not help the situation, since there would then be even less opposition from within. We must stay on in order to expose and oppose these infiltrators. And with God's help, that’s exactly what we intend to do!

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

Catholics outraged: "Pope Francis" nukes Traditional Latin Mass

In order to bring about the "Great Reset" and achieve the New World Order, (((George Soros))) et al. must first destroy the one institution which stands in their way. I don't mean the Disunited Nations. The globalist liberal elites and Communists have had the UN in their pockets for decades. I refer to the Roman Catholic Church, which at one time was the guardian and protector of the Western (read: Christian) civilization without which the entire world would be like... ohhh, let's say Afghanistan.  

Try as they might (and are!), the Jews, Muslims and heathens cannot destroy Holy Mother Church by themselves. The One-Worlders need and are getting the active co-operation of the enemies of the One True Faith who lurk and work like termites within the Church. None of these is more powerful or more dangerous than Jorge Bergoglio, the man who calls himself "Pope Francis".

More and more traditional Catholics are beginning to think that Francis is the Antichrist, the evil one prophesied in the Bible, who opposes Our Lord Jesus Christ and seeks to substitute himself in His place before the Second Coming. 

We mere mortals our not to judge Pope Bergoglio, for we cannot know his intentions for sure. But if we go by his actions, we are not wrong to infer that he means to emasculate and eviscerate the forms and structures of the traditional Catholic Church, and in particular the Lex orandi, lex credendi -- "the law of what is prayed [is] the law of what is believed" -- which expresses the relationship between worship and belief.

Expanded to Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi -- "the law of what is prayed [is] what is believed [is] the law of what is lived" -- the traditional Christian motto means that prayer and belief are integral to each other and that liturgy is not distinct from theology.

This ancient Christian principle provided a measure for developing the Creed, the Canon of scripture, and other doctrinal matters. It is based on the prayer texts of the Church, that is, the Church's liturgy. In the Early Church, there was liturgical tradition before there was a common creed, and before there was an officially sanctioned Biblical canon. So the liturgical traditions provided the theological framework for establishing the Creeds and Canon.  

Six decades ago, the Second Vatican Council and Pope Paul VI began the task of dismantling this theological framework by instituting the Novus Ordo, a "New Mass", not in Latin but in the 1000s of "languages of the people", with a generous admixture of Protestant and even Jewish forms of prayer. 

Today, in many modern Catholic churches, there is virtually nothing left of the old ways of worship. No Latin. No bells. No incense. A "resurrex" in place of the crucifix. A handful of people in a circle around the priest mumbling prayers which belong only to the priest, and singing "Kumbaya".

For traditional Catholics (like your obdt servant) attending a Novus Ordo "Mess" is painful in the extreme. Some of us believe that if we can't find a Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) to attend, we're better off -- our souls are better off -- staying and praying at home.

Thanks be to God, many of us could still find a traditional Mass within driving distance, perhaps at a chapel of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) or in a parish where an old-fashioned priest might at least pray in Latin, albeit following the modern form. But no more!

Yesterday, on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (!), Francis moved to stamp out the Traditional Latin Mass, once and for all. He issued a Motu Proprio -- kind of like an Executive Order in the American governmental system --which virtually bans the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass in ordinary parish churches throughout the world. 

In Traditionis Custodes, Francis completely reverses the course set by Pope Benedict XVI, just fourteen years ago, in Summorum Pontificum, which specified the circumstances in which priests of the Latin Church could celebrate Mass according to the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal, in the form known as the Tridentine Mass or Traditional Latin Mass, and administer most of the sacraments in the form used before the liturgical reforms that followed Vatican II.

Effective immediately, priests may celebrate the traditional Mass only under special circumstances, and with explicit permission from the bishops of their dioceses, who are not bound to give such permission, even though they may have done so in the past. Can you imagine..."Please, your Eminence, can I keep saying the Latin Mass?" Cardinal Cupich: "No!"

I am running out of space. Later this weekend I'll explain exactly how the Motu Proprio works to suppress the Mass of All Time, beloved of faithful Catholics for at least 1500 years. Explaining why Pope Bergoglio did this is harder. My take is that Francis, under increasing pressure from the puppet-masters to fold the Church into a new pantheistic religion, feared that he would die -- he knew when he wrote this that he would soon be undergoing major surgery -- before he could accomplish the mission.  

Traditionis Custodes may therefore be (let us pray!) the last act of a desperate man. Will he succeed in taking away our Mass, which is central to what we believe and how we live? God has promised that He will protect and preserve His Church, and for that let us pray, devoutly and urgently:

Saint Michael the Archiangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits, who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Worth watching: "Francis Suppresses the Latin Mass | A Conversation with Brian McCall and Chris Ferrara" - video from the Fatima Center, 17/7/21. Our old friend Chris Ferrara calls Traditiones Custodes (the title of Francis' Motu Proprio) "a joke".

VIDEOS: The real reason why YouTube banned LifeSiteNews

The Great Censorship that was certain to follow the fraudulent victory of the "Democratic" candidate in the 2020 fake election is picking up steam. Having deleted hundreds of thousands of politically incorrect videos and "demonetized" channels like Remnant TV, YouTube has now started "nuking" -- permanently banning -- news and commentary channels who don't toe the liberal party line.

The first major site to fall is LifeSiteNews, a popular pro-life channel which had well over 300,000 subscribers. LSN is not only pro-life but also a strong voice for traditional Catholicism* -- a double whammy, as it were, in the fight to preserve the Christian values on which our society was founded.

Of course YouTube wouldn't say that the channel's politics informed their decision. LifeSiteNews editor-in-chief John-Henry Westen told the Catholic News Agency that YouTube did not provide "a specific reason for the deletion of the account." In this video, Mr Westen shows you the videos that got LifeSiteNews booted from YouTube.

CNA said yesterday that Google, YouTube's parent company, declared it had banned LifeSiteNews for "violating its coronavirus misinformation policy", including "content that promotes prevention methods that contradict local health authorities or WHO." They were apparently referring to a video posted in December but quickly deleted, in which a Canadian pathologist, Dr Roger Hodkinson, protested the "unfounded public hysteria" surrounding the coronavirus. You'll see that clip in Mr Westen's video. Check it out.

But was giving a platform to someone who told the truth about the Dempanic LSN's Really Big Sin? Nooo... If you didn't watch Mr Westen's video (above), you missed this clip (below) of a comment by Fox News host (pro tem) Tucker Carlson, who said on February 11th that the banning of LifeSiteNews was the latest move in "the most sweeping mass censorship campaign in the history of this country." Why did Google do it? Because, Mr Carlson says, "Google supports abortion. A lot of big corporations do."

Now that Sleepy Joe Biden, who has the temerity to call himself "Catholic" while at the same time supporting the funding of Planned Parenthood and the killing of unborn babies, has been elected -- and it's not just God that knows how! -- the "cancel culture" of the intolerant, undemocratic "liberals" and "progressives" has free reign to censor any and all voices of dissent.

The Italian Catholic journal Il Timone called YouTube's decision to ban LifeSiteNews a worrisome example of "a real campaign of censorship and blackout by internet giants" targeting conservatives and, in particular, pro-life voices. Il Timone called the cancelling of LifeSiteNews a "sensational example" of this campaign, because the pro-life site is so well established and "scores a huge number of visits every day from all over the world."

Dr Edward Furton, an ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, said the Center "condemns the arbitrary decision of YouTube to censor content simply because they find it disagreeable or in opposition to their own political views. YouTube is not staffed by scientists, but by engineers and technicians who understand little to nothing about scientific matters. Far worse, they favour a liberal ideology that supports abortion not only here at home but throughout the world. They believe that there is a universal right to kill the unborn. Such a view revokes their claim to moral superiority over others." 

The sad thing is that LifeSiteNews won't be the last to be killed by the Masters of the Internet Universe. NTD, Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov, TheRemnantVideo, and Dr Taylor Marshall are all in the cross-hairs. If you watch these channels (as Walt does), you'd better keep your eyes open for alternative points of access. Meanwhile, if you're still able to see them on YouTube, be sure to click "like" every time you watch! If you can subscribe, so much the better! The more viewers they have, the less likely it is that they'll fall victim to cancel culture!

* Footnote: The pro-life movement has many supporters who aren't traditional Catholics -- evangelical Christians, for example. LifeSiteNews maintains both a Catholic Edition and a Standard Edition, for those who are not as interested in the crisis in the Roman Catholic Church.

VIDEO: "Today the Church of Rome finds itself in...spiritual collapse"

That's not Walt speaking, nor even our old friend Michael Matt, editor of The Remnant newspaper. That's the Most Rev. Athanasius Schneider, the auxiliary Bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan. Bishop Schneider gave a lengthy interview to The Remnant in which he discussed, amongst other things, Fratelli Tutti, the latest encyclical issued by Jorge Bergoglio, who some still call "Pope Francis".

In this short(ish) video, John-Henry Westen, of LifeSite News, presents the highlights of the interview. Bishop Schneider joins the chorus of traditional Catholics dismayed by Francis' apparent interest in worldly affairs, rather than the salvation of souls. Fratelli Tutti is all about the brotherhood of man (as the Freemasons say!), with barely a passing reference to God or His Son. Bishop Schneider says the encyclical "lacks a clearly supernatural horizon."

Listen and learn more about the things Francis says which aren't Catholic at all, but a big steaming load of new-age, one-world, secular humanist... nonsense.

   

Further reading: Click here to read the full interview on The Renant website.

“Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven” - Lenten Mission - Fr Isaac Relyea Saint Catharines, Ontario - 20-23 February

February 26th is Ash Wednesday. What better way to get ready for this season of reflection and repentance than by hearing a soul-stirring Catholic mission -- "Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven" -- preached by Father Isaac Mary Relyea. This series of four powerful talks will be given at Holy Face of Jesus Church (SSPX) in Saint Catharines ON, from February 20th to 23rd.

Father Relyea is a traditional Franciscan priest from New York. After a successful secular career, Father entered religious life following a reversion to the Catholic Faith.

He is well known as a powerful speaker, who has travelled internationally since ordination to preach traditional missions and speak at conferences, particularly on the Four Last Things. Father has not given this Mission since 2013. It's definitely one you don't want to miss!

"Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven" is a stirring wake-up call to modern society, which has desensitized itself to the realities of sin, death, man's immortal soul, and the life hereafter! Father Relyea follows the wisdom of saints such as St. Alphonsus de Liguori and St. Leonard of Port Maurice. Attending this Mission has helped many people. It has brought about conversions, changed life-styles, increased fervor, and helped people commit themselves to living a life centered on Christ.

Holy Face of Jesus Church
181 Lake Street
St. Catharines, Ontario
120 km from Toronto and
45 miles from Buffalo.

Thursday, February 20th - Rosary 7:00 pm, Conference 7:30 pm
Friday, February 21st - Rosary 7:00 pm, Conference 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 22nd - Rosary 10:30 am, Conference 11:00 am
Sunday, February 23rd - Rosary 12:30 pm, Conference 1:00 pm

"Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven" is sponsored in part and promoted by the Fatima Center, founded by Father Nicholas Gruner+. For more information, including information on accommodations at special rates, visit the Fatima.org website.

Notre Dame in flames: part of the Great Chastisement?

One of the most famous Roman Catholic cathedrals in Paris -- in the world, really -- has been severely damaged by a horrendous fire which raged through the building most of yesterday. The blaze toppled the spire and destroyed the roof, but much of the interior survived and the structure remains intact. That so much of the building was destroyed is a tragedy. That so much, including the organ and almost all of the priceless treasures and relics -- including the Crown of Thorns -- can be restored, is a miracle.

A tragedy and a miracle, occurring simultaneously, at one of the most holy sites of Western Christendom. How can that be? What does it mean? Is God trying to tell us something?

For traditional Catholics, this truly awful (in the true sense of the word) event, occurring as it did in Holy Week, the last week of Lent, can only be regarded as a clear sign of God's displeasure with His Church and His people. The mainstream Catholic Church in France is moribund. The great cathedrals and basilicas are visited almost exclusively by tourists. The parish churches are all but empty. The vast majority of nominal Catholics go to church only to for baptisms, marriages and funerals, an many ignore even those sacraments. The majority of Catholic Christians, even if they keep the Faith in their hearts, have turned their back on the Church.

God is displeased, to put it mildly, so He and His Blessed Mother (after whom the great cathedral is named) have given us yet another warning. The fire at Notre Dame can and should be seen as another installment of the Great Chastisement of which Our Lady spoke when She appeared at Fatima in 1917.

On October 13, 1917, in the moment before the great Miracle of the Sun, the Blessed Virgin said, "People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend Our Lord any more for He is already too much offended." Our Lady warned of the gravest consequences if this warning is not heeded. The greatest consequence and ultimate chastisement for unrepentant souls is the eternal punishment of hell. It was in order to prevent the eternal damnation of souls redeemed by the Blood of Our Divine Savior Jesus Christ that His Most Holy Mother came to Fatima.

But the Blessed Virgin's request that people "amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins" was not heeded. Our Lady of Fatima told Blessed Jacinta that "wars are punishments for sins of the world." It was revealed to the holy priest Père Lamy that World War One was a punishment specifically for “blasphemy, the desecration of marriage and Sunday labour". In the apparition of July 13, 1917, Our Lady warned that "The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the reign of Pius XI." And so it -- World War II -- came to pass.

But we must remember that World War II was only the beginning of the threatened chastisements. If people do not repent and amend their lives then more severe chastisements will follow. The threatened punishment of the world "by means of war, famine, persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father" is a far more general prophetic warning that has only been partially fulfilled. Whether or not it will take place is contingent on the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of Our Lady's requests.

Our Lady revealed to Sister Lucia the sign that would indicate the onset of the impending chastisement. “When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is going to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father." An "unknown light like this one, perhaps?

But the physical chastisement of which Our Lady warned -- the endless wars and natural disasters bringing about the "annihilation of nations" -- is not the most frightful aspect of the chastisement foretold in the Secret of Fatima. Even more frightful is the spiritual chastisement foretold in the Secret.

The persecution of the Church that will take place will be like none other that has ever taken place in all the history of the world. That which is seemingly impossible will take place, yet it is foretold in the unpublished part of the Third Secret and in Sacred Scripture. According to the late Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, "In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top."

We have been warned that partisans of the Devil will occupy the Roman Curia under a Masonic antipope! The late Father Malachi Martin stated that he read the Third Secret of Fatima in early February 1960. Our Lady's words, he said, foretold a future "pope" -- an imposter who would usurp the See of Rome while being completely under the control of the Devil. Thus will arise a counterfeit "Catholic" Church -- a counter-church, an anti-church -- the "dragon, whose tail swept down a third of the stars of Heaven and cast them to the earth" (Apocalypse 12:4) -- i.e. one third of the Catholic hierarchy under the leadership of a heretical antipope.

Father Martin said these "partisans of the devil" -- the "third of the stars of Heaven" -- masquerading as "Catholic" clergy are secret members of a sect consecrated to the Devil. They will gain control over the Vatican apparatus, he warned, and establish the "Catholic" branch of the established and compulsory religion of the New World Order. True Catholicism will be outlawed, and the remnant of faithful Catholics will be subjected to the most ferocious persecution that there will have ever been in the history of the world.

Father Paul Kramer wrote that Catholics will not be welcome in the new "Civilization of Love". The exclusivism of their dogmas will cause them to be viewed as dangerous "fanatics" and "terrorists" -- a mortal threat to the ecumenical unity and "peace" of the New World Order. Thus, the real Catholic Church will be treated as an outlaw organization, and a threat to world peace.

The Church's status will therefore be as it was during the Roman persecutions, when She was viewed as a subversive and criminal organization. There will be laws enacted to punish non-conformist practitioners of "outmoded" pre-conciliar forms of religion that threaten world "peace"’ (the neo-pagan ecumenical order of the Civilization of Love) by their divisive attachment to dogmatic exclusivism which leads to inquisitional "persecutions" and religious wars and crusades. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? And yet these anti-Catholic sentiments were already "trending" decades ago.

Catholics will be told that they may avoid the chastisement, with its persecution and martyrdom, by embracing "Catholicism v.2", by "engaging" with the "new and improved" Church, the "new Rome" which will be in communion with the Great Ecumenical Church that will unite all religions. Pope Francis increasingly reveals to wondering Catholics his Big Idea -- Drawing All Faiths Together, because "we all worship the same god" (which is heresy). Drawing All Faiths Together... DAFT!

Father Kramer concludes that those who will have the grace and fortitude to hold fast to their Catholic Faith will refuse to abandon the true traditional Catholic religion. For this refusal they will be regarded as incorrigible fanatics and obstinate schismatics. They will be universally despised as the enemies of the Civilization of Love, and they will be blamed for the failure of the New World Order to achieve universal peace, love, unity and harmony. Their fate is depicted in the vision of the Third Secret: for their refusal to embrace the false religion of ecumenism and religious liberty, the Pope, clergy and Catholic faithful will be systematically hunted down and brutally exterminated.

In 2000, Pope John Paul II declared that "the message of Fatima imposes an obligation on the Church." In view of the incalculably catastrophic consequences of non-compliance with Heaven's request, Bishop Rudolf Graber declared that to ignore the message and the requests of Our Lady of Fatima is tantamount to a "crime against humanity."

The desecration of Catholic churches and sanctuaries by pagan worship and the mingling of the true religion with false religions is the signal that the chastisement will take place in the immediate future. The desecration of the sanctuary, of God's Holy Place -- by turning it into a mere tourist attraction, for instance -- is a sacrilegious and blasphemous act of impiety that demands immediate punishment in strict justice.

The real lesson to be taken from the fire at Notre Dame de Paris is that God cannot be patient any longer in the presence of the sacrilegious abominations that are now being perpetrated in Catholic churches and sanctuaries. It is for just this kind of sin that He declares: "Therefore I also will deal with them in My wrath: My eye shall not spare them, neither will I show mercy...nor will I have pity: I will requite their way upon their head." (Ezechiel 8:18, 9:10)

Benedict XVI blames 60s culture, sexual revolution, for scandals, moral decline of Catholic Church

I have often written, here and in other publications, and told anyone who will listen, that the decline of the Roman Catholic Church and Christian (Western) society in general started in the hippy-dippy sixties. Our religion and our culture was killed by secularism and the counter-culture. So I enjoyed something of a "told ya so" moment yesterday when "Pope Emeritus" Benedict XVI released an essay on sexual abuse in the Church, which he blames on the "absence of God".

In the introduction to his "notes", the ex-Holy Father [Can there be such a thing? Ed.] writes: In the first part, I aim to present briefly the wider social context of the question, without which the problem cannot be understood. I try to show that in the 1960s an egregious event occurred, on a scale unprecedented in history.... In the second part, I aim to point out the effects of this situation on the formation of priests and on the lives of priests. Finally, in the third part, I would like to develop some perspectives for a proper response on the part of the Church."

In the 6000-world essay, which originally appeared in Klerusblatt, a German-language magazine for the clergy, Pope Ratzinger blames the Church's sexual abuse scandal on the 1960s sexual revolution, growing secularization and weak church laws that made prosecution of guilty priests difficult. "Among the freedoms that the Revolution of 1968 sought to fight for was this all-out sexual freedom.... Part of the physiognomy of the Revolution of `68 was that pedophilia was then also diagnosed as allowed and appropriate." What an amazing admission! How dismaying for faithful Catholics, to hear this from no less a personage than the former Vicar of Christ. But there's more...

"Why did pedophilia reach such proportions?", Pope Ratzinger asks. "Ultimately, the reason is the absence of God," he answers, noting failed attempts to include a reference to God in European Union treaties as a negative example of Western secularization. He also cited the appearance of sex in films in the 60s in his native Bavaria and the formation in seminaries of "homosexual cliques" in seminaries "which acted more or less openly and significantly changed the climate." He also attributes the moral corruption of the Catholic clergy and the Church as a whole to "failures in moral theology".

Benedict also faulted Church laws that protected accused priests. He wrote that during the 80s and 90s "the right to a defence (for priests) was so broad as to make a conviction nearly impossible." In 1981 Pope John Paul II named Cardinal Ratzinger (as he then was) Cardinal-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the Holy Office and, especially around the 16th century, as the Roman Inquisition.

But did he do anything to excise the rotten and diseased members of Christ's Church? He tried in 2001 to reforms of those laws to make it easier to remove priests who abused children, and later, as Pope, defrocked 100s of priests accused of raping and molesting children. But he was opposed by powerful forces -- "the lavender Mafia" -- within the Vatican itself. Some say his unprecedented "resignation" was engineered by those same evil men, who succeeded in replacing him with the more tolerant and merciful Jorge Bergoglio.

Compared with Pope Francis, Benedict XVI emerges in this essay as a voice calling Catholics to turn away from the excesses of Vatican II, and back to the values of traditional Catholicism. Of course he does not suggest that Vatican II was in error or anything like the "anti-council" which many traditionalists now claim it was.

He writes: "The Second Vatican Council was rightly focused on returning this sacrament of the Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ...to the centre of Christian life and the very existence of the Church. In part, this really has come about, and we should be most grateful to the Lord for it. [But] what predominates [now] is not a new reverence for the presence of Christ's death and resurrection, but a way of dealing with Him that destroys the greatness of the Mystery." The reference is to declining participation in Sunday Mass and treatment of the Eucharist as "a mere ceremonial gesture."

"We do not need another Church of our own design," Benedict concludes. "Rather, what is required first and foremost is the renewal of the Faith in the Reality of Jesus Christ given to us in the Blessed Sacrament." A pity he didn't tell us sooner, but let us hope and pray for a Catholic Counter-Revolution, before Christ's Church disintegrates completely. Amen.

Further reading: "Benedict XVI addresses sex abuse scandal", Catholic Herald, 11/4/19.

Church should NOT promote mass migration: Cardinal Sarah

Jorge Bergoglio, aka Pope Francis [Some are starting to call him "Anti-pope". Ed.], is a big believer in mass migration. Channeling (((Emma Lazarus))), the Unholy Father keeps admonishing us to be more welcoming of "refugees", asylum-seekers, and other flotsam and jetsam who wash up on the shores of Europe, especially if they're Muslims (as 95% of them are) because "we all worship the same God" and other heretical rubbish. Not everyone agrees.

One high-ranking dissident who has mustered up the courage to speak out is Robert Cardinal Sarah, a prelate from the African state of Guinea. Raised to the rank of Cardinal in 2010, he was appointed prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments by Pope Francis in November of 2014. He previously served as secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples under Pope John Paul II, and president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum under Pope Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Sarah has for years been a forceful advocate for the defence of traditional Catholic teaching on questions of sexual morality and the right to life, and in denouncing Islamic radicalism. He has called gender ideology and ISIS the "two radicalizations" that threaten the family, the first through divorce, same-sex marriage, and abortion, and the latter with child marriage, polygamy, and the subjection of women.

This week, in an interview with the French magazine Valeurs Actuelles, Cardinal Sarah branded mass migration a "new form of slavery" and said those who seek to use the Bible to promote migration are pushing a false interpretation of the scriptures. "It is a false exegesis to use the Word of God to promote migration," the prelate said. "If Europe disappears, and with it the invaluable values of the old continent, Islam will invade the world. And we will totally change culture, anthropology, and moral vision."

Without naming Pope Bergoglio, Cardinal Sarah blasted priests and bishops who "say fuzzy things, vague, imprecise, to escape criticism, and they marry the stupid evolution of the world." He went on to say that the Church should not cooperate with the increasing acceptance by politicians of mass migration into the traditionally Christian continent. "All migrants who arrive in Europe are penniless, without work, without dignity.... This is what the Church wants?" he asked. "The Church can not cooperate with this new form of slavery that has become mass migration. If the West continues in this fatal way, there is a great risk that, due to a lack of birth, it will disappear, invaded by foreigners, just as Rome has been invaded by barbarians."

He added one more thought: "My country is predominantly Muslim. I think I know what reality I'm talking about." Indeed.

Further reading: "Cardinal Sarah: 'La défense de l'immigration repose sur une mauvaise interprétation des Évangiles par les prêtres et les évêques'", (in French), in Nouvel Ordre Mondial, 4/4/19. (Nouvel Ordre Mondial = New World Order! If you can read French, I recommend following this blog to keep up with the globalists' plans and plots for One Brave New World.)

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!

VIDEO: Crisis in the Church is not all Francis' fault, sez Michael Matt

It's been some time since we posted a talk from Michael Matt, editor of the traditional Catholic Remnant newspaper. In his latest video from the Underground, Mr Matt calls for a moratorium on digging up more sordid details of the clerical sex scandals. Enough, already! We've got the tee-shirt and the hat... even the tote bag. It's time, he argues, to get back to the root cause of the crisis. Pope Francis didn't start the fire, so let's find out who did.



How did the Church fall so low? Where did Francis come from? How does his "Church of Accompaniment" fit into the whole Vatican II revolution against the Mass, the priesthood and Catholic Tradition? What can we learn from Pope John Paul's inter-religious day of pagan and Christian prayer for peace at Assisi on 27 October 1986? Has everyone forgotten life before the latest Unholy Father? Mr Matt also comments on Michael Voris' latest attack on the Society of St Pius X.

A suggestion for Christmas giving: If you like Michael Matt's videos from the Underground, if you agree with what the voices of Catholic tradition are saying, may we suggest making a donation to The Remnant. American taxpayers will get a tax deduction.

AND, if you're Catholic and have not yet found your way to a chapel of the Society of St. Pius X, click here to find one near you -- a good place to hear Midnight Mass, in Latin according to the traditional rite, the way it should be. For those living in the Great No-longer-white North, here's a list of SSPX priories in Canada.

After PA revelations, Cardinal Burke decries "gay culture" in Church

In the aftermath of the release of the names of the hundreds of Roman Catholic clergy guilty of the sexual abuse of minors, and the Vatican's delayed and limp-wristed "shame and sorrow" response -- things have got to the point where someone in authority needs to come clean about the Church's dirty hyuge secret. American Cardinal Raymond Burke has done so in an interview with Catholic Action, published yesterday.

The fundamental problem, said the prelate, is not so much pedophilia as homosexuality within the ranks of the clergy, right up to the very highest levels. The existence of the Gay Mafia in the Vatican has been an open secret for years. See, for example, "Second sex scandal in Rome! Pope asks forgiveness... from whom?", WWW 14/10/15. After this week's revelations of sexual abuse, the Cardinal called for "open recognition" of the Church's homosexual culture. "I believe that there needs to be an open recognition that we have a very grave problem of a homosexual culture in the Church," he said, "especially among the clergy and the hierarchy, that needs to be addressed honestly and efficaciously."

A prominent canon lawyer, Cardinal Burke is often perceived as a voice of traditionalism and orthodoxy among prelates of the Catholic Church. In recent years, he has clashed publicly with Pope Francis, vigorously opposing attempts by Francis and other bishops to relax Church attitudes towards gays and people who have divorced and remarried outside the Church, and has spoken of the need to "formally correct" the Pope in relation to Amoris laetitia.

In this week's interview, Cardinal Burke said it was already "clear after the studies following the 2002 sexual abuse crisis that most of the acts of abuse were in fact homosexual acts committed with adolescent young men. There was a studied attempt to either overlook or to deny this," he said, referring to the lamestream media cover-up of the homosexual nature of the abuse as well as such denial within the church itself. "Now it seems clear in light of these recent terrible scandals that indeed there is a homosexual culture, not only among the clergy but even within the hierarchy, which needs to be purified at the root."

What do you think are the chances of the clergy and hierarchy being purified? Walt sez: somewhere between slim and none. Lifetime pct .992.

Further reading: "Cardinal Burke: U.S. Catholic Church in 'possibly the worst crisis that it's ever experienced'", by Claire Chretien, LifeSite News, 16/8/18.

VIDEO: Is the death penalty really "inadmissable" or "unacceptable"?

Last week, Pope Francis sowed a great deal of confusion amongst faithful Catholics -- especially traditional Catholics like yr obdt servant -- by declaring that capital punishment -- the death penalty -- is "unacceptable in all cases". Until now, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) taught that the death penalty was acceptable if it was "the only practicable way" to defend lives and protect society.

On Thursday, the Pope said that executions are "an attack on human dignity", and that the Church would work "with determination" to abolish capital punishment worldwide. Abolishing the death penalty has long been one of the Francis's top priorities, along with saving the environment and caring for immigrants and "refugees". That tells you all you need to know about the man who apparently wants to go down in history as "the SJW pope".

The Holy Father seems to have overlooked (or ignored) the fact that making this radical change to what the Church has always taught is likely to challenge Catholic politicians, judges and officials who have argued that their Church was not entirely opposed to capital punishment. And let's not forget the millions of "ordinary people" like Walt who understood from many right-to-life events that the Church was opposed to capital punishment, in any circumstance, as Pope Francis is now saying.

"Thou shalt not kill." Period. I was dimly aware that there were exceptions to that commandment -- a just war, for example -- but didn't realize that an exception might apply in certain criminal cases. Had I thought about it, I would have wondered what sort of crimes deserved that punishment, other than murder. Would treason, for example, be rightly punishable by "Off with his head!"? It certainly wasn't justifiable in the case of Saint Thomas More. How about abortion? Should we kill the baby-killers? How about rape? How bad would it have to be? Would the age of the victim be a factor? There are those who think that execution is too good for someone who rapes of a child of tender years. (St Matthew 18:6)

There is a further point of concern. The president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization (whatever that is) said that the revision of the CCC's teaching on the death penalty is an instance of "true dogmatic progress...that has gradually matured to the point of making us understand the unsustainability of the death penalty in our day." That's the official Vatican line. It's all part of that "hermeneutic of continuity" that Pope Benedict XVI talked about while making a series of radical breaks with the past.

Writing in L'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican organ, Abp Rino Fisichella said Church tradition "is not representable as an insect imprisoned in amber, to say it in a colorful English expression. If that were the case, we would have destroyed it. The teaching of the faith of the Church, rather, is an announcement, a word that remains alive..."

But that's Newspeak (vide 1984) It's just wrong! A diocesan priest wrote to me his thoughts on "a very bad move by Francis. I still think that the Holy Spirit knew that it would be a severe test of the faith of many good conservative Catholics; or that maybe Satan got permission from God to 'inspire' the Pope to do this, sure that it would do a lot of harm....

"Catholics in general were not against total mercy, not against dealing with crime other than [by] capital punishment, but...against total condemnation of it because of Scripture, the Church, and tradition. Commendable faith. But the teaching has always been justifying capital punishment, not commanding it....

"On so many levels Francis seems wrong. In order to agree with him I might have to double down and go with the assumption that God in the Old Testament (and even in the New) has catered to man's weakness. That would explain why He allowed polygamy in the O.T. On the other hand, Christ decreed the end of polygamy but did not do the same for capital punishment.... Does that mean there is a difference between changing a teaching that specifically allows something (e.g. capital punishment in some circumstances) and changing a teaching that specifically condemns something (e.g. homosexual practices)?

"I'm also concerned that the Church is taking the necessary tools away from the civil authorities to exercise their responsibility to control crime in some times, places and conditions. These circumstances prevailed in the past, probably exist to some extent even now, and could return again in the unforeseeable future."

That's one priest's opinion. Here's another, the latest in the "Sunday Sermons from South St. Paul" series on The Remnant TV. In what surely must be one of the most courageous sermons of 2018, this diocesan priest (from a different diocese) takes the gloves off and asks: "What's it going to be? The constant teaching established by Scripture, doctors and fathers of the Church, sainted popes and God Himself? Or that which rests on the whim of Pope Francis, who seems to think the Catholic Church’s binding teaching is whatever his opinion happens to be." God help us, what is this man thinking, that in the middle of the most outrageous clerical sex scandal to date he decides it’s time to go after capital punishment.



Further reading:
"The Absolute 'No' To the Death Penalty. A Victory For the Gospel, Or For 'Secular Humanism'?", by Sandro Magister, in Settimo Cielo, his blog in L'Espresso, 6/8/18.
"Le non absolu à la peine de mort. Victoire de l’Évangile ou de 'l’humanisme séculier'?" The same, in French, in Diakonos.be: Regards sur l'Eglise catholique.
"The Death Penalty, Instituted by God Himself (The Biblical Basis for Catholic Teaching on Capital Punishment)", an older piece by Solange Herts (RIP), reprinted in The Remnant, 6/8/18.

VIDEO: Saint James Matamoros, Spain needs you again!

One of our agents, whose name saint is James the Greater, reminded me that I didn't say anything about the Saint on his feast day, July 25th. I can only plead being preoccupied with the shooting in Toronto's Greektown, which was the evil work of an allegedly deranged Muslim who some suspect of being, if not a full-fledged jihadi, at least in sympathy with ISIS.

I thought about Saint James earlier today, as I was writing "Spain said they'd take 'refugees' Italy refused. Guess what happened?" As this short video from the good folks at The Remnant explains, it was Saint James ("Santiago" in Spanish) Matamoros (= "killer of Moors") who led the Christian Spanish to victory over the Muslim invaders from Morocco (so, "Moors") at the Battle of Clavijo in 844.



Now that the left-wing Spanish government has started welcoming boatloads of Muslim invaders, disguised as "refugees", into the land from which the Moors were finally expelled in 1492, pilgrimages to Santiago Compostela and many prayers to Saint James Matamoros, patron of Spain, seem very much in order.

Further reading: "St. James the Greater, 'Slayer of the Moors'", WWW 24/7/18. If you didn't quite follow what the narrator was saying in the video, you'll find this post a useful recap in text form.