Let me answer the headline question for you. NO! What President Trump should have done was stick with his position, enunciated long before the election, that the US should stay out of foreign entanglements, of which the Muslim civil war is the chief example. Yet the President Trump sent 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria in retaliation for what he claimed was a chemical attack on civilians by Syrian President Assad. He sought no Congressional authorization and presented no evidence to either Congress or the American people to justify his actions.
Some of President Trump's most dedicated admirers, including Yours Very Truly, were stunned by the news. The missile strike was pretty much what his defeated rival, Hellery Clinton, would have done, had she had her trembling finger on the button. On Thursday she told a women's forum she would "take out" Assad's airfields, and that's what the missile strike launched that same day was supposed to do.
Kevin MacDonald, the editor of The Occidental Observer, called the US attack on Syria "a betrayal". In a phone interview the morning after the missiles were launched, he told the CBC, "I'm concerned now this whole administration is going the way of the neocons. The whole nine yards." Mr MacDonald thought President Trump was supposed to be an "America First" leader focused on a non-interventionist foreign policy. Now, he said, "I'm very disappointed; very agitated."
Richard Spencer, who coined the term "alt-right", expressed his displeasure in a video titled "The Trump Betrayal". Alex Jones, host of InfoWars, said on his show Mr Trump was "disintegrating in my eyes." And former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos wrote on Facebook, "There comes a day in every child's life when his Daddy bitterly disappoints him."
What happens next, as the President opens wider the US military involvement in the Middle East? Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) joins Ron Paul's Liberty Report to discuss "US Bombs Syria - National Security Or Aggression?"
Further reading: "Let’s Allow The Syrian People To Decide For Themselves", by Ron Paul, posted 3/4/17, before the missile strike.
More reading, even better (added 11/4/17): Click here to read "Shocked But Not Awed: An Open Letter to President Trump", by Michael Matt and Christopher Ferrara, in Fetzen Fliegen (a Remant newspaper blog), 10/4/17.
Showing posts with label Ferrara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ferrara. Show all posts
Saturday, April 8, 2017
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
"Semi-heretical" prelates leading faithful astray, says Catholic bishop
The Catholic Church is ubiquitous. You could say it's catholic. But is it big-C Catholic any more? Does it still hold and teach the Faith of our Fathers, the traditional Catholic Faith handed down to us through the apostles by Our Lord Himself? Many say not. Many, beginning with Pope Paul VI, say "the smoke of Satan" entered the Church through the window of Vatican II, and that we are now experiencing the Great Apostasy foretold in the Apocalypse.
Many say that those who lead the Church, from Pope Francis on down, are guilty of leading the faithful astray, of teaching and promoting a neo-Catholicism which is at odds with the traditional Faith and therefore heretical. That's the point being made by Michael Matt and Christopher Ferrara in "Luther's Revenge: The Surrender of Pope Francis", the must-see video posted here yesterday.
Messrs Matt and Ferrara are "scary Traditionalists", targets of constant criticism by the likes of Jimmy Akin (see yesterday's post) and Jeff Mirus, neo-Catholic publisher of The Daily Pope (aka Catholic World News), who think that the sun, moon and stars shine out from under the Holy Father's cassock. When Rome speaks, they tell us, we must not only listen, but jump through the hoop which the Pope holds out for us. Thank God for the Protestant Revolt? "Yes, Holy Father!" Stop praying for the conversion of the Jews? "Yes, Holy Father!" And so on, ad nauseam.
Not all Catholics agree. And not all who disagree are dreaded Traditionalists. A Roman Catholic prelate who has serious reservations about the direction in which the Pope and certain Cardinals are leading the Church is Most Reverend Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Astana, Kazakhstan.
In a wide-ranging interview with Rorate Caeli, he charges that many "semi-heretical" Church leaders are misleading the faithful, and must take responsibility for the crisis of faith evident in the mainstream Catholic Church. Here are some excerpts from the interview; the Bishop's words are in purple.
The very crisis of the Church in our days consists in the ever growing phenomenon that those who don’t fully believe and profess the integrity of the Catholic faith frequently occupy strategic positions in the life of the Church, such as professors of theology, educators in seminaries, religious superiors, parish priests and even bishops and cardinals. And these people with their defective faith profess themselves as being submitted to the Pope. [Hello, Jeff Mirus!]
...The very source of the current crisis in the Church, the crisis of marriage, of the family and of the morality in general is not the liturgical reform, but the defects in faith, the doctrinal relativism, from which flows the moral and liturgical relativism. For, if I believe in a defective manner, I will live a defective moral life and I will worship in a defective, indifferent manner. It is necessary first to restore the clearness and firmness of the doctrine of faith and of morals in all levels and, from there, start to improve the liturgy. The integrity and the beauty of the faith demands the integrity and the beauty of one’s moral life and this demands the integrity and the beauty of the public worship.
Bishop Schneider laments the decision by Pope Francis to allow the washing of women’s feet in Holy Thursday services, saying that the move “generates confusion” regarding the all-male priesthood; he adds that it is “improper and even indecent” for a bishop or priest to wash or kiss a woman’s feet.
Bishop Schneider also speaks of the Society of St. Pius X. He describes Bishop Bernard Fellay, the head of the SSPX as an exemplary and true Catholic bishop.... Those who have fear of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X ultimately have fear of the perennial Catholic truths and of its demands in the moral and the liturgical domain.
When the SSPX tries to believe, to worship and to live morally the way our fore-fathers and the best-known Saints did during a millennial period, then one has to consider the life and the work of these Catholic priests and faithful of the SSPX as a gift for the Church in our days – even as one of the several instruments which the Divine Providence uses to remedy the enormity of the current general crisis of the faith, of the morals and of the liturgy inside the Church.
Although not referring to Traditionalists like Messrs Matt and Ferrara et al. [Hello, John Vennari!] directly, Bishop Schneider had something to say about the right of faithful Catholics to question the pronouncements of their leaders, even the Pope. If the Pope would tell the entire church to do something, which would directly damage an unchangeable Divine truth or a Divine commandment, every Catholic would have the right to correct him in a due respectful form, moved out of reverence and love for the sacred office, and person of the Pope.
I think in a time in which a great part of the holders of the office of the Magisterium are negligent in their sacred duty, the Holy Spirit calls today, namely the faithful, to step into the breach and defend courageously with an authentic sentire cum ecclesia the Catholic Faith.
One can think that the Church in our days is being flagellated as our Lord, is being denuded as was Our Lord, on the tenth Cross station. The Church, our mother, is being bound in cords not only by the enemies of Christ but also by some of their collaborators in the rank of the clergy, even sometimes of the high clergy.
All good children of Mother Church as courageous soldiers we have to try to free this mother – with the spiritual weapons of defending and proclaiming the truth, promoting the traditional liturgy, Eucharistic adoration, the crusade of the Holy Rosary, the battle against the sin in one’s private life and striving for holiness.
We have to pray that the Pope may soon consecrate explicitly Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, then She will win, as the Church prayed since the old times: "Rejoice O Virgin Mary, for thou alone have destroyed all heresies in the whole world."
Click here to read the interview in full, on the Rorate Caeli website.
Many say that those who lead the Church, from Pope Francis on down, are guilty of leading the faithful astray, of teaching and promoting a neo-Catholicism which is at odds with the traditional Faith and therefore heretical. That's the point being made by Michael Matt and Christopher Ferrara in "Luther's Revenge: The Surrender of Pope Francis", the must-see video posted here yesterday.
Messrs Matt and Ferrara are "scary Traditionalists", targets of constant criticism by the likes of Jimmy Akin (see yesterday's post) and Jeff Mirus, neo-Catholic publisher of The Daily Pope (aka Catholic World News), who think that the sun, moon and stars shine out from under the Holy Father's cassock. When Rome speaks, they tell us, we must not only listen, but jump through the hoop which the Pope holds out for us. Thank God for the Protestant Revolt? "Yes, Holy Father!" Stop praying for the conversion of the Jews? "Yes, Holy Father!" And so on, ad nauseam.
In a wide-ranging interview with Rorate Caeli, he charges that many "semi-heretical" Church leaders are misleading the faithful, and must take responsibility for the crisis of faith evident in the mainstream Catholic Church. Here are some excerpts from the interview; the Bishop's words are in purple.
The very crisis of the Church in our days consists in the ever growing phenomenon that those who don’t fully believe and profess the integrity of the Catholic faith frequently occupy strategic positions in the life of the Church, such as professors of theology, educators in seminaries, religious superiors, parish priests and even bishops and cardinals. And these people with their defective faith profess themselves as being submitted to the Pope. [Hello, Jeff Mirus!]
...The very source of the current crisis in the Church, the crisis of marriage, of the family and of the morality in general is not the liturgical reform, but the defects in faith, the doctrinal relativism, from which flows the moral and liturgical relativism. For, if I believe in a defective manner, I will live a defective moral life and I will worship in a defective, indifferent manner. It is necessary first to restore the clearness and firmness of the doctrine of faith and of morals in all levels and, from there, start to improve the liturgy. The integrity and the beauty of the faith demands the integrity and the beauty of one’s moral life and this demands the integrity and the beauty of the public worship.
Bishop Schneider laments the decision by Pope Francis to allow the washing of women’s feet in Holy Thursday services, saying that the move “generates confusion” regarding the all-male priesthood; he adds that it is “improper and even indecent” for a bishop or priest to wash or kiss a woman’s feet.
Bishop Schneider also speaks of the Society of St. Pius X. He describes Bishop Bernard Fellay, the head of the SSPX as an exemplary and true Catholic bishop.... Those who have fear of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X ultimately have fear of the perennial Catholic truths and of its demands in the moral and the liturgical domain.
When the SSPX tries to believe, to worship and to live morally the way our fore-fathers and the best-known Saints did during a millennial period, then one has to consider the life and the work of these Catholic priests and faithful of the SSPX as a gift for the Church in our days – even as one of the several instruments which the Divine Providence uses to remedy the enormity of the current general crisis of the faith, of the morals and of the liturgy inside the Church.
Although not referring to Traditionalists like Messrs Matt and Ferrara et al. [Hello, John Vennari!] directly, Bishop Schneider had something to say about the right of faithful Catholics to question the pronouncements of their leaders, even the Pope. If the Pope would tell the entire church to do something, which would directly damage an unchangeable Divine truth or a Divine commandment, every Catholic would have the right to correct him in a due respectful form, moved out of reverence and love for the sacred office, and person of the Pope.
I think in a time in which a great part of the holders of the office of the Magisterium are negligent in their sacred duty, the Holy Spirit calls today, namely the faithful, to step into the breach and defend courageously with an authentic sentire cum ecclesia the Catholic Faith.
One can think that the Church in our days is being flagellated as our Lord, is being denuded as was Our Lord, on the tenth Cross station. The Church, our mother, is being bound in cords not only by the enemies of Christ but also by some of their collaborators in the rank of the clergy, even sometimes of the high clergy.
All good children of Mother Church as courageous soldiers we have to try to free this mother – with the spiritual weapons of defending and proclaiming the truth, promoting the traditional liturgy, Eucharistic adoration, the crusade of the Holy Rosary, the battle against the sin in one’s private life and striving for holiness.
We have to pray that the Pope may soon consecrate explicitly Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, then She will win, as the Church prayed since the old times: "Rejoice O Virgin Mary, for thou alone have destroyed all heresies in the whole world."
Click here to read the interview in full, on the Rorate Caeli website.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Third Secret of Fatima document genuine, BUT...
In today's "Vatican Insider" blog of La Stampa, noted Vaticanista Andrea Tornielli reports that a respected Portuguese paleographer has confirmed the authenticity of the document said to containn the famous Third Secret of Fatima. But, he notes, questions remain as to whether the "vision of the bishop in white" text released by the Vatican in 2000 is the complete document.
Professor Maria José Azevedo Santos, of Coimbra University, examined the document, which is held in the archives of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and proclaimed it "a genuine, true document, written by Sister Lucia" (the principal Seer of Fatima). Although the document is not signed, Doctor Santos said that the handwriting clearly matched other writings known to be in Sister Lucia's own hand.
The document became the focus of controversy immediately on its publication in 2000. The version shown and "interpreted" by since disgraced Cardinal Bertone described a vision of a bishop dressed in white, seen being killed by soldiers in front of a cross on top of a hill. The text contains no words of Our Lady of Fatima to explain the vision.
Cardinal Bertone said the Third Secret belonged to the past, and implied that the vision referred to the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. The late pope said he recognized himself as the "bishop dressed in white" who was killed, but did not even attempt to explain how, if this was the case, he was still alive. Cardinal Ratzinger, as he then was, told journalists there was no "official explanation".
However, when he visited Fatima in 2010 as Benedict XVI, the "Pope Emeritus" was more cautious in his comments, suggesting strongly the possibility of the prophesy not yet being complete. For more on this astonishing volte-face, see "Vindication: The Latest Chapter in the Story of Fatima", which references the best book on the controversy, Christopher Ferrara's The Secret Still Hidden.
You can buy The Secret Still Hidden from the Fatima Shoppe ($9.95) -- tell them Walt sent you -- or read it free online.
Professor Maria José Azevedo Santos, of Coimbra University, examined the document, which is held in the archives of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and proclaimed it "a genuine, true document, written by Sister Lucia" (the principal Seer of Fatima). Although the document is not signed, Doctor Santos said that the handwriting clearly matched other writings known to be in Sister Lucia's own hand.
The document became the focus of controversy immediately on its publication in 2000. The version shown and "interpreted" by since disgraced Cardinal Bertone described a vision of a bishop dressed in white, seen being killed by soldiers in front of a cross on top of a hill. The text contains no words of Our Lady of Fatima to explain the vision.
Cardinal Bertone said the Third Secret belonged to the past, and implied that the vision referred to the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. The late pope said he recognized himself as the "bishop dressed in white" who was killed, but did not even attempt to explain how, if this was the case, he was still alive. Cardinal Ratzinger, as he then was, told journalists there was no "official explanation".
However, when he visited Fatima in 2010 as Benedict XVI, the "Pope Emeritus" was more cautious in his comments, suggesting strongly the possibility of the prophesy not yet being complete. For more on this astonishing volte-face, see "Vindication: The Latest Chapter in the Story of Fatima", which references the best book on the controversy, Christopher Ferrara's The Secret Still Hidden.
You can buy The Secret Still Hidden from the Fatima Shoppe ($9.95) -- tell them Walt sent you -- or read it free online.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Pope Francis to move on Third Secret of Fatima?
Fatima experts, such as Walt's old buddy Christopher A. Ferrara, Esquire, believe that the Third Secret foretells the apostasy and corruption which stain the mainstream Roman Catholic Church today. We can call the collapse of the Church and the departure from the True Faith the poisoned fruits of Vatican II. But Pope John XXIII, who instigated the Council, read the secret and in his wisdom (?) set it aside, saying the Blessed Virgin must have been talking about somebody else or some other time.
That's been the Vatican party line ever since. We've seen more than half a century of lies and cover-ups orchestrated by the Vatican Secretaries of State, notably Cardinals Casaroli, Sodano and the evil Bertone. And all of the post-Conciliar popes have toed the line. That includes Paul VI, who famously said that, through Vatican II, "the smoke of Satan has entered the Church"...but did nothing about it.
The Message of Fatima does not just concern the ruination of the Church. Our Lady warned of wars and other catastrophes -- manmade and natural -- which would result in the annihilation of millions of souls. Unless, that is, the Pope (in union with all of the bishops, acting together at the same time) fulfilled a very simple request. She asks them to consecrate Russia (specifically) to Her Immaculate Heart. If that is done, She promises, Russia will be converted to the Faith and become an instrument of peace.
Because of the Vatican's policy of Ostpolitik (devised by the Secretariat of State, not by any pope), not one of the popes who have known of Our Lady's request have dared to do as She asks. During World War II, Pius XII attempted a consecration of "the world". John Paul II performed another act of consecration of the world in 1984, but on 25 March of that year admitted in a prayer to the Blessed Virgin that the consecration of Russia remained undone.
Fast forward to 26 June 2000, when the then Secretary of State, Cardinal Sodano, released his "interpretation" of the Third Secret of Fatima, with an introduction by Cardinal Bertone. Cardinal Ratzinger (as he then was) followed Sodano in pronouncing the Fatima prophecy "a thing of the past". The intent of this tale about "the bishop dressed in white" was clearly (in Mr. Ferrara's words) "to consign Fatima to the dustbin of history".
Strangely enough, after he became Benedict XVI, Pope Ratzinger reversed himself. On 11 May 2010, en route to Portugal for a visit to the Fatima shrine, the Holy Father rejected "the universally disbelieved Sodano/Bertone 'interpretation'". (Ferrara's words)
Rather, said Benedict, the Third Secret prophesies what is happening in the Church today, and predicts future events in the Church which are still developing day by day. "The greatest persecution of the Church does not come from enemies outside, but arises from sin in the Church." Sin in the Church... the smoke of Satan... just as Paul VI said!
Not three years later, Benedict XVI found himself physically and mentally incapable of resisting the enemies with in the Church any longer, and threw the torch to whoever might be his successor. Perhaps it was through divine intervention that Cardinal Bergoglio was chosen, for it turns out that Pope Francis is a friend of Our Lady of Fatima. One of his first acts, the day after his election, was to go to pray at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.
We do not know what the Pope said to the Blessed Virgin or what She made him understand. But this week we learn, from Vatican Insider (written by leading Vaticanista Andrea Tornielli) that the Holy Father has asked José Cardinal Policarpo, Archbishop of Lisbon, to dedicate his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima!
Cardinal Policarpo confirmed the Pope’s request at a meeting of the Portuguese bishops’ conference. He said that the Pontiff had twice asked him to make the consecration. The cardinal suggested that the entire bishops’ conference could join in the act of consecration.
This is an extremely significant move by the Holy Father. It shows that he believes in the Fatima Message, and acknowledges the correctness of what Benedict XVI said, that the Message of Fatima is still valid today. (Tornielli says the prophecy could apply not only to the Church's struggle against the totalitarian regimes of the East, but the paedophilia scandal as well.)
What will be Pope Francis' next step? Could it be that he will finally command all the world's bishops to join him in the Act of Consecration of Russia that Our Lady of Fatima requested? Let us pray so, because that is Heaven's Key to World Peace.
Further reading: "A Prelude to the Consecration of Russia?" by Christopher A. Ferrara, Esquire.
Recommended blog: Fr. West's Catholic Blog, and in particular "Queen Esther and Our Lady of Fatima - Homily for Thursday of the First Week of Lent"
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