VIDEO: The final episode (?) of Catholic Star Wars

Speaking of tyranny (see previous post), the "Catholics" who rule today's Church are working harder than ever to stamp out, once and for all, the Mass of All Time, and convert us Catholics who cling to the old and True Faith and the practice thereof to belief in and obedience to Francis and Leo's New Church of the New World Order. 

If we persist in our resistance, we are condemned as "schismatics", cast out from the Church, and therefore doomed to suffer eternally in Hell... assuming, that is, that there is a Hell -- something the modernists don't talk about nowadays. Sin, Hell, redemption, salvation, Heaven, the Four Last Things: we don't hear about those things any more. Instead we are lectured on climate change and the benefits of mass immigration.

Remnant TV has just published this remarkable video -- a montage of video clips, actually -- narrated by Arthur Hallett-West, s Catholic in deep mourning over what was lost in Vatican II. This hilarious new parody skewers the latest SSPX controversy with exactly the kind of wit traditional Catholics will appreciate. You'll laugh... but you'll also recognize the uncomfortable truth beneath the jokes. Warning: Side effects may include uncontrollable laughter and quoting Star Wars at coffee hour.

Key takeaway (IMHO): "Just whose spiritual life is it? Is the hierarchy entitled to dictate the terms of liturgical engagement as a mere servant class, which is all they are mandated to be? And if they have buggered it up, as they appear to some to have done, should they not be rebuked and held to account?'

Walt invites fellow "Rad Trads" to send the link to this post to the Catholics you know who are still apologizing for the crisis in the Church, not admitting that the poisoned fruits of Vatican II were the work of Communists, Masons and other enemies within Holy Mother Church. Their aim was, and still is to change the True Faith to something other than what was revealed to us, through the Apostles and Doctors of the Church, by Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, while He was on Earth with us.

Let us pray. 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, cast into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Meanwhile, at the Vatican

Warning to our Traditional Catholic readers: They came for the SSPX (including its lay supporters) this month. The FSSP is next. And then?

Pope Leo XIII laid the groundwork for the Oath Against Modernism (click here for complete text) which was promulgated by Pope St. Pius X in on 1 September 1910, via his Moto Proprio Sacrorum antistitum.  

At the core of the Oath are four key tenets of the Catholic Faith.

Reason and God: God's existence can be proven with certainty by human reason using the natural light of created things. 

External Proofs: Divine revelation and miracles are real, historical, and valid signs of the Christian religion's origin.

Divine Institution: The Church was historically founded by the real Christ and built upon Saint Peter. 

Immutable Dogma: Church dogmas possess absolute, unchanging meaning and do not evolve into entirely new concepts over time. [The emphasis is Walt's.]

Pope Paul VI presumably swore the Oath Against Modernism when he was ordained as a priest, since doing so was required at that time. Yet in 1967 he purported to abolish the Oath and replace it with a watered down "Profession of Faith". 

That was only a foretaste of what was to come, a first step on the path to Francis' and Leo's New Church of the New World Order. Walt anticipates the promulgation of a new "Oath For Modernism", to which all who want to be in "full communion" with the Church will be required to subscribe. God save us! St. Thomas More, pray for us.  

The Vatican still hasn't obeyed Our Lady of Fatima's command

Walt is pleased to share an e-mail just received from Michael Matt, Editor of The Remnant newspaper, on the subject of  the blatant and egregious hypocrisy being shown by Pope Leo and his acolytes and minions in (supposedly) excommuniating the bishops and priests of the Society of St. Pius X, and even the faithful Catholics who in any way "adhere to" or support the SSPX. Like me, for one.

People who live in glass (papal) palaces shouldn’t throw stones. The Vatican likes to brag about how merciful they are but have evidently failed to notice the hypocrisy of brutally kicking faithful Catholics out of the Church without even giving them a fair hearing.

They say they want to listen to the people, but evidently only if the people parrot back to them what the Vatican wanted them to say in the first place.

They say they are synodal and yet behave like rigid idealogues to those who disagree with their new ideas. Most recently, the world looked on in disbelief as the Vatican refused to hear the desperate cries of a million Latin Mass Catholics whose only crime was an earnest desire to keep the Faith of their fathers.

These rigid shepherds demand obedience of their sheep even after they themselves have offered an example of sustained disobedience to God’s law, the laws of the Church, and now even the natural law.

For a hundred years before Fiducia Supplicans detonated -- whereby the Vatican greenlit blessings for homosexual couples -- they had steadfastly refused to obey Our Lady's command to reveal the "Third Secret."

This, by the way, is the same apparition wherein Our Lady said: “More souls go to hell for sins of the flesh than for any other reason.” No wonder a Jimmy Martin-friendly Vatican would ignore Fatima for as long as possible.

Eventually, they trotted out a doctored-up version of her "Third Secret", which even Mother Angelica famously declined to accept as legitimate. And of course, they've refused to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, exactly as she had asked. In fact, the world is still waiting.

Would that the Vatican were as patient with the SSPX as heaven has been with the Vatican. In any case, in our day Pope Pius X’s prophecy has proven to be alarmingly accurate – Modernists have infiltrated the Church.

The good news? They will fail. In fact, they’re failing already. Far from blowing the Traditional Catholic counterrevolution apart, their recent pharisaical crackdown on Latin Mass Catholics is backfiring. The SSPX has forced the Vatican's true agenda into the light, thus helping millions to see the destructive nature of their Revolution.

My new Underground contains a special message to the Catholic clans of the world: Do not lose hope! To beat them at their own game -- and to not be deceived by their forked tongues -- we must develop a better understanding of the Modernist Revolution and what the endgame has always been. (St. Pius X, pray for us.)

God has not abandoned His Church. I am just old enough to remember what the great pioneer traditionalists did when all of this happened the first time around. At that point, the Latin Mass had been “abrogated” and was gone forever. And then 1988 happened!

Keep the Faith and Modernism will be powerless against you. And in God’s good time, the Modernist Pharisees will become yet another set of forgotten footnotes in the glorious history of Christ’s Church. It is just a matter of time. 

In Christo Rege, Michael J. Matt

Click here to see "They're trolling us!", the latest Remnant Underground video.

VIDEO: Firing Line: Wm. F. Buckley Jr: the fight over Catholic Orthodoxy

The crisis within the Roman Catholic Church is not new. The fight to protect the True Faith against modernist novelties and heresy began about 30 seconds after the end of the Second Vatican Council (aka Vatican II). 

The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), at the centre of the latest controversy (WWW passim) was founded on 1 November 1970, in Écône, Switzerland, by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. It was established to preserve traditional Catholic theology and the Latin Mass, so to resist the "reforms" of Vatican II. 

Some 10 years later, William F. Buckley Jr., a traditional Catholic (and leading political conservative), invited Michael Davies, Joseph Champlin, and Malachi Martin onto Firing Line, his popular TV show, to discuss the issues and the future of Holy Mother Church. 

Their thoughts resonate clearly today, as the destruction of Holy Mother Church by Her enemies within looms on the horizon. Listen up.

 

Now would be a very good time to pray to "St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defencc 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, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen."

VIDEO: Every Traditional Catholic needs to watch this NOW!

Our regular readers will know that Walt is excited -- "incensed" would be a better word -- by the Vatican's purported "automatic excommunication" of the 6 bishops, >700 priests and 10s of 1000s of lay people who belong to and/or support the Society of St. Pius X. 

The SSPX incurred the wrath of Pope Leo XIV and  his chief minion, Carndinal "Tuccio" Fernandez, by consecrating four new bishops on July 1st, without the approval or consent of the Holy See. According to Canon Law, that's illegal. BUT can you punish those involved -- including the innocent laypeople -- by cutting them off from the Sacraments of Holy Mother Church without a formal declaration or any kind of hearing?

Among those saying "NO!" is Michael Matt, editor of The Remnant newspaper and  host of Remnant Underground. See "Michael Matt reacts to the SSPX consecrations", WWW 1/7/26. In his latest video, dropped earlier today, Mr Matt argues that the real story isn't simply about excommunications or canon law. It's about whether the Vatican is at war with Catholic Tradition itself... and whether faithful Catholics will allow themselves to be divided while it happens. 

Dear Catholic reader, whether you attend an SSPX chapel, an FSSP apostolate, the Institute of Christ the King, a diocesan Latin Mass, or none of the above, this message is for you. Watch now... and share it with every Catholic trying to understand what is really happening before the clans of Tradition are divided once again.

 

Further reading:"Open letter of the Society of St. Pius X to Pope Leo XIV", WWW 4/7/26.

VIDEO: Michael Matt reacts to the SSPX consecrations

This is a follow-up to "Letter from Michael Matt re the Society of St. Pius X's intended consecration of new bishops",WWW 30/6/26. The consecrations took place in Switzerland this morning, as promised. On the latest Remnant Underground, Mr Matt asks: What happens now?

 

Mr Matt, like the rest of us traditional Catholics, is waiting for Pope Leo's slipper to drop. Will he blink, or will he drop the excrement-mallet on all those who dare to be Catholic? Stay tuned!!!

VIDEO + Fw: Letter from Michael Matt re the Society of St. Pius X's intended consecration of new bishops, scheduled for tomorrow

Traditional Catholics like YVT are on the edge of their seats [on their knees in prayer, surely. Ed.] waiting to see if Pope Leo XIV will make good on the threat delivered by his minion, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, to excommunicate all the bishops, priests, and religious of the Society of St. Pius X, as well as the faithful who attend SSPX Masses, if the Society goes ahead with the consecration of four new bishops without the approval of the Vatican. 

The SSPX is doing this because the Catholic Church -- the church established by Our Lord Jesus Christ while He was here on Earth -- is in crisis. To understand the nature of the crisis, and why this consecration must be done, watch this Remnant Underground video, with Michael Matt, editor of The Remnant newspaper and author of the open letter which we received today and publish below.

 

Michael Matt writes:

The night before the SSPX has long-since planned to consecrate bishops and the very day that they have welcomed 30,000 faithful to Econe to witness the liturgical ceremony, Pope Leo – who has evidently refused to meet with the Superior General of the SSPX, despite multiple filial requests – is NOW suggesting he’s "open to dialogue".

Pope Leo’s letter reads in part: "I beg and implore you with all my heart: turn back! I urge you to carefully consider the spiritual good of the faithful, for the schismatic act you would commit would deprive them of the lawful -- and in some cases even valid -- reception of the sacraments they love and seek for their own sanctification. The Church is open to a path of dialogue and understanding that the Holy Spirit can make possible and fruitful. I pray for you, for tearing the seamless Tunic of Christ is a sin of the utmost gravity."

This is a wonderful example of pre-emptive damage control and papal hubris. But what about the Vatican's role in tearing the "seamless tunic" to shreds by throwing us out of our churches, depriving our children of the only Mass they've ever known, leaving the Catholic schools in such chaos that we are obliged to educate our children at home?

What about the clerical sex scandals that have rocked the Church ever since our children can remember? What has the Holy See actually done about that? Father Rupnick's "artwork" is still disfiguring the facades of cathedrals all over Europe, as if to announce that, once again, the Vatican cares nothing about the victims of priestly sexual abuse.

What about the liturgical insanity that first forced faithful Catholics to drive for hours on Sunday mornings in search of something that looks vaguely Catholic, and then ultimately led to empty pews and churches closing everywhere?

What about the millions of young people who have simply walked out of the Church forever, so tired are they of a largely homosexualized priesthood and a completely emasculated liturgy?

The nuns are mostly gone. The schools are mostly closed. The churches that are still open are mostly celebrating gay pride. And the crisis in the Church is so serious that even Pope John Paul called it the "silent apostasy". Surely, the Holy Father can't be serious that WE are to blame for the abuse we've endured at the hands of our spiritual fathers.

How badly does His Holiness think we're suffering from Stockholm Syndrome that just a couple of years after Traditionis Custodes – when the Vatican ruthlessly ripped the Latin Mass out of our lives and in effect told our kids to go to hell – we'd now be ready to hear a papal lecture about how the SSPX is responsible for tearing the seamless garment by establishing scattered oases of Catholic water and life in the middle of the spiritual desert that the Vatican has made out of our beloved Catholic Church?

No, Holy Father, we beg YOU – do not do this! Do not expel one of the few orders of faithful heterosexual priests left – priests who have remained true to the Faith of our fathers and who are far more concerned about the souls of our children than about celebrating LGBT outreach here in the Month of the Sacred Heart.

We have been abused by the Vatican long enough, Holy Father. We have had enough of Vatican abuse and apostasy scandalizing our children. Please, for God's sake and the sake of our children, stop this madness! 

In Christo Rege, 

Michael J. Matt

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".

“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.

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.

VIDEO: Catholics! Let's take our Church back!

The Roman Catholic Church is suffering her worst assault in history. Enemies both without and within are campaigning hard to destroy not just the Church as an institution, but the Christian Faith itself. All sons and daughters of the Church are called to stand in her defence.

But... there are serious issues separating traditional Catholics. Every effort must now be made to unite the Catholic resistance, so the good people at The Remnant have taken a long overdue initiative to get everyone together to discuss a united and principled defence of Holy Mother Church. Next month, for the first time in history, a number of bishops as well as representatives of every major traditionalist priestly fraternity in the world (including the SSPX and FSSP), as well as journalists from both sides of the Atlantic, will come together for a weekend conference to discuss what must be done.

Dear Catholic reader, this short (3:23) video is your invitation to help take our Church back!



For more information, click here to visit The Remnant website.

A real surprise from Pope Francis

What an amazing pope is Pope Francis! We -- not just Catholics but the entire world -- never know what's coming next. When he opens his mouth or takes pen in hand, it's impossible to know what to expect. Sometimes his pronouncements make us traditional Catholics laugh. Sometimes they make us cry. Sometimes they leave us confused. And sometimes we are left speechless in disbelief or, rarely, appreciation.

Today's headline news, so surprising and important that even the lamestream media are giving it major coverage, is the Pope's letter to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, on the subject of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, a year of penance and prayer which begins on December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

In line with the Holy Father's emphasis on compassion and mercy, he has ruled that during the Jubilee Year, all priests will have the authority to give penitents absolution from the grave sin of abortion. For those (including most mainstream Catholics) who don't know it, having or procuring an abortion is a "reserved" sin under canon law, which can be absolved only by the diocesan bishop or priests to whom the bishop delegates that authority. In England, Scotland, Wales and some American dioceses, bishops have already delegated the authority to all their priests, but now this authority is given to all priests, worldwide, for the duration of the Year of Mercy.

The Pope said many [Walt's emphasis] women sought an abortion because they "believe that they have no other option". He said he had "met so many women who bear in their heart the scar of this agonizing and painful decision." But he regards compassion and mercy as virtues that outclass all others, so "I have decided, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, to allow all priests for the Jubilee Year to absolve of the sin of abortion those who procure it and who also seek forgiveness."

The BBC's David Willey reports that Pope Francis is aware that the decision will not be welcomed by traditionalists. That's putting it mildly. However, there is a second part to the Pope's letter -- so far unreported by the secular media -- which will gladden the hearts of traditional Catholics, particularly those who align themselves with the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), the traditional Catholic order founded by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

In an astounding volte-face, the Pope has declared that priests of the SSPX will validly and licitly absolve sins during the Jubilee Year of Mercy. "A final consideration concerns those faithful who for various reasons choose to attend churches officiated by priests of the Fraternity of St. Pius X," the Pontiff wrote. "This Jubilee Year of Mercy excludes no one. From various quarters, several brother bishops have told me of their good faith and sacramental practice, combined however with an uneasy situation from the pastoral standpoint.... I trust that in the near future solutions may be found to recover full communion with the priests and superiors of the Fraternity.

"In the meantime, motivated by the need to respond to the good of these faithful, through my own disposition, I establish that those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach these priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins."

Walt, who is one of "these faithful", is happy to read this, and grateful to the Holy Father for the indult. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of Catholics who harbored some doubt about the validity of sacraments administered by bishops and priests of the SSPX will (or should) rejoice and give thanks to God.

However... Walt can't help but wonder what affected the Pope's "disposition". I understood the Vatican's position on the SSPX to be that its bishops were in schism and excommunicated (although the excommunication was lifted a couple of years ago), and therefore could not licitly ordain new priests. That would mean that the hundreds of SSPX ministering to the needs of the faithful worldwide aren't really priests, right? At least, that's what a lot of "regular" bishops and priests have been telling people. But now, all of a sudden, they can hear confessions and give absolution.

What does this mean? The clue may be in the line about solutions being found to "recover full communion". That could mean that the Vatican may declare the "schism" ended and accept the traditional Catholics back into the fold, allowing them to keep the pre-Vatican II Faith and practices of the Church, particularly the Latin Mass.

Or (and, sadly, more likely) it could mean that the SSPX is going to give in to the demands of the Vatican and "reform" itself, eating the poisoned fruits of the Council, in order to gain some sort of "personal prelature" or other accommodation. In very blunt language, the Pope's indult may have been made in anticipation of a sell-out. God help us and Our Lady guide us! Let it not be so!

Further reading: Full text of the letter of Pope Francis granting indulgence during the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy

UPDATED: Link to photos from Father Gruner's funeral

Dear Catholic friends, in your charity you are asked to pray for the repose of the soul of Father Nicholas Gruner, RIP, who was laid to rest today in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, following a Pontifical High Mass celebrated by His Excellency, Bishop Bernard Fellay, SSPX.

A PHOTO GALLERY of scenes from Father Gruner's funeral is now available on Catholic Family News.

Former Society of St. Pius X priest calls "close co-operation" with Rome "harmful, even destructive"

We are not against a return to a normal juridical status in the Church for Catholic Tradition, but the circumstances and timing have to be right.
Regular readers of WWW will know that Walt is an old-fashioned, traditional Roman Catholic -- a "scary right-winger" -- and unrepentant about being criticized by the likes of Jeff Mirus and others who have partaken of the poisoned fruit of Vatican II.

There are some "Catholics of Tradition", notably Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the Society of St. Pius X, who wish and work for reconciliation with Rome. There are others, like Bishop Richard Williamson and a growing number of former SSPX priests, who think bending the knee to Rome and accepting the "principles" of Vatican II would be tantamount to spiritual suicide.

Father Brendan King is one of those who have become disaffected with the SSPX. On May 3rd, he left the order, joining Fr. Edward MacDonald, who quit just after Easter to become an independent Traditional Catholic priest. Fr. Paul Morgan, District Superior of the SSPX in Britain and Ireland, is leaving his position shortly for a year's "sabbatical".

On the occasion of his departure, Fr. King gave a sermon explaining his reasons for leaving, which you can read in full on the Respice Stellam blogsite. Here Walt presents the conclusion, Fr. King's "Statement of Position", which is a very good summary of Traditional Catholic thinking on the problems of the modernist Church.

In our opinion we think close co-operation with the post conciliar authorities at the present time would be harmful and even destructive for the goal that we are working towards which is the full restoration in the Church of Catholic tradition and the establishment of the Social Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the aim and objective of our founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and that of all the modern Popes up to the time of Vatican II.

Rome has always been the centre of Catholic unity and the Papacy the guardian of orthodoxy for two thousand years. Tragically, Catholic Rome and the successors of Peter have for the past forty years succumbed to the powerful influences of liberal protestantism and modernism leading to the weakening of the faith of millions of souls and drawing the Church of Christ towards apostasy. As a consequence of this, devout Catholics have been obliged to withdraw their obedience and allegiance from the post-conciliar authorities in order to preserve their faith and Catholic way of life. We must obey God and the authority of Catholic Tradition, rather than the false modernist shepherds of contemporary Rome. This situation and choice has been forced on traditional Catholics by modernist Rome because Vatican II is the cause of the crisis.

We do not accept that Rome is now more sympathetic towards Tradition and is more favourably disposed towards the Society. Rather and on the contrary, there are so many instances of a very aggressive attitude towards any group or individual turning to tradition coming under ecclesiastical censure. It is beyond dispute that Rome is now more modernist and liberal than during the Pontificate of John Paul II, so rather than seek a rapprochement with Rome, we need to maintain our position of prudent but respectful detachment.

Surely, our firm and constant adherence to the perennial magisterium of the Church is the best witness we can give to modernist Rome. We have no right to imperil the hard earned fruits of forty years of combat for the Faith simply because the Roman authorities are nice and approachable and tell us we can trust them. We have far too much to lose and in our opinion such a rapprochement would be an enormous gamble. We must not and cannot squander the glorious legacy and heritage of Archbishop Lefebvre.

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.

SSPX leader finally gets off the fence, gives up on reconciling with Rome

Just over a month ago, Walt had an eyeball-to-eyeball chat with John Vennari, the editor of Catholic Family News, one of a handful of newspapers and magazines that are still Catholic in more than name only. John mentioned that he would be at the Angelus Press Conference in Kansas City this past weekend, and was looking forward to hearing talks by Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X. I don't know if John expected to hear the strong views expressed by the bishop.

You see, Bishop Fellay has for some months now been accused by "radical traditional" Catholics of being "soft on Vatican II and soft on Rome", in a push to reach an agreement with the Vatican that would see the SSPX brought back into communion with Rome and end the break which occurred in 1988.

It has been suggested by some that Bishop Fellay's motives for desiring the "regularization" of the SSPX were more personal than spiritual, since he would presumably be the head of any new "personal prelature" that might be set up by the Vatican. One group, led by Bishop Richard Williamson, has left to form the "Society of St. Pius X of the Strict Observance". Their stated reason for breaking away is that they absolutely refuse to accept Vatican II and any sort of accommodation with the mainstream Church.

Many in the audience at Kansas City were shocked to hear Bishop Fellay -- after months of dithering -- clearly denounce Vatican II. He described the Novus Ordo (New) Mass imposed by the Council as "evil", and said he is grateful that the SSPX never reached the mooted accommodation with the Holy See.

John Vennari has written a lengthy summary of Bishop Fallay's talks, well worth reading in full: "Bishop Fellay on Pope Francis: 'We have in front of us a genuine Modernist!'" Here are the highlights.

The clear statement that so many traditionalists have waited for for so long was this: "It is has never been our intention to pretend either that the Council would be considered as good, or the New Mass would be 'legitimate'. Bishop Fellay explained that although the Novus Ordo Mass may be valid, "The New Mass is bad, it is evil."

The SSPX leader said that talks with the Vatican collapsed last June because the Vatican insisted on acceptance of the teachings of Vatican II. He flatly rejected the teaching of Pope Benedict XVI that the statements of Vatican II should be read in the light of consistent Catholic teaching. "The Council is not in continuity with tradition," he said. You couldn't ask for a much clearer pronouncement than "It is not."

However, the bishop said, while the "hermeneutic of continuity" preached by Benedict was unrealistic, he acknowledged that the former pope was at least somewhat sympathetic to the concerns of traditionalists. But Pope Francis, he said, the gap between the SSPX and the Holy See is widening. "When we see what is happening now," Bishop Fellay said, "we thank God -— we thank God! -— we have been preserved from any kind of agreement" with the Vatican.

Bishop Fellay noted that we cannot simply obey the present popes without question, because then we would endanger our Faith and so destroy ourselves. He warned also that we may be entering into the time of Antichrist, although we cannot know when, or how far off in the future this may be. Be sure to read: "The 'liquid' message of Pope Francis; will he be the last supreme pontiff?"

Turns out Walt is a Recusant!

Walt is a sometime student of Church history but still has a lot to learn. For instance, what should one call Catholics who refuse to attend the Protestantized "New Mass" which is one of the poisoned fruits of Vatican II? Some traditionalists go even farther and have abandoned the Society of St. Pius X because it uses the "transitional" Roman Missal of 1962.

But what do you call these "Ultra-traditionalists"? Pope Francis recently called them "extremists". Cardinal Bertone inveighed against "Fatimists". But there is an older term, dating back to the days of Henry VIII. Those who refused to attend the "masses" of Henry's schismatic "Church of England" came to be known as Recusants.

The faithful Catholics (and others) who refused to conform to the beliefs and practices of the new English "church" were made criminals by the Recusancy Acts. They suffered fines, confiscation of their property, imprisonment, and even capital punishment -- the death of martyrs like St. Thomas More, who happens to be Walt's patron saint.


Taking their cue from the St. Thomas and the other English martyrs, a group of clergy and laity have separated from the Society of St. Pius X, because they disagree with the desire of it's Superior-General, Bishop Bernard Fellay, to reach some sort of compromise with Rome.

The breakaway group has started a new publication aptly titled The Recusant. The raison d'être of the newsletter/website is to fight "a guerrilla war for the soul of Tradition." This is declared in a signed Letter of Entreaty dated 21 May 2013, which attacks Bishop Fellay and the SSPX for "wilfully pursuing a new direction and a new agenda, remaking the Society in their own image with reckless disregard for the souls which Divine Providence has placed in their care."

The letter charges the SSPX with "having deviated from its essential mission of fidelity to Catholic Tradition and opposition to Modernism due to the betrayal of its liberal leadership." The Recusants argue that the faithful must secede from the corrupted society, which they describe as a "sinking ship, which is beyond repair."

Walt finds the lack of unity in the forces of Tradition within the Church deeply disturbing. Still, one must cling to that which is known to be right -- to the eternal truths taught to us by Our Lord Himself and handed down to us through His Church. If that means refusing to conform to the novelties and outright heresies which was are told are necessary to adapt to the modern world, then yes, let us be "nonconformists". Let us be Recusants!

Ron Paul, Romeo Dallaire... and Bishop Bernard Fellay too!

On May 22nd, in "Thunder on the right! Politics and religion meet in Niagara Falls", Walt congratulated the Fatima Center on having lined up Ron Paul and Canadian Senator Romeo Dallaire for its "Path to Peace" conference, coming to Niagara Falls (the pretty side) on September 9th through 13th.

Now the "Fatimists" have announced that Most Rev. Bernard Fellay will be attending and speaking as well. Bishop Fellay is the Superior-General of the Society of St. Pius X, the religious society founded by the late Archbishop Lefebvre in opposition to the Protestant/Jewish "reforms" of Vatican II, particularly the suppression of the Mass of All Time.

Missing from the Fatima Center's press release is any reference to the split in the SSPX over Bishop Fellay's attempts to bring the society back into communion with the mainstream Church. The three other bishops consescrated by Abp. Lefebvre have condemned Fellay's overtures to the Vatican as a sell-out, and one -- Bishop Richard Williamson -- has quit the society entirely. 

Walt is hoping to attend at least part of the Path to Peace conference, to hear Ron Paul. Now if they could get Bishop Fellay and Bishop Williamson to debate the nature of Catholic Tradition, I'd be there for the whole week!

"Bertone must go!" -- cardinal's warning to Benedict

On the day of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, Walt told you that his successor would not be Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone. (Lifetime pct .987) A reader asks why I said that with such confidence. Very simple. [You said it! Ed.]

Bertone is easily the most disliked member of the Roman Curia -- reviled by the others for his overweaning ambition and attempts to usurp the Pope's authority, rather like Gen. Alexander Haig in the Reagan years. Then there is the matter of Bertone's incompetence in matters of state, such as his complete mishandling of the controversy over the Third Secret of Fatima. (See The Secret Still Hidden, by Christopher Ferrara. Good Counsel Publications, 2008)

Then there was the Williamson affair -- the question of what to do about Bishop Richard Williamson, of the Society of St. Pius X, who was accused of being a "Holocause denier". Bishop Williamson, along with three other SSPX bishops consecrated by Abp. Lefebvre, was supposedly excommunicated. Then, as part of the Vatican's campaign to make the traditionalists bend the knee to Rome, they were "unexcommunicated".

About 30 seconds later the modernists started whining that Williamson should have remained beyond the pale, rather than risk giving offence to the Jews with whom the Church is now supposed to make nice. Another own goal for Bertone.

That's what Joachim Cardinal Meisner of Cologne told Benedict XVI when he pleaded with the Holy Father to replace Bertone as Vatican Secretary of State. Cardinal Meisner told Frankfurter Rundschau that he approached the Pope, on behalf of several cardinals, to demand a change because Cardinal Bertone had proven incapable of handling his office.

But did the Pontiff listen? Nooo... The German cardinal said the Pope dismissed the suggestion immediately, showing his loyalty to Cardinal Bertone. Cardinal Meisner recalled: "He looked at me and said, 'Listen to me carefully! Bertone remains! Basta! Basta! Basta!' After that I never brought up the subject again."

Walt has long wondered why Pope Ratzinger has such "loyalty" to the Man Who Would Be Pope, the more so after the Vatileaks scandal of last year. Could it be that Bertone has "something" on the Pope? Something like photos of the Pope with a duck? (Agent 78 says this means something.)

Could this deep, dark and dirty secret -- if such there be -- have anything to do with Benedict's resignation? Will we ever be told the truth of the Ratzinger-Bertone relationship, or the Pope's decision to go now, before anything else happens?

Ordinarily, the Vatican being what it is, Walt would say we will never know. But... it's interesting -- verrry interresting -- that Cardinal Meisner should have chosen this moment to tell his little story to Frankfurther Rundschau. Maybe this little story has great hidden significance. Or maybe not.

Abp. Müller labels Traditional Catholics "heretical"; elsewhere, pot calls kettle "black"

Incredible! La Stampa's Vatican Insider reports this week that Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the newly installed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (thus chief theological flak-catcher for the Vatican) said that traditionalist Catholics advance a "heretical interpretation" of Vatican II if they claim that the Council made radical changes in Church teaching.

Well, it takes one to know one, you might say. Traditional Catholics have for decades called attention to such heresies as syncretism and relativism which are at least implicit in Vatican II's false "ecumenism", the replacement of the Mass of All Ages with the Protestant (or worse) "new mass" and other poisoned fruits of the Second Vatican Council.

Archbishop Müller said that an "accurate reading" of Vatican II statements must assume that the Council’s statements are in keeping with the established teachings of the Church. Well, why must it? Is it, then, a question of interpretation? If so, what would make Abp. Müller's interpretation superior to that of Archbishop Lefebvre (founder of the Society of St. Pius X) or, for that matter, Pope Paul VI who said that with Vatican II "the smoke of Satan has entered the Church".

Pope Paul should have known the truth of it, for he himself held open the doors.

Further reading: "The terrible dilemma of Bishop Fellay". Follow the link at the end of the article to learn more about the limitations of papal authority -- or the authority of a council -- to change Sacred Tradition.