A cardinal holds his biretta as Pope Francis celebrates Mass with new cardinals in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican in this Nov. 29, 2020, file photo. (CNS photo/Gregorio Borgia, Reuters pool)
Heretical Prelates – “Unfortunately, it is not uncommon today to hear Catholic leaders affirm unorthodox views that, not too long ago, would have been espoused only by heretics.” Imagining a heretical cardinal (First Things)
Passionsspiele Oberammergau – “The world’s most famous Passion play is powerful theater. There’s a hole at its heart.” Oberammergau’s Broken Vow (Plough)
Trans Children’s Books – “She Persisted is a children’s book series featuring the stories of, you guessed it, women. Who persisted. Florence Nightingale, Temple Grandin, Helen Keller, Ruby Bridges, Ella Fitzgerald. A mix. A mix indeed.” On the Gender Beat (Charlotte Was Both)
Restoring All Things – A”fter two years of initial planning, Christendom’s Graduate School of Theology first launched the Christendom@ Project in 2018, with the goal of offering live, online, interactive lectures for students at universities that don’t offer courses in Catholic thought.” Program brings Catholic courses to colleges nationwide (The Arlington Catholic Herald)
(*The posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of the content and perspective of said news item or essay.)
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Swiss Guard cadets prepare their armor in the guards’ barracks at the Vatican on April 30, 2024. / Credit: Matthew Santucci/CNA
Vatican City, May 5, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).
For the newest class of 34 Swiss Guards who will be sworn in on Monday, their service is based on faith and a love for the Church and the pope, as storied as the uniform itself.
“For me it was something, first and foremost, to give something to the Church, because the Catholic Church gave us a lot when I was a child and with this service, I can give something back,” explained Nicolas Hirt, one of the new guards who hails from the Swiss canton of Fribourg.
The cadets, joined by their instructors, gathered for a media event on April 30 in the courtyard behind the barracks adjacent to the Sant’Anna entrance, which was adorned with the flags from each of the Swiss cantons.
The Swiss Guard’s annual swearing-in ceremony will take place on Monday, May 6, in the San Damaso courtyard of the Apostolic Palace. There, the new guards will solemnly raise their right hands, with three fingers extended, representing the Holy Trinity, and proclaim their oath: “I swear I will faithfully, loyally, and honorably serve the Supreme Pontiff and his legitimate successors and I dedicate myself to them with all my strength. I assume this same commitment with regard to the Sacred College of Cardinals whenever the Apostolic See is vacant.”
Swiss Guard cadets drill at the Vatican on April 30, 2024. Credit: Matthew Santucci/CNA
There was a palpable sense of pride, perhaps even a hint of nervousness, as the young men marched last week in the storied corridors, perfecting the ancient rites ahead of a day that will mark a milestone in their lives.
Renato Peter, who comes from a small village near St. Gallen (the first from his village to enter the guards), said he first developed a desire to enter into the service of the papal guards after a trip to Rome in 2012 with his diocese.
“When you work in the Vatican, you have to feel like you go back in history because a lot of European history has been made here,” said Peter, who is mindful that those who wear the iconic tricolor uniform bear a great responsibility and represent a connection to the history of the Church.
“We are the smallest military in the world,” Peter continued, emphasizing that service in the Swiss Guards is like no other. “But, we are not training to make war. We are like the military, yes, but we’re for the security of the Pope.”
The Swiss Guard is indeed the smallest standing army in the world, numbering only 135 members (Pope Francis increased its ranks from 110 in 2018), protecting not only the smallest sovereign territory in the world, Vatican City State, but also acting as the personal security force of the Holy Father.
This year the Swiss Guard celebrated 518 years of service to the Apostolic See. Its history dates back to Jan. 22, 1506, when 150 Swiss mercenaries, led by Captain Kasper von Silenen from the central Swiss canton of Uri, arrived in Rome at the request of Pope Julius II.
But the swearing-in ceremony takes place on May 6, marking the anniversary of the Sack of Rome in 1527 by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V when 147 guards died protecting Pope Clement VII.
The Swiss Guards form an integral part of the history of the papacy, and a core component of the security apparatus of the Vatican, but they also occupy a special palace in the popular imagination, one underscored by a profound spirituality.
“It’s another world, another culture, and above all doing a fairly unique job, that is to say, there is the protection of the Holy Father,” said Vice-Corporal Eliah Cinotti, spokesman for the guards.
“I don’t think there are many of us who are lucky enough to have the opportunity to serve the Holy Father in that way, therefore the Swiss Guard is a quite unique institution.”
Cinotti observed that for many of the pilgrims coming to Rome, which is often a once-in-a-lifetime experience, the guards act as a point of encounter between the people and the Church, shedding light on an evangelical dimension of their mission.
“Since we are Swiss Guards and represent the pope, we are also there to be Christians, to listen to these people. There is no specific training for this because it already comes from our Christian character to help others.”
Service in the Swiss Guards is both physically and psychologically demanding, and the entry requirements are strict, even though the guards do not face deployment to active war zones, like conventional soldiers.
A prospective guard must hold Swiss citizenship, be Catholic, single, and male (after five years in service the guards are allowed to marry), and be at least 1.74 meters tall (approximately 5’8”). They are required to have completed secondary school (or the equivalent) and have completed mandatory military service.
Despite what some may consider prohibitive entry restrictions, Cinotti noted, during the annual call for applications there are anywhere from 45-50 applicants, and there has not been a problem with recruitment.
During the first round, prospective candidates go through a preliminary screening and, if selected, they will sit with a recruitment officer in Switzerland for an initial interview, which generally lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour. Candidates also have to undergo an intensive psychological test, to assess whether they can withstand the demands of the job.
Should their candidacy proceed, they are then sent to Rome where, for the first two months, they are exposed to the working environment of the Vatican, and around 56 hours of intensive instruction in Italian. Their instruction also includes an emphasis on their cultural and spiritual formation.
Swiss Guard cadets inspect their armor in their barracks at the Vatican on April 30, 2024. Credit: Matthew Santucci/CNA
The cadets are then sent to the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in Switzerland, where they are instructed in self-defense and the use of firearms by local police. While the guards carry medieval halberds — an ax blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft — during official papal events, each is equipped with a 9mm GLOCK 19 Gen4 pistol, taser, and pepper spray.
There is also a two-year minimum service requirement after which they can decide to remain, or return to Switzerland.
“About 80% return to Switzerland and 20% stay,” Cinotti said. “And the 80% who return to Switzerland go to the police or the army or return to their basic profession or go to study at university.”
He also noted there have been some years where a guard will discern a vocation to the priesthood. “And we also had a certain point, people who entered the seminary at the time, one per year more or less.”
He added: “We haven’t had anyone for two years, but I think they will arrive, or rather it’s a question of vocations.”
Swiss Guards stand in the middle of Paul VI Hall during Pope Francis’ general audience on Jan. 10, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Cinotti spoke on the myriad security challenges that a guard will have to face in his day-to-day work, which can last anywhere from six to 12 hours of continuous duty, noting that there has been an uptick in the number of people coming to the Vatican for help.
Cinotti also noted that for all of the guards, there has been the additional learning curve of adapting to Pope Francis’ pastoral style, which has brought him in close proximity to the faithful during his audiences in Rome and his travels abroad.
“Pope Francis is like every pope,” Cinotti remarked. “He has his own style, and we must adapt to the pope.”
“If he wants to go to contact the people of God, we must guarantee that, of course, everything is fine, but we cannot prevent it. He does what he wants, he is the pope,” he added.
While this can raise some logistical problems, Cinotti reassured that the guards have been trained to respond to possible threats. He said they have developed a symbiotic, and always professional, relationship with Francis.
“He transmits a certain serenity and a certain awareness that we are there next to him, we are there, like the gendarmerie, which allows us to operate in complete tranquility on the ground without being disturbed,” he said.
“He likes to change plans and will change plans throughout the day,” Cinotti added, “but it suits us very well because we adapt to him and we do this service and for us, it is still important to guarantee his safety.”
Pope Francis receives a hug from a child during lunch on the World Day of the Poor Nov. 13, 2022. / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA
Rome Newsroom, Nov 14, 2022 / 03:26 am (CNA).
Pope Francis had lunch with around 1,300 poor from Rome on Sunday.The meal was… […]
19 Comments
Faithful Catholic?
Christendom College deserves your support.
They take zero Federal Funding.
They generate vocations.
They limit student body size to around 500 or so thus the school is a community where the profs and students know each other.
If you search for worthy Catholic charities – check them out- you will be pleased.
@ Abortion’s Never Necessary
A reasonable medical opinion that effectively questions the death of mother v prenatal infant proposition. Although as far back as 2003 Carmen Dolea MD and Carla AbouZahr MD recommended, to World Health Organization Geneva in cases of obstructed labor, the most common medical rationale for abortion – the Cesarean section.
@ Heretical Prelates
Bishop Paprocki makes a case for heresy by a prelate of high rank such as cardinal, and the issue of whether such a heretical cardinal can validly vote in a papal election.
Paprocki’s argument underscores manifest heresy, although what is evident on one level of responsibility is not in another such as the definition required by canon law. A reasonable definition is adamant and consistent heresy. Otherwise, every moment in deliberation, musing on issues, hypothetical speaking, whenever we make a misplaced statement intended or not we’d be condemned as heretics. The persons Bishop Paprocki alludes to, Cardinals Hollerich and McElroy have not to my knowledge made definitive repudiations of doctrine such as abortion, homosexuality. Words like ‘should’, must be changed, this requires reexamination based on research, what was formerly held is wrong, does not meet the consistent, adamant standard of canonical repudiation.
Whereas Pres Biden, speaker Pelosi are both manifestly adamant and consistent in their direct refutation of Catholic doctrine on abortion and homosexuality and the Church has not excommunicated them. If their bishops do not exercise their rightful authority to excommunicate the blatant heretic, how can we expect the Roman Pontiff, one who gives evidence of empathy with their positions, allows the Eucharist for them at the Vatican – to excommunicate these cardinals even with canonical cause?
If the bishop of Rome relents to take action most of our bishops except Paprocki, Cordileone are disposed to riding things out. Too many others empathize with McElroy. The next step for Cordileone would be to excommunicate Nancy Pelosi for her spiritual good. That’s doubtful. Although we can hope. Analogously it’s become the sheepish bishops without a shepherd.
Good reply father….but we know what these cardinals and bishops think…they are so Suttle and deceiving like one fr james martin…it is unfortunate that we adhere to the letter of canon law while ignoring the spirit of it…have all the lustful thoughts I want as long as I don,t commit adultery…fortunately Jesus saw through that justification..
Similarly you’re likely not to hear a Francis repeat of the words, ‘Forgive them, [in the confessional] whether or not they’re repentant. Always forgive!’ Rather we’re most likely to hear variations. Similar to Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini.
The blatantly pro-abortion Cardinal Martini not only never received a rebuke; he did receive bear hugs and endless praise about how great he was to the very end of his life by JPII “the great” and Benedict, the “great and generous scholar.” Martini who should have been laicized and excommunicated for aiding and abetting the mass slaughter of babies by publicly weakening the Church’s moral voice, even got a building named after him. How many lives were snuffed out as a result of cold blooded moral indifference by high prelates sending a confused message to the far corners of the world. Is the Church just playing one big game? Do we really care about the crushed skulls from this greatest holocaust in history?
Yes, there’s an apparent special club relationship among hierarchy that glosses over differences, serious ones as you indicate. It’s an anomaly belonging to a self assured elite class.
Card Martini was the author of the synodal Church concept designed to accelerate the Church’s identification with the world. He instituted and chaired the St Gallen Group that canvassed cardinals to elect Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio. Jorge was his disciple, Martini overjoyed when he was elected the second time around, the first attempt Ratzinger unexpectedly elected.
All this doesn’t bode well for a Church suffering this profound corruption of moral integrity. Our best option is deepen, stand fast in the faith. We may be in for worse. Our faith is being tested. Our commitment to Christ will save us, as well as others.
Even in my youthful atheistic years I postulated many things about what the nature of God would have to be if He actually did exist. I knew such things that He would have to favor those of weak native intelligence as much as the gifted. A high IQ man like myself enjoyed the gift of teaching swimming to “retarded” children in those years, whom many said shouldn’t have been allowed to be born. A good God would have to have divine anger towards vanity.
We should be happy within the creative limitations God has given us. But it boggles the mind how it cannot be self-evident to anyone of mustard seed faith that God is the exclusive source of truth and that His creatures create no truth at all. There is tremendous room for creativity in articulating and giving witness to truth, and to discover new implications coherent with received understanding, and this should be enough. Our Church is blessed to have your voice. Any theologian who thinks he creates anything wholly new is treading on heresy, and he should know it, and everyone of faith should know it from the laity to the highest episcopate.
And there in lies the crux of the matter, the erroneous claim that Vatican II did not change any Dogma even though we can know through both Faith and reason, that Vatican II did away with The Charitable Anathema as instituted by Christ, “You cannot be My disciples if you do not abide in My Word”, allowing heresy to take root and creating a counterfeit church that is attempting to subsist in The Body Of Christ, which we can know through Faith and reason, is not possible, due to The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, (Filioque).
Therein lies the Great Deception which led to placing pachamama in The Holy Place.
Overlooked by many casual readers of Vatican II, are the “interventions” inserted into the Documents to prevent draft wording from misleading or undermining the legitimacy of the Council.
A few remnant Tielhardian phrases do remain, but here are some offsetting examples:
The most problematic Constitution GAUDIUM ET SPES does provide: “Contemplating this melancholy state of humanity, the Council wishes to recall first of all [!] the permanent binding force of universal natural law [!] and the all-embracing principles, Man’s conscience itself gives ever more emphatic voice to these principles. Therefore, actions which deliberately conflict with these principles, as well as orders commanding such actions, are criminal [!]” (n. 79).
The Constitution LUMEN GENTIUM (Chapter 3, n. 22, and the three-page Prefatory Note as an integral part of the voted document) defines “hierarchical communion.” It restrains “local Church authorities” by holding, instead, that local bishops and all bishops are to act collegially, that is, “Together with its head, the Roman Pontiff, and never without this head, the episcopal order is the subject of supreme and full power over the universal Church.” Not the papacy versus the bishops, but the papacy by himself or the papacy with his bishops.
The Constitution DEI VERBUM was modified to re-assert the value of Tradition: “the result is that the Church draws its certainty on all things revealed not from Scripture alone,” (n. 9). It also asserts the historical nature of the Gospels: “whose historical nature it (the Council) affirms without hesitation” (n. 19).
The Declaration on ECUMENISM contain numerous subtle but clarifying “interventions” from Pope Paul VI himself:
(n. 1) Instead of “In truth, all are disciples of the Lord” with “In truth, all affirm that they are disciples of the Lord.”
(n. 4) Replace “Recognizing…the presence of the gifts of the Spirit in the lives of others” with “…recognizing the virtuous works [!] in the lives of others.”
(n. 14) Replace “not a few of these have apostolic origins” with “not a few of these glory in having been founded by the Apostles themselves.”
(n. 16) Replace “…the Sacred Council… declares that the Churches of the East have the right and the duty to govern themselves according to their discipline” with “they have the faculty [!] to govern themselves according to their discipline.”
(n. 21) Replace “…moved by the Holy Spirit they find God in the same Holy Scripture” with “Calling upon the Holy Spirit, they seek God in the same Holy Scripture.”
The oft-misrepresented and Declaration on RELIGIOUS LIBERTY affirms precisely: “that all men are to be immune from coercion [!] on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power [….],” and does not [!] even use the assumed wording “freedom of conscience.” So, not “freedom from” objective truth, but “freedom for” such truth. The institutional liberty of the Church is reiterated (n. 13). And the reality of the moral law and well-formed conscience is inserted into the higher-ranking Constitution Gaudium et Spes, above.
SUMMARY: Not perfect, but not a “counterfeit council,” and good reason why Pope Benedict distinguished the “real” Council of the Documents from the “virtual” Council pedaled by Hans Kung et al from 1965 forward.
@Marymount University
In answer to the critics, President Irma Becerra or her spokesperson clarify that financial savings are not so much the game as is a paradigm shift in overall focus and mission. Deleted Liberal Arts content would seem to involve a reallocation into more of a “diversity, equity and inclusivity” sort of flat-earth cacophony.
So, when the board of trustees votes, they should weigh two questions: (1) whether the President (a mole for possible outside agendas?) is competent to advance the university’s core mission (and core course requirements?) as a Catholic presence on a vapid national multi-versity landscape (admittedly a tough gig), and if not, then (2) the job description and qualification requirements for her possible replacement.
Given her weather vane mentality (“cognitive diversity”!), it seems like President Becerra would be more competitive elsewhere—as for any of those “meteorologist” positions on the mainstream media weather segments. But, who am I to judge?
In our Media Saturated Democracy, the discerning audience would have to contend at least with these 4 areas, I propose:
1. finding good entertainment
2. defending other authentic pastimes
3. being alert to what else happens in the media, of importance
4. perceiving the deeper nuances in what is engaged.
This web journal CWR and its lively and unflinching comboxers, are always offering bright tips on what is available for entertainment, pastime, education, updating and prayer. A rare commodity! Shared generously. Thank you CWR.
In case it gets overlooked, Dr. Fauci is still under investigation and could be on the ropes. Also, vaccine-death autopsies are turning up PROOFS, on the one hand, that gene- and protein-spike vaccines are injuring and killing; but on the other hand, TEST METHODS even for those who are alive, that could be used by those concerned about risk.
If you test and it shows you are at risk, you can detox from the vaccine. Alternatively, you can proceed and detox regardless of testing. For starters, detox information is available at the US Front Line Doctors website FLCCC.
Just being a trend is not really making a Civil Rights contribution.
Politics and law are at put at odds with each other and become convulsed in strife because basic principles in civil rights are not followed. This is my view on “wokeism”, that it is a passing phenomenon to do with the drive to sustain and/or spread political reach. Somewhat like a “marketing” brand. So the next trend will have its own label and background collectivity.
Incidentally, it also explains – as I make it – how they would give charitable status to Satanists who explicitly say they do not serve or believe in God and say they are not a religion and do not do charitable work. Just because you use the word “theism” as in “egotheism”, doesn’t mean God or religion as legal qualifications etc.
Satanists will necessarily use words and image to disguise what is involved and it necessarily disqualifies from legal status without chance of review.
‘ During that investigation, the confidential F.B.I. source asked Mr. Melzer what made him think he could get away with harming the U.S. military. Mr. Melzer replied, “because I fly under the radar,” act normally around other people “and don’t talk about my personal life or beliefs with anyone,” prosecutors said. ‘
According to the video, in 1991 total US abortions reached an all-time high of 1,608,600 but then in 1992 the number jumped to over 26,000,000.
Three questions. 1. What produced this jump between those two years 1991 and 1992?
2. What actually got said in the meeting with the Kennedys and the Jesuit priests in those days in the early Sixties?.
3. What really is the basis for the Pied Piper effect that turned the whole political spectrum to abortion and to -as I name it- Kennedy Catholicism, causing virtually everyone to run with the Kennedy Politics-With-Abortion?
What is the source for the numbers? That large a jump from 1991 to 1992 does not seem plausible. The Guttmacher Institute reported different numbers:
“The number of abortions performed per year remained relatively stable from 1980-90, at about 1,600,000, but declined to l,557,000 in 1991 and to l,529,000 in 1992.”
Author: Henshaw Sk, Van Vort J
Publish Year: 1994
Abortion services in the United States, 1991 and 1992 – PubMed
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8070545/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8070545/
Hi Elias,
The gal in the video says that the ‘total’ number of abortions in the US reached 26 million by 1992. The stat is a cumulative number, adding the number for each year to the total number for each year prior; i.e., the number during 1973, added to the number during 1974, added…until the number during 1991. That should give some number in the vicinity of 26 million (by 1992).
My second point relates to the impossibility of dialogue and witness when a certain secrecy takes hold. Those who participated in that “discussion” back then : how could they uphold Humanae Vitae?
Or, were they mixing into the opposition?
Or were they doing both?
And something comparable got imposed – again – with McCarrick when he buried the Pope’s direction on US abortion politicians.
THE TELEGRAPH has carried some intelligent reviewing of wokeness and Civil Rights. I found it through the YAHOO! page aggregator. Everyone’s noticing a problem.
‘ So the post-modern mockery of truth that underpins wokeness is now extending well beyond the humanities into areas that, until about five minutes ago, had been spared. ‘
Faithful Catholic?
Christendom College deserves your support.
They take zero Federal Funding.
They generate vocations.
They limit student body size to around 500 or so thus the school is a community where the profs and students know each other.
If you search for worthy Catholic charities – check them out- you will be pleased.
@ Abortion’s Never Necessary
A reasonable medical opinion that effectively questions the death of mother v prenatal infant proposition. Although as far back as 2003 Carmen Dolea MD and Carla AbouZahr MD recommended, to World Health Organization Geneva in cases of obstructed labor, the most common medical rationale for abortion – the Cesarean section.
@ Heretical Prelates
Bishop Paprocki makes a case for heresy by a prelate of high rank such as cardinal, and the issue of whether such a heretical cardinal can validly vote in a papal election.
Paprocki’s argument underscores manifest heresy, although what is evident on one level of responsibility is not in another such as the definition required by canon law. A reasonable definition is adamant and consistent heresy. Otherwise, every moment in deliberation, musing on issues, hypothetical speaking, whenever we make a misplaced statement intended or not we’d be condemned as heretics. The persons Bishop Paprocki alludes to, Cardinals Hollerich and McElroy have not to my knowledge made definitive repudiations of doctrine such as abortion, homosexuality. Words like ‘should’, must be changed, this requires reexamination based on research, what was formerly held is wrong, does not meet the consistent, adamant standard of canonical repudiation.
Whereas Pres Biden, speaker Pelosi are both manifestly adamant and consistent in their direct refutation of Catholic doctrine on abortion and homosexuality and the Church has not excommunicated them. If their bishops do not exercise their rightful authority to excommunicate the blatant heretic, how can we expect the Roman Pontiff, one who gives evidence of empathy with their positions, allows the Eucharist for them at the Vatican – to excommunicate these cardinals even with canonical cause?
If the bishop of Rome relents to take action most of our bishops except Paprocki, Cordileone are disposed to riding things out. Too many others empathize with McElroy. The next step for Cordileone would be to excommunicate Nancy Pelosi for her spiritual good. That’s doubtful. Although we can hope. Analogously it’s become the sheepish bishops without a shepherd.
Good reply father….but we know what these cardinals and bishops think…they are so Suttle and deceiving like one fr james martin…it is unfortunate that we adhere to the letter of canon law while ignoring the spirit of it…have all the lustful thoughts I want as long as I don,t commit adultery…fortunately Jesus saw through that justification..
Similarly you’re likely not to hear a Francis repeat of the words, ‘Forgive them, [in the confessional] whether or not they’re repentant. Always forgive!’ Rather we’re most likely to hear variations. Similar to Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini.
The blatantly pro-abortion Cardinal Martini not only never received a rebuke; he did receive bear hugs and endless praise about how great he was to the very end of his life by JPII “the great” and Benedict, the “great and generous scholar.” Martini who should have been laicized and excommunicated for aiding and abetting the mass slaughter of babies by publicly weakening the Church’s moral voice, even got a building named after him. How many lives were snuffed out as a result of cold blooded moral indifference by high prelates sending a confused message to the far corners of the world. Is the Church just playing one big game? Do we really care about the crushed skulls from this greatest holocaust in history?
Yes, there’s an apparent special club relationship among hierarchy that glosses over differences, serious ones as you indicate. It’s an anomaly belonging to a self assured elite class.
Card Martini was the author of the synodal Church concept designed to accelerate the Church’s identification with the world. He instituted and chaired the St Gallen Group that canvassed cardinals to elect Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio. Jorge was his disciple, Martini overjoyed when he was elected the second time around, the first attempt Ratzinger unexpectedly elected.
All this doesn’t bode well for a Church suffering this profound corruption of moral integrity. Our best option is deepen, stand fast in the faith. We may be in for worse. Our faith is being tested. Our commitment to Christ will save us, as well as others.
Even in my youthful atheistic years I postulated many things about what the nature of God would have to be if He actually did exist. I knew such things that He would have to favor those of weak native intelligence as much as the gifted. A high IQ man like myself enjoyed the gift of teaching swimming to “retarded” children in those years, whom many said shouldn’t have been allowed to be born. A good God would have to have divine anger towards vanity.
We should be happy within the creative limitations God has given us. But it boggles the mind how it cannot be self-evident to anyone of mustard seed faith that God is the exclusive source of truth and that His creatures create no truth at all. There is tremendous room for creativity in articulating and giving witness to truth, and to discover new implications coherent with received understanding, and this should be enough. Our Church is blessed to have your voice. Any theologian who thinks he creates anything wholly new is treading on heresy, and he should know it, and everyone of faith should know it from the laity to the highest episcopate.
And there in lies the crux of the matter, the erroneous claim that Vatican II did not change any Dogma even though we can know through both Faith and reason, that Vatican II did away with The Charitable Anathema as instituted by Christ, “You cannot be My disciples if you do not abide in My Word”, allowing heresy to take root and creating a counterfeit church that is attempting to subsist in The Body Of Christ, which we can know through Faith and reason, is not possible, due to The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, (Filioque).
Therein lies the Great Deception which led to placing pachamama in The Holy Place.
Overlooked by many casual readers of Vatican II, are the “interventions” inserted into the Documents to prevent draft wording from misleading or undermining the legitimacy of the Council.
A few remnant Tielhardian phrases do remain, but here are some offsetting examples:
The most problematic Constitution GAUDIUM ET SPES does provide: “Contemplating this melancholy state of humanity, the Council wishes to recall first of all [!] the permanent binding force of universal natural law [!] and the all-embracing principles, Man’s conscience itself gives ever more emphatic voice to these principles. Therefore, actions which deliberately conflict with these principles, as well as orders commanding such actions, are criminal [!]” (n. 79).
The Constitution LUMEN GENTIUM (Chapter 3, n. 22, and the three-page Prefatory Note as an integral part of the voted document) defines “hierarchical communion.” It restrains “local Church authorities” by holding, instead, that local bishops and all bishops are to act collegially, that is, “Together with its head, the Roman Pontiff, and never without this head, the episcopal order is the subject of supreme and full power over the universal Church.” Not the papacy versus the bishops, but the papacy by himself or the papacy with his bishops.
The Constitution DEI VERBUM was modified to re-assert the value of Tradition: “the result is that the Church draws its certainty on all things revealed not from Scripture alone,” (n. 9). It also asserts the historical nature of the Gospels: “whose historical nature it (the Council) affirms without hesitation” (n. 19).
The Declaration on ECUMENISM contain numerous subtle but clarifying “interventions” from Pope Paul VI himself:
(n. 1) Instead of “In truth, all are disciples of the Lord” with “In truth, all affirm that they are disciples of the Lord.”
(n. 4) Replace “Recognizing…the presence of the gifts of the Spirit in the lives of others” with “…recognizing the virtuous works [!] in the lives of others.”
(n. 14) Replace “not a few of these have apostolic origins” with “not a few of these glory in having been founded by the Apostles themselves.”
(n. 16) Replace “…the Sacred Council… declares that the Churches of the East have the right and the duty to govern themselves according to their discipline” with “they have the faculty [!] to govern themselves according to their discipline.”
(n. 21) Replace “…moved by the Holy Spirit they find God in the same Holy Scripture” with “Calling upon the Holy Spirit, they seek God in the same Holy Scripture.”
The oft-misrepresented and Declaration on RELIGIOUS LIBERTY affirms precisely: “that all men are to be immune from coercion [!] on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power [….],” and does not [!] even use the assumed wording “freedom of conscience.” So, not “freedom from” objective truth, but “freedom for” such truth. The institutional liberty of the Church is reiterated (n. 13). And the reality of the moral law and well-formed conscience is inserted into the higher-ranking Constitution Gaudium et Spes, above.
SUMMARY: Not perfect, but not a “counterfeit council,” and good reason why Pope Benedict distinguished the “real” Council of the Documents from the “virtual” Council pedaled by Hans Kung et al from 1965 forward.
@Marymount University
In answer to the critics, President Irma Becerra or her spokesperson clarify that financial savings are not so much the game as is a paradigm shift in overall focus and mission. Deleted Liberal Arts content would seem to involve a reallocation into more of a “diversity, equity and inclusivity” sort of flat-earth cacophony.
So, when the board of trustees votes, they should weigh two questions: (1) whether the President (a mole for possible outside agendas?) is competent to advance the university’s core mission (and core course requirements?) as a Catholic presence on a vapid national multi-versity landscape (admittedly a tough gig), and if not, then (2) the job description and qualification requirements for her possible replacement.
Given her weather vane mentality (“cognitive diversity”!), it seems like President Becerra would be more competitive elsewhere—as for any of those “meteorologist” positions on the mainstream media weather segments. But, who am I to judge?
In our Media Saturated Democracy, the discerning audience would have to contend at least with these 4 areas, I propose:
1. finding good entertainment
2. defending other authentic pastimes
3. being alert to what else happens in the media, of importance
4. perceiving the deeper nuances in what is engaged.
This web journal CWR and its lively and unflinching comboxers, are always offering bright tips on what is available for entertainment, pastime, education, updating and prayer. A rare commodity! Shared generously. Thank you CWR.
In case it gets overlooked, Dr. Fauci is still under investigation and could be on the ropes. Also, vaccine-death autopsies are turning up PROOFS, on the one hand, that gene- and protein-spike vaccines are injuring and killing; but on the other hand, TEST METHODS even for those who are alive, that could be used by those concerned about risk.
If you test and it shows you are at risk, you can detox from the vaccine. Alternatively, you can proceed and detox regardless of testing. For starters, detox information is available at the US Front Line Doctors website FLCCC.
Dr. FAUCI
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/dr-fauci-is-slammed-by-republican-lawmakers-after-bombshell-energy-department-report/ar-AA180ec8?cvid=bf2ff2769cf34be7a4bf573cc0b6c0ad
https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/news/what-has-dr-fauci-said-to-congress-about-covid-19/vi-AA17ZOan?t=4
5 AUTOPSIES AND THEIR TESTS
https://www.reignitedemocracyaustralia.com.au/sudden-death/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_DdSMn55cA
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365782650_Autopsy-based_histopathological_characterization_of_myocarditis_after_anti-SARS-CoV-2-vaccination
https://freemedart.ru/autopsy-based-histopathological-characterization-of-myocarditis-after-anti-sars-cov-2-vaccination-by-constantin-schwab/
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/major-autopsy-report-finds-covid-jabs-responsible-for-sudden-cardiovascular-deaths/
AUTOPSY ON 76 YEAR OLD GERMAN
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/german-autopsy-report-proves-covid-jab-caused-heart-brain-damage-to-76-year-old/?utm_source=top_news&utm_campaign=usa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZhzWzoPB3M&t=848s
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/10/10/1651
FLCCC
https://covid19criticalcare.com/treatment-protocols/
Just being a trend is not really making a Civil Rights contribution.
Politics and law are at put at odds with each other and become convulsed in strife because basic principles in civil rights are not followed. This is my view on “wokeism”, that it is a passing phenomenon to do with the drive to sustain and/or spread political reach. Somewhat like a “marketing” brand. So the next trend will have its own label and background collectivity.
Incidentally, it also explains – as I make it – how they would give charitable status to Satanists who explicitly say they do not serve or believe in God and say they are not a religion and do not do charitable work. Just because you use the word “theism” as in “egotheism”, doesn’t mean God or religion as legal qualifications etc.
Satanists will necessarily use words and image to disguise what is involved and it necessarily disqualifies from legal status without chance of review.
‘ During that investigation, the confidential F.B.I. source asked Mr. Melzer what made him think he could get away with harming the U.S. military. Mr. Melzer replied, “because I fly under the radar,” act normally around other people “and don’t talk about my personal life or beliefs with anyone,” prosecutors said. ‘
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/former-army-private-sentenced-to-45-years-in-neo-nazi-plot-to-kill-soldiers/ar-AA18cfOv?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=cdeb94c7e05142ad8cdbf21aede513ce&ei=13
According to the video, in 1991 total US abortions reached an all-time high of 1,608,600 but then in 1992 the number jumped to over 26,000,000.
Three questions. 1. What produced this jump between those two years 1991 and 1992?
2. What actually got said in the meeting with the Kennedys and the Jesuit priests in those days in the early Sixties?.
3. What really is the basis for the Pied Piper effect that turned the whole political spectrum to abortion and to -as I name it- Kennedy Catholicism, causing virtually everyone to run with the Kennedy Politics-With-Abortion?
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2014/01/22/powerful-video-for-the-41st-anniversary-of-roe-v-wade/
What is the source for the numbers? That large a jump from 1991 to 1992 does not seem plausible. The Guttmacher Institute reported different numbers:
“The number of abortions performed per year remained relatively stable from 1980-90, at about 1,600,000, but declined to l,557,000 in 1991 and to l,529,000 in 1992.”
Author: Henshaw Sk, Van Vort J
Publish Year: 1994
Abortion services in the United States, 1991 and 1992 – PubMed
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8070545/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8070545/
Hi Elias,
The gal in the video says that the ‘total’ number of abortions in the US reached 26 million by 1992. The stat is a cumulative number, adding the number for each year to the total number for each year prior; i.e., the number during 1973, added to the number during 1974, added…until the number during 1991. That should give some number in the vicinity of 26 million (by 1992).
Thank you Meiron, I missed that.
My second point relates to the impossibility of dialogue and witness when a certain secrecy takes hold. Those who participated in that “discussion” back then : how could they uphold Humanae Vitae?
Or, were they mixing into the opposition?
Or were they doing both?
And something comparable got imposed – again – with McCarrick when he buried the Pope’s direction on US abortion politicians.
THE TELEGRAPH has carried some intelligent reviewing of wokeness and Civil Rights. I found it through the YAHOO! page aggregator. Everyone’s noticing a problem.
‘ So the post-modern mockery of truth that underpins wokeness is now extending well beyond the humanities into areas that, until about five minutes ago, had been spared. ‘
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/04/humanity-doomed-let-woke-zealots-destroy-scientific-truth/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/humanity-doomed-let-woke-zealots-190000758.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/01/20/jacinda-ardern-has-turned-new-zealand-economy-basket-case/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/20/puberty-blockers-given-almost-children-sent-assessment-tavistock/