Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II, left, welcomes Vice President of the Jewish Religious Communities Federation Tomas Lang, right, during an oecumenical meeting in Badin, central Slovakia, on Friday, Sept. 12, 2003.
Posted on 09/11/2003 8:01:55 PM PDT by Land of the Irish
Pope Saint Pius X clearly recognized that his first duty as Pope was to protect his flock from false teaching, and to preserve the integrity of the Catholic Faith. It is a theme to which he returned constantly throughout his Pontificate.1
Last month, we focused on Pope Saint Pius X’s successful efforts to combat Modernism, the synthesis of all heresies. To fulfill his sacred duty of protecting his flock against poisonous doctrine, he issued three documents against Modernism: Lamen- tabile sane exitu (The Syllabus of Errors, 1907), Pascendi dominici gregis (Encyclical against Modernism, 1907) and Sacrorum antistitum (The Oath Against Modernism, 1910).
In the 1960 article, “The Sacrorum Antistitum and the Background to the Oath Against Modernism,” the eminent theologian Msgr. Joseph Clifford Fenton, praised the Oath Against Modernism as “the most important and the most influential document issued by the Holy See during the course of the 20th Century”. He called it a “magnificent statement of Catholic truth, in the face of the errors which were being disseminated within the Church by the cleverest enemies the Mystical Body of Christ has encountered in the course of its history”.
This Oath was a profession of Catholic belief intended primarily for those engaged in the spiritual and intellectual formation of candidates for Holy Orders. Msgr. Fenton summarized:
“According to the strict command of the Sacrorum antistitum, the men for whom the Oath against Modernism was primarily intended were also obliged to show their Bishops, at the beginning of each academic year, the textbooks they were employing in class, and the thesis they intended to teach and to defend. The Bishops themselves were not only reminded of their obligation, but were strictly commanded to watch over the teaching being given in the institutions of higher learning under their direction and control.
“The Bishops were also commanded to see to it that no man tainted with Modernism, either as a teacher of the errors condemned in the Lamentabli and the Pascendi, or as one who supported these errors by working to discredit the teachers of Catholic truth who opposed and unmasked Modernism was to be admitted to or permitted to remain in the professorial corps or the administration of an ecclesiastical seminary or a Catholic university. And no young man who was infected by Modernist errors was to be allowed to become or to remain a candidate for Holy Orders.”
Msgr. Fenton concluded,
“This was the rigorous and powerful direction of the Sacrorum antistitum. Quite obviously it was not and it still is not in accord with the taste of liberal Catholics. But it was and it remains a great expression of St. Pius X’s desire to accomplish his mission as Christ’s Vicar on earth. It was and it remains a tremendously effective factor for the protection of the little ones of Jesus Christ against the virus of Modernism.”2
(Excerpt) Read more at oltyn.com ...
Well, even the sppx admit Pius X was NOT "successful."
Something just struck me tonight. In what way was Pius X different re "heretics" compared to JPII?
Think of it, both issued Documents and JP II ( I do this ALL the time) is faulted for writing rules/encycicals and norms ect and not "acting" while Pope Pius X is excused for doing the same thing. Why didn't Pius X excomminicate these heritics insted of letting them remain in their positions to undermine the Faith?
I have just one question...is Venarri an idiot or are his readers idiots?
PS, I may not be long for this site. I joined when my position was "reorganised out of existence" when we had a merger in the company I worked for.
I expect to be back full time soon, but, I want to thank men like hermann who have provided me with hope and resources.
There are some VERY intelligent people here
THink about it...
Where did you get this from? He took a growing heresy and nipped it in the bud. This sounds like "successful" to me. And I'd like to see some documentation of what the SSPX believes about Pope Saint Pius X.
both issued Documents and JP II ( I do this ALL the time) is faulted for writing rules/encycicals and norms ect and not "acting" while Pope Pius X is excused for doing the same thing. Why didn't Pius X excomminicate these heritics insted of letting them remain in their positions to undermine the Faith?
You must have missed the rest of the story. Pius X did exactly that. He excommunicated the leaders of the modernist movement, like Loisy. As this article points out, he wouldn't even allow anyone tainted with the heresy from getting into a seminary in the first place. He did precisely all the things that Paul VI and JPII have not been doing.
Except when it comes to traditionalists, of course. Just take the way they have acted towards traditionalists and imagine it being done against heretics. There you would have Pope Pius X in a nutshell.
have just one question...is Venarri an idiot or are his readers idiots?
Some readers at least.
I think you missed a little of the nuance of the traditionalist position. Pope Pius X did everything possible to eliminate the modernists. And he was successfull at doing so, as successful as is humanly possible. But despite his best efforts, there were still some who "went underground." They were condemned whenever they popped up with unorthodox books and so forth as late as the 1950's. A great many of the periti at Vatican II had their works condemned just a few years before by Pope Pius XII.
It's just like getting rid of communists in the US government. If you do nothing, or even encourage them, they way that Roosevelt did, then your entire administration will be run by communists and you will end up handing over all of Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union. But even if you make your best efforts to eliminate every communist from the government, as was done during the McCarthy era, there will still be a few who escape detection who will then pop back up when the coast is clear and a new administration gives them freedom of action.
James Jesus Angleton was called "paranoid" because of his "unceasing vigilance" to uncover communist spies. People said that he was proven wrong when he didn't find any. But in fact that was the best proof of his success. After he was eliminated, there were plenty of spies to find.
Same thing with modernists in the church. People claimed that the Vatican was paranoid in the earlier decades of the 20th century when their "unceasing vigilance" turned up few heretics. But once the new administration of John XXIII sent out the all-clear signal, then one could find heretics everywhere.
It is better they are known, and, better yet they are known and censured, and, better still they are known, given a chance to repent, and sent packing if they don't
You are right that this would be better. But it's not better for them to be known if they are running the Church. And there is an inherent conflict between wanting them to be known and wanting them to be censured and sent packing. Naturally they won't makes themselves known if the result is to be censured and sent packing. They make themselves known when the time is ripe for them to be praised and promoted.
Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II, left, welcomes Vice President of the Jewish Religious Communities Federation Tomas Lang, right, during an oecumenical meeting in Badin, central Slovakia, on Friday, Sept. 12, 2003.
What was it about his Papacy that caused Modernism to flourish and become so public?
And the price of tea in China is how much?
There were no world wars prior to St. Pius's papacy. Are you trying to pin two world wars on the last Pope to have been declared a saint? Do you play in the same sandbox with Abe Foxman?
I have no idea. I don't drink tea.
There were no world wars prior to St. Pius's papacy. Are you trying to pin two world wars on the last Pope to have been declared a saint?
No. I was just applying to St. Pius the same type of questions some individuals apply to Vatican Two.
Do you play in the same sandbox with Abe Foxman?
No. Everything I learned in grade school taught me to avoid men like Mr. Foxman.
Read the entire article and then read Maximilian's post to you.
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