Is the Pope Catholic? - The Greatest Schism in Catholic Church History!

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As always as I have wrote in the last couple of “Spiritual Food”s, it is very important in these times of great confusion, when even Catholic bishops are no longer in agreement about the fundamentals of our faith and morals, to not only pray much and to study the Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults (CCC), but to keep our eyes open so as not to fall into the beautiful lies of Satan presented as if they were the Truth!!!

It is difficult to persevere in prayer but also very difficult to persevere in study, in a world and in a Church full of confusion, while seeking to uncover the beautiful lies of “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44) presented as if they were the Truth, which in the end poisons us in a mortal and even an eternal way. Another fundamental reason for which many do not want to seek the Truth and reality as God has given it to us is because there is the risk that we might have to change our life and suffer. Thus the great majority of so-called “Catholics” have gently slid into the much easier philosophy of life: “Ignorance is Bliss”!!! But it is not so blissful after death when we will be faced with the Truth that we sought to avoid during this short life!

Perhaps non Catholics and non Christians realize better than Catholics (priests and bishops!?!) that something is not right. Much of this can be explained by the fact that the first target of Satan is to destroy the Body of Christ, the Catholic Church, and thus Catholics, especially priests and bishops, have been subtly targeted more than anyone else in the greatest brainwashing job in the history of the world! I think the title of this article was first used by:

“Newsweek - Is the Pope Really Catholic” (September 18, 2015; http://eponymousflower.blogspot.it/2015/09/newsweek-is-pope-really-catholic.html).

By David Gibson; Religion News Service April 20, 2016 (http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2016/04/20/is-the-pope-catholic-suddenly-a-serious-question/).

“Today, 28 April, an important exclusive interview with a well-known Catholic philosopher has been published in Germany. The important statements of Professor Robert Spaemann might well indicate that the wind is turning now against the “Francis Revolution”. Spaemann – who is a personal friend of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI – says about Amoris Laetitia …” (http://www.onepeterfive.com/catholic-philosopher-amoris-laetitia-will-split-the-church/)

“Full text: Interview with Robert Spaemann on Amoris Laetitia” (http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-text-interview-with-robert-spaemann-on-amoris-laetitia-10088/).

(https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/voice-of-the-family-calls-on-pope-francis-to-withdraw-amoris-laetitia).

Archbishop Gänswein, who doubles as the personal secretary of the Pope Emeritus and prefect of the Pontifical Household, said Benedict did not abandon the papacy like Pope Celestine V in the 13th century but rather sought to continue his Petrine Office in a more appropriate way given his frailty.”

(http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/archbishop-gaenswein-recalls-dramatic-struggle-of-2005-conclave/#ixzz49cqxE6hb)

Somehow, down deep inside each person, even non Catholics realize some fundamental truths put there by God. Somehow non Catholics realize that the Church is not the Author of the Truth but the handmaid of the Truth and therefore cannot change the truth of God! Many people are used to seeing other churches change the laws according to what the majority wants, and then they conclude, this is what God wants!?! The majority want to believe in a happy future, even after death, but without the cross of Christ in this short life!

How many priests and bishops have abandoned the PRINCIPLE MISSION of the one true Church, the Catholic Church? The first words written by Pope John Paul II at the beginning of the Catechism of the Catholic Church are: “Guarding the deposit of faith is the mission which the Lord entrusted to His Church, and which she fulfills in every age…”!!!

It is very important to maintain humility before God and before His Truths which have been infallibly explained in the documents of the Magisterium of the Church. Satan will try to push us off the Bark of Peter, the Church, on the left toward liberalism or to the right as some Catholics have done who rejected the Second Vatican Council, leaving the Church as schismatic traditionalists. The problem was the organized misinterpretation of the documents, not the actual documents of the Second Vatican Council, in particular organized by the secular feminist movement.

“MOTHER ANGELICA about Second Vatican Council - The WILD VOICE The WILD VOICE” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGZocJZsMbk):

“As Catholics we have been terribly quiet all these years. After Vatican Council, those beautiful documents, inspired by the Holy Spirit, they’re so beautiful when you read those documents, it’s like reading Scripture. But they were misrepresented and mis-portrayed and misinterpreted all these years. And every excuse, like this mime (Way of the Cross, with a woman in the part of Jesus!) has been blamed on the Vatican documents; they have even been reworded. And all these years from the time they took Our Lady to the time they took out the tabernacle, to the time they took out the Stations, to the time they took out all devotions. To the time at this point they have changed our churches, they have closed them. And now we are not even allowed … the awesome Presence comes down into this one little host. Some lounge, some sit, some stand. I’m tired of your enneagrams, I’m tired of your witchcraft. I'm tired. I'm tired of being pushed in corners. I'm tired of your inclusive language that refuses to admit that the Son of God is a Man. I'm tired of your tricks. I'm tired of your deceits. I'm tired of you constantly just making a crack and the first thing you know there's a hole and all of us fall into it. No. This was deliberate. This was a group that was told what to do and how to do it.

I am so tired of your liberal Church in America. And everything you've ever done has gone in silence. Nothing, nothing you've done from your witchcraft to your anagrams to your centering prayer to all this earth spirituality… No, this is not an accident. We've swallowed this now for thirty years. I'm tired of it. We've swallowed enough of your idea of God and you really have no God.

You spread your errors to children. And our children don't even know the Eucharist anymore. They don't understand that it is the Blessed Sacrament. That it's the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. Your Catechisms are so watered down that they say nothing but 'love your neighbor'. No, you've got to love God first… I don't like your Church. You have nothing to offer. You do nothing but destroy…”

(You can watch a similar video clip of Mother Angelica in 1993 just after the World Youth Day in Denver, Colorado: “Mother Angelica on Blasphemy, the Second Vatican Council, and WYD 1993” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCvX94US7SY&feature=youtu.be).)

Mother Angelica used to say: “If you aren’t a thorn in somebody’s side, you aren’t doing Christianity right.” But now in the feminized “Church of the Nice”, few priests and bishops have the courage to do as Mother Angelica, or as Saint John the Baptist, or as Saint Peter, and as all of the saints, to risk not being “politically correct” for the Kingdom of God and for the salvation of souls! It is difficult, but absolutely necessary, to maintain humility even while offering fraternal correction for the true good of souls and for the true good of the Church. It is very important to remember first of all that Christ died for my sins, which very easily we forget or we consider them as nothing! One must be truly motivated only for the glory of God and for the salvation of souls and not for ones own honor and glory; the Truth does not belong to us, we are not the authors of the Truth. It is Jesus Who suffered far more than any of us on the cross due to the rejection of Truth, Who suffered for these offenses to His Father and for the great damage done to immortal souls. Mother Angelica told us that fraternal correction is more likely accepted when the person feels loved by the one giving the fraternal correction.

Certainly it is not easy to keep our eyes open to the possibility of the arrival of the false prophet, the false pope, even while considering the prophecies of Saint Francis of Assisi, Blessed Catherine Emmerich, Saint Hildegard (doctor of the Church), Bruno Cornacchiola (Book: Il Veggente, by Saverio Gaeta) and others regarding the false pope. I hope my writings have helped to maintain equilibrium and balance in this period of the “great tribulation” (Mt 24:21), while keeping our eyes open with much prayer and study so as not to slide to the right or to the left or fall into the very numerous traps of Satan, his beautiful lies presented as if they were the Truth. When I am tempted to criticize a priest who treats me badly because I am concerned about the great danger to souls in this period of time, among other examples, I like to recall the attitude of the Good Thief on the cross who, while recognizing his own sins, said to the other thief: “We indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but his man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power” (Lk 23:40-42). When Saint Francis of Assisi saw a public sinner in Assisi, he said: “There goes Francis if it were not for the grace of God”! The Truth does not belong to those on the left of the spectrum nor on the right of the spectrum; the Truth does not belong to any human being; the Truth is Jesus (Jn 14:6). Every good thought or inspiration come from God (2Cor 3:5; Phil 2:13). We should defend the Truth, but with the proper attitude of who we are and Who God is!

(“A Common Sense Rebuttal to Schismatic Traditionalists and Sedevacantists”; http://schis-trad.blogspot.it/2008/03/rebuttal-to-schismatic-traditionalists.html).

It’s not our job to judge anyone about their hidden motives that only God sees. It’s our job to tell, to proclaim the fullness. The Church does teach that once people have experienced the blessings of being Catholics and then choose to leave, they are in schism and they are putting their soul in jeopardy. So our job is not to judge them but to call them home to the Catholic Church. Those outside the Church who have never experienced the blessings, the Church teaches that by God’s mercy, through the actual Church in the blessings of Christ, they can in fact be saved, but that’s up to God. We can’t say they are; we can’t say, because they are good Presbyterians therefore they are saved. This is up to God’s mercy. Our job is to tell and not judge; our job is to plant the seed but the conversion is between each person and the Holy Spirit. And where we get caught up in “outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation”, we often use that to cudgel and uncharitably judge. That’s not our job. But we also must not be complacent in not eagerly offering the great treasures in the Catholic Church which offers the fullness of the Truth and the fullness of the means of sanctification, in a world today full of confusion and temptations presented as if they were the best thing to do and politically correct.

You might also find helpful to read some the questions and answers of my final exam in Ecclesiology that I took at the Angelicum in Rome (1986):

QUESTION 3. How may one understand the dictum "extra ecclesiam nulla salus" without falling into either a false triumphalism or indifferentism? (“Ecclesiology of the Catholic Church”; http://schis-trad.blogspot.it/2008/03/ecclesiology-of-vcii.html; Visit also: “The Impact and Interpretation of 'Subsists In' (Vatican II)”; http://schis-trad.blogspot.it/2008/03/subsists-in.html).

As I wrote in “Letter to fellow Priests” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/12/letter-to-fellow-priests.html):

“Archbishop Fulton Sheen said: “The truth is the truth even if no one believes it; error is error even if everyone believes it.” Many Catholics actually believe today, in our climate of relativism, that the truth is established by the majority of people or perhaps by the priests, bishops or the pope; few Catholics realize today that God not only establishes the Truth, but God is the Truth (Jn 14:6), Who is immutable! In this period before the second coming of Jesus Christ, “that day will not come, unless THE REBELLION (APOSTASY) COMES FIRST” (2Thess 2:3); this indicates that the majority, if not the great majority of Catholics at all levels in the Church will follow the very attractive “apostasy” which will seem the best way, the right way, the most merciful way, the most loving way, the most ecumenical way, the most merciful way, presented by “angels of light” (2Cor 11:14), who give their approval and blessing without any exhortation to “promise with the help of thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin” (Act of Contrition)! Christianity without the cross of Christ! These are the liberals who in the past left the Church on the “port side” (left side) of the Bark of Peter, while there are many who leave the Bark of Peter on the “starboard side”, (the right side) of the Bark of Peter, the schismatic traditionalists, by putting themselves above the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church, above the Truth which cannot change since it is part of the Divinely Revealed Truth…” Visit: “The Great Difficulty In Overcoming Pharisaism The Difference Between Schismatic Traditionalism and the False Pope Prophecies” (http://schis-trad.blogspot.it/2016/05/overcoming-pharisaism.html).

“Saint Thomas Aquinas tells us that virtue lies in the middle between the two extremes which is usually the more difficult path requiring much patience, discernment and humility. On various occasions Jesus used very strong words for those who have taken the easier path…” (“The Hidden Broad Road to Perdition”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/05/road-perdition.html).

Regarding the fundamental need of humility, one reads often in the diary of Saint Veronica Giuliani, who Padre Pio called his spiritual mother and teacher, the call to offer to her Spouse a supplement of voluntary suffering, to atone first of all for her sins – as she loved to repeat – and then for sinners.

I have been following the signs of the times since 1975. It has been a rather wild ride beginning by following my parents into a false apparition at Necedah, Wisconsin (http://necedah-cult.blogspot.com). Later I had another experience with the Oblates of the Virgin Mary with a false mystic, Padre Gino Burresi (http://nelsegnodizarri.over-blog.org/article-rev-joseph-dwight-oblates-of-the-virgin-mary-73944398.html; “The Great Responsibility of Religious Leaders”; http://josephdwight.wordpress.com/2014/08/07/great-responsibility/). In those confusing years after the Second Vatican Council when many priests left the priesthood, it seemed up for grabs the doctrines and the liturgical ceremonies of the Catholic Church. I have since discovered how the forces of evil were rather well organized right after the council to interpret the documents of the council in a false way so as to change the true teachings of the Church in the Catholic universities and seminaries so as to lead, in a subtle and prideful way, many Catholics, priests and seminarians away from the true teachings of the Church.

During the International Spiritual Exercises, at Collevalenza – Sanctuary of Merciful Love (Madre Speranza), June 22-28, 2008, Father Michael Gaughran offered to over 200 priests and to over 10 bishops of the Marian Movement of Priests these words in a meditation, with the title of the meditation, “The Church, The Movement and the current times”:

It grew gradually. It is enough to think of a subtle change that happened around the time of the Second Vatican Council. With the arrival of the “experts” there developed the fashion of theologians (Note 1), regardless of whether or not they deserved the name; the fact that they had published a book, in general that was enough. This continues and, with this, THE CENTER THAT GUIDES THE CHURCH in the minds of many, has shifted from where God had placed it, in the hierarchy, the Pope and the bishops in union with him, and became the various opinions of all sorts of writers. [The students collected the books.] So, this has had an impact not only on the priests, but also on seminarians in many universities. This is the first part of the attack: the attack on the truth of God, the foundation of the Church” (http://wordbelife.blogspot.it/2014/11/spiritual-food-1411.html).

Satan has a lot of patience to lead us slowly, progressively, into error, into relativism, so that we do not realize the real devastation of his hidden poison, the damage to immortal souls. But as I indicated in “Spiritual Food 1603” (“Have we truly arrived to a SCHISM?”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2016/03/catholic-schism.html), Satan knows his time is running out; the prophecies of the saints indicate his time of power will end around the centenary of the great miracle of Fatima, Portugal on October 13, 1917. If this turns out to be true, Satan only has about 18 months to do all he can to destroy the Catholic Church and to lead as many souls to hell as he can. Thus we might see in these next 18 months the completion of what has not yet taken place of the “great tribulation” (Mt 24:21).

Anyone who has tried to follow the signs of the times realize that the false prophet, the second beast of the Book of Revelation (Rev 13:11,15; 16:13; 19:20; 20:10) will end up deceiving a great number of people. It might seem exaggerated that people would arrive even to the point of adoring the Antichrist as we read in chapter 13 of the Book of Revelation. But each time a person accepts even a small lie of the devil, there is always an increase of spiritual blindness and pride; if this person does not repent with a good sincere confession and with sincere prayer, he or she will continue to accept more and more of the beautiful and easier lies of the “father of lies” (Jn 8:44).

When I meet the many people who have a very difficult time imagining the gravity of the situation today, among other things, I sometimes tell them that to discover the horrible traps of the serpent, who disguises himself “as an angel of light” (2Cor 11:14), it might help to try to think like a serpent!

It is very important in these times, when Satan has more power to deceive due to very little prayer and more sin than every before, to be not just “innocent as doves” but especially “wise as serpents” (Mt 10:16) so as to have the perception of the hidden and well disguised deceptions of the serpent. Would not the false pope want to give the impression that he is very holy and in union with the Church, with the saints of the past and with the recent popes? Thus would it not be to his advantage to canonize recent popes so that when he approves the heretical proposals of Cardinal Kasper that people will think that Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI are in agreement with the false pope?

Would the false pope not want to change the doctrines of the Church while giving the impression that the doctrines are not changed? That is, would not Satan want us to think that we are OK, and thus we do not feel we need to seek to discover what God might want and then change our lives accordingly, until it is too late for all eternity??? To change the words of Christ regarding adultery is a very powerful poison that few priests and bishops realize the consequence to the immortal souls and to all of society!

When the Auxiliary bishop of Perugia (in agreement with the Cardinal) told me on October 13, 2015 that my parish would be taken away from me, I said to the Auxiliary bishop that we would arrive to the point that it would be approved, in the Catholic Church, sex outside of marriage. He said no it would not happen, but I said to him that when it does, “I hope you then open up your eyes”! This Auxiliary bishop received his seminarian training at Assisi, Italy, where the teachings were already modified in a subtle enticing way to put aside or disregard the documents of the Church as outdated and not modern for people today. There was not offered courses on logic and other fundamental courses that were normal before the Second Vatican Council which I received from the Dominican fathers at the Angelicum in Rome, 1983-1989. I think my BA degree in mathematics from UCLA (1974) helped me to think logically also, even though there are a great number of atheistic mathematicians and scientists. Thus this Auxiliary bishop does not see the fundamental error of what Cardinal Kasper promotes, which was explained well in the article I translated last month, “Schism in the Catholic Church – Padre Santiago Martin, F.M.” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2016/03/catholic-schism-santiago-martin.html). But even more important on this path toward more and more spiritual and theological blindness was the subtle encouragement, in many ways, of the seminarian professors, to put the emphases on activism in the parish at the expense of spending time everyday in humble adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and praying the daily Rosary (“The Hidden Broad Road to Perdition”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/05/road-perdition.html). Because to understand the grave error of what Cardinal Kasper promotes is not so much a matter of intelligence and study (although study is very important to distinguish between the false and the true) but above all a matter of grace and guidance from above to not gently and slowly slide into modernism and subjectivism and relativism, making ourselves the arbiters of right and wrong, instead of humbly submitting to Divine Revelation explained infallibly by the Magisterium of the Church. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Is 5:20).

I get the feeling from my auxiliary bishop and many others brainwashed in the “new theology” that they feel that it is inevitable to move forward to a modern church for today, and that it is inevitable to have fuddy-duddies, those out of touch, boneheaded dummies like me that must be put aside in one way or another, as part of the course to arrive to "the golden age of peace." (“The Masonic Plan For The Destruction Of The Catholic Church”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/11/masonic-plan.html). Is this not the same attitude that the followers of Hitler had, to feel important in the Third Reich? I am amazed that we are truly already substantially under the control of the New World Order and of the One World Religion, but until the great suffering arrives, very few even care to wake up and smell the coffee!

Saint Michael the Archangel at Garabandal (Spain, 1965) said: “Many Cardinals, many Bishops and many Priests are on the road to perdition and with them they are bringing many souls”! Three years later there was the great rebellion in the Catholic Church at all levels against Pope Paul’s encyclical, Humanae Vitae, reaffirming the Church’s constant teaching on the grave sin and danger of separating the unitive sexual act in marriage from the responsibility of procreation. When I mentioned Humanae Vitae to the auxiliary bishop, he wanted to downplay its importance, but I told him there are many theologians who clearly explain that in this encyclical one is not dealing with venial sin. (Visit: “An Open Letter To A Fellow Priest”; http://testimony-polo.blogspot.com/2009/11/open-letter-to-fellow-priest.html).

Ignoring the Church’s teaching, Catholics have quickly slid into the contraceptive mentality, and then abortion, and now euthanasia. So many no longer have the eyes of faith to see Jesus in “the least of these my brethren” (Mt 25:40). Catholics no longer see the “divine Prisoner” in the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist. “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve” (Ex 20:2-5; Deut 5:6-9; CCC 2084). “Worship God” (Rev 22:9)!

“Various signs indicate to you that the time of purification has come for the Church: the first of these is the confusion which reigns there. This in fact is the time of its greatest confusion.

CONFUSION is spreading within the Church, where everything in the field of dogma, liturgy and discipline is being subverted.

These include truths revealed by my Son and which the Church has defined once and for all, through her divine and infallible authority.

These truths are unchangeable, as the very truth of God is unchangeable. Many of these form part of real mysteries in the strict sense of the word, because they are not and never can be understood by human intelligence.

Man must accept them with humility, by an act of pure faith and firm trust in God who has revealed them and proposed them to men of all times, through the Magisterium of the Church.

But now there is spread abroad a most dangerous tendency of wanting to penetrate and understand everything even mysteries to such a point that only that part of the truth is accepted which can be understood by human intelligence. There is a desire to unveil the very mystery of God.

Any truth which is not understood by reason is rejected. There is an inclination to propose all revealed truth in a new and rationalistic way, under the illusion of making it acceptable to all.

Thus truth is being corrupted with error. Error is being spread in a most dangerous way, namely, as a new and modern way of understanding the truth, and it ends by subverting the very truths which are the foundation of the Catholic faith.

They are not denied openly, but they are accepted in such an equivocal way that doctrine is most seriously compromised by error in an unprecedented manner.

As a result, talk and discussion go on and on; but there is no longer any belief, and the darkness of error spreads…

You (priests) must be, purely and simply, the living Gospel. Then you must proclaim to all, with strength and courage, the Gospel which you live. Your words will have the power of the Holy Spirit who will fill you and the light of the wisdom given you by your heavenly Mother.

For this, the more the confusion, having entered inside of the Church, the greater the suffering of her purification will increase, the more She, by means of you (faithful priests), will experience the comfort and help of my maternal action.

By you the Church will be helped to come out of the darkness, in order to be born again into the divine splendor of her immutable Truth.” (http://our-lady-priests.blogspot.it/).

As I wrote last month in “Spiritual Food 1603” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2016/03/catholic-schism.html): “Very few Catholics today realize the great devastation that will be caused if it becomes widely accepted, and now officially approved by way of ambiguity (“fall silent” – Our Lady of Good Success, 1610), what Cardinal Kasper proposes, as well as many bishops and cardinals in agreement with Cardinal Kasper who have been promoted in the last three years, such as the new General Secretary of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Nunzio Galantino, and the new Archdiocese of Chicago, Monsignor Blase Cupich. Cardinal Burke who stanchly explained that you cannot change Church Doctrine, the Truth, Who is Christ, was demoted.” The ones in charge have given the microphone with the loud speakers, and the mass media, to those who want to change the Ten Commandments of God, infallibly explained by the Magisterium of the Church, so as to offer what the great majority of the people want, a Christianity without the cross with the empty promise that everyone automatically goes to heaven afterwards, if they still even believe in life after death!?!

Thus up to this point there has continually increased the CONFUSION in the Catholic Church as never before especially in the last three years as Cardinal Burke has often pointed out (“Have we truly arrived to a SCHISM?”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2016/03/catholic-schism.html). But there has been no official statement, signed by the Pope to confirm and approve officially what Cardinal Kasper and the bishops who have been promoted in the last three years until now with the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, which was signed on March 19, 2016, and published April 8, 2016. Why would a true, canonically elected Pope in the two synods on the family, let things go as if the Truth, expressed in the doctrines of the Church, was up for grabs? Why did Cardinal Burke say: “At this very critical moment, there is a strong sense that the Church is like a ship without a rudder”? (“The Woman Clothed With The Sun In Search Of The Little Ones”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2016/02/children-of-woman.html).

For this reason, this my monthly article is late (in fact for the first time I did not publish last month), because of the gravity of the situation and the need to offer some of the underlying issues at stake here. Thus this article is a little long due to the importance of the topic and the need to clearly explain some of the serious deviations from the constant fundamental teachings of the Church. Please consider this article of May as two articles together, those of April and May! I have put some of the references and explanations in the Appendix so as to shorten the main article.

One of the fundamental strategies of the “angel of light” (2Cor 11:14) is to not only disguise his deadly lies but to cover over the truth, which among other things, means to be ambiguous and to offer many distractions so that it is more difficult to find the truth covered over with sophisticated and well thought out confusion which helps to take our attention away from the real hidden dangers to our immortal souls. Thus it takes real perseverance to not become exhausted in this continual struggle to uncover the diamonds in the midst of countless false truths continually piled on top of the real Truth which sets us truly free (Jn 8:32). Consider the struggle of Saint Athanasius and so many other saints who went through the same struggle amidst great persecution to not loose the Truth, Who is Jesus Christ (Jn 14:6). In this period of the “great tribulation” (Mt 24:21), this struggle for the Truth is more difficult than ever before amidst subtle and even new types of refined camouflages and persecution! This is also one of the reasons for the length of this article, to uncover the many ambiguities and distractions from the Truth, in particular in the document Amoris Laetitia.

I must admit that I am not a professional writer. I received my BA degree in mathematics and science from UCLA in 1974, not in English nor in History nor in other liberal arts (not that these disciplines are bad in themselves). I was ordained a priest in Italy on August 31, 1996. But at least in the 60’s and 70’s and 80’s there was much less influence of the secular humanists (who have undermined reason and logic) in the mathematics department; two plus two are still four! Virtue is still virtue, sin is still sin, heaven and hell still exist according to the Creator of the universe even though these culture destroyers have convinced us otherwise!

One of my main reasons for publishing many of my articles, as well as this article, is precisely what I wrote in my article, “The Hidden Broad Road to Perdition” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/05/road-perdition.html):

“Knowing that in these situations the person is already prejudged with little opportunity to defend himself, I offered my answer written, since I knew 4 days earlier of this meeting. Here is my letter to the bishop: …”

But my main motive for writing most of my articles is to warn the sheep of the very intelligent and sly and underhanded wolf who offers powerful poison in his beautiful lies presented as if they were the truth! Few pastors today have the courage to be “politically wrong” for the benefit of the sheep!

How often do we find in the writings of Saint Paul the great importance for pastors to protect the sheep from these hidden but deadly lies of “the father of lies” spread about by Satan’s very numerous followers disguised as “lambs”? “And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the equipment of the saints.… so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles” (Eph 4:11-14)! If priest and bishops do not offer their “gifts” for the people of God, who will protect us from being “tossed to and fro and carried about withy every wind of doctrine…”?

A FUNDAMENTAL STRATEGY utilized to maneuver toward a dictatorship or to undermine the observance of God’s saving laws is “three steps forward, two steps back”, until all power is obtained - then there will no longer be two steps back! Regarding the last two synods on the family, some of the steps forward of those who want to attack and profane the Sacrament of Matrimony has been to commission Cardinal Kasper to speak to a consistory of bishops in preparation for the synod, to promote many bishops, cardinals and priests, in a rather hidden way, who want to change the Ten Commandments to please the people, to offer a Christianity without the cross, to allow in a sly hidden way, sex outside of the Sacrament of Marriage, so as to open the flood gates of the easy slippery slope downward!

“In his first reaction to Amoris Laetitia, Cardinal Raymond Burke, the patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the former prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, wrote that although the exhortation is “a non-magisterial document,” it must be interpreted through the lens of magisterial Catholic doctrine. Cardinal Burke has not yet offered his appraisal of the document itself, however.” (http://biblefalseprophet.com/2016/04/26/cardinals-muller-and-sarah-are-quiet-about-amoris-laetitia/).

Christ said that we will know the tree by its fruits, NOT BY ITS LEAVES, that is not by the nice beautiful words and rhetoric (Lk 6:44; Mt 7:16-18). We are already seeing Amoris Laetitia interpreted all over the world contrary to the constant teaching of the Magisterium of the Church for 2000 years! It truly seems that the real effects (hidden goal???) of Amoris Laetitia are the opening the flood gates of the easy slippery slope downward!!?!

WHERE IS THE VOICE OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF in this gentle, hidden slide away from the uncomfortable but saving laws of God. Where are the pastors of the sheep to warn us about the emptiness and falseness and great dangers of a Christianity without the cross of Christ? “In this supreme moment of need for the Church, the ONE who should speak will fall silent.” (Our Lady of Good Success; Quito, Ecuador; January 20, 1610) (“The False Pope Will Fall Silent”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/09/the-false-pope-will-fall-silent.html).

Christ called Saint John the Baptist the greatest prophet born of a woman, and what did Saint John the Baptist say? “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (Mk 6:18). How many priests and bishops today have the guts to be a prophet like Saint John the Baptist? What was one of the main reasons why Christ came to earth? Was it not to offer us the possibility of freeing us from that which does us the most harm, our sins, as we say in every Mass: “Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world…” But we must qualified this statement: sins according to God, not sins according to the world today. What did the first Pope of the Church, Saint Peter, say on the first day of the Church, after hiding many days in the cenacle before Pentecost? “You have crucified Christ” (Acts 4:10) by your mortal sins! If we have lost the sense of sin, we no longer need Christ, and thus the redemption is rendered useless if a person feels he does not need forgiveness. Do the very numerous priests and bishops, who no longer speak about that which does us the most harm, mortal sin, and its consequences here on earth and after death, do they really believe that God gave us the Ten Commandments for our true good or for our evil? Do we trust Jesus with the cross, or do we trust ourselves without the cross, by changing Gods’ Commandments according to our desires and intelligence? The last words Christ gave us before ascending to heaven, after opening up “their minds to understand the scriptures”, which is precisely what is being denied today in the Church, were: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should SUFFER and on the third day rise from the dead, and that REPENTANCE and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations…” (Lk 24:45-47)!

Where is the courage of the priests and bishops today? Few priests and bishops today have the guts to help people identify and cure that which does the most harm, mortal sins, while priests offer secondary love of neighbor, which in the end is false love, like camouflaging the real sickness of the souls, the greatest harm and evil, sin. It is really like a pastor giving little kisses of secondary love, similar to the kiss of Judas Iscariot to Jesus for secondary motives hoping to free Israel from the Romans; this is a true betrayal as is also Liberation Theology, which continues in the Church today despite the condemnations of past Popes. When a pastor does this it is truly a betrayal of God and of the people because the pastor not only does not do his job of being the spiritual doctor of souls for their eternal salvation, but this pastor lulls the people to sleep spiritually because they think they are OK living in mortal sin since the pastor never talks about mortal sins and he gives them little kisses of reassurance of secondary love. We priests have been deceived, and we are deceiving the people! When I said to a priest that recent Popes, up the “Pope Francis”, have said that the greatest sin today is that there is no sin, we have lost the sense of sin, he tried to defend his apparent lack of talking about sin by saying that it depends on how you present sin. But the problem is that the great majority of priests and bishops today do not talk about sin at all! People now do not see the secondary, invisible, effects of sin, and thus become more and more insensitive like brut animals. The more a Christian sincerely prays and follows Christ, the more this Christian is sensitive to the suffering of Christ Who identifies Himself with “the least of these my brethren” (Mt 25:40). I am amazed how “Pope Francis” speaks about helping the poor, while he facilitates the lose of the sense of sin in many ways! (“The Hidden Broad Road to Perdition”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/05/road-perdition.html),

“Why is Cardinal Kasper doing a victory lap ahead of the apostolic exhortation?

Could the Kasper proposal, decisively rejected by the synod fathers, really be in the papal text? … Many are inferring from this that the cardinal’s highly controversial, and roundly criticized, proposal to allow Catholics who had divorced and entered a second, merely civil, marriage to receive Communion after a so-called penitential period will be adopted by the Pope, despite the immense opposition it received in both sessions of the synod…” (March 18, 2016; http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2016/03/18/why-is-cardinal-kasper-doing-a-victory-lap-ahead-of-the-apostolic-exhortation/).

“Post-synodal document to be published after Easter. It will be revolutionary, Kasper says

It is worth quoting a statement made by the theologian cardinal Walter Kasper, who gave the speech to the Consistory on February 2014, which marked the start of the renewal process: “The document will mark the start of the GREATEST REVOLUTION experienced by the Church in 1500 years.”

(http://www.lastampa.it/2016/03/17/vaticaninsider/eng/news/postsynodal-document-to-be-published-after-easter-it-will-be-revolutionary-kasper-says-1GObubX0GlAQ9d09pjvyCN/pagina.html).

Very few priest and bishops realize the great devastation that will be caused to immortal souls by convincing Catholics that the Church is the Author of Truth instead of God. The Church is the handmaid of the Truth, not the Author of the Truth. Obviously this devastating change will not be presented openly in a clear way, but rather in an ambiguous way. When for the first time the false pope signs an official document of the Church, contradicting a fundamental doctrine of the Church, contradicting even in an underhanded and ambiguous way, that it is no longer objectively a mortal sin to have sex outside of a valid marriage, and the great majority are maneuvered to go along with this, then the door will be open to convince Catholics, with the false pope, to believe that the Church can change any other fundamental revealed truth explained through the centuries by the Holy Spirit to Christ’s Body, the Church. Certainly this change will be promoted with beautiful words: “love” and “mercy” and cunning ambiguity. The words and documents of all the past popes and saints, which are in contradiction to this illicit change, will be pushed aside in the name of (false) love and (false) mercy. Very few priests or bishops will have the courage to struggle against "the most profound difficulty of our time”, relativism, so as to offer the true good to the sheep as did Cardinal Ratzinger. Writing about the pastoral care for homosexuals and divorced and remarried, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote: “Only what is TRUE can ultimately be pastoral”.

In his homily at the Mass preceding the conclave that quickly elected him Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Ratzinger said: “Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine", seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. WE ARE BUILDING A DICTATORSHIP OF RELATIVISM that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.”

(“Who Decides The Truth?”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/06/who-decides-truth.html).

Talking about the two extremes meeting, I find it rather interesting that very recently Bishop Fellay and “Pope Francis” seem to be coming together!?! Pope Benedict opened up dialogue with the SSPX and even bent over backwards to receive them into the Catholic Church, allowing them to maintain their liturgical rites, but Pope Benedict would not receive them into the Church if they were not willing to accept the documents of the Second Vatican Council. Pope Benedict took this discernment process out of the Congregation for Divine Worship and gave it to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, because the real problem was not so much a liturgical issue but a doctrinal issue.

In the New World Religion, as Archbishop Fulton Sheen (and Cardinal Biffi) pointed out years ago: “The false church will be worldly, ecumenical (false), and global. It will be a loose federation of churches, religions forming some type of global association, a world parliament of churches. It will be emptied of all divine content and will be the mystical body of the antichrist.” Thus we see now that Bishop Fellay is coming together with “Pope Francis” because “Pope Francis” has indicated that the doctrinal issues are not so important!!! Let us put aside the uncomfortable truth, Who is Jesus Christ, so as to be all together in a world wide brotherly fraternity of “peace and love”!?! But Christ came for division (Lk 12:49-53), between those with the Truth, and those not with the Truth, Who is Jesus Christ (Jn 14:6)!

“SSPX’s Bishop Fellay: Little by Little Rome Is Giving Us All We Need for Reconciliation”

“But the French-Swiss SSPX leader has learned how to communicate with this Pope, by acknowledging that Francis often seems to view doctrine as an obstacle to leading people to Jesus. For the Pope, Bishop Fellay said, “what is important is life, it’s the person, and so he tries to look at the person, and there, if I may say, he’s very human”…

Certainly he doesn’t agree with us on these points on the Council which we are attacking. Definitely he doesn’t. But for him, as the doctrine is not so important — it is man, the people, who are important — there we have given enough proof that we are Catholics.”

(https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/sspxs-bishop-fellay-little-by-little-rome-is-giving-us-all-we-need-for-reco/)

"I have never understood the expression 'nonnegotiable values,'” he said in his latest interview. And in a book, his closest collaborator explains why Pope Francis is carefully avoiding a head-on collision with the dominant culture” (ROME, March 10, 2014; http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350737?eng=y). For “Pope Francis”, and so many priests and bishops today, there are no more inherently sinful acts, intrinsic evils, contrary to the words of Christ explained by the Catholic Church for 2000 years! Fellay said: “Francis often seems to view doctrine as an obstacle to leading people to Jesus”! This means that “Pope Francis” seems to view Truth as an obstacle to leading people to Jesus, even though Jesus is the Truth!?! The author of this article says, “Pope Francis is carefully avoiding a head-on collision with the dominant culture”, implying that those who hold to nonnegotiable values have a problem, so “Pope Francis” must covertly bring the Church and the world around to discarding nonnegotiable values, the absolute Truth, Who is Jesus Christ!

The two extremes meet! As I wrote in my article, “Letter to fellow Priests” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/12/letter-to-fellow-priests.html):

“The false prophet, the false pope, will seek to form a One World Religion, by way of false ecumenism, which will result in the REDUCTION TO THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR. Pope Francis is seeking to lead many protestant pastors toward Rome, through some type of “ecumenism”, such as Pastor Kenneth Copeland, Pastor Tony Palmer, and many other important protestant pastors.” And now “Pope Francis” is seeking to lead the SSPX toward Rome. As Our Lady of La Salette told us: “Rome will become the seat of the Antichrist”!

“There are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!” (Gal 1:7-9; 1Cor 15:1-2).

How many times in Sacred Scripture we find the great majority of people abandon God and His saving laws but God raises up the very few as a witness to all the others. After Mattathias was offered “silver and gold and many gifts” so as to “enforce the apostasy” and to make sacrifices to the pagan gods, “Mattathias answered and said in a loud voice: “Even if all the nations that live under the rule of the king obey him, and have chosen to do his commandments, departing each one from the religion of his fathers, yet I and my sons and my brothers will live by the covenant of our fathers. Far be it from us to desert the law and the ordinances. We will not obey the king’s words by turning aside from our religion to the right hand or to the left” (1Mac 2:15-22).

We need to listen to the last words Mattathias especially today! “Now the days drew near for Mattathias to die, and he said to his sons: “Arrogance and reproach have now become strong; it is a time of ruin and furious anger. Now, my children, show zeal for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of our fathers. Remember the deeds of the fathers, which they did in their generations; and receive great honor and an everlasting name. Was not Abraham found faithful when tested, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness? Joseph in the time of his distress kept the commandment, and became lord of Egypt… Do not fear the words of a sinner, for his splendor, will turn into dung and worms. Today he will be exalted, but tomorrow he will not be found, because he has returned to the dust, and his plans will perish. My children, be courageous and grow strong in the law, for by it you will gain honor” (1Mac 2:49-64).

A similar fundamental change of who decides the truth, God or a group of bishops, happened during the Church of England’s General Synod in 1992 (“Letter to fellow Priests”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/12/letter-to-fellow-priests.html).

The Truth, Who is Jesus (Jn 14:6), does not change with the world or with the times! “Christ said “I am the truth”; He did NOT say, “I am the custom”.” – St. Toribio.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mk 31:31).

Recently... “12 April. Anniversary of the apparition of Three Fountains (Rome, 1947). A Book (Il Veggente) Now Reveals That Bruno Cornacchiola (at Three Fountains, Rome, Had the Revelation of a Future heretical Pope” (In Italian: “12 aprile. Anniversario dell’apparizione delle Tre Fontane. Un Libro Adesso Rivela Che Bruno Cornacchiola Ebbe La Rivelazione di Un Futuro Papa Eretico”; http://www.antoniosocci.com/12-aprile-anniversario-dellapparizione-delle-tre-fontane-un-libro-adesso-rivela-brunocornacchiola-ebbe-la-rivelazione-un-futuro-papa-eretico/).

May 13, 1820: “I SAW ALSO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO POPES. . . I SAW HOW BALEFUL (harmful) WOULD BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS FALSE CHURCH. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city (of Rome). The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness… Once more I saw that the Church of Peter was undermined by a plan evolved by the SECRET SECT, while storms were damaging it. But I saw also that help was coming when distress had reached its peak. I saw again the Blessed Virgin ascend on the Church and spread her mantle [over it]. I saw a Pope who was at once gentle, and very firm....”

(Prophecies of Blessed Anne-Catherine Emmerick; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/11/prophecies-emmerick.html).

I think one of the principle powers that Christ conceded to Satan for 100 years beginning about the time of the apparitions at Fatima, revealed during the vision of Pope Leo XIII on October 13, 1884, was to allow Satan to sustain his followers so that they would not burn out with sex and drugs so that they could promote the same life style to many others, to prepare and lead the world to adore the Antichrist.

“The black beast like a leopard indicates Freemasonry; the beast with the two horns like a lamb indicates Freemasonry infiltrated into the interior of the Church, that is to say, ecclesiastical Masonry, which has spread especially among the members of the hierarchy. This Masonic infiltration, in the interior of the Church, was already foretold to you by me at Fatima, when I announced to you that Satan would enter in even to the summit of the Church. If the task of Masonry is to lead souls to perdition, bringing them to the worship of false divinities, the task of ecclesiastical Masonry on the other hand is that of destroying Christ and his Church, building a new idol, namely a false christ and a false church.” (June 13, 1989; see also: January 1, 1979; September 6, 1986; August 15, 1988).

The few bishops and priests who remain loyal to the Truth, Who is Christ (Jn 14:6), will be greatly persecuted for not having “love” and “mercy” for those NOT willing to “avoid the near occasion of sin” as was always said in the “Act of Contrition”. The situation will quickly deteriorate down the slippery slope while opening up the door to change any and all of the saving Commandments of God and even the essential parts of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with the excuse to be able to celebrate the Mass all together with our Protestant brothers and everyone else, in one big world wide brotherhood in the New World Religion.

A Mass of the Roman Rite is NOT invalid: 1) WHEN the celebrant of the Mass is not a validly ordained priest, 2) WHEN the priest does not have the proper intention, 3) WHEN wheat bread or grape wine is not used, 4) or WHEN the words “This is my Body” or “This is … my Blood” are not said by the Priest during the consecration of the Mass. (http://www.cuf.org/faithfacts/details_view.asp?ffID=188).

The key phrases which confect the Eucharist are "This is My Body" and "This is ... My Blood," which when said by a priest with the proper intention and matter, truly show the priest acts in the Person of Christ. The other parts of the Eucharistic prayer are, according to St. Ambrose (also quoted in Summa Theologica), essentially preparatory; "by all the other words spoken, praise is rendered to God, prayer is put up for the people, for kings, for others, but when the time comes for perfecting the Sacrament, the priest no longer uses his own words but the words of Christ." St. Thomas Aquinas also explains this requirement in great detail in Summa Theologica (Third Part, Question 78, Articles 1 through 6). Changing the words of the preparatory parts of the Eucharistic prayer is illicit and gravely sinful for the priest, but would not invalidate the Eucharist as long as "This is My Body" and "This is ... My Blood" are said.

THE CATECHISM OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT (or The Catechism for Parish Priests) states very precisely that “the form consists of these words: This is My Body and This is ... My Blood”.

“The essential signs of the Eucharistic sacrament are wheat bread and grape wine, on which the blessing of the Holy Spirit is invoked and the priest pronounces the words of consecration spoken by Jesus during the Last Supper: “This is my body which will be given up for you.... This is the cup of my blood....”.” (CCC 1412).

Visit: “A Common Sense Rebuttal to Schismatic Traditionalists and Sedevacantists” (http://schis-trad.blogspot.it/2008/03/rebuttal-to-schismatic-traditionalists.html).

How many priests and bishops today will be able to detect, in an ambiguous document of more than 250 pages, the very subtle, powerful and deadly POISON of at least greatly enhancing or truly changing fundamentally the practice and subsequently the doctrines of the Catholic Church, after being led into relativism and putting aside or ignoring the doctrines of the Church even from their Catholic university and seminary training?

When I offered the synthesis of a conference given by Padre Santiago Martin, F.M., entitled “Love, Truth and Mercy”, May 2014 (“Schism in the Catholic Church – Padre Santiago Martin, F.M.”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2016/03/catholic-schism-santiago-martin.html), to a few priests in my diocese, referring to what Cardinal Kasper proposes, several priests said it is just a matter of INTERPRETATION, as if heresy no longer exists. In relativism everything is accepted except the absolute Truth from God! Is this not putting man before God as the arbiter of right and wrong, of the true and of the false, just as Adam and Eve did (Gen 3:4-5) and many of the modern philosophers did? In most seminaries and Catholic universities today, many of the fundamental authentic teachings of the Catholic Church are rarely presented, and when they are presented they are presented along side of many modern philosophies and false teachings as if they are all the same and the young seminarian or student can choose which philosophy or theology he likes as if there is no right or wrong but only according to ones personal taste and choice. I studied philosophy and theology at the Angelicum in Rome from 1983 to 1989; at least the Dominican Fathers had the courage to stand up against this very strong relativistic current by putting Thomism as the basis before looking at other modern philosophies and heterodox theologies. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Is 5:20)!

The pastor in the nearby parish where I left after he threatened me because he did not like my homilies (“The Hidden Broad Road to Perdition”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/05/road-perdition.html), continued to badger me to come back into the fold, into the mentality of today in which love means to offer to the people what they want, without any reference to the law of love according to God. A catechist of this parish described to me how this pastor, along with another nearby pastor in the zone, had openly indicated that we do not have to worry about the Ten Commandments and that individual confession is not really necessary. This catechist also told me recently that right after the publication of Amoris Laetitia these two priests told the catechists of the zone that the divorced and remarried without an annulment can now receive Communion and those who object are lacking in charity and mercy. This same interpretation of Amoris Laetitia is already being given to all the priests in my diocese of Perugia, Italy at the monthly formation meetings. It is amazing to me how it all seems programmed with a certain communication among at least the majority of bishops and priests about these changes even though I was not informed before hand of these changes; so many priests seem to already know what to do. This catechist told me that several other catechists realized that something was wrong but by now they were all afraid to speak up before two priests who already knew how to pick out phrases of Amoris Laetitia that suited the program of admitting everyone to the sacraments and downplaying the Ten Commandments and the need to confess sins, that for so many by now, do not even exist!

To promote a concealed agenda, is it not a very good strategy to offer many words, along with ambiguities, to those people who might object to this hidden agenda, while opening the door to this hidden agenda and then promoting this hidden agenda in a covert way, so as to cause as little reaction and opposition as possible? When the two bishops of my diocese discovered that I had written many articles, with many references to the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church, they took my parish away but they did not want to sit down and seek the Truth or a solution together since for them the CCC is outdated and Father Joseph does not think like the great majority today who have been coerced or forced into thinking that we need a modern Church for modern times and thus the doctrines of the Church must be modified or eliminated according to their ideals and enlightenment that they believe to have in their intelligent minds.

The great majority of the people in the parishes today want a Christianity without the cross. If you explain simply and clearly that if one ignores the Ten Commandments you greatly harm yourselves now and after death, many people who come to Sunday Mass today are not happy with such a pastor. When I stood up against the selling of pornography in this nearby parish, the Pastor took the side of the sellers of pornography (http://wordbelife.blogspot.it/2013/04/james-59.html).

When I offered a copy of the article, “Schism in the Catholic Church – Padre Santiago Martin, F.M.”, this pastor of a nearby parish said that Cardinal Kasper is only one cardinal, and he did not want to know any details or information. For this pastor, typical of so many priests today (“Ignorance is bliss!”), there is no problem, let us just have some wine and pasta and be merry, in the cult of man, where the Truth (Jesus Christ – Jn 14:6) is gently pushed aside and ignored, or worse yet used for our human purposes as so many priests and bishops do today with Liberation Theology. This pastor does NOT want division caused by the Truth. But Christ came for division (Lk 12:49-53) between those who follow and live the Truth and those who do not follow and do not live the Truth. This reminds me of a man who cannot stand his mother-in-law and puts her in the back bedroom and ignores her as much as possible, hoping that she will not live long. But when this pastor dies, this pastor who put aside the Truth to be politically correct in the cult of man, it will not be God who sends him to hell, but this pastor will NOT want to be with the Truth in heaven, and he will willingly throw himself in the only other eternal place where there is not the Truth (Jn 3:17-21; 12:44-50) but the “father of lies”. Jesus explained to Saint Catherine of Genova, who was willing to suffer greatly to bring all those in hell to heaven, that those in hell would suffer more in heaven than in hell because they do not want to be with God, Who is the Truth! “The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God” (CCC 1035). Here on earth, whether we believe it or not, we are all surrounded by God, those in the friendship of God (in the state of grace) and those not in the friendship of God (not in the state of grace), otherwise earth would already be hell. At death, God, Who is love and thus respects our choice, our free will, confirms our choice for all eternity.

I am very grieved for the souls entrusted to such pastors who do not preach or live the saving truths in the Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults. If the pastors do not want to spend eternity with the Truth, Who is God, so be it. But to use their position as pastors to lead the souls entrusted to them in the same direction is extremely abhorrent.

In hell there is a forced unity, without the Truth, under the malevolent dictatorship of Satan. In heaven there is the freely chosen the unity of love that Christ prayed for at the last supper discourse (John 17), “that all might be one”!

Behold false ecumenism, to put aside Christ, the Truth, to be together in a false, superficial unity. Cardinal Biffi at the Annual Lenten Retreat for the Pope and the top members of the Vatican (Feb. 27, 2007), quoted Vladimir Soloviev, a Russian philosopher, who died in the year 1900 with great acumen, and who had prophesied the tragedies of the 20th century. In the “Tale of the Antichrist”, recalled the cardinal, “The antichrist presents himself as pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist. He will convoke an ecumenical council and will seek the consensus of all the Christian confessions, granting something to each one. The masses will follow him, with the exception of small groups of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants who will resist and will say to the Antichrist: ‘You give us everything, except what interests us, JESUS CHRIST’.” For Cardinal Biffi, this narrative is a warning: ‘Today, in fact, we run the risk of having a Christianity which puts aside Jesus with his cross and resurrection’.” (“The FALSE POPE - Saint Hildegard; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/02/resignation-of-pope-benedict.html).

One finds in the Book: “In the Name of Purpose - Sacrificing Truth on the Altar of Unity” (Jeremiah 6:16), by Tamara Hartzell (http://inthenameofpurpose.org/inthename.pdf):

"This “paradigm shift” - a new way of thinking about God and the world - is a massive shift in thinking from God’s absolute truth to man’s relativism.”

“The destructive tidal wave that is following this shift is sweeping people away from the faith and into the New Spirituality that transcends religious barriers."

"Yet in the midst of all this, only a relatively few number of people in the Church have been diligently trying to warn the Body of Christ, and local churches continue to transform into the image of the world. Claiming that warnings and exhortations are too “negative” and “judgmental,” local churches often choose to malign and marginalize those attempting to warn them, and the warnings go unheeded."

"God’s Truth has been one of the casualties in the new way of thinking, and many people are simply unaware or don’t remember what God’s Word actually says. This lack of knowledge facilitates the spread of deception. The Holy Scriptures were written by God for all people, not just for theologians and pastors."

A great number of leaders in the Focolare Movement, as well as in the whole Church, are “Sacrificing Truth on the Altar of Unity”!

“But IF we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1Jn 1:7). If we do NOT walk in the light, if we do NOT put love of God first, we do not have true fellowship with one another, it is false love!!! Also the real essence of sin is perverted since it is not based first of all on offending God, and thus in the end, one stops going to confession, and thus the blood of Jesus does not cleanse us from our sins! In this way the redemption is rendered null and void!

The Servant of God, ARCHBISHOP FULTON SHEEN, said: “The False Prophet will have a religion without a cross. A religion without a world to come. A religion to destroy religions. There will be a counterfeit church. Christ’s Church will be one. And the False Prophet will create the other. The false church will be worldly, ecumenical (false), and global. It will be a loose federation of churches, religions forming some type of global association, a world parliament of churches. It will be emptied of all divine content and will be the mystical body of the antichrist. The Mystical Body on earth today will have its Judas Iscariot and he will be the false prophet. SATAN WILL RECRUIT HIM FROM AMONG OUR BISHOPS.”

(“The FALSE POPE - Saint Hildegard”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/02/resignation-of-pope-benedict.html).

“Pope Francis” stopped the beatification process of the Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton Sheen!

As Our Lady of La Salette told us: “Rome will become the seat of the Antichrist”!

“You give us everything, except what interests us, JESUS CHRIST!” This is why the emphasis now is on HUMANISM, while giving lip service to “Jesus Christ”, in such a way as to use Jesus Christ, or at least to use the subjective feelings or nostalgia of an “outdated religion” at the service of the cult of man, behind which hides Satan who slowly shifts the emphasis and the glory to himself. The name Jesus Christ is used at meetings but very few people realize the subtle well-thought-out shift away from Jesus Christ. This is why at the beginning of public addresses “Pope Francis” does not greet the people as the Popes of the past have always done with “Praise be Jesus Christ”, but with “Good Evening”, or “Good Morning”. Would not the false prophet, in order to get more sympathy and followers end his talks with: “Please pray for me”! Many women say to me: “Oh, how sweet! “Pope Francis” is a saint”!?! The talk of “Pope Francis” and the subject of the 5th National Ecclesial Congress for the Church in Italy was “A New Humanism in Jesus Christ” (https://zenit.org/articles/text-of-pope-s-address-in-florence-on-humanism/).

Recently, the day before the publication of the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, April 7, 2016, my cardinal of the diocese of Perugia, Cardinal Bassetti, called a special clergy retreat of the priest of the diocese. During the morning session Don Gianni Fazzini, of the “Center for new styles of life” (“Centro nuovi stili di vita”) of the Patriarch of Venice, explained chapters V and VI of “Laudato Si”. Put simply, his talk was basically the promotion of the theology of liberation. Not once did Don Gianni mention the need of Jesus or Mary or the Eucharist to arrive at this liberation, a liberation in particular on the economic, ecological level. At a certain point Don Gianni said, with a smile, that Pope Francis cannot use the phrase “theology of liberation” openly. The final concluding phrase that Don Gianni left us priests of the diocese of Perugia was: “I wish for you to be pastors who walk with your people toward a walk of liberation”.

During the second session Padre Krzyzstof Pawlik OFM cap., judicial vicar of the inter-diocesan tribunal, presented the new procedures concerning the proceedings of nullity of marriage according to the Apostolic Letter “Mitis Iudex”.

On February 11, 2016, at the clergy retreat for the priests of the diocese of Perugia, Fr. Marco Presciutti, vicar for pastoral works of the diocese of Fano-Fossombrone, also lectured on “Laudato Si”, during which time Cardinal Bassetti praised Fr. Leonardo Boff and Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ.

“The Scientific Pantheist Who Advises Pope Francis (Hans Schellnhuber) - The scientist who influenced Laudato Si, and who serves at the Vatican's science office, seems to believe in Gaia, but not in God” (https://stream.org/scientific-pantheist-who-advises-pope-francis/; http://sspx.org/en/news-events/news/laudato-si-eco-ecumenism-of-pope-francis-8851; http://en.denzingerbergoglio.com/laudato-si-ii-what-francis-forgot/).

“Pope Francis” talks about loving the poor, which is important, but if the priorities are not kept straight, that true love seeks eternal happiness before temporal happiness, he ends up leading people to their destruction by ignoring the only thing that will keep the poor and anyone else out of heaven, mortal sin, explained very well in the Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults (CCC). Is this not what Judas Iscariot did, seeking to use Jesus for what Judas felt was important, to free the Jews from the Romans, to free us from an economic oppressor as “Laudato Si” was explained to the priests of the dioceses of Perugia.

“During his Mass on Thursday (May 19, 2016), Pope Francis preached a warning to the rich who oppress the poor, focusing on employers who accumulate wealth by misusing those who work for them… This is starving the people with their work for my own profit! Living on the blood of the people. And this is a mortal sin. This is a mortal sin. It requires a great deal of penance, a great deal of restitution, in order to be converted from this sin” (http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/exploiting-workers-is-a-form-of-trafficking-pope-francis-says-13169/).

“This is a mortal sin”! Surely it is a sin to exploit workers in this way. But if one does not believe in life after death, and the only thing that counts is this short life, then one talks like this, ignoring that which does most harm to the immortal soul, mortal sin, sex outside of marriage. To call this exploitation a mortal sin tells people that the Pope believes sin exists, but only sins against the cult of man but not against the cult of God, not against the laws of God. In the document Amoris Laetitia, there is NOT MENTIONED even once the word, “mortal sin” or “adultery”.

The fundamental root of the decay of society is the decay of the family. There is promoted false mercy of forgiveness for adultery without helping people to understand the deadly poison of adultery which leads to the destruction of the family which is at the root of poverty. There is a hidden contradiction here from “the father of lies” to lead us to our destruction and the destruction of the family while using nice pious words that appeal to the public and cover over the real problem and poison! This is what many politicians do, talking about certain problems which appeal to the public without offering the real solutions which takes sacrifice from each citizen, and to live the Ten Commandments! But if a politician offers the true solution to make personal sacrifices for the common good, today, this politician will not ever be elected. The citizens prefer empty promises without the obligation to make sacrifices for others. In the end, the common good crashes. We deserve what is happening and what will happen!

“Even the Church, which lives and suffers in this continent, is threatened with an interior division caused by dissension from the Pope and by opposition to his Magisterium on the part of some bishops, theologians, priests and lay persons. Above all, my Adversary has sought to strike her with the subtle snare of liberation theology, which is a true betrayal of Christ and his Gospel. For this reason my Heart is again pierced today by the sword of sorrow” (Our Lady to Don Stefano Gobbi, February 27, 1992).

“In this country, where my Adversary has succeeded in seducing very many of my children with the dangerous error of liberation theology, I am forming my cohort with all my poor and little children” (Our Lady to Don Stefano Gobbi, Ilobasco (El Salvador); February 13, 1994).

I did not realize that liberation theology was so diffused among priests and bishops in the Church today! About six years ago when an important priest of my diocese praised this error of socialism, I said to him: “What about Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical “Rerum Novarum”, or Pope John Paul II’s encyclical “Centesimus Annus”?” He looked at me as if I were very ignorant and not enlightened!

His Eminence Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, the President of the Episcopal Conference, who was made a cardinal by Pope Francis even though the diocese of Perugia was never a diocese of a cardinal, was awarded the XXII “Rotary Award of Umbria” on May 14, 2015 in the Cathedral of Perugia. A couple of friends of mine who live in Perugia told me that the cathedral of Perugia on that day (May 14, 2015) was full of Freemasons! A similar award was given by the Rotary club in Buenos Aires in 1999 to Cardinal Bergoglio. “The Rotary is of the Masonic inspiration in that it carries forth the Masonic ideals and has ties with the Freemasonry. This is the reason for which Rotary is known as – together with other clubs such as for example the Lions Club International – “White Masonry” (“The Woman Clothed With The Sun In Search Of The Little Ones”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2016/02/children-of-woman.html).

The false prophet, the false pope, will seek to form a One World Religion, by way of false ecumenism, which will result in reductionism to the lowest common denominator, forfeiting our most precious means of sanctification and the fullness of truth, as Catholics, in the name of (false) “love” and (false) “mercy” and (false) “ecumenism”!?! It is precisely now that the world needs, more than every before, these “means of sanctification”, found in the Church founded by Jesus Christ. It is precisely now, when Satan has succeeded in spreading more than ever before his beautiful lies as if they were the truth, that we need the infallible guidance of the Magisterium of the Church! Today very few Catholics, above all very few priests and bishops, realize that the most deadly poison of Satan are the beautiful lies that do the most harm to immortal souls! In this way one goes ever more toward mediocrity seeking to receive and to please everyone, with compromise after compromise, to the point of loosing just about all the true values of Jesus Christ as well as the authentic sources of grace through Jesus Christ. The founder of Christendom College (USA), Dr. Warren Carroll, wrote that ecumenism is important but properly understood is “not an ecumenism in which you would abandon convictions in truth which would be superficial and meaningless agreements, but developing an ecumenism built solidly on real conviction and truth.”

Although the “mercy of God endures forever” (Ps 136), Jesus never offered compromises even when there was the risk of loosing many followers. When many of His disciples left Him regarding the truth about the Eucharist, He did not offer compromises with the Truth, but was even willing to loose his Apostles: “Will you also go away?” (Jn 6:67)! Those who do not follow the Truth, Who is Jesus (Jn 14:6), are interested first of all in the quantity of followers, “to go to the peripheries” instead of first finding a great union with God on Mount Tabor (Moses), in the desert (Saint Anthony Abate), at Subiaco (Saint Benedict), at Laverna (Saint Francis of Assisi); they are not interested in the true spiritual quality of those willing to sacrifice and suffer everything to follow the Truth! These false Christians, who use religion for their own motives, are happy with mediocrity and seek to lead others with them down the path of mediocrity, and ultimately, the lose of the Truth, the faith and salvation!

At Assisi, Italy, on November 29-30, 2013, there is organized a congress for priests and lay people. The title of the congress is “Taking Care of Humanity – Going toward the existential periphery” (Custodire l’umanità – Verso le periferie esistenziali). But if we do not have the Eucharist or we do not spend time before the Divine Sun, the Divine Fire, with the help of the Mother of the divine Son, what do we really end up giving to others? The saints tell us that only that which overflows from our union with Jesus do we give to others! “One word from a soul united to God effects more good in souls than eloquent discussions and sermons from an imperfect soul” (Diary, 1595). “It is useless for you to worry about the souls entrusted to you, to reprove them or to try to make them a little more spiritually inclined. You will only succeed in as far as you yourself are spiritual. It is only through the overflow of your own piety that you can put it into their hearts. If you yourself are not what you ought to be, if you are not closely united with Jesus, your words will reach their ears but will not enter into their hearts, and so your effort will not be fruitful. Do you see how good it is to be united to Jesus? That is the only true happiness on earth” (“A Manuscript On Purgatory”; http://purgatory-manu.blogspot.com).

Many bishops have given their Imprimatur to the book containing the messages of Our Lady revealed through Don Stefano Gobbi (http://our-lady-priests.blogspot.it/). On September 6, 1986, Our Lady told Don Gobbi:

“These are the times, foretold by me, when cardinals will be set against cardinals, bishops against bishops (Akita, Japan; October 13, 1973) and priests against priests, and the flock of Christ will be torn to pieces by rapacious wolves, who have found their way in under the clothing of defenseless and meek lambs. Among them there are even some who occupy posts of great responsibility, and by means of them, Satan has succeeded in entering and in operating at the very summit of the Church.”

As children, the first question in the Baltimore Catechism was: “Who created you?”. The second question was: “Why did God create you?”. We memorized the answer: “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven”. Our mortal enemy has slowly reversed this so that the great majority of Catholics today believe and live as if the parish, the pastor, religion and even God exist to serve me, myself and I, the new trinity. I am now at the center of the universe, not God!

At our clergy retreat of April 7, 2016, there was also highly promoted an exhibition “Abraham, the birth of me” (“Abramo, la nascita dell’io”, di I. Carbajosa). It seems to me that the Church, up until now, has always explained as the first priority the manifestation of God to Abraham, not the birth of Abraham’s ego. What is being promoted here, Christian humanism or secular humanism, the cult of man or the cult of God?!? (http://abramo.diocesi.perugia.it/mostra-perugia/). Just as in the parishes, so too at the diocesan level, the Catholic religion is now a cultural religion, no longer a religion that exists to help us discover and then do the holy will of God! Even the Nazis prided themselves of being of a higher culture, collecting art, while killing millions of people who the Nazis did not consider worth anything, just as is done today with the unwanted babies in the womb and old people who can no longer contribute to society. Churches were embellished in the past to honor God and to draw attention to the infinite God in the Eucharist. Today, in Italy, most people enter the churches to see the beautiful art but have no idea that the second Person of the Most Holy Trinity is present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the tabernacle! A girl who I dated in college, threw out her Catholic faith to marry a protestant; she chose man instead of God (in the Eucharist)!

It is true that Jesus is very demanding, but unlike any creature, Jesus can offer eternal life! For many pastors the first priority in their heart is the parish not the uncomfortable Truth, Who is Christ crucified on the cross. For many lay people, their family or even a small prayer group is more important than the uncomfortable Truth, explained by the Church and summarize in the Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults (CCC). The parishioners do not want to hear about mortal sin and its consequences and the need to change ones life and suffer, and people do not want to loose their friends and so are silent about what God might want in their lives. “Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 10:33)! “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me…” (Mt 10:37). “If any one come to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26).

A related well-orchestrated SHIFT has been from the recognition of personal and social sin, to false mercy with no obligation to change ones life, to lead up to the greatest schism in the history of the Catholic Church. At the Angelus on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, with the Gospel of the adulteress (Jn 8:1-11), Pope Francis did not mention the traditional theme (cf. “Messale dell’Assemblea Cristiana; Centro Catechistico Salesiano; Editori: ELLE DI CI) that has been given to this Gospel passage: “Go and sin no more”! (“Angelus Domini 2016.03.13”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPNMk1N5ypc; https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2016/documents/papa-francesco_angelus_20160313.html). This would be like parents telling their children only about mercy, without telling them the importance of “go and sin no more”! It is amazing how few priests and bishops see the deception and the very grave consequences of this silence about that which does the most harm to a person, with an immortal soul, sin according to the Creator of human beings. And then among those who have struggled to keep their eyes open in a Church where “the father of lies” has sown so many beautiful lies and confusion, few are willing to take the risk to speak out in this time of great need for the eternal salvation of souls, and thus choose to make many small compromises, one after another, without asking themselves if this is truly the best for the souls entrusted to them according to the divine revelation of Our Father in Heaven, the Creator of each and every person with an immortal soul!!!

We have heard this same subtle strategy of putting aside the revealed truth of God in many ways, such as not baptizing babies until they are old enough to decide which religion they want. It is interesting that one of the recent objectives of the Freemasonry is: “Abolition of baptism to minors or to people in any case not consenting” (“The Future Objectives of the Freemasonry”; http://god-politics.blogspot.it/2016/03/future-objectives-freemasonry.html).

It is not easy to continually remain alert to the hidden and well-camouflaged strategies of our mortal enemy. But if the pastors of the flock, who have studied philosophy and theology, do not do this essential work of continually stripping off the mask of the deadly wolf, who will do this very important work? This is also why the very sly wolf has worked hard to change the seminary and Catholic university courses in philosophy and theology so that the new priests no longer have the preparation to even recognize the powerful and very deadly poisons offered to immortal souls today.

When I offered my article, “The Woman Clothed With The Sun In Search Of The Little Ones” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2016/02/children-of-woman.html), to several priests at the annual spiritual exercises of my diocese of Perugia and Città di Castello (January 18-22, 2016), a younger priest (less than forty years old) was happy to read this article and began defending the existence of the devil. An older priest from his diocese did not like the article, and when I asked him how do you explain the increase of evil in the world today, he replied that it is due the human nature. So many priests and bishops no longer believe that the devil exists (http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=2879; http://www.vaticans.org/index.php?/archives/61-An-interview-with-the-Vaticans-chief-excorcist,-Father-Gabriele.html).

I said to this older priest, that for 2000 years the Church has always understood from divine revelation that it does great harm and is a sin to have sex outside of marriage; are you saying that from now on it is OK to have sex outside of marriage?!? He replied, well no; let us wait for what Pope Francis says about this. There is a real “disconnect” (logic) with a great number of priests, bishops and laypeople who have slid into the easier and more gratifying relativism in which each person can decide fundamental truths and morals according to their own private judgment without making any reference to objective truth found outside of their little heads; God revealed to us the Truth for the true good of mankind.

How many people today believe or say: “I’m OK”! I say to them: “According to who, you or God?” Many have taken steps further down the destructive path of relativism by saying: “I’m OK according to God”, because they have equated their ideas and conviction as if they are the same as God’s!

It seems in these very common situations today, one cannot apply St. Thomas’s principle of contradiction in that a thing cannot be and not be at the same time. The relativistic priests and bishops that I know do not want to listen to or read or refute my articles, which have many references to the teachings of the Church, even though at the same time they go against the teachings of the Church in many fundamental areas of faith and morals; they consider Father Joseph Dwight as being old fashion and not with the times. Lucifer believed he was God even though he knew he was not God, and so he became Satan, “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44)! When we refuse the uncomfortable crucified Truth on the cross and thus fall from the grace of God, we loose all bearings with the reality created by the Creator. So many Catholics today have thrown out the Rock, the Magisterium of the Church, and have ended up in the false freedom of quick sand. This older priest, who typifies so many priests today, says things will not change (as some spokesmen for the Vatican have said recently), and then does not see the inherent contradictions in what so many bishops, like Cardinal Kasper, say.

Fr. Larry Richards explains “Speak the TRUTH in love” (Eph 4:15); love and judging, they’re not antagonistic, they’re two sides of the same coin.

The great majority of the children of the sexual revolution did not receive true Christian sacrificial love from their parents, who no longer saw children in the Biblical sense, as a blessing or a “gift from God” (Ps 128:3; Jn 16:21; Mt 18:1-3,10; Prov 17:6) but rather as burdens or as obstacles to their pleasure when “the pill” did not work. In the sixties we would hear slogans, “peace and love”, but without any understanding or reference to sacrificing oneself for the other as Christ taught us on the cross. Now this false “love” and false “peace” are in full bloom in the world and in the Church. Even many children with good parents, rebelled as if to say to their parents, love me less or stop loving me so I don’t have to feel guilty for not corresponding to your love. This is equivalent to saying: “Go away God!”, but not like Saint Peter who later repented (Lk 5:8-11). “For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God” (Jn 3:20-21).

When parishioners express their rebellion against me as the pastor, sometimes I respond that I did not write the Ten Commandments! If Father Joe does not seek to discover and to live the Ten Commandments, even in the great confusion in the Church today, Father Joe will go directly to hell for all eternity! Perhaps the fathers of the families should say something similar to their children who have learned from the TV to rebel against all authority, who then afterwards end up being slaves to the prince of the world, Satan (Jn 12:31; 14:30)! Everyone is free to make their choice, to be with God or to not be with God for eternity!

(http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/jennifer-roback-morse-remember-the-victims-of-the-sexual-revolution1)

“The Sexual Revolution and Its Victims: Thirty-Five Prophetic Articles Spanning Two Decades”

(http://www.ruthinstitute.org/store/ruth-books/the-sexual-revolution-and-its-victims)

““Dr. J” and Her Amazingly Accurate Predictions of the Sexual Revolution’s Fall-Out”

(http://aleteia.org/2015/02/23/dr-j-and-her-amazingly-accurate-predictions-of-the-sexual-revolutions-fall-out/)

Contrast this selfish attitude with the attitude and knowledge of the saints and angels: “If the angels were capable of envy, they would envy us for two things: one is the receiving of Holy Communion, and the other is suffering” (Diary of St. Faustina, no. 1804)! The greatest way to love someone is to suffer for someone. The angels, who see how much God loves them, want to correspond more with His love but are unable since they do not have a body to be able to suffer for God as we can. How many Catholics do not go to Sunday Mass to receive Jesus in their heart and do not want to suffer with Jesus?!?

After they stoned Paul… supposing that he was dead; Paul rose up to continue to preach the gospel, to explain to all of us: “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:19-22).

“Nobody denies the indissolubility of marriage. I do not, nor do I know any bishop who denies it” (http://www.religionnews.com/2014/10/09/catholic-bishops-debate-doctrine-end-pastoral-practice-begin/).

“Let us apply this to specific cases. We are talking about the "divorced and remarried" which, without having obtained the nullity of marriage, can receive Communion. However, there is being proposed a problem that, in the first place, is not the problem of the family; there is being proposed, in the context of the synod on the family, so much so that Cardinal Kasper - the one to whom Pope Francis commissioned to speak to a consistory of bishops in preparation for the synod – even came to say: "If you do not allow to divorced and remarried to receive Communion - these are his words - it is useless to bring to fruition the synod, because it would be a great defection".” (“Schism in the Catholic Church – Padre Santiago Martin, F.M.”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2016/03/catholic-schism-santiago-martin.html).

This fundamental contradiction in truth is worse than the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9) because at the time of the first Tower of Babel one could at least communicate slowly with a dictionary. But without the fundamentals of Truth from God accepted and in common among priests and bishops of the same Catholic Church, it is impossible to arrive at any conclusion without this basis of divine Truth upon which to build and to go forward together. Thus more and more in the Catholic Church, we see the words of Pope Benedict XVI fulfilled: “Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine", seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. WE ARE BUILDING A DICTATORSHIP OF RELATIVISM that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires” (“Who Decides The Truth?”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/06/who-decides-truth.html). Without the base of God’s Truth, we go quickly to “Might makes Right”!

So many priests and bishops for many years have chosen only what they like and what people want, without looking at Christ and his saving laws; they have taken many steps of ignoring and loosing Christ, Who is the Truth (Jn 14:6), which is accompanied by more and more spiritual blindness and “what I like or approve”, with no true reference to the Magisterium of the Church.

Under the dictatorship of relativism, all is OK except the absolute Truth of God. Thus in the Synod of 2014, the African bishops who realized the great gift of the teachings of the Church on marriage were marginalized and the book written by five Cardinals, “Remaining in the Truth of Christ”, in defense of marriage, was not allowed into last October’s Synod of Bishops! (“The False Pope Will Fall Silent”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/09/the-false-pope-will-fall-silent.html). Amidst this confusion, few priests and bishops will recognize the powerful poison of the disguised deception in the ambiguous and long document, the Post-Synodal Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia. Most of the few who do realize that something is not right with this document will NOT have the courage to go against the great majority manipulated by the mass media; they will not have the courage to risk loosing their positions, titles, monetary income, along with the real possibility of persecution, even death.

“This widespread lack of good wholesome fathers is at the root of the feminized “Church of the Nice” that we have today as well as the increase of homosexuality and the slide into false ecumenism which will lead to the One World Church as a preparation for the advent of the Antichrist” (“Have we truly arrived to a SCHISM?”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2016/03/catholic-schism.html).

The winning card of Satan today is to tell everyone of this unconditional mercy, without explaining the absolute necessity of changing ones life, to “go and sin no more”, as we say in the Act of Contrition. It is like the parents of a family telling their children: “do whatever you like because your parents love you and offer unconditional mercy.” This is false mercy and false love which leads to the destruction of the children. The strategy of Satan is to eliminate the voice of those who particularly have the vocation to offer also conditional love for the true good of the souls entrusted to them, to eliminate mature fathers of the families, mature pastors of the parishes and of the diocese. Satan wants to render men: “THEY ARE ALL DUMB DOGS, THEY CANNOT BARK’ (Is 56:10), as Pope St. Gregory the Great tells us (Pope St. Gregory the Great; Office of Readings; Sunday, Week 27 of OT). Pastors no longer preach about sin, while the wolf gently leads the sheep to his kingdom of subtle deception of false love, false mercy and misguided compassion.

Those who will remain faithful to God’s saving laws will be considered evil and cruel and will be less and less tolerated as we have seen throughout human history.

6. “Those who in spiritual fervor will embrace piety with charity and zeal for the truth, will suffer persecutions and insults as if they were schismatics and disobedient. Because their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say that in this way they render a great honor to God in killing and removing from the face of the earth such pestilent men. But the Lord will be the refuge of the afflicted and He will save them, because they hoped in Him. And then in order to respect their Head, they will act according to the Faith and they will chose to obey God rather than men, gaining for themselves eternal life; they will fear nothing, and they will prefer to die rather than consent to error and perfidy.” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/11/prophecy-st-francis.html).

The message of Pope Francis at his Mass at Casa Santa Marta was “Those who exclude create conflict” (Nov. 5, 2015; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9XELtpveSA)! If this message is not explained in the context of the whole of divine revelation and of the whole of Sacred Scripture, those who create conflict because they offer the saving truth of Jesus Christ will be considered “enemies of ecumenism, enemies of fraternity, enemies of reconciled humanity. “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." (Lk 12:49-53). How soon will this phrase of Pope Francis become: “Those who exclude those, who are living in sin, from Holy Communion in the Catholic Church, create conflict”? Would not a true pope simply explain that Christ excludes sin but not the sinner, that Christ loves the sinner but hates the sin? What is the message that the general public is receiving from “Pope Francis”? That those who hate sin create conflict and are bigots?!?

“A half-truth deceives the recipient by presenting something believable and using those aspects of the statement that can be shown to be true as good reason to believe the statement is true in its entirety, or that the statement represents the whole truth. A person deceived by a half-truth considers the proposition to be knowledge and acts accordingly” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-truth).

Jesus was not politically correct and thus offended many people and thus in the end Jesus was crucified! The prophets of the Old Testament were not politically correct and thus offended many people and thus in the end most of the prophets of the Old Testament were killed.

The great rebellion against the crucified Truth! When people in the parishes, where I go to, complain about the preaching of the full Gospel, not just the easy parts but also the uncomfortable Truth on the cross, I tell them that if I do not preach the Gospel according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults, Father Joe will go to hell, and I will not go to hell for anyone! I suppose I was not politically correct when I said this, and in the end since my two bishops do not want preached the whole Gospel, but only the part that the people want, they took my parish away on October 13, 2015.

At this same meeting on October 13, 2015, when I said to this bishop that if you put the people who even come to Sunday Mass regularly, before the Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults, the majority of them are objectively in mortal sin. The bishop replied you cannot know that. It seems here the bishop does not distinguish between objective guilt and subjective guilt. Subjective guilt only God knows, but objective guilt, that which we can see and observe, we must judge so as to not follow those who give scandal, even a priest or bishop! But if few priests of bishops today speak about sin, how can the people know what sin is according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and not according to their subjective heads formed by the TV and mass media? Behold the disappearance of the very important sacrament of Reconciliation! But what is even worse is that this auxiliary bishop gave no indication of being concerned about the great danger of souls not knowing what sin is as well as the great need of offering the solution to the parishioners for the benefit of their eternal souls!

The Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, in his talk entitled, “The Kiss That Blistered”, explains the “Myth of co-existence” with the Communists, to be later destroyed “with a kiss”, as did Judas Iscariot.

Cardinal Kasper said that the Post-synodal document “will mark the start of the GREATEST REVOLUTION experienced by the Church in 1500 years.” Many modern philosophers led us into the “COPERNICAN REVOLUTION” of not seeking anymore reality and the truth outside of ourselves by way of our five senses but inside of ourselves, as if each one of us “will be like God” (Gen 3:4-5) (“Who Decides The Truth?”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/06/who-decides-truth.html). After this Copernican revolution on the philosophical level, it is now officially confirmed with this post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, the developing Copernican revolution on the theological level, on the level of faith and morals. We will finally be free of God’s Commandments!?! Everything will be turned upside down, so that “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44) will make us free today, but we are no longer told of the great slavery tomorrow and for all eternity! No longer do we believe that the uncomfortable crucified Truth on the cross “will make us free” (Jn 8:32) today as well as tomorrow and for all eternity! In the USA you cannot put up a Christmas Nativity scene or the Ten Commandments in public, but a monument of Satan is OK!

Considering what I have wrote above, with many references to my past articles, in our ongoing efforts to unmask the wolf disguised “as an angel of light” (2Cor 11:14), and our search for the truth in a Church full of “CARDINALS OPPOSING CARDINALS, bishops against other bishops... the Church will be full of those who accept compromise …” (Our Lady of Akita, Japan (1973), I will only briefly indicate some of these ambiguities and deceptions in this post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia.

The great majority of the Catholics by now have been led to believe that the Truth is established by the consensus of the majority of the people or by a group of bishops, but no longer by God Who is the Truth (Jn 14:6). Thus I will give a few indications here of those who understand that God is the immutable Truth, and also some of the misguided reactions to Amoris Laetitia, with comments indicating some of the reactions of people who no longer understand or believe that the Church is the handmaid of the Truth and not the Author of the Truth. For those of you who have maintained the true faith in a world and Church full of confusion sown by the enemy, I hope this will help us to realize better how we are being manipulated, in a very covert, subtle and gentle way toward relativism, by a world under the control of the fundamental organization of Satan today, Freemasonry, as Our Lady of Good Success warned us more than four hundred years ago: “FREEMASONRY, which will then be in power…” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/09/the-false-pope-will-fall-silent.html).

“Pope Francis”, has often used in the past publications such as the “La Repubblica” (in Italy) to spread and facilitate more quickly and broadly to the general public and to Catholics the slide into relativism, while he has avoided, up until now, making an official statement, even though the fundamental communication of relativism in Amoris Laetitia is well camouflaged (“Letter to fellow Priests”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/12/letter-to-fellow-priests.html).

I will use a very recent article of the “La Repubblica” (April 8, 2016) written to praise and promote Amoris Laetitia, to simply indicate what is going on, as well as what is being promoted in the highly controlled mass media all over the world. Today “Pope Francis” is the idol of the secular mass media; the mass media up until three years ago has always been against the Popes and the Catholic Church in more or less subtle ways. One only has to reverse what is praised and promoted in this article, and who is ridiculed and condemned in this article, to understand what is going on regarding the immutable Truths of God explained by the authentic teachings of the Catholic Church, in contrast with the secular anti-God mass media.

The Italian newspaper, “La Repubblica”, put on their front page Pope Francis’ letter in response to two open letters published in previous months by Eugenio Scalfari, the founder of “La Repubblica” and an avowed atheist (September 11, 2013). On the same front page was written an article with the title: “The Truth Is Never Absolute”! (http://www.ilpost.it/2013/09/11/le-prime-pagine-di-oggi-835/repubblica-574/)... Then one considers the greater part of the Catholics are convinced that what the Pope says is infallible, the game is done. Even if one protests that a letter to Scalfari or an interview to whoever, might be less than the opinion of a private doctor, in the era of media technology, the effect that will be produced will be much greater than any solemn pronouncement. In fact, the more the gesture or the talk is formally small and insignificant, the more it will have an effect and will be considered as unassailable and beyond criticism.” (“Letter to fellow Priests”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/12/letter-to-fellow-priests.html).

See below in the Appendix: LA REPUBBLICA – SPOKESMAN OF THE MESSAGES OF “POPE FRANCIS” TO THE WORLD

Immediately after the Synod on the Family in October 2015, the mass media here in Italy began telling us that divorced and remarried couples can receive Holy Communion.

“Bombshell: Pope to His Favorite Journalist: "All the Divorced who ask will be admitted [to Communion]"

(November 2015; Eugenio Scalfari, is the founder of the popular magazine “La Repubblica” in Italy, and has declared himself an atheist)

“The diverse opinion of the bishops is part of this modernity of the Church and of the diverse societies in which she operates, but the goal is the same, and for that which regards the admission of the divorced to the Sacraments, [it] confirms that this principle has been accepted by the Synod. This is bottom line result, the de facto appraisals are entrusted to the confessors, but at the end of faster or slower paths, all the divorced who ask will be admitted." (http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2015/11/bombshell-pope-to-his-favorite.html#more) (http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/fr.-lombardi-latest-scalfari-article-on-pope-in-no-way-reliable/).

At the presentation of Amoris Laetitia at the press conference on April 8, 2016, Card. Christopf Schonborn, O.P said it is not a break with the past but there is innovation, a development of doctrine, a linguistic change, and different exposition, no longer with the distinction between those in regular or irregular situations, but we are all one people.

Right after the press conference, on Vatican television, Stefania Falasca; editorialist for the Avvenire, said: “There is no longer a difference between people in regular or irregular situations” (my comment: as if there is no more sin). She said that we all need the love of God, of His mercy, of His pardon (my comment: but without any obligation to do and live our Christian faith summarized well in the Act of Contrition: “I promise with the help of thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin”!!!). She said that “Pope Francis wanted to give a global vision without falling into casuistry or going down into the particulars, as if this would be a trap to avoid, to leave these things to the discernment of the confessors in the individual cases” (my comment: how can a confessor determine if the first matrimony is valid or not and thus if it is “joined by God” which “no man can put asunder” (Mt 19:6)???). She explained that this is why footnote, no. 351, was not in the main document but put in as a footnote, like in parenthesis, because it is not an important point, to no longer put an emphasis of these unimportant distinctions!

She went on to say that considering the discernment of conscience, “people can no longer be labeled as being in mortal sin. She said that there is now the primacy of the conscience (my comment: as if there is no longer the objective law of God to conform to or to form one’s conscience accordingly!!!). She said this document, Amoris Laetitia is a step forward in understanding the sacramental mystery of matrimony!”

What a smooth way of putting aside the distinction between sin or no sin, between being in the state of grace or not being in the state of grace, between being in mortal sin or not being in mortal sin, between separation from God or united with God, between eternity with God or eternity not with God! We are all now one big happy family without any more of these distinctions of “casuistry” or of the “rigid” or of the “rigorists”. No more sin! We are free from our parents rules and regulations. We are finally free from God’s laws! What a beautiful deception of “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44)!!! We have lost God’s prospective, God’s point of view, and we are left now with only man’s point of view, man’s prospective, the world’s prospective, in the cult of man! The prince (the ruler) of the world is Satan (Jn 12:31; 14:30). It comes to mind an image of people, without thinking, going up to offer sacrifice to the image of gold made by king Nebuchadnezar (Dan, chapter 3)!

Good parents suffer when the child chooses what does harm to the child. The parents suffer also due to the broken relationship with the child. But if the child has become spoiled and egotistical, the child does not consider the suffering of the parents but sees only from his own egotistical, blind, point of view. So he no longer sees the tears of his mother who suffers due to his free choice of sin. He is looking only at self, and self justification, with the help of the world and, now more than ever before, with the help of the highest ranking prelates in the Catholic Church, in the name of (false) love and (false) mercy!

The very numerous followers of “the father of lies”, who have taken over the motors of the culture – the schools, the mass media, the religious institutions - have prepared us well to throw out the old time religion (E.g., “37. The Astounding Impact of the Ruthless Manipulation of Militant Gay Activists!”; http://markbeast.blogspot.com), which is for our true good (because the Truth does not change), and to look at those who say God loves the sinner but hates the sin, as if they are bigots. All those who espouse the false liberty of “the father of lies” are politically correct, but those who say God’s rules are for our own true good and the good of society, are labeled as bigots. Are the rules of good parents for the good of the children or for the evil of the children?

Secular feminism, having effectively put aside the father in the family, has fostered spoiled egotistical children, who are not willing to sacrifice self for others as a good father does; these children are now adults and in positions of power and do not want the rules of God the Father.

It has been very well orchestrated, by the very numerous followers of the “father of lies”, to finally accept, or worse yet not even care, about that which does us the most harm, sin, especially grave mortal sin. This is the fundamental effect and real fruits of an officialòu signed document of the Catholic Church, Amoris Laetitia! Why did Jesus come to earth? Why did Jesus die on the cross such a horrible death? For recreation or to have fun?!? So few Catholics meditate on the passion of Christ in the Way of the Cross, which Padre Pio said is the prayer most pleasing to God after the Holy SACRIFICE of the Mass. By meditating often on how much Christ suffered for each of us, we slowly begin to not only realize how much Christ loves each of us but also how horrible sin is from the point of view of the Truth, from the point of view of God, the Creator of the universe and of each human being.

An article of LifeSiteNews, April 8, 2016, briefly cites the “Wildly divergent reactions to Pope’s exhortation: a study on the results of ambiguity”:

“Particularly on the central question of admittance to Holy Communion of divorced and remarried Catholics, the document has left the question so open as to cause profound confusion.”

“The varied reactions demonstrate a reading with wide divergence of opinion is possible. Of all the many posts I’ve read, and I’ll be summarizing below, one was most interesting to highlight – that of Robert Royal, the editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing, and president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C.

Royal proposes a hypothetical situation which puts the most likely eventual outcome of the ambiguous exhortation in sharp focus:

Here’s a hypothetical that may soon be a test case: suppose that, taking cues from the overall tendency of Amoris Laetitia, the German bishops follow their avowed inclinations and allow Communion for the divorced and remarried. The Polish bishops, adamantly orthodox and finding nothing in the text that explicitly requires changing millennia-old teaching, choose instead to read it as only encouraging greater pastoral counseling with the ultimate goal of leading people to change their lives and follow Christ’s words on marriage.

Both readings may be possible, but the consequences, in this instance and others, are impossible. On one side of a border between two countries, Communion for the divorced and remarried would now become a sign of a new outpouring of God’s mercy and forgiveness. On the other side, giving Communion to someone in “irregular” circumstances remains infidelity to Christ’s words and, potentially, a sacrilege. In concrete terms, around the globe, what looms ahead is chaos and conflict, not Catholicity. A new Iron Curtain may descend between Western Catholicism and the Church in the rest of the world – to say nothing of civil wars within “developed” countries…”

(https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/wildly-divergent-reactions-to-exhortation-a-study-on-the-results-of-ambigui).

Other Italian authors indicate this “chaos and conflict”, “catastrophe” (http://www.corrispondenzaromana.it/lesortazione-post-sinodale-amoris-laetitia-prime-riflessioni-su-un-documento-catastrofico/)

Bergoglio decrees the triumph of Herodias and of Henry VIII, against Saint John the Baptist and Saint Thomas More (“Bergoglio Decreta il Trionfo di Erodiade e di Enrico VIII, Contro San Giovanni Battista e San Tommaso Moro”; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Antonio-Socci-pagina-ufficiale/197268327060719?fref=ts).

“World Over - 2016-04-14 – Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation on the Family with Raymond Arroyo” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5Avd7bCiV0), “FR GERALD MURRAY and ROBERT ROYAL...the Papal Posse...join us to discuss Pope Francis' recently released Apostolic Exhortation, AMORIS LAETITIA (The Joy of Love)”.

On EWTN’s April 14, World Over Live program hosted by Raymond Arroyo, canon law expert Fr. Gerald Murray and Robert Royal, Catholic author and president of the "Faith and Reason Institute", presented a very frank, respectful analysis of the problematic aspects of Pope Francis’ controversial Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love). Carefully and methodically responding to Arroyo’s probing questions, the panelists gave support for the deep concerns and alarm of many Catholics regarding particular “problematic” parts of the Exhortation.

Arroyo’s questioning touched on a number of delicate issues for the two panelists regarding Pope Francis’ Exhortation. The difficulty of the challenge to provide honest answers to Arroyo's questions regarding the head of the Catholic Church was apparent in the faces of Royal and Murray throughout the 35-minute dialogue. Fr. Murray appeared especially pained to have to explain the obvious serious flaws and real dangers for the Church in various parts of the exhortation which he indicates need to be addressed and corrected by the Holy Father.

One notable part of the lengthy discussion occurs near the beginning of the dialogue. Arroyo displays the slide below containing text (Amoris Laetitia, paragraph no. 3) from Francis' Exhortation that appears to indicate the Holy Father is suggesting that there can be varied theological understanding and application of Church teaching according to local cultural realities. The EWTN host asks Fr. Murray for his thoughts on the quotation.

Fr. Murray responds, "I think this is a dangerous statement precisely because we're talking about the universal law of the Church regarding the administration of the sacraments and to say that enculturation would mean that in Germany the sacramental discipline would be different than in neighboring Poland or in a country in Africa, that’s very disturbing." He continues further to expand on the reasons for his great concern.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/ewtn-raymond-arroyo-panel-explains-reasons-for-alarm-over-pope-francis-exho

“WORLD OVER - 2016-04-14 – POPE FRANCIS’ APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION ON THE FAMILY WITH RAYMOND ARROYO”

“For although there are many different languages in the world, even so the strength of tradition is one and the same. The Church founded in Germany believes exactly the same and hands on exactly the same as do the Spanish and Celtic Churches, and the ones in the East, those in Egypt and Libya and Jerusalem, the centre of the world. As the sun, which is God’s creature, is the same throughout the whole world, so the preaching of the truth shines in all places and enlightens all men who wish to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (Office of Readings, the Second Reading, “The preaching of the truth”, St. Irenaeus, Against the Heresies; April 25).

The recent popes before “Pope Francis” have told us that the greatest sin today is that there is no more sin, we have lost the sense of sin. Now we are hearing the exact opposite message! People tell me why go to confession to confess the same sin? This is the fundamental test for each of us to persevere in sincere prayer and living our prayer so as to trust more and more in God and less and less in ourselves. By persevering, we succeed more and more in doing what we learned as children, the words of the Act of Contrition: “I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.” People who stop praying end up saying what’s the use to continue to confess my sins? People who persevere in praying continue to make this promise, sincerely, as they grow in humility and trust in God, not in themselves.

Notwithstanding her good intentions, Saint Faustina was sad because she continually fell into the same defects. But Jesus did NOT say, don’t worry about it, or did not indicate that it is OK to continue to commit those sins. But rather Jesus said: “You see, My child, what you are of yourself. The cause of your falls is that you rely too much upon yourself and too little on Me” (Diary, 1488).

God gives sufficient grace, but grace does not mean that God takes away the suffering as we want, and that all of a sudden it becomes easy. As the saints tell us "Love makes labor light. Love alone gives value to all things” (St. Teresa of Avila), because we are in love with Jesus crucified. A boy and a girl engaged with each other do not even consider the difficulties of the trials of their courtship because they are in love with each other and their thoughts are on the other person, not self.

A great number of people today do NOT want to put themselves under the criteria of God as what is best for us. Pride and lack of trust in God is at the root. Today everyone, including “Pope Francis” is offering us excuses, reasons, and justifications to not seek or accept the guidance of God for what is best for us, which is to overcome sin according to God’s criteria of sin. Justified with nice words, this is a fundamental step away from God, a fundamental turning away from God and toward self as to who is the criteria for what is best for us, to trust more and more in self and less and less in God. This leaves us prey to the powerful influence of the prince of this world, Satan. (Jn 12:31; 14:30)

One can find various example in the Gospels of even the disciples of Jesus wanting to give up.

When the disciples “were amazed at His words”, and even “exceedingly astonished”, Christ did not offer false and empty and destructive compromises as so many leaders in the Church today are offering to the gullible “Christians”, but rather said: “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God” (Mt 19:26; Mk 9: 23; 10:23-27; Lk 18:27).

Jesus did not offer compromises even when many of His disciples left Him due to His teaching on the Eucharist (John chapter 6). Let us kneel in adoration before the Most Blessed Sacrament with the help of Mary, praying her Holy Rosary!

Christ always leads us higher, without compromise, while offering us mercy. The very numerous followers of “the father of lies” do the exactly the opposite by offering false mercy and false love with compromises, while judging and condemning as “rigid” those who remain faithful to Christ’s teachings explained by the Magisterium of the Church. Familiaris Consortio, 33: “I therefore repeat: "To diminish in no way the saving teaching of Christ constitutes an eminent form of charity for souls." (Pope Paul VI, “Humanae Vitae”, 29).”

Amoris Laetitia enhances the slide down into compromise and basically opens the door to the sacraments to everyone without the obligation to change ones life according to God’s laws explained by the Church, while at the same time the document remains ambiguous enough that it is difficult for those who are faithful to the unchanging Truths of God, explained by the Magisterium of the Church, to object or refute the exhortation. “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2Cor 11:14). Today there are a great number of sacrilegious receptions of Holy Communion!

We are living in a world that since the invention of “the pill” (1960), the marriage act has been almost completely separated from the responsibility of procreation. Like they say, “the horse is out of the barn”, and thus it is very difficult to get the horse back into the barn. To not observe “Humanae Vitae” remains a grave sin, mortal, even though most Catholics could care less, and take Holy Communion all the same. But when the disciples had a very difficult time in accepting the words of Christ, Christ did not offer compromises, nor did Christ lower the bar, or did Christ change the Ten Commandments to accommodate what people wanted?

“When our Lord said, “What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Mt 19:6), the disciples said to Jesus: “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry” (Mt 19:10). The disciples knew what Jesus was saying. THIS IS HARD! According to Amoris Laetitia, Jesus would certainly be considered “rigid”!!! Do you know what the divorce rate was in the USA in 1960? Five percent! Were human beings different then? What was it that made 95% of the marriages stay together until death? Now you look at it and you say who could possibly expect today to stay together until death!?! Even though many who stayed together years ago would have divorced if they lived today, those who stayed together years ago, when the spouse died, they sobbed like babies. So the Church basically says yes, we recognize that those terrible things happen. But unfortunately when you open the door to divorce, EVERYBODY WANTS TO RUN THROUGH IT!

(“Have we truly arrived to a SCHISM?”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2016/03/catholic-schism.html).

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits” (Mt 7:15-20). Jesus did not say by their leaves, which would be by their nice words, but “by their fruits”!

The overall effect, “the fruits” of Amoris Laetitia is to offer the coup de grace to the existence of sin, and the Ten Commandments; we are finally free from these imposed rules!?! So we no longer need a Savior for our sins, sins that we no longer believe even exist. In this same hidden strategy, we no longer need not only the sacrament of Reconciliation but we no longer needed the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary and thus the Holy Mass is superfluous, and all the rest of the true Catholic religion. Visit “The Subtle and Powerful Attack on the Eucharist” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/11/attack-on-eucharist.html), “The Progressive Protestantization of the Catholic Mass” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/11/protestantization-mass.html). In a world that has lost the faith in its Creator, those who want to get to heaven must make to jump of faith and trust in God, even though from our point of view it might seem impossible. “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God” (Mt 19:26; Mk 10:23-27; Lk 18:27).

The title of this exhortation is “Amoris Laetitia”, which means “Love Joy”. It offers “love” as “joy” but without sacrifice, and thus is false love which leads to our destruction. Without sacrifice, one for the other, without sacrifice according to God Who created all of us, we end up taking advantage of one other, like mutual masturbation, which in the end is self destructive instead of building up one another as Christ taught us by his example in His passion and death on the cross. True marriage, according to God’s creation and explained in His divine revelation, entails sacrifice one for the other which can only be accomplished by following the rules of the One who created us, God! The title of this exhortation should have been “Love Sacrifice”, “AMORIS SACRIFICIUM”!!!

“Pope Francis” continues the year of mercy with “Dry the Tears”! But again, it is to dry the tears of the difficulties of life WITHOUT turning to Christ crucified as the solution. “Dry the Tears” is rather putting aside the cross, putting aside the Ten Commandments, so as to feel better for a little while, but tomorrow there will be the consequences of not following the laws that guide our human existence, given to us by our Creator Who loves us. It is false love which sounds nice, but is not based on the reality created by our Creator and thus leads to our destruction. “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2Cor 11:14)!

Where are the true fathers and pastors, ready to give their lives for their children and souls entrusted to them, to warn us of this DEVASTATING POISON THAT IS SUGAR COATED?!? Those who do not go along with this false love and false mercy will be more and more persecuted, just as Christ was more and more persecuted by the Jews up to His death on the cross! The ones who truly need the drying of the tears are the good parents and the good pastors and the Good Shepherd on the cross who suffer for others. Precisely for this reason the true saints speak often of making reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary! The ones who have freely chosen to not love others and thus to not suffer for others and have not lived up to their responsibilities of responding to the love given to them (no gratitude) and do not want to dry the tears of the ones who have made many sacrifices for them, are now living the consequences of their irresponsibility and do not want to take their eyes off of themselves and see the sorrow they have caused to others. Yes these irresponsible people want their tears dried, but if they do not learn to love God and neighbor instead of themselves there will be more tears without the consolation of God. So many people have not received the guidance and the encouragement from religious leaders to convert themselves to true love and sacrifice for others, by meditating on Christ crucified and asking the help of Jesus and Mary in diligent prayer. It is an injustice to give free fish to people in the third world countries instead of teaching them how to fish; so too to dry the tears of the deceived people without showing them the way out of their egotistical deception is an even greater injustice! Today, more than ever, one could rewrite the phrase of Saint Paul: “False love disguises itself as an angel of light” (2Cor 11:14), which misleads a very great number of immortal souls toward destruction!

Egotistical children want what they want today regardless of the consequences for themselves or for others. They do not care if tomorrow their parents, or someone else, will have to pay a heavy price of suffering for their irresponsibility. This irresponsibility has always been promoted by “the father of lies” and now we have reached the climax of total irresponsibility! Where does the buck stop? The buck stops with the one who is willing to pay the price for the acts of irresponsibility; that One is Christ crucified and the few true Christians who embrace the sacrifices of life with the help of Jesus with much prayer. This is exactly the solution that Our Lady of Fatima proposed to us 99 years ago, prayer and sacrifice. It all goes back to true love which is perfectly exemplified in the greatest act of love in the history of mankind, Christ crucified with His mother Mary at the foot of the cross! The TRUE “Francis”, is the one of Assisi more than 800 years ago, who did not offer false love or false mercy or misguided compassion or false ecumenism. The TRUE “Francis” bore the sufferings of Christ in his body, and said: “Love is not loved”, Christ crucified is not loved!!!

“SUFFERING IS THE GREATEST TREASURE ON EARTH; it purifies the soul. In suffering we learn who is our true friend. True love is measured by the thermometer of suffering…” (Diary of St. Faustina, no. 342).

“If the angels were capable of envy, they would envy us for two things: one is the receiving of Holy Communion, and the other is suffering” (Diary, no. 1804)!

“Throughout the two “synods on the family” held in Rome in October 2014 and October 2015 there was intense pressure for the Church to change her immutable teaching on homosexuality and homosexual unions. This pressure came not only from “LGBT” activists but also from those responsible for preparing the official synodal documents.

“We need to acknowledge the great variety of family situations that can offer a certain stability, but de facto or same-sex unions, for example, may not simply be equated with marriage” (Amoris Laetitia, no. 52).

(i) that “same-sex unions” are one of the “great variety of family situations”

(iii) that “same-sex unions” can be “equated” with marriage on some level, if not “simply”.

(http://voiceofthefamily.com/amoris-laetitias-approach-to-same-sex-unions-already-rejected-by-synod-fathers/)

It is interesting that Obama stayed away from the topic of homosexuality before elections in November 2008 because he knew how most Americans felt in 2008 about homosexuality. Since then Obama has promoted the culture of death with all the power and money of the USA all over the world. (“Catholic Prophecy Today”; http://markbeast.blogspot.com). It seems “Pope Francis” is using the same strategy. “Despite short shrift in ‘Amoris’, Francis sees mercy for gays too” (http://nospincatholicism.com/tag/amoris-laetitia/).

“Cardinal Danneels Admits to Being Part of 'Mafia' Club Opposed to Benedict XVI”

“New authorized biography also reveals papal delegate at upcoming synod wrote letter to Belgium government supporting same-sex "marriage" legislation because it ended discrimination against LGBT groups.”

He once said same-sex “marriage” was a “positive development”. The cardinal also wrote a letter to Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt praising him for “the approval of a legal statute for a stable relationship between partners of the same sex.” Verhofstadt’s government introduced same sex-‘marriage’ into Belgium in 2003.

The Vatican listed Danneels second in importance out of 45 delegates personally chosen by Pope Francis to participate in the upcoming meeting.”

(“The Woman Clothed With The Sun In Search Of The Little Ones”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2016/02/children-of-woman.html).

Was not this fundamental strategy of enhancing the slide downward predicted by Our Lady more than 400 years ago?

“Thus I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and shortly after the middle of the 20th century…the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals… As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and deeply profaned. FREEMASONRY, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the aim of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin and encouraging procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church… In this supreme moment of need for the Church, the ONE who should speak will fall silent.” (Our Lady of Good Success in Quito, Ecuador, on January 20, 1610; “The False Pope Will Fall Silent”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/09/the-false-pope-will-fall-silent.html).

Those who are not following Christ in their hearts, and are thus not in the state of grace, believe “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44). Considering “the greatest revolution” according to Cardinal Kasper, there comes to mind directive no. 33 of the Grand Master of the Masons to the Catholic Bishops, effective since 1962:

“33. Order all the subjects of the Pope to fight in holy crusade to extend the one-world religion. Satan knows where one finds all the lost gold. Conquer the world without pity! All this will bring to humanity all that it has always craved: "the golden age of peace”." (“The Masonic Plan For The Destruction Of The Catholic Church”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/11/masonic-plan.html).

If their strategy was revealed openly very few would take these steps toward their OWN destruction. If we could see Satan for one moment we would die of fright immediately (Diary of St. Faustina, no. 741). Thus the deadly poison of Satan must be hidden and sugar-coated. How important it is to open our eyes not only with prayer but also with diligent study to strip off this sugar-coating so as not to be poisoned now and for all eternity.

I wrote in the introduction of my article “The FALSE POPE - Saint Hildegard” (March 2013, after the resignation of Pope Benedict; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/02/resignation-of-pope-benedict.html):

“The Pope, has been so ignored, disobeyed and despised in the last 50 years not only by the left side of the spectrum (ignore or disobey) but also by the right side of the spectrum (prideful rebellion). I think that this vacancy (while a “Judas” (Iscariot) will be in control of the Vatican) will be a great just punishment not only for the whole Church but for the whole world. The world which is intrinsically connected with all of creation, goes forward or backward depending on the behavior and choices of those who have received much more graces and responsibility from God in this “cosmic battle” (as Pope John Paul II put it), the lay Catholics, the priests and the bishops of the One True Church, the Catholic Church! Pope Paul VI was so devastated by the reaction to Humanae Vitae that he said, referring to the situation in the Church, “FROM SOME CREVICE, THE SMOKE OF SATAN HAS ENTERED THE TEMPLE OF GOD” (June 29, 1972); Pope Paul VI did not write another encyclical after Humanae Vitae (1968)!

Several months after I published the article “The FALSE POPE - Saint Hildegard”, I discovered for the first time the “Prophecy of Saint Francis” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/11/prophecy-st-francis.html):

2. The power of the demons will be greater than usual, the immaculate purity of our religious community and of others, will withered to the point that very few Christians will want to obey the true Sovereign Pontiff and the Roman Church with a sincere heart and perfect charity. At the decisive moment of this crisis, a personage not canonically elected, raised to the Pontificate, will endeavor to administer shrewdly to many the mortal poison of his error.

7. Some preachers will keep silent about the truth and, denying the truth, they will trample upon the truth. The sanctity of life will be held in derision by those who only profess it outwardly, and for this reason Our Lord Jesus Christ will send them not a worthy Pastor, but a destroyer.”

It is understandable for good Catholics to have a very difficult time considering the possibility that God allowed a false pope to take over the Vatican. This has never happened in the history of the Church. Did not Christ tell us that “the gates of hell would not prevail” (Mt 16:18)? So many times in the messages of Our Lady to Don Stefano Gobbi we are told to obey the Pope! But as indicated by the prophecy of Saint Francis of Assisi, WE DESERVE what the great majority of the Catholics want, a Pastor who will take away these outdated restrictions called the “Ten Commandments” and finally liberate us from these scruples of sin!

The great majority will welcome this false prophet who will finally update the church with the sexual revolution, total freedom, which we believe will not lead to our destruction. Most people today only care about today as if tomorrow and eternity do not exist. No more responsibility for tomorrow or for the consequences for our actions on others! “Ignorance is bliss!” Some sincerely concerned people say it is wrong to consider the possibility of a false pope, to keep our eyes open. But when this false pope arrives, this false pope will lead a great number of people away from God and even to the point of adoring the first beast, the antichrist. “Then I saw another beast which rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and I spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed…” (Rev 13:11-12). But we must always remember that even though the word “beast” is used in this passage, “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2Cor 11:14)!

“When God wants to chastise humanity, He does not give to the Church the Pope of which it needs, but leaves to the Church the Pope that it merits” (Archbishop Fulton Sheen).

Normally those who have authority are supposed to do their job and take care of us. After years of great rebellion against God’s lawful authority, the Magisterium of the Church, God has given us what we want. It is interesting that even thieves rely on authority because if just about everyone becomes thieves, and then everything collapses, there will no longer be money and property to steal from those who have worked to produce these good. Now the Truth which was handed on to us by the sweat and sufferings of our ancestors has been thrown out and we no longer even have a Pope who is ready to give his life for the sheep, in fact, he is the Wolf dressed “like a lamb” (Rev 13:11)! Now the Truth which truly will make us free (Jn 8:32; Jer 6:16) has to be rediscovered, not in the sense that the Truth is not already proclaimed at least in writing, but we must go back and find and read those truths expressed in the ages of the Body of Christ, the Church. Now this job will not be done by those who have the greater vocation at the top, but by those with the lesser vocation who have superiors who have abandoned the Truth which truly sets us free (Jn 8:32). The controllers of the mass media have taken away the public voice of the few good bishops who have not abandoned the immutable Truth! We must be very docile in the hands of the Queen of heaven and earth who will prepare the world for the second coming of her divine Son and crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15) (“True Devotion To Mary”; http://www.montfort.org/content/uploads/pdf/PDF_EN_26_1.pdf). We have been led into trusting much more our feelings and sentiments instead of the objective Truth explained to us by the Church for 2000 years. As said earlier, the main strategy of Satan is to sow confusion and to hide the Truth, Who is Christ. Even Hitler burned books and killed professors who might help people discover the insidious lies of the Third Reich. Now the strategy is to fill the mass media, including the Internet, with misleading beautiful lies.

SIN HAS ATTACKED THE “HIERARCHY OF VALUES”. Man wants to be God. Man’s body revolts against his soul, and the soul capitulates and rejects the primacy of the spirit. Thus bodily feelings dominate the mind, and both dominate the spirit. Morality become topsy-turvy, confused and relativistic. The natural law of God is rejected. Unnatural relationships become fashionable and claim the same rights as natural relationships. Divine revelation and law are rejected; our civilization declines and falls.

(“Who Decides The Truth?”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/06/who-decides-truth.html).

We can no longer trust the supposed Pope, but it will be very difficult to seek Truth, not in our feelings and sentiments in which we are habituated, but in the constant teachings of the Church summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults.

A doctor of the Church, Saint Hildegard, warned us over 800 years ago of the false pope! (“The FALSE POPE - Saint Hildegard”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/02/resignation-of-pope-benedict.html).

"In this period of history, Freemasonry, assisted by the ecclesiastical Freemasonry, will succeed in its great aim: to construct an idol to be put in the place of Christ and of his Church. A false christ and a false church. Consequently, the statue built in honor of the first beast, to be adored by all the inhabitants of the earth and which will sign with its mark all those who will want to buy or sell, is that of the Antichrist ... (Rev ch. 13). Almost all will follow the false christ and the false church . Then it will be opened the door to the appearance of man or of the person of the Antichrist!" (June 17, 1989).

“First of all, it is necessary that my Enemy has the impression of having conquered everything, of having everything now in his hands. This is why he will be permitted to penetrate even into the interior of my Church, and he will succeed in plunging the sanctuary of God into darkness. He will reap the greatest number of victims from among the ministers of the sanctuary. THIS WILL IN FACT BE A TIME OF GREAT FALLS ON THE PART OF MY BELOVED SONS, MY PRIESTS. (October 18, 1975).

On the other hand, the few priests and bishops who remain faithful to the Truth, Who is God, will be the principle instruments in the hands of Our Lady as revealed to Don Stefano Gobbi:

“In fact at the very moment when Satan will be enthroned as lord of the world and will think himself now the sure victor, I myself will snatch the prey from his hands. In a trice he will find himself empty-handed, and in the end the victory will be exclusively my Son’s and mine. This will be THE TRIUMPH OF MY IMMACULATE HEART IN THE WORLD. If all the priests of my Movement only knew with what care they have been chosen and molded by me to prepare them for this great task! Every detail of their life – even the most insignificant – has a precise and profound meaning. Therefore let each one become accustomed to read with me in the stupendous book of their own existence. I will give them the gift of wisdom of heart, and they will understand with me the reason for all that concerns them: the reason for much of their lack of understanding, the reason for their sufferings, the reason for those times when they were abandoned, and even the reason for their falls. Oh, how many moments of darkness and of agony they must have had to experience in their lives, these beloved sons of mine! … I HAVE NEED OF YOU AND OF YOUR PRAYER TO REALIZE THE GREAT PLAN OF THE TRIUMPH OF MY IMMACULATE HEART” (December 19, 1973).

“Behold: when everything will have come tumbling down, all that will remain will be the strength of their tears that will compel me to intervene in an amazing and terrible way. AND MY TRIUMPH WILL BEGIN WITH THESE BELOVED SONS, MY PRIESTS “ (February 23, 1974).

(“Letter to fellow Priests”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/12/letter-to-fellow-priests.html)

I do not think it was by chance that God revealed these prophecies in detail about the false pope to Saint “FRANCIS” of Assisi. Saint Francis of Assisi offered us a Christian ecology, a true environmentalism, not a false ecology, not a false environmentalism (Laudato Si). Saint Francis offered us a Christian ecumenism in loving all while respecting the beliefs and free will of each person and of each religious group, but Saint Francis, as all the true saints maintained his own belief in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ; not everyone has received the grace to realize that the Catholic Church is the One true Church. The saints had true love, with the proper priorities - first God, Who is the Truth, and then neighbor. The saints did not offer this false love and false mercy and false ecumenism, which results in reductionism to the lowest common denominator, forfeiting our most precious means of sanctification and the fullness of truth, as Catholics.

“The Truth will make you free” (Jn 8:32), but it must be the Truth of God, not the false “truth” offered to us by the very numerous puppets of Satan. The Catechism of the Catholic Church for adults, published in 1992, was a great gift to the Church, for those who are willing to take the risk to seek the uncomfortable truth and to change their lives accordingly. There is always hope as long as we are alive on this earth, if we are willing to return like the prodigal’s son and say: “Father I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Lk 15:21). And then with diligent prayer to persevere in seeking and doing God’s holy will, not ours or that of the world or of the devil.

Truly what Saint Paul and the prophet Daniel prophesied many years ago are for us today:

"God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2Thess 2:11-12).

“I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the issue of these things?” He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but those who are wise shall understand” (Dan 12:8-10).

Dear friends, it is not secret that we are living in extraordinary and very difficult times. The first beast of the Book of Revelations will be a political leader as the head of the New World Order. The second beast will be a religious leader as the head of the One World Religion, to eventually lead people to adore the first beast (Rev ch. 13).

What was the real reason and goal and perpetrators of September 11, 2001? What were the real effects or fruits of 9-11? After 9-11 why are USA military police doing joint drills with Russian and Chinese military police? From where did Isis, all of a sudden, spring up in Europe with so much money, technology and weapons (http://bibliotecaneval2.altervista.org/califfato-e-anticristo/; http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/mondo/petrolio-trovati-i-documenti-che-provano-legami-turchia-isis-1239631.html)?!? On April 14, 2016, I went to Collevalenza (Italy), Sanctuary of Merciful Love (Madre Speranza); for the first time ever, all the exterior doors and gates were locked and closed and there was a military policeman in front of the sanctuary with a machine gun! Is this extra security in the USA and in Europe, with a buildup of troops all over, for the security of the citizens or to prepare for the New World Order? I said to this young Italian soldier at Collevalenza that Hitler was easily able to brainwash the youth to do what Hitler wanted; now the techniques of controlling the world situation, instigating terrorism, brainwashing the masses and manipulating the youth and the peoples is even more advanced to arrive to the New World Order, which will be far worse than the dictatorship of Hitler at a global level with all the technology of today to render the enter world one big prison camp!

What is the real cause and motive of the immigration into Europe and into USA, “of Biblical proportions”?

A recent document in Italian (August 24, 2015) lists the future objectives of the Freemasonry in Italy. I am sure these objectives are very similar for other countries around the world:

“Increase havoc with revolutions, false flag terrorism and wars (their motto: Ordo ab Chao!) (a Latin expression meaning Order out of Chaos; a motto of the Thirty-third Degree Freemason).

Pass the law “Ius Soli” (easier to obtain Italian citizenship) and allow immigrants to vote (increase uncontrolled immigration: Kalergi plan).

Closure of CIE (Internment Centers for Foreigners) and total opening of the borders.

End of the concept of national citizenship and transition to the concept of apolidism (statelessness, stateless people).”

(“The Future Objectives of the Freemasonry”; http://god-politics.blogspot.it/2016/03/future-objectives-freemasonry.html).

Why are Obama and “Pope Francis” promoting “UNCONTROLLED immigration”? Does Obama really love his neighbor and thus is really concerned for the well-being of the immigrants. Why has all of a sudden immigration began on biblical proportions; who or what group has caused this and is financing the causes of this immigration on biblical proportions both into the USA and into Europe?!?

Why is there silence, even among politicians, about the harm that is being done to people due to the chemtrals that are being sprayed on us from jet planes all over the world? Are we already totally under the New World Order, but we have not been told yet?!? Are we so absorbed with the TV, and the Ipod, and the Ipad, and sex outside of marriage that we no longer care and we no longer have the moral strength to react? Where are the real men, inspired by their wives who pray, ready to sacrifice themselves for their families and for the society in which their families lives in?

Not only Our Lady of Good Success (Quito, Ecuador, on January 20, 1610) warned us that the Sacrament of Matrimony “will be attacked and deeply profaned” in our century, but also Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed to Cardinal Caffarra: “Final Confrontation between the Lord and Satan will be over Family and Marriage”.

(“The False Pope Will Fall Silent”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/09/the-false-pope-will-fall-silent.html).

In my article, “The False Pope Will Fall Silent” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/09/the-false-pope-will-fall-silent.html), I wrote:

“Fr. Gerald E. Murray was referring to what Cardinal Caffarra said in an interview (March 2014); one of the questions in this interview was the following question:

“The possibility of allowing the divorced and remarried to receive communion is spoken about. One of Cardinal Kasper’s suggestions was that they should undergo a period of penance that would bring them into a full readmission to Communion. Is this now an inevitable necessity, or is it the accommodation of Christian teaching to contemporary circumstances?”

“Those who make these suggestions have NOT, at least up until now, answered one simple question: what happens to the first valid and consummated marriage? If the Church admits them to the Eucharist, she must render a judgment on the legitimacy of the second marriage. It’s logical. But, as I said, what about the first marriage? The second marriage, if we can call it that, cannot be a true second marriage because bigamy is against the teaching of Christ. So the first marriage, is it dissolved? But all the popes have always taught that the Pope has no authority over this. The Pope does not have the power to dissolve a valid and consummated marriage. The proposed solution seems to imply that although the first marriage continues, the Church can somehow legitimate a second relationship. But in doing this, the proposal demolishes the foundations of the Church’s teaching on sexuality. At this point we have to ask: why, then, can we not approve of unmarried couples living together? Or why not homosexual unions? The question is simple: what about the first marriage? No one has yet answered that question. In 2000, John Paul II speaking to the Roman Rota said: “It is clear that the Roman Pontiff’s power does not extend to valid and consummated marriages and this is taught by the Magisterium of the Church as a doctrine to be definitively held even if it has not been solemnly declared through a definitive act.” It is a technical formula, “a doctrine to be definitively held”, and it means that on this point there is no further discussion to be had among theologians nor doubts among the faithful.”

(http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/cardinal-caffarra-expresses-serious-concerns-about-family-synod-debates).

“The sons of GOD saw that the daughters of MEN were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose… When the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them… The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually… So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the ground… But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord…” (Gen 6:1-8).

IN THE FINAL MESSAGE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, OCTOBER 13, 1973, ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE LAST APPARITION AND OF THE MIRACLE OF FATIMA, AT AKITA, JAPAN, SHE SAID TO SISTER AGNES SASAGAWA: “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the DELUGE, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms that will remain for you will be the Rosary and Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. WITH THE ROSARY, PRAY FOR THE POPE, THE BISHOPS, AND THE PRIESTS. The work of the devil will infiltrate even the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate Me will be scorned and opposed by their conferees…churches and altars sacked, the Church will be full of those who accept compromise and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of My sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.” (http://www.miraclerosarymission.org/akita.htm).

“Thus each day the number of my poor children who allow themselves to be seduced by unbridled egoism, envy and impurity grows greater and greater. The easiest victims, and those who are less guilty, are the young people whose unhappy lot it is to be living at this time when the world has become worse than at the time of the flood” (August 13, 1982).

“In this world, which has become worse than at the time of the flood, you are truly running the danger of being lost, along the wicked roads of sin and infidelity, in this life, and the threat of perdition for all eternity, in the next” (October 13, 1982).

“At the time of Noah, immediately before the flood, those whom the Lord had destined to survive his terrible chastisement entered into the Ark. In these your times, I am inviting al. my beloved children to enter into the Ark of the New Covenant which I have built in my IMMACULATE HEART for you, that they may be assisted by me to carry the bloody burden of the great trial, which precedes the coming of the day of the Lord. Do not look anywhere else. There is happening today what happened in the days of the flood, and no one is giving a thought to what is awaiting them. Everyone is much occupied in thinking only of themselves, of their own earthly interests, of pleasures and of satisfying in every sort of way, their own disordinate passions” (July 30, 1986).

“It is a chastisement much great than that of the flood. Fire will fall from heaven, and a great part of humanity will be destroyed” (September 6, 1986).

“I have wanted you here, to tell you that you must now all enter right away into the safe refuge of my Immaculate Heart. Just as Noah, in the name of the Lord, called into the ark those who were to be saved from the flood, so now must you, my littlest child, in the name of your heavenly Mother, call into the REFUGE of my IMMACULATE HEART those who must be protected, defended and saved from the great trial which has now come for the Church and for all humanity” (March 15, 1993).

“During these years, you will see the great chastisement, with which the justice of God will purify this world, which has become a thousand times worse than at the time of the flood and so very possessed by evil spirits” (December 8, 1993).

Why are there so many very strange whether situations all over the world, especially after the election of “Pope Francis”, that the scientists are unable to explain (“Signs Of Change The Past Week Or So April 2013 Part 3 – YouTube”; Signs Of Change The Past Week Or So May 2013 Part 1 – YouTube”; Signs Of Change The Past Week Or So June 2013 Part 2 – YouTube”; “Signs Of Change July 2013 Part 1 – YouTube”; etc.)??? I do not think it was by chance that a lightning bolt struck the dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica on the day of the resignation of Pope Benedict!!!

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us (CCC 675): “Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers (Cf. Lk 18:8; Mt 24:12). The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth (Cf. Lk 21:12; Jn 15:19-20) will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.” (Cf. 2Thess 2:4-12; 1Thess 5:2-3; 2Jn 7; 1Jn 2:18,22).

Before the second coming of Jesus Christ “that day will not come, unless THE REBELLION (APOSTASY) COMES FIRST, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2Thess 2:3-4).

Prayers and grace are never wasted. If many do not want to persevere in this “dour combat” (CCC 409), those graces offered to them will go to others who are willing to persevere and to suffer even more with Christ crucified in his Body, the Church, in these times. St. Louis de Montfort in his classic book, “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin”, wrote:

“I said that this will happen especially towards the end of the world, and indeed soon, because Almighty God and his holy Mother are to raise up great saints who will surpass in holiness most other saints as much as the cedars of Lebanon tower above little shrubs” (No. 47).

The beast “opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, Blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them… If any one is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if any one slays with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints” (Rev 13:6-7,10).

“Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come?" I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev 7:13-14; 22:14)!

In the final message of the Blessed Virgin, October 13, 1973, on the anniversary of the last apparition and of the miracle of Fatima, at Akita, Japan, she said to Sister Agnes Sasagawa: “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before...” (http://www.miraclerosarymission.org/akita.htm).

As our beloved Pope John Paul II said many times to us: “Do not be afraid”! But we must take refuge in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, THE NEW ARK OF GOD, just as Noah took refuge in the Ark in the great deluge!

Just as Christ was crucified and buried 2000 years ago, so too His Body, the Church, will be crucified and buried in this period of the “great tribulation” (Mt 24:21). Only after this, when it seems that the Church is totally dead and buried, when Satan and his very numerous followers seem to have total victory, then the “Woman clothed with the sun” (Rev 12:1) will crush the head of the “great red dragon” (Rev 12:3), the ancient serpent (Gen 3:15), and the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph (Fatima, 1917) and there will be the Resurrection of Jesus with His Body, the purified Church!

The last part of the homily of Pope Benedict XVI; Esplanade of the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima; before 500,000 people: 13 May 2010:

“We would be mistaken to think that Fatima’s prophetic mission is complete. … may the seven years which separate us from the centenary of the apparitions hasten the fulfilment of the prophecy of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.”

(http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20100513_fatima_en.html; http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/fatimas-prophetic-mission-not-complete-pope-declares-on-solemnity/).

The centenary of the anniversary of the great miracle of the sun, October 13, 1917 at Fatima, Portugal, will be October 13, 2017!

Let us make a good confession and changer our lives, with much prayer and sacrifices and good will, while the door of Mercy is still open.

Jesus to Saint Faustina: “BEFORE I COME AS A JUST JUDGE, I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice” (Diary, 1146).

Jesus said to Saint Faustina (of the Divine Mercy): “YOU WILL PREPARE THE WORLD FOR MY FINAL COMING” (Diary of Saint Faustina, 429).

(“The FALSE POPE - Saint Hildegard “; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/02/resignation-of-pope-benedict.html)

(In many cases, I translated only the titles of the articles in Italian into English)

“Synod, the decision of Pope Francis: communion possible for the divorced and remarried”.

(“Sinodo, la decisione di Papa Francesco: comunione possibile per i divorziati risposati”; http://www.repubblica.it/vaticano/2016/04/08/news/sinodo_la_decisione_del_papa_comunione_possibile_per_i_divorziati_risposati-137156951/?ref=HREA-1).

LA REPUBBLICA: “Bergoglio invites all to evaluate case by case and asks for “self-criticism” for the rigidity of the past. He underlines that it is no longer a mortal sin to live in “irregular” situations.”

La Repubblica: “Bergoglio invita a valutare caso per caso e chiede "autocritica" per le rigidità del passato. Sottolinea che non è più peccato mortale vivere situazioni "irregolari".”

MY COMMENTS: Thus is Christ a rigorist as “Pope Francis” wants to accuse all the priests who help to identify and cure the mortal sickness of the soul called mortal sin according to God???

“Pius XII: those who accuse the Church and her moral teaching of rigidity, ACCUSE IN REALITY JESUS CHRIST!”

Radio Message of His Holiness Pius XII on the Occasion of the “Day of the Family”, March 23, 1952.

(In Italian: “Pio XII: chi accusa la Chiesa e la sua morale di durezza e rigidità, accusa in realtà Gesù Cristo”; Radiomessaggio Di Sua Santità Pio XII in Occasione della «Giornata della Famiglia», Domenica, 23 marzo 1952; http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/it/speeches/1952/documents/hf_p-xii_spe_19520323_la-culla.html; http://www.iltimone.org/34537,News.html).

LA REPUBBLICA: “The door of admittance to the sacraments for those who live in “irregular” familiar situations, including the divorced and remarried, is opened.”

La Repubblica: “La porta d'accesso ai sacramenti per chi vive situazioni familiari "irregolari", compresi i divorziati risposati, si è aperta.”

MY COMMENTS: “What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Mt 19:6; Mk 10:9). Even Jesus’ disciples at the beginning of their walk with Jesus talked like many leaders of the “dying local churches in Europe” today. “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry” (Mt 19:10). A true pope would say to Kasper, in whose country (Germany), where there is very little participation in the life of the Catholic Church, perhaps in a more polite way (as did Pope John Paul II: “Familiaris Consortio”; as did Cardinal Ratzinger: see “Who Decides the Truth” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/06/who-decides-truth.html): “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men” (Mt 16:23)!

“La Morente Chiesa Belga E' Stata il Laboratorio Europeo del Bergoglismo. Allo Stesso Modo di Danneels (Suo Grande Amico) Bergoglio Sta Portando La Chiesa Intera al Fallimento Come Quella Belga”

(http://www.lanuovabq.it/it/articoli-il-mondo-di-dio-nel-mondo-degli-uomini-16015.htm)

LA REPUBBLICA: “He underlines citing in his support Saint Thomas Aquinas, “the more we descend to matters of detail, the more frequently we encounter defects” (Amoris Laetitia, no. 304).

La Repubblica: “Sottolinea citando a suo sostegno san Tommaso d'Aquino, "quanto più si scende nelle cose particolari, tanto più si trova indeterminazione".” (Amoris Laetitia, no. 304)

MY COMMENTS: This phrase of St. Thomas is taken out of context; in no way was St. Thomas writing this phrase to indicate that we do not have to go into detail to seek the will of God according to the very words of Jesus Christ explained by the teachings of His Church!

An article that explains this in greater detail, in Italian: “To give value to adultery citing wrongly Saint Thomas” (“Valorizzare l'adulterio citando (male) san Tommaso”; http://www.lanuovabq.it/it/articoli-valorizzare-ladulterio-citando-male-san-tommaso-15828.htm).

LA REPUBBLICA: “But one is dealing with a conclusion which makes happy above all those who are pushing for an opening”; that is a change in the teachings of the Church!

La Repubblica: “Si tratta però di una conclusione che fa felici soprattutto coloro che spingevano per un'apertura.”

MY COMMENTS: Hurrah for all those who cry out: “At last we are free from this tyrannical God Who does not exist!

I remember reading a comment of a homosexual atheist who did not understand why other homosexuals are concerned what the Catholic Church teaches. This homosexual atheist is right, if one could care less what God wants, which this atheist does not even believe exists. “One is dealing with a conclusion which makes happy above all those who are pushing for an opening”; if one could care less about God’s will, why is there such a concern about what the Catholic Church teaches about God’s will? What is the underlying strategy of “the father of lies” and what is the principle goal and target in all of this confusion?!?

LA REPUBBLICA: “He cites paragraph no. 86 (of the final draft of the most recent synod), although much contested, in which the judgment is to referred to the priests in the “internal forum”, that is in the confessional.”

La Repubblica: “Cita il paragrafo 86 (della relazione finale del sinodo più recente), pure molto contestato, nel quale si rimanda il giudizio ai sacerdoti nel "foro interno", cioè nel confessionale.”

MY COMMENTS: But this ignores outright the very words of Christ: “What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Mt 19:6). How can a priest in the confessional establish if the first marriage was valid or not according to God, according to the presence or lack of the necessary requirements of a valid marriage, joined together by God, at the moment of the first marriage?!?

We are not dealing here with the sincerity or the repentance of a person, but to live the words of Christ! A priest or a bishop or a pope cannot “put asunder” “what God has joined”! It is not a mortal sin to suffer with Christ after being abandoned or treated very badly by a former spouse. Christ was abandoned and treated worse than any of us; His suffering was far greater because He loved far greater and thus the betrayal of His love was far more painful!!! The saints who corresponded with the grace of God, and thus became truly in love with Christ, and not with themselves, discovered: “SUFFERING IS THE GREATEST TREASURE ON EARTH” (Diary of St. Faustina, no. 342).

“Would that mortal men might know how wonderful is divine grace, how beautiful , how precious; what riches are hidden therein, what treasures, what joys, what delights. If they but knew, surely they would direct their energy with all care and diligence to procuring sufferings and afflictions for themselves. Instead of good fortune all men everywhere would seek out troubles, illness and suffering that they might obtain the inestimable treasure of grace. This is the final profit to be gained from patient endurance. No one would complain about the cross or about hardships coming seemingly by chance upon him, if he realized in what balance they are weighed before being distributed to men” (St. Rose of Lima; August 23; Breviary).

LA REPUBBLICA: “The consequences or effects of a rule need not necessarily always be the same” (Amoris Laetitia, no. 300) and “this is also the case with regard to sacramental discipline”. It is underscored in fact that “it is no longer possible to say that all those in any “irregular” situation are living in a state of mortal sin”, because “the Church possesses a solid body of reflection concerning mitigating factors and situations.” (Amoris Laetitia, no. 301). Thus there is no impediment to the readmission to the sacraments.”

La Repubblica: "Le conseguenze o gli effetti di una norma non necessariamente devono essere sempre gli stessi" (Amoris Laetitia, no. 300) e questo "nemmeno per quanto riguarda la disciplina sacramentale". Si sottolinea addirittura che "non è più possibile dire che tutti coloro che si trovano in qualche situazione cosiddetta irregolare vivano in stato di peccato mortale", perché "la Chiesa possiede una solida riflessione circa i condizionamenti e le circostanze attenuanti” (Amoris Laetitia, no. 301). Nessun impedimento, quindi, alla riammissione ai sacramenti.”

MY COMMENTS: This is saying that we NO LONGER NEED to consider moral laws of God as objective laws (subjectivism!), and there is no need to try to conform our lives according to the laws of God. The Church has always taught: “Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors” (CCC 1735).

But the Catholic Church has also always taught (of which “Pope Francis” does NOT talk about even though there is more confusion and relativism in the world and Church than ever before!): “CONSCIENCE MUST BE INFORMED AND MORAL JUDGMENT ENLIGHTENED. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator. The education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative teachings” (CCC 1783).

These phrases from Amoris Laetitia is making the exeption the rule. This is taking particular situations and applying these particular situations to all cases and all situations. This is very similar to “no fault divorce” which makes it very easy to leave your spouse for any reason, so that we no longer have to suffer with Christ in our God-given vocations. This is again helping us to go down the slippery slope away from Calvary, with the cross o Christ, and toward the wide and the way: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Mt 7:13-14)!

THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH DOES EXIST! “Conscience can remain in ignorance or make erroneous judgments. Such ignorance and errors are not always free of guilt” (CCC 1801, 1713, 1714). “No one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man” (CCC 1860). (“The Hidden Broad Road to Perdition”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/05/road-perdition.html).

“Do not be deceived; GOD IS NOT MOCKED, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal 6:7-8)!

This is the fundamental deception of “the father of lies” today, that “ignorance is bliss”, and therefore I have no obligation to “inform my conscience” according to God, who gave us a Church to guide us for our true good! What would we think of a nurse who sees two medicines on the table but does not know which one to give to a particular patient, but says to herself, “I am a nice person, so I will not try to discover which medicine I should give to this patient”?!? She gives the wrong one and the patient dies!

LA REPUBBLICA: “Bergoglio underscores in fact that “the way of the Church is that of not condemning anyone”.”

La Repubblica: “Bergoglio sottolinea infatti che "la strada della Chiesa è quella di non condannare nessuno".”

MY COMMENTS: But the Church has always taught this; again “Pope Francis” does not make the distinction between the subjective and objective.

Just as the gay activists do not make this distinction and thus accuse true Christians of hating homosexuals, because true Christians hate the act of sin, but love the sinner.

“Pope Benedict explained to us the great IMPORTANCE OF DISTINGUISHING between the issues that are negotiable and the issues that are not negotiable” (“Letter to fellow Priests”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/12/letter-to-fellow-priests.html). Non negotiable sins are also called intrinsic evil since they are wrong in all circumstances (http://www.stjoseph-marysville.org/faqnonnegotiables.html).

A pope who says he does not understand the constant teaching of the Catholic Church!?!?!

For “Pope Francis”, and so many priests and bishops today, there are no more inherently sinful acts, intrinsic evils, contrary to the words of Christ explained by the Catholic Church for 2000 years!

This picking away at non-negotiables, which are intrinsically evil, is the stripping away, piece by piece, of the flesh of Christ Who is the Truth!

LA REPUBBLICA: “It is not a full opening to all couples living together, but the recognition that also in cohabitation, for example, “respect also can be shown for those signs of love which in some way reflect God’s own love” (Amoris Laetitia, no. 294), and that all these situations “require a constructive response” (Amoris Laetitia, no. 294) according to the spirit of the “Church hospital”, dear to the pontiff.”

La Repubblica: “Non è un'apertura piena alle unioni di fatto, ma il riconoscimento che anche nelle convivenze, ad esempio, "potranno essere valorizzati quei segni d'amore che riflettono l'amore di Dio" (Amoris Laetitia, no. 294), e che queste situazioni vanno "affrontate in maniera costruttiva" (Amoris Laetitia, no. 294), secondo lo spirito della "Chiesa ospedale" caro al pontefice.”

MY COMMENTS: As Fr. Larry Richards says often: “Yes, God meets you where you are, but God loves you too much to leave you where you are”! “Pope Francis” continues to call for mercy, but he never finishes the complete message of Christ for the good of each person: “Go and sin no more”! The message that the world at large is taking from the message of “Pope Francis” is that we can now remain in the “near occasion of sin” which is what we promise not to do in the “Act of Contrition”! Even the Atheist Communist Marxist Dictator Raúl Castro said: “If the Pope continues to speak like this,… I will return to the Catholic Church ...” (“Letter to fellow Priests”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/12/letter-to-fellow-priests.html). The world, like Raul Castro, interprets this nice “Church hospital” of taking everyone in, as if there is no longer any obligation to conform our lives to the Ten Commandments. In my opinion, this interpretation throughout the world, promoted by the mass media, is not by chance but well calculated and orchestrated!!! This means that there is no longer any need to offer the help to heal the sicknesses of the soul (eternal), but only of the body (temporal); this is misguided compassion which does great harm in making people feel all is OK while ignoring the state of their immortal souls, which is much more important than their physical bodies!

LA REPUBBLICA: “It is useless to pretend to impose rules with the force of authority” (Amoris Laetitia, no. 35)

La Repubblica: "Non serve pretendere di imporre norme con la forza dell'autorità" (Amoris Laetitia, no. 35)

MY COMMENTS: It is useless for God to impose Ten Commandments; according to this line of reason, God should have offered us the Ten Suggestions, and should have never given mankind any commandments with the force of divine authority! After all according to the very numerous relativists today, each human being, in his subjective reasoning, is infallible!!! This statement of “Pope Francis” is really saying that all people with authority, given by God, such as parents, priests and bishops, are imposing norms when they proclaim the saving laws of God. It is clear in Sacred Scriptures, explained by the teachings of the Church, that parents, priests and bishops must proclaim the saving laws of God, and will be judged accordingly if they have done this essential work or not. The pastors of souls must protect the sheep from the very intelligent and sly wolf who offers beautiful hidden lies and deceptions to destroy the sheep. Are the Ten Commandments for our good or for our evil? As John Paul II said: “God always invites, He never demands”. God does not force anyone to be with the Truth (Who is God) here on earth nor after death for all eternity. I could imagine such a statement from the mouth of a spoiled arrogant child, a product of the schools and mass media today, but from the mouth of a supposed Vicar of Christ?!?

LA REPUBBLICA: “And still more: “We have also proposed a far too abstract and almost artificial theological ideal of marriage, far removed from the concrete situations” and this, he writes, “has not helped to make marriage more desirable and attractive, but quite the opposite”.”

La Repubblica: “E ancora: "Abbiamo presentato un ideale teologico del matrimonio troppo astratto, quasi artificiosamente costruito, lontano dalla situazione concreta" e questo, scrive, "non ha fatto sì che il matrimonio sia più desiderabile e attraente ma tutto il contrario".”

MY COMMENTS: Are the words of Christ “too abstract” or too difficult? Since the invention of “the pill” and the great rebellion against the encyclical “Humanae Vitae”, it is true that the concrete situation has become very difficult. Is it the disobedience to God’s holy laws or is it God’s laws explained by the Church that have “not helped to make marriage more desirable and attractive”? “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Is 5:20). Is the solution to lower the bar, to change the Ten Commandments or to cry out to God in humility and repentance and ask God’s help as all the saints did in the past? Is the solution to just give up and throw out all true Christian ideals and God’s laws which today seem impossible, so as to follow the broad way to hell (Mt 7:13).

“ONE DAY, I SAW TWO ROADS. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end without realizing it. And at the end of the road there was a horrible precipice; that is, the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And their number was so great that it was impossible to count them. And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness, and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings.” (Diary of St. Faustina, no. 153)

“With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God” (Mt 19:26; Mk 10:23-27; Lk 18:27).

LA REPUBBLICA: “Even while reasserting the concept that led Francesco in a press conference to affirm that we are not dealing with having children “like rabbits”. Large families are a joy for the Church, writes the Pope, even thought this “does not mean to forget a healthy warning of Saint John Paul II”, according to which “responsible paternity is not an unlimited procreation or lack of awareness” but rather “the empowerment of couples to use their inviolable liberty wisely and responsibly, taking into account social and demographic realities, as well as their own situation and legitimate desires” (Letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations Organization on Population and Development (18 March 1994): Insegnamenti XVII/1 (1994), 750-751).

La Repubblica: “Pur ribadendo il concetto che portò Francesco in una conferenza stampa ad affermare che non si tratta di fare figli "come conigli": Anticoncezionali: Le famiglie numerose sono una gioia per la Chiesa", scrive il Papa, anche se questo "non implica dimenticare una sana avvertenza di san Giovanni Paolo II", secondo il quale "la paternità responsabile non è procreazione illimitata o mancanza di consapevolezza" ma piuttosto "la possibilità data alle coppie di utilizzare la loro inviolabile libertà saggiamente e responsabilmente realtà sociali e demografiche, così come la propria situazione e i legittimi desideri".

MY COMMENTS: There is no mention of forming ones conscience according to the guidance of the Church. Why was there not cited important parts of the Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, of Pope John Paul II, or from the CCC (no. 1783, 1801, 1713, 1714, 1860). Why was this Familiaris Consortio basically pushed aside at the two synods on the family?

“But it is one and the same Church that is both Teacher and Mother. And so the Church never ceases to exhort and encourage all to resolve whatever conjugal difficulties may arise without ever falsifying or compromising the truth: she is convinced that there can be no true contradiction between the divine law on transmitting life and that on fostering authentic married love. Accordingly, the concrete pedagogy of the Church must always remain linked with her doctrine and never be separated from it. With the same conviction as my predecessor, I therefore repeat: "To diminish in no way the saving teaching of Christ constitutes an eminent form of charity for souls." (Pope Paul VI, “Humanae Vitae”, 29).

WORLD OVER - 2016-04-14 – POPE FRANCIS’ APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION ON THE FAMILY WITH RAYMOND ARROYO

FR GERALD MURRAY and ROBERT ROYAL...the Papal Posse...join us to discuss Pope Francis' recently released Apostolic Exhortation, AMORIS LAETITIA (The Joy of Love)

(…) When a pope goes out of his way to express himself and seems to be contradicting or changing what has been the long standing practice and doctrine in the Church, the people pay attention.

Is this a restatement of doctrine; does it seek to change doctrine and does it do that?

The ordinary papal magisterium is carried out when the pope teaches through various ways. And one of which is through Apostolic Exhortations. So he restates catholic teaching on many different aspects. The goal is not to change catholic teaching; the papal magisterium is consistent over history. It’s supposed to bring forward the same teaching. The question here is has it properly applied to the pastoral practice of the Church that teaching? And that’s where I think the problems have arisen here.

We are in such a brittle, polarized period in the Church, as well as in the world, that people see things that makes them nervous about marriage and communion for the divorced and remarried, and they assume that the entire document is corrupt or unfaithful to the teaching. There are at least five that I identified, controversial issues that the pope speaks out very clearly about. He’s not always clear when he speaks out…

Chapter 8, the difficult part of this document, which has led some to say this is the age of individual conscience.

“I would make it clear that not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the Magisterium... Each country or region, moreover, can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs. For “cultures are in fact quite diverse and every general principle… needs to be enculturated, if it is to be respected and applied”.

Father Murray, what do you hear there and what do you think the reception is there among the German episcopate, for example?

Well I think that this is a dangerous statement precisely because we are talking about the universal law of the church regarding the administration of the sacraments. And to say that enculturation would mean that in Germany the sacramental discipline would be different than in the neighboring Poland, or a country in Africa, that’s very disturbing. The sacraments are not the possession of any culture, so therefore their regulation is entrusted to the guardians of the Church, that is the pope, and the bishops. Enculturation is a very popular theme, because we think that this makes people feel more at home with their religion. But I say just the opposite. When the religion is transmitted accurately from the center, then you feel most at ease.

I think that there is a true and a false way to enculturate. Obviously the church in the US needs to speak to Americans as Americans, the church in France needs to speak French people as French people, and the church in Africa needs to speak to its people in various ways. We have this absurd situation, particularly Germany and Poland that share a common border. And if the Germans were to go ahead in the direction they have been indicating that they would like to, and the poles are rock solid orthodox were to remain where the church has always remained, we have this absurd situation that you can get into your car and drive from Poland, and in Poland it is a sacrilege to receive communion, it’s a break with tradition, it’s a slap in the face of our Lord. You drive across into Germany and suddenly it’s this new outpouring of mercy and openness to dialogue.

Does this sort of invite a chaotic response, when you have language that is as imprecise as some of what is in this exhortation?

There is a lot of imprecision in the language, speaking as a canon lawyer and someone who has been studying this topic since I was in the seminary but in particular in the last year and a half, the reason why the Catholic Church does not give Holy Communion to people in invalid second marriages, is because the second marriage involves acts of adultery. It’s the public nature of the matter. Publically they swore vows before state officials, and they are living in a public way (adultery) which is offensive to the teaching or our Lord. There is no judgment that can be made on the conscience of the person . But what can be said to the person is that your acts violate the Lord’s teaching and the Church is not going to contribute to your further spiritual harm by letting you receive communion or scandalizing the faithful in thinking that receiving communion when you are in an invalid second marriage is not a problem. This is very serious, and this is where I am very very concerned.

“The divorced who have entered a new union, for example, can find themselves in a variety of situations, which should not be pigeonholed or fit into overly rigid classifications leaving no room for a suitable personal and pastoral discernment. One thing is a second union consolidated over time, with new children, proven fidelity, generous self giving, Christian commitment, a consciousness of its irregularity and of the great difficulty of going back without feeling in conscience that one would fall into new sins. The Church acknowledges situations “where, for serious reasons, such as the children’s upbringing, a man and woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate”.

It’s a license for everything. This is one of those places where the Pope is trying to raise our awareness properly that there a lot of difficult circumstances out there in the world. The question is not whether can they abandon another spouse and children, the question is, are they still committing what must be regarded as adulterous acts in a second marriage. They are not licitly married as we have always understood it ever since our Lord pronounced the words that divorcing a woman and causing her to marry another is to commit adultery. The word adultery does not appear here and it is a word that our Lord Himself used and that the bishops in the synod sought to find a way around. They talked about finding language that wasn’t offensive. So that’s why we see the language about discernment and accompaniment, and counseling of people. Because there’s a worry here the Pope has and others have, that it puts people off to use the words that the Church has always used for these situations.

You do not see “an occasion of sin”, or “living in sin” anywhere in the document. The pope is going out of his way to make these people in irregular situations to feel more regular.

People in a second invalid marriage who find themselves in this situation. No, they placed themselves in that situation, and they continue to live in the situation. Now the church has an understanding that there are reasons why the couple may not be able to separate for the good of the children, or to care for a sick person, a sick partner. But you have to stop the acts of adultery, to live as brother and sister… Now you can’t say that I cannot stop committing adultery because I’m going to cause another sin. No. You stop the adultery and then you do what you can to remedy the other situation, such as taking care of children from the second union. The language here kind of deprives people of moral responsibility for their actions. It more or less says, I’m compelled to do this, I fell into that, I find myself in this situation. The language of the Church is you are an acting free agent; you are responsible for your moral decisions. And decisions which have a public impact are regulated by canon law precisely because the good of others is at stake.

“At the same time, from our awareness of the weight of mitigating circumstances – psychological, historical and even biological – it follows that “without detracting from the evangelical ideal, there is a need to accompany with mercy and patience the eventual stages of personal growth as these progressively appear”, making room for “the Lord’s mercy, which spurs us on to do our best”. I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion. But I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a Church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness…”

I wish I could sit down with the pope and explain why I and so many people find that language very problematic. For me, Christian marriage is not an ideal, it’s a norm, it’s a reality, it’s a sacrament, it’s a way of life. In fact marriage is inscribed in humanity from the creation, God made them male and female. It’s not an ideal we strive for. In the ideal world I would be a great pianist and I would be a concert pianist. That’s an ideal; I’m not striving for that ideal. I hope others do. But to be able to play the piano the best you can, that’s the normal status for pianists. Marriage is the same thing. Once you get married, God has made it very possible for human beings to be faithful and to live that marriage fruitfully. Now to say that accompaniment means that we want to help people on the path to virtue, absolutely. I do want to do that. But I do not consider the teaching of the Church rigid or harsh or in anyway an offense against the dignity of people who are sinning. For me it’s the liberating truth. We have to shake consciences up. I mean in other fields the Pope does it very clearly, when it comes to immigration or poverty, he’s out there making very strong statements about moral responsibility of people acting for the benefit of the downtrodden. For people who are in invalid marriages, the best thing they can hear from the Lord and from the Church is stop the sinning, figure out how to live in a way that’s going to please the Lord and God will reward you for any sacrifices that you make in that process.

Someone said that the church is attempting to downplay the absolutes, to offer a welcoming embrace. That’s what this accompaniment is all about.

Well yes and no. There is a lot of language, a lot of the recurring terms in this document that are problematic. Because we talk about absolutes as if they are absolutely impossible, and they are just ideals. And the problems that we are dealing with just people in irregular or imperfect or less than ideal circumstances. This is not the language of the gospel, which talks about adultery, right and wrong, sin, virtue, and that sort of thing. The passage that was read before, in addition to what Father said, is that the thing that worries me is that there is always an EXCUSE for everything, that any circumstance that you find yourself in, you can explain why it is that you are there. And let’s realize this is not just about those very few hard cases where a woman was abandoned by a husband and she has no financial means and she remarries, she already has kids. But yet our Lord’s teaching is His teaching. What worries me even more is that if we are going to start making explanations and perhaps even excuses for circumstances, biological, psychological, or historical. Well you know people in a gay union, which the Holy Father has roundly rejected, what’s to say we can’t allow them to be readmitted to communion. There is no limit on the accompaniment that he’s talking about.

I received an email of a person in a gay relationship who said that the pope is condemning us because I donated my life giving matter to a woman, she was implanted, I have a child that’s really mine. We’re life giving. When you start to make so many excuses. Does the exception become a very difficult rule or no rule at all?

This is another area in the document which needs to be examined because the pope said that it can no longer be presumed that people who find themselves in irregular situations are in a state of mortal sin. I would say that’s problematic to say that. The presumption in the life of the Church is if you have been evangelized, you’ve heard the gospel and you believe in the gospel, WHEN YOU CONTRADICT THE GOSPEL, FREELY AND KNOWINGLY, THAT’S A STATE OF SIN. The idea that there are large numbers of Catholics who have no idea that committing adultery is a mortal sin, I think that that’s rare. You will find Catholics who try and justify all kinds of bad behavior because they have fallen in the sexual revolution and the idea that there are no rules and my happiness depends on what I decide to do. Moral theology is very precise, precisely because the words of the Lord have a meaning. And when the Lord says that you shouldn’t even lust for a woman in your heart, you have committed adultery. We have to say that the Lord was strict when it came when it came to trying to live virtues and pure lives. We shouldn’t just give excuse cards, well I know it’s hard for you therefore we are going to treat you as not guilty of sin, and we’re going to give you a break. Exceptions apply in all realms of life if we accept that logic.

There is a mention of habit as if the persistence in whatever the sin might be, somehow the longer you do it, the better it becomes. That’s almost what you can read into it.

That’s a point in moral theology, when you become habituated in sin, you loose your sense of the evil of the sin. Then you get into a false notion that somehow it’s justified or you have an exception. Those are the cases where you really have to stir up the conscience and say no, you are in direct contradiction with the words of the Lord and it has serious consequences including for the salvation for your soul. Maybe that will stir them up to say, yes, I’m in the excuse making business, I’m not in the gospel business.

Take another voice over in Rome. Two years ago, before the 2014 synod, the first of the two synods, Cardinal George Pell from Australia gave a lecture at the North American College, which is where our American seminarians are trained as priests, and he said that if it was up to me, I might have been a little bit more lenient than our Lord was about divorce and remarriage. But he says, he wasn’t, and I have to be with Him. I think that’s the difference. We understand that this holy father is a very charismatic man; he very much feels what other people need from him. He talks about if you are just following the rules you are not obeying the law of love, there is something wrong with that. And of course there is. The rules are there precisely to serve love. But there is a way that everybody’s virtues can also be vices, without going into too much detail about. There is a point at which the holy father runs the risk of by trying to be so comforting to people that he actually looses some of the holiness that people are called to.

There is that point that father Murray said earlier, the notion of characterizing people who want to cleave to that law and the firm teaching of the Church as rigorists, but other articulations of things like immigration or secondary issues, those things, talk about rigor, there’s real rigor there, there’s no room for even debate or question on some of these issues! So you see where people can be confused.

“It is reductive simply to consider whether or not an individual’s actions correspond to a general law or rule, because that is not enough to discern and ensure full fidelity to God in the concrete life of a human being… For this reason, a pastor cannot feel that it is enough simply to apply moral laws to those living in “irregular” situations, as if they were stones to throw at people’s lives. This would bespeak the closed heart of one used to hiding behind the Church’s teachings…”

Is that what you are doing Fr. Murray. Are you hiding behind the church’s teaching?

In one sense yes and in another sense no. I hide behind the teaching of the Lord because I want to be protected from evil influences of the devil and erroneous teachings. I want to know what the Church expects of me. In that sense you can say I find my nest or my home in the teachings of the church. On the other hand I’m not using the teaching of the church as an excuse to get back at people who are sinning. I’m offering them the greatest charity in the world which is the knowledge of what God wants them to do in life. I really have to say the holy father’s language is colorful and very blunt. But I do not know that it is really to the point, because when the Lord said to the woman caught in adultery, go and sin no more, was that presumptuous on his part to instruct her what to do? No, it’s not. He know everything. So we do not know everything. So yes, we sometimes we have to lead people along in a slow manner, and try and convince them of the value of the teaching. But in the end, the people have to adhere to the teaching not because they are convinced by my explanation, but because they believe that’s what God taught. It is not reductive to say a man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. That’s not a reductive statement. That’s a pure and simple statement of gospel truth, recorded in the Scriptures, spoken by our Lord. If you do not agree with that, you are in a problem case. So people who reject that teaching and live otherwise, need to be shaken up. That’s the way I look at it.

The last paragraph that I showed there was a footnote, I refer this to the smoking footnote, because this seem to run to the heart of the question of communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.

“In certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments. Hence, “I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium). I would also point out that the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak” (ibid.).”

This is very puzzling. Like that earlier quotation about using doctrines as stones to throw to people as if you are a Pharisee if you hold to doctrine. It must correspond in something in the holy father’s experience because he does this quite often. He’s very angry about rigidity and what he sees as people being cold hearted toward sinners, and we can understand that part. This footnote is very odd because this is the one place where sacraments are mentioned. And it’s only in a footnote. There’s kind of a hesitation, a kind of a timidity about presenting this. He doesn’t talk about communion. It may include sacraments. And then he goes on to what I regard as a very strange pair of quotations, and that is confession as a torture chamber. I read that and I said to myself, I wonder where in the world that’s the case? And teaching people that the Eucharist is only for the perfect, where in the world is that the case? If we were talking about mere politics, these are straw men. And when you set up straw men to knock down like that it because you don’t really want to have to try to make an argument that’s very hard.

Fr. Murray you are a canon lawyer. I’ve been speaking to a number of bishops. Some of them claim the Kasper faction, who is advancing the notion that the divorced and remarried Catholics should be entitled to communion, that they have been routed, and that all that they got was this clumsy footnote and it doesn’t add up much. Others canonists and bishops say no no, this is the smoking gun, they got what they wanted. What is your take on this as a canonist, as a pastor?

On the mere level of fact Card. Schonborn in his presentation of the document on Friday the 8th said that this does include sacraments for certain people. The fact that it is in a footnote is strange, in my opinion, but it doesn’t diminish the fact it does say it. The Church should accompany some people in an irregular unions with the sacraments; those sacraments include communion and confession. The two quotes that you quoted Raymond, they appear in an earlier footnote (323, S. 8), so they are repeated twice, which I found a little bit strange. But the point being, the pope would like people to have the opportunity, in particular cases, after talking to a priest, after reviewing the guidelines of the local bishop, to be able to receive communion. This is a direct contradiction of Pope John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio and subsequent documents; it contradicts the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is the Kasper proposal. I’m puzzled by those who say the Kasper proposal is turned down. That’s certainly not what Card. Schonborn said in his presentation. This is where the problem is going to really manifest itself in the days and weeks following the publication of this document. We have something here which is not in accord with what the Church has said up till now.

How does this play out on the local level, I mean you are a pastor, a couple comes to you, by your reading of this document, does this entitle them to communion after a conference with you in a confession without an annulment?

Not in my case because I do not believe that they should be receiving communion if they continue to commit ADULTERY. As a pastor I’ve dealt with many cases that we call brother and sister relationships, and that’s precisely where a couple in an invalid second marriage cease to live as husband and wife, live as brother and sister, raise the kids. That’s fine. Now what we call father friendly who is willing to sell the store, he’s going to take this paragraph and say, come on in, whatever you want, we’ve got it right here. For me this is false mercy. It’s false mercy. It’s making the reception of communion a badge of honor that you receive even though you know that what you are doing is not in accord with the teaching of the Church. I don’t think it’s pastorally sensitive to tell those people, your goal in life should be to receive communion while you’re still committing adultery. That’s a big mistake. Your goal in life should be to stop committing adultery, get right with the Lord, and then receive communion.

Robert, last year you will remember, I boldly and perhaps brazenly predicted that Pope Francis was going to change the practice, if not the doctrine of the church, vis a viv, communion for the divorced and remarried people, and that it would have the effect of changing the doctrine. Has that happened?

…. If you ask me, there probably are some cases where the people are not subjectively culpable of the situations that they find themselves in. But probably that means they can get an annulment, there are some mitigating circumstances.

In my judgment it hasn’t done a lot for people in married situations or for the church. But that said, it seems to me that there is an attempt to paper over what really is a change in doctrine. If receiving communion means that you are in perfect community with our Lord, in unity with our Lord, and yet you are living a life that directly contradicts one of the striking statements for the Jews of His times. He said forget Moses, I’m going to take you back the way it was intended to be initially. We’re not giving the hall pass any longer. So for Him to have made a particular point, and it’s in many points in the New Testament, where this divorced and remarried question comes up, if He made that point, and we seek to say even though that’s the case, there are circumstances where we’re going to claim that that doesn’t really apply. It seems to me that you are changing the doctrine but denying that your are changing the doctrine.

Fr. Murray, your thoughts on this. Has the doctrine been changed by changing the practice or creating a loop hole in this footnote for the practice?

No, the doctrine cannot be changed, because the doctrine is divine positive law. What Jesus said holds. The Church has not rejected that teaching and can’t. Now the pope is teaching here in this document that exceptions - there are circumstances when somebody who is living in an objectively immoral state of life should be treated as if they were living in an objectively moral state of life - because subjectively they’re not guilty. This is very complicated language. The other problem though of course is, what does this say to the community of the faithful. What does it say to the divorced spouse and children who watch their Dad going up with wife number two up the isle to receive communion? And what does it say to the young people in the Mass watching this happen, about the stability of marriage vows. These were concerns that were raised by John Paul II, by Pope Benedict when he was Card. Ratzinger as the head of the doctrine of the faith. The social effects of changing this practice are devastating. And Bob is right, there has not been a good effect where there has been this liberalized tendency in Germany. Mass attendance in Germany is pathetic. And I have to say it’s not because they are rigid. No, it’s because they are very loose with the Church’s teaching. It is very very disturbing. You cannot change Church teaching but you can monkey with practice and cause problems.

These are hard hard questions. We don’t want to treat the holy father as if he were a politician. These are not policies.

Some are going to say that even by questioning this you are attacking and undermining the popes authority. You would say what?

I would say I never have and never will speak about the Holy Father the way I would speak about a mere politician who happens to hold some policy. We are all Catholics; we are all committed to the faith, the tradition of the Church, and to ultimately our Lord himself and what He has revealed to us. But this is one of those cases where I think a great virtue of the holy father, his spontaneity, his charismatic nature, his feeling for other people. There’s a whole literature about how a virtue can turn into a vice. There seems to be a kind of an opening here to something he would like to be the case, as Cardinal Pell wanted it to be the case. But it’s simply, if you are a catholic, cannot be. The accompaniment I believe is fine; although we want to be sensitive about that. In other documents we’ve talked about, a lot of people who are divorced and remarried, to be lectors, to be god-parents at baptism. I don’t see how you can bring on somebody who, in an adulterous relationship, or an imperfect relationship if you want to put it that way, as a person who is going to guide a baby, if necessary, in their moral life and their spiritual life in the future. So father (Murray) is right, there are all sorts of, shall we say, indirect messages that gets said. I have a feeling, we’ve already been seeing this in the media, I have a feeling that the mere mention, that one little footnote, they sense that this is what he is trying…, that the ground is shifting, will already give, send out the message, because the media is ready to transmit this, that the Catholics are giving up on all that old stuff, and now you can do what everybody is already doing.

What do you expect the reaction to be among canonists, among bishops, and how do they register, what I’m hearing, the critiques that I’m hearing, and the concerns to the pope in a way that could reach him possibly reshape or readjust this document?

This is the effort that all of us are concerned about, want to see happen, which is to tell the pope that, flattery would be that we keep our mouths closed and say nothing. But gospel frankness, you remember that word he used at the synod, parasia, this gospel frankness. The Gospel frankness calls upon us to say, Holy Father, either you have been poorly advised or you have an incomplete conception of this issue. We know that we can share some information with you, that the 13 or so cardinals who wrote to the pope at the beginning of the last synod. That’s a perfect kind of example that I think is what’s going to happen. Also you know, canon 220, all the faithful have the right to express their opinions about matters of Church life. This is good that this be debated and brought forward in the press. Certainly, canon lawyers, theologians, Thomistic scholars. St. Thomas was used in chapter 8 to justify this new approach. I can’t believe that a good group of Thomists won’t be having a response to that. This is delicate. I do not want to criticize the pope. I think the pope’s a wonderful man. I think he’s a holy man in many ways. I hope to be a good holy man myself. I do not judge. But I will say that when you do something in public that contradicts what your predecessor did, there has to be an accounting for it in the responsibility in upholding the gospel. I think that many bishops, cardinals and priests will call for this.

“So people who reject that teaching and live otherwise, need to be shaken up. That’s the way I look at it.”

Mother Angelica used to say, in particular in this period of the world in which the great majority of people have slid and have been pushed into relativism: “If you aren’t a thorn in somebody’s side, you aren’t doing Christianity right”!

“Also you know, canon 220, all the faithful have the right to express their opinions about matters of church life.”

If “Pope Francis” is the false pope prophesied by Saint Francis of Assisi, Blessed Catherine Emmerich, Saint Hildegard (doctor of the Church), Bruno Cornacchiola and others regarding the false pope, then it is useless to express our opinions or dialogue with the “second beast”, disguised as a lamb, of the Book of Revelations! You might ask then what can we do? Let us take very seriously the urgent advise of the Queen of Heaven at Fatima and at many other places of her Marion apparitions: “Pray much and make many sacrifices!” Let us all put our lives in order, beginning with a good sincere confession, according to God’s laws, not according to man’s laws of relativism. Let us pass much time before our Infinite Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament and pray the Holy Rosary frequently.

We must maintain humility, without conveniently closing our eyes, which means that God has chosen Mary, the Mother of God, to crush the head of the ancient serpent (Gen 3:15) in this climatic period of the world and of the Church. We must humbly ask for guidance in prayer so as to do the part that Mary wants each of us to do. In this way we will collaborate in her plan, not in our plan.

Very Reverend Casey, C.P.M., Superior General of the Fathers of Mercy, during his “Mission For Truth” (episode 3: Confidence in God), said: “Want to make God laugh. Tell him your plans!”

In this period there are two cohorts being formed: that of the very numerous proud with Satan, and that of the few truly humble with Mary. Read: “True Devotion To Mary”; http://www.montfort.org/content/uploads/pdf/PDF_EN_26_1.pdf).

“Mass attendance in Germany is pathetic. And I have to say it’s not because they are rigid. No, it’s because they are very loose with the Church’s teaching. It is very very disturbing. You cannot change church teaching but you can monkey with practice and cause problems.”

In Familiaris Consortio, Pope John Paul years ago (1981) gave us clear and evangelical paragraphs on this theme (no. 84):

“However, the Church reaffirms her PRACTICE, which is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried. They are unable to be admitted thereto from the fact that their state and condition of life objectively contradict that union of love between Christ and the Church which is signified and effected by the Eucharist. Besides this, there is another special pastoral reason: if these people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding the Church's teaching about the indissolubility of marriage.

Reconciliation in the sacrament of Penance which would open the way to the Eucharist, can only be granted to those who, repenting of having broken the sign of the Covenant and of fidelity to Christ, are sincerely ready to undertake a way of life that is no longer in contradiction to the indissolubility of marriage. This means, in practice, that when, for serious reasons, such as for example the children's upbringing, a man and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate, they "take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples”.”

Regarding accompaniment, I wrote in, “An Open Letter To A Fellow Priest” (http://testimony-polo.blogspot.com/2009/11/open-letter-to-fellow-priest.html):

“It is true that we studied in pastoral theology the need to apply the “law of graduality”. But what I find is that the recent popes, in the world today, put us on our guard not so much about the lack of applying the “LAW OF GRADUALITY” but rather the danger of the “GRADUALITY OF THE LAW”, which must be refuted in as much as it reduces the value of the law to a mere ideal…”

“without detracting from the evangelical ideal, there is a need to accompany with mercy and patience the eventual stages of personal growth as these progressively appear”

As mentioned in this article above, Satan, with the help of secular feminism has done all he can to eliminate good fathers from the families and good pastors from parishes and dioceses, so as not to provide the example, for the future generations, of self-sacrifice for the good of the others, for the good of the families and the society. Thus it is much more difficult later in life to acquire this habit and to “take up your cross daily and follow me” (Mt 16:24; Lk 9:23).

Several times in my homilies, in typical parishes today where people are used to and happy with a Christianity without the cross, if I preach as some have told me to preach, that is a Christianity without the cross, will people then later want to change their direction of sliding down away from Calvary with Christ and begin “taking up their cross” in these so-called “eventual stages of personal growth as these progressively appear”? The saints of 2000 years have shown us that this is not the way to interpret or put into practice the words of Christ; it does not work! Our human nature was created by God, and Jesus offers the best advice and solution. Is “Pope Francis” saying here, that the solution for spoiled arrogant children, to continue to slide in the same direction? Satan also knows very well what is best and what is the worst for human nature!

In my article, “The Hidden Broad Road to Perdition” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/05/road-perdition.html), I wrote:

“By now today, the society has arrived so low that a great number of people believe that the only solution is to offer and welcome more and more compromises, and to put aside those things in which we are not all in agreement, such as the Eucharist, Mary, the documents of the Magisterium of the Church, summarized in the CCC for adults. Instead of climbing up Mount Tabor, Subiaco, Laverna in order to establish contact and union with God as did Moses, Saint Benedict and Saint Francis, one goes down into compromises of false ecumenism, with false mercy, with misguided compassion, with false love. In order to be coherent with the lowering of the bar, we will have to take away the words of the Act of Contrition: “I promise with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin”!?! We will have to change the words of the Our Father: “MY will be done”! When two young people marry each other and pronounce their promises in public, they do not want to hear and it is not acceptable to say or offer these promises with compromises: “I take you as my spouse, as long as things work out for me…”.

One does NOT say in the Act of Contrition: “I will try with the help of Thy grace to sin no more, when it is possible, and to try to avoid, if it is ok with me, the near occasions of sin”! This is the Act of Contrition composed by Satan, his hidden strategy, to slowly lead us not towards total trust in God but towards his nice easy lies and his empty promises, and in the end to his dwelling place for all eternity! Certainly it is more difficult to live the Act of Contrition when the great majority of Catholics have embrace the Act of Contrition of Satan, but God gives more grace in this period more difficult in the history of the world to those who truly pray with true humility.”

Is not this phrase from the Amoris Laetitia, no. 308, basically the “ACT OF CONTRITION OF SATAN”? When Peter, the first Pope, wanted to put aside the cross and settle with more reasonable and comfortable compromises, what did Christ say to Peter? What would Christ say to “Pope Francis” today? “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men” (Mt 16:23)!

The spiritual writers and saints tell us that spiritual muscles are similar to physical muscles. Just as for physical muscles, it takes time and effort to develop spiritual muscles. To condone bad habits as a solution to eventually turn around the slide downward and to begin to build up spiritual muscles, is an appealing lie to the very numerous Christians who have formed the habit of taking the easy way all their lives while convincing themselves that they are OK according to God, a god who is always in agreement with these people, that is themselves! This is like telling an athlete to not work out and then he will play better in the big game on Sunday! Certainly there is a time for rest, but rest so as to continue to go forward after rest toward the goal, not to condone and approve the habitual state of vice.

As biologists explain about muscles, exercise tears down muscles so that the body rebuilds the muscles even stronger; this is the chemistry and results of exercise. The same in the spiritual life. Each time we succeed, with much prayer, to say no to our vices, we become stronger and stronger. This is the opposite of what is being said in Amoris Laetitia.

How can “eventual stages of personal growth” “progressively appear” if not helped to appear by saying and living what we say in the Act of Contrition: “I promise with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin”?!? Self discipline is not automatic, but requires a personal choice to “take up our cross daily”, not the encouragement to lay down the cross and continue to live in the state of sin!?! All the spiritual writers and saints tell us this, as does our Teacher, Jesus Christ.

I wrote in my article, “Have we truly arrived to a SCHISM?” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2016/03/catholic-schism.html):

“Precisely at a turning point in the conversion of Saint Augustine (Confessions, VIII, 12), when he was inspired to open the Bible at random, he read: “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Rom 13:14). How many fathers of families (priests and bishops) today, formed by the culture of relativism today instead of by a good Christian father, and not inspired by a good wife who overcame secular feminism, do not live this verse of Saint Paul and thus do not help their children to make the same conversion as did Saint Augustine and all of the saints? Saint Francis of Assisi called his body “brother ass”, indicating how he lived Romans 13:14. This widespread lack of good wholesome fathers is at the root of the feminized “Church of the Nice” that we have today as well as the increase of homosexuality and the slide into false ecumenism which will lead to the One World Church as a preparation for the advent of the Antichrist.”

Amoris Laetitia (no. 308) is making “provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” as a solution to “personal growth”!?! There are many people today who will be more than happy to accept this appealing easy lie!

When I gave out some copies of the Testimony of Gloria Polo at a few Sunday Masses at a parish where the pastor asked me to substitute for him, this pastor later asked me not to offer to the people any more printed copies of this booklet.

“I think that this testimony is a gift from God precisely for our times so extraordinary. I believe that this testimony will help many people of good will, who are not afraid to confront themselves with the truth, so as to convert themselves to the Truth and begin to live a new and fulfilling life with Jesus Christ. For us Catholics it will help us to make a good examination of conscience and then a good sacramental confession.”

“Documents Regarding Ecclesiastical Approval of the Testimony Of Gloria Polo” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/03/gloria-polo-documents.html)

This testimony is a gift from God which can help people understand the devastation of the beautiful lies that you can go to heaven without the cross and without changing your life according to God’s laws. Moreover, today Satan has convinced a great number of people that hell does not exist or that there is nothing after death, and thus we do not have to worry about the consequences of our actions. “Today, I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell… But I noticed one thing: that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell” (Diary of St. Faustina, no. 741).

I later responded to this priest who forbid me to offer the Testimony of Gloria Polo. Visit: “An Open Letter To A Fellow Priest” (http://testimony-polo.blogspot.com/2009/11/open-letter-to-fellow-priest.html).

If a person is drowning in water, do you help him to pull himself out of the water or learn to swim, or do you dump more water on him? This is what “Pope Francis” and so many other priests and bishops are offering to people drowning in their habits of vice and egoism and “near occasions of sin”!!! People today need help to get out of their very destructive life style, and the great majority of the fathers and pastors today approve and encourage the same life style that has led them to the very difficult situation in which they find themselves.

Saint Thomas tells us that for the sin of sex, one must cut it off immediately; he tells us that in dealing with sexual temptations, one cannot think or dwell on these temptations to overcome them but flee from them immediately, different from other temptation. This is the experience and advice of all the saints, exactly contrary to the words of “Pope Francis”. One cannot remain in the “occasion of sin” and believe the beautiful lie that things will get better! Before God, it does not hold up the excuse that the religious leaders told us that it is OK to have sex outside of marriage. Both are culpable, the one who gives scandal and the one who follows the scandal! (CCC 2284; Mk 9:42-49; Ez 34:3: Office of Readings, Sermon of St. Augustine on the Shepherds, OT 24, Thursday; Office of Readings, Saint Ignatius of Antioch, OT 2, Monday).

The founder of Women for Faith and Family and the editor of the Adoremus Bulletin died Oct. 20 at the age of 75.

“Why the Liturgical Reform? or, What if we just say no to any liturgical change?", by Helen Hull Hitchcock (http://www.adoremus.org/0911LiturgicalReform.html).

“What Vatican II Really Said about Renewal”, Book Review by Helen Hull Hitchcock (http://www.adoremus.org/0510VaticanIIRenewal.html).

“They Have Taken Away My Lord, And I Know Not Where They Have Laid Him”, by Helen Hull Hitchcock (https://www.ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/TABERNAC.HTM).

“Feminist language was always a particular concern for Hitchcock. In 1992, she edited a book entitled Politics of Prayer: Feminist Language and the Worship of God, published by Ignatius Press and consisting of essays by prominent scholars, including Jewish scholars, on feminist attempts to alter language they deemed “sexist” in the liturgy and religious texts. She explained in 1995 why she was so adamantly opposed to the feminization of religious language.

“As Catholics, who have been formed, inspired and sustained by the sacraments of the Church through participation in the liturgy, the Church’s central action and principal means of transmission of the Catholic faith, we are strongly aware of the power of symbol in human consciousness,” she wrote. “We, therefore, deplore attempts to distort and transform language and liturgy, both of which make such potent symbolic impressions on the human mind, to confirm to a particular contemporary ideological agenda at odds with Catholic belief and practice”.”

This week, the EWTN family pays tribute to Helen Hull Hitchcock, a true daughter of God and defender of Catholic faith and family. She was a pioneer in the renewal of the sacred liturgy and reclaiming women’s authentic role in the Church

Helen Hull Hitchcock explains that we must go back to the documents of the Second Vatican Council and read them correctly. Renewal means re-establishing the connection with or to learn to cherish something in a more deep and intense way. The same with active participation, with the actual words given to us but the authentic documents of the Council, which means that people should be participating not only mentally, but spiritually, not necessarily being active in the sense that many Catholics after the Council decided to do according to their own interpretation of the Church documents.

Before the council the ordinary people did not really have much connection with the sacramental action that was going on. Even years before the Second Vatican Council, Pius X wanted to re-establish the people’s engagement and spiritual involvement with the liturgy. He’s the one who invented the term actual participation. This is what the council was trying to do after another 60 years, was to bring that into focus and to have Catholics more engaged in their faith, to love it more and to want to give it more.

Many people took those words and made them say what they wanted them to say, which is part of the problem. A renewal is going back to understand what the council fathers intended, guided by the spirit, what is consistent with the Church teaching.

“The Second Vatican Council asked that some texts be revised. Disobeying this command, they set about re-writing them completely with no thought for the danger of making things worse instead of better. So many rites came off badly from this mania to throw out the old and start from scratch, as if the Church to date had always conned us and as if only now the time had at last come of the great geniuses, the super theologians, the super-biblists and the super-liturgists who know what the right thing is for the Church. This is a lie: the last Council simply asked that the texts be revised, not destroyed.” (http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=2879; http://www.vaticans.org/index.php?/archives/61-An-interview-with-the-Vaticans-chief-excorcist,-Father-Gabriele.html).

I wrote in an article, “The Infinite God Among Us” (“Il Dio Infinito Fra Noi”; http://cibo-spir.blogspot.it/2014/01/il-dio-infinito-fra-noi.html), regarding in part the lack of humility among many members of the Neocatecumenal Way:

“When one reads the diary of Saint Faustina, one sees that while she progressed in union with Jesus, she was more and more conscious of her misery, and at the same time more trustful in the mercy of God with much gratitude toward God for this inestimable gift of His mercy! Instead so often, the more we go forward in an ecclesial movement or in or priestly ministry, we believe to be less in misery and more worthy to stand before God and before men…” Saint Faustina, as all of the saints, trusted and looked more and more toward God and less and less toward herself for guidance and help.

“Mother Angelica on Blasphemy, the Second Vatican Council, and WYD 1993” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCvX94US7SY&feature=youtu.be).

A former Episcopalian who became a Catholic in 1984, Hitchcock jumped into the fray when the Catholic bishops in the United States were preparing a pastoral letter on the role of women in the Church and feminists were coming forward to air shrill critiques of the Church.

(http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/helen-hull-hitchcock-1939-2014/#ixzz46Mv3d9YG)

Women for Faith and Family didn’t share the harsh feminist critique of the Church. Women for Faith and Family drew up an eight-point “Affirmation for Catholic Women” that stressed fidelity to the Church and ultimately was signed by Mother Teresa — along with 50,000 other Catholic women.

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know is a 2007 parenting book by Meg Meeker, MD, which provides guidance to fathers on raising their daughters (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_Fathers,_Strong_Daughters).

http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Heresies_Heretics/Heresies_Heretics_012.htm

The Vatican’s recent assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), which represents 80% of Catholic religious women in the United States, found actions that were in non-conformance with Church teachings. In fact, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said LCWR is undermining Roman Catholic teachings on homosexuality and birth control and promoting "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic Faith."

Donna Steichen’s reflections on feminism and the Church on the 20th anniversary of "Ungodly Rage."

Written by a Catholic journalist who has investigated feminism on its own ground, this remarkable book fully exposes the hidden face of Catholic feminism for the first time, revealing its theoretical and psychological roots in loss of faith. A definitive account of a movement impelled by vengeful rage to revolt against all spiritual authority.

Those of you who wonder why the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the American Bishops initiated a reform of the leadership of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), should take a little trip down memory lane.

Vast sectors of women religious in the USA have for decades been infested with a radical feminism so poisonous that many of them, especially in leadership, have even come to defend the killing of babies.

When I studied theology at the Angelicum at Rome (1986-1989), I remember one time that one of our professors said in a general way that the mother of a family (the heart of the family) offers unconditional love to the children while the father (the head of the family) offers conditional love to the children; both are needed and God offers us both. We see how Satan has attacked the women with pornography, rendering her an object of pleasure, rather than a daughter of the King of kings. But Satan has equally attacked the man, especially with secular feminism, seeking to eliminate the father from the family. Because it is especially the father who has the grace of his God-given vocation, if accompanied by much prayer, to be able to better perceive the hidden and alluring attractions and lies of Satan put before us in the mass media as if they were the truth. The father must help discern between true and false love, true and false mercy, true from misguided compassion, true from false unconditional love, true from false conditional love and the proper and prudent combination thereof. This is the winning card that Satan has prepared by eliminating the father from the family, to confuse this proper balance.

Instinctly, wives who pray recognize the vocation of the father of the family and realize that she, the wife, and the children need the head of the family to protect the family and the society. Secular feminism has convince the great majority of women that they do not need men and they are to be used and manipulated instead of inspiring their husbands to fulfil their God-given vocation; secular feminists do not even recognize the vocation of the man and thus do not appreciate this vocation. The irony, rather the strategy of “the father of lies”, is that secular feminists end up being used as sex objects for men. Thus Satan has succeeded in eliminating the masculine voice which is to protect the family and the society and the Church from the beautiful lies of the wolf, disguised as a lamb, as the wolf draws countless souls into his fold with his hidden poison of his attractive deceptions. Satan has also convinced the youth to not trust lawful authority so that the youth are led by the prince of the world, Satan (Jn 12:31; 14:30). Satan offers half-truths, which end up being false and very destructive.

Fr. Larry Richards said on “Living Right” with Dr. Ray (“Women And The Church”): “You only worry about the roles of women if you worry about power. If you worry about servant hood then the roles are all about different ways to serve.”

In an exclusive interview with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on the World Over Live (EWTN, 2003; “Conversations The World Over - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger Pt. 1”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TO6mzCPWbg), Raymond Arroyo asked Cardinal Ratzinger what did Pope John Paul II mean by “a new springtime in the Church”. Cardinal Ratzinger replied:

“This does not mean that there will be great masses of conversions; this is not the way of God. Essential things in history begin always with small but convinced communities. The Church began with the 12 apostles. And even the churches of Saint Paul diffused in the Mediterranean with little communities, but these communities had in themselves the future of the world, because they had the truth; and the force of true conviction. I think also today it would be an error to think that now in 10 years in a new springtime all people will be catholic. This is not our future or our expectation. But we will have really convinced communities. This is the springtime, a new life in very convinced persons with the joy of the faith. But from these small numbers we will have a radiation of joy, an attraction.”

Jean-Baptiste Chautard in his classic book, “Soul of the Apostolate”, also explains how the parishes are renewed by small convinced groups with the truth and on fire for the Lord.

By neglecting prayer, there is a great tendency today, pushed by Satan and the Freemasonry, TO SEEK SOLUTIONS AMONG MEN AND IN THE COMMUNITY RATHER THAN FROM GOD. Often in the history of the Church, while the great majority was sliding into mediocrity with compromises accompanied by blindness, drifting away from God, God gave rise to saints who detached themselves from the herd of the masses in order to find union with God. Moses went to Mount Tabor; Saint Anthony Abate went into the desert; Saint Benedict went to Subiaco; Saint Francis of Assisi went to Laverna!

Instead today, not doing as did the saints such as Saint Anthony Abate, Saint Benedict and Saint Francis of Assisi, one seeks first to go to the peripheries, without putting first God in the heart, capable of living the First Commandment: “You shall worship the Lord you God and Him only shall you serve” (Ex 20:2-5; Deut 5:6-9; CCC 2084). By now the world is so far from God that many religious leaders believe that the only way to evangelize is to compromise the 10 Commandments, to put aside the fullness of the means of sanctification, the sacraments above all the Eucharist, and the fullness of the Truth with the guidance of the Magisterium of the Church (Lumen Gentium 8) in order to evangelize the non Catholics or re-evangelize the fallen away Catholics. This is exactly what the three founders of the Neocatecumenal Way wrote to Pope Benedict in January 2006 (“The Neocatecumenal Mass”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/02/the-neocatecumenal-mass.html). This is false ecumenism, which leads us to the reduction to the lowest common denominator of all the religions, to forfeit our spiritual defenses and weapons against the forces of evil. In the name of (false) love, in the name of (false) mercy, in the name of (false) ecumenism, the Catholics are lead to be deprived of their greatest treasures of grace and truth, which are precisely the most powerful means of salvation for us, for the others and, in effect, for the whole world! In this way one goes ever more toward mediocrity seeking to receive and to please everyone, with compromises after compromises, to the point of loosing all the true values of Jesus Christ.

As the Church is being crucified, and seems to be dying, being attacked on all side by the very numerous cohorts of Satan, there is A VERY GREAT TEMPTATION to seek members for the Church while abandoning the uncomfortable truth, which is Christ crucified, so that more people will join the crumbling church. How many pastors or youth ministers offer what the people or youth want, but after having attracted the people and the youth, do not later lead the people toward adoration of God in the Eucharist and toward Calvary, to take up their cross with Christ? It is good to meet the people where they are, which in general today is usually very far from the real Truth of God. God meets us where we are but God loves us too much to leave us where we are! Five years ago when I talked to a new seminarian in my diocese about the centrality of the cross as a priest, called to be a victim with Christ, he said to me that if they would have told him that before, he would not want to be in the seminary even today! “But the people would not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem” (Lk 9:53).

"I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." (Lk 12:49-53).

“A week after Benedict XVI's shock announcement, an important statement he once made comes to light

A restructured Church with far fewer members that is forced to let go of many places of worship it worked so hard to build over the centuries. A minority Catholic Church with little influence over political decisions, that is socially irrelevant, left humiliated and forced to “start over.”

But a Church that will find itself again and be reborn a “simpler and more spiritual” entity thanks to this “enormous confusion.” This was the prophesy made 40 years ago on the future of Christianity by a young Bavarian theologian, Joseph Ratzinger. Digging it out again today perhaps provides us with another key to understanding Benedict XVI's decision to resign, because it traces his gesture back through the course of his interpretation of history…”

http://www.lastampa.it/2013/02/18/vaticaninsider/eng/the-vatican/ratzingers-forgotten-prophesy-on-the-future-of-the-church-h7DcrYFxNmAleoeDLkekzN/pagina.html

More than 15 years ago I welcomed the invitation of the Servant of God, ARCHBISHOP FULTON SHEEN, for priests and bishops, to make everyday a holy hour in church before the infinite God in the tabernacle. In the past few years I had encouraged other priests in my diocese to do the same, but they all said: “I do not have time”. I replied to them that if I did not make a holy hour everyday, I would end up giving to others a poor priest named Father Joe instead of Jesus Christ. The very numerous puppets of Satan in the Church push priests toward activism and away from “the source and summit of the Christian life”, the Eucharist (Vat. II: LG 11; CCC 1324). We forget so easily the words we hear every year at the beginning of Lent as the priest puts ashes on our heads: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

“These are the times, foretold by me, when cardinals will be set against cardinals, bishops against bishops and priests against priests, and the flock of Christ will be torn to pieces by rapacious wolves, who have found their way in under the clothing of defenseless and meek lambs. Among them there are even some who occupy posts of great responsibility, and by means of them, Satan has succeeded in entering and in operating at the very summit of the Church. Bishops and priests of the holy Church of God, how great today is your responsibility! The Lord is about to demand of you an account of how you have administered his vineyard. Repent; seek pardon; make amends; and, above all, be once again faithful to the task which has been entrusted to you” (September 6, 1986).

“At the present time, the tenebrous forces of evil are laying snares for her on all sides. The dark conspiracies woven by Masonry, by means of its many followers who have insinuated themselves at the summit of the Church, have succeeded in paralyzing her activity and in extinguishing her apostolic ardor” (August 15, 1988).

Fr. Larry Richards said on “Living Right” (theme: “Unconditional Love”) with Ewtn (broadcasted: Dec. 29, 2015):

“Don’t judge lest you be judged. People say God loves me as I am, He loves me unconditionally. This is true as we see in John 3:16. But God loves us for our good, for our best. If I love somebody, I will still say no to them. If there is a bridge up ahead, the Church is the one who holds out the sign “Bridge out ahead”. But you’re going to tell me I’m wrong. The problem is this, you might sit there and say the bridge isn’t out ahead. And I say no I’ve already been there; the bridge is out ahead. So for me to love you, I tell you the truth. I do not judge you in the truth. Jesus, God, the Church, never takes away your free will; you are always 100% free to make your own decisions. But you’re also 100% free to make the wrong decisions.

When you tell them that the Church’s teaching is that this is wrong, so many people cannot wrap their head around the fact that the Church is not judging them.

Because some people have judged without loving people. We can’t speak truth unless it is spoken in love. St. Paul says: “Speak the TRUTH in love” (Eph 4:15). So sometimes people do not realize or hear us that we are talking about love, we love you and that’s why we are telling these truths. They think that we are just judging them. When it comes down to being loved by God, Jesus said to the adulterer: “Has no one condemned you? … Neither do I condemn you” (Jn 8:10-11). This is where so many people stop today. But it is so important that we always know the fullness of Scripture. Because after Jesus said “neither do I condemn you”, He says “go and sin no more”. Does that mean He judged her? But it wasn’t His judgment that converted her, it was His love and acceptance that converted her. Also in John’s Gospel you read: “If you love me keep my commandments” (Jn 14:15,23). That’s the only way we can prove that we love God is to obey Him. You see that’s part of it. When we are only looking at ourselves and we are dealing with the world, people say, how can I please the world instead of how can I please God! But the world doesn’t love us as we are; that’s a lie from the devil that the people in the world will love you as you are. No, as soon as you do something to make them mad or you do something that is selfish or whatever, they will turn on you in a second.

In a way, everybody judges: the world judges, secularism judges, humanism judges, you judge, I judge, everybody judges. The question is: what are you judging, what is your objective moral intent, reality. For example God says if you do this, it is wrong… It all goes back to Gen 3:4-5: “You will become like gods, you will know what’s right and wrong”. That means you get to decide.

For example I know that the Church teaches that artificial birth control is wrong. But I don’t think it is. Oh, so I should bow down and kiss your feet because you are almighty God. You made a rule and you said I do not think this is wrong. So you took the place of God, and you said, I am the arbitrator of what is moral. So everybody decides who is going to be the arbitrators of right and wrong. You see someone’s got to be. So when we talk about the Church, when we talk about God, everything that God does, everything, is done out of love, even judgment is done out of love. Because when God judges us, even forever, He gives us what we want, and if it is not Him, He will never force Himself on us. As John Paul II said: “God always invites, He never demands”. So when it comes to us in relationship, God invites us to follow Him. Whether something is right or wrong, it doesn’t matter if you agree with it or not. It’s right whether you agree, or it’s wrong whether you agree. But He still invites you to accept that in your own life. Think about it, God loves us so much that we can go to hell forever because He loves us. He gives us the choice. But he warns us. The greatest thing about this is that God does everything in His power as God to save us, when His Son died on the cross. The only one who messes that up is us.

Love and judging, they’re not antagonistic, they’re two sides of the same coin.”

http://biblefalseprophet.com/2016/04/12/amoris-laetitia-a-study-on-the-results-of-ambiguity/

Number of Catholic writers expressing concern about Pope’s exhortation rapidly growing

https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/number-of-catholic-writers-expressing-concern-about-popes-exhortation-rapid

List of Criticisms that are “not the knee-jerk reactions of hard-line fundamentalist anti-papal agitators”

http://biblefalseprophet.com/2016/04/12/list-of-criticisms-that-are-not-the-knee-jerk-reactions-of-hard-line-fundamentalist-anti-papal-agitators/

Priest: Pope Francis’ pastoral revolution goes against 2,000 years of tradition

https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/priest-pope-francis-pastoral-revolution-goes-against-2000-years-of-traditio

“Public ‘resistance’ to Peter from cardinals, bishops, theologians and other faithful, is now urgently needed”

http://biblefalseprophet.com/2016/04/14/public-resistance-to-peter-from-cardinals-bishops-theologians-and-other-faithful-is-now-urgently-needed/

http://biblefalseprophet.com/2016/04/17/francis-on-holy-communion-for-adulterers-i-can-say-yes-period/

EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo panel explains reasons for alarm over Pope Francis Exhortation

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/ewtn-raymond-arroyo-panel-explains-reasons-for-alarm-over-pope-francis-exho

Vatican-approved magazine: Exhortation opens door to Holy Communion for remarried divorcees

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vatican-approved-newspaper-exhortation-allows-holy-communion-for-remarried

Bergoglio effect on vocations: collapse everywhere, but especially in south America (and especially in Argentina). Please note: in the Church there are those who have many vocations, but they have a Catholic spirituality, opposite to bergoglism and thus they are emarginated under this pope.

Effetto Bergoglio sulle vocazioni: crollano dappertutto, ma in modo particolare in Sudamerica (e specie in argentina). Nota bene: nella Chiesa c'e' chi ha tante vocazioni, ma ha una spiritualità cattolica, opposta al bergoglismo e quindi e' emarginato sotto questo papa.

When Atanasio found himself alone in "an Arian world." And he won with the strength of faith and truth

Quando Atanasio si ritrovò solo in «un mondo ariano». E vinse con la forza della fede e della verità

“Even if Catholics faithful to tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true church of Jesus Christ. - St. Athanasius, doctor of the Church

"Anche se i cattolici fedeli alla tradizione sono ridotti a un piccolo resto, sono loro la vera Chiesa di Gesù Cristo" S. Atanasio (dottore e padre della Chiesa)

Official English translation of Bishop Schneider’s reflection on Amoris Laetitia

Voice of the Family, with the kind permission of His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider, is delighted to share with our readers his approved translation of his reflection on Pope Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/official-english-translation-of-bishop-schneiders-reflection-on-amoris-laet

Official English translation of Bishop Schneider’s reflection on Amoris Laetitia

http://voiceofthefamily.com/official-english-translation-of-bishop-schneiders-reflection-on-amoris-laetitia/

Bishop Schneider decries confusion in Pope Francis’ exhortation Amoris Laetitia

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/bishop-schneider-decries-confusion-in-pope-francis-exhortation-amoris-laeti

With Papally-Mandated "Catholic Divorce" destroying a Sacrament, Schism Looms Large on the Catholic Horizon. After 2000 years, Divorce is Enforced in the Church -- and a Schism Looms Larger than Ever. (Antonio Socci; September 12, 2015)

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2015/09/socci-with-papally-mandated-catholic.html

https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/priest-on-papal-exhortation-we-must-hold-fast-to-the-tradition

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-pope-catholics-divorce-met-20160408-story.html

Cardinal Sarah and Archbishop Gomez trace the crisis of the family back to a loss in the sense of God's Presence and Truth

http://aleteia.org/2015/10/13/synod-fathers-from-hollywood-to-homosexuality-fantasy-games-to-fundamentalism/

Cardinal Sarah urges Synod to reject liberal agenda pushed by organizers in blistering speech, interview

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cardinal-sarah-urges-bishops-to-reject-liberal-agenda-of-synod-organizers-i

Cardinal Sarah’s warning of “demonic” “apocalyptic beasts” of “the idolatry of Western freedom” verified in Argentina

https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/todays-stories-reveal-the-decisions-we-will-all-have-to-make-for-good-or-ev

WORSE THAN IN THE TIME OF THE ARIAN HERESY (because then Liberius Pope retracted his steps)

PEGGIO CHE AL TEMPO DELL'ERESIA ARIANA (perché in quel caso papa Liberio tornò sui suoi passi)

The Dying Belgian Church Was The Laboratory Of The European Bergoglismo. In The Same Way Of Danneels (His Great Friend) Bergoglio Is Leading The Whole Church Into Failure As The Church in Belgium.

La Morente Chiesa Belga E' Stata Il Laboratorio Europeo Del Bergoglismo. Allo Stesso Modo Di Danneels (Suo Grande Amico) Bergoglio Sta Portando La Chiesa Intera Al Fallimento Come Quella Belga.

http://www.lanuovabq.it/it/articoli-il-mondo-di-dio-nel-mondo-degli-uomini-16015.htm

Cardinal Kasper and the progressive wing of the Church of Germany have got what they wanted. On communion for divorced and remarried Francis is on their side. He had decided long ago and so he did it.

Il cardinale Kasper e l'ala progressista della Chiesa di Germania hanno ottenuto ciò che volevano. Sulla comunione ai divorziati risposati Francesco è dalla loro parte. L'aveva deciso da tempo e così ha fatto

"Newsweek" recently had a photo of Pope Francis on their front-cover with the headline: “Is the Pope Catholic?”. Subtitle: “Of course he is. You just wouldn’t know it from his press clips.”

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2015/09/socci-with-papally-mandated-catholic.html

http://www.civiltacristiana.com/cio-che-accadde-a-santatanasio-un-insegnamento-per-i-nostri-tempi/

Amoris Laetitia’s approach to same-sex unions already rejected by synod fathers

http://voiceofthefamily.com/amoris-laetitias-approach-to-same-sex-unions-already-rejected-by-synod-fathers/

Belgian archbishop: ‘Time has come’ for Pope Francis to defend Church’s Tradition

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/belgian-archbishop-time-has-come-for-pope-francis-to-defend-churchs-traditi

“The People, Mystical Category.” The Political Vision of the South American Pope

An essay by Professor Zanatta has come out in Argentina and Italy, on the “populism” of Francis. The thread that ties together his visit to Lesbos and his affinity for the anti-capitalist and anti-globalization “popular movements”

Well, Cardinal Kasper certainly seems pleased with the exhortation. It’s almost as though Christmas came early for him:

http://magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2016/05/03/fratello-papa-i-retroscena-delludienza-di-francesco-a-morales/

Mortal sin is replaced with social sin and the door to Communion for the divorced and remarried is opened: the real sin is ignoring the poor. By Antonio Socci. April 9, 2016.

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2016/04/socci-apostolic-exhortation-is-turning.html

Dunque divorziati e separati che si sono sposati di nuovo possono essere riammesse ai sacramenti. È una delle novità della “Amoris laetitia”, l’”esortazione apostolica” che Papa Francesco ha scritto a conclusione dei due sinodi sulla famiglia. Se ne è parlato molto, come era logico aspettarsi. E se ne è parlato anche in commenti a caldo tra amici. Più di un prete ha commentato: “Si fa già, si faceva già da molto tempo”. Ma, aggiunge un amico che ha il senso dell’umorismo: “Era artigianato locale”, benigna concessione di preti larghi di maniche. Adesso si fa alla luce del sole: il Papa stesso esorta ad andare in quella direzione.

http://www.santalessandro.org/2016/04/i-sacramenti-ai-divorziati-risposati-adesso-alla-luce-del-sole/#comment-1464

ROME, May 9, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) -- Over 100 pro-life and pro-family leaders from all over the world leapt to their feet in applause at a meeting in Rome on Saturday after hearing a call for Pope Francis to withdraw his controversial exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/voice-of-the-family-calls-on-pope-francis-to-withdraw-amoris-laetitia

JosephJames to Mom MD
“This article was posted in the category of Catholic. Try your best to straighten out all the poor Catholics in the world. Don’t worry about me, I will remain a Catholic all my life! Pray for us Catholics. Like Jesus said, for the hard cases, it takes not only prayer but also fasting. Make a good fast for me! Thanks!”

I would like to admit that the other day I realize now that I was a little facetious. I was in a hurry when I responded to you. Because like they say, one draws more flies with honey than a barrel of vinegar. On the other hand, to be open with you, perhaps what I took from your comments on the article that I posted, was what I encounter more and more today in all the churches, to set out to put someone straight without the willingness to listen or dialogue. This greatly irritates me especially in my Church, the Catholic Church, especially from priests or bishops, who want to impose without an example to follow, and even worse, to do so without making any reference to the beliefs, the doctrines, of the Catholic Church! I think you can understand this. If a Lutheran, imposes on another Lutheran in the same church, according to his “enlightened intelligence”, without making any reference to the set of beliefs or doctrines of the Lutheran church, this is really gross. None of us are God, but how easy it is to decide according to our own heads right and wrong as did our first parents (Gen 3:4-5)! Subjectivism, relativism, hurray for human pride, which drives people away!
As was written in the article posted:
“When I am tempted to criticize a priest who treats me badly because I am concerned about the great danger to souls in this period of time, among other examples, I like to recall the attitude of the Good Thief on the cross who, while recognizing his own sins, said to the other thief: “We indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but his man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power” (Lk 23:40-42). When Saint Francis of Assisi saw a public sinner in Assisi, he said: “There goes Francis if it were not for the grace of God”! The Truth does not belong to those on the left of the spectrum nor on the right of the spectrum; the Truth does not belong to any human being; the Truth is Jesus (Jn 14:6). Every good thought or inspiration come from God (2Cor 3:5; Phil 2:13). We should defend the Truth, but with the proper attitude of who we are and Who God is!”
In the United States there are at least 30,000 independent protestant groups with the same Bible, profession in the same Jesus Christ, but with a great number of contradictory interpretations of many passages in the Bible. Jesus, as God, knew this would happen, and thus Jesus offered the solution and the guidance who have the humility to seek it and accept it. Christ did not found His Church with 12 perfect angels from heaven, but 12 sinners, called the apostles.
As is written in the article posted:
“BEFORE 1930 ALL MAINLINE PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS WERE IN ACCORD WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH that the use of artificial birth control was a grave evil and a serious sin. When the Anglican Church changed its stance in 1930 (Lambeth Conference) the other protestants churches quickly followed suit while Pope Pius XI reaffirmed the Church’s constant teaching on this grave evil in his encyclical Casti Cannubii (1930). When the Anglican Church first approved the use of contraception in 1930 it was only for serious reasons and only for married people who have been generous for life. However, by providing an opening for contraception, the qualifying phrase “for serious reason” was quickly ignored. Subsequently the use of contraception was viewed as virtuous behavior, and even the silent holocaust of abortion has become a private ethical choice of birth control. The unborn, unwanted babies no longer have any legal protection; they are now ripped to pieces after they are brutally murdered. BABIES DO NOT CHOOSE TO DIE! Is this not a good example of the slippery slope? The former Hippocratic oath for health care workers read: “I will administer no abortafacient to a pregnant woman.” The original Hippocratic oath acknowledged that abortion was a form of doing violence not only to the child but to the woman as well.”
But as I wrote to another blogger on FreeRepublic, 400 years ago those who did not like the Catholic Church protested and left. But now the protesters, who want a Christianity without the cross, have decided to throw out those who believe that the Ten Commandments come from God and therefore no Church, or no person, can change what comes from God. This is like spoiled arrogant children, who rebel against their parents, but do not leave the house that their parents bought, but throw out the parents. But since these children do not want to work, no one pays the bills and in the end we see what is happening to our country with these type of rebellious children now in power in the government – an incredible national debt. When Pope Paul VI issued his prophetic encyclical, “HUMANAE VITAE” (1968), reaffirming what Christians knew for centuries about separating the unitive act of love between a husband and a wife from the responsibility of giving life as God gave to each of us (“Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:28)), there was an incredible negative reaction not only on the part of the laity in the Catholic Church who wanted to enjoy the pleasures of sexual relationships without any responsibility or openness to life by using artificial birth control, but even on the part of a great number of priests and bishops, even entire Episcopal conferences (e.g., the ‘Winnipeg Statement’ of the Canadian Bishops)!
When each of us die, it is not God Who sends us to heaven or hell, it is each of us who choose heaven or hell. If a person persevered during this short life to take the risk of seeking the uncomfortable truth outside of his head, which leads to Christ (Jn 14:6) instead of inventing the truth according to his own head, to trust God instead of himself, he will want to continue seeking this truth after death and will want to be with God Who is the Truth (Jn 14:6). But if a person willing deceived himself, taking the easier way, with the help of the beautiful lies and temptations of “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44), when he dies, just as during this short life, he will not want to be with the Truth outside of his own head, and will choose the only other place that exists for eternity where there is not God. Each one of us has received different amounts of grace and truth from God (the parable of the talents – Mt 25:14-30); how we correspond to these gifts from God will determine our eternal destiny.
Heaven and hell are the exact opposites. When a new person arrives to heaven everyone rejoices. When a new person arrives to hell, everyone has more hate and pain.
Let us pray for each other to seek the truth, in a world more filled with confusion and lies than ever before, to seek the hidden pearl (Mt 13:44-46), even if it means to follow Christ all the way to Calvary and loose everything, even our good name before men, as Christ did on the cross, considered a great criminal worthy of crucifixion.

It's a principle of Scriptural interpretation-- observed by all exegetes, not just by Catholics, though if this is not the case, please tell me --- that the understanding of an obscure or symbolic passage has to start with the literal meaning. You start with the literal meaning, then work from there to other senses of the text: the allegorical, the moral, the anagogical, etc.

Another important principle, shared by all of us, I think, is that you use Scripture to interpret Scripture. Though presented in the words of many human authors, Scripture is essentially one work with one Divine Author. So you can go from cover to cover, from Genesis 1 to the last words of Revelation, to find the full dimensions, the depths and heights, the ramifications and implications of the particular passage you are studying.

We're agreed on this, I think?

OK, as for Revelation 12: It's not just "the Catholic Church" that says this is a Great Sign: the passage itself says its a Great Sign. The passage itself says this is the Mother of the Messiah (because he Son, the one who "rules the nations with an iron rod" is identified as the Messiah in Psalms 2; the one "snatched up to God and to His throne" is likewise Jesus, and is an image of His ascension.) All his fortifies the identification of the woman of the Great Sign with Mary, since as we know from the Gospels, she is the mother of Jesus.

A third image is that this Woman of the Sign, and the Dragon, are enemies. This sends us back to Genesis 3, where we read that God said to the Serpent, Satan, that the woman's seed would crush his head. It is Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, who ultimately cruses Satan and is the victor over sin and death. Once again we have the woman identified as Mary, since she is the mother of the Incarnate Word: Christ is her offsprng, the seed of the woman.

Interestingly, the passage refers to "the seed of the woman," but not to the "seed of the man." This is the earliest trace of the prophecy of the virgin birth.

This is the symbolic and moral interpretation of the images in Revelation 12. There's yet more levels of meaning: there's the sense in which this Great Sign, this woman, this virgin mother of the Messiah, is also Daughter Zion, which is to say the people of Israel; and Lady Ecclesia, which is to say the Church.

I think you'll agree that Biblical symbolic language is often multivalent: it can have different layers of meaning that become apparent only at different historic epochs. The Bible makes tremendous use of polysemy, the coexistence of many valid meanings --- usually related, overlapping meanings --- for a word or phrase.

You "guess" that Jesus just spent 40 days repeating Himself. A Biblical perspective on these many unrecorded teachings of Jesus --- better than a guess! ---is that there was so much, that great deal of it was to be handed on through the "hearers and doers of the Word" who were preaching, teaching, acting, practicing the Word, "doing" the Word, but not necessarily writing it.

First, St. John tells us "there's more, folks: there's a *whole lot* more" ---

John 2:25 "There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written."
2 John 1:12 "Although I have much to write to you, I do not intend to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and to speak face to face so that our joy may be complete."
3 John 1:13-14 "I have much to write to you, but I do not wish to write with pen and ink. Instead, I hope to see you soon, when we can talk face to face."

So he told people three times, in writing, that all these teachings wouldn't be in writing!

St. Paul evidently spent years learning directly from the Lord; and although he wrote a great deal, you could read out loud everything he wrote in a couple of hours, not in a couple of years. This is why St. Paul, like St. John, says "there's more, folks, there's a whole lot more."

Making a distinction between Sacred Tradition and mere human tradition, St. Paul says this:

1 Corinthians 11:2 "I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you." And again...
2 Thessalonians 2:15 "Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours." And again...
2 Thessalonians 3:6 "We instruct you, brothers, in the name of [our] Lord Jesus Christ, to shun any brother who conducts himself in a disorderly way and not according to the tradition they received from us."

So Paul, like John, tells us three times to pay attention to the precepts, practices, examples which were handed down to us, but not necessarily --- at that time --- in writing.

You are quite right when you say that no woman could "literally" be clothed with the sun or stand on the moon. John is describing this phenomenologically: he tells what he saw. What if he said, "I saw the sun come up"? We all know that it's not the sun that literally "comes up," it's that the planet Earth rotates on its axis and the sun appears at the horizon every 24 hours. Nevertheless, if he writing what he saw, he "saw" the sun "come up."

John *saw* a Great Sign: a woman clothed with the sun. It does not mean that this woman was in the middle of a vast thermonuclear reaction surrounded by solar hydrogen fusion energy. It just means this is what he saw: a woman clothed with the sun. It's symbolic, but it's also literally what he saw.

I should have clarified that the "first" meaning of this passage would have to be what was in the plain text itself: that the woman is the mother of the Messiah: therefore Mary. Other meanings are derivative from that.

The passage strongly reflects the maternal nature of the Church, because Mary is, in a sense, the first embodiment of the Church. Mary/Church "hears the Word of God and keeps it." Christ comes and dwells in Mary/Church. Mary/Church carries Him in her wherever she goes. Mary/Church brings Christ into the world. She is with Him from beginning to end: from His conception, through His birth, through His growth in His human nature, faithfully following Him even to the foot of the Cross; present to receive the Holy Spirit again at Pentecost.

And she has this ongoing maternal association with the Body of Christ even in what you could call the ecclesial sense:

Revelation 12:17 "Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus."

We -- you, me, all the believers --- are the Church, the Body of Christ, and Mary is likewise our mother, because we are "the rest of her offspring."

Revelation 12 is very, very rich with meaning, and repays careful reading.

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