The Kasperian School Of "catholicism"

Selected paragraphs from an article published on Breitbart.com  on the "progressive German Cardinal Walter Kasper['s]" brand of catholicism (with a small "c") are quoted below [1] in three sections with comments [2] following each:

SECTION I:

The Cardinal also asserts that “in recent decades,” the Church has become “too doctrinalistic and juridically minded” and needs to focus more on mercy.

Mercy is the blunted sword of justice.  This sword belongs to God, not man.

God is a merciful God, but the sword of justice is not blunted for those with hardened hearts.  On the mountainside, Christ said: "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." [3], [4]  The opposite could be this: Woe to those with hardened hearts, for they will be shown justice without mercy.  The sword of justice blunts and stops when it approaches a person whose heart bleeds with love, compassion and mercy but stays sharp and pierces through the one who has a heart of stone.

Kasper seems to want to command the sword of justice to be blunt at all times because to him, the hardness of the heart is relative to the facts and circumstances surrounding it, forming an area of gray with no absolutes, so that even the words of Christ can be argued, negotiated and rationalized to conform to his secular brand of ideology.

However, that is not the way the Catholic Church works.  The Church exists because of and for Christ; it was established to lead people to the teachings of Christ--at no time did it "in recent decades" gradually "become too doctrinalistic and juridically minded" except in Kasper's secular and heretical thoughts.

SECTION II:

In an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Kasper compared Jesus’ words on marriage to the Genesis account of the creation of the world, accusing those who take Jesus’ words on marriage and adultery at face value of “fundamentalism,” like those who still believe the world was created in six days.

...

“God created the world in six days, but no one takes that literally today. Of course the teaching that marriage cannot be dissolved is clear, but already in the New Testament Jesus’ commandment is adapted to certain situations.”

“In Matthew there is the ‘porneia’ clause about illicit unions, or adultery, which can justify divorce. There is also an exception in the first letter to the Corinthians, and Paul speaks with apostolic authority. In the first communities there are different practices and flexibility,” he said.

That is more than just one can of worms that Kasper opened.

From the first opened can crawled out an implication that at least part of the Holy Bible is not to be believed.  If Genesis 1 is not reliable, then can anything else that come after be believed?  Does God even exist?  Perhaps not in Kasper's mind even though the hypocrite has based his career on God's existence.  For his sake, he had better be right so that mercy is the only action Christ will be limited to on Judgment Day, as if Kasper even believes in such a day.

Another thing that crawled out of the first can is Kasper's condescending attitude toward those who still "cling" to their Bible (borrowing an Obamanian word) and who, having deep and unyielding faith, believe fundamentally every word in it.

If, according to Kasper, the world was not created in six days, then how many days, months, years or centuries did it take God to create it?  Kasper did not say, and if he did say, how scientifically certain is he of that period?  But then if Kasper is an atheist, then he had already answered the question by not answering it, implying that there is no God, no creationism, no Immaculate Conception, no Virgin Birth, no Son of God, no miracles, no resurrection and no ascension of Christ, and everything the Son of God had said can be reinterpreted by man and bent to fit neatly into a Godless Kasperian ideology.

Without Christ, there is no need for Kasper to refer to Matthew or the Letters to the Corinthians in the Bible.  If Genesis cannot be relied upon, then neither can Matthew nor Corinthians that follow be relied upon for the same Kasperian reasons, whatever they may be.  By citing Matthew and Corinthians as authority to argue his point, Kasper who represents the Church is himself being "doctrinalistic and juridically minded," but that ought to be expected from an unrepentant hypocrite.

Be that as it may, Kasper is still a cardinal, and whatever he says carries weight.  Whether that dead weight he himself hung around his neck is too heavy for Heaven and too impenetrable for the blunted sword of mercy to shatter is a separate topic unrelated to the second can of worms he opened with his mouth.

What crawled out from this second can is a Greek word "porneia"  but Kasper failed to mention "[t]he more usual word for adultery [which] is 'moicheia'" [5], quoted from an article entitled The Divorce ‘Exception’ Clauses in Matthew’s Gospel  by Julian Freeman.  It is a scholarly treatise on the subject of divorce, complete with footnotes, 102 of them.

Without delving into the intricacies of the arguments presented by the scholars in Julian Freeman's treatise, this blogger refers only to this passage in the Gospel of Mark quoted below without paragraph numbers and footnotes [6]:

Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

“What did Moses command you?” he replied. 

They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

“It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

These words of Christ cannot be more direct or clear.  They had nullified the law of Moses on divorce, and there can be no man, not Kasper, not Matthew, the Apostle, or Paul, who can say that there is a divorce exception to a marriage joined by God.

Furthermore, for Kasper to imply that divorce has Paul's approval in Corinthians by claiming that "[i]n the first communities there are different practices and flexibility" is to deceive intentionally, which is what Satan does.  Can Kasper possibly be doing the work of Satan?

SECTION III:

With regard to the reception of Communion, Kasper emphasizes the fact that the Eucharist isn’t for the perfect. “Every time we celebrate Mass we say: for the remission of sins,” he said. “The Eucharist is for sinners, which we all are.”

Indeed everybody is a sinner, but is the Eucharist for every sinner, including those baptized Catholics who do not believe in God earnestly, who keep living with their hardened hearts without repentance, who do not show any sign of humility before God, who sin without compunction and who find no need to seek God's forgiveness, even as they recite the Act of Contrition [7], the Apostle's Creed [8], the Nicene Creed [9] and the Confiteor [10], all the while without paying attention to and reflecting upon the words in the prayers and without believing that the Eucharist truly heals?



[1] http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/10/02/cardinal-kasper-gears-vatican-synod-born-gay/
[2] It is probably good to remind readers of this blog that it not written by a theologian or a scholar, as if that is not already painfully obvious, and whatever that is posted is either an opinion, a speculation or an imagination.
[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:1-12
[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Matthew%205%3A7
[5] http://julianfreeman.ca/articles/divorce-exception-clauses-matthews-gospel
[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+10%3A1-9&version=NIV
[7] http://www.catholictradition.org/prayers1.htm
[8] Ibid.
[9] http://www.stfrancisnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Translation-comparisons.pdf
[10] Ibid.

A Very Brief Glance At The Real And Fictional Knights Templar

An article entitled The Vatican and the Knights Templar, published on Wednesday, October 24, 2007, by Time  is quoted below in its entirety [1]:

The reality of the saga of the Knights Templar is almost as amazing as the myths that embellish it. On Thursday the Vatican plans to add another colorful chapter when it publishes a long-misplaced, 699-year-old papal report on the medieval holy warriors. Vatican publisher Scrinium will offer 799 copies (the 800th will go to the Pope), at $8,375 apiece, of a 1308 parchment titled Processus Contra Templarios (Trial Against the Templars), [2] which chronicles the order's sordid endgame: the accusations of heresy, the Templars' defense, and Pope Clement V's absolution of the order, before he did an about-face and eliminated it.

Interest in the group extends far beyond the ranks of Church historians, of course. The tale of the Templars remains a gaudy thread woven through the religion, politics and literature of Western civilization, with a recent boost from the embellishments of Dan Brown, who cast the Knights as a key part of the conspiracy to conceal Church secrets in his best-seller The Da Vinci Code.

Almost from their founding, the Templars have been rumored
a.) to still exist
b.) to be impossibly rich, and
c.) to guard the Holy Grail (the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper) and other Christian relics.
Most of these stories are probably baseless, although for 150 years in the high Middle Ages, their order was incontestably one of the most powerful and creative military and economic forces in the world.

The Templars were a creature of the Crusades, when various Christian forces sailed from Europe to fight the resident Muslims for control of the biblical Holy Land. After the first Crusaders took Jerusalem in 1096, European pilgrims began streaming into the city, and 23 years later, two veterans of the Crusade founded an order of monastic knights to protect the travelers. They were allotted a headquarters in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, viewed by Jews and many Christians as the site of the Temple of Solomon — hence the new group's name. Initially modest (its coat of arms was two knights on one horse because that was all they could afford), its fortunes skyrocketed when the Vatican extended it extraordinary privileges, exempting it from local laws, taxes and any authority but the Pope's. Suddenly it was bestowed with spectacular gifts of money and land and inundated by volunteers from some of Europe's most noble families. Well-equipped and trained Templar knights became one of the most formidable fighting forces in the Holy Land — 500 Templar knights are said to have played a major role in defeating a Muslim force of 26,000 in 1177's Battle of Montgisard.

Their non-military exploits were more ambitious still. For the convenience of the monied pilgrims they chaperoned through hostile turf, the Templars developed a system whereby they left their wealth and lands at the disposal of a Templar institution at home, in exchange for a coded invoice that was then redeemed at the group's headquarters in Jerusalem. Researchers believe the Templars kept any revenues generated by the estates, effectively accruing interest — a practice otherwise forbidden as usury by the Church at the time. The journal American Banker wrote in 1990 that "a good case can be made for crediting [the Templars] with the birth of deposit banking, of checking, and of modern credit practices." It certainly made them some of Europe's richest and most powerful financiers. The Templars have been described as taking crown jewels and indeed entire kingdoms as mortgage for loans, and they maintained major branches in France, Portugal, England, Aragon, Hungary and various Mid-Eastern capitals. The group controlled as many as 9,000 estates, and left behind hundreds of buildings great and small. (The London subway stop Temple is named after one of them.)

But many of the myths attending the secretive order have less to do with their financial empire than with their most famous piece of real estate. Who knew what wonders they might have unearthed digging beneath the Mosque to the alleged Temple of Solomon, not far from where Christ was crucified? They claimed to own a piece of the True Cross; they may very well have possessed the Shroud of Turin, since it was a Templar descendant's family that first made it public; and unsubstantiated rumor has put them in possession of both the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail. The latter claim provided an inexhaustible source of inspiration for fabulists from medieval romance peddlers to Dan Brown.

Unless you take The Da Vinci Code as a work of history, however, the glory didn't last. The order lost its purpose and credibility when the Muslim warrior Saladin drove the Crusaders from Jerusalem in 1187, setting the Templars on a path of retreat that saw them give up their last Mid-Eastern foothold, in what is now Syria, in 1303. From there, the decline was precipitous: The Templars failed in an effort to take control of Cyprus, and then, in 1307, Philip IV of France found it more convenient to order the arrest and torture of the Templars to extract confessions of heresy than to repay his heavy debts to the order. This led to the trial under Pope Clement, who was based in Avignon and under the protection of Philip.

The document the Vatican will release Thursday, misplaced in its archives until 2001, is reportedly the official transcript of that trial and Clement's 1308 verdict, which found the Templars to be immoral but not heretical. The Pope allegedly intended to reform them. But under continued pressure from his French protector, Clement instead disbanded them in 1312 and gave most of their riches to a rival military order.

The notion of that much money, power and influence vanishing at a Papal penstroke appears to have been too much for the mythic sensibility of the West, which wanted to believe that the Templars must somehow have survived, adapted, or been subsumed into another, even more secretive trans-national group. Over the centuries, the allegedly still-extant order has been portrayed as malevolent, benign, heroic and occult. Organizations all over the world, without any direct connection, have appropriated its name. (The Freemasons reportedly have an "Order of the Knights of Templar," thus consummating a kind of conspiracy theorist's dream marriage.) Such homages should not obscure the fact that however much power they enjoy in the realm of fiction and fantasy, it almost certainly does not equal that which they once actually possessed — and then abruptly lost.

While this blogger is thankful for Time  to have published this article online, he finds the last sentence to be presumptive. Although it is possible that the Knight Templar's actual power possessed in the past might have been exaggerated by fiction and fantasy, that does not mean that the power they had centuries ago is entirely lost.  For a secretive organization such as the Knights Templar, it is not necessary for them to show their power ostensibly so as to attract public and media attention; indeed, it would be foolish for them to do so, especially if their wealth has been invested wisely (perhaps in derivatives [3] and in other various assets) and has grown immensely over the centuries, and dangerous as well, in a petty and envious world with fake facts, fake claims, fake gods of pride, secularism and self-righteousness and fake holiness across the religions (including Catholicism under Bergolio and others).

In time, perhaps the world will hear from them once again, when it becomes imperative for them to wield their power buried long ago "in the realm of fiction and fantasy."  If and when that time will arrive will no doubt be a secret.


[1] http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1674980,00.html
See also The Telegraph's article entitled Vatican paper set to clear Knights Templar, published "12:01AM BST 05 Oct 2007" at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1565252/Vatican-paper-set-to-clear-Knights-Templar.html
[2] Here are photographs of the two-volume Processus Contra Templarios:

http://www.templespana.org/biblioteca/processus.html

http://www.templespana.org/biblioteca/processus.html

http://www.templespana.org/biblioteca/processus.html

http://www.templespana.org/biblioteca/processus.html

http://www.templespana.org/biblioteca/processus.html

http://www.templespana.org/biblioteca/processus.html

http://www.templespana.org/biblioteca/processus.html

[3] "Funds invested in derivatives alone total $1.2 quadrillion," and "[t]his is what a quadrillion looks like written out: 1,000,000,000,000,000." See http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-how-much-money-exists-in-the-entire-world-in-one-chart-2015-12-18

Extra-papal Action By Bergolio: The Abolition Of The Order Of Malta's Sovereignty

An undated article by Jon L. Rewinski, KM and John H. Porter, published by the Order of Malta, Western Association, U.S.A. some time before February 15, 2013, made evident by the first sentence, is quoted in part below [1]:

On February 15, 2013, the Order will celebrate the 900th anniversary of the issuance of Pie postulatio voluntatis, the papal bull (or bulla sacra) through which Pope Paschal II officially granted to the Hospital of Saint John [also known as the Hospital of Jerusalem [2]] certain protections, rights, and privileges in perpetuity. Pie postulatio voluntatis is Pope Paschal II’s response to a petition submitted by Blessed Gerard, the Order’s founder and Master of the Hospital. Gerard’s request demonstrates how much he had accomplished in the first decades of the Hospital.

The members of Gerard’s fraternity were a monastic community whose men took the evangelical vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. At the time of Gerard’s petition, the Hospital had already amassed substantial assets quæ ad sustentandas peregrinorum et pauperum necessitates (“that are needed for sustaining pilgrims and the poor”). Ever the practical man, Blessed Gerard wanted to protect those assets as well as the Hospital’s autonomy.

The rights granted to the Hospital by the papal bull of February 15, 1113, certainly have historical significance. They gave the Hospital autonomy, the foundation of the independence and sovereignty that the Order enjoys to this day. But beyond the bull’s historical significance, its language continues to resonate today.

On January 24, 2017, the language in Pope Paschal II's papal bull resonates no more, it has been vitiated, and silenced, after the removal of Matthew Festing, [3] the legitimate Grand Master of the Order of Malta, by what this blogger believes to be a forced resignation, thanks to Bergolio and his all too fallible actions as a successor to Pope Paschal II almost 904 years later, and after Bergolio appointed himself as the ultimate leader of the Order of Malta to replace Grand Master Matthew Festing, notwithstanding the fact that Bergolio is planning on naming a pontifical delegate to rule over the Order of Malta in his stead.

With the removal of Matthew Festing as the Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Bergolio has in effect abolished the sovereignty granted by the papal bull of February 15, 1113, to the Hospital of Jerusalem, the medieval predecessor to the Order of Malta, and by affiliation, the sovereignty of the present day Order of Malta has been abolished as well.

The abolition of the Order of Malta's sovereignty by Bergolio is without precedent and without authority whatsoever.

Disregarding any reference to whatever sleazy prearrangement that had taken place prior to the 2013 papal conclave [4] that elevated Bergolio to the papacy, the abolition of the Order of Malta's sovereignty alone, in this blogger's opinion, clearly disqualifies Bergolio to be pope.

Should Bergolio maintain that the sovereignty granted to the Hospital of Jerusalem by the papal bull of February 15, 1113, did not transfer to a subsequent related "new entity" called the Order of Malta, then Bergolio would have no jurisdiction whatsoever over the Order of Malta since the Order of Malta, this "new entity" (in Bergolio's deluded mind, the Vatican's territory and puppet) never submitted itself to any Vatican official asking for the Vatican's oversight and protection, and any association between the Order and the Vatican would have been by mutual consent and not by any papal edict, and anything "given" to the Order by the Vatican for its use could arguably be deemed as a gift, and should it not be deemed a gift, then it would be a loan, neither of which establishes jurisdiction by the Vatican over the Order.


[1] http://www.orderofmaltausawestern.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=121:the-900th-anniversary-of-pie-postulatio-voluntatis&catid=38&Itemid=106
[2] Stephen Dafoe, An Illustrated History of the Knights Hospitaller (Surrey: Ian Allen Publishing, 2010), 17.
[3] https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/01/25/head-knights-malta-resigns-amid-spat-pope-francis/
[4] http://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2015/09/10/why-are-some-suggesting-that-francis-election-was-invalid/#forward Bergolio's own words from the article: "'I follow that which the cardinals requested during the general congregations before the conclave.  I'm going in that direction.  The council of eight cardinals, an external organism, emerged from there.  It was requested to reform the curia..... My decisions are the fruit of the meetings before the conclave.  I have done nothing alone.'"

Bergolio And His Advisors Criticized By Ed Condon

Ed Condon, "a canon lawyer working for tribunals in a number of dioceses," writing for the Catholic Herald  after what this blogger believes to be the forced resignation of Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Matthew Festing, entitled his January 25, 2017, article The Vatican has destroyed the Order of Malta’s sovereignty. What if Italy does the same to the Vatican?  A portion of it is quoted below [1]:

The most remarkable thing about the Order of Malta controversy is not that the Grand Master, Fra’ Matthew Festing, has resigned. That is extraordinary enough, especially given that it was apparently on the invitation of Pope Francis. No, the most astonishing feature of the story is today’s announcement that the Pope will install an Apostolic Delegate to run the Order. In effect, this abolishes the Order as a sovereign entity. Under international law, what we are seeing is effectively the annexation of one country by another.

How did it come to this? Somehow, the small clique who rallied around the former Grand Chancellor, Albrecht Boeselager, have managed to turn a matter of the Order’s own internal governance into a full-blown diplomatic crisis between the two oldest and most prominent sovereign entities in the western world.

The clique never had much of a case. As I have written before, there is no question that, legally speaking, the commission set up on the recommendation of the Holy See’s Secretariat of State to investigate his sacking of Boeselager was and remains totally illegitimate.

...

Fra’ Festing’s humility and courtesy are typical of the man. He has served the Order and the Pope well, with total devotion and respect for the obligations of the law and his position. And now, he has been forced from his position for doing his duty. Yet Boeselager – who refused to obey a direct order from his sovereign – and his allies have triumphed.

These allies have carried out a sordid campaign of leaked letters from Cardinal Parolin’s department, which served the sad and obvious end of framing a public narrative in which Fra’ Festing supposedly “defied” the explicit wishes of the Pope. In fact, even according to the confused and changeable timeline constructed by his friends, it was clear that Boeselager was dismissed well before Cardinal Parolin’s apparent (and still illegitimate) intervention.

The sad and severe consequences of this chain of events are considerable. The international legitimacy of the Order of Malta is now in ruins, its constitutional integrity and diplomatic standing now seem beyond repair.

Today’s announcement of an Apostolic Delegate to be appointed by the Pope represents, essentially, the total abrogation of the Order’s sovereignty. Yet the consequences for the Holy See itself may, in the longer term, be equally or even more severe. The disregard for the mutually sovereign relationship between the Holy See and the Order sets a precedent in international law, which will now lurk under the Secretariat of State’s dealings with other governments like an unexploded bomb.

If the Holy See can so brazenly insert itself into the internal governance of another sovereign entity whose legitimacy stems from a mutual agreement under international law, it now has no legal defence should another sovereign body, say the government of the Italian Republic, choose to view the independence of the Holy See as a similarly anachronistic formality. Cardinal Parolin should prepare to see today’s actions cited as legitimate precedent when the IOR, commonly called the Vatican Bank, finds its sovereign independence under renewed pressure from other countries or international bodies. Pope Benedict XVI said that “a society without laws is a society without rights”; the naked disregard for the law shown in recent weeks has sown a bitter harvest for the Holy See’s diplomatic corps to reap in the future.

For those less concerned with the diplomatic and legal aspects of this situation, there is one over-riding truth which has emerged from all this. It is now clear that for all the great hopes of curial reform which accompanied the election of Pope Francis, the Vatican remains a place where cliques and personal networks have more authority than the law, and where leaking and smearing remain part of the everyday business of governance.

The Pope himself is, as he has often stated, not a lawyer, nor is the law something he is known to have much interest in. Those in his curia who have prompted him to this action have deliberately served him, the office of the papacy, the international sovereignty of the Holy See, and of course the men and women of the Order of Malta, incredibly badly. I suspect it is now just a matter of when, not if, they come to regret it.

This blogger surmises that the time for Bergolio and his den of renegades to regret their inexcusable (as opposed to unforgivable) and vicious (as opposed to Satanic) underhanded action in usurping the sovereign of the Order of Malta would come sooner than later.


[1] http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2017/01/25/the-vatican-has-destroyed-the-order-of-maltas-sovereignty-what-if-italy-does-the-same-to-the-vatican/

"St. Francis of Assisi Prophecy: 'Not a True Pastor but a Destroyer'"

This entry is, in part, a repeat of a previous post, but this blogger finds that it is worth repeating.  Quoted in its entirety (with hyperlinks included, underlining excluded, references to a free pdf download and purchase information excluded) from Novus Ordo Watch [1]:

Shortly before he died in 1226, St. Francis of Assisi called together the members of his order and warned them of great tribulations that would befall the Church in the future, saying:

Act bravely, my Brethren; take courage, and trust in the Lord. The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound; the charity of many will grow cold, and the malice of the wicked will increase. 

The devils will have unusual power, the immaculate purity of our Order, and of others, will be so much obscured that there will be very few Christians who will obey the true Sovereign Pontiff and the Roman Church with loyal hearts and perfect charity. At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate, who, by his cunning, will endeavour to draw many into error and death.

Then scandals will be multiplied, our Order will be divided, and many others will be entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it.

There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy, that, except those days were shortened, according to the words of the Gospel, even the elect would be led into error, were they not specially guided, amid such great confusion, by the immense mercy of God.

Then our Rule and manner of life will be violently opposed by some, and terrible trials will come upon us. Those who are found faithful will receive the crown of life; but woe to those who, trusting solely in their Order, shall fall into tepidity, for they will not be able to support the temptations permitted for the proving of the elect.

Those who preserve their fervour and adhere to virtue with love and zeal for the truth, will suffer injuries and, persecutions as rebels and schismatics; for their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say they are rendering a great service to God by destroying such pestilent men from the face of the earth. But the Lord will be the refuge of the afflicted, and will save all who trust in Him. And in order to be like their Head [Jesus Christ], these, the elect, will act with confidence, and by their death will purchase for themselves eternal life; choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear nothing, and they will prefer to perish [physically] rather than consent to falsehood and perfidy.

Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it under foot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Jesus Christ will send them not a true Pastor, but a destroyer.    

(Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis Of Assisi [London: R. Washbourne, 1882], pp. 248-250; underlining and paragraph breaks added.) [2]

To verify for yourself that these words have been transcribed accurately from their source, we are providing scanned images of the pages from which they are taken:

Title Page
Page 248
Page 249
Page 250

Clearly, these prophetic words of St. Francis have never been more relevant than today. It has been rumored that St. Francis also said that the false pope he was warning against would take his own name (“Francis”), but we have not been able to verify this information or find a source for it. In fact, if the prophecy refers to our times, it probably refers to the false pope John XXIII instead, who emerged from the highly-suspicious 1958 conclave. [3]

While we ought not to seek after prophecies, special revelations or apparitions, nor make them the basis for our theological position, we share this prophecy with our readers in order to reassure them that our times, though extraordinary, have been foreknown and foretold in various ways by various Catholic authorities. St. Francis was by no means the only one, as the other examples found under our “We Had Been Warned” menu option on this web site demonstrate.

St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us.

[1] http://novusordowatch.org/saint-francis-assisi-prophecy-destroyer/
[2] Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis Of Assisi  can be accessed here:
https://archive.org/details/worksseraphicfa00frangoog
[3] This blogger believes that this prophesy can only refer to pope Francis and no other.  When St. Francis of spoke of a man "not canonically elected," he spoke those words in 1226, which was before the 1958 conclave of John XXIII.  On whatever basis (including that of a miracle) St. Francis of Assisi arrived at his prophesy, he did not arrive at it in accordance with the rules of the conclave in 1958.  Therefore, one must look at what has transpired in recent months, and forward to what will take place in the months and perhaps years ahead, to determine if, in fact, after comparing all that has taken place corresponds to Saint Francis of Assisi's prophesy, Bergolio was or was not canonically elected; however, that does not prevent this blogger from speculating on it now (see conclusion below).  From another source (dated September 10, 2015) which argued for the legitimacy of the Francis papacy that relies on rules governing the conclave that were not in existence in 1226, but were put in place in 1996 by JP2, this blogger quotes an interesting paragraph that the source quoted from an Italian newspaper quoting Bergolio's own words that were said "last year" in 2014 during an interview Bergolio gave to Il Messaggero: "I follow that which the cardinals requested during the general congregations before the conclave.  I'm going in that direction.  The council of eight cardinals, an external organism, emerged from there.  It was requested to reform the curia..... My decisions are the fruit of the meetings before the conclave.  I have done nothing alone." See http://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2015/09/10/why-are-some-suggesting-that-francis-election-was-invalid/#forward
Based on these words of Bergolio, it does not seem to this blogger that the Holy Spirit entered the minds of some of the members of the College of Cardinals individually in the selection of a new pope, who would otherwise have been legitimate had the presence of the Holy Spirit not been ignored and banned from enterting into their beings by their pride, secular ideology and thirst for power; instead, in the this blogger twisted mind, Bergolio became pope as the result of a political, devious and secularly Satanic plan calculated to override that which is holy and replace it with that which is sinister.  Saint Francis of Assisi had probably foreseen this pre-concocted plan that elected Bergolio on March 13, 2013, as pope, approximately 787 years earlier. Therefore, this blogger believes that Bergolio was not canonically elected as pope, and that St. Francis of Assisi's prophesy that a man, "not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate, who, by his cunning, will endeavour to draw many into error and death" refers to this present pope. Canonical lawyers can argue the law until they are blue in the face for the legitimacy of Bergolio's papacy but still lose because no law of man can overcome the Laws of God.

Is The New Leader Of The Knights Of Malta Bergolio?

Writing for The Telegraph  from Rome, Nick Squires, in an article dated January 25, 2017, entitled  Vatican takes over leadership of Knights of Malta chivalric order after British Grand Master resigns in acrimonious battle over condoms, reported the following, quoted in part [1]:

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Grand Master Matthew Festing on Wednesday after his defiance of papal authority ended in a spectacular own goal.

The Pope will now appoint one of his own men as the new head of the ancient order, in an unprecedented intervention by the Vatican into the affairs of one of the world’s most illustrious Catholic bodies.

In other words, Bergolio himself, through his yet unnamed surrogate, will now own the Knights of Malta.  The reason for this change may not just be about condom distribution and the sacking of the Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Malta, Albrecht Boeselager.  According to the Crux, Bergolio and the Knights of Malta have a history back in Argentina where "some of [the Knights of Malta's] leading figures were involved in an unsuccessful plot in 2008 to remove Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Archbishop of Buenos Aires and replace him with a chaplain to the Knights, the Bishop of Zárate-Campana, Oscar Sarlinga." [2]

It is apparent, at least to this blogger, that whatever problems and disagreements the Knights of Malta had with Bergolio in Argentina were not resolved with Bergolio's ascension to the papacy; rather, like cancerous tumors surrounding Bergolio, the head of their roots has been excised by Bergolio who has the upper hand. Whether the drama surrounding the Order of Malta has ended remains to be seen, now with Bergolio wearing (figuratively) the crown. [3]

About 14 months ago, on October 6, 2015, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, writing for the Crux, entitled his article Is Catholicism about to break into three?  It is an interesting read but far too complex for this blogger to grasp and digest and make a comment on, but would like to nonetheless cite it here [4] for those readers of this blog who may wish to take his place and make comments on his behalf.

[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/25/vatican-takes-leadership-knights-malta-chivalric-order-british/

[2] https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/01/13/popes-history-knights-malta-linked-current-row/

[3] 

Google Images
"CROWN OF THE GRAND MASTER OF THE ORDER OF ST JOHN OF JERUSALEM (MALTESE)
"Belonged to Emperor Paul I.
"Saint-Petersburg, 1799. Jacob Duval.
"Gold, silver, silk, velvet, enamel, casting, gilding, punching, mounting, weaving.
"Transferred to the Kremlin Armoury from the Vorontsov Palace in 1827 according to the order of Emperor Nicholas I.
"The Moscow Kremlin Museums."
(see citation toward the end of this footnote)

 "The Sovereign Order of Malta, repository of the world’s oldest hospitaller tradition, has strong bonds with Russia through some of the most significant events in its almost thousand year history. Special relations between the Russian Empire and the Knights of Malta were proved in the XVIIIth century, when Emperor Paul I signed a Treaty with the Order of Malta and became the Protector of the Order. After the Mediterranean stronghold of Malta was captured by Napoleon in 1798 and the Order was dispersed, the Emperor gave the largest number of Knights shelter in Saint-Petersburg and later on, in November, 1798 he was elected to become a Grand Master of the Order of Malta. By his decree the Maltese cross was introduced into the Russian state emblem and seal. In the reign of Paul I the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem became the highest decoration awarded for military and civil service. The Emperor, his wife and son, the heir to the throne, as well as some members of the Imperial family were wearing the Order's insignia.

"The relations between Imperial Russia and the Order of Malta were reflected in the history of the acquisitions of the Moscow Kremlin Armoury. The museum's collection of foreign orders was established in 1799 when Emperor Paul I had the reliquary of Grand Master Philippe de Villiers de l'Isle'Adam transferred to the Armoury for safekeeping. Later our [sic] the museum funds acquired the crosses of famous Grand Masters Pierre d'Aubusson and Jean de la Vallette, the distinguished participants of the struggle for Rhodes and Malta, as well as by the crown of Malta and the orders of Russian Emperors and Empresses. The Order's right to the treasures collected through its long history was violated by Napoleon Bonaparte. The French occupation of Malta in 1798 and the consequent expulsion of the knights from the island led to shameless plundering of the Order's possessions. As a result, a great number of artifacts, especially those made of precious metals and stones were lost. Thus the crosses of the Grand Masters presented to Paul I upon the decision by the Council of the Order in 1797 are symbolic artifacts that had been carefully preserved in the collection of the Kremlin Museums and now displayed at the exhibition.

"The project covers the legendary history of the Order. Wonderful artifacts linked to the history of the Order had been scattered around the world and have been gathered together in one exhibition space for the first time. Among then [sic] are the portrait of a knight of Malta by Merisi da Caravaggio, as well as the early crosses and regalia of the Order. The exhibition incorporates about 200 objects from 19 public and private collections of Russia, Malta, Italy and France, which had been executed by the best jewellers, artisans and artists, along with the Order's uniforms and rare documents from archival collections." See http://www.kreml.ru/en-Us/exhibitions/moscow-kremlin-exhibitions/sokrovishcha-maltiyskogo-ordena-devyat-vekov-sluzheniya-vere-i-miloserdiyu/
This blogger doubts that Putin's Russia will acknowledge Bergolio or his surrogate as the legitimate head of the sovereign Order of Malta.
For "a list of Princes and Grand Masters of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta including their medieval predecessors of the Knights Hospitaller," see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Princes_and_Grand_Masters_of_the_Sovereign_Military_Order_of_Malta, accessed January 25, 2017.  It has been updated to reflect the time in office of the 79th Grand Master, Matthew Festing, 2008-2017, with no name, no title and no picture following him, and no space alloted for the 80th Grand Master.

[4] https://cruxnow.com/church/2015/10/06/is-catholicism-about-to-break-into-three/

Grand Master Matthew Festing Of The Order Of Malta Has Resigned

Quoted in part from the guardian  in an article entitled Vatican condom row: pope prevails as Knights of Malta chief resigns  published on January 24, 2017 [1]:

The head of Catholic order the Knights of Malta has resigned over a bitter dispute with the Vatican about free condoms that become a test of the authority of liberalising Pope Francis.

The Rome-based chivalric and charity institution said Grand Master Matthew Festing, 67, resigned after Pope Francis asked him to step down at a meeting on Tuesday. Grand masters of the institution, which was founded in the 11th century, usually keep their positions for life.

“The pope asked him to resign and he agreed,” the spokesperson said, adding that the next step was a formality in which the group’s Sovereign Council would have to sign off on the highly unusual resignation.

The news of Grand Master Matthew Festing's resignation surprises this blogger.  Is there no solidarity within the Order of Malta?  Is there some benefit, perhaps a donation of a few "pieces of silver" every so often that the Order receives from the Vatican that allows for its on-going existence and therefore it would be "suicidal" for the entity to stand up to Bergolio's interference with its internal matters?

Will every person who is Catholic, who is under the financial thumb of Bergolio's papacy going to collapse under the weight of Bergolio's dictates, however anti-Catholic and however hypocritical they may be?  When will those clerics under the influence of Satanic secularism stop betraying Christ because they do not want to relinquish the comforts of their pampered existence?

When will a real San Francesco d'Assisi come to rebuild this crumbling Church, not with the kind of resources that the hypocrite Bergolio wants the world's governments to give to the poor, as if that would eradicate poverty [2], even as the Vatican still houses priceless artworks in its museum and still owns some of the most expensive and sought-after real estate worldwide, but with pure and holy poverty, i.e., Christ Himself, that San Francesco d'Assisi embraced fully with love?

Francis, the pope, is the antithesis of Francis, the saint.  They are as far apart from one another as Hell is from Heaven. This blogger has yet to see Bergolio express a true, selfless, i.e., un-self serving, moment of faith in and undiluted love for Christ, but this blogger does not live with the creature to know that to be the absolute truth, but he thinks what his gut tells him is not that far from it.  Based on what Bergolio has said and done symbolically (for show) has all been said and done, in this blogger's opinion, from a secular perspective based on self sufficiency, without an iota of humility or heart-felt need for the Lord's assistance, despite making references in vain to the gospels, Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary and God.

With the resignation of Matthew Festing from his position at the Order of Malta as Grand Master, Bergolio had won politically.  At that moment, he probably felt a surge of power in his position as pope, not as the humble servant of Christ Jesus, Who despite knowing Who He was, where He came from and the extent of all His powers, He chose not to save and glorify Himself but to love all to the very end, to His very last breath on the cross, Who would not  have given Bergolio a defintive sense of victory and power over Matthew Festing had Bergolio acted with forbearance, forgiveness and love, but instead a certain peace, a permeating inner peace that could best be described as an invisible matter or energy, a Holy presence, one that escapes earthly analogy, one that expands and fills every crevice of desire and makes the entire being whole.  This feeling of peace and complete fulfillment can only from the Holy Spirit sent by the Father or the Son, a feeling that perhaps Bergolio has yet to experience.

This blogger's advice to Bergolio: before you speak or act, ask yourself whether Satan or Christ Jesus is by your side guiding you.  If you speak or act out of pride, vengeance, bitterness or hate, forgetting the importance of humility, charity and love, i.e., agape, you can be absolutely certain that Satan is ruling over you, encouraging you, giving you more power than the power you desire and need; so beware, you could end up where Satan wants you and then you would be another nothing to Satan (an absolute nothing that you are so afraid to be in this world) next to the millions of Satan-could-care-less-souls that Satan had won over while still in their flesh (Satan only cares when you are being seduced by what you desire; after Satan has won you over, you become a worthless nothing for eternity).  Choose the path to Heaven, Bergolio; it is always the one more difficult.


[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/25/vatican-condom-row-pope-prevails-as-knights-of-malta-chief-resigns
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A6-13&version=NIV

New Opus Dei Prelate

Bergolio has confirmed Opus Dei's new prelate Fernando Ocáriz.  "The new prelate, who is in charge of the 92 thousand faithful in Opus Dei, says that his program is to follow the program of Pope Francis: the mobilization of all Catholics to bring the Christian message, spreading joy to every type of person." [1]

While every person would like to have the joy of God that comes with the Christian message of Christ, not everyone gets it, not the joy, not the true message of Christ, and in this blogger's opinion, not even Bergolio himself or his papacy, certainly not every day, every hour.  The 72-year old Ocáriz ought to have lived long enough to know that he cannot put an end to the divisions within the Catholic Church, and quite possibly not even within Opus Dei itself, assuming that Opus Dei is not as single-minded in carrying out the works of God as it wishes the world to perceive.  How Ocáriz plans to bring "the Christian message" that is no longer uniform under Bergolio to "every person," including Cardinal Burke and others [2], Matthew Festing, Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta, [3] and the Society of Pius X [4] is beyond this blogger.  To accomplish his objective which is to "to spread joy to every type of person" by following "the program of  Pope Francis," including the very liberal and the very conservative, would be challenging, if not impossible.



[1] http://www.romereports.com/2017/01/24/first-interview-with-the-prelate-of-opus-dei-i-am-very-grateful-to-the-pope
[2] http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/card-burke-pope-francis-cannot-change-what-pope-jpii-wrote-absolutely-no
[3] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/17/head-embattled-knights-ofmalta-defends-actions-says-extremely/
[4] http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/06/29/sspx-criticise-pope-for-causing-painful-confusion-among-faithful/

Eleven Priests Complaining About Celibacy

Quoted in part from The Economist, an article dated January 22, 2017, entitled Fewer and lonelier Why the celibate priesthood is in crisis [1]:

IN RECENT days, a group of 11 distinguished veterans of the Catholic priesthood in the German city of Cologne, a stronghold of the church, issued an open letter to mark the 50th anniversary of their ordination. Did they use the occasion to ponder aloud the mysteries of their creed, or the wisdom gained in decades of service to the faithful? No. They simply issued a heart-felt cry of pain over their own solitude, a condition they would not wish on future cohorts of clerics. Imploring the pope to allow priests to marry, they wrote:

"What moves us is the experience of loneliness. As elderly people who are unmarried because our office required this from us, we feel it vividly on some days after 50 years in the job. We agreed to this [form of] clerical life because of our job, we did not choose it."

This blogger's suggestion to these eleven bitter old men: quit whining, quit the priesthood and go get married, now!  There should be plenty of women (and men) around the world who individually would "for love" be willing to become a citizen of Germany by marriage or by same-sex union under Eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaft [2] (refer to Section 9 of the Nationality Act) [3], some of whom may already be in Germany and elsewhere in the European Union as refugees.

To think that there is no loneliness in a marriage, they ought to think again.  The grass on the other side is not always greener.  To say after 50 years of serving as ordained priests that they "did not choose" a celibate life is nonsense.  To then claim that serving God was their "job," implying that they had been forced into it because that they had no other job options that did not require taking the vow of celibacy is untenable.

Before they die, before it is too late, these eleven ungrateful men ought to prostrate themselves before the crucifix and meditate on the experience of loneliness that Christ felt throughout His Passion, from where He prayed at the Garden of Gethsemane to where He was crucified at Golgotha, and repent after they have come to the realization that they have lived a pampered and relatively painless life in Köln, Deutschland, in comparison, and thank God with real love in their hearts for having been so blessed. [4]


[1] http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2017/01/fewer-and-lonelier
[2] https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/germany/family/marriage-partnerships/same-sex-unions
[3] http://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/FAQs/EN/Themen/Migration/Staatsang/Erwerb_der_deutschen_Staatsbuergerschaft_durch_Eingbuergerung_en.html
[4] For some reason, this blogger is bothered by the thought that perhaps these eleven elderly priests might have been used politically by Bergolio and his liberal faction.  Without anywhere to go and any realistic option to start over at their age, they might have been "asked" to pen their letter, similar to the coercing of an innocent person in signing a confession of wrongdoing, to give support to Bergolio's liberal Lutheranesque agenda.  Had they refused, they would probably be sent to some distant place for their retirement where they would have neither the necessary medical support nor adequate funds to meet their most basic needs.

Christian Unity?

On January 22, 2017, Vatican Radio  published an article entitled Pope Francis calls for continued prayer for Christian Unity.  It is quoted below in its entirety (with opinionated annotations) [1]:

(Vatican Radio) Following the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis[, forgetting that unity starts at the very top,] noted that we are currently in the midst of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which has for its theme this year “Reconciliation – The Love of Christ Compels Us.”

He noted [impatiently] that the [seemingly endless] week will [finally and thankfully] conclude [not a moment too soon] in Rome next Wednesday with the ecumenical celebration of Vespers at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. “I invite you to persevere in prayer[, but only until the end of Vespers next Wednesday],” the Pope said, “so that the desire of Christ [(not mine, nor that of the de facto ruler of this world, Satan)], ‘That they all might be one,” [sic] may be accomplished[--those prayers are needed desperately, unless, of course, 'they' are all united under my personal brand of catholicity (with a small 'c'), defined as 'broad-mindedness or liberality, as of tastes, interests, or views' [2], that follows only carefully selected portions of the gospels that have been twisted to conform to my Maoist, left-wing, despotic secular agenda, and only then, would you no longer need to pray for Christian unity should that time arrive before the end of Vespers next Wednesday, for I would then be your god and you would then be without your Free Will and would only need to obey me completely and silently without question and doubt.  Should unity under me not arrive before the end of Vespers next Wednesday, then there is not use to pray for Christian unity because I have been destined to tear any preexisting unity that is remaining asunder.]”

[1] http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-calls-for-continued-prayer-for-christ
[2] http://www.dictionary.com/browse/catholicity

Spanish Journalist Ended Interview Asking Bergolio An Unexpected Question

The Crux  reported that the pope was interviewed on January 21, 2017, by "the Spanish paper 'El Pais,'" [1] and that "[t]he interview closed with the journalist asking what kind of conclave he’d like to choose his successor, to which Francis said: 'Catholic. That it’s a Catholic conclave that chooses my successor.'" [2]  What prompted the journalist to ask that rather unusual question?  Had the journalist speculated on the possibility that it might not be a Roman Catholic conclave, that it could perhaps be a joint Catholic-Lutheran or a secular conclave?  And when the pope answered "Catholic," did he mean "Roman Catholic" or "catholic" with a small "c" defined as "broad or wide-ranging in tastes, interests, or the like; having sympathies with all; broad-minded; liberal," [3] and as "universal in extent; involving all; of interest to all?" [4]

Bergolio's answer to the follow-up question that ended the interview could possibly be portentous [5]:

“And will you see it?” the journalist asks, implying, but not voicing the possibility of a resignation. 

“This I don’t know,” Francis said. “May God decide. When I feel that I can’t go on anymore, my great teacher Benedict taught me how to do it. And if God takes me before, I’ll see it from the other side. I hope not from hell …”

This blogger hopes that when Bergolio said those last five words quoted above, he did not mean to say them facetiously, as an atheist perhaps would sometimes, but that he truly acknowledged the existence of Hell and feared it. Even if Bergolio was sincere to a small degree when he said them, that means Bergolio had had a moment of honest self-examination of conscience.  This blogger prays that that moment ought to be enough to close the door to Hell.  To not have Satan open it again, to not be beckoned by its cold, slimy index finger gloved with desires that an unfortified and prideful heart would find irresistible, this blogger suggests that Bergolio renounce the world of politics and power and follow the footsteps of his namesake, San Francesco d'Assisi, and be a holy pope.  There is still time.  This blogger also hopes that those were not foreboding words, revealing Bergolio's own inevitable eternity.  Hell is not a place this blogger wishes for any one with whom he has shared this world together as sinners to go, however distant the connection, however unbridgeable the earthly differences, for the pains of Hell are very real and made inescapable by the absence of a second death.


[1] https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/01/21/pope-rips-political-saviors-face-crises-walls-wires/
[2] Ibid.
[3] http://www.dictionary.com/browse/catholic?s=t
[4] Ibid.
[5] https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/01/21/pope-rips-political-saviors-face-crises-walls-wires/

Opus Dei - Selection Of A New Leader

The entry entitled The All-seeing Eye Of Providence  posted on January 15, 2017, ended with this speculation under footnote [5]:

Who knows, maybe Opus Dei, more transparent but perhaps less cohesive than the Knights Templar, could possibly be the next organization to part ways with this pope, but then again, perhaps Opus Dei itself could split between those who support this pope and those who do not.  Time will tell.

That time is near.  On January 20, 2017, the Crux  posted an article entitled What you need to know as Opus Dei chooses a new leader, quoted in part (with annotations) [1]:

After the December death of Bishop Javier Echevarría, the Catholic organization Opus Dei today [(January 20, 2017)] begins the process of choosing a new leader, who for the first time will be a someone who wasn’t a right-hand man of their founder, Spanish St. Josemaría Escrivá.

...

During the almost 90 years of its existence, Opus Dei has been a powerful actor in the Catholic Church, and also controversial. Lauded for its commitment to the empowerment of laity, it was also looked upon with suspicion by critics who accused the group of a cult-like internal culture.

It’s also often considered to have a conservative political and theological agenda, which plays well among some circles and not so much in others.  

...


...ballots will be opened by the all-male electoral congress on Monday, Jan. 23....

[It must have been to Bergolio's unspeakable delight to know that] [o]nce the new prelate has been chosen, Francis has to approve the appointment, though canonically he could refuse to do so. If tradition holds true to form, [as if tradition is sacrosanct under this papacy,] within months after the election the pope will make him a bishop.

...

Josefina Maradiaga, from the Opus Dei press office in Argentina, told Crux  that nationality and personal style of the new prelate “don’t matter.”  [She, however, remained silent on whether ideology did.]

[1] https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/01/20/need-know-opus-dei-chooses-new-leader/

Bergolio - The Epicenter of Vatican's Quakes Affecting The Order Of Malta

Not only was the village of Montereale the epicenter of Italy's January 18, 2017, earthquakes, following last year's that claimed the lives of "around 300 people [1]," Bergolio is also the epicenter of continuing tremors that are shaking up the Catholic Church, the Holy See and other sovereigns.

This entry follows up on the post dated January 12, 2017, entitled Order Of Malta Deemed A Papal Inquiry Irrelevant. On January 17, 2017, the Catholic Herald  published an article by the Associated Press  entitled Vatican rejects Order of Malta’s criticism of investigation, quoted in full below (with hyperlink included) [2]:

In a statement, the Holy See 'reaffirmed its confidence' in the commission appointed to investigate the order[.]

The Vatican is striking back at the Order of Malta, rejecting attempts to discredit its commission investigating the ousting of a top official of the ancient Catholic lay order.

In a sharply worded statement released on Tuesday, the Holy See said it “reaffirms its confidence” in the commission appointed last month by Pope Francis to report on the “present crisis of the central direction” of the order.

The statement added that the Vatican “counts on the complete cooperation of all in this sensitive stage” — a reference to the order’s refusal to cooperate with the investigation on grounds of its sovereign status.

The order’s leader suspended Albrecht von Boeselager as grand chancellor over a condom distribution scandal involving the order’s charity branch.

The order’s leader Fra’ Matthew Festing sent a letter to members on January 14 in which he said he was only protecting the order’s sovereignty in refusing to cooperate with the Vatican commission.

A January 9, 2017, comment in the Catholic Herald  written by Ed Condon, "a canon lawyer working for tribunals in a number of dioceses," [3] entitled Yes, the Order of Malta is Catholic. That doesn’t legitimise this Vatican inquiry  defends the Knights of Malta's rejection of the pope's inquiry into the Order's internal affairs.  Ed Gordon's entire post (with hyperlinks included) is quoted below [4]:

The dispute between the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Holy See’s Secretariat of State can be quite confusing. So much so that even the Secretary of State himself, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, seems to be having a hard time finding his place in the affair.

To recap: Cardinal Parolin has announced that a commission to investigate the dismissal of the Order’s Grand Chancellor will go ahead. He has said, according to recent leaks, that the Order is a “lay religious Order” which is to be of “service to the faith and to the Holy Father”. Therefore, he is alleged to have reasoned, the Holy See has the authority to intervene in the Order’s internal governance.

It is hard to believe that so seasoned a Vatican diplomat as Cardinal Parolin would make such a basically flawed legal argument. But if the quotations are an accurate representation of his thinking, then there are some serious misconceptions at work here.

The basic line of argument being advanced is that the Order is Catholic, therefore the Pope must be in charge, therefore the Holy See can intervene. Unfortunately, this is about as legally coherent as 2+2=5.

The Order of Malta is, indeed, a lay religious order. However, it is made explicitly clear that the obligations of religious obedience do not travel outside the hierarchy of the Order itself. This is detailed in the section of the Order’s constitution which treats its relationship with the Holy See. It says:

Religious members through their vows, as well as members of the Second Class through the Promise of Obedience, are only subject to their appropriate Superiors in the Order.
(Constitution of the Order, art. 4 §2; my emphasis)

Although the Order is Catholic, its constitution clearly separates it from the oversight of any Vatican department.

But, you might object, doesn’t the Pope have authority over any Catholic organisation? Well, yes – but there is only one way in which he can exercise that authority. In order to compromise the Order’s sovereignty, the Pope must first expressly abrogate the Order’s rights and laws (Constitution, art. 4 §3). Pope Francis has not done so. Until such time, the religious obedience of the Grand Master, and other professed knights or the Order, is commanded by the Pope “in accordance with the Constitution and the Code” (Code of the Order, art. 62), that is, fully respecting the Order’s independence and sovereignty regarding its governance.

For the Vatican commission to be legitimate, the Pope would need to sign a formal, legal act, officially and expressly abrogating the Order’s sovereignty and authorising the investigative commission to act. This formal act would need to be sent to the Order. If the Pope wanted Cardinal Parolin, or any other curial official, to have the power to authoritatively communicate with the Grand Master on his behalf, this too would need to be explicitly and legally set out by the Pope directly to the Grand Master, in a way which accounted for the necessary abrogation of sovereignty.

Those who insist on Cardinal Parolin’s right to intervene have confused the person of the Pope with the governing apparatus of the Holy See. “The Pope” does not mean every official in the Vatican. Yes, Cardinal Parolin’s letter asserts the alleged opinion of the Holy Father on the situation. But this is no more an official, formal, legal mandate than the Pope’s breakfast order is an infallible teaching.

Of course, Cardinal Parolin cannot really believe that the Order of Malta is under the oversight of the Holy See like any other religious order. If this were a serious legal argument, then the whole matter would have been referred to the Holy See’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, not the Secretary of State.

All of this is without considering international law. Here the Secretariat of State’s rationale for intervening gets even more tenuous. The Order is a sovereign entity under international law. It is recognised as such by more than one hundred countries, it issues its own passports and stamps, it has permanent observer status at the UN. Even if the Holy Father were to expressly abrogate the Order’s constitution (an act that would have to come from him personally, not through a Vatican official), it is not at all clear what the consequences would be internationally and diplomatically for both institutions.

By undermining the sovereignty of another entity, the Secretariat of State’s intervention could have serious diplomatic repercussions for the Holy See itself. It also remains unclear how the commission could usefully make any headway, given that the Order rejects it as a manifest violation of the Order’s sovereignty, both under its own constitution and international law.

While the Pope is the authority which first granted the Order sovereign status, its independent diplomatic status and relationships mean it does not rely on the Pope for international legitimacy. How would the diplomatic world react if the Queen, under insistent advice from Boris Johnson [(United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [5])], issued a decree revoking Canada’s sovereignty? The parallel is not exact, but it is not far off either.

Does Bergolio ever think about the consequences of his actions?  He does not have to.  His preordained ascension to the papacy is to reduce it to rubble.


[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/18/italy-hit-four-powerful-earthquakes-four-hours-bringing-terror/
[2] http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/01/17/vatican-rejects-order-of-maltas-criticism-of-investigation/
[3] http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2017/01/09/yes-the-order-of-malta-is-catholic-that-doesnt-legitimise-this-vatican-inquiry/
[4] Ibid.
[5] https://www.gov.uk/government/people/boris-johnson

More Than Just A Postage Stamp

LifeSiteNews.com  published an article on January 17, 2017, entitled Vatican to issue stamp featuring Martin Luther.  It is quoted below, in part [1]:

The Vatican office charged with issuing stamps, known as the Philatelic and Numismatic Office, confirmed Tuesday to LifeSiteNews that Luther, who broke away from the Catholic Church in a schism 500 years ago, will be celebrated with a postage stamp in 2017.

The Vatican regularly issues such memorabilia for special events, including papal trips and holy years. Honoring Luther and the Protestant Reformation is an unlikely choice, trumping other significant events in the Catholic Church such as the 100-year anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima and the 300-year anniversary of our Lady of Aparecida, Brazil.

...

In 1517, Martin Luther published his 95 theses against the Catholic Church and began what thereafter has been known as the Reformation, leading to a schism in the Church. This was followed by the formation of Protestant denominations that later spilled into other countries, fueled by others such as John Calvin and Jan Hus. The confessional war that followed, the “Thirty Years’ War,” with its 10 million deaths was known to be the bloodiest war in Europe until World War I. 

Luther, an Augustinian monk, was excommunicated in 1521 by Pope Leo X with the papal bull, Decet Romanum Pontificem. At age 41, he married Katharina von Bora, a run-away Cistercian nun of 26 years.

This defiant pope had apparently given permission, or probably asked, to have a former Catholic monk, Martin Luther, excommunicated by his predecessor, Pope Leo X, be commemorated by a Vatican stamp.  This is not just any Vatican postage stamp: it signifies a stamp of approval of the Lutheran Church which is decidedly not Catholic; it implicitly reverses Pope Leo X's excommunication of Martin Luther; it is also Bergolio's small but undeniable imprint on the Catholic Church (without legitimacy), signaling the end of an era, transforming the Vatican into a secular institution and state, should Bergolio and his supporters not be kicked out of the Catholic Church for heresy before that happens.

Perhaps Bergolio and his people ought to step away now and start their own religion based on secular ideology rather than defile the Church Christ built upon the rock of Peter, the Apostle. [2]  That, of course, would not happen because the end has only just begun.  Bergolio has much more to do to fulfill the prophesy that he would be Peter, the Roman [3], the last pope.  After Bergolio, which leader of the Vatican will Catholics follow, the conservative one or the liberal one, or no one?


[1] https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vatican-gives-stamp-of-approval-to-martin-luther
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+16%3A18
[3] Bergolio, having Italian ancestry and therefore ancient Roman roots, named himself after "St. Francis of Assisi, San Francesco d'Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro  di Bernardone, but nicknamed Francesco ('the Frenchman') by his father, 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226)[ [sic] was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher and is one of the most venerated religious figures in history." [Emphasis  added.] See https://www.geni.com/people/Saint-Francis-of-Assisi/6000000020340400849

A Rare Public Confession By The Pope

Quoted in its entirety below is an Agence France-Press article dated January 15, 2017, published on Yahoo entitled Pope admits to 'darkness' in own faith [1]:

Guidonia (Italy) (AFP) - Pope Francis admitted on Sunday to sometimes having "darkness" cloud his own faith, while warning against "Christian parrots" who pay lip service to the church without acting on its values.

"At certain times, I have also encountered moments of darkness in my faith and that faith decreased a lot, but with a little bit of time we rediscover it," the Pointiff told parishioners after saying mass in a village near Rome.

"Some days we can't see faith, everything is in darkness.

"Yesterday, for example, I christened 13 children in areas devastated by earthquakes and there was a father who had lost his wife, and we ask ourselves if this man can have faith.

"We understand that there is darkness, we must respect this darkness of the soul. We don't study to get faith, we receive it like a gift."

Francis also urged believers to spend more time talking to their family.

"If I say I'm Catholic and every Sunday I go to mass but then I don't talk to my parents, I don't help my grandparents, the poor, I don't visit the sick, then there's no point," said Francis.

"In that way, we're nothing but a Christian parrot: words, words, words." [2]

[1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/pope-admits-darkness-own-faith-204403995.html
[2] He cannot be lecturing this blogger, right?  After all, just the other day on January 14, he ended his post entitled "The Young Pope" on HBO  with these words: "The heart of Jesus continues to bleed for His beloved servant, Bergolio, whose heart seems to be lacking in faith and in contrition."  The answer has to be no, Bergolio was not castigating this blogger because this blogger does talk to his parents and prays for them (his grandparents are no longer with him), and he does not attend Mass every Sunday (he did yesterday, however), but then he does not help the poor or visit the sick, but for some reason, as he was leaving to go home he felt compelled to give a man who was begging in front of the church some money, a man who thanked him with the smell of alcohol on his breath.  There is no way this blogger's words had inspired Bergolio's public confession. This blogger is an absolute nobody to Bergolio, and to even for a moment suppose that somehow he knows about this blog is pure fantasy.

The All-seeing Eye Of Providence

Below is a photograph of the All-seeing Eye of Providence [1], [2], at Der Aachener Dom (the Aachen Cathedral) in Aachen, Germany:

"Allsehendes Auge am Tor des Aachener Dom"
Aachen, Germany

The Catholic News Agency ("CNS")  on January 13, 2017, filed this report from Vatican City at 2:28pm [3], quoted in part:

Two arrests have been made in a widespread cyber-attack that compromised communications of prominent Italian institutions and individuals, including the Vatican.

Italian police have arrested Giulio Occhionero, 45, and his sister Francesca Maria Occhionero, 49. The siblings, who also work as engineers and have dual residencies in London and Rome, are accused of illegally accessing classified information, and breaching and intercepting information technology systems and data communications.

The attack reportedly hacked as many as 18,000 accounts, including computers used by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi at the Pontifical Council for Culture, computers at a Vatican guest house regularly used by prelates visiting Rome, and thousands of e-mail messages.

Vatican officials have not yet commented on the attack, and it is yet unknown to what extent sensitive Vatican information may have been compromised.

According to Italian authorities, the illegally accessed information was stored on servers in the United States, leading to an ongoing investigation with the assistance of the FBI’s cyberdivision.

Authorities suspect the Occhioneros may have ties to the Freemasons, because the malware used in the hack was called “Eye Pyramid,” believed to be a reference to the all-seeing eye of God, or Eye of Providence, a symbol typically associated with Freemasonry. Several of the compromised accounts belonged to Mason members.

Whether or not there are ties to the Masons, cyber security experts believe it is highly unlikely that the sibling pair acted alone.

This blogger has a comment tangential to this report.  A few days ago on January 12, he ended his post on the Knights of Malta rejecting the pope's inquiry regarding "the sacking of a Senior knight" [4] asking who will repudiate the pope next. At the time, he thought perhaps the Knights Templar would be the next important group that would, but there was no information whatsoever to give credence to his inkling.  A speculative mention that the Knights Templar would repudiate the pope next was therefore left out.

Today is a different story.  There is now evidence that the Knights Templar, an organization related to the Freemasons, known for their secrecy, could speculatively be the next powerful group that would discredit this pope, as if he has any sort of reputation that has somehow risen to a level that needs to be discredited.  Discrediting this pope would be redundant for those who can see through him, but necessary for those who are blinded.

Assuming that the Knights Templar may already know the full extent of the Vatican's sensitive information under this papacy as a result of the cyberattack, none of the most damaging information may ever be revealed since secrecy is the Knights Templar's fingerprint.  However, that does not mean that the pope has nothing to worry about since undisclosed information that cannot be countered  by misinformation and diffused by secularized rationalization is information that is much more effective as a weapon that can be likened to a sword hanging over the throat of Bergolio that could accidentally fall should Bergolio not change his ways or retire.  Should that event come to pass, his most ardent supporters would likely cower and disappear surreptitiously behind the shadows of gargoyles where they belong and where they can have perfect camouflage.

Meanwhile, the battle continues on many levels, some taking place in front of lights, camera and the media, others behind Vatican's Maginot line that is being intersected by a different kind of line, a line of cardinal significance, a red one, separating the conservative wing and the liberal wing of the Catholic church, one that is becoming more and more prominent and entrenched by the month, if not week.  This is an exciting time to be Catholic, watching the metamorphosis of the venerable Catholic Church taking place under Bergolio, supported by his band of political cronies.  This blogger cannot wait to find out what will happen next! [5]


[1] All-seeing Eye of Providence - from Google Images
[2] https://www.aachenerdom.de/en/
[3] http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/siblings-arrested-in-cyberattack-that-compromised-vatican-computers-42816/
[4] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/11/order-malta-snubs-pope-francis-dismissing-irrevelant-vatican/
[5] This blogger thinks that the All-seeing Eye of Providence, with rays of light emanating from a triangle representing the Holy Trinity surrounding it (supposedly the symbol of Freemasonry and the Knights Templar, based on their association (see
http://www.masonicinfo.com/templars.htm)), will "see" to it that Bergolio and his cronies will end in ignominy.

Google Images

"masonería"
From Google Images

Who knows, maybe Opus Dei, more transparent but perhaps less cohesive than the Knights Templar, could possibly be the next organization to part ways with this pope, but then again, perhaps Opus Dei itself could split between those who support this pope and those who do not.  Time will tell.