Catholicism Is Not The Only Door To Heaven

In addition to Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa, a book written by Immaculée Ilibagiza, with Steve Irwin, which focuses mainly on the apparitions seen by three of the many visionaries in Kibeho, Rwanda, namely Alphonsine Mumureke, [Anathalie] Mukamazimpaka and Marie-Claire Mukangango [1] that were Bishop-approved with the Vatican's recognition [2] is another book entitled The Boy who met Jesus: Segatashya of Kibeho, from which the following is being quoted [3]:

     I will find the hearts of everyone who believes in me and follows my commandments--no matter which Bible they read or which religion they belong to.

     When I come looking for my children, I will not only look in the Catholic Church for good Christians who do good deeds and acts of love and devotion.  I will look across the entire world for those who honor my commandments and love me with an open and sincere heart . . . it is their love, not their religion, that makes them true children of God.  Tell this one truth to all those to whom you speak to in my name: Believe in me, and in whatever you do in life, do it with faith and love.

     Those who do know of God, who have been taught of God's ways, will be held to a higher standard . . . for to those who have been given, much will be expected.  No one is forced to believe in God, but still, God lives in every person's heart . . . just follow your heart to God's love.  Those who live in love will hear God's voice, because God's voice is a voice of love.

The words together with the ellipses quoted above, were the words spoken by Jesus, retold by Segatashya, when Segatashya asked Jesus what to "say to people who tell me that because Jesus appears most often to visionaries who are Catholic, that they will be forced to read the Catholic Bible?" [4]

This blogger doubts very much that Segatashya's apparitions will ever receive the Vatican's recognition, simply because the Vatican thinks the Catholic Church has a monopoly over God and that its teachings are infallible.  For Jesus to say that He will not only look for His children in the Catholic Church but also across the whole world means to this blogger that Catholics are not the only ones who have God's attention and love, but also Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, non-Catholic Christians and others, possibly including those without a religion and atheists who "live in love" who "will hear God's voice, because God's voice is a voice of love."

This is where drawing a conclusion as to whether an atheist who rejects God but who lives in love will hear God's voice is difficult, if not impossible.  Can someone who rejects God "live in love"?  What does "living in love" mean exactly?  Does it mean that one must love the idea of a Creator?  Does it mean that one must never commit a sin consciously?

Perhaps these questions and many others are not meant to be answered.  Perhaps when one hears God's voice will one then know that he or she could possibly be "living in love."

For those who would like to read a few pages from The Boy who met Jesus: Segatashya of Kibeho can go to http://davecoop.net/segatashya.htm. [5]  Just a few chapters into the book, this blogger had already asked Segatashya in prayerful thoughts to put in a good word for him.


[1] http://kibeho-sanctuary.com/index.php/en/apparitions/visionaries
[2] http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/vatican.html
[3] Ilibagiza, Immaculée, & Irwin, Steve (2011). The Boy who met Jesus: Segatashya of Kibeho (1st ed., p. 61). Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc.
[4] Ibid.
[5] http://davecoop.net/segatashya.htm
[-] A side note: there will likely be no more entries in this blog for about a month unless there is time to write while traveling.

Vatican Official Will Likely Not Use His Big Chance To Evangelize

A CNS  article dated September 21, 2017, entitled Vatican official laments lack of fair trade label for commercial fishing  is quoted below in part [1]:

An upcoming world congress by the Catholic organization Apostleship of the Sea will focus on the plight of fishermen, who frequently face exploitation in carrying out their work, according to one Vatican official.

He lamented that no ‘Fair Trade’ certification exists for their product.

“We have to be educated,” Fr. Bruno Ciceri told CNA Sept. 20. “Frozen food here is cheap, but it’s because people are exploited, because there is forced labor, because there are trafficked people that work aboard these fishing vessels.”

Referring to the label given to products from developing countries that adhere to ethical standards of trading, he said, “We talk a lot about ‘Fair Trade.’ I don't know the day when we will have ‘fair trade’ also in fishing. That will make a difference.” 

...

In general though, the challenges are the same affecting the whole of the industry, he pointed out, including poor working conditions and wage and labor exploitation, such as what happens between fishermen and brokers.

For example, Fr. Ciceri said one situation that is common is when a broker will contract fishermen with a promise of a certain salary. Of this, maybe only 20 percent is given directly to the fisherman and 80 percent will be held by the broker, only to be given over after the fisherman has completed a three year contract. If he leaves before this, he loses everything.

So the fishing industry needs to “clean up their act,” he said, but so does the buyer – the big companies that buy the fish to import.

One thing the Apostleship of the Sea tries to do, he said, is ensure that big companies are checking their supply lines and guaranteeing that they are not profiting from forced labor or other violations.

“Often these companies just make sure that there are all of the hygienic things… but they don't consider the people,” Fr. Ciceri said. “While for us as the Church, people are important. Fish are important, but people are more important.”

Sometimes you will read on cans of tuna that it has been caught without “hurting any turtles or without killing any dolphins,” he said. “Thanks very much, but what about the fishermen?”

“But that is not considered. I think there should be a sort of balance on these things. It's true that we have to worry about the fish and other things, but we have to worry also about the people.”

For the average person who wants to do something, he continued, even the awareness of these practices, and why the products may be so cheap, is a good first step.

“It's true that we would always like to save money,” but maybe sometimes we could consider buying the more expensive product that we know pays people justly.

What a great question: "what about the fishermen?"

Being a follower of Christ, Fr. Bruno Ciceri should take this opportunity to speak directly to the fishermen about the original group of fishermen who became Christ's disciples, teaching them the Gospel, converting them, and turning them into fishers of men.  Then not only will there be new groups of men to spread the love of Christ, there will also be a shortage of fishermen as a result, at which point market forces of demand and supply will come into play, requiring the payment of higher wages to do their work, which is exactly what Fr. Ciceri wants.  He should therefore stop lamenting and actually do the work of Christ!



[1] http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-official-laments-lack-of-fair-trade-label-for-commercial-fishing-14802/

Disappointment Building Over "Beyond The Sun" Movie

This blogger has not seen Beyond The Sun, a movie that "is based on the Gospels and told in several tales. It will focus on children from different cultures who emulate the apostles while searching for Jesus in the world around them. The filmmakers say it is intended to 'spiritually engage and encourage audiences of all ages to transmit Jesus’ words, to understand them and integrate them to live a better life, make good choices and help others.'" [1]  Furthermore, "[a]ll profits from the film will be donated to Argentine charities El Alemendro and Los Hogares de Cristo, which aid at-risk children and young adults." [2]

Why be disappointed?  First of all, the title of the movie is troubling.  What in the Gospels could possibly be "beyond the sun" when the Blessed Virgin Mary Herself said, "I am the Woman clothed in the sun..." when She spoke to Gladys in San Nicolás, Argentina, on August 3, 1988, message number 1479. [3]  If darkness lies beyond the "sun" in the movie, then perhaps the name of the movie would be fitting.

If the movie is made for the audience to "integrate" the words of Jesus in order "to live a better life, make good choices and help others," then the words might as well come from an atheist, a secular philosopher or social worker since the most commandment of Jesus is this: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." [4]  Loving God with all of one's heart, soul, mind and strength is imperative and not among one of a dozen or more good choices that one may or may not pick to "live a better life."  In other words, loving the Lord God is not a choice that can be overlooked but a commandment that has to be followed.  To follow the commandment is to pray often, to adore the Blessed Sacrament, to always be humble and have faith, to forgive and to love.  Not even the pope abides by this most important commandment, and the fact that he is in this movie speaks more to his desire for secular attention than his own abilities to lead his flock toward Heaven.

If "helping others" is another primary objective of the movie, then the movie would have to tell the audience what it means to "help" others.  Is being supportive of abortions or gender reassignment surgeries within the meaning of "helping others"?  Is being supportive of regime changes also within the meaning of "helping others"?  The list goes on and on and therefore the movie could last days, if not weeks and months.

Moreover, "integrating" the words of Jesus does not necessarily mean that any one person would "lead a better life."  It is how a person takes Jesus' words to heart that changes a person, from within, so that a life of interior peace can be attained, which may not may not be the equivalent of what this world sees as "a better life."  If one wants a "better life" in a secular sense, then one ought to consider saying "yes" to one or more of Satan's temptations.

The One who spoke and lived the very words that would allow for supposedly "a better life" did not have a life that anyone would particularly want to lead.  By living the words of Jesus, every single one of them, means having to suffer, and the suffering can be difficult to bear.  For anyone to suggest that integrating the words of Jesus into one life will allow one to live "a better life" in a secular sense cannot be taken as "gospel."

One cannot emulate the apostles and find Jesus simply by looking around the world.  Jesus lives within the hearts of people, and it is the Holy Spirit that gave strength to the Apostles to spread the word of Christ.  They did not "search for Jesus," they knew Jesus and their mission was to spread His love, a love that was borne out of humility and perfect obedience to God.  A movie that "focus[es] on children from different cultures who emulate the apostles while searching for Jesus in the world around them" is pure fiction.

Finally, if one thinks that the movie is unrealistic and remains unconvinced that the movie's objectives have been achieved, then one still ought to applaud it since all the profits from the film will go to aid certain charities.  What that means is that after everyone who worked on the movie is paid fully for their work, presumably not overpaid for their work (that in and of itself can be subject of debate), then whatever that is left over will go to the charities.

Had this entire movie been made by volunteers and however much money that will be earned will go to the charities, that still will not satisfy this blogger, only because the God is not a marketing tool, even if the proceeds from marketing God benefits the needy.

What people need first is God, not money, and when everyone in the world lives in accordance with the words of Christ, then charity will take care of itself, without a movie.



[1] http://deadline.com/2016/02/pope-francis-in-movie-casting-beyond-the-sun-1201694232/
[2] http://variety.com/2016/film/news/pope-francis-movie-beyond-the-sun-1201693656/
[3] Laurentin, Father René.  An Appeal From Mary In Argentina.  Translated by Juan Gonzalez Jr., Ph.D. (Milford, Ohio: Faith Publishing Company, 1990), 88.
[4] http://www.usccb.org/bible/mark/12, at 30.

Catholicism Unclothed

Emboldened by the words of the Blessed Mother and Her Son received by Gladys of San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Argentina, and the stories of the visionaries told by Immaculée Ilibagiza in her book Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa, this blogger is able to blog about certain topics that are above his grade level.  This new found degree of self-assurance did not come from arrogance but is born out of a desire to share God's Truth (as he sees it) to the extent that it flows into his mind rather effortlessly.  This entry is a result of this emboldening.

Dictionary.com  defines Catholicism as "the faith, system, and practice of the Catholic Church, especially the Roman Catholic Church," quoted without hyperlinks. [1]  Although the foundation of the Catholic Church's "the faith, system and practice" rests upon the Bible and ultimately on the Truth spoken by the Founder Who was the Son of God, Christ Himself, a sizable portion of it was based on the fallible construction of man, including many who had once sat on the rock of Peter.

New layers of constructs that are continually being built upon the the rock of Peter the Apostle in the present age do not simply lack the capability to stand on their own as God's Eternal Truth but actually weaken the entire structure that was built by the Son of God while He was Man Who made it so impenetrable that it blocked out even Satan himself.  The modern disciples who run the Vatican and those serve it are not warriors battling Satan: (aside from exorcists) they are diplomats trying to strike a compromise with the Devil.  They do not demonstrate the zeal necessary to proclaim the veritable words of Christ and His Mother Who tirelessly wants Her children to turn their collective focus from the empty distractions of this world back to the fullness of life in Her Son, which is not temporary but eternal.  Rather than paying attention to their Mother and Her Son, they add layers upon layers of complexities that in the end, the words that flow from their mouths are nearly as deceitful as the Serpent's in the Garden of Eden, leading the flock farther and farther away from Heaven and ever closer to Hell, thereby transforming the Catholic Church that is impervious to Satan's temptations to one that seems to encourage their proliferation insidiously.

The words etched upon the Catholic Church by the blood that was poured out of the suffering Christ is not subject to local interpretation within an ecclesiastical jurisdiction.  God speaks with one voice that is crystal clear that lasts through the ages, not to be contaminated by the prevailing mores of the time that are vulnerable to evil influences, be it indifference or in direct opposition to God's Truth.

If some of the words in the Bible may at times be subject to interpretation, allowing mistakes to occur, by inadvertence, by well-intentioned ignorance or by premeditated political expediency, the words spoken directly by the Mother of God and the Son of God to the visionaries are not.

It is the words that the Son of God and the Mother of God gave to the world through the visionaries, not just in San Nicolás and Kibeho, but elsewhere as well, that strip Catholicism down to its original nakedness,  just as Jesus was naked when He was born, Who by His birth gave Catholicism its first universal breath of air for the peoples of the world to inhale, so that their souls can be awakened to the possibility of eternal peace.

In a similar way that the tormented souls in Hell are oblivious to Heavenly peace, the joyous souls in Heaven are shielded from the Hell's sufferings.  Between Heaven and Hell is Earth where life is being lived, where one is able to experience both torment and peace, depending on the choices one makes.  It is during one's life that one has to choose between an eternity in Heaven or an eternity in Hell.

It is not by chance that people of different cultures speaking different languages all happen to be aware of death, leading them to conclude that life is temporary, even though many are in denial of the inevitable out of fear, not so much of death which is known but what happens afterward which is unknown.  It is also not by chance that the concept of eternity is familiar to all because every person comes from a Creator Who is eternal and has been given a soul that is eternal.  Eternity of soul is therefore real, as is transiency of life.  Acceptance of the former during life is optional but acceptance of the latter is forced upon the living since everybody dies, after which the acceptance of the former is no longer optional.

In this amorphous span of timelessness that is eternity that Christ and His Mother through their chosen visionaries have time and time again try to impress upon man, that eternity in Heaven is undeniably real, leaving the other eternal reality for man himself to deduce, which should be apparent.

If one does not comprehend Hell, let General William Tecumseh Sherman who said, "War is Hell," [2] bring enlightenment.  Even those who have never experienced the horrors of wars and their aftermath can imagine them, and those in the movie-making business can certainly bring such vividness to the screen, despite the skewed story lines in some of these movies.  People suffer the same during wars regardless of the side they may be on.  All are children of God.  One can be fairly sure that General Sherman was not the only one who thought that war was Hell, anyone who has survived the Rwandan Genocide would probably think likewise.

Yet, the lessons of prayer and conversion told to the visionaries in Kibeho, Rwanda, before the Rwandan Genocide, are still not being heeded, for wars are still being waged and war-mongers are still alive and well in their transitory and prideful lives sitting like royalties on their empty thrones wielding power of destruction without regard to human lives and suffering.  May they accept what they believe to be inevitable on earth as nonchalantly as they accept the inevitable eternity that awaits their souls.

Everyone, especially those who send others to die in wars in the comfort of their seats, ought to have a personal taste of Heaven and Hell.  The world has samples of each to try, then increase the intensity exponentially beyond imagination's limits and one should have a vague idea of what truly is an eternity in either Heaven or Hell.

With eternity just around the corner of every one's life, the length of which is not guaranteed, one ought to pay attention to the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Her Son which peel away the layers of authority of the Catholic Church, returning Catholicism to its infancy, a point that is its purest, undefiled by Sin and its variations.

Admittedly, the many messages delivered by visionaries to the world carry a sense of urgency, as if a fire from Heaven would consume one immediate future should one not act expediently in accord with what had been instructed.  On how quickly one should act is where peoples of the world do not see eye to eye with Jesus and His Mother.  Many think that the urgency built into Their messages has been greatly exaggerated to the point of nonsense since much time has passed and there is still no Apocalyptic event, but could they be wrong?  Yes, because the reference of time in Heaven is different from that on earth.

What Heaven sees always is eternity which is timeless.  What earthlings see is a defined lifetime and for them, in their short-sightedness, it seems as if life is an eternity for nobody who is in good health or not so good health expects to die in an Apocalyptic event tomorrow, and when tomorrow arrives, there is yet another, until there is no more tomorrow left which is when eternity begins.  Since nobody knows if any one day is without a tomorrow, following the words of Christ and His Mother should not be postponed, because it is not worthwhile to risk an eternity of suffering only because one has procrastinated in making the right choices starting immediately.  The Apocalyptic event for humanity is biblical but there is another apocalyptic event that is far more familiar, an unexpected death.  Seriously, who in the world expects to die in the next few moments other than those at gunpoint?  Is it therefore not reasonable to conclude that every death is a small, personal apocalyptic event, and it is this event that the urgency of prayer and conversion becomes ever so critical in light of what is to come, an eternity of suffering or an eternity of peace?


[1] http://www.dictionary.com/browse/catholicism
[2] http://www.totalgettysburg.com/william-tecumseh-sherman-quotes.html, paragraph 6, last sentence.

The Magnificat - Annotated

The Magnificat [1]:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. [The obedient, humble and suffering Mother of God.]
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit. [Scattered about in a place nobody wishes to go.]

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, [Mighty in their power, pride and self-righteousness.]
and has lifted up the lowly. [Lowly in their acceptance of their respective places on earth with humility, contentment, forgiveness and love but without envy, complaint, vindictiveness and bitterness.]
He has filled the hungry with good things, [Hungry not for food that satiates bodily hunger but for the Bread of Life that is the Body (and the Path) of Christ; good things are blessings and blessings in disguise, those that people do not even know that blessings have taken place.]
and the rich he has sent away empty. [The rich are not those who are economically well-to-do but anyone who is self-sufficient who do not see a need for God and for perseverance in prayer; therefore, during their lives they will find emptiness and seek desperately to fill it with a plethora of worldly addictions that Satan offers as temptations that will only create an even larger void.]

He has come to the help of his servant Israel [He has, indeed, as Jesus, the Son of God, but was rejected, and Israel would not become His servant.]
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.   

(Lk 1:46-55)

[1] https://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/prayers/magnificat.htm

The Question That Is Seldom Asked: "Do I deserve God's Mercy?"

Especially with this Vatican, this blogger has become numb to the word "mercy" so tirelessly repeated by the pope, as if God's mercy were "free money" that is handed out to all, even without asking for it, and certainly without any afterthought of gratitude.  What the pope does not often ask of his flock is whether anyone out there ever reflects on whether one deserves God's mercy.

In this modern world of self-absorption, full of self-congratulatory people who feel that they are self-entitled without reference to anyone else, including their Blessed Mother and Her son, humility in questioning oneself may not be politically wise to ask of people, but anyone who plays the politics of the day is not following the footsteps of the Lord, Who stood His ground until the end, not with His feet but by hanging off a wooden cross with three nails.

In the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary in San Nicolás, Argentina [1]:

     My dear children, the day will come when you will be called by the Lord.  Your mother desires that on that day, He will find your body and your soul in good health.  Offer yourselves to the Lord and, little by little, He is going to change your hearts.  Pray:

     With Christ on my side,
     My weakness disappears.
     His Love nourishes me
     And multiplies my strength.
     I give thanks to Jesus
     Who has known how to awaken me.  (8/27/84, #262).


How often does one perform with honesty and humility a self-examination of one's body that is inextricably linked to one's soul to see whether they are in good health as a single unit?

"On September, 29, 1989, Feast of the Archangels, the Blessed Virgin observed their role in this matter:

     They defend the soul from the perils of the devil; they open in the soul a way of light in the midst of darkness.  They restore health of body and prepare the soul to desire spiritual salvation with the greatest intensity.  (#1720)." [2]

Do people even think about the angels?



[1] Laurentin, Father René.  An Appeal From Mary In Argentina.  Translated by Juan Gonzalez Jr., Ph.D. (Milford, Ohio: Faith Publishing Company, 1990), 106.
[2] Ibid., 106-7.

Sexual Orientation Of Priests, Brothers and Seminarians

This is not a topic that gives this blogger joy, but the unabating noises surrounding homosexuality in the Catholic Church cannot be ignored.

It can be concluded that every human being has a certain sexual inclination.  Where it lies is beyond is the scope of this blog although within it is a space for this blogger's opinion: that those who have made a commitment to serve and love God ought to serve and love only  God.

Serving and loving God only means serving and loving God to the exclusion of one's being.  If one is uncertain as to what that entails, one needs only to look to Christ, His single-mindedness in loving God and fulfilling God's Will despite knowing ahead of time that He would suffer betrayal, pain and humiliation before being nailed to the cross.  Those who have taken vows and about to take vows to serve and love God ought to have the same mindset as Christ.

There is no dispute that men who are called to do God's work are human with the propensity to sin but that does not mean that predispositions to sin cannot be restrained.  It is one's unwillingness to sacrifice oneself that one gains permission to enter into one's imaginary world that contains only fleeting and deceitful perfection that leads one to believe falsely that both the mind and the flesh can be satiated, even as this false belief kills one's spirit ever so imperceptibly with a darkness that thickens over time that eventually covers up and extinguishes the light and the love that the spirit depends on to stay alive.

Therefore, it should make no difference whatsoever what one's sexual inclination is when one is committed to sacrifice oneself, to die to oneself, in order to be alive in God. However, if one is unable to substitute one's passion for Christ for one's addiction to the pleasures of the world, then one ought to consider not taking vows and do something else instead.

The ideal does not match up often with reality and hence, an article entitled Vatican Expert Says Its Homophobia Is Partly Due to So Many Priests Being Gay  has been published by horntapp.com  on August 5, 2017, the entirety of which is quoted further down below, without hyperlinks, images and other references. [1]  The fact that articles such as the one quoted below are being written is not the fault of the Catholic Church, but the fault of those who have failed in their commitment to God, to serve and love only God but have instead have chosen to love and serve their own desires instead.  Those who blame the Church for their own failures should have never bothered to enter the Church as a religious.  That way, they would not have to be bitter and unforgiving, which is exactly the opposite of what a religious ought to be, which is to be always joyful in spreading the Gospel and loving of others.

Here is the article:

In the most recent episode of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation podcast The Current, hostess Anna Maria Tremonti spoke with former seminarian and Vatican expert Robert Mickens who said, “There are a large number … of people in the priesthood and in religious life who have homosexual orientation,” adding “What you end up having are a lot of self-loathing, homophobic homosexuals in the priesthood.”

The Vatican and entire Catholic priesthood are apparently very, very gay 

Mickens himself chose to leave the seminary when he fell in love with a fellow male seminarian. He lived in Rome at the time, and spoke to Tremonti about what he saw when he started going to Rome’s gay nightclubs and hotspots:

“Starting to go to gay places, you know, clubs and the beach … and I was running into all kinds of priests and even seminarians, people who worked at the Vatican. Gay bathhouses, I’d meet priests there. I met people who are bishops today. I pity these people because I know they must live double-lives. I don’t know how they do it. I think people end up self-destructing.

“I know a number of priests who have partners or who have ‘special friends’ from various stages of platonic to full-blown almost husband-and-husband relationships. The church and certainly the Vatican is certainly a homoerotic place. Take a look or walk through the Vatican museums. It’s all genitalia all over the place….

“And look at the rituals, the young men who sing at these things — it’s all men up there. The[y] bring out the pretty ones, you know. Look at the bishops, look at who their secretaries are — it’s always the pretty one. And they’re blind to it. There’s nothing going on, but it’s eye candy; they love surrounding themselves. They wear dresses for God’s sake.

“In the Vatican, it’s basically as long as you’re discreet, you don’t get caught. But once you do, you’re all on your own. We’re not going to help you.”

According to Tremonti, a 2002 poll by The L.A. Times revealed that 15% of American priests identify as gay or “somewhere in between leaning on the homosexual side” — 23% of younger priests identify the same way. However, she also said that many gay priests that she has talked to say that the percentage is much higher, as high as 70%.

Mickens thinks the church wants to keep homosexuality a taboo so that “those pious young men” will continue to think of priesthood as a noble profession rather than simply as way to live a gay life. He also says that if the church began openly accepting its gay clergy and laymen, it would lose a great deal of support from its larger worldwide ministry. Put another way, the power of homophobia fuels the church, even though large numbers of homosexuals help run it.

The story of a closeted Vatican insider who stood up to its homophobia 

In the same podcast, Krzysztof Charamsa, a gay defrocked Polish priest (pictured in the featured image at top) said, “The Catholic Church is the principal political agency of homophobic position in the world. Very powerful.”

From 2003 until 2015, Charamsa worked as a senior add at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that writes and enforces Catholic rules. For most of his time there, his boss was Joseph Ratzinger, the cardinal who would later become Pope Benedict XVI (or as we liked to call him, Papa Ratzi), a pope who issued numerous statements against LGBTQ people including one calling them “intrinsically disordered” and calling homosexuality an “inherent moral evil.”

When asked of his opinion about the church’s stance on homosexuality, Charamsa (who was painfully closeted and still working at the Vatican) affirmed its goodness and then privately cried in his office afterwards.

He eventually fell in love with a man from Barcelona named Eduard. “When I discovered that I love this man,” Charamsa told the podcast in broken English, “I think ‘You must say who you are.’ For us there was no possibility to double-life. For me, for my partner, it was impossible.”

Charamsa’s friends recommended against his coming out in fear that it would jeopardize his career, financial stability, pension and influential standing in the church, but he came out in October 2015 anyway, introducing his partner to international journalists. During the announcement, he slammed the Vatican for its “paranoid homophobia” and apologized for his own complicity in the church’s demonization of gay people.

Though he issued his resignation, the Vatican formally fired and defrocked him soon after. He lost his pension, his status and is now forbidden from teaching in any Catholic university. He has since become an advocate for LGBTQ rights and Catholic reform. He also says that living with Eduard in Barcelona has helped him understand the love of family, feeling that people now love him completely because he is whole.

However, in his home country of Poland, Charamsa says, Catholic homophobia looms large, making LGBTQ people and even his family (who sometimes get ridiculed for his famous coming out) miserable. He recently appeared in Article 18, a documentary about Poland’s refusal of same-sex marriage.

Though he appreciates that the current Pope has encouraged Catholics to embrace LGBTQ people rather than demonize them, Charamsa says, “If the Church can’t make a serious, scientific reflection on homosexuality and include it in its teachings, even the Holy Father’s openings and warm words on gays are empty.”

The Catholic Church already has included homosexuality in its teachings (see CCC n. 2357-9 [2]) but perhaps not to Charamsa's liking because they are neither "serious" nor "scientific" enough for him.  Did he not know that those paragraphs were probably written especially for the gay Catholic priests, brothers and seminarians?  Did he not know that the Vatican, monasteries and seminaries are places dedicated to serving and loving God only, and not places for men to meet and fall in love and to carry on certain consensual relationships?  Did he not know that for someone to encourage a religious who has been called to serve and love God to love and serve that someone is taking away from God against the Will of God?  Is there no truth at all in the following statements?  "Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection." [3]

Charamsa has attained what he wanted, or perhaps what he thought he had wanted.  This blogger wishes him well and that his spirit will continue to seek the light and love of the Holy Spirit and be guided by Him and not be suffocated by a darkness that cannot be lifted.

It is painful for Christ Who is love Who thirsts for love to live without love from man, but for man to live without the love of Christ will turn out to be immeasurably more painful for man than for Christ.



[1] https://hornetapp.com/stories/vatican-gay-priests/
[2] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm
[3] Ibid., at n. 2359.

Memorial Of The Blessed Virgin Mary

The Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary is new to this blogger.  He found out about it on this rare occasion when he attended Mass on a weekday, Tuesday, September 12.  A Google search revealed that there exists what is called the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  The Catholic Extension  describes it as follows [1]:

The Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary celebrates the interior life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We remember her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and above all, her love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus, and her compassionate love for all people. 

CatholicCulture.org  calls it the "Optional Memorial of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary" that takes place during "Ordinary Time: September 12th".  What follows is quoted below [2]:

On this day dedicated to the Holy Name of Mary let us repeat that wonderful prayer of Saint Bernard, responding to Pope Benedict XVI's invitation to “invite everyone to become a trusting child before Mary, even as the Son of God did. Saint Bernard says, and we say with him: 'Look to the star of the sea, call upon Mary … in danger, in distress, in doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary. May her name never be far from your lips, or far from your heart … If you follow her, you will not stray; if you pray to her, you will not despair; if you turn your thoughts to her, you will not err. If she holds you, you will not fall; if she protects you, you need not fear; if she is your guide, you will not tire; if she is gracious to you, you will surely reach your destination”' (Benedict XVI, address at Heiligenkreuz Abbey, September 9, 2007). [Ellipsis ... original.]

One can suppose that a small percentage of the world's population and media actually cares about the Blessed Virgin Mary, and when a Blessed Virgin Mary's day is optional, She is even more inconspicuous.  However, the Blessed Virgin Mary's obscurity has never discouraged the Blessed Mother from reaching out to Her children.  When the Blessed Virgin Mary wants certain people to know that She exists and is real, She has ways to let them know.  The latest apparition that this blogger learned about just yesterday was Her appearance at Knock, in Ireland.  Catholic.org  published a report on June 17, 2017, entitled ACCURATELY PREDICTED: Our Lady appears to thousands in Knock, Ireland, quoted in part below [3]:

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - The footage is emotional and difficult to believe, but it is genuine and verified by the cameras of hundreds of other eyewitnesses. A crowd of people gathered in Knock, Ireland at 3 PM, June 10, saw a promised vision of the Virgin Mary in the sky.

The sun appeared as an elongated shape in the videos, not as a circle. Rays of light were also captured on camera. As clouds passed before the sun, filtering out the brightest light, people were able to look directly at the vision. They reported the vision moved, and spun, a classic miracle of the sun, often associated with apparitions of the Virgin Mary.

The sight alone is moving and astounding. There is no evidence on video that is so clearly genuine or so remarkable. But what makes this apparition even more compelling is that it was predicted by a 14-year-old boy.

As we can gather, the boy visited the shrine at Fatima, Portugal[, in May] [4] and met one of the visionaries from Medjugorje. The visionary spoke in Portuguese, but the boy was able to understand, despite not speaking the language. He told his father of the pending apparition. The father then posted on social media: "For two days our son seen Our Lady in Fatima and he seen the visionaries.

"The visionary from Medjugorje was speaking to him in Portuguese and (he) was able to understand every word out of her mouth.

"On the tenth of June we will be going to Knock and whoever wants to come is welcome. Our Lady will appear...

"Whoever wants to be there at three o' clock Our Lady will come down, I can't say if the three visionaries will be there, but I know Our Lady will be there.

"It's out there for everybody who believes in it."

Right on cue, the apparition took place, astonishing believers and skeptics alike.

There is a short video at -0.53 to -0.52 [5] published on June 13, 2017, by MYSTIC POST  that was accessed online today that showed a bright spot emerging from a gray cloud that for only a moment took the unmistakable shape of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  However, the video does not show the amazing image of the Blessed Mother found on Google Images that belongs to mysticpost.com [6] (see below):

http://mysticpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/19030191_1542194585812713_2519829506423351735_n.jpg

The Blessed Mother was not kidding when She said, "I am the Woman clothed in the sun..." when She spoke to Gladys in San Nicolás, Argentina, on August 3, 1988, message number 1479. [7]


[1] https://www.catholicextension.org/memorial-immaculate-heart-mary
[2] https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2017-09-12
[3] http://www.catholic.org/news/hf/faith/story.php?id=75183
[4] http://mysticpost.com/2017/06/incredible-story-14-year-old-boy-says-the-virgin-will-appear-watch-crowds-flock-to-knock-shrine-as-image-of-virgin-mary-appears-in-clouds-our-lady-appeared-in-knock-today-astonishing-never/
[5] http://mysticpost.com/2017/06/image-of-virgin-mary-does-appear-at-knock-ireland-video-disappears-from-facebook/
[6] http://mysticpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/19030191_1542194585812713_2519829506423351735_n.jpg
[7] Laurentin, Father René.  An Appeal From Mary In Argentina.  Translated by Juan Gonzalez Jr., Ph.D. (Milford, Ohio: Faith Publishing Company, 1990), 88.

The Holy Trinity - According To The Blessed Virgin Mary

The following is quoted from the book An Appeal From Mary In Argentina  by Father René Laurentin [1]:


"The message of San Nicolás completely refers us to the Trinity.  Since 1983, the Blessed Virgin invited Gladys to say this prayer:

     Blessed be the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  It is in the midst of the Holy Trinity that you will find Peace and eternal life.  (12/6/83, Pérez #30).

"During a fasting of three days, which makes her thoroughly receptive to the Holy Spirit, Our Lady tells her:

     It is not a penance.  It is the spiritual preparation which the Lord asks of you.  (Ibid.)

"The messages regarding the Trinity continue:

     I ask my children to love and to glorify the Most Holy Trinity.  Do not look for an answer to that which is forbidden to mankind.  The Most Holy Trinity remains the Secret of God.  Only He knows it and it only belongs to Him alone. Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  (6/13/87, #1198).

     I ask my children to believe in the Holy Trinity, to love the Most Holy Trinity.  Love the Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth; love the Son, Redeemer of mankind; love the Holy Spirit, Light of Hope.  The child cannot be strengthened if it is not through the Father.  He can save his soul only if the Son saves it.  He can renew his spirit only if the Spirit Himself renews him.  Glorify the Triune God.  May He be praised and blessed forever and ever.  (7/11/88, #1461).

"According to this recommendation, Gladys received the inspiration for a prayer, on December 6, 1988, the Feast of St. Nicholas:

     Glory to the Father:
     Father, I glorify You for everything that You have created.

     Glory to the Son Jesus Christ:

     To You be glory for Your sorrowful Passion, for abandonment to the Father, and for Your Resurrection.

     Glory to the Holy Spirit:

    Glory to You for the Light which You give to the world, for the love which You spread in the world.
    Blessed be You, one and Triune God, because of Your great mercy.  (12/6/88, #1568).

"On the same day, December 6th, the Blessed Virgin told Gladys:

     My heart of a mother claims the love my my children, toward the Most Blessed Trinity:

           God the Father:  Power and Love,

           God the Son:  Love thirsting for love,

           Holy Spirit:  Light and Love.

     The Holy Trinity perfectly shows the love of God for souls.  Most Holy Trinity, so often rejected and denied!  Walk under Its splendor which reflects so much love.  (12/6/88, #1569).

"On the Feast of the Holy Trinity, Mary, Its holy temple par excellence, invited her to meet this supreme love:

     I let all your brothers know that the Holy Trinity wants to come to all of the souls through the intermediary of my heart.  The perfect love of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit wants to purify us.  Respond to this proof of love, invisible but real; [let this be your response], visible and sincere--your conversion.  (5/21/89, #1658)."

[1] Laurentin, Father René.  An Appeal From Mary In Argentina.  Translated by Juan Gonzalez Jr., Ph.D. (Milford, Ohio: Faith Publishing Company, 1990), 101-2.

Salvation For All - Is Possible With God But Not Necessarily A Given

The following is quoted from the book An Appeal From Mary In Argentina  by Father René Laurentin [1]:


"St. Paul says that God wants all to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4).
"The perspective of universal salvation, given by God, dominates the messages from the beginning.  It is a recurring theme:

     The Lord gives His light.  Permit it to illuminate you and it will deliver the sinner from all chastisement.  In His time the Lord will make known the greatness of His works.  (2/19/84, #56)

     You ask yourselves whether the Lord can forgive those who forget His existence.  And I say to you: yes, my dear children, the Lord can do it because of His great mercy.  Yet, do not abuse the goodness of God, and cling to my mantle with strength for it will really cleanse you, and will present you pure before the Lord.  (2/28/86, #811).

"And still on September 16, 1986:

     God all powerful will save him who recognizes the Lord, as well as the unbeliever.  Blessed be His power!  (#969).

"She invites us to rely on her, her loving presence as mother in the sanctuary of San Nicholás:

     My daughter, it is because of a minority of good people that many evil ones will find salvation.  Through prayer, I mean to say, through the persevering prayer of true Christians, many will be saved.  Such is the reason for my presence and the meaning of my messages which are eventually the Word of the Lord.  (12/15/86, #1046)."  [Italics  original.] [2]

[1] Laurentin, Father René.  An Appeal From Mary In Argentina.  Translated by Juan Gonzalez Jr., Ph.D. (Milford, Ohio: Faith Publishing Company, 1990), 103-4.
[2] This blogger has always maintained that there is no blanket mercy for all from God, in particular those who, to the very end, refuse to recognize the Lord.  Here, the Blessed Mother said that God is all powerful and will save the believer in the Lord "as well as" the "unbeliever."  This shows the power of God over Satan who thinks that it has won over a soul for eternity when the soul has chosen to reject God and that God has no power over that choice.  Apparently, this is wrong.  God is all powerful: "Blessed be His power!" said the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Then, in a subsequent message, making sure that people are not mistaken by thinking they they are entitled to God's power and mercy in their favor no matter what they do, what they believe or not believe in, that they will have salvation and go to Heaven, the Blessed Mother said that many (not all) evil ones will find salvation through the "persevering prayer" of "true Christians" as opposed to perhaps "occasional prayers" of hypocritical, opportunistic or superficial ones.  These words of the Blessed Mother, in this blogger's opinion, mean that those whose hearts are filled with love, purity and humility have much work to do, helping the Blessed Mother pray for those who do evil, especially the powerful ones whose decisions and actions have caused so much pain and suffering to so many people, including those most vulnerable, robbing them of their lives and displacing them from their homes without seemingly the least bit of regret while basking in their pride and short-lived earthly glory from the perspective of those just like them who are deaf and blind to the Lord.  One day, perhaps this blogger will pray with perseverance for these evil people, out of love and not of a sense of obligation, but that day will have to wait, for his heart is not quite yet the one the Blessed Mother is looking for, one that is full of love, purity and humility.

Consecration To The Immaculate Heart Of The Blessed Virgin Mary

The following is quoted from the book An Appeal From Mary In Argentina  by Father René Laurentin [1]:

"Our Lady invites us to a true consecration.  It is the root of all holiness.  Consecration is our deification for Eternity.  God alone, then, is its beginning and end.

"On February 12, 1988, she states her specific role in this consecration:

     My daughter, when a heart opens up to the heart of a mother, it stays there.  When a heart abandons itself to the heart of a mother, she will shape it and guide it to her Son. In this heart will be found purity, love, humility, for it deals with the heart of her who loves her Son, and who obeys Him.  (#1353).

"If at times the Blessed Virgin refers consecration to her Immaculate Heart, it is as a relay, a way, a path to God, for eventually it is a consecration (deification) only to God, and through God.  And the message of Mary expresses this fundamental truth very well; whence this prayer which she inspires in Gladys on August 10, 1986:

'Most beloved Mother, teach me to love Jesus.  Make me worthy of Jesus and of you, my Mother!  And may the consecration of this day unite me more to you and your Son. Amen!'

"To Christ, first of all, and in Him, to Mary.

'Afterwards, she said to me:'

     Your brothers can recite this prayer on the day of their consecration to my Heart.  The consecration will not deprive the Christian of his freedom.  It will not annihilate it.  But it will make him grow interiorly.  It will permit spiritual renewal of each day.  It will allow it to introduce itself into my heart, and to nourish itself there completely.  Thus they will love Jesus in a total manner by passing through my heart.  My heart gives and it demands, but it does not ask for the impossible.  (8/10/86, #939).

"Mary is at the service of the supreme and gratuitous freedom of God, and of the freedom of mankind, which cannot be fulfilled except in harmony with the Supreme Freedom.  Our deification is inscribed in the wake of the basic conversion---that which Jesus made of His humanity, and of all humanity in the womb of Mary, on the day of the Annunciation through the hypostatic union.

"God, Who alone consecrates, does not do anything without us.  Consecration is then also a free act, our irreplaceable commitment.  It is done through prayer.

     This is what I tell those who are consecrated to me:

     Renew yourself through prayer, through an intense prayer.

  I want perseverance, I want fidelity.  I want authentic consecrated souls.  I want you with me; you have approached my heart.  You have introduced yourselves into my heart; continue in it.  Offer, my children, together with your love, your spirit of penance.  (3/24/87, #1135).

"The request become more pressing beginning in 1988:

     This consecration does not demand either paper or formula, because this consecration will go straight to my heart [ . . . ].  It will only be received by my heart.  (5/25/88, day of the monthly pilgrimage, #1426).

...

"One of the last messages (February 2, 1990) exhorts those who are committed through vows in consecration:

  I ask my consecrated children to give their mother everything she requests.
     That they devote at least an hour each day to prayer.
     That they receive Communion daily.
     That they be humble.
     That they be at the complete service of Mary.
  That they be pleasing to God each day by living as consecrated souls.
     That they be united to the Love of her Son.
    That they ask for the Grace to live under the Light of the Holy Spirit.
    The consecration must be made on a special feast of the Mother.  Such is the consecration which I ask in my sanctuary.  (#1798)." [Emphasis and italics  original.]

[1] Laurentin, Father René.  An Appeal From Mary In Argentina.  Translated by Juan Gonzalez Jr., Ph.D. (Milford, Ohio: Faith Publishing Company, 1990), 95-8.

The Joyful Mysteries Of The Rosary

The following is quoted from the book An Appeal From Mary In Argentina  by Father René Laurentin [1]:

     "The Annunciation:  Never as on that day when the Angel Gabriel told me that I would be the Mother of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, have I experienced similar joy.  I did not understand, and still my faith, my great faith, permitted me to immediately say  Yes.

     My Visitation to Elizabeth  [ . . . ]:  She called me 'blessed among women,' and it is thus that they still call me, and that they will call me always, throughout Eternity.

     The Birth of Jesus:  After having spent long hours looking for shelter, we arrived with Joseph at this stable and there, during this very cold night, Jesus was born, very poorly, being kept warm by my warmth as a mother.

     Jesus is Presented in the Temple:  Joseph, my Child, and I went there.  Simeon was there.  He prophesied to me that the sword would pierce my heart.  (Lk. 2:35)

     After having thought that He was lost:  We find Jesus again.  We found Him again, preaching the Word of His Father among the Doctors of the Law.  At the age of 12 He was already the best and the most faithful of the preachers. My Son filled me with joy from the moment of His Annunciation, and He still fills me with joy by permitting me to be near Him today, in order to call souls to conversion.  (1/25/88, #1342)."  [Emphasis and italics  original.]

[1] Laurentin, Father René.  An Appeal From Mary In Argentina.  Translated by Juan Gonzalez Jr., Ph.D. (Milford, Ohio: Faith Publishing Company, 1990), 84-5.

The Glorious Mysteries Of The Rosary

The following is quoted from the book An Appeal From Mary In Argentina  by Father René Laurentin [1]:


"On August 3, 1988, it was Our Lady who commented on the Glorious Mysteries.

     You see, Gladys, on the day of the Crucifixion of My Son, my suffering was great.
     But the emotion of  His Resurrection was even greater.  He had already announced it to His disciples.  I was expecting it, knowing that He would rise.  I never doubted His Word.  After the great suffering, it was joy in the certainty that He would be in the heights near His Father.

     The Ascension of Jesus: He is in Heaven Body and Soul, and from there, He observes the hearts and penetrates them in order to be able to act according to His designs.

     The Descent of the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit descended while I was praying with the apostles and the Holy Spirit strengthened their spirits.

     I was taken up to Heaven, body and soul also, thanks to the mercy of the Father, to the love of the Son, and to the power of the Holy Spirit.  After Heaven, in my glorified body near my Son, I intercede for the needs of children.

     I am the Mother of everything that has been created by God.  I am the Woman clothed in the sun, the new Eve, she who will lead mankind to the Light.  She who will make Eternity accessible to them.  Amen.  Amen! Make it known. (#1479)"  [Emphasis and italics  original.]

[1] Laurentin, Father René.  An Appeal From Mary In Argentina.  Translated by Juan Gonzalez Jr., Ph.D. (Milford, Ohio: Faith Publishing Company, 1990), 87-8.

The Sorrowful Mysteries Of The Rosary

The following is quoted from the book An Appeal From Mary In Argentina  by Father René Laurentin [1]:

"On January 18, 1989, it is the voice of Jesus which commented on the Sorrowful Mysteries:

First Mystery:  I prayed only that the Will of My Father be fulfilled.
Second Mystery:  In spite of the offenses, I accepted everything out of love.
Third Mystery:  While the outrages and the mockery followed, I suffered out of love.
Fourth Mystery:  I was stoned and, at each fall, I prayed to My Father so that He might forgive those who insulted Me.
Fifth Mystery:  My love grew while My strength was giving out.  I experienced the cold of death in My Body and, at the same time, the Will of My Father was being fulfilled.  My Body was going to be glorified.  It went away to Him.
    At the present time, I am in each tabernacle.  My Body wishes to be adored there, just as in each Eucharistic Sacrifice.  It wants to be the eternal food for souls until I definitely go to them.   (1/17/89, #1599)."  [Emphasis and italics  original]. [2]

[1] Laurentin, Father René.  An Appeal From Mary In Argentina.  Translated by Juan Gonzalez Jr., Ph.D. (Milford, Ohio: Faith Publishing Company, 1990), 87.
[2] As quoted, the dates do not match up by a day.  On top, the date in the book read January 18,1989, but inside the parenthesis, it read 1/17/89.

AMORIS LÆTITIA Revisited

Quoted in its entirety below (with hyperlinks) is an article published by Catholic News Agency  entitled Cardinal Caffarra explains the reasons behind the dubia  dated January 16, 2017, [1] with annotations in brackets:

Bologna, Italy, Jan 16, 2017 / 04:44 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In an interview with an Italian daily published Saturday, Cardinal Carlo Caffarra discussed at length the questions which exist about the interpretation of Amoris laetitia, Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation on love in the family.

Cardinal Caffarra, the emeritus Archbishop of Bologna who was head of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family from 1981 to 1995, spoke to Matteo Matzuzzi of Il Foglio in an interview published Jan. 14.

He is among the four cardinals who authored a letter with five dubia, or doubts, about the interpretation of Amoris laetitia, requesting that Pope Francis “resolve the uncertainties and bring clarity.” Their letter was sent privately to the Pope Sept. 19, but released to the public two months later.

The letter and its dubia “were long reflected on, for months … for my part, they were also the subject of lengthy prayer before the Most Blessed Sacrament,” Cardinal Caffarra explained to Il Foglio.

The four cardinals believed themselves obliged to submit the dubia because of their role in counselling the Pope, and because of “the fact – which only a blind man could deny – that in the Church there exists great confusion, uncertainty, insecurity caused by some paragraphs of Amoris laetitia.”  [Was Cardinal Caffarra suggesting that maybe Bergoglio was blind?]

“In these months, in terms of fundamental questions regarding the sacramental economy (marriage, confession, and the Eucharist) and the Christian life, some bishops have said A, some others have said the contrary of A, with the intention of interpreting well the same text.”

Cardinal Caffarra said that “the way out of this 'conflict of interpretations' was to have recourse to fundamental theological criteria of interpretation, the use of which I think can reasonably demonstrate that Amoris laetitia does not contradict Familiaris consortio.”

And yet, he said, “we saw that this epistemological model would not suffice. The contrast between the two interpretations continued,” and so the only way to address the question was to ask the author of Amoris laetitia to clarify it.  [Cardinal Caffarra refused to say the obvious.]

Out of respect for the Pope, the four cardinals chose to submit their dubia privately, deciding to make them public only “when we had certainty that the Holy Father would not respond … we interpreted his silence as authorisation to continue the theological discussion. And, moreover, the problem profoundly involves both the magisterium of the bishops (which, lest we forget, they exercise not by the delegation of the Pope but on the basis of the sacrament which they have received) and the life of the faithful.”

The cardinal noted that scandal on the part of the faithful had been growing, “as though we comported ourselves like the dogs who did not bark,” alluding to Isaiah 56:10, in which the prophet says the Lord's watchmen “are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.”  [This dog still barks even though he loves to dream and slumber.]

He also added that division in the Church “is the cause of the letter, not its effect.”

Cardinal Caffarra pointed to the example of a pastor who had written him saying that “In spiritual direction and in confession I don't know what to say” when confronted by penitents who wish to receive Communion despite their adulterous situation, and cite the Pope in their defence.

“The situation of many pastors of souls, I mean above all parish priests, is this,” the cardinal continued: “there is on their shoulders a burden too hard to bear.”

Cardinal Caffarra charged that speaking of too great a division between doctrine and pastoral practice is a grave problem: “To think pastoral practice is not founded and rooted in doctrine signifies that the foundation and root of pastoral practice is arbitrary. A Church which pays little attention to doctrine is not a more pastoral Church, but a more ignorant Church.” [Was Cardinal Caffarra suggesting that Bergoglio was ignorant too, or just the Church under his papacy?]

He continued, “When I hear it said that this is only a pastoral change, and not a doctrinal one, or that the commandment prohibiting adultery is a purely positive law which can be changed (and I think no righteous person can think this), this signifies that yes a triangle has generally three sides, but that it is possible to construct one with four sides. That is, I say, an absurdity.”  [Did Cardinal Caffarra say that Bergoglio's Amoris Lætitia was a 4-sided triangle?]

Cardinal Caffarra also discussed the notion of “development of doctrine,” which is at times used to invoke the admission of the divorced-and-remarried to Communion.

He said that “if there is one clear point, it is that there is no evolution where there is contradiction. If I say that S is P and then I say that S is not P, the second proposition does not develop the first, but contradicts it. Already Aristotle had justly taught that enunciating a universal affirmative principle (e.g., all adultery is wrong) and at the same time a particular negative proposition having the same subject and predicate (e.g., some adultery is not wrong), this is not making an exception to the first. It is contradicting it.”

The dubia, he noted, were meant to clarify whether or not Amoris laetitia is a development of the preceding Magisterium, or a contradiction of it – as both interpretations have been taken by some bishops.

“Has Amoris laetitia taught that, given certain circumstances and after going through a certain process, the [divorced-and-remarried] faithful could receive the Eucharist without resolving to live in continence? There are bishops who have taught that this is possible,” the cardinal remarked. “By a simple deduction of logic, one must therefore also teach that adultery is not in and of itself evil.”  [Was Cardinal Caffarra suggesting that Bergoglio had contradicted one of the Ten Commandants?]

He affirmed that Amoris laetitia's value is that “it does not call pastors of souls to be content with responding 'no'” to the faithful, but that it calls them to help the faithful discern their situation.

Cardinal Caffarra maintained that the importance of the dubia is ensuring that bishops and pastors remember that there are intrinsically evil acts – which he noted can be known by reason, and was recognized first in the West by Socrates.

The cardinal then turned to misunderstandings of conscience. He clarified that conscience “is an act of reason … a judgement, not a decision,” and contrasted this with the understanding of conscience as “an unappealable tribunal on the goodness or evil of one's actions: one's subjectivity.”

He said the fifth dubium was the most important, for it regarded conscience, asking if the teaching “that conscience can never be authorised to legitimate exceptions to absolute moral norms that prohibit intrinsically evil acts by virtue of their object” still need be regarded as valid.

Cardinal Caffarra noted that a passage of Amoris laetitia seems “to admit the possibility that there can be a true judgement of conscience … in contradiction with what the Church teaches as pertaining to the deposit of divine Revelation. It seems. Therefore have we given the dubia to the Pope.”

The cardinal concluded by referring to Bl. John Henry Newman, who he said understood conscience “in a most lucid way”. The English convert recognised that private judgement cannot be elevated as “the ultimate criterion of moral truth.”

“Never say to a person: 'Always follow your conscience', without adding, always and immediately: 'love and seek the truth about the good'. Otherwise you would put in his hands the weapon most destructive of his humanity.”

Now that Cardinal Carlo Caffarra is dead, reportedly "after a long illness" [2], from which he was supposedly unable to recover (as opposed to from being poisoned as being one of many possibilities), one could assume that Bergoglio is relieved from having another thorn in his side drop off, "almost exactly two months after [Cardinal Caffarra's] friend and collaborator, Cardinal Joachim Meisner[, another Cardinal who criticized Bergoglio,]...passed away July 5 while on vacation in Bad Füssing, Germany." [3]


[1] http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal-caffarra-explains-the-reasons-behind-the-dubia-40937/
[2] http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/cardinal-carlo-caffarra-dies-at-79
[3] http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal-carlo-caffarra-second-of-four-dubia-cardinals-dies-at-79-19596/

Outspoken Critics Of Bergoglio's Papacy: Should They Be Afraid?

Should outspoken critics of Bergoglio and his papacy be afraid, be very afraid?  In a CNA  article entitled Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, second of four 'dubia' cardinals, dies at 79 dated September 6, 2017, Elise Harris reported as follows, quoted in part, with hyperlink [1]:

On Tuesday the Vatican announced that Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, Archbishop Emeritus of Bologna, has died at the age of 79.  He was known for pastoral and academic work in support of marriage and families, especially through the founding of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family.

No details regarding the late prelate's death were included in the Sept. 6 announcement of his passing. However, his death comes almost exactly two months after that of Caffar[r]a's friend and collaborator, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, who passed away "at the age of 83" [2] July 5 while on vacation in Bad Füssing, Germany.

Cardinals Caffar[r]a and Meisner were among the four cardinals who penned a letter with five “dubia,” or questions, about the interpretation of Amoris laetitia to Pope Francis, requesting that he “resolve the uncertainties and bring clarity.”

Signed by Cardinals Caffarra, Meisner, Walter Brandmüller, and Raymond Burke, the letter was sent to Pope Francis privately on Sept. 19, 2016, but was released to the public two months later.

The four cardinals believed themselves obliged to submit the dubia because of “the fact – which only a blind man could deny – that in the Church there exists great confusion, uncertainty, insecurity caused by some paragraphs of Amoris laetitia,” Caffarra said in a Jan. 14 interview with Matteo Matzuzzi of the Italian publication “Il Foglio.”

Were the deaths of Cardinal Carlo Caffarra and Cardinal Joachim Meisner by purposeful design or by natural causes? Who of the remaining two cardinals who "penned a letter with five 'dubia,' or questions, about the interpretation of Amoris laetitia to Pope Francis, requesting that he 'resolve the uncertainties and bring clarity'" [2] will be the next to die?

Should Cardinal Walter Brandmüller and Cardinal Raymond Burke be afraid, very afraid?  If Bergoglio had foreknowledge of Cardinals Meisner and Caffarra's impending deaths, "almost exactly two months" apart [4], should he be afraid, very afraid?

Here is Bergoglio's condolence message sent after the death of Cardinal Joachim Meisner, published by ZENIT  on July 5, 2017 [5]:

To HIS EMINENCE

THE CARDINAL RAINER WOELKI
ARCHBISHOP OF COLOGNE

“With profound emotion I learned that, suddenly and unexpectedly, Cardinal Joachim Meisner was called from this earth by the God of mercy. I am close to you and to all faithful of the Archdiocese of Cologne in prayer for the late Pastor. With profound faith and sincere love for the Church, Cardinal Meisner was dedicated to the proclamation of the Good News. May Christ the Lord reward him for his faithful and intrepid efforts in favor of the good of people of East and West and make him participant in the Communion of Saints in Heaven. From the heart, I impart my Apostolic Blessing upon all those who remember the deceased pastor with prayer and sacrifice.

POPE FRANCIS 

(subjective translation based on fantasy:  With profound and perhaps even secret relief and satisfaction, rather than sadness, I learned that, underscore these words in capital letters and make sure they are part of my telegram: SUDDENLY AND UNEXPECTEDLY, Cardinal Meisner was called from this earth... and so on...]

Compare the words that are missing from the above telegram with words in bold italics in the telegram below, sent by Bergoglio on the death of Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi [6]:

Telegram of the Holy Father

HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL ANGELO SCOLA
APOSTOLIC ADMINISTRATOR
HIS EXCELLENCY MSGR. MARIO DELPINI, ARCHBISHOP ELECT
PIAZZA FONTANA 2
20122 MILAN

UPON LEARNING OF THE PASSING OF DEAR CARDINAL DIONIGI TETTAMANZI, I WISH TO EXPRESS MY CONDOLENCES TO THE RELATIVES OF THIS DIOCESAN COMMUNITY, WHICH INCLUDES HIM AMONG HER MOST ILLUSTRIOUS SONS AND AMONG HER MOST AMIABLE AND BELOVED PASTORS. I THINK WITH AFFECTION AND I REMEMBER WITH GRATITUDE HIS INTENSE CULTURAL WORK AND PROFUSE PASTORAL MINISTRY OF THIS BLESSED BROTHER WHO IN HIS FRUITFUL EXISTENCE WITNESSED WITH JOY THE GOSPEL AND SERVED THE CHURCH OBEDIENTLY, FIRST AS A PRIEST IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF MILAN, THEN AS BISHOP OF ANCONA-OSIMO, SECRETARY OF THE ITALIAN EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE, ARCHBISHOP OF GENOA, THEN ARCHBISHOP OF THE BELOVED AMBROSIAN CHRUCH, AND FINALLY APOSTOLIC ADMINISTRATOR OF VIGEVANO. HE DISTINGUISHED HIMSELF AS A CARING PASTOR, TOTALLY DEVOTED TO THE NEEDS AND THE GOOD OF ALL PRIESTS AND FAITHFUL, WITH SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THEMES OF THE FAMILY, MARRIAGE AND BIOETHICS, IN WHICH HE WAS PARTICULARLY EXPERT. I RAISE MY PRAYER TO THE LORD THAT, BY THE INTERCESSION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, HE WELCOME THIS HIS FAITHFUL SERVANT, WHOM I GREATLY LOVED, IN JOY AND IN ETERNAL PEACE, AND I IMPART MY HEARTFELT APOSTOLIC BLESSING TO THOSE WHO MOURN HIS PASSING, WITH A SPECIAL THOUGHT FOR THOSE WHO LOVINGLY CARED FOR HIM IN THESE RECENT TIMES OF ILLNESS.

FRANCISCUS PP.

FROM THE VATICAN, 5 AUGUST 2017 [EMPHASIS added.]

Bergoglio's telegram on the death of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor is quoted below [7]:

Deeply saddened to learn of the death of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster, I hasten to offer my heartfelt condolences to you and to the clergy and faithful of the Archdiocese.  Recalling with immense gratitude the late Cardinal’s distinguished service to the Church in England and Wales, his unwavering devotion to the preaching of the Gospel and the care of the poor, and his far-sighted commitment to the advancement of ecumenical and interreligious understanding, I willingly join you in commending his noble soul to the infinite mercies of God our heavenly Father.  To all who mourn his passing in the sure hope of the Resurrection I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of consolation and strength in the Lord.

                                                           FRANCISCUS PP.

How deeply saddened was Bergoglio in learning of the death of Cardinal Carlo Caffarra remains to be seen in a telegram yet to be posted on the Internet, assuming that one would be sent eventally.  It would be interesting to see how much affection Bergoglio has for Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, and whether Bergoglio will raise his prayer to the Lord to welcome Cardinal Caffarra in joy and in eternal peace in the same way he raised his prayer to the Lord for Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi whom Bergoglio "deeply loved" [8] and if there would be any mention that Cardinal Caffarra who "in his fruitful existence witnessed with joy the Gospel [,especially after reading AMORIS LÆTITIA [9] written by me,] and served the Church [and me] obediently." [10]


[1] http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal-carlo-caffarra-second-of-four-dubia-cardinals-dies-at-79-19596/
[2] https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/07/05/cardinal-meisner-one-dubia-cardinals-dies-83/
[3] http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal-carlo-caffarra-second-of-four-dubia-cardinals-dies-at-79-19596/
[4] Ibid.
[5] https://zenit.org/articles/pope-sends-condolences-for-death-of-cardinal-meisner/
[6] http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2017/08/05/170805d.html
[7] http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/09/02/pope_sends_condolences_on_the_death_of_card_murphy_oconnor/1334246
[8] http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2017/08/05/170805d.html
[9] http://m.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia_en.pdf
[10] http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2017/08/05/170805d.html

The Cross The Pope Wears

Giuseppe Albrrizzi, the craftsman who crafted the cross that Bergoglio wears, said, "'The beauty of the cross is the meaning and simplicity it depicts: Christ the Good Shepherd leading the flock and carries the lost sheep on his shoulders. On the top of the cross is depicted the Holy Spirit.'" [1]

Here is a close-up of the cross:

From Google Images

The above design, molded into a wearable piece of ornament framed by the shape of a cross, is nice, but it does not depict the defining moment of Christ which is Christ's death on the cross.  Christ who was crucified wearing a crown of thorns was confirmed to be the Son of God by his Resurrection and by His Ascension.  The image on this piece of ornament can be any man carrying a sheep over his shoulders, and the bird above could a peregrine falcon diving for prey (see image below) without any religious significance whatsoever.  In other words, the image that is worn by this pope, framed by rounded perpendicular lines can very well be seen as a secular image for anyone, including atheists or atheist shepherds, to wear.

From Google Images

Why this pope chooses to wear an ornament with an image that depicts a man who does not have nail holes appearing on him anywhere is a mystery.  Is he afraid to be reminded of the true Christ?  Or is this pope a Satan surrogate who wants to stay as far away as often as possible from the real Crucifix with the image of the crucified Christ since it is the real Crucifix that exorcists use?

Perhaps it is unfair to have these thoughts but is it not important that a pope ought to remind everybody in the world at all times of the crucified Christ?  This Bergoglio did on one Sunday, September 3, 2017, saying that "'there is always the temptation to follow a Christ without a Cross [or, for that matter, particular to this blog entry, the shape of a cross without Christ], rather, to teach God the right path,'" referring to the passage where Jesus referred to Peter as Satan and asked Peter to get behind Him. [2]

According to Hanna Brockhaus, reporting for EWTN News and CNA, the pope concluded that "'Mary Most Holy, who followed Jesus to Calvary, also accompany us and help us not to fear the cross,'" "'[n]ot a cross without Jesus, the cross with Jesus, that is, the cross of suffering for love of God and brethren.'" [3]  Beautiful words, which this blogger hopes that the pope had written them himself, not just reading a script prepared by someone else, and that the pope himself believes in these words wholeheartedly.



[1] https://www.lasalette.org/reflections/1095-pope-francis-s-pectoral-cross.html
[2] http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/09/03/pope_angelus_temptation_to_follow_a_christ_without_a_cross/1334441
[3] http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=16197

Which Is More Effective: Prayer Or Psychoanalysis?

This blogger is quick to conclude that praying to God is at all times more effective than having sessions with a psychoanalyst.  What can a psychoanalyst do that God cannot?  Does faith in God in all things not eliminate the need for any form of psychotherapy?

Apparently not.  "Pope Francis says that when he was 42 he had sessions weekly with a psychoanalyst who was female and Jewish to 'clarify some things.'" [1]  Associated Press  continued to report in its article entitled POPE SAW PSYCHOANALYST TO SEEK 'CLARITY' YEARS AGO  dated September 1, 2017, the following, quoted in part [2]:

It wasn't specified what the future pontiff wanted to explore. The revelation came in a dozen conversations Francis had with French sociologist Dominique Wolton, writing a soon-to-be-published book. 

La Stampa, an Italian daily, quoting from some of the conversations on Friday, said Francis went to the analyst's home. Francis was quoted as saying: "one day, when she was about to die, she called me. Not to receive the sacraments, since she was Jewish, but for a spiritual dialogue." 

"She was a good person. For six months she helped me a lot," Francis said. 

Francis then was a Jesuit official in his native Argentina, which was ruled by military dictatorship. 

In the conversations with the French author, Francis speaks highly of the positive influence women have had on his life. 

"Those whom I've known helped me a lot when I needed to consult with them," Francis is quoted as saying. 

The 80-year-old pope also speaks of his state of mind now. "I feel free. Sure, I'm in a cage here at the Vatican, but not spiritually. Nothing makes me afraid." 

What bothers him, he ventured, are people with straitjacket points of view. 

He singled out "rigid priests, who are afraid to communicate. It's a form of fundamentalism. Whenever I run into a rigid person, especially if young, I tell myself that he's sick."

Perhaps Bergoglio himself is still sick in ways that are secretive, and if such secrets were revealed publicly, that he did not believe in God and the Blessed Virgin Mary when he was undergoing psychotherapy (speaking speculatively), they would bring the credibility of his entire career as a Catholic priest and the validity of his papacy into question.

Moreover, he seemed to have indicated that there had been women who had exerted influence upon him in his life, and if one of them were the Blessed Virgin Mary, he probably would have mentioned Her, but he did  not.  He continued to say that "'[t]hose whom I've known helped me a lot when I needed to consult with them.'" [3]  Since the Blessed Virgin Mary does not "consult" but simply instructs, it can be concluded that none of the women Bergoglio had consulted with was the Blessed Virgin Mary.

What a shame it is for Catholics to have a pope that seeks psychotherapy rather than pray to God for assistance with whatever that pains him mentally since God's Son, Christ Himself, is the Prince of Peace and as the Prince of Peace, He can deliver interior peace to anyone who seeks it humbly, faithfully and prayerfully.  This, Bergoglio did not do.  He chose the secular route and sought psychoanalytic help instead.

Did psychoanalysis cure him?  This blogger speculates that it did not.  Based on his personal perspective, Bergoglio is still sick in the mind, full of dissonance, unable to reconcile his position as pope with his lack of faith in God and the Blessed Virgin Mary.  After all, this man had preferred to pray at the tomb of Pope Paul VI, as reported by Vatican Radio  on 7 August, 2017, in an article entitled Pope Francis prays at tomb of Pope Paul VI [4], instead of praying before the Crucifix.

The Crucifix is not something the pope always carries around with him (he not being the only exception).  Perhaps he should.  Perhaps the reason that Bergoglio had to seek "clarity" from a psychoanalyst previously is because he was, and possibly still is, confounded by Satan.  Satan is not only good in being deceitful, it is equally good at causing confusion, because when one is confused, one would be unable to see God clearly.  Without being able to focus on God with clarity, one is easily under Satan's control.  Carrying or wearing the Crucifix would help weaken Satan's influences and deter somewhat Satan's unbridled advances.

When it comes to battling Satan, more effective than just wearing or carrying the Crucifix is saying the rosary that comes with a Crucifix.  How often does Bergoglio say the rosary?  Certainly, that should not be a secret unless Bergoglio has a truth to hide.  If he says the rosary once daily, or several times a day, what harm would it do if he told the world if indeed that is the truth?  Would it not inspire the many Catholics who revere him, perhaps even more than Christ, to do the same?  What is he afraid of?

Is transparency that leads to the truth not what he wants in the Vatican, or is he comfortable with being secretive, like hiding behind his own secret "confessions" to his Jewish psychoanalyst, despite knowing that one cannot hide one's truths from God?

The one truth that Bergoglio had not kept hidden is his own admission to having had psychotherapy, which says to the world that he deemed it more effective than prayer, which is sad.


[1] http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_REL_VATICAN_POPE_PSYCHOANALYST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-01-12-36-36
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/08/07/pope_francis_prays_at_tomb_of_pope_paul_vi/1329286