Still Not Seeing Clearly As Year 2020 Approaches

Quoted in part below is from American Optometric Association [1]:

20/20 vision is a term used to express normal visual acuity (the clarity or sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 20 feet [6.1 meters]. If you have 20/20 vision, you can see clearly at 20 feet what should normally be seen at that distance. If you have 20/100 vision, it means that you must be as close as 20 feet to see what a person with normal vision can see at 100 feet [30.5 meters]. [Emphasis original.]

Having 20/20 vision does not necessarily mean you have perfect vision. 20/20 vision only indicates the sharpness or clarity of vision at a distance.

How close does one have to stand facing the mirror to be able to see clearly all of one's imperfections?  That all depends on what one wants to look at.  The external parts will look much better with professional lighting in a studio than just having overhead florescent tubes in a warehouse, but no artificial staging will conceal defects hidden in the interior.

Those who are the most honest with themselves will be able to see more clearly than those who rely on "worldly lights" such as the media and self-promotions on Twitter, You Tube, Instagram and so on to shine upon themselves.

Worldly lights are ephemeral.  They dim gradually with the passage of time and eventually go dark and are forgotten about.  Some people think that creating a lasting legacy is important, but does it truly last?  How many of those at the time they are being awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize  even for an instant reflect upon Alfred Nobel, his genius as a explosives inventor, an arms manufacturer and dealer [2] amid all the accolades and applause during the ceremony?

Alfred Nobel died in 1896 [3].  Fast forward to the 1940's, a time when nuclear weapons were first produced "led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada." [4].

Nuclear explosions above ground can "emit large amounts of thermal radiation as visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light" [5].  The visible light from such an explosion extinguishes quickly along with the lives of many.

In contrast, God's eternal Light leads to eternal life.  Those who continue to strive for perfection in accordance with God's Will will always have a clear overall vision of the bright and forever shining path ahead of them that leads to the Father in Heaven despite the many misguided detours along the way.

As time proceeds with 2020 on the horizon, arriving in less than a week from now, the world's death merchants are still unable to see clearly what is possible--world peace.  Instead, they find their enlightenment in the creation of weapons of destruction in the name of defense, rather than using the same resources to reduce conflict, poverty and suffering around the world, to increase job opportunities that bring families and communities together to raise new generations across the globe that want to and know how to co-exist in peace, to respect differences and to celebrate diversity of life among all living creatures that inhabit the earth.

When people are kind to each other, are good custodians of the environment in which they live, and go out of their way to help one another, even in small ways, then every moment is a moment of thanks giving that warms hearts.  Kindness is contagious.  Let it spread far and wide and bring a smile to every face on earth.

A sincere hope for world peace ends this blog for 2019, and heartfelt thanks to the few regular and all the occasional visitors who had to put up with nonsense throughout the year, with more similar postings, God willing, in 2020, sans any improvement to the same fogged-up 20/ ∞ vision.


[1] https://www.aoa.org/patients-and-public/eye-and-vision-problems/glossary-of-eye-and-vision-conditions/visual-acuity
[2] https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred-nobel/alfred-nobels-thoughts-about-war-and-peace/; https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2017/07-08/Alfred_Nobel_Founder_Prize/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_nuclear_explosions

A Christmas Thought

Whether December 25 is the day that the Blessed Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus is accurate is not important but Jesus' birth is.

Christ reveals himself throughout his earthly life as the Saviour sent by the Father for the salvation of the world. His very name, "Jesus", expresses this mission. It actually means: "God saves".  It is a name he was given as a result of heavenly instruction: both Mary and Joseph (Lk 1:31; Mt 1:21) receive the order to call him by this name. In the message to Joseph the meaning of the name is explained: "for he will save his people from their sins". [1]

The name Jesus meaning "'God saves'" is confirmed by hebrew-streams.org, quoted in part [2]:

... linguistically, the name "Yehoshua—Yeshua—Jesus" conveys the idea that God (YHVH) delivers, saves, rescues — eventually through his servant Messiah, who bears God's name.

Having been born and having led the life He led, "Christ Jesus, [H]imself human,...gave [H]imself as ransom for all." [3]

Self-sacrifice is rare.  Most people much rather hunger for more of what they already have.  They want to satiate their insatiable ambitions and greed.  Many who are lacking in means are not necessarily any better than those with plenty.

The modern man is addicted to technological conveniences.  He is unlikely to let go of them in order to lead a simple and humble life.  Yet, it is humility and simplicity that mark the birth of Christ on Christmas Day.

How often do people who busy themselves constantly with their phones stop to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas -- the birth of a Saviour Who sacrifices Himself on a cross for the salvation of souls?

[1] http://www.vatican.va/jubilee_2000/magazine/documents/ju_mag_01101998_p-18_en.html

[2] http://www.hebrew-streams.org/frontstuff/jesus-yeshua.html

[3] http://www.usccb.org/bible/1timothy/2, at 5, quoted without references.

Underwater Mining

Is there no end to greed?

Below are excerpts quoted from an article published by The Atlantic  on December 18, 2019 [1]:

Many people imagine the seabed to be a vast expanse of sand, but it’s a jagged and dynamic landscape with as much variation as any place onshore. Mountains surge from underwater plains, canyons slice miles deep, hot springs billow through fissures in rock, and streams of heavy brine ooze down hillsides, pooling into undersea lakes.

...

These peaks and valleys are laced with most of the same minerals found on land....For more than a century, oceanographers continued to identify new minerals on the seafloor—copper, nickel, silver, platinum, gold, and even gemstones—while mining companies searched for a practical way to dig them up.

...

Today, many of the largest mineral corporations in the world have launched underwater mining programs. On the west coast of Africa, the De Beers Group is using a fleet of specialized ships to drag machinery across the seabed in search of diamonds. In 2018, those ships extracted 1.4 million carats from the coastal waters of Namibia; in 2019, De Beers commissioned a new ship that will scrape the bottom twice as quickly as any other vessel. Another company, Nautilus Minerals, is working in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea to shatter a field of underwater hot springs lined with precious metals, while Japan and South Korea have embarked on national projects to exploit their own offshore deposits. But the biggest prize for mining companies will be access to international waters, which cover more than half of the global seafloor and contain more valuable minerals than all the continents combined.

People have continued to exploit and modify genetically natural resources grown on land for profit leading to negative consequences such as climate change, bees and other insects "disappearing in unprecedented numbers." [2]  The "extinction rate [of insects] is eight times faster than the observed pace of extinction for mammals, birds, and reptiles." [3]

In the past, mass extinctions have been caused by the emergence of ice ages or asteroid collisions. This mass extinction, however, is driven by human activities — namely deforestation, habitat destruction, mining, and carbon-dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming. [4]

Who knows what consequences will result by the industrial mining of the world's seabed?  Will sea water become so toxic from having high concentrations of certain known and unknown chemicals hidden below the sea bed leaking into the oceans resulting from the seabed disturbed so that nearly all marine life will have to struggle to survive in it, if they survive at all?  Will the water's salinity and temperature change as well?

By the time people realize the negative consequences of digging up the ocean floor, it may already be too late to reverse the damages done but just in time to bring Revelation Chapter 21, verse 1 to life [5]:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [Emphasis  added.]

[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/historys-largest-mining-operation-is-about-to-begin/ar-BBY7fU8?ocid=spartanntp
[2] https://www.businessinsider.com/insects-dying-off-sign-of-6th-mass-extinction-2019-2
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] http://www.usccb.org/bible/revelation/21

Politicizing The Navtivity Scene

Quoted in part from USA Today [1]:

The 64-year-old pastor [Steve Josoma] at St. Susanna, a Catholic Parish in Dedham, Massachusetts, located just outside Boston, wasn’t trying to make waves or cause controversy last  Christmas when he decided to put a cage around the Baby Jesus in the St. Susanna’s nativity scene, and wall off the Three Wise Men —  he was merely trying to start a conversation. [Emphasis  added.]

He's far from the only one. Churches across the country are using Christmas nativity scenes to make political statements and protests, from putting the Holy Family in cages, in a nod to the Southern border crisis, to depicting animals in the manger underwater and a creeping tide about to overtake Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in a nod to climate change.

...

This year, St. Susanna opted to set up a nativity scene under climate siege, with drowned animals and plastic water bottles floating in water, and the encroaching tide inching closer and closer to the Holy Family, threatening to pull them under. The banner this year reads, “God so loved the earth … will we?”

Perhaps in order to answer the question properly one has to go back in time, before the industrial revolution [2] and begin there.  The answer back then would likely have been a resounding no.

Going back to the beginning to the Garden of Eden, the answer to the question was a definite no.  Since Adam and Eve did not love God enough to obey His one and only command back then, to not eat the Forbidden Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, why would they love any of God's other creations?

Just as Adam blamed God for creating Eve, and Eve blamed God for creating the Serpent for having eaten the Forbidden Fruit, pastor Steve Josoma can blame every single one of their descendants including himself for every single societal ill as a result of Original Sin.

Would Jesus have asked pastor Josoma how big is his own carbon footprint since he appears to be self-righteous enough to satirize the Nativity Scene which in this blogger's opinion is tantamount to committing sacrilege.

Is there no limit to the number of evil ways that can be used to crucify Jesus again and again?

Why not focus on the humility surrounding the birth of Christ and become humble like Christ?

With humility, there would not be a need to deplete the earth natural resources at an ecologically unsustainable pace so that more and more people can have higher and higher standards of living which is unceasing.

For those who had already profited and benefited and are now living comfortably, and using disposable coffee cups for those who want their caffeine fix, to then turn around and point the finger at other people, blaming deforestation in part, after having met their demands for new homes, renovations, new furniture, and so on, leading to climate change is simply hypocritical.

This is reminiscent of these words of Christ [3]:

“Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

[1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/12/14/nativity-christmas-scene-cages-churches-political-statements-border-crisis/2638344001/
[2] https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/water-and-air-pollution
[3] http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/8, at 7.

Death Threats Made In Brussels Basilica Being Investigated

The Brussels Times  published an article on 9 December 2019, entitled Death threats made towards worshipers at Koekelberg Basilica, investigation launched.  The paragraph below is quoted from the article [1]:

According to reports, two men entered the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Koekelberg on 30 November and began making death threats towards those present for prayer.

What is the world coming to?  Are people not allowed to pray anymore without the fear of being killed?

Why must people see themselves as "us" versus "them"?  What difference does it make as to who wins and who loses?  Everyone is scheduled to die.  Why not celebrate the only life that one has together?

Everyone shares the same air, the same planet.  One who is breathing and living today has only a limited time to get to know and appreciate one another, with the understanding that nobody is perfect.  The moments that one is able to spend time to get to know a stranger, to share a few laughs and maybe even walk a few steps in the same direction, are something to treasure for a lifetime, and an eternity beyond it.

Why choose to hate when everyone wants to be loved?


[1] https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/82746/death-threats-made-to-brussels-churchgoers-investigation-launched-koekelberg-basilica/

The Catholic Church Uses The Poor To Raise Funds

From MSN  news, quoted in part [1]:

VATICAN CITY—Every year, Catholics around the world donate tens of millions of dollars to the pope. Bishops exhort the faithful to support the weak and suffering through the pope’s main charitable appeal, called Peter’s Pence.

What the church doesn’t advertise is that most of that collection, worth more than more than €50 million annually, goes toward plugging the hole in the Vatican’s own administrative budget, while as little as 10% is spent directly on charitable works, according to people familiar with the funds.

...

Local church leaders echo the Vatican’s line when soliciting contributions. According to the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: “The purpose of the Peter’s Pence Collection is to provide the Holy Father with the financial means to respond to those who are suffering as a result of war, oppression, natural disaster and disease.”


But for at least the past five years, only about 10% of the money collected—more than €50 million was raised in 2018—has gone directly to the sort of charitable causes featured in advertising for the collection, according to people familiar with the matter. Donations can also support charitable causes indirectly if the Vatican invests them and makes a profit.

...

The total assets of Peter’s Pence now total about €600 million, down from about €700 million early in the current pontificate, largely on account of unsuccessful investments, said the people familiar with the funds’ use.

Is that what the Catholic Church does, use the poor to raise funds to plug its deficits and pay sex scandal settlements?  Does the Catholic Church have any credibility left?

Catholics around the world ought to say out loud repeatedly to the many clerics of the Church, including Bergoglio, the three words [2] made famous by the 2019 TIME Magazine Person Of The Year [3] Greta Thunberg: How dare you! How dare you!


[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/vatican-uses-donations-for-the-poor-to-plug-its-budget-deficit/ar-AAK1fzd?ocid=spartandhp
[2] https://youtu.be/TMrtLsQbaok?t=26
[3] https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2019-greta-thunberg/

Rising Temperatures In The Arctic

USA Today  reported as follows, quoted in part [1]:

"Unprecedented" warming and "exceptionally low levels" of sea ice are bringing rapid, dramatic and disruptive changes to the Arctic, according to a new report released Tuesday[, December 10, 2019.] by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

...

The speed and trajectory of many of the changes sweeping the Arctic are "occurring faster than anticipated,” said retired Navy Rear Adm. Timothy Gallaudet, acting NOAA administrator.

HuffPost.com  filed a report on 2019 weather, quoted in part without hyperlink [2]:

...extreme temperatures have smashed records around the world this year, with parts of the Midwestern U.S. seeing the mercury drop as low as minus 38 degrees Fahrenheit as Australia endures triple-digit high temperatures, reigniting concerns about a changing planet.

...

“In a warming world, you’re still going to have unusually hot and unusually cold events happening in a particular part of the world,” Berkeley Earth climate scientist Zeke Hausfather also told the AP. “Weather is not going away.” 

NASA  has this to say about global warming, quoted without hyperlink [3]:

Scientists attribute the global warming trend observed since the mid-20th century to the human expansion of the "greenhouse effect" — warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space.

But greenhouse gases are not necessarily bad.  Wikipedia  has this to say, quoted without references [4]:

Without greenhouse gases, the average temperature of Earth's surface would be about −18 °C (0 °F), rather than the present average of 15 °C (59 °F).

It could be an overabundance of greenhouse gases that is causing temperatures to rise.  The evidence shows that glaciers are melting in areas where there should be glaciers year round.  Nobody knows when this warming trend will end and what trajectories it will take before weather returns to what is considered normal.

This planet is not static.  Earth is continuously moving around in space.  Perhaps at times, like the present, it orbits slightly closer toward the sun and warms it, and at other times, it orbits slightly farther away from the sun and cools it.  Based on this speculation, the earth can therefore warm up or cool down, independent of greenhouse gases.

Today, many people are concerned because the earth's temperature is on an upward trend.

What if the opposite happens, when the earth's temperature cools continually?  Sea levels will begin dropping instead of rising while glaciers at the north and south poles will continue to form and gradually cover land that lies farther and farther away from the poles with thick layers of ice.

"At one point during the Ice Age, sheets of ice covered all of Antarctica, large parts of Europe, North America, and South America, and small areas in Asia. In North America they stretched over Greenland and Canada and parts of the northern United States. The remains of glaciers of the Ice Age can still be seen in parts of the world, including Greenland and Antarctica." [5]

If humanity can have either global warming or global cooling, which will it choose?

Perhaps it would choose neither, preferring instead to return to the Garden of Eden where everything is perfect.  Is that even possible?

Anything is possible with God.  After all, it is God Who created the universe.  When God's will is done on earth as it is in Heaven, earth will once again be the Garden of Eden.


[1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/12/10/arctic-report-card-temperatures-rise-sea-ice-melts-exceptionally-low-level/4385182002/
[2] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/extreme-weather-2019_n_5c51ba5ce4b00906b26f9360
[3] https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas
[5] https://www.livescience.com/40311-pleistocene-epoch.html

Vatican's Finances Becoming More And More Intriguing

Catholic News Agency  reported as follows, quoted in part [1]:

[Centurion Global Fund is a] fund in which the Vatican’s Secretariat of State has invested tens of millions of euros has links to two Swiss banks investigated or implicated in bribery and money laundering scandals involving more than one billion dollars....

[The fund] used the Vatican assets under its management to invest in Hollywood films, real estate, and utilities, including investments in movies like “Men in Black International” and the Elton John biopic “Rocketman.”

It is difficult to rank which is more embarrassing for the Catholic Church, the fact that the Vatican is entangled in a fund "connected to several institutions linked to allegations of money laundering" [2] or the fact that the fund it invested in, in turn invested in the making of Rocketman, a movie that has "a brief display of two headless men in the missionary position." [3]

Quoting in part from the Catechism of the Catholic Church  without references [4]:

Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

Ironically, the gay sex scene, although not approved by the Vatican, was supported by Vatican funds.

Gay sex cannot be entirely foreign to the Catholic Church since many clerics are gay and some of whom have more likely than not had engaged in homosexual sex repeatedly despite being classified as "acts of grave depravity."

Vatican's connections to money-laundering schemes and illicit sex should be enough material for a best-selling book, to be made into a movie.  If the movie can perform as well as The Da Vinci Code, then the net profit from the movie's revenue ought to offset some the Vatican's the bad investment decisions.  Quoted below are the figures for The Da Vinci Code [5]:

Theatrical Performance

[US] Domestic Box Office      $217,536,138

International Box Office         $550,284,321

Worldwide Box Office             $767,820,459 or  €693,902,590.72 [6]

Home Market Performance

Est. [US] Domestic DVD Sales $100,214,843

Total Est. Domestic Video Sales $100,214,843

[1] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-investments-linked-to-global-money-laundering-investigations-91401
[2] Ibid.
[3] https://www.them.us/story/rocketman-sex-scene
[4] https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm, at section 2357.
[5] https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Da-Vinci-Code-The#tab=video-sales
[6] from xe.com, based on live market rea

Feast Of The Immaculate Conception - December 8, 2019

Yesterday was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  This is a quick reflection on the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Who unlike Eve, never succumbed to the temptations of Satan.

Unlike the rest of humanity, except Her Son, Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary Who was told by God's angel that She was "full of grace" [1] was never tainted with Original Sin and therefore never experienced guilt.

Both Eve and Adam felt guilty for the first time and hid themselves only after they ate the Forbidden Fruit that stained them with Original Sin. [2]

Guilt is defined as "the fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, especially against moral or penal law; culpability. [3]

Is it even possible to imagine living one's life without any deviation from God's Will, in God's Truth, completely free of guilt and self-deception?


[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1%3A26-28&version=DRA
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A+8-13&version=KJV
[3] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/guilt

A Report: The Worst Floods - A Look Back

There are 29 photographs in this report showing floods around the world [1] except for the biblical flood that lasted 40 days during Noah's time. [2]  The first photograph of a flood dated back to 1900.  Floods are not new.  What can be blamed on these floods?  Referring to the last entry in this blog, according to Bergoglio, could man have done something to prevent them?

Not that weather patterns and the melting of glaciers in present days are not in any way connected to an explosion of human population.  "The lungs bring oxygen into the body when breathing in and send carbon dioxide out of the body when breathing out. Carbon dioxide is a waste gas produced by the cells of the body." [3]  "Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important heat-trapping (greenhouse) gas, which is released through human activities such as deforestation and burning fossil fuels, as well as natural processes such as respiration and volcanic eruptions." [4]


Going back to the last post, quoting Bergoglio [5]:

Today’s meeting offers me the opportunity to renew my encouragement to your people, who last year suffered a devastating natural disaster, with the destruction of entire wooded areas. These are events that alarm us, they are warning signs that creation sends us, and that ask us to take effective decisions immediately for the protection of our common home.

When carrying out Bergoglio's recommendation to have people make "effective decisions immediately for the protection of our common home," does that mean people ought to cut down the amount of carbon dioxide that is released into the air by not breathing starting "immediately"?

When everyone is dead, including Bergoglio, from asphyxiation, then for certain "the common home" will be saved but nobody will be occupying it.  It is a quick fix for all social, political and environmental problems and a very effective one at that.


[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/the-worlds-worst-floods/ss-BBXLDmL?ocid=spartandhp#image=6
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+6%3A9-9%3A17&version=NIV
[3] https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/how-lungs-work
[4] https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/
[5] https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/12/05/191205c.html

An Act Of God Or Acts Of Human?

Quoted below is part of Bergoglio's address to "the delegations from Trentino and Veneto for the donation of the Christmas tree and the Nativity display in Saint Peter’s Square" [1]:

I am pleased to welcome you on the day on which the Nativity display and the Christmas tree, set up in Saint Peter’s Square, are presented, bound together by the common memory of the storm last autumn that devastated many areas of the Triveneto.

Here comes the political parts that Bergoglio relishes [2]:

The Nativity display, made almost entirely of wood and composed of architectural elements characteristic of the Trentino tradition, will help visitors to enjoy the spiritual richness of the Nativity of the Lord. The wooden trunks from the areas affected by the storms, which serve as a backdrop to the landscape, underline the precariousness in which the Holy Family found itself on that night in Bethlehem. The artistic nativity scene of Conegliano, located in the Paul VI Hall, will also help us to contemplate the humble grotto where the Saviour was born.

Mr. "Holy Father Bergoglio," was Christ born in a "humble grotto" and not in a stable?   Grotto is defined as "a cave or cavern," or an "artificial cavernlike recess or structure." [3]

Why is it necessary to draw a parallel between a periodical storm and the night when Christ was born?  There is nothing precarious about being born in a stable, and being placed in a manger.  It was God's plan.  Did Bergoglio want to have something "less precarious" for the Holy Family the night in Bethlehem when Jesus was born?  Was he criticizing God indirectly for putting the Holy Family in what Bergoglio deemed to be a "precarious" state?

Fr. Thom Hennen wrote that a "'manger' is in fact the feeding trough in which the hay for the animals would have been placed." [4]  More from Fr. Hennen [5]:

Reflecting further on what the manger means, it is also an image of self-sacrificial service, which flows naturally from humility. The manger is a feed bin, a place for food. Christ came to be our food, to give of himself for our nourishment. And so, it is only fitting that he should be laid in a feeding trough. This becomes even more meaningful when we recall that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a name that means “house of bread,” and when we recall his words from the famous Bread of Life Discourse of John’s Gospel: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51). In the same way, those who are called to lives of self-sacrificial service within the Church are called to be food for others.

Back to Bergoglio's address [6]:

Today’s meeting offers me the opportunity to renew my encouragement to your people, who last year suffered a devastating natural disaster, with the destruction of entire wooded areas. These are events that alarm us, they are warning signs that creation sends us, and that ask us to take effective decisions immediately for the protection of our common home.

Are such events "warning signs"?  Can people make "effective decisions" to protect themselves "immediately" against such events?  Bergoglio never followed-up with any of his own effective decisions to protect the "common home," and his boss is God.

Are wildfires [7], too, warning signs sent by "creation" that people can make decisions to avoid and not collectively an Act of God?   Bergoglio ought to read what is quoted below [8] and the rest of it:

A blazing inferno is moving quickly in your direction. You feel the intense heat and the air is clogged with smoke. Deer, snakes, and birds flee past you, even the insects attempt to escape. You would run too if you could, but unfortunately, you are a plant. The fire begins to lick at your leaves and you wait... While no one likes the sight of a burned forest, fire is important for the functioning of a number of ecosystems and many plants are specially adapted to these fire-prone habitats. Read on to discover some of the amazing ways plants survive—and even thrive—in the face of wildfire.


Perhaps the most amazing fire adaptation is that some species actually require fire for their seeds to sprout. Some plants, such as the lodgepole pine, Eucalyptus, and Banksia, have serotinous cones or fruits that are completely sealed with resin. These cones/fruits can only open to release their seeds after the heat of a fire has physically melted the resin. Other species, including a number of shrubs and annual plants, require the chemical signals from smoke and charred plant matter to break seed dormancy. Some of these plants will only sprout in the presence of such chemicals and can remain buried in the soil seed bank for decades until a wildfire awakens them. [Emphasis  added.]

Hopefully by reading what some of the things Creation can bring about, Bergoglio just might begin to believe that there is a living God, not a "god" that he can use for his political expediencies.

He might as well read this also, quoted without references, Philippians 3:18-19 [9]:

For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ

Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things.

[1] https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/12/05/191205c.html

[2] Ibid.

[3] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/grotto

[4] http://www.catholicmessenger.net/2011/12/manger-symbolizes-self-sacrificial-service-humility/

[5] Ibid.

[6] https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/12/05/191205c.html

[7] https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/wildfire.htm

[8] https://www.britannica.com/list/5-amazing-adaptations-of-pyrophytic-plants

[9] http://www.usccb.org/bible/philippians/3, 18 - 19.

State Law Above Church Law in China

AsiaNew.it  reported as follows on December 2, 2019, quoted in part without the bold font [1]:

"Love for the homeland must be greater than the love for the Church and the law of the country is above Canon law," declared Msgr. Fang Xingyao to the Political Consultative Conference on Religions held last November 26 in the capital.

This is not recent news.  Just over two years ago, on November 14, 2017,  smpc.com  reported as follows, quoted in part [2]:

Thousands of Christians in an impoverished county in rural southeast China have swapped their posters of Jesus for portraits of President Xi Jinping as part of a local government poverty-relief programme that seeks to “transform believers in religion into believers in the party”.

Located on the edge of Poyang, China’s largest freshwater lake, Yugan county in Jiangxi province is known equally for its poverty and its large Christian community. More than 11 per cent of its 1 million residents live below the country’s official poverty line, while nearly 10 per cent of its population is Christian, according to official data.

...

Qi Yan, chairman of the Huangjinbu people’s congress and the person in charge of the township’s poverty-relief drive, said the campaign had been running across the county since March. He said it focused on teaching Christian families how much the party had done to help eradicate poverty and how much concern Xi had shown for their well-being.

...

A resident of another township in Yugan, surnamed Liu, said that in recent months many of his fellow villagers had been told to remove religious artefacts from their homes.

“Some families put up gospel couplets on their front doors during the Lunar New Year, some also hang paintings of the cross. But they’ve all been torn down,” he said.

Many believers did not do so voluntarily, Liu said.

“They all have their belief and, of course, they didn’t want to take them down. But there is no way out. If they don’t agree to do so, they won’t be given their quota from the poverty-relief fund,” he said.

But Qi dismissed claims that the funds were contingent on the religious posters being removed.

“We only asked them to take down [religious] posters in the centre of the home. They can still hang them in other rooms, we won’t interfere with that. What we require is for them not to forget about the party’s kindness at the centre of their living rooms.”

It was not an either-or situation, Qi said.

In China, it is Chinese Socialism not Roman Catholicism (Christianity and religions in general) that is the answer to poverty and it is China's State Law that has supremacy over Vatican's Canon Law.


[1] http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Bishop-Fang-Xingyao:-The-homeland-before-the-Church;-Chinese-law-before-Canon-law-48702.html
[2] https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2119699/praise-xi-jinping-not-jesus-escape-poverty-christian

Interview With Croatian Professional Photographer Called By God To Be A Priest

This interview is on You Tube.  Don Elvir Tabaković's father is Muslim and his mother is Catholic. [1]  Quoted below were words spoken by Don Elvir Tabaković:

When Don Elvir Tabaković asked the Lord to reveal to him His will, the reply was not a voice but a thought that came to his mind: "I created you to become a priest." [2]

"Our Lady is so mighty, Satan can't even pronounce Her name." [3]


[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsSGdnfrZvc&t=360s. at approximately 2:23, https://youtu.be/BsSGdnfrZvc?t=143
[2] Ibid., starts at approximately 19:51, https://youtu.be/BsSGdnfrZvc?t=1191
[3] Ibid., at approximately 29:52, https://youtu.be/BsSGdnfrZvc?t=1792

A Beautiful MIllstone Close To Weighing One And A Half Tons Or 1,360 Kilograms For Bergoglio

Quoted below in part is from an article dated November 29, 2019, published by osservatoreromano.va [1]:

A large marble millstone with carved Jesus' words recorded by Matthew in verse 6 of chapter 18 of his Gospel: "But whoever offends even one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for him to have him hung around his neck a millstone turned by a donkey, and thrown into the depths of the sea." It is the eloquent and symbolic monument - presented to Pope Francis, during the general audience in St. Peter's Square - by Johannes Heibel, president of the German association "Initiative gegen und Gewalt und sexuellen Missbrauch an Kindern und Jugenlichen" which, for twenty-six years, has as its objective the promotion of the rights of children and above all the protection against all forms of abuse and violence, even on the part of ecclesiastics.

The millstone - which has a diameter of one meter and 40 centimeters and weighs almost a ton and a half ...

Picture of the millstone [2]:

The article did not mention what comment Bergoglio made when presented with the millstone.  There was also no mention of him blessing the millstone.

There may not be enough millstones of this size or larger to hang around the necks of all those who abuse children and those who are in favor of aborting them before they are even born, regardless of whether they are clerics or not.

The "'little ones'" may not be confined to young children or the unborn, they may also refer to adults who are being neglected and mistreated because every person is a child of God, a "'little one'" belonging to God.

How beautiful it would be to see a replica of it 7 inches (17.78 centimeters) in diameter being hung around the necks of all the religious, in addition to the crucifix.


[1]  http://www.osservatoreromano.va/it/news/q uella-macina-di-marmo
[2] Ibid.

Words From A Movie

A movie released in 2018 named First Reformed  was reviewed by rogerebert.com [1].  It is mentioned here only because there were words narrated by the pastor in the movie that resonated.  Those words, which seemed to have little relevance to the movie, are transcribed below [2]:

Some are called for their gregariousness.  Some are called for their suffering.  Others are called for their loneliness.  They are called by God because through the vessel of communication they can reach out and hold beating hearts in their hands.  They are called because of their all-consuming knowledge of the emptiness of all things that can only be filled by the presence of our Savior.

[1] https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/first-reformed-2018

[2] From the movie First Reformed  beginning at approximately 33:04 when viewed online.

Cardinal Becciu Chose A Money-Laundering Swiss Bank To Finance A Real Estate Purchase In London

Catholic News Agency  ["CNA"] reported as follows on November 21, 2019, quoted in part with hyperlink included [1]:

Sources inside the Vatican’s Prefecture for the Economy confirmed to CNA that a substantial part of the $200 million used to finance the Secretariat of State’s purchase of a luxury development [in London] at 60 Sloane Avenue came through credit extended by BSI, a Swiss bank with a long track record of violating money-laundering and fraud safeguards in its dealings with sovereign wealth funds.

...


The connection to BSI comes to light as the Vatican’s own financial watchdog is struggling to assert its credibility. On Nov. 18, the president of the Financial Information Authority (AIF), René Brüelhart, resigned his post.

"Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who authorized the Vatican’s [London] investment, described the Holy See’s involvement in the real estate development as a matter of ordinary business, denying there was anything suspicious about the transaction." [2]

Therefore, it must also be business as usual for Cardinal Angelo Becciu when he chose to obtain financing from "a Swiss bank with a long track record of violating money-laundering and fraud safeguards" in purchasing 60 Sloan Avenue.

The article first cited also exposed the drama that took place between Cardinal Angelo Becciu and Cardinal George Pell.

Pell continues to serve time in prison after his sexual abuse conviction was "upheld by Court of Appeals in Victoria" [3] but will have a chance to present his case to Australia's High Court in getting his conviction overturned but not "before the justices return from their summer break in early February[, 2020]." [4]

Cardinal George Pell's sexual abuse case is separate and apart from his demand for details on "the loans off-books" that the Vatican was trying to hide. [5]  It would be fascinating to learn that the two unrelated events could somehow be linked.  Is it not strange that Cardinal Pell is in jail based on the testimony of one witness [6] whereas Theodore McCarrick was never brought to trial even though he had a lot more evidence of  of sexual misconduct piled up against him [7]?


[1] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-officials-swiss-bank-suspected-of-money-laundering-led-to-pell-conflict-62858
[2] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vaticans-london-luxury-development-company-with-ties-to-alleged-financial-crime-offered-to-raze-parish-rectory-95153
[3] http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/breaking-cardinal-pells-sexual-abuse-conviction-upheld
[4] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cardinal-george-pell-wins-another-chance-to-appeal-sexual-abuse-charges-2019-11-12/
[5] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-officials-swiss-bank-suspected-of-money-laundering-led-to-pell-conflict-62858
[6] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/02/cardinal-george-pells-conviction-the-questions-that-remain
[7] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/analysis-the-non-trial-of-theodore-mccarrick-25046

Vatican's Financial Secrecy Thrives Under Francis I Papacy

"Marc Odendall, a Swiss-German retired banker [and board member of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority], tendered his resignation late Monday after Pope Francis decided not to renew the mandate of Rene Bruelhart, the president of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority, or AIF. The Vatican says Bruelhart’s successor will be announced next week." [1]

"AIF remains an Egmont member, but is suspended from the secure communications network that is used to share confidential information in the global fight against money laundering and other financial crimes, [Marc Odendall] said." [2]

"[I]nformed Vatican officials indicate[d] that the AIF was caught up in a power struggle with other Vatican agencies, notably the Secretariat of State, which sought to curb the AIF’s access to details of certain financial transfers." [3]

"'We cannot access information and we cannot share information,'" [Marc Odendall] said.  "'There is no point in staying on the board of an empty shell.'" [4]

One wonders if this secrecy has something to do with the possibility of a default by the Vatican.  Repeating a quote and an advice from a previous post dated October 22 [5]:

"There is no threat of collapse or default here. There is only the need for a spending review. And that is what we're doing. I can prove it to you with numbers,” [Bishop Nunzio] Galantino said on Oct. 22.

It is advisable that people not hold their breath waiting for Bishop Nunzio Galantino to show proof.

A lie was told here [6]:

The [AIF] departing president [René Brüelhart had] told reporters that he resigned. Vatican officials offer[ed] a different story, saying that the president’s term had expired. But there was no set term for his office.

Who lied?  René Brüelhart or the Vatican officials?  If René Brüelhart's term had an expiration date, then why is it necessary to wait before a successor is announced?


[1] https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/vatican-watchdog-agency-loses-member-police-raid-67125116, quoted without hyperlink.
[2] https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/vatican-watchdog-agency-loses-member-police-raid-67125116
[3] https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=44164
[4] https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/vatican-watchdog-agency-loses-member-police-raid-67125116
[5] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vaticans-asset-manager-says-holy-see-is-not-going-broke-64222
[6] https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=44164

Is The End Starting Sooner Than Expected Or Can It Be Delayed?

Quoted below is from an article entitled Algae blooms are making drinking water from Lake Erie toxic [1]:

“As a mom, it makes me want to cry,” Jankowski said, her voice quavering with emotion. “Every mother should enjoy the first time they hold their child. They shouldn’t be stressing about whether there are toxins in the water.”

"Microcystis aeruginosa is the most prevalent cyanobacteria found in Lake Erie." [2]  This was back in 2014 in Ohio, United States.  Fast forward to 2019 [3]:

While every type of cyanobacteria doesn’t create toxins, it’s clear that Lake Erie’s annual bloom is becoming progressively more toxic. Since 2014, federal, state and local agencies have conducted routine water sampling for toxins, with 2019 being among the years when it was most severe.

...

Since the crisis, the Jankowskis store more than a dozen jugs of water in the basement. They’ve had a $3,000 water filtration system installed for their shower and sinks. And they don’t drink from the tap.

...

Applying chlorine, a chemical commonly used in water treatment, to water with large amounts of organic matter like algae can result in disinfection byproducts. The long-term health implications from consuming these substances are unclear. Research has linked some to an increased risk of certain cancers and miscarriage.

The new treatment is scheduled to go online August 2020 and should curb the amount of these incidental byproducts.

Returning to 2014 when water in Ohio around Lake Erie was not potable [4]:

The National Guard arrived to distribute one case of water per family, but fights broke out in the parking lot. Social media was filled with people describing futile searches for water.

Imagine when there is an acute shortage of potable water, the riots that are happening in various places around the world these days would be mild in comparison.

The words of Ms. Jankowski quoted above  bring to mind these words of Christ [5]:

For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’

Is that time near, or can it be delayed?


[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/algae-blooms-are-making-drinking-water-from-lake-erie-toxic/ar-BBX0gZF?ocid=spartandhp
[2] Ibid.
]3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+23:29&version=NIV

A Nice Symbolic Gesture By The Vatican

The Vatican served 1,500 lunches to the poor to mark "its World Day of the Poor." [1]

These were 1,500 poor people in Italy, not the extremely poor in Nigeria.  "As of 2018, it is estimated that the country with the most people living in extreme poverty is Nigeria, at 86 million." [2]

To put it in perspective, 1.500 is 0.00174418604 percent of 86,000,000, and that is only in Nigeria.

"World Data Lab now estimates that on New Year’s Day 2019, just under 600 million people across the world (excluding Syria) will live in extreme poverty. By 2030, this figure is expected to fall to some 436 million." [3]

At 600 million, about 6.97 times more than the 86 million in Nigeria, the percentage of 1,500 out of 600 million is 0.00025.  This percentage would be less when those who are not extremely poor are also counted, like those invited to Bergoglio's World Day of the Poor lunch.

Bergoglio should stop with his histrionics, and be perfect.  Jesus answered, “...to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor..... Then come, follow me.” [4]

An ordinary reply could be: "Jesus, are you kidding me?  Who does that nowadays?  Does the pope?"

[1] https://www.ibtimes.com/pope-hosts-meal-1500-poor-homeless-2867924

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_poverty
[3] https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2018/12/13/rethinking-global-poverty-reduction-in-2019/
[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+19%3A21&version=NIV

Stratifying God's Children

Every person is a unique creation of God and is a child of God.  Yet governments, associations and various other types of organizations, including the Catholic Church find it necessary to stratify people into distinct groups.  Many people also find it necessary to distinguish among themselves.  Each person in this world can be pigeonholed in a variety of ways based on numerous classifications such as religion, citizenship, race, age, ethnicity, education, politics, looks, fame, influence, wealth or lack thereof and so on.

People who lack wealth and who live on the margins of society are celebrated by the Catholic Church and by many Catholics who live far above the poverty line.  One wonders if nobody is poor, who (or what) will the Catholic Church focus on and glorify, God, or maybe Mother Earth and the environment?

On 15 November 2019, Vatican News  reported as follows, quoted in part [1]:

Marking the 3rd World Day of the Poor on 17 November 2019, the Fratello  association has invited believers to spend four days in Lourdes with socially excluded people.

In a video-message to those gathered in Lourdes for the event, the Pope reminds those who suffer want and are abandoned to always bear in mind that God loves them and hears their prayers.

The Church has celebrated the World Day of the Poor on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time since 2017.  Pope Francis established the commemoration in his Apostolic Letter, Misericordia et Misera, to celebrate the end of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.  The theme for the 2019 World Day of the Poor is “The Hope of the poor shall not perish for ever."

 “You who are little, who are poor, fragile, you are the Church’s treasure. You are in the Pope’s  heart, in Mary’s heart, in God’s heart”, the Pope says in the video message sent on Friday.

The Fratello  association, in collaboration with dioceses and associations from all over the world, aims to serve at the very heart of the Church, meeting the poor and giving them their rightful place in the Church.

In his message, Pope Francis goes on to encourages the pilgrims in Lourdes to care for those who are sick.

He points out that there is “no one so poor to have nothing to give”. He notes that love saves the world and that God wants us to be the vessels through which love flows.

It is repulsive to read that an association had invited certain members to Lourdes to spend four days with "socially excluded" people.  First of all, nobody ought to be categorized.  To be labeled as "socially excluded" is especially egregious.  People are people.  People become "socially excluded" precisely because they are being pigeonholed in one or more of the categories exemplified above and thus can easily be ignored as a whole as opposed to identifying and ignoring each person individually.

In India, "[t]he caste system divides Hindus into four main categories - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. Many believe that the groups originated from Brahma, the Hindu God of creation....The main castes were further divided into about 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes, each based on their specific occupation.  Outside of this Hindu caste system were the achhoots - the Dalits or the untouchables." [2]  These "socially excluded" people described in the article cited appeared to be in the same category as the "untouchables."

Does spending four days with the "socially excluded" forever lift the attendees' souls up toward Heaven?  Or is the reality more like: "out of sight, out of mind"? [3]  It is doubtful that these "socially excluded" people hang around Lourdes year round visibly with their tents set up everywhere along the streets.  If they were not local to Lourdes, were they shipped in for the occasion just to allow the privileged to have a four-day experience with them?  If they were local people, were they living in the shadow of Lourdes (not unlike Bernadette Soubirous' family whose misfortune led them to "to live in a single room that used to be a prison cell[, one that] was so dank that it was actually deemed to be too 'unsanitary' even for prisoners" [4]), and were they rounded up to make it convenient for the members of the association to experience them and for the pope to address them via his video message?

It sure is easy for Bergoglio to say that God loves those and hears the prayers of those "who suffer want and are abandoned."  Has he ever suffered want and was he ever abandoned?  How difficult is it for those who are in such predicaments who have never felt the presence of God to believe that God hears their prayers as they continue to be abandoned and continue to suffer?  Perhaps God would more clearly hear and then answer  the prayers of the one who sits on the throne of Peter unless he does not really pray or believe in God.

The theme for Bergoglio's "World Day of the Poor" for 2019 is "'The Hope of the poor shall not perish for ever.'"  Is that what the poor want, to live from generation to generation based on a hope that is never fulfilled, that lasts through time?

It is also repugnant for Bergoglio to describe the "socially excluded" as "little", "poor" and "fragile" and as the Church's treasure.  They are indeed the Church's treasure because without them the Church will have no basis to ask for donations, and on which to receive government funding that it uses to support itself and the hypocrites that rule the corrupt and sinful institution.  The supercilious Bergoglio needs to understand that the "socially excluded" who live on the margins of society are not the little, poor and fragile ones.  On the contrary, they have the fortitude, strength and richness of character to bear the sufferings that those who are used to being pampered by life's comfort lack, and that includes the head of the Vatican and the hypocrites who serve under him.

It sounds nice to hear that the association aims to serve "the very heart of the Church" which could very well be the Church together with its related associations themselves, but not the elimination of poverty since poverty attracts donations and government funds that the Catholic Church and its related entities use to benefit themselves first in order for them to continue as on-going concerns [5].

Toward the end, Bergoglio noted that God wanted people "to be the vessels through which love flows."  Beautiful words that perhaps one day Bergoglio can actually demonstrate how they work.

Last but not least, Bergoglio addressed himself in the third person in his video message.  He first said that those little, poor and fragile ones were "'in the Pope’s heart, in Mary’s heart, in God’s heart.'"  Is using the possessive adjective "my" too close for comfort?  Then he ended his speech with these words: "'The Pope loves you and trusts you.'" [6]  Is the personal pronoun "I" too personal, or is it because Bergoglio cannot love, even though his title as pope supposedly can?

It is also interesting to observe that Bergoglio listed himself first in these quoted words "'You who are little, who are poor, fragile, you are the Church’s treasure. You are in the Pope’s  heart, in Mary’s heart, in God’s heart'" with the Blessed Virgin Mary coming in second and God coming in last.  Is this not what Satan wants, to be above the Blessed Virgin Mary and to tower over God?


[1] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-11/pope-francis-world-day-of-poor-2019.html
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35650616
[3] https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/out-of-sight-out-of-mind.html
[4] https://www.biographyonline.net/spiritual/bernadette-soubirious.html
[5] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/goingconcern.asp
[6] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-11/pope-francis-world-day-of-poor-2019.html

Bergoglio Ought To Say Nothing And Start Praying To Save His Own Soul

The words that Bergoglio used to address the "members of the Jesuit Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat meeting in Rome to mark their 50th Anniversary," in November, 2019, were not mindful of Christ.  This should not be a surprise because Bergoglio is a secular politician and an outstanding one at that, the hypocrite that he is.  During his speech, he said the following, quoted in part [1]:

“Our broken and divided world needs to build bridges”, he said. Human encounters allow us to discover, in the most marginalized, the beautiful face of a brother and sister, in whom we recognize ourselves, said the Pope.

...

Following Christ today means serving “the crucified of our time”, continued Pope Francis. He gave examples of the wars being fought “piecemeal” around the world, of human trafficking, xenophobia, inequalities, and “the selfish pursuit of national interests”.

...

Pope Francis insisted we go further: “We need a true ‘cultural revolution’”, he said, “a transformation of our collective gaze, our attitudes, our ways of seeing ourselves”. We need to undertake “the slow work of changing structures, through participation in public dialogue, where decisions are made that affect the lives of the most vulnerable”.

It is doubtful that Bergoglio can recognize himself in face in the "most marginalized" since they have no voice, no people to serve them, no guards and security to protect them, nobody to cook and clean for them and no medical care that is even close to matching the one Bergoglio has.  In short, they have nothing to speak of.  They suffer in silence and in humility.  How dare the pope insult them by saying that in them "we recognize ourselves" to an audience privileged enough to go Rome, stay at hotels, dine at restaurants, dress up and attend this gathering!

Bergoglio then criticized the wars (all of which are contrary to loving of one's enemies taught by Christ) that are being fought piecemeal as if the different factions within the Catholic Church are not in conflict.

He also mentioned xenophobia.  What is the of percentage cardinals who are non-Caucasian and who do not have European backgrounds?  Will he ever answer this question when he speaks about xenophobia?

The hypocrite did not stop there.  He raised the issue of inequality, as if he had taken positive steps to reduce inequalities between those who live a good life as Catholic clerics around the world and those who are just scraping by, those who are homeless and those who are, borrowing his words, "marginalized" and "vulnerable".

When he called out leaders of the world who engage in "'the selfish pursuit of national interests,'" he forgot to point the finger at himself who is the leader of the Vatican City State, a country that also selfishly pursues its own interests ahead of those who are marginalized.

The pope even said that a "cultural revolution" was needed when there are so many demonstrations marked with violence taking place around the globe currently that have left many dead.

Christ changed the world by His unconditional love, by His suffering in silence and by His willingness to die on the cross without engaging in fruitless public dialogue and frivolous political discourse like Bergoglio.  What Bergoglio wants is for people to play political games to "affect the lives of the most vulnerable" by undertaking "'the slow  work of changing structures.'" [2] [Emphasis  added.]

How slow?  It does not matter to Bergoglio and those like him who are well fed, well cared for, self-righteous and healthy so long as they feel good about themselves by doing what they think matters, no matter how slow their progress and whether or not their "public dialogue" will actually alleviate debilitating pain and suffering for those who are without and who cannot afford medical care.

If the suffering faces of the marginalized can be said to resemble the face of the suffering Christ, and if Bergoglio can recognize himself and his audience in their faces, does that mean that Bergoglio sees himself and his audience as the crucified Christ?  It is Satan that wants desperately to be Christ and impersonates Christ in any way it can.

Bergoglio then talked about a transformation of their "collective gaze."  Perhaps their "collective gaze" had already been transformed, so that when they "collectively gaze" at the Crucifix, it is no longer possible for them to bring to their collective mind Christ's intense pain and suffering and to feel even the tiniest bit of it vicariously in their hearts.  Instead their eyes glaze over and reflect a certain apathy, and their genuflection is but a mindless exercise that is performed for show.  Hopefully, there are exceptions in attendance.

The creature that heads the Vatican needs to see in his mind's eye the face of Christ and the face of Satan and decide for himself in which of these two faces he recognizes himself.  If he is blinded by his sins and is not allowed by God to empathize with and share in Christ's sufferings, then he should keep his mouth shut and start praying to save his own soul, assuming that he believes in God and loves God with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his mind, see Matthew 22:36-40 [3].

In conclusion, dialoguing is not a way to improve the lives of and give hope to those who are vulnerable and marginalized.  People need to be earnest and take action that leads to immediate and concrete results, not a "cultural revolution" advocated by the "unholy" father.


[1] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-11/pope-jesuit-social-justice-ecology-secretariat-encourage-hope.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22%3A36-40&version=NIV

A Catholic Education Is Now Without Christ

On 4 November 2019, the head of the Catholic Church addressed the participants attending "the Conference of the International Federation of Catholic Universities." [1]  Quoting from the address in part [2]:

Educating, in general but in particular in universities, is not only a matter of filling the mind with concepts. The three languages are needed. It is necessary for the three languages to be brought into play: the language of the mind, the language of the heart and the language of the hands, so that one thinks in harmony with what one feels and does; one feels in harmony with what one thinks and does; and one acts in harmony with what one feels and thinks. A general harmony, not separated from the whole.

...

The International Federation of Catholic Universities  is called to take up the moral imperative of striving to achieve a more united international academic community.  On the one hand by basing itself more faithfully on the Christian context from which universities originated; and on the other, by consolidating the network between older and newer universities, in order to develop a universal spirit aimed at increasing the quality of the cultural life of persons and of peoples.

Throughout the entire speech, the head of the Catholic Church eschewed the mentioning of the greatest teacher of all, Jesus Christ.  Instead, he stressed the need for three languages in a Catholic education, language of the mind, of the heart and of the hands, whatever that means.  With regard to language of "the hands," maybe every Catholic university has to include braille and sign language courses as prerequisites for graduation effective immediately.

He then talked about a certain harmony, one based on one's feelings, actions and thoughts, without mentioning whether this harmony ought to be consonant with God or with Satan.  Perhaps to him it did not and does not not matter one way or another since he never bothered to distinguish between the two in his address.

The late Rev. Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican's former chief exorcist, once "confess[ed], 'The devil resides in the Vatican.'" [3]  The article also reported as follows, quoted in part [4]:

While admitting that it is hard to prove, he says the consequences of the devil's work are evident: Cardinals who don't believe in Jesus, bishops who are linked with the devil.

Is the supreme pontiff not also the bishop of Rome?  The answer is quoted below [5]:

Pope Francis has possibly de-emphasized a number of the formal titles normally taken by the leader of the Roman Catholic church, choosing instead to list himself first by the basic title "Bishop of Rome" in the Vatican's annual directory.

These words added together: "devil resides in the Vatican" and "bishops who are linked with the devil" could equal this: the bishop of Rome is linked with the devil.  Is this a possibility, or not?

Even the new book written by the bishop of Rome does not mention Jesus by name.  It is entitled "'Without Him We Can Do Nothing: A Conversation about Being Missionaries in Today’s World' [and] is a discussion between Pope Francis and journalist Gianni Valente of Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples." [6]



[1] https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/11/04/audt.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/chief-exorcist-rev-gabriele-amorth-devil-vatican/story?id=10073040
[4] Ibid.
[5] https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/francis-chronicles/pope-francis-officially-de-emphasizes-papal-titles
[6] https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=43986

Is The End Starting?

Looking at what is happening around the world, it appears that the beginning of an end is slowly taking shape, with demonstrations and riots across the globe in Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela, [1], United Kingdom (Brexit) [2], Spain (for [3] and against [4] Catalan independence), France (climate change activists) [5], Hong Kong (continuing riots - 21 consecutive weekends) [6], Iraq (many dead) (26 October 2019) [7], [8] (5 October 2019) [9], Lebanon [10], South Africa (5 September 2019) [11], there may be other places but this is the list for now.  These riots are mostly about differences in wealth and political power between those who have them and those who do not.  Conflicts could lead to a shortage of food production, raising the possibility of rising of death tolls.

Then there is inclement weather.  Wildfires in California [12], flooding in Britain [13] and in Japan [14] and fires in Indonesia [15].  Unfavorable weather conditions, too, can create food shortages.

Earthquakes are happening.  Volcano Discovery  has a current list [16].  They are minor.

Diseases can recur.  There is a polio outbreak in the Philippines [17], never mind the African swine fever [18] that the government of Philippines said is not a threat to humans [19], at least not yet, until there is commercial success with the pig-human chimera when the African swine virus can start to mutate inside the pig and spread to humans and other species.  Quoted in part below without the hyperlink is from an article dated October 20, 2017, that talks about a pig-human chimera farm and ends with an ominous prophetic sentence in its concluding paragraph [20]:

Like many of the scientists who helped usher in the groundbreaking creation of a part-human, part-animal chimera earlier this year, biologist Dr. Pablo Juan Ross is no stranger to cutting-edge tools such as CRISPR and stem cells. But he also knows his way around the inside of a pig uterus. 

While growing human cells inside fetal pigs involved some of science’s fanciest new tricks, it also required something decidedly more mundane: a farm, stocked with livestock and staffed with people like Ross who know how to handle them.

...

Implanting a sow with chimeric embryos isn’t easy. It take a full surgical team, strong folks to correctly position large animals on operating tables, and experts like UC Davis veterinarian Joan Dean Rowe, who has the deft touch to implant embryos — chimeric or otherwise — into precisely the right place within a pig’s huge and complex double-horned uterus. 

A lot can go wrong in these experiments, and for Ross, it often did....

If this world is starting to end, what will the end look like?  The answers (in italics  below) are in Book of Genesis.

The Serpent said:  "'...and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'"  [Emphasis  added.] [21]  Man, however, often by his Free Will chooses evil over good.  The pig-human chimera alters and warps God's perfection in Creation.  By trying to be like God, man ruins perfection and in the process he ruins himself.

God knew this was going to happen.  Earlier, God said: '"You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die."' [Emphasis  added.] [22]

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/theres-still-time-for-bolivias-president-to-right-the-path-to-democracy/2019/10/24/67eeb1da-f4f1-11e9-8cf0-4cc99f74d127_story.html

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/19/peoples-vote-march-hailed-as-one-of-greatest-protest-marches-in-british-history

[3] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50194846

[4] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/27/at-least-80000-attend-march-against-catalan-separation-in-barcelona-spain

[5] https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1181059/paris-riots-climate-change-protests-police-greta-thunberg-extinction-rebellion

[6] https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3034750/hong-kong-police-fire-tear-gas-anti-government-protesters

[7] https://www.dw.com/en/iraq-death-toll-mounts-amid-fresh-protests/a-51000958

[8] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/26/world/middleeast/iraq-protests.html

[9] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49946325

[10] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/lebanon-protests-riots-tripoli-hezbollah-whatsapp-a9170611.html

[11] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/09/05/deadly-xenophobic-riots-south-africa-prompt-diplomatic-tensions-with-nigeria-heres-why/

[12] https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/28/us/california-fires-power-outages-monday/index.html

[13] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7620963/More-200-flood-warnings-alerts-place-Britain.html

[14] https://www.dw.com/en/heavy-flooding-and-mudslides-leave-10-dead-in-japan/a-51000068

[15] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southeast-asia-haze/area-burned-in-2019-forest-fires-in-indonesia-exceeds-2018-official-idUSKBN1X00VU

[16] https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes/today.html
[17] https://www.who.int/csr/don/24-september-2019-polio-outbreak-the-philippines/en/
[18] https://www.oie.int/en/animal-health-in-the-world/animal-diseases/african-swine-fever/
[19] https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1084284
[20] https://www.statnews.com/2017/10/20/human-pig-chimera/
[21] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A+1-6&version=NIV
[22] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+2%3A15-17%2CGenesis+3%3A1-7%2CMatthew+4%3A1-11&version=NIV

Mother Earth?

Vatican News  reported as follows, quoted in part [1]:

The Vatican publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, on Thursday released a new book of Pope Francis’ thoughts on the environment, including a previously unpublished text. “Our Mother Earth: A Christian reading of the environmental challenge” (Italian: Nostra Terra Madre. Una lettura Cristiana della sfida dell’ambiente) ...

Wikipedia  has this to say about Mother Earth, quoted without hyperlinks [2]:

Mother Nature (sometimes known as Mother Earth or the Earth-Mother) is a Greco-Roman personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it, in the form of the mother.

The Catholic Church has only one Mother.  She is the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.  The earth is not a mother.  Nature is sometimes referred to as "Mother Nature" in a secular sense but not in a religious sense.  The pope has no business publishing a book on the environment and referring to nature as "Our Mother Earth".

His job is solely to bring God into focus in order to lead souls to Heaven, not to be a climate activist like the 16 year old Greta Thunberg, born "born 3 January 2003" [3], or be like one of those self-proclaimed environmentalists who are mostly wealthy, influential and well-educated hypocrites whose combined carbon footprints are probably far, far larger than all the ones made by those who lack education, are powerless and who live in abject poverty around the world.

Further along the same article published by Vatican News  is this rather troubling paragraph [4]:

The Holy Father, however, cautions that a technological revolution and individual commitment are not enough. Awareness, he says, is gained primarily through an “authentic spirit of communion”.  We must start again from forgiveness: asking forgiveness of the poor and the exclusive, first of all, in order to be capable of asking forgiveness also of “the earth, the sea, the air, the animals…” For Pope Francis, seeking forgiveness means totally revising one’s own way of thinking; it means profound personal renewal.

When did Christ teach His flock to ask for "forgiveness also of 'the earth, the sea, the air, the animals...?"  Are they gods equal to God the Father Whom Catholics pray to for forgiveness?  Should Catholics begin confessing directly to the earth, sea, air and animals?

And what does he mean by "an 'authentic spirit of communion'"?  Communion with what?  Is one's communion with Christ not good enough for Bergoglio?  Perhaps it is not.  That is probably why Bergoglio did not bother mentioning Jesus Christ by His Holy Name when speaking of communion in a Catholic sense.

What happens to one who is Catholic, who is devoted to God who "totally [revises] one's own way of thinking"? [Emphasis  added.]  Does this total  revision of thought that leads to a "profound personal renewal" mean that all devout Catholics who, after the "renewal," need to start bowing down to and worshipping Satan as the almighty one?

In an effort to walk back on his words to correct himself, Bergoglio confuses rather than enlightens, which is what Satan does best [5]:

Forgiveness, he says, is only possible in and through the Holy Spirit. It is a grace to be implored humbly from the Lord. Forgiveness, then, is to become active, undertaking a journey together, and never in solitude.

Perhaps Bergoglio needs to demolish all confessionals around the world since forgiveness has to become active and be undertaken together in a shared journey, not received passively alone with deep personal and genuine remorse inside a dimly lit stall.

It is about time that everyone gets to listen to all the pedophile priests asking actively and humbly for the Lord's forgiveness together as a group, as well as to all the inept and perhaps corrupt cardinals who allegedly misappropriated funds designated for charities by funding money-losing investments and other shady transactions.  This would then truly be a total revising of thinking by and a profound renewal of the Catholic hierarchy.


[1] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-10/pope-francis-the-christian-foundations-for-the-care-of-creation.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Nature
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Thunberg
[4] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-10/pope-francis-the-christian-foundations-for-the-care-of-creation.html
[5] Ibid.

Church Donations Gambled Away

Canadian priest pled guilty [1]:

While serving as a priest at St. Joseph’s Chaldean Catholic Church in London and St. Oraha Catholic Church in Kitchener, Saka allegedly gambled away $936,497 that was intended to support Iraqi and Syrian refugees coming to Canada. 

The money was given to him by parishioners as part of a sponsorship agreement so the church could sponsor parishioners’ family members wanting to enter the country.

[1] https://canada-news.org/london/former-ontario-priest-gets-2-year-sentence-for-gambling-1m-meant-for-refugees/