A Misplaced Zeal for Souls?
by
Thomas A. Droleskey
Today is the feast of Saint Peter Claver, a Spanish Jesuit who came to the New World to work for the conversion of the blacks being brought to this hemisphere to toil in chattel slavery. He personally baptized over 300,000 souls during his missionary work, understanding that he had been ordained a priest to bring souls into the true Church founded by Our Lord upon the Rock of Peter, the Pope, so that that they could work out their eternal salvation by cooperating with the sanctifying graces administered to them by the working of the Holy Ghost at the hands of priests in the sacraments. In light of the diabolical novelty of "ecumenism" that has been enshrined in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the actual praxis of the conciliar church n the past forty-eight, one has to ask the following, all-too-logical question: Did Saint Peter Claver have a misplaced zeal for souls?
That is, both the late John Paul II and his successor, Benedict XVI, never once invited those outside of the Church to convert to the true Faith, thus reaffirming them in the false belief that there is any kind of salvation whatsoever to be found by adhering to religions that are founded on (or persist in) a rejection of one or more of the truths that Our Lord has entrusted solely to the Catholic Church for their safekeeping and infallible explication. The failure to plead for the conversion of all of those outside of the true Church, both Protestants and non-Christians alike, to her ranks stands in stark contrast to the zeal for such conversion exhibited by Saint Peter Claver and scores upon scores of others, including Saint Peter Canisius, who was called the Hammer of Protestants.
Indeed, Pope Pius XII wrote approvingly of the zeal for the conversion of souls that prompted the missionaries of the First Millennium and thereafter to Christianize Europe by bringing all souls into the Barque of Saint Peter. Writing in Evangeli Praecones in 1951, Pope Pius noted:
Likewise all know that the Gospel followed the great Roman roads and was spread not only by Bishops and priests but also by public officials, soldiers and private citizens. Thousands of Christian neophytes, whose names are today unknown, were fired with zeal to promote the new religion they had embraced and endeavored to prepare the way for the coming of the Gospel. That explains why after about 100 years Christianity had penetrated into all the chief cities of the Roman Empire.
St. Justinus, Minucius Felix, Aristides, the consul Acilius Glaber, the patrician Flavius Clemens, St. Tarsicius and countless holy martyrs of both sexes, who strengthened and enriched the growth of the Church by their labors and the shedding of their blood, can in a certain sense be called the advance guard and forerunners of Catholic Action. Here We wish to cite the striking observation of the author of the letter to Diognetus, which even today has a message for us: "Christians dwell in their native countries as though aliens; . . . every foreign land is their home and the land of their birth is foreign soil."
During the barbarian invasions of the Middle Ages, we see men and women of royal rank and even workmen and valiant Christian women of the common people using every endeavor to convert their fellow citizens to the religion of Jesus Christ and to fashion their morals according to its pattern, so as to safeguard both religion and the state from approaching danger. Tradition tells us that when our immortal Predecessor, Leo the Great, courageously opposed Attila, when he invaded Italy, two Roman consuls stood by his side. When formidable hordes of Huns were besieging Paris, the holy virgin Genevieve, who was given to a life of continuous prayer and austere penance, cared for the souls and bodies of her fellow citizens with wondrous charity. Theodolinda, Queen of the Lombards, zealously summoned her people to embrace the Christian religion. King Reccaredus of Spain endeavored to rescue his people from the Arian heresy and to lead them back to the true Faith. In France, there were not only bishops, such as Remigius of Rheims, Caesarius of Arles, Gregory of Tours, Eligius of Noyon and many others, who were eminent for virtue and apostolic zeal, but queens also can be found during that period who taught the truths of Christianity to the untutored masses and who gave food and shelter and renewed strength to the sick, the hungry and the victims of every human misfortune. For example, Clotilda so influenced Clovis in favor of the Catholic religion that she had the great joy of bringing him into the true Church. Radegunda and Bathilda cared for the sick with supreme charity and even restored lepers to health. In England, Queen Bertha welcomed St. Augustine when he came to evangelize that nation and earnestly exhorted her husband Ethelbert to accept the teachings of the Gospel. No sooner had the Anglo-Saxons, of both high and low degree, men and women, young and old, embraced the Christian faith, than they were led as though by divine inspiration to unite themselves to this Apostolic See by the closest bonds of piety, fidelity and devotion.
In Germany, we witness the admirable spectacle of St. Boniface and his companions traversing those regions in their apostolic journeys and making them fruitful by their generous labors. The sons and daughters of that valiant and noble land felt inspired to offer their efficient collaboration to monks, priests and Bishops in order that the light of the Gospel might be daily more widely diffused throughout those vast regions and that Christian doctrine and Christian virtue might ever make greater advances and reap a rich harvest of souls.
Thus in every age, thanks to the tireless labors of the clergy and also to the cooperation of the laity, the Catholic Church has not only advanced its spiritual kingdom, but has also led nations to increased social prosperity. Everybody knows the social reforms of St. Elizabeth in Hungary, of St. Ferdinand in Castile and of St. Louis IX in France. By their holy lives and zealous labors they brought about salutary improvement in the different classes of society by instituting reforms, by spreading the true faith everywhere, by valiantly defending the Church and above all by their personal example. Nor are We unaware of the excellent merits of the guilds during the Middle Ages. In these guilds artisans and skilled workers of both sexes were enrolled, who, notwithstanding the fact that they lived in the world, kept their eyes fixed upon the sublime ideal of evangelical perfection. Not only did they eagerly pursue this ideal, but together with the clergy they exerted every effort to bring all others to do the same.
In contradistinction, consider, for one brief example, the words uttered by the late John Paul II at the Notre Dame Pontifical Institute in Jerusalem on March 23, 2000:
The Catholic Church wishes to pursue a sincere and fruitful interreligious dialogue with the members of the Jewish faith and the followers of Islam. Such a dialogue is not an attempt to impose our views upon others. What it demands of all of us is that, holding to what we believe, we listen respectfully to one another, seek to discern all that is good and holy in each other’s teachings, and cooperate in supporting everything that favours mutual understanding and peace.
"Such a dialogue is not an attempt to impose our views upon others." What about the necessity of saving the souls of those who are held captive to the devil by means of Original Sin and are thus in urgent need of being invited into the true Church? How is the proclamation of the Sacred Divinity of the God-Man and the absolute necessity of belonging to the Catholic Church seeking to impose anything upon anyone? Is not such a proclamation simply an act of fidelity to the mission Our Lord entrusted to the Eleven before He Ascended to the Father's right hand in glory on Ascension Thursday?
This blithe acceptance of the "good hope" of the possibility of the salvation of those whose souls are steeped in mortal sin is contradicted by the solemn decree of the Council of Lyons, which met under Pope Gregory X in 1274:
The souls of those who die in mortal sin or with original sin only, however, immediately descend to hell, yet to be punished with different punishments.
Consider also the following two propositions from Pope Pius XI's Syllabus of Errors:
15. Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true. -- Allocution "Maxima quidem," June 9, 1862; Damnatio "Multiplices inter," June 10, 1851.
16. Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation, and arrive at eternal salvation. -- Encyclical "Qui pluribus," Nov. 9, 1846.
17. Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ. -- Encyclical "Quanto conficiamur," Aug. 10, 1863, etc.
Was Our Lord wrong to have proclaimed Himself to be the Messiah when he preached to the Jews? Should he have engaged them in a "sincere and fruitful interreligious dialogue with members of the Jewish faith" so as to avoid "imposing" Himself on them?
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him: “If you continue in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
They answered Him: “We are the seed of Abraham: and we have never been slaves to any man. How sayest thou: ‘You shall be free’?”
Jesus answered them: “Amen, amen, I say unto you that whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. Now the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the son abideth for ever. If therefore the son shall make you free, you are free indeed. I know that you are the children of Abraham: but you seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and you do the things that you have seen with your father.”
They answered and said to Him: “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus saith to them: “If you be the children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I have heard from God. This Abraham did not. You do the works of your father.”
They said therefore to Him: “We are not born of fornication: we have one Father, even God.”
Jesus therefore said to them: “If God were your Father, you would indeed love me. For from God I proceeded and came. For I came not of myself: but He sent me. Why do you not know my speech? Because you can not hear my word. You are of your father the devil: and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning: and he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof. But if I say the truth, you believe me not. Which of you shall convict me of sin? If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me? He that is of God heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God.”
The Jews therefore answered and said to Him: “Do not we say well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil?”
Jesus answered: “I have not a devil: but I honor my Father. And you have dishonored me. But I seek not my own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. Amen, amen, I say to you: If any man keep my word, he shall not see death for ever.”
The Jews therefore said: “Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest: ‘If any man keep my word, he shall not taste death for ever.’ Art thou greater than our father Abraham who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom dost thou make thyself?”
Jesus answered: “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father that glorifieth me, of whom you say that He is your God. And you have not known Him: but I know Him. And if I shall say that I know Him not, I shall be like you, a liar. But I do know Him and do keep His word. Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it and was glad.”
The Jews therefore said to Him: “Thou art not yet fifty years old. And hast thou seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham was made, I AM! (Jn. 8:32-59)
Are popes no longer permitted to speak directly to non-Catholics as had the One Whose vicar they served during their pontificates?
What applies to Jews and Mohammedans applies equally to Protestants. The failure of the recent popes to invite Protestants into the true Church is the equivalent of saying that the "proselytizing" efforts of the great saints was wrong and did not respect the "multiplicity" of ways in which Christians can bear witness to the truths of the Gospel. Indeed, the Vatican Ecumenical Directory of 1993 specifically forbids proselytizing among Protestants, which leaves one to wonder if the following statement is true--or if Protestant denominations have been gifted by the Holy Ghost with true sacraments that can impart sanctifying grace upon souls in their heretical sects:
Amen, Amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall have no life in you. (Jn. 6:54)
Do Protestants have true sacraments? Do they have a valid, sacrificing priesthood. Has the infallibly binding statement on the invalidity of Anglican orders made by Pope Leo XIII in Apostlicae Curae, 1896, been overturned (as though that were possible?). Are Anglican "bishops" and "priests" not actually laymen who are dressed up in clerical garb? Do Protestant ministers who dissent from various articles contained in the Deposit Faith lead their flocks home to Heaven outside of the Catholic Church? Do not papal appearances with Protestant laymen (or laywomen) dressed upon in clerical garb give the appearance of ministerial legitimacy to lay heretics? Once again, is there no immediate need to plead for the conversion of those outside of the one Church created by God Himself into her ranks?
Benedict XVI has rejected the "theology of the return" in dealing with non-Catholic Christians, letting people of different "faith traditions" retain their identity yet have communion with the Successor of Saint Peter. There is a little problem with this "ingenious" solution: it flies in the face of nearly two millennia of the defined teaching of the Catholic Church and consigns her solicitude for the conversion of Protestants to the Orwellian memory hole as "irrelevant" and "counterproductive" in our new and sophisticated era.
Pope Leo XIII understood the immutable doctrine that requires the Church to invite all those outside of her fold to convert to the Catholic Faith, being earnest about begging souls to return, yes, return, to Rome. Writing in Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae, 1894, Pope Leo exhorted Protestants as follows:
Therefore, it is, that having lost all hope of an agreement in their persuasions, they now proclaim and recommended a union of brotherly love. And rightly, too, no doubt, for we should all be united by the bond of mutual charity. Our Lord Jesus Christ enjoined it most emphatically, and wished that this love of one another should be the mark of His disciples. But how can hearts be united in perfect charity where minds do not agree in faith?
It is on this account that many of those We allude to men of sound judgment and seeking after truth, have looked to the Catholic Church for the sure way of salvation; for they clearly understand that they could never be united to Jesus Christ as their head if they were not members of His body, which is the church; nor really acquire the true Christian faith if they rejected the legitimate teaching confided to Peter and his successors. Such men as these have recognized in the Church of Rome the form and image of the true Church, which is clearly made manifest by the marks that God, her Author, placed upon her: and not a few who were possessed with penetrating judgment and a special talent for historical research, have shown forth in their remarkable writings the uninterrupted succession of the Church of Rome from the apostles, the integrity of her doctrine, and the consistency of her rule and discipline.
With the example of such men before you, Our heart appeals to you even more than Our words: to you, Our Brethren, who for three centuries and more differ from Us on Christian faith; and to you all likewise, who in later times, for any reason whatsoever, have turned away from Us: Let us all meet in the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Suffer that We should invite you to the unity which has ever existed in the Catholic Church and can never fail; suffer that We should lovingly hold out Our hand to you. The Church, as the common mother of all, has long been calling you back to her; the Catholics of the world await you with brotherly love, that you may render holy worship to God together with us, united in perfect charity by the profession of one Gospel, one faith, and one hope.
This is what a pope should be saying to Protestants in our day. No authentic Roman Catholic would dare to promote the novelty of "inter-religious dialogue" that has been used by the devil to close the mouths of the conciliar popes and their cardinals and bishops on this central truth: the Catholic Church is the sole Church of Jesus Christ. Sadly, though, the conciliar popes have acted though the words of the pre-conciliar popes contained messages for an epoch in history that has "passed" and cannot be recaptured. We must "move on" to embrace the spirit of our own days. The words of the past must not even be mentioned, no less followed as the dogmatic basis of Catholic pastoral practice. Once again, the triumph of the spirit of Hegelianism, as I pointed out last month in "A New Theology for a New Religion."
Pope Leo XIII anticipated the errors of contemporary ecumenism, many of which sprang up right here in the pluralistic United States of America, when he condemned the very approach being used by the Benedict XVI and his immediate predecessors. Writing in Testem Benevolentiae in 1899, Pope Leo noted:
The principles on which the new opinions We have mentioned are based may be reduced to this: that, in order the more easily to bring over to Catholic doctrine those who dissent from it, the Church ought to adapt herself somewhat to our advanced civilization, and, relaxing her ancient rigor, show some indulgence to modern popular theories and methods. Many think that this is to be understood not only with regard to the rule of life, but also to the doctrines in which the deposit of faith is contained. For they contend that it is opportune, in order to work in a more attractive way upon the wills of those who are not in accord with us, to pass over certain heads of doctrines, as if of lesser moment, or to so soften them that they may not have the same meaning which the Church has invariably held. Now, Beloved Son, few words are needed to show how reprehensible is the plan that is thus conceived. If we but consider the character and origin of the doctrine which the Church hands down to us. On that point the Vatican Council says: "The doctrine of faith which God has revealed is not proposed like a theory of philosophy which is to be elaborated b the human understanding, but as a divine deposit delivered to the Spouse of Christ to be faithfully guarded and infallibly declared. . . . That sense of the sacred dogmas is to be faithfully kept which Holy Mother Church has once declared, and is not to be departed from under the specious pretext of a more profound understanding.
Nor is the suppression to be considered altogether free from blame, which designedly omits certain principles of Catholic doctrine and buries them, as it were, in oblivion. For there is the one and the same Author and Master of all the truths that Christian teaching comprises: the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. That they are adapted to all ages and nations is plainly deduced from the words which Christ addressed to His Apostles: Going therefore teach ye all nations: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world. Wherefore the same Vatican Council says: "By the divine and Catholic faith those things are to be believed which are contained in the word of God either written or handed down, and are proposed by the Church whether in solemn decision or by the ordinary universal magisterium, to be believed as having been divinely revealed." Far be it, then, for any one to diminish or for any reason whatever to pass over anything of this divinely delivered doctrine; whosoever would do so, would rather wish to alienate Catholics from the Church than to bring over to the Church those who dissent from it. Let then return; indeed, nothing is nearer to Our heart; let all those who are wandering far from the sheepfold of Christ return; but let it not be by any other road than which Christ has pointed out.
In other words, no one, including a subsequent pope, has the right to depart from "that meaning of the sacred dogmas" that Holy Mother, the Church, has once declared" "under the pretense or pretext of a deeper comprehension of them." Ecumenism is an erroneous novelty that denies the binding nature of such things as contained in the Pope Pius IX's Syllabus of Errors:
18. Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion, in which form it is given to please God equally as in the Catholic Church. -- Encyclical "Noscitis," Dec. 8, 1849.
21. The Church has not the power of defining dogmatically that the religion of the Catholic Church is the only true religion. -- Damnatio "Multiplices inter," June 10, 1851.
Protestantism is false. It is from the devil. It is no basis of personal sanctity or of social order. The fact that there are elements of truth in this or that Protestant sect does not mitigate in the slightest the necessity of our praying and working for the full conversion of Protestants to the one true Church, outside of which there is no salvation. Pope Pius IX urged Catholics to do precisely this as an act of fundamental charity, seeing to it that those in error are not condemned for being in error through no fault of their own but are led unequivocally out of that error and into the true Church. Writing in Quant Conficiamur Moerore in 1863, Blessed Pius IX noted:
Also well known is the Catholic teaching that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church. Eternal salvation cannot be obtained by those who oppose the authority and statements of the same Church and are stubbornly separated from the unity of the Church and also from the successor of Peter, the Roman Pontiff, to whom "the custody of the vineyard has been committed by the Savior." The words of Christ are clear enough: "If he refuses to listen even to the Church, let him be to you a Gentile and a tax collector;""He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you, rejects me, and he who rejects me, rejects him who sent me;""He who does not believe will be condemned;""He who does not believe is already condemned;""He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." The Apostle Paul says that such persons are "perverted and self-condemned;" the Prince of the Apostles calls them "false teachers . . . who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master. . . bringing upon themselves swift destruction."
God forbid that the children of the Catholic Church should even in any way be unfriendly to those who are not at all united to us by the same bonds of faith and love. On the contrary, let them be eager always to attend to their needs with all the kind services of Christian charity, whether they are poor or sick or suffering any other kind of visitation. First of all, let them rescue them from the darkness of the errors into which they have unhappily fallen and strive to guide them back to Catholic truth and to their most loving Mother who is ever holding out her maternal arms to receive them lovingly back into her fold. Thus, firmly founded in faith, hope, and charity and fruitful in every good work, they will gain eternal salvation.
Pope Pius IX understood that there is always an immediate need to invite those outside of the Church into her bosom. Every human being on this planet is meant to be a member of the Catholic Church, bar none. Our Lord wants everyone to partake worthily of His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in Holy Communion. He wants everyone to receive the absolution in the Sacrament of Penance of any and every mortal sin committed after Baptism. He wants all people in this world to honor in their own lives and in the lives of their own nations His Most Blessed Mother. There can be no room for any deviation on even one point of dogma, including the cult of Mary and of the rest of the saints.
Pope Pius XI stated the matter bluntly in Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928, a document that has at no time been mentioned favorably in the writings of John Paul II or Benedict XVI:
So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it. During the lapse of centuries, the mystical Spouse of Christ has never been contaminated, nor can she ever in the future be contaminated, as Cyprian bears witness: "The Bride of Christ cannot be made false to her Spouse: she is incorrupt and modest. She knows but one dwelling, she guards the sanctity of the nuptial chamber chastely and modestly."The same holy Martyr with good reason marveled exceedingly that anyone could believe that "this unity in the Church which arises from a divine foundation, and which is knit together by heavenly sacraments, could be rent and torn asunder by the force of contrary wills." For since the mystical body of Christ, in the same manner as His physical body, is one, compacted and fitly joined together, it were foolish and out of place to say that the mystical body is made up of members which are disunited and scattered abroad: whosoever therefore is not united with the body is no member of it, neither is he in communion with Christ its head.
This particular paragraph is a rejoinder to the work of the likes of the late Abbe Paul Courturier, whose errors have been embraced by John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The Church of Christ is not "made up of members which are disunited and scattered abroad." Thus, as Pope Pius XI noted, "whosoever is not united with the body is no member of it, neither is he in communion with Christ its head." That is, the words of the conciliar popes are absolutely incompatible with the doctrine, not simply the "pastoral practice," of the Catholic Church until 1958.
It is perhaps useful, especially since words are plentiful and memories tend to be short, to repeat a little something about who this Abbe Paul Courturier was:
A third influence on Couturier was Teilhard de Chardin. Both men were scientists, and Teilhard's vision of the unity of creation and humanity expressed in the unity of Christ and the life of the Church appealed both scientifically and spiritually to Couturier. A reasoned consequence for him was that the unity of Christians was the sign for the unity of humanity, and that praying for the sanctification of Jews, Muslims and Hindus, among many others, could not fail but to lead to a new spiritual understanding of God where Christ could at last be recognised and understood. Couturier felt this keenly as he was partly Jewish and had been raised among Muslims in North Africa. It is worth noting that among Couturier's voluminous correspondents were Jews, Muslims, and Hindus, as well as every kind of Christian, all caught up in the Abbé's spirit of prayer, realising the significance and dimensions of prayer for the unity of Christians. Coincidentally, years later Mother Theresa spoke of the considerable number of Muslims who volunteered and worked at her house in Calcutta: 'If you are a Christian, I want to make you a better Christian - if you are a Muslim, I want to make you a better Muslim'. It cannot be denied that what those Muslims were seeing in Mother Theresa was Jesus Christ himself, just as the Abbe attracted so many to prayer across previously unbridgeable divides by his humility, penitence, and joyful charity in the peace of Christ. (from a website devoted to the work of Abbe Paul Couturier)
No, not exactly from the Acts of the Apostles. Not exactly from the life and saintly example of Saint Peter Claver. Not exactly from God. Yet, you see, Abbe Courturier, the disciple of Chardin, who believed that "God" and our understanding of Him evolves over time, was praised last year by Benedict XVI in Cologne, Germany:
The power of prayer, and its potential for overcoming separation and the wounds of centuries, lay at the heart of all groups of Christian believers, and so he came to see that, as people grow in sanctity in their different traditions, they grow closer to Christ. If Christians could then be aware of each others' history, spirituality, traditions of faith and worship, their hurts and their glories, they could thus grow closer to each other. The foundations, he realised, would need to be humility, reparation and no little suffering. But if Christians could imitate each other - not just go to each others' services, but embrace each others' spirituality and traditions for their own - the path to holiness in one Church could be adopted and enhance the path to holiness in the others too. This 'emulation' has been described as 'vying with one another' to advance on the path to holiness and to Christ - not mutual admiration, not unfriendly rivalry. but a 'race that is set before us' in which we spur each other on beyond our own small worlds to fresh understanding, to new awareness of Christ and his Church, to a closer bond with him and his people. In the last fifty years we have seen the Abbé's prayer that Christians could all pray the Lord's Prayer together realised. Catholics have adopted many great Protestant and Anglican hymns and chorales. Anglicans and other non-Roman Catholics have taken to heart the Retreat movement, and also embraced the importance for the Orthodox of Icons. The Orthodox have become increasingly influential members of the World Council of Churches, and all now share in a renewed common love of the Scriptures. These are fruits of spiritual emulation.
In other words, the Catholic Church is wrong about many things and has to adopt the errors of the heretics and the schismatics. We must "emulate" those who reject articles contained in the Deposit of Faith and participate in an organization, the World Council of Churches, that has been pro-Communist, pro-abortion and pro-contraception. This is not of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, ladies and gentlemen.
As had Pope Leo XIII before him, Pope Pius XI articulated in Mortalium Animos the immutable doctrine, not a fungible "theology," of the return of the Orthodox and the Protestants to the true Church, as though the teachings of the pre-conciliar popes contained mere private opinions and "pastoral approaches" that have now been made irrelevant to our contemporary times. To Mortalium Animos:
Furthermore, in this one Church of Christ no man can be or remain who does not accept, recognize and obey the authority and supremacy of Peter and his legitimate successors. Did not the ancestors of those who are now entangled in the errors of Photius and the reformers, obey the Bishop of Rome, the chief shepherd of souls? Alas their children left the home of their fathers, but it did not fall to the ground and perish for ever, for it was supported by God. Let them therefore return to their common Father, who, forgetting the insults previously heaped on the Apostolic See, will receive them in the most loving fashion. For if, as they continually state, they long to be united with Us and ours, why do they not hasten to enter the Church, "the Mother and mistress of all Christ's faithful"? Let them hear Lactantius crying out: "The Catholic Church is alone in keeping the true worship. This is the fount of truth, this the house of Faith, this the temple of God: if any man enter not here, or if any man go forth from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation. Let none delude himself with obstinate wrangling. For life and salvation are here concerned, which will be lost and entirely destroyed, unless their interests are carefully and assiduously kept in mind."
Let, therefore, the separated children draw nigh to the Apostolic See, set up in the City which Peter and Paul, the Princes of the Apostles, consecrated by their blood; to that See, We repeat, which is "the root and womb whence the Church of God springs,"not with the intention and the hope that "the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth"[28] will cast aside the integrity of the faith and tolerate their errors, but, on the contrary, that they themselves submit to its teaching and government. Would that it were Our happy lot to do that which so many of Our predecessors could not, to embrace with fatherly affection those children, whose unhappy separation from Us We now bewail. Would that God our Savior, "Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth," would hear us when We humbly beg that He would deign to recall all who stray to the unity of the Church! In this most important undertaking We ask and wish that others should ask the prayers of Blessed Mary the Virgin, Mother of divine grace, victorious over all heresies and Help of Christians, that She may implore for Us the speedy coming of the much hoped-for day, when all men shall hear the voice of Her divine Son, and shall be "careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
Benedict XVI, who is keeping true to the ethos of the novelties of the Second Vatican Council as regards ecumenism and the very nature of the Church herself, would do well to consider the prophetic warning of Pope Pius IX, contained in his first encyclical letter, Qui Pluribus, 1846:
It is with no less deceit, venerable brothers, that other enemies of divine revelation, with reckless and sacrilegious effrontery, want to import the doctrine of human progress into the Catholic religion. They extol it with the highest praise, as if religion itself were not of God but the work of men, or a philosophical discovery which can be perfected by human means. The charge which Tertullian justly made against the philosophers of his own time "who brought forward a Stoic and a Platonic and a Dialectical Christianity" can very aptly apply to those men who rave so pitiably. Our holy religion was not invented by human reason, but was most mercifully revealed by God; therefore, one can quite easily understand that religion itself acquires all its power from the authority of God who made the revelation, and that it can never be arrived at or perfected by human reason. In order not to be deceived and go astray in a matter of such great importance, human reason should indeed carefully investigate the fact of divine revelation. Having done this, one would be definitely convinced that God has spoken and therefore would show Him rational obedience, as the Apostle very wisely teaches. For who can possibly not know that all faith should be given to the words of God and that it is in the fullest agreement with reason itself to accept and strongly support doctrines which it has determined to have been revealed by God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived?
There is no such thing as inter-religious "dialogue" in the Deposit of Faith, only the loving but firm proclamation of the truths entrusted by the God-Man Himself, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, solely to the Catholic Church so that all men in the world can be invited at all times in human history to their true mater and magister, their mother and teacher, who desires to nurture them with supernatural helps unto an eternal blessedness in the glory of the Beatific Vision of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
The zeal of saints such as Saint Peter Claver was not misplaced. There is no need to "purify our memories" of the Catholic past in order to "discover" the "diversity" to be found in non-Catholic Christian sects. We must imitate the zeal of the Apostles and those who followed them by working and praying for the conversion of all men and women in the world into the Catholic Church. Anyone, including a Successor of Saint Peter, who refuses to extend such an invitation whenever he has the opportunity to address non-Catholics is shirking his responsibility and reaffirming his hearers in false religions that have no means of their own to save anyone at any time in any place.
Our Lady wants the conversion of people to the Catholic Church. She gave Saint Catherine Laboure the image of the Miraculous Medal to be an instrument of the conversion of souls. One of the most prominent men to have been converted by the Miraculous Medal was the Jewish atheist, Alphonse Ratisbonne. As a story about his conversion relates:
"I had come out of a dark pit, out of a tomb...and I was alive, completely alive. I thought of my brother Theodore with inexpressible joy. But how I wept as I thought of my family, of my fiancee, of my poor sisters. I wept indeed, as I thought of them whom I so loved and for whom I said the first of my prayers. Will you not raise your eyes to the Savior shoe blood blots out original sin? Oh! How hideous is the mark of this taint, and how does it alter beyond recognition the creature made in God's own likeness!"
When priests wanted to delay his Baptism for a time, Alphonse Ratisbonne said:
"The Jews who heard the preaching of the Apostles were baptized immediately, and you want to put me off, after I have 'heard' the preaching of the Queen of the Apostles?"
As is recounted in Mary's Miraculous Medal:
News of this miraculous event spread quickly all over Europe, especially in diplomatic and financial circles, when Ratisbonne, de Bassierers and de La Ferronays were widely known. The city of Rome itself was in a stir and a special Church commission was established to study the astonishing conversion. Faced with the overpowering evidence, the court fully recognized the signal miracle wrought by God through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the spontaneous conversion of Marie Alphonse Ratisbonne from Judaism to Catholicism. It was a major triumph of the Miraculous Medal.
Alphonse Ratisbonne became a Catholic priest, serving in the Holy Land. "So great was the love he had for his people, that he dedicated the remainder of his life, as did his brother, Father Theodore, to work for the conversion of their immortal souls. Among the converts of these two priest brothers were a total of twenty-eight members of their own family."
A misplaced zeal for souls that belongs to another era in Church history? Or the model that everyone, including the conciliarists, must follow, yes, even with the Jews and Mohammedans?
As always, we beg Our Lady that we might be first concerned about our own conversion away from sin and our attachment to the things of this passing world. Thus assiduous in our efforts to root out sin and vice by cooperating with the graces won for us on Calvary and administered to us by the working of the Holy Ghost through the sacraments entrusted to the Catholic Church, we may be ever ready to bear a witness to the true Faith at a time when our shepherds have deceived themselves into believing that the perennial teaching of the Church may be ignored in favor of novelties that come from the devil and are meant to reaffirm the souls for whom Our Lord laid down His life on the wood of the Holy Cross in paths that lead only to perdition.
We pray to Saint Peter Claver to help end the apostasy that reigns at present. May he, who was so tenderly devoted to Our Lady, help the Church to realize an end to this current Babylonian Captivity so that we can have a pope who will consecrate Russia to Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart with all of the world's bishops without delay. The errors of Russia include the errors of Photius, the errors of Orthodoxy, the errors of the Protestant Revolutionaries, the errors of Modernity in the world and Modernism in the Church. May Saint Peter Claver help us to plant a few seeds by the graces won for us by the shedding of every single drop of Our Lord's Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross and that flow to us through Our Lady's loving hands for the restoration of Tradition in the Church, which will help to foster the return of all people in the world to the only means of salvation, the Catholic Church.
Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.
Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.
Saint John the Beloved, pray for us.
Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.
Saint John Mary Vianney, pray for us.
Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us.
Saint Therese Lisieux, pray for us.
Saint Martin of Tours, pray for us.
Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, pray for us.
Saint Athanasius, pray for us.
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, pray for us.
Saint Dominic, pray for us.
Saint Basil, pray for us.
Saint Augustine, pray for us.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.
Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.
Saint Sebastian, pray for us.
Saint Tarcisius, pray for us.
Saint Lucy, pray for us.
Saint Agnes, pray for us.
Saint Agatha, pray for us.
Saint Bridget of Sweden, pray for us.
Saint Catherine of Sweden, pray for us.
Saint Philomena, pray for us.
Saint John Bosco, pray for us.
Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us.
Pope Saint Pius X, pray for us
Pope Saint Pius V, pray for us.
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, pray for us.
Blessed Pauline Jaricot, pray for us.
Blessed Miguel Augustin Pro, pray for us.
Blessed Francisco, pray for us.
Blessed Jacinta, pray for us.
Sister Lucia, pray for us.
The Longer Version of the Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer, composed by Pope Leo XIII, 1888
O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil. Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven. That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered. Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.
Verse: Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.
Response: The Lion of the Tribe of Juda has conquered the root of David.
Verse: Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.
Response: As we have hoped in Thee.
Verse: O Lord hear my prayer.
Response: And let my cry come unto Thee.
Verse: Let us pray. O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls.
Response: Amen.
Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. What has justice in common with iniquity? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. And I will be their God: and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them and be separated,’ says the Lord, ‘and touch not the unclean thing: and I will welcome you in; and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters’ (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
