Jorge and Oscar's False Gospel of False Joy

Part One

by Thomas A. Droleskey

Eight months, fourteen days have elapsed since the insidious little pest from Argentina emerged on the balcony of the Basilica of Saint Peter as the successor to Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI. It was clear from that very moment on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, that Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who finished a distant second to Ratzinger at the conciliar conclave in 2005 as the candidate the "stop Ratzinger" bloc of the "ultra-progressive" conciliar "cardinals, was intent on a radical transformation of what most people in the world view as the papacy as he set aside the papal mozzetta and asked to be "blessed" by the people in Saint Peter's Square. Bergoglio's revolutionary agenda of eradicating every remaining vestige of Catholicism from the counterfeit church of conciliarism became even clearer in the succeeding days thereafter.

Bergoglio has spent eight and one-half months outlining his revolutionary program, albeit in a random, haphazard manner, during the daily sessions of his Ding Dong School Of Apostasy that have been the subject of well over one hundred articles on this website. No matter how startlingly bold, Bergoglio's revolutionary program contains nothing original as many of us had to endure this exact trip when it first became avant garde in the conciliar world back in the 1970s. Jorge Mario Bergoglio is a standard issue Jesuit revolutionary whose words and actions are but a caricature of the shopworn slogans and cliches that so many Jesuits and other priests/presbyters in the conciliar structures propagated in the immediate aftermath of the "Second" Vatican Council.

As has been demonstrated in the past two articles, Trying To Put Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again and Continuously Denying The Catholic Faith, conciliarism is the antithesis of Catholicism no matter how many times Jorge Mario Bergoglio gives lip service to Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's philosophically absurd and dogmatically condemned "hermeneutic of continuity" that makes a mockery of the immutability of God and His Sacred Deposit of Faith.

Alas, all talk of a "hermeneutic of continuity" is just so much window dressing as Jorge Mario Bergoglio and his chief Commissar and ideologist, Oscar Andres Maradiaga Rodriguez (see Commissar of Antichrist Speaks, part one, Commissar of Antichrist Speaks, part two, Commissar of Antichrist Speaks, part three and Commissar of Antichrist Speaks, part four), have stated with frank clarity the revolutionary path they intend to follow to "shake things up" in what they think is the Catholic Church.

Thus it is that Jorge Mario Bergoglio's first "apostolic exhortation," Evangelii Gaudium, "The Gospel of Joy," which was issued yesterday, November 26, 2013, the Feast of Saint Sylvester the Abbot and the Commemoration of Saint Peter of Alexandria, who was the first bishop to discipline Arius when the budding heretic was but a deacon, is little other than a compendium of the various revolutionary points that he has been repeatedly ad infinitum, ad nauseam for the past eight and one-half months. Each of the points made in this so-called "apostolic exhortation" has been the subject of many commentaries on this site since March 14, 2013 the day after Bergoglio's accession to power as the universal public face of apostasy. There is no need to belabor each yet again. However, some of the highlights of this revolutionary screed will be noted in this commentary and the one that follows tomorrow.

I. Disparaging a Life of Penance Yet Again

Returning to a theme that he has addressed on a number of occasions in the past eight and one-half months, Jorge Mario Bergoglio once again denounced Catholics who choose to live penitentially in imitation of our saints, believing that supposedly austere rigors bring joylessness into the world when the precise opposite is true:

6. There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter. I realize of course that joy is not expressed the same way at all times in life, especially at moments of great difficulty. Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved. I understand the grief of people who have to endure great suffering, yet slowly but surely we all have to let the joy of faith slowly revive as a quiet yet firm trust, even amid the greatest distress: “My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is… But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness… It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lam 3:17, 21-23, 26). (Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Evangelii Gaudium, November 26, 2013.)

Bergoglio is nothing but a cowardly conciliar lion who flails away at mythical straw men in order to make himself appear as the liberator of Catholics from the "shackles" in which the "past" has confined them. Bergoglio's efforts to paint Catholics who take seriously the admonitions of Our Lady herself in the Grotto of Massabielle near Lourdes, France, and the Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal, to live penitentially as veritable Jansenists and Pharisees is nothing other than shameful demagoguery.

It was nearly six months ago that Bergoglio hammered away on this point in one at the Casa Santa Marta, and he is returned to it on number of occasions since that time:

"In the history of the Church there have been some mistakes made on the path towards God. Some have believed that the Living God, the God of Christians can be found on the path of meditation, indeed that we can reach higher through meditation. That's dangerous! How many are lost on that path, never to return. Yes perhaps they arrive at knowledge of God, but not of Jesus Christ, Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity. They do not arrive at that. It is the path of the Gnostics, no? They are good, they work, but it is not the right path. It’s very complicated and does not lead to a safe harbor. "

"Others - the Pope said - thought that to arrive at God we must mortify ourselves, we have to be austere and have chosen the path of penance: only penance and fasting. Not even these arrive at the Living God, Jesus Christ. They are the pelagians, who believe that they can arrive by their own efforts. " But Jesus tells us that the path to encountering Him is to find His wounds:

"We find Jesus’ wounds in carrying out works of mercy, giving to our body – the body – the soul too, but – I stress - the body of your wounded brother, because he is hungry, because he is thirsty, because he is naked because it is humiliated, because he is a slave, because he's in jail because he is in the hospital. Those are the wounds of Jesus today. And Jesus asks us to take a leap of faith, towards Him, but through these His wounds. 'Oh, great! Let's set up a foundation to help everyone and do so many good things to help '. That's important, but if we remain on this level, we will only be philanthropic. We need to touch the wounds of Jesus, we must caress the wounds of Jesus, we need to bind the wounds of Jesus with tenderness, we have to kiss the wounds of Jesus, and this literally. Just think of what happened to St. Francis, when he embraced the leper? The same thing that happened to Thomas: his life changed. "

Pope Francis concluded that we do not need to go on a “refresher course” to touch the living God, but to enter into the wounds of Jesus, and for this "all we have to do is go out onto the street. Let us ask St. Thomas for the grace to have the courage to enter into the wounds of Jesus with tenderness and thus we will certainly have the grace to worship the living God. " (We encounter the Living God through His wounds.)

Catholics embrace penance and mortification as a means of conquering self, of dying to self, in order to live more fully for Christ the King as He has revealed Himself through His true Church.

A true Jesuit and a true priest, Father John Croiset, wrote as follows on interior mortification:

It is not enough to mortify ourselves in some things, for some time; we must, as far as possible, mortify ourselves in everything and at all times, with prudence and discretion. A single unlawful gratification allowed to human nature will do more to make it proud and rebellious than a hundred victories gained over it. Truce with this sort of enemy is victory for him; “Brethren,” said Sr. Bernard, “what is cut will grow again, and what appears extinguished will light again, and what is asleep will awake again.”

To preserve the interior spirit of devotion, the soul must not be dissipated with exterior distractions, and as the prophet says, must be surrounded on all sides by a hedge of thorns. Now, if we omit to do that, it will be for us the cause of tepidity, back sliding, and want of devotion. When we mortify our disordered inclinations in one thing, we generally make up for it by some other satisfaction which we allow ourselves. During the time of retreat, we are recollected, but as soon as it is over, we open the gates of the senses to all kinds of distractions.

The exercise of this interior mortification, so common in the lives of the saints, is known by all who have a real desire to be perfect. In this matter we have only to listen to the Spirit of God. The love of Jesus Christ makes people so ingenious, that the courage and energy which they display and the means of mortifying themselves with which the Holy Spirit inspires even the most uncultured people, surpass the genius of the learned, and can be regarded as little miracles.

There is nothing which they do not make an occasion to contradict their natural inclinations; there is no time or place which does not appear proper to mortify themselves without ever going beyond the rules of good sense. It is enough that they have a great desire to see or to speak, to make them lower their eyes or keep silent; the desire to learn news, or to know what is going on, or what is being said, is for them a subject of continual mortification which is as meritorious as it is ordinary, and of which God alone is the Witness. The appropriate word, a witticism in conversation, can bring them honor, but they make it the matter of a sacrifice.

There is hardly a time of the day but gives opportunities for mortification; whether one is sitting or standing, one can find a place or an attitude that is uncomfortable without being remarked. If they are interrupted a hundred times in a serious employment, they will reply a hundred times with as much sweetness and civility as if they had not been occupied. The ill-humor of a person with whom we have to live, the imperfections of a servant, the ingratitude of a person under obligations to us, can give much exercise for the patience of a person solidly virtuous. Finally, the inconveniences of place, season or persons suffered in a manner to make people believe that we do not feel them are small occasions of mortification, it is true, but the mortification on these occasions is not small; it is of great merit.

It may be said that great graces and even sublime sanctity usually depend on the generosity with which we mortify ourselves constantly on these little occasions. Exact fulfillment of the duties of one’s state and conformity in all things to community life without regard to one’s inclinations, employment, or age involve that continual mortification which is not subject to vanity but which is in conformity with the spirit of Jesus Christ.

If occasions for exterior mortifications are wanting, those for interior mortification are ever at hand. Modesty, recollections, reserve require mortification; honesty, sweetness and civility may the the effects of education, but are more usually the result of constant mortification. Without this virtue it is difficult for a person to be always at peace, to be self-possessed, to do his actions perfectly, and be always content with what God wills. (Mortification.)

Here is a review of Our Lady's call for men to embrace lives of penance in reparation for their sins and and those of the whole world:

"Would you have the graciousness to come here for fifteen days?"

"I do not promise you happiness in this world, but in the next."

"Pray for sinners."

"Go drink at the spring and wash yourself in it."

"Penance! Penance! Penance!"

Bernadette was also told to eat some leaves from a green herb.

"Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners."

"You will tell the priests to have a chapel built here." (Our Lady's Words at Lourdes.)

"Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners?"

"Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort." (Our Lady of Fatima, May 13, 1917.)

"Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

"You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.

"To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world."

Mary specifically told Lucia not to tell anyone about the secret at this stage, apart from Francisco, before continuing: "When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: 'O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need.' " (Our Lady of Fatima, July 13, 1917.)

"Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them." (Our Lady of Fatima, August 19, 1917.) (See: Our Lady's words at Fatima.)

 

The reality is, of course, that there are very, very few people in the counterfeit church of conciliarism who live penitentially. Conciliarism has preached a false gospel of false joy for over five decades now, and the "people" have responded with great glee, immersing themselves more and more into the "modern" world of immorality, indecency, profanity, vulgarity, obscenity, immodesty, intemperance and gluttony. Even formerly Catholic churches and new "worship buildings" constructed to "conform" to the conciliar ethos of "joy" and "egalitarianism" that lead people into rank irreligion. (For a collage of such buildings, please see Novus Ordo Monstrous Altars.)

Conciliarism's false theology gave rise to a false, sacramentally barren and liturgically sacrilegious "worship" service whose principal "governing document," the General Instruction to the Roman Missal, makes a specific point of referring to the practice of external penance as belonging to another "age" in the history of the Church:

The same awareness of the present state of the world also influenced the use of texts from very ancient tradition. It seemed that this cherished treasure would not be harmed if some phrases were changed so that the style of language would be more in accord with the language of modern theology and would faithfully reflect the actual state of the Church's discipline. Thus there have been changes of some expressions bearing on the evaluation and use of the good things of the earth and of allusions to a particular form of outward penance belonging to another age in the history of the Church. (Paragraph Fifteen, General Instruction to the Roman Missal, 1997.)

The counterfeit church has reduced the number of mandatory fast days to precisely two, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

The Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo liturgical service has convinced many, although far from all, Catholics that the "liturgy" is but a mere "remembrance" of a past event that is designed to effect community fellowship and mutual support.

Belief in the Real Presence of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which Catholics in the conciliar structures are supposed to believe is there even though the actual reality is that Our Lord is not present in the Novus Ordo service, has waned to under thirty percent.

Laity, both men and women, have invaded the sanctuary of formerly Catholic churches, reducing the priest or presbyter to but a mere "presider."

Communion rails have been removed.

Standing is the norm for the reception of what is purported to be Holy Communion, which is distributed in the hand according to the revolutionary designs of the Protestant Martin Bucer in the Sixteenth Century.

Genuflection has all but disappeared in many, although not all, Catholic churches that are in the control of the conciliar revolutionaries.

There are very few Catholics in the conciliar structures whose lives conform to Jorge Mario Bergoglio's caricature, which ignores the simple fact that holy souls such as Saint John Mary Vianney, Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint John of God, Saint Mary Magdalene, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Rose of Lima and, among so many countless numbers of others, Padre Pio, were not joyful in their lives of penance lived for the love of the true God of Divine Revelation, the Most Blessed Trinity.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio is a blasphemer.

II. Always At War Against Tradition and Truth

One can see in the section below that Jorge Mario Bergoglio, although repeating themes that he has spoken about time and time again in the past eight and one-half months, had some assistance from Oscar Andres Maradiaga Rodriguez in the composition of Evangelii Gaudium as there are elements that evoke not only Bergoglio's own much-repeated remarks as "Pope Francis" but those of the Honduran apostate in the identical lectures he gave in Irving, Texas, on Friday, October 25, 2013, and in Miami, Florida on Monday, October 28, 2013, the Feast of Saint Simons and Jude:

93. Spiritual worldliness, which hides behind the appearance of piety and even love for the Church, consists in seeking not the Lord’s glory but human glory and personal well-being. It is what the Lord reprimanded the Pharisees for: “How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (Jn 5:44). It is a subtle way of seeking one’s “own interests, not those of Jesus Christ” (Phil 2:21). It takes on many forms, depending on the kinds of persons and groups into which it seeps. Since it is based on carefully cultivated appearances, it is not always linked to outward sin; from without, everything appears as it should be. But if it were to seep into the Church, “it would be infinitely more disastrous than any other worldliness which is simply moral”.

94. This worldliness can be fuelled in two deeply interrelated ways. One is the attraction of gnosticism, a purely subjective faith whose only interest is a certain experience or a set of ideas and bits of information which are meant to console and enlighten, but which ultimately keep one imprisoned in his or her own thoughts and feelings. The other is the self-absorbed promethean neopelagianism of those who ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. A supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying. In neither case is one really concerned about Jesus Christ or others. These are manifestations of an anthropocentric immanentism. It is impossible to think that a genuine evangelizing thrust could emerge from these adulterated forms of Christianity.

95. This insidious worldliness is evident in a number of attitudes which appear opposed, yet all have the same pretence of “taking over the space of the Church”. In some people we see an ostentatious preoccupation for the liturgy, for doctrine and for the Church’s prestige, but without any concern that the Gospel have a real impact on God’s faithful people and the concrete needs of the present time. In this way, the life of the Church turns into a museum piece or something which is the property of a select few. In others, this spiritual worldliness lurks behind a fascination with social and political gain, or pride in their ability to manage practical affairs, or an obsession with programmes of self-help and self-realization. It can also translate into a concern to be seen, into a social life full of appearances, meetings, dinners and receptions. It can also lead to a business mentality, caught up with management, statistics, plans and evaluations whose principal beneficiary is not God’s people but the Church as an institution. The mark of Christ, incarnate, crucified and risen, is not present; closed and elite groups are formed, and no effort is made to go forth and seek out those who are distant or the immense multitudes who thirst for Christ. Evangelical fervour is replaced by the empty pleasure of complacency and self-indulgence.

96. This way of thinking also feeds the vainglory of those who are content to have a modicum of power and would rather be the general of a defeated army than a mere private in a unit which continues to fight. How often we dream up vast apostolic projects, meticulously planned, just like defeated generals! But this is to deny our history as a Church, which is glorious precisely because it is a history of sacrifice, of hopes and daily struggles, of lives spent in service and fidelity to work, tiring as it may be, for all work is “the sweat of our brow”. Instead, we waste time talking about “what needs to be done” – in Spanish we call this the sin of “habriaqueísmo” – like spiritual masters and pastoral experts who give instructions from on high. We indulge in endless fantasies and we lose contact with the real lives and difficulties of our people.

97. Those who have fallen into this worldliness look on from above and afar, they reject the prophecy of their brothers and sisters, they discredit those who raise questions, they constantly point out the mistakes of others and they are obsessed by appearances. Their hearts are open only to the limited horizon of their own immanence and interests, and as a consequence they neither learn from their sins nor are they genuinely open to forgiveness. This is a tremendous corruption disguised as a good. We need to avoid it by making the Church constantly go out from herself, keeping her mission focused on Jesus Christ, and her commitment to the poor. God save us from a worldly Church with superficial spiritual and pastoral trappings! This stifling worldliness can only be healed by breathing in the pure air of the Holy Spirit who frees us from self-centredness cloaked in an outward religiosity bereft of God. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of the Gospel! (Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, November 26, 2013.)

In other words, those who point out the doctrinal errors of other and who are not "open" to "questioning" their own beliefs and practices, no matter how sure the are of them and how deeply ingrained in the history of the Church they may be, are "worldly" Catholics who are "neo-Pelagians" and "preoccupied" with an "ostentatious liturgy" that does not correspond to the "concrete needs" of the people, especially "the poor."

Although the entire text of Evangelii Gaudium is the work of Antichrist, one sentence from the passage just cited stands out as a proof of the abject heresy that emanates from the mind of Jorge Mario Bergoglio:

In some people we see an ostentatious preoccupation for the liturgy, for doctrine and for the Church’s prestige, but without any concern that the Gospel have a real impact on God’s faithful people and the concrete needs of the present time. (Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, November 26, 2013.)

Preoccupation for the proper and fitting worship of God in the ineffable Sacrifice of the Cross offered in an unbloody manner at the hands of a sacerdos?

Preoccupation with doctrine, which was entrusted by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to His Holy Catholic Church to be safeguarded eternally and taught infallibly.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis makes it eminently clear in the text of Evangelii Gaudium that the Catholic Church has taught error and sanctioned erroneous traditions and practices that have "ignored" the plight of the "poor."

This is heretical and blasphemous, running counter even to the plain words of Sacred Scripture to which Bergoglio claims to be so devoted:

[1] I charge thee, before God and Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by his coming, and his kingdom: [2] Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. [3] For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: [4] And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables. [5] But be thou vigilant, labour in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy ministry. Be sober. (2 Timothy 1: 1-5.)

[11] And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and other some evangelists, and other some pastors and doctors, [12] For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: [13] Until we all meet into the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ; [14] That henceforth we be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive. (Ephesians 4: 11-14.)

[1] But speak thou the things that become sound doctrine: [2] That the aged men be sober, chaste, prudent, sound in faith, in love, in patience. [3] The aged women, in like manner, in holy attire, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teaching well: [4] That they may teach the young women to be wise, to love their husbands, to love their children, [5] To be discreet, chaste, sober, having a care of the house, gentle, obedient to their husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

[6] Young men, in like manner, exhort that they be sober. [7] In all things shew thyself an example of good works, in doctrine, in integrity, in gravity, [8] The sound word that can not be blamed: that he, who is on the contrary part, may be afraid, having no evil to say of us. [9] Exhort servants to be obedient to their masters, in all things pleasing, not gainsaying: [10] Not defrauding, but in all things shewing good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things:

[11] For the grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men; [12] Instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world, [13] Looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, [14] Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works. [15] These things speak, and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. (Titus 2: 6-15.)

[6] And this is charity, that we walk according to his commandments. For this is the commandment, that, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in the same: [7] For many seducers are gone out into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh: this is a seducer and an antichrist. [8] Look to yourselves, that you lose not the things which you have wrought: but that you may receive a full reward. [9]

Whosoever revolteth, and continueth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that continueth in the doctrine, the same hath both the Father and the Son. [10] If any man come to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house nor say to him, God speed you. (2 John 1: 6-10.)

Will you say "God speed" to Jorge Mario Bergoglio as "Pope Francis" even though these very words of Holy Writ prove him to be an enemy of Christ the King and thus of the souls He redeemed by the shedding of every single drop of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross.

Criticizing those who are concerned about sound doctrine is the work of Antichrist, and Jorge Mario Bergoglio is a figure of Antichrist.

Pope Saint Pius X prefaced Pascendi Dominci Gregis, September 8, 1907, with the following introduction as he explained his duty to defend the integrity of the Holy Faith from the profane novelties of the Modernists:

1. One of the primary obligations assigned by Christ to the office divinely committed to Us of feeding the Lord's flock is that of guarding with the greatest vigilance the deposit of the faith delivered to the saints, rejecting the profane novelties of words and the gainsaying of knowledge falsely so called. There has never been a time when this watchfulness of the supreme pastor was not necessary to the Catholic body, for owing to the efforts of the enemy of the human race, there have never been lacking "men speaking perverse things,""vain talkers and seducers," "erring and driving into error." It must, however, be confessed that these latter days have witnessed a notable increase in the number of the enemies of the Cross of Christ, who, by arts entirely new and full of deceit, are striving to destroy the vital energy of the Church, and, as far as in them lies, utterly to subvert the very Kingdom of Christ. Wherefore We may no longer keep silence, lest We should seem to fail in Our most sacred duty, and lest the kindness that, in the hope of wiser counsels, We have hitherto shown them, should be set down to lack of diligence in the discharge of Our office.

2. That We should act without delay in this matter is made imperative especially by the fact that the partisans of error are to be sought not only among the Church's open enemies; but, what is to be most dreaded and deplored, in her very bosom, and are the more mischievous the less they keep in the open. We allude, Venerable Brethren, to many who belong to the Catholic laity, and, what is much more sad, to the ranks of the priesthood itself, who, animated by a false zeal for the Church, lacking the solid safeguards of philosophy and theology, nay more, thoroughly imbued with the poisonous doctrines taught by the enemies of the Church, and lost to all sense of modesty, put themselves forward as reformers of the Church; and, forming more boldly into line of attack, assail all that is most sacred in the work of Christ, not sparing even the Person of the Divine Redeemer, whom, with sacrilegious audacity, they degrade to the condition of a simple and ordinary man.

3. Although they express their astonishment that We should number them amongst the enemies of the Church, no one will be reasonably surprised that We should do so, if, leaving out of account the internal disposition of the soul, of which God alone is the Judge, he considers their tenets, their manner of speech, and their action. Nor indeed would he be wrong in regarding them as the most pernicious of all the adversaries of the Church. For, as We have said, they put into operation their designs for her undoing, not from without but from within. Hence, the danger is present almost in the very veins and heart of the Church, whose injury is the more certain from the very fact that their knowledge of her is more intimate. Moreover, they lay the ax not to the branches and shoots, but to the very root, that is, to the faith and its deepest fibers. And once having struck at this root of immortality, they proceed to diffuse poison through the whole tree, so that there is no part of Catholic truth which they leave untouched, none that they do not strive to corrupt. Further, none is more skillful, none more astute than they, in the employment of a thousand noxious devices; for they play the double part of rationalist and Catholic, and this so craftily that they easily lead the unwary into error; and as audacity is their chief characteristic, there is no conclusion of any kind from which they shrink or which they do not thrust forward with pertinacity and assurance To this must be added the fact, which indeed is well calculated to deceive souls, that they lead a life of the greatest activity, of assiduous and ardent application to every branch of learning, and that they possess, as a rule, a reputation for irreproachable morality. Finally, there is the fact which is all hut fatal to the hope of cure that their very doctrines have given such a bent to their minds, that they disdain all authority and brook no restraint; and relying upon a false conscience, they attempt to ascribe to a love of truth that which is in reality the result of pride and obstinacy.

Once indeed We had hopes of recalling them to a better mind, and to this end We first of all treated them with kindness as Our children, then with severity; and at last We have had recourse, though with great reluctance, to public reproof. It is known to you, Venerable Brethren, how unavailing have been Our efforts. For a moment they have bowed their head, only to lift it more arrogantly than before. If it were a matter which concerned them alone, We might perhaps have overlooked it; but the security of the Catholic name is at stake. Wherefore We must interrupt a silence which it would be criminal to prolong, that We may point out to the whole Church, as they really are, men who are badly disguised. (Pope Saint Pius X, Pascendi Dominci Gregis, September 8, 1907.)

Our true popes have explained the duty of the refutation of error and heresy whenever it was required of them to do so. They were unflinching in this duty.

Pope Saint Pius X was warning about the likes of Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Oscar Andres Maradiaga and their fellow travelers. So was Pope Gregory XVI when he wrote the following at the beginning of Mirari Vos, August 15, 1832:

4. We come to you grieving and sorrowful because We know that you are concerned for the faith in these difficult times. Now is truly the time in which the powers of darkness winnow the elect like wheat.[3] "The earth mourns and fades away....And the earth is infected by the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinances, they have broken the everlasting covenant."[4]

5. We speak of the things which you see with your own eyes, which We both bemoan. Depravity exults; science is impudent; liberty, dissolute. The holiness of the sacred is despised; the majesty of divine worship is not only disapproved by evil men, but defiled and held up to ridicule. Hence sound doctrine is perverted and errors of all kinds spread boldly. The laws of the sacred, the rights, institutions, and discipline -- none are safe from the audacity of those speaking evil. Our Roman See is harassed violently and the bonds of unity are daily loosened and severed. The divine authority of the Church is opposed and her rights shorn off. She is subjected to human reason and with the greatest injustice exposed to the hatred of the people and reduced to vile servitude. The obedience due bishops is denied and their rights are trampled underfoot. Furthermore, academies and schools resound with new, monstrous opinions, which openly attack the Catholic faith; this horrible and nefarious war is openly and even publicly waged. Thus, by institutions and by the example of teachers, the minds of the youth are corrupted and a tremendous blow is dealt to religion and the perversion of morals is spread. So the restraints of religion are thrown off, by which alone kingdoms stand. We see the destruction of public order, the fall of principalities, and the overturning of all legitimate power approaching. Indeed this great mass of calamities had its inception in the heretical societies and sects in which all that is sacrilegious, infamous, and blasphemous has gathered as bilge water in a ship's hold, a congealed mass of all filth.

6. These and many other serious things, which at present would take too long to list, but which you know well, cause Our intense grief. It is not enough for Us to deplore these innumerable evils unless We strive to uproot them. We take refuge in your faith and call upon your concern for the salvation of the Catholic flock. Your singular prudence and diligent spirit give Us courage and console Us, afflicted as We are with so many trials. We must raise Our voice and attempt all things lest a wild boar from the woods should destroy the vineyard or wolves kill the flock. It is Our duty to lead the flock only to the food which is healthful. In these evil and dangerous times, the shepherds must never neglect their duty; they must never be so overcome by fear that they abandon the sheep. Let them never neglect the flock and become sluggish from idleness and apathy. Therefore, united in spirit, let us promote our common cause, or more truly the cause of God; let our vigilance be one and our effort united against the common enemies.

7. Indeed you will accomplish this perfectly if, as the duty of your office demands, you attend to yourselves and to doctrine and meditate on these words: "the universal Church is affected by any and every novelty"[5] and the admonition of Pope Agatho: "nothing of the things appointed ought to be diminished; nothing changed; nothing added; but they must be preserved both as regards expression and meaning."[6] Therefore may the unity which is built upon the See of Peter as on a sure foundation stand firm. May it be for all a wall and a security, a safe port, and a treasury of countless blessings.[7] To check the audacity of those who attempt to infringe upon the rights of this Holy See or to sever the union of the churches with the See of Peter, instill in your people a zealous confidence in the papacy and sincere veneration for it. As St. Cyprian wrote: "He who abandons the See of Peter on which the Church was founded, falsely believes himself to be a part of the Church."[8]

8. In this you must labor and diligently take care that the faith may be preserved amidst this great conspiracy of impious men who attempt to tear it down and destroy it. May all remember the judgment concerning sound doctrine with which the people are to be instructed. Remember also that the government and administration of the whole Church rests with the Roman Pontiff to whom, in the words of the Fathers of the Council of Florence, "the full power of nourishing, ruling, and governing the universal Church was given by Christ the Lord."[9] It is the duty of individual bishops to cling to the See of Peter faithfully, to guard the faith piously and religiously, and to feed their flock. It behooves priests to be subject to the bishops, whom "they are to look upon as the parents of their souls," as Jerome admonishes.[10] Nor may the priests ever forget that they are forbidden by ancient canons to undertake ministry and to assume the tasks of teaching and preaching "without the permission of their bishop to whom the people have been entrusted; an accounting for the souls of the people will be demanded from the bishop."[11] Finally let them understand that all those who struggle against this established order disturb the position of the Church.

9. Furthermore, the discipline sanctioned by the Church must never be rejected or be branded as contrary to certain principles of natural law. It must never be called crippled, or imperfect or subject to civil authority. In this discipline the administration of sacred rites, standards of morality, and the reckoning of the rights of the Church and her ministers are embraced. (Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos, August 15, 1832.)

It is the conciliar revolutionaries, including Jorge Mario Bergoglio, have abandoned the See of Peter and placed themselves outside of the pale of the Catholic Church (see Mr. John Lane's Concerning A SSPX Dossier on Sedevacantism, Gregorius's The Chair is Still Empty and Why SSPX Priest Fr. Raphael Trytek became a Sedevacantist).

It is the conciliar revolutionaries, including Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who do not care about sound doctrine and who have promoted every novelty while daring to diminish and change both the expression and meaning of what is being represented, albeit falsely, as the Catholic Faith.

Here is but one final proof of this found in Evangelii Gaudium wherein Jorge Mario Bergoglio finally makes "official" the conciliar "teaching" that the Old Covenant God made with Moses has not been revoked and is till perfectly valid:

247. We hold the Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with God has never been revoked, for “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29). The Church, which shares with Jews an important part of the sacred Scriptures, looks upon the people of the covenant and their faith as one of the sacred roots of her own Christian identity (cf. Rom 11:16-18). As Christians, we cannot consider Judaism as a foreign religion; nor do we include the Jews among those called to turn from idols and to serve the true God (cf. 1 Thes 1:9). With them, we believe in the one God who acts in history, and with them we accept his revealed word.

248. Dialogue and friendship with the children of Israel are part of the life of Jesus’ disciples. The friendship which has grown between us makes us bitterly and sincerely regret the terrible persecutions which they have endured, and continue to endure, especially those that have involved Christians.

249. God continues to work among the people of the Old Covenant and to bring forth treasures of wisdom which flow from their encounter with his word. For this reason, the Church also is enriched when she receives the values of Judaism. While it is true that certain Christian beliefs are unacceptable to Judaism, and that the Church cannot refrain from proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Messiah, there exists as well a rich complementarity which allows us to read the texts of the Hebrew Scriptures together and to help one another to mine the riches of God’s word. We can also share many ethical convictions and a common concern for justice and the development of peoples. (Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Evangelii Gaudium, November 26, 2013.)

There is no need to rewrite what I wrote less about twenty-four hours ago in Continuously Denying The Catholic Faith as this is heresy. If you doubt this statement, then please read or re-read yesterday's article.

Just consider, however, Pope Saint Pius X's firm defense of Catholic doctrine on the superseded nature of the Old Covenant when he received the founder of international Zionism, Theodore Herzl, in private audience on January 25, 1904, the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul:

POPE: We are unable to favor this movement [of Zionism]. We cannot prevent the Jews from going to Jerusalem—but we could never sanction it. The ground of Jerusalem, if it were not always sacred, has been sanctified by the life of Jesus Christ. As the head of the Church I cannot answer you otherwise. The Jews have not recognized our Lord, therefore we cannot recognize the Jewish people.

HERZL: [The conflict between Rome and Jerusalem, represented by the one and the other of us, was once again under way. At the outset I tried to be conciliatory. I said my little piece. . . . It didn’t greatly impress him. Jerusalem was not to be placed in Jewish hands.] And its present status, Holy Father?

POPE: I know, it is disagreeable to see the Turks in possession of our Holy Places. We simply have to put up with it. But to sanction the Jewish wish to occupy these sites, that we cannot do.

HERZL: [I said that we based our movement solely on the sufferings of the Jews, and wished to put aside all religious issues].

HERZL: [The conflict between Rome and Jerusalem, represented by the one and the other of us, was once again under way. At the outset I tried to be conciliatory. I said my little piece. . . . It didn’t greatly impress him. Jerusalem was not to be placed in Jewish hands.] And its present status, Holy Father?

POPE: I know, it is disagreeable to see the Turks in possession of our Holy Places. We simply have to put up with it. But to sanction the Jewish wish to occupy these sites, that we cannot do.

HERZL: [I said that we based our movement solely on the sufferings of the Jews, and wished to put aside all religious issues].

POPE: Yes, but we, but I as the head of the Catholic Church, cannot do this. One of two things will likely happen. Either the Jews will retain their ancient faith and continue to await the Messiah whom we believe has already appeared—in which case they are denying the divinity of Jesus and we cannot assist them. Or else they will go there with no religion whatever, and then we can have nothing at all to do with them. The Jewish faith was the foundation of our own, but it has been superceded by the teachings of Christ, and we cannot admit that it still enjoys any validity. The Jews who should have been the first to acknowledge Jesus Christ have not done so to this day.

HERZL: [It was on the tip of my tongue to remark, “It happens in every family: no one believes in his own relative.” But, instead, I said:] Terror and persecution were not precisely the best means for converting the Jews. [His reply had an element of grandeur in its simplicity:]

POPE: Our Lord came without power. He came in peace. He persecuted no one. He was abandoned even by his apostles. It was only later that he attained stature. It took three centuries for the Church to evolve. The Jews therefore had plenty of time in which to accept his divinity without duress or pressure. But they chose not to do so, and they have not done it yet.

HERZL: But, Holy Father, the Jews are in a terrible plight. I do not know if Your Holiness is aware of the full extent of their tragedy. We need a land for these harried people.

POPE: Must it be Jerusalem?

HERZL: We are not asking for Jerusalem, but for Palestine—for only the secular land.

POPE: We cannot be in favor of it.

[Editor Lowenthal interjects here] Here unrelenting replacement theology is plainly upheld as the norm of the Roman Catholic Church. Further, this confession, along with the whole tone of the Pope in his meeting with Herzl, indicates the perpetuation of a doctrinal emphasis that has resulted in centuries of degrading behavior toward the Jews. However, this response has the “grandeur” of total avoidance of that which Herzl had intimated, namely that the abusive reputation of Roman Catholicism toward the Jews was unlikely to foster conversion. Further, if, “It took three centuries for the Church to evolve,” it was that very same period of time that it took for the Church to consolidate and launch its thrust of anti-Semitism through the following centuries.

HERZL: Does Your Holiness know the situation of the Jews?

POPE: Yes, from my days in Mantua, where there are Jews. I have always been in friendly relations with Jews. Only the other evening two Jews were here to see me. There are other bonds than those of religion: social intercourse, for example, and philanthropy. Such bonds we do not refuse to maintain with the Jews. Indeed we also pray for them, that their spirit see the light. This very day the Church is celebrating the feast of an unbeliever who became converted in a miraculous manner—on the road to Damascus. And so if you come to Palestine and settle your people there, we will be ready with churches and priests to baptize all of you. (Marvin Lowenthal, The Diaries of Theodore Herzl.)

Unlike Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Saint Pius X cared about Catholic doctrine and was faithful to It.

Part two of this commentary will focus on Bergoglio's calls for the "reform" of what he thinks is the papacy and for the "decentralizing" of doctrinal "decision-making to the level of the national "episcopal" conferences.

Hermeneutic of continuity?

Simply "continuity" in denying the Catholic Faith.

Saint Paul the Apostle warned us of these very times:

And now you know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his time. [7] For the mystery of iniquity already worketh; only that he who now holdeth, do hold, until he be taken out of the way. [8] And then that wicked one shall be revealed whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of his mouth; and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, him, [9] Whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, [10] And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying: [11] That all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but have consented to iniquity. [12] But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of God, for that God hath chosen you firstfruits unto salvation, in sanctification of the spirit, and faith of the truth: [13] Whereunto also he hath called you by our gospel, unto the purchasing of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. [14] Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle. [15] Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God and our Father, who hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, and good hope in grace, [16] Exhort your hearts, and confirm you in every good work and word. (2 Thessalonians 2: 6-16.)

Truth does not change over time. Our understanding of truth may deepen over time, never in a way, however, that it can be contradicted.

We will be persecuted.

We will be hated.

We will be blamed for the problems caused by the revolutionaries of Modernity and Modernism.

What have we to fear?

Does not the Blessed Virgin Mary have her very eyes on us?

Has not not given us the weapon of her Most Holy Rosary and the shield of her Brown Scapular?

Has she not given us Sacramental aids such as the Miraculous Medal and the Green Scapular?

Has she not us repeatedly to pray her Holy Rosary and to be devoted to her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart?

What have we to fear?

For in the end, of course, her Immaculate Heart triumphs.

What have we to fear?

Today, although a ferial day, is the day on which the Feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal is celebrated. May we fly unto Our Lady's patronage this day and every day as we display her Miraculous Medal as a badge of our total consecration to her and as the means to ward off the demons who seek to seduce into accepting conciliarism as Catholicism when it is nothing other than a foretaste of Hell itself.

Part two tomorrow, God willing and Our Lady interceding.

Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, Patron of Departing Souls, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Andrew the Apostle, 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.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

Saint Catherine Laboure, pray for us.

Saint Vigilius, pray for us.

Isn't it time to pray a Rosary now?