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| Pope Francis tells Communists: ‘Don’t back down, don’t give up’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-12-2024, 06:14 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Pope Francis tells Communists: ‘Don’t back down, don’t give up’
‘Imagine he had said that [don't give up] to the Traditional Catholics,’ said John-Henry Westen.
![[Image: pope-marxists.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/pope-marxists.jpg)
Pope Francis meeting with the Marxist group, January 10, 2024
Vatican News
Jan 11, 2024
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews - adapted) — Hosting a Marxist-Christian dialogue group at the Vatican on Wednesday, Pope Francis urged them to “be open, in dialogue, to new ways,” while avoiding reiterating the Church’s consistent condemnation of Marxism.
Shortly before his weekly general audience on January 10, Pope Francis received a small delegation from the DIALOP group. DIALOP, according to its own description, is a “project of dialogue between Socialists/Marxists and Christians, involving intellectuals, academics, politicians, activists and students from several European Countries.”
In his address, the pope urged the Marxist and Christian attendees to “never lose the ability to dream.”
Quote:Today, in a world divided by war and polarization, we run the risk of losing the ability to dream. We Argentines say, “no te arrugues,” meaning “don’t back off.” This is my invitation to you as well: Don’t back off, don’t give up, and don’t stop dreaming of a better world.
Francis stated that “it is in imagination, the ability to dream, that intelligence, intuition, experience and historical memory come together to make us be creative, take chances and run risks.”
Punctuating the brief address, he gave three “attitudes” which he said would be “helpful for your efforts,” those being: “the courage to break the mould, concern for the less fortunate and support for the rule of law.”
Expanding on having “concern for the less fortunate,” Francis referenced the crimes of “great dictatorships,” mentioning “Naziism” by name, but avoided speaking about the evils of Communism itself.
LifeSite’s John-Henry Westen quipped how Francis’ warm message of welcome to the Marxists is not reflected in his attitude to devotees of the traditional Mass.
Indeed, while the DIALOP group is officially comprised of Marxists and Christians in dialogue, the pope did not mention Christ, Christianity, or the Church’s condemnation of Communism and Marxism at all.
Catholic teaching against Communism is very clear. Writing in Quadragesimo Anno, Pope Pius XI warned the entire Church about “the impious and iniquitous character of Communism.” Describing Socialism as slightly less violent, Pius XI firmly prohibited any attempts to marry Socialism and Catholicism:
Quote:Whether considered as a doctrine, or an historical fact, or a movement, Socialism, if it remains truly Socialism, even after it has yielded to truth and justice on the points which we have mentioned, cannot be reconciled with the teachings of the Catholic Church because its concept of society itself is utterly foreign to Christian truth.
Pius XI also penned such words in Divini Redemptoris:
Quote:Communism is intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever. Those who permit themselves to be deceived into lending their aid towards the triumph of Communism in their own country will be the first to fall victims of their error. And the greater the antiquity and grandeur of the Christian civilization in the regions where Communism successfully penetrates, so much more devastating will be the hatred displayed by the godless.
Pius’ words merely built on the constant teaching of his predecessors. Pius IX’s 1846 encyclical Qui pluribus described Communism as “a doctrine most opposed to the very natural law,” which would usher in “complete destruction of everyone’s laws, government, property, and even of human society itself.”
Pope Leo XIII’s 1878 encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris condemned Socialism as a “deadly plague that is creeping into the very fibres of human society and leading it on to the verge of destruction.”
Catholic philosopher Edward Feser took particular care to highlight sections from the Church’s teaching on the evils of Socialism, Communism, and Marxism. Even though some more recent [Conciliar] popes have pronounced less boldly and forthrightly on the issues when compared with their predecessors, the constant prohibition of acceptance of, or collaboration with, such ideologies has remained constant.
Pope Benedict XVI’s 2005 encyclical Deus Caritas Est bore especial relevance to Francis’ condoning of the Catholic-Marxist collaboration. The late pontiff noted that Catholic charitable activity must not be done alongside Marxist intervention, but be independent and centrally Catholic:
Quote:Christian charitable activity must be independent of parties and ideologies. It is not a means of changing the world ideologically, and it is not at the service of worldly stratagems, but it is a way of making present here and now the love which man always needs.
Indeed, Leo XIII preemptively condemned the form of Catholic-Marxist collaboration which Francis condoned. Writing in Quod Apostolici Muneris, Leo outlined how societal improvements were to be made by the Church acting without being restrained by outside forces:
Quote:since they know that the Church of Christ has such power to ward off the plague of socialism as cannot be found in human laws, in the mandates of magistrates, or in the force of armies, let them restore that Church to the condition and liberty in which she may exert her healing force for the benefit of all society.
The DIALOP group states of itself that “dialogue is the best way to make a real change and we work to turn the world into a better place to live in,” and Francis in turn praised DIALOP as “a fine program.”
Its link with Francis is perhaps deeper than is fully realized. One of its goals is to pursue deeper relations between the Catholic Church and a little-known organization called the Global Compact on Education (GCE). The GCE is actually a brain child of Pope Francis, which aims to promote education in light with U.N. ideals, including on talking points such as “sustainable” living and “gender equality.”
In recent years, Francis has increasingly aligned himself with globalist entities such as the U.N.; the “Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican,” which is fundamentally committed to promote “environmental, social, and governance measures” in order to achieve the U.N.’s pro-abortion Sustainable Development Goals; the International Monetary Fund; the COP climate agenda; and the World Economic Forum.
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| Abp. Viganò rebukes Vatican official’s remarks on blessing homosexual ‘couples’ in St. Peter’s |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-12-2024, 06:04 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Abp. Viganò rebukes Vatican official’s remarks on blessing homosexual ‘couples’ in St. Peter’s
'Fidelity to Christ is considered by the top leadership of the Bergoglian Hierarchy as rebellion and a reason for division in the Church. In reality, these mercenaries are showing their true face as apostates and heaping coals of fire on their own heads.'
![[Image: Vigano_foto.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Vigano_foto.jpg)
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
Thu Jan 11, 2024
(LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò issued a statement on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday after a Vatican official announced homosexual “couples” will be allowed to be blessed at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Below is the statement published in full.
True Catholics – bishops, priests, religious and laity – oppose Fiducia Supplicans and condemn Bergoglio’s subservience to the Globalist Agenda.
On the other side, his courtiers scurry to demonstrate their cowardly servility. This already happened with the idol of the Pachamama that was devoutly carried on the shoulders of bishops and prelates who consider the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the veneration of saints “medieval superstitions.”
Fidelity to Christ is considered by the top leadership of the Bergoglian Hierarchy as rebellion and a reason for division in the Church. In reality, these mercenaries are showing their true face as apostates and heaping coals of fire on their own heads.
The hypocritical simulacrum of false unity erected by conciliar irenicism at the price of Catholic Truth will be torn down, while the Vatican Sanhedrin will sink under the weight of the cowardice of those who think only of pleasing the tyrant.
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| Saint Bridget: Pope Who Would Abolish Celibacy Would Become Food of Demons in Hell |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-10-2024, 07:16 AM - Forum: Sedevacantism
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Saint Bridget: Pope Who Would Abolish Celibacy Would Become Food of Demons in Hell
gloria.tv [Emphasis mine] | January 9, 2024
When Saint Bridget of Sweden, +1373, was in Naples, Italy, as an advisor of Archbishop Bernardo of Naples, they once talked about priests living with concubines. Bernardo argued that, were he pope, he would abolish celibacy to avoid such scandals.
Saint Bridget replied to him that Our Lady told her (Revelationes, Book 7, Chapter 10) that a pope who would abolish priestly celibacy “would be totally deprived by God of his spiritual sight and hearing” and “his spiritual wisdom would grow completely cold.”
Our Lady added that “after his death, his soul would be cast out to be tortured eternally in hell where it would become the food of demons everlastingly and without end.”
[NB: One immediately notices Our Lady does NOT say he ceases to be pope. She speaks of earthy and eternal punishments. But loss of office is not mentioned. - The Catacombs]
Quote:The full quote from St. Bridget from the comments to the above:
Revelationes, Book 7, Chapter 10
And therefore, through God's preordinance and his judgment, it has been justly ordained that priests who do not live in chastity and continence of the flesh are cursed and excommunicated before God and deserve to be deprived of their priestly office. But still, if they truthfully amend their lives with the true purpose of not sinning further, they will obtain mercy from God.
Know this too: that if some pope concedes to priests a license to contract carnal marriage, God will condemn him to a sentence as great, in a spiritual way, as that which the law justly inflicts in a corporeal way on a man who has transgressed so gravely that he must have his eyes gouged out, his tongue and lips, nose and ears cut off, his hands and feet amputated, all his body's blood spilled out to grow completely cold, and finally, his whole bloodless corpse cast out to be devoured by dogs and other wild beasts. Similar things would truly happen in a spiritual way to that pope who were to go against the aforementioned preordinance and will of God
and concede to priests such a license to contract marriage.
For that same pope would be totally deprived by God of his spiritual sight and hearing, and of his spiritual words and deeds. All his spiritual wisdom would grow completely cold; and finally, after his death, his soul would be cast out to be tortured eternally in hell so that there it might become the food of demons everlastingly and without end. Yes, even if Saint Gregory the Pope had made this statute, in the aforesaid sentence he would never have obtained mercy from God if he had not humbly revoked his statute before his death.”
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| Nativity scene vandalized at Overbrook, Pennsylvania church |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-09-2024, 06:51 AM - Forum: Anti-Catholic Violence
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Nativity scene vandalized at Overbrook church: "Someone is hurting worse than we are"
![[Image: AA1mBkZp.img?w=620&h=349&m=6]](https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AA1mBkZp.img?w=620&h=349&m=6)
January 8, 2024
OVERBROOK, Pa. (CBS) – When Mass ended inside Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church Sunday, families came out to get a closer look at the vandalized nativity scene near their church.
"It just made me cry. I can't stand to see that. The desecration of the nativity, of the holy family," parishioner AnnaMaria DiPilla said. Just so heartbreaking."
A few of the sculptures were cracked, broken and strewn around, including St. Joseph's head and an angel's wing.
"It's a feeling of sadness. Me, personally, it's also a feeling of anger," parishioner Domenic DiPilla said.
"Our lady's hands were broken. It looked like a horn was broken off one of the animals. So it was just somebody who got, I guess, a little bit upset and threw everything around and smashed it," the Rev. Matthew Phelan said.
Phelan, who is the pastor, said he learned about the damage Sunday morning, the last day the nativity scene would be up.
"It's significant in its meaning, so it hurts a little bit, but someone is hurting worse than we are and they need our prayers," Phelan said.
As bells rang out, some parishioners said they think that sound and the Christmas music played during the last week might have been a reason for the vandalism, after the church received complaints about the noise.
"The bells are going to ring. It's a Catholic Church. The bells are going to ring, and maybe you don't like it, but you have to respect it," Domenic DePilla said.
"To say that it's related to people angry about the bells, I wouldn't go that far, but it was an issue this week," Phelan said.
Regardless of the reason, many say they'll continue to lean on their faith through this time.
"Whoever did this has a lot of anger within them and I just want to pray for them, that they turn away from that and realize what they did was very hurtful to us and to Jesus," AnnaMaria DiPilla said.
The church says staff plan to file a police report in hopes of documenting the incident in case something like this happens again in the future.
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| Amid row over same-sex blessings, Pope laments ‘splitting into groups’ in the Church |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-08-2024, 07:48 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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From the pro-Conciliar publication, Crux Now..
Amid row over same-sex blessings, Pope laments ‘splitting into groups’ in the Church
Crux Now [Emphasis - The Catacombs] |Jan 6, 2024
ROME – Pope Francis on the feast of the Epiphany lamented the sharp division among Catholics of differing views, saying believers must imitate the three wise men in putting God at the center of their lives, rather than their own ideas of the faith.
Speaking to attendees of his Jan. 6 Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope said that as members of the church, “instead of splitting into groups based on our own ideas, we are called to put God back at the center.”
“We need to abandon ecclesial ideologies [i.e. tradition - The Catacombs] to find the meaning of holy mother church, the ecclesial attitude. Ecclesial ideologies no, ecclesial vocation yes,” he said, saying, “The Lord, not our own ideas or our own projects,” must be the focus.
“Let us set out anew from God; let us seek from him the courage not to lose heart in the face of difficulties, the strength to surmount all obstacles, the joy to live in harmonious communion,” he said.
The pontiff’s comments came amid a burgeoning controversy over a recent Vatican declaration permitting non-liturgical blessings of same-sex unions, which has revealed strong divisions within Catholicism.
Pope Francis spoke during his Mass for the Catholic feast of the Epiphany, which commemorates the biblical narrative when the three Magi, also called the Three Wise Men or the “Three Kings,” follow a star that leads them to Jesus and the discovery of his identity as the Messiah. [...]
Pope Francis in his homily said the Magi are a reflection of the world’s peoples who are “journeying in search of God…of all those who were lost and now hear the beckoning of a friendly voice.”
Focusing on three aspects of the biblical narrative of the Magi, Francis noted that they are described as having their “eyes are raised to the heavens.”
The Magi “do not pass their lives staring at their feet, self-absorbed, confined by earthly horizons, plodding ahead in resignation or lamentation,” but rather, they “lift their heads high and await the light that can illumine the meaning of their lives,” he said.
“If we remain closed in the narrow confines of earthly things, if we waste away, heads bowed, hostages of our failures and our regrets; if we thirst for wealth and worldly comforts rather than becoming seekers of life and love, our life slowly loses its light,” he said.
What the Magi illustrate is the necessity to fix one’s eyes on heaven in order to discover the meaning of life, the pope said, saying humanity needs God’s word and friendship to move forward.
“We need to set out on this journey, so that our faith will not be reduced to an assemblage of religious devotions or mere outward appearance, but will instead become a fire burning within us, making us passionate seekers of the Lord’s face and witnesses to his Gospel,” he said.
Francis then lamented that the church is often split into groups based on various interpretations of the faith and stressed the importance of communion, saying God must be at the center of faith, rather than one’s own ideas about it.
Noting how the Magi also completed a journey on earth, the pope said they chose to follow God’s sign in the star, and ultimately their journey culminates in finding God “in man, in a little Child lying in a manger.”
“That is where the God who is infinitely great has revealed himself: in the little, the infinitely little,” he said, and stressed the importance of journeying in the world as witnesses to the Gospel.
Jesus was given to the world, Pope Francis said, “not to warm our nights, but to let rays of light break through the dark shadows that envelop so many situations in our societies.”
In this sense, he said God is found “not by basking in some elegant religious theory, but by setting out on a journey, seeking the signs of his presence in everyday life, and above all in encountering and touching the flesh of our brothers and sisters,” just as the Magi themselves found a real child.
“This is important: to find God in flesh and bone, in the faces of those we meet each day, and especially in the poor,” Francis said, saying this encounter with God opens faithful to something bigger and “makes us change our way of life and transform our world.” [Read more here.]
From the secular AP News...
Pope Francis warns against ideological splits in the Church, says focus on the poor, not ‘theory’
![[Image: ?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F7...fb09adc661]](https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/a233933/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3800x2534+0+0/resize/1440x960!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F79%2F80%2Fc5b547764650b0740aafc812132b%2Fdfd5543829d641009d67e7fb09adc661)
Pope Francis presides over Epiphany Mass January 6, 2024
VATICAN CITY (AP [Emphasis - The Catacombs]) — Amid resistance to some Vatican policy by more conservative factions of the Catholic church, Pope Francis on Saturday cautioned the faithful against fracturing into groups “based on our own ideas.”
He issued the call to abandon “ecclesiastical ideologies” in his homily in St. Peter’s Basilica during Epiphany Day Mass, the last major Christmas season holiday.
Francis also warned against “basking in some elegant religious theory” instead of finding God in the faces of the poor.
Last month, Francis gave permission for priests to bless couples outside of marriage, including same-sex relationships, as long as the blessing was pastoral and not liturgical or part of some religious rite.
Some bishops who view Francis as a dangerous progressive immediately rejected such blessings. That prompted the Vatican earlier this week to issue a statement stressing that the blessings don’t constitute heresy and there were no doctrinal grounds to reject the practice.
Francis in his Epiphany homily didn’t cite the pushback against his same-sex blessings policy. But he deviated from the written text of the homily to cite the “need to abandon ecclesiastical ideologies.”
Francis said the Church needed to ensure that “our faith will not be reduced to an assemblage of religious devotions or mere outward appearance.”
“We find the God who comes down to visit us, not by basking in some elegant religious theory, but by setting out on a journey, seeking the signs of his presence in everyday life,” especially in the faces of the poor, the pontiff said.
The pontiff, who turned 87 last month and who battled health problems last year, held up well during the Epiphany ceremony, which included singing of Christmas hymns. At the end of the 90-minute service, an aide wheeled Francis down the basilica’s center aisle. The pope has a chronic knee problem and uses a wheelchair to navigate longer distances. [...]
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| Senior Vatican official makes case for a married priesthood |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-08-2024, 06:43 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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NB: Archbishop Viganò has linked "this style of re-interpreting the understanding of blessings to potential future plans to introduce female deacons, married clergy or a new concept of the priesthood." We didn't have to wait too long ...
Senior Vatican official makes case for a married priesthood
![[Image: RE266ZIN3JNWZPP2CUITPG3J4I.jpg]](https://www.reuters.com/resizer/gYSWW2sNcjybNnWE2ZFQRKIGk3k=/1200x0/filters:quality(80)/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/RE266ZIN3JNWZPP2CUITPG3J4I.jpg)
Special Vatican envoys, archbishop Charles Scicluna reads a brochure entitled "A new beginning", during a meeting with priests inside a church in Osorno, Chile June 15, 2018. REUTERS/Fernando Lavoz/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Reuters | January 8, 20243:08 AM EST
The Roman Catholic Church should "seriously think" about allowing priests to marry, a senior Vatican official and advisor to Pope Francis said in an interview published on Sunday.
"This is probably the first time I'm saying it publicly and it will sound heretical to some people," Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who is also adjunct secretary in the Vatican's doctrinal office, told the Times of Malta.
Pope Francis in 2019 ruled out any chance that he would change the Roman Catholic rule requiring priests to be celibate. But it is not a formal doctrine of the Church and so it could be changed by a future pope.
In an interview with a Latin American news outlet in 2023, Francis spoke about the celibacy rule again, saying that "it is not eternal, like priestly ordination", but a "discipline" that could be revised.
A Vatican spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Scicluna, perhaps best known for his investigations of sexual abuse crimes, noted that priests were allowed to marry in the first millennium of the Church's history and that marriage is allowed today in the Eastern rite of the Catholic Church.
"If it were up to me, I would revise the requirement that priests have to be celibate," he said. "Experience has shown me that this is something we need to seriously think about."
Scicluna, 64, said the Church had "lost many great priests because they chose marriage".
He said "there is a place" for celibacy in the Church but that it also had to take into consideration that a priest sometimes falls in love. He then has to choose "between her and the priesthood and some priests cope with that by secretly engaging in sentimental relationships".
The debate over whether Roman Catholic priests should be allowed to married has been around for centuries.
Married men are allowed to become priests in the Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church as well as in the Orthodox Church. Protestant and Anglican Churches also allow a married priesthood.
Opponents of a married priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church say celibacy allows a priest to dedicate himself entirely to the Church.
In 2021, the pope dismissed a proposal to allow some elderly married men to be ordained in remote areas in the Amazon where in some places the faithful saw a priest as little as once a year.
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| Pius IX Condemns the Modern Italian State |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-07-2024, 06:54 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching
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Pius IX Condemns the Modern Italian State
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3...ipo=images]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.pejArCmh4nWlrwgPe34TWAHaKO%26pid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=3f763e19c449a4c3411392f287dbb20a9d04bad238db571fb073d89956894864&ipo=images)
Pius IX, Apostolic Letter Cum Catholica Ecclesia, March 26, 1860
TIA [slightly adapted - emphasis TIA]| January 6, 2024
Today when in the laws of almost every nation the stench of the Masonic tolerance is present, it is salutary to read the words with which Pope Pius IX condemned the founders of the Italian State who invaded and usurped the Pontifical Territories. These words have an exorcist power to expel this bad tolerance and help true Catholic militancy be restored in our souls.
Pope Pius IX
Since we are aware, not without the deepest displeasure of Our soul, that other requests would not find acceptance among those who, having clogged their ears like deaf aspids, have not yet allowed themselves to be moved by Our admonitions and Our complaints, and, on the other hand, feeling most profoundly what the cause of the Church, of this Apostolic See and of the entire Catholic world, attacked with such violence by these perverse men, requires of Us, We feel the duty to avoid what, by remaining without speaking, could be understood as a failure to fulfill the grave task of Our Office.
The situation has been made unsustainable to the point of inducing Us, following in the footsteps of Our Predecessors, to employ Our supreme power, entrusted to Us by God, not only to loosen but also to bind, resorting to a dutiful severity towards the guilty, which also serves as a healthy example for others.
Therefore, after having invoked the light of the Divine Spirit with public and private prayers and after having heard the opinion of a selected Congregation of Our Venerable Brother Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, with the authority of Almighty God, of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and Our own, we declare again that all those who have taken part in the rebellion, usurpation, occupation and criminal invasion of the aforementioned provinces of Our Papal States, and similar matters of which We have complained in Our Allocutions of June 20 and September 26 of last year, as well as those who took part in any of these enterprises – their executors, accomplices, supporters, advisors, followers or anyone else who favored the realization of what was described above – whether having personally taken part in it or by way of any pretext or other means, have incurred Major Excommunication and other ecclesiastical censures and penalties imposed by the Sacred Canons, the Apostolic Constitutions and the Decrees of the General Councils and particularly of the Council of Trent [sess. 22, chap. 11, De reform .]. And, if this be necessary, We strike them again with Excommunication and Anathema.
We further declare that they have simultaneously incurred the loss of all privileges, graces and indults granted, under any title, by Us or by the Roman Pontiffs Our Predecessors. We desire that they not be absolved and freed from these penalties except by Us or by the Roman Pontiff in office (except in the case of danger of death, but in case of convalescence they fall again under the same penalties). They will also be unable and incapable of obtaining the benefit of absolution until they have publicly retracted, revoked, canceled and eliminated everything that in any way they have promoted in this matter; until they have entirely and effectively returned everything to the original situation, to the Church, to Us and the Holy See and have repaired their crime by a proportional penance.
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| Spiritual Combat By Dom Lorenzo Scupoli |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-07-2024, 06:37 AM - Forum: Resources Online
- Replies (68)
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Spiritual Combat
By Dom Lorenzo Scupoli
Taken from this PDF
![[Image: Spiritual-Combat-screenshot.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/FFSrhg9f/Spiritual-Combat-screenshot.png)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Preface
1. Preliminary Words On Perfection
2. Concerning Distrust Of Self
3. Confidence In God
4. How To Discover If We Distrust Ourselves And Place Confidence In God
5. Mistake Of Considering Cowardice A Virtue
6. Further Advice To Acquire Confidence In God
7. The Right Use Of Our Faculties
8. An Obstacle To Forming A Correct Judgment
9. Another Method To Prevent Deception Of The Understanding
10. Exercise Of The Will
11. Some Considerations To Incline The Will To Seek Pleasing God Only
12. The Opposition Within Man's Twofold Nature
13. How We Are To Encounter Sensuality
14. What To Do When The Will Is Apparently Overpowered
15. Further Advice On How To Fight Skillfully
16. The Soldier Of Christ Must Prepare Early For Battle
17. The Method Of Fighting Your Passions And Vices
18. How To Curb The Sudden Impulses Of Your Passions
19. How We Are To Fight Against Impurity
20. How To Combat Sloth
21. The Proper Use Of Our Senses To Contemplate Divine Things
22. How Sensible May Aid Us To Meditate On The Passion Of Christ
23. Other Dangerous Uses Of The Senses In Different Situations
24. How To Govern One's Speech
25. The Soldier Of Christ Must Avoid That Which Intrudes Upon Peace Of Mind
26. What We Are To Do When Wounded
27. The Methods Used By The Devil To Seduce Those Who Desire To Acquire Virtue
28. The Devil's Cunning Devices
29. The Efforts Of The Devil To Prevent Conversion
30. Concerning The Delusions Of Some Who Consider Themselves Being Perfected
31. Concerning The Artifices Of The Devil To Make Us Forsake The Virtuous Life
32. The Last Artifice Of The Devil In Making Even The Practice Of Virtue An Occasion Of Sin
33. Some Important Instructions For Those Who Wish To Mortify Themselves
34. Virtues Are To Be Acquired One At A Time And By Degrees
35. The Most Profitable Means Of Acquiring Virtue, And The Manner In Which We Apply Ourselves To A Particular Virtue For A Time
36. The Practice Of Virtue Requires Constant Application
37. Concerning The Necessity Of Seizing Eagerly All Opportunities Of Practicing Virtue
38. The Necessity Of Esteemimg All Opportunities Of Fighting For The Acquisition Of Virtue
39. The Manner In Which We May Exercise The Same Virtue On Different Occasions
40. The Time To Be Employed In The Acquisition Of Each Virtue And Indications Of Progress
41. The Need Of Moderation In The Desire To Be Freed Of Those Evils Patiently Borne, And The Manner In Which Our Desires Are To Be Regulated
42. The Defense Against The Artifices Of The Devil When He Suggests Indiscreet Devotions
43. The Tendency Of Our Corrupt Natures, Prompted By The Devil, To Indulge In Rash Judgment, And The Remedy For This Evil
44. Prayer
45. Mental Prayer
46. Meditation
47. Another Method Of Meditation
48. Prayer Based On The Intercession Of The Blessed Virgin
49. Some Considerations To Induce Confidence In The Assistance Of The Blessed Virgin
50. A Method Of Meditation And Prayer Involving The Intercession Of The Saints And The Angels
51. Meditation On The Sufferings Of Christ
52. The Benefits Derived From Meditations On The Cross And The Imitation Of The Virtue Of Christ Crucified
53. Concerning The Most Holy Sacrament Of The Eucharist
54. The Manner In Which We Ought To Receive Holy Communion
55. Preparation For Holy Communion, And The Role Of The Eucharist In Exciting In Us A Love Of God
56. Concerning Spiritual Communion
57. Concerning Thanksgiving
58. The Offering Of Self To God
59. Concerning Sensible Devotion And Dryness
60. Concerning The Examination Of Conscience
61. Concerning The Manner In Which We Are To Persevere In The Spiritual Combat Until Death
62. Concerning Our Preparation Against The Enemies Who Assail Us At The Hour Of Death
63. Concerning The Four Assaults Of The Enemy At The Hour Of Death-----The First Assault Against Faith And The Manner Of Resisting It
64. Concerning The Assault Of Despair And Its Remedy
65. Concerning Temptation To Vainglory
66. Concerning The Various Illusions Employed By The Devil At The Hour Of Our Death
I. PREFACE
The Spiritual Combat is known as one of the greatest classics in ascetic theology, along with The Imitation of Christ. In both cases the authors are shrouded in mystery. Several 17th century editions were published under the name of the Spanish Benedictine, John of Castanzia. Some writers of the Society of Jesus have ascribed the book to the Jesuit, Achilles Gagliardi, but most critics however consider Fr. Lawrence Scupoli as the author of this famous treatise. The first known edition was published in Venice in 1589 and contained but 24 chapters; later editions appeared with more chapters, so it is possible that the Theatines or another religious order may have been part of the composition. Whatever may be the solution of the problem of the author, doubt of the actual one or ones, can take nothing away from the value and efficacy of this "golden book" as St. Frances de Sales called it. It was "the favorite, the dear book" of this great master of the spiritual life who, for 18 years, carried in a pocket a copy which he had received from Fr. Scupoli in Padua himself. The Saint read some pages of it every day, entrusted to its supernatural and human wisdom, the guidance of his soul, and recommended it to all under his direction. The purpose of the work is to lead the soul to the summit of spiritual perfection, by means of a constant, courageous struggle against our evil nature, which tends to keep us away from that goal.
The author was a genius, the kind that can only be inspired by the grace of God and his book is a Catholic treasure and one of the greatest gifts God could have given any age, but most especially this benighted age which has lost its appreciation for the kind of simplicity necessary for sanctity.
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| Archbishop Viganò: Sermon for the Feast of the Epiphany |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-06-2024, 06:49 PM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
- No Replies
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REPLEBITUR MAJESTATE EJUS OMNIS TERRA
Homily on the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord
![[Image: IMG_4027.jpeg]](https://exsurgedomine.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IMG_4027.jpeg)
Ecce advenit Dominator Dominus: et regnum in manu ejus, et potestas, et imperium. Mal 3: 1; 1 Par 29: 12
In today’s Feast we celebrate the Mystery of the Epiphany of Our Lord, that is, the three-fold miraculous Manifestation of His Divinity:
Tribus miraculis ornatum diem sanctum colimus:
hodie stella magos duxit ad præsepium;
hodie vinum ex aqua factum est ad nuptias;
hodie in Jordane a Joanne Christus baptizari voluit,
ut salvaret nos, alleluja (Antiphona ad Magnificat).
Three mysteries mark this holy day:
today the star leads the Magi to the infant Christ;
today water is changed into wine for the wedding feast;
today Christ wills to be baptized by John in the river Jordan
to bring us salvation, alleluia.
Let us therefore contemplate the adoration of the Magi, the miracle of the water changed into wine at the wedding in Cana, and the Baptism in the Jordan.
On the Holy Night of Christmas, the Angels called the shepherds to prostrate themselves before the Word made flesh; on the Epiphany it is the entire human race and indeed all created things that bow to the living and true God and offers Him their tribute: et procidentes adoraverunt eum. The wise men who came from the East open their coffers and give Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh: the gold of Kingship, the frankincense of Priesthood, the myrrh of Sacrifice.
This celebration, with the quiet serenity with which the Lord operates, overlaps and replaces that which on the sixth day of the first month of the Roman calendar was dedicated to the celebration of the triple triumph of Augustus, to the pax augustea, paying the tribute of public divine honors to the immortal Emperor. For this reason the Church of Rome considers the adoration of the Magi with greater attention, seeing in them the first institutional witnesses of that universal Kingship that Providence wanted to radiate into the world from the capital of civilization, postponing the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord to the second Sunday after the Epiphany.
It will not have escaped your notice that it is Mary Most Holy, the Throne of Divine Wisdom, who welcomes all the members of that court as Mother and Queen; it is She who presents the Son to the adorations of the earth and to the pleasures of heaven. God manifests himself to men in his greatness, but he does so through Mary, bridging in the Incarnation by means of the Divine Maternity of the Virgin the sidereal distance between the Eternal Word of the Father and fallen humanity.
But if Julian the Apostate and the Emperor Valens, even though they were enemies of the Church and heretics, did not dare to avoid paying tribute to the divine King, it was all the more desired and encouraged by Theodosius, Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, Stephen of Hungary, Edward the Confessor, Emperor Henry II, Ferdinand of Castile and Louis IX of France, who had well understood how their earthly authority could not ignore the Supreme Lordship of the King of kings, nor the submission of civil power to the holy Law of God. That divine order, that perfect κόσμος which realizes the Lord’s prayer – adveniat regnum tuum, sicut in cœlo et in terra – has been shattered by the infernal χάος of the Revolution, by the Luciferian cry of Non serviam.
However, we do not celebrate a remote and illusory hope, a chimera of peace yet to come in a world from which Jesus Christ has been banished. We celebrate the present and eternal reality of the victory of Christ, the only Light of salvation of the world, knowing that all the peoples and kings of the earth will adore the Savior and recognize Him as their God, King, and Lord. The prophecies of the Old Testament leave us in no doubt: et adorabunt eum omnes reges terræ: omnes gentes servient ei, says the Psalm (Ps 72:11). Adorabunt, dominabitur, liberabit, benedicent: they are all verbs in the future tense, indicating a very certain and unfailing destiny, an ontological necessity, which no rebellion – angelic or human – can prevent from being realized.
When we see today the last steps towards the abyss of apostasy and the abyss of satanic revolt taking place before our eyes, we must remember the inevitability of the triumph of Christ and the eternal defeat of Satan, precisely in the light of the ancient prophecies and the words of Savior: Confide: Ego vici mundum (Jn 16:33). Christ has won. He defeated all the tyrants who throughout history believed they could fight the Church, and all of Scripture celebrates this victory by alternating human despondency at the momentary success of the enemy with the confident joy of the universal triumph of God.
Before him the inhabitants of the desert shall fall,
his foes shall lick the dust.
The kings of Tarshish and the islands shall bring offerings,
the kings of the Arabs and of Saba shall offer tribute.
To him all the kings shall fall prostrate,
all the nations shall serve him. (Ps 72: 9-11).
This is not merely a wish or a pious desire: it is the announcement of a reality already taking place in the Eternity of God, and which must simply now be fulfilled in time, allowing us to deserve by the act of faith and the sanctity of our lives to participate in the glory of Christ’s victory. This is what we ask in the prayer of the Mass: ut, qui jam te ex fide cognovimus, usque ad contemplandam speciem tuæ celsitudinis perducamur – so that we who now have known you through faith, may come to contemplate the splendor of your majesty.
We, jam cognovimus, have already known the Lord by offering Him in the act of faith the tribute of our will and intellect. Others will know the Lord when he returns in glory iudicare vivos et mortuos, and they will know him in the fury of his justice, in the restoration of the broken order:
He shall free the poor man who cried out and the needy man who finds no help,
he will have pity on the weak and save the life of his poor ones.
He will rescue them from violence and abuse,
their blood will be precious in his eyes (Ps 72: 12-14).
Just as during Advent we prepared for the celebration of Holy Christmas and the Epiphany, so in this epochal phase of the History of the human race we are called to prepare for the Final Coming of the Lord, knowing that he will free us, have mercy on us, and save us, that he will redeem us from violence and abuse, and that humiliabit calumniatorem (Ps 72: 4) – he will humiliate the liar. And who is more of a liar than Satan and his servants, who is more false and deceiving than he who attempts to substitute the chimera of an impossible human peace for the pax christiana inaugurated by the Incarnation of the Son of God and ratified by Him on Golgotha by His Sacrifice of Himself to the Father? Who is more of a liar than he who distracts peoples from the Eternal Truth of Christ by the fraud of an earthly happiness made up of controls, violence, and heinous crimes against the weak and little ones?
Nolite timere pusillus grex, quia complacuit Patri vestro dare vobis regnum (Lk 12: 32). Do not be afraid, little flock, because it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you his kingdom: regnum veritatis et vitæ; regnum sanctitatis et gratiæ; regnum justitiæ, amoris et pacis (Præfatio Christi Regis). And so may it be.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
January 6, 2024
In Epiphania Domini
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