Pope Francis claims it’s ‘heresy’ not to ‘translate’ Gospel into modern ‘ways of thinking’
The Pontiff echoed some of his regular talking points during his Christmas address, including his praise for Vatican II and the process of synodality.



Pope Francis delivers his 2022 Christmas address to the Roman Curia
Screenshot/YouTube

Quote:True heresy consists not only in preaching another gospel (cf. Gal 1:9), as Saint Paul told us, but also in ceasing to translate its message into today’s languages and ways of thinking, which is precisely what the Apostle of the Gentiles did. To preserve means to keep alive and not to imprison the message of Christ.

Another error born out of Vatican II [taken from the SiSiNoNo article: The Errors of Vatican II]:

In Nostra Aetate §4, the propositions:

Quote:True, authorities of the Jews and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ (cf. Jn. 19:6); still, what happened in His passion cannot be blamed upon all the Jews then living, without distinction, nor upon the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as repudiated or cursed by God, as if such views followed from the holy Scriptures.

Poland: Celebrating Advent and Hanukkah at Catholic University of Lublin
The Catholic University of Lublin hosts a joint Hanukkah and Advent celebration, with Bishop Mieczysław Cisło praising the initiative as an opportunity to join together as Catholics and Jews.



Bishop Mieczysław Cisło at the Advent-Hanukkah celebration

Quote:“We are obliged to carry out in fullest detail what the Master has commanded us to do at stated times. He has ordered the sacrifices to be offered and the liturgies accomplished, and this not in a random and irregular fashion. . . . He has, moreover, himself, by His sovereign will determined where and by whom He wants them to be carried out. Thus all things are done religiously, acceptable to His good pleasure, dependent on His will. . . . Each of us, brethren, must in his own place endeavor to please God with a good conscience, reverently taking care not to deviate from the established service. . .”  [3]

Quote:“This proposition, which is of a nature to turn away the simple, the ignorant and women from the vocal prayer prescribed by the rites and customs of the Church, as if such prayer became useless to them the moment they didn’t understand it, is impious, erroneous, and opens the way to the error of the Bohemians, who wanted to celebrate ecclesiastical offices in the vulgar tongue. . . Indeed the intention of the Church in her prayers is not merely to instruct us by the disposition of words, but also by conforming us to her objective, to have us voice the praises of God and plead for our necessities. Seeing this intention in those reciting these prayers, God deigns to kindle their affections, illumine their minds, relieve human weakness and dispense fruits of grace and glory.

“Such also is the intention of those who recite vocal prayers without understanding the words. They are like an ambassador who might not understand a communication his sovereign gave him to relay, but who, transmitting it according to the given order, nonetheless discharges a duty agreeable both to his sovereign and to him to whom he is sent. Moreover, a great number of passages from the Prophets are sung in the Church which, although not understood by the majority of singers, are nevertheless useful and meritorious for those pronouncing them; for in singing them agreeable service is rendered to divine Truth, who taught and revealed them.

“From whence it follows that the fruit of prayer does not consist only in understanding the words, and that it is a dangerous error to think that vocal prayer has no function beyond supplying knowledge of the Faith, whereas this kind of prayer is engaged in primarily to enkindle the affections, so that the soul, by raising itself to God with piety and devotion, may be revived and not frustrated, may obtain what its intention asks for and the intellect may merit enlightenment. Now, all these effects are rich and precious beyond a simple understanding of the words, which is of little use as long as affections in God are not excited.” [6]

Quote:“every church will retain its ancient rites approved by the Holy Roman Church, mother and mistress of all churches; but, lest Christ’s sheep suffer hunger and the little children beg for bread and there be no one to break it for them, the holy Council orders pastors and all those having charge of souls often to explain during the celebration of Mass by them or others, something of the formulas read at Mass [i.e., during the sermon]; and among others to expound some of the details regarding the mystery of this Most Holy Sacrifice, especially on Sundays and feast days.” [7]

Quote:“Such examples of weakness on the Chair of Peter are rare, but history records them, and the children of the Church have no interest in dissimulating them, for they know that He who has guaranteed infallibility to the Roman pontiffs in the teaching of the Faith, has not preserved them from all fault in the exercise of the supreme government.”

Quote:“For those who have seriously pondered the question, it is obvious that it was not without reason that it was pleasing to Almighty God that Scripture remain hidden in certain places lest, being accessible to the sight of all, it become familiar and exposed to scorn, or furthermore, that being misunderstood by some mediocre minds, it be an occasion of error to them.

“It is no excuse to say that certain religious [i.e., Sts. Cyril and Methodius] have suffered with condescension the desires of a people full of simplicity, or did not think it expedient to remedy the situation; for the primitive Church herself covered over many things which the holy Fathers later corrected after submitting them to serious examination. That is why, by the authority of blessed Peter, we forbid putting into practice what your people imprudently ask of Us, and for the honor of Almighty God, we enjoin you to oppose this vain temerity with all your strength.”

Quote:“the temerity and daring of those who introduce novel liturgical practices, or call for the revival of obsolete rites out of harmony with prevailing laws and rubrics. . . We instance . . . those who make use of the vernacular in the celebration of the august Eucharistic Sacrifice. . . . The use of the Latin language, customary in a considerable portion of the Church, is a manifest and beautiful sign of unity, as well as an effective antidote for any corruption of doctrinal truth” (Par. 59-60).

“For a General Liturgical Reform”: First-ever Translation of a Programmatic 1949 Article by Annibale Bugnini
(Part 1)

Quote:A desirable reform of the Roman Breviary—or, more precisely, a revision of the liturgical celebration of feasts and mysteries by means of the Mass and the Divine Office, fully adapted to the spiritual needs of modern Christianity, to the day’s public and private conditions—could not be fruitfully achieved in the present state of uncertainty with regard to liturgical legislation as such. Since the nineteenth century at least, we have been living on a compromise, inappropriately called the “Roman Rite,” between the pontifical rite personally celebrated by the Pope in the Vatican or at the Lateran, the basilican rite of the great Roman churches, the episcopal rite of the Latin cathedrals of the West, the monastic conventual uses and the uses of chapte

Quote:a) thetical principle: “melior est conditio possidentis” [the better condition, the one to be favoured, is that of the possessor], i.e., of tradition, which is to be presumed good, until it is proven bad, that is to say, less useful;

b) antithetical principle: one must keep to the brevity and simplicity of the divine command: “Sic orabitis: Pater noster...” [Thus shall you pray: Our Father…];

c) synthetic principle: one must do the one and not omit the other, i.e., preserve tradition and do not fear simplification.

Quote:"'The priest,' says St. John Chrysostom, 'comes forth, carrying, not fire, as under the Law, but the Holy Ghost.' It is a man who appears before us, but it is God who works.' 'How shall this be done?' said Mary to the angel, 'for I know not man.' Gabriel answers her: 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.' 'And thou now askest me,' says St. John Damascene to an inquirer, 'how do the bread and wine and water become the Body and Blood of Christ?' I answer thee: 'The Holy Ghost overshadows the Church, and achieves this mystery, which is beyond all word and all imagination.'

Therefore it is that, as St. Fulgentius observes, the Church could not more seasonably pray for the coming of the Holy Ghost, than at the consecration of the Sacrifice, wherein, as under the shadow of the Spirit in the Virgin's womb the Wisdom of the Father united Himself with the Man chosen by Him for the divine espousal, so the Church herself is united by the Holy Ghost to Christ, as a bride is to her spouse, or the body to its head. It is on account of this that the hour of Terce (nine o'clock), the hour wherein the divine Paraclete came into this world (at Pentecost), is the one set apart by the Church, on each of her festivals, for the solemn celebration of the great Sacrifice, over which this blessed Spirit presides in the omnipotence of His operation."