Image: Screengrab of www.dictatorpope.com
Last week, I offered a preview of a new book called The Dictator Pope, which bills itself as “The inside story of the most tyrannical and unprincipled papacy of modern times.” In my sneak peek at the book, I said it was important and asked you to consider pre-ordering it, and you rose to the occasion. Today it debuted in English as an Amazon best-seller out of the gate, ranking #1 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Biographies > Popes & the Vatican, #2 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Catholicism, and rising about 500 spots to sit at #876 in the Kindle store overall.
To be clear: I did not write or contribute to the writing of this book and I have no financial interest in promoting it, other than that if you click one of our links and buy it at Amazon, 1P5 gets a standard affiliate commission for sending you to their store. I simply believe it provides essential information at a critical time, and I am doing whatever I can to help get it out there so people can come to understand the truth about the crisis in the Vatican.
After giving it a skim last week to offer you an overview, I’m going back through it more slowly today, and am about a quarter of the way through. I am already learning things that I did not know.
For example, did you realize that Pope Benedict XVI refused to accept Bergoglio’s mandatory resignation at age 75?
The position that Bergoglio built up in these years was threatened, however, by a looming deadline. In December 2011, on reaching the age of seventy-five, he would have to submit his resignation as archbishop, and a movement away from the sinking ship became apparent. Omar Bello considers that by 2011 Bergoglio had been eclipsed in influence by his rival Héctor Aguer, Archbishop of La Plata. Pope Benedict in fact refused Bergoglio’s resignation (to the disgust of some members of the Argentinian hierarchy, who would soon suffer for their discontent) and, as often happens in such cases, asked the retiring prelate to continue for a little longer. But even in his own eyes Cardinal Bergoglio could only seem an increasingly lame duck at this time; he was talking about resigning and withdrawing to a retirement home for the clergy. The hopes that had been raised in the 2005 Conclave were disappearing, as Pope Benedict’s reign followed a doctrinal line which Bergoglio had too openly discarded.
Colonna, Marcantonio. The Dictator Pope (Kindle Locations 628-635). Kindle Edition.
And this came as a shocker: according to sources interviewed by the author in Argentina, Bergoglio knew Benedict would be abdicating before he announced it — and Benedict’s having allowed him to stay on would play a direct role in what came next:
Unexpectedly, however, this gloomy situation was transformed by a rumour from Rome. By the middle of 2012, a few insiders in the Curia knew that Pope Benedict was considering abdication; he had confided his intention to two of his closest associates, the Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone, and the papal secretary Archbishop Gänswein, and he had named the exact date: 28 February 2013. Cardinal Bergoglio’s communications with Rome were abruptly stepped up from this time, rising to hectic levels as the date approached.43 Sure enough, on 11 February 2013 Pope Benedict made his public announcement to the cardinals, and it took almost the whole world by surprise; not Bergoglio and his associates, however, as eyewitnesses discovered. On the day of the announcement itself, the rector of Buenos Aires cathedral went to visit his Cardinal and found him exultant. During their interview, the telephone never stopped ringing with international calls from Bergoglio’s allies, and they were all calls of personal congratulation. One Argentinian friend, however, less well informed than the others, rang up to ask about the extraordinary news, and Bergoglio told him: “You don’t know what this means.”44
Cardinal Bergoglio had had eight years to mull exactly what it meant. In 2005, the plans of the St Gallen Group had seemed shattered by the election of Benedict XVI. It was assumed that Benedict was due for a reign of ten or even fifteen years, and that would be too long for any of those involved to benefit. The abdication in February 2013 came just in time to revive the St Gallen programme. Cardinal Martini had died the previous year, but Danneels and Kasper were just young enough to beat the exclusion from papal conclaves that cardinals incur at the age of eighty, a milestone they would both reach later in the year. Above all, Bergoglio, at the age of 76, remained papabile; the extension of his mandate by Pope Benedict meant that he was still in place as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and thus a leading member of the Latin American hierarchy.
Colonna, Marcantonio. The Dictator Pope (Kindle Locations 636-652). Kindle Edition.
It is becoming a frequent occurrence that the book offers some new insight, or ties together pieces of information I already knew in a way that helps me better connect the puzzle in my head. If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, you’re missing out on what is turning out to be the best, most readable overview of this entire papacy I’ve yet come across. (And I say this as one of the sources cited in the book’s footnotes.)
Some of you have asked me if there’s a physical copy available, or just an ebook. For the moment, the answer is just an ebook. I’ve been in contact over the past few days with some people with knowledge of the book’s production, and they’ve told me there’s an interest in producing a physical copy, but it’s still in the planning stages. (You’ll note that the ebook was self-published; this is one of the most efficient ways to get a text out and into the hands of as many people as possible as quickly as possible.) Also, to answer another question, even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can read the ebook. Just download the kindle app for your phone, tablet, PC or Mac right here.
Finally, I was also informed that as of today, the book’s website has gone back up. There’s really not much new information there, but considering that the first version of the website was taken down after the designer was hounded by people in Rome trying to get him to reveal the author’s identity, it’s noteworthy.
I am sure I’ll have more to share as I make my way through the rest of the book. Stay tuned!
This post has been updated to link to the new Regnery edition of the book.
This book along with The Political Pope reveal a great deal about Francis. It isn’t that the 2 books tell us anything especially new (they may, but that isn’t their main virtue), but rather that they line up so much information in a quickly assimilable fashion. The effect of this entirety is devastating, far greater than that of its component parts taken separately.
The Political Pope was about as deep as news coverage. The Dictator Pope goes deeper. In it, Bergoglio comes across as MUCH more dishonest, MUCH more vindictive, MUCH more malicious than I had imagined.
And just step back and ponder that, y’all. If Pope Francis were simply a mean-spirited guy with a bad temper, he wouldn’t have been promoted all the way through from priest to head of his Order to bishop to Archbishop to Pope. People would have quickly and clearly sent him to the outer-reaches of whatever diocese got stuck with him. You or me….we’d be canned.
Instead, many, many thousands (millions?) of people have been made “blind” to his true character defects.
Why is this? Diabolical is the only thing I can come up with.
To GrannyAtlanta. My best guess for his rise is the Lavender Mafia.
Which, again, is diabolical. This is ALL Spiritual Warfare…ALL of it.
Yes, definitely evil
They, too, are led by Satan and Bergoglio is one of them.
In the book Windswept House author Malachi Martin writes of a Vatican cabal beginning at least in the 60’s of cardinals, bishops and higher ups who took upon themselves a mission to bring about revolutionary change in the Catholic Church. They have gained more and more power in the ensuing years and, IMHO, Francis is the man they’ve chosen at this time in history to implement their agenda. It IS, literally, diabolical.
I have listened to for. Martins audios on coast to coast and other radio shows. He scared the heck out of me.
Why is this?
Do not forget the manhood, the people of God who know, who knew what should and must they DO.
Not only today, this very day, or yesterday, or last year. But for generations long!
If I may suggest reading the epistle from st Paulus to Thessalonians:
“… 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:
That all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but have consented to iniquity.”
(2 Thessalonians 2,9-10)
Can this not be THE answer?
We, people forget to often how the time (epoch) have no influence on God Almighty, but God controls everything, even the time. And as psalmist says, but also st. Peter (which is, btw. even so, just figuratively):
“For a thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday, which is past. And as a watch in the night,” (Ps 89,4)
“But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3,8)
By the way, sometimes I am thinking of the symbolism of this very interesting words from the Holy Scripture.
Imagine a thousand year = one day. God has created us when? about 6 thousand years ago. In how many days He have done that? Seven!
Where we are now? Anno 2017 AD.
Plus approximately 4000 BC,… we are now in, let’s say the some kind of the ‘seven day’…
“Why is this?”
Ivan, your notion that God controls everything is Protestant, specifically, Calvinist. Scripture is crammed with evidence that
God does not control everything. That goes back to the beginning:
“Do not be stubborn like your fathers in the desert, when at Meriba and Massah they challenged Me and provoked me, though they had seen all of My works. Forty years I endured that generation. I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray and they do not know My ways,’ so I swore in my anger, they shall not enter into my rest.” Ps. 95.
We are in trouble today for the very same reason God was angry with His people in the desert. Maybe that doesn’t apply to you and Granny in Atlanta, but it certainly applies in some measure to me and emphatically to billions of others whose hearts have gone astray, who do not follow His ways. God is angry. That’s why this is happening.
I meet cradles all the time who use the notion that God controls everything – as an excuse to do nothing. Ardent pro-lifer/marriage folks who spend all day on Marian websites, arguing about Fatima, arguing about Medjugorje. Must be warm and comfy – this secret club of Catholicism. Growing up in the evangelical south, we had a sense of Great Commission urgency.
I’m with you having been raised Protestant.
If you’re power-hungry enough and good at it, you don’t get canned. And of course, there have been plenty of power-hungry popes before. Francis is just one ot those who’s good enough not to have had to be some lord or king’s relative, first.
It would be nice to believe that it takes a deal with the Devil to do this sort of thing. But it is just part of the ordinary behavior of sinful humans.
Never. I repeat. NEVER underestimate the power of Satan to entice and seduce in order to win souls.
C.S. Lewis said, “Satan’s greatest accomplishment is getting people to believe he doesn’t exist.”
No it isn’t. It is the antithesis of any kind of human behavior.
Right you are, Granny. I settled on ‘diabolical’ several years ago and I mean it literally. He is the pope from hell.
Hi winslow, Thank you for signaling it to me. When I read my whole message, it is indeed not that clear as I would to bring it. But, be sure, I would never have any wittingly intention to astray or lead other to astray. It’s my bad English, that I cannot use in proper way to express me always as I should.
Of course, we should never say or even think that God controls everything.
My intention was to say, that people gets what people deserved with their own works and behavior.
No problem, Ivan.You do a great job making yourself clear and effective.
Thank you winslow. All of this is a little effort but with a huge hope that everything what we do, we do for the greater glory of our God.
God bless you.
Maybe not THE antichrist but perhaps AN antichrist?
Beats me! I’m just an observer here, scratching my head like the rest of us.
Yup. Same here:)
LOL, It’s the most outrageous thing I’ve read in a long time. Since 1962, i.e. Vatican II, the WHOLE Catholic hierarchy has gone CORRUPT TO THE CORE!
Yes, he is.
And he is relentless to do what he wants to do!
If anything comes through in this book, which I have not and will not read, is that Francis will stop at NOTHING to destroy whatever he can.
Sounds like the “Omen Trilogy” working out in real life. I must give it a read.
You’re probably right about the depth, but my point is that both seem (I haven’t read the Dictator tome yet but I will) to list facts in a handy reference format. Just seeing details lined up in that fashion adds a sobering perspective to our understanding of the pope.
Exactly! That’s what I noticed as I read the account of the synods on the family. Seeing it all together brought into sharp focus the diabolical manipulation by Bergoglio and his stooges. The book makes clear Bergoglio is a tool of Satan.
Thanks for the briefing! Just don’t give away the ending, Steve.
We know how this ends. Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart triumphs! Poor Francis!!
I pray every day to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that she intercede with the Sacred Heart of Jesus for Francis to be granted the Grace he be healed of whatever it is of mind, body, or soul that possesses him.
Nothing is impossible for God.
Looking forward to reading this – though I *dearly* wish this was available hard copy!
I am not good at researching old articles, but one thing stuck out in your article above.
I am certain that JPII refused to allow Ratzinger to retire at 75. I remember distinctly reading an article wherein Ratzinger lamented his inability to go back to his native Bavaria and live a simple life. The article was fascinating in that it went into detail about Ratzinger’s earlier life — how he had been a humble priest teaching math (I believe) when he was plucked out of obscurity and given a position in the (I believe) local bishopric which ended up propelling him into more ecclesiastically significant positions. In the article, Ratzinger spoke of how much he loved his native Bavaria and just wanted to go home and live a quiet life. I believe his brother is still in that area. He said that he had served long and well and never liked being at the center of such heady decisions as had been his path. Shy and introverted by nature, he just wanted to go home…..
And that is exactly why, when Benedict made the announcement that he was going to go into a cloistered location on the Vatican grounds, the hair stood up on the back of my neck. IF he was leaving of his own volition with no undue influence by any others, why wouldn’t he have gone home to Bavaria?
That didn’t pass the smell test with me. Still doesn’t.
The abdication remains unfathomable. Benedict asked us to pray to protect him from the wolves; yet by abdicating he abandoned us to them. What could possibly have motivated that decision in a man of profound faith? Was it a decision of weakness? Or was he compelled somehow?
How did the St Gallen group know so much of Benedict’s private thinking? Did Bertone or Ganswein work with them? Or was the spying and tapping of phone calls that reportedly has been omnipresent in the Francis papacy already underway during Benedict’s papacy?
Ganswein is a double-agent.
What makes you say that?
pj_re, I am not God. I don’t know the details. But I do know this…..
God knows everything. He has a Plan. I sincerely — with all my heart — believe that Pope Benedict is a man of God who chose to step down because he felt that was what God was asking of him. We won’t know the whole picture this side of heaven.
I have learned over the years that God doesn’t consult me in the Big Picture or even in the small stuff. He expects me to Trust Him in ALL things. And pray a lot.
It’s seems that all the Popes since Vatican 2 are questionable…read the articles about this on NovusOrdowatch.org ,I get the feeling Vatican 2 was a great deception by modernists and Freemasons
Read about the V2 Popes on novusordowatch.org they tell a rather eye opening opinion
Bergoglio had operatives placed in the Vatican throughout this period, certainly at least as far back as the start of the Benedict pontificate. The book goes into some detail about it, particularly in the case of the destruction of his rival Livieres. He had the Argentinian priest Fr. Fabián Pedacchio placed in the Congregation of Bishops. This man – who is now serving as his secretary – funneled information, including private letters meant for Pope Benedict, back to his boss. He sent a constant stream of faxes, emails and telephone calls back to Buenos Aires.
You don’t need to read the book to find these things out. In fact, quite a lot of the material in it (not all) has already been made public, though not in the English language. There are a few Spanish language bloggers and writers who have been trying to sound the warning about this man for a long time, well before the abdication.
From the book:
The most noteworthy case in which Bergoglio used Father Pedacchio was in his feud with the Opus Dei bishop Rogelio Livieres, who headed the diocese of Ciudad del Este. Although this city is in Paraguay, it is close to the Argentinian frontier, and Bishop Livieres was himself Argentinian by origin. He was a staunch traditionalist, and as such he represented a challenge not only to Bergoglio but to the liberals throughout the South American hierarchy. In his own diocese Livieres had founded a seminary which stood out by giving the traditional priestly formation and gained a success which could not be ignored. At its height, the Ciudad del Este seminary had 240 students, more than all the other Paraguayan dioceses combined. It also attracted refugees from Cardinal Bergoglio’s own seminary in Buenos Aires, which was not in a happy state, and this did not help Bergoglio to look kindly on his rival. The most notorious member of the Paraguayan hierarchy was Fernando Lugo, Bishop of San Pedro, who abandoned his ministry for a political career and became President of the country, until he was impeached by his parliament in 2012. Before that, he had been combining his episcopal life with a string of affairs and fathered a number of illegitimate children. Bishop Livieres was alone in denouncing both Bishop Lugo and his colleagues in the Paraguayan hierarchy who conspired to keep Lugo’s misconduct secret.
In 2008, shortly after Lugo’s election as President, Bishop Livieres paid an ad limina visit to Pope Benedict XVI and personally handed him a letter, under seal, in which he criticised the system of appointments that had managed to produce Bishop Lugo. His precautions did not prevent the letter from being passed to Cardinal Bergoglio and thence leaked to the Press, with the successful intention of damaging Bishop Livieres with the Paraguayan government and with the rest of his hierarchy . This proved merely a foretaste of the treatment the bishop was to receive under Pope Francis, when he was dismissed from office within a year of the papal election and his seminary disbanded.
This information was indeed new to me, though much of what the book reveals was not (thanks to you, OnePeter5 and others).
I finished the book last night. The situation we’re in is even worse than I’d suspected, and I hope there will be follow up from the few, true investigative journalists “we” have.
On the Abuse of Divine Mercy
Sermon by St. Alphonsus Liguori
Thank you Hilary. If they were intercepting Benedict’s communications and then destroying anyone who showed himself to be faithful, then that would explain a lot.
Yeah, you know we have this terrible ‘priest shortage’ so …would the closing of a seminary with 240 candidates contribute to that or the closing of the FI seminary which had many holy young men…all contrived, all part of the persecution of the faithful ones.
This kind of thing explains the feelings of revulsion that I experience just by looking at Bergoglio’s sinister countenance. I really cannot bear the sight of him. In the early days of this regime, in our daily prayer before Mass, as part of our intercessions, I would pray for “Our Holy Father Pope Francis, the Vicar of Christ ……. ” I would include “Vicar of Christ” because, even then, I was struggling with it. After a while, I dropped the “Vicar of Christ” and it became “…..our Holy Father, Pope Francis.” later I abandoned “Holy Father” because I could detect nothing about him that appeared to be holy. And more recently, I have dropped “Pope Francis” and merely pray for “the pope” because I dislike having to mention his name. In conversation, he is simply; “Bergoglio”.
Like his brother, Pope Benedict can barely hear or see these days. Pope St. John Paul II couldn’t move much, but his senses were acute until the end. It’s difficult to see how Pope Benedict could have kept going as a real pope, instead of a figurehead for whom orders were issued without him even knowing. It’s also clear that the rest of his health was a lot worse when he was pope than it is now; he likely would have been dead in months. How would that have been an improvement?
As for why he wouldn’t go home to Bavaria — if you’re famous, you can’t go home again. What kind of security force could a monastery afford, or the police of the town where his own little house was? I’m sure that Pope Benedict wouldn’t have minded being in danger, per se (scholars tend to live in their own heads), but everybody around him would have been a potential hostage or terrorist victim. By staying at the Vatican, which is already guarded, he caused the least trouble and expense. It was also a sacrifice in itself, of course, which he could offer up.
That’s an interesting possibility: that B16 may have remained in situ to dissuade a too hasty makeover, maybe to discourage a full reversal of his own work. But even if that was Pope Benedict’s plan, it hasnt been a raging success!
Veritas, if you are replying to me, I don’t understand your comment. My only suggestion was that Benedict would not, of his own accord, have chosen to stay in a cloistered environment on the Vatican property. He had made it clear that when he retired he would return to his beloved Bavaria. Something or someone else stepped in to persuade him that was his “best” option.
I will leave the speculation up to others. I just know that Benedict would not have made that choice had he not believed that God was asking him to — for reasons known only to God.
(Have you never felt God leading you somewhere that didn’t make ANY sense to you? I have. And each time I’ve been totally in awe of what the results were. The story isn’t over yet. We don’t know the Plan of God. We simply have to Trust Him and OBEY, as I believe Pope Benedict has.)
Benedict’s decision to postpone Bergoglio’s retirement is at least disheartening. The quality of his judgement, of his simple common sense, continues to exponentially diminish in my eyes.
It is exasperating. Scandalous. Of all people you would think he would have the two cents to perceive what was transpiring around him.
Is there a member of the episcopate who can walk and chew gum at the same time?
I can count three or four.
Agree, Maciavelli must present you with his resignation and you say, no, no prince, stay around we need you.
James, see my comment below. I believe that Popes refusing to let Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals retire at 75 is a very common practice.
Except that Bergoglio accepted the resignation of faithful Archbishop Andre Leonard of Belgium lickety-split when he turned 75. Probably couldn’t wait to dump him. Vocations to the priesthood were up remarkably under Archbishop Leonard. I wonder if they have again collapsed.
You bet it is collapsed. The vocation to the priesthood is almost nihil in Belgium. I don’t have exact overview, but it could be found op internet. Like this one which goes about Germany (priestly ordination 1962 – 2017):
http://ontrebakraljevati.blogspot.nl/2017/12/po-njihovim-plodovima.html
Except that Bergolio operates by a different set of rules than other Popes. His own rules.
Resignations are postponed for a reason.
Resignations are accepted early – for a reason.
That Benedict didn’t grab the opportunity to send Bergoglio to an ecclesiastical
gulag is inexcusable – as was his appointment to the episcopate in the first
place.
Pope John Paul’s gifts did not exempt him from frequent “inadequate” episcopal appointments And Joseph Ratzinger was as aware of this as the rest of us – yes, I wrote “us.” It was a glaring deficiency of his pontificate. His other gifts allowed us to overlook the time bombs planted around the world due to our respect for him and his office.
That was a mistake as is frighteningly apparent today.
John Paul and everyone else in a position to know was fully aware of Bergoglio’s resume. A chemistry teacher as I recall – high school. Then he got involved in the formation of candidates for the Jesuits and caused no small number of problems. He was not well respected or liked and was a cause of division in order in Argentina which had been in a relatively healthy state until he came along.
It was widely known that when Bergoglio was being considered for Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Father Kolvenbach (then Jesuit Superior General) told Pope John Paul that Bergoglio was emotionally unstable and temperamentally unreliable. Pope Benedict knew this. This same insight into Pope Francis comportment was offered by an Argentinian bishop whose name escapes me at the announcement Bergoglio’s election to the papacy in 2013 – a fairly accurate recounting of his comment is “But he’s crazy!”
Apparently Pope John Paul disregarded Kolvenbach’s warning believing left wing Jesuits were unsympathetic to Bergoglio because he was not
sympathetic to Liberation Theology (how things change). In 1988 Kolvenbach
shunned Bergoglio, sent him into “exile” to Cordova [Argentina] and sent those
sympathetic to him to Europe.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio should not have found a place in religious life as a lay-brother, let alone be ordained – and the thought of him in the episcopate is bone chilling.
Here we are today.
The swamp of Washington DC can’t compare to the ecclesiastical filth in which we are drowning.
To which I reply that this is just more confirmation that we are witnessing a Spiritual Battle — ALL of it.
I would like to read it, but I’ve got to have a real book. I don’t do e-books.
Michael, I’m with you. I like to touch the pages and write in the margins. (You should SEE my copy of Cardinal Sarah’s book, “The Power of Silence.” There isn’t a page which doesn’t have underlines and notes in the margins! FABULOUS book!) That allows me to pick up the book at any time and quickly flip through to find a memorable passage.
Totally agree with you. ????????
Well, if you purchase the Kindle ebook from Amazon, there are ways (e.g. using the Calibre ebook reader with appropriate decryption plugins installed, if needed by this book) to convert the ebook you bought into PDF, after which you can print it out, get it bound at your local photocopier shop and have a physical book for your reading pleasure.
If your local shop does printouts in A5 or some handy size, great. Else, you could consider using one of the several applications (e.g. PdfBooklet) that convert a normal PDF into a “printable booklet” format so that you get a handy sized book half the size of a large paper like the A4/foolscap/legal instead of a cumbersome large sized bound book.
Just finished the book. I’m really, really, really depressed and downhearted. But it was cathartic to read all of the truly despicable things this pope has done, in one place. One gets a real sense that this is diabolic even though I have resisted saying that.
I also feel sorry for Francis. He appears to me a sad tyrant who is losing ground even while he pushes for more and more terrible things for our Church. I think he will soon be out of control, and his erstwhile friends in high places will abandon him. I pray for his conversion, and I do want his salvation – only a direct intervention by Our Lady can do this. Our Lady of Fatima please intercede for Francis, and take pity on us, his forgotten sheep.
On the contrary, be joyful that this rotten disgusting situation is finally being exposed. Things will only get better when we finally start accepting just how corrupt the church has become, it all started at Vatican 2 in my opinion…I’m delighted that all the dirt on Francis is coming out into the open. It might motivate Burke to publish the formal correction, then a new Pope and hopefully everything since Vatican 2 put in the bin , and start again at pre Vatican 2.
The only one problem are those Catholics who have very little or no memory of pre-VC II and I am not speaking about the young people at all. It is folks like me who were a few short years before VC II and have known nothing about pre-VC II.
Then start to educate yourself in the history and the Faith of the Catholic Church!
Starting by reading a book on a Biblical walk through the Bible.
Huh?
No, Anne. Novus Ordo books of happy talk will lead you away from the truth. Find a book which will tell you the truth about the Vatican ii Council. It will blow your mind. Once you understand how things came to be as they are now, you can study pre-VII and mourn its loss.
Mourn for something I hardly knew. I view the TLM another rite in the Church.
I understand your sentiment there. Most Catholics today do not know of the Latin Mass and its value to them and the Church at large. In the Latin Mass the priest faces East, where Jerusalem is. He is leading the people, not having a conversation with them as we get with the Novus Ordo. There is silence in the Latin Mass and I can tell you from my experience, silence leads to sanctity, reverence and a real appreciation of the presence of God in the Church and of Christ in the Eucharist.
All the noise and the focus on the priest instead of on God has cheapened the Mass and damaged the people’s understanding of what the Eucharist really is. Today a third of people calling themselves Catholics to not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, which means they are not Catholics, yet our bishops do nothing about it, probably because most of them are in the same sinking boat.
Viewing TLM as just another rite in the Church is surrendering to the heresies of Vatican II and throwing Jesus under the bus. That is, unfortunately, the state of the Church today.
A sincere question here: Couldn’t we do the ad orientem and the silence and the reverence even in English? It seems to me the problem is not one of language but of reverence. If you brought back the ad orientem, brought back the communion rails (no more of this taking Jesus’s Body in the hand!!), got rid of the childish, banal Barney-the-Dinosaur-sounding songs, get rid of the “sign of peace” glad-handing, and insisted on people not chatting like they’re at a party as they’re leaving the sanctuary after Mass — in other words, bring back basic REVERENCE — would it really matter what language the liturgy is in?
It honestly seems to me a good thing that people be able to understand the prayers in their own language — all the better to participate interiorly — but the real problem is the appalling lack of reverence. We don’t need Latin to insist on basic, appropriate reverence instead of treating Mass like some sort of social hour.
The language is important. Latin is a dead language and therefor it can’t be. Hanged as living languages can be when new words and coloquialosms become popular. That keeps the mass honest and traditional.
I think you meant to say “can’t be CHANGED as living languages can be…”
And yes, that’s a good point. I guess this issue — language — is one I sort of see both sides of. As opposed to basic reverence, which I think is so basic — and so missing from most churches — that there simply is no “other side” of the argument as far as I’m concerned. I really am appalled by the Mass-as-feel-good-happy-clappy-social-hour that is so common these days. The Barney songs have got to go!
Thanks for catching the error. My iPhone and I fight constantly about spelling. As soon as I think it’s correct and hit send, the iPhone does the old switcheroo on me. Lol
In any event as a life long Anglican I loved the liturgy anyway, but the day I walked into the TLM church I’m now a member of and experienced the high mass in Latin, something changed in me. It literally was a road to Damascus moment for me. I had to go back—again and again. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen and heard. My dad was ukrainian catholic and I was the only one in my family who would occasionally attend Divine Liturgy there with his family. That mass was in old church slavomic so experiencing a mass in a different language was never foreign to me anyway. there is something about a mass said in the language it was written for that makes it so much more sacred and beautiful.
I am a convert from High Church Anglicanism and a practicing Traditional Catholic of over thirty years, I believe that the Anglican Ordinariate, although not widely known, does provide liturgy using old forms of Sacred English with beautiful Elizabethan cadences, altar rails, male servers, priest facing liturgical East, vestments, chant, incense and bells, and hymns that are musically, lyrically and theologically sound.
Modern Anglican/Episcopal denominations mimicked the iconoclastic changes of Vatican II and, having an invalid priesthood, contributed to their own imminent extinction.
I prefer to attend the Traditional Latin Mass and believe that the Novus Ordo should never have been manufactured.
I agree with you. The high Anglican Church is more catholic than the NO is. When I converted to the TLM from Anglicanism and was in the choir I would sometimes do things like crossing myself at certain points or bowing that the Catholics didn’t do. My choir members would ask why I’d did such things and I told them that that is the way it had always been done in Anglicanism.
I sang in an Anglican choir as a child and the liturgical practices were similar to what you have described. It was therefore somewhat shocking to begin my Catholic life in a conservative Novus Ordo parish where so many reverent practices were eliminated.
When circumstances force me to attend a local Novus Ordo Mass, the absence of Sacred English is a distraction and the hand raising, clapping and lack of reverence cause me to have feelings of annoyance and therefore a lack of total peace. The music frequently consists of secularized jingles and faux folk tunes. Don’t get me started on the “passing of the peace” routine.
I recognize that the sacraments are valid but why must the setting be so irreverent and protestantised? I did not become a Roman Catholic to become a member of the Assemblies of God. Please “Just Give Me That Old Time Religion!”
Thank you. I’m so glad I’m not alone. It really is awful isn’t it? I want to weep after I leave mass some days. I hat could the Vatican have been thinking…..
The Church structures were infiltrated in a plot of diabolical disorientation. This disorientation resulted in contempt for the laity and their compliant clergy which were seen as too stupid to catch on. “Churchmen will pray, pay and obey, and they will not even know that we have slowly destroyed the Mystical Body of Christ.”
We know how the story ends so we cannot lose heart. Where is Queen Esther when we need her? Time for the cardinals to speak up on behalf of Holy Church.
It doesn’t matter. I did not know the TLM either, wasn’t raised in it. But one only need attend and give it a chance, learn about the why’s of this and that, enjoy the lack of chatter and silly things that have no place in the worship of God but which were implanted to keep all of us busy so we wouldn’t get bored. I attend a TLM with one server and no music, and I wouldn’t trade that hour for anything. The authentic worship of God Himself, in the language Roman Catholics used for centuries and which you can get familiar with and come to love.
There are those priests who do the NO in a reverent and prayerful manner. When it comes to chatty folks, just enforce the rules for silence.
There is one book, “A Biblical Walk Through The Mass”, by Edward Sri. It is NOT HAPPY CLAPPY. Be thankful that the TLM is part of the 24 rites of the Church.
I converted to Catholicism from the Anglican Church three years ago. The church I converted into is a TLM Catholic Church in communion with Rome. All I know is the TLM. I had to move for a couple of reasons and I’ve been living in another state for a year where there is no TLM. I have had to attend NO churches and I feel like I am in exile. I’m going to move back to my old city next spring so that I can have the beauty truth and goodness of my TLM church once again. It isn’t worth living in a NO wasteland.
Pope Francis time is coming to a close. He is going to be 81 this month and has one lung. I see him walking out.
I don’t see him leaving before his natural death, which may be another 10 to 15 years down the line. He and his peers plotted so diligently for over a decade to bring him to power, they are not going to let power slip from their hands easily.
Problem is that he has one lung though.
Symbolic indeed, he’s “not fit to run” the Church…..!
He lost the lung 60 years ago and has done just fine since. “Fortunately, the lungs are a redundant system, and losing one lung doesn’t seriously compromise health. … [H]e may be at slightly higher risk of complications from influenza or more vulnerable to succumbing to pneumonia. But, says Belperio, the fact that the 76-year old has lived a relatively healthy life so far demonstrates that his surgery did little to hamper his ability to live a full and active life.” http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/13/why-pope-francis-only-has-one-lung/
So? That isn’t slowing him down-at all
It is utterly inconceivable that Bergoglio will be able to stick it out for another 10 or 15 years, or even five. If he were to continue to swing the wrecking ball with such increasing violence, the Church really would be reduced to rubble in short order. Ain’t gonna happen.
JP2 stuck around for a living hike and he was not much more than a slobbering shuffling senile old man. It was hard to watch him. They should have a maximum retirement age for these guys.
Not soon enough!
yes, cause people like that often just walk away from power.
And give up his power to destroy the Church? Only death will free us of this fraud.
Take confort, the Church may be divided, but it will never be destroyed.
A tortured human being, who will not bend, is this man.
Unlikable by most, and used by many.
Who will speak boldly and not fear this tortured soul?
Who in true charity, will tell Francis, that he is going against God’s Laws? That he is a very angry man, full of rage and bitterness, where only the empty quest of power seems to soothe him. Those closest to him, need to speak to him, not as cardinal to pope, but as fellow human being to fellow human being. Is there not something worth saving, in spite of himself?
Of course there is!
What do the laity and prelates value more: our ideal of a pope or the soul of a man?
Pray we must. But, there is a point where sins mount and one too many ensues for the Lord. For the Lord will not be mocked.
There is nothing soothing about the obsessive sequestering of power. megalomania feeds off itself. And as for those closest to him speaking with him as one human being to another: they won’t do it for essentially the same reasons that the members of the inner circle of any tyrant or despot will not do it; they are members of such inner circles, not out of genuine loyalty and belief, but cynical self-interest. the other reason, quite simply, is fear. Not fear of suffering the same fate as, for instance, those involved in the Adolf Hitler assassination plot; or being blown to smithereens by an anti-aircraft gun a la Kim Jong Un. But fear of losing their career, their enormous privilege and the untouchability that comes with being a groveling, scheming sycophant.
It certainly seems that way.
He and his minions have a shallow thought that with help from Satanic NWO they can overthrow God and extinct His Son’s Church. All including fallen angels are merely creatures not Creator.
i pray for his conversion. His salvation is in God’s hands.
I pity him, too. He thinks he’ll go down in history as the man who changed the Church. The truth is, he’ll go down as the worst, most anti-Catholic pope in the history of the Church; the pope who openly defied Christ and His word..
The biggest problem of this dictator is there is no sign of repentance yet.
I do NOT feel sorry for Pope Francis.
As stated earlier this year by Fra Cristoforo:
A perennial liturgy that, however, would be ecumenical. Obviously I predict that in order to do this, Bergoglio will also have change the text of the “Consecration”. This would make the Mass invalid. And I also predict that those who will refuse to celebrate this “new rite” will be considered out of the Church. These times are coming: let’s face it. The Bishop of Rome wants to become “el presidente” of the various denominations; and to do this he is selling Jesus Christ at a price much lower than Judas did.
As for me, since I am a priest, I will refuse to celebrate this type of liturgy. And I tell you that we will return to being Christians in the “catacombs.” The intent of Bergoglio is, then, to arrive at this: to “modify” in order to “unite.”
It is coming, it is coming and then the catacombs.
Amen, Father! I believe that many good Catholics are on the same page as you. We are pressing ever more firmly into Christ’s garments so that when He moves us, we will be ready to follow holy Priests like you to the places He designated for us since the beginning of time. I pray earnestly for Priests like you……THANK YOU and may God continue to protect your heart and mind.
If you are a priest, then you will. Know these problems started long before Pope Francis , it started at Vatican 2, we have been deceived. It’s seems that all the Popes since Vatican 2 are questionable…read the articles about this on NovusOrdowatch.org ,I get the feeling Vatican 2 was a great deception by modernists and Freemasons
The ‘tearing down’ of the Church of Christ started LONG before Vat ll. Vat ll was the culmination of the infiltration of Freemasons.
I don’t know about the freemasonry myth. But if you read the writings of some of the 19th century priests, they had already embraced humanism —and these are the European guys.
If you speak to Sedevacantists they would tell they the true church has long been in the Catacombs. What I hope is that there is a formal schism. Two Popes, one false, one real, and the real Pope brings everything back to Pre Vatican 2 and the great deception
Fr John Hardon SJ said mid-80’s that the true catholic church was already underground. Worth reflecting on what he saw in the church that convinced him it was disoriented.
I see a BIGTIME split in the Church if it happens.
It has already happened, but no one wants to believe it. Communion for unrepentant adulterers is the norm in parishes all over the world. The battle between Catholics the the heretics, led by Bergoglio, is underway. Everyone will understand that as the battle intensifies.
I believe it. The TLM and Vatican 2 are drifting farther and farther apart. Now the pope has demanded that the TLM stop using the extraordinarily calendar. Everyone has to be on the same page now. What next. Forbidding latin And Gregorian chant?
It’s even hard to imagine a split. That would be too clean. With everyone having their own ideas about EVERYTHING the Church teaches, I see a shattering like shards of glass. It’s all in God’s hands now. I guess that’s the good news. Back to prayer.
Right now Father this “civil war” in the Church is “cold”. I am afraid it will go “hot” down the road.
So what? Are we ready to defend Christ’s Church at the price of our reputations, our comfort, indeed, our lives! If not we are not followers of Christ, and don’t deserve calling ourselves “Catholic”!
I am ready. I’ve got nothing to lose. I converted three years ago and lost every Protestant friend I had. I’m old and I’ve lived my life. All I have left now is the church and I’ll foght to the death for her.
Yes, you are correct. Prophesy is coming true day by day. The liturgy will become one all can join.( One World Religion) it will be devoid of the Real presence of our Lord. This will set the stage for the antichrist to make his appearance . I highly recommend checking out twoheartsprss.com for more info.
There is a reason I wanted to vomit when that Argentinian brute came out on the loggia. From that day, it’s been clear as to why. After chapter 2, I wanted to vomit again. Now into 3, I need to take a break.
Keep up the good work, Vox. I enjoy your blog.
Thanks!
I think I would have named it The “Merciful” Pope with the word “merciful” in scare quotes. It’s entirely clear that the “mercy” which is supposedly at the front and center of this pontificate, is really nothing more than a club of convenience with which to beat down resistance to Francis’ deconstructionist agenda. It’s mercy in the abstract, since in the concrete, day-to-day dealings of Francis with real people, he is anything but merciful. Rather, he is abusive, vulgar, intemperate, manipulative and volatile.
This is not a “mercy” which comes from within and touches those with whom he comes in contact, in a personal and individual manner and thereby spreads. No, this is simply a Jesuit head trip. Francis’ mercy is violent and scandalous, the very antithesis of mercy. A little like those anti-war “peace” demonstrations in the ’60s which usually turned violent.
So much for “peace”. So much for “mercy”.
You have fixed on one of the key points about PF and the Modernists. Their whole mission, as was the case with the ’60’s anti-war crowd, is based on and supported by Marxist “new world order” fanatics, who are numerous and patient and well-funded. Bergoglio is their dupe or their knowing collaborator–it really doesn’t matter which. Their goal always has been the destruction of Western civilization, which begins with rendering the Catholic Church irrelevant.
“Already in Italy, the e-book is an Amazon best seller, having attained the rank of #60 in that country and hovering at #1 or #2 in books in its category.”
I am glad that it has already been translated into English. Thanks to your positive review, I intend to read it — just as soon as I get finished reading another important book for all Catholics, Antonio Socci’s book “Non è Francesco” (“He Is Not Francis”), which came out in 2014. Like “The Dictator Pope,” Socci’s book also rocketed immediately to the #1 bestseller spot in Italy in the religion category. Like “The Dictator Pope,” “Non è Francesco” also caused a huge stir; it was front-page news.
So… why, oh why, oh WHY has it never been translated into English? Or Spanish. Or French. Or any other language! I was so determined to read it that I went ahead and ordered a copy of it, along with an inexpensive used copy of a Basic Italian textbook and a paperback Italian-English dictionary. Thanks to knowing Spanish (somewhat) and having taken French in high school, I am slowly making my way through it, learning the language as I go. I never intended to learn Italian — living in the heart of Kansas, I’ll probably never even encounter anyone I could speak it with — but there was no way I was going to miss reading this book. I can only read 3 or 4 pages an hour (I’m hoping I’ll get faster as I go!), but let me tell you, it is absolutely, TOTALLY worth it. Socci understands canon law and explains it clearly enough for even someone like me to understand, and he cites the specific provisions in Church law that call into question the validity of Benedict’s resignation as well as the validity of Francis’s election. For me, that is the key part of the book, and the reason I bought it.
But Socci also gives a big-picture context. While the central part of the book is concerned with the lightning-strike (in more ways than one) events of February and March 2013, Socci precedes it with a section on Benedict’s papacy, and follows it with a section on Francis — and the damage Francis has done. Socci had started out as an enthusiastic supporter of the new pope, and, unlike some traditionalist Catholics, he is an enthusiastic supporter of Vatican II. One of the reasons his book made such a splash in Italy is that Socci is not “just another conspiracy nut.” He is an extremely accomplished, well-respected author and media personality who does his homework and has a fine mind, as well as a beautiful heart and spirit. In other words, he’s both a Catholic’s Catholic, and a journalist’s journalist. Though I’ve only read about half of the book so far, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
But if anyone here has connections, or some ideas about how to find a publisher that would publish it in English, that would be a significant and much-needed service to the Church. I can’t imagine there are too many other people out there like me who are willing to learn a whole new language just to read one book. We NEED this book in English!
Yes, some will think this a sidetrack from the featured book, but I see both of these books as MUST-READs, and I can’t understand why one has been so quickly translated into English, and the other one has not been translated at all.
If you’re a supporter of Vatican II, you are not a Catholic committed to the perennial tradition. (Catholics are “in se” traditionalist by the nature of their calling to live and hand on the Faith they’ve received from Apostolic times.)
Timing, maybe?
The reason why it was not translated into English is because Socci himself abandoned his thesis that Bergoglio was invalidly elected.
On the other hand, I’m not aware of his ever having abandoned his thesis about the invalidity of Benedict’s resignation — a thesis, by the way, that is shared by many.
I’ll have to do some research to find out why he abandoned his second thesis (about the invalidity of Bergoglio’s election), since I find the thesis laid out in his book very convincing.
I just bought it tonight and will dig in tomorrow. Any friend of freemasons has got to be evil. And you cannot get rotten fruit (Amoris Laetitia) from a good tree.
It is all too difficult to comprehend. The news that Benedict XVI declined Bergogio’s retirement and the revelation that the latter had foreknowledge of Benedict’s abdication seems to hint at complicity on Benedict’s part. And yet, that doesn’t make sense. Benedict’s dear friend Cardinal Joachim Meisner was well aware of the intentions of the St. Gallen mafia to install Bergoglio in the top job in 2005, and that he, (Cdl. Meisner), by his own admission, fought harder to prevent it than he had ever fought for anything in his life. He must surely have known the nature of the beast, (Bergoglio) and discussed it with Benedict who, subsequently as pope, refused to accept Bergoglio’s retirement. And the timing of Benedict’s abdication seems to be just perfect for Bergoglio. But then, all things lie within the plans of Divine providence. This greatest ever crisis in the history of the Church has been developing at an accelerating rate since March 2013, and it has been, and remains my belief that it is Bergoglio’s appointed role to preside over the climax of this crisis so that this whole, rotten false church built in their own corrupt image and likeness can finally, and irretrievably be toppled.
Benedict is an enigma wrapped inside a riddle. He’s a very smart guy and must have known that Bergoglio was odds on to succeed him and where it all would go. Some days I think that Benedict simply threw in the towel and ran from the wolves. Other days I think no, this is all part of some Ratzingerian master plan to purify the Church and separate the dross by allowing a heretic like Bergoglio to attract to himself all the subversives, modernists, apostates and deconstructionists, resulting in schism and leaving behind a much smaller, poorer, but more faithful remnant to carry the Church’s mission forward.
Love this interpretation!
Supposition No. 1; that “Benedict threw the towel in” is completely without substance; of this, I am absolutely certain. Supposition No.2, the “Ratzingerian master plan” is where the truth lies. Except that Ratzinger was not the author of it; but he was undoubtedly appointed by the Holy Spirit to implement it. Within a few short months of the ascendancy of Bergoglio, I began to formulate the notion that the answer to the question of Benedict’s abdication could be found in 1Samuel 8:7 “It is not you whom they reject; it is me who they are rejecting.” But I felt that his abdication had been brought about by the fact that ‘they’ had made Benedict’s job of governing the Church impossible, and thus he was moved by the Holy Spirit to step aside to make way for the ‘anointed one’ who would ruthlessly preside over the climax of this greatest ever crisis if the Church.
But from what this book suggests, and what you correctly point out, is that Benedict had a far greater understanding of the means by which this crisis would be resolved. Benedict’s refusal to accept Bergoglio’s resignation, and the timing of his own abdication to make way for Bergoglio seem to fit together far too well to be mere chance. And I think we can safely assume that Benedict purposely revealed his intention to abdicate, and precisely when, to Ganswein and others in the full knowledge that the information would be passed on to Buenos Aires. If this is so, then little wonder that Benedict has remained in Rome and maintained such great serenity throughout this whole period. He must have a very good understanding as to where this is all heading. And this possibility should be a cause for our joy!
Given that he gave up the papacy, I would have thought that throwing in the towel is exactly what he did.
Not in the least! Not if his seeming recourse to towel-throwing-in was an essential component of Heaven’s master plan to bring in the one destined to preside over the climax of the crisis. So this false church, this church of freemasonry spoken of by Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich, could finally, and irretrievably be toppled. This is why I could never agree with those who, though they quite rightly point out that Bergoglio is trying to stack the next conclave to ‘anoint’ his own preferred successor, fear that the plan will succeed, and that who, or what, follows Bergoglio will be at least as bad, or even worse. It can’t happen. The game is almost up. But there will be no peaceful transition into the ‘new springtime for the Church and the world’. As the Empire of Hell collapses, it will do so very, very violently.
I don’t believe God asked Benedict to desert his post, which is what this scenario seems to require.
It is only “deserting his post” as seen through human eyes. God has the Big Picture. We don’t.
That’s just not tenable
What’s not tenable? That God has a Plan that we humans can’t understand? Dig into the Bible a little more and see how often humans were caught up with their own ideas of what God should do about a situation and ended up flat-out wrong. Horribly wrong in most cases. Isaiah 55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
God is omniscient; we’re not. We can’t out-think God, so let’s not even try. Faith dictates that much.
God can do all kinds of things, but Benedict deserted his post and to suggest otherwise is not tenable. Of course, God can use that for good.
I’m not trying to do that. Please try to see what I am and am not saying.
Louise Yvette, I am trying really hard to “see” what you are saying. To my ears, it sounds like you have been terribly disappointed in Pope Benedict’s decision to step down from the Papacy. In fact, you referred to it in terms such as “deserting his post,” throwing in the towel,” and “resigned his post.” You appear to be saying that he has betrayed his flock by stepping down. Am I misunderstanding you here? If so, please correct me.
If not, I truly feel badly for you. I know firsthand what it’s like to have clergy betray you — truly betray you. (I’ve also had to learn how to forgive.) So, I know how deeply that hurts.
But, it also says to me that you’ve never had the experience of God reaching down and speaking directly to your heart, and so you don’t understand how that can happen. It’s foreign to you. I have had it happen literally hundreds of times and it brings me the greatest joy of my life. I live to please God and my request every days is for Him to show me how I can please Him and bring glory to Him that day. He never fails to guide me.
But, for the sake of argument, let’s look at Pope Benedict’s character before he “deserted” the papacy. He was certainly not perfect — none of us are — but he had a strong reputation for standing up for orthodoxy and challenging the liberal wing of the Church. He was affectionately known as a “pit bull” or “attack dog” on behalf of JPII. (He was our “German Shepherd.”) His theological writings were masterpieces in logic and sound doctrine.
He was never boastful or in any way a showman. As a matter of fact, one complaint against him was that although genuinely a warm and loving man, he wasn’t as outgoing or engaging as many would have hoped.
He was a holy man. A man of God. He exuded God’s love in a gentle and “fatherly” way.
Do you think a man like that would just tuck tail and run from adversity? He grew up in Communist Germany and knew what cowards looked and acted like.
No. This man was, first and foremost, a man of prayer. He KNOWS God. He knows how to ask God for guidance and how to listen and wait for an answer. Remember Fr. Weinandy’s letter and how people mocked him for asking God for direction before writing it?
In the very same way, I would bet all that I own that Pope Benedict likewise asked God for guidance before he made the most monumental decision of his life. And he obeyed God’s answer. I’m sure it didn’t make sense to him, but — as has happened to me many times — when I have serious questions or reservations, God is gracious enough to reaffirm His desire in ways that convince me that He truly does desire that action on my part. My job is to obey, EVEN if I don’t fully understand.
Remember that since the time of Adam and Eve, Satan has been trying to conquer humanity and bring shame to God. Many times Satan has felt the tingle of victory only to have it snatched out from his spindly claws.
Think of Moses and Pharaoh. You’d better believe that Satan was gleefully clapping his hands as Pharaoh pursued Moses to the shores of the Red Sea, hemmed in by mountains all around him. Pharaoh saw victory within his grasp, but God had him right where He wanted him, allowing Pharaoh and his men to follow Moses and the Israelites right to their death.
Or look at the crucifixion itself. Satan had whipped the Sanhedrin into a frenzy and they, in turn, persuaded the Jews to scream out “Crucify Him” as he stood before Pilate. Satan must have been salivating as he watched Jesus being beaten to within an inch of His life and then nailed to a cross. He was finally going to be victorious.
We, as humans, can’t know the mind of God. But we CAN see how God has operated in the past as clues. We are right now in one of the the most diabolical turning points in our Church’s history. One where it’s very difficult for us to see anything good happening and we want God to DO SOMETHING!
It’s scary, but that is where Faith comes in. I have had a saying hanging in my kitchen for decades: “Faith is nothing if it hasn’t been tested.” Well, our Faith is being tested mightily.
Pope Benedict is a man of courage and of honor. And, he’s a man of prayer. He did not abandon us. With all my heart I believe that he stepped down from his post because God asked him to.
We have to have Faith and Trust God — He knows all the details and has a Plan. And we know He wins in the end. Our job is to pray unceasingly for His Holy Will to be accomplished while we believe with all our heart that God is faithful and is always a step ahead of Satan.
Thanks for the empathy, and thanks for the concern about my relationship with God. But I just don’t agree that God would ask the Pope to desert his post, which is what I think the retirement was.
It comes down to whether or not retirement is morally justifiable. That’s the discussion we need to be having here.
No, that is not the discussion we need to be having here. The discussion we need to be having is the one about Spiritual Pride. YOU don’t agree that God would ask the Pope to “desert” his post so that gives you the right to publicly declare Benedict a deserter? By doing so you call into question his integrity and besmirch his reputation in a public forum. That would be called calumny.
It is not your or my place to decide whether retirement is “morally justifiable.” Not a single conservative Catholic that I know LIKED the idea that Pope Benedict stepped down, but few and far between are the people who haughtily decide they have the right to cast aspersions against his character. There is nothing in the Church’s writings which forbid a Pope from retiring, whether we like the idea or not.
Get off your high horse and try a little humility here. I’ve tried to show that because Pope Benedict had a solid reputation for strong orthodoxy and courageous proclamations, it was not his character to be a “deserter.” You needed to give him the benefit of the doubt rather than proclaim in a public forum that he left against the Will of God. That is downright despicable….and sinful.
CCC 2478 reads: “To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way. St. Ignatius of Loyola: ‘Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another’s statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly,let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved.'”
I’ve tried. God knows I’ve tried.
I think the people who scream spiritual pride at others suffer from it themselves.
I will be blocking all people who like the above comment and this person too. It’s not me that abandoned my post and I have no time for such cretinous behaviour.
Sadly, your response only proves my point. I will continue to pray for you.
No it doesn’t, but pray anyway. I know I need prayers. I consider GrannyA to have broken rule 1 of the comments by making this personal and being pretty insulting, really.
Yes, it does.
You feel that you’ve got the right to publicly malign a man with a proven track record of spiritual maturity and yet, when called on it you whine that you are being insulted, asking that the moderators get involved and say that you will block me and anyone who likes my post. You can dish it but you obviously can’t take it, which is exactly what I expected.
A Snowflake.
While I have always been a fan of pope Benedict and he was part of the reason i converted, I think you’ve been really consescending and pontificating in your posts to our herd here. You aren’t better than the rest of us. I don’t care how many abortion clinics you protest in front of.
Thank you for your comments, Etchmaidzin. I never thought I was better than anyone else; I am merely a great sinner trying to share ways the Lord has changed my heart. As an ex-New Yorker with a strong Martha personality, He has shown me the value of adopting a Mary position. I have learned — often the hard way — that God is not concerned with what I DO….He is more concerned with how I THINK.
We are all sinners on the road to sainthood. My only reason for posting is to share how God has changed ME in the hopes that I can plant seeds for others. It’s of no consequence to me whether you accept it or not; that’s the Holy Spirit’s job.
You claim not to think you are better than the rest of us and yet your last sentence in your post belies that claim. Btw, I am a New Yorker too-and not an “ex” one either. Don’t blame that on your attitude. Try a little humility as Jesus taught us.
A New Yorker? That ‘splains a lot. I worked in Manhattan in the ’70’s and was relocated to six more states before settling down in Atlanta in the 90’s. Once you leave that area, you realize that the other parts of the country are very different. While cursing was a staple in my vocabulary, it wasn’t acceptable to others. New Yorkers have a well-earned reputation for being abrasive and argumentative.
I’m not here to argue with you. ALL I have been saying is that God has TRANSFORMED me and I can’t take any of the credit for that transformation. I’m sharing WAYS that He has changed my heart in the hopes that it will give others hope and encouragement. The Holy Spirit is the One who will stir up someone’s heart — or not.
You can read my posts or not. It really doesn’t matter to me. I’m not going to argue with you.
So…this is my last post.
Good, glad it’s your last post. And I’ve lived in Montana Arizona and New York so I’m not exactly wet behind the ears. But you are still wrong. Blocked
“the people who haughtily decide they have the right to cast aspersions against his character”
I’m humbled to admit that I was one of these until very recently!! I didn’t mean to be committing any sin, though. I was earnestly seeking truth. Sometimes it just takes a while to see things a certain way. It’s like I was seeing things through a certain filter, and then, somehow, without my knowing how, the filter has been removed. (Of course, I may just be seeing things through a different filter now! I guess we fallen humans are always seeing “through a glass darkly” this side of heaven.) Who knows, I may change my mind again by next week! But I do thank you, Granny, and others here, very sincerely, for sharing your insights and planting these seeds, so that, when the time was right, I was actually able to see what you’ve been talking about.
Heartlander, what a beautiful reply. YES! God has removed the scales from your eyes in this matter because you were READY to hear Him. Praise Him for that and ask Him to remove the scales in other areas of your life. I PROMISE that He will listen and gently nudge you in many different areas.
I am a nobody. But, the ways and depth to which He has TRANSFORMED me is truly nothing short of a miracle. A HUNDRED miracles! NONE of it is my doing — it’s ALL Him! And it’s all because I’ve asked Him for the grace to conform my will to His. Every day I pray: “Change my heart, O God, and allow me the Grace to follow your Will for me today.” It’s an amazing little prayer!!
As just one tiny example, which dovetails with what the message of this thread is…..
I have been a Sidewalk Counselor outside of an abortion clinic weekly for many years. God allows me the privilege of helping desperate mothers see that abortion is NOT the right answer. Well, one day, as I was standing out there with a couple of the other regulars, we were chatting about the abortionist. Chatting is a nice word — what we were saying wasn’t nice at all. It was pretty ugly.
Then I suddenly heard God say to me, “I love him, too.” It took my breath away. With deep conviction, I knew that we were angering God by speaking so harshly about this man — who WE had decided should burn in hell. God laid it on my heart that WE weren’t any better in His eyes — we were sinners in need of Grace, just like this man. God thoroughly chastised me for contributing to the ugly disparagement of this man…..WHO HE LOVED! THAT was what I couldn’t get out of my mind! GOD LOVED THIS MAN AS MUCH AS HE LOVED ME!!
I was all choked up as I tried to explain to my friends that we needed to stop the comments and pray for the guy. They got it. That was the LAST time any of us spoke harshly of him and the clinic workers. We constantly tell them as they walk by that we can help them if they want to get out of that business and that we are PRAYING for them! Whenever someone new shows up and begins to disparage the doctor or clinic workers, one of us will simply remind them that God loves that person as much as He loves us. It always startles them, but usually convicts their heart, too.
So…trust me….God WILL change your heart if you ask Him to! He has helped me SO MUCH to see things more clearly from His perspective. Isn’t it a sweet blessing to see more clearly??
If I had been around on the day that Jesus was brought before Pilate, I probably would have been tearing my hair out wondering why on earth he did not defend himself!! “Our Messiah, our leader, our shepherd is just passively LETTING himself be crucified? He is deserting us!!! How/why could he do this to us?!”
As we can see, our worldly understanding, however well-intentioned we may be, has huge limitations.
Yes, Heartlander, that is a good analogy to what we are currently experiencing. We are saints in training here on earth. Learning to emulate our precious Savior in the most trying of times is a testimony to Faith and Perseverance. I believe that Burke is in the same category as Benedict….patiently waiting upon the Lord’s direction. I Trust God to Shepherd these holy men.
Has he “deserted it?” You simply cannot know this. The great Catholic mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich, who foretold of the false, essentially masonic church, the building of which would be supervised, not by angels, but by devils. She also spoke of the confusion of people “in those [our] times” caused by the nature of the relationship “between the two popes”. Certainly within the last four years, this prophecy has become far more meaningful, though still very mysterious. But the conclusion seems inescapable to my mind that there is a great drama unfolding that is scripted by the Holy Spirit; its purpose is to bring about the ruin of this false church, and that Pope Benedict accepted his allotted role with a far greater depth of understanding than any of us can know.
He resigned the papacy
Certainly an interesting possibility.
Your theory is certainly plausible, Stewart and I can’t say I don’t agree with it/
Many thanks, Winslow, for your immediate response.
If this is true, it gives a whole new meaning to “white martyrdom”!
It is most definitely so, and nothing less! Who knows? One day, his heroic virtue will come to be recognized, and the Church Militant may come to rightly revere Pope Saint Benedict XVI.
Maybe he didn’t do it willingly. Anyone think of that?
Yes
Glad I’m not alone at least. 🙂
Try reading THE MYSTERY OF EVIL By Giorgio Agamben.
Amen!
Um, guys… Most of the bishops who submit resignations at 75 were allowed to keep going by Pope Benedict — unless they’d done something prisonworthy, or were really sick and about to die. Even Pope Francis has mostly followed that rule.
So yeah, Papa B was being nice, but not exceptionally nice. We can wish that he wasn’t the sort to restrain his hand; but you know very well that he gave everyone every possible chance. That’s the kind of pope he was.
“That’s the kind of pope he was.” Yes, indeed that is so. He was also, and remains, I firmly believe, a very holy, courageous and sincere man and a most faithful son of the Church.
“has maintained such great serenity throughout this whole period”
But what anguish it must have caused him when God first showed it to him, don’t you think? To “abandon” his flock? To know what pain and suffering and confusion was coming to them? Ah, but on the other side of it, dazzling clarity. (At least, I hope that that’s what awaits the Church!)
If the man had any personal ego, it would also surely distress him to incur the contempt of so many devout Catholics who do not understand why he resigned and condemn him for it. But a person who is totally submitted to God will do as God guides him, no matter the consequences, and no matter how counterproductive or crazy it may APPEAR from a merely worldly viewpoint.
Again, I must think kiwiinamerica and others in this precious 1P5 community for sharing their insights. I’m still not sure of the validity either of Benedict’s resignation nor of Bergoglio’s election (I’m about 3/4 of the way through Socci’s “Non è Francesco,” and he makes a very convincing case), but you’ve given an explanation that makes a lot of sense to me. (And as far as Bergoglio’s validity goes: The conclave question may have become a moot point, since even if he was elected validly, he has now invalidated himself, in my opinion, because of his heresy.)
Thank you for this, you bring to everyone’s attention the enormous sorrow, the sheer agony of mind and soul that Pope Benedict must have endured in the years leading up to his abdication. I have never doubted, and still do not doubt that, had it been asked of him, he would have willingly shed his blood, to the last drop, for love of Christ, the Church and for us. And, what’s more; who’s to say that this still will not happen?
kiwiinamerica, God does win, in the end. Just look at the Book of Revelation. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean the Catholic Church will be preserved as is. If Francis is the False Prophet — and if many bishops, priests and laity go along with him — they will face severe judgement! Given that Catholic ecclesiology demands apostolic succession from above, a False Prophet as Pope would essentially destroy Catholicism.
Never forget the vision that Pope Leo XIII had in the 1880s, the one that led to the prayer for Michael the Archangel to protect the Church. Here’s how the vision went down:
Satan: I can destroy the Catholic Church.
Jesus: You can? Then go ahead.
Satan: I need time and power.
Jesus: How much time and power?
Satan: I need a century and the power to control those who will give themselves over to me.
Jesus: You have the time. You have the power. Do what you want.
Now consider the following: If Michael the Archangel is subordinate to the Triune God, and the second Person of that Trinity gives Satan permission to destroy anything, then do you seriously suppose Michael will attempt to countermand such permission?
Friends, there’s a lot more seriously wrong with the Church than just Francis. He is nothing but the logical result of centuries of de facto apostasy. That, in turn, is the result of sacrificing the Church’s Petrine patrimony on the altar of power, wealth, political influence, secular prestige, intellectual fashion and institutional arrogance.
“Given that Catholic ecclesiology demands apostolic succession from above, a False Prophet as Pope would essentially destroy Catholicism.”
This is the part where I really struggle with God’s plan!! What in heaven is He thinking?! I definitely feel like we are victims of the old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” But, but, but, Lord, I never WANTED to live in an interesting time!!
Perhaps it’s time to consider an alternative to the Novus Ordo Church?
Huh? TLM?
I really like your theory; it would explain a lot. But I don’t see anything as BENEDICT’S plan. He is far too humble and God-fearing a man. If your theory is on the mark, it’s because Benedict has submitted himself to GOD’S plan.
Thank you for sharing, by the way. This theory (but with the important difference I just pointed out) has helped to give me much more peace and understanding about this whole thing. I am very grateful for that.
There is that mysterious visit to the tomb of Celestine in 2009 during which Pope Benedict removed his pallium and placed it on the tomb. Was he then sending a signal, indicating a plan, speaking in code and to whom? I recall that there was chatter and speculation even then which subsequently diminished as time progressed.
Yes, thank you so much, Carol, for reminding me of this; I had completely forgotten about it, as I’m sure many, many people have. But back then, of course we had little or no idea as to how the course of events would subsequently unfold. But he was, as we know, most painfully acquainted with the unprecedented and ever-deepening crisis of faith that is crucifying the Body of Christ on earth, and I must ask (rhetorically) all the more insistently; was he given a profound understanding of the vital necessity of bringing this crisis to its terrible climax. Was he gifted with the understanding of his own, vitally important role in this drama, in standing aside to make way for the one who had been, according to God’s permissive will, appointed to play the lead part in this Passion Play of the Church?
Quite possibly, we will never know with any great certainty, but I feel far more at peace with this explanation than all the suggestions to the effect that Pope Benedict was a spineless coward; that he betrayed Christ and the Church, and that our being stuck with Bergoglio is, in no small measure, his fault. This kind of thing, I could never accept, and I know I never will.
There can be no fence sitters during this critical period of history. Pope Benedict wisely prepared the remnant with the generous reinstatement of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. Perhaps nothing divides the sheep from the goats more than attitudes toward this form of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which had never been abrogated, contrary to popular belief.
I too prefer to give Pope Emeritus the benefit of the doubt. He has a sharp and analytical mind and I believe that having read the Third Secret in its entirety, he may have been inspired to act as he has for the ultimate benefit of the Church. Yes, it is a mess right now but scales are falling off of the eyes of many of the previously lukewarm among us.
Corruption within the ecclesial organization has gone too far. Impurity and blackmail exist in the highest offices of the Vatican. Some things only come out be prayer and fasting.
The sheer hostility and irrationality of the reaction to the Motu Proprio on the part of so many at all levels of the Church was very significant. Many factors have contributed to the unparalleled apostasy of the last fifty years, but by far the most crucial of them is the destruction of her sacred liturgy, and ultimately, it is the Infernal enemy who is the architect of this disaster. Such is the unrivaled spiritual ‘potency’ of the Traditional Liturgy, that the most effective means of rendering the Church largely impotent in the world was to destroy it. A Vatican II peritus, Fr. Gelineau, was rendered ecstatic by the introduction of the Novus Ordo, jubilantly declaring that the Roman Mass “is no more; it is destroyed!” I have no doubt that the powers of hell, in their own particular diabolic fashion, shared in the celebration.
When the Traditional Catholic Faith was marginalized and nearly destroyed society became hardened and took a downward spiral. I could not agree with you more, Stewart. May St. Michael protect us in battle!
I never, ever would accuse Benedict of cowardice out of SELF-preservation. But I HAVE wondered if he was blackmailed by evildoers threatening evil to the Church. See: https://akacatholic.com/money-sex-and-modernism/
On the other hand, if that were true, it would make Benedict analogous to the priest in Scorsese’s movie “Silence,” would it not?
https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/10/empathy-is-not-charity
I’m no longer so ready to believe that the whole thing was about blackmail. And even if blackmail were indeed the tool used to accomplish Benedict’s resignation, something bigger is definitely going on.
I have come to, at least tentatively, agree with kiwiinamerica, Granny in Atlanta, and Stewart Davies.
So Jesus lied when He said, “The gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
The Church will decline, fall into schism and the corrupt will vastly outnumber the faithful, but the gates of hell will not prevail against it. From the ashes a remnant will arise and the Church will be built anew. I believe the SSPX will lead the way.
We all know perfectly well that the gates of hell can never prevail against the Church, and no-one has even hinted at anything to the contrary. God will be glorified in all things; even things that with our limited or total lack of understanding appear to be very, very bad at the outset. Why do you find it necessary to admonish me with the rhetorical question; “So Jesus lied …?
Stewart, that’s an old rhetorical trick to put the interrogator on the defensive. As I pointed out earlier, the question certainly isn’t whether Jesus lied but whether the Catholic interpretation of his words is correct.
Hi Joseph; A number of people had been involved in this discussion, and I wondered if Winslow had somehow misconstrued what had been said, so when I questioned him, I didn’t only do so on my own account. I have read many comments by Winslow, and have formed the definite impression that he is a very knowledgeable and astute kind of a guy, as are the great majority of contributors to 1P5. Hence I was, I would say, not so much “on the defensive” but rather puzzled.
As for the correct Catholic interpretation of what Jesus said: it is the destiny of the Church to imitate her Divine Master in His Passion and Death; a death which must, of necessity, precede her own glorious resurrection. The overwhelming majority of the disciples of Jesus 2000 years ago believed that Evil had had the last word. This too will be the the story in our day. When the Church is in eclipse, many will believe it to be permanent; that she is no more.
I believe that the Church is now at the summit of her Calvary; whether or not the nailing to the cross had begun, I do not know, but if not, then surely she will not remain at the summit for an extended period with nothing happening. And, as was the case with her Divine Master, who was only handed over to the powers of this world by means of betrayal by an insider, for the Church also, it cannot be any other way. The Church in our day is replete with Judases who are selling her out to the world. And these latter day Iscariots go all the way to the top.
winslow, it’s not a matter of Jesus lying because Jesus cannot lie. It’s a matter of whether the Catholic Church is correctly interpreting Jesus’ words. For centuries, that interpretation has Jesus meaning the institutionalized episcopacy. Well, we’ve all seen how corrupt that body has been over the centuries. Catholicism isn’t alone in that corruption. Mainline Protestantism long ago abandoned the Gospel for intellectual fashion and “relevance.” Russian Orthodoxy allowed itself to be co-opted by Russian governance during the Tzarist era, and now is nothing more than a bunch of lackeys for Putin. Why should a holy, righteous God and His Son give any countenance to any institution that takes Their Names in vain?
Pray constantly, implore tirelessly, and weep bitter tears in the seclusion of your heart, beseeching the Eucharistic Heart of my most holy Son to take pity on His ministers and to end as soon as possible these unhappy times by sending to His Church the Prelate who shall restore the spirit of His priests.
Our Lady of Good Success to Sr. Mariana de Jesus Torres.
Amen
A message to Fr Spadaro SJ and your media trolls: Your game has been exposed. The world is now able to see what conspirators, frauds, liars and heretics you all are. God will not let you win in the end. You may be is the ascendant now but left-wingers are both faithless and fruitless, sterile in every respect. Look at your Jesuits, dying as we speak. One less in the world every day. A just punishment for your apostasy. The faithful laity and clergy will survive this storm like we did with the Arian and all other heresies. I hope you live long enough to one day see another Pope who is authentically Catholic who will wipe away the stain and stench of this current Papacy. Victory!
Step 1. formal correction step 2. Formal declaration that PF is a heretic step 3. new Pope step 4. A schism as PF will refuse to go step 5. Rebuilding of the church based on Pre Vatican 2 values. Victory!
Isn’t it time for that formal correction?
Okay, Steve- have you decided to change or modify your comment policy yet? It seems that some comments below get pretty close to violating it. Otherwise, I would assume you and your moderators maybe seem more convinced that we have not just a bad pope, but an invalid one? The evidence is really starting to stack up. Paul Bays, below, is making some really great observations and statements in my opinion.
Nope. In fact, I believe you’ll find those comments have been removed. (Comment moderation is pretty low on my priorities list, so it takes some time.)
I checked at Amazon to see if a print edition was available yet (I just can’t get used to electronic books). It isn’t, but I took a look at the five existing reviews there. All but one gave it five stars. That one negative review was written by Marcelle Bartolo-Abela, a soi-disant Catholic publisher and author. It’s edifying to note that her book, Who Are You? What is Your Faith? America’s 21st Century Alt-Right and Catholic Social Doctrine, has been “praised by Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize winner” (I kid you not; this ridiculous “encomium” is copied directly from the lady’s own page). And I don’t suppose anyone will be surprised to learn that Marcelle’s review is the only one among the five at Amazon that is NOT a verified purchase. In other words, she is a left-wing troll who probably hasn’t even read the book. Just one more reason to read The Dictator Pope.
I love the theory that this is one of the most sophisticated “ambushes” in Church history by Pope Benedict against Francis. As we say in the National Guard: hold your fire until all their troops are in the kill zone!????
And how exactly does that theory go? Never heard of it.
Read kiwiinamerica post below
I read it and it gave me goosebumps. It is exactly what I have felt since Benedict “abdicated.” I have been absolutely convinced that Benedict was given the Grace to see the Big Picture and God asked Him to step aside so that prophecy could be fulfilled.
As a matter of fact, the very day that Benedict made his announcement I happened to be attending a book study given by a well-respected Catholic theologian. You better believe that everyone in that class was aghast at the announcement and couldn’t wait for the theologian’s arrival for his “pronouncement” of what this all meant. Everyone was all a-twitter about the lightening bolt which had hit the Vatican that day.
When the theologian arrived and we began to discuss the developments of the day, he said that it was “impossible” to have two Popes. He was quite pooh-poohing the possibility that Benedict would be able to step down and there would be a conclave to elect a new Pope. (Remember, this was Day One — no details had been hashed out yet — everyone was speculating.)
You know how the Holy Spirit can sometimes put words in your mouth and AS you are saying them, your mind is thinking….”Where did that come from?”
Well, that happened to me that night. As the theologian was explaining that Pope Benedict would never just walk away — Popes died in office — I said that “Maybe God is asking Pope Benedict to walk his own Calvary.” I had NO CLUE where that came from, but the theologian stopped in his tracks — as did I. I knew I certainly wasn’t theologically astute enough to have come up with that sentence — and he knew me well enough to know that this did NOT come from my own mind.
I have pondered that statement hundreds of times. As I said it, I understood that God was asking Benedict to go to his own “crucifixion” — I don’t believe in the literal sense, but in the sense that Benedict was part of God’s Plan in some way and Benedict needed to willingly step aside and “suffer greatly” so that God could accomplish His Plan. That’s all I know.
Kiwi’s statement lines up with what I’ve known in my heart since 2013.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/18b5be577ede2583797f63d16f370a930d03e5656780cbb03016bc60c9b50e96.png
The other day, in relation to his comments concerning nuclear weapons, I noted that our pope is multifaceted, a liturgist, theologian, political pundit extraordinaire, economist, sociologist, and now weapons analyst. Add historical linguist to that list as of today: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5155405/Pope-wants-better-translation-phrase-temptation-Our-Father-prayer.html
To put it bluntly, Francis is not the first modern “dictator pope.” John Paul II behaved essentially the same way when he arbitrarily changed Catholic teaching on capital punishment for murder to its essentially abolitionist position — a position that Scripture and Tradition never taught!
See this: https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/3460-killing-capital-punishment-how-pope-john-paul-set-precedent-for-pope-francis?tmpl=component&print=1
Also, the late Pope sacrificed Middle Eastern Christians on the altar of his desire for ecumenical dialogue with Islam: http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/6973%26eng%3Dy.html
Money quote from Renzo Guolo, Italian professor: “The pope´s approach was rejected by the majority of cardinals during the 1994 consistory at which John Paul II expressed his intention of asking forgiveness for the “wrongs” of his predecessors. But despite the contrary opinion of many ecclesial sectors, and not only the openly traditionalist ones, the pope decided to proceed with his plan. Many responded with hostile silence: some of them recalled how Wotyla, who ordinarily speaks about all topics, had spread a veil of silence over the persecution of Christians in Muslim countries.”
Yes, I think JP2 was very problematic
I think it’s high time for a re-examination of his papacy.
Pretty much
The silver lining of all of this – it was probably going to happen, and if so, we’re the most prepared for it now. Posted this before, so forgive me if this is repetition, but the idea of him winning in 2005 – would have been the disaster we might not have made it through. It’s awful now – it would have been worse – without BXVI’s steady hand and teaching.
We’re toughened up by Obama floor-boarding it on socialism – we know how better how to respond to Francis – we spot the ruthless tyranny a mile away. Not sure that it would have been as easy to hop on it in 2005. And, thank heavens, we’ve got some great Catholic media in place and trained for spiritual war.
If only the e-book would be in the Epub format, the one used by everyone else but Kindle. Any plans towards that end?
a “catholic” site being an affiliate of globalist amazon…?
Just from the bit read right here, my first impression is his election seems providential.
I know.
But nothing happens without God’s will, and it appears unlikely things happened and here he is. This travesty of a papacy must be fulfilling something, one can only imagine it is bringing all the apostates out into the light of day. No one can say they sat on the fence during this papacy. Even their silence reveals them.
Oh Lord, please awaken in the boat and calm the storm. Or blow it out of the water.
I felt that the book ended suddenly. It could have been a pamphlet! I expected much more. The author didn’t touch the issue of forced anti- magisterial teaching, the lies he tells every other day, his material heresies.
Not worth the price.
Dear friends, may no adversity paralyze you. Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your weakness. The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment of history so that, by your faith, His Name will continue to resound throughout the world. Pope Benedict XVI.
Thank you, Stewart! I needed this. Great antidote for the whiny feeling of “Lord, why did you put me in THIS awful era?!” As Mordechai told Esther, “Who knows but that it was for such a time as this” that God placed us where and when He did. I think of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia trilogy, in which Aslan taught the young people to see the trials and hardships not as loathsome burdens but as an exciting ADVENTURE for truth and goodness.
I came across that quote within minutes of reviewing the way our discussion had developed over the last few days. It could hardly be more apposite!
Oh, if only he had said those words to himself before he decided to abdicate. May no adversity paralyze you! Be not afraid of the world! Be not afraid of the future! And especially: Be not afraid of your weakness!
He wasn’t afraid of those around him; he wasn’t afraid of the world; he wasn’t afraid of his weakness. One day, you and the world will understand this! There will be a time when the world will come to understand and acclaim the true greatness of Joseph Ratzinger. One day, by the grace of God, there will be a Pope Saint Benedict XVI.
He cited his weak health as being a reason for abdicating, something no Pope has ever done. If he had not been afraid he would have continued doing the job he was elected to do, weak health or not. Many popes had weak health.
Does anyone know if there is a print edition planned or available?
Finishing the book today. It’s a devastating portrait of a very disagreeable person. Regardless of his (dubious) effect on the Church, Jorge Bergoglio is someone you’d rather not have move in next door, who might make you reconsider your own membership in the Elks if he joined. He’s just not a very nice guy, certainly not someone you’d want to confide in.