I’m pretty sure most of us are fed up with hearing about Lilianne Ploumen and her award from the Vatican. I know I am. But there’s been a development that is just too amazing not to share.
And I’ll get to it, but I’m going to leave you hanging for just a minute because first I want to share some additional background from my colleague in Rome, Marco Tosatti. We’ve translated one of his reports from last week — before the latest development — and he brings some details and considerations (and amusing commentary) to bear that will help set the stage for what happened after.
I’m only going to cite a portion of his article here, because some of it you’ll have already heard in our other reports. But permit me to share the majority of his piece, because it’s worth reading.
The following is a translated excerpt of a post on Stilum Curiae, the blog at MarcoTosatti.com. It has been translated by Giuseppe Pellegrino.
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of Saint Gregory the Great is a chivalric order of the Holy See instituted by Pope Gregory XVI on September 1, 1831. In the official directions for the conferral of pontifical ecclesiastical and lay honors issued on May 13, 2001, it is foreseen that the large cross of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great will be conferred on “candidates distinguished for their service to the Church at the national and international level, at least 55 years old, and at least 10 years after the conferral of an honor of a lower degree.”
The list of those who have received this award includes the names of G.K. Chesterton, the writer Louis de Wohl, the economist Stefano Zamagni, and the musician Riccardo Muti.
The same document spells out the procedure for the conferral of the honors: “Diocesan Bishops may propose the conferral of a pontifical honor on both clergy and laity, as a sign of appreciation and recognition for the service they have rendered. A Vicar General may likewise request such an award, but he must explicitly declare that he is acting with the express authorization of his Bishop. The request, accompanied by the curriculum vitae of the candidate (age, profession, family and social condition, along with an accurate description of their merits with regard to their service to the Church), ought to be sent to the Apostolic Nunciature, which will in turn send it to the Secretary of State after giving it the required nulla osta. Those requests coming from territories subject to the oversight of the Congregations for the Oriental Churches and for the Evangelization of Peoples should first be sent to the competent Dicastery which will in turn see to its transmission to the Secretary of State.”
In the First section of the Secretary of State, which deals with General Affairs, there is an office, to tell the truth not a very important one, which deals with these types of matters of “merits”. There has been discussion many times in the past about the value of maintaining this office, which seems a bit antiquated. If I am not mistaken – correct me if I am – this office is occupied by the Egyptian secretary of the Pope and Monsignor Burgazzi.
The reactions to the news were very diverse and interesting. A few – including some among those commenting on Stilum Curiae – decried it as a hoax, as fakenews, and so on. The same reaction was seen on social media by those who are Bergoglio’s fans. And not just the “little people” as we used to say. Among those who sought to demonstrate – and verify – the hypothesis that the medal was bought for a few euros on the Internet there was also a friend of mine who holds an important role in communications at Pontifical university which specializes in communication… such is the power of love.
Strangely, the hordes of my Vaticanist colleagues showed no interest in the news. And that, if you will permit me to say it, is strange. It would be as if the Chief Rabbinate of Jerusalem, or the University of Al Azhar, gave an honor to Citterio [Salami] or to San Daniele Prosciutto. But perhaps my colleagues wanted, and want, not to annoy the institutional Church. So I had to smile when on the plane a colleague asked the Pope whether he was afraid to speak with journalists. And why should he be afraid of anything – perhaps, I don’t know, of an embarrassing question?
I thought, erroneously, that surely some agency colleague in the Vatican Press Office, as is standard procedure in such cases, would ask for a clarification. But this did not happen, and so I thought it would be appropriate for me to write personally [asking for a clarification]. The following day a response was sent to me from the Holy See Press Office through the mouth of the Assistant Directress, the journalist Paloma Garcia Ovejero, whom I thank. Also because I know that other colleagues – Steve Skojec of OnePeterFive, for sure – did not receive any reply to their question.
“The honor of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great received by Ms. Lilianne Ploumen, former Minister of Development, in June 2017, during the visit of the Dutch royalty to the Holy Father, responds to the diplomatic practice of exchanging honors between delegations on the occasion of official visits of Heads of State or Government to the Vatican. Therefore it was not in the least a placet to the political action in favor of abortion and birth control which Ms. Ploumen has promoted,” wrote Paloma, thus confirming the news.
In the meantime Cardinal Eijk had issued a statement, saying that he did not know anything about the matter, and that he had not been consulted. Apparently the President of the Dutch Bishops’ Conference was not consulted either. But in order to have a complete clarification a few items are still lacking. Could it be that Lilianne Ploumen’s profile was effectively vetted without – incredibly – any objection? Was any bishop or cardinal of the Dutch Bishops’ Conference consulted or asked to give an opinion? From the response of the Holy See it would seem that a few of these honors, as standard procedure, are put on a little tray to be handed out during the course of the visit to anyone who is a part of the delegation. As one of my friends noted: “If that were the case, one could not exclude the possibility that any one of Dr. Mengele’s imitators received at the Vatican could find himself receiving one of these honors, without any expectation that such an action would be interpreted as an endorsement of experimentation on prisoners.”
Certainly, at least in theory, these medals are given out because of merits…if so, what sense would there be in showering them out like rain for the sake of diplomatic practice, without any verification of who is receiving them?
My friend asks himself: “Was it necessary and diplomatically unavoidable?” When Hitler was received in Italy on May 2, 1938 he was the Chancellor of Germany. Certainly his ideas were known, but he had not yet revealed himself to be the monster that he was; Kristallnacht would not occur until November 9 of that year and the deportations to the extermination camps would follow in due course, but already Pius XI was most firm: he would not receive the Chancellor of the Reich, he opposed decorating the Via della Conciliazione, he openly deplored the fact that the Celtic cross was displayed in place of the Cross of Christ in the decoration of the city of Rome, showing through all of his objections his pastoral zeal for the people. “But today,” my friend continues, “can diplomatic etiquette really take the place of the [Lord’s] commandment not to give scandal? What is more abject than the support for policies of exterminating innocent children? Is abortion no longer an ‘abominable delict’?”
These are important questions, especially important for millions of persons throughout the world, both Catholic and non-Catholic, who fight against abortion, even to the point of being imprisoned, such as the Canadian activist Mary Wagner. People who are pro-life and pro-family remain shocked by this fact; and my opinion is that the Holy See needed to give a much more profound and articulate response as to how and why such a colossal gaffe could have been possible. And do you not find it astounding that, out of seventy of my colleagues who greeted the Pope during his flight to Chile, not one thought to ask him a simple, simple question, like: “Your Holiness, why did you give a medal to an abortionist?”
When Marco wrote all this last Friday, of course, he did not know that the Vatican had one more clarification coming. Yesterday, the National Catholic Register‘s Rome correspondent, Edward Pentin, reported what he was told:
The Vatican currently has no plans to change the procedure of exchanging honors during historic official visits of heads of state to the Vatican, and believes that the responsibility for any subsequent abuse of such decorations rests with the visiting delegation.
Despite the outcry over giving militant pro-abortion Dutch politician Lilianne Ploumen a medal of Commander in the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great last summer, Vatican officials believe the statement issued about the honor last week by deputy spokeswoman Paloma Garcia-Ovejero was enough, and that Ploumen’s award was actually meant as a snub. [emphasis added]
I’m going to stop there for a second so you can finish laughing, maybe clean the coffee (or whiskey, not judging) off your keyboard and screen.
Everyone OK?
Good. Let’s continue:
In answer to a Register enquiry on Monday, an official would not say whether better vetting procedures would be implemented in the future to prevent it happening again, insisting instead this was “a very traditional procedure” for such an “historic occasion” and was really meant as a way of “honoring the king.” It is something that “has been done many times in the past for other visiting heads of state,” he said.
The source added the honor was no different to someone “going to visit someone else’s house as a guest, and who comes with companions: one shows a minimum amount of respect to whom he brings.”
The Commander in the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great medal is normally given in recognition of “personal service to the Holy See and to the Roman Catholic Church, through [the recipient’s] unusual labors, their support of the Holy See, and their excellent examples set forth in their communities and their countries.”
Ploumen will not be installed as a Dame of the Order, and in fact by giving her such a medal, the source said the honor was meant as a “slight” because a government minister normally receives a more distinguished decoration. The king, for instance, received “the Grand Collar,” an ornate chain worn about the neck to symobolize membership of a chivalric order.
Can you just imagine some Vatican bureaucrat rubbing his hands together manically or twirling his mustaches, saying, “I know how we’ll stick it to that militant abortion promoter! We’ll GIVE HER A PAPAL AWARD DESIGNATED FOR MERITORIOUS SERVICE TO THE CHURCH!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! SHE’LL BE SO INSULTED!!!!”
Give. Me. A. Break.
I know the Vatican thinks we’re all indescribably stupid, but if there’s ever been a case of “don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining,” it’s this.
And while their ridiculous excuse here is good for a laugh, or raging bellow at your screen, or both — at their expense — what’s tragic and inexcusable is the dishonor these disrespectful children in Rome are showing to those who have received the Order of St. Gregory in the past. They — and they alone — are the recipients of a “slight” or a “snub” from the Vatican here. As Marco Tosatti wrote, in a section of his post not included in the above excerpt, this pontifical decoration “signifies something more than an adhesive souvenir to attach to the refrigerator.”
I’ve heard from some of the offended — recipients of the Order of St. Gregory and their family members alike — since the story first broke. Individuals for whom their receipt of the award, or the award given to a family member, was a singular moment of honor in their lives. These decorations, far from being disposable trinkets, were handed down as precious heirlooms to descendants as reminders of the faithfulness of parents or grandparents who had gone before them.
One person who wrote to me about their Grandfather receiving the medal half a century ago said that the title that came with it was engraved on his tombstone: “Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great.”
“I feel like I’ve been kicked in the stomach,” the person told me. “This award has lost its special significance with its bestowal on this pro-abortion advocate.”
As if giving the award to an abortion extremist wasn’t enough, they have cast disgrace upon all previous recipients of the award over the better part of two centuries. The Vatican should be utterly ashamed.
Bergoglianderangement Syndrome.
More virulent than the flu.
More deadly, too.
I can hardly wait for some of the Vatican coat holders who visit this site to chime in with the bulltickey about the snub. They will say it’s legitimate because they belong to that select group once identified by our 16th president, those people who can be fooled all of the time. For me, the Bergoglian press office is beginning to look less reputable even than FAKE NEWS CNN.
“… kicked in the stomach …”
So have we all.
Each day we see and hear absolutely appalling occurrences under the reign of this fake Pope. Everything appears to be falling to pieces at the Vatican. Bergoglio shows no holiness, no gentleness, his voice is flat and expressionless at Mass and at the apartment window. If there is a smile on the lips it does not reach the eyes, the window to the soul. Now he has betrayed the faithful bishops and priests in China. The renewed demolishing of churches and pulling down crosses is being done with confidence of little or no protest from the Pope. We have had a long silence from Cardinal Sarah and its a while since we heard from Cardinal Burke. Is some action being taken which may emerge soon? Is this Our Lady’s time of testing of Her sons? Let us all renew our prayers and petitions that Our Lord will show us what to do.
This is the chastisement. God has left us on our own, without His protection and with a Pontiff we deserve.
Keep praying. Begging Our Lord’s forgiveness is our only hope.
Although this indeed is a sign of God’s withdrawal of grace, this does not even come close yet to what will be in store for the world in the chastisement.
Unfortunately, you are right…..this is the prelude.
Step One, my friend.
Yeah, and it’s all still so hard to imagine. I hope we can all stay strong and faithful.
In times of great sin, God’s graces are more abundant not less. It’s there for the taking if you want it. We can’t be led by despair thinking that God has withdrawn His grace.
You’re correct, I’m sure, and, yet…can’t help myself…have to put this out there…although we all individually are miserable sinners, many of us did nothing to cause this disaster the Church has become! Why are we ALL going to suffer chastisement?! I was born AFTER Vatican II; I detest this Pope and everything he is doing. I don’t get why I and millions of others are going to be punished harshly for the actions of others. (I know this is s theological conundrum that has been asked for thousands of years, but that doesn’t make it any easier.)
Yes, we shall all suffer whatever God deems necessary to justify and reclaim the glory man has so terribly not given to Him.
It is just that way. He is the Righteous One and will do as He desires.
Perhaps, whatever chastisement befalls mankind, it shall be a great opportunity for many to
stand with Christ, console His Mother, and witness the faith so others may come to believe, and of course, to atone for our sins, for even the most venial sin causes great angst by our Lord.
Exactly. There is no reason I should consider myself exempt from chastisement. If I suffer I’ll offer it to Him and His Blessed Mother.
Why? For doing nothing to DEMAND the Church reject Vatican II and return to orthodoxy. ALL of the faithful should have made and continue to make such an enormous public outcry against all the attrocoties since the council that it could not be ignored. But we have done nothing. We have been silent and, since silence gives consent, we are complicit in the effort to destroy the Church. To know what the Lord’s thoughts are, read “barquepeter.blogspot.com” in its entirety.
God’s going to do things however He sees fit. However, I’m not going to plead guilty to having been “complicit in the effort to destroy the Church”. (Guilty of many other sins, yes.) I was born after Vatican II and raised by faithful Catholics who never said a word about the Church having been in any way damaged by Vatican II. I went through 16 years of Catholic education and never heard anything negative about Vatican II, either. I did see, as I got older, that something was rotten in Denmark in the form of plain-clothed nuns and quisling Jesuits, and I’ve fought them in every way I could: with money donated to more orthodox orders, letters written to Catholic publications, and, of course, prayer. I’ve supported Catholic grade schools as the USCCB abandoned them and sold out to “social justice” to get government money. I’ve marched for Life. If I sound as if I think I’m a hero, I do not think that; I’m like thousands of other ordinary Catholics in this country. It wasn’t until this dreadful Pope came along that I stumbled — yes, stumbled! — upon websites such as this and got exposure to some of the arguments about Vatican II having itself been a mistake. Oh, I knew there were people who love the Latin Mass, and I’ve given money to the FSSP and I’ve never understood why traditionalists have been so marginalized, even mocked. But believe me when I tell you that I HAD NO IDEA there were serious intellectual arguments that Vatican II itself either never should have happened or was hijacked to such an extent that the faith itself had been compromised. Also, I knew the beautiful story of Our Lady of Fatima and believed it, but I never knew that the Third Secret had anything to do with the Church itself. So…have some sympathy for Catholics like me. We are miserable sinners and perhaps naïve, but some of are too young to have seen what Catholicism looked like before the Eclipse of the 60s. It took Pope Francis to make us realize that something really, really has gone wrong WITHIN the Church.
In any case, it matters not…the Chastisement will befall all of us, right?
I do understand all that you say. And my comment was NOT directed at specific individuals such as yourself, but at all of us collectively.
Most Catholics were never taught directly and specifically about Vatican II. I would dare to say many – if not most – have never read the documents or an accurate history of the council. Yet, our Lord said we will know them by their fruit. And so it has been with Vatican II. The innovations that have occurred as a result of the council have served to weaken the Carholic faith and its practice. Indeed, the documents of the council do not DIRECTLY deny or contradict forner Magisterial doctrines and teaching, but in various places they imply or suggest a vastly different interpretation and implementation of many of the centuries old teachings. In doing so the council’s documents, in essence, imply the former teachings are in error or are countermanded.
During the 1960s, following the council, because the council hinted that one did not need to be Catholic to obtain salvation, MILLIONS left the Church, committing the sin of apostasy. Virtually overnught Carholic Churches went from standing room only to half empty.
It was when these changes first appeared that the faithful should have protested en masse and publicly and these protests should be continuing today. Unfortunately, nay, disasterously, a great many Catholics, the majority, have complacently and meekly accepted every new thing and fail to recognize that, with each passing day, the Catholic Church and its faith is being remodeled into one that is Catholic in name only and whose end result will bring Death and not Life because it will be devoid of the Truth that matters.
The culpability of the silence of the faithful is like the silence of the lambs and is mitagated by their lack of knowledge, due, since Vatican II, to poor and/or incomplete catechesis.
The time of decision and to make a stand together has come. Individual and small group protests are easily ignored and will be. But protests in the thousands and more cannot be swept aside. That has been proven in the civil rights movenent and the anti*m-Vietnam War movement among others. The Church MUST return to orthodoxy – the salvation of our souls depends on and demands it!
The changes after VII were slowly rolled out and took years to be fully implemented. I do not believe protesting in t he streets is an appropriate response when it comes to the Church, prayer and reparation is. How can anyone know except for God, of the many prayers and sufferings of those in the 60s 70s etc that may have helped bring about the restoration of the Latin Mass, something many of the previous generations did not get to see, but only hoped and longed for while staying faithful to the Chair of Peter. Yes many jumped on the VII bandwagon,some fled but many stayed and suffered through because they knew it to be the one, true Church.
The Church is in the process of being purified, and what other way is there except the way of the cross, but although there is suffering, God has given us the great gift of TLM. The Latin Mass is an oasis in the desert of the last 50 years. I just know how much my parents would have liked to have experienced it again. They were of the generation that would drop to their knees when the Blessed Sacrament was being carried or processed, having no hesitation and no regard for dirt, mud,or rain. No public protest in my mind can be as powerful a witness to the Truth as that.
There is another way to look at it: maybe God is sorting? And God weaves the tapestry and sees all of it…we only see our own little patch and the loose threads hanging at the back. There are a lot of people who this all wasn’t their individual faults (although we all have our own faults) but like the workers in the vineyard…what matters is that we end up in the right place before it’s too late. Yes…I understand your thoughts….from a somewhat different perspective….if only I had known earlier….but the other side of the coin is we’re here now. Don’t worry too much about whose fault it was or wasn’t…what matters is that we “get it” now….and God’s in charge. There are a whole lot of people out there who are much worse off….they seriously haven’t got a clue….about anything. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter how you start off….what matters is how you finish off. And actually, rather than lamenting, we should think about how lucky we are to be here now and working for God, not against Him. And yes…these are tough times…but maybe you might have just “stumbled”….as did I….but maybe a hand was guiding your stumbling….and you had a chance to understand. God knows whose mind is open to Him. Be thankful that you are on the right side of history….although it’s a tough place to be.
I often wonder: Why can’t God chastise the Church by giving us a GOOD pope?
Well, I’ve wondered that, too, but there are many examples of strings of really bad Popes being followed up by good ones.
I wonder if ole Roddy Alexander 6 Borgia ever sat around the breakfast table with his kids, reflecting on the possibility of a “Pius V” appearing a couple generations into the future?!!
Or even St Francis Borgia – I’m sure nobody at the time saw that one coming!!!
Yes indeed!!
Here is why…
Jeremiah 32,18 explains: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+32&version=DRA
Sirach 47, 22 explains: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Sirach+47&version=DRA
Acts 7,6 explains: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+7&version=DRA
. . .
But look at what He had to suffer to open Heaven for us….because of sin… If we are not also being crucified as our fellow Christians still are in M.E. we are fortunate.
I see God setting the stage for the judgement of his Church. Too much darkness has come out into the open now. What we need to do is keep praying so that the wheat is separated from the chaff.
I wouldn’t call him fake…………..confused yes.
Dear Sincere….confusion is like when I am away up the road and can’t remember if I locked the door or not…or, if I added the salt yet when cooking… What Jorge Bergoglio is doing to the Church is no confusion. He is deliberately damaging the Church every way he can. Just read what he has now done in China. That can only be called evil. The two parallel worlds are certainly at war…
Speaking of the silence of the Cardinals, have you ever heard a word from Mueller’s replacement – Cardinal Ladaria? He is obviously another yes-man for the Pope who keeps his head right down.
Who?
Deacon Augustine. I have to comment – Cardinal Who???
You know – the new Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith – the one who is supposed to say things regarding doctrinal matters. He’s kept a profile so low that nobody knows he exists. It almost as if the Pope told him to take the job and keep his mouth shut.
Sounds about right. Evil.
I somehow don’t think that Jesuit will say or even utter the slightest criticism of the first Jesuit Pope. Quite likely he agrees with PF, or perhaps he doesn’t, but the Cardinal seems to be the sort of curial official who sees his job as making things work for his boss, who himself wishes to be known as the most humble man ever, and keeping out of the limelight.
Sarah has indeed been silent on the major networks it seems but Burke has been granting interviews and more or less seems to have gone on tour making excuses for not correcting the Pope and at the same time building what appears to be his argument for running away from the whole enterprise, setting up the recurring straw man of “I will not abandon Church teaching” and its brother “I am loyal to the Pope” and so on. Of course, no one has ever accused him of abandoning Church teaching and loyalty to the Pope has nothing to do with correcting one who is in error.
I have no idea if he will at some point change course and issue the correction HE PROMISED TO MAKE, but at this point he appears to have fled the scene.
Now, if he would only shut up and go hide behind the stack of books he said he preferred to a fight he said he had no original interest in being involved with.
I’m pretty disgusted with the man and I do not think I am alone in that.
Just as a personal note, worth nothing, but highlighting the experience no doubt of others, too, I have made quite the ass of myself in puffing myself up with confidence in him and his dubious dubia brothers. I’ve acted the fool stating that they will not give up their posts but will certainly stand and defend the faith and correct the Pope as he and they said they would.
But now?
They appear to be frauds and cowards.
Well, if he isn’t going to actually keep his promise, I wish the fat, effeminate old guy would just get lost and leave the fight to actual men, some of whom are active and actually trying to do the work of the Lord while he makes pathetic excuses for himself. But Burke appears to be so shameless he insists on offering up a defense when silence and disappearing into the dustbin of Church history would be IMO more prudent for the salvaging fo some minute amount of his draining integrity.
I, too, had hope and believed that Cardinal Burke . and perhaps Cardinal Sarah and even another unnamed cardinal would rise to occasion. Was it wrong to hope in these men? If so, then count me as a fool too.
I read with sadness and alarm of Cardinal Burke’s recent interview. He laments that he is anguished by the chaos and confusion caused by A.L., but I guess his anguish is really not enough to cause him to correct Francis and
be a true witness to the faith, with some authority as a leading cardinal.
Actually, his preoccupation with defending the Petrine Office seemed to weigh heavily on his mind.
So much for his anguish.
It is always interesting to me, how those in charge or of leadership position, seem righteous and almost sanctifying, in asking of others, what they only order to do , but fail to do themselves.
I am truly tired to death of hearing Cardinal Burke tell the laity to prepare to be martyred, while, he remains quite
remarkably tied to the hip, of the one who seems to be at the helm of causing it.
Exactly.
He has now become an apologist of sorts for Bishop Jorge Bergoglio Pope Francis. Just exactly when and why this has occurred I am not certain but it’s the darndest thing.
Having seen a few Bogart movies and episodes of NCIS I have to wonder if it is a form of blackmail over something, as nothing else seems to explain the sea change other than possibly raw, personal fear of…..? He references his aversion to “schism” and I guess that could be it, but how in the world is quoting Jesus in the Bible and in concert with 2000 years of Church teaching schismatic?
NOTHING of importance today that we can see has changed since he made his promise to correct, with the exception that the material support for an erring Bergoglio continues to grow.
Cardinal Burke is a very wise and holy man, and proving to be a steady example of how we need to be reacting to these times. If you read his interviews he us holding fast to the truth and like Bishop Athanasius, exorting the faithful to live their faith according to the Traditional teaching of the Church. In other words to quote St Padre Pio “Pray, hope and don’t worry”.
His recent interviews are significantly different in focus than his past statements about the necessity to correct the Pope. It is possible that the correction is in the pipeline or has already been delivered in secret, not to be publicly commented on, and if the latter is true, it sounds like Burke has washed his hands of it, as in “Well, I did my part”.
I don’t know, but I do not think there is any question about the change in his position recently.
What’s the point of this nonsense? Who’s behind this, really, and why would s/he come out with something so ridiculous? The explanation doesn’t constitute “heresy.” So is it just a matter of the hierarchy-in-charge thumbing its nose at orthodoxy and Tradition? Has this become just a game, since no one with *real* authority will confront the corruption in the Church?
Just wondering…
Perhaps they should have added, “Oh, and by the way, today is Opposite Day.”
Um, it’s the translation. If it had been in Latin the theologians could have explained it better. Lol.
“The seventh rule: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man
can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time, after which
it becomes a ritualistic commitment, like going to church on Sunday
mornings. New issues and crises are always developing, and one’s
reaction becomes, “Well, my heart bleeds for those people and I’m all for
the boycott, but after all there are other important things in life” — and there
it goes.
Therefore,
The eighth rule: Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions,
and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.” – Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals, which it appears the Vatican has read or internalized
What …an …amazing…. snub! When the Marxist quasi-dictator of Bolivia, Evo Morales, gave the visiting Francis the state gift of the “Hammer and Sickle Cross” – it too was a cunning snub . We know that Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the Pope personally wasn’t offended by Morales’ “snub” and was going to keep the sculpture because Francis understands the “snub-as-a work-of art” so well. /sarcasm
Francis has no shame, and neither do most he surrounds himself with.
Malignant Narcissist with sociopathic tendencies would be a fair evaluation of his personality.
How can people be so blind to a man who cares nothing for the soul of a man?
Especially our prelates.
Are you familiar with the term “diabolical narcissist”? It’s Ann Barnhardt’s term, and well worth reading about.
A narcissist is someone who wants what they want, indifferent to the costs to others.
A diabolical narcissist is someone who has rejected love completely, and seeks to hurt others so badly that they also will turn away from loving, and become diabolical narcissists themselves.
I’ve known some.
Apologies to Ann B for the chop job on her explanation.
Yep, it’s almost like my term: Diabolical Insanity. Have been saying that for about 4 years now.
I have heard of Ann Barnhardt, yet, do not follow her. I believe she promotes Francis being anti pope?
I just can’t go there, even though I understand the claim.
We just have to face it: Francis is pope, Benedict is gone, and we are left with ” this”.
I am using ” malignant narcissist” in a clinical way……but there is certainly is room for the other.
Pope Benedict XVI is still there in the shade….God only knows, and maybe Bishop George Ganswein, how much he is suffering. I now believe the homosexual cadre blackmailed him into ‘resigning’ – however fearsome their threat was…
She is certainly worth reading, as only about ten percent of her posts are about the papacy; she deals with a huge variety of topics.
Her absolute best are purely spiritual; if you look at The One About posts, especially the ones on Christ, you will get your soul shaken to the core by their depth and beauty.
As for her opinions on who is pope, opinions may differ. During the period of three popes in the late middle ages, their were canonized saints on different sides of the question.
She is more similar to Hilary White than any other blogger I know of.
I’m not sure I’d gratify him with a special (medical) term. He is a very ordinary tyrant. Closest comparison is Ceaushescu: absolutely inadequate professionally but with a huge ego problem. Hence the tragical and at the same time ridiculous result. Add to that the army of sycophants and manipulators of manipulators plus the army of useful idiots.
Climate change is more important to Bergolio than child murder. Abortions, sodomy, magisterium of the moment. What next? What does it take?
Mass migration, a servile appeasement of Moslems, and easing the replacement of Christians with Moslems, seems his first preference.
On reflection, I think you correct. I think his foolish goal is actually a one world all encompassing religion. It won’t work. He may make the actual Catholic Faith revert to the catacombs. His problem: the muslims actually believe their religion, while he seeks to destroy his, in which he does not believe, and invent another. When the Muslim migrants reach sufficient numbers, he or a sycophant successor, will be aware. In some areas, their numbers are at that tipping point.
Thanks for nothing, again, Pope Francis.
The recipient must be finding it very hard to keep a straight-face.
Like the pope, the prize is now also a joke.
No surprise. The church hierarchy has totally lost its way. It is unequivocally a cabal. True leadership in Christ resides in some select priests, religious, and laity.
The Church of 2 + 2 = 5 ladies and gentlemen!
Johnno: 2+2=5, bu that’s the current truth TODAY. Get ready, because soon, 2+2=13, and before long, 2+2=purple polkadots,before the end of the year.
lame excuses: https://bellarmineforum.org/2018/01/15/put-calf-oven-give-papal-awards-anyone-visits-slavery/
Francis is nothing if not true to type…Rebel, Rebel.
I can Imagine the award chairman Xi of red China trying to replace Christian icons and churches crosses in red China with his images in Chinese Christian homes will receive from Bergoglio wayward papacy .
Can these people get any more ridiculously IDIOTIC?? What in the world has happened to the brains of the Vatican officials?? Some kind of brain destroying virus maybe?? I’d be more apt to think they’re all on drugs of some kind more likely. I mean, really, they can’t be serious, are they really SERIOUS?? Well, at least it gave me a good LOL
You must see it this way; But who the heck is San Gregorio Magno? And then what suppose to represent his medal anyway?
For Jorge? Nothing more than medals and coins with his own face.We should be surprised why ‘humble man’ did not give a medal with his own humble face… like this one: https://www.goldenstatemint.com/1-oz-Pope-Francis-Silver-Bullion-Round-999-Fine.html
With the accidentally(?) engraved number 999 on the side where the vatican city is called city of OZ…
And guess why is there engraved “Francis I.”?!
Because Francis II. is inevitably coming…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a267465930379d6ba284936607081a19e8b26b3a0cf873e18a9be14e1b6fc14.jpg
A summary in picture format! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a482e671a9186f872115ffc01de4bee451f16de5254435ffec09d2e61d28665b.jpg
Our society has too many awards.
People honored with this decoration should give it back to Vatican.
The bad style, the unfairness and the rudeness in this pontificate should be socially responded. Yesterday we saw Peruvian nuns insulted arbitrarily by the Bishop of Rome. Pope or not Pope, we all have to respect people. It is not admissible that a cleric ridicules and humiliates anybody. One must come polite and civilized from home, and every worker has the obligation to show regard for others in his job.
I disagree, no one should return it (well, maybe the Dutch politician, but that aint happening). Those who have previously earned the award did just that – they EARNED it. They deserve to keep it and continue to be proud of it. It is and will be well known that AFTER 2018 the award will be of a diminished significance, but any received before this atrocity retains its value. A parallel can be drawn to the Eagle Scout Award – any warded before 2015 were earned by adhering to the Oath & Law. Same can’t/wont be said for any earned thereafter. But regardless the latter actions don’t diminish the previous awards. A: “Hey I got one those medals, aint that great?!”; B: “Well, it used to be..”
Yes, I think you are right. It would be the same, for example, with the Nobel Peace Prize; some people didn’t deserve it, and now it doesn’t have its previous prestige.
Amen. They earned it. If someone else sully’s it up that is his mistake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfdpcrOgUp4
Oh goodness! That is is a good one.
What movie is this from by the way……I love westerns, my grandfather and I used to watch them together when I was young?
The Outlaw Josey Wales, a Clint Eastwood Western.
Thanks there Father. God bless your day.
above all may the Living God bless you and your loved ones!….and then your afternoon, evening and night to boot :-}
Thank you Padre.
May God be with us all.
It’s from the movie, ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’
It just shows that some people are quite incapable of admitting they made a mistake and saying they are sorry. Frequent confession is a good cure for this problem.
Just one more thing, formerly an honor, that has been discredited by the current reigning corrupt regime. Also no longer, and some may object, is the ‘canonization’ of ‘saints’. There are examples recently and to come.
Ironically, Bergoglio is blathering about “fake news” today. Too funny.
Not irony. Intentional I am thinking.
Cesare, mi piace tanto tanto il tuo “post” con il distributore di medaglia! I can just see the large trinket machine outside St. Peter’s: “Medals in Minutes! Type your name as you wish it to appear. Insert coins here.” You can be sure that, when the Vatican installs this machine, many a happy tourist will walk away with a medal and feel properly confident that they deserve it far more than did Ms. Ploumen.
This is such a joke – I wish I could laugh it off, but considering the depth and breadth of the diabolical disorientation that exists within the Vatican, that is simply not possible.
The Vatican’s excuse is nothing mote than whitewashing and misdirection. It is far more likely that the honor was given as a prelude to the gutting or shredding of Humanae Vitae.
From the Catholic Herald:
People have a responsibility to check the source of what they share on social media to ensure it is not “fake news” designed to further prejudices or increase fear, Pope Francis said.
Fake news grabs people’s attention “by appealing to stereotypes and common social prejudices, and exploiting instantaneous emotions like anxiety, contempt, anger and frustration,” Pope Francis wrote in his message for World Communications Day 2018. The message is a reflection on the theme, “‘The truth will set you free. Fake news and journalism for peace.” World Communications Day will be celebrated May 13 at the Vatican and in most dioceses. The papal message was released at the Vatican on January 24, the feast of St Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists.
The Vatican says the message is part of the Pope’s World Communications Day, but some at St. Peter’s Square say the Pope was probably sending a message to Donald Trump and other world leaders who have been using the phrase “fake news.” The tragic history of human sin, the Pope says in his message, is the first “fake news” and it dates back to the book of Genesis, when the “crafty serpent” lied to the woman. In present day, according to the Pope’s message the fast digital world helps fuel the spread of “fake news” — which he defines as “the spreading of disinformation on line or in the traditional media.”
“The tragic history of human sin, the Pope says in his message, is the first “fake news” and it dates back to the book of Genesis, when the “crafty serpent” lied to the woman.”
Sure! Shall we once in a while check our own version of the Holy Bible. Especially the modern ones? Of course the source must be the original from Latin VULGATE which we have in DRA version.
Check for example book of Tobit chapter 6 and 8
And then Judit chapter 13.
And then John 5,4
…
Compare the exact text in the verses in your edition and DRA.
Many would be, at least surprised!
I just… I can’t even…
I hope that both living recipients and the descendants of past recipients of the award understand that context matters. When this award was given to they or their deceased love ones, it was an honor and was bestowed by people who meant it as such. While it’s cold comfort in terms of communicating to their peers (What’s the big deal? They gave one to an enemy of the Church!) it was valid and significant at the time and should be kept in their hearts as such.
As for the rest….how asinine. It’s asiten, really. Would President Trump give a Medal of Freedom to Raul Castro on the grounds that they are just lying around to be given out to visitors?
And what does it say about this papacy and the Church that the “king” would bring this women with him to begin with. It would be like a guest at your housing bringing along a drunk driver who had killed one of your children in a car wreck a few years back. It’s just incredibly tacky and disgusting.
“The Vatican should be utterly ashamed.”
‘Should be.’ Don’t hold your breath.
The Holy Father refuses to talk about the legalization of abortion in Ireland.
There is hope.
Erin has great love for those with Down syndrome.
This was in the Irish Times:
Among others who have argued a large number of terminations could follow pre-natal Down syndrome diagnoses if abortion was available here have been Independent senator Ronan Mullen and Fianna Fail TD, Jim O’Callaghan.
Senator Mullen has said: “We have a tradition here in Ireland where children with Down syndrome are perhaps more cherished than in many other countries.”
Mr O’Callaghan told the Irish Examiner last week: “I do not support the proposal for abortion up to 12 weeks as I am concerned it would significantly increase the number of pregnancies with Down syndrome or other disabilities that are terminated.”
Mr O’Callaghan, asked on Wednesday about the DSI statement, said he did not wish to comment further on the issue.
==================
90% of children with Down syndrome are aborted in the U.K..
Ireland is not part of the U.K. or Britain.
There is hope for the unborn here.
There was another ant-life editorial in this morn’s Irish Times newspaper. ‘Humane Vitae’ by Patsy mcGarry never would’ve been printed 10 years ago. Irish Times has become very anti-Catholic in the past decade.
McGarry quotes Eire’s former Pres.
. Mary McAleese:
“I am the oldest of nine children and one of the 65 live children my mother and her siblings produced. Ours is precisely the kind of large Catholic clan system so beloved of flattering papal documents on the family. Yet while our parents handed on to my generation the baton of a strong but docile Catholic faith they never encouraged us to have the big families they had. They had their reasons and they were too obvious to need to be stated. The baton like the proverbial penny was already dropping. My generation largely rejected Humanae Vitae’s ban on artificial contraception and along with it magisterial control over family size. Our small families testify to that.”
Spiritual agony –
She remembered “the evening our parish priest, in front of us children, lambasted my 40-year-old mother for having had a hysterectomy without his permission and while still of child-bearing age. She had by then had 11 pregnancies and a history of haemorrhages which had left her dangerously ill and chronically weak. He left her in a spiritual agony which lingers even today.”
All over the world “good, decent, faith-filled men and women are infantilised and robbed by Humanae Vitae of their God-given right and obligation to make sensible adult decisions in the best interests of their health, their relationships and their children. The damage inflicted particularly on the poor, on women, on children, on relationships, on health, on society and not least on the church itself, is a millstone around our necks and we are drowning.”
She continued “the teaching of Humanae Vitae has been a stumbling block to the faithful, detrimental to family life, and an impediment to women’s health and wellbeing for nearly50 years.
“It has led to a sad division between many faithful lay married Catholics and an entrenched hierarchy. It has no ground in the scriptures and its recourse to natural law is deeply flawed . . .”
St. Patrick pray for us.
OK, so she is a Protestant. Her arguments are identical.
But I have a question.
I have heard, and believe, accusations leveled against priests for condemning those who obtained hysterectomies for more or less any reason.
Was this common and how does this square with common Church teaching at the time? It appears today, the health issues of the mother are commonly accepted as reason enough for such procedures, but I get the impression this was absolutely not the case then.
For ANY reason? Would he have condemned me for having mine removed when it had a huge cancerous tumour in it? Surely not.
I’ve heard some real horror stories about individual priests.
I’m curious about what the culture of the day was and how the issue was in-general handled.
Mary McAleese is no example of a genuine Catholic….As an Irish person I was ashamed of her as President, doubly so of her preceding Mary (Robinson) and sadly now of the current little Leprechaun in the Park who actually signed the necessary papers for the Irish Government to proceed with condemning Irish babies – future generations – to death by abortion. Ireland for many years has harboured much hypocrisy – under the forgiving umbrella of being a ‘Catholic’ country -. The ‘Smart Set’ have sneered at the Church for years. The Irish media, The traditionally anti-Catholic Irish Times, the Irish TV Station, RTE, is poisonously anti Catholic. Even the once ‘Catholic’ Irish Independent switched to being against the Church with echoes of Henry VIII. The owner at that time, Tony O’Reilly, wanted to get an annulment of his marriage, in order to ‘marry’ again, which was not forthcoming. Ireland’s halos have long lost their shine.
“the teaching of Humanae Vitae has been a stumbling block to the
faithful, detrimental to family life, and an impediment to women’s
health and wellbeing for nearly50 years”
First, what does she know of natural law? Second, women’s health is a front for contraceptives and abortion which have nothing to do with health. The healthiest reproductive thing women can do is to be celibate until they are married and open to life. If those two elements are missing than there can be nothing more unhealthy (physically, mentally and spiritually) for women than to have sex.
Look at America and the #METOO. It seems these women think that they should be allowed to be objectified but only when they don’t object. Sorry, that’s not how it works.
Why didn’t the priest tell the mother’s husband to stop having sex with the mother because she clearly had reached her bodily/physical limit with the childbearing. (I mean, is it such a crime to tell a man to back off with the sex?). Why didn’t the priest bring chastity into the marriage and asked the couple to pray for the grace to obtain it. Couldn’t the man stop “dipping his wick”? Why would the priest want the husband to kill the mother through endless sex? The priest seems to be blaming the woman. Was the priest a misogynist? Sometimes I think priests couldn’t handle their own sexuality so became woman-haters.
“Thou shalt not kill” and one of the Seven Deadly Sins is gluttony.
That’s assuming that the incident ever took place at all…
Mary McAleese, perhaps spurred by the belief that the homosexual inclinations of her son must be accepted, and a perverse pride stirred by her study of canon law, has made her a fearsome campaigner against Catholic teaching, yet Conciliar bishops laud her. Patsy McGarry was always a ‘Spirit of Vatican 2’ partisan with a deep hostility towards Catholic teaching. Contrary to his quote, pandering doesn’t work. Making a few middle aged and elderly parish council types happy by pandering to the world doesn’t gain converts, quite the reverse. Given that people like the typical parish council member, Mary and Patsy support the original attempted suppression of the true Mass, and hold it in contempt, fewer and fewer want to go near a church. The New Order is feeble rubbish with ambiguous and feebly written propers and undergirded by dodgy assembly theology.
The President of the main Down Syndrome charity criticised a pro-life poster for pointing out a likely fate down Down Syndrome babies. Apparently it was exploitative and disrespectful, although there is surely no greater disrespect than aborting a child.
Here in the United Kingdom, where we have a long-established honours system, there is a long-standing tradition of either refusing or returning the honour to Her Majesty the Queen when something occurs which gravely devalues that honour. I would encourage all holders of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great who are disgusted by the bestowing of the same honour on this servant of Satan, to return that same honour to the Holy Father with a suitable letter explaining why. It is more important to have the “respect” of God, than it is to have mere trinkets from evil men.
Yapping about stuff is one thing, but I always think of these issues from the standpoint of “What can be done about it?” and sadly, so often it seems, nothing…
But this here Deacon is brilliant. I wonder if those outside the British Isles might want to add theirs to the heap.
In addition, I wonder if scandalous rogues have been recipients in the past and somehow evaded public censure…
Rupert Murdoch was a fairly dubious recipient what with being a purveyor of porn in his media. Jimmy Savile was another – a most atrocious paedophile, but his crimes didn’t come to light until after the award was bestowed.
Jimmy Savile’s perversities ranging from molesting women, young girls, boys, corpses, were not widely known, but his contempt for basic morality could be found in his one of his early biographies, and from TOTP. That he was Catholic and raised money for charity shouldn’t have cancelled that out. Presumably the non Catholic Rupert Murdoch, who shortly after his award, separated and later divorced, got his bong for charity and his ideological position as a supporter of neo-conservatism.
Didn’t Trump, the most pro life president ever, only receive a copy of L.S . upon his visit?
My grandfather (now long deceased) was awarded a KSG – Knight of St. Gregory. When I first saw this story I was so upset that I thought seriously about taking his medal, which I have kept and treasured, and returning it to the Vatican with an angry letter of protest. Then it occurred to me that it was my grandfather’s medal, and not mine to do with as I pleased. It also occurred to me that if the medal, which I know he treasured, meant so little to the Vatican in the first place, then it would also likely mean nothing to them to receive one returned in protest. Besides, as you say in your leading graphic, that lot are shameless. Idiots, to boot – not to mention contemptuous of the ‘little people’.
See Deacon Augustine below.
Just read the Deacon’s post. I’m familiar with the practice of returning medals as a protest. (If I return granddad’s, I’ll keep his KSG sword!) I’d be more inclined to ‘take action’ if it was in concert with others. Perhaps if a few thousands of KSG medals were to show up in Rome it might have some impact, but even then … how much? Scores of thousands of signatories opposing Amoris L. … and the Vatican nose just remains pointed at the sky. Any ideas on how to organize thousands of KSG recipients to simultaneously send their medals back?
I believe it was given to your granddad at a time when the honor actually DID mean something. He was a hero and he got it because he truly deserved it. Don’t be ashamed of it. No matter what someone later in history does, it can’t take away from your granddad the honor he deserved and received. Keep it as a memory of him.
I doubt the Argentine would even bother to think about shrugging. After all your granddad is pre-V2, therefore irrelevant to the ‘New Pentecost.’
There is no wrong to be done here, but I’d say if even a hundred or so folks gave back their medals it would be a very powerful signal and would get the attention of the Catholic media and I am going to stick my neck out and say that even the MSM might cover it if only to advance their pro-sodomite agenda, which, in truth would be fine as even if they condemned the act it would show that not every Catholic goes along with the rump rangers running the show these days.
There are a LOT of Catholics out there that need a shot in the arm. Something like this might do it.
You can send back your OWN medal – it’s not right to send back someone else’s medal.
The enemies within have finally gotten the leader of their dreams, are out of the shadows and very full of themselves, forgetting there is an end to this story and they lose.
I think that if I had received that honor in the past, I would be sending back via FEDEX with a note explaining why. I hope some people do that.
The depravity which results from clericalism—and the attendant contempt for the dignity and intelligence of the laity—is astounding. These monsters truly believe (based on their experience with the clericalist fools in the laity who believe that anything coming from a priest and certainly from the Pope is God’s holy wish) that the laity and many in the clergy accept their heresy, lies, machiavellian distortions, and abuse because they are stupid sheep incapable of thought or sound reason. In the case of many they are sadly correct in this assessment and use it for their nefarious ends. This is a very old problem in the Church that, to my knowledge, has never been adequately addressed—and it is the undiagonosed cancer on the Mystical Body. The Modernists are brazen experts at clericalist tyranny, but they did not invent it.
The Vatican now follows satan’s Strategy of telling whoppers.