The Utterly New Way of the Second Vatican Council

The Vatican II document styled Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium presents us with a novel vision of the Church as "a sacrament of salvation" and "sign of the unity of mankind."  Factor in LG's teaching that "elements of sanctification exist in [non-Catholic] assemblies" and that the "Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church", you have an ecclesiology so far from traditional doctrine as to represent an entirely new conception of what it means to be 'Church.' but don't take my word for it, here is Pope John Paul II: 

"Entrusting myself fully to the Spirit of truth, therefore, I am entering into the rich inheritance of the recent pontificates. This inheritance has struck deep roots in the awareness of the Church in an utterly new way, quite unknown previously, thanks to the Second Vatican Council..." Pope John Paul II, Redemptor hominis 

So, LG is establishing ways the Catholic Church is related by degree to non-Catholic religious bodies first with the 'separated brethren' (another conciliar novelty) but then astonishingly to Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Therefore we have lost the dogma of Extra ecclesia nula salus completely which has given way to an amorphous, invisible 'church' that includes all humanity - and this too, John Paul II teaches with shocking audacity: 

...The opening made by the Second Vatican Council has enabled the Church and all Christians to reach a more complete awareness of the mystery of Christ, "the mystery hidden for ages" in God, to be revealed in time in the Man Jesus Christ, and to be revealed continually in every time. 

...Accordingly, what is in question here is man in all his truth, in his full magnitude. We are not dealing with the "abstract" man, but the real, "concrete", "historical" man. We are dealing with "each" man, for each one is included in the mystery of the Redemption and with each one Christ has united himself for ever through this mystery. 

...this is "each" man, "the most concrete" man, "the most real"; this is man in all the fullness of the mystery in which he has become a sharer in Jesus Christ, the mystery in which each one of the four thousand million human beings living on our planet has become a sharer from the moment he is conceived beneath the heart of his mother." 

- Pope John Paul II, Redemptor hominis, 1979

"...utterly new way, quite unknown previously..." 

"...to reach a more complete awareness of the mystery of Christ..." 

"...with each one Christ has united himself for ever through this mystery." 

"...this is 'each' man ...in all the fullness of the mystery in which he has become a sharer in Jesus Christ..." 

Astonishing what you see when you isolate the novel phrases. 

And the result? 

"Two months after the event, in a Christmas speech to his Cardinals published in the Vatican’s L’Osservatore Romano, John Paul said, “The day of Assisi, showing the Catholic Church holding hands with our brothers of other religions, was a visible expression of [the] statements of the Second Vatican Council.” The interfaith event at Assisi was thus described by John Paul II not as a tragic misrepresentation of Vatican II, but as the glorious realization of its teaching. Pope John Paul II went on to celebrate the inter-religious prayer meeting at Assisi as a new direction for the future, “The event of Assisi” he said, “can thus be considered as a visible illustration, an exegesis of events, a catechesis intelligible to all, of what is presupposed and signified by the commitments to ecumenism and to the inter-religious dialogue which was recommended and promoted by the Second Vatican Council.” Toward the end of the speech, the Pope urged his Cardinals to continue on the same new path, “Keep always alive the spirit of Assisi as a motive of hope for the future.”

- Pope’s Christmas Address to Roman Curia,” L’Osservatore Romano, January 5, 1987, pp. 6-7. 

John Paul II and various religious leaders, Prayer Meeting of Religions, Assisi, Italy 1986

And (get ready for it) for Pope John Paul II, the Holy Spirit is the inspiration behind these false religions! 

"It must first be kept in mind that every quest of the human spirit for truth and goodness, and in the last analysis for God, is inspired by the Holy Spirit. The various religions arose precisely from this primordial human openness to God. At their origins we often find founders who, with the help of God’s Spirit, achieved a deeper religious experience. Handed on to others, this experience took form in the doctrines, rites and precepts of the various religions. In every authentic religious experience, the most characteristic expression is prayer. Because of the human spirit’s constitutive openness to God’s action of urging it to self-transcendence, we can hold that “every authentic prayer is called forth by the Holy Spirit, who is mysteriously present in the heart of every person.”

(Address to the Members of the Roman Curia, 22 Dec. 1986, n. 11; L’Osservatore Romano English edition, 5 Jan. 1987, p. 7). 

All this is condemned by St. Pius X in his encyclical against Modernism: 

"How far off we are here from Catholic teaching we have already seen in the decree of the Vatican Council. We shall see later how, with such theories, added to the other errors already mentioned, the way is opened wide for atheism. Here it is well to note at once that, given this doctrine of experience united with the other doctrine of symbolism, every religion, even that of paganism, must be held to be true. What is to prevent such experiences from being met within every religion? In fact that they are to be found is asserted by not a few. And with what right will Modernists deny the truth of an experience affirmed by a follower of Islam? With what right can they claim true experiences for Catholics alone? Indeed Modernists do not deny but actually admit, some confusedly, others in the most open manner, that all religions are true."

Pascendi gregis #14

Lumen gentium provides the basis for an "...utterly new way" of seeing the Church, "quite unknown previously..." thanks to the Second Vatican Council. John Paul II's vision of a Christ united with each man forever in which each man is already a "sharer in Jesus Christ" easily portends to a Church which is comprised of the entire human race. 

In this universal church in which each man is united to Christ forever and in which "the Holy Spirit ... is mysteriously present in the heart of every person” there is no need for evangelical preaching, missionary work, or personal conversion. No, what is needed is dialogue between men of all religions in order to discover that consciousness which is being aroused in the Teilhardian march towards Omega Point - the consciousness that we are all already united to the God-Man and only lack the realization of it. This is the inescapable conclusion of the New Theology. This is why the Churches are emptying and the average Catholic is utterly confused as to what his Church teaches and what it means to be saved at all.

Kyrie Eleison!

More merciful than God?

From the Roman Martyrology:

This Day, the Thirteenth Day of May 

At Rome, in the time of the emperor Phocas, the dedication of the church of St. Mary of the Martyrs, formerly a temple of all the gods, called Pantheon, which was purified and dedicated by the blessed Pope Boniface IV to the honor of the Blessed Mary ever Virgin, and of all the martyrs.

This consecration of the Basilica dedicated to St. Mary and the Christian Martyrs in a temple formerly dedicated to the adoration of the pagan gods occurred in 609 A.D. It symbolizes the empire of Christ - an empire of martyrdom and charity - overcoming the false religions backed by the state in the first six centuries of the Christian era.

In 1986, Pope John Paul II completely reversed this victory by convening his "Prayer Meeting of All Religions" at Assisi, Italy wherein he invited practitioners of all manner of religions to invoke their luminaries under the auspices of the Pope himself.

He traces this spectacular display reversing all previous Catholic teaching to the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965):

Assisi Prayer is a "visible illustration, an exegesis of the events, a catechesis, intelligible to all, of what is presupposed and signified by the commitment to ecumenism and to the inter-religious dialogue which was recommended and provided by the Second Vatican Council."
(Christmas address of the Pope to the Cardinals and members of the Curia on 22 December, 1986, L'Osservatore Romano, 5 January 1987, page 7)

"Look at Assisi in the light of the Council!"
(Papal address in the General Audience of 22 October, 1986) 

One can only tremble at what price the martyrs paid to testify to the One true God, His Only Begotten Son, and His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church as the only way of salvation when considering the actions of Pope John Paul II and the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council.

I look at this horrible accident as a parable. This giant crucifix dedicated to John Paul II is bent unnaturally forward as though Christ were straining from the Cross to appeal to man. However two days before his canonization, this giant crucifix collapsed under its weight and unnatural posture killing a young man who had come to admire it. This is a sad parable of the men who believe God is not merciful enough so they must make Him to appear even more merciful (as though that were possible):

Hence, the manipulation of the mercy of God by men who are deficient in supernatural faith ends up bringing death instead of life by proclaiming a Christ who fails.

A PRAYER FOR PAGAN PEOPLES

O Lord, have mercy also on the pagan nations of the world, the sad thousands of millions who walk in the darkness of the shadow of the valley of death. Have pity on abandoned sinners, on the malicious, on outcasts, on the fallen and on the depraved. Have mercy on the dying and especially on those who have none to pray for them. With all the fervor of Thy Sacred Heart, my Jesus, pray and beseech Thy Heavenly Father for the conversion of all sinners, and for the perseverance in Thy grace of all the just. Amen.

Vatican II and communism: state of the world today

What the USSR and the worldwide communist revolution were unable to impose by force is being adopted in the West by free association.

How could this be, when millions of soldiers and sailors gave their lives to prevent such tyranny and violence from spreading to their homelands?

The answer is that men love darkness and will not come to the light so that their sins may be reproved (St. John 3,19-20). The engine of this evil in the modern age is atheistic communism.

The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the three children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917 prophesying that the Great War (WWI) would soon end but that a worse war would come if men did not cease offending God. To remedy this, our Lady prescribed a public act of religion led by the Pope in concert with all the bishops of the world in which Russia would be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart. If this were followed, Russia would be converted to the Catholic faith and peace would follow. If not, Russia would flood the world with her errors and great devastation would come by wars, persecution of the Church, and the annihilation of many nations.

Sister Lucia communicated this message in writing to her confessor, Fr. Gonçalves in 1929 after seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary in her chapel requesting this consecration again. According to Sr. Lucia, our Lady had requested this consecration on several occasions, and it occupies a central theme in the Fatima apparitions.

The Russian Orthodox Church was formed after the Eastern Churches (known today as the Orthodox) had renounced their filial relationship to the Roman Pontiff (and the depths and concreteness of this submission is hotly contested by historians from both sides) in 1054 A.D. in what is known as “the Great Schism.” Aligning with the monarchies of the East, the Orthodox Churches fractured along political lines and eventually bore the names of their states (e.g., the Russian Orthodox Church). This separation from Rome and dependence upon the Eastern states eventually resulted in a Church subordinated to the state which many accused of aiding the Czars in the oppression of the poor. 

Against this backdrop arose the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 promising the Marxist utopia envisioned by Lenin and Trotsky. The communist regime that followed was erected upon atheism and dialectical materialism; early reforms of the government included the destruction of Churches, systematic arrest and capital punishment of clergy, seizure of all private property by the state, forced collectivism and involuntary population relocations. Abortion on demand, no-fault divorce and women’s rights legislation were enacted to bolster the work force in support of the means of production. 

Our Lord taught that a house once delivered from the demon that returns to its demonic domination suffers a seven-fold increase in wickedness (St. Matthew 12,45). He made it clear he was speaking of generations and not just individuals. This explains the spiritual origin of the USSR's astonishing evils which vanquished all public free expressions of Christianity and controlled the [puppet] Russian Orthodox Church for 70 years. A post-Christian society is much more evil than a pre-Christian society. Responsible estimates of the human toll of communist imperialism in the past century are around 100 million lives lost to communist states and the wars engendered thereby.

It is without doubt that the most opportune time for the Pope and all the bishops of the world to consecrate Russia to our Lady’s Immaculate Heart would have been the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) convened by Pope John XXIII and concluded by Pope Paul VI. Here were more than 2000 bishops gathered with the Roman Pontiff and the act could have easily been done in a short, deliberate ceremony in response to heaven’s request. In fact, the opposite happened.

In order to promote ecumenism, one of the council’s overriding themes, a pact was struck in Metz, France between a Roman envoy and representatives of the KGB-dominated Russian Orthodox Church in August of 1962. As a condition for Russian Orthodox observers to attend Vatican II, this agreement stipulated that the council would not condemn communism.

Communism had been condemned by many Popes culminating in the encyclical Divini Redemptoris in 1937 promulgated by Pope Pius XI:

The doctrine of modern Communism, which is often concealed under the most seductive trappings, is in substance based on the principles of dialectical and historical materialism previously advocated by Marx, of which the theoricians of bolshevism claim to possess the only genuine interpretation. According to this doctrine there is in the world only one reality, matter, the blind forces of which evolve into plant, animal and man. Even human society is nothing but a phenomenon and form of matter, evolving in the same way. By a law of inexorable necessity and through a perpetual conflict of forces, matter moves towards the final synthesis of a classless society. In such a doctrine, as is evident, there is no room for the idea of God; there is no difference between matter and spirit, between soul and body; there is neither survival of the soul after death nor any hope in a future life. Insisting on the dialectical aspect of their materialism, the Communists claim that the conflict which carries the world towards its final synthesis can be accelerated by man. Hence, they endeavor to sharpen the antagonisms which arise between the various classes of society. Thus, the class struggle with its consequent violent hate and destruction takes on the aspects of a crusade for the progress of humanity. On the other hand, all other forces whatever, as long as they resist such systematic violence, must be annihilated as hostile to the human race.

A traditionalist faction in the council known as Coetus Internationalis Patrum circulated a petition formally requesting the council’s condemnation of communism which at the time menaced the Church and threatened half the globe. Led by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the Coetus Fathers obtained nearly 500 episcopal signatures for their petition which 'disappeared' under the cunning hand of ecumenical conspirators. At the Second Vatican Council two Popes not only failed to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, they added to their trespass the unconscionable dismissal of a condemnation of the 'errors of Russia' that were then flooding the world.

It was a complete and unprecedented anomaly for Pope John XXIII to set aside the magisterial duty to condemn errors at Vatican II. What the Church leaders did not condemn exposed her faithful to become. The ‘errors of Russia’ cited by our Lady at Fatima have not only filled the world, they have saturated the human element of the Church.

There are almost no differences in the percentages of Catholics and non-Catholics today who contracept, procure abortions, divorce and remarry, and support sodomy and other perversions. Catholics today support political factions and causes that the Church has long and often condemned. This has not been forced down the throat of Catholics at the point of a gun as it was in communist Russia; it has been willingly imbibed by the faithful accepting with docility the new, conciliar faith of Vatican II that could not condemn communism or any other errors. 

But what of Pope John Paul II, ‘destroyer of communism?’ The image of John Paul II the anticommunist is largely a media fabrication that began in his native Poland:

While Cardinal Wyszynsky could not get away from his diocese, because the communist government would not grant him permission, Archbishop Wojtyla had full freedom to travel abroad without restriction. This was the common policy of encouraging Wojtyla and destroying the old Cardinal Wyszynski for his anti-communism.
It should be noted that from the start, the figure of John Paul II was built carefully by the press and the media, as opposed to the Primate of Warsaw, the heroic unyielding anti-Communist Cardinal Wyszynski. Therefore, an alleged conflict was exaggerated between the two, Wyszynski as the super-conservative and Wojtyla, instead, as the open intellectual who loved the company of girls, who went about dressed in shorts, a true “liberal” and “progressive.” Indeed, Wojtyla really was a liberal prelate. (Fr. Luigi Villa)

 Pope John Paul II styled himself apostle of Vatican II, the council that would not consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart nor condemn communism. In his first address as Pope, John Paul II encouraged the adoption of the ‘spirit of Vatican II’:

However, as the Council is not limited to the documents alone, neither is it completed by the ways applying it which were devised in these post-conciliar years. Therefore, we rightly consider that we are bound by the primary duty of most diligently furthering the implementation of the decrees and directive norms of that same Universal Synod. This indeed we shall do in a way that is at once prudent and stimulating. We shall strive, in particular, that first of all an appropriate mentality may flourish. Namely, it is necessary that, above all, outlooks must be at one with the Council so that in practice those things may be done that were ordered by it, and that those things which lie hidden in it or - as is usually said - are "implicit" may become explicit in the light of the experiments made since then and the demands of changing circumstances. Briefly, it is necessary that the fertile seeds which the Fathers of the Ecumenical Synod, nourished by the word of God, sowed in good ground (cf. Mt 13: 8, 23) - that is, the important teachings and pastoral deliberations should be brought to maturity in that way which is characteristic of movement and life.

Finally, it was John Paul II who audaciously cited communist protest as organic to Catholic doctrine:

What we refer to as communism has its own history. It is the history of protest in the face of injustice, as I recalled in the encyclical Laborem Exercens - a protest on the part of the great world of workers, which then became an ideology. But this protest has also become part of the teaching of the Church. (Crossing the Threshold of Hope, pp 130-131)

The apex of this abominable surrender to communism was achieved in 2018 when in a secret agreement with the Peoples’ Republic of China Pope Francis accepted the communist-appointed ‘bishops’ of the Chinese Patriotic Association as true bishops and betrayed the underground bishops who had loyally supported Rome and submitted to the Popes for generations under the most intense duress. Pope Francis ordered the two entities to merge under the head of the bishops controlled by the communist PRC.

The situation in the US is also untenable. The federal and state governments fund social welfare programs run by Catholic dioceses which are primarily instituted by Democratic Party initiatives. This renders most bishops in the thrall of the Democratic Party and their antichristian platform which includes open borders; abortion-on-demand until and even after birth; so-called ‘gay marriage’; and now even socialism itself, the ideological forerunner of communism. How can such bishops speak out against the sins that are sponsored and promoted by the Democratic Party? Even the few who do are vastly outnumbered by the majority of our own episcopal soviet, the non-canonical democratic body known as the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Bolivian President Evo Morales gave Pope Francis a
crucifix atop a hammer and sickle, 9 July 2015.

Many Catholics are deceived by those who claim the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart has been done by John Paul II. If it had been done, there would be libraries of books chronicling every detail of the world-wide, public act of religion performed simultaneously by all the Bishops in the world in union with the Holy Father. There would be furious outrage from the Russian Orthodox. Man-made ecumenism as we know it would collapse at once, along with it all the other synthetic institutional fabrications proceeding from the Second Vatican Council. Mass conversions of Russian Orthodox priests to Rome would stun the world. The socialism spread by the USSR all over the world would collapse. There is simply no way the consecration could have taken place without an impossible-to-miss spiritual, social and political earthquake taking place in its wake.

The Fatima prophecies tell us the consecration will occur, only that it will be late and that the scourges unleashed by Russian errors will ravage the world. We are living amid these ravages now. Its toxins occupy the very air we breathe, the languages we speak, the activities we perform daily. The only way out is the consecration.

Until then, we must begin in our own hearts, families, spheres of influence and Churches to purge ourselves of these diabolical errors. We must prepare ourselves for that moment when indeed a Roman Pontiff will obey the Mother of God without conditions or exceptions. The weapon issued to us by heaven is the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary and reparations for sin by the Five First Saturdays devotion, but especially the Rosary.

All the novelties, innovations, reforms, and developments springing forth from the Second Vatican Council are infected with this virus. What the Church leaders failed to condemn they have doomed us to become. Yet we must take courage and follow the heroic and pious example of our fellow Catholics in China who, while betrayed by the Pope, have not been betrayed by our heavenly Lord or His Immaculate Mother. O Immaculate Heart of Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Living Tradition: disastrous fruit of the New Theology

When Pope John Paul II promulgated his motu proprio Ecclesia Dei adflicta on 2 July, 1988, he claimed that Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (SSPX), did not understand the true meaning of Catholic tradition.

The motu proprio, which means 'written on the Pope's own initiative' reads

The root of this schismatic act can be discerned in an incomplete and contradictory notion of Tradition. Incomplete, because it does not take sufficiently into account the living character of Tradition, which, as the Second Vatican Council clearly taught, "comes from the apostles and progresses in the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit. There is a growth in insight into the realities and words that are being passed on. This comes about in various ways. It comes through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their hearts. It comes from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which they experience. And it comes from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth".

Headstone at the grave of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
It reads, 'what I received, I handed on.'

 The idea that Monsignor Lefebvre, probably the most fruitful missionary bishop of the last century did not understand Catholic tradition is laughable prima facie. Lefebvre served 30 years as a missionary priest, bishop, and Archbishop in French speaking Africa; baptized tens of thousands of converts; ordained hundreds of priests; founded 21 new dioceses and consecrated African bishops for each of them. He founded schools, convents, clinics, and seminaries. If anyone understood the root and germ of Catholic tradition it was Marcel Lefebvre.

Yet absolutely necessary to the revolution that culminated at the Second Vatican Council was this new understanding of tradition observed through the lens of evolutionary theory:

"Thus, the human race has passed from a rather static concept of reality to a more dynamic, evolutionary one. In consequence there has arisen a new series of problems, a series as numerous as can be, calling for efforts of analysis and synthesis." (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Second Vatican Council)

Therefore, in an 'evolutionary concept of reality', that which is newest is always best. In the Hegelian system, the dialectic between the thesis [Tradition] and antithesis [the novelties produced by the Nouvelle Theologie] produces a synthesis ['living Tradition'] that becomes the new thesis. This dialectical method will always leave that which is ancient, venerable, immutable, and eternal at a sort of distant reference point for the sake of history. But make no mistake: for those who have accepted Vatican II's theory that "the human race has passed from a rather static concept of reality to a more dynamic, evolutionary one," that which is newer (Vatican II) is better than everything that went before it.

This idea is of course the engine driving all the partisans of the Nouvelle Theologie of Henri de Lubac, Hans Kung, Karl Rahner, Edward Schillebeeckx, Dominique Marie Chenu, Yves Congar, Hans Urs Von Balthasar, and their coterie of Ressourcement theologians. Modern man would no longer be bound by the requirements impressed upon his conscience by objective reality and external authority; he now possessed new sciences that he believed rendered the Thomistic universe obsolete. This new Modern Man with his superior sciences required a new philosophy with which to approach the articles of divine revelation, and the neoModernist theologians were busy cooking up this very philosophy with the help of the Kantians and Cartesians.

Baptizing the theory of evolution was task number one for these innovators, and the prophet of their cause was Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.  Teilhard's theories were so bizarre that his own order forbade him from either teaching or publishing, a suppression which lasted until his death on Easter Sunday 1955. Teilhard studied in England under another Jesuit, Fr. George Tyrrell, whom St. Pius X excommunicated for the very same theological monstrosities which he named "Modernism" which was the "compendium of all heresies" that "ruins and destroys all religion" (Pascendi gregis, 1908).

About Modernism, St. Pius X warned,

"To finish with this whole question of faith and its shoots, it remains to be seen, Venerable Brethren, what the Modernists have to say about their development. First of all they lay down the general principle that in a living religion everything is subject to change, and must change, and in this way they pass to what may be said to be, among the chief of their doctrines, that of Evolution. To the laws of evolution everything is subject - dogma, Church, worship, the Books we revere as sacred, even faith itself, and the penalty of disobedience is death.

... Consequently, the formulae too, which we call dogmas, must be subject to these vicissitudes, and are, therefore, liable to change. Thus the way is open to the intrinsic evolution of dogma. An immense collection of sophisms this, that ruins and destroys all religion. Dogma is not only able, but ought to evolve and to be changed. This is strongly affirmed by the Modernists, and as clearly flows from their principles."

Pope St. Pius X, ON THE DOCTRINES OF THE MODERNISTS

This living religion which Pope John Paul II co-opted from de Lubac as 'living tradition' need not maintain any meaningful continuity with the capital 'T' Tradition of the Catholic faith:

"The advocates of the new theology follow the same current when, with Blondel, they define the truth as the mind's correspondence with infinitely variable and progressive life. And since truth is life and Tradition should transmit the truth, de Lubac concludes at the existence of a living Tradition. According to him, then, the ulterior beliefs of the Church need not necessarily be logically bound to what she has always explicitly believed from the earliest centuries."

Father Dominic Bourmaud, One Hundred Years of Modernism, Angelus Press, 2006, pages 248-249

(St. Thomas' definition of truth was the mind's correspondence with reality, not life, -editor.)

The conclusion to all this is obvious: for a religion to be true, it must be alive; and the sign of life is its changeability and 'progress.' The stable cosmos envisioned by the Church Fathers had to give way to the new theories proposed by Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, and Einstein; the bold new scientific theories embraced by the Protestants must find acceptance in the Catholic Church as well. The philosophy and theology of St. Thomas had to be updated or even discarded with its objective realism and adherence to divine authority. What Modern Man needed was a living tradition that would prove to him that Catholics too, were constrained by the theory of evolution and that their religion was true because it too, was changing.

Now in a striking irony John Paul II himself is victimized by the contemporary adherents of living tradition. His firm commitment to traditional Catholic morality (paradoxically contained in a philosophical system which for him was quite dependent on man's subjective experiences) must now yield to Pope Francis' ethic of accompanying and listening to not only non-Christian religions, but to 'mother earth'! John Paul II's era is now passed; what he explained in Ecclesia Dei about the council is now coming to pass to leave him as history's casualty on the march to Teilhard's Point Omega.

John Paul II harshly condemned Archbishop Lefebvre for standing firm in what he received and faithfully passed on - the very definition of Catholic Tradition infallibly defined at the first Vatican Council in 1869-1870:

"For the Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by His revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by His assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or Deposit of Faith transmitted by the Apostles."

And now, even though canonized in a hasty display of Pontifical hubris, Pope John Paul II's moral doctrine gives way to the latest, newest manifestation of living tradition. The cycle of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis is unending in the elastic world of evolution and perpetual flux. The demands of natural selection can never be contradicted. In fact, philosophical, theological, and moral change is the very signature of 'truth' and progress. Such is the living tradition bequeathed to us by the neoModernists.

In such an atmosphere where the tyranny of the new must always triumph, wisdom bids her children to stand firm with the maxim of Saint Vincent of Lerins:

"Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all."

This and this only is Tradition. Tradition does not 'live' in any evolutionary sense, and always maintains the same sense and meaning. May God help us to hold fast to the Tradition - Divine, Apostolic, and Ecclesiastical - handed onto to us by the Lord's Apostles, the Fathers, the Doctors, the martyrs, confessors, virgins, Saints, and faithful Pontiffs.

Way to Pachamama paved by John Paul II

Long before the Amazon Synod and the Pachamama, this canonized Pope made the synod possible:

"If you see me traveling the length and breadth of the whole world in my efforts to meet with people of all civilizations and religions, it is because I have faith in the seeds of wisdom which the Spirit has planted in the conscience of all these various peoples, tribes and clans; from these hidden grains will come the true resource for the future of mankind in this world of ours." 

(John Paul II's speech to youth in Ravenna, May 11, 1986, quoted in Tutte le encicliche dei Sommi Pontefici, ed. dall'Oglio, p.1821). 

Cardinal Muller's Manifesto of Faith

While I sincerely applaud both Cardinal Muller and Arcadia Films for this short but potent video, I can only recommend it to those who are outside the Church and are perhaps in doubt about the basics (what the video calls the fundamentals) of Catholic faith.

I know this will sound super negative and hyper critical, but you simply cannot utilize the sources of the conciliar religion to successfully defend the faith of all ages. No amount of appeals to the CCC, Vatican II, or "Saint John Paul II" can provide the required separation from this generation's submersion into the cesspool of errors ushered in by the Copernican Revolution and sealed at Vatican II.

This video is head and shoulders above Bishop Robert Barron's glossy, airbrushed travel brochure "Catholicism" but unfortunately draws from the same reference points and will not persuade many other than the already persuaded. It is bound to please conservative Catholics but does not rise to level of divine, apostolic, nor ecclesiastical tradition.

Cardinal Muller's manifesto reads much like Paul VI's Credo of the People of God: it seems to be saying all the right things but without the supernatural power that ought to accompany such proclamation.

In summary: using Vatican II to defend the Catholic faith on a polemical level is a fool's errand. It's elastic, amorphous 'pastoral language' is easy to manipulate and even use against divine and Catholic faith. We will follow Cardinals Muller, Burke, Sarah, and their conservative confreres as far as they will take us. Unfortunately that will be short of the distance required to conquer what we are now facing.

Full video here.

The Ottaviani Intervention at Fifty

On the 25th of September 1969 Cardinals Alfredo Ottaviani and Antonio Bacci published what is known today as the Ottaviani Intervention in order to persuade Pope Paul VI not to promulgate the Novus Ordo Missae, or new order of mass. The infamously 'fabricated' liturgy was assembled as a technical production by a committee of liturgists in order to provide a form of worship for Catholic faithful to experience "full and active participation" as recommended by the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum concilium. 

These two princes of the Church acted in good conscience and out of loyalty to the Pope and to the Catholic Church. The summary of their scholarship prepared by a team of pastors and theologians under the direction of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre was ominous:

"...the Novus Ordo represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session XXII of the Council of Trent. The canons of the rite definitively fixed at that time provided an insurmountable barrier to any heresy directed against the integrity of the Mystery."

 Pope Paul referred the study to his Confraternity for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly headed by Cardinal Ottaviani as the Holy Office, which concluded that "the document contained many affirmations that were "superficial, exaggerated, inexact, emotional and false."

Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani

The intervention thus dismissed quickly disappeared from the limited public view it enjoyed (it was published by Jean Madiran's magazine Itineraires with permission of the authors). The French publication La Documentation catholique ran an article in February of 1970 (vol. 67, pp. 215–216 and 343) featuring an interview with Cardinal Ottaviani in which he seemed to do an abrupt about face regarding the new Mass. The Cardinal, now in his eighties and blind allegedly signed a statement affirming enthusiastic approval of it, which Madiran publicly disputed as fraudulent. In any event, neither Cardinal Bacci, Archbishop Lefebvre, nor any of the other signatories ever distanced themselves from the study.

On the occasion of a reprint on it's 25th anniversary, Cardinal Alphons Stickler declared

"The analysis of the Novus Ordo made by these two Cardinals has lost nothing of its value, nor, unfortunately, of its timeliness . ... The results of the reform are deemed by many today to have been devastating. It was the merit of Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci to discover very quickly that the modification of the rites resulted in a fundamental change of doctrine.” (November 27, 2004)

Which brings us to today. What of the Ottaviani Intervention's warnings has not come to pass?
Chapter VIII concludes

Today, division and schism are officially acknowledged to exist not only outside of but within the Church. Her unity is not only threatened but already tragically compromised. Errors against the Faith are not so much insinuated but rather an inevitable consequence of liturgical abuses and aberrations which have been given equal recognition.

To abandon a liturgical tradition which for four centuries was both the sign and pledge of unity of worship (and to replace it with another which cannot but be a sign of division by virtue of the countless liberties implicitly authorised, and which teems with insinuations or manifest errors against the integrity of the Catholic religion) is, we feel in conscience bound to proclaim, an incalculable error.

In June 1971 via the new missal's Notification Instructione de Constitutione Pope Paul VI suppressed the Missal of St. Pius V which John XXIII had renewed on the eve of Vatican II. The instruction forbade the public offering of the Traditional Latin Mass except in the case of elderly or infirm priests unable to learn the new rite and only then in solitude - without so much as an altar boy assisting. Pope John Paul II sustained this policy until an indult was permitted in 1984 which required the approval of the local bishop. Very few granted it.

Cardinal Antonio Bacci

The sad state of affairs in the Catholic Church today is an undeniable fact. Cardinal Josef Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) very candidly attributed the source of the crisis to the collapse of the sacred liturgy:

"I am convinced that the ecclesial crisis in which we find ourselves today depends in great part upon the collapse of the liturgy, which at times is actually being conceived of etsi Deus non daretur: as though in the liturgy it did not matter any more whether God exists and whether He speaks to us and listens to us.

But if in the liturgy the communion of faith no longer appears, nor the universal unity of the Church and of her history, nor the mystery of the living Christ, where is it that the Church still appears in her spiritual substance?"

I was dismayed by the banning of the old Missal," he [Cardinal Ratzinger] wrote, "seeing that a similar thing had never happened in the entire history of the liturgy...."

The occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Ottaviani Intervention should give us pause for sober reflection. We are yet in the thrall of 'experts' who tell us what is best for us dismissing 1900 years of Catholic Tradition to "discern the signs of the times." They tell us that all things are in perpetual evolution (condemned by Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Humani generis in 1950) and that we must evolve with them. Yet this path has been tried and proven to be demonstrably deleterious to Catholic faith.

The Traditional form of the Roman Rite has enjoyed a breathtaking resurgence of vitality and popularity in the past few decades largely due to the persistent efforts of Lefebvre's Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (SSPX). While relentlessly condemned and vehemently opposed with all the weight of canonical approbation, the priests of the society patiently rebuilt the edifice of Catholic Tradition. Today, while still a tiny minority, the Traditional Mass is being juxtaposed with the new Mass of Paul VI by both theologians and children. The contrasts are stark, leaving some to wonder if the Novus Ordo is in fact the vehicle of a different religion.

Whatever one decides for their own life of piety and devotion, it is abundantly clear that the authors of the Ottaviani Intervention foresaw our time with startling alacrity. Fifty years hence with all the proofs one could desire as evidence, it is difficult to sustain the utility of the Pauline reforms.  The "canons of the rite definitively fixed at that time [which] provided an insurmountable barrier to any heresy directed against the integrity of the Mystery" have been removed for half a century. The result is what Dietrich Von Hildebrand dubbed The Devastated Vineyard.