Friday, December 30, 2016

More Cardinals Who Want Pope Francis to Answer the “Dubia”

It is thought that there are many more, who prefer not to manifest themselves for the moment.

The "dubia" presented to Pope Francis by the four Cardinals, Walter Card. Brandmüller, Raymond Leo Card. Burke, Carlo Card. Caffarra and Joachim Card. Meisner, to clarify several points of "Amoris laetitia" that seem to contradict the Catholic Faith, have already received the support of three other Prefect Cardinals: Gerhard Ludwig Card. Müller, Robert Card. Sarah and George Card. Pell, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and Prefect of the Secretariat of Economy of the Holy See respectively; of three bishops: Archbishop Jan Wątroba, Bishop of Rzeszów and President of the Council for the Family of the Polish Episcopal Conference, Bishop Jósef Wróbel, Titular Bishop of Suas and auxiliary of Lublin (Poland), and Archbishop Athanasius Schneider, Titular Bishop of Celerina and auxiliary of Most Holy Mary Church in Astana (Kazakhstan); and of twenty three prestigious academics, intellectuals and Catholic pastors; and recently two more Cardinals have joined them: Paul Josef Card. Cordes, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum". He has done so in an interview granted to the Austrian Catholic portal Kath.net, and Card. Renato Raffaele Martino.

CATHOLICITYBLOG’S COMMENT:

THE PROVISION CONTRAVENES WHAT WAS ESTABLISHED IN THE SYNODS FOR THE FAMILY AND IT IS BEING IMPOSED ARBITRARILY

Contrary to what defenders of this sacrilege say (giving the Eucharist to divorced people who live in a new union), the Synods for the Family did not approve such a measure, because to start with dogma cannot be put to the vote (having done so was already a terrible and inconceivable abuse, and had the vote been in favor of sacrilege it would have been completely invalid) and they did not attain the necessary vows in favor of this sacrilege. That is why the text of Amoris Laetitia contravenes the two synods and was “slid with shoehorn” to force what had already been decided in "the dark". Thus, the spirit of "collegiality" -which is so preached today- only applies when it is favorable to what was decided beforehand, and it is thrown into the garbage when it is contrary to the modernist heresy. They could have saved the expenses of both synods if they were not going to respect their results.

Sources: Catholicvs and Catolicidad.

Monday, December 26, 2016

Luther, Corrupter of Law and Politics


Column of Juan Manuel de Prada for ABC (Spain), November 5, 2016

The Truth About Luther

Five hundred years after Luther's protest, we can become Swedish to gain the applause of the world, or else we may dare to analyze with intellectual rigor what that event has substantiated. This second attitude, which is a cause of scandal in a world where becoming Swedish is something cool, is the one that it’s offered to us in an excellent book called "Political and Legal Consequences of Protestantism” written under the supervision of Professor Miguel Ayuso, in which a select group of jurists provide the conscious reader with a series of approximations to the thought of Luther and point out the political flaws that come from him. Celebrating the centennial of the Lutheran protest is as if someone with syphilis celebrated the day he contracted the disease.

It would be necessary to begin by pointing out, as Professor Juan Fernando Segovia does in one of the most important contributions of the book, that in affirming salvation by faith alone Luther denies all authority to the Church, as well as its mediating role between the believer and God and the efficacy of the sacraments. The Church, for Luther, is an oppressive organization; and the Papacy, the seat of the Antichrist. But the book we recommend today is valuable above all because it reveals how Luther's obscure theological notions (depravity of human nature, denial of free will, etc.) corrupt and destroy political and social institutions. If man is evil by nature and his reason is corrupted, power will have to be erected in pure exercise of force that represses its evil tendencies. Thus, before the peasant revolt of 1525, Luther can celebrate that "the avenging sword" rises against the princes; and when the peasants are defeated, he can petition the princes: "Persecute them and kill them like rabid dogs. God will reward you.” For a civil power understood in the Lutheran way can change of titular as of jacket. On the other hand, as Joseph Luis Widow reminds us in another passage of the book, having established the deranged premise that human nature is completely corrupted, Luther logically thinks that reason is "blind, deaf, foolish, impious and sacrilegious"; in such a way that it is not capable of wanting good, and it is incapacitated for moral judgment. Justification by faith alone leads inevitably to the emancipation of moral judgment consciousness over our actions; and thus pure subjectivism is enthroned, until the natural tendency to disorder requires the intervention of a human law that imposes itself as an exercise of power. But, as Professor Segovia points out, in affirming the absolute corruption of human nature, Luther denies the value of the law: for by ordering to do this or that work, the law (in Luther's words) only "reveals the disease, the sin, the wickedness" of man, who inevitably is "assaulted by sadness, feels afflicted, and even falls into despair." That is, in fact, the last station of man conceived in the Lutheran way.

In "Political and Legal Consequences of Protestantism," other calamities originate in Luther's thought, such as the reduction of the political to the state, nationalism, unbound capitalism, or the establishment of a freedom which is not guided by reason, but by a "self-determination" whose only limit is not to harm third parties (a limit that, of course, is ultimately infringed, when such damage benefits the owner of power). And in this way unveiling the truth about Luther that others prefer to ignore by becoming Swedish.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

The Apostle’s Creed



The Creed

The truths that we must believe are found in the Creed or Apostle’s Creed, which receives this name as it was composed and taught by them.

The Apostles taught orally a summary of the fundamental truths that Christ had taught them. Only the Catholic Church possesses what the Apostles and their legitimate successors taught, that is, the Popes, Bishops and Catholic priests faithful to the faith of always. To separate oneself from this Catholic Church is to separate from Christ and to rebel against Him (Luke 10, 16; Mt 7: 15-23), which leads to sin.

To separate oneself from the Church that comes from the Apostles is to live in the illusion, to lose the true Faith that saves, to lose Christ, who is the life and the way, since Christ follows His work of salvation through His one and only Church, which He founded two thousand years ago: the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman.

The Apostle’s Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is, seen and unseen.
I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not created, consubstantial with the Father, by whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and by the power of the Holy Spirit he was incarnated of the Virgin Mary, and became man. And for our sake was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered died and was buried, and on the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; and he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified, and has spoken through the Prophets.
I believe in the Church, which is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. I confess that there is only one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Monday, December 19, 2016

The Great Apostasy

  • “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing anymore but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men.” (Mt. 5, 13)
  • “Can the blind lead the blind? Do they not both fall into the ditch?” (Lk. 6, 39)
  • Without the predominant apostasy of the clergy, there would be no such thing as the universal apostasy prophesied in the Word of God.


If in certain cases, Communion is allowed to divorced faithful who have remarried, therefore living publicly in sin (Amoris Laetitia), if the sacraments are given to those who have decided to apply euthanasia by attacking - as homicidal - against their life*, more and more the doors will be opened to other sacrileges - in other cases of grave offenses against the Commandments of God - of those who live in constant mortal sin, without repenting or changing their lives and receive Communion unworthily. It begins by opening a crack to the doctrinal heresy against the Word of God and the abominable sacrilegious practice, and then opening it more and more until, finally, it is totally open. To complete the betrayal, they will end up offering the Body of Christ not only to hardened sinners but also to those who do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety. It is the new betrayal of Christ that leads to the general apostasy prophesied in the Holy Scriptures. Christ said: "When I return to the earth, do you think I will find faith?" Lk 18,8.

Will you allow yourself dear friend-reader to be guided by the blind who, in such a case, will lead you to the eternal precipice? There are blind guides who sin by omission (those who remain silent and tolerate) and some who sin by action (those who promote and approve of heresy and sacrilege). Both participate, in different ways, in this new betrayal of Christ. Therefore they only speak of "mercy" (without need of repentance, purpose of amendment, Confession and penance) and little or nothing of sin, nor of Hell for those who die unrepentant in their grave sins.

* NOTE: The new and sacrilegious pastoral directives of the Canadian Dioceses of the Atlantic allow - without any right - for priests to give Communion, Extreme Unction and absolve from their sins those who intend to commit suicide with medical assistance, according to Canadian law. The decision will be taken by each priest, after a "pastoral meeting" with the interested party and his family.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Prayer reminder for the thirteenth day of each month


We remind you that today, as every 13th day of each month, we will join together in prayer for five minutes, for the intentions that are explained in the following link: http://www.catholicityblog.com/2016/01/appeal-to-our-friendsreaders.html

Sunday, December 11, 2016

How Did Galieo Die?


Experiment: Go out to the street and ask randomly to the passers-by what is their opinion about the Church burning Galileo at the stake because he said that the Earth was round.

I bet that only a minority will respond that it was not because he said that the Earth was round, which was the conventional thesis from, at least, Eratosthenes, who bothered to measure it in the III century b.C.

And I bet even less will be those who remember that Galileo did not die at the stake, but in his bed at an old age, specifically in his house of San Giorgio, by the sea.

With Galileo there was a phenomenon that reproduces again and again in history, when the scientific establishment - that we tend to call "science" - shows that it is not composed of angels occupied alone in the discovery of truth, but by beings of flesh and bone who persist in their theories and respond to all the temptations common to the human being.

It was this establishment and Galileo’s colleagues who brought before the court that petulant who dared to contradict the scientific consensus of the time (do not think about climate change!), the Ptolemaic model, and used the ruling power, just as they could have taken him before the Politburo in different eras and places.

He was to turn 78 years old, when he died
in a Christian manner, in his bed and
 with the papal blessing and after
 receiving a plenary indulgence.
Copernicus, who was a Polish priest, published the thesis that asserted that the Earth revolved around the Sun... and he did so with all the ecclesiastical blessings.

Moreover, the legend that the Church could not conceive that the Earth revolved around the Sun instead of being the opposite is denied by the fact that more or less at the same time Copernicus, a Polish priest, published the same thesis with all the ecclesiastical blessings.

We should stop and think that the Church cannot have persecuted scientists when the only name that comes to mind is that of Galileo. If it were as the legend says, there would be dozens of names.

We live among topics which do not even have the advantage of being like those clichés that come from the experience of centuries or the wisdom of grandmothers. They are only legends blackened more by consciences than by truth.

Talking only about human and historical aspects, the Church is vulnerable to all the errors and sins of men, and so it is absurd to be surprised or scandalized by everything that in her name has been wrongly done.

But among those things that she did wrong is not, in my view, the Inquisition and, much less, a 'confrontation' with science that exists only in the minds of her enemies, and that generates a narrative not different, but exactly opposite to the reality.

Professor and doctor Alfonso Carrascosa, a scientist at the CSIC, in his recent lecture at the Ecclesiastical University of San Dámaso entitled "Catholic Church and Science in the Twentieth-century Spain" argues that "some of the errors attributed to the Church with respect to the conciliation between science and faith, belong to the set of slogans called the black legend, which was built by her enemies as of the Western Schism. This can be said in a higher voice, but hardly in clearer one.

No culture has gone so far as to systematize scientific knowledge, none... except the Christian culture.

Has anyone ever stopped to wonder why science has developed precisely where the Church has exerted an absolute cultural influence?

China knew things like gunpowder or paper, even printing, long before the West was known.

The Muslims distilled alcohol, and we owe one of them the development of algebra, and the Indians introduced zero in Mathematics.

However, none of these cultures systematized scientific knowledge, nor did they find the method with which to make the great leap in science, going from it being a private activity concerning only a few scholars, to becoming a massive and self-constructive process: the scientific method, designed for the first time by Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, in the thirteenth century.

It is absurd to oppose Christian culture to a materialist and atheistic culture, simply because there has never been an originally materialistic and atheistic culture. But among real cultures, those that have existed in history, it has been the Christian one who, by sharply separating the Creator from His Creation and postulating a rational universe, has allowed the development of science.

Texto de la segunda imagen: He was to turn 78 years old, when he died in a Christian manner, in his bed and with the papal blessing and after receiving a plenary indulgence.



By Candela Sande
Source: Actuall. Translated from Spanish by Catholicity blog.

Monday, December 5, 2016

An Obligation of Parents

Moral and Religious Formation is a Lifelong Duty: Instruction When They Are Dependent, Advice When They are Adults and a Good Example Always


Woe to those who limit to half prepare them for their First Communion and then forget to continue religious instruction according to their age! Woe to those who do not make their children pray, attend the sacraments and live in the grace of God! Woe to those who neglect what they read, what they look on the computer and on the cell phone, what shows and sites they go to, and what friends they have! Woe to those who do not give them their time, talk to them, nor advise their children! Woe to those who do not set an example of moral and religious life! Imagine what they will tell God if their children go to Hell because of them.


Saturday, December 3, 2016

French Government Against Freedom of Expression: Its Intention is to Ban Pro-Life Websites in France



PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE

Bishop Pontier asks Hollande not to approve law that seeks to close pro-life websites in France.

The French government has decided to accelerate the process of approval of a bill, which seeks to outlaw websites aimed at convincing women not to abort voluntarily. The French Episcopal Conference, through its president, Archbishop Georges Pontier, requests such measure not to be approved.

(InfoCatólica) Monsignor Pontier has written a letter to President Hollande in which he asks that this law, which would endanger pro-life movement in France, not to be approved.

The archbishop of Marseilles warned the ruler that "abortion, whether we like it or not, remains a serious and weighty act that deeply questions the conscience", and that causes many women to have the "need to speak, to seek advice" before taking a "dramatic decision that will mark their whole life."


After recalling that there is no longer a week of reflection before an abortion, which was previously required by French law, Bishop Pontier explained to Hollande that pro-life associations in France "have decided to dedicate their time, especially through digital instruments, to listen to women who are hesitant”, and who are faced with the choice of aborting or not. The success of these organizations, says the French prelate, is also seen in the fact that many of the women who have aborted come to them seeking psychological help.


Mgr. Pontier asked President Hollande where "freedom of expression on the Internet would be. An even more serious limitation since it affects issues of freedom of conscience. This seems to be a very serious violation of the principles of democracy."


The President of Marseille asked the President of the French Republic for the law to be at least subject of a parliamentary debate as wide as that which took place on euthanasia.


Letter from Archbishop Pontier to President Hollande (in French)

Thursday, December 1, 2016