The Occult-Suicide Connection

 

I have often written upon the "occult explosion," or "occult invasion," or "occult revival" in society since Vatican II. It is like an explosion because it is dangerous and leaves much damage. It is like an invasion because it is coming at us from all angles, and in ways most wouldn't expect. It is a revival insofar as (based on my research) there is more occult activity (both proportionately and in sheer numbers) since the days of the Old Testament. Recently, I came across this article, written in 2017, which demonstrates exactly this point. The website containing the article is non-religious, and well worth reprinting here:

As occult practices are on the rise, contemporary theologians become increasingly interested in psychology, with many Christian authors wrestling with the question of how demons can influence mental disorders.

It is only fair to say, people with psychological problems should receive psychological treatment: and indeed the majority of therapists will point blank refuse to link depression with virtually any form of witchcraft, magic or occult involvement. But an increasing number of theologians appear less inclined to accept occultism as an innocuous pastime.

So, the question is: Can we screen episodes of mental illness from, literally, the devil's work?

While many forms of depression result from a chemical imbalance, it is usually a combination of events and a variety of long-term or personal factors, rather than one immediate issue that breed anxiety and depression. And as any mental disorder goes, it will be medical practitioners and therapists who administer treatments upon tracing the root cause of the problem.

But whereas it may be difficult to tell whether certain patterns of depressive behavior are innate or inherited, the article published last week in Open Theology suggests, a contact with the Satanic and occult rituals may trigger off psychopathological reactions. Psychopaths are generally less likely to suffer from typical depressive disorders, but drawing upon an extensive research, Dr. Zlatko Sram from Croatian Center for Applied Social Research argues, that people who practice black magic or have otherwise occult bondage in their history are particularly susceptible to comorbidity of depression and psychopathy.

The author conducted a survey on over one thousand participants and found strong evidence that people suffering from depression and psychopathy simultaneously are attracted to satanic practices as a means of obtaining magical power and control over their destiny—regardless of their sex or ethnic origin. The research categorized different esoteric practices that spanned from psychic séances, through black magic, to engaging with an occult society or reading books and magazines dealing with esoteric and occult issues. Psychopathy and depression were significantly predictive of "satanic syndrome" in individuals who had been subjected to the occult involvement, suffering bouts of depression and mental disorders nearly twice as often compared to the rest of society. Given the nature of the satanic syndrome, namely the fact that it is measured by specific occult practices, the author suggests to verify the scale of the problem in psychiatric hospitals and clinics.

This key correlation yields new perspective on the early-onset depression. "This is an important study in that it takes ontological claims seriously and supports the real possibility that demonic forms of bondage may be linked to psychopathology as [...] evil forces can interfere in human behavior." comments Prof. Ralph W. Hood from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

(See medicalxpress.com/news/2017-01-occult-depression-psychopathy.html; Emphasis mine). 

I have discovered in my research a strong correlation between occult involvement and suicide that cannot be denied. I can't help but think that as young people get into occult practices, it has been driving up the suicide rate. According to a 2021 study conducted by The Springtide Research Institute, the following was discovered:

Springtide’s survey showed that 51% of its sample population, aged 13-25, engage in “tarot cards or fortune telling.” Of that percentage, 17% practice daily, 25% once a week, 27% once a month and 31% less than once a month. (See springtideresearch.org/post/news/in-the-news-gen-z-doubles-down-on-spirituality-combining-tarot-and-traditional-faith). 

Those are scary numbers. Next, consider the suicide statistics concerning young people from jasonfoundation.com:

• Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for ages 10-24

• Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for college-age youth and ages 12-18 

• More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease, COMBINED

• Each day in our nation, there are an average of over 5,240 suicide attempts by young people grades 7-12

The connection between occult practices and suicide was made as far back as the 1970s. M. Lamar Keene (d.1996) was a charlatan medium for many years.  He made a living by defrauding others. He wrote his tell-all book about it in 1976 entitled The Psychic Mafia. Keene coined the term "true-believer syndrome" which refers to people who continued to believe in a paranormal event or phenomenon even after it had been proven to have been staged. The book was published by Prometheus Press founded in 1969 by atheist philosopher Paul Kurtz. It is dedicated to publishing books that promote an anti-supernatural (Naturalist) worldview. 

I bring this up because, despite being a complete and total fraud, Keene nevertheless believed in God and occult phenomena. I deduce that at least part of that reason is that he saw the effects of the occult up close and personally. Sadly, many people dismiss the occult as chicanery, or a positive spiritual quest. As Keene found out for himself, it is neither. In his public confession he wrote that all the mediums he knew, either personally or through others, ended their lives tragically. 

William Slade, who was famous for reading minds, became mad and died in a Michigan insane asylum. The medium Margery died as a hopeless drunkard. Wherever he looked, the same picture presented itself: mediums invariably ended their pitiful existence with an even more pitiful death. He was totally crushed by the whole mediumistic syndrome — by the deceit, commonplace depravity, thoughtless drunkenness, and narcotic dependency.  

According to theologian Jone, "Spiritism claims to be able to communicate with the spirit world and endeavors to establish such commerce with it. Although spiritism is for the most part fraud, still the intention alone to enter into communication with spirits is gravely sinful. Therefore, it is mortally sinful to conduct a spiritistic seance or to act as a medium." (See Moral Theology, [1961], pg. 100; Emphasis mine). Even the intention to make contact with spirits is mortal sin. Satan hates each individual human, as do his demons. They will not help, but hurt all the more, anyone foolish enough to get involved with them by occult practices. 

This observation is substantiated by many.

•  Dr. Nandor Fodor, the author of the well-documented Encyclopedia of Psychic Science (1974): "Curiously enough, mediumism, if suppressed, will manifest in symptoms of disease … Once the practices are accepted, the disease disappears."

•  The renowned psychic Edgar Cayce is another clear illustration. Joseph Millard writes that, in fact, he was a pitiful marionette of the forces of the other side (See Edgar Cayce: Mystery Man of Miracles,  [1967]). 

• An earlier medium, Raphael Gasson, wrote the following from personal experience: "Many have suffered greatly because they started investigating into this thing (occult work as a medium), and have eventually been brought to distraction when they have attempted to free themselves from it. Homes have been broken up, suicide and lunacy have afflicted those who were once in it, and have dared to seek deliverance from its power. Those who have found that deliverance, give thanks to God for His grace and mercy" (The Challenging Counterfeit, [1966], pg. 134).

• Occultist and "guru" Sri Chinmoy, a "spiritual counselor" at the United Nations, comments that many sorcerers and others having dealings with spirits were strangled or otherwise killed. He was personally familiar with several such occurrences (Astrology, the Supernatural and Beyond, [1973]). 

Why Suicide?

Suicide will often follow the despondency induced by alcohol, drugs, depression, and other vices that come along with occult practices. Sometimes it comes without passing through drugs or alcohol. Mediums and the teachings of the demons working through them (and the teachings of the charlatans who make sure they say the same as the others) state that that this life is not the end (annihilation), and that there is no final judgment. If this life is simply too difficult or unpleasant, why not take a way out? Why not enter a world you have been promised is far more glorious? Death, after all, is claimed to be a friend. In fact, the spirits may encourage this. I have read many cases where allegedly “loving” spirits have deliberately induced emotional dependence upon their advice and then at a moment of weakness encouraged their contact to commit suicide. (See, e.g., The Satan Trap: Dangers of the Occult, [1976]).  

Consider the number of people who, unfortunately, go to a medium to find out about "where a deceased loved one is now," or want to receive "messages" from them. All of the mediums will tell the grieving person who has lost someone that the deceased are "fine and happy." Of course, this is what we would all like to hear, but how is it possible that all people died within the True Church in the state of sanctifying grace? Hell and damnation are never even considered as possibilities. 

Many times there is a deliberate attempt by the demons to induce suicide in an unwary person. If people are trying to leave the occult, they are told they will never be able to and that the only escape is to take their own life. Or they may become enamored with blissful descriptions of the wonders of the “next-life” and be lovingly urged to “come join us," or to be reunited with a deceased loved one. 

Former witch Doreen Irvine was subjected to repeated pres­sures to take her own life in her attempt to escape from witchcraft. (See Doreen Irvine, Freed From Witchcraft, [1973], pg. 121). Another individual noted that “many attempts have been made to lead me astray and to cause me great physical and mental harm…. On numerous occasions these spirits sought verbally to convince me that suicide was the only answer.” (See Merrill Unger, What Demons Can Do to Saints, [1977], pg. 54). 

The Satan Trap: Dangers of the Occult, describes four cases of people who were told to commit suicide by the spirits (i.e., demons) they con­tacted. The first case involved a husband and wife who joined a psychic develop­ment class to help their chronically sick child:

The instructions of the “spirit doctors” regarding the treatment of her sick child, she thought quite foolish, but her husband, who believed unswervingly in the reality of these experiences, wished to carry them out in every detail. Things came to a head when the leader of the circle expelled the young woman, thus sharpening the conflict in her marriage. The young wife, thoroughly confused, divided between faith and doubt, attempted to apply the mediumistic practices she had learned during the séance. She began to write automatically and suddenly heard voices demanding that she take her own life. She was barely prevented from throwing herself from a balcony while saying “it was a force that I had to obey.”

In the second and third incidents, two married sisters attempted suicide as a result of séance practices and automatic writing. Both were hospitalized at the psychiatric clinic at Freiburg. In both cases “schizophrenic tendencies seemed to be apparent.” In the case of one of the sisters, “eventually she heard spirit voices, not only while engaged in automatic writing, but everywhere all the time. These voices grew louder and more emphatic. They commented upon her behavior; gave her meaningless orders that she tried to resist; and alternated between quiet or vulgar and destructive tones.

When she entered the hospital, the patient at first refused to provide any information whatsoever. She maintained that the spirits had ordered her to remain silent. Also, at the behest of one spirit, the patient once tried to cut her wrist with a piece of glass.

In the fourth case, that of a 25-year-old teacher, mediumistic psychoses devel­oped after automatic writing. She was eventually urged to sacrifice her life, threw herself into a river, and was “rescued much against her will.” The book notes that oftentimes even mediums “find themselves led astray by the suggestions of allegedly high level discarnate entities.” (pgs. 232-236). 

Such examples are not surprising. In the Bible, demons are presented as inflicting numerous physical and psychological ailments upon their victims. Many of these parallel today’s cases of channeling. While it must be stressed that most illness is not demonically produced, the array of symptoms suggest the possibility of a virtual monopoly over the workings of the human mind and body: skin disease (Job 2:7), destructive and irrational acts (St. Matthew 8:28; Luke 8:27), deafness and inability to speak (St. Mark 9:25; St. Luke 11:17), epileptic-like seizures (St. Matthew 17:15; St. Mark 9:17-18, St. Luke 9:39), blindness (St. Matthew 12:22), tormenting pain (Apocalypse 9:1-11), insanity (St. Luke 8:26-35), severe physical deformity (St. Luke 13:11-17). Demons can also give a person supernatural strength (St. Luke 8:29) or attempt to murder them (St. Matthew 17:15-18).

Suicide is the best means for a demon to damn a soul. Driving them to the depths of despair, those in the occult, having already committed mortal sin, will now die in that state. 

Church Teaching on Suicide

Suicide is either direct or indirect, according to both the intention and mode. A person who kills himself from knowledge and choice makes the act direct. The mode is direct if what is done tends by its very nature to cause death (e.g., taking a lethal dose of cyanide). Someone who is mentally ill would only kill himself indirectly. The mode is indirect if that which is done tends from its nature to another end, i.e. to struggle with a criminal wielding a gun. It is wrong to assume that all people are mentally ill, and the suicide is only indirect (although one is free to assume a majority may be psychologically disturbed). 

 Direct  suicide is always a mortal sin that deprives the person of ecclesiastical burial unless they were able to give signs of repentance before death (See Canon 1240, section 3). If the person who attempts suicide is unsuccessful, they are subject to various penalties pronounced in Canon 2350, section 2. If it is doubtful that the person killed himself, the doubt is decided in the decedent's favor that he did not, provided there would be no scandal. 

Suicide is a grave sin for three (3) reasons:

1.It is a most grave offense against the rights of God. The act usurps God's authority over life and death. "Thou, O Lord, hast the power of life and death." (Wisdom 16: 13). Human life has intrinsic worth because it comes from God, and God wills the salvation of all. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity took on a human nature and died for humanity, to give all a chance to get to Heaven. 

2. It is a grave offense against society. A community has the right to be benefited by the lives of their members. It has a demoralizing effect on those who loved the person. People valuable to society would rashly kill themselves in a fit of depression thinking they are not valuable. Even members of society not able to contribute in any substantial, material way would deprive others of an example of fortitude, or the opportunity to show charity and mercy to the needy. 

3. It is a grave offense against the natural law. You cannot "love thy neighbor as thyself," unless there is love of self (not inordinate). Those who kill themselves to escape pain and miseries, incur the greater evils of death and moral cowardice, to be followed by eternal damnation--the greatest of all evils and suffering.  

(Material above condensed from theologians McHugh and Callan, Moral Theology, [1930], 2: 117-123).

Conclusion

It is nothing short of lunacy to risk one’s life (both temporal and eternal) by tampering with the occult. Christ told us, "And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell. " (St. Matthew 10:28). The occult can lead to untold problems and ultimately suicide. Suicide kills both body and soul. 

Blessing An Intrinsic Evil

 

The Argentinian apostate, Jorge Bergoglio, has effectively given incontrovertible proof of his non-papacy. According to Reuters:

VATICAN CITY, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Pope Francis has appeared to leave open the possibility of priests blessing same-sex couples, if they are limited, decided on a case-by-case basis and not confused with wedding ceremonies of heterosexuals.

Francis made his opinion known in one answer to five questions from five conservative cardinals from Asia, Europe, Africa, the United States and Latin America.

The cardinals sent the pope a set of formal questions, known as "dubia" ("doubts" in Latin), about issues relating to a global gathering that starts at the Vatican on Wednesday. One of the questions specifically regarded the practice, which has become relatively common in places like Germany, of priests blessing same sex couples who are in a committed relationship. The written exchange took place in July and the Vatican published the pope's responses on Monday after the five cardinals unilaterally disclosed their initiative, saying they were not satisfied with Francis' answers.

The pope's nuanced response differed from an explicit ruling against such blessings by the Vatican's doctrinal office in 2021. In his seven-point response, Francis said the Church was very clear that the sacrament of matrimony could only be between a man and woman and open to procreation and that the Church should avoid any other ritual or sacramental rite that contradicted this teaching. Still, he said "pastoral charity should permeate all our decisions and attitudes" adding that "we cannot be judges who only deny, reject and exclude."

At times, he said, requests for blessings were a means through which people reached out to God to live better lives, even if some acts were "objectively morally unacceptable." The Church teaches that same-sex attraction is not sinful but homosexual acts are. Any eventual blessings, Francis said, should not become the norm or get blanket approval from Church jurisdictions such as dioceses or national bishops conferences. Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which promotes Church outreach to LGBT Catholics, said that while the response was not a "full-fledged, ringing endorsement" of such blessings, it was very welcomed.

In a statement DeBernardo said that the pope's words implied "that the church does indeed recognize that holy love can exist between same-gender couples, and the love of these couples mirrors the love of God." (Emphasis mine). 

The importance of what happened cannot be understated. The man who claims to be the Vicar of Christ on Earth, allowed the possibility of  Vatican II sect clergy "blessing" that which is intrinsically evil (sodomitical relationships). The post will answer the following questions: (1) what does it mean when something is "intrinsically evil"?; (2) is homosexuality intrinsically evil?; and (3) what consequences result from blessing a sodomitical relationship? 

Intrinsically Evil Acts

What does the term "intrinsically evil act" mean? The most common definition put forth by the approved theologians is "a human act that can never be morally justified or permitted, regardless of the intention of the person who performs them or any circumstances within which they take place." Homosexual acts are forbidden by both the natural law and Divine Positive Law, which admits of no exceptions in this case.

Natural Law

According to the Angelic Doctor, the eminent St. Thomas Aquinas, natural law consists of the basic principles of practical reason for humans. The most fundamental of these principles is that good is to be done and evil is to be avoided. Here good means reasonable while evil means unreasonable. A second key principle of practical reasoning is that knowledge is a good to be pursued while falsehood and ignorance are to be overcome. A third principle is that you may never do evil even if you anticipate that good may come of it.

How then do we know these principles? Natural law holds that people possess a basic knowledge of these principles through their possession of reason (See ST I-II a.94, a.4). In this sense, the principles of natural law are “natural” to human beings (See ST I-II q.94, a2) not because of human biology but because they are universally knowable by human reason (See ST I-II q. 94, a.4; a.94, a.6)and universally binding because of their basis in human reason (See ST I-II q. 94, a.4). Reason thus permits us to know the truth about good and evil, even though the directedness of such knowledge can be undermined or obscured by the pull of powerful emotions, and the meaning of this information for human choice and action can be hard to determine (See ST I-II q.94, a.6).

The study of natural law consequently involves identifying and applying the principles of rational thought to how we know and choose the good, right, and just when we make free choices. Natural law maintains that for us to be rational in the fullest sense is to choose and act in accordance with what our reason tells us is the truth about the right course of action. Aquinas defined truth as adaequatio intellectus et rei [i.e., conformity between the intellect and reality] (See ST I, q.21, a.2c). What Aquinas meant by “reality” is the truth about something as it is in itself: that, for instance, the content of the most basic principle of justice is to give others what they are owed, and not something else; or that the content of the virtue of courage is not the same as being reckless or being a coward.

Natural law is thus neither social science nor political theory. Instead, natural law is primarily ethics insofar as it is concerned with practical reasoning about how individuals and communities do good and avoid evil when making choices and acting.

How, then, does natural law understand the nature of evil actions? Human actions, from the standpoint of natural law, can go wrong in several ways. An act might be wrong, for example, simply because it involves directing oneself against a good like truth, for instance, by lying (See ST II-II q.110, a.3).There is, however, another dimension to natural law theory that shapes its understanding of free choice, morality, and virtue. This is its insistence that there are certain choices which may never be made; that is, certain actions that are never acceptable, regardless of the circumstances or the nobility of the intention, because such actions are always seriously wrong by reason of their object: that is, what we are choosing to do.

An example of what the theologians and natural law scholars call an "exception-less norm" is the direct killing of an innocent person: in other words, directly choosing to violate the fundamental good of life. Even if an act of directly killing an innocent person might save an entire city from destruction, such an act remains intrinsically wrong by reason of its object. It is always irreconcilable with the choice of the good. There is never a good reason to make murder the deliberate object of our act. It follows that, in accordance with the principle that good is to be done and evil avoided, such an act can never be freely chosen. There are no exceptions.

To this extent, natural law is grounded on a commitment to moral absolutes. Examples of other acts that would meet the same criteria are lying (which violates the good of truth), theft (which violates the good of property), and homosexuality (which violates the good of human procreation). 

Homosexual activity is therefore an intrinsically evil act under the natural law.

Divine Positive Law

Homosexual activity is also intrinsically wrong by Divine Command of God, and it admits no exception. Here's what the Bible, Church Fathers/Doctors/Theologians, and Magisterial teaching have said on the subject.

Old Testament:

Genesis 19:7-8: "I beg you, my brothers, not to do this wicked thing [sodomy] I have two daughters who have never had intercourse with men. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please. But don't do anything to these men."---The very term "sodomy" comes from the city of Sodom, destroyed along with the city of Gomorrah because of rampant homosexuality.

Judges 19:23-24: "No, my brothers; do not be so wicked. Since this man is my guest, do not commit this crime.[sodomy]. Rather let me bring out my maiden daughter or his concubine. Ravish them, or do whatever you want with them; but against the man you must not commit this wanton crime."[sodomy]

Leviticus 18:22: "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination."

(All emphasis mine).  N.B. Some wonder how Lot could be considered a good man when he offered his daughters to be raped. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) answers: "Lot interceded in behalf of his guests in accordance with his duties as host, which are most sacred in the East, but made the mistake of placing them above his duties as a father by offering his two daughters to the wicked designs of the Sodomites..." Lot tried to spare his guests (which he did not realize were angels disguised as men) from being sodomized and failing his duties as a host. The evil of sodomy was known even then, and duties of hosts were considered sacred. In his zeal to prevent this dual evil, he committed a sin in offering his daughters to be raped. However, even in this, his sin did not even come close to the savage brutality and iniquity of the Sodomites.---Introibo

New Testament:

1 Corinthians 6:9: "Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

1 Timothy 1:10: "... law is meant not for a righteous person but for the lawless and unruly ... the unchaste, practicing homosexuals, kidnapers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is opposed to sound teaching."

Romans 1:26-27: "Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity."

St. Jude 1:7: "In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire."

(All emphasis mine).

Church Fathers and Doctors:

St. Augustine: “[T]hose shameful acts against nature, such as were committed in Sodom, ought everywhere and always to be detested and punished. If all nations were to do such things, they would be held guilty of the same crime by the law of God, which has not made men so that they should use one another in this way." 

St. John Chrysostom: "But if thou scoffest at hearing of hell and believest not that fire, remember Sodom. For we have seen, surely we have seen, even in this present life, a semblance of hell. For since many would utterly disbelieve the things to come after the resurrection, hearing now of an unquenchable fire, God brings them to a right mind by things present. For such is the burning of Sodom, and that conflagration!…Consider how great is that sin, to have forced hell to appear even before its time!… For that rain was unwonted, for the intercourse was contrary to nature, and it deluged the land, since lust had done so with their souls. Wherefore also the rain was the opposite of the customary rain. Now not only did it fail to stir up the womb of the earth to the production of fruits, but made it even useless for the reception of seed. For such was also the intercourse of the men, making a body of this sort more worthless than the very land of Sodom. And what is there more detestable than a man who hath pandered himself, or what more execrable?"

Pope St. Gregory the Great: "Sacred Scripture itself confirms that sulfur evokes the stench of the flesh, as it speaks of the rain of fire and sulfur poured upon Sodom by the Lord. He had decided to punish Sodom for the crimes of the flesh, and the very type of punishment he chose emphasized the shame of that crime. For sulfur stinks, and fire burns. So it was just that Sodomites, burning with perverse desires arising from the flesh like stench, should perish by fire and sulfur so that through this just punishment they would realize the evil they had committed, led by a perverse desire."

St. Peter Damien: "Truly, this vice is never to be compared with any other vice because it surpasses the enormity of all vices.… It defiles everything, stains everything, pollutes everything. And as for itself, it permits nothing pure, nothing clean, nothing other than filth.…"

(As cited in the pamphlet The Sin of Homosexuality, [1949], Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, no author given). 

Approved Theologians:

Prummer: "Sodomy is a sin that cries to Heaven for vengeance." (Handbook of Moral Theology, [1957], pg. 236).

Jone: "Sexual paresthesia is had when sex life is not affected by venereal matters, but by objects all together foreign to sex life. The following are forms of this perversion: (a) Sadism...(b) Masochism...(c) Fetishism...(d) Homosexuality..."(Moral Theology, [1961], pg. 151). 

McHugh and Callan: "Worst among the sins of impurity, as such, are crimes of unnatural lust...For procreation requires heterosexual intercourse, a condition disregarded by sodomy, which is the lustful commerce of male with male...or of female with female (tribadism, sapphism, lesbian love)." (Moral Theology, [1930], 2:543). 

Cronin: "The sexual function can only be exercised in a way consonant with the generation of offspring. Any other use of it would be a perversion of the natural order and, therefore, a violation of the natural law." (The Science of Ethics, [1939], 2:63). 

(All emphasis mine).

Magisterium:

Pope St. Pius V: "Having set our minds to remove everything that may in some way offend the Divine Majesty, We resolve to punish, above all and without indulgence, those things which, by the authority of the Sacred Scriptures or by most grievous examples, are most repugnant to God and elicit His wrath; that is, negligence in divine worship, ruinous simony, the crime of blasphemy, and the execrable libidinous vice against nature. For which faults peoples and nations are scourged by God, according to His just condemnation, with catastrophes, wars, famine, and plagues… Let the judges know that if even after this, Our Constitution, they are negligent in punishing these crimes, they will be guilty of them at Divine Judgment and will also incur Our indignation… If someone commits that nefarious crime against nature that caused divine wrath to be unleashed against the children of iniquity, he will be given over to the secular arm for punishment; and if he is a cleric, he will be subject to analogous punishment after having been stripped of all his degrees.” (Emphasis mine)

1917 Code of Canon Law: Canon 2357, section 1: "Lay persons who have been legitimately declared guilty of the commission of crimes against the sixth commandment with minors under sixteen years of age, or of rape, sodomy, incest, or traffic in vice, are automatically branded with infamy, besides incurring the other penalties which the Ordinary may think proper to impose.”

The Divine Positive Law prohibits homosexual acts without exception. Ergo, homosexual acts are intrinsically evil.

Blessings of the Church

There are two types of blessings given by the Church: invocative and constitutive. Invocative blessings "are those in which the Divine benignity is invoked on persons or things, to bring down upon them some temporal or spiritual good without changing their former condition. Of this kind are the blessings given to children, and to articles of food." Constitutive blessings " permanently depute persons or things to Divine service by imparting to them some sacred character, by which they assume a new and distinct spiritual relationship." (See The Catholic Encyclopedia, [1913]). Invocative blessings are what sodomites seek.

What are the benefits conferred by blessings? 

1. Excitation of pious emotions and affections of the heart and, by means of these, remission of venial sin and of the temporal punishment due to it.

2. Freedom from power of evil spirits.

3. Preservation and restoration of bodily health.

4. Various other benefits, temporal or spiritual. (Ibid). 

How does this apply to sodomitical relationships like "same-sex marriage"? 

In brief: IT CANNOT AND DOES NOT APPLY. Note well that the sodomites who want their perverted relationship "blessed" are asking for approval to commit homosexual acts which are intrinsically evil. As such they are not seeking remission of sin, freedom from the power of evil spirits, preservation/restoration of bodily health, or any other benefit for their soul. They want God, through His One True Church, to acknowledge intrinsically evil acts as worthy of respect, special recognition, and not to be condemned. This is an approval of something for which no approval can ever be given for any reason. 

The qualifiers offered by Bergoglio are easily seen as ludicrous. Let me analogize. What if Bergoglio had said "priests can bless abortion providers if they are limited, decided on a case-by-case basis and not confused with bringing the fetus to term." Abortion is the murder of an innocent unborn human being and is an intrinsic evil. Every case of abortion, like every case of sodomite "marriage" is always wrong. Period. Being in a "committed relationship" founded on unnatural, intrinsically evil acts is no less evil than those performed by strangers who hook-up. 

Bergoglio said, "pastoral charity should permeate all our decisions and attitudes" adding that "we cannot be judges who only deny, reject and exclude." Does "pastoral charity" allow a so-called doctor to murder an unborn child? No. Nor does it permit perverts to commit acts of homosexuality. Exclusion by excommunication can cause someone to realize their sin and repent. Christ Himself excludes people from Heaven: "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." (Apocalypse 21:8). 

Moreover, we should judge as Christ commanded: "Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly." (St. John 7:24). "Those homosexuals look nice and seem to be in love," is to be rejected by correct judgement based on Church teaching. The statement by New Ways Ministry, that homosexual acts committed by two perverts pretending to have a "marriage" are such that they "mirror the love of God," is so blasphemous it could only have come from one doing the work of Satan himself. 

Consequences Considered

Bergoglio has opened up the possibility that an intrinsic evil could be "blessed." Roncalli (John XXIII) did the same thing by calling a Commission to "study" artificial contraception. Contraception is also intrinsically evil so what was there to "study"? The result? Just by giving people the idea it could be permissible has lead to only 13% in the Vatican II sect (in the U.S.) considering it sinful as of 2016. In that same year, 64% of sect members see nothing wrong with homosexual behaviors. Can you imagine how much that will now increase? 

(See americamagazine.org/faith/2016/09/28/poll-finds-many-us-catholics-breaking-church-over-contraception-abortion-and-lgbt). 

The Sin of Scandal:

According to theologian Prummer: "Scandal is some word or deed (whether of omission or commission) that is itself evil or has the appearance of evil and provides an occasion of sin to another." (See Ibid, pg. 102). Bergoglio has claimed that it may be possible to "bless" an intrinsic evil, something which is impossible. What he spoke was evil, and will give others the idea that sexual perversion is "not that bad," or even a positive good. That is scandalous. 

Sodomite "marriage" is evil for at least the following reasons:

1. It makes a mockery of the Sacrament of Matrimony which is meant for the procreation and education of children. It builds up the Mystical Body of Christ. 

2. Marriage is no longer seen as being about procreation, but about hooking-up.

3. It makes the unnatural and perverted seem acceptable and normal.

4. Children will be more likely to experiment with perversions and become perverts themselves. 

5. Children raised via adoption (or conceived by surrogate mothers for same-sex "marriages") will be heavily influenced by the perverts. Many will be molested. Moreover, with women willing to sell their bodies as surrogates for different men, don't be surprised if unintended incest spikes when half-siblings marry, not knowing their background, and an increase in special needs children spawned by them, will result.

6. Blessing same-sex marriage will give homosexuals validation, that their destructive and intrinsically evils acts are in some way good, or can be acceptable in certain circumstances. This will confirm them in their sin.

All the above will lead countless souls to eternal damnation. 

Conclusion: The Other "S-Word"

By claiming that it is even permissible to bless that which is intrinsically evil, Jorge Bergoglio's nod towards homosexuality and sodomitical relationships means he is giving evil to the Church. However, the Church is Indefectible, i.e., She cannot give what is evil or erroneous to Her children. Ergo, the idea that intrinsic evil could be blessed could not come from a true pope protected by the Holy Ghost. Instead, it comes from a false pope who leads a false sect pretending to be the Roman Catholic Church. Will the "recognize and resist" SSPX and "conservative" Vatican II sect members wake up to the fact of the other "s-word"? Sedevacantism is the only logical conclusion. 

Contending For The Faith---Part 20

 

In St. Jude 1:3, we read, "Dearly beloved, taking all care to write unto you concerning your common salvation, I was under a necessity to write unto you: to beseech you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." [Emphasis mine]. Contending For The Faith is a series of posts dedicated to apologetics (i.e.,  the intellectual defense of the truth of the Traditional Catholic Faith) to be published the first Monday of each month.  This is the next installment.

Sadly, in this time of Great Apostasy, the faith is under attack like never before, and many Traditionalists don't know their faith well enough to defend it. Remember the words of our first pope, "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect..." (1Peter 3:16). There are five (5) categories of attacks that will be dealt with in these posts. Attacks against:

• The existence and attributes of God
• The truth of the One True Church established by Christ for the salvation of all 
• The truth of a particular dogma or doctrine of the Church
• The truth of Catholic moral teaching
• The truth of the sedevacantist position as the only Catholic solution to what has happened since Vatican II 

In addition, controversial topics touching on the Faith will sometimes be featured, so that the problem and possible solutions may be better understood. If anyone has suggestions for topics that would fall into any of these categories, you may post them in the comments. I cannot guarantee a post on each one, but each will be carefully considered.

Worlds Apart: Existentialism

Continuing from last month when Naturalism was examined, I'm going to be explaining various worldviews.  What is a worldview? In the simplest terms, a worldview may be defined as how one sees life and the world at large. In this manner it can be compared to a pair of glasses. How a person makes sense of the world depends upon that person’s vision, so to speak.  The interpretive lens helps people make sense of life and comprehend the world around them. Worldviews also shape people’s understanding of their unique place on Earth. This month the worldview of Existentialism will be explained.

As stated in last month's post, a well-thought-out course, or worldview, needs to answer seven ultimate concerns that philosophers identify as “the big questions of life:"

 1. Ultimate Reality: What kind of God, if any, actually exists? 

2. External Reality: Is there anything beyond the cosmos, or is what we perceive all there is?

3. Knowledge: What can be known and how can anyone know it? 

4. Origin: Where did humanity come from? 

5. Morals and Values: How should I live, and what things are important in life? 

6. Problem of Life and Resolution: What is wrong with the world? How can humanity’s problem be solved? 

7. Destiny: Will I survive the death of my body and, if so, in what state? 

(Sources were many, and of special mention:

Dooyeweerd, Herman. Roots of Western Culture: Pagan, Secular, and Christian Options.Trans. John Kraay. [2003]; Harris, Robert A. The Integration of Faith and Learning: A Worldview Approach. [2004]; Sire, James W. Naming the Elephant: Worldview as a Concept, [2004]. I take no credit except for the compilation and condensation of the material into a concise post.---Introibo). 

Existentialism Defined

Existentialism is not a full-fledged worldview, but it exists as an outgrowth of other worldviews to the point that it is considered a worldview unto itself. Existentialism is either atheistic (major proponents include John Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Friedrich Nietzsche) or theistic (major proponents include Gabriel Marcel [Catholic], Karl Jaspers [Protestant], and Martin Buber [Jewish]). Atheistic existentialism is a parasite on naturalism; theistic existentialism is a parasite on theism.

BASIC ATHEISTIC EXISTENTIALISM:

It answers the worldview questions on Ultimate Reality, Knowledge, Moral and Values, and Death, the same as Naturalism, to wit:

Matter exists eternally; God does not exist. Death is extinction of personality and individuality. Through our innate and autonomous human reason, including the methods of science, we can know the universe. The cosmos, including this world, is understood to be in its normal state. Ethics is related only to human beings. In other words, atheistic existentialism affirms most of the propositions of naturalism except those relating to human nature and our relationship to the cosmos. Indeed, existentialism’s major interest is in our humanity and how we can be significant in an otherwise insignificant world.

Atheistic Existentialism and External Reality

The cosmos is composed solely of matter, but to human beings reality appears in two forms— subjective and objective.

The world, it is assumed, existed long before human beings came on the scene. It is structured or chaotic, determined by inexorable law or subject to chance. Whichever it is makes no difference. The world merely is. Then came a new thing, conscious beings—ones who distinguished he and she from it, ones who seemed determined to determine their own destiny, to ask questions, to ponder, to wonder, to seek meaning, to endow the external world with special value, to create gods. In short, then came human beings. 

Now we have—for no one knows what reason—two kinds of being in the universe, the one seemingly having kicked the other out of itself and into separate existence. The first sort of being is the objective world—the world of material, of inexorable law, of cause and effect, of chronological, clock-ticking time, of flux, of mechanism. The machinery of the universe, spinning electrons, whirling galaxies, falling bodies and rising gases and flowing waters—each is doing its thing, forever unconscious, forever just being where it is when it is. Here, say the existentialists, science and logic have their day. People know the external, objective world by virtue of careful observation, recording, hypothesizing, checking hypotheses by experiment, ever-refining theories, and proving guesses about the lay of the cosmos in which we live.

The second sort of being is the subjective world—the world of mind, of consciousness, of awareness, of freedom, of stability. Here the inner awareness of the mind is a conscious present, a constant now. Time has no meaning, for the subject is always present to itself, never past, never future. Science and logic do not penetrate this realm; they have nothing to say about subjectivity. Subjectivity is the self’s apprehension of the not-self; subjectivity is making that not-self part of itself. The subject takes in knowledge not as a bottle takes in liquid but as an organism takes in food. Knowledge turns into the knower.

Atheistic Existentialism and Human Origins

Human beings are complex “machines”; personality is an interrelation of chemical and physical properties we do not yet fully understand. For human beings alone existence precedes essence; people make themselves who they are. Atheistic existentialism is at one with naturalism’s basic view of human nature; there is indeed no genuinely transcendent element in human beings, but they do display one important unique feature. To put it in Sartre’s words, “If God does not exist, there is at least one being in whom existence precedes essence, a being who exists before he can be defined by any concept, and . . . this being is man.” This sentence is the most famous definition of the core of existentialism. Sartre continues, “First of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself.” (See Jean-Paul Sartre, “Existentialism,” reprinted in A Casebook on Existentialism, ed. William V. Spanos, [1966], pg. 278). 

Each of us makes himself or herself human by what we do with our self-consciousness and our self-determinacy. The subjective world is completely at the beck and call of every subjective being, that is, of every person. How does this work out in practice? Let us say that Robert, a soldier, fears he is a coward. Is he a coward? Only if he acts like a coward, and his action will proceed not from a nature defined beforehand but from the choices he makes when the bullets start to fly. We can call Robert a coward if and only if he does cowardly deeds, and these will be deeds he chooses to do. So if Robert fears he is a coward but does not want to be, let him do brave deeds when they are needed.

Atheistic Existentialism and The Problem of Life/Resolution

The problem of life is that people don't "commit to themselves." It is solved when they do so commit. Ordinary naturalists can choose to commit themselves to their families or neighbors, their communities or country, the environment or the world. They need not display overarching egotism or selfishness. However, full-blown atheistic existentialists have already committed themselves to themselves.

Since they themselves make themselves who they are, they are responsible only to themselves. They admit they are finite beings in an absurd world, subject to death without exception. The authenticity of their value comes solely by virtue of their own conscious choices.

 BASIC THEISTIC EXISTENTIALISM

Theistic Existentialism shares the same answers as theism to Ultimate Reality, External Reality, Origin of Humans, Morals and Values, and Destiny. It differs on Knowledge and Problem of Life/Resolution.

In short: God is infinite and personal, transcendent and immanent, omniscient, sovereign, and good. God created the cosmos ex nihilo to operate with a uniformity of cause and effect in an open system. Human beings are created in the image of God and thus possess personality, self-transcendence, intelligence, morality, gregariousness, and creativity. Human beings were created good, but through the fall the image of God became defaced, though not so ruined as to be incapable of restoration. "Christian existentialists" see this redemption in Christ. Non-Christian existentialists see it as yet to be. 

Theistic Existentialism and Knowledge

Theistic existentialism accepts the basic existentialist premise that there are no rationally discoverable universal truths; knowledge comes to us from lived experience. This conflicts with their stated commitment to morals and values like the Ten Commandments. Each individual simply accepts the Commandments, as they understand them, through an encounter with God in lived experience. 

Theistic Existentialism and Problem of Life/Resolution

The Fall of our First Parents was said not to have taken place back there and then in space and time. Rather, each person reenacts in their own life this story. Each enters the world like Adam, sinless; each one rebels against God. The fall is existential—a here-and-now proposition. Edward John Carnell summarizes the existential view of the fall as “a mythological description of a universal experience of the race.” By "living authentically as to how you personally believe," you will be saved. (Existentialism implies universal salvation). 

Refutation of Existentialism

Theistic existentialism has found its way into the Vatican II sect, and tried to gain entrance to the One True Church pre-Vatican II. Since atheistic existentialism can be refuted by the proofs for God's existence, theistic existentialism poses the greater threat.

(For this section, I have condensed some material on existentialism from Phillip Trower's work, The Church Learned And The Revolt Of The Scholars, [1979], pgs. 29-40---Introibo). 

In existentialism, reason is not just downplayed it is, in effect, abolished. To use it for thinking in the normal way by distinguishing object from object (cat from dog, and cat's tail from cat's body), or objects in the outside world from the thoughts in one's mind (object from subject) is considered wrong. This kind of normal thinking, though plainly designed for us by God, was supposedly introduced by wicked "Greek intellectualism," and is said to falsify reality, which does not consist of separate creatures with distinct natures, but is envisaged as a liquid continuum--like soup. For example, making statements about the nature of God, such as He exists as a Trinity, should be forbidden because they turn God into an "object," and God cannot be considered as an object among a variety of other objects (even if we are unquestionably objects to God).

The fallacy at the root of all existentialist thought is the idea that "experience" can be a path to knowledge on its own, separate from and, in some sense, in rivalry with the use of the mind. In reality, experience is merely the stuff out of which knowledge is derived. Unless we analyze or think about what we have experienced (which necessarily involves the use of abstract ideas and propositions) our experiences will tell us nothing or deceive us. Existentialism also assumes that we all experience reality differently; each has his own version of the "truth." This is why each must be allowed to "do his own thing"; whatever he finds "meaningful" or "relevant." The word meaningful in existentialist talk does not mean true, right, or intelligible, but what gives the individual satisfaction. 

The way we can know something is by experiencing it subjectively, in an encounter, with "the other." Most existentialist philosophers were atheists, as there was no God they encountered. Life was simply absurd and meaningless to these existentialists (Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Friedrich Nietzsche to name three of the most famous and influential). There were some who believed in "The Other" (God) who could be encountered through our experiences with each other and in Whom we sometimes need a "leap of [blind] faith." The most famous of these philosophers were Karl Jaspers (Protestant), Soren Kierkegaard (Protestant), Martin Buber (Jewish), and Gabriel Marcel ("Catholic"). 

Marcel (1889-1973) was an atheist son of a French agnostic. He converted to Catholicism in 1929, at age 40. He followed the Vatican II sect happily.  Marcel was friends with Jacques Maritain, whose philosophical writings were going to be censured by the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office under Pope Pius XII. Marcel likely would have been next, but both he and Maritain escaped censure with the death of Pope Pius XII and subsequent usurpation of Roncalli.  Marcel's philosophy influenced a Polish bishop; Karol Wojtyla. (See Derek Jeffreys, The Legacy of John Paul II: An Evangelical Assessment,[2007]). 

Enter Fr. Karl Rahner

Karl Rahner was born on March 5, 1904, in Freiberg, Germany. He was ordained a Jesuit on July 26, 1932. In the twentieth century (beginning in the late 1930s), Rahner, along with theologians  Henri de Lubac, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Yves Congar, Hans Kung, Edward Schillebeeckx, Marie-Dominique Chenu, Louis Bouyer, Jean Daniélou, Jean Mouroux and Joseph Ratzinger (later "Pope" Benedict XVI) began a Neo-Modernist movement that despised the Neo-Scholasticism which had served the Church so well. The movement was called "Nouvelle Theologie" (French for "New Theology") by the great anti-Modernist theologian Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, often pejoratively called "the sacred monster of Thomism" by his enemies because of his love of the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas and his hatred of Modernism.

In 1946, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange wrote a scathing criticism of the movement (which liked to call itself  ressourcement ---"return to the sources"), because they claimed they were "returning to patristic thought." Garrigou-Lagrange demonstrated that the theologians of the movement did not "return to the sources" but deviated from the long-standing theological tradition of the Catholic Church, thus creating a "new theology" all their own, and a disguised resurgence of Modernism. In 1950, Pope Pius XII responded with his great encyclical Humani Generis which condemned many of their errors, such as rejecting the traditional dogmatic formulations that emerged throughout Church history as a result of scholastic theology, re-interpreting Catholic dogma in a way that was inconsistent with tradition, falling into the error of dogmatic relativism and criticizing biblical texts in a way that deviated from the principles of biblical hermeneutics outlined by his predecessors (principally Pope Leo XIII).

 Almost all the theologians of the "new theology" were under suspicion of Modernism by the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office under Cardinal Ottavianni. Rahner was no exception. Before the death of Pope Pius XII, Cardinal Ottaviani tried unsuccessfully three times to convince the ailing Pontiff to have him excommunicated. In November 1962, "Pope" John XXIII appointed Rahner as a peritus ("theological expert") at Vatican II. The heretic Rahner thus had complete access to the Council and numerous opportunities to share his heresy with the bishops.  Rahner's influence at Vatican II was widespread, and he was subsequently chosen as one of seven theologians who would develop Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, which created the Vatican II sect with its damnable new ecclesiology. The Church of Christ is not identical to the Roman Catholic Church, but it is a separate entity which "subsists in" the Catholic Church, as well as in false sects. 

Rahner's works discuss his idea of the supernatural existential. This term meant that every human being, since Creation, has a supernatural element within him which inclines him, like a magnet, to encounter the "Supreme Divine Other." The supernatural existential takes the place of Divine Grace. Radically different experiences of God lead to different interpretations and theological positions, but all come from and lead to God. According to Herbert Vorgimler, Rahner stated, "I have experienced God directly. I have experienced God, the nameless and unfathomable One, the one who is silent, yet near...I have experienced God Himself, not human words about Him."  (See Understanding Karl Rahner, [1986], pg. 11). Rahner teaches that every human being is an "anonymous Christian." The supernatural existential links all humans to Christ through their encounters, even if their religion is a different perception, and even if they are atheists who don't realize they have encountered Him.  

As a result of Rahner's philosophically warped worldview, and the false theology driven by it, he was led into serious errors that resulted in apostasy from the One True Faith:

• The supernatural existential is an implicit denial of Original Sin and the whole doctrine on Grace
• The Incarnation and Redemption by Christ are mythological, but are useful narratives
• All Marian Dogmas are myths
• There is no "One True Church" because all religions lead to God
• All humanity will be saved

Lumen Gentium, the Vatican II document Rahner helped draft, teaches the heresy that there is a Church of Christ separate from the Roman Catholic Church. False sects have "elements" of the Church of Christ. To have all the elements, like the Roman Catholic Church, is best. However, having just some elements is good too, and leads to salvation. You can begin to see the connection to Rahner's idea that the more vivid, or the more close your encounter with God, the better it is, but we all encounter Him to one degree or another. 

Now, these statements can be better understood:

"All the baptized are in Christ's Church."--Wojtyla, Ut Unam Sint, para. #42 

"Proselytism is solemn nonsense."--Bergoglio

"The way to achieve Christian unity, in fact, is not proselytism, but fraternal dialogue..." Wojtyla, "Homily" of 1/25/93

"The Second Vatican Council did immense work to form that full and universal awareness by the Church of which Pope Paul VI wrote in his first Encyclical. This awareness-or rather self-awareness-by the Church is formed a "in dialogue"; and before this dialogue becomes a conversation, attention must be directed to "the other," that is to say: the person with whom we wish to speak."---Wojtyla, Redemptor Homines; Emphasis mine

"...as the Council teaches, 'by his Incarnation, he, the Son of God, in a certain way united himself with each man'"---Wojtyla, Redemptor Homines; Emphasis mine; See also Gaudium et Spes, para. #22.

Conclusion

Existentialism, as demonstrated, is one of the chief sources of the moral as well as the doctrinal rot in the Vatican II sect.  It destroys the metaphysical framework of reality by which the mind ascends to God, reducing everything to a fog and a flux where He is lost. It provides the justification for moral relativism, and universalism (the heretical idea all people will be saved). Existentialism in both its forms (atheistic and theistic) is heretical, and it is a worldview that is self-defeating and thus incoherent and untrue as a comprehensive system of belief, since experience cannot be a path to knowledge on its own.

Adolph Hitler And So-Called "Traditionalists"

 

Disturbing trends among those claiming to be Traditionalists include those who (a) seek to make the idea of a flat Earth a dogma, (b) make geocentricism a dogma, and most disturbingly (c) sanitize notorious dictator and mass murderer Adolph Hitler. I've seen the trend of the latter worsen over time. It affects many Millennials and now some Generation Z people as well. For some reason, they seem to like positions that seem "extreme"(which, unfortunately, is why many of them became Traditionalist) or make them somewhat out of the ordinary. They are young historical revisionists who think the Nazis were "good guys;" they were anti-Communists and got "bad press" because of Jewish conspiracies lurking behind every door. 

Traditionalists get enough flak standing for the truth without these pseudo-Traditionalist jokers giving us a bad name by associating us with ideas that are not merely whacky (like the "flat Earthers"), but try and rehabilitate a man and a political movement that were evil to the core. Some go so far as to declare Hitler as a "hero." The purpose of this post is to show the depths of depravity and anti-Catholicism that are inherent both in Hitler and the Nazi Party. May it, God Willing, show those people the error of their ways. Second, I hope it can help my readers refute any of this pro-Hitler/Nazi nonsense that may come their way. 

I will not address their claims regarding race and Jewish people. It is enough to show that the man they idolize and his political regime were an abomination before God.  For sake of brevity, I will refer to the "Traditionalist" apologists for Hitler as "Nazi Apologists" or "NAs." 

To My Readers: NAs will try to discredit a source based on whether or not the author is Jewish. The (illogical and fallacious) upshot is that all Jewish people cannot make a valid argument and they have a biased opinion that makes everything inherently untrue or untrustworthy. Some will go so far as to claim that a source is unreliable if the author had a distant Jewish relative, even if he/she is not Jewish. In logic we call this the Genetic Fallacy, i.e., the act of rejecting or accepting an argument on the basis of its origin rather than its content. I remember two pro-abortion women here in NYC who refused to listen to a nun who was a biologist and taught biology at Fordham University, attempting to inform them about the humanity of the unborn, because "you're a nun." What does that have to do with the arguments based on biological facts? A "recognize and resister" with whom I was acquainted refused to read anything from a sedevacantist because "they are all schismatic lunatics." Don't fall into the trap. It springs from the NAs paranoid idea that "everything bad is the result of a Jewish conspiracy and every single Jewish person is involved." They must deal with the arguments, not their origin.---Introibo

WARNING!! This post contains material that is extremely graphic, and may be found very disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.

Was Hitler Catholic?

Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) was baptized as a Catholic and was ostensibly practicing the Faith until the age of 18. Both atheists and NAs like to claim he was Catholic, but didn't practice the Faith. People can make claims all they want. The crux of the issue is whether or not the claims are backed up by sound reasoning and sufficient evidence. One of the so-called "New Atheists," Dr. Richard Dawkins, enjoys quoting Hitler as saying,  "...as late as 1941 he told his adjutant, General Gerhard Engel, 'I shall remain a Catholic forever.' (See The God Delusion, [2006], pg. 274). Was Hitler Catholic? Not by a long shot. Yes, he was baptized in the Church, but the "god" he worshiped was not the historical Jesus Christ Who founded His One True Church.  Even Dawkins admits, "Hitler, oddly, was always adamant that Jesus himself was not a Jew."(Ibid, pg. 276). Why would the world's biggest anti-Semite worship a Man born of a Jewish woman as God?  The answer is simple: he didn't. 

According to historian Weikart:

 It's true that Hitler's public statements opposing atheism should not be given too much weight, since they obviously served Hitler's political purposes to tar political opponents. However, in his private monologues, he likewise rejected atheism, providing further evidence that this was indeed his personal conviction. In July 1941, he told his colleagues that humans do not really know where the laws of nature come from. He continued, "Thus people discovered the wonderful concept of the Almighty, whose rule they venerate. We do not want to train people in atheism." He then maintained that every person has a consciousness of what we call God. This God was apparently not the Christian God preached in the churches, however, since Hitler continued, "In the long run National Socialism and the church cannot continue to exist together." The monologue confirms that Hitler rejected atheism, but it also underscores the vagueness of his conception of God. [...] While confessing faith in an omnipotent being of some sort, however, Hitler denied we could know anything about it. [...] Despite his suggestion that God is inscrutable and unfathomable, Hitler did sometimes claim to know something about the workings of Providence. [...] Perhaps even more significantly, he had complete faith that Providence had chosen him to lead the German people to greatness.

(See Hitler's Religion: The Twisted Beliefs that Drove the Third Reich, [2016]; Emphasis mine). 

Hitler's beliefs were a blend of scientism and "scientific occultism" also called "boarder science" (i.e., "science -based occult practices"). Just as many occultists defend their practices as being "backed by science" (e.g., feng shui, reiki, etc.) Hitler did the same. According to researcher Kurlander:

As the SS paper, the Schwarze Korps, explained in 1936: ‘We want in no way to deny that there are things which are invisible to our natural faculties. We also do not want to oppose a science that occupies itself with research on such matters . . . What we reject unequivocally is any obvious swindle that is based on deception and exploitation of stupidity and therefore constitutes criminal activity.’ Provided that the occult doctrine or practitioner was sufficiently ‘scientific’ in character, the Third Reich appeared reluctant to carry out any police action. Hence the German Society for Scientific Occultism (DGWO) negotiated the first few years of the Third Reich fairly easily. So did the major astrological associations and journals. They were generally allowed to police themselves in terms of practising ‘scientific’ occultism – provided they promised to stop publishing horoscopes of Nazi leaders. Hitler even sent a note thanking the president of the German Astrological Association (DAZ), Hubert Korsch, for organizing the 1935 Astrologer’s Conference taking place in Wernigerode.

(See Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich, [2017], pgs. 102-103; Emphasis mine). 

Hitler only mentioned being Catholic once in the quote given by Dawkins. Hitler also wrote of "gods" and "goddesses" proving, if all of his religious utterances are to be believed literally, that he was a polytheist. The gods are referred to in Mein Kampf-"the manifestations of decay showed only that the gods had willed Austria's destruction" [vol. I chap. 3]-and there are references to goddesses as well: to the "Goddess of Suffering" [vol. I chap. 2] and the "Goddess of Destiny" [vol. I chap.5]. There is even a "goddess of eternal justice and inexorable retribution" which Hitler believed "caused Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the most mortal enemy of Austrian- Germanism, to fall by the bullets which he himself had helped to mold" [vol I chap.1].

Publicly, Hitler pushed what was deemed "Positive Christianity," which term he used in point 24 of the 1920 Nazi Party Platform: "the Party as such represents the viewpoint of Positive Christianity without binding itself to any particular denomination." (See ghdi.ghi-dc.org/docpage.cfm?docpage_id=4811). 

 The new Nazi idea of Positive Christianity allayed the fears of Germany's Christian majority by implying that the Nazi movement was not anti-Christian. That said, in 1937, Hans Kerrl, the Reich Minister for Church Affairs, explained that "Positive Christianity" was not "dependent upon the Apostle's Creed", nor was it dependent on "faith in Christ as the son of God", upon which Christianity relied, rather, it was represented by the Nazi Party: "The Führer is the herald of a new revelation", he said. (See Shirer, William, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany, [1960], pgs. 238-239). 

The Nazis used "boarder science"--occultism that parades as science:

Despite the continuing difficulty of being recognized as ‘pioneers’ by mainstream science, some ‘border areas’ of the sciences had gained recognition in the Third Reich. These included scientific astrology, the study of ‘[cosmic] rays [and] other parapsychological phenomena like apparitions, telepathy, and clairvoyance’. In order for this promising trend to continue, Bender recommended that occultists dispense with phrases like ‘parascientific’ and ‘paranormal’ in favor of ‘border areas’ or border science. It was better to couch one’s experiments in an ‘epistemology of science’, Bender [an astrologer] insisted, than to traffic openly in ‘spiritualism, esoteric teachings and esoteric lodge activities’ that could not be proven. (See Kurlander, pg. 133)

The irony is that the evidence indicating an important link between Nazism and the supernatural has never been greater. In the mid-1920s Hitler almost certainly read Ernst Schertel's parapsychology tome Magic: History, Theory, Practice, underlining sentences such as 'Satan is the fertilizing, destroying-constructing warrior' and 'He who does not carry demonic seeds within him will never give birth to a new world.' ...(Ibid, pg. x).

Kurlander also reveals how the Nazis held a seance on the night of February 26, 1933 using clairvoyant Erik Hanussen who "predicted" the next day's Reichstag fire, which helped justify the Nazi imposition of martial law. Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess sponsored astrology, "cosmobiology," and other esoteric medical practices. SS Chief Heinrich Himmler encouraged research on the Holy Grail (the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark got their story-line from such records, albeit with great artistic license), witchcraft, and medieval devil worship (Luciferianism).

In my personal experience, Fr. DePauw knew of a story, circulated by many high-ranking prelates, that circa 1941 Pope Pius XII called together all the cardinals of the Curia, and late at night in St. Peter's Basilica, attempted a "long distance exorcism" of Hitler and the Nazi officials. The story has never been proven (or disproven). 

These occult views and the heretical conception of God held by Hitler are incompatible with Catholicism.  On March 14, 1937, Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical letter Mit Brennender Sorge (On the Church and the German Reich).  His words prove more true than ever, as greater evidence has been brought forth confirming his every contention. In paragraph # 7, His Holiness writes:

The believer in God is not he who utters the name in his speech, but he for whom this sacred word stands for a true and worthy concept of the Divinity. Whoever identifies, by pantheistic confusion, God and the universe, by either lowering God to the dimensions of the world, or raising the world to the dimensions of God, is not a believer in God. Whoever follows that so-called pre-Christian Germanic conception of substituting a dark and impersonal destiny for the personal God, denies thereby the Wisdom and Providence of God who "Reacheth from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly" (Wisdom viii. 1). Neither is he a believer in God. 

Hitler's belief in occultic practices and promotion of "Positive Christianity," with a nebulous conception of God, are clearly condemned.  He also referred to "gods" and "goddesses;" Paragraph #9 of Pope Pius XI's encyclical reads:

Beware, Venerable Brethren, of that growing abuse, in speech as in writing, of the name of God as though it were a meaningless label, to be affixed to any creation, more or less arbitrary, of human speculation. Use your influence on the Faithful, that they refuse to yield to this aberration. Our God is the Personal God, supernatural, omnipotent, infinitely perfect, one in the Trinity of Persons, tri-personal in the unity of divine essence, the Creator of all existence. Lord, King and ultimate Consummator of the history of the world, who will not, and cannot, tolerate a rival God by His side.

Far from being Catholic, Hitler was an occultist and someone who was also driven by Darwinian scientism. 

Was Hitler a Sodomite and Pervert?

That Hitler was a supreme pervert is beyond question. Multiple lines of evidence from various sources show him to be sexually deranged.

•  Hitler was a coprophile, (a deviant aroused by human feces) and had relationships with at least seven women (by some accounts eight women), one of whom was his niece. Due to his perverted and twisted ways all four women who were definitely involved with Hitler attempted suicide.

Based on the O.S.S. report and other sources, Waite has written, "The idea that Hitler had a sexual perversion particularly abhorrent to women is further supported by a statistic: of the seven women who, we can be reasonably sure, had intimate relations with Hitler, six committed suicide or seriously attempted to do so." In addition to Geli, "Mimi Reiter tried to hang herself in 1928; Eva Braun attempted suicide in 1932 and again in 1935; Frau Inge Ley was a successful suicide as were Renate Mueller and Suzi Liptauer." Perhaps the most dramatic of these was the mysterious death of thirty-year-old Berlin film actress Renate Mueller. Her director, one A. Zeissler, later told the O.S.S. that she had confided in him shortly after spending a night with Hitler in the Reichschancellery how distressed she was at the nature of the sexual practices Hitler demanded of her—with which, to her mortification, she complied. She claimed Hitler "fell on the floor and begged her to kick him. . .condemned himself as unworthy .. . and just groveled in an agonizing manner. The scene became intolerable to her, and she finally acceded to his wishes. As she continued to kick him he became more and more excited."

Let's begin with the affair of the purloined pornography. The most detailed account of the episode comes from Konrad Heiden, one of the first and most respected journalists to chronicle Hitler's rise (he was widely credited with coining the term "Nazi"). Author of four books on Hitler and the Nazis, forced to flee Germany in the thirties, Heiden was described in his New York Times obituary as "the best known authority outside Germany on the party and its leaders" in the pre-World War II period.

Heiden's magnum opus, Der Fuehrer, is remarkable for its portrait of Hitler's Munich circle, a now nearly forgotten collection of misfits, hunchbacks, sexual outlaws, moral degenerates, decadent aristocrats, ex-cons, and occult con men. Heiden calls Hitler's Munich circle "armed bohemians." They were Fascist libertines who spent boisterous days in the Cafe Heck and the Osteria Bavaria, stuffing themselves with pasta and pastries. While pimps scoured Munich schoolyards to supply boys for SA chief Ernst Rohm's predatory appetites, Hitler was reported to have been present at dissolute gatherings at the home of party photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, who had a wide acquaintance among artists, models, and other demimondaines. [i.e., prostitutes]

In 1929, according to Heiden, "Hitler wrote the young girl a letter couched in the most unmistakable terms. It was a letter in which the uncle and lover gave himself completely away; it expressed feelings which could be expected from a man with masochistic-coprophil inclinations, bordering on what Havelock Ellis calls 'undinism.'. . .[i.e., an obsession with or a sexual pleasure derived from water, esp urination and urine]. 

(See archive.vanityfair.com/article/1992/4/hitlers-doomed-angel; Emphasis mine). 

• Hitler was effeminate and bisexual. The Nazi Party was mostly comprised of sodomites.

According to Shirer (cited above):

Though Hitler reflexively acted with brutality, the Fuhrer exhibited many traits associated with homosexuality, including heightened aesthetic sense, intuition, mental acuity, dramatic flair and duplicity.

He desribes Rohem (1887-1934; leader of the Sturmabteilung, the Nazi Party's original paramilitary wing) as a “stocky, bull-necked, piggish-eyed, scar-faced professional soldier with a flair for politics and a natural ability as an organizer. “Like Hitler, he was possessed of a burning hatred for the democratic [Weimar] republic. A tough, ruthless, driving man, albeit, like so many of the early Nazis, a homosexual.” (Emphasis mine).

According to historian Lothar Machtan (Hidden Hitler [2001]), “homo-eroticism and homosexuality were cornerstones of fascist male-bonding culture prior to 1933.” As news of the homosexuality in Nazi ranks became more talked about by the average German, a four point plan was devised to repair their reputation: (1) documents revealing the truth about the rampant homosexuality within the Nazi Party would be seized and then destroyed; (2) Rohm, an open sodomite, would be murdered; (3) new anti-sodomite laws would be introduced; and (4) sodomites in the higher echelons of the Nazi Party would either be married off, imprisoned, or murdered. (See also, Lively and Abrams, The Pink Swastika, [1995]).

US intelligence later discovered that Hitler was never promoted during WW1 because of his “sexual orientation” and that he was arrested in Munich in 1919 for “pederasty and theft." Indeed, former Nazi, Otto Strasser said that when Hitler became Nazi Party leader in 1921, “his personal bodyguards and chauffeurs were almost exclusively homosexual." Two of these bodyguards, Ulrich Graf and Christian Weber, were expected to satisfy their boss’s needs whenever necessary...However, while gay Nazis were being butchered or imprisoned, Hitler was having a secret affair with his Munich chauffeur Julius Schreck. The two were apparently devoted to each other and enjoyed romantic trysts at the Hotel Bube near Berneck, the midway point between Berlin and Munich. Their affair lasted until Schreck’s sudden death from meningitis. When he heard the news, Hitler wept uncontrollably for several days. Schreck had fulfilled Hitler’s fantasies about the great love between a powerful man and his obedient servant. The homosexual Bavarian, King Ludwig II — who had conducted a 20 year affair with his coachman — was one of the German dictator’s heroes. (See irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20391500.html).

Lively and Abrams put forth a vigorous case that while some homosexuals (and those on trumped up charges of homosexuality) suffered under Hitler and his Nazis, The Pink Swastika attempts to show that that there was far more rape, torture, and murder committed by Nazi deviants/homosexuals than there ever was against homosexuals. The book draws heavily on two sources; Samuel Igra's book Germany's National Vice, which documents the homoerotic foundations of German militarism, and The Nazis and the Occult by Dusty Sklar, which documents the occult roots of Nazi ideology. There are many other sources listed as well. It is as fascinating as it is scary to read.

Why would Hitler found a Party made up of deviants? There are several reasons. First, he wanted people--pimps, murders, and homosexuals--who would be willing to go against traditional morality. Second, homosexuals fit in with Hitler's occult beliefs. Pagan "priests" and "priestesses" were often homosexual. The modern pagan religion of Wicca embraces homosexuality and worships nature. The swastika itself comes from non-Christian, pagan religions. It was used at least 5,000 years before Adolf Hitler designed the Nazi flag. To this day it is a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Odinism. It is a common sight on temples or houses in India or Indonesia. Swastikas also have an ancient history in Europe, appearing on artifacts from pre-Christian European cultures. Remember the Bible says homosexuality is the result of "worshiping the creation rather than the Creator" (See Romans 1: 18-27). Third, many homosexuals had violent, even murderous inclinations.

Sodomites may be divided into those who act effeminately ('fems") and those who disguise their unnatural vice under a veneer of being virile and manly ("butches").  The latter were the ones who wanted to revive the pederastic military cults of the pagan pre-Christian era. Their leaders included top Nazis Adolf Brand and Ernst Roehm. They despised the pacifist and effeminate homosexuals; and these were the ones whom were persecuted. Heterosexuals served the purpose of procreation, but the effeminate didn't procreate or share their militaristic vision. Hence, they were seen as subhuman. 

Hitler was indeed a bisexual pervert who formed a party of sodomites. The "pink triangles" were little more than a cover-up for the pink swastika. 

Were Hitler and the Nazis Benevolent Towards or Tolerant of Catholicism?

Above, I had noted that Hitler was ostensibly a practicing Catholic until age 18. There is evidence that goes against this contention. Hitler’s closest childhood friend, August Kubizek, wrote that for the entire time he knew Hitler, he (Hitler) not only never attended Mass, but refused to go with his mother when she attended. She was very disappointed and begged him to go to Mass but, evidently, she eventually came to “terms with the fact that her son wanted to follow another path” —his father’s. (See Kubizek, The Young Hitler I Knew: A Boyhood Friend Recounts Growing Up with the Future Fuhrer of the Third Reich, [1955], pg. 95).  Hitler was never more truthful than when he stated in one of his speeches: I myself am a heathen to the core. (See The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922–August 1939, ed. Norman Baynes, [1942], pg. 369).

• Hitler's opposition to Christ and His Church in his own words.

The heaviest blow that ever struck humanity was the coming of Christianity. (See Adolf Hitler, Hitler’s Secret Conversations, 1941–1944, trans. Norman Cameron [1953], pg. 6).

As a National Socialist and opponent of the Jews, it is impossible for me to continue to belong to present day Christianity, because it is supported by the Old Testament, which is Jewish and friendly to Jewish things. (See Karla Poewe, New Religions and the Nazis, [2005], pg. 105).

Compare Pope Pius XI:

 In Jesus Christ, Son of God made Man, there shone the plentitude of divine revelation. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets last of all, in these days hath spoken to us by His Son" (Heb. i. 1). The sacred books of the Old Testament are exclusively the word of God, and constitute a substantial part of his revelation; they are penetrated by a subdued light, harmonizing with the slow development of revelation, the dawn of the bright day of the redemption. As should be expected in historical and didactic books, they reflect in many particulars the imperfection, the weakness and sinfulness of man. But side by side with innumerable touches of greatness and nobleness, they also record the story of the chosen people, bearers of the Revelation and the Promise, repeatedly straying from God and turning to the world. Eyes not blinded by prejudice or passion will see in this prevarication, as reported by the Biblical history, the luminous splendor of the divine light revealing the saving plan which finally triumphs over every fault and sin. It is precisely in the twilight of this background that one perceives the striking perspective of the divine tutorship of salvation, as it warms, admonishes, strikes, raises and beautifies its elect. Nothing but ignorance and pride could blind one to the treasures hoarded in the Old Testament. (See Mit Brennender Sorge, para. #15). 

You see, it's been our misfortune to have the wrong religion. Why didn't we have the religion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the highest good? The Mohammedan religion too would have been more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness? (See Speer, Inside the Third Reich, [1969], pg. 115). 

Hitler had this to say about Christianity because of its ethic to protect the weak and helpless:

Taken to its logical extreme, Christianity would mean the systematic cultivation of the human failure.

(See Alan Bullock, Hitler, A Study in Tyranny, [1964], pg. 389).

In a talk given by Hitler on April 7, 1933, Hitler made it absolutely clear that in Germany’s future there would be “no place” in the German “utopia for the Christian Churches” and “nothing will prevent me from eradicating totally, root and branch, all Christianity in Germany.… A German Church, a German Christianity, it is all rubbish.… One is either Christian or German.” (See Poewe cited above, pg. 112; Emphasis mine). 

• Hitler's treatment of the Church and Her clergy.

Some of these NAs go so far as to state that Fr. Maximillian Kolbe was not killed by Nazis, due to Nazi hatred of the clergy, but by tuberculosis.  I do not recognize Fr. Kolbe as a saint or beatus, as he was "beatified" by Montini and "canonized" by Wojtyla. However, on May 12, 1955, Pope Pius XII gave him the title Servant of God, which means his life was considered worthy to be investigated for canonization. In my layman's opinion, I think a true pope would have canonized him had the Great Apostasy not taken place. There have been arguments made as to whether or not a true “odium fidei” ("hatred of the Faith") was present for him to be a true martyr. Wojtyla decided that Kolbe should be recognized as a martyr because the systematic hatred of the Nazi regime was inherently an act of hatred against religious faith, meaning Kolbe’s death equated to martyrdom. A true pope did not make that judgement. Moreover, there has been testimony that hatred of Catholic clergy was present when Fr. Kolbe was murdered. I would say he was a Confessor of the Faith, rather than a martyr. Bottom line: the Nazis were no friends to the Church or its clergy; it should be clear they hated both.

The very idea that the Nazis were "nice" to the clergy is completely without merit. Beginning in 1936, Hitler embarked on a campaign of "immorality trials" against Catholic clergy in Germany to discredit the hierarchy. They would, for example, summon a priest to a house to give the Last Rites, only to have a prostitute waiting and someone to take a picture as he went in and promptly left. (For more about said "immorality trials," see content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,757889,00.html). That the Nazis could accuse anyone of immorality is the quintessential case of hypocrisy. 

Fr. DePauw, who had been taken prisoner at the Battle of Dunkirk, and held at a concentration camp, saw first hand the Nazi hatred and atrocities committed against the Catholic clergy while there. (Fr. was not yet a priest; he would be seriously wounded escaping with his best friend, and ordained on April 12, 1942). One brave voice against the Nazi campaign against the Church was Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber. He would ordain two men to the priesthood that couldn't be more different, and would become bitter enemies at Vatican II: Fr (later Bp.) Blaise Kurz, and Fr. (later false pope) Joseph Ratzinger. Here is what Karol Jozef Gajewski, scholar of European history wrote:

Senior clerics who challenged the Third Reich in its racist and anti-Christian policies included Bishop Clemens Count von Galen of Munster, Archbishop von Preysing of Berlin, Cardinal Bertram of Breslau, Cardinal Schulte of Cologne and possibly the most famous of all, Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber of Munich. His series of Advent sermons, preached from the pulpit of St. Michael's Church aroused national and international interest. They became so popular that thousands listened, some even in the streets outside. In the first of the sermons, preached on December 3, 1933, Faulhaber defended Christianity by defending the people from whom it had sprung: the Jews. He reminded them that Christianity made no racial distinction between Jew and Gentile, but asked only that its adherents should possess faith. The next month shots shattered the windows of his first floor study. In March 1934, the published edition of his sermons, "Judaism, Christianity and Germanism" was banned for its "slanderous views on the State."

Faulhaber continued his denunciations of Nazi policy on Catholic schools, youth organizations, rigged elections, sterilization laws, attacks on the Pope, and attempts to replace Christianity with what he called "fake" religion. The Nazis maintained their propaganda campaign against Faulhaber relentlessly.

Faulhaber played a considerable role in the writing of the great anti-Nazi encyclical, Mit brennender Sorge ("With Burning Anxiety") issued in March 1937. It denounced repeated attacks on the faith, the breaking of almost every article of the Concordat, and Nazi ideological and political theories. The encyclical was smuggled into Germany under the eyes of Gestapo agents who had been warned beforehand to expect some kind of protest from Rome. Copies were printed secretly in various parts of the country and the underground Catholic network was engaged to distribute it to parishes throughout Germany. Hundreds of helpers, in cars, on motorbikes and bicycles, handed copies secretly to clergy. According to the Daily Telegraph (London) of March 22, 1937: "the encyclical stated the Nazis had made it plain, that they were waging a 'war of extermination' against the Church, and after countless rebuffs the Pope had decided to make a final stand."

The reaction to the encyclical's publication was immediate. The German regime sent a formal protest to Rome; it was swiftly rejected by Cardinal Pacelli. An enraged Hitler and Goebbels gave orders to bring to trial dozens of clerics on charges of immorality and "slanders against the State." Gestapo and SS squads were dispatched to find which presses had produced the encyclical: 12 were confiscated and editors rounded up. In one parish, Essen in the diocese of Oldenburg, seven girls were arrested inside a church as they handed out copies after the Palm Sunday service.

The death of Pope Pius XI in February 1939 and the election of his successor, Cardinal Pacelli, drew sneers from Das Schwarze Korps ("The Black Corps"), house magazine of the SS and mouthpiece of Heinrich Himmler. It referred to Pius XI as the "Chief Rabbi of the Christians, boss of the firm of Judah-Rome." Cardinal Pacelli had already been labeled in the paper as an ally of Jews and Communists in a series of cartoons and articles published at the time of his official visit to France in 1937.

Sometimes new Nazi policies would be imposed from above, sometimes they would be rescinded as the dictates of political events changed or new strategies were adopted by Berlin. Harassment could be disguised or even halted. In August 1936, for example, when the Olympic Games were taking place in Berlin, orders were given to stop persecution against Jews, Catholics and Protestants and to hide show trials from the eyes of foreign journalists. The machinery of persecution roared into action again as soon as the correspondents left.

With the coming of war in 1939, Hitler favored postponing the total destruction of Christianity to more effectively prosecute the war. Others in the party, however, thought it a mistake to slow the Kirchenkampf, the battle against the Church. Martin Bormann reminded SS leader Himmler in 1941 that, "the influence of the Church must be entirely eliminated."...

(As published Inside the Vatican magazine, November 1999, pgs. 50-54; "Nazi Persecution of the Church"). 

Conclusion

Adolph Hitler was many things; a mass murderer, an occultist, and a despiser of all things Christian. He was not some "misunderstood leader" who wasn't all that bad; nor was he in any way benevolent to the Church. Hitler and the "Nazi Traditionalists" can call themselves "Catholic" but they fail the test of Our Lord Himself, "By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire." (St. Matthew 7: 16-19).