Executing The Truth

The Argentinian apostate calling himself "pope" of the Roman Catholic Church, Jorge Bergoglio, has once more demonstrated that he cannot possibly be the Vicar of Christ. On August 2, 2018, Bergoglio announced that he was changing the Vatican II sect's stance on capital punishment. According to the Modernist Vatican's Congregation for the [Destruction of the] Doctrine of the Faith:

"Ending the life of a criminal as punishment for a crime is inadmissible because it attacks the dignity of the person, a dignity that is not lost even after having committed the most serious crimes. This conclusion is reached taking into account the new understanding of penal sanctions applied by the modern State, which should be oriented above all to the rehabilitation and social reintegration of the criminal. Finally, given that modern society possesses more efficient detention systems, the death penalty becomes unnecessary as protection for the life of innocent people."

Furthermore, "Pope" Francis is changing the heretical Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992), to make it even more evil. Section Number 2267 is being revised as follows:

"The new formulation of number 2267 of the Catechism expresses an authentic development of doctrine that is not in contradiction with the prior teachings of the Magisterium. These teachings, in fact, can be explained in the light of the primary responsibility of the public authority to protect the common good in a social context in which the penal sanctions were understood differently, and had developed in an environment in which it was more difficult to guarantee that the criminal could not repeat his crime."

The implications of this act are staggering. Is it merely "authentic development of doctrine?" Is it "not a contradiction" with prior Magisterial teachings (of the True Church, pre-Vatican II)? Are the reasons advanced against the death penalty sound? These are the questions to be explored in this post.

The Traditional Teaching of the One True Church on Capital Punishment

 The New York Times states that "Abolishing the death penalty has long been one of his [Francis'] top priorities, along with saving the environment and caring for immigrants and refugees." (See https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/world/europe/pope-death-penalty.html). Saving unborn babies from being slaughtered by abortion didn't make the list, which is apparent as His Wickedness didn't say or do anything before Ireland's successful vote to end its Constitutional recognition of the unborn's right to life. His priorities are those of a left-wing politician, not the visible Head of Christ's True Church (which he is not). Notice the complete lack of spiritual priorities from the list. Nothing about saving souls, reparation for sin, making converts, or even purging his sect of the rampant sodomites.  However, his failings go much deeper than that. Let's take a look at the teachings of the approved pre-Vatican II theologians, the popes, the practice of the Church, and Sacred Scripture. For these sections only, the quotes from these sources will be in red font, so to make it stand out as clearly as the teaching itself. 

1. The Theologians

According to theologian Prummer, "Only the State has the right to put to death those who have committed most serious crimes. The State has this right since the penalty of death is sometimes necessary for safeguarding the common weal [good] and only the State has the duty of safeguarding society. Capital punishment must be reserved for the most serious of crimes and these must be fully proven...Since the State has the power to put the criminal to death, so it has the power for a sufficient reason to mutilate the criminal (e.g., by cutting off his hand) or to flog him." (See Handbook of Moral Theology, pg. 126).

Theologians McHugh and Callan teach, "Killing human beings is lawful in two cases. (a) It is lawful when when the common safety requires that the State inflict death for a crime (capital punishment)" (See Moral Theology 2: 100). They also assert, "Though lawful, capital punishment is not always necessary; for it is a means to an end, and it may be omitted therefore, when the end can be obtained by the use of other and less severe means." (See Moral Theology, 2: 101).

Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas taught, "It is lawful to kill an evildoer insofar as it is directed to the welfare of the whole community, so that it belongs to him alone who has charge of the communities welfare...[to] lawfully put evildoers to death." (See ST II-II, 64, 3)

Doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus Liguori taught, "...if it is necessary for the defense of the republic...[or] in order to preserve the order of law" the death penalty is licit." (See Theologia Moralis III, 4, 1).

Theologian Jone writes, "A criminal may be executed if juridical proof has established the moral certainty that he has committed a grave crime for which the State, in the interest of the common welfare, inflicts capital punishment, and if someone has been authorized by the State to execute the sentence." (See Moral Theology, pg. 140).

Two principles can be adduced from these teachings: (a) Capital punishment is not wrong per se, and (b) it is not necessary to use it if the common good of the State can be had be less severe means. There is no eminent theologian who holds the use of capital punishment to be inherently evil, immoral, or impermissible under all circumstances.

2. The Popes and the Practice of the Church

Proposition required by Pope Innocent III as a condition to be readmitted to the Church: "We declare that the secular power can without mortal sin impose a judgement of blood provided the punishment is carried out not in hatred but in good judgement, not inconsistently but after mature deliberation."

"From 1815, when the pope regained political control of Rome from Napoleon, until 1870, the popes ordered the executions of hundreds of malefactors." (See Norko, M., "The Death Penalty in Catholic Teaching and Medicine: Intersections and Places for Dialogue," Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 36 (2008): 470-481). This covers five pontificates, to wit: Pope Pius VII (1800-1823), Pope Leo XII (1823-1829), Pope Pius VIII (1829-1830), Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846) and Pope Pius IX (1846-1878).

In his encyclical Pastoralis Officii (1891), Pope Leo XIII taught, "Clearly, divine law, both that which is known by the light of reason and that which is revealed in Sacred Scripture, strictly forbids anyone, outside of public cause, to kill or wound a man unless compelled to do so in self defense." (para. #2; Emphasis mine).

The Catechism of Saint Pius X, says in the discussion on the Fifth Commandment, "It is lawful to kill...when carrying out by order of the Supreme Authority a sentence of death in punishment for a crime."

In the encyclical of Pope Pius XI, Casti Connubii (1930), the pope teaches, "It is of no use to appeal to the right of taking away life, for here [i.e., abortion] it is a question of the innocent, whereas that right has regard only to the guilty...(para. #64; Emphasis mine).

When Pope Pius IX was asked to grant a stay of execution for those condemned in 1868, the pope firmly replied, "I cannot, and I do not want to." In the Lateran Treaty of 1929, approved by Pope Pius XI, there was a provision for the execution of anyone attempting to assassinate  the Pope within the Vatican. (See https://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/hanging-concentrates-the-mind).

In the bull Exsurge Domine, excommunicating Martin Luther and condemning his heresies, CONDEMNED proposition # 33 states, "That heretics be burned is against the will of the Spirit." Since heresy is a worse crime than physical murder because it kills the life of the soul, the death penalty for heretics in Catholic countries is justified. ("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).

What Sacred Scripture Teaches

1. The Old Testament

Genesis 9:6, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man." This simple verse both explains what the punishment for murder should be and why murder merits it.

Exodus 21:12:  "He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death."

Leviticus 24:17 : "And if a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death."

Numbers 35:31: "Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death."

2. The New Testament

Many erroneously think Jesus did away with capital punishment when He said, "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you." (St. Matthew 5:38-42).

Here, the context makes evident Christ was referring to revenge and dealing with enemies on a personal level, not punishment by civil authorities. Furthermore, He is being hyperbolic. He's not commanding someone who is assaulted to allow himself to be hit again, nor is someone who is sued expected to forego representation and not fight against it in court. In St. Matthew 5:17 Jesus taught, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill them."

Jesus tells Pilate in St. John 19:11, "You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above …." This authority to put Jesus to death would be odd if it didn't entail the general power to execute criminals. Christ was a victim of the death penalty but did not condemn it. It was wrong in His case because the Jews who wanted Him crucified, and Pontius Pilate who acquiesced to it, knew He was innocent.

Finally, when He is dying by crucifixion, Jesus accepts the repentance of the Good Thief on the cross, who says to his evil companion, "Dost thou not even fear God, since thou art under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds…" (St. Luke 23:40-41). Had Jesus disagreed with this statement, responding to it with the promise of eternal salvation certainly isn't a way to show the Good Thief he was wrong--"And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise." (St. Luke 23:43). Denying the death penalty directly assaults the justice of God the Father—the One Who required His own Son, Jesus Christ, to pay precisely that price in our stead.

The False Reasoning and Heretical Teaching of "Pope" Francis

 As demonstrated above from the teachings of the popes, theologians, the Bible, and the constant practice of the Church, capital punishment is not wrong in principle. If capital punishment really were, after all, always and intrinsically immoral, this would be an admission that the Universal and Ordinary Magisterium can teach error and give evil---a denial of the dogma of the Indefectibility of the Church. 

Bergoglio proffers two reasons that allege capital punishment is always wrong: (1) It "attacks the dignity of the person, a dignity that is not lost even after having committed the most serious crimes" and (2)  the State should be oriented to rehabilitation, and "given that modern society possesses more efficient detention systems, the death penalty becomes unnecessary as protection for the life of innocent people." He also seems to suggest that the "dignity of the person" is somehow enhanced by modern penal systems; his second reason. 

1. The "Dignity of the Person" Argument

If the death penalty was intrinsically evil because of "human dignity," it was always wrong and could not "become wrong." People have not "developed more human dignity." Human beings were, from the very beginning, made in the image and likeness of God. It doesn't become "more true" or "less true" with the passage of time. Moreover, it flatly contradicts the teaching of the Bible that affirms humans are made in the image of God and supports the death penalty: Genesis 9:6, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man."(Emphasis mine).

Second, how does the (alleged) fact of the death penalty not being needed for the protection of innocent people "increase human dignity?" There is no evidence offered to show that under all circumstances everywhere in the world, capital punishment is not necessary to protect innocent people. As the theologians taught, the death penalty may be omitted when less severe means can be used for the protection of society, but it is not a requirement to do so. There certainly seems to be an implication that "human dignity" makes capital punishment unlawful under all circumstances, which is absurd. 

Third, the specious argument assumes that all the popes, theologians and Doctors of the Church--as well as the practice of the Church Herself--was always wrong until now, and the Church can teach error. None of them fully understood the "dignity of the human person" and none required capital punishment to be abandoned if less severe means could be used to protect the public welfare. This is a denial of the dogma of Indefectibility. It is rank heresy. 

2. The Rehabilitation and Efficient Detention Systems Argument

Here's a Vatican II conundrum: If the death penalty is always wrong because of the inherent "dignity of the person," how are rehabilitation and efficient detention systems relevant? If it is wrong because of of human dignity, it was always wrong regardless of the deficiency of rehabilitation and detention systems. The first argument, if true, would render the second argument superfluous. It would also give another erroneous idea: that in times where you couldn't protect the lives of innocent people, it was OK to execute criminals and violate their human dignity as being made in the image of God.  (This is "Vatican II logic" so don't be surprised at internal contradictions).  If the argument is that "human dignity" has somehow been "enhanced" by modern rehabilitation and detention systems, it certainly doesn't even begin to make sense because (a) humans have always been made in God's image which gives them their dignity; that image isn't rendered better because of extrinsic conditions and (b) the Church never required the death penalty to be abandoned if less severe means of protecting society could obtained. 

• Rehabilitation and Detention--Considered and Dismissed

The idea of rehabilitation has been, of course, considered and rejected as a reason for condemning capital punishment. The great saint, theologian, and Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas had this to say:

"The fact that the evil, as long as they live, can be corrected from their errors does not prohibit the fact that they may be justly executed, for the danger which threatens from their way of life is greater and more certain than the good which may be expected from their improvement. They also have at the critical point of death the opportunity to be converted to God through repentance. And if they are so stubborn that even at the point of death their heart does not draw back from evil, it is possible to make a highly probable judgement that they would never come away from evil to the right use of their powers." (See Summa Contra Gentiles, III, 146).

On balance, there is more danger in letting a murderer live than trying to rehabilitate him. There is much damage the criminal can do. If imprisoned for life, he might contribute to the hardening in evil of other wicked men; after all, don't people want to keep juvenile offenders out of prison because it makes them worse when they get out? The killer might murder another inmate or a corrections officer. Nor is prison and attempted rehabilitation a guarantee he will not escape and kill again. Capital punishment is 100% effective in stopping further murdering from that individual.

What about innocent people who have been wrongfully executed?  Bad consequences don't cause something intrinsically good to become evil, and good consequences don't cause something intrinsically evil to become good. No system of justice is perfect, and sometimes innocent people are executed. However, many times innocent people are sent to jail for decades and die there, only to be vindicated posthumously. Does that make putting people in jail intrinsically evil? Likewise, a woman who has an abortion because she doesn't want to stop working will get the good effect of more income, but that can never justify the intrinsically evil act of murdering an innocent unborn baby.

Finally, His Holiness, Pope Pius XII makes it clear that punishment is not merely a defensive or protective reaction to an evil act committed (or could be committed again in the future), but it is properly inflicted on the offender after the act, whether or not he may commit a crime again, precisely because he is in a state of guilt either way. This teaching, rooted in the notion of guilt and taught by the Magisterium, is expressly rejected by Bergoglio.

In his "Discourse to the Catholic Jurists of Italy" (December 5, 1954), Pope Pius XII said, "We add that the criminal has brought about, by his act, a state which does not automatically cease when the act itself is completed. He remains the man who has consciously and deliberately violated a law which binds him (reatus culpae), and simultaneously he is involved in the penalty (reatus poenae). This personal condition endures, both in his relation to the authority on which he depends, or better, the human authority of public law in so far as this has a share in the corresponding penal process, and at all times also, in his relation to the supreme divine authority. Thus there is brought about an enduring state of guilt and punishment, which indicates a definite condition of the guilty party in the eyes of the authority offended, and of this authority with respect to the guilty party (St. Thomas: Sum. Theol. III, q. 69, a. 2, obj . 3 et ad 3)."

"No Rupture with the Past"

The self-serving statement by the Modernist Vatican that Bergoglio's change in doctrine "expresses an authentic development of doctrine that is not in contradiction with the prior teachings of the Magisterium" is--to be charitable--pure baloney. The very fact they try to explain it away is a sure indication that it is a contradiction. Just as Ratzinger tried to assure us in the year 2000 that "subsists" means the same thing as "is" in Lumen Gentium (1964), with its heretical ecclesiology, Bergoglio lies. (In the history of the Church, there was never a time wherein 36 years after an Ecumenical Council ended, they still had to "clarify" its meaning; another sure indication that the Vatican II sect is not the Roman Catholic Church).

We have just seen the teaching of the Universal and Ordinary Magisterium on capital punishment since the establishment of the One True Church by Her Divine Founder, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What Bergoglio teaches is a direct contradiction. How does he attempt to explain it as "an authentic development" that is "not in contradiction" with past teaching? 

He claims penal sanctions were understood differently. No. The Church understood that humanity was created in the image of God. She understood human life was sacred. Nevertheless, the taking of human life by the State for a capital offense was considered moral in principle and not a violation of the sacredness of life or human dignity. The fact that modern day heathens cry tears over executed murderers, but support the murder of innocent little babies by abortion does nothing to changes the basic facts and principles pronounced upon by the Church since Her beginning. Pope St. Pius X, in his great encyclical Lamentabili Sane, condemns the following error of the Modernists:  "Christ did not teach a determined body of doctrine applicable to all times and all men, but rather inaugurated a religious movement adapted or to be adapted to different times and places." 

He claims capital punishment developed in an environment in which it was more difficult to guarantee that the criminal could not repeat his crime. As demonstrated above, recidivism is irrelevant to punishment justly incurred, as was taught by the approved theologians and Pope Pius XII. 

Conclusion

 "Pope" Francis has directly contradicted a teaching guaranteed as true by the Universal and Ordinary Magisterium. His claim that capital punishment is always wrong, despite his protests to the contrary, is a contradiction to all prior Magisterial teaching, and a manifest denial of the Indefectibility of the Church. Jorge Bergoglio cannot be pope, as he is a notorious heretic. When will the "recognize and resisters" and the "conservative" Vatican II sect members wake up to the truth? Bergoglio has executed yet another truth, and leads millions on the road to Hell. Surely, Christ had Bergoglio in mind when He said to "...fear him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell." (St. Matthew 10:28). 

Singing For Satan---Part 13

This week I continue my once-per-month series of posts regarding an informal study I undertook in the early 1990s regarding rock and pop music. The purpose of my study (and the background to it) can be read in the first installment of August 7, 2017. If you have not read that post, I strongly encourage you to do so before reading this installment. I will only repeat here the seven (7) evil elements that pervade today's music:

1. Violence/Murder/Suicide
2. Nihilism/Despair
3. Drug and alcohol glorification
4. Adultery/ Fornication and sexual perversion
5. The occult
6. Rebellion against lawful superiors
7. Blasphemy against God, Jesus Christ in particular, and the Church

 The exposing of the bands/artists continues.

David Bowie

 David Robert Jones was born January 8, 1947, and became one of the most influential of all individuals in rock music, according to Rolling Stone magazine. Due to the popularity of Davey Jones, a member of the made for television, pop-rock band The Monkees (who imitated The Beatles), David Jones changed his last name to Bowie, after the famous Bowie knife. It is said the idea for the name came to him when The Rolling Stones' lead singer Mick Jagger was being given the nickname "Jagger the Dagger" in the U.K. 

Born in Brixton, South London, Bowie was always interested in music, and had natural talent. He didn't become famous until he created the persona of "Ziggy Stardust," an androgynous "space god" alter ego featured on his fifth (and very successful) album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972). With his career launched, he went on to sell over 140 million albums worldwide, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. He continued working in music his whole life. He released his 25th and last album entitled Blackstar on his 69th birthday. He went to Judgement two days later, on January 10, 2016 as the result of complications arising from liver cancer. He had kept his illness a secret having been diagnosed 18 months earlier. Bowie also acted in movies; one of his most memorable (and infamous) roles was as Pontius Pilate in the blasphemous film The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). 

Bowie: Making "Gay" OK

The androgynous and openly bi-sexual predator and pervert, David Bowie

 Bowie was one of the first artists to openly declare himself "bisexual" and sport an androgynous look that was part of the so-called "glitter rock" movement of the 1970s. He wore feminine make-up and produced some songs that would be the forerunner of disco music in the late 1970s. (See Time Magazine, July 18, 1983 issue).  In that same issue of Time, Bowie reveals he met his first wife, Angela Barnett "while they were laying the same bloke" (i.e., engaged in a menage a trois---three people having sex with each other).  Bowie and Barnett had a live-in friend named Tony Visconti. Visconti said life with the married couple was sheer debauchery. "Thursday night was gay night. David would go to a gay club, Angie to a lesbian club, and they would bring home people they found. [I] had to lock the bedroom door because these people they brought back home with them would come climbing into new beds looking for fresh blood." (Ibid,pg. 58).  Bowie also slept with his lead guitar player Mick Ronson, and once claimed to have committed a homosexual act with him while in concert. It is alleged that he slept with his at one time hero, Mick Jagger. 

According to a posthumous biography, David Bowie: A Life, by Dylan Jones, Bowie was a sexual predator. 

The book, well-sourced, states:

• During his prime, the rock star would engage in orgies, have multiple affairs at once, and even invite others to watch him have sex with women

• "He used his bisexuality...he used his appeal to get what he wanted," writer Wendy Leigh said

• Bowie's reputation landed him an offer to sleep with the warm dead body of someone who just died (i.e. necrophilia) when he was on tour in Philadelphia - but he declined

• He slept with girls as young as 13 when he was in his 30s--statutory rape

• Had multiple affairs on his girlfriends, usually sleeping with both men and women while living with the girlfriend

• He deflowered a 15 year old virgin admirer, Lori Mattix, after getting her high on champagne and marijuana  

Bowie: Too Drugged Out For Other Junkies

John Lennon and Elton John, both friends of the pervert, were horrified by the extent of Bowie’s cocaine habit. (Keep in mind both Lennon and John were drug addicts!). According to Lennon’s then girlfriend May Pang, no one had ever "seen such mounds of the stuff" as Bowie consumed. While living in Los Angeles in 1975, Bowie experienced the worst of his cocaine psychosis. He did more cocaine than anyone, and it almost killed him. Staying with Glenn Hughes (musician for the rock group "Deep Purple") who lived half a mile from where the Manson murders took place, David Bowie wanted to bury all the sharp knives. He feared the Manson family might come to get him – even though they were now all in jail. He weighed 95 lbs and was snorting 7 grams of coke a day. He snorted so much cocaine, the cartilage of his nose had to be replaced surgically with cartilage from other places in his body. 

While high he would watch films of Hitler and the Nazis, whom he admired. He called the German Fuhrer "the first Pop star" because of his massive mesmerizing theatrical political rallies where he hypnotized the citizens of Germany with his words.

His song Ashes to Ashes --according to Bowie himself--is about "astronauts becoming junkies;" obviously written during one of his drug-induced psychotic episodes.

The shrieking of nothing is killing, just
Pictures of Jap girls in synthesis and I
Ain't got no money and I ain't got no hair
But I'm hoping to kick but the planet it's glowing
Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know Major Tom's a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low
Time and again I tell myself
I'll stay clean tonight
But the little green wheels are following me
Oh no, not again
I'm stuck with a valuable friend
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too"
One flash of light but no smoking pistol (Emphasis mine)

Bowie: Satanist and Occultist

Left: Satanist and occultist Aleister Crowley; Right: David Bowie as he posed for a picture to be placed on  his album Space Oddity. He imitates his "hero."

 Bowie has bounced around many religions. He said, " I was young, fancy free, and Tibetan Buddhism appealed to me at that time. I thought, 'There’s salvation.' It didn’t really work. Then I went through Nietzsche, Satanism, Christianity… pottery, and ended up singing. It’s been a long road" (See interview with lesbian Ellen DeGeneres https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVLLoVvHSOw; Emphasis mine). 

In 1976, Bowie had said, "My overriding interest was in Kabbalah and Crowleyism. That whole dark and rather fearsome never–world of the wrong side of the brain.." In 1995 he stated, "I’ve been interested in the Gnostics." (See NME, 1976 and November 1995). The Kabbalah is an occult and anti-Christian Jewish text. "Crowleyism" refers to the teachings of the Satanist and Occultist Aleister Crowley (d.1947). Gnosticism was a heretical movement of the 2nd-century Christian Church, partly of pre-Christian origin. Gnostic doctrine taught that the world was created and ruled by a lesser divinity, the demiurge, and that Christ was an emissary of the remote supreme divine being, esoteric knowledge (gnosis) of whom enabled the redemption of the human spirit.

The androgynous nature of his alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, represents-- in the world of the occult-- a state of higher spiritual level. In occultism, the highest stage of illumination is achieved through the internalization of duality and the equilibrium between opposing forces –  good and evil, active and passive, male and female.Contrarily to "Major Tom," the fictitious character in many of Bowie's songs (who ascended from Earth to the skies), Ziggy Stardust descends from the "heavens." He is a "higher being" who takes the form of a human in order to communicate a message, a counterfeit version of Jesus Christ.

In his song Quicksand, Bowie sings:

I’m closer to the Golden Dawn
Immersed in Crowley’s uniform
I’m not a prophet or a stone-age man
Just a mortal with potential of a superman

When Bowie states that he is "immersed in Crowley’s uniform," he is referring to Aleister Crowley, who was a member of the Golden Dawn (an occult society) and a founder of the O.T.O (Ordo Templi Orientist--a Satanic society with possible ties to Freemasonry). In 2003, a 56 year old David Bowie gave an interview in which he claimed he was "almost an atheist." He said, "I’m not quite an atheist and it worries me. There’s that little bit that holds on: Well, I’m almost an atheist. Give me a couple of months." (See http://www.beliefnet.com/entertainment/2005/07/im-not-quite-an-atheist-and-it-worries-me.aspx).

Bowie's Evil Music

 In the song Seven, he rejects all the "gods" he followed, including Christianity (Bowie claims to have been Christian at some point, but was raised without any faith):

The gods forgot they've made me
So I forgot them too
I listen to the shadows
I play among their graves

The song Underground is about Hell, but it's not seen as bad, but a place where "nothing ever hurts again." Yet, he asks "daddy" to help him leave. We know who Bowie's "daddy" really is: "Thou art of thy father the devil, and thy will is to do thy father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (St. John 8:44).

But down in the underground
You'll find someone true
Down in the underground
A land serene, a crystal moon
A-ha
It's only forever
Not long at all
Lost and lonely
That's underground, underground
Daddy, daddy, get me out of here (heard about a place today)
Ha, ha, I'm underground (nothing ever hurts again)
(Nothing ever hurts again) well, I found a place
(Daddy, get me out of here) nothing ever hurts again
(Hoping for the underground) down and down and get me out of here
(Hoping for the underground) ha, ha, I'm underground

Released two days before his death, Blackstar is David Bowie’s last song  in which he wraps up the mythology he has cultivated for five decades. The video of the same name is a tapestry of dark images. At the center of it all: A human being becoming a "god."  It also asks "How many times does an angel fall?" A reference to Satan.

Something happened on the day he died
Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside
Somebody else took his place, and bravely cried,
"I'm a blackstar, I'm a blackstar."

How many times does an angel fall?
How many people lie instead of talking tall?
He trod on sacred ground, he cried loud into the crowd,
"I'm a blackstar, I'm a blackstar, I'm not a gangstar."

Conclusion

Some claim that Bowie converted and believed in God when faced with death. I have serious doubts about that. He requested that his ashes be scattered on the Indonesian island of Bali in line with "Buddhist rituals." I shouldn't be surprised anymore at the stark double-standard the world has for those of the world and those merely in the world as True Christians. David Bowie is the supreme pervert, to the point of statutory rape and deflowering teenage girls (some as young as 13), and he continues to be lionized by the media. Where's the outrage? If a conservative politician says something even slightly off-color, the National Organization for Women is up in arms with all the media, but a child rapist gets a free pass.  

How does a Traditionalist, or any decent parent, allow their children to listen to the rotten music that is rock, pop, and hip-hop? Bowie worshiped the devil, openly and admittedly, at one point in his life (I doubt he ever stopped). Remember the chilling words spoken by Satanist rocker Marilyn Manson in his autobiography: "Each age has to have at least one brave individual that tried to bring an end to Christianity. No one has managed to succeed yet, but maybe through music we can do it." (Emphasis mine). 

Una Cum: A Real Theologian Weighs In

To my readers:
Last July, I published a post entitled Una Cum, which dealt with the huge controversy regarding Traditional Masses, offered by valid Traditionalist priests who are not in union with Bergoglio, but nevertheless name him in the Canon of the Mass. It is my opinion that they are lawful to attend if no sedevacantist Mass is available. My post may be read here: http://introiboadaltaredei2.blogspot.com/2017/07/una-cum.html. 

Fr. Cekada, who tells people that they cannot attend such Una Cum Masses under pain of mortal sin excoriated me, See: http://www.fathercekada.com/2017/09/20/some-questions-on-una-cum-masses/. He also addressed my rebuttal to him in my September 25th post (which is linked in the article I just cited). The Una Cum is so horrible (he assures us):

• It's wrong to make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament while such a Mass is being offered
• You can't receive Holy Viaticum  if it were consecrated during such a Mass
• It's OK to go to Confession where an Una Cum Mass is offered, provided it would not create a scandal

Just as his whole line of argumentation about the Pain Holy Week Rites is wrong, this error is so egregious it defies belief. He is creating a huge problem by troubling the consciences of the Faithful to the point that they are told that they must forego Viaticum on their deathbed if an SSPX priest consecrated It at an Una Cum Mass!  Here we have more pontificating on an issue by someone without Magisterial authority on a disputed point of theology. Since I dealt with defending Pope Pius XII and his Holy Week Rites last week, I'll tackle Una Cum by using a real approved theologian. 

Fr. Cekada ends his brief tirade against me and Una Cum by assuring his readers, "And so here we are, ten years after my original article, and despite all the squawking, no one has yet been able to make a credible and coherent case against my arguments." 

I have often stated that I'm not a theologian, or a canonist (as was my spiritual father, Fr. Gommar A. DePauw, JCD) and that my opinion is not binding on anyone. I have no Magisterial authority, and people who feel they cannot attend a so-called Una Cum Francisco Mass under any condition, should follow their conscience. Fr. Cekada and Bishop Dolan, on the other hand, would like us to think  they are theologians and canonists (they are neither), and they pontificate on what constitutes mortal sin on disputed issues when they have no more Magisterial authority than do I. They forget the dictum of St. Augustine, "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity." Bp. Dolan and Fr. Cekada turn a non-essential into an essential, and they often lack charity, when clerics should lead the way. I think Fr. Cekada and Bishop Dolan have done much good, but they must be called out when they are wrong. 

Thanks to one of my readers, I will publish below this little gem, written by a real pre-Vatican II theologian who addresses the "Una Cum" issue: Fr. Martin Stepanich, OFM, STD. Fr. Stepanich was born in Kansas in 1915. Baptized "Francis," he was to become a "son" of St. Francis on September 2, 1934 and was ordained a Franciscan priest in 1941. He obtained his doctorate in Sacred Theology (STD) pre-Vatican II and was a seminary professor. Fr. Stepanich was an open sedevacantist. He left this world on November 18, 2012. Here is what a real theologian has to say on this issue! It is longer than my usual posts, but quite good and necessary to allay consciences needlessly disturbed. At the end, I add the pertinent part of a letter Fr. Stepanich addressed to Bishop Dolan on September 30, 2008. To the best of my knowledge and belief, there has been no response from Bishop Dolan or Fr. Cekada. Fr. Cekada called his first article against the Una Cum, "The Grain of Incense" available to read online here: http://www.traditionalmass.org/images/articles/SedesUnCum.pdf  After reading what theologian Stepanich has to say, we may all want to take what Fr. Cekada writes with a Grain of Salt.---Introibo.

Attendance at “Una Cum Benedicto”

Tridentine Latin Masses

By Fr. Martin Stepanich, OFM, STD

Our Lord’s “Little Flock” of today’s genuine traditional Catholics, scattered about as it is in various places, has the distinction of preserving intact the Tridentine Latin Mass as it was put before the Catholic world by Pope St. Pius V in 1570, in response to a directive of the Ecumenical Council of Trent (1545-1563). In his Quo Primum decree of July 19, 1570, the Holy Father declared that his objective was to "restore," as he worded it, the ancient "norm and rite of the Mass of the Fathers" – that is, the norm and rite of the Latin Mass as it was offered by popes and bishops and priests since the early years of the Church’s existence.

 A strange development of these distressing Vatican II times is the fact that the Tridentine Latin Mass is now being offered by bishops and priests of two conflicting groups. One groups of today’s truly traditional bishops and priests offering the Tridentine Latin Mass leaves out completely the name of any pope from the una cum phrase that comes up towards the end of the Te Igitur prayer with which the Canon of the Tridentine Mass begins. Those who use hand missals, such as Father Lasance’s missal or St. Andrew’s missal, will know right away just where the una cum phrase comes up in the Mass, and will know what it means.

 The other group, on the contrary, does the un-traditional and decidedly un-Catholic thing of inserting into the una cum phrase the name of the current modernist occupier of Peter’s Papal Chair (called also the Holy See). At this time, it is the name of modernist Benedict XVI (Ratzinger) that is added to the una cum phrase, making it an una cum Benedicto phrase. The full wording of that phrase, as it is given in the altar missal used by the priest, is una cum famulo tuo Papa nostro N.—that is, "together with Thy servant, our Pope, N." Before Benedict, it had been the name of Modernist John Paul (Wojtyla) that was put into the una cum phrase for some almost endless 25 years, and before him it was Modernist Paul (Montini) and Modernist John (Roncalli).

 Both groups are really sedevacantist in regard to the vacancy of the Holy See that is caused by the death of a true Catholic pope, or by a pope’s resignation (which did happen once, many centuries ago). But the vacancy issue that divides the two groups today is the vacancy of Peter’s Chair that is brought about by Modernist claimants and occupiers of that Chair who have not been professing nor practicing the traditional and unchangeable Catholic Faith for practically the past 50 years, and who therefore did not really belong on the Papal Chair of infallible truth and supreme authority.

 Benedict XVI (b16), the present illegitimate occupier of Peter’s Chair, plainly does not profess nor teach nor defend the complete and unchanged traditional Catholic Faith. In fact, his brand of supposedly "Catholic" religion is a mixture of religions. As the whole world has been able to see, B16 has been boldly and brazenly associating and collaborating with leaders of other religions in their kind of man-made religious performances, in open contradiction to the one and only true Christian religion established by Our Lord Jesus Christ.

 A man like that cannot possibly be a true Catholic pope, nor can he be honestly addressed as "The Holy Father." He is not even a genuine Catholic. And that means that the Chair of Peter is in reality vacant, even with B16 all dressed up as a pope occupying it. That is what is meant by that word "sedevacantism" which is used so much today—that is, the vacancy caused by a no-pope illegitimately occupying the Papal Chair.

 The first of the two groups mentioned above includes, for example, the famed "Legendary Nine," that is the nine priests dismissed from the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) by Archbishop Lefebvre long ago, with some of those priests now being bishops. That first group includes also those of the so-called "Thuc line" (after Archbishop Thuc), as well as those of the Spokane-based CMRI—plus others, including even some lone Franciscans.

 The second group includes mainly, but not only, those of the SSPX, such as it is today, that is, a mixed confusion of ant-sedevacantism, inasmuch as it mistakenly and stubbornly looks upon B16 as being a legitimate occupier of Peter’s Chair, and at the same time of sedevacantism, inasmuch as it stubbornly persists in disobeying B16 in refusing to go along with all of his aberrations – as if telling him that, for them, he is not really the pope, and therefore, the Papal Chair is really vacant.

 Such being the confused and confusing situation facing today’s traditional Catholics, they are in the perplexing position of being obliged to decide whether it is ever lawful for them to attend the otherwise valid Tridentine Latin Masses of the SSPX, despite the presence of no-pope religion-mixer B16’s name in the Canon of those Masses. There are variations of understanding and practice among sedevacantist traditional Catholics as to the lawfulness of them attending una cum Benedicto Masses.

 Many traditional Catholics are fortunate enough—Deo gratias!—to be living within reachable distance of a sedevacantist church, or Mass location, where they can always attend a Benedicto-free Tridentine Latin Mass. However, if for some serious reason or other they are unable to get to their own usual sedevacantist church on a given Sunday (for example, because of bad weather conditions), yet are able to get to a near-by anti-sedevacantist SSPX church featuring the una cum Benedicto Mass, some of them will decide simply to stay home, not wanting to be part of such a Mass.

 Others among them, on the contrary, decide to go anyway to an SSPX una cum Benedicto valid Tridentine Latin Mass figuring that in such a case they surely would be justified in so doing provided that they do not consent to the priest adding the name of B16 to the una cum phrase. And then there are still others in whose region or country there is no B16-free Tridentine Latin Mass at all to go to, while there is an SSPX una cum Benedicto Mass within reach. They, too, would believe that they are justified in attending such a validly offered Mass, as long as they do not approve of the priest giving honorable mention in the Mass to a false pope.

Which is the right decision for sedevacantist traditional Catholics to make on this puzzling headache issue? Is it, as some believe, never lawful to attend any una cum Benedicto Mass for any reason whatsoever, no matter how valid and Catholic it may otherwise be? Does the name of a false pope in the Canon of the Mass so vitiate the Mass that it is unfit to be attended by conscientious traditional Catholics? Are the act of offering the Mass by the priest and his act of naming a false pope so closely bound up together that the Mass cannot be spiritually beneficial to those attending the Mass if the name of a false pope is included in the prayers of the Mass? Does the very presence of traditional Catholics at an una cum Benedicto Mass automatically an unavoidably mean that they ratify and consent to the naming of B16 in the Mass?

 We naturally had to wonder if there is some kind of teaching of popes and theologians of pre-Vatican II times that would help clear up things for us on that thorny una cum Benedicto issue. A determined and well-meaning attempt to settle things on that issue has indeed been made, although the purpose was decidedly  one-sided, inasmuch as the idea was to prove that in no way could traditional Catholics ever lawfully attend una cum Benedicto Masses. Research, described as "exhaustive research," has come with the statement that "various popes and pre-Vatican II theologians taught that the laity who assist actively at mass, in so doing manifest their consent and moral cooperation with the priest as he offers the Sacrifice," but also to his adding of the name of B16 to the Canon of the Mass.

 However, it is as plain as could be that there is no indication whatsoever, in the above quote, that the popes and pre-Vatican II theologians referred to gave any thought at all to Masses with the name of a false pope in the una cum phrase of the Canon. They undoubtedly had in mind the kind of Mass they knew, that is, the traditional Latin Mass of the ages, not anything like the una cum Benedicto Masses that we know today.

 The unquestionable fact is that the popes and theologians of pre-Vatican II times did not see with their own eyes the Modernist popes promoting a plainly new un-Catholic religion, the way we have been doing, nor did they hear with their own ears the false teaching of modernist popes and theologians, nor did they ever get to read their modernist un-Catholic writings. So they did not have occasion to warn against, and condemn, Masses like the una cum Benedicto Masses that today’s traditional theologians, as well as informed lay Catholics, have been obliged to condemn repeatedly in these Vatican II times. Pre-Vatican II popes and theologians did not address the una cum Benedicto Mass issue, of which they knew nothing first hand the way we have known it.

If we try to use the words of popes and pre-Vatican II theologians, as already quoted above, and make them say that attendance at una cum Benedicto Masses is always absolutely forbidden under any and all circumstances, it is we who are really doing that kind of forbidding, not the popes and the pre-Vatican II theologians. Just try to find anything in the popes and pre-Vatican II theologians that totally and absolutely forbids any and all attendance at una cum Benedicto Masses by traditional sedevacantist Catholics. It just isn’t there! (Emphasis mine---Introibo)

 A second quote, resulting from the aforementioned "exhaustive research," tells us that "the Fathers of the Church, as well as Pope Pius XII, in his Encyclical Mediator Dei, teach specifically that the faithful who actively assist at Mass ratify, assent to, and participate in the prayers of the Canon that the priest recites."
What that second quote really does is to stress the fact that the faithful attending Mass are not there merely as spectators watching the priest perform at the altar. No, they are present at Mass to unite themselves with the priest in heart and mind and intention as he offers the Sacrifice. It is not enough for the faithful to be there at Mass only bodily, while maybe saying prayers of their own that have no connection with the Mass.

The faithful attending Mass are there as one with the priest, so that the Mass is being offered by the priest and the faithful together. The priest alone has the power to offer the Mass and to consecrate, but the faithful unite themselves with the priest, as he offers the Mass, though not as he consecrates. The idea that the faithful as closely united with the priest in the offering of the Mass runs all through the various prayers of the Sacrifice. For example, "offerimus," that is, "we offer" – also, "pray that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable before God the Father Almighty."

 And that is the issue which the second quote given above really addresses –that is, the issue of the union of the attending faithful with the offering priest. And that is why that second quote says that the faithful "ratify, assent to and participate in the prayers of the Canon that the priest recites." Those prayers of the Canon which the Fathers and Pius XII, were undoubtedly referring to were the traditional fully Catholic prayers of the Mass as they were always recited before Vatican II, without any false pope’s name being mixed into the prayers. The Fathers and Pius XII, as well as the pre-Vatican II theologians, did not have occasion to warn about attendance at Masses giving recognition to a false pope. They did not address an issue like that because such an issue did not as yet exist.

 Even if we recognize the fact that sedevacantist traditional Catholics definitely can, for the right reason and with the right attitude, lawfully attend valid SSPX una cum Benedicto Tridentine Latin Masses by not consenting to the naming of the pope-pretender B16 in the Canon, we may still have reason to advise caution if we see that some may have the reckless and careless notion that the priest can say what he wants in the prayers of the Mass, just so they have a valid Mass to attend. Such an attitude is inexcusable.

A very disturbing thing about attendance at una cum Benedicto Tridentine Latin Masses is the fact that it is an awful sin to give honorable mention in the Holy Sacrifice to a false pope. To put it bluntly, it is a mortal sin—that is, in itself, considered objectively, it is plainly mortally sinful. To what extent SSPX and other priests naming a false pope in the Canon of the Mass are subjectively guilty before God —that is consciously and knowingly—that is something that only God can judge accurately and correctly.

But even though it is in itself and objectively mortally sinful for a priest to add the name of a non-pope to the una cum phrase of the Canon, that mortally sinful action can in no way change the nature of the Sacrifice itself, nor nullify its validity, nor lesson its spiritual value for those attending it.

The situation created by naming a false pope in the Mass has been called a "mortal sin situation." It helps to understand how we should look upon such a "mortal sin situation" if we consider the fact that in this sinful world we are constantly running into "mortal sin situations." We do so, for example, just by living with mortal sinners, maybe even in our own family circles; or, in dealing with and cooperating with such sinners at work or play or leisure; or, in business deals, in shopping in stores whose owners and managers approve of and promote, for example, abortion and sodomy and other evils; or, owners who are part of some evil secret society. Even such a thing as having to go through store check-outs displaying all those raw flesh mortal sin magazines is plainly an unavoidable "mortal sin situation." And how could we possibly avoid all the ubiquitous raw flesh mortal sin creatures that infest just about every place on earth, sparing not even Our Lord’s Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament?

What we cannot fail to understand is that being unavoidably caught in a "mortal sin situation" does not mean that we necessarily "ratify, assent to, and participate in" the mortal sins in question. Similarly,neither are traditional Catholics automatically and necessarily and unavoidably guilty of "ratifying, assenting to, and participating in” the mortal sin of naming a false pope in otherwise valid una cum Benedicto Tridentine Latin Masses, if they attend such Masses for a justifiable reason and with the right attitude of mind. (Emphasis mine). 

 Some might wonder what happens to the two words, una cum ("together with") when there is no pope to be named in the una cum phrase. The truth is that those two words are still needed for mentioning the name of the bishop of the diocese in which the priest is offering Mass. Thus: una cum antistite nostro, N. (That is, "together with our bishop, N."). When Pope Pius XII died in 1958, priests living in the Chicago Archdiocese still had to say when offering Mass, una cum... antistite nostro Alberto (That is,"together with… our Bishop Albert," meaning Albert Meyer, later Cardinal Meyer).

And when there is neither pope nor bishop to be named in the una cum phrase—whether because of death or apostasy from the true catholic Faith—those two una cum words are still needed for mentioning all the faithful in general at the end of the Te Igitur prayer with which the Canon of the Mass begins. Those using missals at Mass will know that the Te Igitur prayer ends up with these words: una cum …orthodoxis, atque catholicae et apostolicae fidei cultoribus (that is:"together with … all who are orthodox in belief and who profess the Catholic and Apostolic Faith").

Those who have been thoughtlessly and carelessly making it look as if all una cum Masses are objectionable, and are to be avoided, had better get things straight, and finally tell their hearers and readers that it is the una cum Benedicto Masses that are objectionable, and are normally to be avoided, not the una cum Masses. (Emphasis mine---Introibo)

 The plain fact is that all Tridentine Latin Masses are una cum Masses. All of my over 24,000 Tridentine Latin Masses offered since May of 1941, the month and year of my ordination, have been una cum Masses. None of them were Novus Ordo performances. For that a jubilant Deo gratias!!!

Excerpt from the Letter of Fr. Stepanich to Bishop Dolan

"If, as some wrongly advise you to do, you believe that traditional Catholics should avoid absolutely all Tridentine Latin Masses (like those, for example, of most, if not all, SSPX priests) in which the priest inexcusably adds the name of the scandalous religion-mixer, Benedict XVI Ratzinger, to the words una cum in the Te Igitur prayer at the beginning of the Canon of the Tridentine Latin Mass, you are not following sound advice, even though coming from those who have supposedly "exhaustively researched and studied the question of una cum Masses," but without coming to the correct conclusion.

 One thing we must not fail to realize is that Tridentine Latin Masses offered with the insertion of Benedicto after una cum are not in any way vitiated as to their validity and liceity, as well as to their fruitfulness for those attending such Masses. And such Masses can in no way be honestly called "One World Church" Masses. That derogatory term applies to Novus Ordo performances, but never to Tridentine Latin Masses, not even to those with the word Benedicto added to the una cum.

The priest offering a valid Tridentine Latin Mass who adds the word Benedicto to the una cum is, of course, seriously mistaken, whether he realizes it or not. What he does is objectively, in itself, seriously sinful, even if subjectively, in his own mind, he mistakenly thinks he is doing the right thing.

 As for traditional Catholics who attend such una cum Benedicto Masses, because they have no other Tridentine Latin Mass within reasonable distance to go to, they must never approve of the priest adding
Benedicto to una cum, nor may they be indifferent about the priest doing so, nor may they ever get the idea that it really makes no difference whether they go to a St. Gertrude Church type of una cum Mass or to an
SSPX church type of such a Mass, in which Benedicto is added to the una cum.

And let it be clearly understood that, if we concede that traditional Catholics, with no other Mass available to go to than an SSPX una cum Benedicto Mass, may lawfully go to such an SSPX Mass for the sake of the graces needed and desired, we by no means concede that they may also get involved with in any and all SSPX activities that take place in a "B16 is pope" atmosphere. We concede only that, by way of exception, they may legitimately choose to go to SSPX una cum Benedicto Masses instead of being obliged to stay home as home-aloners. But once they are able to go again to the kind of una cum Masses that are offered at true traditional churches, they must stop going to the una cum Benedicto Masses altogether. They must never forget that the name of a pope-pretender, such as the name of the religion-mixer B16, cannot lawfully be given the honorable place reserved only for the names of true Catholic popes after the words una cum at the beginning of the Canon of the Tridentine Latin Mass.

 Let us repeat once again, and as often as necessary, that a priest who, whether knowingly or supposedly innocent ignorance, adds Benedicto to the words of the una cum in his offering of the Tridentine Latin Mass does not and cannot, ruin the inherent value and fruitfulness of that Mass, which retains all its God-given holiness, whether the priest is in a state of grace or in the state of mortal sin. We have known from time immemorial that there have been priests who, most unfortunately, have been in the state of mortal sin while offering Holy Mass, yet their lack of personal holiness has not destroyed the infinite holiness of their Masses.

 You surely must remember that Canon 2261, of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, clearly states that "the Faithful may, for any just reason, ask for the sacraments and sacramentals from an excommunicated person…" As you can readily understand, a priest who knowingly and willfully adds the name Benedicto to
the una cum prayer of the Canon of the Mass, while fully aware that religion-mixer B16 cannot possibly be
a true Catholic pope, must certainly be ipso facto excommunicated. And you know that, by Church law, the
faithful may lawfully attend his Masses and receive Communion from his excommunicated hand."

Pax et Bonum,
(signed)
Father Martin Stépanich, OFM, STD

In Defense Of Pope Pius XII

 The last pope before the Great Apostasy, His Holiness Pope Pius XII, is one of the most unfairly attacked pontiffs, especially among those purporting to be "Traditionalists." Coming into the world March 2, 1876, Eugene Pacelli was born into a family of devout Catholics. He felt called to the priesthood, and on Easter Sunday, April 2, 1899, he was ordained. Incredibly intelligent, young Father Pacelli received his doctorate in theology in 1904, being just 28 years old. His mentor was the great Cardinal Gasparri, whom he helped with the codification of Church Law, promulgated in 1917 by Pope Benedict XV as the Code of Canon Law. He also was good friends with Raphael Cardinal Merry del Val, the "power behind the throne" of Pope St. Pius X. It was Cardinal Merry del Val who helped drive Pope St. Pius X's attack on Modernism. If we had a real pope, I'm confident the holy and erudite Cardinal would have an "St." in front of his name.

On May 13, 1917, the same day the Blessed Virgin appeared at Fatima, 41 year old Father Pacelli was consecrated a bishop at the Sistine Chapel by His Holiness Pope Benedict XV, who had appointed him as nuncio to Bavaria. On December 16, 1929, Pope Pius XI gave Bp. Pacelli the Cardinal's hat, and in February of 1930--a mere two months later--promoted him to Vatican Secretary of State. This appointment made Cardinal Pacelli one of the two most powerful men in the Church after the pope himself (the other powerful position is Pro-Prefect of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office).

Pope Pius XI died on February 10, 1939. In the conclave that followed, Cardinal Pacelli was elected Supreme Pontiff on his 63rd birthday, after the third ballot. He took the name Pope Pius XII in honor of his immediate predecessor who had named him both cardinal and Secretary of State. Pope Pius had his solemn coronation ten days later, on March 12th. As the three-fold tiara of the papacy was placed on his head, he took seriously the words that were spoken for centuries: "Receive ye this tiara adorned with three crowns, and know that thou art the Father of Princes and Kings, Pastor of the Universe, and Vicar on Earth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom belongs all glory, world without end." His papacy was tumultuous, and lasted 19 years, 7 months, and 7 days until he went to Judgement on October 9, 1958. In this post, I will not be defending Pope Pius against the asinine attacks of those who claim he didn't "do enough to save the Jews," or that he was "Hitler's Pope," and other rank calumnies. There is enough literature out there that puts such lies to shame.

The purpose of my post will be to outline his many shining achievements, and expel the charges of those, from Vacancy Pushers (those who "push the time of the papal vacancy" before Roncalli), to the simply misguided, who believe that Pope Pius XII was "responsible" for the Great Apostasy, or allegedly promulgated "harmful changes" such as the mitigated Eucharistic Fast, and the New Rites of Holy Week.

Pastor Angelicus

 Pope Pius XII is sometimes thought to be the "Angelic Pastor" spoken of by the so-called "Prophesies of St. Malachy" regarding the popes. The so-called prophesies have no Magisterial approval, but have been influential in some "conservative" Vatican II sect circles. Nevertheless, the title for "Papa Pacelli" is most fitting. Here is a run down of some major theological accomplishments.

1. A True Marian Pope.

As a priest, the future pope celebrated his First Mass on April 3, 1899, at the altar of the icon of The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title Salus Populi Romani in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. As previously written, he was consecrated a bishop the same day the Blessed Mother appeared at Fatima. As Pope, in 1940, he approved the Fatima apparitions as "worthy of belief," and in 1942, consecrated the entire world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. (I refuse to get bogged down in argumentation over the "true meanings" of private revelations, and therefore will not argue with those whom assert he should have specifically consecrated Russia, as was the hallmark of "Fr." Gruner). 

Pope Pius XII claimed to have seen the "Miracle of the Sun" no less than four times. According to the Fatima visionaries, Mary had said there would be a miracle October 13, 1917, so that people would come to believe. Thousands had gathered at the site of the visions, and the sun "danced," reportedly drying instantaneously the rain-soaked land and spectators. Pius XII wrote, "I have seen the 'miracle of the sun,' this is the pure truth." 

The papal note says that at 4 p.m. on Oct. 30, 1950, during his "habitual walk in the Vatican Gardens, reading and studying," having arrived to the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, "toward the top of the hill […] I was awestruck by a phenomenon that before now I had never seen."

"The sun, which was still quite high, looked like a pale, opaque sphere, entirely surrounded by a luminous circle,” he recounted. And one could look at the sun, "without the slightest bother. There was a very light little cloud in front of it."

The Holy Father’s note goes on to describe "the opaque sphere" that "moved outward slightly, either spinning, or moving from left to right and vice versa. But within the sphere, you could see marked movements with total clarity and without interruption." (See https://zenit.org/articles/pius-xii-saw-miracle-of-the-sun/)

For Pius, this served as a confirmation of one of his greatest acts as pope. On November 1, 1950, wearing the papal tiara and invoking his Supreme Apostolic Authority as infallible teacher of all Christians, he declared ex cathedra the dogma of the Assumption. The Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus declares:

 "For which reason, after We have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God Who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by Our own authority, We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which We have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith."

The text of the Apostolic Constitution was drafted by the eminent theologian, Fr. Michel-Louis Guerard des Lauriers, one of the first sedevacantists, who was consecrated a bishop in 1981 by Archbishop Thuc.

2. Foe of Communism.  Pius was doggedly anti-Communist. On July 1, 1949, the Holy Office published a decree, approved by His Holiness, declaring any Catholics who became Communists as apostates.

DECREE OF THE HOLY OFFICE
FORMULATED BY PIUS XII
JULY 1, 1949


This Sacred Supreme Congregation has been asked:
1. whether it is lawful to join Communist Parties or to favor them;

2. whether it is lawful to publish, disseminate, or read books, periodicals, newspapers or leaflets which support the teaching or action of Communists, or to write in them;

3. whether the faithful who knowingly and freely perform the acts specified in questions 1 and 2 may be admitted to the Sacraments;

4. whether the faithful who profess the materialistic and anti-Christian doctrine of the Communists, and particularly those who defend or propagate this doctrine, contract ipso facto excommunication specially reserved to the Apostolic See as apostates from the Catholic faith.

The Most Eminent and Most Reverend Fathers entrusted with the supervision of matters concerning the safeguarding of Faith and morals, having previously heard the opinion of the Reverend Lords Consultors, decreed in the plenary session held on Tuesday (instead of Wednesday), June 28, 1949, that the answers should be as follows:

To 1. in the negative: because Communism is materialistic and anti-Christian; and the leaders of the Communists, although they sometimes profess in words that they do not oppose religion, do in fact show themselves, both in their teaching and in their actions, to be the enemies of God, of the true religion and of the Church of Christ;

to 2. in the negative: they are prohibited ipso iure (cf. Can. 1399 of the Codex Iuris Canonici);

to 3. in the negative, in accordance with the ordinary principles concerning the refusal of the Sacraments to those who are not disposed;

to 4. in the affirmative.
And the following Thursday, on the 30th day of the same month and year, Our Most Holy Lord Pius XII, Pope by the Divine Providence, in the ordinary audience, granted to the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Assessor of the Sacred Office, approved of the decision of the Most Eminent Fathers which had been reported to Him, and ordered the same to be promulgated officially in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.
Given at Rome, on July 1st, 1949.

(Signed) Petrus Vigorita,

Notary of the Sacred Supreme Congregation
of the Holy Office.

A further dubium ( a question answered) dated April 4, 1959 from the Holy Office made the provisions of the 1949 Decree more specific, stating that it implied a prohibition on voting for parties that were helping Communists, even if such parties themselves had inoffensive doctrines or even called themselves "Christian."

3. Pope Condemning Modern Errors. 
One of the greatest encyclicals of the 20th century was Humani generis "concerning some false opinions threatening to undermine the foundations of Catholic Doctrine" which was promulgated August 12, 1950. It was drafted by the Dominican theologian Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange. Its salient points include:

• Encyclicals usually speak to matters already expounded upon in doctrine; however, should the Pope pass supreme judgment on a disputed matter, it should be considered closed for discussion.
• Divine revelation was given by God as guidance for the Church to exercise her living teaching authority, not for private deterministic interpretation.
• Some dispute the divine authorship of Scripture in part or in whole and interpret it on the basis of exegesis, looking for hidden meanings, instead of on the Church’s teachings.
• They claim that a new exegesis of the Old Testament would replace literal difficulties with symbolic/spiritual truth.
• Their claims oppose the norms of interpretation explained in previous encyclicals.
• Doubt regarding revealed truths is a result of this way of thinking. (e.g. Creation out of love, God’s eternal foreknowledge of men’s free choices, etc.)
• Angels, essence, the supernatural order, original sin, sin in general, the efficacy of Christ’s sarifice, and the Real Presence or all debated.
• The necessity and value of the Church and the faith itself is questioned.
• These errors are being pointed out herein because some Catholic theologians are committing them and are hereby censured.
• The Church relies on reason to understand the faith, God’s law, the mysteries, and even the existence of God. Reason comes with training and leads to truth.
• Teaching Authority only covers matters of faith and morals. "New" truth cannot overturn established truth, but it can correct errors.
• Priests must learn philosophy and Aquinas’ method is tried and true.
• Opponents claim that the traditional philosophy used by the Church is adequate for basic instruction but not for practical application, and that all other philosophies, albeit evolving, are ultimately compatible with Catholicism.
• They claim that the Church’s philosophy appeals to intellect and ignores the will and emotions; however, this is clearly and historically false, for the Church teaches that the will can see truth beyond what the intellect can deduce on its own.
• Theodicy and ethics (philosophical sciences) are threatened by these new opinions. Not only are they themselves debased, but so is the protection provided by the Church’s Teaching Authority.
• Discussion of theories not yet proven scientifically but merely hypothesized must follow. Theories can only be considered if they do not oppose Church teaching.
• Human evolution (origin of man from pre-existent and living matter) is up for discussion, but cannot contradict that God is the immediate creator of souls.
• Polygenism (origin from two or more distinct ancestors) is irreconcilable with the doctrine of original sin.
• The first eleven chapters of Genesis may not fit the modern concept of history, but any inclusion of folklore was done under divine inspiration.
• Thus, these are not imaginative myths but expressions of truth. Ancient sacred authors were clearly superior to secular ("profane") authors of the same period.

Thus while condemning the modern errors, Pope Pius was careful to allow discussion on evolution of the body of humans, and a non-literal interpretation of Genesis in certain instances (which idea was advanced by Pope St. Pius X).

4. Pope who developed the traditional and correct ecclesiology and also defended the Mass. 
In his great encyclical Mystici Corporis (1943), His Holiness taught that the One True Church is the Mystical Body of Christ on Earth. It made clear that the Church of Christ is not a mere collection of believers (as taught by Protestants), but is identical to the Roman Catholic Church. This teaching would be repudiated for "the People of God" false ecclesiology at Vatican II, whereby the Church of Christ is not identical to the Roman Catholic Church, but merely "subsists" there in its fullness, yet can be found in false sects as well.

In Mediator Dei, Pius, as if seeing the year 1969 and the Novus Bogus "mass," he condemns those who, under the guise of "returning to old ways," would make unlawful and radical changes to the Mass in these words:

"But it is neither wise nor laudable to reduce everything to antiquity by every possible device. Thus, to cite some instances, one would be straying from the straight path were he to wish the altar restored to its primitive table-form; were he to want black excluded as a color for the liturgical vestments; were he to forbid the use of sacred images and statues in Churches; were he to order the crucifix so designed that the divine Redeemer's body shows no trace of His cruel sufferings; and lastly were he to disdain and reject polyphonic music or singing in parts, even where it conforms to regulations issued by the Holy See." (para. #62; Emphasis mine).

5. The "greatest act of my papacy." Near his death, when Pope Pius reflected upon all he had done, he considered one act to be "the greatest act" of his papacy. What was this act to which he referred? On May 29, 1954 when he canonized his predecessor Pope Pius X, and enrolled the "Foe of Modernism" among the saints of the Church!

Unjust Criticisms

With all the great things this pope did, how could he be so harshly criticized? He was a theologian who looked up to, and surrounded himself with, Anti-Modernists. I will list the criticisms I hear most often, and devote a separate section to the revised Rites of Holy Week. 

• Pope Pius was "soft on Modernism." It is claimed he didn't clamp down on Modernist theologians as he should have done, and promoted heretics such as Roncalli and Montini. First, there is nothing that protects a pope from making poor choices in whom he elevates to Cardinal or appoints as a bishop. While Montini and Roncalli were "suspect of Modernism," the word "suspect" means just that--not yet guilt. His confessor, Cardinal Bea, may have convinced him they were rehabilitated. Bea was a real snake in the grass; a closet Modernist no one suspected until he came out at Vatican II. Has not (unfortunately) almost everyone been betrayed by a trusted family member or friend? Does that somehow cast doubts on your character? Did Pius make poor choices in appointments? Objectively, yes, but subjectively we don't know all the reasons. It's another case of playing "Monday morning quarterback." The calumny that Pius knew certain facts about clergy and deliberately elevated them is on the same level as the Jews who scream that he knowingly and willingly helped Hitler.
• Pope Pius "praised the Masonic United Nations." Actually, he enunciated (in 1953) the sound principle that should guide such a body: "Within the limits of the possible and the lawful, to promote everything that facilitates union and makes it more effective; to raise dykes against anything that disturbs it; to tolerate at times that which it is impossible to correct, but which, on the other hand, must not be permitted to make shipwreck of the community of peoples, because of the higher good that is expected from it." The detractors of His Holiness never mention this, or the fact he never "praised" Masonry or Masonic ideals. 
• Pope Pius modified the Eucharistic fast. Yes, he did, and (a) he had every right to do so as Supreme Legislator, and (b) there was good reason for it. With the increasing secularization of the world, people had to work on Holy Days of Obligation, and sometimes on Sundays (police officers, doctors in hospitals, etc.) with it being harder and harder to take off and make ends meet for their families. They had to miss Mass and say an extra Rosary that night and/or read devoutly from the missal. Pope Pius therefore allowed evening Masses. The ancient fast began at midnight. If I'm working and the Traditionalist Chapel near me has an 8pm Mass, I would need to go over twenty (20) hours without food. Many people due to infirmity, old age, or the need to keep their strength for work (especially in manual labor) would not be able to do it. They would have to go to Mass and abstain from Communion, or risk their health and job performance. With his decree Sacra Tridentina Synodus (1905), Pope St. Pius X encouraged frequent Holy Communion, not as a reward for the just but as the antidote to sin. The Saint said, "Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven." By mitigating the fast to three hours before Communion (water and medicine don't break the fast and may be taken at any time), Pope Pius XII was ensuring the will of His Predecessor was continued. I agree with some of my readers who say that, if you can do so without harm to your health or occupation, the midnight fast should be voluntarily kept as penance. Those who cannot do so (such as my now deceased mother who was sickly most of her life), should not be the least afraid to avail themselves of the modified fast. 
• Pope Pius changed some feast days and made some changes in the Mass rubrics. As I stated above, yes, he did, and he had every right to do so as Supreme Legislator. He instituted the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (August 22) and The Queenship of Mary (May 31). On May 1st, the day used by Communists as "May Day" to show the might of Marxism, Pope Pius made it the feast of St. Joseph the Workman. Here he clearly shows the proper understanding of labor exemplified by St. Joseph as opposed to the evil system of Karl Marx. With Cum hac nostra aetate (March 23, 1955), he slightly changed the rankings of feasts, eliminated some octaves and suppressed the Proper Last Gospels for the usual Last Gospel of St. John.  

None of the above makes him a promoter of heresy or evil. The following section deals with the most controversial aspect of his papacy---only controversial, I may add, after Vatican II and complained of by some Traditionalists---the Reformed Rite of Holy Week. 

The New Rites of Holy Week

 On Novenber 19, 1955, Pope Pius XII issued the decree Maxima Redemptionis, for a Revised Rite of Holy Week to take effect in 1956. (In 1951, the Vigil of Easter on Holy Saturday was altered experimentally, and made official in 1956). There are some Traditionalist clergy who hold the Revised Rites are obligatory. Still others hold that the Rites have ceased to bind because they have become "noxious" over time in a way Pope Pius XII could not have foreseen. They use the pre-Pius XII Rites. As I have no Magisterial authority, and I am not a theologian, I can not settle the issue. What all agree about, as do I, is that the reforms of Pope Pius XII are just as good and Catholic as the former Holy Week. Do the reformed Rites cease to bind? Not for the reasons given by those who reject them. I do believe a case can be made for using the older Rites. I have attended both with no problem. I prefer the older Rites, but that's all it is--a preference. So while I think a case can be made that the older Rites can be used, I believe the stronger arguments are on the side of those who use the Reformed Rites as obligatory. I will set forth my reasons below.

1. The Rites were promulgated by a True Pope. No Traditionalist clergy denies the legitimacy of Pope Pius XII. Some Traditionalist laymen have called his papacy into question, as well as Vacancy Pushers such as Michael Bizzaro. Their arguments hold no water, and the clergy know it.

2. The Church is Infallible in Her Universal Disciplinary Laws. According to theologian Van Noort, "The Church's infallibility extends to the general discipline of the Church...it can never sanction a universal law which would be at odds with faith or morality or would by its very nature conducive to the injury of souls...The Church's infallibility extends to the general discipline of the Church...By the term "general discipline of the Church" are meant those ecclesiastical laws passed for the direction of Christian worship and Christian living." (See Dogmatic Theology, 2: 114-115; Emphasis mine).

According to theologian Hermann, "The Church is infallible in her general discipline. By the term general discipline is understood the laws and practices which belong to the external ordering of the whole Church. Such things would be those which concern either external worship, such as liturgy and rubrics, or the administration of the sacraments…" ( See Institutiones Theologiae Dogmaticae 1:258).

Therefore, the Reformed Rites of Holy Week are guaranteed to be holy and non-heretical.

3. The Reformed Rites had some obvious improvements. Pope Pius XII allowed the times of the services to be held later, for more people to participate and to be aligned with when they actually occurred (Good Friday in the afternoon, Maundy Thursday in the evening) and allowed Our Lord to be received in Holy Communion on Good Friday.  It also lengthened the end of fasting and abstinence until midnight on Holy Saturday, rather than 12 noon.

So why the rejection by some clergy? Fr. Anthony Cekada has written on this extensively, and has recently made a change in the upshot of his arguments in a video. He (and others) argued:

1. The Rites introduced changes that "became harmful over time." To read the argument in full, please see http://www.traditionalmass.org/images/articles/P12MoreLegal.pdf. Fr. Cekada lists certain "false principles and practices," such as: the vernacular may be an integral part of the liturgy, the priest’s role is reduced, lay participation must ideally be vocal, etc. These were incorporated into the Novus Bogus of 1969. If a principle is wrong, it's always wrong, and does not become wrong. If the vernacular may never be an integral part of the liturgy, then it was wrong when Pope Pius XII introduced it, which is impossible, unless you want to say he wasn't pope. The application of the principle may be wrong, but not the principle itself.  Therefore, there was nothing that could have "become harmful." To use an analogy, praying to saints is good and laudatory. Certain "High Church" Anglican heretics, offer their invalid and heretical liturgy in honor of St. Thomas More as a "Martyr of the Reformation (sic)." The dishonoring of St. Thomas More through a false service that equates him with others who were Protestants in no way derogates from the principle that praying to saints is good, or that honoring St. Thomas More is in some way "rendered harmful" because of what some heretics have done.

2. Annibale Bugnini was a Freemason and behind the changes. It doesn't matter. If Pius XII was pope, the Holy Ghost protected all  Pius did in the Liturgy. Bugnini can say 2+2=4 and he's not automatically wrong because he's a Freemason. He was putting in true principles which could be misapplied later. That doesn't make them per se bad, and Fr. Cekada agrees they are not bad in and of themselves.

3. The Changes led to the "New Mass" of 1969. No. I believe the changes were transient and leading to a different form of the Mass that would fight Modernism. What this final product would look like, I have no idea. Pope St. Pius X and Pius XII were calling for and working on reforming the liturgy. Pope St. Pius X began with Divino Afflatu of November 1, 1911. The year after the change, Pope Pius XII declared, "...the faithful must seek from Scripture, tradition and the sacred liturgy as from a deep untainted source." (See Haurietis Aquas, May 15, 1956; the True Mass will always be untainted even when changes are made by the pope because it is the working of the Holy Ghost). It was not leading to a Masonic bread and wine service as in the Novus Bogus. The Modernists hijacked the Liturgical Movement beginning with Roncalli.

4.  By using the Reformed Rite of Holy Week, we lend credibility to the lie of Montini (Paul VI). In a video, Fr. Cekada changed his argument slightly. In the video, he is "sent back in time" to have an audience with Pope Pius XII.  Fr. Cekada concedes that the changes made were not evil or heretical, but since Montini claimed they were the first step towards the Novus Bogus "mass," they should no longer be used because they give credibility to that notion. Pius agrees, and Fr. Cekada returns to 2018. The video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmsEOsohZKM. Actually, the argument works the exact opposite to what Fr. Cekada states. Since the reforms of Pope Pius XII were not the first steps to the "new mass," Montini lied (no surprise there). By refusing to use those reforms, it makes their rejection seem to stem from the fact that they were the first steps to the Novus Bogus "mass"---why else would you reject them?

5. We can't be sure Roncalli (John XXIII) and Montini (Paul VI) were not true popes (at least until 1964), so you can't reject those changes if you accept Pope Pius XII's changes. For clergy and laity in 1959-1964, that would hold true. However, since then, we have good reason to doubt the validity of Roncalli's and Montini's election on several counts. As theologian Szal explains, "Nor is there any schism if one merely transgresses a Papal law for the reason that one considers it too difficult, or if one refuses obedience inasmuch as one suspects the person of the Pope or the validity of his election, or if one resists him as the civil head of a state." (See The Communication of Catholics with Scismatics, CUA Press, [1948], pg. 2; Emphasis mine).  Since we can suspect the elections of Roncalli and Montini, we can safely disregard their "laws" at any stage. Not so Pope Pius XII.

6. Laymen don't understand these matters like clergy, so they have no business discussing them. This argument is fatuous at best. In the absence of a pope, which Traditionalist clergy do the laity follow when they disagree on a disputed point of theology? In this time of the Great Apostasy, we can't "check our brains at the door." Moreover, I received Holy Communion from the hands of my spiritual father, Fr. Gommar DePauw, on Good Friday for years, as he explained the changes of Pope Pius XII. Father was ordained in 1942, was an approved pre-Vatican II canonist (doctorate in canon law [JCD] in 1955 from Catholic University of America), and a peritus (theological expert) at Vatican II who fought the Modernists. He was a seminary professor for the Archdiocese of Baltimore (1955-1962), and was the first to publicly stand against Vatican II in 1964. I'd love Fr. Cekada, or any other Traditionalist priest, to tell me with a straight face that he "didn't understand" the complexities of the rubrics and all it entailed!

That the Reformed Rite was not meant to be permanent, and we don't know how it was heading in a truly orthodox way, in my opinion, would perhaps justify the Old Rites. I don't condemn (nor could I) the SSPV or Fr. Cekada in using them. However, the Reformed Rites are good and holy--equal to the Old. No one should claim that the Old Rites are "Bugnini-free" as if the Reformed Rites of Pope Pius XII were the work of Bugnini and not protected by the Holy Ghost. One may have a preference, but that's all it is; a preference. The CMRI has a much stronger position that the Rites can be considered obligatory. Finally, one must be careful when invoking epieikeia, for as theologians McHugh and Callan note:

"There is the danger that one may be wrong in judging that the lawgiver did not wish to include a case under his law. If this is not certain, one should investigate to the best of one’s ability, and have recourse, if possible, to the legislator or his representative for a declaration or dispensation. It is never lawful to use epieikeia without reasonable certainty that the legislator would not wish the law to apply here and now." (See Moral Theology 1:141).

Conclusion

Pope Pius XII was a good and holy pontiff. He has been attacked unjustly on the left by the Jews, and unjustly on the right by certain Traditionalists (and those of the lunatic fringe calling themselves "Traditionalists"). We need more unity and less diversity as we struggle to make our Catholic way in these perilous times. The chaos all began with the death of "Papa Pacelli" on October 9, 1958. I'd say that's a good date to retain all that was in place, and to reject all that comes after it, until we get a new pope, or Our Lord returns in glory.