Bits and Pieces

Saints preserve us!!  Bishop Athanasius Schneider just committed a dreadful no-no: he quoted from texts of Vatican I. The good Bishop seems to have forgotten that the world was created, and the Church began, in 1962.

Francois Hollande, the deranged leader of unhappy France, has an approval rating of 19%.  He is demanding the ouster of President Assad of Syria, whose approval rating is nearly 80%.

Trans-gender people are DNA Deniers.

According to this Public Policy Survey, 9% of the voters believe Hillary Clinton is a conservative.
Could somebody identify those people for me because I would like to sell them something, swamp land or the Brooklyn Bridge, my extracted teeth, something.

Our esteemed Leader, also known in the trades as "Bathhouse Barry", wants to see grown men to be able to visit the Ladies Room, and the Ladies shower room.  Are you trying to tell us something, Mr President?

International Finance and the Mad Zionists (or do I repeat myself?) not to mention the fabled Military-Industrial Complex, now want to see women ground up into pulp on the world's battlefields. The Great Republican Conservatives are leading this charge.

Bill Clinton has just denounced Hungary and Poland for not taking in enough immigrants.  You have several very large homes with lots of bedrooms, Bill, don't you?

Bill Kristol of Neocon Central, Inc. is now saying he will introduce a well-financed, well-known "independent" to run for president.  The rumor mill is saying that it will be....Mitt Romney. Apparently one ignominious defeat is not enough for Masochist Mitt. (If he does run it will take votes away from Trump and give the election to the Wicked Witch of the West - which of course is the general idea.)

Pope Francis is now honoring second-rate movie stars as cultural exemplars, like George "Looney" Clooney and Richard Gere.  Could someone sit down with Francis please and explain to him that a) neither Clooney nor Gere can act and, b) their involvement in the production of mindless pornographic movies does not exactly qualify them as Catholic role models.

Would they also advise Francis to stop popping the pills he is so obviously popping if he thinks these two vapid hams are worthy of anyone's attention.

The US is (supposedly) fighting terrorism.  The US is also, along with the Netanyahu regime, supplying and nurturing ISIS?  What am I missing here?

Vermont becomes yet another state banning therapy to help sodomites stop committing sodomy.  Is Vermont in the pay of the drug manufacturers who sell the drugs needed to fight Hepatitus-B?

Mr Obama was recently in Japan and felt it unnecessary to express any regrets over Hiroshima, Tokyo and Nagasaki.  Why should he?  He's been bombing every nation in sight recently....while telling the world how peaceful and understanding the US government is.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates has left the presidency of the Boy Scouts.  Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Pope Francis was unable to kneel before the Blessed Sacrament at the recent Corpus Christi procession.  He didn't appear to have kneeling problems when he was washing the dirty feet of every Tom, Dick and Achmed at the last Holy Thursday photo-op some weeks back.

The CEO of Target is telling people that the recent drop in sales is due to a generally bad economy and also global warming.  That certainly must explain it.

WANTED: Used Catholic Catechism, early pre-20th century edition, in good condition.  Please send to: Pope Francis, Vatican City, Roma, Italy.

There are still a few Catholics left out there

One of the few joys I have as I catalogue on this blog the dissolving of Catholicism is the occasional letter or comment I receive that gives one some hope, hope that there is still a large core of souls out there who will cling to the Faith in this its darkest hour.  Many of those who comment here have given evidence of an extraordinary understanding of how serious the situation is and I for one, learn much from these commenters and those who occasionally drop me an email.

One such email arrived a few weeks ago from a reader who was kind enough to express her thoughts in a way that showed me that perhaps the battle is not lost yet.  This lady, Catherine by name, is a serious Catholic who is able to see clearly the dangers threatening that Faith.  Aside from her too kind remarks about our blogging efforts I think readers will agree that, as the quote by Hilaire Belloc which can be found at the header on this blog says, perhaps it is "already morning."

Dear ‘Aged Parent’,

Please forgive me writing to you to say ‘BRAVO’ for your excellent post of Friday, 15^th April entitled ‘Eating and Drinking Judgement on themselves’. Apart from ‘Bravo’, I should like to make some comments for most articles/posts I have read seem to overlook something that seems of fundamental importance.

You mention that ‘the Pope's all-mercy-no-repentance approach is nothing if not pure Protestantism’ and, of course, you are quite correct. Amoris Laetitia is intimately connected with the Holy Year of Mercy. The two events, the Holy Year and Amoris Laetitia, are (I hope you will agree) an outright attack on the doctrine and practice of the Church. Such as been noted, and includes the mercy without repentance. Neither repent/repentance, amend/amendment nor guilt are anywhere to be found in the Bull Misericordiae Vultus (whereas mercy appears 164 times and merciful appears 25 times). Penitent comes three times, but penitence, or the necessity for it, is not mentioned. Repentant, as in the prodigal, comes just once and pardon/justice/forgive-ness added together around 60 times.

However, I think the problem is much deeper and much more serious. The mercy-without-repentance/amendment is more than merely an attack on doctrine and/or practice. It is an outright attack on the very nature and foundations of the Church. Mercy without repentance is just a complete impossibility. Surely this is an attack on the very foundations of the church. For if mercy can be had without repentance (it can’t), then what is the point of the church, or the priesthood, or prayer, or virtue, or indeed, the Incarnation and Our Lord’s Passion? Nothing is left.   

The concept that mercy requires repentance is not my idea for it comes from Genesis 3. The serpent tempts Eve, who then tempts Adam. However, when the Lord God walks in the garden, Adam & Eve are still there and hide. When questioned by God, instead of admitting their disobedience, they played the blame-game with neither admitting nor accepting responsibility. Both St Thomas More (where I originally found this) and St Augustine state the same: that Adam & Eve’s excuses made the original disobedience worse. More observes that it was at this point that God enumerated the woes that would fall to mankind and their banishment from Paradise followed immediately, while St Augustine says that their excuses do not excuse but accuse. Excuses and justifications rather than repentance led to Adam & Eve’s expulsion from the garden. They did not receive unconditional mercy, for they failed to admit their sin. If a lack of repentance or even admission of guilt did not work then, it is not going to work now (notwithstanding the God of surprises!).

I hope this is useful, and not too long. I should have said that I’m a mature student doing a postgraduate research degree on ‘Fear in the Life and Writings of Thomas More’ which is how I discovered all this. For your information: the reference to St Augustine is from The City of God, Bk 14, Ch 14. The references to Adam & Eve made by St Thomas More are to be found in A Treatise upon the Passion, which is Volume 13 in the Yale edition of The Complete Works of Thomas More. The page numbers are 18/6-8; 22/27-30; and 53/14-20. [This is the only available edition.] There is also one reference in More’s Dialogue concerning Heresies, Volume 6 of the same edition, page 405/6-7; and one reference in More’s Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer, page 308/32-309/2. One reference unconnected with Adam & Eve, but on the same topic is:Imitation, Bk I, Ch 2, No 1: ‘We often do amiss, and then do worse by excusing ourselves’.

I also agree with you that a chastisement is coming and that, to use your word, it will be ‘awful’. Part of the answer must be the Rosary and fidelity. But how many are going to be led astray by all this? God help us all.

I do find your blog extremely interesting and informative, and so thank you very much.

With people like this lady still around on earth surely there is reason to see a glimmer of light at the end of this long dark tunnel:

Employment Opportunity: George Soros will hire you to throw rocks at Donald Trump

George Soros the multibillionaire monster, destroyer of Europe, a man whose total corruption is mirrored in his very face, is determined to stop Trump come what may.

After financing coups in Ukraine and elsewhere, after paying thugs to destroy Ferguson and after arranging for the invasion of millions of refugees to invade what little is left of Christendom (due to wars in the Middle East that he and his Tribe have fomented) he has set his sights on keeping the American status quo of more wars, more moral subversion, more social engineering, more filth sticking to everyone and every place.  That means stopping Trump.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/05/25/guess-who-the-albuquerque-trump-protests-were-100-organized-political-astroturf/#more-116609

And all that simply because Trump is unpredictable.  They are not yet sure he can be controlled by them.  All that merely because they are uncertain about him. Could he be a good president, for them? Possibly. So why all the turmoil in the streets, paid for by Mr Soros and others?

My view is that the Usual Suspects are sending him a message.  To wit: get on board with the program or things will get seriously ugly.  Will Trump be cowed this way?  Honestly, I don't know.  I have no high hopes for him or the country anyway.  Yes, it's fun to watch him enrage the creeps and psychopaths in Washington, Hollywood and New York, but if he is elected, and push comes to shove, I have my doubts that anything substantial will change under a Trump presidency. I hope I'm wrong.

The war mongers and corrupters seem to be using a two-pronged attack on him: the vicious street riots, a la Soros and Co., and the serpent-like making "nice" with him, a la Sheldon Adelson.  Both Soros and Adelson want the same things, which should be obvious to everyone (but, alas, isn't);  they are just going about it in two different ways.  These two execrable people want to see Christendom (what's left of it) smashed to pieces.  They want to to push moral corruption as a control mechanism, a method to keep their conquered people quiet and subservient.  They want to keep America as Israel's attack dog.  They want to keep making billions if not trillions through their usurious financial systems.  They want to, in a word, keep humanity in perpetual slavery to them.  The glue that binds these evil men together is cruelty.  Does anyone doubt that?  Look at how they are imposing their insane sex perversion on the world.  They relish in the cruelty they use to impose these horrors.  You still doubt?  Listen to the words of the heads of Planned Parenthood, an organization quite well known for cruelty.

In his book The Great Heresies Hilaire Belloc says thus about the Modern Attack that we all face:

"The two forms of slavery which are gradually appearing and will as time goes on be more and more matured under the effect of the modern attack upon the Faith, are slavery to the State and slavery to private corporations and individuals."

If that does not describe the current situation in plutocratic America and elsewhere I don't know what does.  The private corporations, exemplified by swine like Soros and Adelson, are indeed our slave masters and they use the government that is in thrall to them to carry out their wishes.  That is the main reason one supposes that they fear Trump: they don't know how he will act. Ergo, he will be threatened by the Soros minions in the streets and sweet-talked by the Adelsons, the two prongs which between them are squeezing Trump.

I apologize to my readers for having such a dim view of the future.  I don't see any man, however "alpha male", successfully standing up to such a long-entrenched corruption of justice.  Desperate men, especially desperate rich men, will not easily let go of their gains.  They have been at the rudder of the USA almost from its inception (some would say since its inception) and will not go easily into the night.

Sheldon Adelson is dangling his millions of carrots before Trump's eyes and Soros is sending out his thugs to scare the hell out of him.  Their media demonizes him at every opportunity.  The good, ole boy political apparatus of his own Party despises him.

This could all change overnight.  How?

I strongly suspect that if Trump accepts the millions of dollars offered him for his campaign by the loathsome Sheldon Adelson, the protests will suddenly stop.  A cynical opinion?
Perhaps.

Nigel Farage Talks Turkey

         

AMORIS LAETITIA: The Denial of Justification

The marriage of Princess Grace and Prince Ranier of Monaco

"Satan now surrounds the Sacrament of Matrimony as a vulture awaiting the death of the Catholic heart."

The above quotation from Mr James Larson's examination of Amoris Laetitia is a disturbing reminder of what is at stake for the Church and the world if it continues to be hypnotized by the degeneracy of Modernism which is eating away the Faith.  In Part One of Mr Larson's study  and Part Two, (both which are on Mr Larosn's website.) the author walks us through the thorny path leading to the dire reality, found in Part Three below. 

Amoris Laetitia: Part III
Modernism Invades the Catholic Heart

“The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family.” (from Sister Lucia of Fatima’s letter to Cardinal Carlo Caffara)

The many critiques of Amoris Laetitia which have been penned in recent weeks are replete with accusations of errors in regard to moral theology: Situation Ethics, Consequentialism, Fundamental Option, Gradualism, etc. However, while all these errors are present, they do not penetrate to the fundamental, very specific heresy which underlies all the rest: the denial of the Catholic doctrine of Justification as taught by the Council of Trent. Pope Francis writes the following:

“For true charity is always unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous.” (296).

The Council of Trent teaches just the opposite. While the grace of charity is totally unmerited in itself (what Thomas calls first grace), it is not unmerited or unconditional in its application to the human soul. It is in fact the most merited thing in human life, requiring the subjection of the mind and will to God’s revealed truth, and the renunciation of all objective mortal sin.

Francis, in direct contradiction to Trent, teaches that “in an objective situation of sin [in the context of Amoris Laetitia, the adulterous situation of those civilly divorced and remarried is here clearly indicated] – which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such – a person can be living in God’s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity…(305).”

There can be no possession of charity, and no “living in God’s grace” for one living in objective mortal sin. As the Council of Trent teaches, with one mortal sin charity and justification are lost. Nor can such a person “grow in the life of grace and charity.” As Trent also makes clear, sanctifying grace and charity may indeed grow and increase, but only where justification and charity are already present.

Sister Lucia’s statement quoted above, that the final battle between Christ and Satan will be “about marriage and the family”, might at first sight seem quite surprising. We might protest that there are deeper theological issues and doctrines which would surely have to hold a higher priority for Satan’s malice and plan of attack – such things as the divinity of Christ, or the truths concerning the Incarnation. We might further claim that even greater damage has done by such things as false ecumenism, religious indifferentism, the banalities of the New Mass, or the prostitution of the priesthood and the religious life to the world. I think, however, that we need to look deeper in order to perceive the depth of the threatened devastation which is now upon us.

Read the whole article here.

Charles, Zita and at far right the Emperor Joseph, responsible for the vetoing of Cardinal Rampolla at the conclave which gave us St Pius X

Your Next President?

I'm afraid it is a definite possibility.

Says Patrick Buchanan:

".Either Trump or Clinton is going to be the next president. To the degree they succeed in wounding or killing Trump’s candidacy, they advance Clinton’s chances of succeeding Obama.   "

Look at the bright side.  Maybe the government will finally implode after her election.

An Award for all the Bishops who are remaining dutifully silent in the face of the destruction of Catholicism

[A white feather has been a traditional symbol of cowardice, used and recognised especially within the British Army and in countries of the British Empire since the 18th century, especially by patriotic groups in order to shame men who were not soldiers.]

Bernard Herrmann: Andante Cantabile

Composer Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975) at his most introspective, the Andante Cantabile from his 1947 film score for "The Ghost and Mrs Muir".


                     

From the days when film, and film scoring, was an art.

Interesting perspectives on the meeting between Francis and Kirill

Those who, like this writer, tend to look at Francis with a jaundiced eye might do well to remember that like the Vatican recognition of the State of Palestine this initiative to meet with Kirill did not originate with the current pontiff.  A meeting between the Pope and the Moscow Patriarchate has been in the works for many decades.

Here are a few noteworthy perspectives on the meeting, from both the Orthodox and Catholic positions.

http://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2016/2/11/rome-meets-russian-orthodoxy-media-bury-role-of-religious-persecution-in-historic-summit

From this writer's perspective this meeting, whether or not it was "historic" in the exact meaning of that word, can be viewed in a strongly positive sense, as long as an historical perspective is kept.  Some writers have tried, in imitation of the US government, to present this meeting as a political game being played by Moscow, and many, whipped up by the current anti-Russian mania, have adopted this position.  Calling it political is not tenable.  Whether or not one thinks it a good idea for these two to meet it is almost comical to define it as political in nature, especially given what has been happening in the world of late.

I must add that I am a bit at a loss to explain Archbishop Shevchuk's extreme disappointment with the document that was signed.  Given the history of this tragic schism it is not clear to me what could have been gained, right now, by the Pope speaking in specifics about the religious tensions in Kiev currently.  This is an extremely delicate matter and the situation is not helped either by Orthodox railing against "the Vatican" for supporting "the Nazis" in Kiev, nor is it helped by Catholics claiming, ridiculously, that Moscow has invaded Ukraine.  Even Sandro Magister, who should know much better, has fallen for this particularly dangerous piece of US propaganda.  This writer emailed him recently after he had stated the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a fact.  I had asked him, I believe with kindliness and all seriousness, if he could point me to some authoritative sources supporting the claim that Russia had actually invaded Ukraine, with tanks and armies in tow.  His response to me was that since Crimea was "annexed" by Russia recently, that should be evidence enough of Russia's intentions.  A non-answer if ever I heard one, especially since he failed to add that the people of Crimea voted, in an internationally-monitored election, to rejoin Russia, which it had historically been a part of for over two centuries.

But Shevchuk's intervention has allowed some to suggest that Ukrainian Greek Catholics have been officially abandoned by Rome. Firstly, Rome has been doing quite a bit of abandoning of late, mostly the abandoning of faithful Catholics who want to hear eternal truths once again from the mouth of a Pope.  Abandonment of Catholics to the wolves is old news in a Vatican infested with Modernism.  However, in this case we don't see this as an abandonment of Ukrainian Catholics, at least not yet.  Some blogs, which go off half-cocked at times, have pronounced this as an abandonment but we could not disagree more. As much as we might have wished it this meeting was not the time for a Pope to stand up to Kirill and rail against him over the situation in Ukraine, or tell him he is going to hell if he doesn't become Catholic (though I doubt Francis even thinks anyone will go to hell).  A more delicate approach is needed at this stage, and considering the world seriously begins to look like it is on the brink of a new world war it might be better for Catholics and Orthodox to work together to avert such disasters.  The Blessed Virgin, I am sure, has her eye on this situation.

It is well known that Russian Orthodox leaders have a clearer view of the menace of sodomy than Francis has.  On this topic Francis sees no evil, speaks no evil and hears no evil.  But the Russian Orthodox are far clearer and far more fearless in their denunciations of this contagion.  If nothing else comes of this meeting perhaps in the two hour private discussion the two had, Kirill might have educated our confused Pope on the danger of the Advance of the Sodomites.  It is not far-fetched, in my view, to think that this may have come up in their discussions.

Numerous Orthodox blogs are astute enough to see that Pope Francis is a disaster, a liberal who cavalierly trashes simple expressions of piety and two thousand years of deeply held Christian belief.  I am glad they recognize this problem.  That is in this writer's opinion a good sign.

I am not so naive that I think that some of the well-known and loudly expressed hatred of Catholicism by many of the Orthodox will end any time soon.  A hatred that old will not be eliminated by a meeting between a Patriarch and a dicey Pope.  But as they say, every journey has to have a beginning, even if the leader of the Catholic journey keeps trying to go in the wrong direction.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Disgusting

George Clooney look-a-like Jeffrey Epstein

Every once in awhile it is possible to stumble upon a story illustrating the everyday lives of the billionaires, the Plutocracy which, financially and politically, rules over us.  Though we are not a scandal sheet here (at least I hope not) we find it helpful to understand what motivates the power brokers who rub our faces in unnatural vice, start wars, reduce us to penury and bring chaos to our land and others.

One billionaire who has the usual Washington/New York/Hollywood connections - the same triumvirate that makes dramatic movies about Catholic pedophiles - is Mr Jeffrey Epstein.  We were alerted to this story by Mr Gilad Atzmon:

http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/2016/3/18/jinyztbeqkn2yi286n8q59jtipl36p

Normally we wouldn't sully our minds with the details of characters like Mr Epstein but the movers and shakers behind movies, presidential candidates, government, mass media, the judiciary and what's left of our culture need to be well known, and their actions well known.  That unsavory people like him are connected with the husband of the person who may be the next US president is a piece of information that fascinates us. So we must sometimes wade through the muck to learn about people like Jeffrey Epstein. That way we can get a better understanding of what is happening to us as a people and a nation.

Mr Epstein's Wiki entry is fascinating.  It describes a rich man, a philanthropist and.....something else.  We went to his personal vanity website but it has recently become defunct, so any news about his activities will have to be gleaned from the internet..

He is extremely well connected - to US politicians, British royalty and the major power brokers of the world.  This says much.  This kind of corruption is not exclusive to oligarchs as we know, but being educated about men like Epstein gives us an acute awareness of the situation we find ourselves in. Which is not pretty.

Some may ask why we should care about Mr Epstein.  Swine like him are a dime a dozen. This writer, at least, is curious to know what motivates a member of the Ruling Class.  It helps to know your sworn enemy.

Drafting Women: Why the Republicans are just as evil as the Democrats

Take Duncan Hunter.  Please.

This stalwart Republican gent who warms a chair at the House Armed Services Committee has just proposed - and got passed - an amendment that women should now have to register for the draft,

Why?  Because the draft as it is now, according to stalwart Conservative Duncan Hunter (R, La-La Land), is "sexist".

Words fail me.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/wanted-equality-ladies/

Rep Hunter (R, Stupidsville).  Where do these morons come from??

It was always evident that after playing the "women's rights" game for so many years that the psychopaths who rule over us would one day turn on them.  In America today no woman will be safe, either in the bathroom or now in the military [Recommendation to the Ladies: Stay out of the military.].  Those deluded gals who cheered on this advancement of women are now trapped in an Orwellian nightmare from which the only escape will be leaving the country, death or just possibly, fighting back.

And the men better get off their collective rumps and help their wives and daughters here, or they don't deserve to be called men.

Once we had two parties in this country, The Stupid Party and the Evil Party.  The Republicans can now revel in the fact that in addition to being stupid they are now evil, too.  But, really, they always were.

Duncan Hunter, not to put too fine a point on it, is a jerk.  More: an ignorant, bloodthirsty jerk.

As for the USA, it is a hopeless basket case.

UPDATE:

Congress may vote on this as early as later this week.  If you care about your wives and daughters you may want to get on the phone and call your congressmen and senators ASAP:

http://news.antiwar.com/2016/05/09/house-set-to-vote-on-question-of-drafting-women/

In remembrance: Vietnam and the betrayal of a Catholic leader

Ngo Dinh Diem

Tom Pauken writes:

The Vietnam War was a long time ago for me – specifically, forty-seven years ago when I served as a Province Intelligence Officer in Chau Doc on the Cambodian border and as a senior analyst in the office of Strategic Research and Analysis in Saigon.

Yet, memories of that war, and what went wrong in our attempt to prevent a Communist takeover of South Vietnam, came flooding back to me as I read Geoffrey Shaw’s book.

Shaw recounts in great detail the events leading up to the U.S.-orchestrated coup in 1963 to oust the first President of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, and replace him with a military junta more acquiescent to American “direction” on how to wage the war in Vietnam against the Communists. The author names those U.S. officials directly responsible for that fateful decision – most notably, Undersecretary of State Averill Harriman and Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, Roger Hilsman – and how they worked diligently to persuade John F. Kennedy to sign off on their proposals to remove Diem from power.

The author describes the strong opposition to the plan to replace President Diem by leading American advisers in Vietnam. U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam Frederick Nolting (replaced as Ambassador only months before the coup), CIA Station Chief Bill Colby, Gen. Paul Harkins (head of the U.S. Military Mission in Vietnam), the legendary General Edward Lansdale and Sir Robert Thompson (the British expert on counter insurgency who had led the successful campaign to defeat the Communist insurgency in Malaysia), all expressed the view that President Diem was the best man to lead South Vietnam in combatting the Communist forces and that attempts to force him out would create more problems than they would solve. But, their advice went unheeded, and plans for the coup moved forward.

On November 1, 1963, Gen. Duong Van Minh (known as “Big Minh”) led the military junta that ousted President Diem. Shaw documents how one day later Big Minh ordered his soldiers to murder President Diem along with Diem’s brother Ngo Dinh Nhu (who was the President’s closest adviser). The soldiers carried out his orders and killed the Diem brothers as they were praying in a Catholic Church after attending Mass on the morning of November 2, 1963.

Ironically, President Kennedy – who had authorized the decision to depose President Diem – was himself downed by an assassin’s bullet weeks later, while on a trip to Texas.

Big Minh didn’t last long as President of South Vietnam. He was removed from office three months later in another military coup. Only, those coup leaders were more generous than Big Minh had been, and they let him live unlike what had been the fate of the Diem brothers.

The decision to oust, and eliminate, President Diem set in motion a revolving door of military leaders in charge until Gen. Thieu became President in 1967. Thieu lasted until 1975 when he resigned shortly before the fall of Saigon to the Communists. The man who took his place was none other than Big Minh who unconditionally surrendered to the Communist regime of North Vietnam days later.

Read the whole article here.

US to Hungary: Do as we say....or else.

From Daniel McAdams:

If anyone wants a short course on what's wrong with US diplomacy look no further than US Ambassador to Hungary Coleen Bell's speech Friday to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Hungarian Parliament. In typical diplo-speak there was plenty of flowery language about shared values, fish swimming together in the same water (?), sappy poetics like "together, out of that winter, we would force the spring," and talk of together being "part of the world’s greatest military and political alliance."

But make no mistake: Inside Ambassador Bell's velvet glove is an iron fist, poised to strike should Washington's annoyingly independent-minded Fidesz-led government step out of line on the big issues. And by "big" issues it should be understood that the US means the issues it considers in the interests of its own foreign policy, not those in Hungary's interest. 

Message to Hungary: do as we say or you will be sorry.


Read the whole article here.

Hungary faces reality

Laszlo Kover

As a member of the European People’s Party, Hungary’s ruling centre-right Fidesz party is committed to preserving the “civilisational rules of Christianity” and stands for a society based on the family because “this is the only form of society that guarantees human dignity”, Speaker of the National Assembly László Kövér had told a Polish Catholic weekly.

The interview, published by Gość Niedzielny, Poland’s largest-circulation public affairs weekly this Thursday, was given by Mr. Kövér in mid-April after a joint meeting of the lower and upper houses of the Polish Parliament to mark the 1050th anniversary of embracing Christianity, held in the city of Poznań, Poland.

Citing József Antall, Hungary’s first Prime Minister following the transition to democracy in 1990, Mr. Kövér said that due to Europe’s Christian cultural heritage, on the continent even atheists are in fact Christians because Western civilisation’s values impact the thinking, language and behaviour of all of us.

Read the whole article here.

(h/t Lew Rockwell.com)

AMORIS LAETITIA: Seeking the ruin of souls

Whitby Abbey, destroyed under Henry VIII

A few days ago we referred our readers to an important summary of Amoris Laetitia by the writer James Larson.  It was called "Amoris Laetitia, Heresy Unveiled".  The author covered a great deal of ground in that article and came to the troubling conclusion that, yes, there is every reason to believe that heresy was present in certain sections of Pope Francis' exhortation.  I urge readers who have not read this piece to do so:

http://www.theeye-witness.blogspot.com/2016/04/no-cephas-we-will-not-accept-this.html

Mr Larson has now completed Part Two of his examination of the Pope's exhortation.  For those who have read and contemplated his first piece Mr Larson now develops his themes even further in the second part.



Amoris Laetitia, Part II:  Seeking the ruin of souls

“More souls go to Hell for sins of the flesh than for any other reason.” (Our Lady of Fatima speaking to Jacinta Marto, 1919)

After startling Nicodemus with the words, “Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”, and then explaining their meaning, Jesus concluded with these words:

“For God, sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by him. He that believeth in him is not judged. But he that doth not believe, is already judged: because he believeth not in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment: because the light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their words were evil. For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved. But he that doth truth, cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, because they are done in God. (John 3: 5-17)

Jesus said that he was come, not to judge the world, but to offer it salvation. We know, of course, that Christ will come “to judge the living and the dead” in the Final Judgment at the end of time, and that He also judges each person, in a particular judgment, at the end of his sojourn in this life. But all judgment during this life – as to whether we are alive in the Charity of God, or dead in sin; as to whether we are living in the friendship of God, or whether we are living as His enemies - is appropriated to the work of the Holy Spirit: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Concerning this coming of the Holy Spirit, and His mission, Our Lord said:

“It is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he is come, he will convince [also convict, reprove] the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment….” (John 16:8).

The judgment of the living is therefore this: either a person is alive in the charity (sanctifying grace) of the Holy Spirit, or he is dead in the works of Satan. There is no half-alive in God, no gradualism in the possession of charity, no “living in grace” for those in mortal sin. In Our Lord’s terms, there are those who do evil and therefore hate the light; there are those who do truth and come to the light that their works may be made manifest because they are done in God.

Pope Francis does not agree. In Chapter 8, paragraph 305 of Amoris Laetitia, he states: “Because of forms of conditioning and mitigating factors, it is possible that in an objective situation of sin – which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such – a person can be living in God’s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church’s help to this end.” And in his now infamous footnote (#351) to this sentence, he states quite clearly that in “certain cases” such persons can be admitted to the sacraments, and specifically to Eucharistic communion.

It is truly extraordinary that Pope Francis, during his return-flight from the island of Lesbos on April 16, flatly stated, in answer to a reporter’s question, “I don’t remember the footnote.” It seems that we are faced with the choice of either believing that this is a blatant falsehood, or that he did not write (and read) all of Amoris Laetitia. As evidence for the former, Pope Francis, when specifically asked whether, after the issuance of Amoris Laetitia there now exist “new openings” and “concrete possibilities” for the divorced and remarried to have access to the sacraments, replied, “I can say yes, period”. He then went on to refer the questioner to a fuller explanation given by Cardinal Schonborn at the official presentation of the document. At that presentation, Cardinal Schonborn stated, “In the sense of this “via caritatis” (AL 306), the Pope affirms, in a humble and simple manner, in a note (351) that the help of the sacraments may also be given “’n certain cases’.”

A very large portion of Chapter 8 is devoted to overwhelming us with “forms of conditioning and mitigating factors” which are intended to convince us of the possibility that a person living in objective mortal sin can be living in a state of grace and be worthy of receiving the sacraments, and especially Eucharistic communion. Following is a partial list, ranging from the abstract to the very specific: cultural or contingent situations; awaiting more security in life; the expense of a wedding, not in a position to understand, appreciate, or fully carry out the objective demands of the law; complexity of various situations; obligations towards children’s upbringing springing from a second marriage (civil); having been unjustly abandoned during the original marriage; subjective belief that the first marriage was never valid; fear that the lack of “expressions of intimacy”, required of those who must live as brother and sister in the raising of their children, might endanger the virtue of “faithfulness”; ignorance; inadvertence; duress; fear; habit; inordinate attachments; affective immaturity; force of acquired habit; conditions of anxiety; and, other psychological or social factors [one wonders whether there might not be hundreds].

All of this is, of course, simply obfuscation. No one denies that there may be mitigating factors in regard to culpability. But the “life of grace” – that life of charity which provides access to Eucharistic communion – cannot exist where there is objective mortal sin. Neither ignorance, nor any of the other mitigating factors mentioned above, can justify receiving Our Lord while living in objective mortal sin. St. Paul writes:

Read the whole Part Two here.