+Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus+

Gossip and insane conspiracy theories regarding the “demonic” nature of Fatima are still abounding on the Internet, especially among those posting on social media. Not content with defaming the Fatima apparitions, and in order to bolster their claims, this emerging heretical sect has lumped popes Leo XIII through Pius XII in with the current usurpers, making Pope Pius IX the last true pope. (The dogmatic impossibility of this ever happening was discussed in our last blog.) These current dissenters are following people once operating “Our Lady’s Resistance” (OLR) and “the empress of the home” (writing under the pseudonym Bernal Diaz). These actors have been called out on this site before for their errors and cowardly anonymity, so inimical to the courage of every saint who ever lived. Their book on Fatima and the “papal heresies,” The Lady of Fatima and the Antichrist, was released in 2018, but when an attempt to access the OLR website is made, it states the website closed that same year and a malware warning comes up on the screen. And these people call themselves Catholics?!!!

The specious objections to Fatima raised by OLR and their miscreant followers can and will eventually be addressed: a work has been underway for several years that will show that Fatima was meant to be taken in a symbolic, not a literal sense. That work should be ready for release when the site work now underway is completed. But the accusation that ALL popes after Pope Pius IX are heretics must be addressed here and now. These trumped-up heresies are stated as Pope Leo XIII ’s denial of the absolute nature of separation of Church and state and his teaching that God is the common Father of all, also that  Christ died for all men. This even though “Diaz” has nothing whatsoever on which to base these claims of heresy and has taken papal quotes entirely out of their dogmatic and historical context. We begin below with God as the Father of all, something we learned as small children, which Diaz characterizes as heresy. From the Diaz book:

1. Rerum Novarum, May 15, 1891

“All men are children of the same common Father, who is God; …EACH AND ALL are redeemed and made sons of God, by Jesus Christ, “

2. Leo XIII’s Humanum Genus, 1884:

“[There is] …liberty, fraternity, and equality of right; not such as the Freemasons absurdly imagine, but such as Jesus Christ obtained for the human race and St. Francis aspired to: the liberty, We mean, of sons of God, through which we may be free from slavery to Satan or to our passions, both of them most wicked masters; the fraternity whose origin is in God, the common Creator and Father of all…”

3. Leo XIII in Auspicato Concessum, #13, Sept. 17, 1882:

“Therefore has he [Saint Francis] deserved well of that brotherhood established and perfected by Jesus Christ, which has made of all mankind one only family, under the authority of God, the common Father of all.”

4. Pope Pius X to the French Bishops, August 15, 1910, Our Apostolic Mandate:

Catholic doctrine further tells us that love for our neighbor flows from our love for God, Who is Father to all, and goal of the whole human family…”

All of the following teachings of the Church and Councils clearly show that nos. 1-4 above are not heresies, but the teachings of the Catholic Church:

God is the Father of all men and Christ died for all

Ephesians 4: 4-6

“One body and one Spirit: as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.”

The Council of Trent, Session 6, Ch. 2:

(Translated by the Rev. J. Waterworth from the official 1564 edition):

“The heavenly Father, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, when that blessed fullness of the time was come, sent unto men Jesus Christ His own Son — who hath been both before the law and during the time of the law to many of the holy Fathers announced and promised — that he might both redeem the Jews who were under the law and that the Gentiles who followed not after justice might attain to justice, AND THAT ALL MEN MIGHT RECEIVE THE ADOPTION OF SONS. Him God hath proposed as a perpetuator through faith in His blood for our sins AND NOT FOR OUR SINS ONLY, BUT ALSO FOR THOSE OF THE WHOLE WORLD.”

Errors of Quesnel

“But, since the observing of commandments and therefore of the conditions necessary for salvation is not within the reach of all, it is evident that neither the intention of God to save nor the efficacy of the sufferings of the Saviour extend to all mankind. So “all those whom God wishes to save through Christ are infallibly saved” (prop. 30, Cath. Encyclopedia; DZ 1380. Condemned as proximate to heresy by Clement XI.)

The Vatican Council, Sess. III, Ch. 2, Revelation

“The same Holy Mother Church holds and teaches that God, the beginning and end of all things, can be known with certitude by the natural light of human reason from created things; “for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). Nevertheless it has pleased His wisdom and goodness to reveal Himself and the eternal decrees of His will TO THE HUMAN RACE in another and supernatural way as the apostle says “God who at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all in these days has spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:1).

The Council of Trent, Session 6, Ch. 3:

“BUT THOUGH HE DIED FOR ALL, yet do not all receive the benefit of his death but those only unto whom the merits of His passion is communicated. For as in truth men, if they were not born propagated of the seed of Adam would not be born unjust — seeing that by the propagation they contract through Him when they are conceived in justice as their own so if they were not born again in Christ they never would be justified…”

HOW COULD CHRIST HAVE DIED FOR ALL, ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF HIS HEAVENLY FATHER, IF HIS FATHER LIKEWISE WAS NOT THE FATHER OF ALL?!

 Errors of the Jansenists

Innocent X condemned the following five propositions in the Bull “Cum occasione” (31 May, 1653) which were as follows, (from the Catholic Encyclopedia, Jansenism):

       •  Some of God’s commandments are impossible to just men who wish and strive (to keep them) considering the powers they actually have, the grace by which these precepts may become possible is also wanting;

• In the state of fallen nature no one ever resists interior grace;

To merit, or demerit, in the state of fallen nature we must be free from all external constraint, but not from interior necessity,

• The Semipelagians admitted the necessity of interior preventing grace for all acts, even for the beginning of faith; but they fell into heresy in pretending that this grace is such that man may either follow or resist it;
• To say that Christ died or shed His blood for all men, is Semipelagianism.

“These five propositions were rejected as heretical, the first four absolutely, the fifth if understood in the sense that Christ died only for the predestined. All are implicitly contained in the second, and through it, all are connected with the above-mentioned erroneous conception of the state of innocence and the original fall.”

Christ died for all men, yet all do not receive the benefits of his Passion, as the Council of Trent states above. This is why Christ used the words pro multis (for many) in the Consecration of the wine, words which must be used in the Holy Sacrifice, for only those who have been baptized and have cooperated in His grace can receive His Body and Blood in the Eucharist.

Likewise God the Father made all of us in His image and likeness to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world that we might be happy with Him in the next. He gave all of us an immortal soul and free will. This is from the basic Communion Catechism. But as with the Redemption, because our will is free, many reject Him. Yet no less may they rightly consider God their Father. To deny God is the Father of all is to deny He could send his Only-Begotten Son to die for all. The Trinity is indivisible; the wills of the Three Persons are one, hence identical.

 Civil allegiance, separation of the Church from the State

First, there needs to be a general understanding of what separation of Church and state itself actually entails. There are two types of this separation, “according to the Encyclopedia Britannica: French and American. The French version is: ‘The attempt… not only to restrict the public role of the church but also to work toward its gradual disappearance. The church was to be replaced with a secular ideology’ (This model was later adopted by the Soviet Union and all communist nations under its sphere of influence…) The American form, ‘as implied in the Constitution of the United States, was supported by a tendency to leave to the church, set free from state supervision, a maximum freedom in the realization of its spiritual, moral, and educational tasks’ (https://completechristianity.blog/2020/08/23/a-catholic-understanding-of-the-separation-of-church-and-state/ but of course this is no longer the case, as the blogger points out. Progressives are tending to the French definition, and it is now becoming the norm. (Attribution here is given only for reference purposes. No endorsement of this site is intended.)

In the Diaz book, no background whatever is given for this, only the author’s own lame definition. But the historical background of this doctrine can be found in The Catholic Encyclopedia here: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03794b.htm

This article quotes Immortale Dei, cited below, at length and explains that the Church’s actual position on the extent of civil power and how it operated had not even been decided until Pope Leo XIII wrote Immortale Dei. In other words, it was a matter that theologians were allowed to discuss freely from both sides of the question until the pope weighed in on one side or the other and decided the matter: THEN the discussion was closed. It was not something the Church had already taught in a manner that the faithful had to adhere to with a firm and irrevocable assent; this is pointed out in the Catholic Encyclopedia article link above. Distinctions of this kind are very important and are constantly ignored by Traditionalists. Cherry picking among these groups is their committed method of operation, and they do it in two ways. First, they cherry-pick the quotes from the popes that support their accusations of heresy, ignoring other documents that better explain the popes’ intent. Then they proceed to interpret what they have cherrypicked to arrive at the desired conclusion when, as pointed out in our last blog, no one is allowed to interpret papal encyclicals or documents. Below are highlighted quotes on the separation of the Church from the State, taken from the Diaz book, which claims to prove Leo XIII a heretic.

5. “Nor can We predict happier times for religion and government from the plans of those who desire vehemently to separate the Church from the state, and to break the mutual concord between temporal authority and the priesthood,” Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos.

6. Pope Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors, Condemned Proposition #55, Dec. 8, 1864, ex cathedra:

“The Church is to be separated from the state, and the state from the Church.” – CONDEMNED

Antipope Leo XIII [teaches]:

7. “Yet, no one doubts that Jesus Christ, the Founder of the Church, willed her sacred power to be distinct from the civil power, and each power to be free and unshackled in its own sphere …” Pope Leo XIII, Arcanum, Feb. 10, 1880

8. “The Church, indeed, deems it unlawful to place the various forms of divine worship on the same footing as the true religion, but does not, on that account, condemn those rulers who, for the sake of securing some great good or of hindering some great evil, allow patiently custom or usage to be a kind of SANCTION for each kind of religion having its place in the State. And, in fact, the Church is wont to take earnest heed that no one shall be forced to embrace the Catholic faith against his will, for, as St. Augustine wisely reminds us, “Man cannot believe otherwise than of his own will” (Immortale Dei, November 1, 1885).

To demonstrate the wickedness of the above allegations regarding the popes and demonstrate the cherry-picking, we present the following:

“Whatever is therefore, in things human is of a sacred character whatever belongs either of its own nature or by reason of the end to which it is referred, to the salvation of souls or to the worship of God, is subject to the power and judgment of the Church. Whatever is to be ranged under the civil and political order is subject to the civil authority. Jesus Christ Himself has given command that what is Caesar’s is to be rendered to Caesar, and that what belongs to God is to be rendered to God.” — Immortale Dei, 1885

“In fact, to wish that the State would separate itself from the Church would be to wish, by a logical sequence, that the Church be reduced to the liberty of living according to the law common to all citizens. It is true that in certain countries this state of affairs exists. It is a condition which, if it have numerous and serious inconveniences, also offers some advantages—above all when, by a fortunate inconsistency, the legislator is inspired by Christian principles—and,though these advantages cannot justify the false principle of separation nor authorize its defense, they nevertheless render worthy of toleration a situation which, practically, might be worse.” — Pope Leo XIII, Au milieu des sollicitudes, 1892

“That the State must be separated from the Church is a thesis absolutely false, a most pernicious error. …— Pope St. Pius X, Vehementer Nos, 1906

Not long before Pope Pius IX died he wrote the following in on March 12, 1877, an allocution on Royal Assent (DZ 1847): “…Very recently we have been forced to declare that the following can be tolerated that; the acts of the canonical institution of certain bishops be shown to a secular power so that as far as we could we might avert certain baneful consequences in which there was no longer question of the possession of temporal goods but of the consciences of the faithful, their peace, the care and salvation of souls which is the supreme law for us and which were called into open risk. But in this which we have done, in order to avoid most serious dangers, we wish it to be known publicly and again that we entirely disapprove and abominate that unjust law which is called royal assent declaring openly that by the divine authority to the church is harmed and its liberty violated.”

So given the above, it is clear that Pope Pius IX was already reluctantly adapting to the unfortunate circumstances in the world before his death. Pope Leo XIII in no. 7 above is also adjusting to these realities, relaxing the Church’s stance in order to keep some kind of peace with civil leaders. Keeping in mind, however, that as the Catholic Encyclopedia article above notes, HOW to deal with these matters was never a settled question! What were the popes supposed to do when the monarchies worldwide were being toppled and they had no control over what went on when anti-Catholic Protestant leaders or monarchs were placed in those positions? How were they supposed to enforce the rights of the Church without the cooperation of those heads of state? It is absolutely ridiculous to think there would have been any way for them to have done this.  In his book on The Vatican Council Decrees and Their Bearing on Civil Allegiance (1875) Henry Cardinal Manning explains how all of this works and why it was not able to be enforced the way it should have been. Pope Pius IX and Leo XIII both upheld what the Church will always teach — there should be no separation of Church and state. But what neither pope could do is control what the state did in regards to the rights of the Church.

Henry Cardinal Manning on moral impossibility

Cardinal Manning was one of the most trusted advisors of Pope Pius IX. He made an oath of fealty to him to see the Vatican Council through to its successful conclusion. He wrote his work on Civil Allegiance during Pope Pius IX’s reign so it cannot be said that he was simply falling in line with what Leo XIII did not even write until 10 years later. His comments below reveal that he was well aware of the dilemma that faced the Church in this regard.

(From the Introduction)

“• That the relations of the Catholic Church to the Civil Powers of the world have been immutably fixed from the beginning, inasmuch as they arise out of the Divine Constitution of the Church, and out of the Civil Society of the natural order.

“• That any collisions now existing have been brought on by changes, not on the part of the Catholic Church, much less of the Vatican Council, but on the part of the Civil Powers, and that by reason of a systematic conspiracy against the Holy See.

“• That by these changes and collisions the Civil Powers of Europe are destroying their own stability.

“• That the motive of the Vatican Council in defining the Infallibility of the Roman Pontiff was not any temporal policy, nor was it for any temporal end; but that it defined that truth in the face of all temporal dangers, in order to guard the Divine deposit of Christianity, and to vindicate the divine certainty of faith.

“The command of our Lord to the Apostles: ‘Go ye into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature: he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned,’ clearly invests the Church with authority to baptise every creature. But the exercise of this right was suspended upon a moral condition. It conveyed no right to baptise any man against his will; nor without an act of faith on his part. But an act of faith is a spontaneous and voluntary act of submission, both of intellect and will, to the truth, and to the teacher who delivers it. The absolute and universal authority therefore of the Church to baptise depends upon the free and voluntary act of those who believe, and, through their own spontaneous submission, are willing to be baptised. The Church so regards the moral conditions on which its acts depend, that as a rule it will not even suffer an infant to be baptised unless at least one of the parents’ consents.

“In like manner the power of absolution, which has no limit of time or of subject, can be exercised only upon those who are willing. Confession and contrition, both voluntary acts of the penitent, are absolutely necessary to the exercise of the power of the Keys. This principle will solve many questions in respect to the Spiritual authority of the Church over the Civil State. First, it shows that, until a Christian world and Christian Rulers existed, there was no subject for the exercise of this spiritual authority of judgment and correction. Those who amuse themselves by asking why St. Peter did not depose Nero, will do well to find out whether people are laughing with them or at them. Such questions are useful. They compendiously show that the questioner does not understand the first principles of his subject. If he will find out why St. Peter neither baptised nor absolved Nero, he will have found out why he did not depose him. Until a Christian world existed there was no apta materia for the supreme judicial power of the Church in temporal things. Therefore St. Paul laid down as a rule of law that he had nothing to do in judging those that were without the unity of the Church.

“But when a Christian world came into existence, the Civil society of man became subject to the Spiritual direction of the Church. So long, however, as individuals only subjected themselves, one by one, to its authority, the conditions necessary for the exercise of its office were not fully present. The Church guided men, one by one, to their eternal end; but as yet the collective society of nations was not subject to its guidance. It is only when nations and kingdoms become socially subject to the supreme doctrinal and judicial authority of the Church that the conditions of its exercise are verified. When the senate and people of the Roman Empire were only half Christian, the Church still refrained from acts which would have affected the whole body of the State. When the whole had become Christian, the whole became subject to the Divine Law, of which the Roman Pontiff was the supreme expositor and executive.

“Pius IX, on July 20, 1871, thus addressed a Literary Society in Rome: ‘In the variety of subjects which will present themselves to you, one appears to me of great importance at this time; and that is, to defeat the endeavours which are now directed to falsify the idea of the Infallibility of the Pope. Among all of her errors, that is malicious above all which would attribute (to the Infallibility of the Pope) the right of deposing sovereigns, and of absolving people from the obligation of allegiance. This right, without doubt, has been exercised by the Supreme Pontiffs from time to time in extreme cases, but it has nothing to do with the Pontifical Infallibility; neither does it flow from the Infallibility, but from the authority of the Pontiff. Moreover, the exercise of this right in those ages of faith which respected in the Pope that which he is, that is to say, the Supreme Judge of Christendom, and recognised the benefit of his tribunal in the great contentions of peoples and of sovereigns, was freely extended (by aid, as was just, of public jurisprudence, and the common consent of nations) to the gravest interests of States and of their rulers.‘

“Now, the Holy Father in these words has abundantly shown two things: first, that they who connect Infallibility with the Deposing Power are talking of what they do not understand; and, secondly, that the moral conditions which justified and demanded the deposition of tyrannical Princes, when the medieval world was both Christian and Catholic, have absolutely ceased to exist, now that the world has ceased to be Catholic, and has ceased to be even Christian. It has withdrawn itself socially as a whole, and in the public life of nations, from the unity and the jurisdiction of the Christian Church. In this it differs altogether from the mediaeval world. And it differs also from the ancient world. For, the ancient world had never yet believed the faith; the modern world has believed, but fallen from its faith. The ancient world was without the unity of the Christian Church de facto et de jure. The modern world is without de facto; and this has changed all the moral conditions of the subject” (and here Manning merely repeats scholastic teaching on this subject, as Revs. McHugh and Callan state in their work on Moral Theology: “

“In cases of physical impossibility (i.e., when the powers requisite for observance are wanting), one is manifestly excused; for law is reasonable, and it is not reasonable to require impossibilities. In cases of moral impossibility (i.e., when a law cannot be kept without the infringement of a higher law or the loss of a higher good), one is also excused; for it is unreasonable to prefer the less to the more important” (#317, a and b).

To resume Cardinal Manning’s comments: “If Catholics were in power tomorrow in England, not a penal law would be proposed, nor the shadow of constraint be put upon the faith of any man. We would that all men fully believed the truth; but a forced faith is a hypocrisy hateful to God and man. If Catholics were in power to-morrow, not only would there be no penal laws of constraint, but no penal laws of privation. If the Ionian Islands had elected, some years ago, to attach themselves to the Sovereignty of Pius IX., the status of the Greek Church separate from Catholic Unity would have been tolerated and respected. Their Churches, their public worship, their Clergy, and their religious rites would have been left free as before. They were found in possession, which was confirmed by the tradition of centuries ; they had acquired Civil rights, which enter into the laws of political justice, and as such would have been protected from all molestation.

“Our older writers, such as Bellarmine and Suarez, when treating of this subject, had before their eyes a generation of men who all had been in the unity of the faith. Their separation therefore was formal and willful. Their separation from the unity of the Church did not release the conscience from its jurisdiction. But if Bellarmine and Suarez were living at this day, they would have to treat of a question differing in all its moral conditions. What I have here laid down is founded upon the principles they taught, applied to our times. Cardinal Tarquini, in treating the same matter, has dealt with it as it has been treated here. —Juris Eccl. Publ., Institutiones, p. 78.” And this is what the Catholic Encyclopedia is referring to in the link above on civil allegiance. Cardinal Manning beat them to the punch.

Conclusion: Helter-Skelter

One reader has aptly summed all of this up in two words: Helter-Skelter. He notes well that the meaning of this word is undue haste, confusion and disorder, all of which describes the actions of those demonizing Fatima and the Roman Pontiffs. For all we are seeing today is the constant fulmination of sect after diabolical sect intent on destroying what remains of the Church. Many also will recognize this as the title of the book on cult leader Charles Manson, published many years ago, and that too is significant, given the history behind the title. To Beatle Paul McCartney, who wrote the song by this same name, it meant the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, the complete demise of society. But Manson took it one step further; to him it represented a subliminal message to rise and kill, to be an active agent of that demise. It might do well to mention here the number 666, which verbally symbolizes divide, divide, divide, a perfect definition of all the schismatic sects down through history and right up to Traditionalism, including the one now under discussion. This is the number of the mystical body of the Devil, as described by St. Thomas Aquinas:

“There are two mystical bodies in this world: The Mystical Body of Christ and the mystical body of the Devil or of the Antichrist. To one or another every man belongs. The Mystical Body of Christ is the Holy Church, His pure and faithful Spouse …. The mystical body of the Devil is the ensemble of impious men. Like an adulterous wet nurse, it nourishes this ensemble. The Devil is its head, and the evil persons are its members …. ‘The body of the Devil,’ says St. Gregory, ‘is composed by all the impious men… Just as Christ, in Himself and through His disciples, always seeks to cut off the members of the Devil and incorporate them to Himself.… so also does the Devil. By his efforts and those of his cohorts, the Devil aims to amputate the members of Christ to unite them to the sordid members of his prostitute …’”

So we know where this attack came from. And no, we are not out to destroy anyone’s reputation; that has already been done by the actors themselves. Their inability to understand the written word, their refusal to conduct proper research, their ignorance of, and even contempt for, the Catholic faith and their malicious — yes malicious — intent to deceive others has made this refutation necessary. It is not personal; it is about the Church and the papacy we love and are bound to defend. Let the heathen rage; God will ever be with His Church unto the consummation of the world. Nothing — and no one — can keep us from the love of Christ.

Addenda 

The one defaming Pope Leo XIII also just tweeted:
“The Sacred Heart won’t continue to be mocked by these Workers of Iniquity who mislead others into believing LIES! Stop excusing the inexcusable!!!”

Betrayedcatholics responds:
Stop YOUR lies! From Pope Leo XIII’s Longinqua Oceani, 1895, to the Church in the United States : “It would be very erroneous to draw the conclusion that in America is to be sought the type of the most desirable status of the Church or that it would be universally lawful or expedient for State and Church to be, as in America, dissevered and divorced.” No endorsement of separation of Church and state here!

The one defaming Pope Leo XIII further tweeted:
“This is not Assisi, this was not JP2. THIS NONSENSE IS ALL THE MAKING OF LEO 13!!” (Commenting on an ecumenical gathering attended by Cardinal Gibbons and other U.S. Church officials which she insinuates Pope Leo XIII endorsed.)

Betrayedcatholics responds:
This was later condemned by the pope in his encyclical below, oh clueless one. Where are your hard facts? All you have is tweets and twerps. Provide readers with the WHOLE document like a real Catholic, not your stupid cherry-picked snippets.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13teste.htm  (Testem Benevolentiae, addressed personally to Cardinal Gibbons!)

Here are just a few of those hard facts for you, excerpted from the link above, since you will not provide them yourself:

“…This letter is not intended, as preceding ones, to repeat the words of praise so often spoken, but rather to call attention to some things to be avoided and corrected… It is intended to suppress certain contentions which have arisen lately among you to the detriment of the peace of many souls.

“The underlying principle of these new opinions is that, in order to more easily attract those who differ from her, the Church should shape her teachings more in accord with the spirit of the age and relax some of her ancient severity and make some concessions to new opinions. Many think that these concessions should be made not only in regard to ways of living, but even in regard to doctrines which belong to the deposit of the faith. They contend that it would be opportune, in order to gain those who differ from us, to omit certain points of her teaching which are of lesser importance, and to tone down the meaning which the Church has always attached to them.

“It does not need many words, beloved son, to prove the falsity of these ideas if the nature and origin of the doctrine which the Church proposes are recalled to mind. Let it be far from anyone’s mind to suppress for any reason any doctrine that has been handed down. Such a policy would tend rather to separate Catholics from the Church than to bring in those who differ. There is nothing closer to our heart than to have those who are separated from the fold of Christ return to it, but in no other way than the way pointed out by Christ.”

POPE LEO XIII IS CONDEMNING ABOVE EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE ACCUSING HIM OF ENDORSING! Purveyor of error! Enemy of truth!