by T. Stanfill Benns | Oct 3, 2025 | New Blog
Prayer Society Intention for October, Month of the Queen of the Holy Rosary
“Queen of the Holy Rosary, in these times of such brazen impiety, manifest thy power with the signs of thine ancient victories.” (Raccolta)
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+Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux+
Introduction
This isn’t the blog I intended to post — I said there would be no further remarks about the Kirk assassination. But given the air of uncertainty and even dread that seems to linger following recent events, I felt perhaps that some reminders are in order. It seems really strange that some who ordinarily are the first to point out the dangers of Zionism suddenly are very quiet when it comes to the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Charlie Kirk. Certainly I am not trying to lionize Kirk or portray him as a martyr. But neither will I allow others to ignore the facts that are emerging regarding his assassination that confirm the renouncement of his pro-Israel stance and his journey to what he believed was Catholicism.
That being said, it is interesting to note that FBI director Patel has apparently broken the agency’s ties with the ADL after they listed Kirk’s Turning Point USA as an extremist organization. They then “retired” the extremist list, making it unavailable to those whose names might appear there unofficially. The ADL is a cover organization for B’nai B’rith (Sons of the Covenant), a Masonic Jewish organization which according to Lady Queenborough’s Occult Theocracy “…is the supreme body shaping and directing, for the attainment of its own ends, the policies, whatever they may be, of all Freemasonry, beginning with the Grand Lodge of England, the Grand Orient and Scottish rites and ending in [Aleister Crowley’s] OTO, which is the Illuminati under another name.” An Irish Catholic publication (The Fiat, letter 38) described the aims of the 12 men guiding B’nai B’rith as “the fulfillment of ‘the Covenant,’ the supposed Messianic promise of rulership over all peoples… under a one-world government.”
The recent rush to identify anti-Semitic hate speech and activities and punish offenders coincides with Netanyahu’s outreach to American social media personalities and the recent acquisition of TikTok by pro-Israel buyers. This is especially of note since Netanyahu described social media as a new weapon to prop up Israel’s flagging image in the U.S. Some are questioning whether a May 2, 2025, letter Kirk sent Netanyahu, released to the public earlier this week, is the actual letter Kirk wrote. But Kirk’s disillusionment with Israel and Netanyahu did not peak until the last few months of his life, so would not necessarily have been reflected there.
All these developments are only the culmination of what we were warned about by two Catholic politicians, Pres. John F. Kennedy and Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who, like Kirk, would die for being identified as Catholic and for warning Americans about the enemy. (McCarthy wasn’t assassinated, but his death is often attributed to the alcoholism that was exacerbated by the opposition to his stance against Communism.) McCarthy learned too late that Communism was not the enemy he was fighting after all, but only one of its many tentacles. This he revealed in a speech given just six months before his death.
George Washington’s Surrender
“And many of the people of the land became Jews” (Esther 9:17). The confession of General Cornwallis to General Washington at Yorktown has been well hidden by historians. History books and textbooks have taught for years that when Cornwallis surrendered his army to General Washington, American independence came and we lived happily ever after until the tribulations of the 20th century.
“Jonathan Williams recorded in his Legions of Satan ,1781, that Cornwallis revealed to Washington that, “A holy war will now begin on America and when it is ended America will be supposedly the citadel of freedom but her millions will unknowingly be loyal subjects to the Crown.” Cornwallis went on to explain what would seem to be a self-contradiction: “Your churches will be used to teach the Jew’s religion and in less than 200 years the whole nation will be working for divine world government. That government that they believe to be divine will be the British Empire. All religions will be permeated with Judaism without even being noticed by the masses and they will all be under the invisible all-seeing eye of the Grand Architect of Freemasonry.” And indeed George Washington himself was a Mason and he gave back through a false religion what he had won with his army.
“Cornwallis knew that his military defeat was only the beginning of world catastrophe that would be universal and that unrest would continue until mind control would be accomplished through a false religion. What he predicted has come to pass. A brief sketch of American religious history and we have seen Masonry infused into every church in America with their veiled phallic religion. Darby and the Plymouth brethren brought a Jewish Christianity to America. Masons Rutherford and Russell started Jehovah’s Witness Judaism which is now worldwide, with their message of the Divine Kingdom. Mason Joseph Smith started Mormon Judaism with its Jewish teaching of millennialism. At the turn of the 20th century there appeared the Scofield Bible with a Jewish interpretation of the prophecies. With a wide use of this “helpful” aid, all the American churches have silently become synagogues.
“We now have Baptist Jews, Methodist Jews, Church of God Jews, apostate Catholic Jews and many Protestant Jews throughout America. We are aliens in our own country because of false religion. All are praying for divine deliverance into the Divine Commonwealth which Cornwallis knew to be the British Empire. A false religion has been used to deceive us into allegiance to our enemies of Yorktown and Bunker Hill. No! Not a gun has been fired but the invisible and malignant process of conquering America with the Jews’ religion has gone on unabated. The Union Jack has been planted in our hearts with religious deception. All has happened legally, constitutionally, “freely” and completely within our most sacred trust — our churches. Religious deception is painless inoculation against truth. It cannot be removed in the conscience with surgery yet it is the motivator of our actions and directly controls our lives. Once man gives over to false religion he is no longer rational because he originates no thought. His life is controlled by whomever controls his religion.
“The veil of false religion is the sword of Damocles and its power to control humanity defies even the imagination of tyrants who use it.
“This is not to say that George Washington was a traitor willingly or knowingly. He was beguiled into a satanic religious order that insidiously controls man’s minds. So have American statesman and military leaders down through the years given aid and allegiance to the enemies of the United States because they did not have knowledge of the invisible subterfuge that stalks this land. My eyes were opened the day my colleagues from Ohio handed me Wagner’s Freemasonry: an Interpretation. If every American would read it they would no longer ask why and how it has happened.” (End of McCarthy speech, given some time in October 1956).
It should be noted that according to the Feb. 24, 1957 edition of the Denver Catholic Register, George Washington converted to Catholicism on his deathbed (the website referenced is not Catholic and is used only for purposes of attribution). And of course McCarthy did not live to see the destruction of the Church by the very forces he unmasked. His speech and the following excerpts from a speech to members of the press given by Pres. John F. Kennedy should be read very carefully and digested slowly. When this is done, their implications for our own times are all too clear.
President John F. Kennedy, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, April 27, 1961
“My purpose here tonight is not to deliver the usual assault on the so-called one-party press. On the contrary… My topic tonight is a more sober one of concern to publishers as well as editors.
“I want to talk about our common responsibilities in the face of a common danger. The events of recent weeks may have helped to illuminate that challenge for some; but the dimensions of its threat have loomed large on the horizon for many years. Whatever our hopes may be for the future — for reducing this threat or living with it — there is no escaping either the gravity or the totality of its challenge to our survival and to our security — a challenge that confronts us in unaccustomed ways in every sphere of human activity.
“This deadly challenge imposes upon our society two requirements of direct concern both to the press and to the President — two requirements that may seem almost contradictory in tone, but which must be reconciled and fulfilled if we are to meet this national peril. I refer, first, to the need for a far greater public information; and, second, to the need for far greater official secrecy.
“The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.
“But I do ask every publisher, every editor, and every newsman in the nation to reexamine his own standards, and to recognize the nature of our country’s peril. In time of war, the government and the press have customarily joined in an effort based largely on self-discipline, to prevent unauthorized disclosures to the enemy. In time of “clear and present danger,” the courts have held that even the privileged rights of the First Amendment must yield to the public’s need for national security.
“Today no war has been declared — and however fierce the struggle may be, it may never be declared in the traditional fashion. Our way of life is under attack. Those who make themselves our enemy are advancing around the globe. The survival of our friends is in danger. And yet no war has been declared, no borders have been crossed by marching troops, no missiles have been fired. If the press is awaiting a declaration of war before it imposes the self-discipline of combat conditions, then I can only say that no war ever posed a greater threat to our security. If you are awaiting a finding of “clear and present danger,” then I can only say that the danger has never been more clear and its presence has never been more imminent.
“It requires a change in outlook, a change in tactics, a change in missions — by the government, by the people, by every businessman or labor leader, and by every newspaper. For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence — on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.
“Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. It conducts the Cold War, in short, with a war-time discipline no democracy would ever hope or wish to match.
Nevertheless, every democracy recognizes the necessary restraints of national security — and the question remains whether those restraints need to be more strictly observed if we are to oppose this kind of attack as well as outright invasion.
“For the facts of the matter are that this nation’s foes have openly boasted of acquiring through our newspapers information they would otherwise hire agents to acquire through theft, bribery or espionage; that details of this nation’s covert preparations to counter the enemy’s covert operations have been available to every newspaper reader, friend and foe alike; that the size, the strength, the location and the nature of our forces and weapons, and our plans and strategy for their use, have all been pinpointed in the press and other news media to a degree sufficient to satisfy any foreign power; and that, in at least in one case, the publication of details concerning a secret mechanism whereby satellites were followed required its alteration at the expense of considerable time and money.
“The newspapers which printed these stories were loyal, patriotic, responsible and well-meaning. Had we been engaged in open warfare, they undoubtedly would not have published such items. But in the absence of open warfare, they recognized only the tests of journalism and not the tests of national security. And my question tonight is whether additional tests should not now be adopted.
“The question is for you alone to answer. No public official should answer it for you. No governmental plan should impose its restraints against your will. But I would be failing in my duty to the nation, in considering all of the responsibilities that we now bear and all of the means at hand to meet those responsibilities, if I did not commend this problem to your attention, and urge its thoughtful consideration.” (End of Kennedy excerpts)
Conclusion
Does this put readers in mind of print and TV media misinformation, leaks, cherry-picked facts, remarks taken out of context, biased reporting and even the publication of outright lies? If it doesn’t, it should, for certainly it is rife even among those who present as “conservative” journalists. And the restricted form of reporting happening now in the investigation of various assassinations, murders and attempted murders is exactly what Kennedy warns against above, for certainly no one can claim that such a lack of transparency on the part of the DOJ, FBI, CIA, NSA and other agencies is a matter of national security. For the very enemies we should worry about the most, according to Sen. MacCarthy, are welcomed with open arms. And they were the ones who, Pres. Kennedy notes, were busily infiltrating the ranks long ago. McCarthy warned us. Bella Dodd warned us, and several others. Now we pay the price for ignoring them.
So are we going to drown ourselves in half-baked conspiracy theories and once again ignore what is really going on around us today? This war is a psyops operation alright, but it isn’t about politics. This war has been spiritual from the beginning — principalities, powers and the rulers of this world of darkness — so why would it not continue to intensify along spiritual lines? If you controlled a worldwide web of secret operations that would one day lead to your proclamation as a one-world leader, what would you do if an intelligent and charismatic young person capable of energizing the youth so important to the future (as the Alta Vendita reveals) — a person who had once been a major asset to your operation — did an about face and threatened to head these youths and others around him in a different direction, one diametrically opposed to all you had worked for? Why did Netanyahu feel compelled to publicly announce he was not involved in Kirk’s assassination? And why are so many ignoring the obvious implications and failing to consider alternative sources as the reason for discrepancies in the investigation?
If Kennedy’s own assassination and its well-orchestrated coverup didn’t convince Americans that everything must be immediately documented following such an event, and with the right persons, nothing will. The further away we journey from all these mass shootings and supposed lone gunmen; the longer the investigation is allowed to be “ongoing,” and protected from intense media scrutiny (by conscientious members of the media), the further we stray from the truth.
One day it will be illegal to mention the Jewish religion in anything that could be interpreted in a negative manner. Before that happens, maybe responsible journalists need to make some really objective enquiries and stop sending people down rabbit holes.
Addenda
This observation on Netanyahu’s involvement goes to motive, nothing else — there are indications that other entities, perhaps military and foreign, may have been complicit or working together towards eliminating Kirk. There has been much pushback from Evangelicals — particularly Kirk’s former (NAR) pastor Rob McCoy — over reports Kirk was leaning toward Catholicism, confirmed by email exchanges. And some believe that the recent decision by Kirk to conduct an audit and track donations to TPUSA may have set off alarms in some quarters. Kirk’s wife was a cradle Catholic but later embraced evangelical beliefs while continuing to attend the Novus Ordo.
by T. Stanfill Benns | Sep 20, 2025 | New Blog
+ St. Eustace, Martyr+
Introduction
This is the last I will say on the Charlie Kirk matter. The hysteria being spread on the Internet about his death is disgusting. Some examples: he was wearing a blood bag and it blew up, making him appear to be dead. He is still alive and living in Valhalla, the island where the witness protection folks go, and I guess Kash Patel and his “Mossad girlfriend” (???) will see him there eventually. And the body in the casket that his wife was bending over, that was just a dummy. You can tell because the hands were yellow and rubbery-looking and “it was just so staged.” People are saying that Erica Kirk was wearing a Masonic necklace and a Masonic ring. Some believe she isn’t even Erika Kirk — just an actress — and has already joined her husband wherever he may be.
Come on people, grow up. Start acting like Catholics and stop acting like the people that give “dissident” Catholics a bad name, justifying the contention of their critics that they are just conspiracy theorists that base their beliefs and opinions on suppositions and half-truths. They classify them in the same category as those who also believe Elvis and JFK Jr. are alive (on Valhalla too?) and aliens will come to save mankind. Yes, we are being gaslighted; yes, we are being propagandized, but why play into their hands?
Now as far as Kirk looking waxy and his hands being rubbery and yellow, let me say this. I’ve seen more dead bodies than I would care to have seen in recent years, my own husband and my own grandson in particular and both of their bodies exhibited that rubbery, yellow look. If you go to the link HERE a mortician will explain why that happens. And I recently read an online report of a gentleman who says that he was with Kirk when he died. Now people out there will say I’m foolish, naive and even evil to believe that he is no longer alive and it wasn’t a plot to do whatever. I may be all those things. But what you’re saying publicly, online, when you are assuming these claims is that this man is a liar and other people around him are liars, including his wife. And that’s just not Catholic.
As for the Masonic ring and necklace, it is said to be a miniature of one that Erika Kirk’s grandfather reportedly received as a Swedish knight. It also closely resembles a piece of jewelry related to membership in the Knights of Malta, which some believe (those in the NO, as she was) is a legitimate Catholic organization. It isn’t of course, but she may not know that — IF that is what the necklace really is. We don’t know for certain and it is wrong to assume. The same can be said of the ring. Yes, it is a “G,” but is not representative of other typical Masonic rings, even for women. There could be other explanations of what it means to her. Is she portrayed by an actress? A double? Prove it; prove all the above. Because unless you can, you most likely are guilty of detraction and primarily rash judgment, both mortal sins.
Rash Judgment
Here is what the Moral theologians Revs. McHugh and Callan have to say on rash judgment from their work: Moral Theology a Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities; 1958.
1734. Sinfulness of Rash Judgment.– Rash judgment strictly understood, then, is a firm assent of the mind, based on insufficient data, and given to the view that a neighbor is or has been guilty of sin.
(a) From its nature this sin is mortal, for it consists in a contempt for, and an injury to, what is regarded as one of the chief goods of man, namely, the favorable opinion of him that is entertained by others. It is denounced in Scripture as an injury to the law itself (“He that judgeth his brother judgeth the law,” James, iv. 11), and as meriting condemnation (“Judge not, and you will not be judged, condemn not and you will not be condemned,” Luke, vi. 37).
1743 (b) It is lawful to suspend judgment in case of reasonable doubts, if there is no obligation of deciding one way or the other, for in so doing one does no injury either to one’s own intelligence (since the doubt is reasonable) or to the honor of another person (since, as supposed, there is no obligation of judging positively in his favor). Just as there is no duty of making acts of love of our neighbor on every occasion, neither is there a duty of deciding doubts to his advantage on every occasion, or of having any opinion about him whatever. Some authors do not admit this, but the common teaching is against them.
(c) It is not lawful to suspend judgment, but the reasonable doubt must be resolved in a favorable sense, if there is an obligation or a wish to decide one way or the other; otherwise one would decide in an unfavorable sense and be guilty of rash judgment. This is what is meant by the well-known maxim that doubts about the character of a neighbor should be settled in favor of the neighbor.
1744. The interpretation of doubts in a favorable sense does not mean that one may not take into consideration the possibility of danger or deception and use remedies or precautions. This course is not rash judgment, for even when one judges that another person is good, one knows that the judgment is possibly wrong and therefore cannot be entirely relied on for external guidance.
So basically, we can suspend judgment while warning others privately that we may not be getting the real story. But online and in public we should keep our mouths shut, simply saying we don’t know, which we don’t. And if we wish to voice an opinion, we must decide in favor of the neighbor. If Christ considered the Samaritans capable of good in the Good Samaritan parable, a sect hated by the Jews for worshipping idols alongside the true God, surely we can spare some charity for erring Protestants, even if we suspect they may somehow be drawn into Freemasonry or Zionism. We must also consider how hard those fomenting conspiracy theories work to disrupt our actual thinking processes, as one online writer recently pointed out below.
Mental Health: Pill Pushing?
During the psychedelic era of the 1960s and 1970s, people used LSD, mushrooms, and other street drugs to enter an altered reality.
Now 50 years later, a few people use LSD and mushrooms, but most of the mind-altering drugs are legal. Around 18% of women are on some type of antidepressant and about 7% of kids are on some type of behavior modifying (mind altering) drug.
Then there are the additives that companies place in food. Some of these additives are used because they impact the brain. Several studies have indicated that sweeteners, preservatives, and emulsifiers may trigger mental disorders including anxiety, depression, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
And then there is a completely different reality conundrum. This reality shift can impact anyone, even people who are not taking pharmaceutical or illegal mind-altering drugs or eating food with additives or preservatives.
This is the “information” reality shift. Through extensive research, companies and governments discovered it is possible to control behavior with “information” that is delivered in special ways. This information can be delivered in audio, video, or written formats. It can be true. It can be false but made to appear true. It can be delivered to inspire fear or happiness.
When mind control techniques are used, it becomes very difficult to determine whether the “information” is real, partially real, or fake. In recent years, information controllers have used “experts” to sway people. And in the last couple of years, they paid “fact checkers” to “verify” information they wanted people to believe. In addition, universities sometimes push an agenda to keep low-cost employees or put forth half-truths that make it easier for them to obtain grants.
[In some states], we see people paying big money to make things appear different than they are. For example, on [one state’s] Amendment, the proponents spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to convince people that veterans could not vote. People have become wise to this type of manipulation.
On the other hand, it is harder to know when a doctor or hospital has the right motivations. Many people have started to wonder if a well check is sometimes just a way to find something wrong to generate income. Or if a free session with a personal trainer is really just a way to pressure you into a sale.
The worst part of a morphing reality is figuring out how to escape the mind control matrix, whether it is legal drugs, food additives, or information. Maybe a first step is to leave our phones, TVs, computers, and the slick marketing materials and escape into the beautiful outdoors. Then it is just you and nature. And no one seems to be trying to manipulate that experience yet. (southdakotavoices.substack.com/p/mental-health-pill-pushing; all emphasis added.)
A spiritual crisis
We know that Kirk’s teachings on the Church up to shortly before his death were definitely sinful. There is plenty of evidence for that. And we also know it is reported that he had a change of heart and was considering taking a different path. There is reliable evidence that this was indeed the case and it was a very recent development not reflected in some of his earlier comments. Some around Kirk have reported that he was in what we might call a state of spiritual crisis. He had discovered some things that were very devastating for him, things that would force him to make major changes to both his organization and possibly his religious affiliation. Whether he would have or not or to what extent we don’t know. But if he was attending what he believed to be a Catholic mass and praying the rosary as reported then perhaps he at least believed he was on a better path and we don’t know what would have happened from there. We’re simply not supposed to judge what we don’t know.
Can any of you remember how terribly painful it was for you to learn the Church you loved was gone, the confusion and sorrow you experienced? The first few stages of this process are described below:
“1. SHOCK & DENIAL – You will probably react to learning of the loss with numbed disbelief. You may deny the reality of the loss at some level, in order to avoid the pain. Shock provides emotional protection from being overwhelmed all at once. This may last for weeks.
“2. PAIN & GUILT -
As the shock wears off, it is replaced with the suffering of unbelievable pain. Although excruciating and almost unbearable, it is important that you experience the pain fully, and not hide it, avoid it or escape from it with alcohol or drugs. You may have guilty feelings or remorse over things you did or didn’t do… Life feels chaotic and scary during this phase.” (https://www.recover-from-grief.com/7-stages-of-grief.html).
Is it too much to ask for a little compassion and understanding here?
Liberal charity?
Some will say all the above is an example of liberal charity on my part. But it isn’t and I’ll tell you why. There is reason to believe that he could possibly have saved his soul based on reports from those close to him, not that he definitely did. That is all I said in my last blog. We can’t rule that possibility out if he was in a better place than he had been. I would say the same of some traditionalist, whether they be leader, pseudo-clergy or followers, if they passed away after exhibiting doubts that their position was not correct. And especially if they were praying about the situation and seemed to have begun to repent of their previous errors. Just as we can never say for certain that someone is in Hell, neither can we be certain any soul is in Purgatory or Heaven.
We have the teachings of the Church to direct our behavior, and yet even those considering themselves devout Catholics sinfully engage in this fantastical Internet guessing game rather than even consider what conduct the Church expects from us. Who else but the Church can we rely on for the truth? This little exercise has been a really good opportunity to assess where we are today. Turning Point could and should have been a Catholic endeavor if those exiting the Novus Ordo had followed the example of the Japanese and made certain that future generations were taught how to perpetuate their faith in a hostile environment. Instead, we’re all out there pointing fingers and criticizing each other while pretending to be Catholic.
Conclusion
You know, this is a wake-up call folks. Instead of tearing Charlie Kirk’s image down, maybe someone, preferably a young, home-schooled, pray-at-home Catholic male, could manage to replicate the zeal and energy he dedicated to his cause. Such a young man, on fire for the faith, could reap the harvest of some of these “Gen Zers” now showing an interest in religion, including many seeking out the Latin Mass. The harvest is great, the laborers few, and men are noticeably absent from the fields. It is my hope Kirk met his own “turning point” shortly before he died. And it is our responsibility to see that the youth he appealed to, so far as possible, have at least the option to find that same turning point presented from a truly Catholic perspective, not the Christian Nationalist framework Kirk advocated.
(Stay tuned for an announcement on the grand opening of our new business endeavor, St. Eustace Lodge and Family Retreat.)
Refresher Course on Salvation “Outside” the Church
Questions About Membership in the Church, by Msgr. Joseph C. Fenton
(The American Ecclesiastical Review, The Catholic University of America Press, July 1961)
“Now it must be understood that the Church militant of the New Testament, as a supernatural entity, is not to be judged by ordinary human standards. Concretely, a man may pertain to this society or in some way or other be “within” it other than by membership in its ranks. In order to appreciate our question, and in order to realize the harm that has been done by careless and unscientific writing on membership in the Catholic Church, we must consider the other ways in which a man can be said to “belong” in some way to this organization… Far more involved is the case of that person who is not a member of the Catholic Church, but who is “within” the Church in such a way as to enjoy the life of sanctifying grace. It is absolutely imperative for the well being of contemporary theology that the situation of this individual be accurately analyzed.
“The Suprema haec sacra interprets this passage of the Mystici Corporis Christi as showing that people in this condition, that is, those who are ordered to the Church by an unconscious intention or desire, are not excluded from the possibility of attaining to eternal salvation… The Suprema haec sacra makes it completely clear that those who are in a position to be saved only by reason of the fact that they have at least an implicit intention or desire to enter the Church and to remain within it are not reapse or in reality members of the true Church… It is definitely a disservice to the cause of Catholic theology to insinuate that, in order to be saved, a man has to be in some way a member of the Church. But, by the same token, it is imperative that the difference between being in the Church as a member, and being “within” it by reason of a desire, a prayer, or an intention to enter this society be very well understood.
“The man who desires to be within the Church, and whose desire is such that it brings him “within” the true Church in such a way as to attain salvation “within” it, is one who intends and desires and prays for those objectives that are indicated in the text of the Pater noster and in the petitions of the Mass. And this remains true even though, through no fault of his own, the individual who is thus “within” the Church does not have a clear and explicit understanding of some of these individual objectives. Thus it is apparent that the man who is not a member or a part of the Church, but who has a salvific intention or desire to enter it and to remain within it, is actually praying and working along with the Church for the objectives of Jesus Christ. In this way he is truly “within” the Church. And, since the work of the Church is accomplished in the face of serious and never-ending opposition, the non-member of the Church who has a salvific intention to join it is actually fighting for Our Lord “within” His company. He is actually serving God with his whole mind and his whole heart, and thus he is joined to the Church even in his status as a non-member of this society.
“It is quite obvious that this condition can exist only as long as, for one reason or another, membership in the Church is impossible for this individual. When it becomes possible for a man to become a member of the Church, or when he becomes aware of the true status of the Catholic Church in the supernatural order, he can no longer work effectively for Our Lord except as a member of His Church… The men and women who have a salutary votum or desiderium of entering the Church are “within” it insofar as they are working and fighting within it for the attainment of the objectives of Jesus Christ. Yet they are definitely not parts or members of this society.” (End of the excerpts from Msgr. Fenton’s article).
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
This reminder is necessary because people seem to have forgotten what the Church teaches on this topic. We must remember that this teaching is for those outside the Catholic Church, be it the Novus Ordo or other non-Catholic sects. It is now impossible for most non-Catholics to distinguish the true Catholic Church from the false. If it is scarcely possible for mature Catholics who were once in the Church Herself — and knew what She taught — to recognize the Novus Ordo as false, how much more so for those outside the Church, especially the younger among them?! The important thing in the case we are considering above is that at one point Kirk (only 31) may have been considering the teaching on the Church’s authority regarding Scripture and the hierarchical order as correct. If he truly began to consider this, and reject his previous beliefs, regardless of whether he knew the church he was turning to was false, then he was beginning to turn away from his prior condemnations of things Catholic.
We end with this quote from Pope Pius IX: “Certainly we must hold it as of faith that no one can be saved outside the apostolic Roman Church, that this is the only Ark of salvation, and that the one who does not enter it is going to perish in the deluge. But, nevertheless, we must likewise hold it as certain that those who labor in ignorance of the true religion, if that [ignorance] be invincible, will never be charged with any guilt on this account before the eyes of the Lord. Now, who is there who would arrogate to himself the power to indicate the extent of such [invincible] ignorance according to the nature and the variety of peoples, regions, talents, and so many other things? For really when, loosed from these bodily bonds, we see God as He is, we shall certainly understand with what intimate and beautiful a connection the divine mercy and justice are joined together. But, while we live on earth, weighed down by this mortal body that darkens the mind, let us hold most firmly, from Catholic doctrine, that there is one God, one faith, one baptism. It is wrong to push our inquiries further than this.”
In his comment on the above quote, Msgr. Fenton writes: “It is not within the field either of our competence or of our rights to search out the way in which God’s mercy and His justice operate in any given case of a person ignorant of the true Church or of the true religion. We shall see how these divine attributes have operated in the light of the Beatific Vision itself… God is never outdone in generosity. The person who tries to come to Him will never be forsaken. As a matter of fact, the movement toward God, like all good things, originates from God Himself” (The Catholic Church and Salvation, Newman Press, 1958).
by T. Stanfill Benns | Sep 12, 2025 | New Blog
+Most Holy Name of Mary+
A note to readers
A few words here about the assassination of influencer/Christian activist Charlie Kirk. Kirk began his career at 18, refusing to attend college because of the liberal indoctrination tactics common to academia and counseling others in his generation to do the same. He married in 2020, claiming that he remained a virgin until marriage. Kirk’s wife was raised in a Novus Ordo household, and according to some reports, Kirk was considering joining what he believed to be the Catholic Church. In a day and age when Our Lady is continually blasphemed by Protestants, he asked fellow Christians to rethink their views regarding her. He also rejected the usurper Leo 14 as a Marxist and questioned Israel’s motives in its war against Gaza.
Six weeks ago, Kirk said in a podcast: “I think we as Protestants and Evangelicals under-venerate Mary. She was very important. She was a vessel for our Lord and Savior. I think that we, as Evangelicals and Protestants, we’ve overcorrected. We don’t talk about Mary enough. We don’t venerate her enough. Mary was clearly important to early Christians. There’s something there. In fact, I believe one of the ways that we fix toxic feminism in America is that Mary is the solution. Have more young ladies be pious, be reverent, be full of faith, slow to anger, slow to words at times. Mary is a phenomenal example, and I think a counter to so much of the toxicity of feminism in the modern era.”
This in a podcast that aired on July 16, Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. We recently reported here that Kirk supported the NAR movement. Despite this fact, he was a zealous defender of Christ and believed America should be a Christian nation. He was a young person who may have eventually figured things out over time. He denounced the evils of abortion, gender identity and the plethora of immoralities plaguing this country today. It is our hope and prayer that, somehow, he saved his soul, even though we can never assume this. Certainly his death saved him from being sucked into an even greater evil.
Introduction
A self-declared hermit and Novus Ordo, “priest,” David Nix, writing under the name “Padre Peregrino,” recently stated in a post on Substack that: “The saints seem to delineate between ‘material heresy’ (small points) and ‘manifest heresy’ (obvious heresy). The latter is held by saints to be easily identified by your average faithful layman or lay woman living in sanctifying grace.” He claims the Novus Ordo (and LibTrad) pseudo-clergy scoff at this idea, stating only “true” Catholic clergy can decide such matters. This he rightly calls, “Gnosticism… the old and tired heresy that only a certain group of ‘enlightened elites’ have access to ‘secret’ divine knowledge.” While these statements on material and formal heresy are more or less true, Nix has not consulted the proper sources to best explain the definition of these two types of heresy. And it is important that Catholics understand that even material heretics are outside the Church until a canonically elected Pope and bishops in communion with him declare otherwise. But sadly, we have no pope and no valid hierarchy left to elect one.
So in their absence, we must do what the Church commands us to do: we are bound to hold the teaching of the Continual Magisterium on this matter, NOT the teaching of the saints and early Fathers, although their opinions on doctrinal matters certainly have great merit. We are bound to obey Canon Law, since the primary source of Canon Law is the Popes and the Councils. The Fathers and Doctors contribute much that is good, but their opinions do not reflect the entirety of papal decisions made since the time of their death. They Pope is infallible; they are not. Theologians and canonists are quoted below, but they only echo the most recent decisions of the Popes and Holy Office and the Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of the (1917) Code. And we are bound by that same Code to follow more recent laws.
Canon 22 states: “A more recent law given by competent authority abrogates a former law if it expressly orders abrogation or if it is directly contrary to the former law or if it readjusts the entire subject matter of the former law. Archbishop Amleto Cicognani, in his 1934 work, Canon Law states that: “… Revocation is tacit when a new law is issued directly contrary to the former law or when a new law takes up and readjusts the entire subject matter of the former law… The competent authority means the Roman Pontiff, the Council, the Bishop, or the Ordinary in general.”
Three questions raised in this article must be addressed. The first concerns the matter of who can judge heresy and whether such heresy must be formal. The second addresses whether said heresy is to be considered material or formal. And the third regards the invalid election of Angelo Roncalli in 1958.
Canon 1325 and heresy
Canon 1325 tells us: “The faithful are bound to profess their faith publicly whenever silence, subterfuge or their manner of acting would otherwise entail an implicit denial of their faith, a contempt of religion, an insult to God or scandal to their neighbor.” If LibTrads only revered and followed Canon Law, they would know the answer to the questions they pose. But they cannot afford to do this, because to do so would be their undoing. This canon would not be written as it is, if the faithful were not obligated by law to judge heresy. Furthermore, Can. 1935, under the heading “Criminal Trials,” states: “The faithful may, AT ALL TIMES denounce the offense of another for the purpose of demanding satisfaction or by the natural law in view of the danger to faith or religion or other imminent public evil.” Neither of these canons exempt the clergy from these obligations laid on the faithful.
Heresy, to be judged as such, need not involve other members of the faithful pronouncing any judgment of the person who professes it. THE LAW ITSELF judges them and places them outside the Church, even if their heresy is only material, and those observing their errors need only state that FACT. For all who belong to the Novus Ordo or Traditionalist sects belong to non-Catholic sects and therefore have incurred the excommunication in Can. 2314 §3 for communicatio in sacris. Material or formal, it doesn’t matter. Even material heretics remain in heresy because we have no pope to lift their infamy of law and their latae sententiae excommunication. And for this same reason, a new pope cannot be elected.
The Church’s teaching on material heresy
Revs. McHugh and Callan
- Heresy is not formal unless one pertinaciously rejects the truth, knowing his error and consenting to it. But for formal heresy it is not required that that a person give his consent out of malice, or that he continue in obstinate rejection for a long time, or that he refuses to heed admonitions given him. Pertinacity here means true consent to recognized error, and this can…be given in an instant and does not presuppose an admonition disregarded,” (#829b).
- Circumstances that aggravate the sin include: its external and manifest nature, manifestation to a large number of people joined with apostasy and adhesion to an heretical sect, denying several articles or defined truths at the same time, (#832b&c).
- Faith…must be firm assent, excluding doubt, (#840). Real, voluntary but especially positive doubt, deliberately entertained with full knowledge, also constitutes heresy, (#s841-45).
Rev. Adolphe Tanquerey
Rev. Tanquerey’s works were used as seminary texts internationally for decades. He holds the same position as McHugh and Callan. “Apostates, heretics and schismatics incur, on the ordinary conditions of full guilt, knowledge, etc., an excommunication specially reserved to the Holy See…” Tanquerey then points out that, “All theologians teach that publicly known heretics, those who belong to a heterodox sect through public profession, or those who refuse the infallible teaching of the authority of the Church, are excluded from the body of the Church, EVEN IF THEIR HERESY IS ONLY MATERIAL HERESY,” (Manual of Dogmatic Theology, Vol. II).
Msgr. Joseph C. Fenton
As Msgr. Joseph C. Fenton notes in his “The Teaching of the Theological Manuals,” The American Ecclesiastical Review, April 1963: “If the theses taught by Tanquerey were opposed to those of ‘the most authentic Catholic tradition of all ages,’ then thousands of priests, educated during the first part of the twentieth century were being led into error by the men whom Our Lord had constituted as the guardians of His revealed message.”
In another article Msgr. Fenton wrote: “[Cardinal] Franzelin popularized the process of distinguishing between material and formal heresy in treating of conditions for membership in the Church. He thereby did a definite disservice to the cause of theology,” (“The Status of St. Robert Bellarmine’s Teaching About the Membership of occult heretics in the Catholic Church,” AER, March 1950).
Rev. Ignatius Szal
In his Canon Law dissertation, “The Communication of Catholics With Schismatics” (1948), Rev. Szal rightly states that those raised in heresy or schism who convert to the true faith, even if no obstinacy was involved on their part, must be absolved from the censure for schism if they convert after reaching the age of 14. This has been confirmed by several decisions handed down by the Holy See and the Sacred Congregations. It is based on the rule expressed in Can. 2200 §2, (1917 Code) that they are bound by the censure of excommunication for schism or heresy given the external violation of the law.
Rev. Reginald Garrigou LaGrange
Rev. Garrigou LaGrange, O.P. states in his The Theological Virtues, Vol. I, (On Faith; written before V2 but translated afterwards): “The one thing that suffices for formal heresy is an obstinate denial of any truth which has been infallibly proposed by the Church for belief. It is not necessary that the individual believer realizes that the truth in jeopardy has been revealed.”
Canonists Revs. Stanislaus Woywod and Callistus Smith
Based on decisions issued by the Holy Office, Revs. Woywod-Smith observe: “Nevertheless, in the external forum they are not free [from the penalties of Can. 2314] for, according to Can. 2200, when there is an external violation of Church law, malice is presumed in the external forum until its absence is proved. The Holy See insists that converts from heretical or schismatic sects be not received into the Church until they have first abjured the heresy or schism and been absolved from the censure, (Instruction of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda, July 20, 1859). Children converted before the age of puberty need no absolution from the excommunication (cfr. Can. 2230) and, instead of abjuration, need only make the profession of faith, (Holy Office, March 8, 1882” (A Practical Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, 1957).
Revs. Woywod-Smith on Can. 731: “All canonists and moralists agree that those who are heretics or schismatics and know they are wrong cannot be given the Sacraments of the Church unless they renounce their errors and are reconciled with the Church. Numerous decrees of the Holy Office put this point beyond controversy.”
Canonist Dom Charles Augustine
“Charity does not require mental gymnastics in order to excuse what is manifest, [evident, obvious, not obscure]… Obstinacy may be assumed when a revealed truth has been proposed with sufficient clearness and force to convince a reasonable man” (Dom Charles Augustine: A Commentary on Canon Law, Vol. 8, pg. 335; 1908).
Canon E. J. Mahoney
In his work Questions and Answers: The Sacraments (1946), Canon E.J. Mahoney comments: “The LIBERAL VIEW [is that] baptized non-Catholics in good faith are members of the body of the Church precisely because they are not excommunicated…The view diametrically opposed to this is [that] the excommunication of heretics applies to material as well as formal heretics…If a choice had to be made between theses two views…, there is no question that the second fits in best with Catholic discipline, and, in particular, with our practice in reconciling converts…
The solution which I think is the correct one consists in perceiving a distinction which the Code itself supplies. The Sacraments are to be denied both to material and formal heretics but for different reasons; to formal heretics because they merit punishment, the censure of Can. 2314 §1; to material heretics because they are excluded by Can. 731 §2, which is a necessary deduction from the concept of the Church: [basically, the Church is a society of men professing the same Christian faith, participating in the same worship, receiving the same Sacraments, from lawful pastors in communion with the Pope, etc…] Those who reject the rule of faith proposed by the Church are not members of the Church and may not lawfully share in the privileges of members, as, for example, the reception of the Sacraments.”
Mahoney then cites Billot, who explains that formal heresy and schism cannot be excluded as a possibility in these cases. “…In reconciling converts…it is difficult in the first place to say with certainty that a given convert has not incurred the censure. It is not amongst those which crass ignorance excuses, and it is not unlikely that, during a given period previous to his submission, there was sufficient knowledge for incurring a censure. Therefore absolution from censure is given at least ad cautelam… Moreover, the important distinction between the internal and the external forum must always be remembered. The external government of the Church regards the external actions of people…It is open to the authority of the external government of the Church to regard the members of heretical sects as excommunicated, even though, in the internal forum of conscience, they may be guiltless of any act meriting punishment.”
The Jurist, 1948
We read also from The Jurist, volume 132, page 405: “Irregularity Arising from Sect Affiliation”: “Question: A young man in my parish joined the Methodist Church at the age of 15. He was baptized in it in infancy. At 16, through association with Catholic young men in high school, he became a convert to the Church. Does he labor under any irregularity from which a dispensation should be obtained? (signed, Pedagogous)
“Answer: Since the young man joined the Methodist Church after he had attained the age of puberty, he does not escape the penalties which the Code visits upon his act. Clearly it may be assumed that he has been absolved from the excommunication in accordance with the provisions of Canon 2314 §2, since it is apparent from the statement of the case that he is a good Catholic and proposes to study for the priesthood. It is very likely, however, that he has not been dispensed from the vindictive penalty of infamy of law (infamia juris).
- Only the Holy See can dispense from this penalty.
- One who labors under it is irregular ex defectu, not ex delicto. Of course, even considered as an irregularity ex defectu, its presence is prevented, in the internal forum, by the good faith of the party affected: that is,good faith prevents the incurring of the vindictive penalty of infamy of law, and in the absence of the latter, there is an irregularity ex defectu. In the external forum, however, the dispensation should be duly sought from the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments.
“The young man also is subject to the impediment arising ex delicto from this heresy in accordance with canon 985, 1°. In the internal forum, good faith would excuse him; in the external forum, however, a dispensation should be sought from this irregularity also from the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments. (I Cf. can. 2314, § 1, 3°. Si sectae acatholicae nomen dederint vel publice adhaeserint, ipso facto infames sunt et, firma praescripto can. 188, n. 4, clerici, monitione incassum praemissa, degradentur. Can. 2295. Infamia iuris desinit sola dispensatione a Sede Apostolica concessa).”
“All the above heresies are so-called silent heresies. No declaration of their individual existence is ever made by an ecclesiastical authority — except in the general way that all heresies have been condemned by the continual magisterium at some time, in one place or the other — and there is a record of this. To insist that one 14 and older cannot be held guilty of censures is to deny the Church’s right to establish and enforce censures. This teaching of the Jansenist heretics is condemned by Pope Pius VI:
“ ‘Likewise, the proposition which teaches that is necessary, according to the natural and divine laws, for either excommunication or for suspension, that sentences called ipso facto have no other force than that of a serious threat without any actual effect, — false, rash, pernicious, injurious to the power of the Church, erroneous.’
“ ‘Likewise, the proposition which says, “useless and vain is the formula introduced some centuries ago of general absolution from excommunications into which the faithful might have fallen, — false, rash, injurious to the practice of the Church,’” (“Auctorem Fidei,” August 28, 1794).”
The 1958 papal election
Nix ends his article by commenting: “Indeed, the Catholic Church has always taught that a Papal Conclave electing a heretical man is certainly and without doubt an invalid Conclave. And yes, you do have the ability to recognize heresy in such a man…” Of course, Nix will not take the invalid election Idea clear back to the “election” of Roncalli because he can’t afford to. That would defrock him as a Novus Ordo priest/hermit. So here he is talking about Leo, and before that, it was Bergoglio. Yet proofs clearly show it was Roncalli, and that afterwards, all other elections were automatically invalid.
Most LibTrad adults living in the 1980s know full well that the first exposition of Roncalli as a heretic and the proofs necessary to show the invalidity of his election were published in the book, Will the Catholic Church Survive…? by T. Stanfill Benns and David Bawden in 1990. The problem here is that their children and grandchildren, now following such figures as Nix, most likely do not know this. Regardless of Bawden’s co-authorship, there were many Catholic truths presented whole and entire in the book (although I have withdrawn it from circulation). Since the 1980s to the present time, these fully developed and incontrovertible proofs been expanded upon and restated so many times, in various places, that it is preposterous for those now writing to pretend they have not seen or considered them. This is certainly true of “Padre Peregrino,” who traipsed across the same stomping grounds and frequented the same seminary library I myself frequented — St. Thomas Seminary, now renamed Abp. Urban Vehr Seminary in Denver, Colorado. He must, at some point, have been aware of this website and the proofs presented here. But no one seems to believe these proofs or value them. And if mentioned at all, they frequently quote them completely out of context and without attribution.
To pretend to reinvent the wheel at this late date is nothing short of a travesty. Unless something recognizably credible can be added to already existing proofs of Roncalli’s invalid election, it is both a waste of research hours and a waste of time for readers, when such demonstrations were long ago drawn out and publicized. In reality, Roncalli would have been ineligible for election even as a material heretic, for then he was no longer a member of the Church as pointed out above. And a non-Catholic cannot become pope. For as Can. 2200 states, those suspected of such heresy must first be cleared of all guilt. And St. Robert Bellarmine writes: “This principle is most certain. The non-Christian cannot in any way be Pope, as Cajetan himself admits (ib. c. 26). The reason for this is that he cannot be head of what he is not a member; now he who is not a Christian is not a member of the Church, and a manifest heretic is not a Christian, as is clearly taught by St. Cyprian, St. Athanasius, St. Jerome, St. Augustine and others” (De Romano Pontifice,
lib. II, cap. 30).
A material heretic’s heresy has already become manifest in some way, either in speech, writing or actions. It is material only in the sense that it may be, but has not yet, been denounced. Far from denouncing such heresy, Roncalli compounded it when he usurped the papal see, proving that his suspicion of heresy notice filed with the Holy Office was indeed justified. Of course the canons would later clarify how material heretics are to be viewed nearly 500 years after St. Bellarmine wrote, for even prior to any denouncement, they are presumed to be heretics. This topic has been much misrepresented and misunderstood. This is something Bellarmine himself anticipated, when he wrote in the same chapter:
“Then two years later came the lapse of Liberius, of which we have spoken above. Then indeed the Roman clergy, stripping Liberius of his pontifical dignity, went over to Felix, whom they knew [then] to be a Catholic. From that time, Felix began to be the true Pontiff. FOR ALTHOUGH LIBERIUS WAS NOT A HERETIC, nevertheless he was considered one, on account of the peace he made with the Arians, and by that presumption the pontificate could rightly [merito] be taken from him: for men are not bound, or able to read hearts; but when they see that someone is a heretic by his external works, they judge him to be a heretic pure and simple [simpliciter], and condemn him as a heretic” (De Romano Pontifice, lib. II, cap. 30, et al).”
Quite simply, Liberius was suspected of heresy. And Bellarmine quotes several notable Fathers, not just the few Nix cites in his article, quoting the author Paul Kramer. With this consensus of the ancient Fathers, in addition to Bellarmine’s own teaching as a Doctor of the Church, the saint has resolved the entire issue singlehandedly. After all, Bellarmine was a teenager during the reign of Pope Paul IV, so Cum ex Apostolatus Officio was fairly recent when he wrote. Here, however, the lapse of Liberius did not happen before his election, as in the case of Roncalli. The issue in Roncalli’s case is resolved by Pope Paul IV’s bull, Cum ex Apostolatus Officio.
Conclusion
For the sake of people such as Charlie Kirk, we cannot let the delusions of Novus Ordo and LibTrad sect leaders predominate without protest. Truth mattered to Kirk — by all accounts, he was sincere in his beliefs, erroneous though they were. He opposed liberal indoctrination, and yet it appears he was about to become indoctrinated in the biggest lie of all. God spared him that. But what about all the others he fought for and loved who are now left behind?
Nix and others believe that if they can just “elect a true pope,” then the real Church will be vindicated and the evil purged. I thought the same thing myself at one point and was foolishly misled by a liar. Twenty years of additional research helped uncover the carefully woven layers of heresy implanted by the Modernists (and other secret societies) that have been so cleverly embedded into the fabric of modern-day “Catholic” belief. Traditionalist sects were one of their greatest weapons, just as Protestant sects helped spread error far and wide 500 years ago.
If the lying visions now guiding the world could ever be dispelled, it could only come from the admission of the fact that evil became most prevalent following the death of Pope Pius XII, although it was fomenting long before his demise. The real betrayal began with Roncalli, and until his election is investigated and publicly recognized as invalid, and the entire façade that has prevailed in Rome for 67 years is ripped away, there is no hope of leading others to the truth. Pseudo-clerics such as Padre Peregrino and LibTrads in general are the obstacle to recognizing that truth, a necessity for them if they wish to stay in business. But it is as Christ meant it to be, for as Louis Cardinal Pie of Poitiers (1815-1880) wrote:
“It is certain that as the world draws towards its end the wicked and the seducers will increasingly have the upper hand. Faith will hardly be found any longer on earth; that is to say that it will have all but completely disappeared from the institutions of the world. Even believers will scarcely dare to profess their beliefs publicly and collectively… The Church, though of course still a visible society, will be increasingly reduced to individual and domestic proportions… And finally the Church on earth will undergo a true defeat: ‘…and it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them’ (Apoc. 13:7) The insolence of evil will be at its peak.” And this, he says will last until the very end. The Church already has seen the defeat he mentions. We yet exist that She remain visible on earth until the Second Coming.
by T. Stanfill Benns | Sep 2, 2025 | New Blog
+Feast of St. Stephen, Martyr+
Introduction
One must wonder if those who try to search out what is happening to us in these days ever think to credit and be grateful for the great Catholic minds who went before us and so eruditely plotted out what might happen to us and what we could expect in these times. But it seems that very few people really examine these things very closely because so many of the commentaries are hard to understand and also seem to mischaracterize the things that we’ve experienced as far as the destruction of the Church goes. Some commentators get most of it right, but spin-off at some point on one issue that falsely colors everything else they write. Others are wrong on most points but then are surprisingly clear on others. So most people read a little bit and tend to give up or maybe decide that, well, after all, it’s not that important. But it IS important, as we learned in our last blog, because if we don’t understand who we are and where we are in time, we’re not going to be doing what Christ expected us to do as overcomers and witnesses in this time prior to Christ’s Second Coming.
The prophet Daniel speaks of these times in the following verses in chapter 12 of the Old Testament:
“1 But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people: and a time shall come, such as never was from the time that nations began, even until that time. And at that time shall thy people be saved, every one that shall be found written in the book.
2 And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake: some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it always.
3 But they that are learned, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time appointed: many shall pass over, and knowledge shall be manifold.
5 And I, Daniel, looked, and behold as it were two others stood: one on this side upon the bank of the river, and another on that side, on the other bank of the river.
6 And I said to the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river: How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
7 And I heard the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river, when he had lifted up his right hand, and his left hand to heaven, and had sworn by him that liveth forever, that it should be unto a time, and times, and half a time. And when the scattering of the band of the holy people shall be accomplished, all these things shall be finished.
8 And I heard, and understood not. And I said: O my Lord, what shall be after these things?
9 And he said: Go, Daniel, because the words are shut up, and sealed until the appointed time.”
And as We quoted Rev. Haydock in our last blog on verse 9 above: “The vision will not be understood till the event. It is not to be interpreted by human wit but by the spirit of God wherewith the Church is enlightened and governed.” And this is also the opinion of St. Jerome, who likewise commented on Dan. 8: 26: “Thou therefore seal up the vision, because it shall come to pass after many days.” Having explained the vision which we have examined above to the best of our ability, the angel Gabriel adds at the end: “Thou therefore seal up the vision, because it shall come to pass after many days.” By the mention of a seal, he showed that the things spoken were of a hidden character and not accessible to the ears of the multitude, OR SUSCEPTIBLE OF COMPREHENSION PRIOR TO THEIR ACTUAL FULFILMENT BY THE EVENTS THEMSELVES.” (See full text HERE.)
St. Jerome’s commentary on the Book of Daniel
St. Jerome is adamant that nearly all of the book of Daniel refers directly to the coming of Antichrist. He writes against the pagan philosopher Porphyry who denied this, claiming the book of Daniel was not canonical. St. Jerome points out how, in almost every verse, the Jewish antichrist Antiochus can only be seen as the archetype of Antichrist. What he says about Antichrist is everything that we have experienced in watching the destruction of the Church. And it is interesting that in this commentary on Daniel he twice refers to Antichrist coming at the end of the age of the Church, and not at the end of the world, as B. E. Strauss has already pointed out (although Strauss takes his quotes from a different source). But not only St. Jerome says this, but St. Bede also. “Antichrist, who is to reign AT THE END OF THE AGE, because of the unity of the body of the ungodly of which he is the head, pertains to the number of the kingdoms of the world” (Apoc. 17: 11).
In later comments, St. Jerome elaborates on Dan. 12: 1-3 as follows: “And so after the Antichrist is crushed and destroyed by the breath of the Savior’s mouth, the people written in God’s book shall be saved; and in accordance with the merits of each, some shall rise up unto eternal life and others unto eternal shame. But the teachers shall resemble the very heavens, and those who have instructed others shall be compared to the brightness of the stars. For it is not enough to know wisdom unless one also instructs others; and the tongue of instruction which remains silent and edifies no one else can receive no reward for labor accomplished. This passage is expressed by Theodotion and the Vulgate edition [of the Septuagint] in the following fashion: “And those who understand shall shine forth like the radiance of the firmament, and many of the righteous like the stars forever and ever.”
“Many people often ask whether a learned saint and an ordinary saint shall both enjoy the same reward and one and the same dwelling-place in heaven. Well then, the statement is made here, according to Theodotion’s rendering, that the learned will resemble the very heavens, whereas the righteous who are without learning are only compared to the brightness of the stars. And so the difference between learned godliness and mere godly rusticity shall be the difference between heaven and the stars.” Verse 11:33 also mentions the learned, and St. Jerome comments: “And they that are learned among the people shall teach many and they shall fall by the sword and by fire and by captivity and by spoil for many days.” The books of Maccabees relate the great sufferings the Jews endured at the hands of Antiochus… [L]et no one doubt that these things are going to happen under the Antichrist, when many shall resist his authority and flee away in various directions.”
And on Dan. 12: 4 he writes: “He who had revealed manifold truth to Daniel now signifies that the things he has said are matters of secrecy, and he orders him to roll up the scroll containing his words and set a seal upon the book, with the result that many shall read it and inquire (p. 577) as to its fulfilment in history, differing in their opinions because of its great obscurity. And as for the statement, “Many shall pass over” or “go through,” this indicates that it will be read by many people. For it is a familiar expression to say: “I have gone through a book,” or, “I have passed through an historical account.” Indeed this is the idea which Isaiah also expressed in regard to the obscurity of his own book: “And the sayings of that book shall be like the words of ‘I do not know how to read.’
“But if they give it to a man who does know how to read and say, ‘Read the book,’ he will reply, ‘I cannot read it, because it is sealed up’ ” (Isa. 39:11). Also in the Revelation of John, there is a book seen which is sealed with seven seals inside and outside. And when no one proves able to break its seals, John says, “I wept sore; and a voice came to me, saying, ‘Weep not: behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book and break its seals’ “(Apoc. 5:4). But that book can be opened by one who has learned the mysteries of Scripture and understands its hidden truths, and its words which seem dark because of the greatness of the secrets they contain. He it is who can interpret the parables and transmute the letter which killeth into the spirit which quickeneth.
And in this same vein, on verses 8-10: “And if the prophet himself heard and did not understand, what will be the case with those men who presumptuously expound a book which has been sealed, and that too unto the time of the end, a book which is shrouded with many obscurities? But he comments that when the end comes, the ungodly will lack comprehension, whereas those who are learned in the teaching of God will be able to understand. “For wisdom will not enter the perverted soul, nor can it impart itself to a body which is subject to sins.” For in Ch. 9, verses, 13-14, St. Jerome already had commented: “’All this evil has come upon us, and we have not entreated Thy face, O Lord our God, that we might turn back from our iniquities and consider Thy truth.'”
“Their obduracy was so great that even in the midst of their toils they would not entreat God, and even if they had entreated Him, it would not have been a genuine entreaty, because they had not turned back from their iniquities. Yet to consider the truth of God is equivalent to turning back from iniquity (v. 13)…. “And the Lord hath kept watch over the evil and hath brought it upon us.'” Whenever we are rebuked because of our sins, God is keeping watch over us and visiting us with chastisement. But whenever we are left alone by God and we do not suffer judgment but are unworthy of the Lord’s rebuke, then He is said to slumber.”
And exactly what are these iniquities? They are repeated again and again in the book of Daniel. St. Jerome comments: “And as for the statement, “And he glorified himself even against the Prince of Power,” this means that he lifted himself up against God and persecuted His saints. He even took away the endelekhismos or “continual offering” which was customarily sacrificed in the morning and at even, and he prevailed to the casting down of the “place of His sanctuary.” And he did not do this by his own prowess, but only “on account of the sins of the people.” And thus it came to pass that truth was prostrated upon the ground, and as the worship of idols flourished, the religion of God suffered an eclipse.” (Dan. 8: 11, 12).
For “…the Antichrist shall come, and according to the Apostle [reading apostolum for apostolorum] he is going to sit in the temple of God (II Thess. 2) and be slain by the breath of our Lord and Savior after he has waged war against the saints. And thus it shall come to pass that the middle of the week shall mark the confirmation of God’s covenant with the saints, and the middle of the week in turn shall mark the issuing of the decree under the authority of Antichrist that no more sacrifices be offered. For the Antichrist shall set up the abomination of desolation, that is, an idol or statue of his own god, within the Temple. Then shall ensue the final devastation and the condemnation of the Jewish people, who after their rejection of Christ’s truth shall embrace the lie of the Antichrist” (Ch. 9: 24-27).
Idol worship among the NO and LibTrads
And not only those of the Novus Ordo and LibTrad sects, but also those calling themselves Recusants, in order not to be totally rejected by their fellow sedevacantists, will pay this tribute to idols. They do this whenever they take it upon themselves to determine that some or another “worthy” priest can Pope Pius XII’s infallible papal constitution — Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis — is only an “ecclesiastic” or disciplinary law and therefore does not bind them; the same they claim for Pope Paul IV’s infallible Bull, Cum ex Apostolatus Officio. That when these papal constitutions irrefutably teach that the attempts to simulate the Sacraments by all those pretending to act on behalf of the Church are null, void and invalid. And those calling themselves “Traditionalists” can only be classified as those same heretics condemned by Pope Pius IX in 1855 (DZ 1649); for the real meaning of Tradition, as pointed out here many times before, is not what they pretend.
Commenting on 2 Thess. 2:14, the Most Rev. John Macevilly D.D., wrote in 1898: “By “tradition,” he [St. Paul] means doctrines and institutions of the Christian religion, whether appertaining to faith or discipline. Of the latter kind he spoke — chap. 11. Ep. 1 to Cor.—“Cetera, cum venero, disponam.” From this latter verse it is clear, that Tradition was intended to be a channel of divine revelation no less than the sacred Scriptures. Traditions may be committed to writing in after times; but still they are said to be the unwritten word of God, because, not written by the Apostles, like the SS. Scriptures, but merely delivered by the word of mouth…
“Hence, God wished that the great certain means of conveying His divine truth, independent of every species of casualty, was to be the tradition of His Church, which He has constituted the indefectible oracle of his heavenly truth, unto the end of time. On this account, it is, that the Gospel is called, a testimony, to be handed down by witnesses” (An Exposition of the Epistles of Saint Paul and of the Catholic Epistles: Vols. 1 & 2). That all those official edicts of the popes, including those on discipline, are to be unquestionably observed is a matter of Church teaching and practice.
Catholic Encyclopedia on Canon Law
“The Sovereign Pontiff is the most fruitful source of canon law; he can abrogate the laws made by his predecessors or by ecumenical councils; he can legislate for the whole Church or for a part thereof, a country or a given body of individuals; if he is morally bound to take advice and to follow the dictates of prudence, he is not legally obliged to obtain the consent of any other person or persons, or to observe any particular form; his power is limited only by Divine law, natural and positive, dogmatic and moral. Furthermore, he is, so to say, the living law, for he is considered as having all law in the treasury of his heart (“in scrinio pectoris“; Boniface VIII. c. i, “De Constit.” in VI). From the earliest ages the letters of the Roman Pontiffs constitute, with the canons of the councils, the principal element of canon law, not only of the Roman Church and its immediate dependencies. but of all Christendom; they are everywhere relied upon and collected, and the ancient canonical compilations contain a large number of these precious “decretals” (decreta, statuta, epistolae decretales, and epistolae synodicae).
“Later, the pontifical laws are promulgated more usually as constitutions, Apostolic Letters, the latter being classified as Bulls or Briefs, according to their external form, or even as spontaneous acts, “Motu proprio”. Moreover, the legislative and disciplinary power of the pope not being an in communicable privilege, the laws and regulations made in his name and with his approbation possess his authority: in fact, though most of the regulations made by the Congregations of the cardinals and other organs of the Curia are incorporated in the Apostolic Letters, yet the custom exists and is becoming more general for legislation to be made by mere decrees of the Congregations, with the papal approval. These are the “Acts of the Holy See” (Acta Sancte Sedis), and their object or purpose permitting, are real laws (see ROMAN CURIA).
“Whatever may be said about the forms used in the past, today the promulgation of general ecclesiastical laws is effected exclusively by the insertion of the law in the official publication of the Holy See, the “Acta Apostolical Sedis“, in compliance with the Constitution Promulgandi of Pius X, dated 29 September, 1908, except in certain specifically mentioned cases. The law takes effect and is binding on all members of the community as soon as it is promulgated, allowing for the time morally necessary for it to become known, unless the legislator has fixed a special time at which it is to come into force.” And Rev. S. B. Smith, D.D., in his Elements of Ecclesiastical Law (1881; endorsed by both Henry Cardinal Manning and John Cardinal Newman), wrote the same in his work below.
Of the Nature of the Power of the Roman Pontiffs
“The decrees of the Roman Pontiffs constitute the chief source of canon law; nay, more, the entire canon law, in the strict sense of the term, is based upon their legislative authority. Hence it is that heretics have ever sought to destroy, or at least to weaken, this legislative power. The following are the chief errors on this head : the Roman Pontiff has legislative power over the entire Church ; that the Pontifical laws bind both de jure and de facto, independently of their acceptation by anyone, even bishops…
“Are Pontifical laws obligatory on the faithful or the Church, even when not accepted by anyone? We reply in the affirmative. The proof is : Papal laws are binding, even without being accepted by anyone, if Popes (a) have the power to enact laws independently of such acceptation; (b) if, de facto, they wish their laws to be binding without such acceptation. But this is the case; therefore, etc. The Sovereign Pontiff can, if he chooses, enact laws obligatory on the entire Church independently of any acceptation. This is indubitable — nay, according to Suarez, de fide.
“The Roman Pontiff de facto wishes that his laws should bind independently of their acceptation by anyone. This is evident from the fact that the wording of the Papal laws, as of laws in general, is mandatory. Now, a command given absolutely does not oblige merely on condition of its being accepted, but unconditionally or absolutely ; otherwise the supposed law or command would be no law at all, but merely a counsel… We therefore reject the following opinion, advanced by Bouix and Craisson, (and followed by us in the first and second editions of this work, n. 22, 26, 32): The opinion of those who hold that it is the will of the Roman Pontiffs that, certain Papal laws pertaining to discipline should not, de facto, bind before being accepted, is lawful and sustained by many Catholic doctors. IN FACT, THE AUTHORS ALLEGED BY BOUIX AND CRAISSON FOR THIS OPINION EITHER DO NOT MAINTAIN IT OR SUSTAIN THE VERY OPPOSITE.”
So we see that those rejecting these decrees are only reiterating the objections posited by the Modernists and Liberals who were already plaguing the Church in the 19th century. It was simply yet another manifestation of the Gallicanist heresy, a rejection of the authority of the papacy. But we have gone over this many times before, and as St. Jerome notes above, “…when the end comes, the ungodly will lack comprehension.”
Conclusion
It is only because we have been blessed with the Internet and our own Catholic library books that we have any understanding of religious matters, ourselves. We provide only a restatement of the truths gifted us by these saints and holy people — a reflection of those great lights who shone so brightly in the past and warned us so frequently and fervently. Without them we would be totally in the dark regarding our seeming abandonment by God, an abandonment rightly understood only by Christ Himself on the Cross.
Many of them we must mention here: the Popes first of all, then the Fathers and Doctors of the Church; all the sainted theologians; scriptural commentators such as Rev. Leo Haydock, and Rev. Leonard Goffine, Rev. E. S. Berry, Rev. H.B. Kramer; members of the hierarchy including Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, Louis-Edouard Cardinal Pie, Louis Cardinal Billot, Rev. Frederick Faber, Rev. Felix Sarda y Salvany, Rev. Reginald Garrigou-LaGrange, Rev. Adolphe Tanquerey, Msgr. Joseph C. Fenton and Rev. Francis J. Connell; the laymen Juan Donoso Cortes, Louis Veuillot and Peter Allies; all the many canonists and those writing Canon Law dissertations whom we have cited here — and there are so many others, they would fill yet another page. But all work together to help us better understand our role in these times. Little appreciated is the role that St. Michael has played in protecting those of us who do our best to preserve the faith. Without his assistance and protection, we would not even exist.
Commenting on Apoc. 12:7, St. Bede writes: “Michael, with his angels, fights against the devil, for that, according to the will of God, he contends for the Church in her sojourning, by praying and ministering help; of whom Daniel also said, that he would come to the aid of the Church in the last and most grievous affliction.” Those of us devoted to him, who each day recite the prayers given us by Pope Leo XIII, know his power and must not fail to thank him for his continued assistance. Rev. Haydock, commenting on Daniel 12: 8, tells us that when the scattering of the band of holy people has been accomplished, then they will be miraculously delivered. And we can be sure that the deliverer will be St. Michael, standing up for his people. We salute you dear St. Michael, whose feast day is this month, for truly without you as our guardian, we would long ago have been snatched up by the Evil One. May we always pray to be worthy of thy continuing patronage!
A shout out
Kudos to Laura Wood for a great blog on the need for wisdom in old age, contrary to the insane model provided by the world. Read it HERE. The video on Communism featured on her site is also an excellent if grisly reminder of where we are headed.
by T. Stanfill Benns | Aug 22, 2025 | New Blog
+The Immaculate Heart of Mary+
Introduction
In a comment made on the Aug. 1 NAR blog, a reader provided links to videos that explain how the powers that be are vying among themselves for control of the world with NAR being only a part of this overall plan. While the videos mentioned in the link are interesting, they are factually incorrect in certain places particularly on the subject of the “Jesuit conspiracy” within the Church. And as might be expected, they accept the Novus Ordo as the Church and have no idea (or do they?) of the level of deception perpetrated on those identifying as “Catholic.” Therefore I don’t recommend them for viewing (too much time wasted) but I do want to comment on their creator’s overall premise.
The video narrator, Jiang Xueqin, points out that the existence of NAR, the New Apostolic Reformation, is a part of an effort by Protestants to stake out their religious claim on America. He believes this could lead to a civil war that could possibly help solidify their position and advance the drive toward one-world government. While there are several contenders for the position of a one-world religious leader, the final outcome will basically be determined within their own inner circles and fought out on the world stage. Jiang deals with this on a religious level and what it boils down to is which of these world leaders will head the one world religion as “Antichrist,” although that’s not how it is presented.
He first lists Zoroastrianism as a religion and their belief in the battle of good against evil towards the end of the world. This position, however, has only a negligible impact on what we’re talking about. Then he lists the Muslims, the Jews, the Orthodox, the Anglo Protestants and finally the Catholics. Terrorist elements aside, the Muslims seemed to be not as organized as the others but are concerning because of their numbers and the inroads they have made into countries worldwide through immigration. Muslims expect a Mahdi or end-times Messiah much as the Jews expect their Messiah. The Jews anticipate a Messiah who will act as a leader and Liberator — a military figure who will liberate Gaza and return it to Israeli dominion. This so the Jews can reclaim the Dome of the Rock, rebuild their temple and restore Jews to their homeland to enjoy the promises God made to the chosen people.
The Orthodox are working to establish their religious worldview and this includes the possible invasion of America and its conversion to orthodoxy as part of that plan. Then there is the Anglican Protestant faction which is behind the New Apostolic Reformation worldwide jostling for its own position in the queue. Finally there are the Catholics who Jiang calls the king of conspiracies and of course he is referring to the Novus Ordo, which already has a worldwide organization capable of demanding from its members any number of policy changes. Jiang notes in the final analysis that some melding of the Novus Ordo and Orthodox may result, something for which the Novus Ordo sect has been lobbying for decades. And there are now positive signs that this is being actively discussed in Rome.
This would place the Jews and the Muslims in an awkward position. It renders them outliers along with those Protestants who refuse to endorse NAR and “Traditional” Catholics not in communion with Rome. Eventually these two entities must battle each other to determine who will control Jerusalem. Jiang also completely discounts China as a contending force in this race for world religious recognition, stating he believes the country will collapse under the considerable weight of its own population. This may be a major miscalculation on his part but only time will tell. Jiang goes into great detail about the Jesuit conspiracy, dating back to their origin, suppression and reinstatement, calling them the spy network of the Catholic Church. He does not mention of course the spy networks for the other religions — the terrorist organizations for the Muslims, the Mossad for the Jews, the revamped and renamed KGB for the Russian Orthodox, and the Freemasons for the Protestant sects, who created this organization from their own ranks in the 1700s.
The Katechon
The comical aspect of all this is that Putin, the Jewish Messiah, the Muslim Mahdi and presumably the people at the top of the NAR movement and their prophets all believe themselves to be a version of what some refer to as the katechon, a Greek word for the restraining power mentioned by St. Paul in 2 Thess. 2: 6-7: “He who withholdeth.” Primarily the NAR but also Russia, seem to be fancying themselves as the withholding power that can stop the coming of Antichrist — a human way to prevent Antichrist from ever arriving. And they brazenly twist Holy Scripture in such a way that it basically can be used and interpreted in a manner totally disassociated from its true meaning and purpose — Christ ‘s intent for His Church. One of those indirectly involved with the NAR movement is PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, and he has some interesting views on how the katechon might be able to permanently prevent Antichrist’s coming.
At the same time, however, he makes the statement that people tend to fear the Second Coming more than they fear the coming of Antichrist. But if Holy Scripture is believed as it is written the Second Coming cannot occur unless Antichrist is revealed, Armageddon happens (Apoc., Ch. 16), Rome is destroyed, (Apoc. 17-18) and Christ comes to judge the living and the dead. This is the classic example of man’s believing that he can dictate the outcome of world events to God. The Bible has always been for Protestants a book or cipher they are free to interpret or understand in any way they want in order to arrive at their desired goal. Of course we know better and the problem with this katechon business is that they have no idea what they’re talking about when it comes to the withholding power that St. Paul speaks about.
The idea is not new. LibTrad pseudo-clergy have acted as the katechon for decades, pretending to perpetuate the Church and provide the Mass and Sacraments, so it will appear as though they still exist. For if they once admitted that the Mass could no longer be validly offered, then the question of how it could cease would need to be answered and Antichrist brought into the picture, even though that question was raised and answered long ago. And it was answered in the same breath as the disappearance of the papacy, had Catholics consulted approved sources and not those false christs and hirelings sent to deceive them.
Cardinal Manning on the withholding power
In his The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, (1862), Henry Edward Cardinal Manning wrote: “The barrier, or hindrance, to lawlessness will exist until it is taken out of the way. Now what is the meaning of the words, until it ‘be taken out of the way’? The Son of God shall permit, for a time, the powers of evil to prevail. That He will permit it for a time stands in the book of prophecy. When the hindrance is taken away, the man of sin will be revealed. The event may come to pass that as our Divine Lord, after His three years of public ministry were ended, delivered Himself of His own free will into the hands of men, and thereby permitted them to do that which before was impossible, so in His inscrutable wisdom He may deliver over His Vicar upon earth, as He delivered Himself, and that the providential support of the temporal power of the Holy See may be withdrawn when its work is done…
“The gates of hell may war against it; they may strive and wrestle, as they struggle now with the Vicar of our Lord; but no one has the power to move Him one step until the hour shall come when the Son of God shall permit, for a time, the powers of evil to prevail. That He will permit it for a time stands in the book of prophecy. When the hindrance is taken away, the man of sin will be revealed; then will come the persecution of three years and a half [representing an indefinite period -Ed], short, but terrible, during which the Church of God will return into its state of suffering, as in the beginning; and the imperishable Church of God, by its inextinguishable life derived from the pierced side of Jesus, which for three hundred years lived on through blood, will live on still through the fires of the times of Antichrist!
“When the whole number of those whom He hath chosen to eternal life is filled up. It may be that when that is done, and when the times of Antichrist are come, that He will give over His Vicar upon earth, and His Mystical Body at large, [for a time]… The Church would, as in the beginning, again be made up of members voluntarily uniting themselves together throughout the whole world, having indeed a legal recognition here and there, but wandering up and down the earth, without any contact with the nations of the world as such…” And here Manning ends with a warning to the LibTrads: “For as surely as the Son of God reigns on high, and will reign “until He has put all His enemies under His feet,” so surely everyone that lifts a heel or directs a weapon, a tongue, or a pen, against His faith, His Church, or His Vicar upon earth, will share the judgment which is laid up for the Antichrist whom he serves… ‘Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall he broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder’” (Matt. 21:44). Christ’s Vicars shall not be mocked.
Revs. E.S. Berry and Rev. H.B. Kramer, also other commentators, share this opinion on the pope being the withholding power. And as will be seen below, it must necessarily come with the cessation of the Holy Sacrifice, for only Antichrist can abolish the true Mass. The abolition of the Continual Sacrifice and the taking away of the pope and his power are both predicted in the Book of Daniel as being accomplished in one fell swoop by the beast — Antichrist proper. The Jewish sacrifice of lambs happened daily, but ended with the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. The Old Covenant became the New, because Christ came to fulfill the law. Likewise, the Continual Sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God, was taken away in 1958 when the true katechon was taken away. Cardinal Manning writes in his The Present Crisis of the Holy See Tested by Prophecy (1861):
“Let us hear, therefore, the words of the prophet Daniel. Speaking of the person whom St. John calls the Antichrist, whom he calls the king that shall work according to his own will, the prophet Daniel says,” “He shall speak words against the High One, ”— that is, the Almighty God,— “and shall crush the saints of the Most High.” Again he says, “It’— that is, the power of this king — “was magnified even unto the strength of heaven: and it threw down of the strength, and of the stars, and trod upon them. And it was magnified even to the prince of the strength; and it took away from him the continual sacrifice, and cast down the place of his sanctuary.” Further, he says, “The victim and the sacrifice shall fail, and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation.” These three passages are taken from the seventh, and the eighth, and the ninth chapters of Daniel. I might add more, but they are enough, for in the Book of Apocalypse we find a key to these words. St. John, evidently referring to the Book of Daniel, writes of the beast, that is, the persecuting power which shall reign on the earth by might, “It was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.”
“Now here we have four distinct prophecies of a persecution which shall be inflicted by this antichristian power upon the Church of God. The Holy Fathers who have written upon the subject of Antichrist, and of these prophecies of Daniel, without a single exception, as far as I know, and they are the Fathers both of the East and of the West, the Greek and the Latin Church — all of them unanimously — say that in the latter end of the world, during the reign of Antichrist, the holy sacrifice of the altar will cease… The fulfilment of the prophecy is yet to come; and that which we have seen in the two wings, we shall see also in the centre;’ and that great army of the Church of God will, for a time, be scattered. It will seem, for a while, to be defeated, and the power of the enemies of the faith for a time to prevail. The continual sacrifice will be taken away, and the sanctuary will be cast down.”
How do you have a Sacrifice without a sanctuary? And who can you take the Sacrifice from who would be a Prince of Strength if not the pope and those he commissions through his bishops (symbolized by stars, the commentators say) to offer the Sacrifice? And if the sanctuary has been cast down, where is the Prince?
LibTrad misrepresentation of “consummation”
And what else does Daniel have to say on this topic? A great deal more, for he predicts in Ch. 9:27 that “ …The victim and the sacrifice shall fail and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation AND to the end.” And the footnote to the Douay Rheims Bible reads: “By his sacrifice upon the cross, Christ abolished all the sacrifices of the law… The abomination of desolation some understand as the profanation of the temple by the crimes of the Jews and by the bloody faction of the zealots; others of the bringing in thither the ensigns and standard of the Pagan Romans. Others in fine distinguished three different times of desolation: that under Antiochus; that when the temple was destroyed by the Romans and the last near the end of the world under Antichrist to which, as they suppose, this prophecy may have a relation.”
The definition of consummation is completion, fulfillment, conclusion. When Christ spoke on the Cross, “It is consummated,” He indicated that His sufferings were finished, over, done with; completed or brought to their final conclusion. In his work Eschatology, (1929), Rt. Rev. Joseph Pohle tells us:
“The consummation of the world may be regarded either as in process (in fieri) or as an accomplished fact (in facto esse). Regarding it from the former point of view we speak of the “last things” (novissima, τὰ ἔσχατα), i. e. the events to happen at the second coming of our Lord. “The four last things of man” are Death, Judgment, Heaven (Purgatory), and Hell. The four last things of the human race as a whole are: the Last Day, the Resurrection of the Flesh, and the Final Judgment, followed by the End of the World. These four events constitute so many stages on the way to the predestined state of consummation (consummatio saeculi, συντέλεια αἰῶνος), which will be permanent and irrevocable.”
Daniel foretells the utter consummation and desolation of the temple, resulting in the “completion” of the 70 weeks for his people and the Holy City (Dan. 9:24, 27; 12:7). This marked THE TIME OF THE END of the Jewish age, NOT the end of time itself (Dan. 12:4). He distinguishes between the consummation and the end proper. The Jews have never been able to rebuild their temple; all attempts have met with frightening natural disasters and deadly accidents that have brought their work to a halt, and this can be expected to continue. And while presumption has led some to believe that an end to the Church’s time on earth would never come, we must remember why it came for the Jews: disobedience, sins of the flesh, idolatry, blasphemy, apostasy. And those identifying as Catholic were/are not guilty of these same sins?
Commenting on 1 Cor. 10: 11. Haydock notes: “Upon whom the ends of the world are come, the last age of the world which Saint John calls “the last hour.” (1 John 2:18) This verse reads: “Little children it is the last hour and as you have heard that Antichrist cometh and now there are many antichrists whereby we know that it is the last hour.” Haydock comments ”It is the last hour:” that is, according to the common interpretation, the last age of the world from the coming of Christ to the day of judgment and the end of the world which Saint Paul calls “the end and consummation of ages.” Hebrews 9:26: “Jesus… at the end of ages… hath appeared for the destruction of sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Haydock then says: “He came at the end of the ages, as it were, in the last age of the world; the putting away or abrogating of sin.” All this is made quite clear in B.E. Strauss’ s work, quoted here at length before, Even to the Consummation of the Age (2023). Strauss quotes from Fathers of the Church showing that what happened to the Jews in 70 A.D. will happen and has happened also to the Church. (Strauss’s PDF is available on request).
Strauss emphasizes that even though the word saeculi which translates as age appears in many magisterial and biblical works in Latin, not mundi, meaning the world, saeculi is still translated as “world.” LibTrad forums claim that the Vatican Council documents read “world,” but they do not read mundi in Latin, but saeculi. Below we present the Latin from Denzinger/Bannwort’s Enchiridion Symbolorum, 1911. This is far more reliable than the 1957 Denzinger edition edited by the Modernist Karl Rahner, quoted from by LibTrads. The question is: How do you translate saeculi to mean mundi or world?
Why have the distinctions on the withholding power and consummation of the age versus the world not been rightly understood or presented until recently? Regarding understanding, we read from Daniel, Ch. 12:4: “O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the appointed time…” Rev. Haydock: “The vision will not be understood till the event. It is not to be interpreted by human wit but by the spirit of God wherewith the Church is enlightened and governed.” As for presentation, much has been hidden from the faithful to deceive them and attain purely political and financial ends. The LibTrad forums offer only their own opinions and ipse dixit (parrot) their exalted leaders the pseudo-bishops, such as Sanborn, without ever investigating for themselves. The Church and Her approved authors alone have the right to interpret these things. The word “world” was used for a very specific reason in these mistranslated documents and they refuse to see it. It is what keeps their pseudo-clergy and the prostitute Novus Ordo church in business.
The Triumph of the Church
In response to questions raised by readers concerning the triumph of the Church on earth that has been promised in various places, Card. Manning has a very good explanation for what that triumph truly is and what we should expect it to be — and it’s not what people think. It is not a restoration of the Church on earth as She once was. There is nothing in Holy Scripture that even hints that that is a possibility. Amazingly, Manning tells us that what we are experiencing NOW is the glorious triumph of the Church, when there are so few of us left who recognize what has happened and yet we continue to persevere in our own poor way, awaiting the last day and the Final Judgment. We read from his The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, p. 148:
“We are fond of imagining triumphs and glories for the Church on earth,— that the Gospel is to be preached to all nations, and the world to be converted, and all enemies subdued, and I know not what,— until some ears are impatient of hearing that there is in store for the Church a time of terrible trial… many among us intoxicate their minds with the visions of success and victory, and cannot endure the thought that there is a time of persecution yet to come for the Church of God…. according to the analogy of all God’s dealings, the last glories of His Church on earth will be greater than the first. And yet perhaps we are perplexed to understand how this can be verified. We look at the present state of the Church in the world, and all seems dark before us. The reason is this, that it is difficult for us justly to estimate and to understand the days in which we are. As we cannot measure the motion by which we are carried along, as no man, perhaps, knows his own countenance, or is conscious of his own stature, so it is with the times that are upon us… It is necessary, therefore, that the present should be known by retrospect. And the greatest times and the most glorious are often those which look darkest when they are near.
“The days, therefore, which are upon us now, though heavy shadows and dark clouds hang upon the horizon, will doubtless hereafter be glorious to those who see them afar off; and I may say without rashness that they will be more glorious than any times we read of in the history of the Church… certain other periods of history which we look upon now as periods of especial glory, and to show that they were moments which those who lived in them looked upon as times of the greatest darkness, suffering, and tribulation, pregnant with evils known and unknown for the present and the future… these times were dark beyond anything we see now. They were times of old heresies and new. They were times when arose the greatest heresy that has ever afflicted the Church of God — I mean that which is now upon it; for there has been none so widespread, none so manifold, none so hostile, none so universal in its denial of the revelation of God… What could be darker than these epochs of the past? Yet we look back upon them now as the most bright and glorious times in the annals of the Church.” (End of Manning quotes).
Conclusion
Those who have not bothered to study Holy Scripture and the teachings of the Church will quite possibly be led astray by the machinations of those who pretend that man can hold back the coming of Antichrist when we know that Antichrist has already come, the Sacrifice has been taken away and the consummation will last till the end. This diabolical political charade is simply a culmination of the ecumenism that was foisted on the world at the false Vatican 2 council because this is man’s solution to God’s revealed Word, an insult He will not abide. By not accepting the fact that the Church has physically disappeared and could disappear just like the Jewish church disappeared, people have found themselves this cozy little corner where they can weather the storm, or so they think. But that storm has yet to break and when it breaks those who don’t have the truth will find themselves without any solace, any protection and sadly without any faith. We hope and pray this is not the case but what we have seen over the last 60 plus years does nothing to encourage us to believe that many will eventually accept the truth. God, have mercy on our souls.
