Has the conversion of the Jews already taken place?

by T. Stanfill Benns | Jun 8, 2025 | New Blog

+Feast of Pentecost+

June, Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — Prayer Society Intention:    “Divine Heart of Jesus, convert sinners, save the dying, deliver the holy souls in Purgatory.” (Raccolta)

In a previous blog on the false accusation against the Jews regarding ritual murder, it was reported that: “Research shows the majority of Jews consider themselves such in ethnicity, but not primarily in religion.” This is backed by Pew Research statistics, as cited in that blog entry. What few realize is that the decline in the practice of Judaism began long before the 20^th century, a phenomena some believed the Church could have used as an opportunity to gain Jewish converts. Those most zealous for the conversion of their people were the Jewish twin brothers Joseph and Augustin, who converted to Catholicism in 1854 at the age of 18.

Little is known generally about these notable Jewish converts, who later became priests. Rev. Denis Fahey quotes Augustin ’s eschatological work on Antichrist at length in his The Kingship of Christ and the Conversion of the Jewish Nation (1953)  but provides little information on the two brothers’ background and proselytizing activities. Fortunately, a recently discovered work by Murray Watson, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Theology, Huron University College (Western University, London, Ontario, Canada), has shed some much-needed light on the  brothers — their lives, their work, and their interaction with Pope Pius IX and the bishops attending the Vatican Council.

Lémann brothers — early years

Watson relates in his The  Brothers and the Postulatum Pro Hebræis at Vatican I that  the brothers’ conversion was kept secret from their Jewish relatives, and for good reason. Once the family discovered they had converted, the twins suffered physical violence at the hands of their uncles and feared for their lives. Their Jewish relatives appealed to the civil authorities in Paris, but to no avail. The brothers were then disowned and disinherited by their family.

Watson writes: “In Paris, the young men… were put in contact with two other high-profile Jewish converts to Catholicism, the brothers Marie-Alphonse and Théodore Ratisbonne (founders, respectively, of the Fathers and Sisters of Notre-Dame de Sion), who would take the s under their wings, mentor them, and support their newfound Christian faith; Théodore would become a de facto spiritual director to the two young men, as they discerned what path God might be calling them to. Within a few months, the two brothers had both enrolled in the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice, in Issy-les-Moulineaux, where they pursued five years of spiritual and theological formation, before being ordained to the priesthood.

“In December 1861 they received permission from Cardinal de Bonald and Father Reuil to leave parish ministry, and to join Father Théodore Ratisbonne in his work at the Catechumenate he had established in Paris, to educate young Jews who wished to become Catholic, and thus to facilitate the process of their conversion. They would remain there, sharing in Ratisbonne’s work, until the end of 1865. Although (for health reasons) they never become formal, canonical members of the nascent Fathers of Sion, they continued to be closely linked to that congregation, and many people assumed that they were, in fact, Fathers of Sion. In their preaching, they actively raised funds for the work of Father Alphonse Ratisbonne in the Holy Land, and Ratisbonne referred to them in his correspondence with the French superlative “Chérissimes frères” (My most dear brothers).

“In 1866, the two men returned to Lyon, the place of their baptism twelve years earlier, and settled at an institution that cared for the deaf and the mute. They were relieved of normal parish duties, in order to be able to devote themselves more completely to the cause of converting Jews to Christianity… A few months later, it became clear that their efforts were being followed at the highest echelons of the Church: a papal brief (Gratulamur vobis) arrived, dated February 6, 1867, in which the Pope offered his personal endorsement of their evangelistic apostolate:

“We are very gratified by your devotion to this Holy See, upon which Catholic unity finds its solidity, and we ask God that, just as His grace has already shone upon you, so, by means of your zeal and your work, it may similarly enlighten the minds of your brothers, and lead them all to us, as soon as possible, so that, at last, there might be only one flock and only one shepherd. For this reason, as a foretaste of heavenly favours, and as a sign of our fatherly tenderness, we most affectionately grant you the apostolic blessing.”

Declining belief in Judaism

According to Watson: “Augustin  would go on to become a distinguished professor of Hebrew and Scripture in Lyon’s faculty of theology, writing extensively in the fields of theology and Biblical studies, apologetics and history, and publishing nearly 150 books and articles over his lifetime. His brother Joseph would also author a number of theological volumes, although his output did not match that of his twin. Quoting from Joseph and Augustin ’s La question du Messie et le concile du Vatican (Lyon: Pitrat Aîné, 1869; 126-29) Watson includes the words of the famous preacher, Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet:

“There is among [the Jewish people] a type of drought which is unique to the Israelites, a drought which has been kept secret, and resisted for a long time, but which is no longer unspoken today and—what is even more serious—which no one is resisting anymore. In speaking of this drought, we mean to designate the disappearance—which is already very far advanced—of the traditions, customs and practices which essentially make up Jewish life… , just as initially, after the fall of Jerusalem, Mosaism had degenerated into Talmudism, so now Talmudism itself, with its remnants of Mosaism, is degenerating into rationalism or indifference—that is to say, into nihilism …”

“However, let us remember that in the Synagogue there is still a conservative or orthodox faction, which tries hard to battle many of the trends that we are going to enumerate. Generally speaking, however, this party is no longer gaining new members and is weakening, as those who are called “the elders” disappear. If things continue on as they are, it will have ceased to exist within two to three generations.”

The Lémanns then comment on Bossuet’s words, observing there was: “…a growing decadence in European Jewry, largely flowing from the French Revolution’s emancipation of the Jews, and leading to a gradual, corrosive infiltration of “modernist” ideas into traditional Judaism, a slow but inevitable dilution of the truths of its own heritage, such that it was hardly recognizable as the Judaism of earlier centuries. Here they pointed to a number of 19^th-century trends that had, they argued, dramatically and deleteriously changed the very fibre of Jewish life:

• a rejection of the supernatural generally;
• a denial of the divine inspiration of the Jewish Scriptures;
• calls for “free inquiry” in theological questions;
• taking pride in having no altar and no sacrifices;
• a refusal to acknowledge the traditional priesthood;
• contempt for the teachings of the Talmud;
• a refusal to engage in proselytizing or seeking converts to Judaism;
• a lack of respect for the kosher food laws;
• forgetfulness of the obligation to observe Shabbat;
• re-writing (“mutilating”) traditional Jewish prayers, to remove references to the Messiah, to Jerusalem, and to any type of national Jewish hopes.”

Apply changes made during the false Vatican 2 council and the removal of any idea of a true sacrifice by instituting the Novus Ordo Missae and this same formula was implemented to destroy the Church. This after decades of preparation by the enemy working among the laity to diminish the idea of the supernatural, dilute Catholic truth, champion lay rights, minimize dogma, desecrate Holy Scripture and demean the papacy. Similar changes occurred in more conservative Protestant denominations.

The brothers saw this watering down of the Jewish belief system as a perfect opportunity to draw their Jewish brethren to the Catholic faith. After the announcement that the Vatican Council preparations were underway, they wrote a new book, The Question of the Messiah and the Vatican Council. With the encouragement of several bishops and Pope Pius IX, they then attended the Vatican Council and presented their case to request an official appeal from the Church for the Jews’ conversion. They then were tasked with developing the right approach to win converts from Judaism Watson chronicles their efforts as follows.

The tone of the Postulatum

“At a time when Jews were still the object of scorn (and sometimes violence) in many European countries, the s and their supporters proposed a “theological rehabilitation” which, although it obviously presented Christianity as the ideal and superior faith, nevertheless would seek to present Judaism as honourably and respectfully as possible… Here is how they phrased the petition for which they sought the bishops’ endorsement:

‘To the Holy Vatican Ecumenical Council:

‘The undersigned Fathers, in a spirit of humble yet urgent prayer, ask the Holy Vatican Ecumenical Council to deign to address an entirely paternal invitation to the very unfortunate nation of Israel —that is, to express the wish that, finally exhausted by a wait no less vain than long, the Israelites might hasten to acknowledge the Messiah, our Saviour Jesus Christ, truly promised to Abraham and foretold by Moses, thus completing and crowning, not changing, the Mosaic religion.

‘On one hand, the undersigned Fathers possess the very firm confidence that the holy Council will have compassion on the Israelites, because they are still very dear to God on account of their fathers, and because it is from them that Christ was born according to the flesh.

‘On the other hand, the same Fathers share the sweet and intimate hope that this ardent desire of tenderness and honour will, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, be well received by many of Abraham’s children, since the obstacles that have held them back until now appear to be disappearing more and more, the ancient wall of separation now having fallen.

‘May Heaven grant, therefore, that they would as speedily as possible acclaim Christ, saying “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

‘May Heaven grant that they would run and throw themselves into the arms of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, who is already their sister according to the flesh, and who wishes likewise to be their mother according to grace, as she is ours’ (end of Postulatum quote).

Watson continues: “In an audience afterward, they presented the Pope with the text of the Postulatum; he read it, pressed it to his heart and gave his enthusiastic blessing to their project. Immediately, the s began a frenetic campaign, crisscrossing Rome on foot, in order to meet with each bishop individually, and to secure their signature—and their support—for the Postulatum… In just over two months… they accumulated 510 signatures on their petition to the council.”

This is a very interesting fact, since In his work The Kingship of Christ and the Conversion of the Jewish Nation, Ch. VII (1955), Rev. Denis Fahey wrote: “When the Fathers  were petitioning the bishops assembled in Rome for the Vatican Council for their signatures to the Postulatum pro Hebræis, many of their lordships smilingly put the objection that, ‘To work for the conversion of the Jews was to bring on the end of the world.’ The two fathers gave several answers to this objection and their argument seemed to go far towards proving that there will be a considerable lapse of time between the conversion of the Jewish nation and the last judgment.” But it appears that regardless of these objections, the large majority of bishops were in favor of the Postulatum.

An uncompleted work

But like other postulatums, it would never receive the council’s final approval. Following the  definition of papal infallibility, war broke out, Pope Pius IX suspended the council indefinitely and the bishops fled back to their dioceses. Two months later, Italian soldiers seized control of Rome. THE Vatican Council was never reconvened, and the false Vatican 2 council, far from inviting the Jews to join the Church, invited them, as well as Protestant clergy, to participate in Her demolition. Watson observes: “By the time Vatican II was called, almost 90 years later, the world had changed dramatically, and the earlier document seems to have vanished from people’s memory and the Church’s consciousness…

“Would the twentieth century, with its history of both bitter and sweet Jewish-Christian relations, have taken a different path in any significant way? … When Vatican II was called by Pope John XXIII, there do not seem to have been calls for a “tidying-up” of all of the conciliar “loose ends” left over from Vatican I—which would presumably have included a renewed discussion of the Postulatum pro Hebræis. Whether by intention or by accident, it had effectively vanished from the Catholic theological radar screen, and I am not aware of efforts, even by groups of traditionalist bishops who opposed Nostra Æetate, to dust it off and re-introduce it. It seems simply to have been forgotten.” Forgotten, yes, after the triumph of Modernism and the false council’s adoption of ecumenism.

Watson concludes his work with an account of the the  brothers activities following the Vatican Council: As for the  brothers themselves: “In their post-Vatican I lives, they continued their pastoral and intellectual efforts, writing, teaching and preaching throughout France. In 1892, the Fathers  jointly founded the “Stella Maris” Carmelite monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (in Haifa), which still exists there today. They were jointly honoured across France, being named honourary canons of the cathedrals of Beauvais, Bourges, Langres, Montpellier and Reims.

“In April of 1908, Pope Pius X conferred on both of them the honorific of “monsignor” (as Domestic Prelates of His Holiness); during the ceremony celebrating their promotion, the dean of the Catholic faculty of Lyon said that the title was the reward for “the generous sacrifices that your courageous passage from the Synagogue to the Church have entailed for you, and the reward for a half-century of distinguished service to your brothers, whom your conscience compelled you to leave, without, however, ceasing to foster love for them”.

“Augustin died on June 16, 1909, and Joseph died on February 8, 1915, but the detailed story of the Postulatum, and of their vision for it, was made public in a 330-page book they had written together, which was published in 1912 — three years after Augustin’s death, and more than 40 years after Vatican I’s unexpectedly abrupt ending.” (End of Watson quotes.)

The Postulatum and the end times

Is it possible that the Lémann brothers’ efforts qualify as the conversion of the Jews towards the end of the world? In our opinion it is not only possible but highly probable. We have explained HERE how there is good reason to believe that Jews who emigrated to Mexico during the Babylonian Captivity and intermarried with the Mexican natives there constituted the eight million converts to Catholicism, over a seven-year period, following the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Coupled with the efforts of the Ratisbonne brothers but especially the Lémann brothers, it seems that these conversions could well be the fulfillment of Scriptural prophecy concerning the conversion of the Jews.

Could that indicate the Lémann brothers were Enoch and Elias? An interesting quote from Pope Pius IX, cited by Watson, could be suggestive of this. During a visit to France, while hosting a banquet for bishops at which the Lémanns were in attendance, Pius IX said: “These are the antiquities of the ancient Law” (emphasis the pope’s.) But then some believe that Pope Pius IX and Pope St. Pius X were themselves the Two Witnesses. Personally, I have gone back and forth on the subject of Enoch and Elias for decades. The deciding factor for my present (and I believe) final take on this scriptural prophecy is that: given the fact there are no valid bishops remaining to restore the Church — and the in light of the decision by Pope Pius XII on the danger of teaching there will be even a spiritual Millennium — these two men have to be figures who have already come and gone.

The Great Apostasy began with Luther’s Revolt, followed by the King Henry VIII’s apostasy and the Protestant Reformation. When the reformers styled the popes as Antichrist, Pope Paul IV defined exactly who the abomination of desolation standing in the Holy Place would be — a heretic or one suspect of heresy, invalidly elected pope (Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, 1559). Notable events before, during and after the Vatican Council made it clear that the end times were fast approaching. The Council Fathers themselves believed that this was indeed the case, notable among them St. Anthony Mary Claret who warned: “May the Council prove the portal to shelter in the midst of the tempest which, already upon us, is increasing…(otherwise) woe to earth!” But following the Council, the Modernists would successfully erode papal authority and infiltrate the Church.

St. Anthony’s autobiography reveals that he had a wonderful revelation from Our Lord, who audibly informed this holy prophet he would become the eagle with the three woes in St. John’s Apocalypse, (Ch.8, vs.13), and would fly across the world to preach the coming chastisements. Our Lord made St. Anthony understand that these woes would be: 1) Communism and Protestantism; 2) “the four archdemons” — pleasure, money, reason and independence of will and 3) the world wars with all their terrible consequences. In a speech made at the Vatican Council, he proclaimed: “The Supreme Roman Pontiff is infallible…The truth of papal infallibility would be clear to all men if Scripture were understood.” St. Anthony then gave three reasons why it is not understood: 1) Because men do not truly love God; 2) Because they are not really humble; and 3) Because they do not want to understand what God has taught or want to be good.” And is this not precisely what we see today?!

The 19^th century was the last great century of the Church. And already, as Henry Cardinal Manning notes in his The Present Crisis of the Holy See, the Church was in sad shape even then: “When, I ask, was the Church of God ever in a weaker condition, in a feebler state in the eyes of man and in this natural order than it is now? And from whence, I ask, is deliverance to come? Is there on earth any power to intervene? Is there any King, Prince or potentate that has the power to interpose either his will or his sword for the protection of the Church? Not one, and it is foretold that it should be so. Neither need we desire it, for the will of God seems to be otherwise. But there is one Power which will destroy all antagonists, there is one Person who will break down and smite, small as the dust of the summer threshing floor, all the enemies of the Church…”

Conclusion

If the Jews’ identity as a religious faction and a race was already in question in the 1800s, how is it possible that they could be identified and converted today? With the Church in ruins, to what ? As Our Lady of La Salette told the two children in 1846, “Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of Antichrist.” Did she mean the pope would lose the faith? Even before the Vatican Council definition it was impossible to believe that this could happen — Pope Paul IV taught such a man could only appear to be a pope. No, what she indicates here is that the Roman clergy, including the cardinals, would lose the faith, making an invalid election possible. This could happen only shortly before the advent of Antichrist. Pope Leo XIII’s long St. Michael’s prayer, to be recited privately by the clergy, confirmed that the abomination had already made inroads into the Holy Place and were preparing to install a false pope. Why else assign its recitation to the clergy if they were not in danger of being recruited by the enemy?

It seems that Enoch and Elias could come only during a miraculous restoration of the Church. But this is not indicated anywhere in Scripture and is contraindicated by Pope Pius XII and nearly all the older Scriptural commentators. It is possible, but only barely, that they could appear briefly during the time assigned for repentance following the chastisement and the physical destruction of Rome, but even this is very unlikely. While we don’t believe in assigning absolutes in such cases, neither can we ignore the fact that certain Scriptural prophecy in Apocalypse has already been fulfilled, such as the wholesale destruction of the Church and the cessation of the Holy Sacrifice. And this of course occurred under Paul 6. Nor has that Sacrifice been “restored” by Traditionalists, who never became clergy to begin with.

Once Antichrist has reigned — and all reading this site know that this author believes Giovanni Battista Montini, Paul 6, was Antichrist — all that remains is the Second Coming. His system continues on in the meantime. How long after his death the Final Judgment will occur is not indicated, but St. Thomas Aquinas believes this interval could amount to a considerable period of time. It appears that we live in that time, when all will believe they have destroyed the Church and no consequences are forthcoming. Here is the faith and the patience of those saints we hope and pray to be, that we may persevere until the very end. On this Pentecost Sunday, we await Christ’s return, for an angel told the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin that he would come again just as He left this earth. Even then, come Lord Jesus!

The REAL reason we lost the Mass and why it matters

by T. Stanfill Benns | May 31, 2025 | New Blog

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+Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary+

(The following article is in response to readers who have requested a brief and concise summary of what happened to the Church for those among the younger set just now realizing the errors of the Novus Ordo or Traditionalism. While it is difficult to try and distill almost 67 years of heartbreak down to a few pages, I feel I have done my best.)

Introduction

Especially with the election of Leo 14^t, the Novus Ordo church and so-called “Traditionalist” sect members alike are beginning to wonder what lies ahead. This is especially true considering a recent influx of young converts among the Novus Ordo church — converts with a longing for the Latin Mass and a return to more traditional ways. But will such a return really remedy what has happened to the Church? A return to the Latin Mass certainly has not been any solution for Traditionalists. Rocked by repeated scandals and continuing schisms, they almost seem to have become an anachronism. What remains is an increasing level of unease among all the various sects, and a persistent sense of impending doom.

To help navigate this diabolical maze of uncertainty, some perspective is desperately needed. While it is true that the demise of the Church was largely facilitated by Zionist Jews, the secret societies, the Protestants and Modernist infiltrators, these groups were not the primary cause of the  Church’s destruction; they were only the means used to completely gain control of an already greatly weakened Catholic laity. Those just now waking up to the true state of affairs in the Church who are investigating Traditionalist sects may be resorting to online videos explaining how we lost the Mass and the Church, the errors of Vatican 2 and the need to return to the Latin Mass. Those producing and narrating these videos will attempt to educate them on the errors of the false Vatican 2 council, the heresies found in the new “mass,” etc.

This information may be interesting and to some extent helpful but at best these videos provide only partial answers. Except as they touch on the Mass, doctrinal matters  are generally not addressed, and failure to understand  Catholic teaching as an integral whole is why we find ourselves in this predicament today. Sincere enquirers should be listening to the popes, (St. Peter to Pope Pius XII), the teachings of the ecumenical councils and the 1917 Code of Canon Law, not those promoting these videos, who have little or no training in doctrinal matters. At their conclusion, these videos usually direct viewers to one or more conservative Novus Ordo groups or Traditionalist organizatIons. But this denies a basic premise of the Catholic faith, one which every Catholic must believe to be saved. And that is the primacy of jurisdiction enjoyed by the Roman Pontiff.

One video falsely states that a validly ordained priest is all that is necessary to offer a valid Latin Mass. The Mass is dependent for its efficacy on the one offering it. It cannot be offered by just anyone who presents as a member of the clergy. Pretending that the Mass is the most precious possession we lost is presuming there yet exists valid and licit clergy to provide valid and licit sacraments and effect the consecration of the Eucharist. But for any of this to exist, the Church has always taught that such clergy first must be in communion with a canonically elected Pope. Both Orders AND jurisdiction, not just Orders, are necessary to be a valid successor of the Apostles.  Jurisdiction is entirely dependent on the existence of a canonically elected Roman Pontiff who alone can provide the permission necessary for the consecration of those nominated as bishops. This was first written into law by the Council of Trent. And without such permission no one nominated as bishop who is not approved by the Pope can be validly consecrated or ordain or consecrate other bishops.

 Pre-election heresy in a papal candidate

Many have doubted for decades that the popes after Pius XII were true popes and some openly maintain that the papal see has been vacant for 67 years. Many doubted Francis was a true Pope as well. And until these doubts are resolved, as Bd. Pope Innocent XI infallibly teaches (DZ 1151), all must remain in limbo and no one may receive Sacraments, attend liturgical functions or yield obedience to a doubtful pope (St. Robert Bellarmine). An infallible papal bull, Pope Paul IV’s Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, clearly shows how a man could appear to become pope for the very purpose of destroying the Church. That man would have to be a heretic before his election, although this might not be known at the time, (and no man who is not a Catholic could ever become pope). But the fact that such a man would later promote heresy during his supposed pontificate would alert the faithful to the fact that he was a heretic pre-election and never became pope in the first place. For Christ has guaranteed, and the Vatican Council teaches, that no true pope could ever speak or promote heresy from the Chair of Peter.

For nearly 1400 years, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass stood untouched. That alone speaks volumes. Holy Scripture tells us that the Continual Sacrifice will disappear one day when Antichrist, the abomination of desolation, stands in the Holy Place. It is the unanimous opinion of the Early Fathers that this indeed will occur in the last days and both the Council of Trent and the (only) Vatican Council infallibly teach that we must believe this on faith. What exactly is the abomination of desolation? Pope Paul IV’s bull teaches that it is either a heretic or one suspected of heresy. St. Bernard of Clairvaux stated that antipope Anacletus was an antichrist owing to his invalid election. The Council of Florence also called antipope Felix V an antichrist.

No man can become pope unless he is elected according to the papal laws and canons prevailing at the time of election. This has been the constant teaching of the Church, as testified to by Pope Clement VI (Super quibusdam, 1351), Pope Martin V (Inter Cunctas, Errors of Wycliffe and Huss, Council of Constance, 1418), Pope Paul IV, (Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, 1559), Pope St. Pius X (Vacante Sede Apostolica, 1904) and Pope Pius XII (Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis, 1945). These laws are not limited to papal elections but are also mirrored in the laws of nations. Those countries electing their leaders by popular vote necessarily determine who may be elected and what invalidates an election. This has been openly discussed at length in this country and should come as no surprise: American law, as that of the Catholic Church, is based on Roman law. And certainly as a Divine institution, it applies far more stringently to the Church than to any nation.

The abrogation of the Latin Mass was the canary in the coal mine warning the faithful that the abomination of desolation, the Man of Sin, was standing in the Holy Place.

Had the bishops insisted, as Pope St. Pius X ordered in Acerbo nimis, that Catholics truly study and know their faith, they would have understood this. Had encyclicals been read from the pulpit at the order of the bishops and explained to the faithful, at least some of them would have understood from the beginning. But this was not the case, because the cardinals along with the bishops led them into heresy and schism. They followed the path of Judas, one of the apostles, who betrayed Christ; once-Catholic bishops of the East who embraced schism; and the priest Luther and Catholic King Henry VIII, fathers of the Reformation. And those priests who did not go along with the changes after Pope Pius XII’s death were no better. For they did nothing to educate the laity and investigate the true status quo of the Church, uncovering the root cause for Her destruction, or discover whether the pope had provided for such a crisis.

These early “traditional” priests pretended that in an emergency all could be swept aside to accommodate the wants of those believing themselves to be Catholic. They did not remember that Christ said first to go and TEACH all nations, then baptize — that His doctrine was to go before the ministration of the Sacraments — especially given the ignorance of the faithful and their clerical obligation to them. One of the videos mentioned above, treating of the new “mass” and the Vatican 2 changes, suggests that the faithful had no right to correct the Novus Ordo hierarchy for their faithlessness in signing Vatican 2 documents, implementing changes to the Sacraments and celebrating the Novus Ordo Missae. This in direct contradiction to Can. 1325, that unless the faithful publicly speak out against such heresies, they will be branded as heretics themselves. These ignorant priests had every opportunity to discover and translate from the Latin the infallible papal document that would have resolved and explained everything.

John 23 never eligible for election

But that translation was not rendered until 2012, by a layperson, and by then it would be too late to prevent the idiolatry that already had been committed and continues today.

This was no accident, because that papal document contained many things that neither the Novus Ordo nor Traditional pseudo-clergy wished to hear. Pope Pius XII’s 1945 papal election constitution, Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis (VAS), was that document. It was a careful restatement  of the original constitution promulgated in 1904, Pope St. Pius X’s Vacante Sede Apostolica, with only a few additions. Pope St. Pius X’s constitution was a thorough codification of all papal election law throughout the centuries as Pope Pius XII explains in his preface to VAS. It infallibly declared, as had papal election law for centuries, that no one who is guilty of heresy, apostasy or schism can be validly elected; that no one can usurp papal jurisdiction during the interregnum (such as lifting censures reserved to the pope alone, or approving men nominated for consecration as bishops, which can be done only by the pope); and that no one can change the papal election law or any of the Sacred Canons even in part, or dispense from them.

It is a matter of public record that Angelo Roncalli, John 23, was a suspected heretic at the time of his election. He also was disqualified as a papal candidate for violating other prohibitions in Pope Pius XII’s constitution. Roncalli himself later publicly confirmed he was a suspected heretic and even joked about it. It is also a matter of public record that a massive campaign was conducted to prepare Catholics for the acceptance of ecumenism in the 1950s by no less than the CIA. Proof also exists that lay interference by the CIA took place before and during the conclave that “elected” Roncalli, something that Pope Pius XII, in VAS, cites as invalidating the election. All of these facts have been documented. Pope Pius XII infallibly declares that if anyone even attempts to usurp papal jurisdiction, interfere in anyway with the election or change or dispense from the election law or Canon Law in any way that such an attempt is null, void and invalid. All was to be left to the future pope.

Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis teaches, (paras 1-3):

1. During the vacancy of the Apostolic See, regarding those things that pertained to the Sovereign Roman Pontiff while he lived, the Sacred College of Cardinals shall have absolutely no power or jurisdiction of rendering neither a favor nor justice or of carrying out a favor or justice rendered by the deceased Pontiff; rather, let the College be obliged to reserve all these things to the future Pontiff. Therefore, We declare invalid and void any power or jurisdiction pertaining to the Roman Pontiff in his lifetime, which the assembly of Cardinals might decide to exercise (while the Church is without a Pope), except to the extent to which it be expressly permitted in this Our Constitution.
2. Likewise we command that the Sacred College of Cardinals shall not have the power to make a determination in any way it pleases concerning the laws of the Apostolic See and of the Roman Church,nor attempt in any way to subtract directly or indirectly from the rights of the same on the pretext of a relaxation of attention or by the concealment of actions perpetrated against these same rights even after the death of the Pontiff or in the period of the vacancy. On the contrary, We desire that the College ought to watch over and defend these rights during the contention of all influential forces.
3. The laws issued by Roman Pontiffs in no way can be corrected or changed by the assembly of Cardinals of the Roman Church while it is without a Pope, nor can anything be subtracted from them or added or dispensed in any way whatsoever with respect to said laws or any part of them. This prohibition is especially applicable in the case of Pontifical Constitutions issued to regulate the business of the election of the Roman Pontiff. In truth, if anything adverse to this command should by chance happen to come about or be attempted, WE DECLARE IT, BY OUR SUPREME AUTHORITY, TO BE NULL AND VOID.

The consequences of all this are that John 23 never became pope; he was disqualified for election. Nothing he or any of his successors did ever really happened — it was all null and void. Canon Law teaches that a college that elects an unworthy candidate cannot proceed to another election, invalidating the election also of Paul 6 (Can. 2391 §1, 1917 Code). There was no John 23 missal (1962), no second Vatican Council (1963-65), there were no changes in the rites of the Sacraments (1968), the Latin Mass remained intact (1969), Canon Law was never changed (1983) — everything remained just as it was when Pope Pius XII died. It reminds one a little bit of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty where once Sleeping Beauty falls asleep, the hedges grow around the castle and hide it. She remains asleep until her Prince (and we can interpret the Prince here as Christ Himself) beats down the hedge and kisses her awake again.

Most importantly, those who ordained priests and consecrated bishops following Pope Pius XII’s death such as Marcel Lefebvre and Peter Martin ngo dinh Thuc, also all those they ordained or consecrated, never became clerics because the interregnum never ended. Lefebvre’s and Thuc’s valid pre-1958 consecrations could not be removed, (although they ipso facto lost their offices as bishops for recognizing the false popes, signing Vatican 2 documents and offering the New “mass” — see Can. 2314 §3). But their right to VALIDLY EXERCISE THEIR ORDERS was stripped from them by Pius XII in VAS. The Traditionalist movement was just another non-Catholic, schismatic hiccup in the Church’s history. They did not “save” the Latin Tridentine Mass because they were not clerics and could not offer it or administer the Sacraments validly,

It was the papacy, not just the Mass that mattered

Logic is a collection of rules based on the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas which guide the mind to think correctly in its attainment of truth. There is an error in logic known as Non causa pro causa (Latin meaning “non-cause for cause,” or false cause). “It is a catch-all term that describes any type of fallacy in which we mistake a false cause of an event for the real cause… Reverse causation fallacy occurs when the direction of cause and effect is reversed. In other words, we assume that A causes B, without realizing that B actually causes A.” St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that there must be a cause for every effect but that cause must be rightly identified. Unbelievably, the cause of the crisis in the Church was wrongly identified as the loss of the Latin Mass, as though the entire Catholic faith was founded on the Mass itself, and not St. Peter, the rock, and his successors. And this even though those condemning the Novus Ordo Missae, Patrick Henry Omlor included, publicly stated that this new liturgy was heretical.

And yet that liturgy and all that went before and after it was engineered and made law by men who Catholics were bound to believe could never err, as the Church infallibly teaches. Nearly half the faithful left the Novus Ordo in the late 1960sw and 1970s. This was an act of schism, unless that departure was based on the firm knowledge that the church they left was not the true Church. They at least implicitly acknowledged the heresy existed but failed to identify and condemn its actual cause: the Great Apostasy, consisting of false popes and apostate cardinals and bishops. VAS demanded a true pope be elected, but there was no one left to canonically elect a true pope — the shepherd had been struck and the flock successfully dispersed into the hands of the enemy. No one seemed able to decipher the fact that it was the papacy that had perpetually cemented the Mass into its Latin form and protected it for nearly 1400 years. But once he who withholdeth — the pope — was taken out of the way, it was fair game.

We live in that time foretold by St. Thomas Aquinas that would exist between the death of Antichrist and Christ’s second coming. This may be a frightening revelation, a hard saying, but it is one that must be accepted and dealt with because it is the only one that is consistent with the entirety of Catholic truth. God long ago determined some would have to live through these times, although few would retain their faith. We cannot run and hide as Adam and Eve did in the garden of Eden. We know how deplorable the times we live in truly are and how offensive they are to God and worthy of damnation. They are deplorable precisely because we have lost the papacy and with it the Mass. We were long ago warned by the saints and theologians that when the Holy Sacrifice ceased, Satan would be loosed upon the earth. Is this not what we are seeing today? Antichrist alone could have accomplished this, as Holy Scripture and infallible papal teaching tell us, so we cannot deny it and remain Catholic.

An alternative reality

Holy Scripture predicts Antichrist will come in all signs and lying wonders, show himself in the temple as though he were God and deceive, if possible, even the elect. St. Paul describes the operation of error to believe lies that will afflict all but a few believers in that time (2 Thess. 2). What greater delusion could exist than the reign of seven usurpers pretending to be true popes to all the world and representing the Catholic Church while systematically destroying it? What greater deception could be imaginable? Both Novus Ordo and Traditional sect members believing or at least partially accepting this imposture live in an alternative reality, defined as: A state of things that does not really exist,  (Cambridge Dictionary); or any[thing] that deviates from the [Catholic-Ed.] perception of reality” (VocabDictionary). Their own vulnerability to brainwashing can be chalked up to their ignorance of the faith. Only immediate departure from these sects and constant prayer to the Holy Ghost can bestow on those so deceived the grace necessary to learn the truth.

There is still time but time is running out, for no one knows the day nor the hour. May God grant you the light to see and the miracle of grace necessary to save your souls. “Go out from her, my people; that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and the Lord hath remembered her iniquities” (Apoc. 18: 4-5).

(See the homepage and current articles page HERE for the proofs mentioned above.)

We have no pope, but Christ’s Church will last forever

by T. Stanfill Benns | May 11, 2025 | New Blog

+Third Sunday after Easter+

Happy Mother’s Day, Blessed Mother, and a blessed day to all Catholic mothers everywhere!

The seventh king of Rome, a Francis fan, has taken the name of Leo XIV. As a reader astutely observed last week, “Prevost took the name of Leo on the great feast of St. Michael, aping the Catholic Church’s Leo XIII and his great devotion to the Archangel Michael.” The name he chose suggests he intends to focus on social issues and since assuming his role as usurper, he singles out the regulation of AI as one of his primary goals. Committed to the Vatican 2 changes, he seems anxious to implement a larger “tent” for those identifying as Catholic, and this could possibly include Latin Mass devotees. But given his predecessor’s stand on Traditionalism, this seems unlikely. Time will tell. It will be an empty gesture anyway, if and when it does occur.

With the invalid election of Angelo Roncalli, the Church entered into the age of Antichrist, the end of the age of the Church that culminates in the consummation. As St. John of Damascus wrote in his An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book IV : “ It should be known that the Antichrist is bound to come. Every one, therefore, who confesses not that the Son of God came in the flesh and is perfect God and became perfect man, after being God, is Antichrist (1 John 2:22). But in a peculiar and special sense he who comes at the consummation of the age is called Antichrist.” And many other Fathers and Doctors of the Church have taught the same. As we have explained at length in previous blogs, the mantle of preserving the Church has fallen to those who recognize the signs of the times and keep the faith at home.

Leo 14 may reign from Rome as king of the Vatican 2 sect, but we continue to march to the fulfillment of prophesy outlined in the Apocalypse. A review of why this is the case seems appropriate and is presented below.

Christ’s promises to be with us till the end of time

The promises Christ made to His Church — that it would last until the end of time — have not been made void by the reign of the usurpers. But we must understand the word Church as the Church Herself understands it. Initially the one and only Vatican Council, held from 1869-1870, was scheduled to supply a definition of the Church, for as Henry Cardinal Manning explains, “In all theological treatises, it had been usual to treat of the Body of the Church before treating of its Head… But the Church in council when, for the first time it began to treat of its own constitution and authority, changed the method; and like the Divine Architect of the Church began in the historical order with the foundation and Head of the Church… The doctrine of the Church does not determine the doctrine of the primacy but the doctrine of the primacy does precisely determine the doctrine of the Church. In beginning therefore with the head, the council has followed our Lord’s example both in teaching and in fact.” (The Vatican Council Decrees in Their Bearing on Civil Allegiance, 1875).

The council ended early owing to threats of war in Italy, so while a preliminary draft of the Church’s definition had been drawn up, it was never voted on by the Council Fathers and therefore cannot be counted as the official teaching of the Church. This preliminary draft stated:

“Christ’s Church… the only Society of salvation, will last until the end of the world, ever unchangeable and unchanged in its constitution…It evolves in a variety of ways according to the changing times and circumstances in which it is constantly displaying activity. Nevertheless, it remains unchangeable in itself and in the constitution it received from Christ. Therefore Christ’s Church can never lose its properties and its qualities, its sacred teaching authority, priestly office, its governing body, so that through His visible Body Christ may always be the way, the truth and the life for all men.” (The Church Teaches, The Jesuit Fathers of St. Mary’s, Kansas, 1955). This unofficial draft version of the constitution on the Church, however, must be rightly reconciled with the infallible dogmatic constitutions which comprise the Vatican Council decrees. In the Council’s dogmatic constitution on the Church of Christ, we read, regarding the constitution and foundation of the Church:

“As [Christ] sent the apostles whom He had selected from the world for Himself, as He, Himself had been sent by the Father, so in His Church He WISHED the pastors and the doctors to be even to the “consummation of the world” (Matt. 28: 20)… And since the gates of hell to overthrow the Church, if this were possible, arise from all sides with ever greater hatred against its divinely established foundation, we judge it to be necessary for the protection, safety and increase of the Catholic flock to set forth the doctrine on the institution in perpetuity and nature of the sacred Apostolic primacy in which the strength and solidarity of the whole Church consist, to be believed and held by all the faithful according to the ancient and continual faith of the universal Church…” Later Pope Leo XIII would also teach:

 “…Christ the Lord WISHED that by the strength and solidity of the foundation the gates of hell SHOULD BE PREVENTED from prevailing against the Church. All are agreed that the divine promise must be understood of the Church as a whole, and not of any certain portions of it. These can indeed be overcome by the assaults of the powers of hell, as in point of fact has befallen some of them.” (Satis cognitum, 1896). And from Henry Cardinal Manning’s translation of the Vatican Council documents found in the appendix to his work The Vatican Council Definitions: “If then, any should deny that it is by the institution of Christ the Lord, or by divine right, that Blessed Peter SHOULD have a perpetual line of successors in the Primacy over the Universal Church, or that the Roman Pontiff is the successor of Blessed Peter in this primacy; let him be anathema” (DZ 1821).

Free will and heresy

“Wished” and “should” certainly are not the equivalent of  “promised,” “will” and “would.” Man’s free will enters in here and it is men, evil bishops and cardinals, who betrayed Christ by electing Angelo Roncalli, an unworthy candidate on several counts as the first usurper in a long line of papal pretenders. God never deprives man of free will, and they freely conspired to betray the faithful just as Judas betrayed Our Lord. By so doing they became heretics incapable of electing anyone — for heresy means “to choose.” LibTrad pseudo-clergy accuse those praying at home of denying the Church can never fail because they maintain valid and licit bishops no longer exist and canonical election of a true pope is now impossible. But we have never said the Church has failed or no longer exists.

They, on the other hand, by operating without a canonically elected pope at their head, themselves deny that the Church will last as Christ constituted it. They also deny that the Mass has ceased and Antichrist has already come and gone, although his system remains. This they assert by their actions, pretending that invalidly consecrated bishops, without Peter’s canonically elected successor as head bishop, is the Church Christ founded on earth. To believe that Trad pseudo-clergy are valid is to deny the teaching of Pope Pius XII in Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis, an infallible papal constitution, and this results in exclusion from the Church, the Mystical Body.

There must be allowance made for that dreadful time when Antichrist will finally come, wielding power “to make war with the saints and overcome them” (Apoc. 13:7). Antichrist is identified as the abomination of desolation, for not only does he usurp the Holy See — as anticipated by Pope Paul IV in Cum ex Apostolatus Officio — but as prophesied in the book of Daniel and unanimously taught by the early Fathers, he will cause the Continual Sacrifice to cease. The Vatican Council and the Council of Trent both teach that this is a truth of faith all Catholics are bound to believe. It is not the Mass that Catholics should have rushed to save, but apostolicity of doctrine. For as Henry Cardinal Manning states above, “the doctrine of the primacy does precisely determine the doctrine of the Church.”

The Four Gospels, Francis Patrick Kenrick, Archbishop of Philadelphia, 1849

“The perpetuity of the commission [to teach all nations] without any interruption is most fully expressed. The AUTHORITY  to teach and baptize with all the functions consequent thereon remains forever. The Apostolic ministry continues to the end of the Christian dispensation which is to last till time shall merge in eternity.”

Christ’s Church, Msgr. G. Van Noort, 1959

“’I am with you at all times as long as the world will last.’ The phrase “as long as the world will last “is a clear reference to the end of the world (Matt. 13: 40; 24:3). And so until that day comes, Christ will be at the side of the apostles as they teach, sanctify and rule. He will be at the side not only of the apostles personally for they were soon to die but at the side of those who will take up the work of the apostles throughout the centuries and will thus form with them one moral person… Therefore the VISIBLE CHURCH will last forever and in an incorrupt state. It will go on forever safeguarding the doctrine of Christ, administering His sacraments and instructing all peoples in His precepts.”

Commentary on the New Testament, Rev. Leo Haydock, 1859

“Behold I am with you all days, even to the end of the world, embraces two points necessary for the Church; viz. integrity of doctrine, and sanctity of life; for, if either of these should be wanting to the Church, it might then be justly said, that she had been left and abandoned by Christ, her Spouse. (Estius) — Jesus Christ will make good his promise: 1. by always dwelling in the hearts of the faithful; 2. by His sacramental presence in the Holy Eucharist; 3. by his providential care, and constant protection to his holy Catholic Church. These last six lines of St. Matthew’s gospel, says the bright luminary of France, Bossuet, most clearly demonstrate the infallibility and indefectibility of the one, holy, Catholic Church, which all are commanded to hear and obey.”

Catholic Scripture Manuals, Book of Matthew (commentary, Madame Cecilia, 1906)

(Commenting on Matt. 28-20): “Until the end of the world there must exist an authorized teaching body to carry on the work of the apostles… Unity of doctrine must therefore be a mark of the true Church. The doctrines taught by the successors of the apostles must be the same as those which the apostles themselves taught; hence the true faith must be Apostolic.”

A priesthood chosen by Pope Pius XII

Christ has always been the Head of the Mystical Body and we are the visible members of that body.  As we read in the New Testament: “…You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people God has purchased.” (I Peter 2:9.) “He has …made us a royal race of priests, to serve God, his Father.” (Apoc. 1:5-6.) “…they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” (Apoc. 20:6.) St. Augustine comments on the above as follows: “Now this is not meant only of those whom the Church specifically calls bishops and priests, but as we are all called Christians because of our mystical chrism, our unction, so are we all priests in being the members of one priest.” (I St. Peter 2:9, City of God, Book 20, Chapter 10.)

We are visible members of the Mystical Body, the Church. Pope Pius XII infallibly designated the Church on earth as Christ’s Mystical Body in His encyclical Mystici Corpus Christi, teaching that: “The cooperation of all its members must also be externally manifest through their profession of the same faith and their sharing the same sacred rites, through participation in the same Sacrifice… the practical observance of the same laws” and their obedience to Christ’s vicar on earth. Pope Pius XII continues:

“Peter in view of his primacy is only Christ’s Vicar; so that there is only one chief Head of this Body, namely Christ, who never ceases Himself to guide the Church invisibly, though at the same time He rules it visibly, through him who is His representative on earth… That Christ and His Vicar constitute one only Head is the solemn teaching of Our predecessor of immortal memory Boniface VIII in the Apostolic Letter Unam Sanctam; and his successors have never ceased to repeat the same.”  It was Pope Pius XII who provided the infallible definition of the Church as Christ’s Mystical Body in Mystici Corporis. In this encyclical he taught that bishops do not receive their jurisdiction directly from Christ, but only through the Roman Pontiff. Christ is now our only Head, and He keeps forever in existence the papacy and the Deposit of Faith, preserved and interpreted by His Vicars. In later works,  Pope Pius XII extended jurisdiction to the laity in general, shortly before his death.

“The Apostolic See does not simply tolerate your action, it enjoins you to exercise the apostolate, to devote your efforts to fulfilling the Christian’s great missionary duty, that all the lost sheep may be assembled in one fold and under one shepherd…This initiative of the lay apostolate is perfectly justified even without a prior explicit ‘mission’ from the hierarchy… Personal initiative plays a great role in protecting the faith and Catholic life, especially in countries where contacts with the hierarchy are difficult or practically impossible. In such circumstances, THE CHRISTIANS UPON WHOM THIS TASK FALLS MUST, WITH GOD’S GRACE, ASSUME ALL THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES. It is clear however that, even so, nothing can be undertaken against the explicit or implicit will of the Church or contrary in any way to the rules of faith or morals, or to ecclesiastical discipline” (The Mission of the Catholic Woman, 1957; entered into the AAS and therefore binding on Catholics. See more HERE).

So we have been given an actual canonical mission by Pope Pius XII, declaring us successors of the hierarchy in their absence. This provided we obey all the laws of the Church and adhere to ALL Her teachings. Pope Pius XII had previously outlined this mission in the following address: “The faithful and more precisely the laity are stationed in the front ranks of the life of the Church and through them the Church is the living principle of human society. Consequently they must have an ever-clearer consciousness not only of belonging to the Church, but of being the Church; that is being the community of the faithful on earth under the guidance of their common leader the Pope and the bishops in communion with him. THEY ARE THE CHURCH and therefore, even from the beginning, the faithful, with the consent of their bishops, have united in associations directed to the most diverse types of human activity. And the Holy See has never ceased to approve and praise them” (Feb. 20, 1946 address to the newly made cardinals).

The true and only test of faith is NOT the continuation of the Mass and Sacraments, which cannot exist without valid bishops approved by the Roman Pontiff. The true test of faith is adherence to all Christ did and taught. He founded all on St. Peter and his successors, the core of the Church’s unity, and predicted that once the shepherd is struck, the flock will scatter. The lack of unity we witness today is the fulfillment of that prophesy.

Summary

We may no longer have the visible elements of the Church — the papacy, the hierarchy, Mass and all but two of the Sacraments. But they have not ceased to exist, either. They will always exist in Heaven because Christ instituted them — we simply no longer have access to them. We do have their spiritual substitutes — Spiritual Communion and the Perfect Act of Contrition. Baptism, the most necessary sacrament, is still available to us. And as long as we have repented of our sins, made amends and asked God to lift any excommunications we may have incurred by participating in Novus Ordo or Traditional services, we can count ourselves as visible members of Christ’s Mystical Body, at least by desire. The meaning of the term Mystical Body is explained below.

“First [Christ’s Mystical Body] will be an empirical, concrete, visible, tangible thing… for it is a human institution, a human society. And it is a society quite visibly and tangibly. Its sociology and Canon Law can be written down, it has its clearly defined members and its definite seat. Secondly the Church will be an invisible reality; a life of thought, love and grace that is infused into souls… THE EXPRESSION ‘MYSTICAL BODY’ DESIGNATES THE MYSTERIOUS AND INTERIOR ELEMENT OF THE CHURCH… it does not designate the external [juridical] aspect of body except so far as it is the outward manifestation of the interior soul which consists in such a mystery… It is a union… primarily internal and supernatural. It is the supernatural union of the sanctified soul with Christ and with all other sanctified souls in Christ… The bonds that unite Christians to Christ and to one another are organic, physical, sacramental, although supernatural and invisible…

“The communion of saints is an invisible society, a “Church” or “ecclesia” in the broad sense, a moral body. Its invisible, moral, or juridical head is the glorified or exalted Christ. Besides the many or multiple external visible elements, clergy and laity, hierarchical structure, sacraments, sacramentals, etc., the Church must possess an inner element which, intimately united to the visible elements, must be the formal cause of the unity and identity of the organism, formal cause, too, of its own peculiar life which is supernatural and divine… The invisible elements… form together with the visible elements, its body, one, undivided and indivisible whole, informed and vivified by the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Ghost. This living, visible organism, of which the Holy Ghost is the soul in the real but mystical sense, is the Mystical Body of Christ, or the mystical Christ…” (end of Gruden/Mersch quotes).

In the absence of the hierarchy, we are all that is left of the Church, and Pope Pius XII has commanded us to carry on Her existence on earth. Christ will be with us until the very end, whether that be the end of our life on this planet or the Second Coming. He has promised to never leave us orphans, and is ever true to His promises.

Anticipating the “Conclave” for Rome’s 7th king

by T. Stanfill Benns | Apr 29, 2025 | New Blog

+St. Catherine of Siena+

Prayer Society Intention for May, Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary

“Most loving Mother, consider the cruel warfare waged by the world the flesh and the devil against our souls and see how many are perishing in the strife… Deign to pray for us without ceasing to the Blessed Trinity that we may have the grace to be ever victorious over the devil.” (The Raccolta)

Introduction

In the blog HERE, we wrote the following on who might become the next Roman usurper once Francis met his Maker.  Readers may wish to review what we said, but the gist of it is repeated below.

It is likely Francis’ “successor” will make it appear that the Novus Ordo church is rejecting the changes and returning to its previous pre-Vatican 2 position, similar to what Pres. Trump says he is doing with this country. It will be a seduction so convincing, so diabolically clever that many LibTrads will “return” to this church, believing — as they have been falsely led to believe through private revelation and their pseudo-clergy — that this is the promised restoration of the true Church. Those who refuse to buy into it will be persecuted at some point. The Latin Mass of St. Pius V may appear to return, and all the sacramental rites could be “restored” to their previous forms. After all, isn’t it said that appearances are everything?

But the Mass, the Sacraments, the sacramentals — NONE OF THESE COULD EVER BE VALID AGAIN WITHOUT A CANONICALLY ELECTED POPE, impossible to obtain since the death of Pope Pius XII.  So it will cost the usurpers nothing to appear to make such concessions. This is the only way the enemies of the Church can make it appear the Mass and a falsified “return to Tradition” could cease when political antichrist comes. This cessation will convince the world he is the true antichrist, not Paul 6, for the worldly do not take the spiritual nature of Scripture into account. Political antichrist, long anticipated by the Protestants,  will then be seen as the one who abolishes the mass and destroys Rome, when it was long ago destroyed dogmatically and spiritually. And this will be the greatest and final deception. In fact, preparation for this event has been underway for some time now.

For the past two years, articles have been circulating on the internet that the Novus Ordo is already preparing for such a shift. A January 2025 report claims the return is prompted by “a perceived dilution of doctrine,” noting that new NO clergy are suddenly more orthodox and desire a return to the Church’s ancient roots (see HERE). In another essay on why “the Latin Mass is returning” (March 2023 article HERE), one can find two-years-worth of articles covering how one is to make this shift, why, dress at mass, conduct, history, etc., a rather remarkable effort to facilitate such a “return.” An April 2024 Associated Press article HERE announces “an immense shift” toward the old ways.

Kingly candidates 

So it certainly seems that a brainwashing-style build-up has taken place already to justify such a reintroduction of the “old ways,” even though this may result in a loss of progressives. As always, the focus is on the liturgy, not the papacy. As long as the ritual trappings are properly replicated and the appearances of what once was are in place, (if a “conservative” is elected as the next usurper), LibTrads will be properly mollified and will happily go on about their simulated existence. While it cannot be stated with any certainty that the next imposter elected will take the “old school” route, several conservative “cardinals” are in the running and a few of them are mentioned below.

Raymond Burke, 76, United States — A well-known conservative, Burke has criticized Francis repeatedly for his stance on divorce and remarriage. Appointed “cardinal” by Benedict 16,  he is popular among the recognize and resist faction.

Peter Erdo, 72, Hungary —This man has criticized Francis for his teaching on divorce and immigration. He comes from Josef Cardinal Mindszenty’s Hungary, always a more conservative-minded country.

Robert Sarah, 79, Guinea — Some call Sarah a “conservatives’ fantasy candidate,” an all-out champion of doctrinal and liturgical issues and an outspoken Francis critic. Media speculators note that the election of a black pope would make it more difficult for liberals to object to such a “return to Tradition.”

Of course the false election could also produce a moderate or yet another progressive such as Francis just as easily. If this occurs, especially in the case of a progressive, then it is likely that a split might take place. This given the trending “return to Tradition” and the adamant opponents of Francis, who have been agitating against his policies for the past decade. What all believe to be the Catholic Church could then appear to sport two or even three “popes,” (sedevacantists might join in), creating a chaotic situation that would serve the enemy just as well. Watch for dramatic twists and turns, as portrayed in the offensive movie-doc Conclave, since such productions also “prepare” audiences for unexpected outcomes contrary to Catholic doctrine and practice. A terrorist attack could occur, but more likely this event will be saved for later in the game, when Rome is physically destroyed.

Mass deception

We have gone into great detail HERE to explain why the Mass cannot be considered valid outside the guardianship and protection of a canonically elected Roman Pontiff. In Mediator Dei, Pope Pius XII taught: “The entire liturgy has the Catholic Faith for its content…it bears public witness to the faith of the Church. For this reason whenever there was a question of defining a truth revealed by God, the Sovereign Pontiff and the Councils, in their recourse to ‘theological sources,’ as they are called, have not seldom drawn many an argument from this sacred science of the Liturgy…The rule for prayer determines the rule for belief.’ [However] the Sacred Liturgy does not decide or determine independently and of itself what is of Catholic Faith… If one desires to differentiate and described the relationship between faith and the Sacred Liturgy in absolute and general terms, it is perfectly correct to say… ‘let the rule of belief determine the rule of prayer…

“The Sacred Liturgy does include Divine as well as human elements. The former, instituted as they have been by God, cannot be changed in any way by men… The Sovereign Pontiff alone enjoys the right to recognize and establish any practice touching the worship of God, to introduce and approve new rites, as also to modify those he judges to require modification… No private person has any authority to regulate external practices of this kind, which are intimately bound up with Church discipline and with the order, unity and concord of the Mystical Body, and frequently even with the integrity of Catholic faith itself.’”  Here we see that Pope Pius XII deliberately reversed the “Lex orandi, lex credendi” touted by the liturgists to prove a point: Catholic doctrine stands outside and above the liturgy. The changing of “for many” to “for all” certainly was invalid, for those usurpers reigning after Pope Pius XII’s death were mere men, having been ipso facto excommunicated, disqualified for any office and invalidly elected according to the Sacred Canons.

The inexcusable and criminal refusal to abide by Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis and declare the “election” of Angelo Roncalli invalid as well as all subsequent “elections” was deliberate and pre-arranged. It was carefully orchestrated under the guise of the liturgical renewal movement as explained in previous blogs. It was the culmination of centuries of planning by secret societies to overthrow Catholic monarchies and finally the papacy. It was the Reformers who first discovered the perfect distraction — abolish the authority of the papacy, then introduce the slogan “It is the Mass that matters.” In other words, reduce the faith to its liturgical expression. That slogan was the hue and cry of what became the Anglican Church once Henry VIII became its head. Those who failed to study papal encyclicals and Catholic history were then doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Pro-Tridentine Mass literature condemning the liturgical innovations flooded what passed for Traditional Catholic media from the mid-1960s on and continues to this day. Likewise the obsession with what goes on in the apostate halls of the Vatican, with the day-to-day rundown of new blasphemies and sacrileges introduced by the usurpers, accompanied by mock horror and a wringing of hands. We expect evil to be any less terrifying?? And the controversy continues over “teachings” of the false Vatican 2 council as well, with trusted “experts” pointing out and debating its various errors and heresies. What has worked for the enemy in the secular press works just as well in what is passed off as the Catholic press. Keep those trying to figure things out embroiled in controversy, constantly arguing with each other, battling over scandalous “clergy,” perpetually splitting off into dissident sects. That way no one will ever know that the answer all along was very simple, if very sad; one that would resolve all questions and end all divisions. The great deception must continue, to serve and fund the deceivers.

The truth that sets us free

Following only the teachings of the Roman Pontiffs, we can breathe a sigh of relief and escape the cacophony created by “the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil.” When we once accept the infallible truth that no man who is a heretic (or suspected heretic) pre-election could ever become pope (Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, Pope Paul IV), that no true pope could ever speak heresy on matters of faith, morals or discipline, (The Vatican Council, 1869-70), and that no one may usurp papal jurisdiction or change Canon Law in any way during an interregnum, then we have our answers.

1. Angelo Roncalli was a suspected heretic pre-election and a confirmed heretic post-election; he never became pope. None of his acts were valid or could ever become valid.
2. The 1958 college of cardinals was disqualified from ever electing another pope (Can. 2391§1).
3. Ergo:

• Vatican 2 never happened
• All following “popes” were usurpers
• No one ordained contrary to Canon Law or consecrated outside papal jurisdiction without the papal mandate ever became members of the clergy.
• We are forbidden to consider them validly ordained and consecrated under pain of excommunication (denying the authority of the Roman Pontiff to so declare them and assisting them in their crimes.)
• We cannot and must not attend their sacrilegious services.
• We must never allow ourselves to be contaminated with the false propaganda spread by those who, failing to consider the truths above, consistently attempt to draw us into debates and media hype; refuse to accept papal teaching; destroy our peace, obfuscate the facts and attempt to divide us or doubt our position.

We have stepped outside of the infernal Satanic circle surrounding the pentagram and they hate us for it. We have refused to join hands with them in their evil enterprises. We have aligned ourselves with Christ and His vicars alone, St. Peter to Pope Pius XII, and we will not be moved. We have fled to the desert of prayer and sacrifice, penance for our sins and any good works we can perform. We are not lonely or alone here, for Our Lord and His Blessed Mother, our Guardian Angels, are ever at our side. We await the coming of Our Lord, the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

Christ has risen, but the Passion of the Church continues

That early father of the Church, St. Cyprian wrote: “Most of the bishops… set over the Lord’s churches throughout the world, hold to the method of evangelical truth and of the Lord’s tradition, and depart not by any human and novel institution, from that which Christ our master both taught and did…The Will of God is what Christ has done and taught,”(Faith of Catholics, Vol. 1, Msgr. Capel, editor). Likewise the Asiatic bishops, commenting on the approbation of the canonical books of Scripture, stated that: “As, on this principle of what Christ had done and taught, the writings of which we are speaking were admitted as sacred and divine…” (Ibid). So what aspects of Christ’s Passion and death on the Cross have the faithful today been asked to mirror, to “…fill up what is wanting to the Passion of Christ”?

On Palm Sunday, Christ wept over Jerusalem, prior to casting the money changers from the Temple (Luke 19:41). This just after His disciples declared him a king. Today we weep over the abomination of desolation standing in the Holy Place, the See of Rome desecrated in large part by the world’s money changers who became intimately involved in Vatican finances, thanks to Montini (Paul 6). This following an era where the dogma of Christ reigning as King had been widely proclaimed. And what Jesus predicted of Jerusalem in Luke Ch. 19 is a harbinger of what also will happen to Rome for this transgression:

“If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side,  And beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation” (Luke 19: 42-44). For the destruction of Rome likewise is foretold in Apoc. 18, v. 2, 21: “And he cried out with a strong voice, saying: Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen; and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every unclean spirit, and the hold of every unclean and hateful bird:  Because all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her; and the merchants of the earth have been made rich by the power of her delicacies… And a mighty angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying: With such violence as this shall Babylon, that great city, be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.”

Christ was betrayed by Judas, holder of the common purse and nephew of Caiphas, just as Montini betrayed Pope Pius XII by introducing his friend Michele Sindona into the management of the Church’s funds. This allowed the Sicilian Mafiosa Sindona to eventually use the Church’s monies from charitable donations for money laundering purposes. Francis Cardinal Spellman and the Knights of Malta (SMOM) were reportedly involved in this affair. This mingling of the sacred with the profane began when Montini was appointed Bishop of Milan, after losing his position as Pope Pius XII’s pro-secretary and forfeiting Pope Pius XII’s endorsement as cardinal. Later Sindona played a major role in the Church’s finances under Montini as “pope,” beginning in the spring of 1969. In exiting the Novus Ordo following the introduction of the “new mass” that same year, the faithful were, in a sense, casting the money changers from the Temple. The Sindona/P2 scandal would not erupt, however, until the 1970s, after Sindona’s manipulation of finances left the Church nearly bankrupt.

The betrayal of the faithful by their own pastors began with the Modernist clergy electing Angelo Roncalli, just as the apostles fled from the scene at the beginning of the Passion. And as the most recent blog on the infiltration of Traditionalist ranks in Mexico and the U.S. explained earlier this month, Masonic forces were working to set up the Traditionalist movement even before Roncalli’s election. Christ was betrayed by them just as we have been betrayed. Jesus was tried before the Sanhedrin and those running the Novus Ordo and other non-Catholic organizations have tried us in the court of public opinion, branding us as “radical Traditionalists.” The same charges have been laid against us as were laid against Our Lord: we are uneducated, insane, liars, and cult members, this for championing the never-changing Catholic truths we hold and present.

We follow all the popes, Christ’s own appointed vicars, and everything they taught, as the expression of God’s will. Christ frequently acknowledged He who sent Him, God the Father, announcing: “I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John 6: 38). This was the same Father whom the Jews professed to reverence and obey, the God of Israel. But in reality, the Jews answered only to the Sanhedrin, God being left out of the equation. They did their own will, not God’s. They had long ago murdered their own prophets. They willfully ignored all the prophecies pointing to Jesus as the Messiah, for they wanted an earthly king, and He did not suit their needs. Nor do we suit the needs of LibTrads who wish only to belong to a visible, earthly church, one of their own making, not God’s. We point out inconvenient truths and demand they obey the popes and Canon Law, something they have no intention of doing.

Conclusion

We are considered an embarrassment and are treated as fools and outcasts, just as Our Lord was treated. And so we march to Calvary willingly bearing our crosses, and one day, when persecution reaches its heighth, some of us, at least, expect to die there. The rest of us will die as white martyrs if, God willing, we can keep the faith in these pagan times. We accept the loss of the papacy and the Mass as God’s will, prophesied in Holy Scripture and taught by the popes, and offer it up as a penance for our many sins. The theologian John-Pierre de Caussade warns about advising others to follow certain forms of spirituality, maintaining that self-abandonment to God’s will, to the present moment alone is suitable for all souls wishing to find their proper spiritual state. He emphasizes that, “The great and firm foundation of the spiritual life is the offering of ourselves to God and being subject to His will in all things” (Abandonment to Divine Providence).

Pope Pius XII wrote in Mediator Dei: “The people must offer themselves as victims…This offering is not in fact confined merely to the liturgical Sacrifice. For the Prince of the Apostles wishes us, as Living Stones built upon Christ the cornerstone, to be able ‘as a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ,’” (I Peter 2: 5). And so we offer ourselves as victims of the Father’s will, who sent Christ to save us; and to the will of Our Lord, eternal victim and true head of His Church. We have no Mass but God will accept pir spiritual sacrifices. We may often call out, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” but we know the answer: only prayer and the sacrifice of our own will can move God’s heart to have mercy on such an evil generation. In the words of Rev. Caussade:

“Since the world began, its history is nothing but the account of the campaign waged by the powers of the world and the Princes of hell against the humble souls who love God… Monster follows monster and the abyss engulfs them and spews them forth again amidst the incessant clouds of smoke… All these monsters come into the world only to stimulate the courage of the children of God and when they have finished their training, God allows them to slay the monster. A new monster appears and God summons fresh warriors into the arena. Our life here is a spectacle which makes heaven rejoice, rears up saints and confounds hell. And so all that opposes the rule of God only succeeds in making it more worthy to be adored. All the enemies of justice become its slaves and God builds the heavenly Jerusalem with the fragments of Babylon the destroyed.”

The seventh king may come; Babylon the Great will eventually fall. But God has reserved a place in Heaven for those who love Him enough to suffer, fight and die for Him.

After Francis, who will be the 7th king to rule in Rome?

by T. Stanfill Benns | Feb 25, 2025 | New Blog

+St. Gabriel Possenti+

Introduction

With Francis near death, many are wondering what will happen next. Readers have often asked about what to expect in the near future and how we can explain this from passages in St. John’s Apocalypse. I have no real answers, only opinions, but I do know what those approved commentators writing before Pope Pius XII’s death have written. Many have been confused about the following passages in the Apocalypse and how they apply to us today. Different commentators offer different solutions, but the ones provided by Rev. Kramer and Rev. Haydock below seem to offer the best explanation of what we are experiencing today, and what may lie ahead. We begin with an analysis of Antichrist’s system, which continues today in Rome with the reign of the usurpers.

Rev. H. Bernard Kramer, The Book of Destiny, p. 395-97

Apocalypse Chap. 17, Verse 10

In verse ten, St. John turns his attention from the beast to the heads; to the whole series of successive world-dynasties. He therefore changes his viewpoint from the future to the present. In explaining the significance of the heads this verse clears up the meaning of verse nine. The seven heads are seven anti-God empires. Five of them have passed away. One of the world-empires exists; this is Rome, the sixth head. The seventh empire has not yet come, and when it appears, it shall exist only a short time. That is the empire of Antichrist.

The beast existed in and through all the ancient world-empires and shall show fullest development and expression in the empire and person of Antichrist. His empire shall embody, promote and propagate much more extensively idolatry, Caesarism or state supremacy, immorality and devil-worship and persecution of God’s people than the ancient empires did. The beast existed unceasingly from the ascendancy of Egypt as a world-empire until the end of the pagan Roman dominion. Each empire grew up in the shadow of its predecessor and attacked, crushed and ended the world-dominion of that predecessor. But the beast has ceased to exist since pagan Rome fell and shall come back to life when Antichrist resurrects it by satanic power. Yet it exists potentially in the ten horns (Dan. VII. 24) into which the sixth, the Roman empire was dissolved. Some of the ten horns seen by Daniel may be existing in our times.

Apocalypse Chap. 17, Verse 11

In this verse St. John returns to the time in which the beast does not exist. This verse is complicated in English; in Greek it is clear. The clause, “the same is also the eighth”, refers to the person of Antichrist. The rest of the verse points to his empire. The English translation, “is itself the eighth” is misleading, because the pronoun “itself” modifies “beast”. In Greek “ “the beast”, is neuter gender, while the pronoun is masculine, showing that not the “beast” is the “eighth”, but Antichrist considered as a person apart from his empire is the EIGHTH. His power, which is of satanic origin, is personal and is the means by which he establishes the seventh empire. This power is independent of the empire, is not conferred by it, because it is from the throne of Satan. Therefore he is something above and distinct from his empire as a ruling power. This chapter treats of Antichrist only in relation to his empire. Chapter XIII treats directly of his person and indirectly of his empire. In Greek the clause clearly refers to Antichrist, while in some English translations it cannot be discerned unless it be translated, as some have it, “he himself is also the eighth”.

Antichrist himself, as a human being endowed with satanic might and authority, is the Beast and the EIGHTH something, because he is the culmination and personification, the head and most complete expression of all evil that shall ever exist on earth. He has thus another reason and mode of existence in being the embodiment of sin fully developed in a human being, as Christ was the embodiment of virtue and perfection. Thus the text does not say that he is the eighth head, but his empire is one of the seven heads. He is himself something distinct from those empires, pre-existed, as it were, in the great sin of emperor-worship throughout the whole series of empires, which altogether constituted the empire of Satan, and whereof his own shall be the highest development. Likewise his authority being of satanic origin and personal is something above and distinct from his empire and constitutes an EIGHTH or spiritual empire direct­ing all military and civil resources in his empire and that of Babylon. That the Beast is foredoomed to a speedy end and complete annihilation is repeated for a purpose. It shall come out of the abyss to fulfill its destiny and then be annihilated. The faithful need not fear the beast exceedingly. (End of Rev. Kramer quotes)

“But the beast has ceased to exist since pagan Rome fell and shall come back to life when Antichrist resurrects it by satanic power,” Kramer wrote above.  We daily have sites such as Novus Ordo Watch and a few others screaming that Francis is a heretic and Rome is pagan, when the Catholic Church taught at the 1869 Vatican Council that no TRUE pope could ever fall into heresy while teaching the faithful. Kramer only confirms what Henry Cardinal Manning noted in his sermons — that pagan Rome could exist once again only if Antichrist had appeared on the scene to resurrect it. And Card. Manning was convinced, even in the late 1800s, that the paganization of Rome had already begun. There is no attempt whatsoever by LibTrads to discover or explain how and why, from solid Catholic sources, the Church could be without a true pope for nearly 67 years, or what this really means for Catholics. No mention of Antichrist and only sneers if this topic is even broached. My, how pleased he must be! But we will continue to try and make sense of things despite our critics, even if our speculations prove to be somewhat off course. Because Christ told us to read the signs of the times, and to try and understand what we read. We do our best, then, to obey Him.

What follows is only the personal opinion of this author. But it could be a secondary or minor interpretation of the scriptural verses on the seven hills in an allusive sense, with the one given by Rev. Kramer being the primary meaning. For as we read from the Douay-Rheims commentary on Apoc. 22:10: “We have no certainty when we apply these predictions to particular events. For as St. Jerome takes notice, the Apocalypse has as many mysteries as words, or rather mysteries in every word” (https://www.drbo.org/chapter/73022.htm).

Another observation: the seven hills

If there are seven heads of the beast throughout history, this symbolism could continue into the beast’s actual governance, giving further clues as to where he will reign and who will be his minions. In the 12^th century, the popes granted the Italian Cardinals jurisdiction as Local Ordinaries over seven dioceses (“hills” or “mountains”) of Rome. Later in the 12^th century, two of the dioceses were combined (Santa Rufina with Porto) reducing this number to six. But a seventh “hill,” one of the suburbicarian dioceses, was added back in the 1980s, and this addition seems to be a definite sign. The “seven heads” spoken of in Apoc. 13:1 are the seven empires. But then we go to Apoc. 17: v. 9, which tells us that, “The seven heads are seven mountains and they are seven kings upon which the woman sitteth.” This could also refer to seven dioceses, not mountains, ruled by seven Novus Ordo kings — the “cardinals,” and later “bishops” appointed by the usurpers who were the “heads” of these dioceses.

The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us that one of the meanings of Antichrist could be “a king who reigns during an interregnum.” These Novus Ordo lackeys are not truly cardinals and bishops, but lesser “kings” under the universal king, Pontifex Maximus, Antichrist’s successor. (The Catholic Encyclopedia ranks cardinals alongside kings and emperors in dignity.) The first usurper-king in this series would have been Angelo Roncalli (John 23), identified as the false prophet in my 1990 work, Will the Catholic Church Survive… Rev. Kramer says of the false prophet: “This false prophet, possibly at the behest of Antichrist usurps the papal supremacy… His assumed spiritual authority and supremacy over the Church would make him resemble the Bishop of Rome… He would be Pontifex Maximus, a title of pagan emperors, having spiritual and temporal authority.” This king reigns over the “whore of Babylon,” the prostituted version of Christ’s Church, a false church presenting as the true Church of Christ.

In 1962, Roncalli transferred the cardinal’s jurisdiction over the six dioceses surrounding the Vatican to the residential bishops, suggesting further reform. These “bishops” were answerable directly to Roncalli. The “cardinals” then became titular bishops only, possessing no ordinary jurisdiction over these dioceses. Initially the six traditional dioceses were Albano (1), Frascati (Tusculum) (2), Palestrina (3), Sabina (4), Ostia (5), and Velletri, Porto and S. Rufina (6) (https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/suburbicarian-dioceses). Today the dioceses are reorganized and listed as Ostia 1), Velletri-Segni (2) Porto-Santa Rufina (3), Frascati (4), Palestrina (5), Albano (6) and Sabina-(Poggio Mirteto) (7). John Paul 2 joined Segni to Velletri and Sabina to Poggio Mirteto in 1986. “According to ancient Roman sources, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh king of Rome, established a Roman colony at the town, then known as Signia” or Segni (Wikipedia, Segni).

It is hard to believe there is no significance to the addition of Segni and the reorganization of the dioceses to create seven versus the traditional six dioceses. Segni, joined to Velletri and Poggio Mirteto, joined to Sabina are two entirely new additions. For from the 1100s to 1910 and from 1915 on, the cardinals, not the residential bishops, were assigned certain dioceses. Adding Segni appears to have fulfilled the prophecy of Apoc. 17:9, tying this prophecy in Apocalypse directly to the newly organized pagan Rome of the usurpers. Therefore, this biblical description could never have applied previously because only the usurpers could have ridden the beast seated on the seven mountains described in Apoc.17:4.

The identity of the ruler of the seven kings and the lesser kings is laid out in Apoc. 17:11. The beast (Paul 6) was a cardinal by all appearances, created by Roncalli. Yet in reality he was not a cardinal, because Roncalli was never pope. Becoming the second of the seven kings, he also was the eighth king, a bogus pope heading the entire system as the Man of Sin — Satan’s vicar, as Kramer explains. The lesser kings are kings by each succeeding Pontifex Maximus, but the ultimate exercise of their power rests with the eighth king (Satan joined to Montini and his successors) who lends them power to direct their activities. As antipope, Roncalli was the first universal king, playing his role as False Prophet. The inevitable result was the advent of that great harlot, the Novus Ordo church, sprawled in serpentine fashion across the seven dioceses and ruled from across the Tiber River by the eighth head — the system of Antichrist. The creation of the seventh diocese may only have been a sort of territorial marking, a sign that all of the former sees united to Rome were now in enemy control.

The scarlet whore atop the beast is “Babylon, the great” (Apoc. 17:5), the early Christians’ code name for Rome. In the hand of the scarlet whore is a golden cup, “…full of the abominations and filthiness of her fornication” (Apoc. 17:4). This cup is reminiscent of a golden chalice. Rev. Leo Haydock calls this verse “…common scriptural expressions for the abominations of idolatry.” She is “drunk with the wine of her prostitution” (Apoc. 17:2),  and this is no coincidence considering the corruption of the consecration formula for the wine in the Holy Sacrifice, replacing “for many” with “for all.” The worship of bread and wine idols is frequently mentioned in Holy Scripture in connection with types of false Christs, (and these usurpers ARE false Christs): “wine of iniquity”(Ps. 4,17: “the wine of the condemned” (Amos 2,8); “the two iniquities (bread and wine)” (Osee 10, 10); “bread idols” (Jer. 7, 18); “the bread of deceit” (Prov. 23, 3); “idols without life” (Ps. 105, 28). This we find in Rev. Kenelm Vaughn’s Divine Armory of Holy Scripture, (pgs. 754-55).  Emperor-worship also is involved here, as Rev. Kramer notes. For these usurpers, so fond of their followers’ rapt attention, are not popes, but emperor-kings.

Who will be the seventh king?

Bergoglio is dying, and the new king in this line once he passes would be the seventh usurper reigning since Pope Pius XII’s death. Seven is a number that we find numerous times in the Apocalypse; among other things, it signifies completion. In Chap. 1, seven candlesticks represent the seven churches throughout the ages and their bishops are symbolized by seven stars or angels (Rev. Berry). This is mentioned again in the first verse of Chap. 2. Seven spirits of God and the seven stars are mentioned in the first verse of Chap. 3. Seven lamps and seven spirits of God in Chap. 4, verse 5; five mentions of seven in Chap. 5; 1 in chapter six, several in Chap. 8, and so on throughout the entire book. This number may not seem important to us mortals, but it means something to God. The seventh hill was created by Roncalli and could indicate that this has some special significance. It could be that these agents of Antichrist believed that the seventh king is the one who will deliver the kingdom into the hands of Satan, head of the one-world church of all religions.

We do not know his identity, but as stated in our last blog, it is likely he will make it appear that the Novus Ordo church is rejecting the changes and returning to its previous pre-Vatican 2 position, similar to what Pres. Trump is doing with this country. It will be a seduction so convincing, so diabolically clever that many LibTrads will “return” to this church, believing as they have been falsely led to believe, through private revelation and their pseudo-clergy, that this is the promised restoration of the true Church. Those who refuse to buy into it will be persecuted. The Latin Mass of St. Pius V may appear to return, and all the sacramental rites could be “restored” to their previous forms. What can it hurt? They can never be valid again without a canonically elected pope, so it will cost the usurpers nothing. This is the only way that it can appear, when political antichrist comes, that he is the true antichrist, not Paul 6. Political antichrist will then be seen as the one who abolishes the mass and destroys Rome, when it was long ago destroyed spiritually. And this will be the greatest and final deception.

As prophesied, the reign of this seventh king, if indeed he is the final usurper and this opinion holds, may well last for only 42 months, or three and a half years. But again, it could be longer, since that number may only symbolize an indefinite period as some commentators believe. Will Enoch and Elias physically appear during this time? Perhaps, if they have not already appeared in other manifestations as again, some commentators teach. All this of course is only speculation, and only time will tell whether or not it comes to pass. There will be twists, turns, contradictions and surprises. The subjects of this seventh king will be those Christ threatens to vomit from His mouth — the final, pitiful remnant of the last church of Apoc. Chap. 3, the Laodicea church. This is the seventh and final church before the end.

As Francis Panakal, author of The Man of Sin first observed, “In Pope Pius XI’s Summi Pontificatus, after describing his generation as one “’tormented … by spiritual emptiness and deep-felt interior poverty,” the pope applied to it this passage of the Apocalypse as follows: ‘Thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing: and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked’ (Apoc. 3:17). This particular passage is a description of the church of Laodicea which, in the opinion of Catholic interpreters, is a representation of the Church as a whole during the time of the Antichrist. Thus Pius XI’s application of this passage of the Apocalypse to his time would, in effect, be an indication that the age of the Antichrist had in some way already begun.” And indeed it had.

The seventh church — Laodicea

In his first address as pope, Pope St. Pius X warned Catholics that Antichrist had already been born. At that point in time, Giovanni Battista Montini (Paul 6) was six years old. The exorcist Rev. Theophilus Riesinger, O.P.Cap., revealed in 1940 what he had learned in his exorcisms — that Antichrist was already alive and would begin his persecutions in 1952, the very year Pope Pius XII first fell ill from chromic acid poisoning. Montini was then his acting pro-secretary. Pope Paul IV, in his Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, prophesied how he would come to power as the abomination of desolation — through an invalid papal election. Shortly before his death in 1939, Pope Pius XI warned that the world already had entered that deadly phase that would see the fulfillment of prophesy, the end of the age of the Church and the rule of Antichrist. It is important to weigh carefully the words of Christ through St. John to the angel of this Laodicea church, the last church, for in these words we see all that has happened to us today. We read from Apoc. Chap. 3: 14-22:

“And to the angel of the church of Laodicea, write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God:

“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing: and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore and do penance. Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear my voice, and open to me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with me in my throne: as I also have overcome and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.”

Here we need the wisdom of Rev. Leo Haydock to make the most sense we can out of these verses. Reverend Haydock calls being hot nor cold a “dreadful reprehension,” one few recognize as such. Being cold means being “guilty of great sins.” Being hot means being zealous and fervent in piety. Being lukewarm indicates that one is “slothful, negligent and indolent” in seeking Christian piety and perfection and in “all things regarding the service of God.” For this they are guilty before God of great sins and “forfeit his favour and grace.” They fancy themselves as being safe and good because they live as others do and “are not guilty of scandalous and shameful crimes to which others are addicted.” The lukewarm are further from true conversion than the cold; “they live and die with a heart divided between God and the world,” where greater and more shameful sinners are at least cognizant of the abhorrence of the vices that they commit. “Stupidity is more dangerous than absolute wickedness”  — the cold still have a conscience. Christ, beginning to vomit the lukewarm from His mouth, means that they will be lost if they fail to reform.

The “eye salve” mentioned in Apoc. 3:18 is necessary for them to see their plight and indicates their willful ignorance. Being naked when they think they already possess the white garment of salvation describes to a “T” both those complacent in their Novus Ordo beliefs as well as those LibTrads who are certain they have the graces they need through the sacraments when they have nothing; they know not their blindness and nakedness. It also can refer to any of us who pridefully believe that we are guaranteed salvation because we no longer belong to any of these sects; we are to work out our salvation in fear and trembling. Those who continue in their ignorance and blindness can only be described as having entered into the operation of error to believe lies described by St. Paul in 2 Thess. 2. Christ warns us the Church will be rebuked, chastised and required to do penance to become zealous. But how can this possibly fit in with a restoration of the Church, when Laodicea is the last of the seven churches?! Those who overcome with Christ will share a throne in Heaven with Him, for He too has overcome. Is this not a subtle reference to the passion of the Church? In Apoc. 13:7 it is said that Antichrist will “overcome the saints” but in verse 10 of this chapter we find that the faith and patience of the saints will save them in the end.

Conclusion

For decades, many have rejected the idea, first advanced by Francis Panakal and Rev. Joaquin Saenz-Arriaga, that Paul 6 was the Antichrist. It is the proposition I presented in my first book, released in 1990. There I expanded on the topic, introducing additional evidence in subsequent e-books and articles. Those objecting to this belief falsely maintain: “There must always be bishops” and/or cite the necessary restoration of the Church before the end, but only a pope canonically elected can claim to be the successor of St. Peter. As discussed in our last blog, we have never been promised a restoration of the Church in Holy Scripture, and private revelations cannot be made the equivalent of Church doctrine; they have been known to be manipulated and falsified. All that follows once Antichrist appears is the battle of Armageddon, the destruction of Babylon, the Final Judgment and the consummation.

Some also have objected that because Christ will throw Antichrist and the False Prophet into the lake of fire alive, as recorded in Apoc. 19: 20, this means he has not yet come: “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet, who wrought signs before him, wherewith he seduced them who received the character of the beast, and who adored his image. These two were cast alive into the pool of fire, burning with brimstone.” They hold that this verse proves that Antichrist will not appear until later, at the very end, following the restoration. I have countered that for the empire of Antichrist to exist today in Rome and worldwide, which it does, there first had to exist the Man of Sin, THE Antichrist, to establish this empire, a truth we are bound to believe. And this is what Rev. Kramer refers to above.

If one looks at all that Montini accomplished during his reign and before, no one can deny that he was the primary architect in the destruction of the Church. Nor can they possibly contest the fact that nearly half of faithful Catholics abandoned the Vatican 2 church once the Novus Ordo Missae was introduced. The cardinals and bishops betrayed the Church by invalidly electing Roncalli, and the once-faithful laity failed to reject the false Church — this was the Great Apostasy. The Continual Sacrifice had ceased, true Catholics knew this, and only Antichrist could have caused its cessation. To be the perfect mirror of Christ, Satan also had to have his vicar, and this could not be accomplished with a Protestant idea of a political figure persecuting. The Apocalypse must be taken spiritually, and Pope Paul IV himself told us who the abomination of desolation would be in his Cum ex Apostolatus Officio.

There is another explanation of Antichrist perishing alive in the pool of fire, however, that no one has considered. Because this event seems to immediately precede the Final Judgment, the meaning of “alive” could refer to the resurrected bodies of the beast and false prophet, (John 23 and Paul 6), being among the first to be so resurrected and judged, so that all the faithful may see them destroyed. Various commentators, Rev. Kramer among them, have opined that at the Last Judgment the faithful who have escaped the wiles of Antichrist will sit with Christ in judgment on those who destroyed His Church. This seems to be what Christ Himself suggests in Apoc. 3:21. Christ stands at the door and knocks (Apoc. 3:20); His arrival is imminent, Kramer warns. He invites us to the marriage feast. But those who refuse to apply the eye salve and repent, who fail to open the door, shall be cast out into the exterior darkness.