Neither Schismatic nor Excommunicated (1)

Catholics On the Rack

It seems that since Vatican II, a Catholic is constantly compelled, by necessity, to have to choose between Truth and "obedience," or in other words, between being a heretic or a schismatic.

Thus, to take a few examples, he has to choose between St. Pius X's encyclical Pascendi which condemns modernism as "a collection of all heresies" and the present openly modernist ecclesiastical orientation which, through the voice of the Holy See, never ceases to laud modernism and modernists[1] and to disparage St. Pius X. His encyclical was even described, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of his death, as "a disclosure ...without respect for historical points of view."[2]

He has to choose between the monitum from the Holy Office in 1962, condemning the works of the Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin in that they "are alive with ambiguities, and even errors, so serious that they offend Catholic doctrine," and the present ecclesiastical trend. Ecclesiastics do not hesitate to quote these works, even in papal speeches. On the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the "apostate" Jesuit, a letter from Cardinal Casaroli, Secretary of State of His Holiness, praised the "wealth of his thought" and "the unequalled religious fervor,”[3] thus giving rise to the reaction of a group of cardinals.[4]

He has to choose between the already defined invalidity of Anglican ordinations[5] and the present-day ecclesiastical orientation in pursuance of which, in 1982, a Roman pontiff, for the first time, took part in an Anglican rite in the Canterbury Cathedral and jointly blessed the crowd with the lay primate of this heretical and schismatic sect, a primate who in his welcoming speech, arrogated to himself, and without being contradicted, the title of Successor of St. Augustine,[6] the Catholic evangelist of Catholic England.[7]

He has to choose between the ex cathedra[8] condemnation of Martin Luther and the present ecclesiastical trend which, "celebrating" the 5th centenary of the birth of the German heretic, declared in a letter signed by His Holiness, John Paul II, that today, thanks to the "common researches made by Catholic and Protestant scholars ...has appeared the deep religiosity of Luther."[9]

He has to choose between the historical truth of the Gospels, which "Holy Mother Church has affirmed and affirms in a definite and absolutely constant manner ...and certifies without hesitation,"[10] and the present ecclesiastical orientation which denies loudly these historical truths in the document published on June 24, 1985, by the Pontifical Commission on Religious Relations with Judaism.[11]

He has to choose between the Holy Scripture which declares the Jews unbelievers "by hatred of God," according to the Gospel, and the present ecclesiastical orientation which, in the speech of the first pope to visit the synagogue in Rome, discovers in the Jews, still unbelievers, "the elder brothers" of ignorant Catholics.[12]

He has to choose between the first Commandment "Thou shalt not have strange Gods before Me," which corresponds to the duty which, since the Redemption, obliges all men to render to God the worship we owe Him "in spirit and in truth," and the present-day ecclesiastical orientation according to which, at the invitation of the Roman pontiff, were practiced in the Catholic churches of Assisi all the forms, even the worst, of superstition: the false worship of the Jews, which in this era of grace pretend to worship God while denying His Christ; the idolatry of the Buddhists adoring their living idol, who sat with his back to the tabernacle where the flickering light attested to the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ.[13]

He has to choose between the Catholic dogma "outside the Church there is no salvation" and the present ecclesiastical orientation which sees in non-Christian religions "channels to God "and declares that even polytheist religions "are also venerable"![14]

He has to choose between the immemorial teaching of the Church according to which heretics and/or schismatics are "outside the Catholic Church"[15] and the present ecclesiastical orientation whereby between the "various Christian denominations" exists only a difference "in depth" and "fullness of communion"[16] and for which consequently the different heretical and/or schismatical sects must be '"respected' as churches and ecclesiastical communities."[17]

Let us stop there as it would be materially impossible to enumerate all the choices that have been imposed and are still being imposed all the time on Catholics. Our newsletter (SiSiNoNo) has pointed them out for the last 14 years and Romano Amerio has made an incomplete list in the 636 pages of his book Iota Unum: A Study of the Changes in the Catholic Church in the 20th Century.[18]

Footnotes

1 Cf. for instance, the repeated praise of Gallarati Scotti, friend of the young Montini in L’Osservatore Romano (from now on OR) of 7-7-1976, of 1-14-1979, of 6-5-1981, etc.

2 OR of 9-8-1977.

3 OR of 6-10-1981.

4 See SiSiNoNo, 7th year, No.15, p.15.

5 Leo XIII, Apostolic Letter Apostolicae curae of 9-18-1896.

6 St. Augustine of Canterbury, bishop sent by St. Gregory the Great to evangelize Great Britain, landed on the English coast in 597 with about 40 missionaries; established his first monastery in Canterbury and died May 26, 604.

7 See SiSiNoNo, 8th year, No.20.

8 Leo X, Bull Exsurge Domine of 1520.

9 OR of 11-6-1983.

10 Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum.

11 OR of 6-24-25-1985.

12 OR of 4-14-15-1986.

13 Avvenire of 10-20-1986. The dalai lama is considered as the reincarnation of Buddha.

14 OR of 9-17-1986: "Elements for a theological basis for the World Day of Prayer for Peace"; see also Civilta Cattolica of April 20, 1985: "Christianity and Non-Christian Religions."

15 Catechism of St. Pius X, No.124.

16 OR of 9-11-1986.

17 Pope's greeting to "Christians" in St. Ruffin's Cathedral in Assisi: OR of 10-27-28-1986.

18 The Italian edition was published by Ricciardi in Milan and Naples, and the French translation by the Nouvelles Editions Latines in Paris.