Gregorius Magnus, magazine of the FIUV: Spring edition

Cross-posted from the FIUV blog.

The latest edition of Gregorius Magnus is now available, for Spring 2021.

Gregorius Magnus 11 pdf download

It includes a report on the events in Rome last October, in place of the usual Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage.

It also includes a key passage from the French Bishops' summary report to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the implementation of Summorum Pontificum, in an English translation published for the first time.

As usual it also includes translations of articles from the quarterly magazines of Una Voce France and Pro Missa Tridentina of Germany, as well as an article from the Latin Mass Society's Mass of Ages, and news and reflections first published here, from Croatia, Romania, and Poland.

It is free to download as a pdf, or to view on the ISSUU website and app for mobile devices.

Requiem High Mass funeral for Officer Talley

There is a large, secular memorial service today in Colorado for Boulder Officer Eric Talley, however yesterday was his traditional Latin High Requiem Mass funeral.

Officer Talley attended the traditional Latin Mass at the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter's parish in Littleton, Colorado -- Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Priests from that parish were given permission to use the cathedral basilica in Denver for the Requiem High Mass in the presence of a greater prelate, with Archbishop Samuel Aquila attending in choir and delivering remarks.

The Mass, stunning in its beauty and reverence, contained all of the funeral ceremonies from the 1962 books, complete with lovely Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony throughout. The cathedral basilica is not extremely large, but hosted family, friends and fellow police officers, livestreamed by the Archdiocese of Denver. We strongly recommend watching and listening to it if you can, including such well-chosen words to the congregation by Father James Jackson, FSSP. And a reminder there is a way to donate to the Talley family here.

Op-Ed by Roberto de Mattei: Questions and Answers on the Pandemic and the Vaccines

Some Questions and Answers on the Pandemic and the Vaccines.

We live in a time of confusion, and what is even more dramatic, this confusion prevails even among the most faithful Catholics, who adhere to the Tradition of the Church.

Among these Catholics, during this time of the Pandemic, two questions recur: 1) Is it morally licit to use vaccines against Covd-19 that use cellular lines coming from aborted fetuses? 2) Quite apart from the liceity of these vaccines, is it advisable to receive them, at this time when all the risks to one’s health that they pose are not yet known?

In a study just published by Edizione Fiducia, I have tried to respond in an articulate manner to the first question. This text is meant above all for those who want to learn more about the problem of the anti-Covid vaccines in the light of theology and moral philosophy. There is, however, a reply that is more easily accessible for the Catholic with good sense, and this is it: it is licit to be vaccinated because the Church assures of this, through its most authoritative doctrinal body, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. On December 21 2020 the Congregation expressed itself with a concise document that refers back to another document that is more comprehensive: On the Dignity of the Person, dated from September 8, 2008.

The pronouncements of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are the voice of the teaching Church, in the face of which laity and priests can legitimately express doubts, but always with filial respect, lest they run the risk of justifying every type of dissent, such as that which we see happening at this time against the prohibition, on the part of the same Congregation, to bless homosexual unions.

Don Pietro Leone re: The Council and the Eclipse of God

A Note

At the suggestion of Don Pietro, Rorate is suspending the installments of his book on the Council for 2 weeks, so that readers may better devote themselves to the meditation and the celebration of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Blessed Lord. He assures you all of his heartfelt prayers in this holy and grace-filled liturgical season. F.R.

Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783) - I pellegrini al sepolcro di Nostro Signore

Event: Priestly Ordination and Conference on the Sacred Heart in Guadalajara, Mexico, June 10-13, 2021

We are pleased to announce on behalf of the FSSP in Mexico the following Summorum Pontificum Congress, to be held from June 10-13, 2021, and including a priestly ordination at the hands of Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke.

Summorum Pontificum [Congress] is an event for Catholics who want to learn more about the richness of their liturgical, artistic, theological, and spiritual traditions. This year the keynote address will be given by His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke, member of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome, who will also celebrate a traditional priestly ordination – the first in Mexico in many years. There will be three pontifical Masses and the sacrament of Confirmation, outstanding conferences, and much more. The Summorum Pontificum Congress will bring together faithful Catholics from all over Mexico and abroad to participate in this historic event. Translation services will be available in English and Spanish.

For more details and for registration, visit the bilingual website.

Fontgombault Sermon for Palm Sunday 2021: Follow Jesus on the Days of Joy, as well as on the Days of Sorrow

Sermon of the Right Reverend Dom Jean Pateau

Father Abbot of Our Lady of Fontgombault

Fontgombault, March 28, 2021

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

My dearly beloved Sons,

After Lent, the time of spiritual preparation, to which was added a part of penance, after our entry last Sunday into the time of Passion, we are now beginning with Palm Sunday the Holy Week.

This week is called holy, for the events we commemorate are holy: the institution of the Eucharist and of the sacrament of Holy Orders, the death and resurrection of Our Lord. This week is holy, for these events, holy in themselves, are also sanctifying for those who accept to follow Christ.

St Peter & St Jeremias

Whenever I have the opportunity to attend the daily traditional Mass during Passiontide, I am struck by the choice of readings and the tenor of the prayers and antiphons: so different from what we find in the Novus Ordo!

In particular, the readings from the Prophet Jeremiah for Friday and Saturday of Passion Week (yesterday and today), even though they have been read for well over 1,000 years, were OMITTED ENTIRELY from the revised lectionary. Pourquoi, one asks? Well, have a look and see what you think.

Paperback on the left, hardcover with dustjacket on the right

Arouca Press, rapidly establishing itself as the most interesting and valuable Catholic publisher in Canada, is much to be commended for its latest release, a 450-page volume entitled Defending the Faith Against Present Heresies: Letters and Statements Addressed to Pope Francis, the Cardinals, and the Bishops, with a Collection of Related Articles and Interviews.

Officer Eric Talley: We take care of our own

Sorry to be behind on this, but personal life can sometimes get in the way of doing other things, such as rallying our readers around supporting the family of former Officer Eric Talley who was recently murdered by a terrorist.

For those who don't know, Officer Talley was one of many in Boulder, Colorado, recently killed by Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa. But he was also a traditional Catholic and attended the traditional Latin Mass with his family.

And we take care of our own.

This act of terrorism has left Mrs. Talley and her seven children without their husband, father and bread winner. I'm hoping our community will rally around them and put some food on their table now that Eric can't.

TWO REQUESTS:

1) LAYMEN: CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THE TALLEY FAMILY

2) PRIESTS: Please say a TLM for Eric's soul. Especially the 110 Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society priests, this is an official request for each of you: Say a TLM for the repose of the soul of Eric Talley soon.

Let's all do what we can for today for the soul of Eric Talley and for his family. He already laid his life down as so many officers have done for us. Time to take a tiny step towards returning the favor.

No donation is too small.

“That is the Catholic Church!”: Cardinal Ratzinger’s Reaction to Private Masses at Fontgombault

In his recently published book Le grand bonheur (Fayard, 2020), Nicolas Diat relates a singular—and now, in light of the tragic suppression of private Masses in St. Peter’s, highly topical—anecdote about the then Cardinal Ratzinger’s reaction to witnessing the early morning private Masses simultaneously celebrated by some twenty monks at various side altars at Fontgombault Abbey in 2001. Diat had related the same story in an earlier book entitled L’homme qui ne voulait pas être pape (Albin Michel, 2014).

On July 22nd to 24th, 2001, Cardinal Ratzinger attended an international liturgical conference at Fontgombault Abbey where he delivered a lecture and gave a further impromptu lecture when he was asked to provide closing remarks on the Monday evening of July 24th. The next morning as the cardinal is preparing to depart back to Rome Diat relates the following story, as recounted to him by the then Abbot of Fontgombault, Dom Forgeot:

by Matthew Hazell

If there be any time in the Year, when the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass should excite the heart of the Christian to devotion, it is Passiontide. [1]

The last two weeks of Lent in the Roman Rite are kept as Passiontide, when the Church intensifies her preparations for the Triduum and Easter celebrations. Crucifixes and images of our Lord and the Saints are covered; Iudica me is heard as the introit of Passion Sunday for the last time until Easter; the Gloria Patri is omitted at the Asperges, the introit, and the lavabo; the Lenten preface changes to that of the Holy Cross; the readings focus more and more upon the Passion and Death of the Lord.

Mental prayer video: Christ on fasting

Over the past year I have come to love, and grow, in mental prayer. This was something that eluded me because I am a deeply visual person and always had a difficult time reading a book on mental prayer then actually visualizing how to do it, until Fr. David Nix, a diocesan hermit, created his "VLX" series.

If you want to start from the beginning and learn how to do the two forms of mental prayer, CLICK HERE. Fr. Nix posts about one new video per week. He also has a catechism course you'll see called "CPX".

For today, I went back to a pre-Lent video, to refresh myself on what Jesus taught on fasting to keep it front and center during the home stretch leading up to Easter. And I've embedded that below.

I encourage everyone, even children, to utilize this amazing video tool Father offers, especially if metal prayer is not currently a regular part of your prayer life. If you find it as deeply helpful to you as I do, please also consider donating to Fr. Nix, and help him continue his good work.

Academic Online Survey: On the Use of Latin at Mass

If you are able to, please consider giving your view in the survey below.

Note: All survey responses will be anonymous, and the survey program will not collect any identifying information nor IP addresses. Link below is for survey and more information about the project:

https://kennesaw.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_06DLMeIwvZjtBRQ

Fontgombault Sermon for the Feast of Saint Benedict: "God embraces the whole universe. Nothing escapes His Providence."

Sermon of the Right Reverend Dom Jean Pateau

Father Abbot of Our Lady of Fontgombault

Fontgombault, March 21, 2021

Centuplum accipiet.

He shall receive an hundredfold.

Mt 19:29

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

My dearly beloved Sons,

Saint Gregory, in his Life of St. Benedict, evokes an astonishing event: the vision of the whole world under a single ray of light that was granted to the Father of the Western monks. Servandus, a deacon and the abbot of a nearby monastery, had come to pay a visit to the patriarch. As Benedict himself, he was a man of God.

As a sort of current flowing from one another, they gave to each other the sweet words of life, and, yearning with sighs and longing desires, tasted of that delightful food of the celestial country, the perfect fruition of which they were not as yet permitted to enjoy.

Once the time for rest come, the two monks parted. Yet, Benedict prayed, standing before his window, whereas the brothers were resting. Suddenly, in the deep of night, he saw a light glancing from above, driving away the darkness of night, and shining with a splendor far beyond the light of day. In this light, Benedict saw “the whole world, compacted, as it were, under a single ray of sun.”

Wishing someone to witness his vision, St. Benedict called Servandus, who “saw a little remainder of the light.”

Mourning the End of a 1500-year-old Tradition: Private Masses in Saint Peter's Basilica

There's nothing to add to this:

“This morning, for the last time, priests will offer the Holy Sacrifice individually and simultaneously on the numerous altars of St. Peter's Basilica. Bringing to an end a centuries-old practice, which has survived plagues, wars, the capture of Rome and Vatican II.” https://t.co/D3sKlJSVw9
— The Catholic Traveler (@MountainButorac) March 21, 2021

Nothing, except this: this order was by FRANCIS (Jorge Mario Bergoglio). He ordered it. He may have used an irrelevant machine cog in the wrong dicastery to initial the document, but it all came from him. Seeing those throngs of young priests celebrating Mass after Mass in the many altars of the Vatican Basilica, a tradition that dated from the very first ages of side altars in the Old Basilica built by Constantine, was obviously something that rattled him.

Fine: there are hundreds of churches and thousands of Altars in Rome, and there's nothing he can do about it.

Don Pietro Leone: PART VI - The Council and the Eclipse of God: THE CHURCH - part 2

In this installment, Don Pietro examines how the Council through its establishment of collegiality, set the Church on the slippery slope of diminishing the authority of the Supreme Pontiff, diminishing the monarchial authority of the Bishops in favour of Episcopal conferences and reduced the priest from the status of alter Christus thus placing him on the same level as the laity. As a consequence, the hierarchy of the Church is replaced by a bland, democratic egalitarianism. F.R.

The Council and the Eclipse of God-Part VI

THE CHURCH - part 2

The Church teaches infallibly that: ‘If any-one says that in the Catholic Church there is no hierarchy instituted by Divine ordinance that consist of bishops, priests, and ministers, Anathema Sit’ 1 The Council, by contrast, calls into doubt that there is a hierarchy consisting of the Pope, who enjoys the primacy, and consisting of the Bishops and the Priests.

An illustration of Pius IX opening the First Vatican Council during which papal supremacy was proclaimed a dogma.

1. The Pope

Historical Sketch 2.

The theory opposed to the dogma of the primacy of the Pope is known as ‘collegiality’. The theory ascribes excessive importance to the ‘College of Bishops’ by claiming that it can enjoy authority more or less independently of the Pope, with or without the Pope being member of the College. The Liberals envisaged this form of independent, democratic authority as a legacy of the ‘Apostolic College of the Twelve’.

The driving forces behind this movement were three in number. The first was ecumenical 3, the primacy of Peter constituting, of course, the principal obstacle to ecumenical dialogue. The term ‘collegiality 4’ first made its appearance in 1951 in the journal of the Monastery of Chevetogne ‘Irenikon’ in an article penned by Father Yves Congar OP. In 1960 the Orthodox Institute St. Sergius in Paris proposed the idea of a ‘collegial’ ecclesiology based on the primacy of ‘love’, as against the Catholic ecclesiology based on the juridical notion of ‘power.’ Dom Olivier Rousseau of Chevetogne , close both to the Parisian Institute as also to Monsignor Charue, Vice President of the conciliar Theological Commission, did much to promote such ideas.

The second driving force behind the collegialist movement was theological, deriving from the Anti-infallibilism of the 19^th century, from the Febronianism of the 18^th century, and the Conciliarism of the 15^th century. The third theory was expressed in the heterodox document Haec Sancta of the Council of Constance (1418) in the claim that that Council ‘derives its power immediately from God, and all, including the Pope, are obliged to obey it…’ Despite the fact that this claim was later repeatedly condemned as heretical 5, it re-emerged, albeit in a mitigated form, in a series of essays written by a certain Dom Paul de Vooght in 1959.

Dom Paul de Vooght

Should Sacred Ministers Mask? Observations and Analysis from a Woman in the Pews

The author of the following essay wishes to remain anonymous.

Should Sacred Ministers Mask? Observations and Analysis from a Woman in the Pews

In almost every Catholic church around the world, one can now find priests wearing masks. Most priests who offer the Traditional Latin Mass have adopted the mask only very reluctantly. Something within them protests against masking during liturgies, but then they dismiss this as imprudence, or aestheticism, or misguided zeal. They conclude that they must “mask up” and bear this cross for the good of their flock.

Ought they, though? Does this really help the flock?

Roberto de Mattei: Is the COVID vaccine morally licit for Catholics?

[Translator's note: The following is a translation of a review by Veronica Rasponi that appeared on Corrispondenza Romana of Professor Roberto de Mattei’s just published book (in Italian) called “On the Moral Liceity of the Vaccine”. As many Catholics who know and love the Catholic Tradition and the Traditional Mass know, Professor de Mattei is one of the most important leaders of the Traditional Movement not only in Italy but throughout Europe. His conclusions are very important for those who are weighing a decision whether to receive one of the Covid-19 vaccines. He concludes, after a rigorous discussion using the methodology of some of the greatest moral theologians of the Church, that the vaccine is morally licit. In that conclusion he is in agreement with the recent statements of the Pontifical Academy for Life and of the Congregation of Doctrine and Faith. The review below offers highlights of what Professor de Mattei writes in his book. All the quotes are from de Mattei himself unless noted. - Father Richard Gennaro Cipolla]

***

Is the anti-Covid vaccine licit? A response from Roberto de Mattei.

Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium

regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex

TO THE QUESTION PROPOSED:

Does the Church have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex?

RESPONSE:

Negative.

Explanatory Note

In some ecclesial contexts, plans and proposals for blessings of unions of persons of the same sex are being advanced. Such projects are not infrequently motivated by a sincere desire to welcome and accompany homosexual persons, to whom are proposed paths of growth in faith, “so that those who manifest a homosexual orientation can receive the assistance they need to understand and fully carry out God’s will in their lives”^[1].

On such paths, listening to the word of God, prayer, participation in ecclesial liturgical actions and the exercise of charity can play an important role in sustaining the commitment to read one's own history and to adhere with freedom and responsibility to one's baptismal call, because “God loves every person and the Church does the same”^[2], rejecting all unjust discrimination.

Among the liturgical actions of the Church, the sacramentals have a singular importance: “These are sacred signs that resemble the sacraments: they signify effects, particularly of a spiritual kind, which are obtained through the Church’s intercession. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions of life are sanctified”^[3]. The Catechism of the Catholic Church specifies, then, that “sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it” (#1670).

Blessings belong to the category of the sacramentals, whereby the Church “calls us to praise God, encourages us to implore his protection, and exhorts us to seek his mercy by our holiness of life”^[4]. In addition, they “have been established as a kind of imitation of the sacraments, blessings are signs above all of spiritual effects that are achieved through the Church’s intercession”^[5].

Consequently, in order to conform with the nature of sacramentals, when a blessing is invoked on particular human relationships, in addition to the right intention of those who participate, it is necessary that what is blessed be objectively and positively ordered to receive and express grace, according to the designs of God inscribed in creation, and fully revealed by Christ the Lord. Therefore, only those realities which are in themselves ordered to serve those ends are congruent with the essence of the blessing imparted by the Church.

For this reason, it is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex^[6]. The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist within the context of a union not ordered to the Creator’s plan.

Furthermore, since blessings on persons are in relationship with the sacraments, the blessing of homosexual unions cannot be considered licit. This is because they would constitute a certain imitation or analogue of the nuptial blessing^[7] invoked on the man and woman united in the sacrament of Matrimony, while in fact “there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family”^[8].

The declaration of the unlawfulness of blessings of unions between persons of the same sex is not therefore, and is not intended to be, a form of unjust discrimination, but rather a reminder of the truth of the liturgical rite and of the very nature of the sacramentals, as the Church understands them.

The Christian community and its Pastors are called to welcome with respect and sensitivity persons with homosexual inclinations, and will know how to find the most appropriate ways, consistent with Church teaching, to proclaim to them the Gospel in its fullness. At the same time, they should recognize the genuine nearness of the Church – which prays for them, accompanies them and shares their journey of Christian faith^[9] – and receive the teachings with sincere openness.

The answer to the proposed dubium does not preclude the blessings given to individual persons with homosexual inclinations^[10], who manifest the will to live in fidelity to the revealed plans of God as proposed by Church teaching. Rather, it declares illicit any form of blessing that tends to acknowledge their unions as such. In this case, in fact, the blessing would manifest not the intention to entrust such individual persons to the protection and help of God, in the sense mentioned above, but to approve and encourage a choice and a way of life that cannot be recognized as objectively ordered to the revealed plans of God^[11].

At the same time, the Church recalls that God Himself never ceases to bless each of His pilgrim children in this world, because for Him “we are more important to God than all of the sins that we can commit”^[12]. But he does not and cannot bless sin: he blesses sinful man, so that he may recognize that he is part of his plan of love and allow himself to be changed by him. He in fact “takes us as we are, but never leaves us as we are”^[13].

For the above mentioned reasons, the Church does not have, and cannot have, the power to bless unions of persons of the same sex in the sense intended above.

The Sovereign Pontiff Francis, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Secretary of this Congregation, was informed and gave his assent to the publication of the above-mentioned Responsum ad dubium, with the annexed Explanatory Note.

Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the 22^nd of February 2021, Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle.

Luis F. Card. Ladaria, S.I.

Prefect

✠ Giacomo Morandi

Archbishop tit. of Cerveteri

Secretary

From the Gospel: “Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.”

The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle recorded by all four of the Gospels. This sign, this miracle, is considered as central within the kerygma, for it has always been understood as prefiguring the Holy Eucharist: the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish as pointing to the miraculous reality of the true bread of heaven who is Jesus Christ given to the Church as his Real Presence among us until the end of time. And in this way this gospel has always been associated with the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Laetare Sunday, with its introit: “Rejoice O Jerusalem”, pointing to the Easter Sacrament by which the people are fed with the true Bread of Life.

But we must also remember that this miracle begins the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, the great discourse on the Eucharist, whose climax is Jesus’ words: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh”. It is those words that cause a number of Jesus’ followers to leave him. It is those words that anger the scribes and the Pharisees. It is those words that help set off those events that lead to the Cross. It is those words that lie at the heart of the Church’s understanding of and faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

When the people who were fed by the miracle of the loaves and fishes were looking for Jesus later, he had no illusions about what they were looking for. He said to them: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” I love the clarity of this. The people were seeking him to see what he could give them next. The miracle as a sign is a two edged sword; it proves nothing in the end. Taken at face value it may be part of a mysterious magic show instead of the sign that points to a deeper reality And we can imagine the people reacting like the townspeople in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Carousel singing:

IMPORTANT! -- Francis Effect: The End of the Traditional Latin Mass in St. Peter's Basilica

The Traditional Mass used to be celebrated hidden, out of sight, in the crypt of the Vatican Basilica (the Hungarian Chapel) from the days of the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei to Summorum.

Since the 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, which recognized that the Traditional Mass had never been abrogated (and in fact could never be so), many priests who have celebrated in the several side altars of St. Peter's have done so by using the 1962 Missal. And it was celebrated daily in two of the Basilica's major altars, especially the Altar of Blessed Pope Innocent XI.

Alas, the new order (see below) that has come to the Vatican Basilica has abolished all privately celebrated masses in the upper body of the Basilica (including Novus Ordo masses, which used to be very numerous as well), and has determined that all masses celebrated in the Basilica will have to be (naturally Novus Ordo) concelebrations, liturgically "animated" by "readers" and "singers"...

(Order from the Secretariat of State below:)

Don Pietro Leone: The Council and the Eclipse of God – PART V

THE CHURCH

I THE CHURCH CONSIDERED IN HERSELF

Ecclesiae tuae, quaesumus, Domine, preces placatus admitte: ut destructis adversitatibus et erroribus universis, secura tibi serviat libertate 1

The Church, Militant, Suffering and Triumphant by Andrea Buonaiuto (1365)

"Declaration to Reopen Churches in Ireland": Roundtower Association

Rorate was asked to publicize this initiative of our suffering brethren in Ireland, where the lockdown has been merciless and indiscriminate. The following open letter to the Irish Bishops asks them to re-open the churches: they have been shut for public Mass for 37 Sundays out of the last 52. The petition has been signed by 2500 so far and they are looking for signatures (from Irish Catholics only) to exceed 3000.

Declaration

To their Lordships, the Bishops of Ireland.

Dear Bishop Barron:

I have written many Letters to the Editor in my lifetime to the New York Times and to the Wall Street Journal—bona fide credentials of my moderate and centrist persona—and now I feel compelled to write this letter to you to respond to your recent article called “The Evangelical Path of Word on Fire”. I am a Catholic priest, soon to be an octogenarian. It would seem more prudent at this time in my life to lay aside those things that threaten the peace and equanimity that one should strive for at this stage of my life. But alas, my Southern Italian genetic makeup does not make it easy to live a laid- back life at this time when I should give oneself over to contemplation and remembrance of things past.

I have followed your career in the Church for some years now, with a good deal of admiration for your stand against what you call liberal Catholicism. St. John Henry Newman, that great opponent of liberalism in religion, would approve of your battle against “beige Catholicism”. Your many instructional DVDs show clearly that you understand the important role of Beauty in the Catholic faith. You are obviously of man of real faith who loves the Church.

This is our monthly reminder to please enroll Souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. We added another wonderful priest this month and the Society now stands at 110 priests saying weekly or monthly traditional Latin Masses for the Souls.

** Click here to download a "fillable" PDF Mass Card in English to give to the loved ones of the Souls you enroll (you send these to the family and/or friends of the dead, not to us). It's free for anyone to use. CLICK HERE to download in Latin and CLICK HERE to download in Spanish.

Priests: The Souls still need more of you saying Mass for them! Please email me to offer your services. There's nothing special involved -- all you need to do is offer a weekly or monthly TLM with the intention: "For the repose of the Souls enrolled in the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society." And we will always keep you completely anonymous unless you request otherwise.

How to enroll souls: please email me at athanasiuscatholic@yahoo.com and submit as follows: "Name, State, Country." If you want to enroll entire families, simply write in the email: "The Jones family, Ohio, USA". Individual names are preferred. Be greedy -- send in as many as you wish and forward this posting to friends as well.

Don Pietro Leone: THE COUNCIL AND THE ECLIPSE OF GOD - PART IV

In Part IV of ‘The Council and the Eclipse of God’, Don Pietro explains how the Council attacks the very notion of Truth, how this is the basis of all its false teachings and how Decartes’s Philosophy of Doubt permeates the Council’s documents. F.R.

The Council and the Eclipse of God

Beatissimae Vergini Mariae humillime dedicatum,

Quae cunctas haereses sola interemisti in universo mundo

PART IV

TRUTH – part 2

Rene Descartes (1596-1650): Father of Modern Philosophy - his philosophy begins with Doubt

a) The Fullness of Truth

The Council asserts that the Church is in the process of attaining the fullness of Truth.

‘As the centuries succeed one another, the Church constantly moves forward toward the fullness of divine truth (ad plenitudinem divinae veritatis iugiter tendit), until the words of God reach their complete fulfillment in her’ (Dei Verbum 8).

The text suggests that the Church is moving forward to the fullness of truth while on her earthly journey, and will attain it only when She attains Her heavenly goal (when ‘the words of God reach their complete fulfillment in her’). In reply:

1.The Church is already in possession of the fullness of Truth in this world; therefore

2.She is not now in the process of moving towards that fullness in this world;

3.The Church was in such a process only in the past.

1. The Church is already in Possession of the Fullness of Truth in this World

The Church is already in possession of Divine Truth ^{^[1]}, or supernatural Truth, in this world, which is nothing other than the Faith, the Depositum Fidei, Divine Revelation. The Church teaches that this Truth which is the Faith is Truth in its fullness [2]. This is because Faith constitutes a unity: that is to say it is not possible to possess such Truth in a partial sense; to possess the Faith is to possess it, then, in its entirety, in its fullness; one either possesses the Faith in its entirety, in its fullness, or one does not possess it at all.

The ultimate ground for the fact that Faith constitutes Truth in its fullness, in that this Truth is nothing other than God Himself in His intimate nature: the Most Holy Trinity, together with all the doctrines which are centered upon Him ^{^[3]}. That the Truth-which-is-the-Faith is Truth in its fullness is, as we shall show in chapter 1, expressed by the very Note, or characteristic, of the Church which is Her Catholicity.

Benedict XVI Interview: answers "translated" by Secretary

On the 8th anniversary of his resignation to the papal throne, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, 93, granted an interview to Massimo Franco, of Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

The main responses are available below, but what is truly curious is this passage by Franco:

The sentences come out little by little, the voice is a soft breath, it comes and goes. And archbishop Gänswein in some rare passages repeats and "translates", while Benedict XVI nods in a sign of approval.

Ok, then...

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[On the resignation:] “It was a difficult decision. But I took it in full consciousness, and I think I did well. Some of my slightly ‘fanatical’ friends are still angry, they did not want to accept my choice. I think of the conspiracy theories that followed it: There were those who said it was the fault of Vatileaks, some of a conspiracy by the gay lobby, some because of Richard Williamson. They don’t want to believe in a conscious choice. But my conscience is clear.”

[On Francis' upcoming trip to Iraq:] “I think it’s a very important journey. Unfortunately, it comes at a very difficult time that also makes it a dangerous trip: For security reasons and for COVID. And then there is the unstable Iraqi situation. I will accompany Francis with my prayer.”

[On Biden:] “It is true, he is Catholic and observant. And he is personally against abortion. But as a president he tends to present himself in continuity with the line of the Democratic Party … And on gender politics we have not yet fully understood what his position is.”

New Decorative fabric covers for the Epistles and Gospels book

Our friends at Romanitas Press have just announced a new and exclusive offer of decorative fabric covers for the Canticum Clericorum Romanum(Epistles and Gospels book):

The rubrics of the Caeremoniale Episcoporum (I, xii, 15) prescribe the Epistles and Gospels book to be covered in the liturgical color of the Mass, thereby indicating the great dignity of the Word of God. This practice of veiling sacred books in the Roman Rite was exemplified at the Solemn Papal Masses.