The Loss of the Sense of Sin Is Intimately Connected to the Loss of Doctrine

The following guest post is by Dominic J. Grigio, author of The Disastrous Pontificate: Pope Francis’ Rupture from the Magisterium.

During the Most Holy Mass for the Inauguration of his Pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI said something quite remarkable, ‘Pregate per me, perché io non fugga, per paura, davanti ai lupi — Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.’^[1]

The wolf is a powerful Christian symbol for wickedness and deceit within the Church, especially among those exercising pastoral leadership such as popes, cardinals, bishops and priests. These connotations of deceitful wickedness can be traced back to a warning from Our Lord, ‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.’ (Mt 7:15). The Greek word for ‘ravenous’ used by Matthew is harpax which has two meanings — rapacious or ravening, and robbery by a swindler^[2]. In the context Matthew’s Gospel our Lord’s warning about the ravening wolf disguised as a sheep conveys the danger of the disguised evil of those pastors who steal salvation from souls through imposing doctrinal error.

Open letter by Dominican theologian Fr. Wojciech Gołaski: “I must bear witness to the treasure of the holy rites of the Church”

The following open letter to Pope Francis was composed by Fr. Wojciech Gołaski O.P. and has been published already in Polish. Below is the English translation that was provided to Rorate Caeli by the author. Regardless of where one stands on the question of the SSPX, it deserves an attentive reading for its formidable critique of “Traditionis Custodes.”   

Fr. Wojciech Gołaski O.P.

Jamna, August 17, 2021

Recent Profane Novelties: A Dialogue on the Death Penalty

The papal apologists who have been so vocal in recent weeks about "how dare you criticize the pope and accuse him of heresy" have fallen eerily silent in the face of his explanation of "development of doctrine" when speaking last Friday, May 10, to the International Union of Superiors General of Women Religious:

The Church is not only Denzinger, that is, the collection of dogmatic passages, of historical things. This is true, but the Church develops on her journey in fidelity to Revelation. We cannot change Revelation. It’s true the Revelation develops. The word is “development” — it develops with time. And we with time understand the faith better and better. The way to understand the faith today, after Vatican II, is different than the way of understanding the faith before Vatican II. Why? Because there is a development of knowledge. You are right. And this isn’t something new, because the very nature — the very nature — of Revelation is in continual movement to clarify itself.

Also the very nature of the moral conscience. For example, today I said clearly that the death penalty is not acceptable — it’s immoral. But, fifty years ago, no. Did the Church change? No. Moral conscience has developed. A development. And the Fathers [of the Church] understood this. In the 800s [actually 400s] there was a French Father, Vincent of Lerins, who coined a nice expression. He says that the knowledge of faith — I’ll say it in Latin, and then I’ll translate it — ut annis consolidetur, dilaetur tempore, sublimeture aetate. That is, it grows with the years. It is continually growing. It doesn’t change, it grows. It expands with time. It is better understood. And with the years it is sublimated. 

Events: Dr Kwasniewski Lecturing in Detroit area on May 10–12, 2019

On the weekend of May 10–12, 2019, I will be giving four lectures in the larger Detroit area: one in Detroit proper at Old St. Mary's Church; two in Jackson at St. Mary Star of the Sea; and one in Windsor at St. Alphonsus. Each lecture will be followed by a Q&A period. Happily, all three events start off with traditional Latin High Masses: a new springtime, indeed! 

Guest Article: A Paradigm of Unfolding: An Analogy between Christ’s Holy Shroud and Divine Revelation

Rorate is pleased to present this article by the author of Ego Eimi – It is I, Falling in Eucharistic Love, and the editor of the magazine Dowry.

A Paradigm of Unfolding: An Analogy between Christ’s Holy Shroud and Divine Revelation

by Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP

All along Church history, new doctrinal statements are issued as part of the Magisterium, in fulfilment of the Church’s teaching mission. In what sense are they new? Never can such pronouncements contradict earlier ones. They can only make more explicit what has always been part of Divine Revelation, consisting of Scripture and Tradition. The Hierarchy of the Church and Her theologians gradually unfold Revealed Truth, after the parable of Our Lord: ‘Every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, is like to a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old’ (Matthew 13:52). The data is not to be invented or imported, even less construed, but merely expounded under the guidance of the Holy Ghost: ‘The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you’ (John 14:26).