The arrest and jailing of Mary Wagner: Canada's shame makes headline news in Poland

Mary Wagner, once more, makes Poland's headlines; whilst here, in Canada, a veritable conspiracy of silence falls upon the land: most disconcerting is the silence of "official" Catholic media. Vox Cantoris asks some excellent questions in this regard. An American perspective of the persecution of Mary and Linda Gibbons may also be read here at Christ's Faithful Witness. 

One might ask: is this silence by "official" Catholic media a reflection of the "faith in the public square" that the Archdiocese of Toronto's "Family of Faith Campaign" and Pastoral Plan boasts of to the tune of demanding cash from parishioners, after determining their "maximum donating capacity"? What can one say when people living in Canada are discovering the news about Mary from the Polish media? A friend of mine in Toronto told me yesterday this very fact; she read it in the Polish press, and heard in on Polish radio. 

And what of Linda Gibbons, where is the outcry for this "Angel for Life" who has spent a good 10 years in prison for merely holding a placard against abortion on a public sidewalk? The Poles are indeed correct when they see Canada as "new totalitarianism in white gloves". 

Radio Maryja's report on Canada's "new totalitarianism" may be heard here. 

Pope Francis' Message for the World Day of the Sick

Sapientia Cordis

"I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame"

(Job 29:15)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On this, the twenty-third World Day of the Sick, begun by Saint John Paul II, I turn to all of you who are burdened by illness and are united in various ways to the flesh of the suffering Christ, as well as to you, professionals and volunteers in the field of health care.

This year’s theme invites us to reflect on a phrase from the Book of Job: "I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame" (Job29:15). I would like to consider this phrase from the perspective of "sapientia cordis" – the wisdom of the heart.

1. This "wisdom" is no theoretical, abstract knowledge, the product of reasoning. Rather, it is, as Saint James describes it in his Letter, "pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity" (3:17). It is a way of seeing things infused by the Holy Spirit in the minds and the hearts of those who are sensitive to the sufferings of their brothers and sisters and who can see in them the image of God. So let us take up the prayer of the Psalmist: "Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Ps 90:12). This "sapientia cordis", which is a gift of God, is a compendium of the fruits of the World Day of the Sick.

2. Wisdom of the heart means serving our brothers and sisters. Job’s words: "I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame", point to the service which this just man, who enjoyed a certain authority and a position of importance amongst the elders of his city, offered to those in need. His moral grandeur found expression in the help he gave to the poor who sought his help and in his care for orphans and widows (Job 29:12-13).

Today too, how many Christians show, not by their words but by lives rooted in a genuine faith, that they are "eyes to the blind" and "feet to the lame"! They are close to the sick in need of constant care and help in washing, dressing and eating. This service, especially when it is protracted, can become tiring and burdensome. It is relatively easy to help someone for a few days but it is difficult to look after a person for months or even years, in some cases when he or she is no longer capable of expressing gratitude. And yet, what a great path of sanctification this is! In those difficult moments we can rely in a special way on the closeness of the Lord, and we become a special means of support for the Church’s mission.

3. Wisdom of the heart means being with our brothers and sisters. Time spent with the sick is holy time. It is a way of praising God who conforms us to the image of his Son, who "came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mt 20:28). Jesus himself said: "I am among you as one who serves" (Lk 22:27).

With lively faith let us ask the Holy Spirit to grant us the grace to appreciate the value of our often unspoken willingness to spend time with these sisters and brothers who, thanks to our closeness and affection, feel more loved and comforted. How great a lie, on the other hand, lurks behind certain phrases which so insist on the importance of "quality of life" that they make people think that lives affected by grave illness are not worth living!

4. Wisdom of the heart means going forth from ourselves towards our brothers and sisters. Occasionally our world forgets the special value of time spent at the bedside of the sick, since we are in such a rush; caught up as we are in a frenzy of doing, of producing, we forget about giving ourselves freely, taking care of others, being responsible for others. Behind this attitude there is often a lukewarm faith which has forgotten the Lord’s words: "You did it unto me’ (Mt 25:40).

For this reason, I would like once again to stress "the absolute priority of ‘going forth from ourselves toward our brothers and sisters’ as one of the two great commandments which ground every moral norm and as the clearest sign for discerning spiritual growth in response to God’s completely free gift" (Evangelii Gaudium, 179). The missionary nature of the Church is the wellspring of an "effective charity and a compassion which understands, assists and promotes" (ibid).

5. Wisdom of the heart means showing solidarity with our brothers and sisters while not judging them. Charity takes time. Time to care for the sick and time to visit them. Time to be at their side like Job’s friends: "And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great" (Job 2:13). Yet Job’s friends harboured a judgement against him: they thought that Job’s misfortune was a punishment from God for his sins. True charity is a sharing which does not judge, which does not demand the conversion of others; it is free of that false humility which, deep down, seeks praise and is self-satisfied about whatever good it does.

Job’s experience of suffering finds its genuine response only in the cross of Jesus, the supreme act of God’s solidarity with us, completely free and abounding in mercy. This response of love to the drama of human pain, especially innocent suffering, remains for ever impressed on the body of the risen Christ; his glorious wounds are a scandal for faith but also the proof of faith (cf. Homily for the Canonization of John XXIII and John Paul II, 27 April 2014).

Even when illness, loneliness and inability make it hard for us to reach out to others, the experience of suffering can become a privileged means of transmitting grace and a source for gaining and growing in sapientia cordis. We come to understand how Job, at the end of his experience, could say to God: "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you" (42:5). People immersed in the mystery of suffering and pain, when they accept these in faith, can themselves become living witnesses of a faith capable of embracing suffering, even without being able to understand its full meaning.

6. I entrust this World Day of the Sick to the maternal protection of Mary, who conceived and gave birth to Wisdom incarnate: Jesus Christ, our Lord.

O Mary, Seat of Wisdom, intercede as our Mother for all the sick and for those who care for them! Grant that, through our service of our suffering neighbours, and through the experience of suffering itself, we may receive and cultivate true wisdom of heart!

With this prayer for all of you, I impart my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 3 December 2014

Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier

FRANCISCUS

"United for Mary Wagner": On January 8 there will be a protest outside the Canadian Embassy in Warsaw

"A picket in solidarity with Mary Wagner" 

Fundacja-PRO, a Polish pro-life organization has organized a peaceful protest outside the Canadian Embassy in Warsaw on January 8th at 10 a.m. to give witness to the unjust arrest and incarceration of Mary Wagner, who was taken into custody by the Canadian State authorities at the "Bloor West Women's Clinic" in Toronto, a private abortion mill that "gently suctions" the "pregnancy tissue" (this according to their website), thus perpetrating the unspeakable crime of abortion (as the Second Vatican Council rightly denounced it). As I reported yesterday, Mary will be held in maximum security conditions for the first week of her incarceration; so vile has our penal system become! 

Poland, has suffered under two of the most brutal totalitarian regimes in history; understandably Poles are far more sensitive to human rights violations than your average Canadian. I was not shocked therefore to hear on "Radio Maryja" the commentator refer to Canada as "a new totalitarianism in white gloves...Over and over the commentator could not believe that anyone could be arrested on Christmas Eve for witnessing to life.... but this is the neo-fascist State of Canada. 

Mary's arrest and incarceration is headline news across Poland

Infinitely more scandalous than the non-reaction of the pro-abortion secular media, who would like nothing more than to convince the Church to self-destruct (e.g. accept adultery and homosexuality), is the non-reaction of official mainstream Catholic media. Have you heard or read anything from them on Mary's illegal arrest? (c.f. Art. 19 UN Declaration of Human Rights). Why is Mary's plight all over Polish Catholic media  and even secular), while here, in Canada a satanic great silence has descended? 

In solidarity with these Polish witnesses for life and for Mary, let us set aside 10 a.m. on the 8th for prayer, a visit to a church, Mass etc. 

Exclusive report: Polish family from Boston family visits Mary Wagner in prison ~ Mary is being held in maximum security, but in good spirits

Mary Wagner in Poland

From Nasz Dziennik, with an exclusive Toronto Catholic Witness translation: 

Despite the fact that Mary Wagner will spend the holidays in a prison cell, awaiting her court hearing, she remains peaceful. Yesterday, a Polish family from Boston visited the Canadian in prison. The 38 year old Catholic was visited by Simon, along with his wife and their one year old son. The presence of the one year old boy brought Mary great joy. The Canadian resides at the Vanier Centre for Women, in Milton, Ontario. 

For the first week in detention, she is held in the maximum security section of the prison. It is a standard procedure, during which time the behaviour of a prisoner is observed. The visit lasted 30 minutes. "This was my first visit to a prison, and it felt strange, bars, barbed wire, controls before entering, talking vis a vis a phone and through glass, said Simon, "She told us that her first week will be in maximum security, a regular procedure to review prisoners, their behaviour and the potential to be moved to other sections, with good behaviour. Then you can have a cell with a window, and go for regular walks", he added.  

During the meeting, Mary Wagner was very attentive to her guests. Simon said the conversation was very cordial. She told the Pole that her first day in prison was Christmas Eve. The facility where Mary is held does not have a Catholic priest, but a pastor, with whom she read Scriptures and prayed. 

Mary Wagner currently has two processes. One relates to her last detention. The second is an appeal from the previous ruling.  She is also thinking of defending life from the process of a constitutional hearing. However, it is a complicated and expensive procedure. 

Presently, Mary Wagner has a limit of two visits per week. We encourage you to write letters to the pro-life Canadian at the following address:

Mary Wagner 
c/o Vanier Centre for Women
PO Box 1040, 655 Martin St., 
Milton, ONT, L9T 5E6.

Polonia Christiana interview with Mary Wagner in English: "God calls for the defense of life"!

It was a year ago that the Polish Bishops Conference - a voice in the episcopal wilderness - denounced gender ideology

On the Feast of the Holy Family, the Polish Bishops denounced the evil of gender ideology. We have since seen this abominable thinking worm its way into the Synod on the Family, especially in the interim relation. Sadly, the evils continue in the Lineamenta. 

What I wrote months ago, is even more relevant today:

Readers of Polish will be aware of the ongoing war between the Church and secular forces in the Republic of Poland. Distinguishing himself, in the forefront of this battle, is Rev. Fr. Dariusz Oko; now famous in the English speaking world, with his essay on the "homoheresy". 

For the Feast of the Holy Family, 2013, the Polish Bishops Conference - developing on Fr. Oko's teachings - published a pastoral letter outlining the various and grave dangers facing the Church and therefore humanity. The full letter may be read here in the original Polish. 

WE must, therefore, awaken the highest concern for attempts to redefine the  understanding of marriage and the family, especially by the advocates of a gender ideology and publicized by certain elements of the media. In view of the increasing attacks of this ideology aimed at different areas of family and social life we feel compelled on one side to firmly and unequivocally stand in defense of the Christian family and the fundamental values ​​that it protects and, on the other, to warn against the dangers of promoting a new type of form of family life.Gender ideology is the result of decades of ideological and cultural transformation, strongly rooted in Marxism and neo-Marxism, promoted through certain elements of the feminist movement, as well as the sexual revolution. Genderism promotes principles completely contrary to reality and the integral understanding of human nature. It claims that sex - biologically understood - does not have a social  basis, and that before all else, it is cultural, which a person may individually fashion and define irrespective of biological determinants. According to this ideology, a person may: determine whether one is a man or a woman; may also freely choose their sexual orientation. This voluntary self-determination, which does not have to remain static, is to lead to a society that accepts the right to create new types of family, for example, built on a union of a homosexual character.

(trans. Barona)

Archdiocese of Toronto's "Family of Faith Campaign" cash grab: Forget the money, what about the Faith?

Silence on GSAs, silence on abortion, silence on contraception, distribution of Our Blessed Lord in the hand, silence on preaching a sexual ethic, silence on opposing the scourge of homosexuality.... and they want my money? 

The arrogance is unbelievable.... calculating people's worth (c.f. "Personal Information") Pin terms of money.... Well, my "individual wealth capacity" is ZERO. That's right, you got it: my maximum "giving capacity" is ZERO...nothing. 

So don't waste time in looking me up, in delving into my "public" philanthropic "giving" donations to other charities. This is so avaricious, that they might as well put a turnstile and charge for entrance into church. 

A screenshot of the Archdiocese of Toronto's
cynical and avaricious cash grab

How about a "Just Say No Campaign" where we divert our giving to those parts of the Church in mission lands most in need of some extra support? It would be wrong to simply pocket money which ought to go for the support of the Church. There are places where the Church is struggling and persecuted that are deserving of support.

The arrest and jailing of Mary Wagner is a violation of the UN Declaration of Human Rights

Mary Wagner in Poland

As the Polish language petition to the Canadian Ambassdress to Poland (Alexandra Bugailiskis) rightly points out, the continued persecution of Mary Wagner by the Canadian State and police authorities is a grave violation of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, of which Canada is a signatory. 

The Canadian government takes great pride in boasting of its "human rights" positions - well, why is there another standard for our Angel for Life, Mary Wagner? Why is the Canadian State violating Mary's rights? What is this terrible "threat" that she poses? Look at her in the picture - they are afraid of her!! The State, the police, the abortionists! Imagine, The State with all its military and police power actually fears deeply, this slightly built, delicate woman! Why? Because she proclaims the Truth! And "they" hate Truth and wish to crush anyone who speaks it. There can be no other explanation for the persecution. 

Specifically, in Mary's case, pertaining to the pretext of the arrest and imprisonment, article 19 is being violated: 

Article 19.

• Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Christmas: The triumph of sentiment over faith

If other ages felt less, they saw more, even though they saw more, even though they saw with the blind, prophetical, unsentimental eye of acceptance, which is to say, of faith. In the absence of this faith now, we govern by tenderness. It is tenderness which, long since cut off from the person of Christ is wrapped in theory. When tenderness is detached from the source of tenderness, its logical outcome is terror. It ends in forced-labor camps and in the fumes of the gas chamber.   Flannery O'Connor

I am sitting here awash in the spirit of Christmas with its cheap, tawdry sentiment and crass commercialism. I have done my best to avoid the excesses of the season and the shopping frenzy leading up to December 25. My Christmas presents consist of things found around the house, not store bought. However this tinsel garbed, gaily decorated demon is not so easy to avoid. For some this season is far more of a trial to be borne than any sort of celebration.

One of the unavoidable bits of Christmas this year was the showing of A Christmas Carol in our recreation room on Christmas eve. It was the Alistair Sim version, which in my opinion is the best. While Barona sees in Dickens' story a condemnation of the "voracious capitalist spirit that roams the world seeking the ruin of souls", I saw something different. The book was written in 1843 and the remarkable thing about it is that it presents us with a fairly secular view of Christmas. There is scarcely any mention of Jesus Christ beyond a few traditional carols. 

Those of you who are decrying the perversion of Christmas into a celebration of greed and commercialism can look back to this vision of Victorian England to see the seeds of its demise. This celebration of sentiment without the reason for the sentiment is what has led to the crass commercialism of today. Christmas is the commemoration of the event wherein heaven touched earth in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the lynchpin of the entire thing without whom it begins to fall apart. God became man, dwelt among us and offered Himself for us. If that is not enough to change a man's life and soften his heart then I doubt any Dickensian sentiment will do the trick.

Any spirit of Christmas which casts us in the role of consumers and users ought to be exorcised and banished to whatever hell is reserved for those who have lost touch with the facts of their existence, perhaps alongside the spirit of Vatican 2. We are far more than that. We are the ones for whom God became Man, for whom the Word became flesh. We are persons beloved of Him who came for us, not mere lumps of flesh to be used and disposed of.

 Merry Christmas

Boxing Day Madness..... are there no poor houses?

Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" should be required study and mediation for all. It is, a fine complement to Pope Francis' powerful indictment of the voracious capitalist spirit that roams the world seeking the ruin of souls. For yes, as St. Thomas Aquinas pointed out: the average man needs food, sustenance, shelter etc. to have a chance to lead a decent moral life. And yes, as the Pope pointed out in his recent counter-thrust against the enemies of the Church (that is, those evasive dissenters who believe they can wriggle themselves off the hook by giving the exhortation a "Winnipeg Statement treatment"), the capitalist has grave moral responsibilities before God and man. 

The exploitation and refusal to pay a man a living wage are two of the four sins that cry to Heaven for vengeance. Willful murder (e.g. abortion) and the sin of the flesh that is now considered a preeminent virtue being the other two. It is no coincidence that all these sins are legal and highly prized in the decadent West. 

All of this brings me to my main point: the perversion of Boxing Day.  Victorian protestants began a fine tradition of boxing up a small little gift for the less fortunate employee and handing it out on the Feast of St. Stephen. The milkman, the postman, the coalman.... all these and more receive a little something from their Upper and Middle Class employers. What do we have today? Nothing but a rapacious spirit of greed and exploitation. The greedy capitalist, the greedy and mean-spirited purchaser; the poor exploited underclass of retail being forced to get up at 5 a.m., work for minimum wage at a box store to satisfy the vile consumer and the evil capitalist. 

Friends, please do not go shopping on this day. Celebrate St. Stephen's Day. If you are an employer, please give a small gift to your employee. Or, please consider a donation to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, who do so much good work in helping the needy. 

Mary Wagner: has become "a victim with the victims"

Why does "Caesar" fear Mary so? Why do they have to keep locking her up? In how has she offended them? What wrong has she done? 

Mary Wagner identifies with the redemptive love of Christ. 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS: War is NOT over ~ Mary Wagner languishes in jail and the killing of babies goes on and on...

This Christmas morning, we will awaken in a Canada that is populated by a people that has partaken in and conspired to kill well over a million human lives. The unborn. The river of blood is immense; the crime enormous. The abortion mill that Mary entered, "Bloor West Women's Clinic" claims that abortion is one of the most "frequently preformed" [sic. yes, the mill can't even get their spelling correct, yet they think they can preach on what is or not is life] "procedures today". Sadly, this is true. It calls up to God for vengeance. Mothers, fathers, "boyfriends", one night standers.... all in their various ways, and degrees of guilt, have created this holocaust - encouraged and winked at by other criminals who have cleared the way for the slaughter. 

The abortion mill that Mary entered dehumanizes human life in the womb to "pregnancy tissue". How could it be otherwise? Before you start killing, you must justify killing through the stripping of the killed of their personhood. 

And this Christmas morning, because she stands as a modern day St. John the Baptist - a voice crying in the wilderness - like the great rebuker of the evil "Herod the Great" (also a slaughterer of innocents) - Mary Wagner languishes in jail for entering a private abortion mill in the west-end of Toronto to ask mothers to reconsider the death sentence that they have come to accept as the destiny of the child in their womb. 

No the war on human life is not over.....

Please pray for Mary this Christmas. 

Sacred Christmas Music with the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter - St. Thomas More Parish

Vatican Goes Hollywood?

It is customary for Hollywood producers to make use of focus groups to gauge the audience reaction to a film or a TV pilot. Focus groups, polls and public opinion surveys are all marketing tools designed to probe the public's reaction to a product, film, idea or concept. During the Second World War such groups were used to determine the effectiveness of propaganda. Are we to believe that the Vatican has stooped to such tactics in its preparation for the upcoming synod?

Vatican seeks input for 2015 Synod 

Vatican asks for wide input on 2015 synod, not based on doctrine

Such methods are fraught with difficulties, not the least of which is the attempt to gauge opinion without reference to doctrine. The very clear public perception that the Pope can change doctrine is likely to influence the sorts of response that a questionnaire is going to get. The Pope cannot change doctrine though the likelihood of getting this concept through the media miasma is poor indeed. What is perhaps more significant is the curia's attempt at pastoral micromanagement.

Last year we had a pastoral visit from our local auxiliary bishop. He came on a Friday and spent the whole weekend at our parish celebrating mass and meeting with various groups in the parish. He went over everything from pastoral care to ministries to finances. It was a fairly thorough examination of our parish life but a pleasant one overall. No one had any expectation that our auxiliary bishop was going to institute major changes in doctrine. Perhaps the Office for the Synod of Bishops should talk to someone who actually spent time with us instead of engaging in these sorts of cheap marketing tactics.

 

Thomas Rosica CSB: is it really all about PR; popularity with the world? But this is contradicted by Pope Francis!

When will the Holy See Press Office, with all its vile manipulativeness, foolishness, and incompetence be house cleaned? From Thomas Rosica CSB., the erstwhile "cabin boy" to "Admiral" Frederico Lombardi.,S.J., both of the sinking ship the "Holy See Press Office", we now have this:

It is unbecoming of a priest of the Holy See Press Office to advocate such a worldly and one-sided propaganda piece in favour of the whitewash of the dissident nuns and the on-going investigation into the feminist LCWR. Papal actions are viewed in terms of PR; the Pope reduced to the level of a cynical politician or self-seeking celebrity? Yet, this attitude of courting the world's approval is contradicted by Sacred Scriptures, the Holy Father himself and plain, good old Catholic common sense. 

"Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues... And you shall be hated by all men for my name's sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved." St. Matthew, 10, 16, 17-22

 "Worldliness is a murderer because it kills souls, kills people, kills the Church." Pope Francis

"The Pope, still less the Church, ought not to court worldly approval. That way disaster lies. After all, the Pope, like the rest of us, tries to follow Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ had precious few votes in his favour on Good Friday: when the crowd chose, they plumped for Barabbas". Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith (consulting editor, Catholic Herald)

Not to be forgotten is this degradation of the supreme dignity of the Vicar of Christ: 

Pope John Paul II: the limits of Papal power over marriage is a "doctrine to be held definitively"

"There frequently lies a corruption of the idea and the experience of freedom, conceived not as a capacity for realizing the truth of God's plan for marriage and the family"

Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio

St. Pope John Paul II 

In an address in 2000, to the Roman Rota, Pope John Paul II outlined the limitations of papal power over ratified and consummated marriage. The Pope is always limited to being at the service of  the teachings of Christ. 

The recent attempts at the Synod to fudge around indissolubility, by adhering to it in theory, but differing in pastoral praxis, is in deed a Christological heresy - as pointed out by Gerhard Cardinal Muller. 

Do not be fooled by churchmen who claim that the marvelous Familiaris consortio, composed by our sainted Pope needs "updating", as it is "old". The truth about marriage does not change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. "God never changes" (St. Theresa of Avila). 

6. Today's meeting with you, members of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, is an appropriate setting for also speaking to the whole Church about the limits of the Roman Pontiff's power over ratified and consummated marriage, which "cannot be dissolved by any human power or for any reason other than death" (CIC, can. 1141; CCEO, can. 853). By its very nature this formulation of canon law is not only disciplinary or prudential, but corresponds to a doctrinal truth that the Church has always held.

Nevertheless, there is an increasingly widespread idea that the Roman Pontiff's power, being the vicarious exercise of Christ's divine power, is not one of those human powers referred to in the canons cited above, and thus it could be extended in some cases also to the dissolution of ratified and consummated marriages. In view of the doubts and anxieties this idea could cause, it is necessary to reaffirm that a ratified and consummated sacramental marriage can never be dissolved, not even by the power of the Roman Pontiff. The opposite assertion would imply the thesis that there is no absolutely indissoluble marriage, which would be contrary to what the Church has taught and still teaches about the indissolubility of the marital bond.

7. This doctrine that the Roman Pontiff's power does not extend to ratified and consummated marriages has been taught many times by my Predecessors (cf., for example, Pius IX, Let. Verbis exprimere, 15 August 1859:  Insegnamenti Pontifici, Ed. Paoline, Rome 1957, vol. I, n. 103; Leo XIII, Encyc. Let. Arcanum, 10 February 1880:  ASS 12 [1879-1880], 400; Pius XI, Encyc. Let. Casti connubii, 31 December 1930:  AAS 22 [552]; Pius XII, Address to Newlyweds, 22 April 1942:  Discorsi e Radiomessaggi di S.S. Pio XII, Ed. Vaticana, vol. IV, 47). I would like to quote in particular a statement of Pius XII:  "A ratified and consummated marriage is by divine law indissoluble, since it cannot be dissolved by any human authority (can. 1118); while other marriages, although intrinsically indissoluble, still do not have an absolute extrinsic indissolubility, but, under certain necessary conditions, can (it is a question, as everyone knows, of relatively rare cases) be dissolved not only by virtue of the Pauline privilege, but also by the Roman Pontiff in virtue of his ministerial power" (Address to the Roman Rota, 3 October 1941:  AAS 33 [1941], pp. 424-425). With these words Pius XII gave an explicit interpretation of canon 1118, corresponding to the present canon 1141 of the Code of Canon Law, and to canon 853 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, in the sense that the expression "human power" also includes the Pope's ministerial or vicarious power, and he presented this doctrine as being peacefully held by all experts in the matter. In this context it would also be appropriate to quote the Catechism of the Catholic Church, with the great doctrinal authority conferred on it by the involvement of the whole Episcopate in its drafting and by my special approval. We read there:  "Thus the marriage bond has been established by God himself in such a way that a marriage concluded and consummated between baptized persons can never be dissolved. This bond, which results from the free human act of the spouses and their consummation of the marriage, is a reality, henceforth irrevocable, and gives rise to a covenant guaranteed by God's fidelity. The Church does not have the power to contravene this disposition of divine wisdom" (n. 1640).

8. The Roman Pontiff in fact has the "sacra potestas" to teach the truth of the Gospel, administer the sacraments and pastorally govern the Church in the name and with the authority of Christ, but this power does not include per se any power over the divine law, natural or positive. Neither Scripture nor Tradition recognizes any faculty of the Roman Pontiff for dissolving a ratified and consummated marriage; on the contrary, the Church's constant practice shows the certain knowledge of Tradition that such a power does not exist. The forceful expressions of the Roman Pontiffs are only the faithful echo and authentic interpretation of the Church's permanent conviction.

It seems quite clear then that the non-extension of the Roman Pontiff's power to ratified and consummated sacramental marriages is taught by the Church's Magisterium as a doctrine to be held definitively, even if it has not been solemnly declared by a defining act. This doctrine, in fact, has been explicitly proposed by the Roman Pontiffs in categorical terms, in a constant way and over a sufficiently long period of time. It was made their own and taught by all the Bishops in communion with the See of Peter, with the knowledge that it must always be held and accepted by the faithful.

In this sense it was reaffirmed by the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Besides, it is a doctrine confirmed by the Church's centuries-old practice, maintained with full fidelity and heroism, sometimes even in the face of severe pressures from the mighty of this world.

The attitude of the Popes is highly significant; even at the time of a clearer affirmation of the Petrine primacy, they show a constant awareness that their Magisterium is at the total service of the Word of God (cf. Dogm. Const. Dei Verbum, n. 10) and, in this spirit, they do not place themselves above the Lord's gift, but endeavour only to preserve and administer the good entrusted to the Church.

Christmas with the Anglican Ordinariate in Toronto!

Vox Cantoris carries the latest news about the wonderful opportunities for Catholics to attend Christmas Liturgical services at a number of Ordinariate parishes in the Toronto and southern Ontario region. Please support these good Catholic people! 

Why Pope Francis can never surrender to the Adulterists and Homosexualists without contradicting himself

According to Professor Fr. Tadesuz Guz, KUL., the false teachings on marriage (and homosexuality) by a number of bishops at the recent Synod of the Family, was and is based upon a complete misunderstanding of God as ens realissimum. German Idealism, Schelling, Hegel etc. is a perversion of the Catholic and realistic understanding of God as unchangeable. According to Fr. Guz, it is this philosophical idealism that is  infecting the minds of a number of churchmen, and unhinging them from Catholic reality. 

The following three paragraphs confirm the "Guzian" thesis a priori. Pope Francis implicitly outlines in these paragraphs why it is impossible for the Catholic Church to accept the false theories of the Adulterist and Homosexualist parties. These three passages are, unwittingly, a mighty condemnation of the various manipulators who would claim to detach pastoral praxis from doctrine. 

From Evangelii Gaudium:  

Realities are more important than ideas

231. There also exists a constant tension between ideas and realities. Realities simply are, whereas ideas are worked out. There has to be continuous dialogue between the two, lest ideas become detached from realities. It is dangerous to dwell in the realm of words alone, of images and rhetoric. So a third principle comes into play: realities are greater than ideas. This calls for rejecting the various means of masking reality: angelic forms of purity, dictatorships of relativism, empty rhetoric, objectives more ideal than real, brands of ahistorical fundamentalism, ethical systems bereft of kindness, intellectual discourse bereft of wisdom.

232. Ideas – conceptual elaborations – are at the service of communication, understanding, and praxis. Ideas disconnected from realities give rise to ineffectual forms of idealism and nominalism, capable at most of classifying and defining, but certainly not calling to action. What calls us to action are realities illuminated by reason. Formal nominalism has to give way to harmonious objectivity. Otherwise, the truth is manipulated, cosmetics take the place of real care for our bodies.[185] We have politicians – and even religious leaders – who wonder why people do not understand and follow them, since their proposals are so clear and logical. Perhaps it is because they are stuck in the realm of pure ideas and end up reducing politics or faith to rhetoric. Others have left simplicity behind and have imported a rationality foreign to most people.

233. Realities are greater than ideas. This principle has to do with incarnation of the word and its being put into practice: “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is from God” (1 Jn 4:2). The principle of reality, of a word already made flesh and constantly striving to take flesh anew, is essential to evangelization. It helps us to see that the Church’s history is a history of salvation, to be mindful of those saints who inculturated the Gospel in the life of our peoples and to reap the fruits of the Church’s rich bimillennial tradition, without pretending to come up with a system of thought detached from this treasury, as if we wanted to reinvent the Gospel. At the same time, this principle impels us to put the word into practice, to perform works of justice and charity which make that word fruitful. Not to put the word into practice, not to make it reality, is to build on sand, to remain in the realm of pure ideas and to end up in a lifeless and unfruitful self-centredness and gnosticism.

LCWR dissident nuns continue unashamedly their revolt against Christ and His Church

Now that the Roman authorities have washed their hands of one investigation into the American "nuns", what of the remaining investigation of the dissident and feminist LCWR nuns organization by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith? Are these faithful, humble "nuns"? Let these photos of the "nuns" and their supporters answer the question. 

Needless to say, these poor, pathetic "nuns" are also organizing a petition - as if the Church and Her truths are based on opinion... 

BREAKING NEWS: Church of England appoints first "bishopess", completing the apostasy

Pope Benedict celebrating Mass. Westminster Cathedral
Photo: Eddie Mulholland

Unrepentant sin only hardens the sinner. Heresy builds upon heresy. So it is with the apostate Church of England. This false sect, founded on the lustful desires of a debauched Monarch, this day, has irrevocably tottered into complete and final apostasy. Though retaining the sacrament of baptism and matrimony (though this sacrament is now under diabolical attack by homosexualists, including the  "Right Rev Bishopess" Linda Nicholls of Toronto who advocates for one of the four sins that cry to Heaven for vengeance), the Church of England is devoid of Grace, and is, in the words of Archbishop Sheehan "a broken cistern from which the waters of life have long since vanished". 

And so, today, this tragic sect, has dared to try to "appoint" a woman as a "bishopess". 

Please pray for those still within the Church of England that they reject this evil and come back home to Rome, Mother and Mistress of all churches. Back over 100 years ago, the venerable Leo XIII addressed Anglicans, imploring them to deepen themselves in history and to return to unity. In our day, Pope Benedict XVI gave a great gift to the Church: Anglicanorum coetibus. This gesture was the greatest ecumenical act since the sad days of the so-called "Reformation". 

We can do our part by vigorously supporting with prayers and money those Catholics who constitute the Ordinariate. In Toronto we have the wonderful parish of St. Thomas More. Please support these good people. 

Martin Luther: his false conception of God and Salvation gave rise to the most terrible evils - communism, nazism, genderism...

Fr. Tadeusz Guz, KUL

[Note:the translated text in this post must be credited to Toronto Catholic Witness]

Catholics, Christians and men of good will need to understand the the terrible evils that Martin Luther unleashed upon the Church and the world. Heresy, because it attacks our spiritual life, will - as we are body and soul - quickly spill over into our temporal, material life. Heresy, has terrible, practical consequences. It destroys not only the soul, but the body, society, physical creation. 

We need to understand the terrible ideology of Luther, as even Catholic priests manifest shocking ignorance of the heresiarch's thinking and baneful influence. It can be said - objectively speaking - based on the effects and long-term results of Luther's revolt against Christ and His Church, that the sad man was one of the most evil men in history. Luther, along with other markedly wicked men, such as Julian the Apostate and Mohammed, have been, and will continue to be, regarded as precursors of the Man of Perdition, the Antichrist. In each of these extraordinarily evil men we see some element of the diabolical, which will be reflected in a more complete manner in the Man of Sin. 

The scholar, Fr. Tadeusz Guz, Professor of Philosophy from the Catholic University of Lublin, has this to say about the evil influence of Luther:

The entire philosophy, whether it be British empiricism, or pantheism, or German idealism, or French materialism, or German materialism, hence Marx and Engels, and then Communism, Nazism, Genderism - to whom do they refer? To the reformation of Martin Luther. And this, which was my passionate interest, to  absorb the theory of Marxism and Leninism, I had to turn to Hegel and study it page by page, volume after volume. What did I read? What Martin Luther concluded in Protestant faith and feeling, I came to see in philosophy. 

What did Karl Marx along with Engels say in their early writings? What Martin Luther presented to us in the Reformation: we want to include it in the concept of politics. 

What did Sigmund Freud say? What Martin Luther wrote in his theology: I want to include in psychoanalysis. 

And what did the Communists say, led by Lenin? What Luther preceded us with: we want to lead the global revolution in politics. 

And what did Hitler write about and his closest associates in the Third Reich? What Luther began, we want to continue. 

I will give one example: Luther is the greatest broad-based anti-Semite within Christianity, who wrote two anti-Semitic works, about which are generally not spoken about. One work is "Against the Jews and their Lies". Under this guise, he writes that there were certain Jews who demanded an unfair judgment of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is, however, only a cover of Martin Luther's. He simply asks for the theft from Jews of gold, silver and all their possessions, to commit arson on all of the synagogues in Germany, to impose on them the burden of the most primitive labour, and if not wished, to expel them, because they do not have the right to exist. 

What happened during the Third Reich? One of the Protestant bishops published in the hundreds of thousands, an edition of the work of  Luther, in which were chosen the most violent passages. As he was a Protestant bishop, he published it in a very large circulation. The Third Reich's programme of anti-Semitism relied on the anti-Semitism of Martin Luther. Do you know, ladies and gentlemen, exactly when the fires on all the synagogues in the Third Reich were set? On the eve of Martin's birthday.

(Polish language translation: Barona)

One must ask again, how can men, claiming to be priests, laud such a man? How can they dare to approve of placing him amongst the saints?