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Holy Family Monastery, 4425 Schneider Rd.,
Fillmore, NY 14735 (800)275-1126;
(585)567-4433; fax: (585)567-8352; e-mail:
mhfm1@aol.com Defending
the Catholic Faith, exposing the false post-Vatican II Counter Church and
more
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Was the most powerful
"Cardinal" in America after Vatican II a secret Satanist? [pdf]
Some Basic Truths and
Facts that Catholics must know:
All who die in mortal
sin will go to Hell (some of the main mortal
sins)
Few are saved and
most of the world, including most who claim to be Catholics, are
lost
Beware (groups and
individuals who teach heresy)
The New Mass is the Abomination of
Desolation
Regarding the
Interpretation of Dogma
The Salvation Dogma
– Outside the Catholic Church There is No Salvation (and groups which reject
it)
Just a few
arguments from the teaching of the Church which refute baptism of
desire
Important
Spiritual Information (praying the Rosary and devotion to Our
Lady)
The Steps to Convert to the Catholic Faith, and for people
leaving the New Mass
Baptism
and Conditional Baptism
Where to go to
Mass and Confession?
An Introduction to
False Ecumenism and some comments on Heretical
Actions
The Vatican
II sect wants you to be in communion with devils
Heresy and
Apostasy manifested by word and deed
The Vatican II sect on
Heretics
The Vatican II sect
on Schismatics
The fruits of the Vatican II
religion
Life is Short and Hell is
Forever
Quickly Proving that Islam
is a False Religion
Can one passively attend non-Catholic
funerals, weddings?
No.
Yoga is prevalent in the Novus Ordo/Vatican II Church. What's wrong with it?
Must the Catholic Remnant Have Governing
Bishops?
Can't
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Adobe PDF Reader
MHFM
UPDATES
(E-Exchanges,
News & Commentary and Heresy of the Week are the most frequently updated
items on our website; new posts of comments from readers, links, insights,
arguments, discussion, news items, etc. are added all the
time)
Archived Radio Programs *
Padre Pio book
online [pdf
file, takes 1-2 minutes to load] ►
Outside the Catholic Church There is Absolutely No
Salvation
[pdf
file] Some
of the Recent Feature Articles *Get quantities of any of our DVDs for pennies for a limited
time
(newest posts: faith in crisis,
swearing/rock taints brain/thanks/another phony annulment/Q.O.D./Coulter and
“Fr.” Stone of EWTN/came across/N.O. sem and ord dispute/Pittsburgh N.O.
horrors/EWTN heresy/fast days/nc attending cath. wed/B16’s Assisi/rp arc/sep. of
Church and State?/re: on teen challenges/charismatics and guitars/found and
investigating//fallen into place/re: heresy/ re: med. sci/Bib. uncleanness and
effeminacy/likes info/Ten C and graven im/abandoning
“Orthodoxy”/anti-protestantism/thoughts/digesting/thankful
…)
(new: V-2
sect’s “Bishop” backs campaign to legalize brothels/Satan’s appearance prompts
man to drop drug habit/Muslim appointed by Australian “Catholic” Univ. as new
chair in Islamic studies/Middle School was going to have “gender switch”
day/Antipope seeks ecumenical dialogue)
Heresy of the Week
(changed on
Mondays)
(Benedict XVI
promotes total apostasy with Islam/Benedict XVI holds Assisi-like apostate
prayer-meeting)
THE TRUTH ABOUT
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AFTER VATICAN II
*our
new 658-page book, with approximately 200 color photographs and more than 1,700
references, is now available for order at our online store above for the
incredible price of only $10.00 or 2 copies for $14.00 or 5 copies for $25.00 or
12 copies for $50.00
To view the front
cover;
To view the back cover with
description;
To read more and see sample
sections
Some of the Recent Feature
Articles
(click here
for a list)
Facts which
demolish the “No independent priest today has Jurisdiction” Position; Was the
most powerful “Cardinal” in America after Vatican II a secret Satanist?...;
Examining the Theological Status of Heliocentrism and Geocentrism and the
Devastating Problems this creates for Baptism of Desire Arguments; The
staggering implications of Benedict XVI’s new blatant heresy on limbo; Sean
Hannity’s revealing encounter with Novus Ordo “priest”; Exposing Bob Sungenis
and his recent debate; Benedict XVI prays ecumenical Vespers with Protestants
and schismatics and says he loves the Orthodox Church [PHOTO]…; Benedict XVI’s recent retraction of
his quote against Islam is one of the most revealing heresies he has uttered… New Points from Pius XI on
canonizations which are quite devastating to the heretical Vatican II sect and
false traditionalists…; Protestant pastor dies trying to walk
on water – a case of spiritual blindness; Some comments on Mel Gibson’s
scandalous outburst…;St. Anthony
Messenger’s Special Issue on
Vatican II strikingly confirms Vatican II’s real meaning and teaching;
Radio
Program and Archived Radio Programs
OUR LAST
RADIO PROGRAM WAS FRIDAY, OCT. 26, AT 7:00 P.M. (Eastern Time); THE TIME OF THE
NEXT ONE WILL BE POSTED
Radio Program
(to listen
live click on the “Radio Program” link at the time of the program; if you have a
question you want to ask during the program, call 1-800-275-1126 or
585-567-4433)
►Archived Radio
Programs
(listen to
many important archived programs by Bro. Michael Dimond and Bro. Peter Dimond as
they address questions, speak with guests, and discuss numerous topics)
Radio Program Technical
Notes
LISTEN TO
DEBATE ON
SEDEVACANTISM FROM TUESDAY, OCT. 24.
LISTEN ONLINE. SEE WHOSE
POSITION STANDS THE TEST OF TRUTH IN A FORMAT WHERE THE ISSUES CANNOT BE IGNORED
OR EVADED!
Go here to listen to the
debate
This website
is dedicated to defending and spreading the Catholic Faith, as taught and
defined by the authoritative teachings of the popes throughout
history. It is also dedicated to exposing in great detail the
post-Vatican II pseudo-“Church” and the New Mass which purport to be Catholic,
but are not.
The Glossary of Terms and
Principles
[PDF]
(This
glossary contains important definitions of key terms and principles about the
Catholic Faith, about the post-Vatican II “Church,” about how the Catholic
Church views non-Catholic religions, etc. which people should
see.)
The Catholic
Church is the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ upon St. Peter (Mt.
16:18-20;Jn. 21:15-17). This is
proven by history, Scripture and tradition. But the post-Vatican II “Church” is
actually a counterfeit “Catholic” sect with new teachings, new practices and a
New Mass – which all contradict the Catholic Faith of all times and the teaching
of the Catholic popes in history.
Vatican II was a council which took place from 1962-1965; this council
started a revolution against the Catholic Faith and gave birth to this new
countefeit “Catholic” sect. This
website proves in tremendous detail that this post-Vatican II sect is not
Catholic, that its leaders are not Catholic, that its fruits and teachings
are not Catholic and not holy, and that this counterfeit sect was predicted
in Sacred Scripture and in Catholic prophecy to arise in the last days as
part of the Devil’s final assault on mankind. The arrival of this post-Vatican II
counterfeit “Catholic” sect in Rome in the last days actually proves, rather
than disproves, the authenticity of the traditional Catholic Faith, as this
website shows. Please consult the
“Glossary of Terms and Principles” above for a more helpful introduction to the
material on this website and for an explanation of the Catholic basis for the
conclusions asserted here. It
explains such terms as “Magisterium,” the Church’s indefectibility,
“ecumenism,” “sedevacantism,” “Papacy,” “Papal Infallibility,” “heretic,”
“antipope,” “Novus Ordo,” and others.
It also explains important principles about what the Catholic Church
teaches about other religions, that heretics cease to be members of the Church,
the new teachings after Vatican II, etc.
Refuting Protestantism and Eastern
"Orthodoxy"
[link to
section]
The
Great Apostasy and a counterfeit Church predicted in Catholic
prophecy
The New
Testament and Catholic prophecy paint a picture of the last days as a massive
spiritual deception aimed to deceive those who intend to practice the true faith
(the Catholic Faith), and which leaves the Earth with almost no one maintaining
the true faith.
Our Lady of La
Salette, Sept. 19, 1846: “Rome will lose
the Faith and become the seat of the Anti-Christ… the Church will be in
eclipse.”
Luke 18:8-
“But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on
Earth?”
The Great Apostasy and a counterfeit Church
predicted in the New Testament and in Catholic Prophecy
[PDF]
In the Gospel,
Our Lord Jesus Christ not only informs us that in the last days the true faith
would hardly be found on the Earth, but that “in the holy place” itself there
will be “the abomination of desolation” (Mt. 24:15), and a deception so profound
that, if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived (Mt. 24:24). St. Paul says that the man of sin will
sit “in the temple of God” (2 Thess. 2:4). The Apocalypse describes in detail the
Whore of Babylon, a false bride (i.e. a Counter Church) which arises in the last
days in the city of seven hills (Rome) and which spreads spiritual fornication
all over the Earth. The fact that the last days are
characterized by a spiritual deception intending to ensnare Catholics proves,
rather than disproves, the authenticity of the Catholic Church.
Is the Vatican II sect the Whore of Babylon
prophesied in the Apocalypse?
[PDF
File]
(This
article gives the stunning evidence that the Vatican II sect, a counterfeit
Church which opposes the true Catholic Church in the last days, is the Whore of
Babylon prophesied in Apocalypse chapters 17 and 18)
Matthew 24:15-
“When therefore you shall see the
abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him
understand.”
Matthew
24:24-25- “For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall
show great signs and wonders, insomuch
as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold I have told it to you,
beforehand.”
On this point, also see
the section on Fatima
Benedict
XVI (The Heresies of Benedict XVI File)
[link to
section]
John Paul II
(manifest heretic who claimed to be pope 1978-2005)
[link to
section]
Vatican II -
false council [link to
section]
The
Invalid New Mass
[link to
section]
Why the New Rite of Ordination is
Invalid [PDF
File]
(This article
explains why the New Rite of Ordination – which was instituted by Paul VI on
June 18, 1968 after Vatican II – is not valid.)
The New Rite
of Consecration of Bishops
The New Rite of Consecration of
Bishops
[PDF
file]
(This article
explains the changes that Paul VI made to the rite of consecrating bishops after
Vatican II.)
The Changes to
the Other Sacraments
The Changes to the Other
Sacraments
[PDF
file]
(This article
explains the changes that Paul VI made to the rites of Baptism, Confirmation,
Confession, Marriage and Extreme Unction after Vatican
II.)
John
Paul I (manifest heretic who claimed to be Pope for 33 days in
1978)
The
Scandals and Heresies of John Paul I
[PDF file]
Paul
VI (manifest heretic who claimed to be Pope
1963-1978)
The Heresies of Paul VI, the man who gave the world the New
Mass and the Teachings of Vatican II
[PDF
file]
(This comprehensive article not
only contains Paul VI’s worst heresies, but many photos, including Paul VI
giving away the Papal Tiara and much more.)
This file
above is a new file with some new photos of Antipope Paul VI. There are some very interesting shots,
including some new shots of him wearing the breastplate of the
ephod.
John
XXIII (manifest heretic who claimed to be Pope
1958-1963)
The Scandals and Heresies of John
XXIII [PDF
File]
(This article
also contains numerous photos)
*According to
the Grand Master of Italian Freemasonry, John XXIII was initiated into a Masonic
Lodge in Turkey before he became “pope.”
John XXIII was a radical heretic who was suspected of Modernism as far
back as 1926. He was frequently
seen fraternizing with Communists and other radicals who hate the Catholic
Church. He was the man who had the
“inspiration” to call Vatican II and get the major part of the Great Apostasy
rolling. John XXIII has all the
marks of a conspirator on him, and much evidence indicates that he was not the
first to be elected in the 1958 conclave (see the Siri article). After his death, John XXIII was praised
by Freemasons and Communists as a great liberal and a revolutionary who
supported their ideals – the former even labeled his encyclical Pacem in Terris “a vigorous statement of
Masonic doctrine.” John XXIII was a
manifest heretic and a non-Catholic antipope.
Sedevacantism
– the Chair of Peter is
Empty
* There have
been 260 valid popes in Church history and more than 40 antipopes. There have been more than 200 papal
vacancies (periods without a pope).
The facts available on this website prove that the last five men who have
claimed be popes have been and are antipopes.*
Pope Paul
IV's Apostolic Constitution Cum ex Apostolatus Officio
(Pope Paul IV
solemnly declares that a heretic cannot be validly elected pope, even with the
unanimous consent of the cardinals)
The Catholic Teaching that a heretic cannot be a valid
pope
[PDF
file]
Responses to
19 of the Most Common Objections Against Sedevacantism
[PDF
file]
St. Robert
Bellarmine, De Romano Pontifice, II, 30:
"A pope who is a manifest
heretic automatically (per se) ceases to be pope and head, just as he
ceases automatically to be a Christian and a member of the Church. Wherefore, he can be judged and
punished by the Church. This is
the teaching of all the ancient Fathers who teach that manifest heretics
immediately lose all jurisdiction."
St. Francis De
Sales (17th century), Doctor of the Church, The Catholic Controversy, pp. 305-306 :
"Now when he [the Pope] is explicitly a
heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the
Church..."
St. Antoninus
(1459): "In the case in which the pope would become
a heretic, he would find himself, by that fact alone and without any other
sentence, separated from the Church.
A head separated from a body cannot, as long as it remains separated, be
head of the same body from which it was cut off. A pope who would be separated from the
Church by heresy, therefore, would by that very fact itself cease to be head of
the Church. He could not be a heretic and remain pope,
because, since he is outside of the Church, he cannot possess the keys of the
Church." (Summa Theologica, cited in Actes de Vatican I. V. Frond pub.)
The
Catholic Church’s enemies, Communists and Freemasons, made an organized effort
to infiltrate her
The Catholic Church's enemies, Communists
and Freemasons, made an organized effort to infiltrate
her
[PDF]
A
complete list of Antipopes in History
A
complete list of the 42 antipopes in Church history
[PDF]
(In
Catholic history there have been 260 valid popes, starting with St. Peter, and
42 antipopes – that is, men who claimed to be true popes but were
not)
The Catholic Teaching that a heretic cannot be a valid
pope
[PDF
file]
Traditional Catholic Calendar (November
2007)
(to print the
Calendar on one page try the “landscape” printing
preference)
The Whole Truth about the Consecration and
Conversion of Russia
The
Vatican II sect vs. the Catholic Church on partaking in non-Catholic
worship
The Vatican II sect vs. the Catholic Church
on partaking in non-Catholic worship
(This
article shows that the Vatican II sect now officially recommends what the true
popes of the Catholic Church forbade under pain of mortal sin)
The
Massive Sex Scandal among the Vatican II/Novus Ordo
“priests”
The
Massive Sex Scandal among the Vatican II/Novus Ordo
"priests" [PDF
File]
The
Seminaries of the Vatican II sect are unspeakable cesspools of homosexuality and
heresy
The Seminaries of the Vatican II sect are
unspeakable cesspools of homosexuality and heresy [PDF
File]
The
Vatican II sect’s various ways of promoting idolatry and the worship of
man
The
Deplorable State of “Catholic” Colleges and
Universities
The Deplorable State of "Catholic" Colleges
and Universities [PDF
File]
The
Deplorable State of “Catholic” Parochial and High
Schools
The
Deplorable State of "Catholic" Parochial and High Schools [PDF
File]
One
can be pro-abortion and part of the Vatican II sect at the same
time
One can be pro-abortion and part of the
Vatican II sect at the same time [PDF
File]
The
Vatican II sect’s religious orders: Totally
Apostate
The
Religious Orders in the Vatican II sect: Totally Apostate [PDF
File]
(This
article includes a section on the apostasy of Mother Teresa and her religious
order, The Missionaries of Charity)
The
Apostasy of the Hierarchy of the Vatican II sect: is this your
hierarchy?
The
Apostasy of the Hierarchy and prominent members of the Vatican II sect - is this
your hierarchy? [PDF
File]
(This
article covers the astounding heresies and apostasy of the “bishops” and other
prominent members of the Vatican II sect – the Counter Church – as well as the
Catholic teaching that heretics immediately lose authority in the Catholic
Church)
The
Annulment Fiasco – The Vatican II sect’s De Facto acceptance of Divorce and
Remarriage
The Annulment Fiasco - The Vatican II sect's
De Facto acceptance of Divorce and
Remarriage [PDF
File]
The
Idolatry of the Vatican II sect is connected with its rampant
homosexuality
The Idolatry of the Vatican II sect is
connected with its rampant homosexuality [PDF
File]
The
Statistics on the Post-Vatican II Decline
The Statistics on the Post-Vatican II
Decline [PDF
File]
Is
the Vatican II sect the Whore of Babylon
Is the Vatican II sect the Whore of Babylon
prophesied in the Apocalypse?
[PDF
File]
(This
article gives the stunning evidence that the Vatican II sect, a counterfeit
Church which opposes the true Catholic Church in the last days, is the Whore of
Babylon prophesied in Apocalypse chapters 17 and 18)
2
Thessalonians 2:9-12: "Whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying
wonders, And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish;
because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. Therefore God shall send
them the operation of error, to believe lying. That all may be judged who have not
believed the truth, but have consented to iniquity."
Sister Faustina's Divine Mercy Devotion is
something to avoid
[PDF
File]
The False Apparitions at Bayside,
NY
[PDF
File]
The False Apparitions at
Medjugorje [PDF]
Prophecy of
Marie Julie Jahenny, Briton Stigmatist (1891): "During the time of the approach of the
punishments announced at La Salette, an unlimited amount of false revelations
will arise from Hell like a swarm of flies; a last attempt of Satan to choke and
destroy the belief in the true revelations by false
ones."
Matthew
24:24-25: "Then if any man shall say to you: Lo here is Christ, or there, do not
believe him. For there shall arise
false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders,
insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold I have told it to you, before
hand. If therefore they
shall say to you: Behold He is in the desert, go ye not out: Behold He is in the
closets, believe it not."
Natural
Family Planning is Sinful Birth Control
Why Natural Family Planning is Sinful Birth
Control
[PDF
File]
(This
article proves that so-called Natural Family Planning [NFP] is sinful birth
control, and that it contradicts Catholic teaching by subordinating the primary
purpose of marriage and the marriage act.
This article doesn’t deal with artificial contraception, which most know
is condemned as mortally sinful in Catholic teaching.)
The
Joint Declaration with the Lutherans on Justification
Concerning
those who reject the Vatican II religion but accept the Vatican II
antipopes
Concerning
those who reject the Vatican II religion but accept the Vatican II
antipopes
[PDF
File]
EWTN
and the Charismatic Movement
EWTN
and the Charismatic Movement [PDF File]
(This
article covers what a Catholic should think of Mother Angelica, the Eternal Word
Television Network, and the Charismatic movement)
Some
Basic Truths and Facts that Catholics must know
Since very few
still have the faith and even fewer preach it, there is a widespread ignorance
of even the basic truths of the Catholic Faith in our day.
Pope Benedict
XIV, Cum Religiosi (# 4), June 26, 1754:
“See to it
that every minister performs carefully the measures laid down by the holy
Council of Trent… that confessors should perform this part of their duty
whenever anyone stands at their tribunal who does not know what he must by
necessity of means know to be saved…”
We will now
review some of them:
The
Trinity and the Incarnation
There is one
God in Three Divine Persons (Father, Son and Holy Ghost). The Father is God, the Son is God, and
the Holy Ghost is God; yet they are not three gods, but One God. The Second Person of the Blessed
Trinity, the Son of God, assumed a human nature and became man from the flesh of
the Virgin Mary. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is one Divine Person with two natures: divine and human. He is God and man. The Trinity (One God: Father, Son and
Holy Ghost) and the Incarnation are the two most essential mysteries of the
Catholic Faith which no one above reason can be ignorant of and be saved.
St. Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologica:
“After grace had been revealed, both the learned and simple folk are bound to
explicit faith in the mysteries of Christ, chiefly as regards
those which are observed throughout the Church, and publicly proclaimed, such as the articles which refer to
the Incarnation, of which
we have spoken above.”
Saint Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologica:
“And consequently, when once grace had been revealed, all were bound to explicit faith in the
mystery of the Trinity.”
All
who die in mortal sin will go to Hell
Pope Eugene
IV, Council of Florence, “Letentur coeli,” Sess. 6, July 6, 1439, ex cathedra: “We define also that… the souls of those who depart this life in
actual mortal sin, or in original
sin alone, go straightaway to Hell, but to undergo punishments of
different kinds.”
Catholics must also know that
all who die in mortal sin will go to Hell forever. Mortal sins include: murder, fornication
(i.e. sexual acts outside of marriage or acts leading up to sex outside of
marriage), lying, drunkenness, consenting to impure thoughts, masturbation,
looking at pornography, adultery, cheating, taking God’s name in vain, birth
control (NFP) or artificial contraception, assisting the propagation of heresy,
funding heretics, dishonoring the Sabbath, breaking the commandments, etc. If someone were to commit a mortal sin
and then go to Confession, he must have the firm resolution never to commit the
sin again. This is called the firm
purpose of amendment. If a person
commits a mortal sin and doesn’t have the firm purpose of amendment when he goes
to Confession, he commits a sacrilege and the Confession is invalid. Most souls go to Hell because of sins of
the flesh. Those who are
committing sins of the flesh need to stop immediately if they don’t want to
perish forever in the fires of Hell.
St. Alphonsus
on the damnation of the impure: "Continue, O fool, says St. Peter Damian
(speaking to the unchaste), continue to gratify the flesh; for the day will
come in which thy impurities will become as pitch in thy entrails, to increase
and aggravate the torments of the flame which will burn thee in Hell: 'The day
will come, yea rather the night, when thy lust shall be turned into pitch, to
feed in thy bowels the everlasting fire." (Preparation for Death, abridged version,
p. 117)
Many of those
who claim to be Catholics also don’t understand the Papacy. We’ve discovered from experience that
many of those who even claim to be “traditional” Catholics don’t even know that
the Papacy is. The Office of the
Papacy is the office that Christ instituted in St. Peter (see Mt. 16:18-20; John
21:15-17). St. Peter was made the
chief of the Apostles and visible head of the Church by Jesus Christ. The Office of St. Peter (the Papacy) is
occupied by every true and lawful Bishop of Rome, who becomes a successor to St.
Peter in the primacy over the universal (Catholic) Church of Jesus Christ. This means and guarantees that every
time there is a true and valid occupant of the Office he is endowed by Christ
with infallibility (in his authoritative and binding teaching capacity, not in
everything he says or teaches); he is endowed with supreme jurisdiction over the
universal Church; and he is the visible head of the Church. That remains true for every true and
lawful occupant of the Papal Office.
Those teachings proclaimed by the popes in history with their binding
authority (such as the Council of Trent or the Council of Florence or a solemn
Papal Bull on faith, etc.) constitute the deposit of faith – the unchangeable
teachings to which Catholics must submit, and on which they base what they
believe as the faithful transmission of the teaching of Scripture and
Tradition. The Papacy doesn’t mean
that the Church will have a true pope at all times, as Church history and more
than 200 papal vacancies prove, nor does it mean that antipopes reigning from
Rome are an impossibility (such as Antipope Anacletus II, who reigned in Rome
from 1130-1138) – as is the case today.
Very few are
Saved and most of the world, including most Catholics, are
damned
Catholics must
also understand that few are
saved. Our Lord Jesus
Christ revealed that the road to Heaven is straight and narrow and few find it,
while the road to Hell is wide and taken by most (Mt. 7:13).
Matthew 7:13-
“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for
wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many
there are who go in thereat. How
narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life, and few there
are that find it!”
Luke 13:24-
“Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for
many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be
able.”
Scripture also
teaches that almost the entire world lies in darkness, so much so that Satan is
even called the “prince” (John 12:31) and “god” (2 Cor. 4:3) of this
world.
1 John 5:19-
“We know that we are of God, and the
whole world is seated in wickedness.”
It is the sad
fact of history that most people in the world are of bad will and don’t want the
truth. That is why almost the whole
world lies in darkness and on the road to perdition. This has been the case since the
beginning. It was the case when
only eight souls (Noe and his family) escaped God’s wrath in the deluge that
covered the entire earth, and when the Israelites rejected God’s law and fell
into idolatry over and over again.
The truth
is that for
those who truly believe in God, accept His full truth (the Catholic Faith),
don’t compromise it and want to do the right thing, it’s not hard to reach
Heaven. As Christ said, “My yoke is
sweet and My burden light” (Mt. 11:30).
The reason that so few make it is not because it’s that hard, but because
they refuse to believe the simple and easy things He has revealed, and do the
simple and easy things He has commanded.
Those who do what God wants and believe what He says realize that they
are much happier than they were before.
But the sad
truth is that almost all people are of bad will. This is why the saints and Doctors of
the Church have consistently taught only a very small percentage of people are
saved. In fact, the saints and
Doctors of the Church, even during the ages of faith, taught that most adult
Catholics are lost.
St. Leonard of
Port Maurice [A.D. 1676-1751], on the fewness of the saved: “After consulting
all the theologians and making a diligent study of the matter, he [Suarez]
wrote, ‘The most common sentiment which is held is
that, among Christians [Catholics], there are more damned souls than
predestined souls.’
Add the authority of the Greek and Latin Fathers to that of the
theologians, and you will find that almost all of them say the same thing. This
is the sentiment of Saint Theodore, Saint Basil, Saint Ephrem, Saint John
Chrysostom. What is more, according to Baronius it was a common opinion among
the Greek Fathers that this truth was expressly revealed to Saint Simeon
Stylites and that after this revelation, it was to secure his salvation that he
decided to live standing on top of a pillar for forty years, exposed to the
weather, a model of penance and holiness for everyone. Now let us consult the Latin Fathers.
You will hear Saint Gregory saying clearly, "Many attain to faith, but few to
the heavenly kingdom." Saint Anselm declares, "There are few who are
saved." Saint Augustine states even more clearly, "Therefore, few are
saved in comparison to those who are damned." The most terrifying, however, is Saint
Jerome. At the end of his life, in the presence of his disciples, he spoke these
dreadful words: "Out of one hundred thousand people whose lives have always been
bad, you will find barely one who is worthy of indulgence."
When St.
Leonard of Port Maurice uses the term “Christian,” he means Catholics, not
heretics. St. Leonard is repeating
the consistent teaching of the Fathers and Doctors: most adult Catholics (not
even including the non-Catholic world) are lost. If this was the sentiment about the
salvation of Catholics in the ages of faith, what would they say today? If you have trouble accepting the truths
presented on this website because “it’s just too hard to believe that this many
people could be wrong or deceived,” consider the teaching of Our Lord and the
saints above. Consider how much
more true the teaching on the fewness of the saved is
today:
“Lucia found
Jacinta sitting alone, still and very pensive, gazing at nothing. ‘What are you thinking of, Jacinta?’ ‘Of the war that is going to come. So many people are going to die. And almost all of them are going to
Hell.’” (Our Lady of Fatima, p. 94; p. 92 in some
versions)
Jacinta of
Fatima, who had visions of future events, said that of those who would die in
World War II almost all of them would go to Hell.
St. Anselm: “If thou wouldst be
certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of
the many. And if thou wouldst be
quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not
follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow
way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax
their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness.”
(Fr. Martin Von Cochem, The Four Last
Things, p. 221.)
Act
of Contrition
O my God, I am
heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I
dread the loss of heaven, and the pains of hell; but most of all because they
offend Thee, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly
resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to
amend my life. Amen.
The Modern Pagan
Festival of Halloween
Modern-day priest speaks of how he was condemned to Hell by Jesus
Christ for all eternity
Canonizations Are Infallible (this article includes a
section on the apostasy of Mother Teresa of Calcutta)
Responding to the heretic Fr. Cekada on NFP
Post-Vatican II Church
Miscellaneous Photo Gallery
(new pictures: Mother Teresa
Worshipping Buddha; and apostate nuns in Santa Fe pray the “Our Father/Our
Mother”)
Newsletters
A
Short Refutation of the Theory of Baptism of
Desire!
Bayside – The False
Apparitions at Bayside, New York
(exposes the
lengths to which the Devil has been allowed to go to deceive people about the
Vatican II apostasy, the Vatican II Antipopes and the New
Mass)
The CMRI – a group which believes in salvation outside the
Church
The SSPX - The File on the Positions of the
SSPX
The SSPV – a group which believes in salvation outside the
Church
Cyprian, Fr. – his “Benedictine” monastery is heretical and
cult-like
Davies, Michael: defender of the Faith or faithless heretic?
Droleskey, Dr. Tom - believes that members of false religions can
be saved
Giardina,
Fr. Leonard of Christ the King Abbey – believes in salvation outside the
Church
Gibson, Hutton – Mel’s heretical father who believes in salvation
outside the Church
Gruner, "Fr." Nicholas – Why would you say
that he is a schismatic?
John Daly, some words about the
illogical heretic
John Browne, a.k.a. Thomas
S. (former promoter of homosexuality and universal
salvation)
McKenna, Bishop tells us that baptism of desire = Jews who reject
Christ can be saved
McKenna, Bishop – An
“Unanswered Letter” from him – Our Letter Debate on Baptism of
Desire
R.I., Refuting his illogical and schismatical
positions
R.I. – Part 2 – Our Challenge to Debate R.I., Refused in Cowardly
Fashion
Tom S., Bishop and Dennis M., Fr.
Our Analysis of Bishop Tom proved to be absolutely
correct
The Remnant – Various
Heresies from its false traditionalist writers
The St. Benedict Center's heretical and
schismatic positions
Sanborn, Bishop – believes
that pagans and idolaters can be saved
Sungenis, Part 2 –A Response to the heretic posing as "Catholic
Apologist"
(a devastating
refutation of Bob Sungenis, as well as his defense of Vatican II and the New
Mass)
Vaillancourt, Fr. Kevin -
believes in salvation outside the Church
Vennari, John – Why would you say that he
is a heretic?
White, David Allen - heretic who believes that anti-Catholic
atheists can be saved
Williamson, Bishop Richard
of the SSPX: a complete schismatic and a wolf in sheep's clothing
A Warning about certain Heretical Traditional Priests and
Chapels
(newest
addition: Fr. Post of SSPX in TN)
The
Society of St. Pius X (SSPX)
The
File on the Positions of the Society of St. Pius X [PDF file]
(This contains a detailed
explanation of the SSPX’s positions, and it shows why they are not consistent
with Catholic teaching in various areas.
It includes a collection of little known quotes from Archbishop Lefebvre
which demonstrate that he was on the verge of embracing the sedevacantist
position.)
More
Archived Questions
Questions, Answers and
Comments
Main Question
and Answers Archive;
Questions and
Answers, Fall 2004;
Questions and
Answers, Summer 2004;
Questions and
Answers, Spring 2004
Book/Article
Reviews
The Great Apostasy, not The Great Facade
A Critique of Is
Feeneyism Catholic? by Fr. Francois Laisney (SSPX)
The
New Mass is the Abomination of Desolation
Our
Monastery
(Some new
testimonials updated 5/16/05)
“I know you
don't need feedback on your videos, but the last one I received (Why the Novus Ordo is Invalid.....) was
so wonderfully done. I think it will be especially effective to new people
researching the truth...... I am going to order a lot more of them to give to
all of my novus ordo family. Thank you for all of the hard work you do.”
–T.T.
Regarding
the Interpretation of Dogma
An important
question about the interpretation of dogmatic statements and one’s authority to
use them?
Hi,
Some say that
quoting dogmatic statements to prove that Benedict XVI is a heretic, that a
heretic is not the Pope, that people cannot be saved without Baptism, etc. is
like a Protestant privately interpreting Sacred Scripture. What is the response to
this?
MHFM: Thank you for
your question. The people who make
this assertion don’t understand Catholic teaching or what constitutes fidelity
to the Magisterium. This issue of
“interpretation” was addressed in our book Outside the Catholic Church There is
Absolutely No Salvation, but we’ve recently come across an additional point
that is extremely important in this regard. In its Decree on the Sacrament of Order,
the Council of Trent solemnly declared that the dogmatic canons of Trent are for
the use of all the faithful!
Pope Pius IV,
Council of Trent, Sess. 13, Chap. 4:
“These are the matters which in general it seemed well to the sacred Council to
teach to the faithful of Christ regarding the sacrament of order. It has, however, resolved to condemn the
contrary in definite and appropriate canons in the following manner,
so that all, making use of the rule of faith, with the assistance of Christ,
may be able to recognize more easily the Catholic truth in the midst of the
darkness of so many errors.” (Denz. 960)
The word
“canon" (in Greek: kanon) means a reed; a straight rod or bar; a
measuring stick; something serving to determine, rule, or measure. The Council of Trent is infallibly
declaring that its canons are measuring rods for “all” so that they, making
use of these rules of Faith (the meaning of the word “canon”), may be
able to recognize and defend the truth in the midst of darkness! This very important statement blows
away the claim of those who say that using dogmas to prove points is
“private interpretation.” This
canon teaches exactly the opposite of what they assert: that all cannot make use
of these rules of Faith! This is a
very important statement not only for the salvation/baptism controversy, but
also for the sedevacantist issue.
The point of
the dogmas is so that the faithful know what they must believe and reject, so
that they are independent of the mere opinions of men, and are following the
infallible truth of Christ. If the
faithful have to rely to someone else giving their version or understanding of
the dogmatic definition, then that (fallible) person becomes the rule of faith,
and not the infallible dogmatic definition.
St. Francis De Sales
explained it well against the Protestants.
St. Francis De
Sales (Doctor of the Church), The
Catholic Controversy, c. 1602, p. 228: “The Councils… decide and define some
article. If after all this another test has to be tried before
their [the Council’s] determination is received, will not another also be wanted? Who will not want to apply his test, and
whenever will the matter be settled?... And why not a third to know if
the second is faithful? – and then a fourth, to test the third? Everything must be done over again, and
posterity will never trust antiquity but will go ever turning upside down the
holiest articles of faith in the wheel of their understandings… what we say is that when a Council has
applied this test, our brains have not
now to revise but to believe.”
The
“interpretation” ends with the words of the dogma itself! If it doesn’t, then it never
ends, as we saw above – you just have fallible interpretation after fallible
interpretation after fallible interpretation after fallible
interpretation. If the buck
doesn’t stop with the infallible definition (the Chair of Peter), then it never
stops. I pointed this fact out to a
somewhat well-known “apologist” for the Vatican II sect in a telephone
conversation. He was arguing that
our usage of Catholic dogmatic teaching (the teaching of the Chair of Peter) is
like Protestant “private interpretation.”
He was saying this in an attempt to defend some of his heretical beliefs
which contradict dogma, such as his belief that non-Catholics can be saved. I said to him, “then who interprets the
dogma? And who interprets the
interpretation of the dogma?” After I said “who interprets the interpretation of
the dogma… and who interprets the interpretation of the interpretation… and who
interprets the interpretation of the interpretation of the interpretation…” he
remained deadly silent for the first time in the conversation. He obviously had no response to the
factual point that was made, simply because there is no response. In the heretical view of dogmatic
teaching that he espoused, the Catholic Faith is nothing more than Protestantism
– fallible, private, human interpretation with no Chair of Peter to give one the
final word. The following
quotation also illustrates this point very well.
“Why did
Athanasius know he was right?
Because he clung to the infallible definition, no matter what everyone
else said. Not all the learning in the world, nor all
the rank of office, can substitute for the truth of one infallibly defined
Catholic teaching. Even the
simplest member of the faithful, clinging to an infallible definition, will know
more than the most ‘learned’ theologian who denies or undermines the
definition. That is the whole purpose of
the Church’s infallibly defined teaching – to make us independent of the
mere opinions of men, however learned, however high their rank.” (The Devil’s Final Battle, p. 183. *we
don’t endorse this book, but this is an excellent point.*)
That
is why in adhering to exactly what the dogma “has once declared” (Vatican I),
one is not engaging in Protestant “private interpretation,” but is rather being
most faithful to the infallible truth of Christ and the directly infallible way
of knowing it (the dogmatic definitions of the Church).
Pope
Pius IX, First Vatican Council, Sess. 3, Chap. 2 on Revelation, 1870,
ex cathedra: “Hence,
also, that
understanding of its sacred dogmas must be perpetually retained, which Holy
Mother Church has once declared;
and
there must never be a recession from that meaning under the specious name of a
deeper understanding.”
(Denz. 1800)
Those
who depart from the actual declaration of the dogma, and the actual meaning of
its words, are the ones who engage in condemned, sinful, fallible and private
interpretation, against the direct words of the dogma (against the infallible
definitions) and thus destroy all faith and render Papal Infallibility
pointless. If one can’t go by what
the dogmatic statement actually declares, then Christ would have just told us to
always follow those with learning or
authority; He would never have instituted an infallible Magisterium
exercised by the Popes, which can clarify issues once and for all times with no
possibility of error and regardless of who agrees or disagrees with the
definition.
BUT CAN’T MEN
MISUNDERSTAND A DOGMATIC DEFINITION?
Of course they
can. Men can misunderstand or
pervert anything and any form of teaching that could ever be transmitted. If Jesus Christ (the Truth Himself) were
here speaking to us, many people would without doubt misunderstand or pervert
what He said, just as many did when He came the first time. Likewise, just because some can and do
misunderstand what the Chair of Peter is declaring, it does not mean that those
who faithfully adhere to and make use of its definitions are engaging in
Protestant “private interpretation.”
It is just the opposite, as we saw from the Council of Trent above. And that is why the Magisterium has
condemned the idea that dogmas are just “interpretations”!
Pope Pius X,
Lamentabile, The Errors of the Modernists, July 3, 1907,
#22:
“The dogmas
which the Church professes as revealed are not truths fallen from heaven, but
they are a kind of interpretation of religious facts, which the human
mind by a laborious effort prepared for itself.”- Condemned (Denz.
2022)
Pope Pius X,
Lamentabile, The Errors of the Modernists, July 3, 1907,
#54:
“The
dogmas, the sacraments, the hierarchy, as far as pertains both to the
notion and to the reality, are nothing but interpretations and the
evolution of Christian intelligence, which have increased and perfected the
little germ latent in the Gospel.”- Condemned (Denz.
2054)
Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos (#7), Aug. 15, 1832: “…
nothing of the things appointed ought to be diminished; nothing changed; nothing
added; but they must be preserved both
as regards expression and meaning.”
And that is
why the Magisterium has condemned the idea that dogmas are just
“interpretations”!
Pope Pius X,
Lamentabile, The Errors of the Modernists, July 3, 1907,
#22:
“The dogmas
which the Church professes as revealed are not truths fallen from heaven, but
they are a kind of interpretation of religious facts, which the human
mind by a laborious effort prepared for itself.”- Condemned (Denz.
2022)
Pope Pius X,
Lamentabile, The Errors of the Modernists, July 3, 1907,
#54:
“The
dogmas, the sacraments, the hierarchy, as far as pertains both to the
notion and to the reality, are nothing but interpretations and the
evolution of Christian intelligence, which have increased and perfected the
little germ latent in the Gospel.”- Condemned (Denz.
2054)
Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos (#7), Aug. 15, 1832: “…
nothing of the things appointed ought to be diminished; nothing changed; nothing
added; but they must be preserved both
as regards expression and meaning.”
Outside the Catholic Church There is Absolutely No
Salvation [PDF
FILE]
(This is the most comprehensive
book that has been written on this dogma.
This book answers all of the major objections on the baptism issue and
the salvation issue; look through the Table of Contents if you are looking for a
particular issue or objection.)
*The Catholic
Church teaches that Outside the Catholic Church There is No Salvation. This dogma means what it says and says
what it means.
Pope Eugene
IV, Council of Florence, “Cantate Domino,” 1441, ex
cathedra:
“The
Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are
outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and
schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire
which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the
Church before the end of their lives; that the
unity of this ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only for those who
abide in it do the Church’s sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts,
almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian militia
productive of eternal rewards; and that nobody can be saved, no matter how
much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed blood in the name of
Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic
Church.”
Unfortunately,
this dogma is denied by almost all who profess to be “Catholic” today. It is denied by almost all who claim to
be “traditional” Catholics, including the Fraternity of St. Peter, Society of
St. Pius X, Society of St. Pius V, CMRI, etc. as documented in the book
above. These individuals and groups
hold that the above dogma on salvation doesn’t really mean that all who die
without the Catholic Faith are lost.
They hold that there are exceptions for certain people who die without
the Catholic Faith.
Bishop Marcel
Lefebvre (SSPX), Against the
Heresies, page 216: “Evidently, certain distinctions must be made.
Souls can be saved in a religion
other than the Catholic religion (Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.), but not
by this religion. There may be
souls who, not knowing Our Lord, have by the grace of the good Lord, good
interior dispositions, who submit to God...But some of these persons make an act
of love which implicitly is equivalent to baptism of desire. It is uniquely by this means that they
are able to be saved.”
This is
blatantly heretical.
The SSPV, The Roman Catholic, Fenton Article, Fall
2003, p. 7, on Outside the Church There is No Salvation: “With the strict,
literal interpretation of this doctrine, however, I must take issue, for if
I read and understand the strict interpreters correctly, nowhere is allowance
made for invincible ignorance, conscience, or good faith on the part of those
who are not actual or formal members of the Church at the moment of death. It is inconceivable to me that, of
all the billions of non-Catholics who have died in the past nineteen and
one-half centuries, none of them were in good faith in this matter and, if they
were, I simply refuse to believe that hell is their eternal
destiny.”
This is
blatantly heretical. Notice that
the SSPV rejects the dogma as the Church has declared it.
Bishop Robert
McKenna, “The Boston Snare,” printed in the CMRI’s Magazine The Reign of Mary, Vol. XXVI, No. 83:
“The doctrine, then, of no salvation
outside the Church is to be understood in the sense of knowingly outside the Church…
But, they may object, if such be the sense of the dogma in question, why is the
word ‘knowingly’ not part of the formula, ‘Outside the Church no
salvation’? For the simple reason that the addition is
unnecessary. How could anyone
know of the dogma and not be knowingly outside the Church? The ‘dogma’ is not so much a doctrine
intended for the instruction of Catholics, since it is but a logical
consequence of the Church’s claim to be the true Church, but rather a solemn and material
warning or declaration for the benefit of those outside the one ark of
salvation.”
This is
heretical. It is the same heresy
uttered above by the SSPX and SSPV, just in slightly different words. The CMRI holds that certain people who
are not Catholic can be saved.
Bishop McKenna, who wrote the article published in the CMRI’s magazine,
confirmed for us that he believes that “baptism of desire” can even save Jews
who reject Christ. All of these
groups reject the dogma Outside the Church There is No Salvation as the Church
has defined it (that is, without exceptions). They all hold that certain people who
die without the Catholic Faith can be saved.
No exceptions
were ever mentioned in any of the dogmatic definitions on salvation. On the contrary, all exceptions were
always excluded. That is why no
Catholic can financially support any of these heretical groups under pain of
grave sin. It is true that people
can be ignorant in good faith of certain
aspects of the Catholic Faith (e.g. certain dogmas). However, no one who is ignorant of the
essential mysteries of the Catholic Faith (the Trinity and the Incarnation) – or
who rejects another dogma of the Catholic Faith – can be saved. The Trinity and the Incarnation
constitute the Catholic Faith in terms of its simplest mysteries. No man above reason, no one who “wishes
to be saved,” can be saved without a belief in these mysteries of Catholic
Faith.
Pope Eugene
IV, Council of Florence, Sess. 8, Nov. 22, 1439, ex cathedra:
“Whoever wishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the
Catholic faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will
without a doubt perish in eternity.– But the Catholic faith is this, that we
worship one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in unity; neither
confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance; for there is one person of
the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit, their glory is
equal, their majesty coeternal...and in this Trinity there is nothing first or
later, nothing greater or less, but all three persons are coeternal and coequal
with one another, so that in every respect, as has already been said above, both
unity in Trinity, and Trinity in unity must be worshipped. Therefore let him who wishes to be
saved, think thus concerning the Trinity.
“But it is necessary
for eternal salvation that he faithfully believe also in the incarnation of our
Lord Jesus Christ...the Son of God is God and man... This is
the Catholic faith; unless each one believes this faithfully and firmly, he
cannot be saved.”
The above
definition of the Athanasian Creed at the ecumenical Council of Florence means
that this Creed qualifies as a pronouncement from the Chair of St. Peter (an
ex cathedra pronouncement).
To deny that which is professed in the Athanasian Creed is to cease to be
Catholic. The Creed declares that
whoever wishes to be saved needs to hold the Catholic Faith and believe
in the Trinity and the Incarnation.
Notice the phrase, “whoever wishes to be saved”
(quicunque vult salvus esse).
This phrase is
without question the product and inspiration of the Holy Ghost. It tells us that everyone who can
“wish” must believe in the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation
in order to be saved. This does not
include infants and those below the age of reason, since they cannot
wish! Infants are numbered
among the Catholic faithful, since they receive the habit of Catholic Faith at
the Sacrament of Baptism. But,
being below the age of reason, they cannot make any act of faith in the Catholic
mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation, an act which is absolutely
necessary for the salvation of all above the age of reason (for all who wish to be saved). Is it not remarkable how God worded this
infallible Creed’s teaching on the necessity of belief in the mysteries of the
Trinity and the Incarnation in a way that would not include infants? The Creed, therefore, teaches that
everyone above the age of reason must have a knowledge and belief in the
mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation to be saved – no exceptions. This creed, therefore,
eliminates the theory of invincible ignorance (that one above
the age of reason can be saved without knowing Christ or the true Faith) and
further renders those who preach it unable to profess this creed with
honesty.
And the fact
that no one who wishes to be saved
can be saved without a knowledge and belief in the mysteries of the Trinity and
the Incarnation is the reason why the Holy Office under Pope Clement XI
responded that a missionary must, before baptism, explain these absolutely necessary mysteries to an
adult who is at the point of death.
Response of the Sacred Office to the Bishop of Quebec, Jan. 25,
1703:
“Q. Whether a
minister is bound, before baptism is conferred on an adult, to explain to him
all the mysteries of our faith, especially if he is at the point of death,
because this might disturb his mind.
Or, whether it is sufficient, if the one at the point of death will
promise that when he recovers from the illness, he will take care to be
instructed, so that he might put into practice what has been commanded
him.
“A. A promise is not sufficient, but a
missionary is bound to explain to an adult, even a dying one who is not
entirely incapacitated, the mysteries
of faith which are necessary by a necessity of means, as are especially the
mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation.” (Denz.
1349a)
Another
question was posed at the same time and answered the same
way.
Response of the Sacred Office to the Bishop of Quebec, Jan. 25,
1703:
“Q. Whether it
is possible for a crude and uneducated adult, as it might be with a barbarian,
to be baptized, if there were given him only an understanding of God and some of
His attributes… although he does not believe explicitly in Jesus
Christ.
“A. A missionary should not baptize one who
does not believe explicitly in the Lord Jesus Christ, but is bound to instruct
him about all those matters which are necessary, by a necessity of
means, in accordance with the capacity of the one to be baptized.”
(Denz. 1349b)
Errors
condemned under Pope Innocent XI, March 4,
1679, #64: “A person is fit for absolution, however much he labors under an
ignorance of the mysteries of the faith, and even if through negligence, even
culpable, he does not know the mystery of the most blessed Trinity, and of
the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Denz.
1214)
Pope St. Pius
X, Acerbo Nimis (# 2), April 15, 1905:
“And so Our
Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a
great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that
everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those
mysteries of faith which must be known and believed in order to be
numbered among the elect.’”
Pope Gregory
XVI, Summo Iugiter Studio, May 27, 1832, on no salvation outside the
Church: “Finally some of these
misguided people attempt to persuade themselves and others that men are not
saved only in the Catholic religion, but that even heretics may attain eternal
life… You know how
zealously Our predecessors taught that article of faith which these dare to
deny, namely the necessity of the Catholic faith and of unity for salvation…
Omitting other appropriate passages which are almost numberless in the
writings of the Fathers, We shall praise St. Gregory the Great who expressly
testifies that THIS IS INDEED THE TEACHING OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. He says: ‘The holy universal Church
teaches that it is not possible to worship God truly except in her and asserts
that all who are outside of her will not be saved.’ Official acts of the Church proclaim the same
dogma. Thus, in the decree on faith which Innocent
III published with the synod of Lateran IV, these things are written: ‘There
is one universal Church of all the faithful outside of which no one is
saved.’ Finally the same
dogma is also expressly mentioned in the profession of faith proposed by the
Apostolic See, not only that which all Latin churches use, but also that which…
other Eastern Catholics use. We did
not mention these selected testimonies because We thought you were ignorant of that article
of faith and in need of Our instruction.
Far be it from Us to have such an absurd and insulting suspicion about
you. But We are so concerned about
this serious and well known dogma, which has been attacked with such remarkable
audacity, that We could not restrain Our pen from reinforcing this truth with
many testimonies.”
The truth that no one can above
the age of reason can be saved who is ignorant of the Catholic Faith (at least
in its essential components) is a truth held and taught by all the Saints and
Doctors of the Church and the Church’s greatest missionaries. They were all convinced, as it is the
teaching of the Catholic Church, that all who die in non-Catholic religions and
in ignorance of the Gospel are lost.
St. Augustine
(+426): “Consequently both those who
have not heard the gospel and those who, having heard it, and having been
changed for the better, did not receive
perseverance… none of these are
separated from that lump which is known to be damned, as all are going… into
condemnation.”
St. Isaac
Jogues: “Although, in all probability, I could escape [from the Iroquois] either
through the Europeans or through the other savages living around us, if I should
wish it, I decided to live on this cross on which Our Lord had fixed me in
company with Himself, and to die with His grace helping me… Who could instruct the prisoners who were
being constantly brought in? Who
could baptize them when they were dying, and strengthen them in their
torments? Who could pour the sacred
waters on the heads of the children?
Who could look after the salvation of the adults who were dying, and
after the instruction of those in good health? Indeed, I believe that it happened
not without a singular providence of the Divine Goodness, that I should have
fallen into the hands of these very savages… These savages, I must confess, unwillingly
and reluctantly have thus far spared me, by the will of God, so that thus through me, although
unworthy, they might be instructed, they might believe, and be
baptized, as many of them as
are preordained for eternal life.”
(Francis Talbot, Saint Among
Savages: The Life of St. Isaac Jogues, p. 300.)
Could
any statement from a Saint refute the heresy of salvation for the “invincibly
ignorant” better? St. Isaac knew
that those heathen who did not come to know the Catholic Faith and get baptized
simply were not preordained for eternal life.
Romans
8:29-30- “For whom He foreknew, he
also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son: that
he might be the first-born amongst many brethren. And whom he predestinated, them he also
called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he
justified, them he also glorified.”
As
Catholics, of course, we don’t believe as the heretic John Calvin, who held a
predestination according to which no matter what one does he is either
predestined for heaven or hell.
That is a wicked heresy.
Rather, as Catholics we believe in the true understanding of
predestination, which is expressed by St. Isaac Jogues and Romans 8 above. This true understanding of
predestination simply means that God’s foreknowledge from all eternity makes
sure that those who are of good will and are sincere will be brought to the
Catholic faith and come to know what they must – and that those who are not
brought to the Catholic faith and don’t know what they must were not among the
elect.
2 Corinthians
4:3: “And if our gospel be
hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world [Satan] hath
blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the gospel of the glory of
Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine unto them.”
(See section
16 in the book, as well as the section on St. Isaac Jogues and St. Francis
Xavier, for more on this issue).
Many
ask about the “baptism of desire” and “baptism of blood.” This is the idea that an unbaptized
catechumen (a person who professes belief in the Catholic Faith and is preparing
to be baptized) can be saved without Baptism by his desire for it or by his
martyrdom. This idea has
never been taught in any infallible pronouncement of the Catholic
Church. On the contrary, the
infallible teaching of the Catholic Church proves that no man can be saved
without the Sacrament of Baptism (see below). And while there were certain Saints in
favor of the idea that an unbaptized catechumen could be saved without the
Sacrament of Baptism, there were Saints and Doctors of the Church (including the
overwhelming teaching of the early Church) who rejected the idea.
St. Gregory
Nazianz, 381 AD: “Of those who fail to be baptized some are utterly animal and
bestial, according to whether they are foolish or wicked. This, I think, they must add to their
other sins, that they have no reverence for this gift, but regard it as any
other gift, to be accepted if given them, or neglected if not given them. Others know and honor the gift; but they
delay, some out of carelessness, some because of insatiable desire. Still others are not able to receive it,
perhaps because of infancy, or some perfectly involuntary circumstance
which prevents them from receiving the gift, even if they desire
it…
“If you were
able to judge a man who intends to commit murder, solely by his intention and
without any act of murder, then you could likewise reckon as baptized one who
desired Baptism, without having received Baptism. But, since you cannot do the former, how
can you do the latter? I cannot
see it. If you prefer, we will
put it like this: if in your opinion desire has equal power with actual
Baptism, then make the same judgment in regard to glory. You will then be satisfied to long for
glory, as if that longing itself were glory. Do you suffer any damage by not
attaining the actual glory, as long as you have a desire for it?” (Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 2:
1012.)
Here we see
St. Gregory rejecting the idea of baptism of desire.
St. John
Chrysostom, The Consolation of Death: “And plainly must we
grieve for our own catechumens, should they, either through their own
unbelief or through their own neglect, depart this life without the saving
grace of baptism.” (Saint John Chrysostom, “The Consolation of Death,”
Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers, vol. IV, p.
363.)
Here we see
St. John Chrysostom rejecting the idea of baptism of
desire.
St. Ambrose,
De mysteriis, 390-391 A.D.:
“You have
read, therefore, that the three witnesses in Baptism are one: water, blood, and
the spirit; and if you withdraw any one of these, the Sacrament of Baptism is
not valid. For what is water
without the cross of Christ? A
common element without any sacramental effect. Nor on the other hand is there any
mystery of regeneration without water: for ‘unless a man be born again of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ [John 3:5] Even a catechumen
believes in the cross of the Lord Jesus, by which also he is signed; but, unless
he be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
he cannot receive the remission of sins nor be recipient of the
gift of spiritual grace.” (Jurgens, The
Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 2: 1330.)
St.
Augustine, 391: “When we shall have come into His [God’s] sight, we shall behold
the equity of God’s justice. Then
no one will say:… ‘Why was this man
led by God’s direction to be baptized, while that man, though he lived properly
as a catechumen, was killed in a sudden disaster, and was not baptized?’
Look for rewards, and you will find
nothing except punishments.” (Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 3:
1496.)
It
is well-known and easily discovered that many saints rejected the idea of
baptism of desire, yet we still see the following grievous lies printed in books
by the Society of St. Pius X and others.
Fr. Jean-Marc
Rulleau (SSPX), Baptism of Desire, p.
63: “This baptism of desire makes up for
the want of sacramental baptism… The existence of this mode of salvation is a truth taught by the Magisterium of the
Church and held from the first centuries by all the Fathers. No Catholic theologian has contested
it.”
Fr. Francois
Laisney (SSPX), Is Feeneyism
Catholic?, p. 79, on Baptism of desire: “It is not only the common teaching, but
unanimous teaching; it is not only since the early part of this millennium,
but rather from the beginning of the Church…”
These are lies
which brainwash people.
Furthermore, of the saints who did believe in baptism of desire, none
of them ever extended it to anyone besides an unbaptized catechumen (i.e., a
person who believed in the Catholic Faith and wanted to be baptized.) They would all condemn as heretical the
idea that “baptism of desire” saves a person who is part of another religion or
who doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ.
In fact, even some of those saints who believed in baptism of blood
rejected the idea of baptism of desire.
They held that only martyrs were an exception to the Sacrament of
Baptism:
St. Cyril of
Jerusalem, 350 A.D.: “If any man does
not receive baptism, he does not receive salvation. The only exception is the
martyrs...” (Jurgens, The Faith of
the Early Fathers, Vol. 1: 811.)
St. Fulgence,
523: “From that time at which Our Savior said: “If anyone is not reborn of water and the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven,’ no one can, without the
sacrament of baptism, except those who, in the Catholic Church, without
Baptism pour out their blood for Christ…” (Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 3:
2269.)
I
mention these facts, which are covered in much more detail in the book, to show
how far have we come in our day, where almost 100% of those who argue in favor
of baptism of desire/blood don’t even believe in baptism of desire or blood at
all! They believe in salvation for
non-Catholics and people who don’t even believe in Christ and dishonestly call
it “baptism of desire”! They
believe that “baptism of desire” somehow saves certain Jews, Buddhists, pagans,
Muslims, etc.! How horrified would
the saints and fathers be by the heretical teaching of the SSPX, SSPV, CMRI,
etc., that souls can be saved in other religions, which is reflected in the
quote below from Archbishop Lefebvre?
Bishop
Lefebvre (SSPX), Against the
Heresies, pages 217-218: “This is then what Pius IX said and what he
condemned. It is necessary to
understand the formulation that was so often employed by the Fathers of the
Church: ‘Outside the Church there
is no salvation.’ When we say
that, it is incorrectly believed that we think that all the Protestants, all
the Moslems, all the Buddhists, all those who do not publicly belong to the
Catholic Church go to hell.
Now, I repeat, it is possible for someone to be saved in these
religions, but they are saved by the Church, and so the formulation is true:
Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus. This
must be preached.”
For instance,
even though St. Fulgence believed in baptism of blood and is even quoted in the
Society of St. Pius X’s book on the subject, he teaches exactly the opposite of
what you just read from Bishop Lefebvre – which heresy is also what the SSPV,
CMRI, etc., etc., believe:
St. Fulgence,
The Rule of Faith, 526 A.D.: “Hold
most firmly and never doubt in the least that not only all the pagans but also all the Jews and
all the heretics and schismatics who end this present life outside the Catholic
Church are about to go into the eternal fire that was prepared for the devil and
his angels.”
St. Fulgence
would condemn the SSPX, SSPV, CMRI as heretical. So would St. Alphonsus and all the
saints.
St. Alphonsus:
“See also the special love which God has shown you in bringing you into life in
a Christian country, and in the bosom of the Catholic or true Church. How many are born among the pagans,
among the Jews, among the Mohometans and heretics, and all are lost.”
(Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Tan Books, 1982, p. 219.)
The
point is that almost no one who today claims to believe in baptism of
desire or blood limits it to only unbaptized catechumens, as the saints
did. Almost everyone who argues for
“baptism of desire” argues for salvation without the Catholic Faith and outside
the Church. They extend it to
people who don’t even believe in Jesus Christ or desire baptism, which is
heretical. That is why almost 100%
of those who believe in baptism of desire are unfortunately heretics who totally
reject the dogma that the Catholic Faith is necessary for salvation, and that
all who die as non-Catholics are lost.
Pope St.
Gregory the Great, quoted in Summo Iugiter Studio,
590-604:
“The holy
universal Church teaches that it is not possible to worship God truly except in
her and asserts that all who are outside of her will not be
saved.”
Pope Leo XII,
Ubi Primum (# 14), May 5, 1824:
“It is impossible for the most true God,
who is Truth itself, the best, the wisest Provider, and the Rewarder of good
men, to approve all sects who profess false teachings which are often
inconsistent with one another and contradictory, and to confer eternal
rewards on their members… by divine faith we hold one Lord, one faith, one
baptism… This is why we profess that there is no salvation outside the
Church.”
Pope Clement
VI, Super quibusdam, Sept. 20, 1351:
“In the second
place, we ask whether you and the Armenians obedient to you believe that
no man of the wayfarers outside the faith of this Church,
and outside the obedience to the Pope of Rome, can finally be
saved.”
Pope Pius IV,
Council of Trent, Iniunctum nobis, Nov. 13, 1565, ex
cathedra: “This true
Catholic faith, outside of which no one can be saved… I now profess
and truly hold…” (Denz. 1000)
Pope Gregory
XVI, Mirari Vos (# 13), Aug. 15, 1832: “With the admonition of the apostle,
that ‘there is one God, one faith, one baptism’ (Eph. 4:5), may those fear who
contrive the notion that the safe harbor of salvation is open to persons of any
religion whatever. They should
consider the testimony of Christ Himself that ‘those who are not with Christ are
against Him,’ (Lk. 11:23) and that they disperse unhappily who do not
gather with Him. Therefore,
‘without a doubt, they will perish forever, unless they hold the Catholic faith
whole and inviolate (Athanasian Creed).”
But
what about the idea of baptism of desire or blood just for unbaptized
catechumens? Is this a true
position? No. While a person could be in good faith
for a certain period of time believing that an unbaptized catechumen could be
saved without the Sacrament of Baptism (since it has been taught by fallible
saints and certain fallible texts), the fact of the matter is that baptism of
desire (even if just limited to unbaptized catechumens) is a false idea that
contradicts the infallible teaching of the Catholic
Church.
The idea that
any man can be saved without Baptism by “baptism of desire” contradicts the
dogma that the Sacrament of Baptism is necessary for salvation, and that Our
Lord’s words in John 3:5 are literal.
This is what Catholics are bound to believe:
Pope Paul III,
The Council of Trent, Can. 5 on the Sacrament of Baptism, Sess. 7,
1547, ex cathedra: “If anyone says that baptism [the
sacrament] is optional, that is, not necessary for salvation (cf. Jn.
3:5): let him be anathema.”
Pope Paul III,
The Council of Trent, Can. 2 on the Sacrament of Baptism, Sess. 7, 1547,
ex cathedra: “If anyone shall say that real and natural
water is not necessary for baptism, and on that account those words of Our
Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Unless a man be
born again of water and the Holy Spirit’ [John 3:5], are distorted into
some sort of metaphor: let him be anathema.”
Pope Eugene
IV, The Council of Florence, “Exultate Deo,” Nov. 22, 1439:
“Holy baptism, which is the gateway to the spiritual life, holds
the first place among all the sacraments; through it we are made members of
Christ and of the body of the Church.
And since death entered the
universe through the first man, ‘unless we are born again of water and the
Spirit, we cannot,’ as the Truth says, ‘enter into the kingdom of
heaven’ [John 3:5].
The matter of this sacrament is real and natural
water.”
This means
that no one can be saved without the Sacrament of Baptism. Once a person understands these facts,
he cannot hold baptism of desire under any form, and no Catholic should support any priest or
organization who doesn’t completely reject this false theory. Here are just a few more arguments from
the infallible teaching of the Church which refute the idea of baptism of
desire, which no baptism of desire advocate can answer or will ever
answer:
Just a few of
the arguments from the infallible Magisterium refuting “baptism of
desire”
The Council of
Trent only mentions the word “catechumens” one time in its dogmatic teaching,
and it states that catechumens don’t have the Faith which gives life
eternal:
Pope Paul III,
Council of Trent, Session 6, Chap. 7 on Justification, ex
cathedra: “… the instrumental cause
[of Justification] is the Sacrament of Baptism, which is the ‘Sacrament of
Faith,’ without faith no one is ever justified… This Faith, in accordance with
Apostolic Tradition, catechumens beg
of the Church before the Sacrament of Baptism, when they ask for ‘faith which
bestows life eternal,’ (Rit. Rom., Ordo
Baptismi).”
The dogmatic
Council of Vienne infallibly defined that all Catholics must profess only one
baptism of water, not three: of water, blood and desire.
Pope Clement
V, Council of Vienne, 1311-1312, ex cathedra: “Besides, one baptism
which regenerates all who are baptized in Christ must be faithfully
confessed by all just as ‘one God and one faith’ [Eph. 4:5], which
celebrated in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit we believe to be commonly
the perfect remedy for salvation for adults as for children.”
Pope Boniface
VIII defined as a dogma that every human creature must be subject to the Roman
Pontiff to be saved, and it is a dogma that only those sacramentally baptized
become subjects of the Roman Pontiff and the Church.
Pope Boniface
VIII, Unam Sanctam, Nov. 18, 1302, ex
cathedra:
“Furthermore, we declare, say, define, and
proclaim to every human creature that they by absolute necessity for
salvation are entirely subject to the Roman
Pontiff.”
All
men, including infants, become subjects of the Church only by the Sacrament of
Baptism.
Pope Leo XIII,
Nobilissima (# 3), Feb. 8, 1884:
“The Church,
guardian of the integrity of the Faith – which, in virtue of its authority,
deputed from God its Founder, has to call all nations to the knowledge of
Christian lore, and which is consequently bound to watch keenly over the
teaching and upbringing of the children placed under its authority by
baptism…”
Pope Julius
III, Council of Trent, On the Sacraments of Baptism and Penance,
Sess. 14, Chap. 2, ex cathedra: “… since the Church
exercises judgment on no one who has not previously entered it by the gate of
baptism. For what have I to
do with those who are without (1 Cor. 5:12), says the Apostle. It is otherwise with those of the
household of the faith, whom Christ the Lord by the laver of baptism has once
made ‘members of his own body’ (1 Cor. 12:13).” (Denz. 895)
It is not
possible, therefore, to be subject to the Roman Pontiff without receiving the
Sacrament of Baptism, since the Church (and the Roman Pontiff) cannot exercise
judgment (jurisdiction) over an unbaptized person (de fide, Trent). And since it is not possible to be
subject to the Roman Pontiff without the Sacrament of Baptism, it is not
possible to be saved without the Sacrament of Baptism, since every human
creature must be subject to the Roman Pontiff for salvation (de fide, Boniface
VIII).
Pope Innocent
III infallibly declared that there is one universal Church OF THE FAITHFUL,
outside of which no one at all is saved.
Catholic Tradition, Liturgy and the Fathers unanimously teach that only
the water baptized (not unbaptized catechumens) are part of “the
faithful.”
Pope Innocent
III, Fourth Lateran Council, Constitution 1, 1215, ex
cathedra: “THERE IS INDEED ONE UNIVERSAL CHURCH OF THE
FAITHFUL, outside of which nobody at all is saved, in which Jesus Christ is
both priest and sacrifice.”
In the early
Church, the unbaptized catechumens (i.e., those who had not received the
Sacrament of Baptism) had to leave after the Mass of the catechumens, when
the faithful professed the Creed.
The unbaptized were not allowed to stay for the Mass of the
faithful, because it is only by receiving the Sacrament of Baptism that one
becomes one of the faithful.
This is the teaching of Tradition.
Casimir
Kucharek, The Byzantine-Slav Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom: “In Canon 19 of the Synod of Laodicea
(A.D. 343-381), for example, we read: ‘After the sermons of the bishops, the
prayer for the catechumens is to be said by itself first; when the
catechumens have gone out, the prayer for those who are doing penance; and
after these… there should then be offered the three prayers of the
faithful…’”
This dismissal
of the catechumens before the Liturgy of the Faithful was present in all the
ancient liturgical rites of the Catholic Church. It is the universal teaching of
Tradition, and acknowledged by all the fathers.
Dr. Ludwig
Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma,
Membership in the Church, p. 309: “3. Catechumens are not to be counted among
the members of the Church… The Church claims no jurisdiction over them (D
895). The Fathers draw a sharp line of
separation between Catechumens and ‘the faithful.’”
The infallible
definition of Pope Innocent III at the Fourth Lateran Council reads in original
Latin: “Una vero est fidelium universalis ecclesia, extra quam nullus
omnino salvatur…” The
Latin words nullus omnino mean “absolutely nobody.” Absolutely nobody outside the one Church
of the faithful is saved. Since the
one Church of “the faithful” only includes those who have received the Sacrament
of Baptism – as Apostolic Tradition, Liturgical Tradition and Church dogma show
– this means that absolutely nobody is saved without the Sacrament of
Baptism.
It is also a
dogma that no one can be justified from the state of sin without cleansing from
the Blood of Jesus Christ.
Pope Paul III,
Council of Trent, Sess. 5, on original sin, ex cathedra: “If
anyone asserts that this sin of Adam... is taken away either by the forces of
human nature, or by any remedy other than the merit of the one mediator, our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to God in his own blood,
‘made unto us justice, sanctification, and redemption’ (1 Cor. 1:30);
or if he denies that the merit of Jesus Christ is applied to adults as well
as to infants by the sacrament of baptism… let him be
anathema.”
The advocates
of baptism of desire and blood hold that when one receives baptism of desire or
blood he is justified by the Spirit and cleansed by the Blood of Christ without
the water of baptism.
Fr. Francois
Laisney, Is Feeneyism Catholic?, pp.
35-36: “…the emphasis of the whole passage [John chapter 3] is on the spiritual rebirth…It is thus
perfectly legitimate to interpret with the Fathers that the absolute necessity applies to the
spiritual rebirth…Contrary to what the followers of Fr. Feeney pretend, the emphasis of this whole passage is
not on water, but on rebirth. By holding with the Church that the rebirth is what is absolutely
necessary, and that water is necessary ‘re aut voto,’ one respects the
truth of the words of Our Lord and the truth of the interpretation of the
Church. By pretending that water
itself is absolutely necessary without any exception whatsoever, one departs
from the interpretation of the Church.”
Here you have
the position of baptism of desire explained. Its advocates hold that rebirth (or
being “born again”) of the Spirit and the Blood is absolutely necessary – since
no one can be saved without cleansing from the Blood of Christ and justification
by the Spirit – but that this rebirth of the Spirit and the Blood can be
separate from the water of baptism.
But this concept is directly contrary to the infallible teaching of Pope
St. Leo the Great.
Pope St. Leo
the Great, dogmatic letter to Flavian, Council of Chalcedon,
451:
“Let him
heed what the blessed apostle Peter preaches, that sanctification by the
Spirit is effected by the sprinkling of Christ’s blood (1 Pet. 1:2); and
let him not skip over the same apostle’s words, knowing that you have been
redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your fathers, not with
corruptible gold and silver but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, as of a
lamb without stain or spot (1 Pet. 1:18). Nor should he withstand the testimony of
blessed John the apostle: and the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, purifies
us from every sin (1 Jn. 1:7); and again, This is the victory which
conquers the world, our faith. Who
is there who conquers the world save one who believes that Jesus is the Son of
God? It is He, Jesus Christ, who
has come through water and blood, not in water only, but in water and
blood. And because the Spirit is
truth, it is the Spirit who testifies.
For there are three who give testimony – Spirit and water and blood. And the three are one. (1 Jn. 5:4-8) IN OTHER WORDS, THE SPIRIT OF
SANCTIFICATION AND THE BLOOD OF REDEMPTION AND THE WATER OF
BAPTISM. THESE THREE ARE ONE AND
REMAIN INDIVISIBLE. NONE OF THEM IS
SEPARABLE FROM ITS LINK WITH THE OTHERS.”
Pope St. Leo
defines that in Sanctification, the
Spirit of Sanctification and the Blood of Redemption cannot be separated
from the water of baptism!
Thus, there can be no rebirth by the Spirit and the Blood without the water of
baptism! This infallibly teaches
exactly the opposite of baptism of desire and blood, which is that
sanctification (or rebirth) by the
Spirit and the Blood
without water is possible!
In light of this dogmatic letter, as well as the other facts already
brought forward, baptism of desire and baptism of blood cannot be held; for
these theories separate the Spirit and the Blood from the water in
sanctification.
Pope St. Leo
the Great’s teaching above is infallible and dogmatic. It is part of the dogmatic Council of
Chalcedon, and Pope St. Gelasius even anathematized anyone who would contradict
it even in regard to one iota!
Pope St.
Gelasius, Decretal, 495: “Also the epistle of blessed Leo the Pope to
Flavian… if anyone argues concerning the text of this one even in regard to one
iota, and does not receive it in all respects reverently, let him be
anathema.”
As we can see,
the truth that no one can be saved without the Sacrament of Baptism is the
teaching of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. But, in our day a calumny of abominable
proportions has been spread widely.
According to this calumny, the truth you just read was the invention of a
man. Nothing could be farther from
the truth. The teaching that no man
can be saved without the Sacrament of Baptism is the truth of Jesus Christ,
defined as a dogma by the Church.
It is those who deny this divinely revealed truth who embrace an
invention of man.
It should also
be noted that in the history of the Catholic Church there is not a single
tradition that can be cited for praying for – or giving ecclesiastical burial to
– catechumens who died without baptism. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907)
had the following to say about the actual Tradition of the Church in this
regard:
“A certain
statement in the funeral oration of St. Ambrose over the Emperor Valentinian II
has been brought forward as a proof that the Church offered sacrifices and
prayers for catechumens who died before baptism. There is not a vestige of such a
custom to be found anywhere… The practice of the Church is more correctly
shown in the canon (xvii) of the Second Council of Braga (572 AD): ‘Neither the commemoration of
Sacrifice [oblationis] nor the service of chanting
[psallendi] is to be employed for catechumens who have died without
baptism.” (The Catholic Encyclopedia, “Baptism,” Volume 2, 1907, p.
265.)
There you have
the teaching of Catholic Tradition.
No catechumen who died without the Sacrament of Baptism received prayer,
sacrifice or Christian burial! The
Council of Braga, in 572 A.D., forbade prayer for catechumens who died without
baptism. Pope St. Leo the Great and
Pope St. Gelasius had earlier confirmed the same Church discipline – which was
the universal practice – forbidding Catholics to pray for unbaptized catechumens
who had died. This means that
the belief in the early Church was that there was no such thing as baptism of
desire.
1 Peter
3:20-21: “… when they waited for the
patience of God in the days of Noe, when the ark was a building: wherein a few,
that is, eight souls were saved by water. Whereunto baptism being of the like
form, now saveth you also…”
Titus 3:5- “Not by the works of justice, which we have
done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the laver of
regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Ghost…”
All of this is
just a brief introduction to the issue.
For much more information please consult the book:
Outside the Catholic Church There is Absolutely No Salvation
[pdf file]
(This book answers all of the
major objections on the baptism issue and the salvation issue – look through the
Table of Contents if you are looking for a particular
issue)
Important
Spiritual Information
Pray the Rosary Each
Day
*We recommend that Catholics pray the entire
15-decade Rosary each day, if possible. One set of mysteries at three different
times in the day is the recommendation of St. Louis De Montfort as a good way to
get that accomplished. Frankly,
many Catholics who are home most of the day are not getting this accomplished,
when they easily could. Thus, they
are missing out on tremendous graces, and the opportunity to help save other
souls by their prayers. We also
recommend that all Catholics obtain and read the following books. If one reads and thinks about the four
last things, one will most likely avoid sin, the occasions of sin and live a
good life. We consider these books
to be essential for proper spiritual formation, and we believe that one will
gain more from reading them than many other books.
-True Devotion
to Mary by St. Louis
De Montfort
-The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis De
Montfort
-Preparation
for Death by St.
Alphonsus (abridged version)
-Our Lady of Fatima by William Thomas
Walsh (get to know and live the message Our Lady delivered at
Fatima)
All of these
books are available from our online store.
Devotion
to Our Lady and the Hail Mary are essential. Catholics must come to learn and
understand the power of devotion to Our Lady and the Hail
Mary.
St.
Louis De Montfort (+1710): “Blessed Alan de la Roche who was so deeply devoted
to the Blessed Virgin had many
revelations from her and we know that he confirmed the truth of these
revelations by a solemn oath. Three
of them stand out with special emphasis: the first, that if people fail to say
the Hail Mary (the Angelic Salutation which has saved the world) out of
carelessness, or because they are lukewarm, or because they hate it, this is a sign that they will probably
and indeed shortly be condemned to eternal punishment.” (Secret of the Rosary, p.
45)
St. Louis De
Montfort (+1710): “….there are some very
sanctifying interior practices for those whom the Holy Ghost calls to high
perfection. These may be expressed
in four words: to do all things by
Mary, with Mary, in Mary and for Mary; so that we may do them all the
more perfectly by Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus and for Jesus.” (True Devotion to Mary
#257)
St. Louis De
Montfort (+ c. 1710): “By this practice
[the True Devotion to Mary which he teaches], faithfully observed, you will give
Jesus more glory in a month than by any other practice, however difficult, in
many years…” (True Devotion to
Mary #222)
St. Louis De
Montfort: “… many others have proved invincibly, from the sentiments of the
Fathers (among others, St. Augustine, St. Ephrem, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St.
Germanus, St. John Damascene, St. Anselm, St. Bernard, St. Bernardine, St.
Thomas and St. Bonaventure), that
devotion to Mary is necessary to salvation, and that… it is an infallible mark
of reprobation to have no esteem and love for the holy Virgin.” (True Devotion to Mary #
40)
Regarding the
Holy Rosary, Sister Lucia told Father Fuentes in a famous 1957 interview:
"Look,
Father, the Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a
new efficacy to the recitation of the Holy Rosary. She has given this efficacy
to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is,
whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of
us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious
communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations that cannot be solved by
the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that
we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we
will save ourselves. We will sanctify ourselves. We will console Our Lord and
obtain the salvation of many souls."
It’s also very
important and effective to have devotion to certain saints. Here are some great ones to have a
devotion to:
The
Steps to convert to the traditional Catholic Faith (and for those people leaving
the New Mass)
The steps one
must take to convert to the Catholic Faith are actually simple, whether one
hasn’t been baptized or whether one has been baptized. They are slightly different, however,
depending upon what category a person falls into:
If
you haven’t been baptized: 1) Know the basic catechism (i.e. the
basic teachings) of the Catholic Faith.
(We sell such a catechism for $5.00 at our ONLINE STORE.) 2) Hold belief in all the traditional
dogmas of the Church and the correct Catholic positions against the post-Vatican
II sect (covered in detail in our material), including, for example, the
dogma Outside the Church There is No Salvation (without exception) and the
necessity of water baptism.
3) After you
know the basic catechism (which shouldn’t take very long), and are confident
that you assent to all the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church, get
baptized. There is no reason to delay this (see
Acts 8:36-37) if you have completed steps 1 and 2. Normally this would be done by a
Catholic priest at your local Catholic church. Since we are in the Great Apostasy and
there are almost zero fully Catholic priests around, a layperson is probably the
one who should do it for you. The
Council of Florence (see below) declared that anyone can validly baptize. Thus, if you have a strong Catholic
friend or, in case you don’t, if you have a non-Catholic family member or friend
who could perform the baptism reliably with the proper intention, then that
person can baptize you using the form given below. Confession is not necessary for a person
who has never been baptized, since baptism removes original sin and all actual
sins. After baptism, however, one
should get into the habit of going to confession to a traditional priest
ordained in the traditional rite of ordination at least once a month. And one must go if he or she commits a
mortal sin after baptism, which hopefully will not occur. Concerning where to go to confession,
take note of the points below.
4) Make the
profession of faith for converts from the Council of Trent, which is
below. If there is a specific sect
to which you belonged, add at the end that you also reject that heretical
sect.
The Council of Trent’s Profession of Faith for Converts
For
those who have been baptized, it is
slightly different: 1) Know the basic catechism (i.e. the
basic teachings) of the Catholic Faith.
(We sell such a catechism for $5.00 at our ONLINE STORE.) 2) Hold belief in all the traditional
dogmas of the Church and the correct Catholic positions against the post-Vatican
II sect (covered in detail in our material), including, for example, the
dogma Outside the Church There is No Salvation (without exception) and the
necessity of water baptism. 3) Make the profession of faith for
converts from the Council of Trent, which is above. If there is a specific sect to which you
belonged, add at the end that you also reject that heretical sect.
4) You must
make a general confession to a priest ordained in the traditional rite of
ordination after taking the previous 3 steps. This is a confession in which one
mentions all mortal sins committed after baptism, including adherence to any
sects or false religions or having spread a false sect or false religion. Contact us for a priest in your area who
can hear your confession. An
Eastern Rite priest at an Eastern Rite church (not “Orthodox”) is often a good
option for confession. These
churches are commonly listed as “Byzantine Catholic” or “Ukrainian Catholic” in
the phone book under “Catholic churches.”
If you confirm that the priest at one of these churches was ordained in
the Eastern Rite, that would be an option at least for confession since that
priest was validly ordained in a traditional rite of ordination. However, you cannot financially support
the chapel or the priest because of his acceptance of Vatican II and the
post-Vatican II antipopes. If you
cannot find any other valid priest to hear your confession, you can go to a
Novus Ordo priest who was ordained in the Traditional Rite of Ordination (before
1968) as long as the priest says “I absolve you from your sins in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”
For
those who aren’t sure whether they are baptized, the order
is: 1) Know the basic catechism (i.e. the
basic teachings) of the Catholic Faith.
(We sell such a catechism for $5.00 at our ONLINE STORE.) 2) Hold belief in all the traditional
dogmas of the Church and the correct Catholic positions against the post-Vatican
II sect (covered in detail in our material), including, for example, the
dogma Outside the Church There is No Salvation (without exception) and the
necessity of water baptism. 3) Make the profession of faith for
converts from the Council of Trent, which is above. If there is a specific sect to which you
belonged, add at the end that you also reject that heretical sect.
4) Have
someone perform a conditional baptism using the conditional form of baptism
given below. If there is any doubt about your
baptism, this should be done. 5) After your conditional baptism, make a
general confession mentioning all mortal sins committed after your first
possibly valid baptism.
People leaving
the New Mass or adherence
to the Vatican II Counter Church also need to make a confession (to a validly
ordained priest, see above) that they attended a non-Catholic service and for
however long they attended. If they participated in other things at
the New Mass (e.g. were a lay-minister, dressed immodestly, etc.) or accepted
false ecumenism or denied some other dogma, these things should also be
mentioned in confession. This must
be done before receiving Communion at the Traditional Mass (if there is an
acceptable one for you to attend in your area). Those leaving the New Mass and
adherence to the Vatican II false Church should also make that same profession
of faith from the Council of Trent.
Baptism and
Conditional Baptism: The form of baptism is: “I baptize you
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost.”
If there is
some doubt about the validity of your baptism, the conditional form of baptism
is: “If you are baptized, I do not
baptize you again, but if you are not yet baptized [pour water on the head,
making sure it touches the skin] I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
Since there are barely any true Catholic priests in the whole country,
you can have a Catholic friend perform a conditional baptism, and you can
baptize your own children.
Pope Eugene
IV, Council of Florence, “Exultate Deo,” 1439: “In case of necessity, however,
not only a priest or a deacon, but even a layman or woman, yes even a pagan and
a heretic can baptize, so long as he preserves the form of the Church and has
the intention of doing what the Church does.” (Denz. 696)
Where to go to
Mass or Confession?
This is
probably the most frequent question that we receive and it is the hardest to
answer. This is because there is
hardly a solid Catholic priest to be found in the entire country today. We offer some guidelines here, and our
opinion. First, no Catholic can ever attend the New
Mass, since it is an invalid, non-Catholic service, as our material
above (e.g., the video) shows.
Thus, the only option would be to attend a traditional Latin Mass or a
valid Eastern Rite Liturgy. But
unfortunately some of the Eastern Rite liturgies have been revised and
modernized. For example, liturgies
in the Ruthenian jurisdiction of the United States have been revised and are not
an option for Mass or for Communion.
They should not be attended, but other priests of the Eastern Rite (such
as Ukrainian “Catholic” priests) are an option for confession, if they have been
ordained in the Eastern Rite (as mentioned above). Moreover, even with those who are
celebrating the correct Latin Mass, most hold heretical views. Attending Mass on Sunday and Holy Days
is the Church’s law, which is only
obligatory if the Church provides you with a true Mass and a truly Catholic
priest within a reasonable distance.
Many Catholics in Church history have been in situations where there was
nowhere to go to Mass and therefore there was no obligation to go anywhere. There is no obligation to attend the
Mass of a heretic or the Mass of a priest holding a heretical position. Thus, there is no obligation to attend the
traditional Mass of a validly ordained “traditionalist” priest who accepts
Benedict XVI as the pope, or who believes in baptism of desire/salvation for
non-Catholics (as almost all so-called traditionalists priests do), since he is
holding a heretical position. That
would include almost all of them.
If one doesn’t feel that he should attend such a chapel, he doesn’t have
to. But can one ever go?
Cardinal de
Lugo, who was a prominent theologian of the 17th century, who was
often quoted by St. Alphonsus, addresses this very issue:
“The second
chief doubt is whether we may communicate with an undeclared heretic only in
civil and human affairs or even in sacred and spiritual things. It is certain that we cannot
communicate with heretics in the rites proper to a heretical sect, because this
would be contrary to the precept of confessing the faith and would contain an
implicit profession of error.
But the question relates to sacred matters containing no error, e.g.
whether it is lawful to hear Mass with a heretic, or to celebrate in his
presence, or to be present while he celebrates in the Catholic rite,
etc.
“But the
opposite view [i.e. that attendance at such a Mass is lawful] is general
[communis] and true, unless it should be illicit for some other reason on
account of scandal or implicit denial of the faith, or because charity obliges
one to impede the sin of the heretical minister administering unworthily where
necessity does not urge. This is
the teaching of Navarro and Sanchez, Suarez, Hurtado and is what I have said in
speaking of the sacrament of penance and of matrimony and the other
sacraments. It is also certain by
virtue of the said litterae extravagantes [i.e. Ad evitanda scandala] in which
communication with excommunicati tolerati is conceded to the faithful in the
reception and administration of the sacraments.
“So as these
heretics are not declared excommunicates or notoriously guilty of striking a
cleric, there is no reason why we should be prevented from receiving the
sacraments from them because of their excommunication, although on other grounds
this may often be illicit unless necessity excuse as I have explained in the
said places.” (Cardinal
John de Lugo S.J. (1583-1660), Tractatus de Virtute Fidei Divinae: Disputatio
XXII, Sectio . According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, St. Alphonsus regarded
Cardinal de Lugo as second only to St. Thomas as a
theologian.)
Notice that
Cardinal de Lugo distinguishes between attending a heretical rite (which is
never permitted) and attending a Catholic Mass or rite celebrated by an
undeclared heretic (e.g. a priest of the SSPX who celebrates the Catholic rite
and claims to be Catholic but is
actually a heretic). De Lugo is
thus addressing the very issue which
is confronting people today and which was posed in the question. And what does he say? He teaches that attendance at such a
Mass is lawful and that this is the “general and true” position of Catholic
theologians. Please note that
Cardinal de Lugo also points out that if circumstances are such that scandal or
a denial of the Faith would necessarily arise (e.g., if the priest made an
announcement that everyone who attends must agree with him, such as the priests
of the SSPV have on the salvation issue), then you necessarily couldn’t go; or
if the priest is notorious about his heresy, then you definitely shouldn’t go.
But that is not the case at all Masses celebrated by undeclared heretical
priests in the Catholic rite; otherwise de Lugo would have stated that the
teaching of all theologians is that all such Masses must always be avoided. A Catholic can never support such a
priest and thereby assist him in the propagation of heresy, but he could attend
his Mass in order to receive the Sacrament if the priest professes to be
Catholic and is not notorious about his heresy. But if the priest agrees with, for
instance, what is printed on the SSPX’s website one should not attend his
Mass:
SSPX’s
official website: “Is a Sedevacantist to
be considered a non-Catholic?
A… It is consequently true that there can be some theological discussion
as to whether sedevacantists are formally schismatic or not. The answer to this
depends on the degree of sedevacantism. There are radical sedevacantists that call
us heretics since we are in communion with a heretic (Wotyla), so they say.
These are certainly schismatic, for they clearly reject communion
with true Catholics, who are in no way modernist. By making their sedevacantism
a quasi-article of faith they certainly fall into the second category of persons
that canon 1325, §2 declares to be schismatic: "He is a schismatic who
rejects communion with members of the Church subject to him (i.e.,
the Sovereign Pontiff)." It is
consequently by their refusal to be a part of the Church, and effectively making
the "church" as they see it consist only in sedevacantists that they are
certainly schismatic.”
So, to
summarize: Don’t ever
attend the invalid New Mass, of course. Don’t attend any Society of St. Pius V
chapel, because they impose upon the people their heretical belief that people
can be saved without the Catholic Faith.
Don’t attend
any Society of St. Pius X chapel if the priest believes that sedevacantists are
heretics or has made an announcement stating that he doesn’t want sedevacantists
or “Feeneyites” at the chapel. This
will probably mean that most SSPX priests are off-limits, but there may be a few
who aren’t notorious or imposing about their heresy. If so, you may be able to attend
without supporting the chapel.
Don’t attend any Indult Mass.
Don’t attend the Mass of a Byzantine priest or independent priest who is
notorious or imposing about his acceptance of the Vatican II religion. And never attend the Novus Ordo (the New
Mass), of course.
If you find a
priest who is validly ordained who is not notorious or imposing about his heresy
– for instance, a Byzantine priest or an independent “traditionalist” priest who
believes that Benedict XVI is the Pope – then you could go to his Mass and
receive the Sacraments from him (although you don’t have to) AS LONG AS YOU
DON’T SUPPORT HIM FINANCIALLY IN ANY WAY.
DON’T SUPPORT ANY PRIEST OR GROUP WHICH ACCEPTS BENEDICT XVI AS THE POPE
OR WHICH BELIEVES IN BAPTISM OF DESIRE; otherwise you will be assisting in the
propagation of heresy and funding heretics.
Pope Innocent
III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215: "Moreover, we determine to subject to
excommunication believers who receive, defend, or support heretics."
These are just
some brief guidelines on this difficult issue of where to go to Mass. This is a fluid situation, since priests
change their positions and groups become more notorious over time. For instance, while people used to be
able to attend the SSPV without supporting them (since they hold heresy), that
is not an option any longer because they made announcements imposing their
heretical view upon people from all their pulpits in 2004.
If a person has committed
mortal sin and needs to go to Confession, he can go to a Novus Ordo
priest who was ordained in the Traditional Rite of Ordination (before 1968) as
long as the priest says “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”
This can be done if a person needs to go to Confession.
An
Introduction to False Ecumenism and some comments on Heretical
Actions
*Ecumenism is
a word that was used before Vatican II to indicate the apostolic endeavor to
convert all to Catholicism. An
“ecumenical” Council is a universally binding general Council of the Catholic
Church, such as the Council of Trent.
But after Vatican II and as a result of it the term has taken on a new
meaning: “ecumenism” now describes the movement to unite with, accept, endorse
and/or pray with heretical sects and false religions.
Cardinal
Walter Kasper, Prefect of Vatican Council for Promoting Christian Unity: “… today we no longer understand ecumenism
in the sense of a return, by which the others would ‘be converted’ and return to
being Catholics. This was
expressly abandoned by Vatican II.” (Adista, Feb. 26,
2001)
Kasper was
appointed specifically to this post by John Paul II to express his views on this
very topic. This is because John
Paul II and Benedict XVI, who both worked closely with Kasper, held the exact
same thing.
Benedict XVI, Address to Protestants at World Youth
Day, August 19, 2005: “And we now ask: What does it mean to restore the
unity of all Christians?... This unity, we are convinced, indeed subsists in the
Catholic Church, without the possibility of ever being lost (Unitatis Redintegratio, nn. 2, 4, etc.);
the Church in fact has not totally disappeared from the world. Other the other hand, this unity does not mean what could be
called ecumenism of the return: that is, to deny and to reject one’s own
faith history. Absolutely
not!” (L’Osservatore Romano,
August 24, 2005, p. 8.)
Here we see
Benedict XVI bluntly stating that he absolutely rejects the “ecumenism of the
return,” that is, that non-Catholics must reject their own Protestant “faith”
and convert to Catholicism for unity!
Benedict XVI boldly repeats the heresy of Kasper, and bluntly rejects the
dogmatic teaching contained in Mortalium
Animos on the necessity of the ecumenism of “the return” to the Catholic
Church! “Absolutely not!” says Benedict XVI to
the idea of Protestants needing to convert! Benedict XVI couldn’t be more formally
heretical.
Pope Pius XI,
Mortalium Animos (#10), Jan. 6, 1928:
“… the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of
Christ of those who are separated from it…”
This kind of
false ecumenism is the distinguishing feature of the Vatican II apostasy, and it
is totally condemned by Catholic teaching.
It makes a complete mockery out of the dogma Outside the Church There is
No Salvation (an article of Faith defined many times), the necessity of
accepting the dogmas of the Catholic Faith, the martyrs of the Catholic Faith,
and Jesus Christ.
Pope
Pius XI's Encyclical Mortalium
Animos
(This
encyclical condemns false ecumenism as a total abandonment of the Catholic
Faith; see especially #2)
The Vatican II sect and its
Antipopes want you to be in communion with Devils
The Catholic
Church teaches that there is only one true religion and the rest are false. The Catholic Church teaches that pagan
religions (such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Voodooism, etc.), which worship various
“gods,” actually worship demons, since all the gods of the heathen are the
devils.
Psalms 95:5-
“For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils…”
1 Cor. 10:20-
“But the things which the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not
to God. And I would not that you
should be made partakers with devils.”
St.
Paul says that when the pagans worship their gods they are worshipping devils,
and he doesn’t want you to be in communion with devils. The Vatican II sect, however, endorses
these false religions which commit idolatry and worship devils. This is unspeakably evil; it is a total
rejection of the teaching of the Gospel and the Catholic Church, and it is
condemned as apostasy by Pope Pius XI in Mortalium Animos.
At the
notorious interfaith “ecumenical prayer gatherings” – the most well-known
occurring at Assisi in 1986 and 2002 – religious leaders from all the major
false religions were invited to pray alongside John Paul II at a “Catholic”
church.
Each religion
was invited to offer its own prayer for peace – blasphemous prayers, for
instance, as the Hindu prayer said: “Peace be on all gods.” But their gods are devils, as we saw
above, so peace was being prayed for all
the devils (who created these false religions) at the Vatican-sponsored World Day of
Prayer for Peace. The Vatican II religion wants you to be in
communion with devils.
Then we have
the Vatican II sect’s teaching on the false religion of Islam, which rejects the
Holy Trinity and the Divinity of Jesus Christ. Benedict XVI and John Paul have praised
Islam, a false religion of the devil.
Here we see John Paul II in the Temple of infidelity (the mosque),
endorsing their false religion.
Pope Eugene
IV, Council of Basel, Session 19,
Sept. 7, 1434:
“Moreover, we
trust that with God’s help another benefit will accrue to the Christian
commonwealth; because from this union, once it is established, there is hope
that very many from the abominable
sect of Mahomet will be converted to the Catholic
faith.”
The Catholic
Church teaches that Islam is “an abominable sect” of infidels
(unbelievers). An “abomination” is
something that God abhors; it is something that He has no esteem for and no
respect for.
Pope Clement
V, Council of Vienne,
1311-1312:
“It is an insult to the holy name and a
disgrace to the Christian faith that in certain parts of the world subject
to Christian princes where Saracens (i.e., The followers of Islam, also called
Muslims) live, sometimes apart, sometimes intermingled with Christians, the
Saracen priests, commonly called Zabazala, in their temples or mosques, in which
the Saracens meet to adore the infidel
Mahomet, loudly invoke and extol his name each day at certain hours from a
high place… This brings disrepute on our
faith and gives great scandal to the faithful. These practices cannot be tolerated without
displeasing the divine majesty. We therefore, with the sacred council’s
approval, strictly forbid such practices henceforth in Christian lands. We enjoin on Catholic princes, one and
all.. They are to forbid expressly the
public invocation of the sacrilegious name of Mahomet… Those who presume to
act otherwise are to be so chastised by the princes for their irreverence, that
others may be deterred from such boldness.”
The Vatican II
sect, however, teaches that Islam is a good and noble religion of
“believers.” This has its
foundation in the teaching of Vatican II on Muslims, the real meaning of which
is expressed by the heads of the Vatican II sect (John Paul II and Benedict XVI
below). These apostates even
encourage the spread of this abominable sect of infidels.
Antipope John Paul II, Message
to "Grand Sheikh Mohammed," Feb. 24, 2000: "Islam is a religion. Christianity is
a religion. Islam has become a culture. Christianity has become also a
culture... I thank your university, the biggest center of Islamic
culture. I thank
those who are developing Islamic culture..."
Antipope
John Paul II, March 21, 2000:
“May
Saint John the Baptist protect Islam and all the people of Jordan...” (L’ Osservatore Romano,
March 29,
2000, p. 2.)
“Cardinal”
Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI), Salt of
the Earth, 1996, p. 244: “There
is a noble Islam, embodied, for example, by the King of Morocco...”
The Vatican II
sect on the Jews
*The Vatican II sect teaches
that Jews don’t have to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. Vatican II’s Declaration Nostra Aetate specifically declares that
the Jews are not rejected by God, even though they reject Our Lord Jesus
Christ. See:
The
Most Specific Heresy in Vatican II. The Vatican II sect also
teaches that the Old Covenant is still valid, which is a rejection of the
following dogma defined by the Council of Florence.
Pope Eugene IV, Council of
Florence, Cantate Domino, 1441, ex
cathedra: “The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and teaches that the
matter pertaining to the law of the Old Testament, of the Mosaic Law, which are
divided into ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments, because they
were established to signify something in the future, although they were suited
to divine worship at that time, after our Lord’s coming had been signified by
them, ceased, and the sacraments of the New Testament began; and that whoever,
even after the passion, placed hope in these matters of the law and submitted
himself to them as necessary for salvation, as if faith in Christ could not save
without them, sinned mortally.
Yet it does not deny that after the passion of Christ up to the
promulgation of the Gospel they could have been observed until they were
believed to be in no way necessary for salvation; but after the promulgation of
the Gospel it asserts that they cannot be observed without the loss of eternal
salvation. All, therefore, who
after that time (the promulgation of the Gospel) observe circumcision and the
Sabbath and the other requirements of the law, it declares alien to the
Christian faith and not in the least fit to participate in eternal
salvation, unless someday they recover from these
errors.”
Pope Eugene
IV, Council of Florence, Sess. 8,
Nov. 22, 1439, ex cathedra: “Whoever
wishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith; unless each one
preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity…
But it is necessary for eternal
salvation that he faithfully believe also in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus
Christ...the Son of God is God and man...– This is the Catholic faith; unless
each one believes this faithfully and firmly, he cannot be
saved.”
Here we see
Cardinal Walter Kasper, who was specifically appointed to his post by John Paul
II to express his views on this topic, asserting that the Vatican II sect has
abandoned the above dogmas:
Cardinal
Walter Kasper: “… the old theory of substitution [that is, the theory of the
New Covenant substituting for the Old] is gone since the Second Vatican
Council… Therefore, the Church believes that Judaism, i.e., the faithful response
of the Jewish people to God’s irrevocable covenant, is salvific for
them, because God is faithful to his promises.” (Address at the 17th meeting of
the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee, New York, May 1,
2001.)
Both John Paul
II and Benedict XVI have been and are in full agreement with Kasper’s heresy:
“Cardinal”
Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI), God and
the World, 2000, pp. 150-151: “This is another of the paradoxes that the New
Testament sets before us. On the one hand, their [the Jews] No to
Christ brings the Israelites into conflict with the subsequent acts of God,
but at the same time we know that they are assured of the faithfulness of
God. They are not excluded from
salvation, but they serve in a particular way, and thereby they stand
within the patience of God, in which we, too, place our trust.”
In fact,
Benedict XVI is even worse than Kasper (if that’s possible) because Benedict XVI
teaches that the Jews not only don’t need to believe in Christ (total heresy),
but that the Jewish reading of the prophecies of the Old Testament about the
Messiah – in other words, the Jewish position that Our Lord is not the Messiah
– may be the true
reading!
“Cardinal”
Joseph Ratzinger, God and the World,
2000, p. 209: “It is of course
possible to read the Old Testament so that it is not directed toward Christ; it
does not point quite unequivocally to Christ. And if Jews cannot see the promises as
being fulfilled in him, this is not just ill will on their part, but genuinely
because of the obscurity of the texts and the tension in the relationship
between these texts and the figure of Jesus. Jesus brings a new meaning to these
texts – yet it is he who first gives them their proper coherence and relevance
and significance. There are
perfectly good reasons, then, for denying that the Old Testament refers to
Christ and for saying, No, that is not what he said. And there are also good reasons for
referring it to him – that is what the dispute between Jews and Christians is
about.”
This is such
bold antichrist apostasy that there are almost no words to describe it – but
this is what the man who is currently claiming to be the pope teaches. He is a non-Catholic antipope. Anyone aware of these facts and argues
that Benedict XVI is not a manifest heretic is an antichrist. In fact, Benedict XVI teaches the same
thing in his book Milestones that we
read above in God and the World. It is perfectly accurate to say that
Benedict XVI doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ. That is why, as we see below, on Aug.
19, 2005, he traveled to the synagogue and took active part in a Jewish worship
service. To take part in
non-Catholic worship has always been condemned by the Church, and if one does so
at a non-Catholic Temple this is a manifestation of heresy or apostasy. The entire event was a validation of the
Jewish religion, and a manifestation of his apostasy and his position that Jews
are perfectly fine even though they don’t accept Jesus
Christ.
Heresy and Apostasy Manifested
by Word and Deed
How many of
those outside the Catholic Church manifest that they are not Catholics by
issuing written statements or making speeches that they are not Catholic? The answer is very few. Most heresy and apostasy is manifested by
deed, not word. People manifest
their heresy and apostasy by attending the synagogue or by worshipping at the
mosque or by joining the Protestants in their worship at their churches.
St. Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Pt. I-II,
Q. 103., A. 4: “All ceremonies are professions of faith, in which the interior
worship of God consists. Now man can make profession of his
inward faith, by deeds as well as by words: and in either profession, if
he make a false declaration, he sins mortally.”
So, when John
Paul II and now Benedict XVI (with high-ranking members of the Vatican II sect)
attend the mosque, the Buddhist Temple, the Lutheran temple and the synagogue
they are manifesting their apostasy by their deed. They are manifesting by their deed that
they accept these false religions, and that these people don’t need to become
Catholic for salvation. When
Benedict XVI entered the synagogue and took active part in a Jewish worship
service on August 19, 2005, he was manifesting his apostasy (his acceptance of
the false Jewish religion) by his deed.
That is why St. Thomas Aquinas taught that if anyone were to worship at
the tomb of Mohammed he would be an apostate. Such an action alone would show that he
does not have the Catholic Faith, and that he accepts the false Islamic
religion.
St.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Pt. II, Q. 12, A. 1, Obj. 2: “… if
anyone were to… worship at the tomb of Mahomet, he would be deemed an
apostate.”
John Paul II kissing the Koran,
May 14, 1999
John Paul II
did the equivalent of worshipping at the tomb of Mahomet when he kissed the
blasphemous Koran, when he praised Islam and its leaders countless times, and
when he attended the mosque. Just
imagine what the Catholic saints would say about the Vatican II sect and John
Paul II? They would utterly
denounce John Paul II and the Vatican II sect as completely apostate just for
their teaching and actions with regard to the false religion of
Islam:
St. Francis
Xavier, May, 1546: “The evil [of Islam]
was introduced by some Mahometan caicizes (ministers of religion), who came from
Mecca in Arabia, where the accursed body of Mahomet is honored with great
superstition.”
St. Francis of
Assisi (+ c. 1210): [To the Muslims] “We
have come to preach faith in Jesus Christ to you, that you will renounce
Mohammad, that wicked slave of the devil, and obtain everlasting life
like us.”
The Vatican II
Sect on Heretics
The Vatican II
sect also mocks the saints and martyrs and rejects the entire Catholic Faith
with its teaching and actions on heretical sects, such as the Protestant
sects. Because Margaret Clitherow refused to
accept the Anglican sect and its “Mass” – but rather invited Catholic priests
into her home against the penal laws – she was martyred by being crushed to
death under a large door loaded with heavy weights. This style of execution is so painful
that it is called “severe and harsh punishment.” She suffered it all because she wouldn’t
accept Anglicanism. The Vatican
II sect, however, teaches that Anglicans are fellow “Christians” who don’t need
conversion, and whose invalid “bishops” are actually true bishops of the Church
of Christ. The Vatican II sect
teaches that her martyrdom was completely pointless.
Here is John
Paul II, in mockery of all the Catholic saints and martyrs, such as Margaret
Clitherow, endorsing the Anglican sect by kissing the ring of its non-Catholic
leader, Rowan Williams. John Paul
II also gave Williams a gift, a pectoral cross, and a telegram of approval. The pectoral cross is a sign of
Episcopal authority – indicating that John Paul II considers that Williams, a
layman posing as a bishop, is a valid bishop with Episcopal authority, even
though Pope Leo XIII infallibly declared that the Anglican ordinations are
invalid in Apostolicae Curae. John Paul II’s action with regard to
Rowan Williams is a perfect example of an action which manifests heresy: the
action manifests that John Paul II accepts the Anglican sect and its leaders as
true Christians and valid bishops.
Margaret Clitherow and all the Catholic saints would denounce John Paul
II and the Vatican II sect as manifestly heretical, not even remotely Catholic
and totally evil.
The Vatican II
Sect on Schismatics
The “Orthodox”
Schismatics reject the Papacy, Papal Infallibility and approximately the last 13
dogmatic councils of the Catholic Church.
But the Vatican II teaches that the Eastern "Orthodox" don’t need to
believe in the Papacy and accept the Catholic Faith for salvation. The Vatican II sect issued the official
Balamand Statement with the Orthodox (see below), which declared that they have
no obligation to convert to the Catholic Faith for salvation. John Paul II approved of this agreement
and taught the same many times.
Vatican II Sect’s Balamand
Statement with the “Orthodox,” #’s 14-15, 1993: “According to the words of Pope John Paul
II, the ecumenical endeavor of the sister Churches of East and West,
grounded in dialogue and prayer, is the search for perfect and total communion
which is neither absorption nor
fusion but a meeting in truth and love (cf. Slavorum Apostoli, 27).15.
While the inviolable freedom of persons and their obligation to follow the
requirements of their conscience remain secure, in the search for re-establishing unity
there is no question of conversion of people from one Church to the other in
order to ensure their salvation.”
This statement
just boldly declared that schismatics don’t need to accept the Catholic
Faith! And below we see John Paul
II sitting on equal level chairs with the schismatic Patriarch Teoctist. This action is meant to indicate that
the schismatic position, according to which all bishops are equal in the Church
and the Bishop of Rome doesn’t possess universal jurisdiction, is accepted by
John Paul II. Below we also see
John Paul II signing the common declaration of faith with Teoctist, in which
they both denounced trying to convert each other. This couldn’t be more formally heretical
or schismatical. It is a total
rejection of the dogmatic teaching of Vatican I on the necessity to accept the
Papacy for salvation, and a bold rejection of the dogma Outside the Church There
is No Salvation. (Benedict XVI
teaches the same as the Balamand Statement and John Paul II, as one can see in
the Heresies of Benedict XVI file above.)
More
information on all of these topics is available in the articles on our website,
in our books and DVDs, in our archived radio programs, etc. But this small introduction is meant to
show people that the Vatican II counterfeit “Catholic” sect is anti-Catholic,
totally heretical and apostate.
It is not the Catholic Church, but it is
the counterfeit “Catholic” sect of the last days. Those who defend Vatican II and the
post-conciliar “popes” actually think that they are defending the Catholic
Faith, but they are deceived. They
are defending a completely non-Catholic (and antichrist) sect and, in the
process, they are attacking the Catholic Faith and becoming its enemies. They are attacking the Papacy and all
the dogmas by defending a sect which mocks the Papacy and all the dogmas of Our
Lord Jesus Christ. They are being
used by the Devil if they obstinately defend this sect in the face of these
facts, and will perish forever unless they wake up and convert. Those who see these facts and who say that
the Vatican II antipopes are wrong for doing these things, but not manifest
heretics (such as the false traditionalists) don’t understand Catholic teaching
on heresy and the supernatural union which requires holding the true faith to be
part of the Church.
The fruits of
the Vatican II religion
*The fruits of
the Vatican II religion have been covered above on the sections on statistics,
annulments, religious ordes, sex scandals, “Catholic” colleges, pro-abortion
politicians scandal, etc. We
encourage you to consult those sections.
They show that the Vatican II sect is not the Catholic Church. As covered above, entire dioceses have
now been liquidated to pay off for the Vatican II sect’s pervert “priests.” All of this is also covered in our new
book, The Truth about What Really
Happened to the Catholic Church after Vatican II. Millions have left the Church, millions
have embraced paganism, and almost all who claim to be “Catholic” are in heresy,
apostasy or don’t have the foggiest idea what the Catholic Faith is about. The Vatican II religion is a vapid,
apostate, empty, and worldly religion of man.
Here is a
picture of young people at World Youth Day in Germany (Aug. 2005). They are basically worshipping Benedict
XVI, just as the people at a Rock concert worship a Rock Star. This picture captures the reality of the
non-Catholic counterfeit Vatican II sect: it captures what “the Papacy” has
become in the Vatican II sect. The
people don’t have a clue about what true fidelity to the Papacy is, but rather
they follow (and worship as a Christ) the man who they think has been elected
pope - no matter if he preaches a new Gospel or renders Jesus Christ
meaningless, as Benedict XVI does.
No matter that Benedict XVI just attended the synagogue a few days before
demonstrating that Christ is meaningless (according to him)… no matter, they
worship him all the same. They
don’t have any clue about what true fidelity to the Papacy is – how it is
fidelity to its unchangeable dogmas – nor any clue that the pope and the Papacy
are there to faithfully transmit what Jesus Christ and the Apostles gave to the
Church in the deposit of unchangeable Faith. It’s all about man, and the man they
think (quite wrongly) is the pope, whom they treat as if he is Christ Himself.
Life is short
and Hell is forever
Life is short
and Hell is forever. So, make
saving your soul and embracing and practicing the true Catholic Faith your
number one priority.
St. Alphonsus: “Man’s life is
short: he cometh forth as a flower, and is destroyed’ (Job 14: 1,2). The Lord commanded Isaias to preach this
very truth: ‘Cry,’ He said to him, ‘all flesh is grass… indeed the people is
grass. The grass is withered, and
the flower is fallen’ (Is. 40:6-7). The life of man is like the life of a blade
of grass. Death comes,
the grass withers, and behold life ends, and the flower falls of all greatness
and all worldly goods.”
“The torments
of hell are all so horrible, so appalling, that they are enough to make the
bravest man tremble. But the thought of eternity is so awful
that the serious consideration of it is almost enough to deprive one of one’s
senses.” (Fr. Martin Von Cochem, The
Four Last Things, p. 168)
Important
Book: Outside the Catholic Church There is
Absolutely No Salvation
(The prices for copies of the
book can be found in the specials offers order form near the top of our website.
One copy is $4.00)
© Unless
otherwise specified, the articles and files on this website are written by
Bro. Michael Dimond and Bro. Peter Dimond.
They are the intellectual product of Bro. Michael Dimond, Bro. Peter
Dimond or both. They belong to Most
Holy Family Monastery. We grant
permission for them to be copied and spread, but the website and name of author
must be given. All rights
reserved.
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