"IT IS A GRAVE OFFENSE NOT TO WORK FOR THE EXTERMINATION OF HERESY WHEN THIS MONSTROUS INFECTION REQUIRES ACTION"
— Council of Vienne ♰♰♰


Friday, January 31, 2020

St. John Bosco preached the truth about the "impostor" Mohamed and his false religion


“It would take too long to tell you all the stories about this famous impostor (…) Mohamed’s religion consists of a monstrous mixture of Judaism, Paganism and Christianity. Mohamed propagated his religion, not through miracles or persuasive words, but through the force of arms. [It is] a religion that favors every sort of licentiousness and which, in a short time, allowed Mohamed to become the leader of a troop of brigands. Along with them he raided the countries of the East and conquered the people, not by introducing the Truth, not by miracles or prophecy; but for one reason only: to raise his sword over the heads of the conquered shouting: believe or die.” -- St. John Bosco

Don Bosco, pray for us.


Bergoglio will receive a "Drag Queen" as he maliciously continues pushing the Marxist agenda of Gender ideology


en.news Francis will receive the militant homosexual Oliver Knöbel, reports Bild.de (January 31).



Knöbel, a German, calls himself "Olivia Jones," and mocks Catholic nuns by dressing up in religious costumes.




For his 50th birthday on November 21, he asked for an audience with Francis, obviously in order to perform a publicity stunt.




Nevertheless, Archbishop Georg Gänswein replied affirmatively, asking only for a letter of recommendation from Knöbel's local bishop. Knöbel is not a Catholic. He lives in Hamburg where pro-gay Stefan Heße, a protégé of Dubia Cardinal Joachim Meisner (+2017), is an archbishop.




Gänswein pointed out that Knöbel must present himself at the audience dressed as a normal man, not as an "artistic character."




Knöbel announced that he will use the meeting to propagate a homosexual pseudo-marriage.




Yayo Grassi: Francis was my high school teacher. he knows that I am gay. I met him in Rome and Washington together with my changing boyfriends. Francis was always asking about them. Nov 2015




Bergoglio defies Catholic moral doctrine to support “public benefits for gay couples”








In Argentina, Bergoglio had already fallen into apostasy and schism allowing sacrilegious communion for sodomites and adulterers, supporting gay civil unions and allowing gay adoptions. This is another Bergoglio Marxist move to boost the Marxist gender ideology agenda.

1 Corinthians 6:9-109 Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, 10 thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. 

Bergoglio approved the Argentine Leonardo Sandri who covered up pedophile Marciel Maciel as Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals

‘In the Heart of the Church we seem to glimpse the approaching shadow of Satan’s synagogue (Rev 2:9).’

ROME, January 30, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) —  In a new testimony touching upon the election of the next Pope, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has alleged that the cardinal whom Pope Francis recently approved to preside over the next papal conclave was involved in covering up the misdeeds of infamous Legionary of Christ founder, Marciel Maciel. 
In a statement released on January 31 and titled “The faithful have the right to know” (see official English text below), Archbishop Viganò asserts that Pope Francis’s confirmation of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri as Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals is a “masterpiece of deception.” 

On Saturday, January 25, the Holy See announced that Pope Francis had confirmed the election of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 86, and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 76, as Dean and Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals respectively. The announcement came one month after Cardinal Angelo Sodano, 92, resigned as Dean of the Sacred College.



                                              

Francis’s approval of these elections “has gone almost unnoticed and yet conceals a devious strategy,” Archbishop Viganò writes. 
The former apostolic nuncio to the United States contends that the confirmation of Cardinal Re as Dean of the Sacred College is “a cover for that other more effective appointment — of Cardinal Sandri — which has been prepared ad hoc to pilot the next conclave secundum Franciscum, that is, according to an updated and augmented edition of the St. Gallen Mafia.”




Role of the Dean and Vice-Dean 

The Dean of the College of Cardinals presides over the Sacred College. When a Pope dies (or in the case of Benedict XVI has resigned), the Dean is tasked with communicating to all the cardinals that the pontiff has passed and summoning them to Rome for a papal conclave.


The word “conclave” refers to the time in which the cardinals are locked inside the Sistine Chapel to elect a new Pope. Only those cardinals who are under the age of 80 are eligible to enter the conclave and vote.
The Dean of the College presides over the conclave and also oversees what are called the pre-conclave “congregations,” at which cardinals discuss the logistics and planning for the conclave, and importantly, meet their brother cardinals and get to know their positions. All of the cardinals, even those who cannot vote in the actual election for reasons of age, are eligible to participate in the congregations. Such was the case with former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick in 2013.  
The Vice-Dean’s role is to act as a substitute when the Dean cannot exercise his office. At 86 years of age, Cardinal Re, as newly elected Dean, is not eligible to enter into or preside at the next conclave and will therefore cede this role to 76-year-old Cardinal Sandri. 
Cardinal Re will still oversee the congregations, but Cardinal Sandri, as Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals, will exercise the most important role — to preside over the election of the next Pope.
This is not a novelty. In 2013, after the resignation of Benedict XVI, for reasons of age, Cardinal Angelo Sodano ceded this role to then-Vice-Dean, Cardinal Re, who presided over the election of Pope Francis.

A web of coverup?

In his new statement, Archbishop Viganò recalls his first testimony in August 2018, in order to reiterate that “the person chiefly responsible for covering up the misdeeds committed by Maciel was then-Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano.”
“Unfortunately for him, Sandri also allowed himself to be involved by Sodano in this operation to cover up Maciel’s horrible misdeeds,” he adds.
Drawing on his first-hand experience as a member of the diplomatic corps and high-level official in the Vatican Secretariat of State, Archbishop Viganò testifies that through a series of “shady maneuvers,” Cardinal Sandri was transferred to Mexico, to replace Archbishop Justo Mullor, who “was removed from the Apostolic Nunciature in Mexico because he opposed the directives coming from the Secretariat of State to cover up the very serious accusations against Marcial Maciel.”
Archbishop Viganò writes: 
“To replace Archbishop Mullor in Mexico City, it was necessary to appoint a person of unfailing loyalty to Sodano. Sandri had already given proof of this as Assessor for the section of General Affairs in the Secretariat of State. Serving at the time as Nuncio in Venezuela for just a little over two years, he was transferred to Mexico.”
This new testimony echoes his first, in which he wrote
“It is known that Sodano tried to cover up the Father Maciel scandal to the end. He even removed the Nuncio in Mexico City, Justo Mullor, who refused to be an accomplice in his scheme to cover Maciel, and in his place appointed Sandri, then-Nuncio to Venezuela, who was willing to collaborate in the cover-up.”
In his first testimony, Archbishop Viganò also stated that he informed Cardinal Sandri, along with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, about Theodore McCarrick’s decades-long abuse of priests and seminarians. Sandri was one of several high-ranking prelates who “knew in every detail the situation regarding Cardinal McCarrick,” he testified.
Cardinal Sandri’s links to the Legionaries of Christ and allegations that he kept quiet about Maciel’s misdeeds have been reported widely in both the Italian and English-speaking media, recently and in past years.
Archbishop Viganò notes his “long-standing friendship” with Cardinal Sandri that dates back 50 years to their shared time in the Pontifical Ecclesiastic Academy (a training academy for Vatican diplomats) and the Secretariat of State. He also affirms that his new testimony is inspired “solely” by the bond of that friendship and is offered “for the good of his soul, for the love of the Truth who is Christ Himself, and for the Church, His Bride, whom we served together.”
The former US nuncio also testifies that Pope Francis, having asked him about Sandri, knew about his character and the Mexico transfer, and “promoted [him] to Cardinal-Priest in May 2018 and a month later to Cardinal-Bishop, so that he might confirm him as Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals, a candidate prepared by Francis to preside at the next Conclave.”
Archbishop Viganò concludes: “The faithful have a right to know these sordid intrigues of a corrupt court. In the Heart of the Church we seem to glimpse the approaching shadow of Satan’s synagogue (Rev 2:9).”

Here below is the official English translation of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s new testimony regarding Pope Francis’ recent approval of the election of the new Dean and Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals. 



The Faithful Have a Right to Know
We have just been through one of the most disgraceful episodes in which we have seen the prince of lies at work to discredit the book of Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Robert Sarah by covering them with vile insults and vulgar insinuations, and the Pope’s jailer, as a judas, now also acting as a hitman. And once again we find ourselves dealing with another masterpiece of deception: the confirmation by the Pope of the elections of the new Dean and Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals by the Cardinal-Bishops. This has gone almost unnoticed and yet conceals a devious strategy. It should be borne in mind, in fact, that in June 2018 Pope Francis increased the number of Cardinal-Bishops, which had remained unchanged for centuries, promoting four new ones in one fell swoop. In this way he secured a majority in favor of him, as he has always done with the creation of new members of the College of Cardinals.
To Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, appointed Dean of the College at the age of 86 and therefore excluded from the next conclave, I wish an even longer life than that of his father. But his appointment is a cover for that other more effective appointment — of Cardinal Sandri — which has been prepared ad hoc to pilot the next conclave secundum Franciscum, that is, according to an updated and augmented edition of the St. Gallen Mafia.
I have a long-standing friendship with Cardinal Sandri that dates back to the time shared in the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, then during eleven years in the same office as secretaries to three Substitutes of the Secretariat of State, and seven years of collaboration once he was appointed Substitute for General Affairs in the Secretariat of State, having returned after just six months from his mission as Nuncio to Mexico. 
Amicus Plato sed magis amica veritas.” [Plato is my friend, but truth is a better friend]. This maxim, attributed to Aristotle, then taken up by Plato towards Socrates and later by Cicero, is explained by St. Thomas Aquinas in Sententia libri Ethicorum, Liber1, Lectio6, n. 4-5 as follows: “Quod autem oporteat veritatem praeferre amicis, ostendit hac ratione. Quia ei qui est magis amicus, magis est deferendum. Cum autem amicitiam habeamus ad ambo, scilicet ad veritatem et ad hominem, magis debemus veritatem amare quam hominem, quia hominem praecipue debemus amare propter veritatem et propter virtutem... Veritas autem est amicus superexcellens cui debetur reverentia honoris; est etiam veritas quiddam divinum, in Deo enim primo et principaliter invenitur. Et ideo concludit, quod sanctum est praehonorare veritatem hominibus amicis.”
In English:
That truth should be preferred to friends he proves in this way. He is the greater friend for whom we ought to have the greater consideration. Although we should have friendship for both truth and our fellow man, we ought rather to love truth because we should love our fellow man especially on account of truth and virtue… Now truth is a most excellent friend of the sort to whom the homage of honor is due. Besides truth is a divine thing, for it is found first and chiefly in God. He concludes, therefore, that it is virtuous to honor truth above friends.
Which is why what I am about to write concerning Cardinal Leonardo Sandri is inspired solely by the friendship that has bound me to him for almost fifty years, for the good of his soul, for the love of the Truth who is Christ Himself, and for the Church, His Bride, whom we served together.
In the first audience that Francis granted me after the one on June 23, 2013 that I have already mentioned (in my first testimony), in which he asked me about Cardinal McCarrick, he asked me a similar question: “What is Cardinal Sandri like?” Caught by surprise by the question about a dear friend of mine, and feeling put on the spot, I did not answer. Then Francis, joining his hands in a characteristically Italian gesture, waved them back and forth — as if to say that Sandri “knows how to get by” — and he looked me in the eyes seeking my consent to his suggestion. So I told him in confidence: “Holy Father, I don’t know if you are aware that Nuncio Justo Mullor, President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, was removed from the Apostolic Nunciature in Mexico because he opposed the directives coming from the Secretariat of State to cover up the very serious accusations against Marcial Maciel.” This is what I told the Pope, so that he would take it into account and eventually remedy the injustice that Archbishop Mullor had suffered for not compromising himself, for remaining faithful to the truth, and for love of the Church. I reaffirm this truth here, so as to honor this faithful servant of the Holy See, on whose tomb, in the cathedral of Almeria, Spain, I celebrated a Holy Mass of suffrage.
I already wrote in my first testimony that the person chiefly responsible for covering up the misdeeds committed by Maciel was then-Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, whose recent acceptance to resign as Dean of the College of Cardinals was linked to his involvement in the Maciel affair. He, in addition to protecting Maciel, is certainly no stranger to McCarrick’s promotions...
Meanwhile, Cardinal Francis Arinze deserves to be recognized for having opposed, within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Sodano’s attempt to cover up the Maciel case.
Unfortunately for him, Sandri also allowed himself to be involved by Sodano in this operation to cover up Maciel’s horrible misdeeds. To replace Archbishop Mullor in Mexico City, it was necessary to appoint a person of unfailing loyalty to Sodano. Sandri had already given proof of this as Assessor for the section of General Affairs in the Secretariat of State. Serving at the time as Nuncio in Venezuela for just a little over two years, he was transferred to Mexico.  
I was a direct witness to these shady maneuvers (which those in charge would describe as normal personnel transfers) through a conversation they had on January 25, 2000, the feast of the Conversion of St Paul, while we were on our way to the Basilica that bears his name, for the closing of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The chain linking the dates of these transfers is very significant: on January 19, 2000, Archbishop Giorgio Zur, who had been President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy (PAE) for only one year, was transferred to Moscow; on February 11, 2000, Archbishop Justo Mullor, who at this point had been in Mexico for just two and a half years, was appointed President of the PAE; on March 1, 2000, Archbishop Sandri was transferred to Mexico after spending only two and a half years in Venezuela. Just six months later, on September 16, 2000, Sandri was promoted to Substitute of the Secretariat of State, i.e., Sodano’s right-hand man. 
The Legionaries of Christ did not fail to show their gratitude to Sandri. On the occasion of a lunch held in the atrium of the Paul VI Hall to honor the cardinals, including Sandri, who were created at the November 24, 2007 consistory, I was bewildered when Sandri told me in advance what he was about to tell Pope Benedict as he made his entrance: “Holy Father, you will excuse me if I don’t stay for lunch, but I am expected by five hundred of my guests at the Legionaries of Christ.”
Francis, after having repeatedly and obsessively referred to an unspecified “clericalism” as the cause of sexual abuse, in order to avoid denouncing the scourge of homosexuality, is now flaunting the most unscrupulous clericalism (an accusation he levels at others): he promotes Sandri to Cardinal-Priest in May 2018 and a month later to Cardinal-Bishop, so that he might confirm him as Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals, a candidate prepared by Francis to preside at the next Conclave.
The faithful have a right to know these sordid intrigues of a corrupt court. In the Heart of the Church we seem to glimpse the approaching shadow of Satan’s synagogue (Rev 2:9). 

+ Carlo Maria Viganò
 Titular Arhbishop of Ulpiana
 Apostolic Nuncio

Translation by Diane Montagna of LifeSiteNews

Abp. Viganò: Cdl. Sandri chosen to lead, manipulate next conclave


 Sandri received the $6,500 from 2002 to 2008.

Saint John Bosco judges Bergoglio’s heresies

Many people [in authority] oppose us, persecute us, and would like even to destroy us, but we must be patient. As long as their commands are not against our conscience, let us obey them, but when the case is otherwise, let us uphold the rights of God and of the Church, for those are superior to all earthly authority.

St. John Bosco

…judges Francis’ idea on the use of internet for catholic education

  • It is necessary to purify love and thus transform human sentimentality into refined and sublime love – to subject sensibility to reason, to the teachings of the faith, to the zeal for the glory of God

Childhood, adolescence and youth are times of an extraordinary flourishing of sentiments and affections. The educator should take advantage of this. The heart has sections that are little explored, almost unknown. The center of the heart, so to say, is love. It is necessary to purify love, transform human sentimentality into refined and sublime love; in charity, in charity towards God and towards neighbor. Control anger, help one’s neighbor, subject sensibility to reason, to the teachings of the faith, to the zeal for the glory of God. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), 2nd edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 411)
  • Without religion there is no fruit to be had among youth

Only religion is capable of beginning and finishing the great work of a true education. Without religion there is no fruit to be had among youth. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), 2nd edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, p. 428)
  • It is necessary to always keep the children busy with good things

Impurity is the vice that causes most damage in youth. Morality: this is what is most important! […] It is necessary to always keep the boys busy. […] If we do not keep them occupied, they will seek occupation, and certainly with thoughts and things that are not good. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), 2nd edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 429)
  • Detach yourselves from earthly things, and try to rise toward heaven

My sons, detach yourselves from earthly things. Imitate the little birds when they want to leave the nest. They start to leave the edge of the nest, they flap their little wings, they try to lift into the air, they try out their strength. So should you do too: flap your wings a little to rise toward heaven… Begin with little things, with what is necessary for your eternal salvation. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), 2nd edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 412)
  • The world is most ungrateful

Young people, accustom yourselves to saying to the devil: I cannot, I have only one soul! This is true Christian logic. Because of this, purity of intention, do that which pleases God, obey God. The benefit is: the world is most ungrateful, it is impossible to keep it happy; the best counsel that can be given is to not expect recompense from the world, but only from God. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), 2nd edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pp. 410–411)

…judges Francis’ idea that it is no longer necessary to declare one’s sins to a confessor to be pardoned

  • The devil will try to make you conceal your sins in confession

Before all else, I recommend that you take the greatest caution not to fall into sin; and if you have the disgrace to commit one, do not heed the tempter devil; he will try to make you conceal it in confession. […] I wished to say these things to you so that you never let yourselves be deceived by the devil, keeping silent about a sin in confession out of shame. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos [Biography and Writings], Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 826)
  • The snare with which the devil commonly traps souls and steals them from God consists in making them feel great shame when they go to confess a sin

Do not be afraid to confess to the confessor your defects and your faults. […] Let nothing, my dear sons, take this confidence from you: Not shame, for we know well that human miseries are human miseries, and you certainly do not go to confession to tell miracles. […] Nor the fear that the priest may reveal something of what was heard in confession; this is a tremendous secret for him; the slightest veniality revealed would suffice to condemn him to hell. Nor the fear that what has been confessed to him will later be recalled […] So, take heart, my little sons, let us not make the devil laugh. Confess well, telling all. […] The snare with which the devil commonly traps young people is precisely this: making them feel great shame when they go to confess a sin. When he impels them to commit them, he then takes away all shame and makes them believe that they are mere trifles; but he later gives it back to them, when they seek to confess and, what is more, increases it, and does his utmost to put the idea into their heads that the confessor will be shocked in seeing them thus fallen and will lose the esteem in which he held them. In this way, he ever attempts to lead souls more and more toward the abyss of eternal perdition. Oh, how many souls, especially of young people, does the devil not steal from God, frequently and forever! (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos [Biography and Writings], Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 527-528)
  • Shame, rather than leading to salvation, leads to perdition

I looked and I saw [in a dream] three more youths in a dreadful position. Each of them a large monkey on his back. I observed attentively and saw that the monkeys had horns. Each of those terrible beasts, grasped those poor unfortunates by the neck with their front paws, gripping so tightly that the youths’ faces became completely congested, and their bloodshot eyes bulged to the point of almost springing from their sockets. With their hind legs, they so squeezed the youths’ thighs that they could scarcely move and, with their tail, which was most elongated, they also bound their legs so that walking was almost impossible. This means that those youths, even after the spiritual exercises, are in mortal sin: the devil squeezes their neck, preventing them from speaking when they should, instilling such shame in them, that they lose their senses and do not know what to do. This shame, rather than leading them to salvation, leads them to perdition. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 577-578)
  • ‘Labor, sweat and fervor’ is necessary to remove the devil of shame

I asked what these youths should do to rid their backs of such a horrible monster. He hastily said: ‘Labor, sweat and fervor’. I do not understand, speak more clearly. He repeated once again: ‘Labor, sweat and fervor’. […] ‘I understand the words materially, but you would do well to give their explanation’. ‘Labor in assiduis operibus; sudor in poenitentiis continuis; fervor in orationibus ferventibus’. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 578)
  • A great number of Christians are eternally lost for not having declared certain sins with sincerity in the confessional

I assure you, very beloved young people, that my hand trembles in writing these lines at the consideration of the great number of Christians who are eternally lost for not having declared certain sins with sincerity in confession. If, by chance, one of you, reviewing your past life, recalls that you hid a sin in confession, or had the slightest doubt as to the validity of one or other of them, hear what I am about to tell you in the greatest earnestness: ‘Friend, for the love of Jesus Christ and of the Precious Blood He shed to save you, I beseech you to set the state of your conscience straight the very next time you go to confess, and reveal, with sincerity, all that might embitter your soul if you were to find yourself at the moment of death’. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 826)
  • The number of those who are condemned for going to confession is greater than those who are condemned for not going to confession

I had a dream. Much of what was seen cannot be described, because… to express them, neither word nor intelligence will suffice. […] There were four youths bound with thick chains and with locks on their lips. I observed them attentively and I knew them. […] I, confounded and overwhelmed at those strange things, asked him the reason for the locks clamping the lips of those fellows. He replied: ‘Do you not understand? These are the ones who keep silent’. ‘But what do they keep silent about?’ ‘They keep silent’. Then I understood that he meant those who keep silent in confession. It is those who, even if questioned by the confessor, do not answer, or answer evasively, or untruthfully. They say that it isn’t so, when it is. […] This is true to such extent, that, in all the world, the number of those who are condemned for going to confession is greater than that of those who are condemned for not going to confession, for even the worst will confess at some time, but very many confess badly. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 574.576-577)
  • The priest ought to help penitents to reveal the state of their consciences

Whoever, by the designs of Divine Providence, has the most difficult task of hearing young people in Confession, I humbly beg you to permit me, while omitting many other things, to make, with utmost respect, the following observations: […] Help them to reveal the state of their conscience and urge them to frequent the Sacrament of Penance. This is the best means to distance them from sin. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 827)

…judges Francis’ idea on the formation of youth

  • One of the vices of modern pedagogy is to reduce religion to a mere sentiment

One of the defects or vices of modern pedagogy is to reduce religion to a mere sentiment. Because of this they do not want one to speak with the young people about the eternal truths, nor even to mention death, judgment, and much less hell to them. It is necessary to instruct them profoundly and capacitate them to continue this instruction on their own. A reform of customs is necessary. This is not attained except by distributing the bread of the divine word to the peoples. Catechize the children; inculcate in them the detachment of the things of this earth. […] All teachers should teach and promote the study of the diocesan catechism. It is of utmost importance. Twice a year there should be held with all solemnity a catechism exam, and whoever who does not pass it should not be promoted to the other exams. Special awards should be given to those who have outstanding results in this exam. And to better assure this study, special care should be taken in the record of the weekly and monthly marks. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, p. 421)
  • Without religion there is no fruit to be had among youth

Only religion is capable of beginning and finishing the great work of a true education. Without religion there is no fruit to be had among youth. Young souls, in the period of their formation, need to experience the beneficial effects derived from sacerdotal unction. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, p. 428)
  • Confession and Communion are the strongest supports for youth

The first step to educate young people well consists in striving to bring them confess and receive Communion with proper dispositions. These Sacraments are the strongest supports for youth. Frequent confession and Communion and daily Mass are the columns which should support an educational edifice which one wishes to be far removed from threats and punishment. Do not force young people to frequent the Sacraments, but rather encourage them and facilitate so that they may benefit from them. On the occasion of spiritual exercises, triduums, novenas sermons, catechisms, etc, there should be emphasis on the beauty, grandeur and holiness of a religion which proposes means that are so easy, so useful to civil society, to the tranquility of the heart and to the salvation of the soul as are the Sacraments. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pp. 428-429)
  • The supreme end of the educator: saving eternally

Reason and religion are the instruments that the educator should constantly use, teach and practice himself if he wishes to be obeyed and attain his end. This supreme end consists in making young people good, and saving them eternally. All the rest: letters, science, arts, trades, should be considered means. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pp. 423-424)
  • A Christian educator is he who directs souls to the path of sanctity

What is the obligation of the Christian educator? According to the spirit of Jesus Christ and the speaking of his morality, the educator, whether he be a priest or a teacher, should avoid giving a tainted education to the children Providence has confided to him, he should immediately direct them to the path of sanctity, whose ways are renunciation and generosity. To communicate to them the spirit of sacrifice, he should direct his care, above all, to cultivate their reason and their will, without neglecting any of the other faculties. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 415)
  • Form the heart to the zeal for the glory of God

Childhood, adolescence and youth are times of an extraordinary flourishing of sentiments and affections. The educator should take advantage of this. The heart has sections that are little explored, almost unknown. The center of the heart, so to say, is love. It is necessary to purify love, transform human sentimentality into refined and sublime love; in charity, in charity towards God and towards neighbor. Control anger, help one’s neighbor, subject sensibility to reason, to the teachings of the faith, to the zeal for the glory of God. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 411)
  • Instruction should begin by the knowledge of man’s final end

There is no true instruction which is not at the same time education. Intelligence is the light that God has given us to illuminate our way. It is at the same time the great instrument for all human work. It is that which distinguishes man from animals. It is the reflection of God. It is necessary to cultivate and educate it adequately. Instruction progresses alongside with human life and work, which always begins, and should begin by the knowledge of the end, to then proceed to the choice and concrete application of the means which lead to this end. This thought is what directs all intellectual formation. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pp. 408-409)
  • Almost all educators completely neglect the sovereign faculty: the will

Wisdom is the art of governing one’s own will. The education of the will consist above all in strengthening it, distancing from it all the obstacles that can obstruct its upright use, and providing occasions and motives for its proper use according to its natural and supernatural life. All, or almost all educators, see the development of a child`s intelligence as his main privilege. But this is a lack of prudence, because they ignore or easily lose sight of human nature and the interdependence of our faculties. They dedicate all their efforts to the development of the cognitive faculty and sentiment, which they erroneously and harmfully confuse with the faculty to love and on the other hand they completely neglect the sovereign faculty, the will, only source of true and pure love, of which sensibility is no more than a kind of appearance. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 413)
  • The child, overexcited by an intense culture, is a toy of the evil spirit

The intelligence and the sensibility, overexcited by an intense culture, attract all the powers of the soul, absorb his whole life, and acquire prematurely an extreme vivacity, coupled with the most refined delicacy. The child like this understands quickly, his imagination is ardent and agile, his memory retains with scrupulous exactitude and effortlessly the smallest details, which leads to learning by rote, his sensibility enchants all around him. But all of these brilliant qualities disguise the most shameful insufficiency, the most fatal weakness. The child today, and unfortunately, later the youth, carried away by the immediacy of conceptions, does not know how to think nor to operate with criteria, he lacks good sense, tact, prudence – in a word, practical sense. […] Too superficial to read the depths of his soul, he sees nothing but the surface, that is to say the passing sensations, and rushing to secure its slightest movements, believes to have firmly decided that which he seems to desire; incapable of dominating himself, he hurries to put it into practice. A sad and ridiculous toy of the evil spirit, who does not cease to confuse him, exciting impressions that he, poor blind child, imagines to be firm resolutions, the objects of lengthy meditation! […] Virtue attracts him, but as it is repugnant to the weakness of his nature, he interprets this repugnance to be a contrary desire. And he gives in. In vain the most abundant graces fall upon his soul, because he does not know how to seize them; his conscience is like a stormy sea, constantly agitated by the most contrary currents. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pp. 413-414)
  • Everything should converge toward the formation of the conscience

Formation of the conscience, which is so to say forming in the students this practical intellect which knows the moral law and which evaluates each action in its light, discovering its consonance or discrepancy with this law and proceeding in accordance with it. Everything should converge toward this: readings, conversations, discussions, classes, talks, public and private conferences should all tend toward inculcating in the intelligences the upright judgment about the things and the actions of life. They should learn to flee from evil and do good not out of fear or because others are observing them, but rather for love of God; not for reward or punishment from the superior, but for duty of conscience. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 410-411)
  • Morality: this is what is most important!

Impurity is the vice that causes most damage in youth. Morality: this is what is most important! […] It is necessary to always keep the boys busy. […] If we do not keep them occupied, they will seek occupation, and certainly with thoughts and things that are not good. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 429)
  • Physical education: to make the body a worthy collaborator of the spirit for the glory of God and the good of neighbor

The well-known program of Greco-Roman Antiquity never loses its validity: mens sana in corpore sano. And this should be understood in the integral sense: to achieve a proper collaboration between the two components of man. Make the body a worthy collaborator of the spirit for the glory of God and the good of neighbor. […] Physical education is most suitable, and even necessary, but it should not become a merely mechanical exercise, nor a series of movements which are more or less synchronized, but rather it should be a discipline, a perfecting in every sense, also esthetically. Agility and robustness of the body so that it can better serve the soul, and social life. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 406)
  • Games which inflame with the desire for material interests are not recommendable

Games are made to rest and avoid bad humors. Because of this, sedentary games are not recommendable, nor those which require too much calculation, nor those which inflame with the desire for material interests. […] Any game which includes the danger of offending God, causing harm to one’s neighbor, or to oneself, should be prohibited. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pp. 406-407)
  • During the time of youth, one should be accustomed to work

Man, my dear sons, was born to work. Adam was placed in the earthly Paradise so he would cultivate it. The Apostle Saint Paul says: ‘Whoever does not work should not eat, Si quis non vult operari, nec manducet’ (2Thess 3:10). By work is understood the fulfillment of one’s duties, whether they be studies, art, or some occupation. We are all workers. Remember that by work, you can make yourselves meritorious to society, to religion, you can do good to your souls, especially if you offer to God the occupations of each day. […] Remember that your age is the springtime of life. The one who does not accustom himself to work during his youth will be an idler until his old age, to the dishonor of the motherland and his relatives, and perhaps with irreparable damage to his own soul, because idleness brings with it all kinds of vices. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 489
  • On the holy fear of God depends all temporal and eternal good

Remember, dear young people, that we have been created to know, love and serve God, our Creator, and that of no use to us whatsoever is all the knowledge of the world and all the riches of the universe without the fear of God. On this holy fear depend all our temporal and eternal good. To keep us in the fear of Go, prayers, the Sacraments, and the Word of God are of aid to us. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pp. 489-490)
  • Virtues are the best ornament of a youth

Remember, dear young people that you are the Lord`s delight. Happy is the one who begins to observe the law of God ever since he is small. God deserves to be loved, because he has created us, he has redeemed us, he conserves us and has granted us innumerable benefits, and has a great reward for reserved for the one who keeps his law. Charity is that which distinguishes the sons of God from the sons of the devil and the world. The one who gives good counsel to his companions does a great work of charity. Obey your superiors, according to the mandate of God, and all will be well. The virtues that form the best ornament of a Christian youth are charity, purity, humility and obedience. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 416)
  • Begin when little to walk valiantly along the path of virtue

How difficult it is to uproot a vice that has taken root in youth! […] Each one of you should strive to acquire good habits, because in this way it will be easy for him to practice virtue. The habits formed in youth, generally last a lifetime: if they are good, they lead to virtue and they give us the moral security of eternal salvation. History teaches us that at all times virtue was loved, and those who practice it venerated and honored; on the contrary, vice was always reproved, and those who practice the vices despised. This should serve as an incentive for us on to flee from it constantly and practice virtue. Whoever wants to be great should begin when he is to and walk valiantly along the path of virtue. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 416)
  • Christians should seek to know the divine will

My sons: God in his eternal councils has destined to each one of you a condition of life with its corresponding graces. As in any other circumstance, also in this one, which is of capital importance, the Christian should seek to know the divine will, imitating Jesus Christ, who declared that he had come to the earth solely to fulfill the will of His eternal Father. It is very important then, my dear ones, that you seek to see clearly, so as not to labor in occupations which the Lord does not will for you. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 422)
  • Detach yourselves form earthly things to rise toward heaven

My sons, detach yourselves form earthly things. Imitate the little birds when they want to leave the nest. They start to leave the edge of the nest, they flap their little wings, they try to lift into the air, they try out their strength. So should you do too: flap your wings a little to rise toward heaven… Begin with little things, with what is necessary for your eternal salvation. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pg. 412)
  • The world is most ungrateful. Do not expect recompense form the world, but only from God

Young people, accustom yourselves to saying to the devil: I cannot, I have only one soul! This is true Christian logic. Because of this, purity of intention, do that which pleases God, obey God. The benefit is: the world is most ungrateful, it is impossible to keep it happy; the best counsel that can be given is to not expect recompense form the world, but only from God. (Saint John Bosco. Biografía y escritos (Biography and Writings), Second edition, Madrid: BAC, 1967, pp. 410-411)

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

The Simony of the German Bishops


Roberto de Mattei 
Corrispondenza Romana 
January 29, 2020
@RorateCaeli

“How I would like a poor Church for the poor” exclaimed Pope Francis (L’Osservatore Romano, March 17, 2013). The antithesis of his ideal however, is embodied precisely by the church closest to him – the German one. The German Episcopal Conference, which sponsored ideologically and economically last October’s Synod on the Amazon, is in fact the wealthiest and most privileged enterprise in all of Germany. This wealth comes from the Kirchensteuer, a tax that the State devolves to the Church, by retaining a figure amounting to 8-9% of  the overall tax burden of German Catholics. The taxation though is obligatory, unlike other countries, where Churches are financed through the generosity of the faithful, freely choosing to pay out a part of their income.

In Germany, those who want to be exempt from the Kirchensteuer must sign a statement showing their abandonment of the Church (Kirchenaustritt), which, as a result, deprives them of the Sacraments. On September 20, 2012, the German Bishops decreed that those who asked no longer  to be registered in order to avoid paying the ecclesiastical tax, can no longer confess, receive Communion or Confirmation and, at their death, cannot have a Catholic funeral; they will not even be able to do voluntary work in a Catholic association, let alone work in a Church institution, such as a school or hospital.


In an interview published in Schwäbische Zeitung of July 17, 2016, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, denounced this glaring contradiction in these terms: “How does the Catholic Church in Germany react with those who don’t pay the Church tax? With automatic exclusion from the ecclesial community, which means excommunication. This is excessive – incomprehensible. Dogmas can be questioned and no one is thrown out. Is perhaps the non-payment of the Kirchensteuer a graver infraction than the transgressions against the truths of the Faith? The impression is, that, as long as what’s at stake is the Faith, it isn’t so tragic, but when money comes into play, then it is not to be trifled with”.

If the slogan of the American Colonies in the 18th century was “No taxation without representation”, the slogan of the German Bishops today is “No Sacraments without taxation”. If you pay you receive the Sacraments, if you don’t pay you are deprived of them. The wealth of the German Church is founded, in a word, on simony.  

Simony is a sin that has accompanied the history of the Church throughout the centuries, being associated frequently with the so-called “Nicolaism”, the concubinage of priests. The first synods of Gregory VII (1073-1085), the great reformer Pope of the Middle-Ages, were precisely dedicated to the fight against the simoniacal German Bishops, transgressors of ecclesiastical celibacy. A much graver plague than the selling of indulgences, which offered the pretext for Luther’s Revolution.   

The term simony comes from Simon Magus, who, it is written “offers  money to the Apostles” (Acts, 8.18) to acquire spiritual power. St. Thomas Aquinas, who dedicates an entire question in his Summa Theologica  to simony (q.100, II-II), explains that simoniacs are both those who buy or sell spiritual things: “Those who sell spiritual things are like Simon Magus in  intentions, whereas those who buy them are like him in actions” (q. 100, a. 1). According to St. Thomas “to receive  money for the spiritual grace of the Sacraments is a sin of simony which cannot be excused by any custom: since “custom does not prevail over the natural or Divine Law” (q. 100, art. 2, resp.). “Wherefore the custom, if such there be, of demanding anything as the price of a spiritual thing, with the intention of buying or selling it, is manifestly simoniacal, especially when the demand is made of a person unwilling to pay” (art. 2, ad 4).

Given that the Kirchensteuer extorts against the will of the taxpayer, the statement of abandonment  of the German Church (Kirchenaustritt) signed by those who want to avoid payment, is devoid of value in the eyes of the Church.  The Pontifical Council for the Holy See’s legislative texts, in a document dated March 13, 2006, explained that the abandoning the Catholic Church, for it to be validly configured as a true actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia, must be concretized in the following elements: a) an inner decision to leave the Catholic Church; b) the outer actuation and manifestation of this decision; c) direct reception of such a decision on the part of the competent ecclesiastical authority.” *

Every act that does not come from an inner motivation, but is obligatory, cannot be considered a free inner decision to leave the Catholic Church and is invalid. Furthermore, the parish priest should establish if there truly is the will to leave the Church, which never happens in Germany. The German Catholic who signs the Kirchenaustritt must not then fear being schismatic, if he does not have a real intention of abandoning the Church, but wants only to separate himself from the perverse financial system which ties him to the Episcopal Conference, for that matter, directed by Bishops who are not only simoniacs but also heretics and schismatics. The synodal path initiated in Germany by Cardinal Marx aims in fact at turning the sexual morality of the Church upside down and of subverting its hierarchal structure. It is a process of self-dissolution, which Catholics, in conscience, cannot collaborate with.

Many German Catholics criticize the Kirchensteuer, but state that they cannot help but pay it in order not to be deprived of the Sacraments. But with this they become accomplices in the simony of the Bishops. St. Thomas explains, for example, that  “ since nowise ought one to sin, if the priest be unwilling to baptize without being paid, one must act as though there were no priest available for the baptism. Hence the person who is in charge of the child can, in such a case, lawfully baptize it, or cause it to be baptized by someone else [..]And if he is unable to have recourse to another, he must by no means pay a price for Baptism, and should rather die without being baptized, because for him the baptism of desire would supply the lack of the sacrament.


             
 Will it be really impossible though,  in and outside Germany, to find priests and bishops willing to  administer the Sacraments to the conscientious objectors of the Kirchensteueur? We do not believe it; as nothing is impossible for those seeking first the Kingdom of God and His Justice (Mat.6, 33).

The French writer Ernst Hello (1828-1885) states that renunciation is the devil’s word. “God never renounces. The devil always renounces, even when he appears to act. He is the one who renounces. The man who renounces cannot do much and impedes everyone. The man who does not renounce lifts mountains” (L’uomo, [Man]Edizioni Paoline, 1958, p. 287).

What I fear the most today are the resigned and defeatist Catholics. Who are the defeatist Catholics? Those who are convinced that there is a disproportion of forces between us and our adversaries (which is true) and that we can do nothing more than accept the de facto situation (which is not true). The defeatist Catholics criticize the Kirchensteuer in private, but think it useless to criticize it publically, because they think nothing will change.

On January 20, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, said this in his homily for the Feast of St. Agnes: “with the blood of her young life, St. Agnes witnessed Christ, Son of God and only Savior of the world. And so she encourages also us here in Rome and Europe, to profess our Catholic faith publically, without fearing men.”


In Germany those who criticize the German Episcopal Conference publically and refuse thus to pay the Kirchensteuer, do not risk death, like St. Agnes, but risk being deprived of the Sacraments and in particular, of being censured socially. It is a hard trial certainly, but perhaps we ought to take example from those Catholics in England at the time of Elizabeth I, or in France, under the French Revolution, who were deprived of the Sacraments and persecuted, but stayed faithful to the Catholic faith. Secularized Europe needs heroism, not defeatism.



Translation: Contributor Francesca Romana




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