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July 2001 No. 41
“It’s always the Pope and the Catholic Church who are asking for forgiveness: the others just keep quiet” (Le Figaro, Oct. 3, 1997). Pope John Paul II uttered this complaint in a meeting with journalists on his first visit to Brazil. This puts us in mind of another complaint, that of Pope Paul VI, concerning “the smoke of Satan” which has penetrated God’s Holy Church through the very windows that had been thrown wide open by the Council and through which this Pope expected to see bright sunshine streaming into the Church. Pope Paul VI’s bitter admission was the fruit of a cruel disillusionment. He acknowledged having tenaciously pursued a utopian scheme, namely the aggiornamento of the Church and the triumph – this is the illusion which was supposed to result from it in the world and especially in the world of culture, which is increasingly hostile to Our Lord Jesus Christ. This was nothing other than the utopia of Modernism, which had been welcomed and nourished by the "intellectual" Pope Montini ever since his youth. Our Divine Master warned us: "Do not be astonished if the world hate you: it hated Me before you." The Modernists, by contrast, are "intellectual" Christians who have not resigned themselves to being despised by the world along with Christ. The complaint of Pope John Paul II also expresses a further disillusionment; namely, disillusionment with another utopia that had been pursued with equal tenacity: the "ecumenical," "world-wide," non-Catholic utopia. Its aim was to bring about the unity and concord of the human race – this is the illusion – by means of "dialogue" with the sects which had become separated from the Catholic Church by schism and heresy, and even with pagan religions. But, as St. Paul says, "non sunt facienda mala ut eveniant bona" – “we must not do evil, even in order that some good may come." Therefore this Ecumenism which proceeds along a path of a "brotherhood" and a peace which are not those of Christ, this Ecumenism which, by its aim, betrays revealed Truth and humiliates God's Holy church, cannot be blessed by God. It is the modern Tower of Babel: sooner or later, God will scatter those who are building it. The evil of Ecumenism is revealed, however, in its sterility. In fact, the complaint of Pope John Paul II, bitter though it is, does not reflect the whole bitter reality, because "the others," i.e., those taking part in the "dialogue," "who have been installed in prominent Catholic positions ever since Vatican II, are not content to keep silence": they are taking action and what they do is more eloquent than a declaration of war - to people who are not blinded by the ecumenical utopia.
Not Even Thirty PiecesFor years, the Catholic hierarchy has been wasting its breath, beating its communal breast and saying mea culpa on behalf of a Church that is accused of being responsible for anti-Semitism (which existed, in any case, well before there was a Church – just read Horace's Satires!) a Church which, while having to defend itself against the hostility of Jews down the centuries, has always defended them against the hostility of different nations. And how do the Jews respond to this "dialogue" which sacrifices both revealed truth and historical truth for the sake of an ecumenical utopia? The facts will tell us. In 1963, at the very moment when the Jews were putting pressure on the Council to exculpate them from the charge of Deicide, the State of Israel's High Court of Justice, rejecting the appeal of the Carmelite Fr. Daniel (Oswald Rufeisen), a converted Jew, declared that Jews who convert to Christianity cannot have Israeli nationality, even if they had emigrated to Israel and are prepared to observe its legal code (Oikoumenikon, Jan. 1, 1963, p.93, and, Jan. 15, 1963, p.90). The hostile attitude to Christianity has not changed after 35 years of ecumenical "dialogue." As we read in the review Missioni Consolata of June 1990,
On this occasion, the judgment concerned a young Jewish couple, Gary and Shirley Beresford, who had emigrated from Zimbabwe to Israel and "who have been refused citizenship simply for believing in Christ." Their appeal to the High Court of Justice was rejected, the judges having "decided that it was irrelevant that, quite apart from not having been baptized, they were Jews by birth and had declared that they kept all the Jewish traditions" (ibid.). In the same periodical, we learn that the same High Court of Justice confirmed the sentence handed down by an Israeli tribunal against a Jewish soldier, Richard Sorko-Ram, "for having publicly expressed his admiration for the figure of Jesus." Any commentary seems superfluous. However, let us quote the word of the Apostolic Nuncio, Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, who, on the occasion of a series of attacks on Catholic places of worship in the Holy Land, declared:
Here too, in fact, the reality is worse than the Nuncio says – for he is not a diplomat for nothing. It is not true that the Israeli authorities "do nothing" – they actually do a lot of things, as we have seen, and these Jews are fuelling the sentiment of intolerance and hostility which predominates in Israel “against all non-Jews" and particularly against the Catholic Church: this is serious "anti-Christian sentiment." La Croix of May 31, and Aug. 20, 1998, gave an account of the most recent manifestation of this anti-Christian sentiment when it revealed a "projected Israeli law which aims to outlaw the New Testament." "Will it be held to be a crime, in Israel, to have a copy of the Gospel?" – this was the title of the review Jesus of last September (p.30), which also printed the photo-montage published by the Israeli review Galilee which provoked protest from Christian circles. The latter represents the Madonna with a cow's head and (so that there should be no doubt) in her arms the Infant Jesus. This is how our "elder brothers" respond to the "dialogue" of those who have humbled themselves before them, regarding themselves as their "younger brothers." This is the reward for betraying the revealed truth.
Ecumenical
Opening of the Holy Door (Jan. 18. 2000).
Not a "Sister" But an Enemy The so-called "sister church" – another recently-discovered "relative" – has shown herself no less hostile than the "elder brothers." Here again, for the sake of "dialogue" with the self-styled "Orthodox church," the Catholic hierarchy is sacrificing the revealed truth and historical truth, as well as the most elementary forms of charity and justice towards the true Oriental Church, the true Orthodox Christians of the East, who are the "Uniates," the Greek-Catholics or Catholics of the Greek Rite ("The Catholic Eastern Church Condemned to Death by Ecumenism," Courrier de Rome, July/Aug. 1994, p.4). Let us recall the cry of anguish addressed to Pope John Paul II by the Roman Apostolic Administrator, Msgr. George Gutiu, the day after the Balamand Agreement [see The Angelus, Dec. 1997, pp.33-37], in the name of all the Greek-Catholic Bishops of Romania: after having endured the cross of Communism, they have had to take up the harder cross of Ecumenism. Nor is this all. The "Bacon Priest" (Fr. Werenfried van Straaten), treating "truth and error equally" is using contributions made to his work in order to finance, consolidate and expand, in Russia, the schismatic sect which usurps the name of the "Orthodox Church" (cf. the Review, Mondo e Missione, January 1995). In similar vein, the Italian Dioceses of Trent, Milan and Verona have been practising religious indifferentism for years, sending financial aid to the "sister church." As the "Patriarch" Alexis himself said this help "has contributed to the restoration of the Orthodox Churches of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novgorod and Push kin," and to the expansion of the "Ecclesiastical Academies of Moscow and St. Petersburg" (cf. Avvenire, December 9, 1994). They all forget, both the Italian Bishops and Fr. van Straaten, that financing a schismatic sect or schismatic worship is a form of co-operation with evil and as such, is never permitted, not even if one's intention is to achieve the most praiseworthy of ends (cf. Catholic Encyclopedia on "Co operation with Evil").
An exchange of gifts – this is how these financing schemes to "sister churches" are described (if Vita Pastorale, No.1, 1995), even if the giving is all on one side, and to a recipient who is by no means destitute (cf Panorama of Nov. 6, 1997). Money? Filled with the Spirit. How the wealthy Orthodox financial holding company operates…the Russian Orthodox Church…is…also a first-rank economic enterprise with an annual turnover of two thousand million dollars. In 1990, its very strong Department of Economics and Finance created a holding company, the ______, which received press accolades in Italy when it offered one thousand million dollars to participate in the privatization of the Bank of Rome. This bid was blocked, for the moment, by the IRI. So much for the economic sphere. Things are much worse in the area of religious relations: at every opportunity, the "sister church" engages in ferocious and insolently hostile attacks, as a result of the way the Balamand Agreement is interpreted. These attacks involve a rejection of "Uniatism," i.e., the return to union with Rome, by denying the Primacy and so signing the death-sentence of the true Catholic Oriental Church (cf. SISINoNo, Italian ed., May 15, 1995, p.7). However, the ultimate gift of our Moscow brothers (if Vita Pastorale, No.11, 1993) has just arrived: in a letter signed by 49 "Orthodox" Archbishops, Alexis, the Russian "Patriarch," unleashing a vicious attack on the Vatican, which he accuses of "religious deceit" and "brazen proselytism," demands (and gets) from Yeltsin the ratification of the law which marginalizes the Catholics of Russia (cf SISINONO, July/Aug. 1997). " Approval of the Law Gagging Catholics," "Pope, Come to the Rescue!" – these are some of the press headlines (Corriere della Sera, Sept.25, 1997, and Panorama, June 11, 1997). The Apostolic Administrator of European Russia, Msgr. Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, himself declares that he is "very anxious about the future of the Catholic Church in Russia" and says he "cannot see many opportunities for us Catholics" (reported in the Review Sounti, October 1997). Not the kind of behavior one associates with a "sister church"!
Monologue with the MuslimsAnd so we come to the Muslims, to whom European Catholics are offering "ecumenical hospitality" by turning even Catholic Churches into Mosques (the sins of co-operation with evil and of the profanation of holy places). For the sake of good relations with Muslims, the Catholic University of Milan (cf the Review Presenza, 2/1996) has organized a course entitled "Introduction to Islam" for official students of the Guardia di Finanza – who have never been given an "Introduction to Christianity." Pope Paul VI allowed these same Muslims to erect one of the biggest mosques in the world right opposite St. Peter's in Rome; and, while Saudi Arabia was building its mosque in Rome, it repeated its ban on the building of Christian Churches on its own territory (cf. SISINoNo, Italian ed., Feb. 28, 1993, p.8). Even the Jesuit Khalil Samir, an ecumenist and promotor of "dialogue," had to admit that, in all the Muslim countries, there is a "difficult climate" for Christians (Avvenire, Nov. 27,1990). Recently, too, the Jesuits of La Civilta Cattolica have been obliged to make the same bitter discovery with regard to emigré Muslims: " All those who do not profess Islam are infidels and so are hated by God, which means that the Muslim cannot love them or join with them" – this is the response to "dialogue" one finds in La Via del Musulmano-" The Way of the Muslim, " a book intended for emigré Muslims in Italy and for Italians wanting to get to know Islam, members of the USMI (Union of Muslim Students of Italy) and published by the Milan Islamic Centre-an action which differs markedly from Cardinal Martini's magnanimous ecumenical hospitality – and the UCOII (Union of Islamic Communities and Organizations in Italy). This is rather far from the notion that "we have the same God as the Muslims"! (cf. SISINONO, Italian ed., Sept. 15, 1997). What we have here is not a "dialogue" but an obstinate and humiliating monologue on the part of the Catholic hierarchy. As for the ultimate humiliation, we learn of it in the Bolletino Salesiano (Salesian Bulletin) of November 1997: beneath a photograph of the "very Catholic" President Scalfaro inaugurating the Rome mosque, we are informed that, in Arabia last July, the President of the Republic of Italy was not permitted to hear Holy Mass "even in private" because it is not allowed to celebrate Mass on the "holy ground" of that country – that country which has built a mosque on the genuinely holy ground of Rome. Nonetheless, observes the Salesian Bulletin, at Istanbul, Scalfaro "asked to be accompanied to the mosque, where he remained in prayer with his shoes off” –like a good Muslim!
The Central IssueFor our part, however, we are not complaining about the Jews, the Orthodox or the Muslims, who are simply showing what, as far as the Catholic Church is concerned, they have always been. Our lament before God and men is about the Catholic hierarchy, our pastors; what we lament is that, for 35 years, they have been sacrificing Divine Revelation, the Holy Church of God, the Faith of more or less simple souls and also the money given through the charity of Catholics, to the Moloch of "ecumenism." As for this Catholic hierarchy, even the rector of the mosque has written: "Which Christianity are we supposed to dialogue with? Which representatives are we supposed to talk to? Today, unfortunately, Christianity is undergoing a disquieting change. The Church is giving more and more ground Indeed, some of those whom the Church once called 'God's soldiers' have become deserters" (Sri Hamza Boubakeur, Traité moderne de théologie islamique, p.115). Every Catholic could subscribe to this view today: we need only change "deserters" for the word –albeit a harsh word–"traitors." (Courrier de Rome, No. 203, July/August, 1998)
Courtesy of the Angelus
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