Mason's In the Catholic Church

February 19, 2008

“… the courageous idea of liberty of thought… – one can speak truly here of a revolution that has come from our Masonic lodges – has magnificently spread its wings over the dome of St. Peter’s.” - Yves Marsaudon, 33rd degree Scottish Rite Freemason, 1965

Yves Marsaudon in his book Ecumenism Viewed by a Traditional Freemason, Paris: Ed. Vitiano, 121; quoted by Permanences, no. 21 (July 1965), 87; also quoted by Bishop Tissier De Mallerais, The Biography of Marcel Lefebvre, Kansas City, MO: Angelus Press, 2004, p. 328.

The Council of Florence dogmatically defined that any individual who has a view contrary to the Catholic Church’s teaching on Our Lord Jesus Christ or the Trinity, or any one of the truths about Our Lord or the Trinity, is rejected by God.

Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Bull Cantate Domino, 1442, ex cathedra: “…the holy Roman Church, founded on the words of our Lord and Savior, firmly believes, professes

and preaches one true God, almighty, immutable and eternal, Father, Son and Holy Spirit… Therefore it [the Holy Roman Church] condemns, rejects, anathematizes and declares to be outside the Body of Christ, which is the Church, whoever holds opposing or contrary views.

This is an infallible dogmatic definition of the Catholic Church on individuals who have a view on Our Lord Jesus Christ or the Holy Trinity that is contrary to that of the Church (e.g., Jews, Muslims, etc.). The Council of Florence solemnly defines that whoever has a view contrary to the Church’s teaching on Our Lord and the Trinity (e.g., the Jews) is condemned and rejected! Note: the Council is not merely saying that the view contrary to Our Lord is rejected, but that the individual (e.g., the Jew) is rejected.

This dogma is rooted in the truth that Our Lord specifically revealed in Sacred Scripture.

Matthew 10:33- “But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

The word “deny” means to reject or to repudiate. He who denies Our Lord is rejected by Him.

But in its Decree on Non-Christian religions, Vatican II taught just the opposite.

Vatican II Declaration, Nostra Aetate (#4): “Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or cursed by God, as if such views

followed from the holy scriptures.

Vatican II denied the divinely revealed truth of Matthew 10:33, which was solemnly defined by the Council of Florence. The teaching of Vatican II is blatantly heretical.

http://www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com

February 20, 2008

Nostra Aetate is the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions of the Second Vatican Council. Passed by a vote of 2,221 to 88 of the assembled bishops, this declaration was promulgated on October 28, 1965, by Pope Paul VI. The title means "In our Time" in Latin and is from the first line of the declaration as is customary with Roman Catholic documents.

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II
FOR THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

OF THE DECLARATION "NOSTRA AETATE"

Consistory Hall

Thursday, 6 December 1990

Your Eminences,

Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Visitors,

1. As Delegates of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations and Members of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, you have come together to commemorate the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration "Nostra Aetate". In effect, what you are celebrating is nothing other than the divine mercy which is guiding Christians and Jews to mutual awareness, respect, cooperation and solidarity. Conscious of our sharing in the same hope and promises made to Abraham and to his descendants, I am indeed pleased to welcome you in this house! "Baruch ha-ba be-Shem Adonai!": "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Ps. 119 [118]:26).

2. The brief but significant Document "Nostra Aetate" occupied an important place in the work of the Council. After a quarter of a century it has lost none of its vigour. The strength of the Document and its abiding interest derive from the fact that it speaks to all peoples and about all peoples from a religious perspective, a perspective which is the deepest and most mysterious of the many dimensions of the human person, the image of the Creator (Cf. Gen. 1:26).

The universal openness of "Nostra Aetate", however, is anchored in and takes its orientation from a high sense of the absolute singularity of God’s choice of a particular people, "His own" people, Israel according to the flesh, already called "God’s Church" (Lumen Gentium, 9; cf. Ne. 13:1; Num. 20:4; Deut. 23:1 ff.). Thus the Church’s reflection on her mission and on her very nature is intrinsically linked with her reflection on the stock of Abraham and on the nature of the Jewish people (Cf. Nostra Aetate, 4). The Church is fully aware that Sacred Scripture bears witness that the Jewish people, this community of faith and custodian of a tradition thousands of years old, is an intimate part of the "mystery" of revelation and of salvation. In our own times many Catholic writers have spoken of that "mystery" which is the Jewish people: among them Geremia Bonomelli, Jacques Maritain and Thomas Merton.

The Church therefore, particularly through her Biblical scholars and theologians, but also through the work of other writers, artists and catechists, continues to reflect upon and express more thoroughly her own thinking on the mystery of this people. I am happy that the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews is intensely promoting study on this theme in a theological and exegetical context.

3. When we consider Jewish tradition we see how profoundly you venerate Sacred Scripture, the Migra, and in particular the Torah. You live in a special relationship with the Torah, the living teaching of the living God. You study it with love in the Talmud Torah, so as to put it into practice with joy. Its teaching on love, on justice and on the law is reiterated in the Prophets - Nevi’im, and in the Ketuvim. God, his holy Torah, the synagogal liturgy and family traditions, the Land of holiness, are surely what characterize your people from the religious point of view. And these are things that constitute the foundation of our dialogue and of our cooperation.

At the centre of the Holy Land, almost as its hallowed heart, lies Jerusalem. It is a City holy to three great religions, to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Its very name evokes peace. I should like you to join in praying daily for peace, justice and respect for the fundamental human and religious rights of the three peoples, the three communities of faith who inhabit that beloved Land.

4. No dialogue between Christians and Jews can overlook the painful and terrible experience of the Shoah. During the meeting at Prague in September of this year, the Jewish-Catholic International Liaison Committee considered at length the religious and historical dimensions of the Shoah and of anti-Semitism, and came to conclusions that are of great importance for the continuation of our dialogue and cooperation. It is my hope that these may be widely recognized and that the recommendations then formulated will be implemented wherever human and religious rights are violated.

May God grant that the commemoration of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of "Nostra Aetate" will bring fresh results of spiritual and moral renewal for us and for the world. May it bring above all the fruit of cooperation in promoting justice and peace. In the Babylonian Talmud we read: "The world stands upon the single column that is the just man" (Hagigah, 12b). In the Gospel, Jesus Christ tells us that blessed are the peacemakers (Cf. Matt. 5:9). May justice and peace fill our hearts and guide our steps towards the fullness of redemption for all peoples and for the whole universe. May God hear our prayers!

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_pau...-aetate_en.html

February 20, 2008

Shoah or Ha Shoah is the Hebrew term for the Holocaust.

Before the 19th Century, hatred of the Jews focused mainly on the religious hostility between Judaism and Christianity. As the most prominent religious minority in Christian Europe, the Jews were a tolerated, yet persecuted presence. The persecutions increased during periods of religious tension such as the Crusades. At times, the Jews were required to obtain special permits in order to live within the Christian territories. These permits were always on a temporary basis. The fact that the Jews were restricted to certain types of mercantile occupations often created antagonism between the Christians and Jews because of the tensions these restrictions created.

At the beginning of the modern era, it seemed as though hatred of the Jews would gradually disappear as the principles of the Enlightenment took hold. This didn’t happen. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, some European countries used this hatred as a tool for forming political parties and organizations. It was during this period that the term anti-Semitism was first used.

Nazi ideology used elements of traditional Christian anti-Semitism although, it manly centered on racist antisemitism, which portrayed the Jews as an inferior and destructive race. Hitler’s views of the Jews were portrayed in his book Mein Kampf. He interpreted Germany's situation and the German people's need for “living space” (lebensraum) in terms of a “new order” worldview. This ideology fueled the Jews as archenemies in a racial life-and-death struggle that had to be won. When the Nazis took control, they immediately began implementing their racist views in Germany, and during the war their policy was implemented throughout the rest of Europe.

In countries occupied by the Nazis, various antisemitic beliefs and views were already prevalent. The Nazi ideology reinforced these views. The German presence with Nazi ideology, together with the already prevailing antisemitic outlook in the occupied countries, prompted many non-Germans to collaborate with Nazi policy. Many of the local populations remained indifferent to the persecution and the plight of the Jews. There were also those who, although they held antisemitic views, were repulsed by the murderous aspect of the Nazi policy and refused to cooperate with it. Nevertheless, at the same time, many murderous acts were perpetrated by non-Germans.

Nazi leadership mentioned the possibility of exterminating European Jewry, even before the outbreak of the war. The most famous of these articulations was made by Hitler on January 30th 1939 in a speech at the Reichstag. Following the occupation of Poland in 1939, various proposals for segregating the Jews were raised including: concentrating European Jewry in a special "reservation" near Nisko, in the Lublin district, or, alternatively, deporting them en masse to the island of Madagascar in East Africa. The state of war made such large scale plans impossible to implement and therefore Jews were confined to ghettos, but these were always thought of as a temporary measure. The decision to kill all the Jews of Europe was formulated in late 1941 and a setting was created for the start of the mass murder, which eventually became more systematic. This included the deportation of the Jews from the German Reich to the East (beginning in October 1941), the initial construction of the Belzec Death Camp (November 1941), the beginning of the murder of Jews in Chelmno (December 1941), and coordinating the apparatus of mass murder at the Wannsee Conference (January 1942).

The Catholic Church was one of the main bodies whose policies could have affected the fate of the persecuted Jews. The Catholic Church gave formal recognition to the Nazi regime when in 1933 the Vatican signed the Concordat with Nazi Germany, which protected German Catholics. The Church rarely exerted its influence over Catholic dominant countries to persuade them to admit Jewish refugees, nor even to influence some of Germany's satellite states to treat the Jews better. Later, in the 1940s, the Church leaders refrained almost entirely from protesting against mass murders. However, there were some cases where aid was given to the Jews. For instance, Papal emissaries attempted to improve the situation of the Jews in Slovakia. Individual priests, monks and nuns, on all levels, worked to save Jews in Italy with the knowledge of the Vatican. The Pope appealed personally to the leaders of Hungary to show mercy with regard to the Jews. In Belgium, Jews found refuge in monasteries, convents, and other religious institutions.

As for the Protestant Churches, it is hard to describe a uniform response by them to the persecution of the Jews, for the hierarchy within the Church was not clear. In some cases, especially in areas where Protestants were a minority - such as among the Calvinists in Catholic France there was a noticeable tendency to help the Jews.

http://www1.yadvashem.org/Odot/prog/index_...e.asp?gate=2-55

February 20, 2008

The Vatican Applauded the German Unification of East and West

ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER JOHN PAUL II
TO THE NEW AMBASSADOR

OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY

TO THE HOLY SEE

Thursday, 19 October 2000

Mr Ambassador,

1. Please accept my sincere thanks for your very friendly words on the occasion of the presentation of your Letters of Credence as the new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Holy See. I cordially welcome you as you take office and I congratulate you on this noble and important task. At the same time, I ask you to convey my greetings to the Federal President and my best wishes for his health. You are beginning your service as the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 draws to a close. The motto, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and for ever" has put the human person again in the light which lets his value as the image and likeness of God shine in full splendour.

2. Calling attention to the message about the inalienable value of every human being is particularly urgent at the end of the 20th century, especially since the last hundred years, soaked in blood and tears, will go down in history for their wars and conflicts as well. But in recent weeks your compatriots, the citizens of friendly neighbouring States and countless people in Europe and throughout the world were also able to commemorate the happy events which over 10 years ago had so carefully and, at the same time, so resolutely begun your country's reunification process that it could finally arrive at the memorable event on 3 October 1990: Germany - a united homeland.

The Berlin Wall had fallen. The Brandenburg Gate, which has been closed for decades and symbolized division, was opened and once again represented what it had before: a sign of unity.

The Constitution's demand that the unity of Germany be realized in free self-determination was thus fulfilled. We can rightly say: the Brandenburg Gate has become the gate of unity and freedom.

Through the gentle revolution, which had opened the way to freedom without bloodshed, great hopes were raised for over 10 years. The saying about scenes of prosperity, which had long been dismissed as utopian, has proved to be accurate - even if delayed - in not a few areas of the new German states. But unemployment and new poverty are the other side of the coin, which, seen from the obverse, shows the economic upturn and outward prosperity, the vast array of goods for sale and the strengthening of the infrastructure. Above all, overcoming the spiritual aimlessness and inner emptiness caused by decades of communist indoctrination is a task that cannot be dealt with quickly and requires every effort.

Many people have bravely accepted the challenges of the past 10 years and made their contribution, so that what is outwardly reunited may inwardly grow closer and closer. They see this as a school of solidarity, in which one can learn to support in word and deed those who want to put their lives on solid ground. I express my sincere appreciation to your country's government leaders and to all who, at various levels and in the different sectors of society, foster the inner unification of the once artificially separated parts of Germany and the welfare of its citizens. By joining forces it has been possible to deal peacefully with a difficult phase of German history. Barricades, barbed wire and orders to shoot, which once painfully separated families from one another, have given way to connecting bridges, unrestricted streets and open doors.

3. I am delighted that the heavy commitment to German unity has not obscured the vision of European unification. On the contrary, the reunification of your homeland even became an incentive for the leaders of State and society to broaden their view beyond Germany to Europe, to which the fall of the Iron Curtain has given a whole new horizon. With deep respect I realize that the Federal Republic of Germany is a respected international authority and a sought-after partner. Germany has accepted increasing responsibility and plays a crucial role in the European unification process. It is in a position to carry out its task effectively, since decades of experience show that the State's democratic institutions are solid and the overwhelming majority of citizens support them. I would like to take this occasion to express to you, the ambassador of a country which is certainly one the "pillars" of the European house, my hope that it will succeed, within the framework of the negotiations about expanded membership, in bringing the East and West of the old continent closer together, those two lungs without which Europe cannot breathe.

Through their preservation and mutual enlightenment, the variety of Eastern and Western traditions will enrich Europe's culture, as well as provide the foundation for the longed-for spiritual renewal.

Perhaps, then, we should speak less of the "Eastern expansion" than of the "Europeanizing" of the whole continent. What became German's motto after the collapse of the Wall can also serve as a rule for European unification: What belongs together should grow together.

These thoughts are not prompted by boldness or reverie, but by a vision based on hopeful realism. Precisely my three Pastoral Visits to Germany, a treasury of European civilization, have led me to an important realization: European art and culture, history and the present moment were and are still so greatly moulded by Christianity that a dechristianized or atheistic Europe is really impossible. At the same time, I am convinced that Germany and Europe have a future only if they know about their origins.

4. Particularly since your esteemed country remains aware of its own history in a kind of ongoing, collective examination of conscience and is attentively working on the "purification of its memory", it is especially sensitive to injustice and the disregard of human rights. Indeed, it can be increasingly observed in many modern democracies that a spontaneous propensity to violence precisely among young people is combined with a politically desired and organized ideology, which could weigh permanently on domestic peace. General appeals and pleas to learn from history are not enough to overcome the widespread intellectual and spiritual vacuum. What is called for instead is an attentive and sensitive culture of spiritual values among the younger generation, as well as a concrete work of reconciliation which not only offsets the past, but will help in the future to break down mutual prejudices and thus enable Germany to be a solid pillar of support for the common European home.

I realize that this plan sets high standards. For a Western European island of affluence must become more and more an all-European area of freedom, justice and peace. Material sacrifices will be unavoidable for the more affluent countries, if the tremendous drop in prosperity within Europe is gradually to decline. Moreover, spiritual help is needed to support the further building of democratic structures and a political culture in accordance with the conditions of a State governed by law. In these efforts the Catholic Church offers her selfless help to all in her many religious and social institutions. She presents Catholic social teaching as a guide for this development, in which the focus is on care and responsibility for man: "We are not dealing here with man in the "abstract', but with the real, "concrete', "historical' man", whom the Church cannot abandon (Encyclical Letter Centesimus annus, n. 53).

5. In this connection, I return to an issue that is very close to my heart and prompts me to raise my voice precisely at this historical moment, which is marked by rapid, tremendous scientific advances.

Since man is at the point of deciphering the complex blueprint of human genetics, what is called for now is to direct the course of science to a culture of life and love. Man may not do everything he can do. For "in our present social context, marked by a dramatic struggle between the "culture of life' and the "culture of death', there is need to develop a deep critical sense, capable of discerning true values and authentic needs.... All together, we must build a new culture of life: new, because it will be able to confront and solve today's unprecedented problems affecting human life; new, because it will be adopted with deeper and more dynamic conviction by all Christians" (Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, n. 95).

6. Thus there are two key points which I would like to consider more closely. The newness of the problem lies first of all in the context of freedom, in whose name many people think that you may do whatever you want. But freedom does not mean doing whatever you like. Whoever turns freedom into licence has dealt it a deathblow. Freedom requires commitment. Whoever is really free knows that his understanding and behaviour are bound to the truth. The first and greatest truth about man is that he is not self-made, but is God's creation. Just as man did not give himself life, so can no one claim the right - even on supposedly humanitarian grounds - to take his own life or someone else's.

This fundamental truth compels me tirelessly to recall the inviolable value of every human being, from the moment of his conception until natural death. I am pleased that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany rests on the same foundation. It is inspired with the "awareness of its responsibility before God and men" (Preamble), and before making any other statement it recognizes: "The value of the human person is inviolable. It is the obligation of all State authority to respect and protect it" (Art. 1). Precisely when the value of the human person is at stake, the Church would like to stand by the State's side. For pluralistic societies do not expect a value-free State.

That is why the Church makes an offer to the State that she understands as a service to man: he should be enabled to learn and to live a true freedom worthy of human beings. This is also why the Church is present in so many State institutions such as schools, universities, hospitals and barracks.

I am pleased to learn that the Church's outstretched hand has also been taken by the new federal states, which was expressed in the Concordat agreements that the Holy See has been able to conclude in the years since the turning-point with the states of Saxony, Thuringia, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt. A framework was thus created for the Church to intensify her pastoral work for human beings in an area where talk of God had been stifled for decades.

7. Ecumenism, which you yourself spoke of, is another key point to be mentioned in relation to the newness of our time. Just as Germany is the country where the Reformation began, so there are also hopeful signs for the future. I am pleased to recall the solemn signing of the Joint Declaration by representatives of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation, which took place almost a year ago in Augsburg. I see it as a "milestone on the difficult path to re-establishing full unity among Christians" and reaffirm that the document represents a sound basis for further theological research in the ecumenical field and for addressing the remaining problems with a better founded hope of resolving them in the future (Angelus, 31 October 1999).

While I never tire of thanking the Lord of history that we have achieved this intermediate goal, at the same time I consider it advisable to give direction to the ecumenical journey towards full unity, a direction which is more timely than ever precisely in view of the culture of life. Perhaps at times there has been so much concentration on ecumenism in doctrine and worship that the strength has been lacking for ecumenism in political parties and parliaments, in the social and cultural sphere. This includes a shared commitment to the kingdom of God which goes beyond the realm of pulpit and altar and includes everything - individuals, society, the whole world - in order to permeate politics, the economy and culture. Precisely the newness of the problems, which affect man in his personal dignity, cries out for the common witness of all who call themselves Christian.

This ecumenism of witness for the sake of an authentic culture of life is a service that Christians owe to their contemporaries. In addition, there are other issues such as the preservation of creation, the defence of Sunday and the sacredness of marriage as "an institution confirmed by the divine law even in the eyes of society" (Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, n. 48) and the protection of the family as the foundation of society (ibid., n. 52). For in the eyes of a world in which people live more and more as if God did not exist, "cooperation among Christians [must] become a form of common Christian witness" (Encyclical Letter Ut unum sint, n. 40). Above all, when it is a question of human life and death, there can be no compromise for Christians, but only the compass of the truth which God himself has revealed about man.

8. I cannot conclude my reflection without expressing my confidence that the friendly relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Holy See, which you rightly stressed in your address, will grow even more fruitful. The close reciprocal relationship between Church and State, which both sides view with sensitive responsibility and from proven experience, and regard as enriching, constitutes a reliable premise for this. Mr Ambassador, as I cordially wish you a good start to your new post in Rome, I gladly impart the blessing of almighty God to you, to your esteemed colleagues at the embassy and especially to your dear family.

February 20, 2008

Please read Pope John Paul's view of Anti-Semitism

According to Christian faith, the Savior of humanity and the Founder of the Church, is not but the Messiah promised to the Jewish people and announced by the Scriptures of these people. Furthermore, between the Church and the Jewish people, there exists, according to John Paul II, a relationship «which could be defined by the just title "a parentage" very real and true, which we have only with this religious community, despite our numerous relations with other religions of the world and in particular with Islam». With the other religions there are similarities, with the Jewish one, there is a common origin which dates back to the intervention of God in history. The Holy Pontiff concludes: «This "tie" can be defined as "sacred" for as much as it is rooted in the mysterious will of God» (October 28, 1985).

It is even true that the majority of the members of the Jewish people do not recognize in Jesus there Messiah, a Messiah Son of God, which the Church has the duty to preach to the entire world, just as the Pope reminded in the course of his first encounter with a group of Jews, on March 12, 1979. All this does not detract from the fact that the Jews remain the people of the Alliance, of an Alliance which God has never renounced. This latter point he said and repeated (November 17, 1980 October 10, 1985; etc. etc.) soliciting the stupor of many, who did not understand how the Jewish people could still remain beneficiaries of the Alliance. It remains simply because God is infinitely faithful, just as the Virgin sang in her Magnificat. With regards to the members of the other races, they become beneficiaries of the same Alliance beginning with the moment in which, through Baptism, they become members of the Body of Christ: «the pagans are admitted to the same heredity, members of the same body, associated to the same promise, in Jesus Christ, through the Gospel» teaches John Paul II following the footprints of Saint Paul (October 9, 1988: cfr. Ef. 3, 6).

Anti-judaism and anti-semitism

Unfortunately the relationships between Christians and Jews have often been everything but good. In the centuries of Christianity, the Jews were accused of imaginary crimes, like the sacrifice of ritual. They wanted to impose Baptism on them with force. The were expelled from France England, Spain. There were real massacres, in particular in the course of the first crusades. Beginning from the XIX century, they also suffered the accusation of racial order: the Jews would have been men of an inferior race. Religious anti-Judaism transformed itself in this way into anti-Semitism. It is noteworthy that the Second Vatican Council deplored all the manifestations «those which were the eras and the perpetrators». As well, the Council not only considers the persecution of the Jews as an evil, but it reaches the point of recognizing that in the past, some Christians were also to blame.

By doing this, the Council did not take a road that is altogether new. There exist some precedents. In the V-VI centuries, Pope S. Gregory the Great took the defense of the Jews of Terracina, who were forced by the Christians to move their Synagogue, just as some Jews of Arles and of Marseilles who were forced to Baptism. Beginning from the XI Century, some pontifical bulls were published which aimed to protect, amongst others, the Jews against the accusation of "sacrificial ritual." And closer to us, at the beginning of the XX century, S. Pio X protested against the pogroms. In the 1928, the Holy Office condemned anti-Semitism, a condemnation reiterated by Pio XI in 1938.

http://www.vatican.va/jubilee_2000/magazin...7_p-42a_en.html

February 20, 2008

The word antisemitism means prejudice against or hatred of Jews. The Holocaust, the state-sponsored persecution and murder of European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945, is history’s most extreme example of antisemitism. In 1879, German journalist Wilhelm Marr originated the term antisemitism, denoting the hatred of Jews, and also hatred of various liberal, cosmopolitan, and international political trends of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries often associated with Jews. The trends under attack included equal civil rights, constitutional democracy, free trade, socialism, finance capitalism, and pacifism.

The Catholic Center party was a pillar of the Weimar Republic. It had in general resisted the Nazi rise to power, although the right wing of the party was led by politicians at least willing to tolerate a Hitler government. Once Hitler became chancellor in January 1933, the Center party supported measures giving him dictatorial power. On July 5, 1933, the Center party--under intense Nazi pressure--dissolved itself (the other remaining political parties had been banned earlier that spring and summer).

The Catholic church in Germany was controlled by the Vatican, under the leadership of Pope Pius XI, and signed a Concordat (Treaty) with the German Reich 15 days later. The Concordat confirmed the dissolution of German Catholicism's trade unions and political organizations, but guaranteed the church traditional rights to cultivate and promote the practice of the Catholic rite, to maintain Catholic schools, and to appoint Catholic clergy. Many provisions of the agreement were promptly violated, however, as the Nazis persecuted Jesuits, Catholic Action (a religious and social movement), and various other Catholic organizations.

After enduring anti-church actions for several years, in 1937 Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge (With Burning Concern). In the encyclical, Pius XI criticized Nazi philosophy and warned the German government to fulfill the terms of the Concordat. The Nazis responded with a wave of priest trials--prosecutions of clergy for various alleged infractions.

February 20, 2008

The Truth has already set Catholics free. The Vatican is Men, the Catholic Church is God's sacred house.

MIT BRENNENDER SORGE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XI

ON THE CHURCH AND THE GERMAN REICH

TO THE VENERABLE BRETHREN

THE ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS OF GERMANY AND OTHER ORDINARIES

IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE.

Venerable Brethren, Greetings, and Apostolic Blessing.

It is with deep anxiety and growing surprise that We have long been following the painful trials of the Church and the increasing vexations which afflict those who have remained loyal in heart and action in the midst of a people that once received from St. Boniface the bright message and the Gospel of Christ and God's Kingdom.

2. And what the representatives of the venerable episcopate, who visited Us in Our sick room, had to tell Us, in truth and duty bound, has not modified Our feelings. To consoling and edifying information on the stand the Faithful are making for their Faith, they considered themselves bound, in spite of efforts to judge with moderation and in spite of their own patriotic love, to add reports of things hard and unpleasant. After hearing their account, We could, in grateful acknowledgment to God, exclaim with the Apostle of love: "I have no greater grace than this, to hear that my children walk in truth" (John iii. 4). But the frankness indifferent in Our Apostolic charge and the determination to place before the Christian world the truth in all its reality, prompt Us to add: "Our pastoral heart knows no deeper pain, no disappointment more bitter, than to learn that many are straying from the path of truth."

3. When, in 1933, We consented, Venerable Brethren, to open negotiations for a concordat, which the Reich Government proposed on the basis of a scheme of several years' standing; and when, to your unanimous satisfaction, We concluded the negotiations by a solemn treaty, We were prompted by the desire, as it behooved Us, to secure for Germany the freedom of the Church's beneficent mission and the salvation of the souls in her care, as well as by the sincere wish to render the German people a service essential for its peaceful development and prosperity. Hence, despite many and grave misgivings, We then decided not to withhold Our consent for We wished to spare the Faithful of Germany, as far as it was humanly possible, the trials and difficulties they would have had to face, given the circumstances, had the negotiations fallen through. It was by acts that We wished to make it plain, Christ's interests being Our sole object, that the pacific and maternal hand of the Church would be extended to anyone who did not actually refuse it.

4. If, then, the tree of peace, which we planted on German soil with the purest intention, has not brought forth the fruit, which in the interest of your people, We had fondly hoped, no one in the world who has eyes to see and ears to hear will be able to lay the blame on the Church and on her Head. The experiences of these last years have fixed responsibilities and laid bare intrigues, which from the outset only aimed at a war of extermination. In the furrows, where We tried to sow the seed of a sincere peace, other men - the "enemy" of Holy Scripture - oversowed the cockle of distrust, unrest, hatred, defamation, of a determined hostility overt or veiled, fed from many sources and wielding many tools, against Christ and His Church. They, and they alone with their accomplices, silent or vociferous, are today responsible, should the storm of religious war, instead of the rainbow of peace, blacken the German skies.

5. We have never ceased, Venerable Brethren, to represent to the responsible rulers of your country's destiny, the consequences which would inevitably follow the protection and even the favor, extended to such a policy. We have done everything in Our power to defend the sacred pledge of the given word of honor against theories and practices, which it officially endorsed, would wreck every faith in treaties and make every signature worthless. Should the day ever come to place before the world the account of Our efforts, every honest mind will see on which side are to be found the promoters of peace, and on which side its disturbers. Whoever had left in his soul an atom of love for truth, and in his heart a shadow of a sense of justice, must admit that, in the course of these anxious and trying years following upon the conclusion of the concordat, every one of Our words, every one of Our acts, has been inspired by the binding law of treaties. At the same time, anyone must acknowledge, not without surprise and reprobation, how the other contracting party emasculated the terms of the treaty, distorted their meaning, and eventually considered its more or less official violation as a normal policy. The moderation We showed in spite of all this was not inspired by motives of worldly interest, still less by unwarranted weakness, but merely by Our anxiety not to draw out the wheat with the cockle; not to pronounce open judgment, before the public was ready to see its force; not to impeach other people's honesty, before the evidence of events should have torn the mask off the systematic hostility leveled at the Church. Even now that a campaign against the confessional schools, which are guaranteed by the concordat, and the destruction of free election, where Catholics have a right to their children's Catholic education, afford evidence, in a matter so essential to the life of the Church, of the extreme gravity of the situation and the anxiety of every Christian conscience; even now Our responsibility for Christian souls induces Us not to overlook the last possibilities, however slight, of a return to fidelity to treaties, and to any arrangement that may be acceptable to the episcopate. We shall continue without failing, to stand before the rulers of your people as the defender of violated rights, and in obedience to Our Conscience and Our pastoral mission, whether We be successful or not, to oppose the policy which seeks, by open or secret means, to strangle rights guaranteed by a treaty.

6. Different, however, Venerable Brethren, is the purpose of this letter. As you affectionately visited Us in Our illness, so also We turn to you, and through you, the German Catholics, who, like all suffering and afflicted children, are nearer to their Father's heart. At a time when your faith, like gold, is being tested in the fire of tribulation and persecution, when your religious freedom is beset on all sides, when the lack of religious teaching and of normal defense is heavily weighing on you, you have every right to words of truth and spiritual comfort from him whose first predecessor heard these words from the Lord: "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not: and thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren" (Luke xxii. 32).

7. Take care, Venerable Brethren, that above all, faith in God, the first and irreplaceable foundation of all religion, be preserved in Germany pure and unstained. The believer in God is not he who utters the name in his speech, but he for whom this sacred word stands for a true and worthy concept of the Divinity. Whoever identifies, by pantheistic confusion, God and the universe, by either lowering God to the dimensions of the world, or raising the world to the dimensions of God, is not a believer in God. Whoever follows that so-called pre-Christian Germanic conception of substituting a dark and impersonal destiny for the personal God, denies thereby the Wisdom and Providence of God who "Reacheth from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly" (Wisdom viii. 1). Neither is he a believer in God.

8. Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State, or a particular form of State, or the depositories of power, or any other fundamental value of the human community - however necessary and honorable be their function in worldly things - whoever raises these notions above their standard value and divinizes them to an idolatrous level, distorts and perverts an order of the world planned and created by God; he is far from the true faith in God and from the concept of life which that faith upholds.

9. Beware, Venerable Brethren, of that growing abuse, in speech as in writing, of the name of God as though it were a meaningless label, to be affixed to any creation, more or less arbitrary, of human speculation. Use your influence on the Faithful, that they refuse to yield to this aberration. Our God is the Personal God, supernatural, omnipotent, infinitely perfect, one in the Trinity of Persons, tri-personal in the unity of divine essence, the Creator of all existence. Lord, King and ultimate Consummator of the history of the world, who will not, and cannot, tolerate a rival God by His side.

10. This God, this Sovereign Master, has issued commandments whose value is independent of time and space, country and race. As God's sun shines on every human face so His law knows neither privilege nor exception. Rulers and subjects, crowned and uncrowned, rich and poor are equally subject to His word. From the fullness of the Creators' right there naturally arises the fullness of His right to be obeyed by individuals and communities, whoever they are. This obedience permeates all branches of activity in which moral values claim harmony with the law of God, and pervades all integration of the ever-changing laws of man into the immutable laws of God.

11. None but superficial minds could stumble into concepts of a national God, of a national religion; or attempt to lock within the frontiers of a single people, within the narrow limits of a single race, God, the Creator of the universe, King and Legislator of all nations before whose immensity they are "as a drop of a bucket" (Isaiah xI, 15).

12. The Bishops of the Church of Christ, "ordained in the things that appertain to God (Heb. v, 1) must watch that pernicious errors of this sort, and consequent practices more pernicious still, shall not gain a footing among their flock. It is part of their sacred obligations to do whatever is in their power to enforce respect for, and obedience to, the commandments of God, as these are the necessary foundation of all private life and public morality; to see that the rights of His Divine Majesty, His name and His word be not profaned; to put a stop to the blasphemies, which, in words and pictures, are multiplying like the sands of the desert; to encounter the obstinacy and provocations of those who deny, despise and hate God, by the never-failing reparatory prayers of the Faithful, hourly rising like incense to the All-Highest and staying His vengeance.

13. We thank you, Venerable Brethren, your priests and Faithful, who have persisted in their Christian duty and in the defense of God's rights in the teeth of an aggressive paganism. Our gratitude, warmer still and admiring, goes out to those who, in fulfillment of their duty, have been deemed worthy of sacrifice and suffering for the love of God.

14. No faith in God can for long survive pure and unalloyed without the support of faith in Christ. "No one knoweth who the Son is, but the Father: and who the Father is, but the Son and to whom the Son will reveal Him" (Luke x. 22). "Now this is eternal life: That they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent" (John xvii. 3). Nobody, therefore, can say: "I believe in God, and that is enough religion for me," for the Savior's words brook no evasion: "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. He that confesseth the Son hath the Father also" (1 John ii. 23).

15. In Jesus Christ, Son of God made Man, there shone the plentitude of divine revelation. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets last of all, in these days hath spoken to us by His Son" (Heb. i. 1). The sacred books of the Old Testament are exclusively the word of God, and constitute a substantial part of his revelation; they are penetrated by a subdued light, harmonizing with the slow development of revelation, the dawn of the bright day of the redemption. As should be expected in historical and didactic books, they reflect in many particulars the imperfection, the weakness and sinfulness of man. But side by side with innumerable touches of greatness and nobleness, they also record the story of the chosen people, bearers of the Revelation and the Promise, repeatedly straying from God and turning to the world. Eyes not blinded by prejudice or passion will see in this prevarication, as reported by the Biblical history, the luminous splendor of the divine light revealing the saving plan which finally triumphs over every fault and sin. It is precisely in the twilight of this background that one perceives the striking perspective of the divine tutorship of salvation, as it warms, admonishes, strikes, raises and beautifies its elect. Nothing but ignorance and pride could blind one to the treasures hoarded in the Old Testament.

16. Whoever wishes to see banished from church and school the Biblical history and the wise doctrines of the Old Testament, blasphemes the name of God, blasphemes the Almighty's plan of salvation, and makes limited and narrow human thought the judge of God's designs over the history of the world: he denies his faith in the true Christ, such as He appeared in the flesh, the Christ who took His human nature from a people that was to crucify Him; and he understands nothing of that universal tragedy of the Son of God who to His torturer's sacrilege opposed the divine and priestly sacrifice of His redeeming death, and made the new alliance the goal of the old alliance, its realization and its crown.

17. The peak of the revelation as reached in the Gospel of Christ is final and permanent. It knows no retouches by human hand; it admits no substitutes or arbitrary alternatives such as certain leaders pretend to draw from the so-called myth of race and blood. Since Christ, the Lord's Anointed, finished the task of Redemption, and by breaking up the reign of sin deserved for us the grace of being the children God, since that day no other name under heaven has been given to men, whereby we must be saved (Acts iv. 12). No man, were every science, power and worldly strength incarnated in him, can lay any other foundation but that which is laid: which is Christ Jesus (1 Cor. iii 11). Should any man dare, in sacrilegious disregard of the essential differences between God and His creature, between the God-man and the children of man, to place a mortal, were he the greatest of all times, by the side of, or over, or against, Christ, he would deserve to be called prophet of nothingness, to whom the terrifying words of Scripture would be applicable: "He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them" (Psalms ii. 3).

18. Faith in Christ cannot maintain itself pure and unalloyed without the support of faith in the Church, "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. iii. 15); for Christ Himself, God eternally blessed, raised this pillar of the Faith. His command to hear the Church (Matt. xviii. 15), to welcome in the words and commands of the Church His own words and His own commands (Luke x. 16), is addressed to all men, of all times and of all countries. The Church founded by the Redeemer is one, the same for all races and all nations. Beneath her dome, as beneath the vault of heaven, there is but one country for all nations and tongues; there is room for the development of every quality, advantage, task and vocation which God the Creator and Savior has allotted to individuals as well as to ethnical communities. The Church's maternal heart is big enough to see in the God-appointed development of individual characteristics and gifts, more than a mere danger of divergency. She rejoices at the spiritual superiorities among individuals and nations. In their successes she sees with maternal joy and pride fruits of education and progress, which she can only bless and encourage, whenever she can conscientiously do so. But she also knows that to this freedom limits have been set by the majesty of the divine command, which founded that Church one and indivisible. Whoever tampers with that unity and that indivisibility wrenches from the Spouse of Christ one of the diadems with which God Himself crowned her; he subjects a divine structure, which stands on eternal foundations, to criticism and transformation by architects whom the Father of Heaven never authorized to interfere.

19. The Church, whose work lies among men and operates through men, may see her divine mission obscured by human, too human, combination, persistently growing and developing like the cockle among the wheat of the Kingdom of God. Those who know the Savior's words on scandal and the giver of scandals, know, too, the judgment which the Church and all her sons must pronounce on what was and what is sin. But if, besides these reprehensible discrepancies be between faith and life, acts and words, exterior conduct and interior feelings, however numerous they be, anyone overlooks the overwhelming sum of authentic virtues, of spirit of sacrifice, fraternal love, heroic efforts of sanctity, he gives evidence of deplorable blindness and injustice. If later he forgets to apply the standard of severity, by which he measures the Church he hates, to other organizations in which he happens to be interested, then his appeal to an offended sense of purity identifies him with those who, for seeing the mote in their brother's eye, according to the Savior's incisive words, cannot see the beam in their own. But however suspicious the intention of those who make it their task, nay their vile profession, to scrutinize what is human in the Church, and although the priestly powers conferred by God are independent of the priest's human value, it yet remains true that at no moment of history, no individual, in no organization can dispense himself from the duty of loyally examining his conscience, of mercilessly purifying himself, and energetically renewing himself in spirit and in action. In Our Encyclical on the priesthood We have urged attention to the sacred duty of all those who belong to the Church, chiefly the members of the priestly and religious profession and of the lay apostolate, to square their faith and their conduct with the claims of the law of God and of the Church. And today we again repeat with all the insistency We can command: it is not enough to be a member of the Church of Christ, one needs to be a living member, in spirit and in truth, i.e., living in the state of grace and in the presence of God, either in innocence or in sincere repentance. If the Apostle of the nations, the vase of election, chastised his body and brought it into subjection: lest perhaps, when he had preached to others, he himself should become a castaway (1 Cor. ix. 27), could anybody responsible for the extension of the Kingdom of God claim any other method but personal sanctification? Only thus can we show to the present generation, and to the critics of the Church that "the salt of the earth," the leaven of Christianity has not decayed, but is ready to give the men of today - prisoners of doubt and error, victims of indifference, tired of their Faith and straying from God - the spiritual renewal they so much need. A Christianity which keeps a grip on itself, refuses every compromise with the world, takes the commands of God and the Church seriously, preserves its love of God and of men in all its freshness, such a Christianity can be, and will be, a model and a guide to a world which is sick to death and clamors for directions, unless it be condemned to a catastrophe that would baffle the imagination.

20. Every true and lasting reform has ultimately sprung from the sanctity of men who were driven by the love of God and of men. Generous, ready to stand to attention to any call from God, yet confident in themselves because confident in their vocation, they grew to the size of beacons and reformers. On the other hand, any reformatory zeal, which instead of springing from personal purity, flashes out of passion, has produced unrest instead of light, destruction instead of construction, and more than once set up evils worse than those it was out to remedy. No doubt "the Spirit breatheth where he will" (John iii. 8): "of stones He is able to raise men to prepare the way to his designs" (Matt. iii. 9). He chooses the instruments of His will according to His own plans, not those of men. But the Founder of the Church, who breathed her into existence at Pentecost, cannot disown the foundations as He laid them. Whoever is moved by the spirit of God, spontaneously adopts both outwardly and inwardly, the true attitude toward the Church, this sacred fruit from the tree of the cross, this gift from the Spirit of God, bestowed on Pentecost day to an erratic world.

21. In your country, Venerable Brethren, voices are swelling into a chorus urging people to leave the Church, and among the leaders there is more than one whose official position is intended to create the impression that this infidelity to Christ the King constitutes a signal and meritorious act of loyalty to the modern State. Secret and open measures of intimidation, the threat of economic and civic disabilities, bear on the loyalty of certain classes of Catholic functionaries, a pressure which violates every human right and dignity. Our wholehearted paternal sympathy goes out to those who must pay so dearly for their loyalty to Christ and the Church; but directly the highest interests are at stake, with the alternative of spiritual loss, there is but one alternative left, that of heroism. If the oppressor offers one the Judas bargain of apostasy he can only, at the cost of every worldly sacrifice, answer with Our Lord: "Begone, Satan! For it is written: The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve" (Matt. iv. 10). And turning to the Church, he shall say: "Thou, my mother since my infancy, the solace of my life and advocate at my death, may my tongue cleave to my palate if, yielding to worldly promises or threats, I betray the vows of my baptism." As to those who imagine that they can reconcile exterior infidelity to one and the same Church, let them hear Our Lord's warning: - "He that shall deny me before men shall be denied before the angels of God" (Luke xii. 9).

22. Faith in the Church cannot stand pure and true without the support of faith in the primacy of the Bishop of Rome. The same moment when Peter, in the presence of all the Apostles and disciples, confesses his faith in Christ, Son of the Living God, the answer he received in reward for his faith and his confession was the word that built the Church, the only Church of Christ, on the rock of Peter (Matt. xvi. 18). Thus was sealed the connection between the faith in Christ, the Church and the Primacy. True and lawful authority is invariably a bond of unity, a source of strength, a guarantee against division and ruin, a pledge for the future: and this is verified in the deepest and sublimest sense, when that authority, as in the case of the Church, and the Church alone, is sealed by the promise and the guidance of the Holy Ghost and His irresistible support. Should men, who are not even united by faith in Christ, come and offer you the seduction of a national German Church, be convinced that it is nothing but a denial of the one Church of Christ and the evident betrayal of that universal evangelical mission, for which a world Church alone is qualified and competent. The live history of other national churches with their paralysis, their domestication and subjection to worldly powers, is sufficient evidence of the sterility to which is condemned every branch that is severed from the trunk of the living Church. Whoever counters these erroneous developments with an uncompromising No from the very outset, not only serves the purity of his faith in Christ, but also the welfare and the vitality of his own people.

23. You will need to watch carefully, Venerable Brethren, that religious fundamental concepts be not emptied of their content and distorted to profane use. "Revelation" in its Christian sense, means the word of God addressed to man. The use of this word for the "suggestions" of race and blood, for the irradiations of a people's history, is mere equivocation. False coins of this sort do not deserve Christian currency. "Faith" consists in holding as true what God has revealed and proposes through His Church to man's acceptance. It is "the evidence of things that appear not" (Heb. ii. 1). The joyful and proud confidence in the future of one's people, instinct in every heart, is quite a different thing from faith in a religious sense. To substitute the one for the other, and demand on the strength of this, to be numbered among the faithful followers of Christ, is a senseless play on words, if it does not conceal a confusion of concepts, or worse.

24. "Immortality" in a Christian sense means the survival of man after his terrestrial death, for the purpose of eternal reward or punishment. Whoever only means by the term, the collective survival here on earth of his people for an indefinite length of time, distorts one of the fundamental notions of the Christian Faith and tampers with the very foundations of the religious concept of the universe, which requires a moral order.

25. "Original sin" is the hereditary but impersonal fault of Adam's descendants, who have sinned in him (Rom. v. 12). It is the loss of grace, and therefore of eternal life, together with a propensity to evil, which everybody must, with the assistance of grace, penance, resistance and moral effort, repress and conquer. The passion and death of the Son of God has redeemed the world from the hereditary curse of sin and death. Faith in these truths, which in your country are today the butt of the cheap derision of Christ's enemies, belongs to the inalienable treasury of Christian revelation.

26. The cross of Christ, though it has become to many a stumbling block and foolishness (1 Cor. i. 23) remains for the believer the holy sign of his redemption, the emblem of moral strength and greatness. We live in its shadow and die in its embrace. It will stand on our grave as a pledge of our faith and our hope in the eternal light.

27. Humility in the spirit of the Gospel and prayer for the assistance of grace are perfectly compatible with self-confidence and heroism. The Church of Christ, which throughout the ages and to the present day numbers more confessors and voluntary martyrs than any other moral collectivity, needs lessons from no one in heroism of feeling and action. The odious pride of reformers only covers itself with ridicule when it rails at Christian humility as though it were but a cowardly pose of self-degradation.

28. "Grace," in a wide sense, may stand for any of the Creator's gifts to His creature; but in its Christian designation, it means all the supernatural tokens of God's love; God's intervention which raises man to that intimate communion of life with Himself, called by the Gospel "adoption of the children of God." "Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called and should be the sons of God" (1 John iii. 1). To discard this gratuitous and free elevation in the name of a so-called German type amounts to repudiating openly a fundamental truth of Christianity. It would be an abuse of our religious vocabulary to place on the same level supernatural grace and natural gifts. Pastors and guardians of the people of God will do well to resist this plunder of sacred things and this confusion of ideas.

29. It is on faith in God, preserved pure and stainless, that man's morality is based. All efforts to remove from under morality and the moral order the granite foundation of faith and to substitute for it the shifting sands of human regulations, sooner or later lead these individuals or societies to moral degradation. The fool who has said in his heart "there is no God" goes straight to moral corruption (Psalms xiii. 1), and the number of these fools who today are out to sever morality from religion, is legion. They either do not see or refuse to see that the banishment of confessional Christianity, i.e., the clear and precise notion of Christianity, from teaching and education, from the organization of social and political life, spells spiritual spoliation and degradation. No coercive power of the State, no purely human ideal, however noble and lofty it be, will ever be able to make shift of the supreme and decisive impulses generated by faith in God and Christ. If the man, who is called to the hard sacrifice of his own ego to the common good, loses the support of the eternal and the divine, that comforting and consoling faith in a God who rewards all good and punishes all evil, then the result of the majority will be, not the acceptance, but the refusal of their duty. The conscientious observation of the ten commandments of God and the precepts of the Church (which are nothing but practical specifications of rules of the Gospels) is for every one an unrivaled school of personal discipline, moral education and formation of character, a school that is exacting, but not to excess. A merciful God, who as Legislator, says - Thou must! - also gives by His grace the power to will and to do. To let forces of moral formation of such efficacy lie fallow, or to exclude them positively from public education, would spell religious under-feeding of a nation. To hand over the moral law to man's subjective opinion, which changes with the times, instead of anchoring it in the holy will of the eternal God and His commandments, is to open wide every door to the forces of destruction. The resulting dereliction of the eternal principles of an objective morality, which educates conscience and ennobles every department and organization of life, is a sin against the destiny of a nation, a sin whose bitter fruit will poison future generations.

30. Such is the rush of present-day life that it severs from the divine foundation of Revelation, not only morality, but also the theoretical and practical rights. We are especially referring to what is called the natural law, written by the Creator's hand on the tablet of the heart (Rom. ii. 14) and which reason, not blinded by sin or passion, can easily read. It is in the light of the commands of this natural law, that all positive law, whoever be the lawgiver, can be gauged in its moral content, and hence, in the authority it wields over conscience. Human laws in flagrant contradiction with the natural law are vitiated with a taint which no force, no power can mend. In the light of this principle one must judge the axiom, that "right is common utility," a proposition which may be given a correct significance, it means that what is morally indefensible, can never contribute to the good of the people. But ancient paganism acknowledged that the axiom, to be entirely true, must be reversed and be made to say: "Nothing can be useful, if it is not at the same time morally good" (Cicero, De Off. ii. 30). Emancipated from this oral rule, the principle would in international law carry a perpetual state of war between nations; for it ignores in national life, by confusion of right and utility, the basic fact that man as a person possesses rights he holds from God, and which any collectivity must protect against denial, suppression or neglect. To overlook this truth is to forget that the real common good ultimately takes its measure from man's nature, which balances personal rights and social obligations, and from the purpose of society, established for the benefit of human nature. Society, was intended by the Creator for the full development of individual possibilities, and for the social benefits, which by a give and take process, every one can claim for his own sake and that of others. Higher and more general values, which collectivity alone can provide, also derive from the Creator for the good of man, and for the full development, natural and supernatural, and the realization of his perfection. To neglect this order is to shake the pillars on which society rests, and to compromise social tranquillity, security and existence.

31. The believer has an absolute right to profess his Faith and live according to its dictates. Laws which impede this profession and practice of Faith are against natural law.

Parents who are earnest and conscious of their educative duties, have a primary right to the education of the children God has given them in the spirit of their Faith, and according to its prescriptions. Laws and measures which in school questions fail to respect this freedom of the parents go against natural law, and are immoral. The Church, whose mission it is to preserve and explain the natural law, as it is divine in its origin, cannot but declare that the recent enrollment into schools organized without a semblance of freedom, is the result of unjust pressure, and is a violation of every common right.

32. As the Vicar of Him who said to the young man of the Gospel: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments" (Matt. xix. 17), We address a few paternal words to the young.

33. Thousands of voices ring into your ears a Gospel which has not been revealed by the Father of Heaven. Thousands of pens are wielded in the service of a Christianity, which is not of Christ. Press and wireless daily force on you productions hostile to the Faith and to the Church, impudently aggressive against whatever you should hold venerable and sacred. Many of you, clinging to your Faith and to your Church, as a result of your affiliation with religious associations guaranteed by the concordat, have often to face the tragic trial of seeing your loyalty to your country misunderstood, suspected, or even denied, and of being hurt in your professional and social life. We are well aware that there is many a humble soldier of Christ in your ranks, who with torn feelings, but a determined heart, accepts his fate, finding his one consolation in the thought of suffering insults for the name of Jesus (Acts v. 41). Today, as We see you threatened with new dangers and new molestations, We say to you: If any one should preach to you a Gospel other than the one you received on the knees of a pious mother, from the lips of a believing father, or through teaching faithful to God and His Church, "let him be anathema" (Gal. i. 9). If the State organizes a national youth, and makes this organization obligatory to all, then, without prejudice to rights of religious associations, it is the absolute right of youths as well as of parents to see to it that this organization is purged of all manifestations hostile to the Church and Christianity. These manifestations are even today placing Christian parents in a painful alternative, as they cannot give to the State what they owe to God alone.

34. No one would think of preventing young Germans establishing a true ethnical community in a noble love of freedom and loyalty to their country. What We object to is the voluntary and systematic antagonism raised between national education and religious duty. That is why we tell the young: Sing your hymns to freedom, but do not forget the freedom of the children of God. Do not drag the nobility of that freedom in the mud of sin and sensuality. He who sings hymns of loyalty to this terrestrial country should not, for that reason, become unfaithful to God and His Church, or a deserter and traitor to His heavenly country. You are often told about heroic greatness, in lying opposition to evangelical humility and patience. Why conceal the fact that there are heroisms in moral life? That the preservation of baptismal innocence is an act of heroism which deserves credit? You are often told about the human deficiencies which mar the history of the Church: why ignore the exploits which fill her history, the saints she begot, the blessing that came upon Western civilization from the union between that Church and your people? You are told about sports. Indulged in with moderation and within limits, physical education is a boon for youth. But so much time is now devoted to sporting activities, that the harmonious development of body and mind is disregarded, that duties to one's family, and the observation of the Lord's Day are neglected. With an indifference bordering on contempt the day of the Lord is divested of its sacred character, against the best of German traditions. But We expect the Catholic youth, in the more favorable organizations of the State, to uphold its right to a Christian sanctification of the Sunday, not to exercise the body at the expense of the immortal soul, not to be overcome by evil, but to aim at the triumph of good over evil (Rom. xii. 21) as its highest achievement will be the gaining of the crown in the stadium of eternal life (1 Cor. ix. 24).

35. We address a special word of congratulation, encouragement and exhortation to the priests of Germany, who, in difficult times and delicate situations, have, under the direction of their Bishops, to guide the flocks of Christ along the straight road, by word and example, by their daily devotion and apostolic patience. Beloved sons, who participate with Us in the sacred mysteries, never tire of exercising, after the Sovereign and eternal Priest, Jesus Christ, the charity and solicitude of the Good Samaritan. Let your daily conduct remain stainless before God and the incessant pursuit of your perfection and sanctification, in merciful charity towards all those who are confided to your care, especially those who are more exposed, who are weak and stumbling. Be the guides of the faithful, the support of those who fail, the doctors of the doubting, the consolers of the afflicted, the disinterested counselors and assistants of all. The trials and sufferings which your people have undergone in post-War days have not passed over its soul without leaving painful marks. They have left bitterness and anxiety which are slow to cure, except by charity. This charity is the apostle's indispensable weapon, in a world torn by hatred. It will make you forget, or at least forgive, many an undeserved insult now more frequent than ever.

36. This charity, intelligent and sympathetic towards those even who offend you, does by no means imply a renunciation of the right of proclaiming, vindicating and defending the truth and its implications. The priest's first loving gift to his neighbors is to serve truth and refute error in any of its forms. Failure on this score would be not only a betrayal of God and your vocation, but also an offense against the real welfare of your people and country. To all those who have kept their promised fidelity to their Bishops on the day of their ordination; to all those who in the exercise of their priestly function are called upon to suffer persecution; to all those imprisoned in jail and concentration camps, the Father of the Christian world sends his words of gratitude and commendation.

37. Our paternal gratitude also goes out to Religious and nuns, as well as Our sympathy for so many who, as a result of administrative measures hostile to Religious Orders, have been wrenched from the work of their vocation. If some have fallen and shown themselves unworthy of their vocation, their fault, which the Church punishes, in no way detracts from the merit of the immense majority, who, in voluntary abnegation and poverty, have tried to serve their God and their country. By their zeal, their fidelity, their virtue, their active charity, their devotion, the Orders devoted to the care of souls, the service of the sick and education, are greatly contributing to private and public welfare. No doubt better days will come to do them better justice than the present troublous times have done. We trust that the heads of religious communities will profit by their trials and difficulties tO renew their zeal, their spirit of prayer, the austerity of their lives and their perfect discipline, in order to draw down God's blessing upon their difficult work.

38. We visualize the immense multitudes of Our faithful children, Our sons and daughters, for whom the sufferings of the Church in Germany and their own have left intact their devotion to the cause of God, their tender love for the Father of Christendom, their obedience to their pastors, their joyous resolution to remain ever faithful, happen what may, to the sacred inheritance of their ancestors. To all of them We send Our paternal greetings. And first to the members of those religious associations which, bravely and at the cost of untold sacrifices, have remained faithful to Christ, and have stood by the rights which a solemn treaty had guaranteed to the Church and to themselves according to the rules of loyalty and good faith.

39. We address Our special greetings to the Catholic parents. Their rights and duties as educators, conferred on them by God, are at present the stake of a campaign pregnant with consequences. The Church cannot wait to deplore the devastation of its altars, the destruction of its temples, if an education, hostile to Christ, is to profane the temple of the child's soul consecrated by baptism, and extinguish the eternal light of the faith in Christ for the sake of counterfeit light alien to the Cross. Then the violation of temples is nigh, and it will be every one's duty to sever his responsibility from the opposite camp, and free his conscience from guilty cooperation with such corruption. The more the enemies attempt to disguise their designs, the more a distrustful vigilance will be needed, in the light of bitter experience. Religious lessons maintained for the sake of appearances, controlled by unauthorized men, within the frame of an educational system which systematically works against religion, do not justify a vote in favor of non-confessional schools. We know, dear Catholic parents, that your vote was not free, for a free and secret vote would have meant the triumph of the Catholic schools. Therefore, we shall never cease frankly to represent to the responsible authorities the iniquity of the pressure brought to bear on you and the duty of respecting the freedom of education. Yet do not forget this: none can free you from the responsibility God has placed on you over your children. None of your oppressors, who pretend to relieve you of your duties can answer for you to the eternal Judge, when he will ask: "Where are those I confided to you?" May every one of you be able to answer: "Of them whom thou hast given me, I have not lost any one" (John xviii. 9).

40. Venerable Brethren, We are convinced that the words which in this solemn moment We address to you, and to the Catholics of the German Empire, will find in the hearts and in the acts of Our Faithful, the echo responding to the solicitude of the common Father. If there is one thing We implore the Lord to grant, it is this, that Our words may reach the ears and the hearts of those who have begun to yield to the threats and enticements of the enemies of Christ and His Church.

41. We have weighed every word of this letter in the balance of truth and love. We wished neither to be an accomplice to equivocation by an untimely silence, nor by excessive severity to harden the hearts of those who live under Our pastoral responsibility; for Our pastoral love pursues them none the less for all their infidelity. Should those who are trying to adapt their mentality to their new surroundings, have for the paternal home they have left and for the Father Himself, nothing but words of distrust, in gratitude or insult, should they even forget whatever they forsook, the day will come when their anguish will fall on the children they have lost, when nostalgia will bring them back to "God who was the joy of their youth," to the Church whose paternal hand has directed them on the road that leads to the Father of Heaven.

42. Like other periods of the history of the Church, the present has ushered in a new ascension of interior purification, on the sole condition that the faithful show themselves proud enough in the confession of their faith in Christ, generous enough in suffering to face the oppressors of the Church with the strength of their faith and charity. May the holy time of Lent and Easter, which preaches interior renovation and penance, turn Christian eyes towards the Cross and the risen Christ; be for all of you the joyful occasion that will fill your souls with heroism, patience and victory. Then We are sure, the enemies of the Church, who think that their time has come, will see that their joy was premature, and that they may close the grave they had dug. The day will come when the Te Deum of liberation will succeed to the premature hymns of the enemies of Christ: Te Deum of triumph and joy and gratitude, as the German people return to religion, bend the knee before Christ, and arming themselves against the enemies of God, again resume the task God has laid upon them.

43. He who searches the hearts and reins (Psalm vii. 10) is Our witness that We have no greater desire than to see in Germany the restoration of a true peace between Church and State. But if, without any fault of Ours, this peace is not to come, then the Church of God will defend her rights and her freedom in the name of the Almighty whose arm has not shortened. Trusting in Him, "We cease not to pray and to beg" (Col. i. 9) for you, children of the Church, that the days of tribulation may end and that you may be found faithful in the day of judgment; for the persecutors and oppressors, that the Father of light and mercy may enlighten them as He enlightened Saul on the road of Damascus. With this prayer in Our heart and on Our lips We grant to you, as a pledge of Divine help, as a support in your difficult resolutions, as a comfort in the struggle, as a consolation in all trials, to You, Bishops and Pastors of the Faithful, priests, Religious, lay apostles of Catholic Action, to all your diocesans, and specially to the sick and the prisoners, in paternal love, Our Apostolic Benediction.

Given at the Vatican on Passion Sunday, March 14, 1937.

PIUS XI

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/...r-sorge_en.html

February 20, 2008

Veronica Lueken (July 12, 1923 - August 3, 1995) was a Roman Catholic housewife who lived in Bayside, New York. From 1970 until her death, she reported to experience apparitions of the Virgin Mary and numerous Catholic saints. She gave messages from them at both Saint Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church in Bayside, and at the Vatican Pavilion in Flushing Meadows Park (site of the 1964 New York World's Fair).

June 15, 1974 Eve of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Sacrament

“There is developing, My child, in your country and the world, a most dangerous trend. It is one of separation from the Peter, the head of your Church. You will not bring about this separation from the seat of Rome! You have nothing to gain but everything to lose, for should you go ahead with this plan of separation, you will lead onto the road of the abyss, leading to the abyss, many souls. Woe unto those pastors! Woe unto the clergy who now set themselves up as leaders to confuse, confound, and mislead!

“Novelty, My child, has been the ruination of many souls. Change—why does mankind call always for change, My child? Is not the test of time a certain guide for mankind? We do not change to please mankind, but We set ourselves as examples to bring mankind to his God.

“Intellectual pride, My children, intellectual pride has sent many, set many onto the path of hell. Yes, do not cast aside this knowledge, this truth of the existence of hell. The agents about you working for the prince of darkness have made it their business to take from your minds the reality of the existence of a realm of punishment.

“I have asked all of My children to read the Book of life. It is your guideline to the future. You will all pray to the Holy Spirit to guide you in your reading that you do not fall into the errors of your day.

“There is great danger of separation from Rome, My children. For mankind is searching, searching into a world that they can never fathom. We see upon your world many organizations and secret societies. They are of satan.

February 17, 1974 Holy Hour

It is the plan of satan to try to destroy the Church of Jesus. However, everyone must persevere during this crisis. They must not leave holy Church because the foundation is Jesus. That shall never be changed. There are now in great numbers in the Church, many agents of satan. They work from high places. Know that many have been placed within the Church to create confusion and disillusionment. Do not leave! Our Lady begs you do not leave, but pray, for prayer is the strongest weapon given by the Father to chase satan from within the Church.

There will be a time of great trial. Many clergy will be pressured to make a heavy decision. However, the truth lies in every man’s heart. Know that your first allegiance is with the Father. You cannot accede to the wishes of man, for you do not know who walks beside you.

Satan, who lives in the kingdom of the spirit, cannot be seen by the human eye unless permitted by the Father for His reasons in this great battle. Therefore, know that these demons that are loose now upon earth are in the millions. They cannot work unless they enter into the human body. They promote accidents which are not accidents.

The powers of satan are great. However, satan cannot kill you, the human body. However, he can kill the soul. This is what you must remember. He will promote situations to kill your human body; however, this will only be allowed by the Father for reasons which would be made known to you in the future.

Prayer, atonement, and sacrifice must be your principal guidance in the days ahead. The Commandments of the Father must not be cast aside for the new modes of humanism and modernism. You’ll not save souls by catering to the human instincts of man, for you will feed the body and starve the soul.

It is not an easy road to Heaven. Satan will make it most difficult, for it is his desire to take to hell, his kingdom, all the souls of the children of God. Keep your sacramentals about you, for they are your protection. All manners of sacramentals, all instruments for your protection must be used at this time because we are at war. It is a war of the spirits.

Human man must now rely on the graces he may attain through the Sacraments of holy Church. Do not be turned away by the man whom God has chosen with consecrated hands to bring you the Body of Christ. Do not judge your clergy by human standards. Remember, he is a human being. However, during the time of Consecration, through the Holy Spirit he will bring you the physical Body and Blood of Christ.

Christ is living. However, Christ can only live in pure souls. Do not be led astray by the modern creation of satan that man will be saved because he is a creature of God. No! Man must dedicate himself to God and wish to enter the Kingdom. He has his free will. Man will not automatically enter the Kingdom because he has been created by God. No! God sets the soul at the time of ... when the.... The soul enters into the body at the time of creation. This time of creation is at the time of conception.

The Father has a plan for every soul He places upon earth. Therefore, man commits murder when he, through his free will, destroys the soul in the body of an unborn child. This is a direct breaking of the Commandment of the Father “Thou shalt not kill.”

Satan has placed his agents well in high places. Justice and men who have been chosen and sent into office to promote justice have also fallen to the plan of satan. The legions of hell have taken over the United States and most countries now of the world. The legions of hell have massed in the House of God.

There is a great war ahead. It will coincide with the war in the Mideast. However, the greatest concern is for the salvation of the soul eternal. Many bodies will be destroyed by man due to these legions of satan in war and great disasters. However, the major importance for all parents and all individuals in the world is that they set their lives now to rights with God. They must live with God daily. They must accept all the graces that the Father has placed within their means to obtain. The greatest strength will lie with the Eucharist.

Satan set confusion in the House of God so that many will leave. Recognize this fact, for you have fallen to his plan. You leave because you judge the Church of Jesus, not on the standards of Christ, but on the standards of man. Many have been placed within the Church for this very reason, to create confusion and bring about a total destruction of the Church of Jesus Christ under Pope Paul VI, the true leader and descendant of Peter, of Saint Peter, the first Pope.

Do not be led astray by the many reports coming from your news media, for you must remember they, too, are under control of the enemies of God. You will only be told what they want you to know, and the truth lies not in atheistic hearts. You cannot expect the truth from an atheist.

December 24, 1972 - Eve of the Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas Eve

“Satan has now four major adversaries upon earth. I have given you in the past the direction of his plan. The fourth major adversary is now released from the abyss. Before the coming of My Son in final battle with Michael and all the armies of Heaven, two more will enter upon earth.

“Prepare, My children, for the great trials that are ahead. All who remain of well spirit are not to accept My counsel with fear. But woe to those who do not listen, and harden their hearts and deafen their ears to My counsel! I have come to earth because I am your Mother. And as a Mother I cannot help but fear what will happen to My children without My help. My Son is being recrucified by the children He already sacrificed Himself for in the past. The Father—”

November 1, 1972 - Feast of All Saints’ Day and Eve of All Souls’ Day

Jesus – “This is the man of many faces who walks now in the holy House of God. Only you hold the decision to his fate.”

Veronica – Oh! Our Lady now is turning and also motioning to this man who has no face. He is turned now, and I see no face. And Our Lady says:

Our Lady – “He is being developed to enter upon the Seat of Peter. All trials coming from the abyss can enter into this man of perdition. A constant vigilance of prayer must now be kept throughout your earth. The time for your Vicar has been extended, but only for a short time. When he is removed from the Seat of Peter, the man of dark secrets is waiting.

October 6, 1972 - Eve of Our Lady of the Rosary

“We are pleased with the numbers who are making atonement to the Father for the ransom of your Vicar. The evil surrounds your Vicar. The plan is to remove him from among you. When he is removed, you will receive the man of dark secrets upon the Seat of Peter. Woe to evil man who refuses to repent of his ways.”

October 2, 1972 - Eve of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus

“The Book of life, Bible, must not be changed to suit the weakness of man.

“As children of the Eternal Father, you have been placed on your earth with a purpose, and only one purpose: to travel, as pilgrims, the road leading to the Kingdom of your God. You were placed here on your earth to do honor to your God by fighting the adversaries of Heaven, satan and his henchmen. Instead, many of Our disobedient children have entered the darkness. They have bargained and sold their souls to Lucifer.

“Many in the House of God have been misled to accept teachings other than truth. Falsity has been covered by rationalization and leanings of modernism and humanism. You will find, My child, this well-laid plan has corrupted many.

“As the demons of main mission go throughout your earth, you will find the destruction of souls increasing unless you listen now, go down on your knees and pray, and make sacrifice and atonement for your offenses against your God!”

Veronica – Now Jesus is by the right side of the flagpole. It must be very windy because Our Lady is coming over fast, and Her skirts are blowing very hard. And I notice Jesus’ hair is rumpled, too. Oh, it must be very windy today.

And now Jesus is extending His hand, His right hand, because He has His garment over His left arm. He has a very full robe on this evening; it is a beautiful burgundy-red color. And He has brown sandals and a cream-colored gown. And His hair—and Jesus’ hair looks very long from the side. He is bending down. Oh, He’s—now He is going to raise His hand. Everyone here near the tree—Jesus is right between the flagpole and the tree. Now He is raising His hand over His head, like this, and He has two fingers raised. And He is saying:

Jesus – “I bless you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”

Veronica – And then, now—oh, here Theresa is also stepping forward. She is extending her Rosary. Theresa has a very large black Rosary, but the crucifix is very golden. And Theresa is smiling, and she is looking over to Our Lady. And Our Lady now is standing next to Jesus. Our Lady seems quite tall, too, but She is not as tall as Jesus.

Jesus – “Warn Our Vicar! Reach him with your words and your prayer. The enemy is entrenched now next to him. He must be saved by your prayers, for woe to your world when he is removed. On the Seat of Peter will be the man of evil, and woe to the souls on earth!”

September 14, 1972 - The Exaltation of the Holy Cross & Eve of Our Lady of Sorrows

“The aberrations and abominations being committed in the holy House of God have had no precedence from the time of Noe, and before the time of Noe. The offenses to your God call down justification for the end of your civilization. Man in your country and in the world has made sin a way of life.

“You will remove from your country the abominations in print. The desecration in print and practice to the Sacred Heart of My Son must be stopped now! Is there none who will stand forth and protect My Son from these abominations? Are there so few who care? If you do not care for My Son, do you have no worry for the condition of your after-life?

“Yes, many of you have cast aside the truth and deny the existence of the other world. How sad when you come over and receive your judgment! You will be met, those who do not repent now, by the agents of hell and taken for a life of eternal damnation in the fires, forever to be tormented by the very desires that drove you to discard life everlasting for your place in hell.

“Your children are the misled victims of bad example—bad example of your teachers, bad example of many men in the House of God, bad example by your government and your schools. Satan rules your earth now. But he shall not capture you all, for I have given you the plan for your salvation numerous times.

“Before these trials are over, you will all have had the chance to make your choice, and if you fall it will be of your own will.

“Stand forth, My children. Defend the cross of My Son! Stand forth in truth. Do not succumb for your temporary pleasures and riches of the world. You will now make haste to enlighten the bishops that should they proceed in their plan to remove Our Vicar, the sword will come down upon them.

September 7, 1972 - Eve of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Our Lady – “Those in My Son’s House now receive final warning that they will not remove Our Vicar from the holy House of God. For to do so will set in motion the advent of the anti-pope into your House. You will not defile My Son in this manner.

“All cardinals, all bishops will stop wasting their words and get down on their knees now. Satan is among you, and his agents are multiplying in the holy House of God. Many are selling their souls for the temporary pleasures and riches of this world. Pray, My children, pray much for those who have fallen.

“The Ball of Redemption is poised now. How soon it approaches your earth will be on man’s decision. Your baptism of fire is approaching. In this way will We gather the souls for the ultimate victory of My Son’s House on earth. I must say with great sorrow that the numbers to survive will be in the few. But those who fall will have done so by their own choice.

“I admonish all parents to prepare their children’s souls now for the Chastisement which is not long in coming. Better that all parents make plans for this, for they will shed many tears of regret if they do not.

“The Eternal Father is not One Who punishes without reason, for He turns all evil to good. Many times it will only be a manner to bring you back to the fold. Many now are falling into line and following like sheep to the slaughter. Hell is filling so fast that We cannot look without Our hearts shedding—torn, torn asunder by the numberless souls falling into hell.

There is now the establishment in your world, a secret order of satan. This order has entered upon every walk of your life. Every form of your entertainment, your government, your schools have been infiltrated.

“In your complacency, My children, you just wait and watch and do nothing to save your souls or the souls of others. Do not wait until this enters upon your home. Prepare your home for this. Safeguard your children’s souls while you have the chance.

“I have promised to be with you in the dark days ahead. I intend to stay with you in the dark days ahead and guide all those who will not shut Me out of their hearts. My Son will be with you, and He cries for your understanding in the dark days ahead—that you will not go the easy road and desecrate His Body.

“The dark days ahead will be a test for all. It will be like placing the metals in the fire and the separating of the sheep from the goats.

“All cannot enter, yea I say none can enter unless they repent of their sin and cast aside the evil that they have allowed to become a way of life with them. And this must be done on free will.

“I have given you, through countless visitations to your earth, the sacramentals for your complete salvation and redemption. I do not have to repeat Myself; for, My children, if you have not learned just a little from My visitations, what can I hope for the future?”

[Pause]

Jesus appeared next to Our Lady, and said:

Jesus – “I give you My peace, as the Father gives you His peace, and We infuse in you the Holy Spirit for your trials in the dark days that lie ahead of you.”

August 21, 1972 - Eve of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

St. Thomas – “I have not come to add to the words of the Queen of Heaven. I, Thomas, say unto you that you will listen to the words of your God in Heaven. The golden rule of the prophets of old must be followed. Satan has entered into the holy House of God. You will open your eyes to the truth now and stop him.

“I see that the high priests of the House of God have become soft in their ways. They cater to their bodies and do not wish to sacrifice and make penance. There will be no easy road to the Kingdom. They will get down on their knees, and they will starve their worldly bodies until they rid themselves of the demons within them.

“Unless you listen now to my words of caution, you will fall into the trap that is being set for you. The enemy is within the House of God. He will seek to remove your Vicar from among you, and when he does he will place a man of dark secrets upon the Seat of Peter! [Note from Veronica: He means the third demon loosed in 1972 for special mission—to enter the Mystical Body of Christ.]

“I, Thomas, send my word to you that you will listen to the Fathers of the House now, or you will answer to your God.

“You will all make penance and restitution to your God by turning from the world and getting down on your knees and making sacrifice for your offenses against your God in the holy House of God—now! There is no time to feed your worldly lusts and passions. You must turn back now!

August 15, 1972 - Eve of Saint Joachim

“You will hasten to send out to the cardinals the message that I gave in My last visit to you. I will not burden you with a long discourse this evening.

“I do not wish you to use words of rebuke on your own to the high priests in Our House. You will only give them the words of Peter and My Son, and Mine, that come from a Motherly heart torn by the offenses to My Son. We pity those who have fallen in My Son’s House. Have pity on those who have fallen in My Son’s House.

“You can only bring them back with strict and disciplined sacrifice with prayer. Your world has cast aside the true meaning of discipline, whether it is in your personal life or your life that should lead you to My Son, but instead has sent you farther from His path.

“The three books will be sent out in great haste.

“I promise this evening that you will receive what you have requested of Me before the evening is over. Nothing is impossible with My Son.

“You will continue now, My children, with your prayers of atonement, and Jesus will be here to bless the sacramentals.

“You will listen carefully, My child, of the instructions of My Son when He arrives. We have been waiting for this moment for you to be prepared for what is to be told to you this evening.”

Veronica – Everyone will please kneel, who is able to kneel, because Jesus is coming here on the right side of the flagpole. And He is going to bless all objects that will become sacramentals. Jesus says you are to raise all medals, cards, crucifixes, and other objects that will be close to your hearts in the days ahead. And now Jesus is walking—He is not walking, He is floating. Oh, He is just floating! He is dressed in red, similar to Our Lady. And He is coming over to the left side of the flagpole, and He is smiling.

Oh, He’s raised His hand now, and He is blessing with the sign of the Trinity, like this. And now He is over near the trees, and He is looking down, smiling. And He is raising His hand, and He is blessing all the sacramentals in the sign of the Trinity, like this.

And Our Lady now, She has come over to the right side of the flagpole with Saint Joachim and Anne. And Theresa now is there, Theresa with her three sisters. And they are going over now beyond the trees, right by that tall star on the tree. And Theresa is looking up as I said that. Now they are looking down.

December 24, 1971 - Eve of the Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas Eve

“Your country, your world, your Church are being destroyed from within. The gates of hell shall not prevail against My Son’s Church, but oh, the souls that are being lost to Us now! . . . [Words not clear] or your world as you know it, your Church as you know it, will no longer exist.

“Those . . . [Words not clear] with the Father will hold back the darkness. It will be on your decision; it will be of your free will to turn your backs on Us or to carry the light to the world.

“All messages given from My hallowed grounds must reach the world now. Your time now is through the New Year of your earth time. There are many trials ahead for your country now. Unless you retire from the evil inducements of the world outside, and devote your time to living within your spirit, and fortify your life with prayer and sacrifice, you will not remain under My mantle of protection.

“I am your Mother of Grace. I am the Mediatrix of all graces, and My graces and My Son’s graces are to be given freely to all those who will believe. Believe, My children, just believe, and you will be given the way.

“The war is on, the battle of the spirits. You must decide your side. The middle road is non-existent; there is only good or evil. You cannot serve both. . . . [Words not clear] you to make the decision: will you go the easy way and deny Us for the few years that you will have upon your earth?

“The trials and sorrows are upon you. I must make it known to you that what was to have been in the future shall be now. All now is your decision.

“I have wandered in tears throughout the world; I have pleaded in tears throughout the world. The blood of many will be shed to defend My Son’s cross.

December 7, 1971 - Eve of the Immaculate Conception

Our Lady – “Please, help Me. They don’t understand what they are doing to themselves.”

Veronica – She said they don’t understand. She said that—She said that they are walking right into the trap, Her priests. [Veronica sobs.]

They’re going to suffer terribly. They’re going to suffer terribly if they don’t listen. They don’t know that this is the plan to destroy within. But Our Lady said that—not to feel badly because Jesus will come and stop this; but, but many will be lost before His arrival. Many in the United States will suffer greatly.

Our Lady – “Persevere against the forces of evil that now enshrouds your earth. Be nourished by the Presence of My Son among you. Hold back the darkness!”

[Pause]

Veronica – . . . Jesus says, also, that the message from His Mother’s Shrine must be spread now because there will be many sufferings.

Jesus – “Now continue with your prayers, My children.”

November 20, 1971 - Eve of the Presentation of Mary

“You will send all the messages to the bishops, for they now hold the balance. The Red Hat has fallen; the Purple Hat is being misled. Pray that they may receive the light before too many souls are led down the road to damnation. Even they will be rescued by your prayers. Without your prayers, they will enter hell as numerous as the snowflakes from Heaven.

“Impress, My child, upon your world the existence of hell that man seeks to deny. There are fires of hell. These fires will be felt on those who have lost their modesty to modernization, who expose the sacred temple of God, placed when their spirit entered their body—expose them to ridicule! The flames will burn every inch of that which is exposed.

“The Ball of Redemption comes closer, and many will die in its flame. Then you will no longer call Us a myth; then you will no longer laugh in derision.

“You will not hide the objects of your God that bring these to the minds of your children. You will not lead your children astray, to be dragged into the path of satan. No! Every parent, every leader, every provincial, every kingdom will make an account to his God.

“Those of well spirit have nothing to fear. But yea, I say to you, the destruction of the soul has far direr consequences than any body destruction you suffer on your earth.

“Many graces will be given from this hallowed land of My Shrine. Your country will go into great darkness, but We will carry the light. Many will light their candles with Me and carry the light. Perseverance, My children! Confidence! We will rescue you; We will not abandon you. You must have perseverance in these trials.

June 17, 1971 - First Anniversary of Our Lady of the Roses

“Throughout your country We see pagan practices! Who led them into such vile practices? There is a well-laid plan to destroy My Son’s House. Many have sold their souls to get to the head. Eternal damnation is their destination!

“Why have they chased Michael from My Son’s House? He was their guardian. They must place Michael back where he belongs in My Son’s House. Yes, they have shut the doors and the minds against him, but they cannot shut him out of the hearts of those destined for My Kingdom.

“What kind of noises do We hear in My Son’s House? Demons on the prance! Did they not dance around My Son as He hung there on that wood?

“Confusion, confusion! It is satan’s method—fear and confusion. You must recognize the face of evil. You must not be led as the sheep to the slaughter.

“We gave you all an inborn conscience. These evils must be stopped because of the children. The heavy load will be upon the parents. They must keep the Faith in their hearts. Keep the Faith in the hearts of those you love. It will not be easy. Your only refuge would be your home. You will have to bar the doors against evil. Yes, you can be deluded and misled when you do not see the evil about you. It could be, My child, like mass hypnotism.

“Satan has gained great ground throughout your earth. Many souls have fallen, and the numbers increase every day if there is not enough forces to stop it. We place a heavy burden upon those who have the heart and the faith and the light. They must go out and rescue their brothers and sisters from this evil. We do not wish to see one of Our children lost to Lucifer, who now gives Us battle.

“There is such turmoil in the world that We cannot come to you as often, Veronica, for We are needed very badly in this battle of the spirits. We listen to all who call to Us. We will answer all who come to Us in belief. Come to Us. Believe in Us, and you will be saved.

February 11, 1971 - Eve of Our Lady of Lourdes

Do not accept Communion in the hand

“The next abomination to My Son’s heart—do not accept His Body in your hands, for some will seek to cast His Body in the holy water fountains, My child. For such is the work of satan, to degrade My Son’s Body!

“O woe to ungrateful man who cares not for the Blood that My Son shed for them! Their own destruction will be made through their own hands, in their own evil hearts. For the blackened soul can seek faster the ways of satan.

“We cry, also, for the many souls that will be lost because of misdirection. Our hearts are merciful, but many will still be lost.

“Our arms send forth a shower of blessings upon you all at this moment of a great joy to My heart: the reception of the medal of Our Lady of the Roses. I thank you, My children. Many blessings will be yours.

“Wear this, My children, for there are many surprises in store for you, that We give with glad hearts in these dark days. You see, My children, We will show this man of perdition where the true power of God lies. For eventually, My children, I will crush him through the power of the Eternal Father.

“Remember January 21, 1971. This was the day, My children, when this man of perdition came to your city and entered your holy Church. Now he moves about and will spread destruction throughout your land before he proceeds on to Egypt. Remember this date, My children, for it was a sad day for mankind. For what could be sadder than the entrance of the Antichrist into your land!

“The attacks upon you, My child, will not cease, so keep your armor, the protection We have sent you. This must remain a secret between us for the time being, for your safety. Guard it well.

http://www.tldm.org

February 20, 2008

Here is the Catholic Church's view of Masonry

CUSTODI DI QUELLA FEDE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII

ON FREEMASONRY

To the Italian People.

Deplorable Conditions in Italy

Guardians of that faith to which the Christian nations owe their morality and civil redemption, We must dutifully discharge each one of Our supreme tasks. Therefore We must raise Our voice in loud protestations against the impious war which tries to take such a precious treasure away from you, beloved children. Already taught by long and sorrowful experience, you know well the terrible trials of this war, you who deplore it in your hearts as Catholics and as Italians. Can one be Italian in name and sentiment and not resent these continual offenses against divine beliefs? These beliefs are the most beautiful of our glories, for they gave to Italy its primacy over the other nations and to Rome the spiritual sceptre of the world. They likewise made the wonderful edifice of Christian civilization rise over the ruins of paganism and barbarism.

Can we be Catholic in mind and heart and gaze with dry eyes on that land where our wondrous Redeemer deigned to establish the seat of His kingdom? Now We see His teachings attacked and His reverence outraged, His Church embattled and His Vicar opposed. So many souls redeemed by His blood are now lost, the choicest portion of His flock, a people faithful to Him for nineteen centuries. How can We bear to look upon His chosen people exposed to a constant and ever-present danger of apostasy, pushed toward error and vice, material miseries, and moral degradation?

Threat of Masonry

2. This war is directed at the same time against the heavenly and the earthly kingdoms, against the faith of our ancestors and the culture which they handed on to us. It is thus doubly evil, being guilty of a divine offense no less than a human one. Is its chief source not that very masonic sect which We discussed at length in the encyclical Humanum genus of April 20, 1884,1 and in the more recent one of October 15, 1890,2 addressed to the bishops, the clergy and the Italian people? With these two letters We tore from the face of masonry the mask which it used to hide itself and We showed it in its crude deformity and dark fatal activity.

3. We shall restrict Ourselves now to its deplorable effects on Italy. For a long time now it has bored its way under the deceitful guise of a philanthropic society and redeemer of the Italian people. By way of conspiracies, corruptions, and violences, it has finally come to dominate Italy and even Rome. To what troubles, to what calamities has it opened the way in a little more than thirty years?

Troubles Caused by Masonry

4. Our country has seen and suffered great evils in such a short span of time, for the faith of our fathers has been made a sign for persecutions of every sort. The satanic intent of the persecutors has been to substitute naturalism for Christianity, the worship of reason for the worship of faith, so-called independent morality for Catholic morality, and material progress for spiritual progress. To the holy maxims and laws of the Gospel, they have opposed laws and maxims which can be called the code of revolution. They have also opposed an atheistic doctrine and a vile realism to school, science, and the Christian arts. Having invaded the temple of the Lord, they have squandered the booty of the Church's goods, the greatest part of the inheritance necessary for the ministers, and reduced the number of priests by the conscription of clerics beyond the limits of extreme need. If the administration of the sacraments could not be impeded, they sought nonetheless to introduce and promote civil marriages and funerals. If they have not yet succeeded in seizing control of education and the direction of charitable institutions, they always aim with perseverance to laicize everything, which is to remove the mark of Christianity from it. If they could not silence the voice of the Catholic press, they made every effort to discredit and revile it.

Contradictions in the Masonic Program

5. In this battle against the Catholic religion, what partiality and contradictions there are! They closed monasteries and convents, but they let multiply at will masonic lodges and sectarian dens. They proclaimed the right of association, while the legal rights which all kinds of organizations use and abuse are denied to religious societies. They proclaim freedom of religion and reserve odious intolerance and vexations precisely for the religion of the Italians - which, for that reason, should be assured respect and a special protection. They made protests and great promises for the protection of the dignity and independence of the pope, but you see their daily contempt of Our person. All kinds of public shows find an open field; yet this or that Catholic demonstration is either prohibited or disturbed. They encourage schisms, apostasies, and revolts against legitimate superiors in the Church. Religious vows and especially religious obedience are rebuked as contrary to human dignity and freedom, while impious associations which bind their followers by wicked oaths and demand blind, absolute obedience in crime are allowed to flourish with impunity.

The Spirit of Masonry

6. We do not wish to exaggerate the masonic power by attributing to its direct and immediate action all the evils which presently preoccupy Us. However, you can clearly see its spirit in the facts which We have just recorded and in many others which We could recall. That spirit, which is the implacable enemy of Christ and of the Church, tries all ways, uses all arts, and prevails upon all means. It seizes from the Church its first-born daughter and seizes from Christ His favored nation, the seat of His Vicar on earth and the center of Catholic unity. To see the evil and efficacious influence of this spirit on our affairs, We have more than a few fleeting indications and the series of facts which have succeeded themselves for thirty years. Proud of its successes, the sect herself has spoken out and told us all its past accomplishments and future goals. It regards the public powers as its instruments, wining or not, which is to say that the impious sect boasts as one of its principal works the religious persecution which has troubled and is troubling our Italy. Though often executed by other hands, this persecution is inspired and promoted by masonry, in an immediate or mediate, direct or indirect manner, by flattery or threats, seduction or revolution.

Social Evils of Masonry

7. The road is very short from religious to social ruin. The heart of man is no longer raised to heavenly hopes and loves; capable and needing the infinite, it throws itself insatiably on the goods of this earth. Inevitably there is a perpetual struggle of avid passions to enjoy, become rich, and rise. Then we encounter a large and inexhaustible source of grudges, discords, corruptions, and crimes. In our Italy there was no lack of moral and social disorders before the present events-but what a sorrowful spectacle we see in our days! That loving respect which forms domestic harmony is substantially diminished; paternal authority is too often unrecognized by children and parents alike. Disagreements are frequent, divorce common. Civil discords and resentful anger between the various orders increase every day in the cities. New generations which grew up in a spirit of misunderstood freedom are unleashed in the cities, generations which do not respect anything from above or below. The cities teem with incitements to vice, precocious crimes, and public scandals. The state should be content with the high and noble office of recognizing, protecting, and helping divine and human rights in their harmonious universality. Now, however, the state believes itself almost a judge and disowns these rights or restricts them at will. Finally, the general social order is undermined at its foundations. Books and journals, schools and universities, clubs and theaters, monuments and political discourse, photographs and the fine arts, everything conspires to pervert minds and corrupt hearts. Meanwhile the oppressed and suffering people tremble and the anarchic sects arouse themselves. The working classes raise their heads and go to swell the ranks of socialism, communism, and anarchy. Characters exhaust themselves and many souls, no longer knowing how to suffer nobly nor how to redeem themselves manfully, take their lives with cowardly suicide.

8. Such are the fruits which the masonic sect has borne to us Italians. And after that it yearns to come before you, extolling its merits towards . Italy. It likewise yearns to give Us and all those who, heeding Our words, remain faithful to Jesus Christ, the calumnious title of enemies of the state. The facts reveal the merits of this guilty sect toward our peninsula, "merits" which bear repeating. The facts say that masonic patriotism is no less than sectarian egotism which yearns to dominate everything, particularly the modern states which unite and concentrate everything in their hands. The facts say that in the plans of masonry, the names of political independence, equality, civilization, and progress aimed to facilitate the independence of man from God in our country. From them, license of error and vice and union of faction at the expense of other citizens have grown. The easy and delicious enjoyment of life by the world's fortunate is nurtured in the same source. A people redeemed by divine blood have thus returned to divisions, corruptions, and the shames of paganism.

Evil Nature of Masonry

9. That does not surprise Us. - After nineteen centuries of Christian civilization, this sect tries to overthrow the Catholic Church and to cut off its divine sources. It absolutely denies the supernatural, repudiating every revelation and all the means of salvation which revelation shows us. Through its plans and works, it bases itself solely and entirely on such a weak and corrupt nature as ours. Such a sect cannot be anything other than the height of pride, greed, and sensuality. Now, pride oppresses, greed plunders, and sensuality corrupts. When these three concupiscences are brought to the extreme, the oppressions, greed, and seductive corruptions spread slowly. They take on boundless dimensions and become the oppression, plundering and source of corruption of an entire people.

10. Let Us then show you masonry as an enemy of God, Church, and country. Recognize it as such once and for all, and with all the weapons which reason, conscience, and faith put in your hands, defend yourselves from such a proud foe. Let no one be taken in by its attractive appearance or allured by its promises; do not be seduced by its enticements or frightened by its threats. Remember that Christianity and masonry are essentially irreconcilable, such that to join one is to divorce the other. You can no longer ignore such incompatibility between Catholic and mason, beloved children: you have been warned openly by Our predecessors, and We have loudly repeated the warning.

Christian Response to Masonry

11. Those who, by some supreme misfortune, have given their name to one of these societies of perdition should know that they are strictly bound to separate themselves from it. Otherwise they must remain separated from Christian communion and lose their soul now and for eternity. Parents, teachers, godparents, and whoever has care of others should also know that a rigorous duty binds them to keep their wards from this guilty sect or to draw them from it if they have already entered.

12. In a matter of such importance and where the seduction is so easy in these times, it is urgent that the Christian watch himself from the beginning. He should fear the least danger, avoid every occasion, and take the greatest precautions. Use all the prudence of the serpent, while keeping in your heart the simplicity of the dove, according to the evangelical counsel. Fathers and mothers should be wary of inviting strangers into their homes or admitting them to domestic intimacy, at least insofar as their faith is not sufficiently known. They should try to first ascertain that an astute recruiter of the sect does not hide himself in the guise of a friend, teacher, doctor or other benefactor. Oh, in how many families has the wolf penetrated in sheep's clothing!

Masonic Threat to Groups

13. It is beautiful to see the varied groups which arise everywhere today in every order of social life: worker groups, groups of mutual aid and social security, organizations to promote science, arts, letters, and other similar things. When they are inspired by a good moral and religious spirit, these groups certainly prove to be useful and proper. But because the masonic poison has penetrated and continues to penetrate here also, especially here, any groups that remove themselves from religious influence should be generally suspect. They can easily be directed and more or less dominated by masons, becoming the sowing-ground and the apprenticeship of the sect in addition to providing assistance to it.

14. Women should not join philanthropic societies whose nature and purpose are not well-known without first seeking advice from wise and experienced people. That talkative philanthropy which is opposed to Christian charity with such pomp is often the passport for masonic business.

15. Everyone should avoid familiarity or friendship with anyone suspected of belonging to masonry or to affiliated groups. Know them by their fruits and avoid them. Every familiarity should be avoided, not only with those impious libertines who openly promote the character of the sect, but also with those who hide under the mask of universal tolerance, respect for all religions, and the craving to reconcile the maxims of the Gospel with those of the revolution. These men seek to reconcile Christ and Belial, the Church of God and the state without God.

16. Every Christian should shun books and journals which distill the poison of impiety and which stir up the fire of unrestrained desires or sensual passions. Groups and reading clubs where the masonic spirit stalks its prey should be likewise shunned.

The Offensive Against Masonry

17. In addition, since we are dealing with a sect which has pervaded everything, it is not enough to remain on the defensive. We must courageously go out into the battlefield and confront it. That is what you will do, beloved children, opposing press to press, school to school, organization to organization, congress to congress, action to action.

18. Masonry has taken control of the public schools, leaving private schools, paternal schools, and those directed by zealous ecclesiastics and religious of both sexes to compete in the education of Christian youth. Christian parents especially should not entrust the education of their children to uncertain schools. Masonry has confiscated the inheritance of public charity; fill the void, then, with the treasure of private relief. It has placed pious works in the hands of its followers, so you should entrust those that depend on you to Catholic institutions. It opens and maintains houses of vice, leaving you to do what is possible to open and maintain shelters for honesty in danger. An anti-Christian press in religious and secular matters militates at its expense, so that your effort and money are required by the Catholic press. Masonry establishes societies of mutual help and credit unions for its partisans; you should do the same not only for your brothers but for all the indigent. This will show that true and sincere charity is the daughter of the One who makes the sun to rise and the rain to fall on the just man and sinner alike.

19. May this struggle between good and evil extend to everything, and may good prevail. Masonry holds frequent meetings to plan new ways to combat the Church, and you should hold them frequently to better agree on the means and order of defense. It multiplies its lodges, so that you should multiply Catholic clubs and parochial groups, promote charitable associations and prayer organizations, and maintain and increase the splendor of the temple of God. The sect, having nothing to fear, today shows its face to the light of day. You Italian Catholics should also make open profession of your faith and follow the example of your glorious ancestors who confessed their faith bravely before tyrants, torture, and death. What more? Does the sect try to enslave the Church and to put it at the feet of the state as a humble servant? You must then demand and claim for it the freedom and independence due it before the law. Does masonry seek to tear apart Catholic unity, sowing discord even in the clergy itself, arousing quarrels, fomenting strife, and inciting insubordination, revolt, and schism? By tightening the sacred bond of charity and obedience, you can thwart its plans, bring to naught its efforts, and disappoint its hopes. Be all of one heart and one mind, like the first Christians. Gathered around the See of Peter and united to your pastors, protect the supreme interests of church and papacy, which are just as much the supreme interests of Italy and of all the Christian world. The Apostolic See has always been the inspirer and jealous guardian of Italian glory. Therefore, be Italians and Catholics, free and non-sectarian, faithful to the nation as well as to Christ and His visible Vicar. An anti-Christian and antipapal Italy would truly be opposed to the divine plan, and thus condemned to perish.

20. Beloved children, faith and state speak to you at this time through Us. Listen to their cry, arise together and fight manfully the battles of the Lord. May the number, boldness, and strength of the enemy not frighten you, because God is stronger than they; if God is for you, who can be against you?

21. Redouble your prayers so that God might be with you in a greater abundance of grace, fighting and triumphing with you. Accompany your prayers with the practice of the Christian virtues, especially charity toward the needy. Seek God's mercies with humility and perseverance, renewing every day the promises of your baptism.

22. As a pledge of these things and as a sign of Our paternal love, We bestow on you Our apostolic blessing, beloved children.

Given in Rome at Saint Peter's, the eighth day of December, 1892, in the fifteenth year of Our pontificate.

LEO XIII

March 13, 2008

Cultural hostility is being spread against religions, especially Christianity and Catholicism in particular, notably through the means of social communication, and is promoted by Masonic sources.

March 13, 2008

And I always thought that it was the atheists pushing non-religious views through their left wing mantra zealots "That only the government exists, and no one else".

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cultural hostility is being spread against religions, especially Christianity and Catholicism in particular, notably through the means of social communication, and is promoted by Masonic sources.

March 13, 2008

And I always thought that it was the atheists pushing non-religious views through their left wing mantra zealots "That only the government exists, and no one else".

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whatever is true ultimately finds its source in God.

Ed_Palmedo · March 13, 2008

There is a new Photo Gallery on DCpages.com, Capitol Square and Compass Tour. This gallery features masonic images throughout Washington DC. George Washington was a Freemason (as attested by the huge Masonic Memorial that stands in his honor in Alexandria, Virginia). He commissioned fellow Mason Andrew Ellicott to be America’s first Surveyor General.

Follow the square and compass path laid into the city plans of our nation's capital . It is rumored that shortly after the United States won its independence, George Washington, Major Andrew Ellicott, Pierre-Charles L'Enfant, and Benjamin Bannaker designed a secret magical compass symbol within the street layout centred on Capitol Hill. The compass is used as a tool of Masons to master the mind over the material world. Journey with us and discover Washington DC's hidden secrets.

Luke_Wilbur · September 22, 2009

A family member forwarded this email to me.

Sandra Miesel explains why Catholics can't be Masons</h3>From a September 2006 article featured on the Our Sunday Visitor website:

No pope has ever been a Mason. The Catholic Church has warily monitoredFreemasonry from the time it penetrated Europe. In 1738, Pope ClementXII condemned the Craft for its dependence on mere natural virtue whileignoring Christ's unique role as Savior. He also denounced the rashoaths it demanded of members to protect trivial Lodge secrets.

Catholicswho joined the Masons were excommunicated, with reconciliation reservedto the pope. This decree had little effect, however, because it wasn'tpublished in every land, nor was it always taken seriously where it waspublished. Eight subsequent popes would have to repeat the message,most forcefully Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Humanum Genus(On Freemasonry).

Denouncingthe Lodge as "a deceitful and crafty enemy," Pope Leo declared, "Let noman think that he may for any reason whatsoever join the Masonic sect,if he values his Catholic name and his eternal salvation as he ought tovalue them." The 1917 Code of Canon Law included these sternprohibitions.

After the Second Vatican Council, however, thelong hostility between Lodge and Church seemed to be easing. Areinterpretation of the anti-Masonic canons in 1974 led some Catholicsto think that only Masonic groups actively plotting against the Churchwere forbidden to them.

Even so, some Freemasons had actuallybeen plotting against the Vatican through its bank. In 1981, two of thepope's top financial advisers - known all along as Masons - wereunmasked as members of a secret Lodge called Propaganda Due that wasplotting a fascist takeover of Italy. Both men later died mysteriously.The Vatican lost $240,000 with the collapse of its bank.

Changing views

Rome'ssofter view of Masonry was abruptly reversed in 1981 just before thefinancial scandal broke. Although the current Code of Canon Law issuedin 1983 fails to mention the Craft by name, in the same year theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith firmly reiterated theoriginal ban:

"The Church's negative position on Masonicassociations therefore remains unaltered since their principles havealways been regarded as irreconcilable with the Church's doctrine."

Read the entire piece.

Sandra, by the way, has already finished reading Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol (I'mon page 30 and don't know if I have the strength to continue). I spoketo her yesterday shortly after she had reached the underwhelmingconclusion of the novel, and she noted it was a sort of "love poem" toMasonry, with occasional swipes at Christianity. And today she wrote:"I finished THE LOST SYMBOL, which is a tad better than DA VINCI CODEdespite being rah rah pro-Masonic propaganda.By no means is it a 'good'book, even for popcorn reading." She is working on a piece about thenovel, the Masons, and other esoteric topics for Catholic World Report.

For a more detailed examination of the Masons, consider Christianity And American Freemasonry, by William J. Whalen:

Whatis it about Freemasonry that would cause churches to forbid or openlydiscourage seventy million Americans from membership? Why have eightpopes condemned the Lodge? Why has the relationship between theCatholic Church and the Masonic order been strained for centuries?Christianity and American Freemasonry answers these and many otherquestions and describes why Christ ianity and Freemasonry areincompatible.

Today over two million American men belong to theMasonic order, the largest and oldest secret fraternal society. Inearlier history the Freemasons boasted a prestigious membership,including fourteen American presidents and such founding fathers as BenFranklin, Paul Revere, and Alexander Hamilton. This is the mostcomplete reference book available on the subject. Chapters discuss therituals and oaths, the Scottish and York rites, allied organizationssuch as the Shriners, and the historic antagonism of Christianitytoward Masonry. It is thoroughly documented with facts from:

• the three most noted experts on Masonry in America

• Masonic ritual books, encyclopedias, and histories

• three former Masons, now active Catholics, who contributed firsthand knowledge of Masonic ritual and structure.

William Whalen is a nationally known expert on comparative religion, and an author of 15 books and numerous magazine articles.

September 22, 2009

This Rome Reports video provides a succinct explanation of why the Catholic Church has opposed Freemasonry for centuries.

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