Feast of the Chair of St. Peter in Rome

Living as we are in this uniquely dangerous time, it would be good for us to reflect on the ancient feast day celebrating the final See of the First Pontiff. May the throne of Peter be restored and renewed! From my little iPieta app:

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January 18.–ST. PETER’S CHAIR AT ROME.

ST. PETER having triumphed over the devil in the East, the latter pursued him to Rome in the person of Simon Magus. He who had formerly trembled at the voice of a poor maid now feared not the very throne of idolatry and superstition. The capital of the empire of the world, and the centre of impiety, called for the zeal of the Prince of Apostles. God had established the Roman Empire, and extended its dominion beyond that of any former monarchy, for the more easy propagation of His Gospel. Its metropolis was of the greatest importance for this enterprise. St. Peter took that province upon himself, and, repairing to Rome, there preached the faith and established his ecclesiastical chair. That St. Peter preached in Rome, founded the Church there, and died there by martyrdom under Nero, are facts the most incontestable, by the testimony of all writers of different countries who lived near that time; persons of unquestionable veracity, and who could not but be informed of the truth in a point so interesting and of its own nature so public and notorious. This is also attested by monuments of every kind; by the prerogatives, rights, and privileges which that church enjoyed from those early ages in consequence of this title. It was an ancient custom observed by churches to keep an annual festival of the consecration of their bishops. The feast of the Chair of St. Peter is found in ancient martyrologies. Christians justly celebrate the founding of this mother-church, the centre of Catholic communion, in thanksgiving to God for His mercies to His Church, and to implore His future blessings.

Reflection.–As one of God’s greatest mercies to His Church, let us earnestly beg of Him to raise up in it zealous pastors, eminently replenished with His Spirit, with which He animated His apostles.

Forward with Faith, Hope, and Charity

I was prompted to write today after stumbling upon a twitter post that states: “Retweet if you think Pope Benedict XVI should be declared a Doctor of the Church.” That pretty much sums up where we are today.

For all the good that he did, for whatever faults he may have had, becoming a Doctor of the Church is not the product of an internet influence campaign. Or, if it become so these days, we are so far gone from any spirit of Catholicity that the mind reels at the unlikeliness of getting that spirit back. Neither is the question of which (if either)of any two persons is Pope subject to any internet influence campaign.

The gloating in some quarters over those who think that Pope Benedict XVI did not effectively resign the papal office as “sedevacantists”, or as facing a crisis of faith, or as being definitively proven wrong, betrays how little they understand of the Church, the papacy, and the duties of a Catholic. I don’t know some of the more famous internet gloaters personally, but it doesn’t speak well either for their intelligence or their honesty. One of two things happened in February 2013: Pope Benedict abdicated the papacy or he did not abdicate the papacy. That’s it. There can be at any time one pope, or none. Not two.

If he did abdicate, there is nothing in the death of Pope Benedict that changes it; if he did not, likewise, there is nothing in his death that changes that. Bergoglio, if he be not pope, does not inherit it with the passing of the pope. Nor does Bergoglio’s mere survival over his rival work to prove his claim like some trial by ordeal.

So, if the issue is not soluble, as a friend noted to me today, until a future date and/or event, do not ever abandon the Church. She is the ark of salvation, and will not fail. God loves us, and does not seek to mislead us. He has this. And Mary is on the job– she will crush the serpent’s head. And maybe cut people a break for being confused in a truly wretched time.

No matter what or when or how, the Church is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. It is the only true Church, founded by Christ, and outside of which there is no salvation.

And this may be a good time to state again publicly what I have said many times, and that informs any mere statement of opinion or question I ever address or have addressed concerning “the two popes” question: I accept Unam Sanctam. I willingly submit to the true Roman Pontiff, even if it is Bergoglio. If instead the seat is temporarily vacant until further events, I willingly await God’s foreordained plan and trust in His providence. This doesn’t unsay any of my opinions or questions or beliefs– not at all. It just means that as a human being who can err on all kinds of things, I could be wrong on any particular belief that is not part of the deposit of faith guaranteed by the Church. That’s it. That’s the last this unimportant layman has to say on it, unless such an event or future date makes things clear.

Therefore, keep the Faith. Have Hope. Live in Charity. This has all been foreseen by an All-loving, All-powerful God.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

It is reported that Pope Benedict XVI died this morning, December 31, 2022, on the Feast of Pope Saint Sylvester.

Réquiem ætérnam dona ei Dómine; et lux perpétua lúceat ei. Requiéscat in pace. Amen.

You may recall that Sylvester is the papal name taken by the last-ever Pope in the novel Lord of the World, by Robert Hugh Benson; this Pope celebrates Mass as Our Lord returns to slay the antichrist.

I find the coincidence chilling indeed.

Who knows when the next conclave may be held? Short of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, I don’t know how this situation has a chance of resolution until a post-death-of-Bergoglio conclave. God have mercy on Pope Benedict, and on us.

Whatever happened that has yet to come to light, Summorum Pontificum was a great act of justice and charity. We should not forget this.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

St. joseph, pray for us!

St. Peter, pray for us!

Orémus.

Gregem tuum, Pastor ætérne, placátus inténde: et per beátum Silvéstrum Summum Pontíficem perpétua protectióne custódi; quem totíus Ecclésiæ præstitísti esse pastórem.

Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum.
℟. Amen.

New Beginnings

What is the opposite of Chartreusings?

I always think of November as the start of a new year. Strange, right? I guess the reason for that feeling is that the first Sunday of Advent usually occurs in November. The total-Church remembrance of every single soul in the Church Triumphant and Suffering, as well as mentally consolidating the “holidays” as a totality, only add to the feeling.

I won’t insult you with the notion I have all- new thoughts about the beginning of the next, new, old, same, portentous year. But I wanted to collect some observations from this part of the world that come to mind just now. So in no particular order, here they are:

1. This (s)election is the last clear chance for what remains of the American republic. I don’t mean by that that I am ignorant of the fact that the elections are corrupt, and that they have been largely totally corrupt for AT LEAST the last 60 years. If you think they aren’t, wake up a bit and listen to Bob Dylan’s masterpiece, Murder Most Foul, on a continuous loop for 24 hours straight. What I mean is that until the Trump victory where, whatever you think of his complicity or independence, something CLEARLY did not go to plan for the satanist cabal that runs the world, there was an effort to keep the appearance of choice, normalcy, and legitimacy in the election game. It was getting pretty old anyway, but hey, remember voting for Tsar Nicholas II (the execrable John McCain, h/t to John Zmirak)? Or frontier Hindu Mitt Romney? Please. But something in the Trump election put a spanner in the works. It might be worth a year in Purgatory to have seen chief witch and suicide-machine Hillary so disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong. There absolutely will be massive election fraud next week. Massive. My observation that this is the last clear chance for what remains of the republic centers around this: are the powers that be going to go with the strategy of the illusion of choice and legitimacy, or, having never before been so close to total power, with a cowed, deathvaxxed, effeminate and obedient populace, will they simply not give a final damn about whether you know that they know that you know that they know they are lying to you and just grab total power for the foreseeable future. Until Our Lady acts or Our Lord comes again.

Which will it be? Unless they let the Republicans take back both Houses with clear majorities, then folks, we really are near the end of the thing. The country, that is. And it is a truism that every day brings us one day closer to the end of everything.

2. When will anyone do something about Bergoglio? There are still several good Bishops left. Some good Cardinals. How can anyone with a functioning brain + Catholic sensibility NOT see that this guy is an antipope and a destroyer. I sometimes wonder whether anyone would act even if Bergoglio live-streamed a gay blessing on two people in the very act of sodomy. Hello? Synod on synodality? Really? They’re just laughing at you. I shudder to think what is said at the sodomite frivolities held on Vatican grounds about our total lack of response to the (attempted— I know the Church will last until the end) destruction of the visible Church.

And, with respect for what they have protected from the wreckers for so many years, I do not exclude the SSPX from this lament. They are not in schism, true. They also have an irregular canonical status. There is a much greater latitude for them to act, even viewing things from a temporal perspective. Is the Francismercy they’ve gotten so great that they cannot say the way things are?

The emperor has no clothes! Cardinals, bishops, priests… do something! Our Lord is daily mocked and insulted!

3. It is so important to do everything possible to stay in or get in the state of grace. End of the world? Possibly. Fatima cataclysm? Likely. You could also die today from any number of causes. We are on the edge of societal collapse and Divine chastisement. It pays to take care of one’s soul.

4. Finally, in light of the above, pray fervently for the dead, the holy souls in Purgatory. This November, you might want very much their intercession for you in a time of judgement that may come very soon indeed.

“This visible existence of the head and the certainty about it are required by the very nature of the Church. The universal Church cannot exist for a considerable time without a visible Supreme Shepherd…”

Thanks, Bishop Schneider. Agreed. Wait, what’s that over there?:

Full article at Lifesite News wherein the good bishop seeks to definitively address those who doubt the validity of Benedict XVI’s putative abdication. You can make your own call if he succeeds. But some quick observations:

Bishop Schneider, when calling into doubt the abdication’s validity as a cul-de-sac, smacking of a “spirit” of sedevacantism, takes a very odd tack. Is this like the “spirit of Vatican II”? Like the “schismatic” spirit of Abp. Lefebvre when he consecrated Bishops to (in his mind) protect the Mass and the availability of the Sacraments for the good of souls? Because of course those who contend Benedict is still pope are anything but sedevacantists. His Excellency lists a number of what-ifs that could force the Church into a position of whether it is unknowable just who is Peter. But it is unlikely that any of them would come about in this specific situation. To address one such hypothetical, this nonagenarian is highly unlikely to outlive every Cardinal appointed by JP2 and himself. Bishop Schneider uses the “attitude of sedevacanism charge to simply act as though we are saying the See is vacant, and then criticizing that position. He doesn’t address the canonical arguments at all.

Bishop Schneider rightly points out that the visible nature of the Church demands a visible head or else the mission of the Church would be paralyzed. Well, we have had a visible head during the entire Bergoglian regime. And the confusion engendered by the putative abdication and the resulting doubts about just who that is tends to prove that tendency to paralysis without a visible head. The situation is akin to the Great Western Schism, of course, in that we have a question of mistake of fact– who is the person of the Pope, not a true schism where those who favor the Benedict papacy are refusing to submit to the Roman Pontiff. They are trying to submit to the true Pontiff. I think it is clear that if there are any Catholics who refuse submission to the Pontiff, they are overwhelmingly in the Bergoglio camp.

Yes, valid appointments of Bishops and the other activities involving the Church’s Supreme Pontiff must be addressed. But in his discussion of supplied jurisdiction, HIs Excellency gives it short shrift, and does not discuss at all the effect of a Pope Benedict who sits by and allows all these appointments of Cardinals and Bishops, etc, without saying a word. Is he prohibited from objecting, or claiming his rights, or is it perhaps tacit consent to allow the juridical Church to function as she must in this unprecedented situation? I agree this is not clear, and due to our lack of knowledge involves some pure speculation from the Benedict is pope camp. But I don’t think this definitively proves Bergoglio is therefore pope. Will anyone, especially a member of the college, address the canonical arguments and the actual text of the resignation? For that is where the matter starts.

Finally, I think the most revealing thing about the Lifesite article and His Excellency’s essay is that reputable people are apparently feeling the need to address the issue at all. There must be a growing number of Catholics who are making known their doubts about the legitimacy of the Bergoglian regime. Beyond doubt, there are many Catholics who realize something is seriously, and unprecedentedly, wrong with this situation.

Oremus pro invicem.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

Miss Barnhardt is on a Roll

Not that she has ever wavered on THE issue of the Church today, but her last few posts are golden. This latest is a must read. A quote that hit me in particular today:

The virile man wants to know what is going on around him. He wants a clear, accurate description of objective reality, no matter how ugly, because the virile man is constantly seeking to formulate and execute the best possible response and path forward. The virile man does not ever plop down on the ground, declare the situation too difficult or too unpleasant, and disengage in favor of a quietistic, passivistic, self-righteous pity-party.

Pope Benedict XVI Is Allowed a Visitor

Glad for some evidence the Pope is among us.

Happy Easter, from the Vatican!

After a mini-resurgence of regular blogging in the first few months of this so-far annus horibilis, you may have noticed a mini-dearth of posting in the last few weeks. Why? My motivation is still there, but after the nuclear war talk paused among the Ukraine media cheerleaders, and as it seems Russia is slowly but surely drawing the noose over the Azov battalion, there has been an absolute dearth of news.

By dearth of news, I stress dearth of news you don’t already know. I mean, yes, scads of professional athletes, young people and early middle-aged people are dropping dead of the clot shot. You knew that. Yes, they will bring back the coof restrictions as long as sheeple let them. You knew that. Yes, the Chinese communists have zero respect for human life. You knew that.

And yes, Bergoglio sure does everything in his power to destroy the Church. You knew that, too.

Today, news from Lifesite that he has removed the chaplain of the traditional Carmelite community he is trying to destroy in Pennsylvania. Yep, accompanying them all the way to an inability to receive the Sacraments. This order has said they will resist this unjust and illegitimate crackdown. Good for them.

May their chaplains stick with them, and may faithful Catholics support them. May God protect their vocations, their charism, and their souls.

Perhaps when Mary’s Immaculate Heart triumphs the Pope will finally break his long silence. Until then, pray for him.

Feast of St. Peter’s Chair in Antioch

Today is the Church’s annual reminder that the first Pope and Vicar of Christ ruled over a See other than Rome. A reminder I hope we will not need in the near future but, seeing as the liturgical tradition handed down to us also serves to instruct us, I think it possible we may.

Have Total Confidence in Mary

No matter what, she will triumph. God will glorify His Mother.