 |
Traditionalist Issues
Disturbing Papal Statements at WYD 2008
Juan Valdivieso, Chile
The World Youth Day in Sydney was marked by various gestures and statements of Benedict XVI with an ecumenical, ecologist and tribalist bent. This ensemble of statements would normally have been sufficient to definitively bury the media myth of the “ultra-conservative” Pope.
At Sidney, a tribal Pope carries palm leaves participating in a ritual of witch-doctors |
Notwithstanding, despite the extensive coverage of journalists and photographers who accompanied the event and the widespread circulation of photos and articles showing the world the “green,” tribal, and ecumenical Pope, the myth of a conservative Ratzinger remained intact. The obvious contradiction between the myth and the reality, which normally would cause shock and perplexity in Catholic public opinion, remains comfortably installed in the confused, chaotic and relativist mentality of countless Catholics.
Ecumenism and mental pollution
One of the ecumenical events that could produce a strong mental pollution, incomparably worse than air pollution since it puts the Faith at risk, was the papal speech before representatives of different “Christian confessions.” Catholic News Agency reported that on Friday morning, July 18, Benedict XVI met with 15 leaders of diverse “Christian confessions” (Anglicans, Syrian Orthodox, Maronite Catholics, Indian Orthodox, Chinese Methodists and Lutherans) in the Crypt of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.
The words of the Pontiff on that occasion were surprising: “We must guard against any temptation to view doctrine as divisive and hence an impediment to the seemingly more pressing and immediate task of improving the world in which we live” (1).
This is disconcerting, even more so if we consider that Benedict XVI presents himself as being the Pope who combats the relativism of our times. How could he consider it a temptation to see the truth as divisive? Actually, between truth and error, good and evil, there is a profound and irreconcilable division. Truth does not divide those who accept it, but rather unites them. It frees them from sin and error: Veritas liberabit vos [The truth will make you free]. Such is the teaching of the Gospel, of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine of the Doctors of the Church and the Popes.
The truth is a source of division only for those who reject it and refuse to accept traditional Catholic doctrine. We know that “to improve the world in which we live,” before all else we must subject it to that single truth, the truth revealed by God and taught by the Holy Catholic Church.
A “common Eucharist” with heretics is in the making…
Benedict XVI went on to say: “The road of ecumenism ultimately points towards a common celebration of the Eucharist ... Although there are still obstacles to be overcome, we can be sure that a common Eucharist one day would only strengthen our resolve to love and serve one another” (2).
Benedict to Protestants and Schismtaics in St. Mary Cathedral's crypt: "Let's have a common Eucharist..." |
A “common Eucharist” with heretics is clearly a relativist proposition. Every true Catholic knows that the teaching of the Holy Church on the Eucharist is absolutely different from what Protestants believe. He also knows that whatever belongs to the Catholic dogma is non-negotiable.
A common Eucharist, accepted by Catholics and by all the “Christian confessions,” probably means a common Mass: a mixture of the Tridentine Mass, the New Mass promulgated by Paul VI and the Protestant supper. This is one of the objectives that the post-Conciliar Popes have sought to realize. The way to achieve them is an irenistic dialogue (3) which, through its multiple forms and stages, logically leads to doctrinal relativism. The final result of that process on the liturgical and doctrinal planes is the installation of a common rite of the New World Religion. With this, the doors of Hell would prevail against the Catholic Church (4).
An idyllic and condemned view of the heretic
However, not only doctrinal barriers are demolished in this sinister process, but psychological barriers also tend to disappear. The classic categories created by Catholic wisdom – apostate, schismatic, heretic – are replaced by an idyllic vision of the non-Catholic, who is no longer seen as contaminated by error, but instead as filled with supposedly spiritual gifts.
The Cardinal of Honduras had to tell the media that WYD is not a Catholic Woodstock, but a movement of the Spirit |
The words of Benedict XVI followed this direction: “For this reason, ecumenical dialogue advances not only through an exchange of ideas but by a sharing in mutually enriching gifts. … Opening ourselves to accept spiritual gifts from other Christians quickens our ability to perceive the light of truth which comes from the Holy Spirit … I am confident that the Spirit will open our eyes to see the gifts of others.”
These words of Benedict XVI in Sydney, following the line of the encyclical Ut unum sint of John Paul II, are truly scandalous, harmful to our Faith and our Catholic sensibility. They oblige us to take a position of disagreement and resistance to them because they totally oppose the truths taught by the traditional doctrine of the Church. Catholic doctrine is very wise and infallible when it affirms that salvation does not exist outside the Catholic Church.
To close, I will cite some propositions condemned ex cathedra (5) by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of December 8, 1864, which contradict this new doctrine preached in Sydney:
- Condemned proposition: Every man is free to embrace and profess the religion that, guided by the light of reason, he holds to be true (Denz. 1715).
- Condemned proposition: Men can find in the worship of any religion the road to eternal salvation and can achieve eternal salvation (Denz. 1716).
- Condemned proposition: At the least solid hopes should be held about the eternal salvation of all those who are not linked in any way to the true Church of Christ. (Denz. 1717)
- Condemned proposition: Protestantism is nothing but a different form of the same true Christian religion, and in it, just as in the Catholic Church, one can be pleasing to God. (Denz. 1718). (6)
Let the reader consider these disturbing papal statements in Sydney, as well as the perennial teaching of the Church and draw his own conclusions.
1. “Christians should not see doctrine as divisive,” CNA, July 18, 2008
2. Ecumenical meeting at the Crypt of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, July 18, 2008, Vatican site. All quotes from this meeting will be from this text.
3. Irenist comes from the word irenism, from the Greek eirene, peace. Here it is not used in the sense of a temperate love for true peace, but a disordered love for a peace obtained at any price, at the cost of principles, acquired rights, etc. In short, it is not an authentic peace, but a false one. Pope Pius XII warns against the grave dangers that come with this type of false ‘irenism’ in his encyclical Humani generis of August 12, 1950.
4. We know that God will not permit this situation to reach its full extension since it is a truth of Faith that “the gates of Hell will not prevail against her,” according to the promise of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Mt 16:18).
5. Ex cathedra statements are those made where the Pope speaks as the Supreme Pastor and Doctor of the Faith; in other words, they are declarations that have the character of being infallible.
6. Denzinger, El Magisterio de la Iglesia: Manual de los Símbolos, Definiciones y Declaraciones de la Iglesia en Materia de Fe y Costumbres (Herder, 1963).
Posted August 1, 2008
This article was first posted in La Denuncia Profetica
Juan Valdivieso may be contact at
juan.valdivieso@yahoo.com
Related Topics of Interest
A Contradictory Definition of Relativism
Heading to a Hybrid Mass
On the Hybrid Mass, Androgynous Beings and Spiders
Canonization of Relativism
The Current Vatican Moral Relativism
Cardinal Ratzinger Against Scholasticism
Revolution and Counter-Revolution - Overview
|
Traditionalism | Hot Topics | Home | Books | CDs | Search | Contact Us | Donate
© 2002- Tradition in Action, Inc. All Rights
Reserved
|
|
|
