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The Great Apostasy, not the
Great Façade:
A critique of the book The Great
Façade and a commentary on the Vatican II apostasy
- by Bro. Peter Dimond, O.S.B. -
Sections in this Article:
-
Introduction
-
The Great Facade
-
The Outrageous Teaching on the Jews
-
The Outrageous Teaching on the Schismatics
-
The Outrageous Teaching on the Church of Christ
-
The “Neo-Catholic”
-
Vatican II Contains No Error?
-
The New Mass is Valid?
-
Clever Euphemisms and Playing Dumb
-
Never Identifying a Heresy
-
Perverting Catholic Teaching on the Requirement for Heresy
-
The Result of their Argumentation: A Defected Church
-
Denying Outside the Church there is no salvation
-
Catholic Doctrine Not Involved?
-
The Novelties are not Magisterial
-
A Few Glaring Omissions
-
Selective Judgments
-
Giving Them A Heresy
-
Conclusion
Introduction
In the summer of 2002, the American Bishops in union with Antipope John Paul
II issued a statement which declared that Jews should not be converted to Jesus Christ. In 1999, the Vatican and Antipope John Paul
II agreed with the Lutherans that man is justified by faith alone and that the
Council of Trent does not apply. Over the
past 25 years, the Vatican, Antipope John Paul II and his bishops have
repeatedly declared that the Eastern “Orthodox” (i.e., the Eastern Schismatics) should
not be converted to the Catholic Church.
The same bishops consistently teach that the Church of Jesus Christ is
not the same thing as the Catholic Church; and every bishop in union with
Antipope John Paul II denies the dogma outside the Catholic Church there is no
salvation. The head of this Vatican II
“Church” – the head of this Body of Apostasy – prays with the Jews for the
coming of the Messiah, praises Martin Luther as a great spiritual leader and
implores St. John the Baptist to protect Islam (a non-Christian religion).
To those of good will the meaning of all of this is easy to see: blatant
apostasy, a new religion, an utter denial of the Gospel, unabashed and
notorious heresy, a denial of the
entire Catholic Faith. To others,
however, it isn’t even heresy at all. It
is just a “façade,” just a verbal “virus” of “novelties,” none of which
involves the formal denial of an article of divine and Catholic faith and none
of which makes those who hold and defend these things heretics.
And with that I come to the book I am about to discuss. In 2002, a book was published entitled The Great Façade by Thomas Woods and
Christopher Ferrara. The book has been
called by its supporters “the Swiss Army Knife of Roman Catholic
Traditionalism.” It has been lauded to
no end by popular “traditional” journals and publications, and it has
influenced the way in which many people view and react to the Vatican II
apostasy and Antipope John Paul II.
In this article, I will critique the false resistance which this book
defends and the heretical ideas which it promotes, a false resistance and
heretical ideas that have been adopted, supported and promulgated by
publications such as The Remnant, Catholic Family News and those who think
as they do.
The Great Façade
The Great
Façade is a 400 plus page book detailing what it calls “Vatican II and the
Regime of Novelty in the Roman Catholic Church.” In other words, the book discusses in great
detail some of the things that I described in the opening paragraph of this
article, things which concern the apostasy of Antipope John Paul II and the
Vatican II Church. But, as we will show,
The Great Façade doesn’t label this
defection from the faith by Antipope John Paul II and his bishops as apostasy
or even as heresy, even though their book provides overwhelming proof that
neither Antipope John Paul II nor his bishops are remotely Catholic, but are
total apostates from the faith.
The Outrageous Teaching on the Jews
Before I begin to discuss the particulars of The Great Façade, I must make an important point. As Catholics know, the heart of the Gospel
involves the necessity of belief in Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. This is the foundation of
Christianity (along with the dogma of the Trinity), and is the subject of much
of the four Gospels, especially St. John’s Gospel. Here are just a few passages from St. John’s
Gospel concerning this primary dogma of the Catholic religion, the necessity of belief in Jesus Christ for
salvation.
John 3:18: “… he
that doth not believe, is already judged: because he believeth not in the name
of the only begotten Son of God.”
John 3:36: “He that believeth in the Son hath life
everlasting: but he that believeth not
the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him.”
John 8:23-24: “And he said to them [the Jews]: You
are from beneath, I am from above. You
are of this world, I am not of this world.
Therefore, I said to you, that you shall die in your sins: for if you believe not that I am He, you
shall die in your sin.”
John 10:1, 9: “Amen, Amen, I say to you: he that entereth
not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth
up another way, the same is a thief and
a robber… I am the door.”
John 14:6: “Jesus saith
to them: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man
cometh to the Father, but by me.”
John 15:6: “If
anyone abideth not in me, he shall be cast forth as a
branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the
fire, and he burneth.”
John 15:8-9: “And when he [the Paraclete]
is come, he will convince the world of sin, and of justice, and of
judgment. Of sin indeed: because they have not believed in me.”
John 18:37: “For this was I born, and for this came
I into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth: every one who is of the truth, heareth my voice.”
This dogma is, of course, reiterated by countless statements from Popes
and councils and 2000 years of Catholic Tradition. To say that one who wishes to be saved can be saved without believing in Jesus Christ
is heresy of the worst kind.
Pope Eugene IV, Council
of Florence, Sess. 8, Nov. 22, 1439, ex
cathedra: “Sixthly, we offer to the envoys that compendious rule of the
faith composed by most blessed Athanasius, which is as follows:
“Whoever wishes
to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith; unless each one
preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity.–
But the Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in the Trinity, and the
Trinity in unity... Therefore let him
who wishes to be saved, think thus concerning the Trinity.
“But it is necessary for eternal salvation
that he faithfully believe also in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus
Christ...the Son of God is God and man...– This is the Catholic faith; unless each
one believes this faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.”
So, with that essential truth of the Catholic faith reiterated, I return
to the book by Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara: The Great Façade. A
significant portion of their book discusses this issue – the necessity of
belief in Jesus Christ for salvation – vis-à-vis the position of the Vatican II
Church and Antipope John Paul II on this topic.
It is a fact that Antipope John Paul II has declared that the Old
Covenant is still valid for the Jews (and therefore that they can be saved
without believing in Christ).
Antipope John Paul II, Address to Jews in West Germany, Nov. 17. 1980: “The first
dimension of this dialogue, that is, the meeting between the people of the
Old Covenant, never revoked by God, and that of the New Covenant,
is at the same time within our Church…”
This heresy is reiterated in Antipope John Paul II’s New Catechism, a
catechism which Antipope John Paul II promulgated by his “apostolic authority,”
which is to say that if Antipope John Paul II were the valid Pope, his new
Catechism (and the following heresy on the Old Covenant) were promulgated from
the Chair of Peter.
Antipope John Paul II, New Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 121:“… for the Old Covenant has never been revoked…”
Antipope John Paul II has, furthermore, confirmed his heresy on the Jews
by his deeds on many occasions. He has
been to the Jewish Synagogue where he prayed with them for the coming of the
Messiah. Most recently, on Feb. 13,
2003, Antipope John Paul II met with the new chief Rabbi of Rome, and
congratulated him for his office!
Antipope John Paul II, Address to Chief Rabbi in Rome, Feb. 13, 2003: “Esteemed Chief
Rabbi of Rome, Dear Brothers in the faith of Abraham, I am glad to meet you,
esteemed Dr. Riccardo Di Segni,
after your election as Chief Rabbi of Rome, and I cordially greet you
and the representatives who have accompanied you. I
renew my congratulations to you for the important office which has been
entrusted to you, and on this important occasion, I would like to
recall with deep esteem your illustrious predecessor, Prof. Elio Toaff.” (L’Osservatore Romano, Feb. 19, 2003 issue, p. 6.)
To congratulate the Christ-denying Rabbi for his ascension to the Office
of Chief Rabbi involves denying the dogma outside the Church there is no salvation;
2) denying the necessity of believing in Jesus Christ for salvation; and 3)
denying the dogma that the Old Covenant has been revoked and cannot be observed
without sin.
In The Great Facade, Thomas
Woods and Christopher Ferrara show how “Cardinal” Walter Kasper, following
Antipope John Paul II’s example and speaking as head of the Vatican Commission
on relations with the Jews, has also stated that the Jews’ covenant with God is
still valid, and thus the Jews have no need for conversion to Christ in order
to be saved.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, quoted in The Great Façade, p. 46: “… the old
theory of substitution [that is, the theory of the New Covenant substituting
for the Old] is gone since the Second Vatican Council… Therefore, the
Church believes that Judaism,
i.e., the faithful response of the Jewish people to God’s irrevocable covenant,
is salvific for them, because God is
faithful to his promises.”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 203: “In fact, Cardinal Kasper… has repudiated the
conversion of the Jews as explicitly as he has repudiated the return of
Protestant dissidents to the one true Church…[Kasper says]: ’Judaism… is salvific
for them, because God is faithful to his promises… Thus mission, in this strict sense, cannot be used with regard to the
Jews, who believe in the true and one God.
Therefore… there does not exist any Catholic missionary organization for the Jews…”
The facts contained in The Great
Façade further demonstrate that the apostate Walter Kasper is merely
enunciating the common belief of the Vatican II bishops. As stated already, in 2002 the American
Bishops released a document on the Jews which bluntly asserted that “campaigns
that target Jews for conversion to Christianity are no longer theologically
acceptable in the Catholic Church” because the Jews’ covenant with God
is still valid and salvific for them. And this document of the American Bishops
cited Antipope John Paul II to confirm its teaching. The authors of The Great Facade also show how “Cardinal” Francis George, the
“Archbishop” of Chicago (who is actually considered a conservative among the Novus Ordo
Bishops) holds the same thing:
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 206: “Thus Cardinal
Francis George of Chicago, admired as a conservative by neo-Catholics, could
write in his diocesan newspaper that ‘the
Church has also sinned against the Jewish people, first of all, in teaching
that God’s covenant with Israel is no longer valid for them…’”
The Great
Façade also points out that the Vatican has actually released a document on
the Jews which teaches that the Jews’ wait for the Messiah is still valid!
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, pp. 206-207: “In late
2001, the Pontifical Biblical Commission released a book entitled The Jewish People and the Holy Scriptures in
the Christian Bible that confirmed the radical (but non-Magisterial) drift
of Rome’s position vis-à-vis the Jews. The book argues that the Jews’ continued
wait for the Messiah is validated and justified by the Old Testament. ‘The expectancy of the Messiah was justified
in the Old Testament,’ papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls
explained, ‘and if the Old Testament keeps its value, then it keeps that as a
value, too. It says you cannot just
say all the Jews are wrong and we are right.’ Asked by reporters whether his statements
might be taken to suggest that the Messiah may not in fact have come, Navarro-Valls replied, ‘It means it would be wrong for a Catholic
to wait for the Messiah, but not for a Jew.’ The
latest position of the Vatican apparatus (not to be confused with the Church’s
constant Magisterium) is, in essence, that the
Jews are perfectly entitled to live as if Christ had never come.”
So, to summarize, even the authors of The Great Façade, Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, are forced
to admit that the present position of the Vatican is that “the Jews are perfectly entitled to live as if Christ had never come.” Is the Vatican’s position heresy? Of course it is heresy! Any Catholic knows that it is a denial of the entire Gospel; it is UTTER APOSTASY!
To say it is not heresy is heresy, as proven by the scriptural and
dogmatic passages already cited. But
what do Woods and Ferrara say about the Vatican’s position that “the Jews are perfectly entitled to live as
if Christ had never come”? What do
they say about the Vatican’s abominable denial of the core message of the
Christian faith and the Gospel (that all who wish to be saved [including the
Jews] must believe in Christ for salvation)?
Do the authors of The Great Façade
think that this is heresy? Unbelievably, the authors of the The Great Façade say no! On page 57 of their book, the authors comment
on a series of post-Vatican II novelties which they documented on pages 42-57,
one of which was Kasper’s teaching that the Old Covenant is valid and salvific for the Jews (quoted already). And here is what they say about these
novelties, including Kasper’s abominable and heretical statement on the Jews
which is quoted on page 46 of their book!
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 57: “Now, for
someone who is willing to overlook crucial distinctions and leap to
unwarranted conclusions about the present crisis, it would be easy to say,
with the sedevacantists, that all of these novelties
and apparent contradictions of past teaching are ‘heresy,’… But a careful examination of these
novelties and apparent contradictions, one by one, shows that none of them
involves the formal denial of an article of divine and Catholic faith… Not
even John Paul II’s recent statement ‘May St. John the Baptist protect Islam’
is heresy, properly speaking, since the Pope’s public expression of a wish
that a false religion receive divine protection, while certainly scandalous and
even stupefying, does not translate into a direct denial of any article of
divine and Catholic faith.”
This is outrageous, utterly heretical and actually blasphemous. The authors of The Great Façade are telling us that it is not heresy or a formal
denial of an article of divine and Catholic faith to assert that: 1) the Old
Covenant is still valid and 2) Jews can be saved without believing in Christ –
as if these ideas were not repudiations of articles of faith! This is complete nonsense.
Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Cantate Domino,1441, ex cathedra:
“The Holy Roman Church firmly
believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic
Church, not only pagans but also Jews
or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which
was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Church
before the end of their lives...”
Pope Eugene IV,
Council of Florence, Cantate Domino, 1441, ex cathedra: “The Holy Roman
Church firmly believes, professes and teaches that the matter pertaining to the
law of the Old Testament, of the Mosaic Law, which are divided into
ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments, because they were
established to signify something in the future, although they were suited to
divine worship at that time, after our Lord’s coming had been signified by
them, ceased, and the sacraments of
the New Testament began; and that
whoever, even after the passion, placed hope in these matters of the law and
submitted himself to them as necessary for salvation, as if faith in Christ
could not save without them, sinned
mortally. Yet it does not deny
that after the passion of Christ up to the promulgation of the Gospel they could
have been observed until they were believed to be in no way necessary for
salvation; but after the promulgation of the Gospel it asserts that they cannot be observed without the loss
of eternal salvation. All, therefore, who after that time (the
promulgation of the Gospel) observe circumcision and the Sabbath and the other
requirements of the law, it declares alien to the Christian faith and not in
the least fit to participate in eternal salvation, unless someday they
recover from these errors.”
One can easily see that Kasper’s “novelty” (which is also held by
Antipope John Paul II and the Vatican) is a formal denial of the above
articles of divine and Catholic faith, exactly
the opposite of what Ferrara and Woods say.
In fact, it is a formal denial of three
articles of divine and Catholic faith, not
to mention the entire Gospel, as
shown already. It is a denial of the
solemnly defined dogma that 1) the Old Covenant is no longer valid (Pope Eugene
IV, ex cathedra); 2) whoever wishes to be saved must believe in the Incarnation
for salvation (Athanasian Creed, ex cathedra); and 3)
Jews cannot be saved without entering the Catholic Church (Pope Eugene IV, “Cantate Domino,” ex cathedra).
Thus, one can see how the position advanced by The Great Façade, which is being lauded and promoted by so-called
“traditional Catholic” publications, such as The Remnant and Catholic
Family News, is a terrible denial of the faith and is actually
heretical. The position advanced by the authors of The Great Façade (and promoted by Catholic Family News and The
Remnant) is actually an abomination; for it asserts that to deny the
necessity of Jesus Christ for salvation is not to formally deny any article of the faith!
Just imagine if the authors of The
Great Façade were in a debate with a fundamentalist Protestant and the
Protestant said to them,
“Your bishops
and the Vatican don’t even believe that the Jews should believe in Jesus. They aren’t even Christians. Your bishops whom you follow and with whom
you are in communion (and whom you call ‘Your Excellency’ ) are not even
Christian.”
And just imagine the authors of The
Great Façade responding,
“Yes, it is
true that the Catholic Bishops believe that Jews don’t need to believe in
Jesus, but the bishops haven’t formally rejected the faith.”
The Protestant would laugh right in their faces and say, “then your false faith is truly not
Christian, as it doesn’t even require you to believe that Jesus is necessary
for salvation! You Catholics are truly
Christ-deniers, just as I believed all along.”
Or what is perhaps more illustrative of the significance of this issue,
imagine someone before the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ and trying to explain
to Him:
“Lord, the
Vatican said that Jews did not need to believe in You and I told everyone that
the Vatican wasn’t repudiating the Faith.”
Perhaps only with this in mind can some people see that the assertion of
the authors of The Great Façade –
that it is not a formal repudiation of any article of divine and Catholic faith
to hold that Jews don’t need to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation – is
actually an abomination. It is heresy
and it is a blasphemy against Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior
of all men (including the Jews), the author and finisher of our faith.
The Outrageous Teaching on the Schismatics
On page 45 of The Great Façade,
the authors detail how the Vatican has also stated that conversion of the
Eastern Schismatics (who reject the Papacy) is
“outdated ecclesiology.” This means that
the Vatican has stated that it is an “outdated” idea to try to convert
non-Catholics. Our video Why Antipope John Paul II Cannot Be the Pope proves this point in
greater detail, quoting from numerous speeches made by Antipope John Paul II
himself, wherein he repeatedly states that unity with the schismatics
is not achieved by converting them.
In his outrageous Directory for
the Application of the Principles and Norms of Ecumenism (#125), Antipope
John Paul II encourages interfaith worship with these Eastern Schismatics and states that “any suggestion of proselytism [trying to convert them] should be
avoided.”
So it is a fact (proven below) that Antipope John
Paul II and his false Church reject the dogma of the Catholic faith: that
Christian unity with the Schismatics is only achieved
by their conversion to Catholicism.
Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos (#10),
Jan. 6, 1928:
“… the union of Christians can only be
promoted by promoting the return
to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it.”
Antipope John Paul II, Homily, Jan. 25, 1993:
“The way to
achieve Christian unity, in fact,’ says the document of the Pontifical
Commission for Russia, ‘IS NOT PROSELYTISM [trying to convert them] but
fraternal dialogue...”
It is therefore a fact that Antipope John Paul II teaches that the faith
of Rome (the Catholic faith) is not to be held by non-Catholics (thereby formally repudiating the necessity of belief
in the Papacy for salvation and the necessity of the Catholic faith for
salvation); therefore, he cannot be looked upon as holding the true
Catholic Faith.
Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (#
13), June 29, 1896:
“You are not to be
looked upon as holding the true Catholic faith if you do not teach that the
faith of Rome is to be held.”
Those who assert, in the face of these facts, that Antipope John Paul II
is to be looked upon as holding the
true Catholic faith (in other words, that he is their Catholic Pope) are
denying this teaching of the Catholic Church and they are asserting that one
can be a Catholic while rejecting the
necessity of belief in the Papacy (a solemnly defined dogma).
In fact, in his encyclical on Sts.
Cyril and Methodius (#27), Antipope John Paul II again indicated that
Eastern Schismatics should not be converted to the
Catholic Church. He stated that unity
with the Schismatics quote ‘is neither absorption nor fusion,’ which
means not by conversion. This section of his encyclical was even
referenced by the Vatican’s Balamand Statement with
the Eastern Schismatics to prove that the Schismatics do not need to be converted!
Additionally, on October 12, 2002, Antipope John Paul II and the
Schismatic Patriarch of Romania jointly denounced trying to convert each
other. They stated: “Our aim and our
ardent desire is full communion, which is not absorption…” In his address on the same day, Antipope John
Paul II told the schismatic Patriarch: “The
goal is… to reach a unity which implies neither absorption nor fusion…” Need I say more? In the same address to the Schismatic
Patriarch of Romania, Antipope John Paul II made this incredible statement:
“For her part, the Catholic Church recognizes the mission which the
Orthodox Churches are called to carry out in the countries where they have been
rooted for centuries. She desires nothing else than to help this
mission…”
But what do Woods and Ferrara have to say about this incredible heresy
of Antipope John Paul II and the Vatican II Church? They discuss the issue on page 45 of their
book.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 45: “The preconciliar Popes taught that the schismatic Orthodox must
return to the Catholic Church, but the Balamand Statement,
whose teaching is commended by the Pope in Ut Unum Sint 60, states that thanks to ‘radically altered
perspectives and thus attitudes’ engendered by Vatican II, the Catholic Church
will train new priests ‘to pave the way for future relations between the two
Churches, passing beyond the outdated ecclesiology of return to the
Catholic Church.’”
So here Ferrara and Woods provide further proof for what I stated above:
that according to Antipope John Paul II and the Vatican’s Balamand
Statement, the Catholic faith is completely meaningless: those heretics and schismatics (such as the Orthodox) who reject the Papacy
and the last 13 universal Councils of the Catholic Church should not be converted to the Catholic faith; for this is an
“outdated” and abandoned idea.
“Archbishop” Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz,
John Paul II’s Apostolic Administrator for Russia, summed up the position of
the Vatican II Church on this point quite well.
“The Second Vatican Council has declared that the Orthodox Church is our Sister Church
and has the same means for salvation. So
there is no reason to have a policy of proselytism.” (quoted in The Devil’s Final Battle, pp. 91-92)
So, what do Woods and Ferrara conclude about this abominable heresy, which
bluntly denies the necessity of the Papacy and the dogma outside the Church there is no salvation? We quoted their words already on this point,
but we will quote them again.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 57: “But a careful examination of these
novelties and apparent contradictions, one by one, shows that none of them
involves the formal denial of an article of divine and Catholic faith…
Not even John Paul II’s recent statement ‘May St. John the Baptist protect
Islam’ is heresy…”
This again is outrageous and heretical.
According to the authors of The
Great Façade, to hold that we should not try to convert the Eastern Schismatics (and therefore to deny the necessity of
believing in the Papacy for salvation and the necessity of the Catholic faith
for salvation) is not a formal denial of any article of divine and Catholic
faith! And this book is lauded by
those who think that they are resisting the
apostasy?
Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (#
13), June 29, 1896:
“You are not to
be looked upon as holding the true Catholic faith if you do not teach that the
faith of Rome is to be held.”
The authors and supporters of The
Great Façade need to meditate on this teaching of the Catholic Church, for
they are telling us just the opposite.
They are telling us that: You
(the Vatican II bishops and Antipope John Paul II) are to be looked upon as holding the Catholic faith (you
have not formally repudiated any article of it) even though you teach that the faith of Rome is not to be held.
It is also interesting to consider what Pope Pius IX declared about the
“Old Catholics,” a heretical sect that believes in all the teachings of the
Catholic Church except the First Vatican
Council and its definition of Papal Infallibility.
Pope Pius IX, Graves
ac diuturnae (#'s 1-4), March 23, 1875: "…
the new heretics who call themselves 'Old Catholics'... these schismatics and heretics... their wicked sect... these sons
of darkness... their wicked faction… this deplorable sect… This sect overthrows
the foundations of the Catholic religion, shamelessly rejects the dogmatic
definitions of the Ecumenical Vatican Council, and devotes itself to the ruin
of souls in so many ways. We have decreed and declared in Our letter
of 21 November 1873 that those unfortunate men who belong to, adhere to, and
support that sect should be considered as schismatics
and separated from communion with the Church."
Pope Pius IX solemnly declared that Catholics must regard those as schismatics and separated from the Church who belong to,
adhere to and support the sect of the “Old Catholics.” And he says this despite the fact that he
also says this:
Pope Pius IX, Graves
ac diuturnae (# 2): “They [the ‘Old Catholics’] repeatedly state openly that they do not in
the least reject the Catholic Church and its visible head but rather that
they are zealous for the purity of Catholic doctrine… But in fact they refuse to acknowledge all
the divine prerogatives of the vicar of Christ on earth and do not submit to
His supreme Magisterium.”
This proves that we must consider as schismatics
and heretics individuals who reject Catholic dogma, even though those
individuals claim to be Catholic and
have not been specifically excommunicated by name. And this of course applies precisely to
Antipope John Paul II and his bishops.
But by making the assertions that they do, the authors of The Great Façade deny the dogmas of the
necessity of the Papacy and outside the Church there is no salvation; for the
authors are indicating that Antipope John Paul II and his bishops can deny
these dogmas without teaching heresy, thereby negating (in reality) that
outside the Church there is no salvation and the Papacy are dogmas that cannot
be denied under pain of heresy. It is equivalent to indicating that those
who belong to, adhere to and support the sect of the “Old Catholics” are not to
be considered as schismatics, but Catholics.
Thomas Woods and
Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade,
p. 41: “As already noted, there can be no
heresy without the obstinate denial of some article of divine and Catholic
faith, and this cannot be found in any of the pronouncements of the conciliar Popes…”
This proves what I stated above. I would like to close this section on
Antipope John Paul II and the Vatican II sect’s outrageous teaching on the schismatics with some additional Catholic Magisterial
teaching on the subject of converting the Eastern Schismatics
to the Catholic faith.
Pope Benedict XIV, Allatae Sunt, July 26, 1755:
“First, the missionary who is attempting with God’s
help to bring back Greek and eastern schismatics to
unity should devote all his effort to the single-objective of delivering
them from doctrines at variance with the Catholic faith.”
Pope Benedict
XIV, Allatae Sunt, July
26, 1755:
“For the only work entrusted to the
missionary is that of recalling the Oriental to the Catholic faith…”
The Outrageous Teaching on the Church of Christ
In their chapter on the Vatican document Dominus Iesus (the chapter is called “An
Ambiguous Answer to Heresy”), the authors of The Great Facade provide overwhelming proof that the Vatican holds
that the Church of Christ is larger than the Catholic Church. The quotation from Cardinal Ratzinger – the chief theologian in the Vatican II Church!
– suffices to establish the point:
Cardinal Ratzinger, quoted in The
Great Façade, p. 356: “Thus the Council Fathers meant to say that the
being of the Church as such is a broader entity than the Roman Catholic Church.”
So, do the authors of The Great Façade think that it is heresy to say that the Church of
Christ is a larger entity than the Roman Catholic Church?
Thomas Woods and
Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade,
p. 240: “While the vast conciliar and postconciliar program
of innovation tends materially to oppose the perennial teaching of the
Church in a number of areas, it does
not involve any formal contradiction of an article of divine and Catholic faith.”
Thomas Woods and
Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade,
p. 42: “But none of these apparent
contradictions involves the formal repudiation of any article of divine and
Catholic faith, even if it can be shown that the new teachings tend materially to oppose Catholic
tradition.”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 216: “We can
anticipate the objection that these
novelties do not, in themselves, amount to a formal
contradiction of prior dogmatic teaching, which is certainly true…”
This is an abomination!
The “Neo-Catholic”
Besides what has been mentioned already, much of The Great Façade discusses what is
called the “Neo-Catholic.” From my
reading of the book, the authors describe the “Neo-Catholic” as one who accepts
or defends the “novelties” of the Vatican II sect, such as those incredible
heresies discussed already.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 250: “… what we call neo-Catholicism is
essentially a defense of novelty…”
In addition, the “Neo-Catholic” is one who accepts or
defends false ecumenism (i.e., the Vatican II sect’s practice of praying with
and respecting non-Christian religions of Satan). The “Neo-Catholic” is one who basically
accepts, defends or attempts to justify, in one way or another, the entire
Vatican II program of heresy and apostasy.
The “Neo-Catholic” is someone who may defend kissing the Koran; he may
agree with the Joint Declaration with the Lutherans on Justification which
repudiates the Council of Trent and teaches Justification by faith alone; the
“Neo-Catholic” may defend the idea that Jews don’t need to convert to Jesus
Christ for salvation; and he may agree with the Vatican that the Schismatic
Orthodox should not believe in the Papacy.
So, what do the authors of The Great Façade have to say about these heretics, schismatics and apostates whom they call “Neo-Catholics”?
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 303: “We stress
once again that none of this is to
suggest that the neo-Catholic is not a true Catholic. Rather, we mean to say that he is a true
Catholic…”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 25: “That the neo-Catholics have accommodated
themselves to the postconciliar revolution does
not entitle us to question their orthodoxy or personal piety – any more than neo-Catholics are entitled to
question (as they so often do) the Catholic bona fides of traditionalists
…”
It “does not entitle us to
question their orthodoxy” – “any more than neo-Catholics are entitled to
question the Catholic bona fides of traditionalists”! This means that, according to the authors of The Great Façade, the “Neo-Catholic” and
the “traditionalist” are on the same level as far as Catholic orthodoxy
goes. They are both true Catholics and
to question the orthodoxy of the “Neo-Catholic” would be equivalent to
questioning the Catholic bona fides
of traditionalists! Needless to say,
such an assertion is a denial of the Catholic faith. And it should be obvious that such a
statement is a denial of the faith, for the reasons already discussed in this
article; for the Vatican II apostasy – which the “Neo-Catholics” accept and
defend – involves the repudiation of the most basic dogmas in Catholicism: such
as the necessity of the Papacy for salvation; the necessity of belief in Our Lord;
and outside the Church there is no
salvation. In fact, as one person
writing in the June 15, 2003 edition of The
Remnant (whose press also published The
Great Façade) noted:
“Messrs. Ferrara and Woods go out of their way
to assure their readers that they consider ‘neo-Catholics’ to be fellow
Catholics, members of the same Church to
which they (the authors) belong, and adherents of the same faith to which they
subscribe.”
The authors of The Great Façade
believe that those who accept and defend a non-Catholic, heretical and apostate
Vatican II religion are their fellow Catholics, members of the same Church to
which they belong, and adherents of the same faith to which they
subscribe. What more proof is necessary
to show that the resistance offered by The
Great Façade, The Remnant, etc.
is a false resistance of union with non-Catholics (“the Neo-Catholics”) and a
non-Catholic sect (the Vatican II sect of Antipope John Paul II), which
repudiates the conversion of non-Catholics and denies Our Lord and the Papacy?
Pope St. Leo the
Great, Sermon 129:
“Wherefore,
since outside the Catholic Church there is nothing perfect, nothing undefiled… we are in no way likened with those who are
divided from the unity of the Body of Christ; we are joined in no communion.”
The Pointlessness of the False Resistance
If the Vatican II reforms are not heresy, and if
Antipope John Paul II and the Vatican II bishops are Catholics, and if the
“Neo-Catholic,” who accepts and defends these “reforms,” is a true Catholic,
then what is the point of being a so-called “traditional Catholic,” according
to the authors of The Great Façade? What is the point of the many articles
criticizing the “Neo-Catholics” in publications such as The Remnant? The authors of The Great Façade not only tell us that
the “Neo-Catholic” is a true Catholic, but they presume that most of these
“Neo-Catholic” non-Catholics are in good faith!
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 26: “But what
happens when the Popes, for the first time ever, venture novelties that
effectively abolish a number of those traditions? Neo-Catholicism
is one attempt to answer that question – an answer we presume has, in most cases, been arrived at in good
faith…”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 235: “This is not
to say that neo-Catholics as a group are subjectively complicit in the advances
of the postconciliar revolution. Most
neo-Catholics have accepted all the changes in good faith…”
In fact, writing in the June 30, 2003 edition of The Remnant, Thomas Woods comments on a man named John Pacheco, a
“Neo-Catholic” who brings forward “a ceaseless supply of excuses and
contrived explanations” for the Vatican II apostasy. And what does Mr. Woods have to say about this
“Neo-Catholic” defender of apostasy, John Pacheco?
Thomas Woods, “Defending
the Indefensible,” The Remnant, June
30, 2003, p. 20: “John Pacheco is a man
of good will; of that I am not in
doubt…”
It is ironic that Mr. Woods has no doubt that an obstinate
defender of heresy and apostasy is of good will, while the Catholic Church
teaches that such persons – without any doubt – will perish forever unless they
get the Catholic faith.
Pope Gregory
XVI, Mirari Vos (# 13),
Aug. 15, 1832: “They should consider the testimony of Christ Himself that
‘those who are not with Christ are against Him,’ (Lk.
11:23) and that they disperse
unhappily who do not gather with Him. Therefore, without a doubt, they will
perish forever, unless they hold the Catholic faith whole and inviolate” (Athanasian
Creed).
In their book, the authors of The
Great Façade also made sure to declare that they had no intention of
questioning the Catholic fidelity of the apostate nun, Mother Angelica.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, pp. 254-255
(footnote): “Thus, there is no
intention here to question the Catholic fidelity of Mother Angelica or
anyone else, but simply to discuss the implications of objective words and deeds of persons who participate in what we
call the neo-Catholic system in the postconciliar
Church.”
Mother Angelica’s Network EWTN is the leading broadcaster of Antipope
John Paul II’s apostate message in the world today. It actively promotes and defends his
inter-religious gatherings with Satan’s false religions of the world. The notorious apostate Mother Angelica even
referred to non-Christian religions as “great religions” in a prayer that she
prayed on EWTN. In one program with the
apostate priest Fr. Benedict Groeschel, who pointed out
that after “Cardinal” John O’Connor’s death, the Jews held a religious
service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Mother Angelica said “that’s awesome!” Mother Angelica’s EWTN is also an adamant
defender of the heresies of the Second Vatican Council, even carrying a program
on Vatican II called “Council of Faith.”
EWTN also carries and actively promotes a show called The Journey Home, a show which features
converts to Vatican II Church of Antipope John Paul II. While the program not infrequently contains
some very interesting and valuable information, almost every “convert” that The Journey Home features indicates
in the discussion that members of the Protestant religion from which he or she
just converted are going to heaven too.
This proves that EWTN, in addition to the converts to the Vatican II
sect, and even their “apologists” trying to convert others to the Vatican II
sect, all deny the dogma outside the Church there is no salvation
in radical and blunt fashion, just like Antipope John Paul II and his bishops.
While no one is saying that EWTN does not have some
valuable programs that can be viewed with much benefit, to assert in a
discussion of “Vatican II and the Regime of Novelty in the Roman Catholic
Church” that “there is no intention here
to question the Catholic fidelity of Mother Angelica or anyone else,” as
the authors of The Great Façade do,
is simply to deny the faith and to patronize heretics who promote apostasy and
religious indifferentism of the worst kind.
St. Robert Bellarmine, De Romano Pontifice,
II, 30:
“… for men are
not bound, or able to read hearts; BUT
WHEN THEY SEE THAT SOMEONE IS A HERETIC BY HIS EXTERNAL WORKS, THEY JUDGE HIM
TO BE A HERETIC PURE AND SIMPLE, AND CONDEMN HIM AS A HERETIC.”
Vatican II Contains No Error?
On page 88 of The
Great Façade the authors say that the documents of Vatican II contain no
explicit doctrinal error!
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 88: “Granted, none of the conciliar
documents contains any explicit doctrinal error; and Paul VI did act
decisively in several instances to prevent outright errors from being
promulgated as Catholic doctrine.”
This is completely heretical.
According to the above, none of the following Vatican II heresies are
explicit doctrinal errors:
A discussion of Vatican II’s “explicit doctrinal errors” could continue
for pages. For a full expose, see our article
“The Principal Heresies of Vatican II” which catalogues these and many other
heresies at length and in context. But
the authors of The Great Façade,
because they desire to be obstinately entrenched within the structure of the
non-Catholic Vatican II sect, apparently feel compelled to defend the
legitimacy of the apostate Second Vatican Council, as proven by their
ridiculous assertion that it contains no explicit doctrinal error. This shows how those who feel that they can
maintain the faith and resist the Vatican II apostasy while obstinately
remaining united to the structure of Antipope John Paul II, which officially
sanctions the apostate, evil and heretical teachings of Vatican II, are gravely
mistaken.
Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi
(# 66), June 29, 1943:
“Certainly the loving Mother
[the Church] is spotless in the Sacraments, by which she gives birth to
and nourishes her children; in the
faith which she has always preserved inviolate; in her sacred laws imposed upon all…”
The New Mass is Valid?
Besides affirming that Vatican II contains no explicit doctrinal error,
and that the Vatican II Antipopes are guilty of no heresy, and that the
“Neo-Catholic” is a true Catholic, the authors of The Great Façade make sure to tell us again and again that the New
Mass is valid.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 97: “Anxious to persuade us of the new rite’s
validity, which we accept…”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 332: “… without denying the validity of the
new Mass, we may legitimately hope and pray that the ‘renewal of the
liturgy’ is forgotten…”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 92: “… the new liturgy has not ended the
valid confection of the Holy Eucharist …”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 403: “… It is highly significant for our thesis
that in order to be ‘reconciled’ with Rome and ‘end the schism,’ SSJV had
merely to affirm what it never denied in the first place, that the Mass of Paul
VI (when correctly celebrated according to the proper intention) is valid,
that Vatican II is a Council of the Church…”
This is outrageous, for reasons that will be made clear below. The irrefutable arguments against the validity
of the New Mass have been demonstrated by a host of different authors in many
different countries. The New Mass has
been proven so many times to be (at the very least) of gravely doubtful
validity that one can only be flabbergasted by what is stated above. The arguments made by so many different
authors proving again and again that the New Mass is (at the very least) of
doubtful validity include arguments from the highest Papal decrees, arguments
from St. Thomas Aquinas, and unanswerable arguments from sacramental
theology. These arguments have been made
by priests, monks, bishops and laypeople of all backgrounds and
affiliations. Anyone of good will who
examines these facts must admit that the New Mass is (at the very least) of doubtful validity. To indicate again and again that the New Mass
is definitely valid, as the authors of The
Great Façade do (thereby ignoring the well known facts which obliterate
this absolutely ridiculous assertion), is simply an outrage and severely
dishonest. Consider the following well
known facts.
Pope St. Pius V, De Defectibus, chapter 5:
“The words of Consecration, which are the form of this Sacrament, are
these: For this is my Body. And: For
this is the Chalice of my Blood, of the new and eternal testament: the mystery
of faith, which shall be shed for you and for many unto the remission of sins. Now if
one were to remove, or change anything in the form of the consecration of the
Body and Blood, and in that very change of words the [new] wording would fail
to mean the same thing, he would not consecrate the Sacrament.”
This teaching of Pope St. Pius V was included in the Roman Missal for
almost 400 years and approved (at least tacitly) by more than 40 Popes. As anyone can see, according to the wording
of this decree, the New Mass isn’t valid, because the removal of “mysterium fidei” (the mystery of
faith) from the New Mass, in addition to the change of the word “many” to
“all,” changes the meaning of the words of consecration given above. But there’s no doubt about the validity of the New Mass, eh?
Besides this, the dogmatic Council of Florence authoritatively confirms
that the above words of consecration (which the New Mass does not have!), are
the words given to the Church by Christ through Peter and Paul.
Pope Eugene IV, Council of
Florence, Session 11, Feb. 4, 1442, “Cantate
Domino”: “However, since no explanation was given in the aforesaid decree of
the Armenians in respect to the form of words which the holy Roman Church, relying on the teaching and authority of
the apostles Peter and Paul, has always been wont to use in the consecration of
the Lord’s Body and Blood, we concluded that it should be inserted in this
present text. It uses this form of words
in the consecration of the Lord’s Body: For this is my body. And of His blood: For this is the chalice of my
blood, of the new and eternal testament, the mystery of faith, which shall be
shed for you and for many unto the remission of sins.”
But there is no question about the validity of the New Mass, eh? There are many other facts that could be
brought forward (see our article, Is the
New Mass Valid?), but as one can see from the above, only 1) a dishonest
man or 2) a person totally unaware of the facts surrounding the issue would
assert that the New Mass is definitely
valid. Yet the authors of The Great Facade affirm again and again
that the New Mass is valid, without ever even hinting at the totally obvious truth, that the New Mass is (at the
very least) of gravely doubtful validity.
By what authority do the
authors of The Great Facade dare to obstinately assert that
the consecration in the New Mass, which does not correspond to the words
defined by the aforementioned solemn pronouncements of the Church, is
valid? By what authority do they dare to assert the New Mass is
valid without the essential words given by Jesus Christ Himself (as the Council
of Florence has recorded them)? By
daring to assert that the New Mass is unquestionably valid, in the face of the
highest Papal decrees and the words of Jesus Christ Himself, the authors of The Great Façade call down damnation on
themselves.
This is no small matter, as it concerns idolatry (worshipping an
invalidly consecrated piece of bread) and the changing of the words of Jesus
Christ Himself. The aforementioned Papal
teaching on the words of consecration necessary in the Roman Church shows that
to obstinately affirm (i.e., while
being aware of the above facts) that the New Mass is definitely valid (without admitting that it is at least doubtful)
is an outrage. And if the authors want
to argue that they are simply following the authority of Antipope Paul VI and
Antipope John Paul II, who have approved the New Mass, then they must also
accept as unquestionably valid the approbation given by these same men to false
ecumenism, the heresies in the New Catechism, the heresies in the New Code of
Canon Law, the heresies in Vatican II, the heresies in Dominus Iesus, and the preposterous ecumenical
Directory for the Application of the Principles and
Norms of Ecumenism, just to name a few.
Yet, many
so-called “traditional” groups commit just this outrage, by daring to assert in
the face of words of Jesus Christ and the decrees declaring that these words
are necessary that the New Mass is definitely valid, thereby deceiving their
readership, encouraging idolatry and calling down the wrath of God on their
heads. The heretical and schismatic
Society of St. Pius X is a group which has obstinately asserted this for years
in its publications. It is obvious that
these groups obstinately affirm the validity of the New Mass because if they
did not it would be much more difficult to defend their false position of
allegiance to the Vatican II sect and Antipope John Paul II.
One
should see that, aside from the obvious reasons, this issue of the validity of
the New Mass is important because it shows that
those who refuse even to acknowledge that the New Mass is of doubtful validity
(such as the authors of The Great Façade)
refuse to do so most probably because of their refusal to sever their
allegiance to the Vatican II sect and Antipope John Paul II.
The same thing applies to the gravely doubtful new rites of Ordination,
Confirmation and Extreme Unction, whose “validity” the authors of The Great Façade affirm without even
hinting at the truth that they are all doubtful at the very least. This is a true tragedy which is demonstrated,
for instance, when groups like The Remnant sponsor “traditional” pilgrimages
to Europe. These pilgrimages are often
manned by invalidly ordained “priests” (who were “ordained” by “Bishops”
themselves invalidly ordained in Antipope Paul VI’s new rite of Episcopal
Consecration). For this reason, the
people going on these pilgrimages are often defrauded of valid sacraments (some
of them without the slightest clue), simply because of this false resistance
which accepts the hierarchy of Antipope John Paul II and the Vatican II sect,
and therefore accepts Antipope Paul
VI’s new rites of Ordination and Episcopal Consecration without question.
Clever Euphemisms and Playing Dumb
A euphemism is a “substitution of a mild or vague expression for a harsher or offensive
one.” For instance, if a man (God forbid)
were to beat his wife, and the wife, instead of telling her friend that her
husband beat her, rather told her that “he treats me badly,” she would be
speaking euphemistically – she would be substituting a comparatively mild
expression for the harsh truth. This is
relevant to this discussion because when reading the publications and books of
those non-sedevacantists who write for so-called
“traditional Catholic” periodicals, one finds euphemisms used all the time and quite dishonestly. For instance, you will rarely (and basically
never) see the so-called “traditional Catholics” in union with Antipope John
Paul II call his actions what they really are: heresy and apostasy; rather,
they will label them as “liberal” or “progressive” or “treacherous” or “modern”
or “scandalous” or “novel.” The consistent recourse to these euphemisms
allows these authors to consistently
avoid telling you the unfortunately harsh truth that needs to be told: that
these actions are heresy and apostasy; and therefore these authors sin by
omission and mislead the faithful.
Some of these authors will also “play dumb” when
they encounter an absolutely heretical statement of Antipope John Paul II or
someone else, by acting as if they don’t know what he is really saying, so that
they can avoid having to tell their readers what it really is: heresy.
And due to the fact that the authors of The Great Façade insist that none of the
“novelties” of the Vatican II sect constitute a formal denial of the Catholic
faith, one finds them employing euphemisms (and, in my opinion, clearly playing
dumb) in many instances in their book, to the great disservice of the truth.
For instance, speaking of the Vatican document Dominus Iesus,
published by the Vatican and approved by Antipope John Paul II in 2000, the
authors of The Great Façade discuss
what Fr. Georges Cottier (the official theologian of
Antipope John Paul II) had to say about this document, Dominus Iesus.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 369: “Soothing
ruffled feathers, Cottier assured Jewish leaders that
‘while [DI] repeats that the Church
‘possesses’ the fullness of the means of salvation, it does not exclude
salvation for the Jews.’ What does that mean? Did Fr. Cottier
intend to suggest that the Jews have sufficient means of salvation without
faith in Christ or baptism, even if the Church can offer them the ‘fullness’ of
means?”
It is obvious what Cottier means. He means that Jews can be saved, which is
total heresy. This is the consistent
position of the Vatican under Antipope John Paul II. But by “playing dumb,” as the authors of The Great Façade seem to do in this
instance, they can avoid addressing the fact that Cottier
(Antipope John Paul II’s official theologian) is an apostate.
The Great Façade also has a chapter called
“Viruses in the Body of Christ.” This
chapter would have us believe that heresy and apostasy are just “viruses.”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 65: “We contend that by introducing
‘ecumenism,’ ‘dialogue’ and various other ‘viral’ pseudo-concepts into
the Mystical Body, Satan has found a means to confuse, divide and wreak havoc
on the human element of the Church…”
“Ecumenism” and “dialogue”, as they are practiced by Antipope John Paul
II and the Vatican II bishops, are not merely “‘viral’ pseudo-concepts.” They are heresy and apostasy of the worst
kind. They involve respecting, embracing
and praying with non-Christian religions of Satan.
Antipope John Paul II, Homily, Aug. 19, 1985:
“As Vatican II taught us and as I, following my
predecessor Paul VI, have often stated, there are many good and holy aspects in
the Muslims’ way of life. You are the
respectful witnesses of the example which they give by their prayer of adoration of God. You
see how they try to put into practice the directions that have come from him,
in obedience to his Law. You observe the
simplicity of life and generosity to the poor which faithful Muslims
practice. This is the living testimony of their faith.”
“Ecumenism” and “dialogue” involve declaring that the members of
non-Catholic religions are on the path to salvation and should not be
converted;
Antipope John
Paul II, Address to Schismatic Teoctist, October 12, 2002: “The goal is, in the light
of the sublime model of the Holy Trinity, to
reach a unity which implies neither absorption nor fusion (cf. Slavorum apostolic, n. 27)…”
Antipope John
Paul II, Redemptoris Missio (#
55), Dec. 7, 1990:
“Although the
Church gladly acknowledges whatever is holy and true in the religious
traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism and
Islam as a reflection of that truth which enlightens all people, this does
not lessen her duty and resolve to proclaim without fail Jesus Christ who is
‘the way, and the truth and the life.’ The fact that the followers of other
religions can receive God’s grace and be saved by Christ apart from the
ordinary means which he has established does not thereby cancel the call to
faith and Baptism which God wills for all people.”
Antipope John Paul II, General
Audience, May 31, 1995:
“The axiom extra Ecclesiam nulla salus – ‘outside the Church there is no salvation’ – stated
by St. Cyprian (Epist. 73 21, PL 1123 AB), belongs to Christian tradition and
was included in the Fourth Lateran Council (DS 802), in the Bull Unam sanctam of
Boniface VIII (DS 870) and in the Council of Florence (Decretum pro Jacobitis,
DS 1351)….
For those, however, who have not received the Gospel proclamation,
as I wrote in the Encyclical Redemptoris missio, salvation
is accessible in mysterious ways, inasmuch as divine grace is granted to
them by virtue of Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, without external membership in
the Church, but nonetheless always in relation to her (cf. n. 10). It is
a ‘mysterious relationship’: mysterious for those who receive the grace,
because they do not know the Church and sometimes even outwardly reject her…”
(As an aside, this quotation proves that the Antipope John Paul II is
well aware of the thrice defined dogma which he consistently denies. He even gives the Denzinger-Schonmetzer
(DS) numbers!)
“Ecumenism” and “Dialogue” also involve Joint Declarations with
non-Catholic sects which repudiate the Council of Trent;
Vatican-Lutheran
Agreement on the Doctrine of Justification: “Justification takes place by
grace alone, by faith alone, the
person is justified apart from works” (Annex, # 2, C).
They involve lifting excommunications and anathemas
against heretics and schismatics;
Antipope John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint (# 42), May 25, 1995:
“The ‘universal brotherhood’ of Christians has
become a firm ecumenical conviction.
Consigning to oblivion the excommunications of the past,
Communities which were once rivals are now in many cases helping one another:
places of worship are sometimes lent out…”
They involve donating relics and money to non-Catholic sects; they
involve kissing the Koran, attending Mosques, Synagogues, Buddhist temples and
Lutheran churches, etc., etc., etc.
Ecumenism and dialogue, as practiced by the Vatican II Church, therefore
represent a total apostasy from the true faith and from Jesus Christ. But labeling these things as “viral
pseudo-concepts,” as the authors of The
Great Façade do, allows one to avoid labeling them as a rejection of the
true faith. This is very misleading by
omission and evil in its consequences.
It is also a denial of the Catholic faith because the authors do not
hold that “ecumenism”/“dialogue” – as practiced by Antipope John Paul II –
is heresy.
Never Identifying a Heresy
The authors of The
Great Façade and other defenders of Antipope John Paul II often give their
readers the impression that Catholics (such as the sedevacantists)
have no authority or competence to
judge that a particular statement or action is heretical.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 42: “But none of
these apparent contradictions
involves the formal repudiation of any article of divine and Catholic faith...”
Notice that they don’t say here that the contradictions are real, but apparent, implying that the two apparently contradictory teachings
(pre-Vatican II teaching and post-Vatican II novelties) could be reconciled. The authors of The Great Façade display repeatedly that they don’t feel that they
have any authority to assert that anything is a real contradiction to Catholic teaching.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 364: “Only the infallible Magisterium
can explain what has happened to the teaching on the Mystical Body of Christ, and
how that teaching can be integrated with a ‘Church of Christ’ that is not
identical to the Roman Catholic Church.”
This means that it is possible that the outrageous heresy on the
Church of Christ proclaimed by Cardinal Ratzinger – that the Church of Christ is not identical
to the Roman Catholic Church! – could be integrated or reconciled
with Catholic teaching! This means that it is not definite that the
Church of Christ is the Roman Catholic Church! This is totally heretical. And this heresy of Woods and Ferrara, in my
opinion, clearly stems from their false idea that the Vatican II sect’s
heresies are only “apparent” contradictions, not real denials of Catholic
dogma. By emphasizing that they
“apparent” contradictions, and by refusing to label them as definite heresies,
the authors of The Great Façade
naturally must leave open the possibility that these heresies are possibly
reconcilable with Catholic dogma (as they indicate above). And by indicating that these heresies are
possibly reconcilable with Catholic dogma, they confuse heresy with dogma; they
conflate (or fuse together) Catholic truth with heretical error, all because
they feel that they have no authority to say that the Vatican II heresies are
definitely heretical, but only apparent contradictions that could be reconciled
with Catholic teaching.
And this brings me to the essential point of this section, which is that
IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT A DOGMA ISN’T,
THEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS.
This point, which seems obvious but is missed by so many, cannot be stressed
enough, as it refutes the argumentation of many non-sedevacantists,
who consistently claim that Catholics have no authority to identify that a
statement is really and truly
heretical.
For instance, is the statement Jesus
Christ is not present in the Holy Eucharist contrary to Catholic
dogma? Is it a real contradiction to Catholic dogma, or is it only an apparent contradiction that conceivably
could be integrated with Catholic teaching by the infallible Magisterium?
The answer, of course, is that the above statement is a real
contradiction and could never be integrated with Catholic teaching! A Catholic knows, and affirms without
hesitation, that the above statement (Jesus
Christ is not present in the Eucharist) is definitely (not apparently) contrary to Catholic
teaching. But according to the logic of
the authors of The Great Façade, a
Catholic could only say that the above is an apparent contradiction to Catholic teaching, and he
must be open to the possibility that it could be integrated with the teaching
of the Magisterium.
Therefore, if a person cannot
affirm without hesitation that Jesus
Christ is not present in the Holy Eucharist is heretical, then he does not
believe in the dogma that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist. IF HE CANNOT AFFIRM FOR CERTAIN WHAT THE
DOGMA ISN’T (i.e. what is heretical), THEN HE CANNOT AFFIRM FOR CERTAIN WHAT
THE DOGMA IS.
Hence, if the authors of The Great
Façade do not affirm without hesitation that the new teaching of Antipope
John Paul II, Cardinal Ratzinger and the Vatican on
the Mystical Body of Christ – that the
Mystical Body of Christ is not identical to the Roman Catholic Church – is
heretical (which they do not), then they do not believe in the dogma that the
Mystical Body of Christ = the Roman Catholic Church. It is that simple; since they cannot affirm
or know for sure what this dogma definitely is not, they cannot affirm or know
for sure what the dogma is.
Pope Pius XII, Humani Generis (# 27), Aug. 12, 1950:
“Some say they are not bound by the doctrine,
explained in Our Encyclical Letter of a few years ago, and based on the sources
of divine revelation, which teaches that the Mystical Body of Christ and the
Roman Catholic Church are one and the same thing. Some reduce to a meaningless formula
the necessity of belonging to the true Church in order to gain eternal
salvation.”
Pope Boniface
VIII, Unam Sanctam, Nov.
18, 1302, ex cathedra:
“With Faith urging us we are forced to
believe and to hold the one, holy, Catholic Church … which represents one
mystical body…”
And herein we see the difference between Catholics and the authors of The Great Façade. Catholics know that it is HERESY for Cardinal Ratzinger, Antipope John Paul II and the Vatican to assert
that the Mystical Body of Christ is not identical to the Roman Catholic Church,
because Catholics know for sure that the Roman Catholic Church is identical to
the Mystical Body. But this is not so
with the authors of The Great Façade.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 360: “... that the Church of Christ and the Catholic
Church are distinct from each other, a
conclusion whose harmony with Catholic teaching is not apparent.”
Not apparent? Try non-existent or
impossible! That is what a Catholic
would say. I will close this section
with a very interesting quotation from Pope Pius XI on how Catholics,
regardless of their age or learning, and without any lengthy effort, can know the deposit of truth, and therefore
what is heretical or contrary to it – such as the heresies of the Vatican
II sect and Antipope John Paul II.
Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos (#8), Jan. 6, 1928: “In this
matter, those also turn aside from
the right path, who think that the deposit of truth is only to be found with
such laborious trouble, and with such lengthy study and discussion, that a
man’s life would hardly suffice to find and take possession of it; as if the most merciful God had spoken
through the prophets and His only-begotten Son merely in order that a few, and
those advanced in years, should learn what He has revealed through them,
and not that He might inculcate a doctrine of faith and morals, by which man
should be guided throughout the whole of His life.”
Perverting Catholic Teaching on the Requirement for
Heresy
Besides displaying the heretical idea that
Catholics have no authority to
identify a heresy, the authors of The
Great Façade pervert the Catholic teaching on the requirements for heresy.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 57: “Not even John Paul II’s recent statement
‘May St. John the Baptist protect Islam’ is heresy, properly speaking,
since the Pope’s public expression of a wish that a false religion receive
divine protection, while certainly scandalous and even stupefying, does not
translate into a direct denial of any article of divine and Catholic faith.”
This is a blasphemous and heretical assertion for the reasons that we
already discussed in the section on the Jews.
However, we must specifically refute this again. The authors of The Great Façade repeatedly create the impression that unless one
denies an article of divine and Catholic faith verbatim (i.e., word for word) he is not uttering heresy. But this is inconsistent with Church history
and Catholic teaching. Consider the statement,
Only the Body of Jesus Christ is in
heaven. Is this statement
heretical? Absolutely. But is it word-for-word contrary to
any dogma? No, there is no dogmatic
statement in the Catholic Church which declares, Jesus Christ’s Body is not the only Body in heaven. There is, rather, the dogmatic statement
declaring that Our Lady’s body was also assumed into heaven. (Pius
XII, Munificentissimus Deus, Nov. 1, 1950, ex cathedra).
Therefore, it is heretical to say that Only the Body of Jesus Christ is in heaven because it is equivalent
to saying that Mary’s body was not assumed into heaven, which is
heretical. This is one of countless examples of heretical statements that are not
necessarily word-for-word denials of Catholic teaching, but have meanings that
are equivalent to denials of Catholic teaching and thus are heretical.
Another example would be the statement, Jesus Christ does not have the attributes of God. Is this heresy? Absolutely. But is it word-for-word contrary to any
dogma? No, I’m quite sure that there is
no dogmatic statement in Church history which declares verbatim: Jesus Christ has the attributes of God. There are countless statements declaring that
He is God; that He is divine; that He is the Second Person of the Blessed
Trinity. But the statement Jesus Christ has the attributes of God cannot
be found anywhere. Thus, the
heretical statement Jesus Christ does not
have the attributes of God is a clear example of a heresy that is not
word-for-word contrary to Catholic teaching, but has a meaning that is
equivalent to a denial of Catholic teaching and thus is heretical.
In fact, almost none of the heresies in Church history were verbatim denials of Catholic dogma, but
rather statements which had meanings that were denials of Catholic dogma. And with that I return to the statement by
the authors of The Great Facade that asking St. John the Baptist to protect the
false religion of Islam (a non-Christian religion which rejects the God of
the Catholic Church) is not heresy! To
illustrate how false this assertion is, suppose someone said: “May St. John the
Baptist protect Arianism!” (For those who don’t know,
Arianism was the 4th Century heresy which
denied the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.)
Would it be heresy to ask St. John the Baptist to protect Arianism? Of course
it would be heresy! It would be to deny
the Divinity of Christ by endorsing and supporting the Arian heresy as
something that should be protected.
Therefore, the statement May St. John the Baptist protect Islam is also
heresy against the Catholic faith, for
it asserts that Islam (the denial of Jesus Christ and all Catholic dogmas) is
something that should be protected.
It is, in fact, a worse heresy than asking St. John the Baptist to
protect Arianism or even Abortion. It is a complete rejection of the dogmas of
the Trinity, the Incarnation and outside the Catholic Church there is no
salvation, and all Catholic dogmas altogether (i.e. apostasy), and this should be
obvious to anyone of good will.
Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (#
9), June 29, 1896:
“The
practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the
unanimous teaching of the Fathers, WHO
WERE WONT TO HOLD AS OUTSIDE CATHOLIC
COMMUNION, AND ALIEN TO THE CHURCH, WHOEVER WOULD RECEDE IN THE LEAST
DEGREE FROM ANY POINT OF DOCTRINE PROPOSED BY HER AUTHORITATIVE MAGISTERIUM.”
Pope Pius XI confirms the aforementioned point, by
stating that all those who hold the
opinion that all religions are more or less good and praiseworthy, such as
Antipope John Paul II, have completely rejected the faith – thus proving that
holding a position or opinion that is contrary to dogma is heresy, even if it
does not word-for-word repudiate
Catholic truth.
Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos (# 2),
Jan. 6, 1928:
“Certainly such attempts can
nowise be approved by Catholics, founded
as they are on that false opinion which considers all religions to be more or
less good and praiseworthy, since they all in different ways manifest and signify
that sense which is inborn in us all, and by which we are led to God and to the
obedient acknowledgment of His rule. Not only are those who hold this opinion in
error and deceived, but also in distorting the idea of true religion they
reject it, and little by little, turn aside to naturalism and atheism,
as it is called; from which it
clearly follows that one who supports those who hold these theories and attempt
to realize them, is altogether abandoning the divinely revealed religion.”
Antipope
John Paul II’s asking St. John the Baptist to protect Islam, in addition to his
other countless other statements and acts, demonstrates beyond doubt that he
fits neatly into the above category: one who has “rejected” and “altogether
abandon[ed] the divinely revealed religion,” for
consistently manifesting his position that all religions are more or less good
and praiseworthy.
Antipope John Paul II, Angelus Address, Oct. 12, 1986:
“In a few
days we shall go to Assisi, representatives of the Catholic Church, of other
Christian Churches and ecclesial communities, and of the great religions of
the world. We shall go as believers
in God… As you well know, the United Nations Organization has declared 1986
the International Year of Peace. I took
the opportunity to offer an invitation to make this year the occasion of a
‘worldwide movement of prayer for peace’ (Homily of 25 Jan 1986). I
issued this invitation to ‘believers of all religions.”
This Angelus Address confirms that Antipope
John Paul II considers all
religions to be not merely more or less
good and praiseworthy, but “great”!
Antipope John Paul II, Speech at Wadi al-Kharrar,
March 21, 2000:
“May Saint John the Baptist protect Islam and all
the people of Jordan, and all who participated in this celebration, a memorable
celebration.”
Antipope
John Paul II, Centesimus Annus (60):
“In
that same Encyclical [Sollicitudo Rei
Socialis] I
also addressed an appeal to the Christian Churches and to all the great
world religions, inviting
them to offer the unanimous witness
of our common convictions regarding the dignity of man, created by God.”
Antipope John Paul II, Speech in New Delhi, India, November 7, 1999: “Distinguished
representatives of various Christian Communities and of the great
religions of India are present here today.”
Antipope John Paul II, Message to Card. Cassidy for 13th Meeting of People and
Religions, Sept. 21, 2000: “… the
great world religions who have gathered this year in Lisbon for the 13th
International Meeting on the theme: ‘Oceans of Peace: Religions and Cultures in
Dialogue.’”
Those who
are aware of these facts and refuse to consider Antipope John Paul II as one
who has “reject[ed]” and “altogether abandon[ed] the divinely revealed religion,” to quote Pope Pius XI,
are rejecting the teaching of the Magisterium of the
Catholic Church.
The Result of their argumentation: A Defected
Church
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 380: “After 2000
years, the Church has suddenly stopped
calling for the conversion of non-Catholics to save them from hell.”
This is impossible; for if the Catholic Church could cease calling
non-Catholics to be saved from hell it would then cease to be the one true
Church of God (an impossibility).
Pope Pius XI, Lux Veritatis (#2), Dec. 25, 1931: “The Church of God, on the
contrary, in the midst of so many storms and the vicissitudes of things that
perish, trusting in God alone, has ever gone on her way, with firm, secure
steps, and has never ceased from her
strenuous defense of the integrity of the sacred deposit of Gospel truth,
entrusted to her by her Founder.”
Notice how diametrically opposed the two statements above are. The Catholic Church will always call non-Catholics to be saved from hell, because it is the
one true Church of God instituted for that purpose, even if the remnant Church
which does this is just a tiny amount compared to the bulk of humanity. The fact that the authors of The Great Façade are forced to make the
assertion that they do above, unfortunately demonstrates that they are not
defending the Catholic Church, but a “union” within a non-Catholic Church of
heretics (the Vatican II sect) which rejects the conversion of non-Catholics.
Pope Innocent
III, Eius exemplo, Dec.
18, 1208:
“By the heart we
believe and by the mouth we confess the
one Church, not of heretics, but
the Holy Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church outside of which we believe that
no one is saved.”
Denying Outside the Church There is No Salvation
The authors of The Great Façade
discuss the dogma Outside the Church there is no salvation in many places in
their book. But in an almost every
instance, the authors speak of the “objective” necessity of belonging to the
Catholic Church for salvation. By doing
this, the authors of The Great Façade
are clearly implying that non-Catholics, including Jews, could still possibly
be saved without coming to Christ (subjectively
speaking), which is heresy.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 371: “… why not end
a long period of postconciliar confusion by stating
forthrightly what the Church has always taught before the Council: ‘Yes, objectively
speaking, a Jew must come to
Christ and be baptized in order to be saved…”
This clearly implies that (subjectively) a Jew could be saved without
coming to Christ (a horrible heresy and a blatant denial of defined
dogma). Thus, the authors of The Great Façade do not really believe
in Outside the Church there is no
salvation, but imply throughout their book that Jews could be saved without
coming to Christ subjectively
speaking, which is a rejection of Catholic dogma.
What is alarming is that many people who consider themselves
“traditional Catholics” have adopted this heresy, which asserts that the dogma Outside the Church there is no salvation
is only true “objectively,” which necessarily means that non-Catholics can be
saved “subjectively,” which means that the end result is a denial of the
defined dogma. It is truly diabolical
double-talk. It is no different from
saying that, “Jesus Christ is objectively
the Son of God.” Could a Catholic
hold that? No, he could not, because
Jesus Christ is not objectively the
Son of God – He is the Son of God, period!
Thus, I cannot indicate that non-Catholics will not be saved objectively speaking, because this
implies the heresy and false doctrine that they can be saved subjectively speaking. And to say that one dogma (outside the Church
there is no salvation) is only true objectively
is to say that the other (Jesus Christ is the Son of God) is only true
objectively. It is to assert the heresy
that truths are not really truths, but only presumptions or policies that we go
by.
Pope Pius X, Lamentabile, The Errors of the
Modernists, July 3, 1907, #22:“The
dogmas which the Church professes as revealed are not truths fallen from heaven,
but they are a kind of interpretation of religious facts, which the human
mind by a laborious effort prepared for itself.”- Condemned (Denz. 2022)
Dogmas are truths fallen from heaven.
To say that any dogma (e.g., the
dogma that non-Catholics must become Catholic to be saved) may have a
“subjective” reality that is different
from the revealed truth is heresy.
It is a denial of that truth.
Therefore, the idea that non-Catholics can be saved subjectively is blatant heresy!
But this is what the authors of The
Great Façade imply throughout their book.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 343: “We cannot see
how the followers of other religions would have any idea from reading DI as a whole
that they (like we) are objectively in need of the
helps that only the Catholic Church provides in order to save their souls from
hell.”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 344: “The
traditional tone of pessimism regarding the prospects of eternal bliss for those
objectively outside the Catholic Church is hardly a disputable
adjunct of the Catholic faith…”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 354, speaking of non-Catholics:
“As laymen, we are mystified that today’s Vatican apparatus expresses no
concern about the eternal fate of souls who, by every objective measure,
are in far greater danger of damnation than the comparatively upright
Protestants Bl. Pius IX had in view…”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 355: “But when it
comes to Protestants and the Orthodox, who are objectively guilty of both
schism and heresy, the neo-Catholics, along with DI, retreat into
the ambiguities of Vatican II.”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 363: “As a
consequence, the whole concept of membership
in the Church – the very term Father Ratzinger
disparaged as ‘terminological armor’ – is almost completely lost, and with it the teaching that Church membership is objectively necessary for salvation.”
I could quote a number of other passages to this effect, but these
suffice to show that the authors of The
Great Façade don’t hold Church teaching, but imply throughout their book
that non-Catholics can be saved. The
Catholic Church teaches that Church membership is necessary for salvation. It nowhere teaches what the authors of The Great Façade say on page 363 of
their book, that “Church membership is objectively
necessary for salvation.”
Catholic Doctrine Not Involved?
The authors of The
Great Façade tell us again and again that the Vatican II novelties do not
involve Catholic doctrine.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 16: “… a single
Council and the revolutionary reforms and new attitudes it engendered – all of them outside the realm of Catholic
doctrine as such.”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 17: “For, as we
will demonstrate, the distinctive legacy of Vatican II that the neo-Catholic
celebrates and demands that we all embrace does
not consist in doctrine, but in a defense
of ecclesial novelties…”
So the revolutionary “reforms” of the Vatican II sect are all outside
the realm of Catholic doctrine, eh? So I
guess the denial of Jesus Christ, the denial of the necessity of the Papacy,
the denial of the teaching of the Church on the Mystical Body of Christ, and
the denial of outside the Catholic Church
there is no salvation, are all “outside the realm of Catholic doctrine as
such”? Are the authors of The Great Façade serious? Apparently they are.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 56: “One could multiply examples of apparent
contradictions between pre- and postconciliar
teaching on matters that – we emphasize – are not strictly de fide.”
Matters – they emphasize – which are not de fide (of the faith)? What
on earth are they talking about? Are not
the “novelties” of the Vatican II sect, well documented in their book,
repudiations of de fide dogmas on the
Church, Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Papacy?
Yes indeed. In fact, just four
pages before making the above assertion, the authors of The Great Façade say this about the de fide teaching of the
Church on Hell:
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 52: “While the de fide teaching of the Church, revealed by Christ himself,
is that the souls of the damned are in hell, John Paul II has suggested that it
has not been revealed to us that any human beings at all are in hell.”
On page 56 the authors tell us that the post-Vatican II novelties are
not contradictions on matters that are de
fide; yet here (just four pages before that statement) they document how
Antipope John Paul II has repudiated the de
fide teaching of the Catholic Church that there are souls in Hell! Thus, on page 56 they deny the very thing
that they prove on page 52.
The Novelties are Not Magisterial
Besides indicating that the post-Vatican II heresies are not heresy and
are outside the realm of doctrine, the authors of The Great Façade tell us that none of these “disastrous novelties”
has been imposed by the Magisterium of Antipope John
Paul II or his predecessors.
Thomas Woods and
Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade,
p. 58: “On the other hand, the traditionalists we would defend have been in
just the right place all along: the postconciliar novelties are neither Magisterial nor
formally heretical; they do not actually bind the Church to an act of belief in what is wrong.”
This statement is clearly indefensible from their
perspective. Many of our articles
demonstrate in detail that if Antipope John Paul II and his predecessors were
legitimate Popes (which they most certainly weren’t), they did use their “Magisterium” to impose many of these heresies upon
Catholics (which is impossible for a true Pope to do).
Antipope John
Paul II, Laborem Exercens
(#2), Sept. 14, 1981: “Evidence of this
are the many documents of the magisterium
issued by the popes and by the Second
Vatican Council…”
This is one of many proofs that could be
brought forward that if Antipope John Paul II and his predecessors were true
Popes, the documents of Vatican II and the “postconciliar
novelities” (i.e., heresies) that Vatican II taught
and engendered, were Magisterial, exactly the opposite of what the authors of The Great Façade contend. (See “Was
Vatican II Infallible?” and issue #4 of A
Voice Crying in the Wilderness for more extensive proof). And the fact that Antipope John Paul II and
his predecessors have attempted to exercise their “Magisterium”
to promulgate these heretical ideas of Vatican II proves that they were never
true Popes.
Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (# 9), June 29, 1896:
“… Christ instituted a living, authoritative and permanent
Magisterium, which by His own power He strengthened,
by the Spirit of truth He taught, and by miracles confirmed… As often, therefore, as it is declared on
the authority of this teaching that this or that is contained in the deposit of
divine revelation, it must be believed by every one
as true. If it could in any way be
false, an evident contradiction follows; for then God Himself would be the
author of error in man.”
Pope Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri, Dec. 31, 1929:
“Upon this magisterium Christ the Lord conferred immunity from error, together with the command to teach His doctrine to all.”
Pope Pius IX, Vatican
Council I, Session 4, Chap. 4, ex cathedra:
“So, this
gift of truth and a never failing faith was divinely conferred upon Peter and
his successors in this chair…”
Antipope John Paul II has also declared that to stand in the way of
ecumenism is an offense against God.
Antipope John
Paul II, Ut Unum Sint (#
99), May 25, 1995:
“Ecumenism is not only an internal question of the
Christian Communities. It is a
matter of the love which God has in Jesus Christ for all humanity; to stand in the way of this love is an
offense against him and against his plan to gather all people in Christ.”
Ecumenism, among other things, is defined by Vatican II in its Decree on
Ecumenism and by Antipope John Paul II in his new catechism (which references
this decree over and over again) as: praying with Protestants; believing that
Protestant religions are a means of salvation; acknowledging that Protestants
are incorporated into Christ; respecting Protestant beliefs; acknowledging that
Protestants are martyrs for Christ; respecting them as brothers in Christ,
etc., etc. etc. To stand in the way of
this, says Antipope John Paul in his teaching encyclical, is a sin. Thus, the new false religion of ecumenism has
been “Magisterially” imposed if Antipope John Paul II is the Pope, exactly the
opposite of the contention of the authors of The Great Façade.
A Few Glaring Omissions
Obviously,
no book about the Vatican II apostasy could possibly cover all of the heresies
of Antipope John Paul II, since they are so numerous and so difficult to keep
track of. And I am not saying that the
authors of The Great Façade omitted
the following things deliberately (they certainly may not have); however, I
find it of value to point out that the following heresies were not (at least as
far as my examination could detect) mentioned even as doctrinal errors by the
authors of The Great Façade, because
if they were it would be basically impossible for them to seriously assert the
things that they do in their book.
·
Protestant Religions are a means of salvation.
This is
one of the worst heresies of the Vatican II sect; it is so bad that most
“traditionalist” priests who themselves believe in the heresy that
non-Catholics can be saved are forced to condemn this as a denial of Outside the Church there is no salvation. But why was this heresy – or “novelty” as the
authors of The Great Façade like to
say – not mentioned as an erroneous “novelty” or a doctrinal error in their
book? Perhaps because the above heresy
on Protestant religions being means of salvation has been taught so many times
by the Vatican II Antipopes that it is definitely a “Magisterial” teaching of
the Catholic Church if they are legitimate Popes (which they aren’t). In other words, if you accept Antipope John
Paul II and the Vatican II sect, then the following heresy is an official
teaching of your Church which you must accept, as it has been consistently
reiterated by the “Ordinary and Universal Magisterium”
of your Church. And those who would
claim that it wouldn’t qualify as part of the Ordinary and Universal Magisterium are really arguing the impossible when we
consider the sheer amount of times that this heresy has been repeated by
Antipope John Paul II and his predecessors in encyclicals, apostolic
exhortations, councils, etc., etc. (some addressed to the entire Church).
The
heresy that Protestant religions are a means of salvation has been taught by
the Second Vatican Council, by Antipope John Paul II’s New Catechism (#819) and
by Antipope John Paul II’s encyclical Ut Unum Sint, just to name a few.
Antipope
John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint (#
10):
“It follows that these separated Churches
and Communities, though we believe that they suffer from defects, have by
no means been deprived of significance and value in the mystery of
salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means
of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of
grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church.”
It has
also been taught by Antipope John Paul II in his “apostolic exhortation” Catechesi Tradendae (#
32) in addition to numerous other speeches, including his July 12, 1995 General Audience.
Antipope John Paul II, General Audience, July 12, 1995:
“We must note further that, according to the
Council, those who are separated from the Catholic Church preserve a certain
communion – incomplete but real with her… It affirms that the Churches and ecclesial communities are not in fact deprived of
significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. ‘For the Spirit of
Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation’ (Unitatis redintegratio, n. 3).”
It is unthinkable that a legitimate Pope could teach blatant heresy in
official document after official document after official document after
official document.
Pope Pius XII, Humani Generis (#20), August 12, 1950: “Nor must it be thought that what is expounded in Encyclical Letters
does not of itself demand consent, since in writing such Letters the Popes
do not exercise the supreme power of the their Teaching Authority. For
these matters are taught with the Ordinary teaching authority, of which it is true to say: ‘He who heareth you, heareth me’; and
generally what is expounded in Encyclical Letters already appertains to
Catholic doctrine.”
Antipope John Paul II has taught that non-Catholic sects have Saints and
Martyrs so many times that it is truly incredible. Here are just a few times that he has uttered
this heresy:
Antipope John
Paul II, Ut Unum Sint (#
82), May 25, 1995:
“All Christian Communities know that, thanks to the power given by the Spirit, obeying that will
and overcoming those obstacles are not beyond their reach. All
of them in fact have martyrs for the Christian faith.”
As an aside, this also means that all Christian
Communities possess the true Christian faith.
Antipope John
Paul II, speech to schismatic Patriarch Karekin II,
Nov. 9, 2000: “Again, I thank Your
Holiness for your willingness to be part of that liturgy in the person of
your representative. In effect, ‘perhaps the most convincing form of
ecumenism is the ecumenism of the saints and of the martyrs. The communio sanctorum
speaks louder than the things which divide us.’”
Antipope John
Paul II, Angelus Address, Sept. 19,
1993:
“In the
unbounded space of Eastern Europe, the
Orthodox Church too can well say
at the end of this century what the Fathers of the Church had proclaimed about
the initial spread of the Gospel: ‘Sanguis martyrum – semen Christianorum’
[the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians].”
Antipope John
Paul II, Tertio Millennio Adveniente (# 37),
Nov. 10, 1994:
“The witness to Christ borne even to the shedding
of blood has become a common inheritance of Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans
and Protestants, as Pope Paul VI pointed out in his Homily for the
Canonization of the Ugandan Martyrs.”
Antipope John
Paul II, Ut Unum Sint (#
1), May 25, 1995:
“The courageous witness of so many martyrs
of our century, including members of Churches and Ecclesial Communities not
in full communion with the Catholic Church, gives new vigor to the
Council’s call and reminds us of our duty to listen to and put into practice
its exhortation.”
Antipope John
Paul II, Ut Unum Sint (#
84), May 25, 1995:
“In a theocentric vision, we
Christians already have a common martyrology. This
includes the martyrs of our own century, more numerous than one might think…”
Antipope John
Paul II, Ut Unum Sint (#
84), May 25, 1995:
“Albeit in an
invisible way, the communion between our Communities, even if still incomplete,
is truly and solidly grounded in the full communion of the saints - those who,
at end of a life faithful to grace, are in communion with Christ in glory. These
saints come from all the Churches and
Ecclesial Communities which gave them entrance into the communion of salvation.”
Antipope John
Paul II, Ut Unum Sint (#
84), May 25, 1995:
“In the radiance of the ‘heritage of the saints’
belonging to all Communities, the ‘dialogue
of conversion’ toward full and visible unity thus appears as a source of
hope. The universal presence of the
saints is in fact a proof of the transcendent power of the Spirit.”
Antipope John
Paul II, General Audience, May 12,
1999: “The experience of martyrdom
joined Christians of various denominations in Romania. The
Orthodox, Catholic and Protestants
gave a united witness to Christ by the sacrifice of their lives.”
Why wasn’t this incredible heresy exposed as
doctrinal error in The Great Façade? Perhaps because this heresy is about as
formal or direct a denial of Catholic dogma as it gets.
Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, ex cathedra:
“… no
one, even if he has shed blood in the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he
has remained in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.”
Pope Gregory XVI, Summo Iugiter Studio,
May 27, 1832:
“Finally
some of these misguided people attempt to persuade themselves and others that
men are not saved only in the Catholic religion, but that even heretics may
attain eternal life.”
In light of the above, what can one say about the
following statement?
Thomas Woods and
Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade,
p. 41: “As already noted, there can be no
heresy without the obstinate denial of some article of divine and Catholic
faith, and this cannot be found in any of the pronouncements of the Conciliar Popes…”
It is simply heretical nonsense!
·
Non-Catholics may lawfully receive Holy Communion;
Christ is united with each man; Muslims worship the true God together with
Catholics.
It is also noteworthy that Antipope John Paul II
has consistently, officially and authoritatively taught that non-Catholics may
lawfully receive Holy Communion; that Christ united Himself with each man in
the Incarnation; and that Muslims together with Catholics worship the true
God. But these three heresies were not
exposed even as errors in The Great
Façade (as far as my examination could detect). Is that because these horrible heresies and
blasphemies have been enunciated by Antipope John Paul II in official document
after official document, so that the authors of The Great Façade felt that by specifically labeling these
“novelties” as theological errors they would actually be questioning the
“Magisterial” teaching of Antipope John Paul II?
Imagine for a moment if Pope Leo XIII had taught
something – let’s call it doctrine “x” – more than fifty times in speeches,
encyclicals (some addressed to the whole Church) and apostolic
exhortations. And then imagine if the
same doctrine “x” had also been promulgated by the apostolic authority of Pope Leo XIII in his official catechism to
the entire Church. And then imagine if
the same doctrine “x” (which, as I said, had been taught by Leo XIII about
fifty times and was also promulgated in his official catechism) was also based
on a previous teaching of the same doctrine “x” by his predecessor at an
ecumenical council where his predecessor also promulgated doctrine “x” by his
apostolic authority. Could any Catholic
justifiably argue that doctrine “x” had not been taught by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church? Not a chance in the world; it would be
ridiculous to say so! But this is
exactly what those who obstinately hold Antipope John Paul II to be the Pope
are arguing. The following table
effectively expresses the point.
|
|
Non-Catholics
may lawfully receive Holy Communion |
Christ united
Himself with each man in the Incarnation |
Muslims and
Catholics together worship the One True God |
|
|
Encyclical |
Antipope John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint (# 46), May 25, 1995: “… Catholic
ministers are able, in certain particular cases, to administer the Sacraments
of the Eucharist, Penance and Anointing of the Sick to Christians who are not
in full communion with the Catholic Church...” |
Antipope John
Paul II, Redemptor Hominis (#
13), March 4, 1979: “… by his Incarnation, he, the Son of God,
in a certain way united himself with each man.” |
Antipope
John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (# 47): “…Muslims who, like us, believe in the just
and merciful God.” |
|
|
Authoritative Catechism |
Antipope
John Paul II, Catechism of the Catholic
Church (# 1401): “… Catholic ministers may give the
sacraments of Eucharist, Penance, and Anointing of the Sick to other
Christians not in full communion with the Catholic Church…” |
Antipope
John Paul II, Catechism of the Catholic
Church (# 521): “By his
Incarnation, he, the Son of God, has
in a certain way united himself with each man.” |
Antipope
John Paul II, Catechism of the Catholic
Church (# 841): “… Muslims… together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on
the last day.” |
Antipope John Paul II, Fidei Depositum, Oct. 11, 1992: “The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
which I approved June 25th last and the publication of which I today order by virtue of my Apostolic
authority, is a statement of
the Church’s faith and of Catholic doctrine… I declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith.” |
|
Vatican II Document |
Antipope Paul VI, Vatican II document Orientalium Ecclesiarum # 27: “… the sacraments of Penance, Holy
Eucharist, and the anointing of sick may be conferred on eastern Christians
who in good faith are separated from the Catholic Church...” |
Antipope
Paul VI, Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes # 22: “For by His incarnation the Son
of God united Himself in some way with every human being.” |
Antipope Paul VI,
Vatican II document Lumen Gentium # 16: “… Muslims… profess to hold the faith of
Abraham and along with us they worship
the one merciful God who will judge mankind on the last day.” |
Antipope
Paul VI, at the end of every Vatican II document: “EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THE
THINGS SET FORTH IN THIS DECREE HAS WON THE CONSENT OF THE FATHERS. WE, TOO, BY THE APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY
CONFERRED ON US BY CHRIST, JOIN WITH THE VENERABLE FATHERS IN APPROVING,
DECREEING, AND ESTABLISHING THESE THINGS IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND WE DIRECT THAT WHAT HAS THUS BEEN ENACTED IN SYNOD BE
PUBLISHED TO GOD’S GLORY... I, PAUL, BISHOP OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.” |
The above heresies (“x” – that non-Catholics may
lawfully receive Holy Communion; “x” – that Christ is united to each man; and
“x” – that Muslims worship the one true God together with Catholics) have been
set forth as the teaching of the Catholic Church by Antipope John Paul II in
countless speeches, encyclicals and apostolic exhortations. (Antipope John Paul
II has taught the heresy that Christ united Himself with each man in the
Incarnation probably 500 times; he says it about 15 times in his first
encyclical alone).
As one can see above, besides being mentioned
countless times in his encyclicals, apostolic exhortations and speeches, all
three of the above heresies (doctrines “x”) were officially set forth in
Antipope John Paul II’s Catechism, which he solemnly promulgated to the entire
Church and declared was “a sure norm for teaching the faith” (Fidei Depositum).
And, to top it off, all three of these heresies (all three doctrines
“x”) are based on a previous teaching of these same heresies in an “ecumenical
council” (Vatican II) that was solemnly promulgated by the “apostolic
authority” of Antipope John Paul II’s predecessor (Antipope Paul VI)!
In light of all this, could those who accept
Antipope John Paul II and Antipope Paul VI as valid Popes – as the authors of The Great Façade do – justifiably argue
that the above heresies have not been taught by the Magisterium
of the Catholic Church? It would be
absolutely absurd and theologically ridiculous to say so. Thus, this proves again that Antipope John
Paul II and Antipope Paul VI never sat in the Chair of Peter – and therefore
cannot exercise any Magisterial authority in the Catholic Church – but are in
fact apostate Antipopes. The Catholic
Church does not and cannot teach the above heresies.
Pope St. Pius X, Editae Saepe (#8), May 26, 1910: “In fact, only a miracle of that divine power could
preserve the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, from blemish in the
holiness of Her doctrine, law, and end in the midst of the flood of
corruption and lapses of her members.”
Selective Judgments
While the authors of The Great Façade assert that Antipope John Paul II is guilty of no
heresy, and that his hierarchy is the Catholic hierarchy, they do not refrain
from judging and declaring that the CPA (the Catholic Patriotic Association) is
schismatic (and therefore not Catholic).
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 260: “The CPA, therefore, is a Communist-created,
Communist-controlled, blatantly schismatic, pro-abortion organization founded
by the devil himself…”
For those who don’t know, the CPA is the
puppet-Church of the Communist Regime in Red China. It was created by the government to attempt
to lure Catholics into a Communist-controlled sect that is loyal to the Satanic
regime in China. So, what the authors of
The Great Façade say above is quite
true. The problem for them, however, is
that this has never been declared by the Vatican II sect. Quite to the contrary.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, pp. 261-262: “But far from declaring the
excommunication or schism of the CPA bishops, the Vatican apparatus has
assiduously courted them, to the applause of the neo-Catholic
gallery. In September
of 2000, some nine months after the five illicit consecrations, Cardinal
(‘Spirit of Assisi, come upon us all!’) Etchegaray
went to China… During his trip, Etchegaray was shuttled around by the CPA bishops…
CWNews.com (another neo-Catholic organ) favorably reported Etchegaray’s remark that ‘Basically it is a question of one Church, and one common
faith…’”
Thus, the Vatican under Antipope John Paul II does not declare the
schism or excommunication of the CPA – “far from” it. “Cardinal” Etchegaray,
President of a Vatican Pontifical Council, says that the Vatican and the CPA
are “one Church.” And Etchegaray is not alone in this matter.
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 263: “Cardinal Etchegaray is not just a lone wolf in this matter. The Kung foundation notes that Cardinal Tomko,
one of the Pope’s closest advisors, has been quoted as saying that the ‘two
groups in the Church in China’ (the underground Roman Catholic Church and the
CPA) are ‘not two Churches because we are all one Church,’…’”
And there’s more...
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, pp. 263-264: “Even
more telling is the Kung Foundation’s Open Letter of March 28, 2000, addressed
to Cardinal Sodano… and other members of the Vatican
apparatus, which notes that CPA
priests have been trained in American seminaries, given faculties in
American parishes with Vatican approval (according to Archbishop Levada and other American prelates) and are being
supported by Catholic charities…’”
So, the Vatican “apparatus” of Antipope John Paul
II trains the CPA priests in American seminaries, gives them
faculties for American “parishes,” and supports them with “Catholic”
charities. It clearly does not regard
the “blatantly schismatic” – “founded by the devil himself” – CPA as schismatic
at all, but as Catholic: members of “one Church, and one common faith” with the
Vatican, to quote the apostate “Cardinal” Etchegaray.
And this brings me to my question: by what
authority do the authors of The Great
Façade declare and judge that the current CPA is a “blatantly schismatic, pro-abortion
organization founded by the devil himself”?
The Vatican II sect has never declared this about the current
members of the CPA, so how do they? By
what authority do the authors of The
Great Façade declare that the current CPA is schismatic (and therefore
outside the Catholic Church)?
The answer is obvious: the authors of The Great Façade determine that the
current CPA is a blatantly schismatic organization founded by the devil himself
because of their personal recognition of what is manifest: that the current
members of the CPA profess a faith which is condemned by the Catholic
Church. The authors of The Great Façade correctly conclude,
therefore, that the current CPA is not Catholic. And Catholics have done this for twenty
centuries whenever they have encountered an Arian or an Albigensian
or an “Old Catholic” or a Lutheran or a Methodist or a Southern Baptist. One does not need – and has never needed – a
specific declaration from the Church about each of these persons, which would
be practically impossible anyway.
Rather, by their open rejection of
Catholic teaching, or by their open
rejection of the Catholic Church, or by their open religious affiliation with a church or group of persons which
openly rejects the Catholic Church, a Catholic makes a sure and necessary judgment that such persons are not
Catholic, but are heretics who are outside the Catholic Church.
Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (#
9), June 29, 1896:
“The practice of the Church has always been the
same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, WHO WERE WONT TO HOLD AS OUTSIDE CATHOLIC COMMUNION, AND ALIEN TO
THE CHURCH, WHOEVER WOULD RECEDE IN THE LEAST DEGREE FROM ANY POINT OF
DOCTRINE PROPOSED BY HER AUTHORITATIVE MAGISTERIUM.”
Pope Pius IX, Graves ac diuturnae (#'s 1-4), March 23, 1875:
“We have decreed and declared in Our
letter of 21 November 1873 that those unfortunate men who belong to, adhere
to, and support that sect should be considered as schismatics
and separated from communion with the Church."
But whereas the authors of The
Great Façade correctly apply this Catholic principle when discussing the
CPA, they very hypocritically fail to do so when discussing Antipope
John Paul II and his apostate bishops – who are more heretical and schismatic
than the CPA, the scope of their heresies being far more vast. Thus, by condemning the current CPA as
non-Catholic, while they assert that the Vatican II sect is Catholic, the
authors of The Great Façade
contradict themselves and violate the very Catholic principles they apply
elsewhere.
St. Robert Bellarmine, De Romano Pontifice, II, 30:
“… for men are
not bound, or able to read hearts; BUT
WHEN THEY SEE THAT SOMEONE IS A HERETIC BY HIS EXTERNAL WORKS, THEY JUDGE HIM
TO BE A HERETIC PURE AND SIMPLE, AND CONDEMN HIM AS A HERETIC.”
The truth is that not just the CPA, but both the
CPA and the sect of Antipope John Paul II are blatantly schismatic, controlled
and created by the devil himself.
Giving them a heresy
As I have documented in this article, the authors
of The Great Façade and the false
resistance for which it writes do not believe that there is any heresy in the
pronouncements of Antipope John Paul II.
They don’t believe that there is any doctrinal error in Vatican II; they
affirm the “validity” of the New Mass without a trace of doubt; they affirm
that “Neo-Catholics” are true Catholics; and they don’t question the orthodoxy
of the apostate Mother Angelica “or anyone else.” Those who are supporting this heretical book
– or the heretical publications which share and promote its heretical
conclusions – should obviously cease all support immediately if they don’t want
to deny the Catholic faith.
Thomas Woods and
Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade,
p. 240: “While the vast conciliar and postconciliar
program of innovation tends materially to oppose the perennial teaching
of the Church in a number of areas,
it does not involve any formal contradiction of an article of divine and
Catholic faith.”
Thomas Woods and Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade, p. 216: “We can
anticipate the objection that these
novelties do not, in themselves, amount to a formal
contradiction of prior dogmatic teaching, which is certainly true…”
Thomas Woods and
Christopher Ferrara, The Great Façade,
p. 41: “As already noted, there can be no
heresy without the obstinate denial of some article of divine and Catholic
faith, and this cannot be found in any of the pronouncements of the Conciliar Popes…”
In this article I have discussed many things which prove
that these assertions are simply blasphemous.
But I thought that it was appropriate to end this article with a
quotation from Antipope John Paul II’s very first homily as Antipope, the very
homily which will forever mark the beginning of his pastoral ministry. The homily speaks for itself (L’Osservatore Romano, Nov. 2, 1978, p. 1).
Antipope
John Paul II, Very First Homily – Marking Beginning of Pastoral Ministry,
Sunday, Oct. 22, 1978: “’You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God’ (Mt. 16:16). These words were spoken by Simon, son of
Jonah, in the district of Caesarea Philippi… On this day and in this place
these same words must again be uttered and listened to - ‘You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God.’… please listen once again, today in
this sacred place, to the words uttered by Simon Peter. In those words is the faith of the
Church. In those same words is the
new truth, indeed, the ultimate and definitive truth about man: the Son of
the living God – ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Conclusion
It is evident that those who think that they are
resisting the Vatican II Apostasy by obstinately maintaining that Antipope John
Paul II and his bishops are the Catholic authorities in the Church are gravely
mistaken. They are actually
following the Antichrist. The authors of
The Great Façade, whose position is
advanced, promoted or defended by a large group of people who claim to be
“traditional Catholics,” is a false resistance of heresy. It is actually a denial of Our Lord Jesus
Christ, for it asserts that to deny Him is not to deny the faith and be a
heretic.
I pray for those who have embraced this false
resistance to the Vatican II sect, including the authors of The Great Façade. My hope and desire is for all of them to
convert and profess the truth faith.
However, this false resistance of apostasy that they are promoting is
leading many souls to Hell. And this
infinite tragedy is only amplified when we consider that it is leading some of
the most dedicated to hell: people who are dedicated to the traditional Mass,
people who oppose many of the novelties and much of the Vatican II
apostasy. Yet, many of these people are
falling into or being led into heresy themselves when
they obstinately embrace the position of the authors of The Great Façade, The Remnant,
Catholic Family News, etc. These “traditionalists” are being led to
believe or accept that the New Mass is valid; that Vatican II contained no
explicit doctrinal error; that all the new sacramental rites of the Vatican II
Church (including the gravely dubious new rite of ordination) are valid; that
one can be a Catholic while denying Our Lord Jesus Christ; that one can be a
Catholic while denying the Papacy; that one can be a Catholic while denying the
Council of Trent; that one can be a Catholic and believe that Islam is a great
religion that should be protected; that the Catholic Church can sanction altar
girls, the New Mass, and giving Holy Communion to non-Catholics; that the
Catholic Church can actually promulgate Antipope John Paul II’s New Catechism
and New Code of Canon Law; that one can be a Catholic and hold that the Church
of Christ does not equal the Roman Catholic Church; that there is no
distinction, as far as membership in the Catholic Church goes, between
apostates (Antipope John Paul II and his bishops) and Catholics; that the
Church is not one in faith; and that one can remain in obstinate communion with
heretics and apostates who deny Our Lord Jesus Christ (like Antipope John Paul
II and his bishops) and still have the true faith, remain in the Church of
Christ and save his soul.
There is only one way to oppose this apostasy of
the Vatican II Church, and that is by embracing and communicating the complete
truth, which is that Rome has lost the Catholic faith and become the Seat of
the Antichrist (and given way to a counterfeit Church), exactly what as Our
Lady predicted on Sept. 19, 1846:
“Rome will lose
the faith and become the Seat of the Antichrist… the Church will be in
eclipse.”
St. Athanasius:
“Even if Catholics faithful to tradition were reduced to a handful, they would
be the true Church.”
The Catholic Church is composed of that “eclipsed”
remnant of Catholics who maintain the faith whole and inviolate and do not
compromise with heresy. We are living
through the Great Apostasy, not the great façade.
(Note: Emphasis given to quotations from The Great Façade in this article, such as bolding, underlining and
italicization, is not necessarily that of the authors and is usually – if not
always – my own.)
Most Holy Family Monastery, 4425 Schneider Rd., Fillmore, NY 14735,
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