As I may very well need until late Sunday to complete work on an extensive commentary about Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s Traditionis Custodes, July 16, 2021, and his explanatory letter—to say nothing of the reaction in semi-traditional “resist while recognize” circles whose notions of the papacy are merely a contemporary iteration of Gallicanism, I found an article from June 28, 2008, that includes a review of the 1984 and 1988 “indults” (Quattuor Abhinc Annos, October 3, 1984 and Ecclesia Dei Ad Afflicta, July 2, 1988) issued by Karol Josef Wojtyla/John Paul II). The article is being republished without any changes and thus appears, although on a different “platform” than in 2008, as it did thirteen years ago when Joseph Alois Ratzinger was serving as the fourth in the current line of antipopes.
One will see from this republished article that Traditionis Custodes is really a return to Quattuor Abhinc Annos more than anything else, noting that one can be sure that Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who is rumored to be considering resigning in the near future, will be “taking the names” of the “bishops” who slow walk Traditionis Custodes. Bergoglio knows that he has allies in every diocese of the world, and he will not hesitate to remove those he considers to be “revanchist” “bishops” who permit “Latin Mass” communities to exist on terms that do not conform to his new motu proprio.
Thus, this republished commentary, "Submit to and Obey the One World Church," is as relevant now as it was thirteen years ago as those calling upon Catholics to “ignore” what they accept as a “papal” constitution must reckon with a concise and precise summary of Catholic teaching given by Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., in his reflection on the Feast of Pope Saint Clement I, November 23.
A true pope is the Vicar of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and Dom Prosper Gueranger reminded us in his reflection on the Feast of Pope Saint Clement I, November 23, that to oppose the Vicar of Christ is to oppose God Himself:
t was considered at the time so beautiful and so apostolic, that it was long read in many churches as a sort of continuation of the canonical Scriptures. Its tone is dignified but paternal, according to St. Peter's advice to pastors. There is nothing in it of a domineering spirit; but the grave and solemn language bespeaks the universal pastor, whom none can disobey without disobeying God Himself. These words so solemn and so firm wrought the desired effect: peace was re-established in the church of Corinth, and the messengers of the Roman Pontiff soon brought back the happy news. A century later, St. Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, expressed to Pope St. Soter the gratitude still felt by his flock towards Clement for the service he had rendered. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Pope Saint Clement I, November 23.)
There are some very interesting lessons to be learn from this passage in Dom Prosper Gueranger's The Liturgical Year.
First, there is a reminder of the monarchical power of the Roman Pontiff.
Who gave away the symbol of that monarchical power?
Wasn't it Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonoi Maria/Paul VI?
Who refused to be crowned with the Papal Tiara?
Wasn't it Albino Luciani/John Paul I, Karol Josef Wojtyla/John Paul II, Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI and Jorge Mario Bergoglio?
Who took the Papal Tiara off of his coat of arms?
Wasn't it Ratzinger/Benedict XVI.
Yes, conciliarism wants nothing to do with papal monarchical power, having embraced the heretical novelty of episcopal collegiality. Pope Saint Clement I knew otherwise. Deo gratias!
Second, the lie of episcopal collegiality is disproved by the fact that the Catholics in Corinth looked to Rome, that is, to the Successor of Saint Peter, Pope Clement, and not to the beloved evangelist, Saint John, who had taken care of Our Lady until she died and was assumed body and soul into Heaven. The Catholics of Corinth knew that it was not their "local churches" but Rome that was the seat of the Holy Faith. Deo gratias!
Third, Dom Prosper reminds us that the authority of the Vicar of Christ is absolute, that the pope is one "whom none can disobey without disobeying God Himself." Indeed. Although I was late to have my own eyes opened to the ramifications of this truth, suffice it to say that a legitimate pontiff commands our obedience in all things that do not pertain to sin, in all things that pertain to faith and morals. No one can oppose a legitimate pontiff without opposing Our Lord Himself. And no legitimate pontiff can give us bad doctrine or defective worship. He cannot express in his capacity as a private theologian things contrary to the defined teaching of the Catholic Church.
Dom Prosper Gueranger’s elegy of praise for Saint Peter reminds us that none of what has emanated from the Vatican in its conciliar captivity can be laid at the feet of Holy Mother Church, she who without stain or spot of any kind, she who makes no terms with error, she who is stable in the midst of a world made unstable by Original Sin and made more unstable by our Actual Sins:
Peter, on thee must we build; for fain are we to be dwellers in the Holy City. We will follow our Lord’s counsel, (Matthew 7:24-27) by raising our structure upon the rock, so that it may resist the storm, and may become an eternal abode. Our gratitude to thee, who hast vouchsafed to uphold us, is all the greater, since this our senseless age, pretends to construct a new social edifice, which it would fix on the shifting sands of public opinion, and hence realizes naught save downfall and ruin! Is the stone rejected by our modern architects any the less, head of the corner? And does not its strength appear in the fact (as it is written) that having rejected and cast it aside, they stumble against it and are hurt, yea broken? (1 Peter 2:6, 8)
Standing erect, amid these ruins, firm upon the foundation, the rock against which the gates of hell cannot prevail, as we have all the more right to extol this day, on which the Lord hath, as our Psalm says established the earth. (Psalms 92:1) The Lord did indeed manifest his greatness, when he cast the vast orbs into space, and poised them by laws so marvelous, that the mere discovery thereof does honour to science ; but his reign, his beauty, his power, are far more stupendous when he lays the basis prepared by him to support that temple of which a myriad worlds scarce deserve to be called the pavement. Of this immortal day, did Eternal Wisdom sing, when divinely foretasting its pure delights, and preluding our gladness, he thus led on our happy chorus: “When the mountains with their huge bulk were being established, and when the earth was being balanced on its poles, when he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters, when he laid the foundations of the earth, I was with him, forming all things; and was delighted every day playing before him at all times; playing in the world, for my delights are to be with the children of men.” (Proverbs 8)
Now that Eternal Wisdom is raising up, on thee, O Peter, the House of her mysterious delights, (Proverbs 9) where else could we possibly find Her, or be inebriated with her chalice, or advance in her love? Now that Jesus hath returned to heaven, and given us thee to hold his place, is it not henceforth from thee, that we have the words of Eternal Life? (John 6:69) In thee, is continued the mystery of the Word made Flesh and dwelling amongst us. Hence, if our religion, our love of the Emmanuel hold not on to thee, they are incomplete. Thou thyself, also, having joined the Son of Man at the Right Hand of the Father, the cultus paid unto thee, on account of thy divine prerogatives, reaches the Pontiff, thy Successor, in whom thou continuest to live, by reason of these very prerogatives: a real cultus, extending unto Christ in his Vicar, and which consequently cannot possibly be fitted into a subtle distinction between the See of Peter, and him who occupies it. In the Roman Pontiff, thou art ever, Peter, the one sole Shepherd and support of the world. If our Lord hath said: No one cometh to the Father but by Me; we also know that none can reach the Lord, save by thee. How could the Bights of the Son of God, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, suffer in such homages as these paid by a grateful earth unto thee? No we cannot celebrate thy greatness, without at once, turning our thoughts to Him, likewise, whose sensible sign thou art, an august Sacrament, as it were. Thou seemest to say to us, as heretofore unto our fathers by the inscription on thine ancient statue: Contemplate the God Word, the Stone divinely CUT IN THE GOLD, UPON WHICH BEING FIRMLY FIXED I CANNOT BE SHAKEN! (Deum Verbum intumini, auro divinitus sculptam petram, in qua stabilitus non concutior.- Dom Mabillion, Vetera analecta, t. iv) (Dom Prosper Gueranger. O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29.)
We must recapture a true reverence for the papacy as we pray every day for the restoration of a true and legitimate Successor on the Throne of Saint Peter, which I believe will not occur until after chastisements of epic proportions that will bring even believing Catholics to their knees once their bread and circuses have been taken away so that they can find their all in the God Who created them, redeemed them, and Who sanctifies them.
Do not be concerned about who sees the truth about the state of the Church Militant in this time of apostasy and betrayal. Family members may not see the truth. Former friends and acquaintances may not see the truth. We cannot ask why such people insist that the counterfeit church of conciliarism is the Catholic Church when it is in fact Antichrist’s Church of Lies and Sin. We must simply be grateful to Our Lady for sending us the graces that we need to see the true state of the Church Militant. We must beseech her daily, especially through Most Holy Rosary, entrusting all the crosses of the present moment as the consecrated slaves of her Divine Son, Christ the King, through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, which will triumph in the end.
Seeing the truth does not make us one whit better than anyone else who does not. It is more than possible to see the truth and to lose one’s soul by being arrogantly self-righteous about having done so. We must be meek and humble of heart if we seek to take refuge in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
We must rely upon Our Lady to help us to be ready for the call from her Divine Son whenever it comes, and we must rely upon the graces she sends to us to persevere in the truth no matter what it may cost us in human terms as we continue to pray for the restoration of a true pope on the Throne of Saint Peter and an end to the nefarious religious sect that dares to call itself the Catholic Church.
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
Saint Alexius, pray for us.