From Pope XIII’s Vision of the Devil to Leo XIV’s Personal Invitation to the Devil's Friends

Pope Leo XIII consistently warned Catholics about the dangers posed by Judeo-Masonic naturalism, which he knew was the work of the devil to lull Catholics into accepting religious indifferentism, about which Pope Gregory XVI had warned in Mirari Nos, August 15, 1832, and which he, Pope Leo XIII, condemned specifically in Humanum Genus, April 20, 1884:

If those who are admitted as members are not commanded to abjure by any form of words the Catholic doctrines, this omission, so far from being adverse to the designs of the Freemasons is more useful for their purposes. First, in this way they easily deceive the simple-minded and the heedless, and can induce a far greater number to become members. Again, as all who offer themselves are received whatever may be their form of religion, they thereby teach the great error of this age — that a regard for religion should be held as an indifferent matter, and that all religions are alike. This manner of reasoning is calculated to bring about the ruin of all forms of religion, and especially of the Catholic religion, which, as it is the only one that is true, cannot, without great injustice, be regarded as merely equal to other religions.

But the naturalists go much further; for, having, in the highest things, entered upon a wholly erroneous course, they are carried headlong to extremes, either by reason of the weakness of human nature, or because God inflicts upon them the just punishment of their pride. Hence it happens that they no longer consider as certain and permanent those things which are fully understood by the natural light of reason, such as certainly are -- the existence of God, the immaterial nature of the human soul, and its immortality. The sect of the Freemasons, by a similar course of error, is exposed to these same dangers; for, although in a general way they may profess the existence of God, they themselves are witnesses that they do not all maintain this truth with the full assent of the mind or with a firm conviction. Neither do they conceal that this question about God is the greatest source and cause of discords among them; in fact, it is certain that a considerable contention about this same subject has existed among them very lately. But, indeed, the sect allows great liberty to its votaries, so that to each side is given the right to defend its own opinion, either that there is a God, or that there is none; and those who obstinately contend that there is no God are as easily initiated as those who contend that God exists, though, like the pantheists, they have false notions concerning Him: all which is nothing else than taking away the reality, while retaining some absurd representation of the divine nature.

When this greatest fundamental truth has been overturned or weakened, it follows that those truths, also, which are known by the teaching of nature must begin to fall -- namely, that all things were made by the free will of God the Creator; that the world is governed by Providence; that souls do not die; that to this life of men upon the earth there will succeed another and an everlasting life.

When these truths are done away with, which are as the principles of nature and important for knowledge and for practical use, it is easy to see what will become of both public and private morality. We say nothing of those more heavenly virtues, which no one can exercise or even acquire without a special gift and grace of God; of which necessarily no trace can be found in those who reject as unknown the redemption of mankind, the grace of God, the sacraments, and the happiness to be obtained in heaven. We speak now of the duties which have their origin in natural probity. That God is the Creator of the world and its provident Ruler; that the eternal law commands the natural order to be maintained, and forbids that it be disturbed; that the last end of men is a destiny far above human things and beyond this sojourning upon the earth: these are the sources and these the principles of all justice and morality.

If these be taken away, as the naturalists and Freemasons desire, there will immediately be no knowledge as to what constitutes justice and injustice, or upon what principle morality is founded. And, in truth, the teaching of morality which alone finds favor with the sect of Freemasons, and in which they contend that youth should be instructed, is that which they call "civil," and "independent," and "free," namely, that which does not contain any religious belief. But, how insufficient such teaching is, how wanting in soundness, and how easily moved by every impulse of passion, is sufficiently proved by its sad fruits, which have already begun to appear. For, wherever, by removing Christian education, this teaching has begun more completely to rule, there goodness and integrity of morals have begun quickly to perish, monstrous and shameful opinions have grown up, and the audacity of evil deeds has risen to a high degree. All this is commonly complained of and deplored; and not a few of those who by no means wish to do so are compelled by abundant evidence to give not infrequently the same testimony.

Moreover, human nature was stained by original sin, and is therefore more disposed to vice than to virtue. For a virtuous life it is absolutely necessary to restrain the disorderly movements of the soul, and to make the passions obedient to reason. In this conflict human things must very often be despised, and the greatest labors and hardships must be undergone, in order that reason may always hold its sway. But the naturalists and Freemasons, having no faith in those things which we have learned by the revelation of God, deny that our first parents sinned, and consequently think that free will is not at all weakened and inclined to evil. On the contrary, exaggerating rather the power and the excellence of nature, and placing therein alone the principle and rule of justice, they cannot even imagine that there is any need at all of a constant struggle and a perfect steadfastness to overcome the violence and rule of our passions.

Wherefore we see that men are publicly tempted by the many allurements of pleasure; that there are journals and pamphlets with neither moderation nor shame; that stage-plays are remarkable for license; that designs for works of art are shamelessly sought in the laws of a so-called verism; that the contrivances of a soft and delicate life are most carefully devised; and that all the blandishments of pleasure are diligently sought out by which virtue may be lulled to sleep. Wickedly, also, but at the same time quite consistently, do those act who do away with the expectation of the joys of heaven, and bring down all happiness to the level of mortality, and, as it were, sink it in the earth. Of what We have said the following fact, astonishing not so much in itself as in its open expression, may serve as a confirmation. For, since generally no one is accustomed to obey crafty and clever men so submissively as those whose soul is weakened and broken down by the domination of the passions, there have been in the sect of the Freemasons some who have plainly determined and proposed that, artfully and of set purpose, the multitude should be satiated with a boundless license of vice, as, when this had been done, it would easily come under their power and authority for any acts of daring.

What refers to domestic life in the teaching of the naturalists is almost all contained in the following declarations: that marriage belongs to the genus of commercial contracts, which can rightly be revoked by the will of those who made them, and that the civil rulers of the State have power over the matrimonial bond; that in the education of youth nothing is to be taught in the matter of religion as of certain and fixed opinion; and each one must be left at liberty to follow, when he comes of age, whatever he may prefer. To these things the Freemasons fully assent; and not only assent, but have long endeavored to make them into a law and institution. For in many countries, and those nominally Catholic, it is enacted that no marriages shall be considered lawful except those contracted by the civil rite; in other places the law permits divorce; and in others every effort is used to make it lawful as soon as may be. Thus, the time is quickly coming when marriages will be turned into another kind of contract -- that is into changeable and uncertain unions which fancy may join together, and which the same when changed may disunite. (Pope Leo XIII, Humanum Genus, April 20, 1884.)

This was not only a very accurate description of the times in which Pope Leo XIII lived during the ninth decade of the Nineteenth Century, it remains a very prophetic warning of the worse things to come that we have seen come to fruition with our own eyes, including the very “canonization” of this Judeo-Masonic spirit at the “Second” Vatican Council sixty years ago and its never-ending incorporation into every nook and cranny of what most people think is the Catholic Church by putative “popes,” “bishops,” “priests,” and all manner of other officials who have held or are holding now some kind of educational or administrative positions sanctioned by the conciliar revolutionaries.

This spirit has been demonstrated abundantly in word, work, and action over the past sixty years, most recently when Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV himself presided over a display of sacrilegious pagan Hindu and Mohammedan dances featuring displays of the symbols of both false religion in the hideous, thoroughly Judeo-Masonic post-modern Paul VI Audience Hall within the walls of the Occupied Vatican on the West Bank of the Tiber River on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, to conclude a weekend of sixtieth anniversary celebrations of the proclamation of Nostra Aetate at “Second” Vatican Council that was the subject of Robert Francis Prevost: Another Agent of Antichrist's Celebration of Paganism, Inflidelity, and Religious Indifferentism yesterday.

Here is a video link to entire two-hour travesty featuring leaders of every false religion on the planet, including those within the conciliarverse, of course, that I believe is set to start playing just before the start of the diabolic ritual dances: 60th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate.

This hideous display, one of many that have taken place in front of the conciliar “popes,” represents the apotheosis of conciliarism’s false ecumenism with religions that deny the existence of the Most Holy Trinity and, of course, the Sacred Divinity of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus. The display is a visual expression of that is contained in Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, which perhaps not so incidentally, was issued on the five hundred seventy-seventh anniversary of the proclamation of the Council of Florence’s Cantate Domino (see Jorge Signs Off on the One World Ecumenical Religion), and can perhaps be termed a “maturing” of Karol Jozsef Wojtyla/John Paul II’s October 27, 1986, “World Day of Prayer for Peace” in Assisi, Italy.

Rather than restate the obvious about how many canonized saints (including Saint Benedict of Nursia, Saint Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, Saint Francis Xavier) destroyed false idols and encouraged their converts to do so well nor how Pope Saint Gregory the Great praised Saint Benedict for destroying the Temple of Apollo on Monte Cassino nor of how Pope Pius XII praised the work of Saint Boniface in the chopping down a tree worshiped by the pagans in Germany here in the text of this brief commentary (they can be found in the appendix below), perhaps it is useful to remind readers that the enemy of any kind of reconciliation between Christ and Belial and of  “those who hide under the mask of universal tolerance, respect for all religions, and the craving to reconcile the maxims of the Gospel with those of the revolution,” Pope Leo XIII, had a vision of about the devil being given seventy-five to one hundred years to have his way with the world four years before he composed the longer version of the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel warning prophetically about the Antichrist laying hold of the treasures of the Church:

Exactly 33 years to the day prior to the great Miracle of the Sun in Fatima, that is, on October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII had a remarkable vision. When the aged Pontiff had finished celebrating Mass in his private Vatican Chapel, attended by a few Cardinals and members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. He stood there for about 10 minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. Then, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions it be said after all Low Masses everywhere. When asked what had happened, he explained that, as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices - two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to come from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:

The guttural voice, the voice of Satan in his pride, boasted to Our Lord: "I can destroy your Church." The gentle voice of Our Lord: "You can? Then go ahead and do so." Satan: "To do so, I need more time and more power." Our Lord: "How much time? How much power? Satan: "75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service." Our Lord: "You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will. (As found at: The Vision of Pope Leo XIII.)

The jaws of hell will never prevail against Holy Mother Church, she who is the spotless, virginal mystical spouse of her Divine Bridegroom and Invisible Head, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This does not mean that the adversary will not win a few battles now and again in our own lives (perhaps more than we would care to admit, which is why we must make a thorough Examen of Conscience every night before going to sleep) and in the life of the Church Militant on earth. Anyone who does not believe that this has been case in the Church Militant on earth these past sixty-seven years is refusing to see the plain truth that is before their very eyes.

Pope Leo XIII’s longer prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel was not only a literal description of what had been happening in Italy since the Italian Risorgimento began in 1861 and the overthrow of the Kingdom of the Papal States nine years later but also a very prophetic warning of would the devil would do to the Church Militant on earth with the power he had been granted by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to try do the impossible: to destroy the Catholic Church:

O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil.  Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.  Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with  the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven.  That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels.  Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage.  Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory.  That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.  These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered.

The lords of Modernity in the world and of Modernism in the counterfeit church of conciliarism are guided by the same "light," which is the former light bearer himself turned into the Prince of Darkness, Lucifer/Satan. The conciliar revolutionaries are the very embodiment of blasphemy, and they are filled with the pestilent breath of impurity. They have laid hands on the most sacred possession of the Holy Sacrifice to institute the celebration in man in place of the true worship of God and yes, they been set up a false see claiming to represent that of Saint Peter to raise the papal throne as a place to promote their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design as, having struck the Pastor Aeternus, they have scattered the sheep into the catacombs to find the true Sacraments as they are able.

The conciliar “popes,” including Leo XIV, have invited the devil into their midst to give dishonor to the Most Holy Trinity, the true God, by honoring the false idols worshiped by rank idolaters and to state clearly the opposite of all Catholic truth that “religious” leaders build peace, something that Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV did earlier in the day of October 28, 2025, when he spoke to the devil’s servants in false religions at Colosseo courtesy of the “lay movement” named the Saint’ Egidio Community without ever once mentioning the Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. International Meeting for Peace, promoted by the Community of Sant’Egidio, 28 October 2025).

Here is a little memorandum to Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV from Our Lord Himself:

Fear not therefore: better are you than many sparrows. [32] Every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. [33] But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. [34] Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. [35]For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. (Matthew 10: 31-35.)

For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For he that shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation: the Son of man also will be ashamed of him, when he shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. (Mark 8: 36-28)

Our first pope, Saint Peter, answered the Jews with great firmness when they demanded the Apostles "should not speak at all in the name of Jesus":

And calling in the apostles, after they had scourged them, they charged them that they should not speak at all in the name of Jesus; and they dismissed them.

And they indeed went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus. And every day they ceased not in the temple, and from house to house, to teach and preach Christ Jesus. (Acts 5: 40-42.)

If any man speak, let him speak, as the words of God. If any man minister, let him do it, as of the power, which God administereth: that in all things God may be honoured through Jesus Christ: to whom is glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen. Dearly beloved, think not strange the burning heat which is to try you, as if some new thing happened to you; But if you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you be reproached for the name of Christ, you shall be blessed: for that which is of the honour, glory, and power of God, and that which is his Spirit, resteth upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or a railer, or a coveter of other men's things.

But if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For the time is, that judgment should begin at the house of God. And if first at us, what shall be the end of them that believe not the gospel of God? And if the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God, commend their souls in good deeds to the faithful Creator. (1 Peter 4: 11-19)

Alas, the conciliar revolutionaries cannot give what they do not have, and they cannot give witness to a Faith that they do not possess as the Catholic Church, she who is the spotless mystical spouse of her Divine Founder, Invisible Head and Mystical Bridegroom, Christ the King, makes no terms with error and gives no quarter to any kind of false religions at any time:

Just as Christianity cannot penetrate into the soul without making it better, so it cannot enter into public life without establishing order. With the idea of a God Who governs all, Who is infinitely Wise, Good, and Just, the idea of duty seizes upon the consciences of men. It assuages sorrow, it calms hatred, it engenders heroes. If it has transformed pagan society--and that transformation was a veritable resurrection--for barbarism disappeared in proportion as Christianity extended its sway, so, after the terrible shocks which unbelief has given to the world in our days, it will be able to put that world again on the true road, and bring back to order the States and peoples of modern times. But the return of Christianity will not be efficacious and complete if it does not restore the world to a sincere love of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. In the Catholic Church Christianity is Incarnate. It identifies Itself with that perfect, spiritual, and, in its own order, sovereign society, which is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ and which has for Its visible head the Roman Pontiff, successor of the Prince of the Apostles. It is the continuation of the mission of the Savior, the daughter and the heiress of His Redemption. It has preached the Gospel, and has defended it at the price of Its blood, and strong in the Divine assistance and of that immortality which has been promised it, It makes no terms with error but remains faithful to the commands which  it has received, to carry the doctrine of Jesus Christ to the uttermost limits of the world and to the end of time, and to protect it in its inviolable integrity. Legitimate dispenser of the teachings of the Gospel it does not reveal itself only as the consoler and Redeemer of souls, but It is still more the internal source of justice and charity, and the propagator as well as the guardian of true liberty, and of that equality which alone is possible here below. In applying the doctrine of its Divine Founder, It maintains a wise equilibrium and marks the true limits between the rights and privileges of society. The equality which it proclaims does not destroy the distinction between the different social classes. It keeps them intact, as nature itself demands, in order to oppose the anarchy of reason emancipated from Faith, and abandoned to its own devices. The liberty which it gives in no wise conflicts with the rights of truth, because those rights are superior to the demands of liberty. Not does it infringe upon the rights of justice, because those rights are superior to the claims of mere numbers or power. Nor does it assail the rights of God because they are superior to the rights of humanity. (Pope Leo XIII, A Review of His Pontificate, March 19, 1902.)

Her deportment has not changed in the course of history, nor can it change whenever or wherever, under the most diversified forms, she is confronted with the choice: either incense for idols or blood for Christ. The place where you are now present, Eternal Rome, with the remains of a greatness that was and with the glorious memories of its martyrs, is the most eloquent witness to the answer of the Church. Incense was not burned before the idols, and Christian blood flowed and consecrated the ground. But the temples of the gods lie in the cold devastation of ruins howsoever majestic; while at the tombs of the martyrs the faithful of all nations and all tongues fervently repeat the ancient Creed of the Apostles. (Pope Pius XII, Ci Riesce, December 6, 1953.)

Alas, the conciliar revolutionaries cannot give what they do not have, and they cannot give witness to a Faith that they do not possess as the Catholic Church, she who is the spotless mystical spouse of her Divine Founder, Invisible Head and Mystical Bridegroom, Christ the King, makes no terms with error and gives no quarter to any kind of false religions at any time:

Just as Christianity cannot penetrate into the soul without making it better, so it cannot enter into public life without establishing order. With the idea of a God Who governs all, Who is infinitely Wise, Good, and Just, the idea of duty seizes upon the consciences of men. It assuages sorrow, it calms hatred, it engenders heroes. If it has transformed pagan society--and that transformation was a veritable resurrection--for barbarism disappeared in proportion as Christianity extended its sway, so, after the terrible shocks which unbelief has given to the world in our days, it will be able to put that world again on the true road, and bring back to order the States and peoples of modern times. But the return of Christianity will not be efficacious and complete if it does not restore the world to a sincere love of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. In the Catholic Church Christianity is Incarnate. It identifies Itself with that perfect, spiritual, and, in its own order, sovereign society, which is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ and which has for Its visible head the Roman Pontiff, successor of the Prince of the Apostles. It is the continuation of the mission of the Savior, the daughter and the heiress of His Redemption. It has preached the Gospel, and has defended it at the price of Its blood, and strong in the Divine assistance and of that immortality which has been promised it, It makes no terms with error but remains faithful to the commands which  it has received, to carry the doctrine of Jesus Christ to the uttermost limits of the world and to the end of time, and to protect it in its inviolable integrity. Legitimate dispenser of the teachings of the Gospel it does not reveal itself only as the consoler and Redeemer of souls, but It is still more the internal source of justice and charity, and the propagator as well as the guardian of true liberty, and of that equality which alone is possible here below. In applying the doctrine of its Divine Founder, It maintains a wise equilibrium and marks the true limits between the rights and privileges of society. The equality which it proclaims does not destroy the distinction between the different social classes. It keeps them intact, as nature itself demands, in order to oppose the anarchy of reason emancipated from Faith, and abandoned to its own devices. The liberty which it gives in no wise conflicts with the rights of truth, because those rights are superior to the demands of liberty. Not does it infringe upon the rights of justice, because those rights are superior to the claims of mere numbers or power. Nor does it assail the rights of God because they are superior to the rights of humanity. (Pope Leo XIII, A Review of His Pontificate, March 19, 1902.)

Her deportment has not changed in the course of history, nor can it change whenever or wherever, under the most diversified forms, she is confronted with the choice: either incense for idols or blood for Christ. The place where you are now present, Eternal Rome, with the remains of a greatness that was and with the glorious memories of its martyrs, is the most eloquent witness to the answer of the Church. Incense was not burned before the idols, and Christian blood flowed and consecrated the ground. But the temples of the gods lie in the cold devastation of ruins howsoever majestic; while at the tombs of the martyrs the faithful of all nations and all tongues fervently repeat the ancient Creed of the Apostles. (Pope Pius XII, Ci Riesce, December 6, 1953.)

Alas, the conciliar revolutionaries cannot give what they do not have, and they cannot give witness to a Faith that they do not possess as the Catholic Church, she who is the spotless mystical spouse of her Divine Founder, Invisible Head and Mystical Bridegroom, Christ the King, makes no terms with error and gives no quarter to any kind of false religions at any time:

Now, I am no end times prophet—and certainly “end times prophet” who considers himself infallible and omniscient—and I do not present myself as such on these pages whatsoever.

However, permit me just a bit of uncharacteristic speculation since we do not know whether the period of between seventy-five and one hundred years that Our Lord gave the adversary to try to destroy the Church was to start in 1884 or at a later date.

Thus, what if the period is meant to be for seventy-five years, and what if that seventy-five year period began, say, in 1958?

When would those seventy-five years be up?

2033.

Only a genuine mystic might know, and I not any kind of mystic at all.

There are many private revelations, including those of Garabandal, Spain, about end times.

I, for one, am most concerned about my own “end times” as I know that my life might end at any time from an accident of one kind or another, a heart attack or stroke, or some kind of man-made or natural catastrophe. Indeed, only a few genuine mystics or those condemned to death at a date and time certain know when and how they are going to die.t

Thus, as we observe the Vigil of All Saints, which is day of fast for those between the ages of 21-59 and a day of total abstinence for meat for everyone over the age of seven, may we beg Our Lady on this last day of October, the month of her Holy Rosary and of the Holy Angels, to be ever ready to make penance for our sins as the consecrated slaves of her Divine Son’s Most Sacred Heart through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.

Our goal is to gain Heaven as members of the Catholic Church and thus to be in a state of Sanctifying Grace so as to be pleasing to the Most Blessed Trinity in life and to be prepared to meet Our King and Judge, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when we die.

Let us, therefore, without being the least bit presumptuous, beg Our Lady, she who is the Mediatrix of All Graces, to send us the graces to cooperate with the graces she plans to send us at the fearful moment of our Particular Judgment so that we will be not be ashamed by the sight of soul as it is revealed for us to see than and that, filled with faith but without presumption, plead for mercy from the depths of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus even though we have been so abusive of those mercies and so merciless frequently in our own lives towards others.

At that moment so full fear whereupon our eternity depends we must rely upon and be ever confident in the merciful protection of Our Lady, Queen of Mercy and Refuge of Sinners, Saint Joseph, Patron of the Dying, Saint Philomena, our Patroness and our Wonder Worker, Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, our own Guardian Angels, Patron Saints and all the members of the Church Militant in Heaven and the Church Suffering in Purgatory to help us hear these wonderful words of Our Divine Redeemer:

Well done, good and faithful servant; because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." (Matthew: 25: 21.) 

Our Lady of the Rosary and Queen of All Saints, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

All the Saints, pray for us.

Appendix

Saints and Idols

Benedict, who attended to the building up of Christendom, Saint Benedict of Nursia, loved the true God of Divine Revelation and hated even the symbols of false religions. His destruction of the idols in the Temple of Apollo on Monte Cassino, which angered the devil, was praised by Pope Saint Gregory the Great and Pope Pius XII, who quoted from the Pope Saint Gregory's biography of Saint Benedict in Fulgens Radiatur, March 21, 1947:

The castle called Cassino is situated upon the side of a high mountain which riseth in the air about three miles so that it seemed to touch the very heavens. On Monte Cassino stood an old temple where Apollo was worshiped by the foolish country people, according to the custom of the ancient heathen. Round about it, likewise grew groves, in which even until that time, the mad multitude of infidels offered their idolatrous sacrifices. The man of God, coming to that place, broke down the idol, overthrew the altar, burnt the groves and of the temple made a chapel of St. Martin; and where the profane altar had stood, he built a chapel of St. John and, by continual preaching converted many of the people thereabout.

But the old enemy, not bearing this silently, did present himself in the sight of the Father and with great cries complained of the violence he suffered, in so much that the brethren heard him, though they could see nothing. For, as the venerable Father told his disciples, the wicked fiend represented himself to his sight all on fire and, with flaming mouth and flashing eyes, seemed to rage against him. And they they all heard what he said, for first he called him by name, and when the make of God would make no answer, he fell to reviling him. And whereas before he cried, "Benedict, Benedict," and saw he could get no answer, then he cried, "Maledict, not Benedict, what hast thou to do with me, and why dost thou persecute me?" (Pope Saint Gregory the Great, The Life of Saint Benedict, republished by TAN Books and Publishers in 1995, pp. 24-25.)

Then it was that this holy man saw that the time, ordained by God's providence, had come for him to found a family of religious men and to mold them to the perfection of the Gospels. He began under most favorable auspices. "For in those parts he had gathered together a great many in the service of God, so that by the assistance of Our Lord Jesus Christ he built there 12 monasteries, in each of which he put 12 monks with their Superiors, and retained a few with himself whom he thought to instruct further".

But while things started very favorably, as We said, and yielded rich and salutary results, promising still greater in the future, Our saint with the greatest grief of soul, saw a storm breaking over the growing harvest, which an envious spirit had provoked and desires of earthly gain had stirred up. Since Benedict was prompted by divine and not human counsel, and feared lest the envy which had been aroused mainly against himself should wrongfully recoil on his followers, "he let envy take its course, and after he had disposed of the oratories and other buildings -- leaving in them a competent number of brethren with superiors -- he took with him a few monks and went to another place". Trusting in God and relying on His ever present help, he went south and arrived at a fort "called Cassino situated on the side of a high mountain . . .; on this stood an old temple where Apollo was worshipped by the foolish country people, according to the custom of the ancient heathens. Around it likewise grew groves, in which even till that time the mad multitude of infidels used to offer their idolatrous sacrifices. The man of God coming to that place broke the idol, overthrew the altar, burned the groves, and of the temple of Apollo made a chapel of St. Martin. Where the profane altar had stood he built a chapel of St. John; and by continual preaching he converted many of the people thereabout".

Cassino, as all know, was the chief dwelling place and the main theater of the Holy Patriarch's virtue and sanctity. From the summit of this mountain, while practically on all sides ignorance and the darkness of vice kept trying to overshadow and envelop everything, a new light shone, kindled by the teaching and civilization of old and further enriched by the precepts of Christianity; it illumined the wandering peoples and nations, recalled them to truth and directed them along the right path. Thus indeed it may be rightly asserted that the holy monastery built there was a haven and shelter of highest learning and of all the virtues, and in those very troubled times was, "as it were, a pillar of the Church and a bulwark of the faith". (Pope Pius XII, Fulgens Radiatur, March 21, 1947.)

Thus is it was in the time of Catholicism when true popes praised Saint Benedict for the destruction of idols and their temples, knowing that they were places of devil worship that God Himself wanted to be eliminated.

Pope Pius XII, writing in Ecclesiae Fastos, June 5, 1954, described the zeal of Saint Boniface for destroying the temples of the false idols of the Germans:

When by the grace and favor of God this very important task was done, Boniface did not allow himself his well-earned rest. In spite of the fact that he was already burdened by so many cares, and was feeling now his advanced age and realizing that his health was almost broken by so many labors, he prepared himself eagerly for a new and no less difficult enterprise. He turned his attention again to Friesland, that Friesland which had been the first goal of his apostolic travels, where he had later on labored so much. Especially in the northern regions this land was still enveloped in the darkness of pagan error. Zeal that was still youthful led him there to bring forth new sons to Jesus Christ and to bring Christian civilization to new peoples. For he earnestly desired “that in leaving this world he might receive his reward there where he had first begun his preaching and entered upon his meritorious career.” Feeling that his mortal life was drawing to a close, he confided his presentiment to his dear disciple, Bishop Lullus, and asserted that he did not want to await death in idleness. “I yearn to finish the road before me; I cannot call myself back from the path I have chosen. Now the day and hour of my death is at hand. For now I leave the prison of the body and go to my eternal reward. My dear son, . . . insist in turning the people from the paths of error, finish the construction of the basilica already begun at Fulda and there bring my body which has aged with the passage of many years.

When he and his little band had taken departure from the others, “he traveled through all Friesland, ceaselessly preaching the word of God, banishing pagan rites and extirpating immoral heathen customs. With tremendous energy he built churches and overthrew the idols of the temples. He baptized thousands of men, women and children.” After he had arrived in the northern regions of Friesland and was about to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation to a large number of newly baptized converts, a furious mob of pagans suddenly attacked and threatened to kill them with deadly spears and swords. Then the holy prelate serenely advanced and “forbade his followers to resist, saying, ‘Cease fighting, my children, for we are truly taught by Scripture not to return evil for evil, but rather good. The day we have long desired is now at hand; the hour of our death has come of its own accord. Take strength in the Lord, . . . be courageous and do not be afraid of those who kill the body, for they cannot slay an immortal soul. Rejoice in the Lord, fix the anchor of hope in God, Who will immediately give you an eternal reward and a place in the heavenly court with the angelic choirs’.” All were encouraged by these words to embrace martyrdom. They prayed and turned their eyes and hearts to heaven where they hoped to receive soon an eternal reward, and then fell beneath the onslaught of their enemies, who stained with blood the bodies of those who fell in the happy combat of the saints.” At the moment of this martyrdom, Boniface, who was to be beheaded by the sword, “placed the sacred book of the Gospels upon his head as the sword threatened, that he might receive the deadly stroke under it and claim its protection in death, whose reading he loved in life. (Pope Pius XII, Ecclesiae Fastos, June 5, 1954.)

An apostate son of Germany, one who is the very antithesis of the spirit of Saint Boniface, wrote the following about those who destroyed pagan temples:

In the relationship with paganism quite different and varied developments took place. The mission as a whole was not consistent. There were in fact Christian hotheads and fanatics who destroyed temples, who were unable to see paganism as anything other than idolatry that had to be radically eliminated. People saw points in common with philosophy, but not in pagan religion, which was seen as corrupt. (Joseph Ratzinger, God and the World, p. 373.)

Was Saint Boniface guilty of being one of these “Christian hotheads and fanatics who destroyed temples,” men “who were unable to see paganism as anything other than idolatry that had to be radically eliminated”? Ratzinger/Benedict not only blasphemed God as he denied the nature of dogmatic truth and esteemed the symbols and the “values” of false religions. He blasphemed the work and the memory of the very saint who evangelized his own German ancestors, the man who is the very patron saint of Germany, his homeland.

Catholicism or conciliarism. It’s one or the other. There is no middle ground. The Catholic Church cannot produce men in her official capacities who speak these things so promiscuously and without any word of correction for the sake of the honor and glory and majesty of God and for the good of the souls for whom Our Lord shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross.

Catholicism or conciliarism. It’s one or the other. There is no middle ground.

Saint Boniface knew that there was no middle ground between Catholicism and any false religion. He knew that he had to evangelize the non-Catholics to whom he had been sent without engaging in what Pope Pius XI referred to in Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928, as obstinate wranglings with unbelievers.

Pope Pius XII described the great missionary zeal of Saint Boniface in the aforementioned Ecclesiae Fastos:

Winfred, afterwards named Boniface by Pope St. Gregory II, was undoubtedly outstanding among the missionaries for his apostolic zeal and fortitude of soul, combined with gentleness of manner. Together with a small but courageous band of companions, he began that work of evangelization to which he had so long looked forward, setting sail from Britain and landing in Friesland. However, the tyrant who ruled that country vehemently opposed the Christian religion, so that the attempt of Boniface and his companions failed, and after fruitless labors and vain efforts they were obliged to return home.

Nevertheless he was not discouraged. He determined, after a short while, to go to Rome and visit the Apostolic See. There he would humbly ask the Vicar of Jesus Christ himself for a sacred mandate. Fortified with this and by the grace of God he would more readily attain the difficult goal of his most ardent desires. “He came, therefore, without mishap to the home of the Blessed Apostle Peter,” and having venerated with great piety the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, begged for an audience with Our predecessor of holy memory, Gregory II.

He was willingly received by the Pontiff, to whom “he related in detail the occasion of his journey and visit, and manifested the desire which for long had been consuming him. The Holy Pope immediately smiled benignly on him,“encouraged him to confidence in this praiseworthy enterprise, and armed him with apostolic letters and authority.

The receiving of a mandate from the Vicar of Jesus Christ was to Boniface a mark of the divine assistance. Relying on this he feared no difficulties from men or circumstances; and now with the prospect of happier results he hoped to carry out his long cherished design. He traversed various parts of Germany and Friesland. Wherever there were no traces of Christianity, but all was wild and savage, he generously scattered the Gospel seed, and labored and toiled that it might fructify wherever he found Christian communities utterly abandoned for want of a lawful pastor, or being driven by corrupt and ignorant churchmen far from the path of genuine faith and good life, he became the reformer of public and private morality, prudent and keen, skilful and tireless, stirring up and inciting all to virtue.

The success of the apostle was reported to Our predecessor already mentioned, who called him to Rome, and despite the protest of his modesty, “intimated his desire to raise him to the Episcopate, in order that he could with greater firmness correct the erring and bring them back to the way of truth, the greater the authority of his apostolic rank; and would be more acceptable to all in his office of preaching, the more evident it should be that he had been ordained to it by his apostolic superior.”

Therefore he was consecrated “regional bishop” by the Sovereign Pontiff himself, and having returned to the vast territories of his jurisdiction, with the authority which his new office conferred on him, devoted himself with increased earnestness to his apostolic labor.

Just as Boniface was dear to St. Gregory II for the eminence of his virtue and his burning zeal for the spread of Christ’s kingdom, he was likewise to his successors: namely, to Pope St. Gregory III, who, for his conspicuous merits, named him archbishop and honored him with the sacred pallium, giving him the power to establish lawfully or reform the ecclesiastical hierarchy in this territory, and to consecrate new bishops “in order to bring the light of Faith to Germany;” to Pope St. Zachary also, who in an affectionate letter confirmed his office and warmly praised him; finally, to Pope Stephen II, to which Pontiff shortly after his election, when already coming to the end of his life’s span, he wrote a letter full of reverence.

Backed by the authority and support of these Pontiffs, throughout the period of his apostolate Boniface traversed immense regions with ever-growing zeal, shedding the Gospel’s light on lands until then steeped in darkness and error; with untiring effort he brought a new era of Christian civilization to Friesland, Saxony, Austrasia, Thuringia, Franconia, Hesse, Bavaria. All these lands, he tirelessly cultivated and brought forth to that new life which comes from Christ and is fed by His grace. He was also eager to reach “old Saxony,” which he looked on as the birthplace of his ancestors; however, this hope he was unable to realize.

To begin and carry out successfully this tremendous undertaking, he earnestly called for companions from the Benedictine monasteries in his own land, then flourishing in learning, faith and charity, — for monks and nuns too, among whom Lioba was an outstanding example of evangelical perfection. They readily answered his call, and gave him precious help in his mission. And in those same lands there were not wanting those who, once the light of the Gospel had reached them, eagerly embraced the faith, and then strove mightily to bring it to all whom they could reach. Thus were those regions gradually transformed after Boniface, supported, as we have said, by the authority of the Roman Pontiffs, undertook the task; “like a new archimandrite he began everywhere to plant the divine seed and root Out the cockle, to build monasteries and churches, and to put worthy shepherds in charge of them.” Men and women flocked to hear him preach, and hearing him were touched by grace; they abandoned their ancient superstitions, and were set afire with love for the Redeemer; by contact with his teaching their rude and corrupt manners were changed; cleansed by the waters of baptism, they entered an entirely new way of life. Here were erected monasteries for monks and nuns, which were centers not only of religion, but also of Christian civilization, of literature, of liberal arts; there dark and unknown and impenetrable forests were cleared, or completely cut down, and new lands put to cultivation for the benefit of all; in various places dwellings were built, which in the course of centuries would grow to be populous cities.

Thus the untamed Germanic tribes, so jealous of their freedom that they would submit to no one, undismayed even by the mighty weight of Roman arms, and never remaining for long under their sway, once they were visited by the unarmed heralds of the Gospel, docilely yielded to them; they were drawn, stirred and finally penetrated by the beauty and truth of the new doctrine, and at last, embracing the sweet yoke of Jesus Christ, willingly surrendered to Him.

Through the activity of St. Boniface, what was certainly a new era dawned for the German people; new not only for the Christian religion, but also for Christian civilization. Consequently this nation should rightly consider and regard him as their father, to whom they should be ever grateful and whose outstanding virtues they should zealously imitate. “For it is not only almighty God Who is called Father in the spiritual order, but also all those whose teaching and example lead us to the truth and encourage us to be strong in our religion. . .Thus the holy bishop Boniface can be called the father of all Germans, since he was the first to bring them forth in Christ by his holy preaching and to strengthen them by the example of his virtue, then finally to lay down his life for them, greater love than which no man can show.“

Among the various monasteries (and he had many built in those regions) the monastery of Fulda certainly holds first place; to the people it was as a beacon which with its beaming light shows ships the way through the waves of the sea. Here was founded as it were a new city of God, in which, generation after generation, innumerable monks were carefully and diligently instructed in human and divine learning, prepared by prayer and contemplation for their future peaceful battles, and finally sent forth like swarms of bees after they had drawn the honey of wisdom from their sacred and profane books, to impart generously that sweetness far and wide to others. Here none of the sciences of liberal arts were unknown. Ancient manuscripts were eagerly collected, carefully copied, brilliantly illuminated in color, and explained with careful commentaries. Thus it can justly be maintained that the sacred and profane studies Germany so excels in today had their venerable origins here.

What is more, innumerable Benedictines went forth from these monastic walls and with cross and plow, by prayer, that is, and labor, brought the light of Christian civilization to those lands as yet wrapped in darkness. By their long untiring labors, the forests, once the vast domain of wild beasts, almost inaccessible to man, were turned into fruitful land and cultivated fields; and what had been up to that time separate, scattered tribes of rough barbarous customs became in the course of time a nation, tamed by the gentle power of the Gospel and outstanding for its Christianity and civilization. (Pope Pius XII, Ecclesiae Fastos, June 5, 1954.)

Pope Benedict XV wrote a much briefer encyclical letter about Saint Boniface in which he, Pope Benedict XV, emphasized the Apostle of Germany’s unwavering devotion to the Holy See and to Papal Primacy:

9. Right from the beginning of his mission, he communicated with the Holy See via letters and messengers. In this way “he made known to the venerable apostolic father everything which the grace of God accomplished by his means,” and he “sought advice for the Holy See in matters which concerned the daily needs of the Church of God and of the people’s welfare.”[6]

10. Boniface was outstanding in his unique sense of devotion. When he was an old man he revealed this quality to Pope Zachary in a letter: “With the consent and by the order of Pope Gregory, I bound myself by a vow to live in intimate relationship with and at the service of the Apostolic See almost thirty years ago. I would always let the pope know both my joys and my sorrows. This way we could praise God together in happiness, and I could receive the strength of his advice in times of sadness.”[7]

11. We find here and there pairs of documents which attest to the uninterrupted exchange of letters and the remarkable agreement of wills between this valiant preacher and the Holy See, an agreement continued by four successive popes. The popes always helped and favored him. Boniface, on his part, neglected nothing, and abandoned none of his zeal nor efforts to fulfill the mission he received from the popes he venerated and loved as a son.

12. Pope Gregory, noting Boniface’s achievements, decided to confer the highest rank of the priesthood on him and to elevate him to the episcopacy of the whole province of Germany. Boniface, who had earlier resisted this honor from his dear friend Willibald “accepted and obeyed because he did not dare oppose the desire of such a great pope.”‘[8] The pope added to this great honor another special favor worthy of note to German posterity when he awarded the friendship of the Holy See to Boniface and to all his subjects forever. Gregory had already given proof of this friendship when he wrote to kings, to princes, to bishops, to abbots, to all the clergy, and to the people, whether they were barbarians or recent converts. He invited them “to give their approval and their co-operation to such a great servant of God, sent by the Catholic and Apostolic Church to enlighten the nations.”[9]

13. This special friendship between Boniface and the Holy See was confirmed by the next pope, Gregory III, when Boniface sent messengers to him on the occasion of his election. “The messengers demonstrated to the new pope the pact of friendship between his predecessor and Boniface and his companions” and “the messengers assured him that he could depend on his humble servant in the future.” Finally, they asked “just as they had been instructed, that the pope’s subject might again benefit from friendship and union with the holy pope and the Apostolic See.”[10] The pope received the messengers favorably and gave them new honors for Boniface, among them “the pallium of the archiepiscopate. Then he sent them back to their own country laden with gifts and relics of saints.”

14. We can hardly recount “the gratitude of this apostle for these signs of affection nor express the comfort which the pope’s esteem brought him. Inspired by the power of divine mercy”[11] the saintly man received the strength and the heart to undertake the greatest and most difficult things: to build new churches, hospitals, monasteries, and strongholds; to travel to new countries preaching the gospel; to establish new dioceses and to reform old ones, removing the vices, the schisms, and the errors; to sow everywhere true dogma and virtues, the seeds of Christian faith and life; and even to civilize barbaric peoples made savage by inhumanity. This he achieved by using pious disciples and many persons summoned from England.

15. Although already ennobled by remarkable and holy works, and despite attacks, misfortunes, worries, and advancing age, he did not give way to pride nor to the love of leisure. He always kept in mind his mission and the orders of the pope. Thus, “because of his intimate union with the pope and all the clergy, he came to Rome a third time in the company of his disciples to speak with the Apostolic Father and to recommend himself to the prayers of the saints because he was already advanced in years.”[12] Again this time the pope received him graciously and again “showered him with gifts and relics of the saints.” The pope also gave him precious and important letters of recommendation some of which have come down to us.

16. The two Gregories were succeeded by Zachary, heir to their pontificates and to their concern for the Germans and their apostle. Not content to renew the ancient union, he increased it by showing more confidence and good will toward Boniface. Boniface acted the same way toward Zachary, as the number of messengers and of friendly letters which were exchanged show us. Among other things, which would be too lengthy to recall, the pope addressed his representative in these friendly terms: “Beloved brother, know that we cherish you to the point of wanting to have you with us every day, to be our associate, as a minister of God, and steward of the Churches of Christ.[13] It was therefore appropriate that the apostle of Germany wrote a few years before his death to Pope Stephen, Zachary’s successor: “The disciple of the Roman Church resolutely asks from the bottom of his heart friendship and union with the Holy See.”[14]

17. Moved by a very strong faith and burning with love and piety, Boniface seems to have drawn his unique and faithful union to the Holy See first from the contemplative life of monasticism in his own country. Later, when he

was about to undertake the difficulties of the apostolic life, he promised this fidelity at Rome by an oath at the tomb of Saint Peter, prince of the apostles. He exhibited this fidelity in the midst of dangers and struggles as the mark of his apostleship and the rule of his mission. He never relented from recommending this fidelity to all those for whom he was a father in Christ. In fact, he was so diligent that it seemed he desired to leave it to them as an inheritance.

18. Thus, advanced in years and worn out by his work, he spoke of himself very humbly: “I am the least and the worst of the representatives which the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church sent to preach the Gospel.Ó[15] But he held this Roman mission in high esteem and he enjoyed calling himself “the German representative of the Holy Roman Church.” He wanted to be the devoted servant of the popes, and their humble and obedient disciple.

19. He fixed deeply in his mind and scrupulously observed what the martyr Cyprian, the witness of the ancient tradition of the Church, affirmed: “there is one God and one Christ; There is one Church and one founded on Peter by the word of the Lord.”[16] That is what the great Doctor of the Church Ambrose also preached: “Where Peter is, there is the Church. Where the Church is, there is no death but life eternal.”[17] Finally Jerome very wisely taught: “The welfare of the Church depends on the dignity of the papacy. If we do not give the pope sovereign and independent power, there will be as many schisms in the Church as there are priests.”[18]

20. The tragic history of old discords proves this to us. The evils which came from them confirms it. It is of little benefit to recall those evils at the present time when we are burdened with new disasters and bloody massacres. We should deplore them all and leave them in eternal oblivion if possible.

21. Rather let us celebrate the ancient unity which bound Boniface, the first apostle of Germany, and the Germans themselves to the Holy See. His mission was the source of faith, of prosperity, and of civilization for the Germans. We could recall many other worthwhile details; but we have said enough-maybe even too much-for it is so well-known that a long speech filled with proof is not necessary. We enjoyed sharing these old memories with you in order to gather consolation to bear the present more courageously. We are strengthened by the hope of future unity and of attachment to the Church in “the fullness of peace and the bounds of charity.”

22. It is pleasant for us to recall the examples and the remarkable virtues of Boniface, and especially the friendship and unity which we wanted to celebrate in this letter. Yes, he lives among you; indeed he lives in glory. He lives as “the representative of the Roman Catholic Church for Germany.” He still performs his mission by his prayers, his example, and the memory of his works by which “he who is dead still speaks.” He as a faithful prophet and herald of Our Lord and Savior Jesus, seems to exhort and invite his people to unity with the Roman Church. Christ himself beseeches his people “to be one.” (Pope Benedict XV, In Hac Tanta, March 19, 1919.)

Pope Benedict XV thus used Saint Boniface to gently remind Protestants that the Apostle of Germany was entirely devoted to the papacy, which is why it is worth repeating two of the paragraphs quoted above:

18. Thus, advanced in years and worn out by his work, he spoke of himself very humbly: “I am the least and the worst of the representatives which the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church sent to preach the Gospel.Ó[15] But he held this Roman mission in high esteem and he enjoyed calling himself “the German representative of the Holy Roman Church.” He wanted to be the devoted servant of the popes, and their humble and obedient disciple.

19. He fixed deeply in his mind and scrupulously observed what the martyr Cyprian, the witness of the ancient tradition of the Church, affirmed: “there is one God and one Christ; There is one Church and one founded on Peter by the word of the Lord.”[16] That is what the great Doctor of the Church Ambrose also preached: “Where Peter is, there is the Church. Where the Church is, there is no death but life eternal.”[17] Finally Jerome very wisely taught: “The welfare of the Church depends on the dignity of the papacy. If we do not give the pope sovereign and independent power, there will be as many schisms in the Church as there are priests.”[18]  (Pope Benedict XV, In Hac Tanta, March 14, 1919.)

Pope Benedict XV thus called Protestants to “unity with the Roman church so as to be one with Our Lord and, at the same time, he put to the contention made by the late German “new theologian, Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, the papacy had been exercised “differently” in the First Millennium than in the Second. It is impossible to reconcile what Pope Benedict XV wrote in In Hac Tanta with what the late Antipope Benedict XVI taught throughout the course of his seventy-one and one-half years of priestly apostasy.

Saint Francis Xavier, who had been born to a noble family in Navarre, Spain, on April 7, 1506, was not to return to Japan again after he left in 1551. He was welcomed back in Goa, India, with great enthusiasm by the Catholic converts he had made there before his journey to Japan. Saint Francis, who meet Saint Ignatius of Loyola when they were students at the University of Paris and was convinced by his future Father-General to give up his life of partying and pretense, had distinguished himself in Goa for seeking the unconditional conversion of souls there--and for his unstinting zeal for the honor and glory and majesty of God in smashing to smithereens the symbols of false religions that have been esteemed by Jorge Mario Bergoglio and his predecessr, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI and, of course, by Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II.

Saint Francis described his work in Goa--and the effects of paganism on the people there--in letters he sent to his superiors in Rome:

As to the numbers who become Christians, you may understand them from this, that it often happens to me to be hardly able to use my hands from the fatigue of baptizing: often in a single day I have baptized whole villages. Sometimes I have lost my voice and strength altogether with repeating again and again the Credo and the other forms. The fruit that is reaped by the baptism of infants, as well as by the instruction of children and others, is quite incredible. These children, I trust heartily, by the grace of God, will be much better than their fathers. They show an ardent love for the Divine law, and an extraordinary zeal for learning our holy religion and imparting it to others. Their hatred for idolatry is marvellous. They get into feuds with the heathen about it, and whenever their own parents practise it, they reproach them and come off to tell me at once. Whenever I hear of any act of idolatrous worship, I go to the place with a large band of these children, who very soon load the devil with a greater amount of insult and abuse than he has lately received of honor and worship from their parents, relations, and acquaintances. The children run at the idols, upset them, dash them down, break them to pieces, spit on them, trample on them, kick them about, and in short heap on them every possible outrage. (St. Francis Xavier: Letter from India, to the Society of Jesus at Rome, 1543.)

We have in these parts a class of men among the pagans who are called Brahmins. They keep up the worship of the gods, the superstitious rites of religion, frequenting the temples and taking care of the idols. They are as perverse and wicked a set as can anywhere be found, and I always apply to them the words of holy David, "from an unholy race and a wicked and crafty man deliver me, O Lord." They are liars and cheats to the very backbone. Their whole study is, how to deceive most cunningly the simplicity and ignorance of the people. They give out publicly that the gods command certain offerings to be made to their temples, which offerings are simply the things that the Brahmins themselves wish for, for their own maintenance and that of their wives, children, and servants. Thus they make the poor folk believe that the images of their gods eat and drink, dine and sup like men, and some devout persons are found who really offer to the idol twice a day, before dinner and supper, a certain sum of money. The Brahmins eat sumptuous meals to the sound of drums, and make the ignorant believe that the gods are banqueting. When they are in need of any supplies, and even before, they give out to the people that the gods are angry because the things they have asked for have not been sent, and that if the people do not take care, the gods will punish them by slaughter, disease, and the assaults of the devils. And the poor ignorant creatures, with the fear of the gods before them, obey them implicitly. These Brahmins have barely a tincture of literature, but they make up for their poverty in learning by cunning and malice. Those who belong to these parts are very indignant with me for exposing their tricks. Whenever they talk to me with no one by to hear them they acknowledge that they have no other patrimony but the idols, by their lies about which they procure their support from the people. They say that I, poor creature as I am, know more than all of them put together.

They often send me a civil message and presents, and make a great complaint when I send them all back again. Their object is to bribe me to connive at their evil deeds. So they declare that they are convinced that there is only one God, and that they will pray to Him for me. And I, to return the favor, answer whatever occurs to me, and then lay bare, as far as I can, to the ignorant people whose blind superstitions have made them their slaves, their imposture and tricks, and this has induced many to leave the worship of the false gods, and eagerly become Christians. If it were not for the opposition of the Brahmins, we should have them all embracing the religion of Jesus Christ. (St. Francis Xavier: Letter from India, to the Society of Jesus at Rome, 1543.)

My own and only Father in the Heart of Christ, I think that the many letters from this place which have lately been sent to Rome will inform you how prosperously the affairs of religion go on in these parts, through your prayers and the good bounty of God. But there seem to be certain things which I ought myself to speak about to you; so I will just touch on a few points relating to these parts of the world which are so distant from Rome. In the first place, the whole race of the Indians, as far as I have been able to see, is very barbarous; and it does not like to listen to anything that is not agreeable to its own manners and customs, which, as I say, are barbarous. It troubles itself very little to learn anything about divine things and things which concern salvation. Most of the Indians are of vicious disposition, and are adverse to virtue. Their instability, levity, and inconstancy of mind are incredible; they have hardly any honesty, so inveterate are their habits of sin and cheating. We have hard work here, both in keeping the Christians up to the mark and in converting the heathen. And, as we are your children, it is fair that on this account you should take great care of us and help us continually by your prayers to God. You know very well what a hard business it is to teach people who neither have any knowledge of God nor follow reason, but think it a strange and intolerable thing to be told to give up their habits of sin, which have now gained all the force of nature by long possession. Saint Francis Xavier, Letter on the Missions,  to St. Ignatius de Loyola, 1549.)

May the grace and love of Christ our Lord always help and favor us ! Amen. . . . Now to speak of what I know you are most anxious to hear about the state of religion in India. In this region of Travancore, where I now am, God has drawn very many to the faith of His Son Jesus Christ. In the space of one month I made Christians of more than ten thousand. This is the method I followed. As soon as I arrived in any heathen village where they had sent for me to give them baptism, I gave orders for all, men, women, and children, to be collected in one place. Then, beginning with the first elements of the Christian faith, I taught them there is one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and at the same time, calling on the three divine Persons and one God, I made them each make three times the sign of the Cross; then, putting on a surplice, I began to recite in a loud voice and in their own language the form of the general Confession, the Apostle's Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, and the Salve Regina. Two years ago I translated all these prayers into the language of the country, and learned them by heart. I recited them slowly so that all of every age and condition followed me in them.

Then I began to explain shortly the articles of the Creed and the Ten Commandments in the language of the country. Where the people appeared to me sufficiently instructed to receive baptism, I ordered them all to ask God's pardon publicly for the sins of their past life, and to do this with a loud voice and in the presence of their neighbors still hostile to the Christian religion, in order to touch the hearts of the heathen and confirm the faith of the good. All the heathen are filled with admiration at the holiness of the law of God, and express the greatest shame at having lived so long in ignorance of the true God. They willingly hear about the mysteries and rules of the Christian religion, and treat me, poor sinner as I am, with the greatest respect. Many, however, put away from them with hardness of heart the truth which they well know.

When I have done my instruction, I ask one by one all those who desire baptism if they believe without hesitation each of the articles of the faith. All immediately, holding their arms in the form of the Cross, declare with one voice that they believe all entirely. Then at last I baptize them in due form, and I give to each his name written on a ticket. After their baptism the new Christians go back to their houses and bring me their wives and families for baptism. When all are baptized I order all the temples of their false gods to be destroyed and all the idols to be broken in pieces. I can give you no idea of the joy I feel in seeing this done, witnessing the destruction of the idols by the very people who but lately adored them. In all the towns and villages I leave the Christian doctrine in writing in the language of the country, and I prescribe at the same time the manner in which it is to be taught in the morning and evening schools. When I have done all this in one place, I pass to another, and so on successively to the rest. In this way I go all round the country, bringing the natives into the fold of Jesus Christ, and the joy that I feel in this is far too great to be expressed in a letter, or even by word of mouth....

You may judge from this alone, my very dear brothers, what great and fertile harvests this uncultivated field promises to produce. This part of the world is so ready, so teeming with shooting corn, as I may say, that I hope within this very year to make as many as a hundred thousand Christians....

And now what ought you to do when you see the minds of these people so well prepared to receive the seed of the Gospel? May God make known to you His most holy will, and give you at the same time strength and courage to carry it out; and may He in His Providence send as many as possible of you into this country!

The least and most lonely of your brothers, Francis

From Cochin, January 27th, 1545.

May the grace and love of Jesus Christ our Lord always help and favor us! Amen. . . .

. . . Nearly two hundred miles beyond Molucca there is a region which is called Maurica. Here, many years ago, a great number of the inhabitants became Christians, but having been totally neglected and left, as it were, orphans by the death of the priests who taught them, they have returned to their former barbarous and savage state. It is in every way a land full of perils, and especially to be dreaded by strangers on account of the great ferocity of the natives and the many kinds of poison which it is there common to give in what is eaten and drunk. The fear of this has deterred priests from abroad from going there to help the islanders.

I have considered in what great necessity they are, with no one to instruct them or give them the sacraments, and I have come to think that I ought to provide for their salvation even at the risk of my life. I have resolved to go thither as soon as possible, and to offer my life to the risk. Truly I have put all my trust in God, and I wish as much as is in me to obey the precept of our Lord Jesus Christ: "He that will save his life shall lose it; and he that shall lose his life for My sake shall find it."[4] Words easy in thought but not easy in practice. When the hour comes when life must be lost that you may find it in God, when danger of death is on you, and you see plainly that to obey God you must sacrifice life, then, I know not how, it comes to pass that what before seemed a very clear precept is involved in incredible darkness.... It is in such circumstances that we see clearly how great after all our weakness is, how frail and unstable is our human nature here.

Many friends of mine have prayed me earnestly not to go amongst so barbarous a people. Afterwards, when they saw they gained nothing by prayers or tears, they brought me each what he thought the best possible antidote against poison of all sorts; but I have unrelentingly sent them all back, lest after burdening myself with medicines, I should have another burden which before I was without, that of fear. I had put all my hope in the protection of Divine Providence, and I thought I ought to be on my guard, lest relying on human aid I should lose something of my trust in God. So I thanked them all and earnestly entreated them to pray God for me, for that no more certain remedy could possibly be found....  From Amboyna (May, 1546)

Saint Francis worked as a Catholic, not as a conciliar revolutionary who believes that the Catholic Church and false religions that worship the devil must "peacefully coexist."

Saint Francis worked as a Catholic, not as a conciliar revolutionary who believes that the Catholic Church and false religions that worship the devil must "peacefully coexist."

Robert Leo Prevost/Leo XIV, your celebration of Nostra Aetate is condemned by the witness of these saints.