by
Thomas A. Droleskey
An "upright man." That's how the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, Bishop Bernard Fellay, characterized the currently reigning conciliar "pontiff," Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI (see Rorate Caeli).
"An upright man?"
This is a very interesting phrase to use to describe a man, Ratzinger/Benedict, who has personally esteemed the symbols of false religions with his own priestly hands and has praised the symbols and places of worship of those false religions and who has made a mockery of the nature of dogmatic truth and who has just recently praised the evolutionist and pantheist named Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
An "upright man," Bishop Fellay?
The Catholic Church teaches that one who does and says and believes that things done and said and believed by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict can be considered an "upright man?" No, the Catholic Church teaches no such thing. She teaches precisely the opposite.
An "upright man" does not contend that the modernized version of the Immemorial Mass of Tradition and the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service are but "two forms" of the "one" Roman Rite.
An "upright man" does not praise a book, the late Monsignor Klaus Gamber's The Reform of the Roman Liturgy, which contends that the Novus Ordo service represented a rupture, a break from the "Mass of the preceding one thousand years" and then contends in a Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, July 7, 2007, that no such rupture took place.
An "upright man" does not call a mountain "sacred" to the Tendei sect of Buddhism, Mount Hiei, as "sacred."
An "upright man" does not refer to mosques as "jewels" that stand out across the face of the earth or as "sacred" places.
An "upright man" does not promote the philosophically absurd and dogmatically condemned "hermeneutic of continuity and discontinuity."
An "upright man" does not reject the official philosophy of the Catholic Church, Scholasticism, in favor of the condemned precepts of the New Theology.
An "upright man" does not reject the "ecumenism of the return."
An "upright man" does not participate in liturgical travesties involve aboriginal rites.
An "upright man" does not participate in inter-religious prayer services without ever mentioning the Holy Name of the Divine Redeemer, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
An "upright man" does not wish a "blessing on all your work and also for you" to a civil leader who has issued executive orders that have resulted in the execution of innocent preborn human beings in their mothers' wombs under cover of the civil law (see A "Blessing" on a Murderer and His Work).
An "upright man" does "bless" Methodists and Buddhists and Baptists.
An "upright man" does not praise Pierre Teilhard de Chardin?
An "upright man" does not deny the Natural Law right of the civil state, reaffirmed by the Catholic Church time and time again, including in the Catechism of the Council of Trent [Roman Catechism: Roman Catechism:
Another kind of lawful slaying belongs to the civil authorities, to whom is entrusted power of life and death, by the legal and judicious exercise of which they punish the guilty and protect the innocent. The just use of this power, far from involving the crime of murder, is an act of paramount obedience to this Commandment which prohibits murder. The end of the Commandment� is the preservation and security of human life. Now the punishments inflicted by the civil authority, which is the legitimate avenger of crime, naturally tend to this end, since they give security to life by repressing outrage and violence. Hence these words of David: In the morning I put to death all the wicked of the land, that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord], to impose the death penalty upon malefactors who have been adjudged guilty of heinous capital crimes after a full and fair administration of the due process of law.
An "upright man" does not praise the nonexistent "ability" of false religions to "contribute" to the "building" of a better world.
An "upright man" does not seek to undermine the work of the Mother of God in her beloved country, Mexico, by claiming that the very false religions and superstitions she sought to eradicate by her apparitions to Juan Diego an Tepeyac Hill on December 9 and 12, 1531, have the "right" to make themselves publicly manifest in her country:
In his remarks to Ambassador Ling, the Holy Father spoke about the nature of religious freedom, saying, "The truth is that religious freedom is not just one more right among many others, nor a privilege claimed by the Catholic Church. ... It belongs to the essence of each individual, of each people and each nation."
Benedict XVI also stated that religious freedom cannot be restricted to "the mere coexistence of citizens who practice their religion privately, or limited to the free exercise of worship." Rather, he said, "it must ensure that believers have full guarantees of being able to express their religious beliefs, at the same time making their contribution to forging the common good and a just social order in all aspects of life, with no restriction or coercion.
"In this context the Catholic Church, while she supports and encourages this positive vision of the role of religion in society, does not wish to interfere in the due autonomy of civil institutions." (Antipope encourages religious freedom in Mexico)
An "upright man" would remind everyone that
the Americas belong to Our Lady, not to religious liberty.
An "upright man" does not support the nonexistent "right" of adherents of false religions to express their false beliefs publicly. He does not reject the immutable obligation of the civil state to recognize the true religion and to yield to her in all that pertains to the good of souls as its officials seek to pursue the common temporal good in light of man's Last End, the possession of the glory of the Beatific Vision of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost for all eternity. An "upright man" recognizes that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ does not want the souls for whom He shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross to live their lives awash in a cacophony of error and confusion. He wants them to have their souls soothed by His Sacred Truths, not by injurious babblings.
An "upright man" accepts without question each of these papal condemnations of the falsehood of religions liberty that is embraced by the not-so-upright man, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI:
"The necessary effect of the constitution decreed by the Assembly is to annihilate the Catholic Religion and, with her, the obedience owed to Kings. With this purpose it establishes as a right of man in society this absolute liberty that not only insures the right to be indifferent to religious opinions, but also grants full license to freely think, speak, write and even print whatever one wishes on religious matters – even the most disordered imaginings. It is a monstrous right, which the Assembly claims, however, results from equality and the natural liberties of all men.
"But what could be more unwise than to establish among men this equality and this uncontrolled liberty, which stifles all reason, the most precious gift nature gave to man, the one that distinguishes him from animals?
"After creating man in a place filled with delectable things, didn’t God threaten him with death should he eat the fruit of the tree of good and evil? And with this first prohibition didn’t He establish limits to his liberty? When, after man disobeyed the command and thereby incurred guilt, didn’t God impose new obligations on him through Moses? And even though he left to man’s free will the choice between good and evil, didn’t God provide him with precepts and commandments that could save him “if he would observe them”? …
"Where then, is this liberty of thinking and acting that the Assembly grants to man in society as an indisputable natural right? Is this invented right not contrary to the right of the Supreme Creator to whom we owe our existence and all that we have? Can we ignore the fact that man was not created for himself alone, but to be helpful to his neighbor? …
"Man should use his reason first of all to recognize his Sovereign Maker, honoring Him and admiring Him, and submitting his entire person to Him. For, from his childhood, he should be submissive to those who are superior to him in age; he should be governed and instructed by their lessons, order his life according to their laws of reason, society and religion. This inflated equality and liberty, therefore, are for him, from the moment he is born, no more than imaginary dreams and senseless words." (Pope Pius VI, Brief Quod aliquantum, March 10, 1791; Religious Liberty, a “Monstrous Right").
The Catholic Church: For how can We tolerate with equanimity that the Catholic religion, which France received in the first ages of the Church, which was confirmed in that very kingdom by the blood of so many most valiant martyrs, which by far the greatest part of the French race professes, and indeed bravely and constantly defended even among the most grave adversities and persecutions and dangers of recent years, and which, finally, that very dynasty to which the designated king belongs both professes and has defended with much zeal - that this Catholic, this most holy religion, We say, should not only not be declared to be the only one in the whole of France supported by the bulwark of the laws and by the authority of the Government, but should even, in the very restoration of the monarchy, be entirely passed over? But a much more grave, and indeed very bitter, sorrow increased in Our heart - a sorrow by which We confess that We were crushed, overwhelmed and torn in two - from the twenty-second article of the constitution in which We saw, not only that "liberty of religion and of conscience" (to use the same words found in the article) were permitted by the force of the constitution, but also that assistance and patronage were promised both to this liberty and also to the ministers of these different forms of "religion". There is certainly no need of many words, in addressing you, to make you fully recognize by how lethal a wound the Catholic religion in France is struck by this article. For when the liberty of all "religions" is indiscriminately asserted, by this very fact truth is confounded with error and the holy and immaculate Spouse of Christ, the Church, outside of which there can be no salvation, is set on a par with the sects of heretics and with Judaic perfidy itself. For when favour and patronage is promised even to the sects of heretics and their ministers, not only their persons, but also their very errors, are tolerated and fostered: a system of errors in which is contained that fatal and never sufficiently to be deplored HERESY which, as St. Augustine says (de Haeresibus, no.72), "asserts that all heretics proceed correctly and tell the truth: which is so absurd that it seems incredible to me." (Pope Pius VII, Post Tam Diuturnas, April 29, 1814, POST TAM DIUTURNAS)
"This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion from it. "But the death of the soul is worse than freedom of error," as Augustine was wont to say. When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the narrow path of truth, their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to ruin. Then truly "the bottomless pit" is open from which John saw smoke ascending which obscured the sun, and out of which locusts flew forth to devastate the earth. Thence comes transformation of minds, corruption of youths, contempt of sacred things and holy laws -- in other words, a pestilence more deadly to the state than any other. Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities renowned for wealth, dominion, and glory perished as a result of this single evil, namely immoderate freedom of opinion, license of free speech, and desire for novelty.
Here We must include that harmful and never sufficiently denounced freedom to publish any writings whatever and disseminate them to the people, which some dare to demand and promote with so great a clamor. We are horrified to see what monstrous doctrines and prodigious errors are disseminated far and wide in countless books, pamphlets, and other writings which, though small in weight, are very great in malice. We are in tears at the abuse which proceeds from them over the face of the earth. Some are so carried away that they contentiously assert that the flock of errors arising from them is sufficiently compensated by the publication of some book which defends religion and truth. Every law condemns deliberately doing evil simply because there is some hope that good may result. Is there any sane man who would say poison ought to be distributed, sold publicly, stored, and even drunk because some antidote is available and those who use it may be snatched from death again and again? (Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos, August 15, 1832.)
"But, although we have not omitted often to proscribe and reprobate the chief errors of this kind, yet the cause of the Catholic Church, and the salvation of souls entrusted to us by God, and the welfare of human society itself, altogether demand that we again stir up your pastoral solicitude to exterminate other evil opinions, which spring forth from the said errors as from a fountain. Which false and perverse opinions are on that ground the more to be detested, because they chiefly tend to this, that that salutary influence be impeded and (even) removed, which the Catholic Church, according to the institution and command of her Divine Author, should freely exercise even to the end of the world -- not only over private individuals, but over nations, peoples, and their sovereign princes; and (tend also) to take away that mutual fellowship and concord of counsels between Church and State which has ever proved itself propitious and salutary, both for religious and civil interests.
"For you well know, venerable brethren, that at this time men are found not a few who, applying to civil society the impious and absurd principle of "naturalism," as they call it, dare to teach that "the best constitution of public society and (also) civil progress altogether require that human society be conducted and governed without regard being had to religion any more than if it did not exist; or, at least, without any distinction being made between the true religion and false ones." And, against the doctrine of Scripture, of the Church, and of the Holy Fathers, they do not hesitate to assert that "that is the best condition of civil society, in which no duty is recognized, as attached to the civil power, of restraining by enacted penalties, offenders against the Catholic religion, except so far as public peace may require." From which totally false idea of social government they do not fear to foster that erroneous opinion, most fatal in its effects on the Catholic Church and the salvation of souls, called by Our Predecessor, Gregory XVI, an "insanity," viz., that "liberty of conscience and worship is each man's personal right, which ought to be legally proclaimed and asserted in every rightly constituted society; and that a right resides in the citizens to an absolute liberty, which should be restrained by no authority whether ecclesiastical or civil, whereby they may be able openly and publicly to manifest and declare any of their ideas whatever, either by word of mouth, by the press, or in any other way." But, while they rashly affirm this, they do not think and consider that they are preaching "liberty of perdition;" and that "if human arguments are always allowed free room for discussion, there will never be wanting men who will dare to resist truth, and to trust in the flowing speech of human wisdom; whereas we know, from the very teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, how carefully Christian faith and wisdom should avoid this most injurious babbling."
"And, since where religion has been removed from civil society, and the doctrine and authority of divine revelation repudiated, the genuine notion itself of justice and human right is darkened and lost, and the place of true justice and legitimate right is supplied by material force, thence it appears why it is that some, utterly neglecting and disregarding the surest principles of sound reason, dare to proclaim that "the people's will, manifested by what is called public opinion or in some other way, constitutes a supreme law, free from all divine and human control; and that in the political order accomplished facts, from the very circumstance that they are accomplished, have the force of right." But who, does not see and clearly perceive that human society, when set loose from the bonds of religion and true justice, can have, in truth, no other end than the purpose of obtaining and amassing wealth, and that (society under such circumstances) follows no other law in its actions, except the unchastened desire of ministering to its own pleasure and interests?" (Pope Pius IX, Quanta Cura, December 8, 1864.)
"To hold, therefore, that there is no difference in matters of religion between forms that are unlike each other, and even contrary to each other, most clearly leads in the end to the rejection of all religion in both theory and practice. And this is the same thing as atheism, however it may differ from it in name. Men who really believe in the existence of God must, in order to be consistent with themselves and to avoid absurd conclusions, understand that differing modes of divine worship involving dissimilarity and conflict even on most important points cannot all be equally probable, equally good, and equally acceptable to God.
"So, too, the liberty of thinking, and of publishing, whatsoever each one likes, without any hindrance, is not in itself an advantage over which society can wisely rejoice. On the contrary, it is the fountain-head and origin of many evils. Liberty is a power perfecting man, and hence should have truth and goodness for its object. But the character of goodness and truth cannot be changed at option. These remain ever one and the same, and are no less unchangeable than nature itself. If the mind assents to false opinions, and the will chooses and follows after what is wrong, neither can attain its native fullness, but both must fall from their native dignity into an abyss of corruption. Whatever, therefore, is opposed to virtue and truth may not rightly be brought temptingly before the eye of man, much less sanctioned by the favor and protection of the law. A well-spent life is the only way to heaven, whither all are bound, and on this account the State is acting against the laws and dictates of nature whenever it permits the license of opinion and of action to lead minds astray from truth and souls away from the practice of virtue. To exclude the Church, founded by God Himself, from the business of life, from the making of laws, from the education of youth, from domestic society is a grave and fatal error. A State from which religion is banished can never be well regulated; and already perhaps more than is desirable is known of the nature and tendency of the so-called civil philosophy of life and morals. The Church of Christ is the true and sole teacher of virtue and guardian of morals. She it is who preserves in their purity the principles from which duties flow, and, by setting forth most urgent reasons for virtuous life, bids us not only to turn away from wicked deeds, but even to curb all movements of the mind that are opposed to reason, even though they be not carried out in action." (Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei, November 1, 1885.)
Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI believes in not a word of these papal statements. Not a single, solitary word. He is no "upright man," Bishop Fellay. Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI does not believe that Catholicism and Catholicism alone is the foundation of personal and social order. A man who does not believe that Catholicism is the one and only foundation of personal and social order is no "upright man" at all. Such a man is an enemy of the souls for whom Our Lord shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood to redeem.
Silvio Cardinal Antoniano explained in very succinct terms that an upright man is a good Catholic:
The more closely the temporal power of a nation aligns itself with the spiritual, and the more it fosters and promotes the latter, by so much the more it contributes to the conservation of the commonwealth. For it is the aim of the ecclesiastical authority by the use of spiritual means, to form good Christians in accordance with its own particular end and object; and in doing this it helps at the same time to form good citizens, and prepares them to meet their obligations as members of a civil society. This follows of necessity because in the City of God, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, a good citizen and an upright man are absolutely one and the same thing. How grave therefore is the error of those who separate things so closely united, and who think that they can produce good citizens by ways and methods other than those which make for the formation of good Christians. For, let human prudence say what it likes and reason as it pleases, it is impossible to produce true temporal peace and tranquillity by things repugnant or opposed to the peace and happiness of eternity. (Silvio Cardinal Antoniano, quoted by Pope Pius XI in Divini Illius Magistri, December 31, 1929.)
No good Catholic believes in the things promoted by the not-so-upright protector of perverted "bishops" and "priests," Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, who has offended the honor and majesty and glory of the Most Blessed Trinity repeatedly.
Today is First Saturday in the month of Our Lady's Immaculate Heart, the month of August, and the sixth Saturday in Bishop Robert F. McKenna's Rosary Crusade. We meditate today upon the mystery of Our Lord's Agony in the Garden, praying for the Virtue of Resignation to the Will of God.
As noted in yesterday's commentary, Revealing His Inner Teilhard Yet Again, this is the time that Our Lord has appointed from all eternity for us to be alive. Yes, this time--with all of its many difficulties that feature all too frequently divisions among family members and friends--is the time that God has appointed from all eternity for us to save our souls as His consecrated slaves through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. We must be resigned to the Holy Will of God at all times, accepting the crosses of the moment, including those associated with the Mystical Death and Burial of the Church Militant on earth (see
Bookended From Birth to Birth), and our own personal difficulties with joy and gratitude for the privilege of doing penance in this life before the moment of our Particular Judgments.
We must remember that there is nothing that we can suffer in this passing, mortal vale of tears (no calumny, no misunderstanding, no strain in a friendship, no financial difficulty, no physical or emotional suffering, no loss of career or personal respect, nothing whatsoever) that is the equal of what one of our least Venial Sins caused Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to suffer in His Sacred Humanity during His Passion and Death and that caused those Seven Swords of Sorrow to be pierced through and through the Immaculate Heart of His Most Blessed Mother. We must embrace our crosses with perfect equanimity as we pray as many Rosaries each day as our states-in-life permit.
Although the insanity of trying to "convert" an alleged "pontiff" will play itself out over time (see
True Popes Never Need to Convert to the Faith and
In A Nutshell) as the Society of Saint Pius X is amalgamated into a
High Church, Low Church confederation in the pantheon of error that is the counterfeit church of conciliarism, we must recognize that Holy Mother Church is as spotless and as immaculate as Our Lady herself. She can never give us defective liturgies and false, ambiguous or contradictory doctrines. Her true pontiffs do not esteem the symbols or praise the "values" of false religions.
We simply need to be more "upright" in our own lives as we seek to do penance for our own sins by enfolding ourselves in the arms of Our Lady as she keeps us close to the Most Sacred Heart of her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, so that we can be ready at all times to be presented by her at the moment of our Particular Judgments to her Divine Son, Christ the King, as she pleads for us then as she does now with such tender love and care, especially in these times when a man who is indeed a true bishop dares to call an apostate an "upright" man.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon! Release us from the chains of apostasy and betrayal just as Saint Peter was released from his own chains so miraculously.
Vivat Christus Rex!
Our Lady of Fatima, 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.
The Seven Holy Machabees, pray for us.
See also: A Litany of Saints
