I think that there is evil in this Pontificate but I don't believe it is totally evil. Ezdras seems to be linking the warning of Fatima to rising sea levels but it's a tenuous link at best. Pope John Paul died in April, 2005, two months after Sr. Lucy of Fatima. I don't know whether there's any significance in that. Two years later, around October 2007, the priest who wrote In Sinu Jesu started receiving locutions from Jesus and Mary. From what I have read so far, those messages are all about bringing priests to holiness through adoration of Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament and devotion to Our Lady. That prompted me to do a search to see what was happening in the Church around that time. I found that Sacramentum Caritatis, an Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Church's Life and Mission was issued in February 2007: https://w2.vatican.va/content/bened...n-xvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis.html The document is a post-Synodal Exhortation. Pope John Paul, in November 2004, had announced that the Synod would be held in October 2005, and 2005 would be a Year of the Eucharist. Both Sr. Lucy and Pope John Paul died in the year of the Eucharist. Most people think (thanks to the secular press and their secularist fellow travellers in the Church) that the Church's concern for the poor, migrants, ecology, people of other faiths, etc., began with Pope Francis. Nothing could be further from the truth. Pope Francis didn't invent Catholic charity. St. John Paul viewed it as a very important duty, continuing the Church's mission passed down and entrusted to him as St. Peter's successor. In some respects, there isn't a huge gap between what Pope John Paul said and what Pope Francis says on those issues. The biggest gap that I can see is that Pope John Paul left nobody in any doubt that the Catholic Church believes and has always believed that it is the bearer and custodian of the fullness of revealed truth as passed down to us in the deposit of the faith. Pope John Paul would have been horrified had anyone pronounced him to be the master of Scripture and Tradition. There was no false modesty in him. As far back as 1999, Pope John Paul had addressed another Apostolic Exhortation to the people of America: https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-...f_jp-ii_exh_22011999_ecclesia-in-america.html You can see in that exhortation concern for all the issues identified with the current papacy. There are notable exceptions, all of which could be narrowed down to the danger of a loss of faith in American Catholics. We can see now the result of Bishops, priests and educators picking the parts of the exhortation that were comfortable to them and their influential secularist friends and donors while they completely ignored the warnings. Catholic universities in America were to the forefront of abandoning the faith in favour of pleasing what they must have viewed as their more enlightened secularist/atheist betters. It wasn't only happening in America, and this papacy is the culmination of it. It's clear that by 2005 Pope John Paul saw the decline in belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. Pope Benedict saw it too. Benedict presided over the Synod in 2005 and in 2007 he issued Sacramentum Caritatis. That, too, was ignored on earth. But Heaven didn't ignore it. Jesus and His Blessed Mother began guiding the author of In Sinu Jesu shortly afterward. There is some good in this papacy. Continuing the Church's preferential option for the poor is a good thing. The evil is in thinking that any lasting good can be achieved by downplaying the Church's duty to preach Christ crucified and risen to all people, disrespecting the Blessed Sacrament, and failing to promote devotion to the Blessed Mother. Twelve years have passed since Pope Benedict exhorted adoration of the Eucharist and the monk began receiving the In Sinu Jesu messages. We need to be patient and do our part by praying and adoring Christ in the Eucharist. God will deal with Pope Francis and his pervert cronies.
Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini did a lot of good things too. Not only did Benito , incredibly enough make the trains run on time he wiped out the Sicilian Mafia. He rebuilt roads, bridges, sports installations and whole regions of Italy. Through his reproachment with the Vatican he allowed the Church to step out of the cold that Garibaldi and the loss of the Vatican States had caused. But he was evil. Adolph Hitler did a lot of good things too.He built the wonderful autobahns. He brought back economic stability and a sense of pride in the German People. He even like dogs (which for me was a big plus.) But he was evil. As Fulton Sheen pointed out, when evil comes to us it rarely does so without wearing a mask. Evil always puts on its best face. Because if it wore its real face it would scare us to death.
That's true. I'm probably clutching at straws here but somewhere deep down I have a lingering hope that the St. Gallen group chose Francis because they considered him a useful tool and that he has enough faith in him to put a stop to this charade of secular humanism posing as Catholicism. The hope fades with every new attack on the faith. Pope Francis is streetwise and crafty - the kind of talents that make very successful criminals. The trouble is that he seems to lack a thorough understanding and appreciation of Doctrine and Tradition. He certainly seems to lack faith in the transubstantiated Eucharist. Smart leaders seek advice from others who can compensate for their own shortcomings. Pope Francis doesn't do that. He seems to choose advisers who are equally deficient, at least in appreciating the deposit of faith and the Apostolic duty to pass it on intact to future generations. Maybe some day the Lord will burst his narcissistic bubble and he will set about putting the Church back on track. It would take the likes of him to clip the wings of the Society of Jesus and the German bishops because they paid no attention to holy, orthodox popes. We'll just have to trust in God.
So true. ...and face tremendous backlash. So they use deception, they destroy through the backdoor, incrementally. But notice that they´ve become bolder in recent months (because they know their time is short?)
Unquestionably, Hitler was evil, in the most pronounced meaning of the word. I don't think it is entirely fair to place Mussolini in that pantheon. The latter was just a dirt-common tinpot dictator who got mixed up with very bad company. The gathering up of Italy's Jews didn't get going in earnest until Mussolini lost power, as far as I know. By the way, I'm not about to propose Mussolini for a Noble Prize or anything like that, but there have been far worse than him. Hitler, Mao and Stalin were on the demonic spectrum.
I did a lot of reading up on Pope Francis right from early childhood. All I can say is the signs are very bad . But he's no one's fool and no one's tool.
I´m beginning to get to know a little bit about Maria Valtorta and her writings - thanks to member WCWTS who started a thread here: http://motheofgod.com/threads/the-gospel-as-revealed-to-me-maria-valtorta.13871/ (highly recommended!) The video below reproduces a passage in which Our Lord allegedly tells her that The anti-christ is a false Prophet. He is comparable to Judas Iscariot, and one of the members of the Apostolic College who betrays like Judas, who sells himself to Satan. "He will become haughty and proud, after having been humble, he will become an atheist after having had great faith, he will become lustful after having been chaste, he will hunger for gold after having known evangelical poverty, he will thirst for recognition after having lived a hidden life." Amazing stuff, if true. Far-fetched in 1943 when this message was given; (though the Blessed Mother had said in 1846 at La Salette that "Rome would become the seat of the Anti-Christ) ,not so much so today.
The 'Dictator Pope' , is great. I had to stop quite early on, it takes a strong stomach. Better t read the life of a great saint or mystic, like Padre Pio. But a few bullet points. His parents never really got on with him , in fact from a very early age they stopped talked to him altogether and he was farmed out to relatives. His life from the earliest days in the Jesuits was one of constant infighting and feuding. When made a Superior it got so bad he was removed from office and sent to Germany to cool off. One confidential report from a Nuncio recommended he never be made a Bishop under any circumstance. From the Vatican come reports of his terrible temper tantrums to all and sundry, Swiss Guards, servants you name it. His revenge to anyone one who he decides is an enemy is legendary and the folks in the Vatican are said to live in terror.
True devotion to our Eucharistic Lord is a benchmark to Catholic orthodoxy. Pope Francis won't genuflect to the Real Presence and neither does my pastor or associate pastor at the consecration or when passing the tabernacle after mass. Their political views lean way left, but like Francis, they are all about promoting the poor, while ignoring the tenants/doctrines of the faith. When a cleric refuses to genuflect to our Eucharistic Lord (and they still have knees that will bend to wash the feet of women, immigrants and the poor on Holy Thursday, but can not genuflect at the point of mass where the rubrics clearly teach they are to do as much...... therein lies the crux of their liberalism. Lack of true belief in the true presence of Jesus in Eucharist.
Carol55 posted some info about a woman called Blessed Alexandrina who was a mystic. For your discernment, the Lord asked her to suffer for the salvation of Stalin’s soul, but to no avail.
Thank you. Ultimately, Stalin made his choice. The suffering put together of the millions Stalin tortured, murdered and otherwise persecuted and offered for his soul wouldn't be enough. The Mercy of Christ would be, but Stalin would probably be too Proud to accept it.
In spite of the horror and suffering he created in his time here I hope not. I have a hope that one day God willing we all will enjoy together the beatific vision and that there will be some real shockers so far as who has had contrition and called on the Mercy and received the Grace of God in their final moments. It is hard for me to fathom but I hope that there are many wonderful and miraculous surprises in store for us all.
I always remember the vision Pere Lamy had at the French village of Gray. He saw Our Lady walk past leading all the dead from the village. He was amazed. For there were some walking there who he was sure had fallen to hell. Some souls whom he had thought the worst in the village led the procession. Some souls who he had thought the holiest in the village were at the very rear. ..and some souls whom he was so sure would get to heaven were not even there at all and so could be regarded as being lost. 1 Samuel 16:7 Samuel Anoints David …6When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and said, “Surely here before the LORD is His anointed.” 7But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.” 8Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel, who said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.”… But even so we can have some insight even in this present life. I often go down town at lunchtime to mass. They are building a new University there and there are many building workers. I see one of them every day, a young man at mass. To attend he gives up his lunch time and even I suppose his food. This always startles and delights. I would judge him a very, very holy young man indeed on this account along without knowing anything else about him.
Seems that Joseph Stalin had an unhappy childhood and his father was cruel to him. The account of his death doesn't sound too good either. Here's how his daughter described it: In March 1953, Stalin died. “My father died a difficult and terrible death,” wrote Svetlana. She was there at his bedside for days, as doctors applied leeches. Reportedly, he died raising his fist in anger. “The death agony was terrible. He literally choked to death as we watched,” Svetlana wrote. “At what seemed the very last moment he suddenly opened his eyes and cast a glance over everyone in the room. It was a terrible glance, insane or perhaps angry and full of fear of death. Then he suddenly lifted his left hand. The gesture was incomprehensible and full of menace.” An unhappy childhood, and his wife committed suicide. All sorts of things go into the making of a monster. Stalin brought grief and suffering to so many people, but, if we want God's mercy for ourselves, we have to pray that God in His infinite mercy gave Stalin one last chance and that old Joe repented. Lord have mercy on him. Stalin's daughter converted to Catholicism: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-archbold/the-stalin-who-converted-to-catholicism
I'm inclined to give Pope Francis the benefit of the doubt about not genuflecting at Mass because it's obvious that he needs help to get back on his feet which would be a distraction at Holy Mass. While I make no secret that I'm far from being a fan of this Pope, I think that we Catholics should be careful not to get sucked in by the excessively negative press coming from some quarters. Being a bad Pope doesn't make him the false prophet or the antichrist. He could well believe that what he is doing will do wonders for the Church. If so, he's probably delusional but that doesn't make him demonic. I fell for all the negative coverage of the "rigid, authoritarian and dictatorial" Pope Benedict. That the same sources can't find enough superlatives to describe Pope Francis suggests that I'm right to be very wary of him but that shouldn't make me blind to the fact that every report coming from conservative sources isn't motivated by love of Christ's Church. I reckon that the gift-giving of the book on the plane was orchestrated to elicit that response. The Vatican's gimmicks department seems to have been given carte blanche. Maybe they think that gimmicks will evangelise more souls now that miracles are being explained away as caring and sharing by the good social justice warrior disciples.
Joe Stalin's daughter actually become a Catholic and a very good one at that. When asked what she liked best about being a Catholic she replied that it taught her to forgive.
Joe Stalin reminds me of that funny part in the film, 'The Outlaw Josey Wales'. The old Indian says to Josey, 'Strange Mr. Wales how the people you don't like always seem to wind up dead.'
