“Scratch that”…

In Laudato Sii, “Pope” Omits Passage from St. Francis’ Canticle of the Sun that warns of Mortal Sin

Francis Phillips is a writer for the UK-based Novus Ordo publication Catholic Herald. In a July 2 post on “Pope” Francis’ new eco-encyclical Laudato Si, Phillips points out a curiosity that everyone else seems to have missed so far. Although the encyclical claims St. Francis of Assisi’s famous and beautiful Canticle of the Sun for itself — from which the title “Laudato Si” (“Praise Be”) is taken — when it comes to actually quoting the entire text of the Canticle, Jorge Bergoglio (“Pope Francis”) must have decided to improvise a little. Here is what Phillips says in his post:

In keeping with its professionalism, the CTS [Catholic Truth Society] has already published Pope Francis’s papal encyclical, “Laudato Si” (available for £4.95.) A copy was waiting for me when I returned from a holiday last week. I will not pretend I leapt to read it. Of course I love and agree with St Francis of Assisi’s beautiful hymn to the glory of creation, his Canticle of the Sun, which is printed on page 45 – although the final stanza, to Sister Death, with the line “Woe to those who die in mortal sin!” is left out.

(“In responding to Laudato Si’ the model is Mother Teresa”Catholic Herald, July 2, 2015)

Upon reading this, we decided to check into the matter. The pertinent paragraph in the encyclical is n. 87, where the impression is given that St. Francis’ canticle is being quoted in full — there are no ellipses or any other indication to suggest that what one is reading is not the entire hymn. Here is the full n. 87 of Laudato Si’ in English:

87. When we can see God reflected in all that exists, our hearts are moved to praise the Lord for all his creatures and to worship him in union with them. This sentiment finds magnificent expression in the hymn of Saint Francis of Assisi:

Praised be you, my Lord, with all your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
who is the day and through whom you give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour;
and bears a likeness of you, Most High.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather
through whom you give sustenance to your creatures.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Water,
who is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you light the night,
and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.

(Antipope Francis, Encyclical Laudato Si, May 24, 2015, n. 87)

Clearly, the way this is presented, one gets the impression that one is reading the full canticle as penned by St. Francis. This, however, is not the case. Several lines are missing, including some at the beginning, which praise Almighty God the Creator, and a number at the end. Here’s what’s missing from the end:

Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth,
who feeds us and rules us,
and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

Be praised, my Lord, through those who forgive for love of You;
through those who endure sickness and trial.

Happy those who endure in peace, 
for by You, Most High, they will be crowned.

Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Bodily Death,
from whose embrace no living person can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin!

Happy those she finds doing Your most holy will.
The second death can do no harm to them.

Praise and bless my Lord, and give thanks,
and serve Him with great humility.

(“Canticle of the Sun”Wikipedia.org, accessed July 3, 2015)

In case you think it odd that Francis would omit a reference to “our sister Mother Earth, who feeds and rules us…”, since this is not exactly contrary to the environmentalist agenda he is pushing, an answer can be found in the fact that he already quoted this part earlier in his encyclical, right in the very opening paragraph in fact:

1. “LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”.

(Antipope Francis, Encyclical Laudato Si, May 24, 2015, n. 1)

As for the rest of the omitted text, however, it is pretty evident why it was omitted, at least the parts we marked in red font above. It speaks of forgiveness that is based on the love of God (not the love of man or “human dignity”); it speaks of the necessity of final perseverance in grace to arrive at a happy eternity; it speaks of physical death being inevitable for all, thus reminding people that we were not created for this world; it warns of mortal sin, which destroys the life of the soul and condemns us to an eternity of torture; and it speaks of the necessity of doing the will of God as a precondition for going to Heaven and escaping the fires of hell.

It is obvious why Francis decided to omit these lines, for none of these things are reconcilable with the False Gospel of Man he preaches. No, this is not a rash judgment; it is a sound judgment based on the clear evidence we have collected from the beginning of his sham pontificate and even before.

The strategic elimination of theological truths that contradict the Modernist Novus Ordo religion is nothing new, however. Francis’ predecessor Benedict XVI did the same thing in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (2005). In the introduction of the document (n. 1), Benedict XVI quotes John 3:16 regarding how much God loved the world, yet omits the “offensive” and inconvenient part that speaks of the fact that those who do not believe in Jesus Christ will perish eternally, something virtually no one in the Vatican II Sect really believes. The full quote of John 3:16 (Douay-Rheims translation) is as follows: “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (underlining added). It is the “may not perish” part that Benedict omitted, replacing it with ellipses in his encyclical text. You can verify this for yourself on the Vatican web site (current view) and in this annotated screenshot. There is no possible justification for omitting this essential truth, especially when speaking of the love of God, which unending love wishes to save us from an eternity of hell.

The Modernist program of omitting what is considered “offensive” to proud modern man, to sinners, to heretics, schismatics, apostates, heathens, and infidels of every kind, goes back to the very beginning of the Vatican II Church. It is especially evident not only in the council itself, but in particular in the “New Mass” (Novus Ordo Missae) of “Pope” Paul VI, from which virtually all distinctly Catholic words, concepts, and gestures were systematically eliminated. See the evidence here:

Speaking of omitting undesirable content, we would like to remind you also that the post-1958 editions of the famous Catholic doctrinal compendium Denzinger (a.k.a. “The Sources of Catholic Dogma” or “Enchiridion Symbolorum”) curiously omit some text from Pope Pius IX’s anti-Modernist encyclical Quanta Cura, specifically the part where he denounces religious liberty as an “insanity” (deliramentum), quoting the words of his predecessor, Pope Gregory XVI (see Denz. 1688-1690):

This shameful but telling omission is also retained in the current (43rd) edition of Denzinger (2012), edited by Peter Hunerman and Robert Fastiggi.

As you can see, by omitting Catholic content that contradicts the Modernist program, not only does “Pope” Francis demonstrate cunning pertinacity with regard to his own heresies, he is also simply following the long tradition of his five Modernist predecessors of strategically eliminating from people’s consciousness the last few remaining ideas that still smack of the ‘old’ Catholicism.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons (Stefan Diller; modified)
License: CC BY-SA 2.0 DE

Share this content now:

No Comments

Be the first to start a conversation

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.