United in heresy…
Francis again affirms Non-Catholic “Martyrs”, says Monophysites are Part of the Body of Christ
Please pardon us if we sound repetitive, but it is “Pope” Francis’ fault, for he is the one who keeps repeating the same heresies over and over again. We realize that, deplorably, we find ourselves so deeply trapped in Theological Absurdistan now that one more heretical statement from the “Holy Father” will barely elicit any reaction from those who have long made themselves believe that a heretical Pope is not only possible but even a fairly common, or at least trivial, occurrence in Church history. Whereas ten years ago one could still hear people in the Society of St. Pius X smugly announce that “the Pope would have to say XYZ for me to believe he isn’t Pope”, we now hear this no longer — mainly because the “Pope” has already said that.
Yes, all the “resisting” of those supposed Catholic traditionalists who nevertheless “recognize” Francis as the legitimate and valid Pope of the Catholic Church, never accomplishes anything other than continually giving the papal impostor all the air of legitimacy he needs to continue his charade, deceive the masses, and thus inflict even more damage. And such he is still doing with gusto and at full throttle, showing absolutely no signs of waning.
On Monday, February 29, 2016, Mr. Jorge Bergoglio (“Pope” Francis) received the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, “Pope” Matthias I, at the Vatican. This particular schismatico-heretical establishment rejects the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, teaching that although Jesus of Nazareth was truly God, He was not also truly man. This heresy, known as Eutychianism or Monophysitism, was condemned at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
Addressing the head of this heretical sect, Francis the Pretend-Pope said the following:
From 2004 on, the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches have worked together to deepen their communion through the theological dialogue advanced by the Joint International Commission. We are happy to note the increasing participation of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in this dialogue. Over the years, the Commission has examined the fundamental concept of the Church as communion, understood as participation in the communion between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In this way, we have come to see that we have almost everything in common: one faith, one Baptism, one Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We are united by virtue of our Baptism, which has made us members of the one Body of Christ. We are also united by the various common elements of our rich monastic traditions and liturgical practices. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. As has often been observed, what unites us is greater than what divides us.
(“Pope Francis to Ethiopian Patriarch: Martyrs seed of Christian unity”, Vatican Radio, Feb. 29, 2016; underlining added.)
We must stop right here and point out that Francis’ assertion that there exists a “communion” between the “Catholic Church” (i.e. his Modernist Vatican II Sect, of course, but he is claiming it is the Catholic Church) and the Monophysite Ethiopian Church is not only false but in fact heretical because it implies that the Catholic Church is not united in one Faith, or else that she is not visible.
Let us have a look at a sample of traditional Catholic magisterial teaching to see how absurd the idea is that the Catholic Church is united in a common union with the heretical Monophysite sect:
The foundation on which this [ecumenical] society rests is of such a nature that it makes the divine establishment of the [Catholic] Church of no consequence. For, it is wholly in this: that it supposes the true Church of Jesus Christ to be composed partly of the Roman Church scattered and propagated throughout the whole world, partly, indeed, of the schism of Photius, and of the Anglican heresy, to which, as well as to the Roman Church, “there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism” [cf. Eph. 4:5]. …The true Church of Jesus Christ was established by divine authority, and is known by a fourfold mark, which we assert in the Creed must be believed; and each one of these marks so clings to the others that it cannot be separated from them; hence it happens that that Church which truly is, and is called Catholic should at the same time shine with the prerogatives of unity, sanctity, and apostolic succession. Therefore, the Catholic Church alone is conspicuous and perfect in the unity of the whole world and of all nations, particularly in that unity whose beginning, root, and unfailing origin are that supreme authority and “higher principality’’ of blessed PETER, the prince of the Apostles, and of his successors in the Roman Chair. No other Church is Catholic except the one which, founded on the one PETER, grows into one “body compacted and fitly joined together” [Eph. 4:16] in the unity of faith and charity….
(Holy Office, Letter to the Bishops of England, Sept. 16, 1864; Denz. 1686; underlining added.)
Now, whoever will carefully examine and reflect upon the condition of the various religious societies, divided among themselves, and separated from the Catholic Church, which, from the days of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles has never ceased to exercise, by its lawful pastors, and still continues to exercise, the divine power committed to it by this same Lord; cannot fail to satisfy himself that neither any one of these societies by itself, nor all of them together, can in any manner constitute and be that One Catholic Church which Christ our Lord built, and established, and willed should continue; and that they cannot in any way be said to be branches or parts of that Church, since they are visibly cut off from Catholic unity.
(Pope Pius IX, Apostolic Letter Iam Vos Omnes; underlining added.)
They [the Ecumenists] add that the Church in itself, or of its nature, is divided into sections; that is to say, that it is made up of several churches or distinct communities, which still remain separate, and although having certain articles of doctrine in common, nevertheless disagree concerning the remainder; that these all enjoy the same rights; and that the Church was one and unique from, at the most, the apostolic age until the first Ecumenical Councils. Controversies therefore, they say, and longstanding differences of opinion which keep asunder till the present day the members of the Christian family, must be entirely put aside, and from the remaining doctrines a common form of faith drawn up and proposed for belief, and in the profession of which all may not only know but feel that they are brothers. The manifold churches or communities, if united in some kind of universal federation, would then be in a position to oppose strongly and with success the progress of irreligion.
(Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Mortalium Animos, n. 7; underlining added.)
If we consider the chief end of His Church and the proximate efficient causes of salvation, it is undoubtedly spiritual; but in regard to those who constitute it, and to the things which lead to these spiritual gifts, it is external and necessarily visible. The Apostles received a mission to teach by visible and audible signs, and they discharged their mission only by words and acts which certainly appealed to the senses. So that their voices falling upon the ears of those who heard them begot faith in souls – “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the words of Christ” (Rom. x., 17). And faith itself – that is assent given to the first and supreme truth – though residing essentially in the intellect, must be manifested by outward profession – “For with the heart we believe unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. x., 10). …For this reason the Church is so often called in Holy Writ a body, and even the body of Christ – “Now you are the body of Christ” (I Cor. xii., 27) – and precisely because it is a body is the Church visible: and because it is the body of Christ is it living and energizing, because by the infusion of His power Christ guards and sustains it, just as the vine gives nourishment and renders fruitful the branches united to it. And as in animals the vital principle is unseen and invisible, and is evidenced and manifested by the movements and action of the members, so the principle of supernatural life in the Church is clearly shown in that which is done by it. From this it follows that those who arbitrarily conjure up and picture to themselves a hidden and invisible Church are in grievous and pernicious error….
(Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Satis Cognitum, n. 3; underlining added.)
Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed. “For in one spirit” says the Apostle, “were we all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free.” As therefore in the true Christian community there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so there can be only one faith. And therefore if a man refuse to hear the Church let him be considered — so the Lord commands — as a heathen and a publican. It follows that those [who] are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body, nor can they be living the life of its one Divine Spirit.
…
Now since its Founder willed this social body of Christ to be visible, the cooperation of all its members must also be externally manifest through their profession the same faith and their sharing the same sacred rites, through participation in the same Sacrifice, and the practical observance of the same laws. Above all, it is absolutely necessary that the Supreme Head, that is, the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, be visible to the eyes of all, since it is He who gives effective direction to the work which all do in common in a mutually helpful way towards the attainment of the proposed end. As the Divine Redeemer sent the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth, who in His name should govern the Church in an invisible way, so, in the same manner, He commissioned Peter and his successors to be His personal representatives on earth and to assume the visible government of the Christian community.
(Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi, nn. 22, 69; underlining added.)
Some say they are not bound by the doctrine, explained in Our Encyclical Letter [Mystici Corporis] of a few years ago, and based on the sources of revelation, which teaches that the Mystical Body of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one and the same thing. Some reduce to a meaningless formula the necessity of belonging to the true Church in order to gain eternal salvation.
(Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Humani Generis, n. 27; underlining added.)
These excerpts from genuinely Catholic teaching speak for themselves, and one certainly cannot find Vatican II ecclesiology in them, which Francis was simply rehashing and applying to the case at hand.
Indeed, it was at the so-called Second Vatican Council that the Novus Ordo Sect came up with the idea of “partial communion” between the Catholic Church and heretical sects, in the document Lumen Gentium, after drawing an artificial distinction between the “Church of Christ” and the “Catholic Church”:
This is the one Church of Christ which in the Creed is professed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic, which our Saviour, after His Resurrection, commissioned Peter to shepherd, and him and the other apostles to extend and direct with authority, which He erected for all ages as “the pillar and mainstay of the truth”. This Church constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him, although many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside of its visible structure. These elements, as gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces impelling toward catholic unity.
(Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, n. 8; italics added.)
This passage, with its sly and subtle introduction of a distinction between a “Church of Christ” on the one hand and then a “Catholic Church” which merely subsists in the Church of Christ on the other, opened the floodgates to the “partial communion” nonsense we have seen the Novus Ordo Sect put forth ever since.
Yet, ironically, the absurdity of dividing the notion of communion with the Holy See into “full” and “partial” was so great that even in this very definition itself, the council does not speak of “full communion” with the successor of St. Peter but only of “communion” simpliciter, indicating that the concept was too novel even for Lumen Gentium to adopt it explicitly.
It is no accident that until Vatican II, “papal” documents were always addressed to the bishops “in communion with the Apostolic See”, and only after Vatican II was this modified to say “bishops in full communion with the Apostolic See”. The modifier “full” had to be introduced because “partial” was now also a possibility, yet as we saw clearly from the many pre-Vatican II magisterial documents quoted, such a concept is simply not tenable in light of genuine Catholic teaching.
In 2004, sedevacantist Bishop Donald Sanborn had an interesting debate with Novus Ordo theologian Dr. Robert Fastiggi on this issue, and His Excellency proved so clearly from the Church’s Magisterium that the idea of “partial communion” was heretical that Dr. Fastiggi did not even attempt to defend the concept but instead argued that Vatican II did not in fact teach it (!). You can view the video-taped debate here:
One wonders what Pope St. Leo the Great would have thought of the idea of “partial communion” that supposedly exists between the Catholic Church and heretical sects:
Wherefore, since outside the Catholic Church there is nothing undefiled, the Apostle declaring that “all that is not of faith is sin,” we are in no way likened with those who are divided from the unity of the Body of Christ; we are joined in no communion.
(Pope St. Leo the Great, Sermon 129; qtd. in Bp. Donald Sanborn, The New Ecclesiology: Documentation [PDF], p. 12; underlining added.)
Indeed, there is “no communion” between the Catholic Church and other religions; and how could there be? “For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?” (2 Cor 6:14-15).
Francis, on the other hand, claims that Catholics and Monophysites “have almost everything in common”, as we saw. This is pure hogwash and definitely false. What do we have in common? “One faith”? –False. “One baptism?” -Okay, true, but that’s only because the Monophysites stole it from the Catholic Church — hardly something to celebrate or congratulate them on. We have refuted Francis’ claim that a valid baptism makes heretics members of the Church before, and there is no need to repeat all the arguments here; have a look:
But let’s continue: What else do Monophysites and Catholics allegedly have in common? “One Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ”? –False, because the Monophysites believe in a Jesus of Nazareth who was God but not man, whose humanity was entirely “absorbed” by His divinity. This is a false christ, and not the true Messiah, not the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. The Council of Chalcedon defined dogmatically the truth about the Savior and condemned Monophysitism as a heresy:
Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all teach that with one accord we confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in human nature, truly God and the same with a rational soul and a body truly man, consubstantial with the Father according to divinity, and consubstantial with us according to human nature, like unto us in all things except sin, [cf. Heb. 4:15]; indeed born of the Father before the ages according to divine nature, but in the last days the same born of the virgin Mary, Mother of God according to human nature; for us and for our deliverance, one and the same Christ only begotten Son, our Lord, acknowledged in two natures,’ without mingling, without change, indivisibly, undividedly, the distinction of the natures nowhere removed on account of the union but rather the peculiarity of each nature being kept, and uniting in one person and substance, not divided or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son only begotten God Word, Lord Jesus Christ, just as from the beginning the prophets taught about Him and the Lord Jesus Himself taught us, and the creed of our fathers has handed down to us.
(Council of Chalcedon, Definition of the Faith; Denz. 148)
The fact is that the Monophysites have almost nothing in common with Catholics, and it is both false and dangerous to pretend that “what unites us is greater than what divides us”. It is simply not the case. What divides Catholics from Monophysites is an infinite chasm, and this chasm is the difference between truth and heresy, God and the devil, sanctity and sin. The Faith cannot be had in degrees, anymore than one could say that God is 99% truthful and only 1% a liar, without blaspheming:
Such is the nature of Catholicism that it does not admit of more or less, but must be held as a whole or as a whole rejected: “This is the Catholic faith, which unless a man believe faithfully and firmly; he cannot be saved” (Athanas. Creed). There is no need of adding any qualifying terms to the profession of Catholicism: it is quite enough for each one to proclaim “Christian is my name and Catholic my surname,” only let him endeavour to be in reality what he calls himself.
(Pope Benedict XV, Encyclical Ad Beatissimi, n. 24)
In 1949, Pope Pius XII warned precisely against this sort of common-denominator ecumenical minimalism, in which greater emphasis is placed on those doctrines on which Catholics and heretics agree than on those on which they differ:
As regards the manner and method of proceeding in this work, the Bishops themselves will make regulations as to what is to be done and what is to be avoided, and shall see that these are observed by all. They shall also be on guard lest, on the false pretext that more attention should be paid to the points on which we agree than to those on which we differ, a dangerous indifferentism be encouraged, especially among persons whose training in theology is not deep and whose practice of their faith is not very strong. For care must be taken lest, in the so-called “irenic” spirit of today, through comparative study and the vain desire for a progressively closer mutual approach among the various professions of faith, Catholic doctrine — either in its dogmas or in the truths which are connected with them — be so conformed or in a way adapted to the doctrines of dissident sects, that the purity of Catholic doctrine be impaired, or its genuine and certain meaning be obscured.
(Holy Office, Instruction “On the Ecumenical Movement”, sec. II; underlining added.)
Does this sound anything like the Vatican II religion to you? No? Didn’t think so.
The same Pope Pius XII had already issued a similar warning in his encyclical on St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria:
Even on the plea of promoting unity it is not allowed to dissemble one single dogma; for, as the Patriarch of Alexandria warns us, ‘although the desire of peace is a noble and excellent thing, yet we must not for its sake neglect the virtue of loyalty in Christ.’ Consequently, the much desired return of erring sons to true and genuine unity in Christ will not be furthered by exclusive concentration on those doctrines which all, or most, communities glorying in the Christian name accept in common. The only successful method will be that which bases harmony and agreement among Christ’s faithful ones upon all the truths, and the whole of the truths, which God has revealed.
(Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Orientalis Ecclesiae, n. 16; underlining added.)
This is, once again, because the virtue of Faith does not admit of division or parts. One either accepts all God has revealed or none of it, on the authority of God revealing. For the same God has revealed all the truths He has revealed, and the same God cannot deceive or be mistaken regarding any of them. Hence all must be accepted equally, and rejecting even one of them is rejecting all of them, for it is rejecting the authority, or the perfection, or the truthfulness of Him who revealed them all.
But let’s go back to Francis, who isn’t done yet spouting heresy. He goes even further:
We truly feel that the words of the Apostle Paul apply to us: “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together” (1 Cor 12:26). Shared sufferings have enabled Christians, otherwise divided in so many ways, to grow closer to one another. Just as in the early Church the shedding of the blood of martyrs became the seed of new Christians, so today the blood of the many martyrs of all the Churches has become the seed of Christian unity. The martyrs and saints of all the ecclesial traditions are already one in Christ. Their names are inscribed in the one martyrologium of the Church of God. The ecumenism of the martyrs is a summons to us, here and now, to advance on the path to ever greater unity.
From the beginning, yours has been a Church of martyrs. Today too, you are witnessing a devastating outbreak of violence against Christians and other minorities in the Middle East and in some parts of Africa. We cannot fail, yet again, to implore those who govern the world’s political and economic life to promote a peaceful coexistence based on reciprocal respect and reconciliation, mutual forgiveness and solidarity.
(underlining added)
Francis leaves absolutely no doubt as to the heretical nature of his ecclesiology. Invoking the words of St. Paul about the unity of the Mystical Body of Christ, Bergoglio shamelessly applies this analogy to the “union” that supposedly exists between Catholics and Monophysites. The essential difference that exists between the Catholic Church, which is the only true Church founded by Jesus Christ, and the heretical sects, he shrugs off as being a mere matter of “ecclesial traditions”, which have somehow been transcended by the ecumenical “martyrs.” This makes a complete mockery of the Catholic dogma once enunciated by the Council of Florence in rather unecumenical terms:
[This council] firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that those not living within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics cannot become participants in eternal life, but will depart “into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels” [Matt. 25:41], unless before the end of life the same have been added to the flock; and that the unity of the ecclesiastical body is so strong that only to those remaining in it are the sacraments of the Church of benefit for salvation, and do fastings, almsgiving, and other functions of piety and exercises of Christian service produce eternal reward, and that no one, whatever almsgiving he has practiced, even if he has shed blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he has remained in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.
(Council of Florence, Decree Cantate Domino; Denz. 714; underlining added.)
Non-Catholic Martyrs? Ecumenism of Blood? Not exactly.
In Francis’ remarks we see on full display the Vatican II “subsists-in” heresy mentioned earlier, the heresy that the Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ are not one and the same thing, that they are, although closely related, not absolutely identical.
Some have argued that the teaching of Vatican II on this point can be interpreted in an “orthodox sense”, but even if this is true, it is irrelevant, because this “orthodox sense” is not the sense in which the Novus Ordo Magisterium understands the teaching, and since Vatican II is the product of the Novus Ordo Magisterium, it belongs to this pseudo-magisterium alone to interpret its own teachings. Therefore, it doesn’t matter what interpretation — spin, really — some fine Novus Ordo priest may be able to come up with that could be put on the words of Lumen Gentium, since this interpretation would be unique to him and would not square with the authentic and official one given by the Vatican II Church. Francis has given us but the latest example of how the Novus Ordo Church understands its own teaching, although we must point out that it has been interpreted like this from the beginning — it is not an idea that began with him.
Still, Francis has no excuse. He knows that the idea is heretical, and he has indicated as much. Referring specifically to his pet idea of an “ecumenism of blood”, which is simply another facet of the “partial communion” ecclesiology, Francis has publicly admitted that it may very well be heresy — but he holds to it and preaches it anyway:
Let no one say that because he only said it is “perhaps” heretical, therefore he is not pertinacious in his heresy. By admitting it may be heretical and then teaching it anyway, he demonstrates beyond any doubt that he is perfectly willing to subscribe to and teach heresy — he does not care —, he is just not sure whether the doctrine in question rises to the level of heresy. But this stubborn will to cling to heresy, if that is what it should be, is precisely that in which pertinacity consists.
Let us pray for one another, invoking the protection of the martyrs and saints upon all the faithful entrusted to our pastoral care. May the Holy Spirit continue to enlighten us and guide our steps towards harmony and peace. May he nourish in us the hope that one day, with God’s help, we will be united around the altar of Christ’s sacrifice in the fullness of Eucharistic communion.
We note with horror that Francis here refers to the heretics under the control of the heretical patriarch as “faithful” — a term that can only legitimately be applied to Catholics, for only Catholics are, properly speaking, faithful, as Pope Leo XIII taught clearly:
Agreement and union of minds is the necessary foundation of this perfect concord amongst men, from which concurrence of wills and similarity of action are the natural results. Wherefore, in His divine wisdom, [God] ordained in His Church Unity of Faith; a virtue which is the first of those bonds which unite man to God, and whence we receive the name of the faithful – “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph. iv., 5). That is, as there is one Lord and one baptism, so should all Christians, without exception, have but one faith.
(Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Satis Cognitum, n. 6)
Since revealed truth is one, there can only be one Faith; and hence only those who have this one Faith can be the faithful; all others, however sincere they may be subjectively, can objectively not be faithful but are necessarily heretics(literally, “choosers”).
Reading over Francis’ address to the Monophysite patriarch, it seems the only sort of “communion” they acknowledge has still not yet been achieved is that of participating in each other’s “Eucharist”. As for a common union in the same Faith, the same Church, and the same Body of Christ — so goes Francis’ heretical claim — this union is already a reality.
With “Catholics” like these, who needs heretics?
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