Francis Receives “Blessing” from Archlayman of Canterbury
Mr. Welby “blesses” Mr. Bergoglio on June 16, 2014
(image credit: Servizio Fotografico Vaticano / used with permission)
On Monday, June 16, Jorge Bergoglio (aka “Pope Francis”) had his friend Justin Welby over, the so-called “Archbishop of Canterbury,” and decided to receive a “blessing” from the imaginary clergyman. As Pope Leo XIII definitively decreed in 1896, the holy orders possessed by Anglican clergy are invalid, “absolutely null and utterly void”:
Then, considering that this matter, although already decided, had been by certain persons for whatever reason recalled into discussion, and that thence it might follow that a pernicious error would be fostered in the minds of many who might suppose that they possessed the Sacrament and effects of Orders, where these are nowise to be found, it seemed good to Us in the Lord to pronounce our judgment.
Wherefore, strictly adhering, in this matter, to the decrees of the pontiffs, our predecessors, and confirming them most fully, and, as it were, renewing them by our authority, of our own initiative and certain knowledge, we pronounce and declare that ordinations carried out according to the Anglican rite have been, and are, absolutely null and utterly void.
(Pope Leo XIII, Apostolic Constitution Apostolicae Curae, nn. 35-36; underlining added.)
Though the Vatican web site has somehow not seen fit to publish the ecumenical-joy stopper Apostolicae Curae on its own web site, even official Novus Ordo teaching affirms the decree of Pope Leo:
With regard to those truths connected to revelation by historical necessity and which are to be held definitively, but are not able to be declared as divinely revealed, the following examples can be given: the legitimacy of the election of the Supreme Pontiff or of the celebration of an ecumenical council, the canonizations of saints (dogmatic facts), the declaration of Pope Leo XIII in the Apostolic Letter Apostolicae Curae on the invalidity of Anglican ordinations.
(Novus Ordo Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fidei, n. 11)
At the same time, of course, the basis for a “re-evaluation” of Pope Leo XIII’s verdict on Anglican orders was already laid in 1979, when a joint Anglican/NovusOrdo “commission” discovered a “new context” in which to discuss the matter.
Surely it won’t be long before the Novus Ordo Sect will quite officially change its tune, because ecumenism is just so difficult when you have this hanging over your head, and besides, the Vatican II Church has long accepted the validity of Anglican ordinations by its actions anyway.
For example, in addition to the bogus Anglican “blessing” Francis just acknowledged, “Pope” Benedict XVI in 2009 gave the English Archlayman — then Rowan Williams — a pectoral cross (signifying episcopal authority), something that had also been done by “Pope” John Paul II in 2003; and in 1966 “Pope” Paul VI gave his own episcopal ring to the then-“Archbishop” of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey (photo here).
Got the message? The Anglicans certainly did!
By allowing Archlayman Welby to confer a pretend blessing on him, “Pope” Francis is once again implicitly recognizing the validity of Anglican orders, against Pope Leo XIII’s definitive and infallible declaration, and he is further affirming in the minds of all that there is supernatural worth and value to the false church of the Anglicans. Indeed, he said as much, and more, in his address to Mr. Welby, to whom he conceded the title “Your Grace”:
Once again we meet, Your Grace, as co-workers in the Lord’s vineyard and fellow pilgrims on the path to his Kingdom. I welcome you and the distinguished members of your delegation, and I pray that today’s meeting will serve to strengthen further our bonds of friendship and our commitment to the great cause of reconciliation and communion between Christian believers.
(“Pope” Francis, Address to “Archbishop” Justin Welby and his Entourage, June 16, 2014)
So here we have it: Francis acknowledges the head of the Anglican sect as a “co-worker in the Lord’s vineyard”, even a “believer”, as though the Anglican heretics — whose church originated in the desire for an adulterous union of King Henry VIII, who declared himself head of the Church and had faithful Catholics put to death — had a mission from Christ to spread the Gospel. Here Francis is clearly, not only in actions but also in words, giving up the Catholic Church’s claim to being the only true Church and the sole means of salvation.
Tom Droleskey has written a commentary on this that is well worth reading:
You may also want to review our post on the greeting Francis sent to the Anglican Archlayman shortly after his election, where we pointed out not only the invalidity of Anglican orders but also the invalidity of Bergoglio’s own Modernist ordination:
All of this is perfectly in line, however, with the Vatican II Sect’s Ecumenism, which destroys Catholic doctrine for the sake of a phony “unity” that is contrary to the will of Christ because it comes at the expense of truth.
Catholic Reality Check on Ecumenism:
But God forbid that the sons of the Catholic Church ever in any way be hostile to those who are not joined with us in the same bonds of faith and love; but rather they should always be zealous to seek them out and aid them, whether poor, or sick, or afflicted with any other burdens, with all the offices of Christian charity; and they should especially endeavor to snatch them from the darkness of error in which they unhappily lie, and lead them back to Catholic truth and to the most loving Mother the Church, who never ceases to stretch out her maternal hands lovingly to them, and to call them back to her bosom so that, established and firm in faith, hope, and charity, and “being fruitful in every good work” [Colossians 1:10], they may attain eternal salvation.
(Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Quanto Conficiamur Moerore, n. 9)
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)
If you haven’t heard this from the Novus Ordo Church in the last few decades, it’s because they don’t believe it. It’s that simple. There is no great mystery here, just a complete rejection of the Faith.
More True Catholic Teaching on Christian Unity vs. Ecumenism:
- Pope Pius IX, Instruction to Anglican Puseyites on True Religious Unity (1865)
- Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae on the Reunion of Christendom (1894)
- Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Satis Cognitum on Religious Unity (1896)
- Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Mortalium Animos on Ecumenism (1928)
- Pope Pius XII, Instruction on the Ecumenical Movement (1949)
Image source: Servizio Fotografico Vaticano
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