Bad News for Novus Ordo Apologists…

Francis Denounces Apologetics, Seeking Conversion of Protestants

Pictured from left: Michael Voris, Jimmy Akin, Patrick Madrid, Tim Haines

Sorry, fellows, but your boss just isn’t all that into you…

Don’t you hate it when that happens? You’re a Novus Ordo apologist publishing articles, blog posts, podcasts, and videos trying to convince the world that the Modernist Novus Ordo Sect is in fact the glorious Catholic Church of our Lord Jesus Christ; you’re trying your darndest to either ignore, minimize, or excuse Francis’ constant “indiscretions”; you’re trying to get your followers all fired up about the Catholic Faith that the Vatican II Church supposedly represents and teaches; you’re telling people that Protestantism is in fact HERESY and that everyone must become a Catholic to be saved, and then… then… Francis — the man you just spent all your energies convincing people is the Pope of the Catholic Church and must be submitted to under pain of eternal damnation (see Denz. 469) — stabs you in the back and denounces your apologetics apostolate with all its proselytism. Darn it!

What to do? Ignore the problem and hope it goes away? Talk about other stuff and hope people won’t notice? Pray that Novus Ordo Watch won’t find out? Well, too late, because we’re on it:

During Vespers for the Feast of the Conversion (!) of St. Paul on January 25, 2015, His Phoniness “Pope Francis” gave a sermon in which appear the following lines, full of the typical vagueness that characterizes Modernist tripe about phony “unity” that rejects the idea of conversion to Catholicism by all non-Catholics:

The woman of Sychar asks Jesus about the place where God is truly worshiped. Jesus does not side with the mountain or the temple, but goes deeper. He goes to the heart of the matter, breaking down every wall of division. He speaks instead of the meaning of true worship: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn 4:24). So many past controversies between Christians can be overcome when we put aside all polemical or apologetic approaches, and seek instead to grasp more fully what unites us, namely, our call to share in the mystery of the Father’s love revealed to us by the Son through the Holy Spirit. Christian unity – we are convinced – will not be the fruit of subtle theoretical discussions in which each party tries to convince the other of the soundness of their opinions. When the Son of Man comes, he will find us still discussing! We need to realize that, to plumb the depths of the mystery of God, we need one another, we need to encounter one another and to challenge one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who harmonizes diversities, overcomes conflicts, reconciles differences.

Gradually the Samaritan woman comes to realize that the one who has asked her for a drink is able to slake her own thirst. Jesus in effect tells her that he is the source of living water which can satisfy her thirst for ever (cf. Jn 4:13-14). Our human existence is marked by boundless aspirations: we seek truth, we thirst for love, justice and freedom. These desires can only be partially satisfied, for from the depths of our being we are prompted to seek “something more”, something capable of fully quenching our thirst. The response to these aspirations is given by God in Jesus Christ, in his paschal mystery. From the pierced side of Jesus there flowed blood and water (cf. Jn 19:34). He is the brimming fount of the water of the Holy Spirit, “the love of God poured into our hearts (Rom 5:5) on the day of our baptism. By the working of the Holy Spirit, we have become one in Christ, sons in the Son, true worshipers of the Father. This mystery of love is the deepest ground of the unity which binds all Christians and is much greater than their historical divisions. To the extent that we humbly advance towards the Lord, then, we also draw nearer to one another.

Her encounter with Jesus made the Samaritan women [sic] a missionary. Having received a greater and more important gift than mere water from a well, she leaves her jar behind (cf. Jn 4:28) and runs back to tell her townspeople that she has met the Christ (cf. Jn 4:29). Her encounter with Jesus restored meaning and joy to her life, and she felt the desire to share this with others. Today there are so many men and women around us who are weary and thirsting, and who ask us Christians to give them something to drink. It is a request which we cannot evade. In the call to be evangelizers, all the Churches and Ecclesial Communities discover a privileged setting for closer cooperation. For this to be effective, we need to stop being self-enclosed, exclusive, and bent on imposing a uniformity based on merely human calculations (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 131). Our shared commitment to proclaiming the Gospel enables us to overcome proselytism and competition in all their forms. All of us are at the service of the one Gospel!

In this moment of prayer for unity, I would also like to remember our martyrs, the martyrs of today. They are witnesses to Jesus Christ, and they are persecuted and killed because they are Christians. Those who persecute them make no distinction between the religious communities to which they belong. They are Christians and for that they are persecuted. This, brothers and sisters, is the ecumenism of blood.

(Antipope Francis, Sermon at Vespers, Jan. 25, 2015; underlining added.)

In short, Francis’ message is: No “Catholic Answers”. No “Church Militant”. No “Vericast”. No tough-guy talk like, “We’ve got the truth and you need to convert!” No fancy seminars, luxury cruises, or apologetics workshops. No debates with Protestants. No podcast shows on the internet. No talks at your local parish to get people all fired up about converting non-Catholics. No! Only encounter, soup kitchens, and peripheries. Counting Rosaries – bad! Having transsexual perverts over for coffee – good! Why does anyone listen to this fool?

What Francis teaches stands in direct contradiction to perennial Catholic teaching over 1,900 years. His ecumenical tripe is precisely what was condemned as heretical and erroneous and very dangerous before Vatican II. See for yourself — here’s the real Catholic teaching by contrast:

[This sacred 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 DominoDenz. 714; underlining added.)

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.)

… [The bishops of the Catholic Church] 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.

Also they must restrain that dangerous manner of speaking which generates false opinions and fallacious hopes incapable of realization; for example, to the effect that the teachings of the Encyclicals of the Roman Pontiffs on the return of dissidents to the Church, on the constitution of the Church, on the Mystical Body of Christ, should not be given too much importance seeing that they are not all matters of faith, or, what is worse, that in matters of dogma even the Catholic Church has not yet attained the fullness of Christ, but can still be perfected from outside. They shall take particular care and shall firmly insist that, in going over the history of the Reformation and the Reformers the defects of Catholics be not so exaggerated and the faults of the Reformers be so dissimulated, or that things which are rather accidental be not so emphasized, that what is most essential, namely the defection from the Catholic faith, be scarcely any longer seen or felt. Finally, they shall take precautions lest, through an excessive and false external activity, or through imprudence and an excited manner of proceeding, the end in view be rather harmed than served.

Therefore the whole and entire Catholic doctrine is to be presented and explained: by no means is it permitted to pass over in silence or to veil in ambiguous terms the Catholic truth regarding the nature and way of justification, the constitution of the Church, the primacy of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, and the only true union by the return of the dissidents to the one true Church of Christ. It should be made clear to them that, in returning to the Church, they will lose nothing of that good which by the grace of God has hitherto been implanted in them, but that it will rather be supplemented and completed by their return. However, one should not speak of this in such a way that they will imagine that in returning to the Church they are bringing to it something substantial which it has hitherto lacked. It will be necessary to say these things clearly and openly, first because it is the truth that they themselves are seeking, and moreover because outside the truth no true union can ever be attained.

(Holy Office, Instruction “On the Ecumenical Movement”, Dec. 20, 1949; 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 … 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, Sep. 13, 1864; underlining added.)

Is it not right, it is often repeated, indeed, even consonant with duty, that all who invoke the name of Christ should abstain from mutual reproaches and at long last be united in mutual charity? Who would dare to say that he loved Christ, unless he worked with all his might to carry out the desires of Him, Who asked His Father that His disciples might be “one.” And did not the same Christ will that His disciples should be marked out and distinguished from others by this characteristic, namely that they loved one another: “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another”? All Christians, they add, should be as “one”: for then they would be much more powerful in driving out the pest of irreligion, which like a serpent daily creeps further and becomes more widely spread, and prepares to rob the Gospel of its strength. These things and others that class of men who are known as pan-Christians continually repeat and amplify; and these men, so far from being quite few and scattered, have increased to the dimensions of an entire class, and have grouped themselves into widely spread societies, most of which are directed by non-Catholics, although they are imbued with varying doctrines concerning the things of faith. This undertaking is so actively promoted as in many places to win for itself the adhesion of a number of citizens, and it even takes possession of the minds of very many Catholics and allures them with the hope of bringing about such a union as would be agreeable to the desires of Holy Mother Church, who has indeed nothing more at heart than to recall her erring sons and to lead them back to her bosom. But in reality beneath these enticing words and blandishments lies hid a most grave error, by which the foundations of the Catholic faith are completely destroyed.

… And here it seems opportune to expound and to refute a certain false opinion, on which this whole question, as well as that complex movement by which non-Catholics seek to bring about the union of the Christian churches depends. For authors who favor this view are accustomed, times almost without number, to bring forward these words of Christ: “That they all may be one…. And there shall be one fold and one shepherd,” with this signification however: that Christ Jesus merely expressed a desire and prayer, which still lacks its fulfillment. For they are of the opinion that the unity of faith and government, which is a note of the one true Church of Christ, has hardly up to the present time existed, and does not to-day exist. They consider that this unity may indeed be desired and that it may even be one day attained through the instrumentality of wills directed to a common end, but that meanwhile it can only be regarded as mere ideal. They 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. This, Venerable Brethren, is what is commonly said….

(Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Mortalium Animos, nn. 4,7; underlining added)

BAM! Could it be any clearer that Francis does not hold to the Catholic Faith as it was known for nearly 2,000 years before Vatican II? Which do you adhere to — the Catholic teaching or the Novus Ordo teaching?

Besides the foregoing, the true Catholic doctrine regarding Faith, ecumenism/dialogue, and religious unity is also expounded in the following magisterial documents:

The Catholic doctrine is solid, clear, reasonable, and beautiful. It is also fruitful, having produced countless converts over the last 2,000 years. What’s downright ugly, by contrast, is Francis’ perversion of Catholic teaching. He likes to talk about “preaching the Gospel always” but at the same time he rules out making converts — because the gospel he preaches is not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we are commanded to bring to every human creature and to retain in all its purity until the end of time (see Mt 28:19; 2 Thess 2:14; 1 Tim 3:15; 2 Jn 1:9).

When it comes to the issue of converting people, Francis very much practices what he preaches — that is, not only does he preach that we ought not to convert non-Catholics, he also practices this anti-evangelization by refusing to even hint at the necessity of their conversion. For example, when Anglican-Evangelical Tony Palmer was considering becoming a Catholic (well, Novus Ordo, but that’s all he knew), Francis specifically told him no:

Now Tony Palmer is dead — he died shortly thereafter, in an accident, as a Protestant. (For anyone who is now going to swoon over the “good old days” of Benedict XVI, please note that Ratzinger was no different and kept a Lutheran worker in the Vatican from converting.) Francis quite bluntly told other Protestants whom he had invited to the Vatican that he was not interested in their conversion, and in one of his first interviews likewise suggested that he does not care what religion someone is. And let’s not forget his clear triple negation of the need to convince others to become Catholic: “Do you need to convince the other to become Catholic? No, no, no!” (source). Clear enough?

So, it’s really bad news for Jimmy Akin, Tim Staples, Karl Keating, Patrick Madrid, Michael Voris, Tim Haines, “Fr.” Paul Nicholson, and all the rest of the “tough” apologetics crowd in Novus Ordo Land. It’s too bad, but Francis’ latest attack on Catholic doctrine probably isn’t going to help Catholic Answers’ latest fund drive, according to which they still need to raise $100,000 to meet their goal so they can continue to tell you how Francis and his Novus Ordo Sect want everyone to become a Catholic.

Remember how a while back these same apologists were trying to tell you that when Francis denounces “proselytism”, he doesn’t mean seeking the conversion of the other but rather a dishonest, underhanded way of doing so? We told you that this was nonsense — and now we’ve been proven right once again. Francis doesn’t want you to convert people to Catholicism because he is not a Catholic himself. Jimmy Akin went so far as to claim that when Francis told the apostate Eugenio Scalfari, “I don’t want to convert you”, he really meant, “I do want to convert you.” You can’t make this stuff up!

By the way, this wasn’t the first time Francis denounced apologetics and making converts. In March of 2014, he said, “The church does not need apologists of its causes nor crusaders of its battles, but sowers humble and confident of the truth, who … trust of its power” (source). Now, before you say, “But look – he does mention truth!”, remember that Francis is on record stating that no one “owns” the truth, that the truth is an “encounter”, and that “[e]ngaging in dialogue does not mean renouncing our own ideas and traditions, but the claim that they alone are valid or absolute.”

Remember? No? Here are two blog posts to refresh your memory:

This claptrap is going to continue and get worse for as long as people are willing to accept such a heretic as Jorge Bergoglio as the Pope of the Catholic Church.

Had enough yet? What are you waiting for? Reject the Impostor Pope and become a Catholic.

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