Consolation in the Catacombs

Auburn, AL

December 18, 2022

The “vicar of Christ” is at war with His Church. 

OK…that might overstate the case. Not because “his holiness” isn’t at war; but because this putative “vicar” can’t possibly be the pope. If he were, it would be impossible for him to promulgate the apostasy that’s defined his “papacy”. 

Jorge Bergoglio can’t open his mouth without corrupting Catholics or causing confusion. Like the current president of the United States, his pronouncements send minions to the ramparts to refine (or refute) the idiocy he’s uttered.

“Is the pope Catholic?” used to be a rhetorical retort to affirm something obvious. Now it’s a legitimate question to probe something odious.

Since smoke last billowed from the Sistine Chapel, Francis has gone out of his way to subvert the Faith. He’s questioned the existence of Hell, and suggested “good” Atheists can go to Heaven. 

He prioritizes “social justice”, climate hysteria, and the “fraternity” of man over salvation of souls. In Bolivia, Bergoglio gratefully accepted a hammer and sickle “crucifix” from that country’s communist president, and then degraded Our Lady by dedicating it to her.

He’s mocked the Trinity, said God bestows forgiveness without contrition, and claimed Christ made Himself the Devil, among other deviancies from the doctrine of the Church.

These are but a few samplings from Francis’s heretical stew. But Jorge Bergoglio is simply shoveling coal (among other things) into a car that went off the rails sixty years ago.  

In 1962, the Second Vatican Council convened. Under the guise of reviving the True Faith, it created a new religion. John XXIII ostensibly said it would open the windows of the Church to let the fresh air blow in. Instead, hot air has blown out. 

As Dietrich von Hildebrand put it, a Trojan Horse entered the City of God. From the council, like a fuse to a bomb, came a string of apostasies leading ineluctably to Francis. 

Before audiences of Moslems, Jews, Protestants, or Environmentalists, the supposed pope praises the diversity of “religious traditions”. The only one he can’t seem to abide is that of his own Church. This is most obvious in his disdain for the Tridentine Mass.

The ancient Rite of the One True Faith…what Father Adrian Fortesque called “the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven”…is treated by Francis the way an exterminator treats a roach. His vindictive Motu Proprio issued last July was a can of Raid on the venerable rite.

Traditionis Custodes is papal poison. Whereas his predecessor partially liberated “the Latin Mass”, Francis is confining it to quarters, and pressing a pillow to its face.

Benedict XVI gave equal weight to the eternal rite. Francis gives each bishop discretion whether to continue its use. And if a bishop approves, he must designate a specific locations for the Mass to be heard. 

But none of them can be the parochial church. Nor are new parishes permitted to perform the Mass that for two millennia defined the Faith. 

Francis proclaimed the ludicrous “liturgy” of Paul VI to be the “unique expression of…the Roman Rite.” Any priest ordained after Traditionis Custodes must submit an application thru his bishop to the Holy See if he wants to say Mass in the manner of a couple hundred popes who preceded the Council. 

And can we doubt what the answer will be? Why else require the question? From now on, the un-bloody representation of the sacrifice on Calvary must be replaced be a communal meal around an ecumenical table.

The Mass that was sacred for centuries can’t suddenly be sacrilege. But that’s what the current “pope” would have us believe. 

As the name implies, the Tridentine Mass was codified at the Council of Trent. But Pope Pius V merely made uniform similar rites that had proliferated as protestant heresy began to proliferate. It reflected ancient practice, and was nothing like the revolutionary disruption of Paul VI. The Novus Ordo of 1970 is an insult to the Holy Mass of 1570, and to every evolution that came before.

In some sense, that shouldn’t surprise us. The last few years, established institutions have waged open war on average citizens. Ideological Jacobins are subjecting every tradition to the cultural guillotine. Millions have suffered heavy casualties, and lost a lot. And the onslaught continues.

We’ve endured a relentless effort to take everything we’ve known…especially what matters most. Our entire lives we’ve (perhaps naively) taken for granted our ability to raise our kids, open our business, manage our health, consume what we wish, go where we want, and worship as we please.

For decades, we sensed each of these liberties coming under siege. Now they’re being blasted away, like a Sierra slope under a hydraulic sluice. Our families, finances, fuel…even our Faith…are being rapidly eroded under the relentless brainwashing of a ravenous elite. And our enemies have a compliant asset on the “papal” throne.

The secular world has long tried to suppress the Church, and its ferocity has intensified in recent years. But whereas the Vatican once protected its flock, it’s now perfectly willing to lead it to the abattoir. The Vatican II church has no compunction consigning us to the State.

When Covid vaccines were pushed on the populace, religious “accommodation” was ostensibly offered. But most requests were immediately denied or summarily dismissed. In opposition to the Catechism, Francis rejected the notion that Catholic conscience could refuse medication.

Excepting a few brave bishops, most “shepherds” complied. Exemption requests were almost always declined. It seemed more a means of identifying dissidents than to appease concerns. Can anyone imagine Pope Innocent III supporting such a farce, or not protecting faithful Catholics who fought it?

The Catholic Church…the True Church…has always been a sanctuary from modernist malignancy. And it still is. We just need to know where to find it.

This morning, on my way from Atlanta to Auburn, I went to Mass. As I do each week, I arrived at St Francis de Sales, the only parish in the Archdiocese of Atlanta that (for the time being) offers the Tridentine Rite. 

Yet twenty minutes before Mass, aside from long lines to offer Confession, the dark church was completely empty.

Plenty of parishioners were on the premises. But, we were exiled to the disheveled gym, because the Motu Proprio of our supposed “pope” forbids the Tridentine Mass in a Catholic church. As every week, attendees were mostly young families, not crusty curmudgeons clinging to the past (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Under peeling paint, raised basketball hoops, and HVAC pipes, an altar was assembled. Like early Christians huddling in the catacombs in defiance of the Romans, these pious people wouldn’t be kept from their Mass, nor their Church.

It was beautiful. The Gregorian chant carried me to God, and whisked me to Heaven on the wings of angels.

This is the season of Advent. We take comfort that Christ is coming, and in being reminded He’s already here.

JD