Modernism in the RCC & WO vs. Traditionalism in TOCs

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Madison Grant
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Modernism in the RCC & WO vs. Traditionalism in TOCs

Post by Madison Grant »

Modernism in the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and in World Orthodox (WO) vs. Traditionalism in the True Orthodox Churches (TOCs)

Reposted from a PM I had with Maria and at her request.

The background is that catholics hold back from departing from popery because of the dogma that subjection to the supreme pontiff is essential to save one's soul.

Yes, from time to time it does but it is waning with time.

Yes, I was a convert to catholicism in my mid twenties and even I believed that the only way to save my soul was to be united to the supreme pontiff and the blessed virgin mary. That led me down the path to traditional catholicism where I got baptized and confirmed and where I started to believe in all kinds of fantastical theories and stories that revolve around the virgin mary coming to restore the papacy.

Some popes were anti liberalism and anti modernism, such as popes pius ix and pius x, but there were also closeted liberals, such as popes leo xiii and pius xii, when they permitted the church to do inter religious dialogue at the world parliament of religions in Chicago, 1893, and for the laity to use the dialogue mass, 1958, cut the pre communion fast to one hour, 1957, and authorized the modernist tool kit to be used on the bible in 1893 and again 50 years later in 1943.

Thank you.

The 1893 World Parliament of Religions (sometimes called the World’s Congress of Religions) was convened in Chicago in connection with the World Fair of that year (1). The Parliament owed much to the efforts of its organizing president, John Henry Barrow. Barrow was a well-known Chicago lawyer as well as a Swedenborg minister. The Parliament was heavily weighed in favor of liberal Protestant denominations: the Unitarians, the Universalists, and the Congregationalists, along with two more conservative Protestant churches, the Presbyterians and the Baptists. The Roman Catholics were represented by the prominent Cardinal Gibbons.

http://forusa.org/blogs/rene-wadlow/fou ... ogue/11708

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Barbara
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Re: Modernism in the RCC & WO vs Traditionalism in TOCs

Post by Barbara »

I think that is a mistatement : there is no dogma that belief in or obedience to the Pope is necessary to save the soul of a Catholic !
The only dogma related would be the Dogma of Papal Infallibility. This is not for any word or statement issued by the Pope. The dogma pertains to his ex cathedra pronouncements only.

I think there are a lot of misunderstandings in America because of the many slanders and gossips spread by Protestants over several centuries of anti-Catholic propaganda.

About the Parliament of Religions, I have seen that referred to in a few books. It was really a big deal at the time.
Now, of course, few remember it.

A wide assortment of other groups attended. Not only the only the better known ones mentioned in the post.

Madison Grant
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Re: Modernism in the RCC & WO vs Traditionalism in TOCs

Post by Madison Grant »

Barbara wrote:

I think that is a mistatement : there is no dogma that belief in or obedience to the Pope is necessary to save the soul of a Catholic !
The only dogma related would be the Dogma of Papal Infallibility. This is not for any word or statement issued by the Pope. The dogma pertains to his ex cathedra pronouncements only.

I think there are a lot of misunderstandings in America because of the many slanders and gossips spread by Protestants over several centuries of anti-Catholic propaganda.

I apologize for not putting my source in the OP. Here it is:

On 18 November 1302, Pope Boniface VIII issued the Papal bull Unam sanctam[1] which some historians[2] consider one of the most extreme statements of Papal spiritual supremacy ever made. The original document is lost but a version of the text can be found in the registers of Boniface VIII in the Vatican Archives.[3] The Bull lays down dogmatic propositions on the unity of the Catholic Church, the necessity of belonging to it for eternal salvation, the position of the pope as supreme head of the Church, and the duty thence arising of submission to the pope in order to belong to the Church and thus to attain salvation. The pope further emphasizes the higher position of the spiritual in comparison with the secular order.

The main propositions of the Bull are the following: First, the unity of the Church and its necessity for salvation are declared and established by various passages from the Bible and by reference to the one Ark of the Flood, and to the seamless garment of Christ. The pope then affirms that, as the unity of the body of the Church so is the unity of its head established in Saint Peter and his successors. Consequently, all who wish to belong to the fold of Christ are placed under the dominion of Peter and his successors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unam_sanctam

And here is the Papal Bull (decree), Unam Sanctam, in it's entirety:

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: 'One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,' and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: 'Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.' [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: 'Feed my sheep' [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John 'there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.' We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: 'Behold, here are two swords' [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: 'Put up thy sword into thy scabbard' [Mt 26:52]. Both, therefore, are in the power of the Church, that is to say, the spiritual and the material sword, but the former is to be administered for the Church but the latter by the Church; the former in the hands of the priest; the latter by the hands of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: 'There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God' [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: 'Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms' and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: 'The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man' [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, 'Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven' etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Bon08/B8unam.htm

When a Pope uses the language of declaring, proclaiming, and defining as seen in the bolded text above, he is speaking Ex Cathedra, that is Dogmatically from the Chair of Saint Peter, and is to be believed de fide, that is with faith.

And here is a 30min long video that will provide an idea of the era; the part of Pope Boniface VIII begins at the 5:30min mark, but I recommend watching from the beginning:

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Maria
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Re: Modernism in the RCC & WO vs Traditionalism in TOCs

Post by Maria »

Note to myself: I must add this to my convert story.

One of the most difficult steps which a convert from Catholicism to Orthodoxy must take is putting aside the 1870 Vatican I dogmas of Papal Infallibility and Papal Supremacy. These were stumbling blocks for me too.

However, when I was in a Dominican (Roman Catholic) convent, we had to read a book, The Church Teaches, which contain Roman Catholic conciliar documents, including Vatican I.

In our survey class, we were only required to read the document on Papal Infallibility, not the one on Papal Supremacy. When I was looking into Orthodoxy, I read all the council documents in translation from Vatican I and also from the Council of Trent, and my eyes were opened. By 1995, I could no longer accept Papal Supremacy--the idea that the pope was supreme over each and every bishop. That was not the way Christ established His Holy Church, because Peter did not super manage the rest of the 11 Apostles. He could never have done any travels if he had. Neither could the Apostles or St. Paul have done their missionary journeys if they had to make visits to St. Peter every 24, 36, or 48 months.

Soon after Hitler's Pope was published in 1999 by the British journalist and author John Cornwell, my husband and I purchased a couple of copies and started reading them. We ended up buying several more copies and handing those out to friends too. This book exposed the connection between the Vatican underground and Hitler. It also exposed the connection between the Vatican, the Franciscans, the Ustaše, and the slaughter of the Orthodox Serbian Christians from the cliffs of Medjugorge during World War II. The late British author, Michael Davies, also exposed the connection between Medjugorge and the Ustaše and proposed that the so-called "virgin" was actually a ghost as villagers had reported strange tapping on the windows and knocks at the door with no one being there. Hitler allowed the Vatican underground to operate freely under the conditions that top ranking members of Hitler's staff could use this underground to escape to Argentina when necessary.

However, the most important knowledge gained was that Pius XII, being a canonical lawyer before his election to the Pontificate, was the person responsible for the Code of Canon Law of 1917. This information concerning Pius XII's important role in writing the Code of Canon Law of 1917 is also found at Wikipedia and a few Catholic websites. It was he and his staff of canon lawyers who rewrote all the Holy Canon--Canons which had excommunications attached to them if altered. These Canon Laws were rewritten to make the Ancient Canon Laws comply with the recent 1870 decrees of Papal Supremacy requiring that all bishops must now be approved by the Holy See.

The Ancient Canons only stipulated that each bishop in the Holy Catholic Church (both East and West before the Schism) needed to be elected by the diocesan priests and laity, and then have the election confirmed by three neighboring bishops who would do the consecration of the newly elected bishop. Only after the newly elected bishop was consecrated was his name sent to the Pope or Patriarch and then added to the diptychs for commemoration. The Code of Canon Law of 1917 changed this procedure to remove any local control so that the Pope had to approve all new bishops throughout the world. This made things very difficult especially during the communist persecution which followed the release of the Code of Canon Law in 1917.

Whereas the ancient pre-Vatican I procedure had required the signature of three neighboring bishops to elect a bishop, the new post-Vatican I procedure required the vacant diocese to secure the names of three men (laity, priest, or bishops of another diocese) who would then be submitted to Rome. The Pope of Rome then had the authority to choose one candidate or choose all three candidates for different dioceses. He could also reject a candidate or reject all of them and demand that the vacant diocese submit a new list of three worthy candidates.

This happened to the Melkites, who at the death of Bishop Ignatius in October of 1992, repeatedly had to send in new lists to the Pope of Rome until the name of Bishop John was finally chosen as Eparchy in November of 1993. A mysterious bishop from the Vatican came to visit our parish and interviewed me and a few other parishioners at random to verify that Bishop John was a good man, then he was approved.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melkite_G ... _of_Newton

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.

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Re: Modernism in the RCC & WO vs Traditionalism in TOCs

Post by Maria »

Madison Grant wrote:

Reposted from a PM I had with Maria and at her request.

The background is that catholics hold back from departing from popery because of the dogma that subjection to the supreme pontiff is essential to save one's soul.

Yes, from time to time it does but it is waning with time.

Yes, I was a convert to catholicism in my mid twenties and even I believed that the only way to save my soul was to be united to the supreme pontiff and the blessed virgin mary. That led me down the path to traditional catholicism where I got baptized and confirmed and where I started to believe in all kinds of fantastical theories and stories that revolve around the virgin mary coming to restore the papacy.

Some popes were anti liberalism and anti modernism, such as popes pius ix and pius x, but there were also closeted liberals, such as popes leo xiii and pius xii, when they permitted the church to do inter religious dialogue at the world parliament of religions in Chicago, 1893, and for the laity to use the dialogue mass, 1958, cut the pre communion fast to one hour, 1957, and authorized the modernist tool kit to be used on the bible in 1893 and again 50 years later in 1943.

Thank you.

The 1893 World Parliament of Religions (sometimes called the World’s Congress of Religions) was convened in Chicago in connection with the World Fair of that year (1). The Parliament owed much to the efforts of its organizing president, John Henry Barrow. Barrow was a well-known Chicago lawyer as well as a Swedenborg minister. The Parliament was heavily weighed in favor of liberal Protestant denominations: the Unitarians, the Universalists, and the Congregationalists, along with two more conservative Protestant churches, the Presbyterians and the Baptists. The Roman Catholics were represented by the prominent Cardinal Gibbons.

http://forusa.org/blogs/rene-wadlow/fou ... ogue/11708

Thank you, Madison, for posting your PM to me. You inadvertently touched on a very sensitive area. Now everything makes sense in my own life, and this also explains why converting to Orthodoxy was quite difficult for me. Modernism had taken root in me and needed to be extracted, and the process was quite painful. My teeth ache just thinking about it.

Catholics on both sides of my family had always held Cardinal James Gibbons (b. July 23, 1834 - d. March 24, 1921) in high esteem as some of my relatives were priests and religious nuns. Therefore, I was shocked to hear some Traditional Catholic websites condemn Cardinal Gibbons as a modernist.

However, in the 1870s, it was Cardinal Gibbons who demanded that fasting requirements be eased for American Catholics, and that request was quickly granted by the Vatican. It was also he who taught that Americans could be members of the Masonic Order as he considered American Masonry to be different from European Freemasonry, but contrary to his expectations, Humanum Genus, condemning freemasonry and the Masonic lodges in the USA, was issued by Pope Leo XII on April, 20, 1884. Thinking back to what my grandmother and other relatives have told me, now it all makes sense because some of my earliest ancestors, devout Catholic to boot, were also Masons. This is probably why they were very strong supporters and personal friends of his.

In addition, Cardinal Gibbon's attendance at the Chicago World Congress of Religions in 1893 showed his adherence to Ecumenism and Modernism.

Now, looking at the worldwide religious scene today, is it not surprising that the Modernist Ecumenical Patriarch and his friends at the Great World Council of Orthodoxy in June 2016 want to diminish the fasting requirements whenever the variable feast days like the Annunciation, Nativity of Christ, Birth of the Theotokos, or Dormition of the Theotokos fall on a Wednesday or Friday?

Is not this what Cardinal Gibbons also did by granting dispensations whenever Christmas Day, Annunciation, Nativity of Christ, Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or her Assumption fell on a Friday? These dispensations allowed American Catholics to eat meat on Friday without incurring a "Mortal Sin," which would have condemned them to Hell.

During my childhood, whenever the Dominican teaching sisters would tell us that we would be dispensed from fasting on Friday because a great feast day fell on that day, we would be ecstatic. Instead of grilled cheese sandwiches, tuna fish sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or fish sticks and prunes, we would be served juicy grilled hamburgers with fries, green salad, and a superb chocolate sundae or a banana split ice cream sundae complete with chocolate sauce, cherries, nuts, and chocolate chip sprinkles at the school lunch. http://baking.about.com/od/sundaes/r/bananasplit.htm

Image

Those were days that I would never forget, glutton that I was. And we simply loved the jolly old bishop who would gift us with those dispensations much like Santa Claus would give us candy canes. However, when a new bishop, known for his strictness came into town, I hate to say this, but all my young fellow classmates hated him because he refused to issue dispensations saying that it would be falling into the Minimalist or Modernist heresy. So, on major feast days which fell on Fridays, we had to fast.

As a result, during my Catholic childhood, I always thought of the obligation to fast as a punishment, that we were being forced to live our time of purgatory on the earth, not realizing that we need to be purified, illuminated, and sanctified on this earth in order to avoid hell and be with Christ-God and His Saints in Heaven.

No wonder my poor dad argued with us at the dinner table. My dad was a true Traditionalist who understood the importance of fasting, and that we needed to fast and pray in order to resist the devil, because prayer and fasting are the only weapons that enable us to say "no" to temptations from the devil and from hot-blooded teenage boys. My dad was right to be worried as he was responsible to God for raising us to be good Catholics who would not seek the easy path to Hell, but Holy Saints of God who would voluntarily prefer the strait and narrow road to Heaven.

This is the reason why it is a serious mistake for Traditional Catholics, who are trying to escape from Minimalism, Modernism and Ecumenism to embrace World Orthodoxy, because they will find themselves in the very same boat with Minimalism, Modernism, and Ecumenism especially when the Ecumenical Patriarch joins with the Vatican to form their New World Order Religion of "love."

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.

Madison Grant
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Re: Modernism in the RCC & WO vs. Traditionalism in TOCs

Post by Madison Grant »

Hi,

The Romish Church is in transit.

In this post I will cite another Encyclical called Quanto Conficiamur Moerore.

The traditionalist catholics have always been up in arms when it comes to liturgics and ecumenism when they collectively go up against Assisi 1986 and the New Mass of 1970, and in speaking about the lack of grace inherit in the so called new Popish institution, but in this Encyclical that I will quote in full it will be possible to see that the road to Heaven takes first place while the other aforementioned stuff takes the back seat. It will help to explain why things have been the way they are with ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue.

QUANTO CONFICIAMUR MOERORE

ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS IX

AUGUST 10, 1863

To Our Beloved Sons, S. R. E. Cardinals and to Our Venerable Brothers, the Archbishops and Bishops of Italy.

Our Beloved Sons and Venerable Brothers, Greetings and Apostolic Benediction.

How much cause we have to grieve over the most cruel and sacrilegious war brought upon the Catholic Church in almost all regions of the world during these turbulent times, and especially declared upon unhappy Italy before our very eyes many years ago by the Piedmontese Government and stirred up more violently day by day, each of you, our beloved sons and venerable brothers, easily understands. In the midst of our great distress, however, as long as you keep watch with us, we are deeply comforted and consoled. Although you are, indeed, most deplorably harassed by every grave injustice possible, torn away from your own flock, exiled and even cast into prison, nevertheless, with your profound virtue you have never neglected to speak and to write in ardent defense of the teachings of God, his Church, and this Apostolic See.

  1. Consequently, we give thanks because you fervently rejoice to suffer insult in the name of Jesus. We extend to you merited praise in the words of our most saintly predecessor, Leo: "May you endure with all your heart the trials of your love, which you have undergone in reverence for the Catholic faith; may I accept the sufferings inflicted upon you as if I were bearing them myself. I know, however, that it is a cause of joy rather than of sorrow that with the strength of our Lord, Jesus Christ, you have persevered invincible in your evangelical and apostolic teaching . . . And when the enemies of the Christian faith were tearing you away from your respective churches, rather than being contaminated by their impiety, you preferred to endure the injustice of undergoing exile."[1]

  2. Would that we could announce the end of such terrible calamities besetting the Church! Never will there be grief enough over the corruption of morals so extensively increasing and promoted by irreligious and obscene writings, theatrical spectacles and meretricious houses established almost everywhere; by other depraved arts and monstrous portents of every error disseminated in all directions; by the abominable impurities of all vices and crimes growing constantly and the deadly virus of unbelief and indifferentism spread far and wide; by contempt for ecclesiastical authority, sacred things, and laws and by the outrageous plundering of Church possessions; by the bitter and constant abuse of consecrated Church officials, of the students of religious communities, of virgins dedicated to God; by the diabolical hatred of Christ, his Church, teaching, and of this Apostolic See. These and almost innumerable other evils perpetrated by the embittered enemies of the Catholic Church and faith, we are daily compelled to lament.

  3. All these agonies seem to prolong and delay that most yearned for time when we shall see the full triumph of our most holy religion, of justice, and of truth. This triumph cannot fail us, however, even if it is not given us to know the time destined for it by almighty God. Even though our heavenly Father permits his holy Church to be afflicted and plagued by various tribulations and distresses while serving during this most miserable and earthly pilgrimage, nevertheless, because it has been founded by Christ, the Lord, upon an immovable and most firm rock, it cannot be shaken or overthrown by any force or violence. Rather, "it is strengthened, not weakened by persecutions. The Lord's vineyard is always clothed with a richer harvest, for while each grain dies singly, it is born again manyfold."[2]

  4. That is what we see happening, beloved sons and venerable brothers, even in these most sorrowful times as a special blessing from God. For although the immaculate Spouse of Christ may be vehemently troubled at the present time by the work of the wicked, yet she is triumphing over her enemies. Yes, indeed, she is conquering her enemies and shines wonderfully bright with your unparalleled faithfulness, love, and respect towards us and this Chair of Peter, and with your outstanding constancy and that of the other venerable brothers, the bishops of the whole Catholic world. She shines with many pious works of Christian charity multiplying rapidly each day; with the light of blessed faith illuminating many regions evermore each day; with the exceptional love and devotion shown by Catholics towards the Church itself, towards us, and this Holy See; with the eminent and immortal glory of martyrdom. You know, in fact, how in Tonkin and especially in the regions of Cochin China, bishops, priests, laymen and even peaceful women themselves, and young boys and girls, emulating the martyrs with their unconquerable spirit and heroic virtue, disdained the most inhuman torture, and greatly rejoiced to pour out their lives for Christ. All these joys should be no slight consolation to us and to you in the midst of the overwhelming anguish that torments us.

  5. Now, since our Apostolic Office demands we carefully and zealously defend the cause of the Church committed to us by Christ, we condemn those who attack and despise the Church itself, its sacred laws, ministers, and this Apostolic See. Hence, with this letter, once more we confirm, proclaim and condemn totally and singly that which in many consistorial allocutions and in our other Letters we have been forced to deplore, declare and condemn.[3]

  6. Here, too, our beloved sons and venerable brothers, it is again necessary to mention and censure a very grave error entrapping some Catholics who believe that it is possible to arrive at eternal salvation although living in error and alienated from the true faith and Catholic unity. Such belief is certainly opposed to Catholic teaching. There are, of course, those who are struggling with invincible ignorance about our most holy religion. Sincerely observing the natural law and its precepts inscribed by God on all hearts and ready to obey God, they live honest lives and are able to attain eternal life by the efficacious virtue of divine light and grace. Because God knows, searches and clearly understands the minds, hearts, thoughts, and nature of all, his supreme kindness and clemency do not permit anyone at all who is not guilty of deliberate sin to suffer eternal punishments.

  7. Also well known is the Catholic teaching that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church. Eternal salvation cannot be obtained by those who oppose the authority and statements of the same Church and are stubbornly separated from the unity of the Church and also from the successor of Peter, the Roman Pontiff, to whom "the custody of the vineyard has been committed by the Savior."[4] The words of Christ are clear enough: "If he refuses to listen even to the Church, let him be to you a Gentile and a tax collector;"[5] "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you, rejects me, and he who rejects me, rejects him who sent me;"[6] "He who does not believe will be condemned;"[7] "He who does not believe is already condemned;"[8] "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters."[9] The Apostle Paul says that such persons are "perverted and self-condemned;"[10] the Prince of the Apostles calls them "false teachers . . . who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master. . . bringing upon themselves swift destruction."[11]

  8. God forbid that the children of the Catholic Church should even in any way be unfriendly to those who are not at all united to us by the same bonds of faith and love. On the contrary, let them be eager always to attend to their needs with all the kind services of Christian charity, whether they are poor or sick or suffering any other kind of visitation. First of all, let them rescue them from the darkness of the errors into which they have unhappily fallen and strive to guide them back to Catholic truth and to their most loving Mother who is ever holding out her maternal arms to receive them lovingly back into her fold. Thus, firmly founded in faith, hope, and charity and fruitful in every good work, they will gain eternal salvation.

  9. Furthermore, beloved sons and venerable brothers, we cannot be silent about another most pernicious error, an evil that is pitifully tearing apart and deeply disturbing minds, hearts, and souls. We are referring to that unbridled and damnable self-love and self-interest that drive many to seek their own advantage and profit with clearly no regard for their neighbor. We mean that thoroughly insatiable passion for power and possessions that overrides all the rules of justice and honesty and never ceases by every means possible to amass and greedily heap up wealth. Completely absorbed in the things of earth, forgetful of God, religion and their souls, they wrongly place all their happiness in procuring riches and money. Let such people recollect and meditate seriously upon the very sobering words of Christ, the Lord: "What will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?"[12] Let them also reflect upon the teaching of Paul: "Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that drag men down to ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil; it is through this craving that some have wandered away and pierced their hearts with many pangs."[13]

  10. Now, truly, we cannot conceal the fact that we are in great anguish since there are some clergy in Italy who, forgetful of their vocation, do not blush in the least to spread abroad false doctrine, even in subversive writings. They arouse the people against us and this Apostolic See; they oppose our civil rule and that of the Chair itself; they shamelessly and zealously support the wicked enemies of the Catholic Church and this same See. Deserting their bishops and us, emboldened by the approval of the Piedmontese government and its Parliament, these ecclesiastics in open contempt of ecclesiastical censure and penalty have become impudently fearless in organizing certain condemnable societies commonly known as Liberal Clerical, of Mutual Assistance, For the Emancipation of the Italian Clergy, and other associations animated by the same depraved spirit. Although deservedly forbidden to perform their holy ministry, nevertheless, like brazen intruders, they sinfully and illicitly exercise it in many churches. We, therefore, disapprove and condemn the behavior of the same ecclesiastics. At the same time, we admonish and exhort, again and again, these unfortunate men to return to their right mind and heart and take thought for their own salvation, seriously considering "that God tolerates no example of conduct more from others than from priests when He sees those, whom He ordains for the improvement of others, give example of their own depravity."[14] Let them fervently reflect that their confused state must be repaired before the tribunal of Christ. May these pitiful churchmen heed our paternal advice and willingly render us the consolation of a repentant clergy. May they seek refuge in us day by day, begging pardon for their defection with suppliant prayer and humbly imploring absolution from ecclesiastical censure.

  11. You are certainly aware, our beloved sons and venerable brothers, that every kind of impious and deceitful writing, lies, calumny, and blasphemy has been let loose from hell. No pain has been spared to transfer schools to non-Catholic teachers and to appropriate churches for non-Catholic worship. With a multiple of other, surely diabolical treacheries, arts, and undertakings, the enemies of God employ every effort to destroy completely-if that were possible -- the Catholic Church, seduce and corruupt the people, especially guileless youth, and uproot our holy faith and religion from the souls of all.

  12. We are fully confident that you, our beloved sons and venerable brothers, strengthened by the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, will continue steadfast in your outstanding episcopal zeal. With one mind and heart and with redoubled dedication, may you persist in defending the House of Israel, may you fight the good fight for the faith and defend from the snares of the enemy the faithful entrusted to your care. Admonish and exhort them to be strong in our sacred faith, without which it is impossible to please God. Urge them to persevere firmly established in our divine religion, which alone is true and eternal and prepares for salvation and even, to a very great extent, preserves and prospers civil society.

  13. Through the parish priests chiefly and other ecclesiastics known for integrity of life, gravity of morals, and constant adherence to sound doctrine, may you teach unremittingly and accurately: at one time preaching the divine word, at another instructing the people in the mysteries of our august religion, its doctrine, precepts, and discipline. You, above all, know that many evils generally arise from ignorance of divine matters essential for salvation. Hence, you will understand that it behooves you to use every care and diligence that so detrimental a condition be prevented.

  14. Before we bring our letter to its close, however, we cannot restrain from bestowing due praise upon the Italian clergy, who with the highest degree of devotion to us and this Chair of Peter and to their bishops, have certainly not strayed. Following the noble example of their bishops and bearing all hardships with utmost patience, they fulfill their duty most laudably. We put our trust in the hope, moreover, that this same clergy, with the help of divine grace and walking worthily in their vocation, will always strive to be shining examples of piety and virtue.

  15. We continue, too, with fitting and public praise for the many consecrated virgins who violently driven from their monastaries, despoiled of their recompense, and reduced to beggary, have not broken faith with their Spouse. Enduring the most deplorable conditions, they pray day and night in the holy house of God where they patiently await His mercy and beseech Him for the salvation of all, even that of their enemies.

  16. We rejoice, also, in praising the people of Italy who, with deep Catholic sensibilities, abhor the many impious and destructive efforts taken against the Church. With filial piety, respect and obedience, they take great pride in honoring us, this Holy See, and their bishops. Amid very serious difficulties and impeded by dangers, each day and in many ways they faithfully offer us tokens of their love and devotion, alleviating the wants of this Apostolic See, at times with money, at other times with other gifts.

  17. In the midst of so many calamities and confronted with such fury against the Church, we are not despondent for "Christ is our counsel and our strength; without him we can do nothing, through him we can do all things. While confirming the preachers of the Gospel and the ministers of the sacraments, he said: 'Lo, I am with you always, to the end of time.'"[15] We know for certain, moreover, that the gates of hell will never prevail against the Church which stands and will stand immovable with Christ Jesus, our Lord, as guardian and protector, who has built the Church and who has been "yesterday and today and forever."[16]

  18. With ever more ardent zeal and humility of heart, let us, our beloved sons and venerable brothers, never stop offering our prayers and petitions to God through Jesus Christ that His Church, driven by this most turbulent tempest, may recover from such great disasters, enjoy the most blessed peace and freedom throughout the world, and gain new and more splendid triumphs over her enemies. Let us pray that the errant be flooded with the light of his divine grace, may turn back from the path of error into the way of truth and justice and, experiencing the worthy fruit of repentance, may possess perpetual love and fear of his holy name.

  19. That the merciful God may more readily grant our most fervent prayers, let us invoke patronage of the immaculate and most holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Let us seek likewise the intercession of the most holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, and of all the blessed in heaven, that with their efficacious prayers before God, they may implore mercy and graces for all and powerfully avert all adversities and dangers afflicting the Church everywhere and especially in Italy.

  20. Finally, as a most certain pledge of our singular benevolence toward you, we lovingly impart our heartfelt Apostolic Blessing upon you, beloved sons and venerable brothers, and upon the flock committed to your care.

Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, 10 August, 1863, in the eighteenth year of Our Pontificate.

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9quanto.htm
The highlighted text is my own doing.

Pio Nono is complaining throughout most of the Encyclical about what will comes to pass in 7 years when he will lose the Papal States, his temporal power.

In the highlighted text the Pope redefines, in his own words: "Also well known is the Catholic teaching that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church.", to encompass those into Heaven who do not know Popery, and to those who do know Popery, but reject it because of their own religious tradition through invincible ignorance, and are always doing their best effort to follow the natural law. Only by following the natural law will those outside of Popery will have a good chance at getting into Heaven. For those who are, "stubbornly separated", from Popery there is only Hell.

This was written 1 year before his Syllabus of Errors of 1864 which condemns all things liberal, and 18 years after assuming power, and 15 years before he dies. So he was not too old and senile nor was he too young and inexperienced when he wrote this Encyclical.

Matthew
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Re: Modernism in the RCC & WO vs. Traditionalism in TOCs

Post by Matthew »

Interesting story, Maria. And interesting reading, Madison.

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