News Item: : Haven't We Been Here Before?
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
Posted by admin
Friday 27 January 2017 - 13:47:58

Fra' Matthew Festing: The National Catholic Register's trusted correspondent Ed Pentin stated yesterday that the good Fra' Festing was summoned alone to a private meeting with Pope Francis and then ordered to resign. All he had done was to uphold the Church's orthodox moral teachings. Is this the beginning of yet another Bergoglian purge of orthodox Catholics and organizations? Put it this way: it certainly isn't the end! 

The Present Saga

Consider the case of an intelligent and widely respected Catholic, a man who had been appointed to positions of lifelong leadership in the Church and over an independent sovereign state. He was theologically orthodox on the essential doctrines, friendly to Sacred Tradition, and traditions, and had acted to defend the Church's moral teachings when occasion demanded it.

These qualities had made him some powerful enemies among those who, whilst remaining in powerful positions of their own inside the Church, are really hostile to the orthodox Sacred Tradition of Catholicism.

Among these enemies featured at least one well placed and organized German prelate, who had clubbed together with a shadowy group that would strategically resist the said leader.

Out of the blue, this Catholic leader suddenly announced his totally unexpected resignation, during a time of crisis. Within a very short time, those well-placed opponents suddenly seized his power and set a new course that was opposed to Catholic orthodoxy. This created a culture wherein it was feared that anyone who got in the way of the ''new order'' would simply be trampled via the abuse of the very laws of the Church, and the traditional customs of obedience, to have them swiftly removed.

At the heart of this whole saga, and gaining immensely in power, though not in the good opinion of faithful Catholics, was the figure of one Jorge Mario Bergoglio; a man who cultivated a persona of mercy, whilst dealing ruthlessly with anyone who dared to resist his trajectory.

Having sifted various reports from mainstream sources on the internet, this seems to be a working summary of the main events in the ongoing Knights of Malta saga.

Reflections of the Past?

As I reflected on all of this late last night, I was struck by the remarkable parallels to the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI in early 2013. After all, it is not everyday that good Catholic leaders suddenly step down from lifelong positions and leave a void to be filled by their worst enemies. But, of course, we do have that very public precedent happening with the case of Pope Benedict's abdication and all that has followed in the last four years.  

If this sounds extreme, readers might find it an interesting, and perhaps instructive exercise, to read again all that is written above, but this time thinking not of the present case of Fra' Matthew Festing, but by instead reflecting on the person and acts of Pope Benedict.

There are certainly some spooky parallels, aren't there?

Since writing this, I am encouraged to see Rorate Caeli making a similar point. Check it out at their site. I'll no longer be considered the only ''conspiracy-loop'' on the block...

Observable Impacts

Let us think now for a moment of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for Divine Worship, the Pontifical Academy for Life, the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, the rules for female religious orders of contemplatives, the process of annulments for marriages, and finally the latest case of the Knights of Malta.

Let us think somewhat higher and consider the Papacy, the College of Cardinals and the appointment of new bishops and heads of dicasteries.

Perhaps we might go out to the peripheries a little and consider dioceses such as Belgium, Chicago, Malta, Osorno, Pereira or San Diego.

Let us go a little deeper now and reflect on the Sacraments of Confession, Holy Eucharist, Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony.

In all of these cases - be it the Sacred Hierarchy, or the very essence, mission and spirituality of the Church, key departments in the Vatican bureaucracy, dioceses or traditional religious communities - in all of these cases, the un-Catholic Bergoglian revolution is sweeping through, demolishing and submerging each one as surely as the Atlantic Ocean surging through the water-proofed compartments on board the Titanic.

Some Further Important Reflections

A couple of days ago, I encouraged readers to read Ed Condon's thoughtful article, about the Knights of Malta saga, at the Catholic Herald.

Whilst he makes a number of good points, perhaps there are a couple of weaknesses in Condon's piece.

For example, he takes the traditional route of blaming the Pope's curial advisors, rather than the Pope himself. Then again, he also frets that the brazen insertion of the Holy See into the governance of another sovereign entity might set a bad precedent for the future. He worries that the Holy See, having set such a bad precedent, might no longer have a legitimate defence against another foreign body, say the Italian Republic, interfering in its own affairs.

On reflection, I see these as weaknesses because, firstly, and whilst it is the default position of every faithful son of the Church in normal times, it is no longer a logical or defensible position to exhonerate Francis.

He is so very clearly and publicly a central power-broker in the radical, and highly co-ordinated deconstruction of Catholic orthodoxy; which can be seen to mushroom and flourish wherever he intervenes.

Secondly, and given that fact, it would be similarly naive to expect that Francis really cares about the Holy See's sovereignty being interfered with, or even usurped, at some future date.

As I highlighted in our previous article, Francis' Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, was recently sent to attend the Soros-backed, and New World Order-building, World Economic Forum at Davos to speak of the place of ''religions'' in the public arena. In the days of Francis, the Vatican has hosted many powerful pro-death globalists, and brought in scores of local mayors from all around the world who - regardless of their promotion of leftist socialism, LGBT or abortion in their localities - have been applauded by Francis as the ''conscience of humanity''. 

If you start joining together the dots between the co-ordinated deconstruction of Catholic orthodoxy, the redirection of the Church's real estate and personnel into the service of a globalist agenda, and the merging with all religions to serve that agenda, then it seems clear that the sovereignty of the Holy See figures low on the list of Francis' priorities.

This becomes even more clear if one also remembers that Francis' Vatican has been inviting speaker after speaker from the ranks of those Culture of Death globalists who actually see the end of national sovereignties as one of the key stepping stones to the global governance that is so beloved of their ideology. Think Agenda 21 and its ongoing evolution in recent years.

Heck, if the Words of Jesus, the clarity of orthodox teaching, reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, defence of Holy Matrimony and even the salvation of souls don't matter a jot to these characters - and we can all see by their public actions that they do not - then they are hardly going to trifle about maybe having to give up the sovereignty of the Holy See at some future date. From the perspective of the globalists there are simply bigger fish to fry in this game. They see a much bigger power base than that granted by local sovereignties. Indeed, for them, local sovereignty represents a block to the expansion of their power base.

Conclusion

This is no time for blaming the courtiers and not the king. That particular boat sailed at least two and a half years ago. The very Catholic Church - that one means given by God for the salvation of all men - is being swept away from within by her enemies. Every orthodox Catholic who is still standing at this point must stop trying to offset the blame and work to get at the very heart of the truth.

Given the similarities between the resignations, more accurately called abdications, of Fra' Matthew Festing and that of Pope Benedict XVI, that looks to be a good place to start looking.

Keep the Faith!

---

This news item is from Torch of The Faith
( http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php?extend.1536 )