Catholic Authority

SILENT MAJOR

SILENT MAJOR on December 7, 2024

In all things modern, Luther led the way?

Then heeding modern man must lead astray.

What on earth is a silent Major? Is it an army officer who does not talk much? Actually, no. It is a way of naming perhaps the most interesting feature of the book written by Archbishop Georg Gänswein, published last year, entitled “Who believes is not alone. My life beside Benedict XVI.” Gänswein was Pope Benedict’s choice to be his private secretary from 2003 to the Pope’s death on the last day of 2022. As secretary to the Pope for all those years, Gänswein was closely involved in affairs of the Catholic Church at the very top, and his book naturally relates interesting details of many of these affairs. However, from the standpoint of Catholic Tradition, what is of greatest interest is the Silent Major.

In logic, “Silent Major” names that essential part of a syllogism when it goes unmentioned, as one way of abbreviating a syllogism expressed in full, because the content of the Silent Major is supposedly too obvious to need mentioning. A syllogism is an argument consisting of three connected propositions, two Premisses, Major and Minor, and the Conclusion which can be deduced from the two Premisses when linked together. The Major might be compared to an expectant mother, the Minor to a mid-wife, and the Conclusion to the baby. Thus the Major implicitly includes the Conclusion, but the Minor is needed to make that Conclusion explicit by showing that is included in the Major.

Thus the most famous syllogism of all runs – Major: “All men are rational,” Minor: “Socrates is a man,” Conclusion: “Therefore Socrates is rational.” With the Silent Major the syllogism might be abbreviated as, “Socrates is a man, so he is bound to be rational,” or shorter still, “Being a man, Socrates is rational.” In daily life we are all the time syllogising, or deducing one thing from another two things, but it is rare for us to lay out the syllogisms in full. Frequently we leave out the Major or the Minor, but more frequently the Major, and then we have a case of the Silent Major. Here are two more examples – “Football is a sport, so it’s a waste of good time.” And “Catholic Tradition does not get through to modern man, it’s a waste of time.” The Silent Majors here are that “All sport is a waste of time,” and “Any religion is useless which does not get through to modern man.”

Thus in his book Gänswein paints a basically sympathetic portrait of life inside the Vatican and especially of Pope Ratzinger himself as a brilliant but humble man, basically an academic who never had any desire to be Pope because he would have preferred to retire somewhere calm where he could read and write books. In fact he wrote 66 of them, and they are no doubt full of many wise and traditional insights, as was his daily life, as Gänswein relates. This why many Traditionalists at that time put their hope and trust in him. Yet ultimately the Pope disappointed them. Why? Because of the Silent Major.

For indeed Ratzinger, like all modernists, was obsessed with getting through to modern man. Therefore for him the unchanging Truth of Catholic Tradition which he knew, always had to be at least expressed anew in a way that would fit modern man. But Luther, said a famous German “philosopher,” Johann Fichte (1762–1814) was “the first modern man.” And read “Three Reformers” of Jacques Maritain to see how today’s world is marinated in the revolt of Luther against the Catholic Church, in fact against God. So how is any modernist going to adapt godly Truth to godless modern man without resorting to ambiguity, on the way to outright heresy, which can also be found in the writings of Joseph Ratzinger?

And what weight can there be behind the best insights of Archbishop, Cardinal or Pope Ratzinger? If he believes in the Silent Major – “Catholicism must get through to modern man” – then at best he can only half believe in Catholic Truth. But Catholic Truth is all or nothing. If I believe in just one heresy, I have lost the Catholic Faith. Archbishop Lefebvre was not exaggerating when he said in 1990 that Rome had lost the Faith. Yet Gänswein portrays apostate Rome and Romans as though they are quite normal. He can only be himself a victim of the Silent Major.

Kyrie eleison.

CONTROLLED CHAOS

CONTROLLED CHAOS on November 23, 2024

God then withdrew, a punishment quite just,

Yet still men are intent on going bust!

If there is one word with which to describe the state of the Catholic Church today, surely that word is “chaos.” The normal structure of the Church is that of a pyramid, with God’s own Authority descending through Pope, cardinals, bishops and priests, all raised up by God to look after His sheep, or laity, at ground level. This hierarchy consists of fallible men, from top to bottom, so that at all levels mistakes can be made. However, if in normal circumstances a Superior in the hierarchy misbehaves, he usually has a Superior of his own to whom I can appeal against his misbehaviour, because any given Superior in the Church will normally make decisions in accordance with Canon Law, and, with a minimum of good will, in accordance with truth and justice. And so, in normal circumstances, from lower down I can appeal all the way up to Rome.

However, what happens when the fallible human being at the top of this pyramid loses his sense of truth and justice, and even his good will? There can only be chaos in the Church from top to bottom, because the Catholic Church was designed by God to be a monarchy in which there is His own divine Authority to protect the great truths of salvation, so that He can populate His Heaven with souls to share His bliss. That Authority is recognised and exercised at all levels of the hierarchy, but supremely by the Pope, who has no human Superior above him, but only God. It follows that if the Pope, or the man in white who is universally accepted as Pope, seems to lose all sense of Truth for which alone he receives his awesome Authority over the Church, dwarfing all merely human authorities, then the Church is in chaos, from top to bottom.

In this respect, the Catholic Church resembles a string doll consisting of multiple pieces of coloured wood, upheld on strings, upheld in turn by the puppeteer above. If for one moment the puppeteer lets go of the strings, the entire doll collapses into a jumbled heap of meaningless pieces of wood. If for one moment Almighty God lets go of His Pope and Cardinals in Rome, His bishops and priests and laity turn worldwide into a jumbled heap of Catholics, disunited and divided among themselves, many of them striving to recreate in their own little corner a semblance of that divine Authority which can come from God alone. What less can they do? Wise Catholics recognise their basic impotency, unless and until God restores a Catholic Pope. Meanwhile Catholics must do what they can to rebuild Catholic corners, and help all other Catholics to do the same, just so long as they have the Catholic Faith (and here let nobody pretend to be infallible!).

And the Pope, or seeming Pope? The correct perspective on the history of mankind is that, because of original sin, each of its Seven Ages is launched by a key figure, followed by a period of decadence until the next key figure is appointed by God to raise mankind up again, until the Antichrist will bring to an end the Seventh Age of the World which was introduced by God Himself with His Incarnation, some 2000 years ago.

This Seventh Age has been by far the longest, because God’s own Incarnation has been the turning-point of human history, the climax of all Seven Ages, because the Incarnation has continued ever since through the Catholic Church, Jesus continuing to live and save souls for eternity among all races and nations.

But God, to honour man, chose to entrust His Church not to angels but to fallible men, without turning them into robots by taking away their free-will. This means that He laid Himself open to the possibility that the human ministers of His Church would eventually so misuse their God-given free-will as to destroy His Church. This is what virtually happened at Vatican II (1962–1965). In 1968, God gave mankind a second chance, when He guided Pope Paul VI to condemn artificial means of birth control in the Encyclical Humanae Vitae. But all mankind, not just the Catholics, rose up in revolt, to condemn the old man dressed in white, living in Rome, supposed to know nothing about marriage.

Almighty God then said, so to speak, “Alright. Have it your own way. You do not want My Church. Have your own, and see how you like it. Good-bye for now. Get back in touch as soon as you want My Church back. Meanwhile, I will keep it going, in distress. I will be waiting to hear from you. I love you still.

Kyrie eleison.

VIGANO COMMENTARY

VIGANO COMMENTARY on July 20, 2024

Tell not of so much gloom – I cannot cope!

The end of lalaland is one great hope.

Last week these “Comments” (July 13, # 887) gave a summary of Archbishop Vigano’s June 28 long justification of his decision not to respond to a Newchurch summons to appear before one of its courts to defend himself against a charge of schism. The summary took the form of 44 lines, one line for each of the 44 paragraphs of the original text, which gave to readers at least an overview of the entire content of the Archbishop’s text, but it hardly made any comment on what he wrote, except for the final couplet –

With some of the arguments one may not agree,

But here is a Catholic spirit, faithful and free.

In this week’s “Comments,” let us elaborate on last week’s rhyming verdict.

The first thing to notice about the original text is its wealth of arguments, not marshalled in any clearly recognisable sequence, but all bearing on the Archbishop’s central and most valuable message – the so-called “renewal” of Vatican II (1962–1965) wrought such a sea-change in the Catholic Church, that while appearances of the pre-conciliar Church could be maintained to deceive Catholics who were not on their guard, nevertheless the substance of the Catholic Church was so altered that it was no longer the true Church but a clever false church, so radically false that it had to be given a new name for Catholics to be no longer deceived. The Archbishop himself does not call it the Newchurch, but that is what these “Comments” will call it, for brevity and clarity.

Then the Archbishop’s main reason for refusing the summons of Rome is easy to express: between the Newchurch and the true Church there is such a contradiction (13) that while the true Church has such a divine Authority that it can demand from souls obedience on pain of eternal damnation (Mk. XVI, 16), on the contrary the Newchurch has no such authority because by all its false doctrines it has given up that Catholic Truth, the defence and protection of which is the very purpose of divine Catholic Authority. From the moment that Adam and Eve fell, mankind lived in a fallen world where God’s Truth no longer needed only to be presented in order to be accepted.

But by the time that the Word became flesh some 4000 years later, mankind had become so corrupt that to save any significant number of souls, Our Lord had to institute a hierarchy to impose the saving Truth: a Pope (Peter), bishops (Apostles), and disciples (priests). Men might still choose to disobey God’s own hierarchy and Truth, but His hierarchy would still, broadly, uphold it – until Luther let the corruption loose again, culminating in Vatican II, where Our Lord’s own hierarchy, broadly, abandoned God’s Truth. That split between God’s Truth and God’s Authority caused, sure enough, an unprecedented crisis in all Church history, beyond all human repair, where God alone will be able to restore His Papacy. But He will do that, to make possible one final triumph of the Catholic Church before the descent to the Antichrist.

Here is the basic reality of our situation in Church and world today. Archbishop Lefebvre recognised it, and by not underestimating the problem he did what was still possible for men to alleviate it. Archbishop Vigano mentions his example (2), and does what he can to follow it, by refusing, for example, to appear at the summons of apostate Rome, with a wealth of arguments to justify his refusal. One may disagree with some of his arguments, for instance on the vacant See in Rome. But those are details which pale in comparison with his grasp of the overall gravity of the crisis, nullifying the hierarchs’ authority. Here is the true faith of the Church’s martyrs down all the ages. May Archbishop Vigano’s courage and teaching open many more eyes for as long as God gives him life.

Kyrie eleison.

VIGANO COUNTER-ATTACKS

VIGANO COUNTER-ATTACKS on July 13, 2024

With some of the arguments one may not agree,

But here is a Catholic spirit, faithful and free.

Summoned by Rome to appear before a Newchurch court on June 28 to answer accusations of “schism,” the heroic defender of the Faith, Archbishop Vigano, chose to reply on the same day by making public an explanation of why he refused the Newchurch summons. A one-sentence-per-paragraph summary of that explanation cannot possibly do justice to the original, but it provides readers with an overview –

1 Quotation of Galatians I, verses 8–9; Let any innovated Gospel be anathema, i.e. absolutely rejected.

2 In 1975 Archbishop Lefebvre told his Roman accusers that he should be judging them, not vice versa.

3 I do not recognise the authority of this Roman court accusing me, because it lacks the Truth.

4 Not for one moment in my life have I been outside the one Ark of Salvation – the Catholic Church.

5 The Church’s enemies, led by Freemasonry, hate the power of Catholic Tradition.

6 It is clear that behind the revolution of Vatican II in the Church has been Freemasonry.

7 Freemasons have approved of their own 1789 (French Revolution) having taken over the true Church.

8 How many of the ringleaders of the “Up-dating” of Vatican II were condemned before the Council!

9 Today’s head of the Italian bishops is saying a Mass for a notorious modernist from the past.

10 A Professor just said that the “necessary renewal” was being blocked for fear of Protestantism.

11 An abyss separates the true Church of dogmas from the Newchurch (not Vigano’s term) of apostasy.

12 Truth has been relativised. If the modernist Sanhedrin accuses me, it is accusing all Catholic Popes.

13 Church and Newchurch contradict one another. It is the Newchurch that is accusing me of “schism.”

14 The Newchurch’s “necessary renewal” means, for the true Church, the heretical evolution of dogma.

15 The Newchurch’s brand-new “faith” is in rupture with the Faith of the true Church of 2,000 years.

16 But Lefebvre never called in question the Conciliar Popes’ legitimacy? That was 40 years ago!

17 Today’s Newchurch is professing, unanimously, a multitude of condemned errors.

18 By thus consigning millions of souls to perdition, the Newchurch has lost its Catholic Authority.

19 The Newchurch’s “authority” to put me on trial is null and void. I do not accept it.

20 I myself was one of many high churchmen who did not see what was really going on.

21 It was as Nuncio in the USA, confronting Cardinal McCarrick, that I at last understood – we have

22 a concerted global attack, both religious and political, being made on traditional Christian society.

23 The corruption I was observing is an integral part of this advance of the New World Order.

24 As Our Lady of La Salette said, “Rome will lose the Faith and become the Seat of the Antichrist.”

25 I cannot be silent in the face of the Church’s demolition, with the damnation of so many souls.

26 In Canon Law there is no crime of schism when a Pope’s Conclave and election are cast in doubt.

27 Paul IV decreed that to any “Pope” who was a heretic prior to his election, no obedience is due.

28 So Bergoglio, by prior heresy and invalid intention at his “election,” has never been Pope.

29 However, for me to attack Bergoglio in this way by no means proves that I want to be in schism. And

30 is not his own preference to be known merely as “Bishop of Rome” a real attack on the Papacy?

31 Cannot all Conciliar Popes dropping the Tiara for ecumenical reasons be called in doubt as Popes?

32 If Conciliar ecumenism is nonsense, how can the ecumenical Bergoglio not be a nonsense Pope?

33 Many bishops and priests cannot bear what he imposes on them by force, blackmail and threats.

34 We pastors must wake up and react! We will answer before God for all that we go along with.

35 I denounce my accusers, their “Council” and their “Pope.” Saints Peter and Paul, save the Church!

36 As a bishop consecrated to guard the Faith and preach the Word, I am defending the Church, not me.

37 I cannot be accused of cutting with (=schism) Bergoglio’s Newchurch because I never belonged to it.

38 A Pope cannot be accused by anybody beneath him? Yes he can, if he never was Pope.

39 Bergoglio also misused his papal authority to help promote the deadly covid “Vaccines,” a real crime.

40 He also cut a criminal deal with the Chinese government, betraying the truly faithful Catholics.

41 As for my being accused of rejecting the errors and deviations of Vatican II, I consider that an honour.

42 And if Vatican II excuses certain schismatics (see L.G. #13) how can they accuse me of schism?

43 I condemn also all the multiple heresies of the post-conciliar “Magisterium” and “Synodal Church.”

44 Dear Catholics, pray, do penance and make sacrifices for Mother Church’s freedom and triumph.

Kyrie eleison.

8 of 31 Reasons

8 of 31 Reasons on April 10, 2021

Two weeks ago these “Comments” had pleasure in presenting from an Israeli Rabbi a pile of good sense in the form of 31 reasons why he would not take the anti-Covid “vaccine.” The only problem was that easily most of them had to be shortened for all of them to fit within the A4 of an “Eleison Comments.” So here is a selection of eight of them at full length; –

1. It’s not a vaccine . A vaccine by definition provides immunity to a disease. This does not provide immunity to anything. In a best-case scenario, it merely reduces the chance of getting a severe case of a virus if one catches it. Hence, it is a medical treatment, not a vaccine. I do not want to take a medical treatment for an illness I do not have.

3. The presumed benefits of this medical treatment are minimal and would not last long in any case . The establishment acknowledges this, and is already talking about additional shots and ever-increasing numbers of new “vaccines” that would be required on a regular basis. I refuse to turn myself into a chronic patient who receives injections of new pharmaceutical products on a regular basis simply to reduce my chances of getting a severe case of a virus that these injections do not even prevent.

5. The establishment insists that this medical treatment is safe . They cannot possibly know this because the long-term effects are entirely unknown, and will not be known for many years. They may speculate that it is safe, but it is disingenuous for them to make such a claim that cannot possibly be known. Because they are being disingenuous, I do not trust them, and I want no part of their treatment.

9. The executives and board members at Pfizer are on record that they have not taken their own treatment, despite all the fanfare and assurances . They are claiming that they would consider it unfair to “cut the line.” This is a preposterous excuse, and it takes an unbelievable amount of chutzpah to even say such a thing. Such a “line” is a figment of their own imagination; if they hogged a couple of injections for themselves no one would cry foul. In addition, billionaires with private jets and private islands are not known for waiting in line until hundreds of millions of peasants all over the world go first to receive anything these billionaires want for themselves.

21. The government has sealed their protocol related to the virus and treatments for THIRTY YEARS. This is information that the public has a right to know, and the government has a responsibility to share. What are they covering up? Do they really expect me to believe that everything is kosher about all this, and that they are concerned first and foremost with my health? The last time they did this was with the Yemeni Children Affair. If you’re not familiar with it, look it up. Now they’re pulling the same shtick. They didn’t fool me the first time, and they’re definitely not fooling me now.

26. The horror stories are already coming in at warp speed, but the politicians are not the least bit concerned, the medical establishment is brushing them aside as unrelated or negligible, the media is ignoring them, the drug companies are steaming ahead at full speed, and those who raise a red flag continue to be bullied, censored, and punished . Clearly my life and my well-being are not their primary concern. I will not be the next guinea pig in their laboratory. I will not risk being the next “coincidence.”

30. I see all the lies, corruption, propaganda, manipulation, censorship, bullying, violation of medical ethics, lack of integrity in the scientific process, suppression of inconvenient adverse reactions, dismissal of legitimate concerns, hysteria, cult-like behaviour, ignorance, closed-mindedness, fear, medical and political tyranny, concealment of protocols, lack of true concern for human life, lack of respect for basic human rights and freedoms, perversion of the Torah and common sense, demonization of good people, the greatest medical experiment of all time being conducted by greedy, untrustworthy, godless people, the lack of liability for those who demand I risk everything . . . . I see all this and I have decided they can all have my place in line. I will put my trust in God. I will use the mind He blessed me with and trust my natural instincts. Which leads to the final reason which sums up why I will not get “vaccinated.”

31. The whole thing stinks.

Kyrie Eleison

31 Reasons

31 Reasons on March 27, 2021

On the Internet appeared recently an admirable list of 31 reasons coming from an Israeli Rabbi, explaining why he won’t take the notorious Covid “vaccine.” Many congratulations to the Rabbi! –

1 It is not a vaccine, providing by definition immunity, but a medical treatment providing merely some protection from a virus. I need no medical treatment for an illness I do not have.

2 Big Pharma, the political and medical establishments and the media have conspired to call it a “vaccine” in order to deceive the people. I want nothing to do with such deceitful manipulators.

3 The presumed benefits of the medical treatment are minimal and would not last long in any case. Already the establishment is talking of repeating and mandating a variety of injections. No thank you!

4 I can protect myself from a virus merely by strengthening my immune system naturally, and in case of need, there are vitamins and proven drugs like Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine to ward it off.

5 The establishment cannot possibly know that their “vaccine” is safe because the long-term effects will not be known for many years. I do not trust them. I want no part of their treatment.

6 Big Pharma and the politicians behind the “vaccine” are no way legally liable and cannot be sued if anything goes wrong. If they will not risk anything, I will not risk my health.

7 Israel’s Prime Minister has openly admitted that Israel is the world’s laboratory for this experimental “vaccine.” I am not interested in being a guinea-pig.

8 To accept a “vaccine” for Israelis, Israel also agreed to share the results with the foreign drug company involved. I never agreed. I will not contribute to this sleazy enterprise.

9 The executives and Board members at Pfizers (company producing the “vaccine”) are on record that they have not taken their own “vaccine” – “not wanting to jump queue” – preposterous excuse!

10 The mainstream media accept this ridiculous excuse with no problem. They even praise the Pfizer executives for their self-sacrifice. Since they take us for such fools, I will trust none of them.

11 Bill Gates claims vaccines are essential to mankind’s survival; he wants to depopulate the world; he also has not been “vaccinated.” No thanks to anything proposed by Bill Gates!

12 The Establishment has been entirely one-sided in promoting the “vaccine.” They have been deceitful and manipulative. I will not gamble my personal well-being on their integrity.

13 There is, to promote this “vaccine,” the most widespread marketing campaign in all history. That is inappropriate for any medical treatment, let alone a brand new one. It makes me recoil.

14 The masses are following along, feeding peer pressure to do likewise. It is alarming and sick.

15 Anyone who objects to the “vaccine” is bullied, slandered, mocked, censored, ostracised, threatened and fired from their jobs. I will trust these brave people over the establishment every time.

16 This is the greatest medical experiment in the history of the human race.

17 Yet the fact that it is an experiment is being severely downplayed.

18 If people knew what is really going on, very few would be agreeing to participate.

19 The medical establishment is telling nobody about all this. They are corrupt. I don’t trust their drug.

20 Such pressure to “vaccinate” violates all medical ethics and democratic rights. Count me out!

21 The US government is sealing all the “vaccine” records for 30 years. What are they covering up?

22 They share these records with foreign corporations but not with their own people? I’m out!

23 The establishment is setting up all kinds of people to harangue non-participants. How dare they?

24 Nobody “vaccinated” that I know really studied the question beforehand. I am suspicious of cults.

25 Big Pharma is notorious for pushing its products, even against all contrary evidence.

26 The horror stories come in, thick and fast. Nobody heeds them. I won’t be the next “coincidence.”

27 Nobody is allowed to imply that any death was connected to a preceding “vaccination.” Really?

28 The religious cult-like worship of a “vaccine” repels me.

29 My medical doctor badgers me to get the “vaccine.” But he has given me no contrary information. 30 I see this whole disreputable scene. I will trust God, and the mind and natural instincts He gave me.

31 The whole thing stinks.

Kyrie eleison