Author: Odon De Castro

   1. The Visible signs of the true Church of Christ.
       They are found in the Nicene Creed recited every Sunday Mass.
       And the signs are expanded by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church due to their great importance; in that they are the only way the true Church, the true God and the true disciples of Christ can be recognised beyond any doubt. 

      These signs can easily be learned by all, precisely made such by God so they can be used by everybody to recognise the true Church and be able to enter her. 

    2. With these signs any one can go around applying them to everything Catholic. Do this and you will find  the following; most Dioceses and Parishes do not have the signs. Most Priest, bishops, cardinals do not have the signs . Most religious congregations do not have the signs. All popular religious groups do not have the signs. And almost all families do not have the signs.
        There is great ignorance of what those signs are because today, during Mass, Catholics had been reciting the Apostles’ Creed that does not enumerate the four visible signs of the Church, which the Nicene Creed, the older Mass, emphatically proclaims; ‘I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.’

    3. Apply these signs to Pope Francis using his talks, writings and autobiography and anyone can see that  he does not have a single sign of the true Catholic Church; neither he nor almost his entire Vatican Curia with the exception of done or two. They do not have the four visible signs nor the 15 expanded Marks of the Church described by the Jesuit Doctor of the Church, St. Robert Bellarmine. If Pope Francis does not have them, can we expect to find them among the cardinals, bishops and priests? More so we won’t find them in ourselves.  We cannot find those signs among the  brilliant writers in the internet. 
      It all depends on each person to have those visible signs or not. So there is no one to blame except the persons concerned. On the other hand Pope Benedict, basing it on his talks and works and behaviour have all the visible signs. 

     4. Some have partially a few signs. If only partially then all the signs would not exist yet. All the signs will only appear when all are present since one sign depend on the other; for example, a parish should first be ‘apostolic’ before it can be ‘catholic.’ And they should first be ‘apostolic’ and ‘catholic’ before they can be ‘holy.’
      When the head, like a bishop or parish priest, have only partially  a few signs, the rest of the parish or diocese, would not have any of the signs. And so even if the priest or a bishop have the beginnings of one or two signs, the entire parish or diocese will not have any of the visible signs. 
     This was evident during the 2015 Family Bishop’s Synod. Bishops who defended the indissolubility of marriage defended the true teaching of the Catholic Church. But their own diocese did not have the four visible signs of the true Church. Why? Because the said bishop believed in only one truth of the Church, the indissolubility of marriage. He did not show belief  in the other truths of the Church. This lack of knowledge disabled him and his Diocese to have the four visible signs of the true Church. 

     5. When a bishop or a priest only have the beginnings of one or two signs because they know only a few truths of the Church, they can either grow more in knowledge or lose the little they have as what is happening to the two bishops in the news.  It is not a good sign. It reflects very badly on their dioceses. Since they are slowly losing the visible signs, it is definite that his entire diocese does not have the signs and is, therefore, not Catholic. 
     What went wrong with the two bishops featured in the news? Before, one went against the error of Pope Francis in allowing divorce and tolerating sodomy. And he was right in going against the Pope. He should have remained in his right stand because a schism occurred during the Synod where Pope Francis left the Catholic Church while he did not join the schism. The bishop was obliged under pain of sin to separate himself from the schism of Pope Francis who rejected Catholic moral teaching.
     But what happened recently? He hinted that the Pope was right after all and he does not want to join a schism with the Pope. No! You cannot join someone in error. You must separate yourself from a schism. 
     The same news, however, stated that the US bishops were really pressured by Soros to submit to his program in causing world wide chaos to which Pope Francis consented to by preaching, himself, ‘to mess up the world.’ Take the issue regarding total open door to migrants. What is wrong with total open door which is Pope Francis’ favourite past time? It goes against the teachings of St. Paul which was explained by St. Thomas of Aquinas regarding the obligation to the common good. This great influx of migrants encouraged by the US, Europe and by other countries is against Catholic teachings. There is a superior Catholic way of doing this thing right. But the way it is being done by all, including the Pope, is unCatholic, as we shall show in another post. 
     Another bishop who was known for orthodoxy but did not have the four visible signs yet showed a regression in Faith. His comment was that the two US candidates for presidency were no different from each other. Now, that was really a bad comment. If he had the four visible signs of the Church, he would know Catholic teachings. And he would know that, though both were not Catholics, one would be closer than the other to the truth, just like himself. 
     Analysis shows that one candidate was even more Catholic than Pope Francis, as shown above, that one candidate followed St. Paul and St. Thomas of Aquinas in prioritising the common good while the Pope is not concerned with the command good, spiritually or politically.  The bishop’s defect? Ignorance of Catholic teachings which is a sign he does not have Faith and the subsequent four visible signs of the true Church. 
     Since both bishops had partial signs of Catholicity before, it seems as we feared, they lost the little they had. While the bishops of, for instance, Poland, Mexico, Africa,  Eastern Europe, etc begun to increase in the number of signs of true Catholicity. It is for this reason that Pope Francis is concentrating in destroying them by going there and continuously sending commissars to dislodge them from the truth. China’s true Church, the underground, had been betrayed by Pope Francis to the atheistic communist government. And the emeritus Bishop had declared; ‘don’t obey the Pope.’ And they should really not. Obey a Judas? ‘Obey God and not man,’ St. Peter said in Acts 5:29. The Pope is not God; he is just a man specially when he says all gods are the same. 

6. The gathering together.
     We have seen in the past posts that Satan is now on the loose with God’s permission. And like on Good Friday, he has begun to possess spiritually the human race and he did Judas. Let us further describe the present state of the world. 
     The Gospel described it as gathering the wheat together and gathering the chaff together; the former to be carried to the barn and the latter to be burned.
     It has become a world wide phenomenon that the good are getting better while the bad are getting worse. While the staunch defender of marriage who were on the side of orthodoxy are now succumbing to Pope Francis’ pressure to implement ‘Amoris Laetitia,’ an exhortation unacceptable even to lay theologians, the Polish, Mexican, African and underground Chinese bishops are standing up against Pope Francis and his ‘new’ church……..and maintaining fidelity to the Church of Christ and the apostles. 

7. The forces accelerating the gathering process. Here is where we stand. 
     The entire pagan world is possessed by Satan. They are now on a rampage of sex and killings with the innocent as their victims;  the sign of spiritual possession. 
     The head of nations will be lying tyrants slowly abolishing all religious rights followed by abolition of all rights, as headlines show; a sign their father is the father of lies.
     Those whose office is to evangelise do not know how to do it as shown in ‘evangelii gaudium.’ That is from Pope Francis down to the parish priest and assistant nun. None of the Mass media would be broadcasting the truth; only trash, sin and errors.
     As a result all men are ignorant of the truth making them totally ignorant on what is going on around thus acting like zombies. The only language they understand, like dogs, is how to please their senses. Thus the devil continuously entertains them and entice them with entertainment gradually leading them to their fall. At the same time the devil threatens them with death if they show some hesitation in following.
     All the members of the Catholic church who abandon the service of Christ turn traitors following the adage the corruption of the good is the worse. 
     The few good men are silenced.
     The Church is praying  and living its ‘hidden life’ like Christ’s hidden life. 
     
8.   It is just like Good Friday. But multiplied a thousand times in its ferocity against the Church. The devils know it is the last round; for them it is now or never. They are greatly aroused by their hatred so expect the worse. 

       The Catholic world is made to chose; the right or the left, the sheep or the goats. But due to the above description of the prevalent state of the Church and the state of the world, most Catholics do not know which is the right side. Being made worldly, he has no desire to go to the right side.  Enticed by the attraction of worldly pleasure on one hand, and surrounded by threats not to go to the right side on the other hand, the Catholic has no choice.  Isn’t that awful? 
         The great chastisement is that man will have no choice but one. Perdition because they delayed too long their repentance.Their punishment is the withdrawal of the grace of repentance as St. Paul warned us.

     What choice can they have when they only know the left side but not the right side? Could this be the great chastisement nobody is waiting for? I cannot imagine any greater punishment for mankind for having neglected the salvation of their souls for such a long time. But, by the justice of God,  they deserve it. 

    1. A good question.
      Someone asked Jesus; ‘are they few in number who are to be saved?’ That was a good question. I, myself, would want to know if my parents, my brother and sister, my relatives and my friends would be saved. But Christ responds; ‘that was a bad question.’ Why? Because you must first be concerned with your own salvation before looking at the salvation of others. What can you do for others if your own salvation is not assured? But definitely, if your own salvation is assured, there is something you can do for the salvation of others. 
     Christ corrects the curious question of those around him but gives them the answer to the question that they should have asked; ‘am I saved.’ And He answers; ‘if you are to be saved enter the narrow door.’ In the other Gospels He says; ‘walk by the narrow path.’ It looks like a narrow pathway that leads to a narrow door. 

2. How narrow?
    This is not physical narrowness. This is an allegorical narrowness that will allow one to pass through with almost no space to spare. The Gospels during these last Sundays are about preparation for death. And the lessons had been this; when you die, do not try to bring with you what you cannot take along with you when you die. Take along with you only those things which you can really take along with you. And what is this? Only Love of God and Love of neighbour. Since these two virtues are in the mind and in the free will, and since these two faculties are parts of the soul only these two virtues in these two faculties can be taken along with you before the judgment seat of God. Leave everything else behind; of better still, use everything you leave behind to gather merits for your soul. Like doing what? As Christ said and repeatedly taught as the main theme of ‘Veritatis Splendor’ by John Paul II, ‘go home, sell all your things, give them to the poor and come follow Me.’ Ok. Most cannot do this. 
     So Christ said; ‘well, this is indeed the narrow way. Many will try to enter and will not be unable. Thus they will be left outside and I will say to them; ‘I do not know you.’ 
     Go home and sell all the things I worked so hard for. And give it to the poor? Are you crazy? No. I am as serious as He who said those words. 
       But many will say; ‘we have eaten with drunk in your company during Mass. And You preached to us in Church. We have great times together at Mass with all those Liturgical dancing. And Christ would say; ‘I didn’t say dance with Me. I said go home, sell all your things, give it to the poor and come follow Me. Don’t you understand English?’

3. Extra baggage.
     The past Sundays mentioned those extra baggage that has to be left behind. Everything in the world after having used these things as the Master of the vineyard had commanded us. Not by using them  the way we want as the unfaithful workers did. But as the Master had commanded us. 
     Then last Sunday, we were told to give us all human relationships if they are detriment to our salvation; the human relationship between father and son, between mother and daughter and between mother in law and daughter in Law. Give these up if they are detrimental to salvation because you cannot take these relationships with you  before the judgement seat of God. 
     Of course, be sure no sin is part of your baggage because the pathway if narrow and any sin can easily swerve to the left of to the right and throw you off the road completely. 
     You cannot even take along your own will. This, in fact, is the biggest harmful baggage; together with doing the will of your father, mother and mother in law. 

     You must carry, only, two baggages; the Love of God and Love of neighbour. Other baggages will not fit that narrow door.  The process of removing extra bagges is called the ‘discipline of the Lord,’ mentioned in the second reading. This is a life of self-denial and suffering which the whole Church is undergoing. It is discipline in that the soul is trained to do only God’s Will. It is a pruning process that hurts a lot so most people run away from it. It is what makes a lot of souls ‘unable to enter the narrow door.’ They would not give up their sins and all other lawful things that are not necessary for the salvation of their souls. Spoilt brats; I won’t give up the things I like; my second and third wives, my same sex partner, my female clothing, my atheistic beliefs, my pagan religion, my Protestant religions, my…. etc, etc. 

4. But wait  !!
    The Gospel narrates that some walked the narrow path and reached the narrow door. In fact, they were able to knock. How come they were not able to enter; they were shut out and rebuked?
What was their fault considering they reached the narrow door? Their only fault was they arrived too late. Like the unwise virgins, they did not know the time of His arrival; they had lamps, but they were not awake and watching. They were caught unaware. They failed to interpret correctly the signs of the times. Christ was at the door and they didn’t know it. 
     It is not enough to go home, sell all your possession, give the proceeds to the poor and follow Christ. You must be able to enter the narrow door which St. Thomas of Aquinas described as difficult to enter because of the self-discipline required.  But the moment you are inside everything is wide and nice. Entrance through that door is the perfection of Faith, Hope and Charity. 

5. Everybody wants to enter but are unable.
    Everybody, from Pope Francis down to the bishops and priests are not even in the narrow path leading to the narrow door. They are mostly in the wide road leading to the wide door. 
     They are not doing what it takes to love God and neighbour. Love of God is obedience to His commandment; ‘If you love Me keep My commandments.’ They are mostly doing their own things that are mostly against God’s commandments. Allowing remarriage, atheism, to remain Protestant, remaining gay and pagan……are clearly signs of hatred for God. 
     Pope Francis said; ‘if one is gay but is seeking God…….’ If he is gay it is because he is not seeking God. One who seeks God will be completely normal…if not even supernaturally holy. 
     Pope Francis’ toleration and even encouragement to sin, like encouraging his Evangelical friend Pastor who wanted to become a Catholic, to remain a Protestant is a very serious sin of scandal. He cannot be in the narrow path nor near the narrow door. He is in the wide road, which St. John Bosco described as a wide road that slants downward that leads to hell. 
     Add to his toleration of sin,  his sins in deforming Catholic doctrines as he did in ‘Amoris Laetitia.’ and preventing contemplatives religious from reaching the perfection of Faith, Hope and Charity in his ‘Vultum Dei,’ and add to this his abolition of very good religious orders like the Franciscans and the Institute of the Good Shepherd…….one gets the idea that Pope Francis’ efforts to destroy the Catholic Church is not, merely,  due to poor Jesuitical education but due to the resolutions of a committee meeting held in the depths of hell. 
      In which case, it is a situation of a Satanic possession that neither I nor a Pope who is a truly successor of the Apostle nor even the Blessed Virgin can do anything about. And our Lady had warned us; they are dragging numerous souls to hell. A Pope solemnly dragging souls of the the entire world to hell; from Catholics with weak Faith, to adulterers, to gays, to atheist, to pagans, to priest and contemplative nuns and children of families that he had broken by allowing remarriages. 
     We are seeing  an attempt to kill the Mystical Body of Christ, just like on Good Friday by a Judas Bishop acting like a Pope and the whole world of those being drag down to hell is raising his popularity to high levels. His public relation office geared to get him in the headline once every two or three weeks, as published,  with an act destructive of the Catholic Church deserves a medal from the same committee. 

 1.  V.R.S.N.S.M.V.S.M.Q.L.L.I.V.B.
      These are the first letters of a prayer which goes; ‘Begone, Satan!  Suggest not to me thy vain things. The cup thou profferest me is evil; drink thou thy poison.’ 
     This is an exorcism prayer found on one side of the medal of St. Benedict. The entire medal has an exorcism formula on both sides. And exorcists had been using this medal, usually incorporated in the middle of a crucifix commonly referred to as the crucifix of St. Benedict. It is a sacramental more than sufficient to drive the devil from people who are possessed. ‘Vade retro Satana’ (V  R   S)……are the first three initials.
     Driving away the devil from oneself and from one’s surroundings had been a Christian preoccupation since the time of Christ. Christ drove away devils. And St. Benedict was one who was preoccupied with driving away the devil as his medal shows. 

2. At the beginning of the Catholic Church, Satan the head, was chained and thrown in the bottomless pit. This was to prevent him from attacking and tempting the newly born Church and give the Church time to grow in grace and strength for the more serious battles. The ‘smaller’ devils were, however, allowed to test the Church. 
     The Church must grow in grace and wisdom and this is accomplished by passing the tests God sends her. The test gradually becomes more difficult. So the Church really expects that one day this leader, Satan,  will be released by God for the final test that the Church must undergo. 
     Since Satan is what he is, the epitome of evil, and possessed with an angelic nature, the awaited final battle is not going to be bloodless. The Apocalypse gives us a hint when the grand release will occur but did not declare a very specific time table. It says ‘on the fifth trumpet’ or after ‘one thousand years.’

     Numerous signs show the whole hell had been released from the bottomless pit.  
      Like in the 13th century when William of Ockam introduced nominalism, conceptualism and terminism within the Church, heresies from which the Church never recovered. The 15th century when Pierre Cauchon, bishop of Beauvais betrayed the 19 year old St. Joan of Arc in a most despicable way.  The treason of the bishop surpassed the treason of Judas. This would be a type on how Satan  would attack the Church this day. And there is the human sacrifices of the Aztecs stopped by Our Lady of Guadalupe. These events show that the whole hell had already been released. 
     To give us a type for our instruction, God gave an example on what Satan can do when he is released in the treason of Judas, an apostle. 

     Like all things in the Catholic Church, Faith is needed to discern when Satan is released because it coincides with the approach of the end of the world.  Unbelievers wouldn’t have any idea when this is because they do not even believe in Satan nor in Angels, for that matter. Satan’s release is part of God’s  punishment for the world for its unbelief. The strong hint  is that when Satan  is released the time for repentance will soon be over. 
     The Catholic Church had not announced whether Satan had been released but then, we cannot even find where the Catholic Church is today, because all so-called Catholic Churches do not have the four visible signs of the true Church as described in the Nicene Creed. Almost all priest and bishops do not know the visible signs of the true Catholic Church because they recite the shortened Apostles Creed during Mass which does not enumerate the four visible signs as the Nicene Creed does. 
     So for most of us without Faith, we have to guess when Satan might have been released for the destruction of our souls. Though most of us don’t really care. 
      
     When were the devils in the bottomless pit released is now immaterial. The fact is that, now,  they are all out and are roaming the earth. 

3. Physical and Spiritual possession. 
     There are two popular kinds of possessions. The first is physical possession, like the one living in the tombs exorcised by Christ; the other is spiritual possession as what occurred to Judas who was not exorcised by Christ. The former can be exorcised; the latter cannot be exorcised.

     Priest and even laymen can exorcise those physically possessed. As long as anyone has Faith, Hope and Charity, they can drive away the devil. Sometimes, the mere presence of someone with Faith can drive the devil away. The living of a true monastic life can exorcise.
     There are two kinds of spiritual possessions. The first is exemplified by the Aztecs of Mexico. The second is the mystery of iniquity.

4. Spiritual possession…… 
     Lets look at the first kind exemplified by the Aztecs of Mexico at the time of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  
     The sign of this first and lesser spiritual possession by the devil is the murdering of the innocent.
     The Aztecs were spiritually possessed  by  the devil due to ignorance and their pagan background.  The sign of  Satanic possession of the mind and free will is the murder of another human being.  
     Everybody believes that their good god is the creator of life. If so, he would not want anyone to kill the life that He had created. So the killing of that life can only come from the enemy of the good god and that is the evil spirits or the devils; in short Satan.
        All acts that contradict God’s act of having created life by snuffing that life is committing a very grievous  sin whose consequent punishment is eternal hell. Its devilish origin can be seen in the human sacrifices of the Aztecs where they had to capture thousands of prisoners just for the purpose of sacrificing them to their snake god, the symbol of Satan. All the trouble of going to war just to capture prisoners and wrench their hearts still throbbing while offering it to their idols, is impossible to explain until we look at their temple of sacrifice and see that giant snake from the foot to the top of their altar of sacrifice.       
       It was indeed an act of worship and sacrifice. But to Satan. Fortunately, our Lady of Guadalupe freed them from that bondage. But now Mexico is again in bondage by the evil of communism.

       Abortion, euthanasia, genocide, terrorism and all kinds of killings show  most men are spiritually possessed by Satan. There is no other explanation for this. Insanity?  Of well, that is, also, the work of Satan, that is why exorcism is the more effective cure for insanity than psychotherapy. 
      Drug addicts fall under the same category. They are spiritually possessed, They, also, have the tendency to take human lives for no reason. Drug addicts are never rehabilitated. They only change their symptoms but the illness remains the same, spiritual possession. 

5. The more grievous spiritual possession is that of Judas whom neither Christ nor the apostles tried to exorcise. 
    The former possession tends to kill their neighbour. This latter spiritual possession tries to kill the soul of one’s neighbour, 
They can succeed if their neighbour has a weak Faith; but not if they have Faith enlightened with Charity.
    Thus on Good Friday those spiritually possessed were able to kill the weak Faith of the Jewish people but could not kill the Faith of the apostles. 
   When Satan entered into Judas Christ and the eleven apostles were around him and the devil did not leave Judas. Because in Judas’s case the devil had taken control of his mind and free will by his own invitation, i.e. with full knowledge and full consent. 
     In physical possession, God allows the devil to control the physical body of a person but not his mind and free will. In Spiritual possession, the person himself allows the devil to possess his mind and his free will. 

6. Today, the second spiritual possession is more common. It can be found in most priests, bishops and cardinals…..and even in Pope Francis.  This second spiritual possession by Satan which we first found in Judas is referred to as the mystery of iniquity. 
     The most grievous sin can be mixed with what is apparently good. The worse heresy is proposed using Scriptural text or Apostolic exhortation. Doubtful doctrines are preached by people in red and purple. True doctrines are omitted in interviews. And laws and directives are promulgated to dismantle the theological structures of the Catholic Church. 
     This is done with suavity that even those with some theological training cannot detect it. It is the distortion, the modifying of doctrines. An example is when Pope Francis during a Eucharistic Congress in Poland highly praised the Holy Eucharist with all the compliments  that can be found in the dictionary but never said that It is the Body of Christ. He used so many words to praise It but did not describe the very essence of the Sacrament. So it was a totally empty statement of flattery.
     Heresies coming from the very seat of St. Peter is disastrous to all, even to those with weak Faith. And we see those with weak Faith falling like leaves. Those with Faith enlivened with Charity are untouchable. 
     Betrayals of orders in the right direction of orthodoxy like the institute of the Good Shepherd, betrayals of good bishops and priests like Sarah and Finn, betrayals of underground churches like that of China for the sake of what?…….is getting to be too common. 
     Since the Catholic Church is experiencing a crisis of Faith as Ratzinger wrote, and those with Faith have weak Faith……..the external decline of the Church is getting more pronounced. 

7. Good Friday once again.
    The pre-figure is Good Friday. It is happening again today. Those who welcomed Christ with their Hosannas are the ones shouting ‘crucify Him.’ The Civil authorities are being used to persecute the Mystical Body of Christ. Most of the priests, bishops, cardinals and, even the High Priests, Caiaphas, are the one’s planning the demise of the Church. With a newly installed bishop, Judas, conniving with them. All of these orchestrated by Satan who have spiritually possessed them. What are the chances of the Catholic Church?
     Very good!  It is the prelude for the Resurrection and the glory of the Church as small as it was on Good Friday. With Peter in hiding.
     

 1. Archbishop Ganswain’s statements.
     Archbishop Georg Ganswain is the secretary and constant companion of Pope Emeritus Benedict for several years now. Surely the wisdom of the Pope must have  rubbed on the good Archbishop by now. And anything he says would reflect  the mind of the theologian and holy Emeritus. Well planned remarks can only come from the wisdom of the combination of these two theologians. 
     For the purpose of comparative study, let us make two lines, like a parallel. The words of Pope Benedict and Archbishop Ganswain will be one of the line in the parallel. It will show, also. the trend of the true Catholic Church.
     The other line of the parallel is the sinful world. We view them as two parallel lines, only, for the purpose of study and comparison. In truth, these lines collide and are in constant warfare. 
     These past years this second line, the world, had been covered in a dark cloud of confusion that is now covering the earth, specially the Church. And the news are filled with desperate cries for help.  The Ark of Noah is nowhere to be found. The slightest sight of  the Church would be of the greatest help. 

     Suddenly from the silence of the desert that is Mater Ecclesiae a voice rang out. Archbishop Ganswain saying that Pope Benedict is still Pope. That was like a silent 9 magnitude in the Richter scale earthquake that shocked the Vatican but unfelt in the rest of the world. It was hardly noticed by the media or they intentionally did not notice it because they did not know how to react to it. Pope Francis just remarked; ‘he had retired.’ But that was not what Ganswain said. Suddenly a hot debate is going on. And we cannot stay out of it. 
     Let us look at the trend of the behaviour of Pope Benedict  from Vatican II up to the present. His behaviour can be landmarks showing the journey of the Church from Vatican II up to the present time; and hopefully leads  to the safety of the harbour in the vision of Don Bosco. 

2. Ratzinger and Vatican II.
     When Pope John XXIII became Pope, he saw that the Church had problems from his readings of the works of Rosmini. The Church have had never ending problems but  she had managed  them in the past.
     But John XXIII thought it was a more serious problem this time because the Church seems to be bleeding to death, as Rosmini described it in his ‘The five wounds of Christ.’ So he, urgently, convoked an Ecumenical Council.  Undoubtedly there seems to be a serious problem.
     Pope John gathered the best minds to head the committees and worked on the topics for discussions. His goal was to prepare the Church as a bride worthy to wed Christ for His Second Coming. For this reason he took the name John to be like St. John the Baptise who prepared the world for Christ’s First Coming. 
     The Council begun and Ratzinger was there to view the unfolding of the two battle lines, the City of God and the city of man. 

The Council was supposed to cure a serious malady of the Church. First aid was insufficient. The semi-last resort was necessary, an Ecumenical Council, because the problem was not provincial or national.  It was world wide. 
    At the end we shall show how Pope Benedict used the last resort; described by Archbishop Ganswain as the ‘Papacy of Exception,’ and that Pope Benedict did not resign and is still the Pope. 

   3. FIRST STAGE. Status quo. 
     To be able to say what Ganswain said, Ratzinger should know the state of the Church before Vatican II (if possible as early as the time of the apostles), at  his time during Vatican II, and after Vatican II.
      Vatican II  would be a good point of reference because the Catholic Church was completely represented in the Vatican. She either had the visible signs of the true Church as described in the Nicene Creed or she does not have them. She is either the Catholic Church or she is not. If she is in between, she would not be the Church of Christ.
      So Ratzinger can compare the Church during Apostolic time, during Vatican II, and at present. As Ratzinger, as Pope Benedict and as Pope Emeritus, he will try to retain continuity from Apostolic time up to the present, which is the Catholic way of doing things. 

     Ratzinger and the status quo during Vatican II.    
     Joseph Ratzinger entered Vatican II as a ‘periti’,  well equipped for his role. He was a liturgist, a theologian and a professor. He was well acquainted with the Holy Rule of St. Benedict and monasticism. And his thesis was on the Theology of history according to St. Bonaventure wherein he was knowledgeable with the Seraphic doctor’s concept of the 6th day, i.e. Good Friday, which is the description of the state of the Catholic Church at a very specific time in history, commonly described as eschatology. Ganswain’s remarks is based on this latter knowledge. 
     Eschatology is the science of applying the prophetic messages of Divine Revelation to the future of the Church. As his thesis Ratzinger was trying to resolve what St. Bonaventure could not resolve during his time, which is expected since prophecies cannot be interpreted unless they are already happening. Ratzinger’s job in the Council prevented him from further studying his thesis.

      Ratzinger thought that the Council would be facing  common solvable problems as in the past centuries,  like during the council of Trent. Vatican II begun with the intent to fix ordinary Church illnesses. Joseph Ratzinger was already in the scene as a bishop participant in the Council. 

     The clear presence of a schism.      
     Again, the council was a microcosm of the Catholic Church. The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church should be present in the Council  at  the Vatican.  Where else can her pulse be best monitored than at this time. The entire Catholic Church was represented here. Just sitting in that Council, anyone can see and analyse every aspect of the Catholic Church. The Church was laying down in a laboratory table for everyone to study; especially the state of her health. 
     Ratzinger was assigned to summarise the on goings of the four general deliberations which he summarised and published in a book, entitled ‘Highlights of Vatican II.’ Here he wrote down the general discussion but did not go into detail. Other authors would go into very fine details of the debates and the personalities involved. Any one who put these materials together can describe the scenarios and the actors involved. And judge each Act in the drama. And Ratzinger noticed; there was an existing schism among the Council Fathers. 
      In this First stage that describes the state of the Catholic Church, it is noticeable that the Catholic Church was clearly divided into two irreconcilable groups. The progressives and the ‘Patrum,’ sarcastically called so because they were sticking like a leach to the teachings of Divine Revelation and the interpretation of the Fathers of the Church (thus ‘Patrum,’ meaning of the Fathers.)
     The progressives, as the word expresses, wanted to change the teachings of the Catholic Church to conform to what they thought is the solution to present day problems. They wanted a church that will submit to all the sinful desires of men. The names of Cardinals and bishops who belong to both  groups are all known; but we can say, in general, that they latter was led by the School of Bologna. 
     The ‘Patrum’ were those who believed that the Church of Christ, the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church are still up to date in solving the most modern problems. They could not imagine a God who would give teachings that has to be adjusted every century to adjust to the problems of men. That would be total confusion. 

     The battle between the two groups begun almost at the very beginning of the Council. Pope John XXIII appointed mostly ‘Patrums’ as heads of the committees. After his death, the progressives were able to take over the heads of the committees and changed the very syllabus for discussions. It was total chaos. It was a Church in a state of Schism. 
     Superior in intellectual gifts,  however, the ‘Patrum’ stood their ground during the discussions. But during the votation and the rewriting of the documents the progressives were able to control the Council. As noted, the progressives could even cut off the microphones when the ‘Patrums’ were speaking. Charity was nowhere. We, indeed, have a very serious problem.
     After Vatican II, Ratzinger tried to continue to solve the problems of the Church as a member of the Curia. During those times he wrote ‘The Ratzinger Report,’  subtitled ‘the Crisis in the Church,’ where he detailed the crisis in the Catholic Church in these terse words; ‘the priests and the hierarchy did not know the teachings of the Catholic Church.’ And he proved it. That is like saying; there is no Faith anywhere around, except probably in the Vatican where John Paul I and John Paul II were sitting. 
     It was the prophecy of Christ, Himself, predicting that at these times there will be a decay of Faith and its subsequent waxing cold of Charity. 

4. SECOND STATE. As Pope Benedict.
     Then Ratzinger was elected as Pope Benedict XVI. The continuity from Apostolic times to his times was very evident in his talks specially in the General Audiences. But the two parallel lines were diverting further and further away from one another. During  his Papacy the two groups were completely unrecognisable. The true Church could not be found anywhere. And the ‘new’ church that was being pushed during Vatican II could not be defined properly. Is this ‘new’ church a Protestant sect or a new pagan religion. It was confusing because it used Catholic terms but with totally different definitions. For the word Charity, the definition given was  Sigmund Freud’s ‘Id.’ 
         
    True to his Papal oath pronounced immediately after his election Pope Benedict did try to solve the problem using the hermeneutics of continuity; which is the usual process of evangelisation.  
      The progressives were using the hermeneutics of discontinuity wherein they believed that there is a complete cut from the Catholic Church of Christ and the Apostles…. and the post Vatican II church. Benedict was able to block them in their efforts but it was with great effort. He could not even have his ‘Summorum Pontificum’ accepted. He was worried what will happen after he passed away.

5. THIRD STATE.  State of Exception.
     As Ratzinger and as Pope Benedict , he saw that the ordinary evangelisation process used after Vatican II did not work. He saw that the extraordinary process used during Vatican II did not work. And he saw that the Papal Office used as zealously as he did, did not work. 
    The picture was ugly.  The progressive movement that he saw started during Vatican II had developed into a tidal wave during his Papacy. The progressives had the shame to approach him and tell him him to his face to resign.

     When everything done has not worked, the only recourse is Martial Law…..the suspension of existing laws with the head making the laws necessary to confront the deteriorating situation. 
     Unlike Martial Law where the will of the head of state is imposed on the people, in the Catholic Church, the ‘State of Exception’ (or Martial Law) the Will of God is imposed on the Catholic Church.
     To be able to do this, the Head, which is the Pope, must have mastered  the Law of God. He must know the exception to the declared Will of God, which is also God’s Will. And he must know why God had willed to go against His own Will. This is not a purely human or natural behaviour. The state of exception as described by Archbishop Ganswain is an Act of God revealed to man. 

     So when Pope Benedict seemingly resigned which is his declaration of a state of exception, he clearly showed that that was not his decision nor a decision of a committee. That it was a revelation from God. All signs surrounding his declaration of his retirement point to that. 
     Due to the seriousness of the present situation in the Church, Pope Benedict was commanded by God to declare a ‘state of exception’ wherein all existing Church law is on hold and Pope Benedict had to make rules that will solve the Church’s problems though the solution would contradict existing Church laws. This is the essence of the ‘state of exception.’ It is meant for the good of the Catholic Church and the salvation of souls. And the exception Pope Benedict made is that he would resign without actually resigning. 
     That was the declaration of Archbishop Ganswain; he said that Pope Benedict resigned but he did not resign and is still the Pope. And Ganswain described Benedict’s papacy as the ‘Pontificate of exception.’ For a Pope to resign and remain a Pope is quite an exception to the rule. Ordinarily if you resign you stop being Pope. And if you want to be Pope again you should be elected. But we are talking of ‘exceptions.’ 
     This ‘exception’ is common in the Catholic Church. The just celebrated Feast of the Assumption is an exception. That a virgin should give birth is an exception. For a God to die for sinful man is an exception that is almost impossible to understand. And Benedict’s ‘Pontificate of the exception’ will be very difficult to understand for most. 

     After describing the Pontificate of Benedict as ‘a Pontificate of Exception’ Archbishop Ganswain mentioned the prophecies of Malachy. What was he trying to do? First, he described the direction of the true Pope and the Church. Then he was hinting on the direction of the tidal wave that is trying to drown the Woman of the Apocalypse whom God had transferred to the desert to protect her. 
      Knowing the forth coming events, Pope Benedict resigned so he can see what will follow after his Papacy. And then he took, again, his Papacy to guide the Church when the tidal wave have hit the Church. 

      From past knowledge, Pope Benedict knew the direction of the tidal wave spawned by the earthquake caused by the schism within Vatican II. 
     He knew the names of those bent on completely changing the Church to conform to all the desires of sinful man. It was original sin all over again. And he knew that Martini and Mario Bergoglio were the candidates chosen to lead. 
     As the exorcists like to say; to overcome the devil, the first thing to do is to expose him and his strategy. Benedict was to expose the strategy of the devil and the only way to make it come out in the open is to pretend  to retire that the devil’s cohorts may install their leader. They were posed during Vatican II, Benedict knew that,  but did not succeed. They did not succeed during the election of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. They knew they could succeed after Benedict. And Benedict, also, knew that from his readings of St. Bridget who he raised as ‘Doctor of the Church.’  So Benedict did what was exceptional. He resigned without giving up the Petrine office, as Ganswain declared. So that the leader might be exposed in the open.
     And what was exposed? Ganswain mentioned St. Malachy. If Benedict is the second to the last Pope and he is still Pope, then who is Pope Francis. Some have written books that Pope Francis is the last Pope St. Malachy called ‘Peter Romanus’ because he is an Italian, thus ‘Romanus’ and he is Pope, thus ‘Peter.’ But every one knows that ‘Peter Romanus’ is not going to be elected by a conclave. He will be personally appointed by Christ as St. Peter was appointed by Christ. In effect, Pope Francis is completely out of the picture in the vision of the Catholic Church. He becomes either an invalidly elected pope or an anti-pope. He is not in the list at all.
     If Pope Benedict is  the second to the last Pope and resigned; and is now Pope again, isn’t it possible that he  had been re-appointed by Christ, Himself, thus is also ‘Peter Romanus’ because he is Peter, still the Pope. And he is ‘Romanus’, the reason he had purposely stayed in the Vatican, Rome? So Benedict, according to St. Malachy’s list mentioned by Ganswain, is the second to the last Pope and the last Pope. One person under two names? Well, ‘exceptions,’ you know. 
     
6. This is quite an intellectual exercise like a theological and philosophical Rubik’s cube. But it is a truth of Faith that we must believe in to be saved. Do you believe God had exempted Mary? Do you believe God had exempted Benedict?

 1. 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Christ shows two cities.
     In the Gospel of the 20th Sunday in Ordinary time, Christ describes two cities. The City of God ruled by the Holy Spirit; and the City of man ruled by the devil. Each city shows visible sign by which all men can identify them. The City of God can be known by their obedience to the commands of God found both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. The City of men can be known by their disobedience to God’s command and obedience to man’s every caprice…….or slavish obedience to the prince of darkness. 

2. Christ declares.
     I came come to light a fire on the earth.  Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? I assure you the contrary is true. I have come for division.
     The fire is the Word of God that fills the hearts of those in the City of God. It is also Charity or the love of God and neighbour. The Gospel cleanses the mind; it revives those dead to sin. This fire, also consumes sins and renews the soul, St. Thomas of Aquinas continues. And Christ was in a hurry to kindle that fire. 
     The same fire burns all carnal desires and helps bewail the evil it has done; with the conscience accusing itself thus filling itself with the sorrow of repentance

3. Fire is meant to perfect the Christian.
     Christ was in a hurry to hasten His passion precisely because after His passion, man can be made perfect because Christ’s instruction would be finished with the apostles receiving of the Holy Spirit. 
     After Pentecost the instruction of the apostles would be perfect, so the listeners would know how to become perfect. After Pentecost ‘be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect’ becomes the rule for all Christians. Thus the need to be contemplatives or to reach the perfection of the three theological virtues. 

4. The steps taken by Christ.
     Christ, first, came to light the fire on the earth. These are the souls that are filled with the Holy Spirit because they have obeyed all the commands of Christ as perfectly as it is possible here on earth. They have lived the spirituality of the Catholic Church as taught from Advent up to Pentecost. This spirituality is reviewed again after Pentecost and all through the 33 Sundays in Ordinary time.

     Then Christ would divide the world; on one side are those filled with the Holy Spirit shown in their obedience to all the commands of God as found in both the Old and New Testament and as elaborated in the writings of the Apostles and further explained by the Fathers of the Church. 
     On the other side are those who have disobeyed the commands of God shown in their disobedience even to just one command since St. James wrote; ‘disobedience to one is disobedience to all.’
     These two groups cannot go together. They are separated and must be separated. St. Paul wrote that the members of the City of God should have nothing to do with the other city. They should not even eat with them. There should be a wall between them; and the doors between them should be shut. 

5. The 6th day scenario.
     Then Christ describes a scenario that happened before and will happen today; ‘father will be split against son, mother against daughter, mother in law against daughter in law.’ That is total chaos within the family especially if the father, mother, mother in law go against one child. Again, the only reason for this conflict is because the one child wish to be within the City of God while the rest of the family want to be in the City of man; or because the child wants to do God’s Will while the rest of the family would want to do their own egoistical will and impose it on the one child. 
     St. Thomas of Aquinas described this as a type of the 6th day, Good Friday, which eschatologically is what will happen today, year 2016. Wherein the entire family, from grand parents to parents, from brother and sisters to cousins would stop one child who decides to truly seek God. There will be no opposition if the one child will enter a place where he really cannot find God, like in most religious convents today.
     But this is not enough. The violent objection will not come  only, from the immediate family; the family will be aided by nuns, priests, bishops, cardinals and even the Pope in stopping the young child from serving God. Again, the opposition and attempts to stop this child will be very violent. The child stands against the whole world, as the song states. The child’s support will only come from ‘similar’ persons of the same intent, i.e. members of the City of God. 
      The Gospel defines the demarcation line between the City of God, those who obey the commands of Christ,  and the City of man, those who follow their own caprices. The 2 billion Catholics will shrink to a few hundreds within the City of God. The rest will follow and go to the City of Man where their main concern are the things of the earth, like evolution and global warming, while enjoying wallowing in their sins of adultery, sacrilege, etc.
     We see here the classical battle between a few fired with the flame of the Holy Spirit and the very many fired by their passions and lust. This is the ongoing battle. It is not a sign of the end of the world. But St. Thomas of Aquinas wrote that this is a sign of the approaching of the end of the world, the 6th day (Good Friday). We can never know when the end of the world will be.  But we can know how far or how near it is. This is a knowledge given exclusively to the faithful so that if they have not reached Charity they would have enough time to reach it. But it will be  hopeless for those still wallowing in their sins. They would not have enough time to catch up. Why? Because it takes some time to reach Faith, Hope and Charity. God is kind enough to warn us  whether  we still have enough time or we have just run out of time. And this Gospel is the demarcation time. 
     If we are experiencing father going against son, mother against daughter, priests against priests, bishops against cardinals and Pope against the whole Catholic Church…….then we should hurry up and reach Charity to be saved. If we take our sweet time, we won’t make it on time and will be lost. This Gospel is the warning sign, as 
Christ said ‘that I am by the door.’ There is no time for all the proposals of Pope Francis, like the Church Olympics? Or getting a new European pass port?


     

 1. The headlines are filled with the smell of death.
     Death is all over. From plane crashes to floods, from exploding gas tanks to knife yielding insane man, from shot drug pushers to girls killed for disgracing their family, from being eaten by a crocodile to drowning for saving someone and, lastly, in this never ending wars. 
     The ones dying are from all ages, from young to old, from male and female, from healthy to sickly and from the educated to the rude. The universality of those dying makes us a probable subject of dying. 
     Those dying are caught in their daily routine; either they are engaged in their daily activities or their daily vice of killing other people. What are we driving at? If we study their lives when they died, they were not precisely preparing themselves to die the Catholic way. We cannot blame them since most of them are not Catholics in the first place. But when we read that Catholics are dying, we do not precisely see that they are prepared the Catholic way. Well, in the sense that they are in the wrong places and were not involved in the right activities. 
     Most other religions or sects do not have any specific way of preparing themselves for dying. But Catholics believe that judgment follows death. And our preparation is not for death but for the judgment that follows. We do not care about dying since there is, really, nothing we can do to prevent or influence it. But the judgment that follows whose consequence is for all eternity is something we should be very prepared for. Only the Catholic religion has a very serious program on how to prepare for death. 

2. The five last Sundays in Ordinary time.
      The last five Sundays in Ordinary time had been teaching us how to prepare for death wherewith we may expect to have everlasting life.
     We had the story of the young rich man and the young lawyer; both of whom  asked what they should do to attain everlasting life. And Christ gave the answer; to go home, sell all your things and give it to the poor. And, then, follow Me. This is repeated in this 19th Sunday.
     Why did Christ command them to sell all their possessions and give it to the poor? So he can follow Christ. They are supposed to  go  home and sell all their possessions to be able to transform the proceeds into meritorious good works. It is these merits  that they can take alone with them before the judgment seat of God and win for themselves a favourable sentence. 
     They must  use the proceeds of what they sold as means to follow Christ in the form of good works. These good works essentially consist in enabling others to know how to be saved. So it is an act of Charity.
     If he does not sell everything, he will possess too many things that will make him do what he wants instead of doing what God wants. With his money he can buy whatever he wants, with his car he can go wherever he wants, with his friends he can talk about anything they want. In short he will be doing his own will which is contrary to doing God’s Will.
     This is the purpose of evangelical poverty; to own nothing to enable us to ‘deny oneself.’ With ownership we will not be able to ‘deny ourselves;’ instead we will satisfy all our desires. 
     Yet, ‘denying oneself’ is prior to ‘taking up the cross’ and ‘following Christ.’ Without denying oneself, i.e by saying ‘NO’ to the desires of the self, we cannot proceed to ‘taking up the cross’ and ‘following Christ.’ Without ‘denying oneself’ we will not be able to prepare ourselves for death.

3. Christ’s answer is; first, go home. Second, sell all your possessions. Third, give it to the poor. And fourthly, come follow Me. The first three steps are to enable you to follow Christ by using what you sold for the conversion of your soul and the conversion of others. 
     There are three steps in the following of Christ,’ namely, first, to repent. Secondly, to believe; and thirdly, to love God and neighbour (or Charity). The steps, go home, sell all your things and give it to the poor are to enable you to repent, which has three elements; prayer, fasting and good works. 
     All the above had been taught to us in the last five Sundays. It is  all in preparation for death. 

     In the 19th Sunday in Ordinary time, the Liturgy continues to tell us to be watchful for the master’s return by watching for his knocking at the door which is a symbol of death. And, in fact, the Gospel tells us ‘to open for Him without delay.’  

4. At this point we can see if we are prepared or not.
    He who opens the door without delay is ready. He who delays in opening the door is not ready. 
     Let’s begin again. FIRST, believe that you will die and that death will come at the time you least expect it. You will die. And it can be the next minute, next week, or next month. But you won’t know when, so it stands that it can be anytime you least expect it. 
     This is the truth. Otherwise it is not the truth and almost everybody holds what is untrue. Almost everybody believe they will not die the next minute nor the next hour.  Their present state of health makes them believe they will die at 95. 
      If the truth is believed then one acts wisely. If the untruth, then he believes unwisely. In fact, St. Thomas wrote that if we believe what is untrue, it is a sin. And our actions will be followed by unwise acts. 

     So the first step is to act wisely and believe that we shall die at a time we least expect it and so we must be prepared now and always. And this death will be followed by a judgement from a Just Judge. We must know the basis for His judgment.
     From the very words of Jesus Christ, He said, He will see if we obeyed His commands; to go home, sell all our possessions, use the proceeds to perform good works like giving it to the poor and consequently following Him through a life of Faith, Hope and Charity.
     And on this 19th Sunday, Christ adds; ‘and while going through these steps, a.) gird your loins and b.) keep your lamps burning. Do this from the beginning up to the end, so when I come I will find you ‘watching’ with girded loins and with lamps burning. 

5. Keep awake. 
     For watchers during the night, girding their loins and having a light constantly on, help them keep awake. To be awake specially on the third watch is imperative, that hour being old age.
     To believe that death will not come at a time we lease expect it is a sin. To believe that God is  delaying too long is, also, a sin. The consequence of these two unbeliefs is that you will spend your time enjoying yourself eating and drinking and abusing those under you. 
     On the other hand, belief on the two above will keep you awake and watching. The night is the symbol of life in the world. We need light to keep us awake. And this light is the light of Divine Revelation  as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church and proposed by the Magisterium of the Church. There is no other light than He who called Himself ‘the Light and the Truth.’
     And ‘girding your loins’ is obedience to the commands we have learned from the Light. These commands are like girds that limits the movement of the passions and concupiscence. It prevents us from committing adultery, remarrying and receiving Holy Communion.

6. Fearful statement from Christ.
    ‘When much has been given a man, much will be required of him.  More will be asked of a man to whom more has been entrusted.’ More obedience to God’s commands will be asked of Catholics than from Protestants and pagans because more had been given to them; like Scriptures and Tradition. So their disobedience will make them deserving of greater punishment in hell. 
     The non-Catholics will, also, go to hell but less strips will be given  them.
     Because the laymen know less than priests and bishops, their disobedience will still bring them to hell but with less flames and less worms. St. Thomas wrote; ‘Our Lord here points to something still greater and more terrible, for the unfaithful steward shall not only be deprived of the grace he had, so that it should profit him nothing in escaping punishment, but the greatness of his dignity shall the rather become a cause of his condemnation. 
     ‘For all things are not judged alike in all, but greater knowledge is an occasion of greater punishment. Therefore shall the Priest, committing the same sin with the people, suffer a far heavier penalty.’
     So Pope Francis, because he has Scriptures, Tradition, the Doctors of the Church, the writings of previous Popes, the declarations of previous Councils, the rule of St. Ignatius, the sign of a true Pope by St. Robert Bellarmine….and add the dignity of being a Pope……if he disobeys the commands of Christ will go to the hottest depths of hell with the biggest worms gnawing at him. Won’t anybody help him? Not even one from his own order? 

     It is time that the cardinals and bishops who are thinking right, like those from Poland, Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Italy, should get a group of their own theologians, sit down and analyse the words and deeds of the present Pope and make a public declaration on him. As a Pope, is he obeying the Papal oath he made after the Conclave? Just answer ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ And do what is next best for the Catholic Church before we completely run out of Catholics…….and before someone is thrown down into the deepest fires of hell with giant worms because ‘much had been given him.’ 

7. A wrong direction.
    The movement in the Vatican today is not directed towards preparing Catholics for death; but towards encouragement towards sin and being complacent while in the state of mortal sin. Such statements as ‘it is alright to abandon your true spouse and children and commit adultery (which is against the 10 commandments),’ ‘it is alright to socialise and  eat with sinners (which is against the teaching of St. Paul,)’ it is alright to commit the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah (which are sins that cry out to heaven,)’ ‘it is alright to be an unbeliever (which is against the very words of Christ,)’ ‘it is alright to sin because God understands (which is against todays Gospel), etc. 
     Catholics are not ready to die at a time death is all around and can come any time. Many wrongly believe that all Catholics who die go to heaven. There is no proof to this allegation. Or the more often wrong belief that we have done enough for the salvation of our souls. The steps just mentioned above is proof ‘there is still many things that is lacking to attain everlasting life.’ 
     We must check our beliefs if they conform to Divine Revelation; especially we are Catholics to whom God had given much. And whose grievous sin is that out of sloth we do not check if we truly are prepared for death. This is a serious neglect to which, St. Thomas wrote, well, we still go to hell but with less fire and smaller worms. 

 1. The four visible signs of the Church and the three theological virtues. These two are infallible signs of being inside the Catholic Church, that there is the beginning of Faith and the inception of knowledge of the One true God…… and, therefore, assurance of everlasting life. 
     The difference is that the four visible signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed can be discerned by all men; while the theological virtues are beyond the cognition of all men. Yet both of them are signs of the same thing; knowledge of God and membership in the Catholic Church.  
     On the other hand the absence of the four visible signs is a sign of the  absence of the three theological virtues.  And vice versa. 

2. Evangelisation.
     Evangelisation consists in guiding a community to produce the four visible signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed; or in receiving the three theological virtues from God. So the ultimate goal of evangelisation, the four visible signs of the Church and of the three theological virtues are identical……the attainment of everlasting life. 

3. The gradual progress. 
    The four visible signs and the three theological virtues cannot be attained instantly. These are developed gradually depending on the souls generosity to God. The four visible signs and the three theological virtues can be attained, only,  within a context of  a community. It cannot be attained alone; the community does not have to be physically together. But both the visible signs and the virtues can be seen in each separate individuals. 
     
     Example; Claude and Sidney must work together to have the four visible signs and the three virtues. But once they have attained their goal, the four visible signs and the theological virtues may be seen in each one separately. Though in preaching, they must, again, be  together as we have seen in the ‘two by two’ instruction of Christ. 

     While gradually growing in the four visible signs and the three virtues, and until they have not attained the fulness of the said signs the state of their progress in the spiritual life can be monitored. This is the work of a good superior. This way the superior can know if the subject is regressing, stagnant or progressing. Such a superior must have the four visible signs and the three theological virtues, himself, to be able to do this; otherwise he cannot do a good job. 

4. Monitoring some groups.
    A group may progress or regress. That is why some grow in holiness while others deteriorate. History had shown that the Church was vibrant around the 13th century and practically non-existent in the 19th century. So clearly, a church may progress or regress. The Benedictines were great in the times of Augustine and Boniface and is shameful today. These are the ups and downs of the spiritual life that is reflected in history and in each  culture.
     Knowing what are the visible signs of the true Church, let us look, in general, at some groups and see how far or near are they from the Catholic Church today. Those nearer the Church have the greater possibility of entering the Church sooner. While those farther will find it more difficult to enter the Church.
     Most of them were very near entering the Catholic Church during the Papacy of Benedict XVI. Suddenly everybody is far away. Our bases of analysis will be the four visible signs of the true Church mentioned in the Nicene Creed and its expanded version enumerated in the 15 Marks of the Church by St. Robert Bellarmine. These four visible signs are the only sign by which all man can identify true Catholicism. So we are using these signs instead of the three theological virtues. 

5. THE FIRST.  They are nearest to the Catholic Church who followed the ‘new’ evangelisation of Pope John II and Benedict XVI. This is based on St. Bonaventure’s ‘new’ monasticism. It is essentially the monasticism of St. Benedict, St. John Cassian, St. Bernard, etc. But it overflows back to the primitive church while  adapting to the present situation in which the Church is suddenly in crisis. 
     How was this formed? Take a group. Show them the four visible marks of the Church; One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. Then begin with the last mark, Apostolic. And proceed backwards. 
     Teach them how to go to heaven as taught by the Apostles. Then teach them how to put those teachings into practice. If the community is made up of different nationalities, while putting the teachings of the Apostles into practice, they begin to show the mark Catholic. As they are able to put all the teachings into practice they become Holy. As they become holy, the virtue of Charity unites them to become One. 
     There, you have a community with the four visible signs of the Church. You have a Catholic Church. That is how this group, following the ‘new’ evangelisation, do it.  


     THE SECOND   Among outsiders, the nearest to the Catholic Church are the Orthodox church of Russia, Greece and Constantinople. They are the nearest because they follow the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Eastern Fathers of the Church. They should be truly Catholics except that they do not follow their sources perfectly; and that made them schismatics, instead. But they are the nearest to the truths of the true Church of Christ. So they have the most, though not complete, visible signs of the true Church.
     The backbone of Communism was broken by very Catholic John Paul II but with the help of Orthodox Michail Gorbachev whose mother was a very devout Orthodox. The monastic life of the Orthodox, as found on mountain tops, middle of the forest and deserts, are almost pure Catholic monasticism thus closer to John Paul and Benedict’s ‘new’ monasticism than the Vatican church. 
     Patriarch Krill of Moscow taught Pope Francis more Catholic Doctrines during their meet. The doctrines of both sides are as different as two worlds.  The government of Putin is approving more Catholic morals practices like banning same sex marriage than Catholic Rome. Putin, himself, had urged Russians to pray more, more than our parish priest. And watch this; I read a beautiful prayer in Russian. Thinking it came from a priest reciting it at the foot of the altar at the beginning of the Mass, I opened the page. What did I see? It was the prayer of the head of the Chief of Staff of the Russian army reciting it at the beginning of a military parade.  The photo was followed by a procession of holy icons carried by soldiers. A sight of soldiers carrying holy icons in parade……not even in presumably Catholic Philippines. Add to these the state returning monasteries and churches and remodelling them with state funds.
     Since they are very near the Catholic Church, it would be deterioration for them to join the Vatican church which is six steps away. 

     THE THIRD   The next nearest the Catholic Church are the Society of Saint Pius X of Marcel Lefebvre. Marcel was a good theologian who have influenced the African Bishops. Assigned in Gabon, Dakar, Senegal and apostolic Delegate of West Africa, he had well influenced many African Bishops who, today, are towers of orthodoxy in the Catholic Church. Cardinal Sarah, being one of them. During Vatican II, Lefebvre was the scourged of heretics but was out numbered in the voting. 
     His small group in Econe, Switzerland was well trained in Scriptures and the traditional doctrines. Thus their teachings are more in accordance with the ancient teachings of the Catholic Church. 
     Pope Benedict was the one who realised that his group was on the right tract but slightly went out of the rail due to a great spiritual need; the need for continuity in a church that was fast changing into another direction. So he disobeyed and ordained without permission which earned him a sentence of excommunication. But Pope Benedict withdrew the sentence seeing that the intention was not  pride but the satisfaction of a need. 
     Their clinging to Divine Revelation and the Tradition of the Catholic Church had kept them near the Catholic Church. They did not go astray too far.  Though they do not have the four visible signs of the Church due to the ecclesiastical sentence they previously had, they are showing signs of their closeness to the Church; an imperfection that will be easy to fix.
     Being just three steps away from the Church, if they join the Catholic Church, which is being negotiated, they will go down three steps lower rather than progress; because Vatican II with its unclear documents will drag them down. 
     
    THE FOURTH.    The Jews are still following the Old Testament which contains the teachings on the life of repentance, the necessary first step that leads to Faith, Hope and Charity. The Old Testament, as if to say, is one fourth of the way that leads to heaven. So they are one fourth on the way to heaven. That is better than one who has not repented because they do not believe in the life of repentance which consist of obedience to the Old Testament commands. They have the added advantage that they were the Chosen People of God once upon a time whom  Christ had promised some special favours for.

     THE FIFTH are the Primitive tribes, like the Tasadays of the Philippines. They live by the natural law which is very close to the Old Testament. To whom little is given little will be demanded. So with the little knowledge they have of what is good and protected from the sinfulness of the world, they would not be too far away from the Church.
     The Tasadays do not even get angry and they do not even have a word that express anger. Being mild and patient; by these virtues they are close to the Church.  


     THE SIXTH. The farthest away from the Church is the Vatican and the church it rules today. They are not like the primitives in that  they tolerates unnatural perversions. They disobey the Old Testament by tolerating and advocating divorce and remarriage. They disobey the New Testament by telling the contemplatives to give up their better chosen portion. They disobey the  Fathers and doctors of the Church by abolishing capital punishment. They have disobeyed everyone……except their own selves. Love of self is their god; and pride is their name. They are closer to Lucifer than the Catholic Church.
     It is because of their great distance from the Church that parishes, dioceses and most of the priests cannot show the visible signs of the Catholic Church.

6. Christ was asking.
    When I come at the end of the world, will I find Faith on earth? It was a rhetorical question. Christ knew the answer. He was God. He knew he would not find Faith in the Catholic Church He had established because most Catholics will be very far away from the Church. Neither will He find any of the four visible signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed in the Church.
     Their doctrines will not be from the Apostles; but from a German and Argentine bishop. Not having the Apostolic doctrine on how to be holy, each of them will invent their own way of being holy thus their doctrine will no longer be Catholic. Not believing in doctrines that does not make one holy, they will not be holy. Not being holy the Holy Spirit cannot unite them into One. 
      The four visible signs of the true Church will not be found anywhere in the world. As such Faith, Hope and Charity will not be found in the world. Of course, there will be Catholics but they will be hidden. So the world will experience total darkness. Didn’t a Lady say that in Quito, Ecuador around the 16th century? 
     

      

 1. Every time we celebrate a Sunday Liturgy, it coincides with Pope Francis saying the opposite. And as we read the Gospel where Christ gives a command, it coincides with Pope Francis disobeying the command. We have noticed this and have recorded them in the past posts 
     For example, on ‘Amoris Laetitia’ Sunday Pope Francis wrote his exhortation ‘Amoris Laetitia’ where he contradicted what Christ said in the Gospel. And now, as Pope Francis gave ‘Vultum Dei Quaerere,’ Pope Francis just contradicted the teaching of Christ in the Gospel  on Martha and Mary.
     In the Gospel of the 16th Sunday in Ordinary time, Jesus corrected Martha explaining that Mary had chosen the better portion and nobody can take it away from her. In other words, contemplative study of the Word of God is superior to caring for the poor and it is so superior that Christ will not take it away from her  and tell her to do something else. Well, Pope Francis just took away the better portion from the Marys. What Christ would not do, Pope Francis did. What do you call a person who goes against the teachings of Christ? An anti- Christ. 
     The contemplative life is the soul of the Church. Most orders have a contemplative section that is the power house of the orders. Without the contemplative portion of the Church, the Church ceases to be ‘ecclesia orans.’ It ceases to be the Catholic Church. Is Pope Francis trying to end the existence of the Catholic Church? If he wants to. 
     Stop the contemplatives from being contemplatives. And that is, precisely, what he is doing with the latest exhortation. If the contemplatives want to continue supporting the existence of the Catholic Church, they should disobey Pope Francis and obey Christ, Himself, who said you have chosen the better portion and let no one take it away from you. As Scriptures states; it is better to obey God than to obey man. 
     Neither Mary nor Martha were involved in vanities of vanities. 

2. Vanities of vanities. 
     The headlines are filled with news on people dying.   Plane load of vacationers returning home crashed and all the passengers died. People who were merely dancing danced towards the very face of death. Or people just strolling to celebrate the day their forefathers butchered the Catholic Church in France,…. many of them are dead. As a priest my first question is; where are their souls now? The lighting of candles, the moment of silence, the testimonials, the speeches are fine. Looking for the black box and searching for terrorist are equally fine. But what concerned me is where  are their souls now. Does anybody  ever think about this?  
     If I ask myself  where will I go when I die, before I get the answer, I would immediately  enter a monastery in Mont Sant’ Michel rather than go dancing at Bataclan.  But Mont Sant’ Michel is still empty. Bataclan is back in business. Man is choosing his own priorities.
     The 18th Sunday is about preparing for death. Christ said; ‘fools, what are you doing now. Tonight I will demand an accounting of your soul. ‘ Are you working to get rich or are you working to get rich in the sight of God?
     If we can answer that question, then we would know where those  who died went. We can rejoice with the story of that venerable priest killed while saying Mass at the altar in Rouen, France. While we can only pray for those killed, the great- grand children of the revolutionaries who conquered Bastille and started a genocide of French Catholics. 

3. The readings.
     The first reading speaks about vanities and describes every day activities as vanities. And Ooheleth gives a list of vanities that are not sinful; labouring to acquire wisdom and knowledge, acquiring skill and earning money, buying properties and labouring under the sun. 
     Note that these people were not going about committing adultery, stealing what belongs to others, killing innocent people or anything of the like. The vanity of vanities enumerated were lawful activities. Yet they were described as vanities, i.e. ‘useless’ for the salvation of one’s soul. 
     The second reading speaks about what pertains to higher realms where Christ is seated at God’s right hand. Then to prepare for death St. Paul writes is to be “be intent on things above rather than on things of earth.’

     And the Gospel warns us; ‘fool, this very night your life shall be required of you. When we die God will judge us according to our deserts. In fact, after we die, we will see that we have already been judged by God. So there will be no further hearings after death. And God will judge us according to what we can carry in our soul. So St. Thomas of Aquinas in his commentary wrote; you cannot bring those vanities with you; you cannot use them in your defence. 
     You will be judged by what you can carry in your soul; your sins or your virtues. Things that make you rich in body are fine but you cannot use them for your defence in God’s court. Sins, of course, are bad news. The Gospel urges us to grow rich in the sight of God.  And what makes us rich in the sight of God? Virtues !! The moral and theological virtues, but especially the virtue of Charity which is the trait of the contemplative. The thing Pope Francis wants the nuns to abandon?  Yes.
     Without Charity or without being a contemplative you do not have what your soul needs to be saved. 

3. What must we do to prepare ourselves to die a holy death?
    A good preparation, summarised from ‘preparation for death by St. Alphonsus Liquori and another by St. Robert Bellarmine, is St. Paul’s ‘be intent on things above rather than on things of earth. 
     Before St. Paul begins to list the vanities of vanities, he enumerates, first, sins, which are worse than vanities; namely, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desires and that lust which is idolatry. These are the things Pope Francis and some bishops want us to welcome. In fact, the DOCAT contains lessons on these for the Youth to read, with compliments from Cardinal Schonborn. 
     The concern of the top men of the Church today are the things of the earth; global warming wherein one solution is killing babies, belief in big bang theory and evolution aside from confirming couples in their adultery, in their sexual perversion and total independence from God.  These are, not only the things of the earth but are mortal sins.

4. How do we grow rich in the sight of God.
    Christ said; to prepare for a holy death, do not grow in riches and in achievements.  Instead grow rich in the sight of God. What will make you rich in the sight of God. Charity !!! How can we attain Charity? Charity is a supernatural gift of God. He gives it, only, to those who have Faith. But Faith is, also, a supernatural gift from God. And He gives it only to those who have completely repented. He does not give it to those in the state of sin like adultery or infidelity. 
     And God does not give anyone the grace of repentance unless he supernatural humility, which is the first Beatitude. “Blessed are the poor in spirit (the humble) for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Note the phrase ‘for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They will go to heaven no matter how they die.

5. Humility (the ‘Poor in Spirit.)
    Imagine, those who are rich in the sight of God are those who are  ‘poor in spirit; those who own nothing, who has nothing materially and has no personal desires except God (Cardinal Sarah’s ‘God or nothing.) We can only possess God if we are nothing ‘poor in spirit.’ Very poor in our souls because the soul has no other desire except the things of heaven (as the second reading states.)
     That is the reason why Pope John Paul II in his splendid encyclical ‘Veritatis Splendor’ centered his exhortation on the ‘young rich man,’ who asked Christ; ‘what must I do to attain everlasting life.’ The same question the lawyer asked Christ. What was Christ’s answer; go home, sell all your possession, give it to the poor and come follow Me. Ananias and Saphira was castigated by St. Peter. Why? Because they kept a small portion. See, the need to be totally ‘poor in spirit.’ The couple who kept a little was a little rich in spirit. But not rich in the sight of God.
      
     The Vatican after Benedict XVI has become very rich. And corruption had grown with scandals on money lost  growing. Add to this the news that one can get a private papal audience for $25,000 with a photo of Di Carpio handing the check personally to the Pope during a private papal visit. 

6. The rich in the sight of God.
     Humility is have nothing and to be nothing. Today, it is the non-existing virtue because it is a God given virtue and it seems God had recently not given it to anybody, because nobody deserves it.
     When the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in Kibeho, Rwanda, the school girls asked her why she appeared in Africa and not in glamorous Paris. Her answer was; ‘because I cannot find any one who is humble except here.’ Well, Mary said that, not me. So may I rightly accuse everybody for not being humble?

     Humility is the most defined and described virtue in the Catholic Church. St. Pope Gregory the Great defined it. So did St. Augustine and later on St. Thomas of Aquinas. St. Benedict collated all the descriptions and wrote the 12 degrees of humility. St. Ignatius of Loyola, trained by the Benedictine Abbot Cisneros from Montserrat wrote about humility which makes me wonder why somebody does not have it. 

     The world is totally ignorant of the virtue. All the people in society phrased as humble are not so but are only P.R. humble, i.e. putting up humility to win an election or whatsoever. But if we pick up the true Catholic definition of humility somebody does not have it according to St. Ignatius’ definition.
     St. Bernard of Clairvaux did something even more helpful. He listed the 12 degrees of humility of St Benedict and then wrote down its opposite 12 degrees of Pride. Most people today described as humble are in truth proud according to St. Bernard. So where are the humble people?  Only in Kibeho, Rwanda. Mary said it and we better believe it. 
     So only those African are rich in the sight of God? Maybe together with Cardinal Arinze and Cardinal Sarah. That is why they are humiliated by Cardinal Nichols and in the Vatican……. and taking it very well.     

     
    

   1. There is only one war that is going on.
       It is the eternal war that begun in Paradise and will end only at the end of the world. This is the war between good and evil. On the side of good is God who will always win. On the side of evil is the devil who will eventually be completely defeated.
       And God had placed man in between to test him; which side he will take. Upon his choice God will judge him; either he deserves to be with God for all eternity or be condemned with the devils in hell.
       This eternal war had taken many forms. St. James wrote; it could be in the form of a civil war, a global war, a gang war or just simply a spat between husband and wife. But it is the same war whose origin is from the evil in the hearts of man; the war between good and evil, both of which is in the heart of man.  Its more evident form is the war of religions where closer logical examination will show, according to St. Paul, that it is between God and the devils. 
       What Pope Francis said in Poland is confusing in that he denies  that there is a war of religions going on. But that the ‘wars are only about money, resources and dominion.’  It should be the other way around. That wars on money, resources and dominion are basically wars between good and evil; a test by which man is made to choose and upon which his very salvation depends. 
       This is most evident in Poland. A nation racked with wars, evidently between the forces of evil against the Catholic Faith of the nation. This had been the test of their people; will they continue to serve God or will they serve the devil who use terrorize them with the force of arms.
        The devil’s usual weapon is terrorism; the threat to life, the most precious thing for man. The test is obvious. Christ said; ‘he who loves his life will lose it. But he who hates his life for My sake will save it.’ And Christ continued; ‘do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot touch the soul. Fear Him who can kill both the body and soul.’ And Poland had just passed through that trial with the help of their own countryman Pope John Paul II. 
        Though this weapon was found effective by the devil, he found another more effective weapon. And this is sweet heresy. Heresies are sweet candies, nice to the taste of one’s concupiscence, nice for the passions and according to one’s personal desires. It is the classical ‘forbidden fruit’ which was nice to the eyes and the taste. This, definitely, is more effective. Even man when he possessed grace, knowledge and wisdom while in Paradise fell for it and ate it. 

2.  The strategy of each side. 
     The strategy of the good had been the same from the beginning up to now. Know what God had revealed as found in Scriptures and as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church. And as proposed by the Magisterium of the Church (keeping in mind what is the Magisterium). There should be absolutely no change to that strategy. It is still the same strategy up to now. Changes are detrimental to this strategy because it will cause confusion.
     The strategy of the evil had been the same from the beginning up to now. It is to mix a lot of the strategy of the good and then insert just one or two evil items among the good. The evil will corrupt all the good and transform everything into evil. This is what makes the evil difficult to discern. Because all the good must be known to detect the small evil that can destroy the whole. Heresy, mixed with the good, is almost impossible to detect. 
     The syllabus of error cannot be detected among the many lawful and unlawful things in the world. Even bishops and priest cannot detect them. How much more the laity.
     
      Pope Francis and his Vatican bureaucracy had been doing this lately, specially in better Catholic nations like Mexico and now Poland. It is a suspicious attempt to sound reconciliatory but it is a basket of fruits and flowers with one hidden asp in it. He begins to praise the Catholic roots of Poland, how she withstood the Communist regimes. Then he inserts impurities in the Docat just as his man Schonborn inserted heresies in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the YouCat of the last WYD. And now that again. All are errors concerning Matrimony and Family Planning.
     And even before the  arrival of Pope Francis, the Polish bishops already warned him that they would not follow his suggestions on the remarried receiving Holy Communion. So Pope Francis suggested again to the youth about messing things up and opening up to what is evil. And, of course, the opening of borders to migrants of a religions that is so opposed to the Catholic Church. As usual he was giving the impression that these are Catholic Doctrines. Many of the denizens of the School of Bologna with their heretical hermeneutics of discontinuity condemned by Pope Benedict XVI were guests speakers. 

3. Of course.
    Then there is the usual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.  Compare that to the WYD in Spain when Pope Benedict and the youth knelt down silently in the mud under the rain…….to the one in Poland where there seems to be a party going on in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  Of course, that is nothing compared to the International Eucharistic Congress in the Philippines where the speakers did not  even believe in the Holy Eucharist. 

4. Men possessed by the devil.
    The message in Poland is to open up. This is an invitation to the devil to come in. It was what happened to Judas. He was open. And without his permission ‘Satan entered into him.’ And nobody could exorcise him because he had an open invitation to Satan.
     In Catholic asceticism, we must be careful on what enters our senses. What enter the senses that are always open, like sight, hearing, smell, etc..are registered in the mind. Having gained entrance into our minds, it is easy for the free will to consent to whatever sinful things that have entered the mind. 
     The idea is to prevent evil things to reach the free will. But how can that be done if it is already in the mind which exist side by side with the free will. So the wiser thing to do is to prevent evil things even to enter the mind. And this is done through the ascetical practice called ‘custody of the eyes.’ But the more complete practice is to live the monastic life where all the senses are controlled so that sources of sin that enter the senses are brought to the minimum. 
     But in the WYD in Poland, with a course on sex, where everyone is encouraged to open up to everything including evil, to the hearing of heresies and error, and the presence of delegates from very permissive societies …..the experience is not an encounter with Christ, as Cardinal Tagle hoped it was. It is an encounter with a sinful world and the possible possession by Satan.
     The world does not believe in God,  shown by the lack of the gift ‘fear of the Lord.’ There is no fear to disobey God. So everyone is doing what he wants and saying what he wants. Even if they go against the teachings and commandments of God. Just look at the prevailing issue of the remarried. That is against the teachings and the commandments of God as clearly expressed in Divine Revelation with threats of condemnation attached to it.  Yet it is being forced on all the bishops conferences by the Vatican team. 
     People act as if there is no hell or at least that God sends no one to hell. Oh, by the way Pope Francis said that following some Jesuit theologians. 

5. On whose side.
    When we look at what happened in Poland, we see the eternal war raging, as it is raging in elections going on around the world, as it is raging in every parish and diocese, as it is happening even in sport events. It is raging everywhere in the tiniest nook in the world. As Pope Paul VI just confirmed; ‘Satan is around and have entered the Church.’  And the choice is between God and Satan. 
    Did you think Satan was not in Poland during WYD? No one was looking.  He was more in Poland than in France considering the Catholicity of the two nations. But when people don’t fear God, they would not know who is with them, God or the devil. And many participants were not Polish. They were from countries with lax morality.
     The eternal war was raging in Poland during WYD as in any day. There are two sides. Who is in what side? Those who know their Divine Revelation and the Fathers can answer that. 

 1. God, in His goodness have given man many opportunities to be saved. His Divine Revelation is His ordinary means by which man can be saved. And when man deviates from His way, God gives him chastisements, like illnesses, storms, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, wars….to set him back in the straight way. One of these is capital punishment. 

     The topic on Capital Punishment is, again, becoming a hot topic. Why? Because Pope Francis wants it abolished and some bishops agree with Pope Francis, like the Philippines Bishop’s Conference. On the other hand the President of the Philippines is in favour of it. And we published a post that the secular President was right while the Pope and the Bishops are wrong. Capital punishment has great spiritual benefits both for the criminal and the rest of the people. 
       The CBCP had just come out with a ‘Thou shall not kill’ movement. But God, Himself said, that capital punishment is the exception to that command. 

2. Lets look at the details involved.
    The first question we should answer is; ‘whether the Catholic Church allows Capital Punishment?’ The answer is ‘Yes.’ Since the beginning of Christianity up to Pope Benedict’s time, yes. Pope John Paul slightly toned it down but Pope Benedict restored it to its original purity of doctrine. Pope Francis publicly announced he wants it abolished. Is Pope Francis abolishing capital punishment as a personal belief or as a teaching of the Catholic Church?
     If it is as a teaching of the Catholic Church, which it is, he cannot abolish it. As a Catholic he cannot abolish it based on personal belief because that would be a sin of infidelity.  If it is a Catholic teaching,  then as Pope, he must observe it and impose it in the Church. Even at this point, Pope Francis and, as far as I know, the Catholic Bishop’s conference of the Philippines are both wrong to forbid the state to do it.  The fifth commandment has an exception. That exception is; ‘under certain conditions, the state may kill, like in a just war.’

     If both Pope Francis and the CBCP  are pursuing the abolition of capital punishment, they are committing another sin beside going against God’s command. They are, as bishops and Pope,  proclaiming that the abolition of capital punishment is a Catholic Doctrine, which it is not. As Pope and as bishops they are giving the impression that what they are saying is Catholic doctrine; this is  a deception. 

     The president of the CBCP is, also giving the impression that that decision is the unanimous  decision of the Bishop’s conference; when in truth the rest of the bishops know nothing about it and had informed the president to keep quiet and stop annoying the newly elected President with publicity stunts. So there is a second deception in giving the impression that all the Bishops agree to the movement ‘thou shall not kill.’

3. Why do they do this?
     For pure P.R. To receive a Nobel prize, to be popular, to appear as a defender of the human race rather than a defender of God’s teachings or just to please the Pope who hold the same error.  It is staying in the natural level just like politicians. Their actions are clearly staged.

4. How do we know that a truth is a Catholic truth? Because God, Himself, said it in the Old Testament. It is repeated by Christ in the new Testament. It is, further, repeated as such by the Fathers of the Church. And all the Popes through all the centuries from St. Peter to Pope Benedict XVI had confirmed it. Truths cannot be changed.
     But since Vatican II a group had been planning to, in fact, change the Church by changing her teachings. And the moment they took over they begun changing the rules on divorce, the rules on receiving Holy Communion, the meaning of transubstantiation, …..and now they want to abolish that great aid to repentance and salvation, Capital punishment. 

     Let see what God taught about it. In Genesis “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.” St. Paul reminds us of the God-given right of the state to inflict capital punishment ‘the state does not bear the sword in vain but is the servant of God to execute His wrath on the wrongdoer.” St. Clement of Alexandria wrote; ” when one falls into any incurable evil….it will be for his good if he is put to death. The benefits for other people, St. Augustine wrote, is that ‘the living were struck with a salutary fear. And Jerome ends by saying; ‘he who slays cruel men is not cruel.’
     St. Thomas of Aquinas, St. Robert Bellarmine and St. Alphonsus of Liguori explains its purpose which is retributive justice and deterrent for others. Pope Pius XII summarised the stand of the church; ‘it is reserved to the public authority to deprive the criminal of the benefit of life when already, by his crime, he has deprived himself of the right to live.’ 
     It is not the state nor the church that deprive the criminal  his life. It is the criminal, himself, who has deprived, himself, the right to continue living. 

     Pope Francis has, not only, contradicted Scriptures, the Fathers and the previous Popes, by saying erroneously that capital punishment is intrinsically immoral. He even created a commission to change the Catechism of the Catholic Church to forbid capital punishment. That would be going against Catholic teachings. 

5. The Charity in Capital punishment. 
     All the teachings of the Catholic Church is based on Love of God and love of neighbour. Anyone who goes against this teaching does not love God and does not love his neighbour. “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
     A murderer has disobeyed God’s command. As such he deserves eternal condemnation in hell. Charity obliges us all to do something to prevent him from going to hell. The only thing that can help him is for him to repent.
     To repent he must first know the grievousness of his sin. A murderer has killed someone with the image and likeness of God. That is very serious. He did not kill a cat. If the criminal kills a man and thinks he has just killed a cat, he will never repent because he does not know his sin. Look at the abortionist and the terrorist. They really think they are just disposing blobs and shooting cats. They will never repent. You must know your sin.
      A sentence of death will be a very big help to make them think. Why are they going to execute me? What have I done? He alone can find out the reason. I have killed someone with the image of God. It is an affront to God, Himself. Death row, like a monastic cell will be the best ambiance for him to make the right conclusions. 
     Those abolishing capital punishment is depriving them of these last chance to repent. They will never repent roaming free in the city. Pope Francis and the bishops, in their wrong sense of mercy, want them to continue enjoying the world for a few years but suffer for all eternity in the fires of hell. Call that charity?
      Realising they have killed someone in the image and likeness of God is difficult enough for Catholics, how much more for non-Catholics.  Yet they still need to be sorry for their crime; which they will never do if released from prison. They still have to make reparation for their sin of murder. How do you make reparation for a life loss? Impossible. It has to be a life for a life. A thinking prisoner should see that his salvation is now impossible considering what he has done. 
     Seeing the enormity of his sin, sorry for having committed it, willing to pay life for life, he become willing to die as payment for the life he has taken. That is repentance. Whether he is executed or not becomes immaterial. He has repented and he can be free from the eternal fires of hell. This would not have happened if capital punishment is abolished.
     If in spite of all these, if he still remains unrepentant, then the world would be a better place without him. 

     Capital punishment is an aid to repentance; just like monastic life, like religious life, like good parents, like the Church. They are all aids to salvation. Take off capital punishment you deprive criminals their last hope for salvation. And that is what the Pope and the Bishops want?  They are not helping the good guys; and they are not helping the bad guys. Does the President of the country have to do their job considering how busy he is?