1. The different religions
The non-christian religions have absolutely no proofs that theirs is the true religion; because most of them if not all of them were made by mere men. They immediately have the problem of proving the existence of their God. Their God being man-made their human founder finds it impossible to prove they have a God at all.
Such religions have the dual problem of not being able to prove the validity of their religion and the existence of their God. And their inability is enough proof that they are not true and valid religions. Here no further discussion is needed. An attempt at ecumenism with them will turn out to be mere human conversation that will start from no where and go nowhere. It is impossible to talk with someone who is not sure of everything.
The so-called Christian religions, i.e. the Protestant sects, also, have no proofs that theirs is the true religion. As St. Robert Bellarmine noted, their proofs taken from Scriptures are futile attempts in that they are the common signs that are identical to practically all religions. In short, the proofs used by one Protestant sect that theirs is the true religion is identical to the proofs of all other Protestant sects.
Inspite of these identical proofs the Protestants have in proving that their sects is the true religion, they cannot unite. The reason being, the signs there are claiming as the visible signs that their sect is the true religion is not really the valid signs so it cannot unite different sects.
It will be impossible to talk to such persons, too, because they will be quoting Scriptures but their quotations, even if they quote the entire Scriptures, are not necessarily the signs of the true Church and the true religion.
2. How to begin an attempt at ecumenism.
For both groups, the non-christian religions and the christian sects, the beginning of a dialogue must begin with a discussion of the rules of Philosophy or natural theology and agree with the five proofs of the existence of God. If we can agree that St. Thomas’ five proofs are valid and, indeed, there is a God, the next step, which is Who is That God will be easier.
This procedure is effective for both non-christian religion and Protestant sects.
Another reason why this procedure is effective is because these five proofs of St. Thomas are ingrained in the minds of all men. So the basis of the proofs for discussion is found within the hearts of all men. There will be no need to use external proofs.
3. The Catholic position
Before Catholics can start any ecumenical move they must have a stand. And her stand is evidently the fact that only the Catholic Church have the four visible signs of the true Church of Christ. These four signs had been proven valid by Philosophy and, therefore can be used to convince non-christians. Secondly, these signs are found in Divine Revelation. Therefore, it can convince all Protestant sects.
Furthermore, these four visible signs had been expanded and fully explained by the Fathers of the Church using both Philosophy and Theology, so it can satisfy both pagan and protestant groups.
4. Ecumenism is really evangelisation.
If we look at the process of ecumenism, it is in fact evangelisation. Ecumenism is a process by which the Catholic Church is evangelising non-christian and christian groups. If ecumenism is not evangelisation, then it is pure board meeting of no value whatsoever.
An activity like the prayers of all religion at the St. Francis cathedral in Assisi can be both an act of evangelisation or a pure public relation gimmick; depending on the intention of the meeting. As in the case of that Assisi meeting hosted by Pope John Paul II, his intention is to exposed all religions to the reality of the Catholic Church, as if saying; ‘try to know us.’ That is a very effective evangelisation
But if the intention is to show that all religions are the same in the eyes of God and, therefore, they should not be fighting, then it is a heretical meeting.
It is not the external but the interior motive that is important. The reluctance of Pope Benedict to continue that meeting shows that the motive of evangelisation was not evident in the ceremony. The heresy was more evident; though Pope Benedict allowed it to continue for reasons of ‘there is nothing much we can do about it right now; and we are now deep in this erroneous ceremony.
5. The biggest defect in the ecumenical movement.
The biggest defect in the ecumenical movement is that the Catholics cannot prove that they are the true Church of Christ using the four visible signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed. If the Catholic Church cannot prove that she is the true Church, where is she leading all those religions and sects? Nowhere or better still straight to hell.
The Catholic Church must first prove that she is the true Church established by Christ using the four visible signs, One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. In fact, showing these four visible signs and explaining these four well is more than enough to attract anyone into the Catholic Church. There is nothing that is attractive i Church than these four visible signs mentioned in the Creed.
These signs are the only way by which the Catholic Church can prove that she is the true Church established by Christ. There is no other proof. These proof are so important because it answers a lot of question. For example; a debate is brewing in the Vatican whether Mario Bergoglio is a true Pope or not. The arguments are long and complicated. But if we simply settle down the question; does he have the four visible signs or not. That is the end of the discussion. If Bergoglio has the four visible signs, no doubt he is the true Pope. But if he does not have the four visible signs…….why, he is not even a Catholic. How can he be a bishop or even a Pope. Imagine, the head of the Catholic Church, the Pope, is not even a Catholic.
These four signs are so important and answers a lot of question so much so that many of the Fathers and Doctor of the Church wrote commentaries on the four visible signs. They did not add nor subtract from the four signs. They merely expanded and elaborated the four signs. And St. Robert Bellarmine has one of the simplest and most extensive 15 description of the Mark of the true Church.
And frankly, no matter how hard I try to look for those signs in Pope Francis, I could not find any.
I applied the signs before on Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI and both had flying colours. Simply from their writings and a few of their actions they showed all the visible Marks of the true Church.
An example; the conversion of a Muslim journalist and personally baptised by Pope Benedict is true sign of the true Church. Pope Benedict was clearly the head of a One, Holy , Catholic and Apostolic Church. But when Pope Francis became Pope, the same Muslim journalist left the Catholic Church in dismay to Pope Francis’ actuations. What do you say to that?
The present ecumenism is an attempt to create a one world religion, a project of the UN, to which the presidency had been offered to Pope Francis. This is based on the heresy of indifferentism; the belief that all religions are equal and, therefore, can be joint together into one happy religion.
6. For fun.
With nothing better to do I applied the newly acquired knowledge of the four visible signs of the true Church from the Creed on my Parish priest, two Diocesan Bishops, and other bishops whose informations are available in the internet. I could not sleep. Almost all of them did not have any of the visible signs of the true Church.
Since Pope Francis was becoming popular with the wrong people, I applied, not so much the four visible signs of the Church on him. Instead, I applied the newly translated 15 visible Marks of the true Church written by St. Robert Bellarmine, a Jesuit Doctor of the Church, which is an expanded version of the four visible signs. And I nearly fainted. I begun to see that practically all the priests, bishops, cardinals that were analysed did not have a single visible sign. And worse, even Mario Bergoglio did not have a sign of the true Church. In fact, he had the opposite signs of the true Church described by St. Bellarmine.
There is nothing much that can be done but to inform some Jesuits of this finding. I know a few since I studied for more than 10 years under the Jesuits. But there was no reaction. They merely continued to praise Pope Francis for worshipping Mother Earth and pushing global warming.
7. There goes ecumenism. So what now?
The bishops who have been noticing something weird with Pope Francis should gather together and check if he has either the four visible signs or the 15 Marks of the true Church by Bellarmine. If he does not have, then these bishop should declare him as not a Catholic and, therefore has no right to be sitting on St. Peter’s chair. If he has even just one visible sign, then please inform me and I will be the first one to apologise for the harsh judgment.
His Jesuit confrers should show Pope Francis is a Catholic using the four visible signs or the 15 Marks of St. Robert Bellarmine, SJ. within a month since he had been a Pope, already, for more than two years. If not a Synod of wise bishops should declare him an anti-pope. This is the normal canonical process. Then, maybe we can have some real ecumenism afterwards.
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