It was four years ago today. I remember sending emails in the minutes between the appearance of the white smoke and the announcement of the usurper’s name (although I did not realize at the time the full criminal horror of what had happened, and thought I was seeing the actual announcement of a new Pope) saying that I had a terrible, terrible feeling and a profound sense of foreboding. I posted the next day that we were in massive, massive trouble with Bergoglio after receiving all manner of intel from Argentinians, and just surveying the objective dataset. Then, when he didn’t genuflect at the consecrations of the Host and Chalice at his first Mass in the Sistine Chapel, I knew that this would probably be the end of The Church as we have known it. I knew that satan had his man in place.
The vitriol I received in my email box was massive and immediate – from TRAD Catholics, no less, as well as Novus Ordoists, and also the many Protestants and atheists who read me. I remember well reading in various comment threads AND in my own email box the nauseatingly sentimental testimonies of women who “wept with joy” and “felt a profound sense of peace and serenity emanating from ‘pope’ Francis.”
Pardon me while I throw up in my mouth a little.
Good call there, ladies. Good call.
But hey, it’s those sentimental Kathies who have the money, and set up those recurring PayPal donation profiles, so whatever Kathy and her FEEWINGS dictate, so shall it be. Amirite? Well, not in my world.
I’d like to make another important point today. There are a lot of folks out there that are realizing that Pope Benedict’s attempted resignation was defective, and thus invalid. An Italian archbishop has spoken up about the coercion and “enormous pressure”, and even Brietbart has picked up on this. BUT, most of the major Trad Catholic blogs explicitly prohibit ANY mention of any of this in their comment threads. They delete every comment that dare even ask the question, “Is it possible that Bergoglio is an Antipope?” Or “Given the evidence, shouldn’t we be looking at the possible invalidity of Pope Benedict’s resignation?”
Folks, more and more people are coming around to the truth and realizing that Bergoglio isn’t the pope, and never was. But the bigger Trad blogs are doing everything possible to suppress this, and make you feel like you are alone and isolated in your suspicions, or part of a micro-tinfoilhat fringe. You aren’t. The people who are censoring discussion of the Bergoglioan antipapacy qua antipapacy are doing so because they fear losing donation revenue, or, for those employed by the Church, whether clergy or laymen, they fear losing their career track or benefits packages, and they fear losing social connections and prestige, and they fear being called “sedevacantists”, even though sedevacantism has nothing to do with it. In other words, EFFEMINACY. The pathological unwillingness to voluntarily undergo any personal discomfort, and for many, that “discomfort” is something so trivial as a reduction in website traffic, or even criticism, or merely LACK OF PRAISE on Facebook. This is the diametrical opposite of the words of Our Lord, “Take up your cross….” The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary, the Carrying of the Cross, is particularly relevant to combatting the vice of effeminacy and developing the virtue of virility.
Which brings me to another point that I might as well make, and will doubtless make again. Sedevacantism is NOT a political position. The term has been hijacked and transformed into a political term, but it is no such thing. The term “sedevacante” simply means “the See is vacant”. That is a binary question. It has to do with an objective state of reality. Either the See is occupied, as it is now by Pope Benedict XVI, or it is vacant. Because people today are not able to think in a clear, logical way, I get emails all the time saying, “But, but, but if Pope Benedict XVI dies, won’t you be a sedevacantist?!!!???!?!?!?!?!”
Of course I would be. The See would be vacant. Why is that even regarded as a “gotcha!” question? Pope Benedict XVI is the one and only living pope. If he were to die, since he is the one and only living pope, there would no longer be a living pope. The See would be vacant. That would be the OBJECTIVE REALITY. Why in the world would that change my politics? Would I then be aligned politically with the nutballs who deny the World War II holocaust and 9/11? Of course not. Those people have hijacked a term that is a descriptor of an objective state, the interstitial period wherein the Pope has died (or validly resigned), and the next pope has not yet been elected, and transformed it into the name of an entire warped worldview. Well, you all may choose to go along with this ploy of the devil, but I will not. Words have meaning, folks, and “sedevacante” does NOT mean “nutball detached from reality”. It means the See of Peter is vacant. Period. Yes or no. Black or white. Up or down. When the See is occupied, as it is now, it is occupied. When it is empty, it is empty, whenever that may happen in the future, and for however long that may last.
Well, there’s a few thoughts. I will wrap up by saying that I am enjoining particular additional penances today, including fasting, and will make a point to spend extra time before the Blessed Sacrament today. I hope you will do the same on this dark anniversary.
Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for us.
Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.
Christ, have mercy on us.