Jorge's Expendables

Obsequiousness to, if not a thinly disguised for, Marxism-Leninism has been a hallmark of Antipopes Angelo Roncalli/John XIII, Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria/Paul VI, and, of course, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who has embraced the mass murdering Castro brothers in Cuba, accepted a sacrilegious crucifix in the form of a hammer and sickle from Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, and, quite notoriously, sold out the longsuffering Catholics of Red China to their vicious, amoral, godless persecutors, the so-called Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s sellout of underground Catholics in Red China has been discussed on this site many times. However, it is important to remember that it was presaged by the supposedly anti-Communist Karol Josef Wojtyla’s concessions to the CPCA in the 1980s, setting the stage for Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI’s letter to the Chinese Catholics of June 29, 2007, which itself set the stage for as yet still secret terms of the 2018 “agreement” (sellout), which was renewed in 2020, of the conciliar Vatican to the Chicoms, thus throwing Catholics who had suffered relentless persecution since the Communist takeover of the Chinese mainland on May 1, 1949, under the bus.

Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini/Paul the Sick engaged in a policy of Communist surrender known as Ostpolik (East politics) wherein he appointed men as "bishops" in Communist countries behind the Iron Curtain who were friendly to, if not actual agents of, the Communist authorities in those countries. These "bishops" had a perverse "apostolic mandate," if you will, given then sub secreto by Montini: never criticize Communism or any Communist officials. In other words, be good stooges for various "people's" and "democratic" republics in exchange for promoting the false "gospel" of conciliarism.

It was also Montini/Paul VI who sold out the courageous Jozsef Cardinal Mindszenty, the Primate of Hungary and the Archbishop of Budapest, when the latter, after taking refuge in the American Embassy in Budapest for a decade following the Hungarian Revolution in October of 1956, was forced out of the American Embassy as a result of Vatican pressure and then, after being told by Montini/Paul VI that he remained as the Archbishop of Budapest, has his primatial see declared vacant by the theologically, liturgically and morally corrupt Montini.

This scenario is described by an sedeplenist, Dr. Steve O'Brien, in a review of two motion pictures about the life of Jozsef Cardinal Mindszenty:

The Prisoner, as it happened, was wrapped too soon because Mindszenty's story, which had seemed to be fini, had scarcely begun. By 1956 Stalin was dead and Khrushchev was making some unusual noises. In October the Hungarians rose in revolt. Mindszenty had no clue of what was happening on the street; his guards told him that the rabble outside the prison was shouting for his blood. A few days later he was released and indeed a mob of locals set upon him. But instead of ripping his flesh they grabbed at the liberated hero to kiss his clothes. When he returned to Budapest the deposed Reds quivered over this ghost who would not stay buried, but in a radio broadcast he counseled against revenge. The Soviets were not so forgiving, and tanks rumbled to crush this unpleasant incident. A marked man, Mindszenty sought asylum in the American embassy as his last resort. Now a second long Purgatory had begun. Pius spoke out repeatedly against this latest example of Soviet terror but the West, heedless of its own liberation rhetoric, was deaf.

When The Prisoner was released, the Church was still the implacable foe of communism. Frail Pius stood as a Colossus against both right and left totalitarianism. When Pius departed this world there ensued a moral void in the Vatican that has never been filled. By the early 1960s both the Western governments and the Novus Ordo popes decided that accommodation with the Communists was preferable to the archaic notions of Pius and Mindszenty. John XXIII and successor Paul VI welcomed a breath of fresh air into the Church, and that odor included cooperation with the Reds. The new Ostpolitik, managed by Paul's Secretary of State Agostino Casaroli, hadn't room for Christian warriors of Mindszenty's stamp. The position of the Hungarian government was strengthened when Casaroli entered negotiations with the appalling regime of Janos Kadar. As the Cold War thawed, the freeze was put on Mindszenty. The American government made it understood that he was no longer welcome at the embassy. Worse still, Paul sent a functionary to persuade Mindszenty to leave, but only after signing a document full of stipulations that favored the Reds and essentially blaming himself for his ordeal. The confession that the Communists could not torture out of him was being forced on him by the Pope!

Driven from his native land against his wishes, Mindszenty celebrated Mass in Rome with Paul on October 23, 1971. The Pope told him, "You are and remain archbishop of Esztergom and primate of Hungary." It was the Judas kiss. For two years Mindszenty traveled, a living testament to truth, a man who had been scourged, humiliated, imprisoned and finally banished for the Church's sake. In the fall of 1973, as he prepared to publish his Memoirs, revealing the entire story to the world, he suffered the final betrayal. Paul, fearful that the truth would upset the new spirit of coexistence with the Marxists, "asked" Mindszenty to resign his office. When Mindszenty refused, Paul declared his See vacant, handing the Communists a smashing victory.

If Mindszenty's story is that of the rise and fall of the West's resistance to communism it is also the chronicle of Catholicism's self-emasculation. In the 1950s a man such as Mindszenty could be portrayed as a hero of Western culture even though both American and English history is rife with hatred toward the Church. When the political mood changed to one of coexistence and detente rather than containment, Mindszenty became an albatross to the appeasers and so the Pilates of government were desperate to wash their hands of him. Still, politicians are not expected to act on principle, and therefore the Church's role in Mindszenty's agony is far more damning.

Since movies, for good or ill, have a pervasive influence on American culture, perhaps a serious film that told Mindszenty's whole story could have some effect on the somnolent Catholics in the West. Guilty of Treason and The Prisoner are artifacts of their day. An updated film that follows the prelate through his embassy exile and his pathetic end would be a heart-wrenching drama. But knowing what we know now, the Communists, despicable as they are, would no longer be the primary villains. (Shooting the Cardinal: Film and Betrayal in the Mindszenty Case.)

As we know, of course, no true pope of the Catholic Church sold out Jozsef Cardinal Mindszenty. A conciliar revolutionary did so, and it has been three other such revolutionaries who have conspired to sellout of the longsuffering Catholics of Red China over the course of the past thirty-six years ever since Bishop Kung was released from prison in 1986 and then left his homeland two years later. Yes, even the supposedly anti-Communist, Karol Josef Wojtyla/John Paul II, helped to pave the way for this sellout, which was made official in 2018 by "Pope Francis."

The Path From "Saint John Paul II" to Jorge Mario Bergoglio

I first learned of the conciliar Vatican intentions with respect to selling out the faithful, suffering Catholics of Red China when attending what I thought was Holy Mass at the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi on West 31st Street in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York, New York, in the 1990s when a highly effeminate Franciscan presbtyter announced before the beginning of the Protestant and Judeo-Masonic Novus Ordo liturgical weekday service that his "concelebrant" was a "priest" from China who was studying at Saint Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, Yonkers, New York. "Ah," I said to myself, "China? Red China? The underground church? The 'Patriotic Association'?"

Well, I began to get a clearer idea of what "Saint John Paul II" and his chief lieutenants, Joseph Alois "Cardinal" Ratzinger, the prefect of the misnamed Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Angelo "Cardinal" Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State, were planning with respect to Red China when I stopped by one occasion in 1999, I believe, to spend some time in prayer before what I believed to be the Real Presence of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament at Holy Trinity Retreat House in Larchmont, New York. It was as I was leaving that I encountered Father Benedict Groeschel as he was taking a stroll on the grounds. Father Benedict told me that the Vatican was supporting the training of seminarians for the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA) in American seminaries, including Saint Joseph's Seminary.

Father Benedict told me that this was all "hush, hush," as he termed it, and that the situation in Red China was very complex, full of double and triple agents. Father Groeschel said that the training of the CPCA priests at Saint Joseph's had the approval, at some level or another, of the Vatican. The hope was to "integrate" CPCA priests, who had to support the government's anti-life policies, into the life of the underground Church when a "reconciliation" could occur at some point in the future. We can see how well that worked out over the course of time. Indeed, Wojtyla/John Paul II laid the groundwork for "Pope Benedict's" betrayal of the faithful Catholics in Red China, which helped to prepare what can be called the "shining path" for an admirer of the late Chicom murderer known as Zhou Enlai, who was the Premier of the so-called People's Republic of China from May 1, 1949, to the time of death on January 8, 1976, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, to finish off the suffering Catholics of Red China once and all.

By 1999, however, the conciliar Vatican had already issued a set of "directives" that would lead to the sorry fate that the faithful Catholics have been dealt by their supposed spiritual father. Here are the terms of those guidelines, which were issued by Josef "Cardinal" Tomko, then the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Propagation of the Faith, issued on September 3, 1988, a series of "eight guidelines" for "contact" between faithful Catholics and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association:

As the contacts among members of the Episcopate, priests and faithful, with exponents of the Catholic Church in China are becoming ever more frequent, this Dicastery, in accord with the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church, considers it opportune to give the Episcopal Conferences the following indications:

1. The contacts in question could be a good occasion to reaffirm with clarity the Catholic Doctrine on the communion which must unite the Bishops with the Successor of Peter and, through him, among themselves (L. G. 14 & 18). In this regard, one could have recourse to the doctrinal principles of the Vatican Councils I and II.

2. In the light of the Vatican Council II one could also explain to them how the Church realizes in her own life self-government, self-propagation and self-financing: it is normal today that Bishops be chosen from among the local clergy; evangelization is, in the first place, to be realized by the local churches, even if in many cases the collaboration of the missionaries still remains necessary, but in a subordinate position; that it is evident that the Church be financially supported by the offerings of the faithful in the locality.

3. Mention could also be made to them of the various forms of collegiality which are being developed in the Church, particularly since Vatican Council II, both on the national and regional levels through the Episcopal Conferences, and on the universal level through the presence and collaboration of the Episcopates of the various countries in the central government of the Church, as, for example, their presence in the Roman Dicasteries, and their collaboration in the Synod of Bishops.

4. In the course of various encounters, care must be taken to avoid attitudes which could wound the sensibility of the ‘silent’ majority of those Catholics who have suffered and are suffering for their fidelity to the Holy Father.

There is also need of avoiding that the visits in question do not become instrumental in obtaining recognition and the legitimization of a position which cannot in any way be acceptable either on the doctrinal level or disciplinary and canonical levels.

5 Another rather delicate point is the question of the liturgical celebrations. In fact all 'communicatio in sacris' is to be avoided. The ‘patriotic’ bishops and priests are not to be invited or even allowed to celebrate religious functions in public, either in the churches or in the oratories of the various religious institutes.

6. The necessary clarity regarding the ecclesial aspects of the visits and the attitude to be adopted, which must be respected by all, do not imply that there is to be a lack of fraternal charity, which should be expressed in the cordiality of the welcome given to the guests and in the manner in which they are treated.

It is hoped that all this will assist them in understanding, in the light of the Spirit, the incoherence of their position and induce them to a change of attitude.

7. Care must also be taken that those who are responsible for the organization of the visits of the above-mentioned delegations be persons of sound doctrine, faithful to the Magisterium of the Church and capable of acting with great prudence.

8. It is to be foreseen that such events will not fail to arouse reactions in the local and international press. It will be necessary, therefore, to foresee how to assist the means of social communication, utilizing the orientations mentioned above, which clarify the position of the Church and may foster the comprehension of the diverse and complex problems closely connected with this position. (As found at Cardinal Kung Foundation.)

Joseph Kung, a nephew of Bishop Ignatius Kung, the Bishop of Shanghai from August 15, 1950, to the time of his death on March 12, 2000, wrote a series of updates about the situation of underground Catholics in Red China. Indeed, he did so just seventeen days after his uncle's death on March 12, 2000, because the situation facing Catholics had become so confusing. Moreover, Mr. Kung was alarmed by the fact that seminarians from the rump church in Red China were being permitted to study in American seminaries, which was what I been told by Father Benedict Groeschel the year before. Appendix A below contains a few excerpts of that open letter, which asked one plaintive question after another. The saddest part of all is that Mr. Kung's questions have been answered loud and clear, and the first set of answers were given by the supposed "restorer of tradition," Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, on June 30, 2007, and the rest were provided by Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 2018 and renewed in 2020.

Ratzinger Provided the Framework for Bergoglio's Current Surrender to the Chicoms

True to his subjectivist self, the chief apostle of the "new ecclesiology", who said several years ago that he had resigned from the hard duties of promoting heresy as the universal public face of apostasy because he could not take the jet lag if he had to go to World Youth Day in Rio di Janeiro in 2013 (nothing is ever stable in the mind of this Hegelian, including the rationales for his resignation), used the situation in Red China as a grand "workshop" to "perfect" a "communion" among the "particular churches" in China without requiring members of the rump church to renounce their errors publicly and while he strongly "encouraged" those who have suffered in the underground Church to cooperate with the Communist officials there so that the "suffering" of the past can be overcome by means of a supposed “spiritual reconciliation," which must necessarily precede the "difficulties" of differences of Faith. This is how he phrased things in his Letter to Bishops, Priests, Consecrated Persons and Lay Faithful of Red China, which was realeased on June 30, 2007, the Commemoration of Saint Paul

Addressing the whole Church in his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, my venerable predecessor Pope John Paul II, stated that an "important area in which there has to be commitment and planning on the part of the universal Church and the particular Churches [is] the domain of communion (koinonia), which embodies and reveals the very essence of the mystery of the Church. Communion is the fruit and demonstration of that love which springs from the heart of the Eternal Father and is poured out upon us through the Spirit whom Jesus gives us (cf. Rom 5:5), to make us all 'one heart and one soul' (Acts 4:32). It is in building this communion of love that the Church appears as 'sacrament', as the 'sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the human race.' The Lord's words on this point are too precise for us to diminish their import. Many things are necessary for the Church's journey through history, not least in this new century; but without charity (agape) all will be in vain. It is again the Apostle Paul who in his hymn to love reminds us: even if we speak the tongues of men and of angels, and if we have faith 'to move mountains', but are without love, all will come to 'nothing' (cf. 1 Cor 13:2). Love is truly the 'heart' of the Church"

These matters, which concern the very nature of the universal Church, have a particular significance for the Church which is in China. Indeed you are aware of the problems that she is seeking to overcome – within herself and in her relations with Chinese civil society – tensions, divisions and recriminations.

In this regard, last year, while speaking of the nascent Church, I had occasion to recall that "from the start the community of the disciples has known not only the joy of the Holy Spirit, the grace of truth and love, but also trials that are constituted above all by disagreements about the truths of faith, with the consequent wounds to communion. Just as the fellowship of love has existed since the outset and will continue to the end (cf. 1 Jn 1:1ff.), so also, from the start, division unfortunately arose. We should not be surprised that it still exists today ... Thus, in the events of the world but also in the weaknesses of the Church, there is always a risk of losing faith, hence, also love and brotherhood. Consequently it is a specific duty of those who believe in the Church of love and want to live in her to recognize this danger too"

The history of the Church teaches us, then, that authentic communion is not expressed without arduous efforts at reconciliation . Indeed, the purification of memory, the pardoning of wrong-doers, the forgetting of injustices suffered and the loving restoration to serenity of troubled hearts, all to be accomplished in the name of Jesus crucified and risen, can require moving beyond personal positions or viewpoints, born of painful or difficult experiences. These are urgent steps that must be taken if the bonds of communion between the faithful and the Pastors of the Church in China are to grow and be made visible. (Letter to Bishops, Priests, Consecrated Persons and Lay Faithful of Red China)

In other words, Ratzinger/Benedict told the members of the underground Church in Red China nine years ago that it was up to them to make "visible" a "communion" with the "pastors" of the rump church that supports the Communist regime's "population control" policies. "Communion" depended upon them being willing to forgive past—and present!—injustices as well as to forget the inconvenient truth that the most of the leaders of the rump church defect from several of the Church's defined teachings on Faith and Morals, placing them totally outside of the pale of the Catholic Church, as Pope Leo XIII noted in Satis Cognitum, June 29, 1896.

Ratzinger/Benedict was telling the long-suffering Catholics in the underground Church in Red China that their suffering was appreciated and noted. It was time, however, to "move on" and purify "memories" so that a "reconciliation" based on a deliberate and calculated overlooking of defections from Faith and Morals on the part of the rump church in China could take place, leaving to a later date—perhaps—“discussions" on the more "delicate" matters that might seem to the Communist authorities to be an "interference" in their "internal affairs." Just be quiet, therefore, don't complain about the government's "population control policies," be good citizens and be content that you have the sacraments and are in "communion" with your fellow Chinese Catholics.

An unfair reading of Ratzinger/Benedict's June 30, 2007, letter? Read this footnote from the Compendium that was released by the conciliar Vatican on May 24, 2009, to “clarify” his original letter, which caused great confusion among the "bishops," priests/presbyters and members of the laity in Red China, and then decide for yourselves:

We can see that the Holy Father is talking about a spiritual reconciliation, which can and must take place now, even before a structural merger of official and unofficial Catholic communities takes place. As a matter of fact, the Holy Father seems to make a distinction between “a spiritual reconciliation” and “a structural merger”. He recognizes that the reconciliation is like a journey that “cannot be accomplished overnight” (6.6): however, he emphasizes that the steps to be taken on the way are necessary and urgent, and cannot therefore be postponed because - or on the pretext that - they are difficult since they require the overcoming of personal positions or views. Times and ways may vary according to local situations, but the commitment to reconciliation cannot be abandoned. This path of reconciliation, furthermore, cannot be limited to the spiritual realm of prayer alone but must also be expressed through practical steps of effective ecclesial communion (exchange of experiences, sharing of pastoral projects, common initiatives, etc.). Finally, it should not be forgotten that all without exception are invited to engage in these steps: Bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful. It is by means of practical steps that spiritual reconciliation, including visible reconciliation, will gradually occur, which will culminate one day in the complete structural unity of every diocesan community around its one Bishop and of every diocesan community with each other and with the universal Church. In this context, it is licit and fitting to encourage clergy and lay faithful to make gestures of forgiveness and reconciliation in this direction. (Footnote 2, Compendium, pp. 8-9.)

This footnote reflects entirely Joseph Ratzinger's abject rejection of the "ecumenism of the return." Ratzinger/Benedict believes that people are gradually "absorbed" into the Church by means of "perfecting" their "communion" with other Christians. This is heretical. This is condemned by the authority of the Catholic Church. Yet it is of the essence of Ratzinger/Benedict's theology, which is reflected so completely in his June 30, 2007, Letter to Bishops, Priests, Consecrated Persons and Lay Faithful of Red China and in the Compendium released on May 24, 2009.

After all, it is "reconciliation" and "love" that matters the most, although Catholics understand that true love of God can never sanction anything that is offensive to Him, making, therefore, Ratzinger's appeal for a "reconciliation" with authorities of a rump church who support (or are silent about) government polices contrary to Faith and Morals nothing other than an exercise in pure subjectivism.

Ratzinger/Benedict's subjectivism was further displayed when he vitiated his earlier affirmation of Papal Primacy by excusing Catholics who seek out the sacraments from "pastors" who are not in "communion" with the Roman Pontiff, who he believed himself to be at the time.

In not a few situations, then, you have faced the problem of concelebration of the Eucharist. In this regard, I remind you that this presupposes, as conditions, profession of the same faith and hierarchical communion with the Pope and with the universal Church. Therefore it is licit to concelebrate with Bishops and with priests who are in communion with the Pope, even if they are recognized by the civil authorities and maintain a relationship with entities desired by the State and extraneous to the structure of the Church, provided – as was said earlier (cf. section 7 above, paragraph 8) – that this recognition and this relationship do not entail the denial of unrenounceable principles of the faith and of ecclesiastical communion.

The lay faithful too, who are animated by a sincere love for Christ and for the Church, must not hesitate to participate in the Eucharist celebrated by Bishops and by priests who are in full communion with the Successor of Peter and are recognized by the civil authorities. The same applies for all the other sacraments.

Concerning Bishops whose consecrations took place without the pontifical mandate yet respecting the Catholic rite of episcopal ordination, the resulting problems must always be resolved in the light of the principles of Catholic doctrine. Their ordination – as I have already said (cf. section 8 above, paragraph 12) – is illegitimate but valid, just as priestly ordinations conferred by them are valid, and sacraments administered by such Bishops and priests are likewise valid. Therefore the faithful, taking this into account, where the eucharistic celebration and the other sacraments are concerned, must, within the limits of the possible, seek Bishops and priests who are in communion with the Pope: nevertheless, where this cannot be achieved without grave inconvenience, they may, for the sake of their spiritual good, turn also to those who are not in communion with the Pope. (Letter to Bishops, Priests, Consecrated Persons and Lay Faithful of Red China.)

Never mind the fact that the rump church in Red China is a tool of the government. Never mind that there might be some "differences" between the teachings of the rump church in Red China and the Catholic Church. These differences did not matter to Ratzinger/Benedict unless they involved a "denial of unrenounceable principles of the faith and of ecclesiastical communion," although there is not one article of the Faith that is "renounceable." For if it is permissible to participate in the liturgical services of heretics who defect from the Catholic Faith, then Pope Saint Pius V was himself wrong when he told English Catholics, many of whom did not look forward to heavy fines or the confiscation of their properties or imprisonment or martyrdom—or all of those things, not to assist at the liturgies of the heretical and schismatic Anglican Church.

Or, my friends, was that what Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI was saying fifteen years ago?

What he was saying, as he made reference to in his Explanatory Letter on "Summorum Pontificum, which was issued on July 7, 2007, just a week after his letter to Chinese Catholics, that he was doing then what others did not do in the past, that is, being willing to "bend" a little bit on some points in order to effect a "reconciliation" which comes at the price of truth itself?

What an affront to the witness of the martyrs over the history of the Church, including the martyrs of the underground Church in Red China in the past sixty-seven years, who refused to make one compromise with error or heresy or any interference at all on the part of the civil state with the life and mission of the Catholic Church.

There is, you see, quite a bit of logic involved in requesting the Catholics of the underground church in Red China to join up with the rump church that promotes some of the very evils that are support by "Catholics" in the counterfeit church of conciliarism without forfeiting their place in the One World Church of Ecumenism born of the new ecclesiology. All that Jorge Mario Bergoglio is doing at this time is follow through on what Ratzinger/Benedict helped to make more possible fifteen years ago.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s Own Expendables

The May 11, 2022, arrest of Joseph “Cardinal” Zen, by the Communist authorities in Hong Kong, was made possible, of course, by all the history summarized just above, and particularly by Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s 2018 and 2020. The conciliar Vatican’s rather indifferent response to Father Zen’s arrest explains all that one needs to know between how our true popes responded to the arrest of Catholic clergy and how the conciliar authorities have coddled Communist dictatorial regimes even they do so:

Cardinal Pietro Parolin has said that he is “very sorry” about Cardinal Joseph Zen’s arrest earlier this week and hopes it will not complicate the Holy See’s dialogue with China.

“I would like to express my closeness to the cardinal who was freed and treated well,” Cardinal Parolin said on May 12, according to Vatican News, the Holy See’s online news portal.

The Vatican secretary of state, a key architect of the Holy See’s provisional agreement with Chinese authorities on the appointment of bishops, added that Cardinal Zen’s arrest in Hong Kong should not be read as “a disavowal” of the agreement with Beijing, which is up for renewal this fall.

Cardinal Parolin told journalists that his “most concrete hope is that initiatives like this cannot complicate the already complex and not simple path of dialogue between the Holy See and the Church in China.”

Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states, said in an interview on the same day with an Italian television program, Tg2 Post, that the Vatican’s dialogue with Chinese Communist Party officials was “not always easy,” and “the desired results” have not always been seen. (Vatican Secretary of State “Very Sorry” About Cardinal Zen Arrest, Hopes It will Not Complicate Vatican=Red China Dialogue.)

Pietro Parolin “worries” about the effect of “Cardinal” Zen’s arrest even we know already how has Xi Jinping and his band of murderous thugs responded to initial conciliar Vatican-Red Chinese agreement in 2018 when it was renewed in 2020:

CHINA, November 26, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – The refugee, Catholic journalist, Dalù, has detailed the torture of Catholic priests by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), only days after a bishop was ordained by the CCP approved church.

Dalù, a pseudonym, is the journalist and radio show host who made public the Tiananmen Square massacre. Dalù was subsequently fired and fled to Italy, with his life spared only as a result of his public status.

He posted a video, in which he described the torture inflicted on a priest called Fr. Liu Maochun: “As a form of intimidation and even torture, Chinese Police often bang a gong close to the ears and shine bright lights into the eyes, and do so consistently for several days. This method of torture is called ‘exhausting an eagle’.”

Dalù continued: “Through that technique, Father Liu Maochun of Mindong Diocese was deprived of sleep, he was kidnaped, tortured and repeatedly punished for his refusal to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. The brutality and sheer wickedness of the Chinese Communist Party is beyond comprehension.”

Fr. Liu is part of the underground Catholic Church, and as such is not recognised by the Chinese state, or the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA). He was visiting his parents in hospital on September 1, when he was arrested and put “in the hands of the Religious Affairs Bureau for 17 days.”

Speaking to religious liberty magazine, Bitter Winter, a source from Mindong Diocese said, “The government claimed that Fr. Liu Maochun has disobeyed its rule and was ‘ideologically radical’.”

Bitter Winter confirmed that Fr. Liu has been persistently persecuted by the CCP, with the authorities even taking to pressuring his relatives. The source mentioned “Fr. Liu Maochun is Bishop Guo’s assistant. The regime arrests and wants to control those priests close to him who also refuse to join the CPCA.”

The magazine also said that Fr. Liu’s arrest and torture were part of an investigation to discover the leak regarding the torture of Fr. Huang, another priest of the diocese who refused to join the CPCA.

Fr. Liu is one of a number of 20 priests in the diocese who have “refused to join the state-approved Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association” and are thus “viewed as national security threats.” These priests are deemed to be “ ‘illegal’ and a ‘subversion of the state’.”

The bishop of Mindong diocese, Msgr. Vincenzo Guo Xijin, is one of the “victims” of the Vatican-China deal, as the diocese has been used as a “pilot project” for the implementation of the agreement. Bishop Guo was asked by Pope Francis to step down in favor of the CPCA approved bishop.

Just days ago, the CPCA announced the ordination of a new bishop in Qingdao, Bishop Thomas Chen Tianhao, who “had previously served as the president of the Patriotic Association of Qingdao in Shandong Province in 1998 and as a National Patriotic Association Standing Committee member since 2010.”

Asia News reports that Chen “is considered very obedient to the government’s religious policy.” Only last year, Chen led a committee to “study the spirit” of President Xi Jinping’s speech, celebrating the United Front Work Department.

Just a few weeks ago, the Vatican renewed its deal with China. The deal allegedly recognizes the state-approved church and allows the Chinese Communist Party to appoint the bishops. The Pope apparently maintains a veto power although in practice it is the CCP who have control.

It also allegedly allows for the removal of legitimate bishops to be replaced by CCP approved bishops. The actual precise terms of the deal, however, remain a closely guarded secret.

Cardinal Zen, the emeritus bishop of Hong Kong, said that through the deal “the Vatican is selling out the Catholic Church in China.” He also described it as “the murder of the Church in China by those who should protect and defend her from her enemies.” (Renowned Journalist Reveals CCP Tortunre of Catholic Priest As Chinese State Appoints a New “Bishop.”)

So much for a “happy” reconciliation.

All the evidence of the Holy See's actions in the past twenty-two years since death of the Bishop of Shanghai at the time of his arrest and show trial in 1956, the Most Reverend Ignatius Kung, has pointed to the betrayal that has been decried for over four years now by “Cardinal” Zen.

Pietro Parolin was simply “very sorry” for the arrest of “Cardinal” Zen but worried that it might “complicate” the conciliar Vatican’s relations with the Chicom monsters, who have as about as much respect for “agreements,” secret and otherwise, as they have for the lives and property of anyone within their country who dissents from the Red Chinse party line.

Parolin, of course, is the engineer of Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s own “Ostpolitik,” and he has been completely mute as underground Catholics have been rounded up, arrested, and tortured even after news of the “secret agreements” was announced in September of 2018. This hideous appeaser of all things Communist has said not one word as crucifixes and statues of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother have been removed by Chicom authorities and replaced with images of the current Red Chinese tyrant, Xi Jinping, and Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who said that “about the past we did not speak” when he met with Fidel Castro in 2015, has remained completely silent about “Cardinal” Zen’s arrest even though he always had a word or two to say about former President Donald John Trump’s immigration policies and worries openly about “sustainable development goals,” rainforests, “global climate warming.”

Pietro Parolin has nothing to "worry about" as his weasel words and Jorge Mario Bergoglio's silence about the arrest of Joseph "Cardinal" Zen will do nothing but embolden and empower the murderous, anti-Theistic Chicom monsters all the more as Zen's arrest was, if you will, a probe to see how far they could go with "Pope Francis" before he pushed back against them. They now know that they can do anything they want, including quite possibly, the execution of a "traitorous" clergymen without Jorge Mario Bergoglio saying a word of condemnation.

How can anyone believe this wretched man, who believes not in the Catholic Faith, can be a true and legitimate Successor of Saint Peter?

The Argentine Apostate has also been obsessed in his frequent public denunciations of the“past” and those Catholics who are “attached” to it, which has been the subject of several screeds of his within the last few weeks, including the following:

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Wanting to go back to the way things were in the past is not Christian, Pope Francis said.

There is a difference between wanting to go back in time and drawing inspiration from one’s roots in order to move forward with Christ, he said.

Looking back to find inspiration is good because “without roots we cannot progress,” he said. “But to go in reverse is to go back in order to have a form of defense, a safety measure that saves us from the risk of going forward, the Christian risk of carrying the faith, the Christian risk of journeying with Jesus Christ.”

The pope spoke May 13 to people taking part in an international conference on moral theology sponsored by Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences.

The conference, May 11-14, focused on “Pastoral practices, life experience and moral theology: ‘Amoris Laetitia’ between new opportunities and new paths” as part of a deeper exploration of Pope Francis’ 2016 exhortation on the family and how the document can help guide the church’s pastoral practice.

He said there is a risk right now, which “does so much harm to the church,” of wanting to “‘turn back,’ either out of fear or because of a lack of ingenuity or a lack of courage.”

There are “many” people who are part of the church “who crop up like mushrooms, here, there, over there, and they present themselves as a proposal of Christian life,” he said.

One example, he said, of returning to the past in the field of moral theology is with “casuistry,” that is, the practice of setting general laws on the basis of a few exceptional cases or using a form of reasoning that is legalistic and stripped of God’s love and mercy.

The pope said casuistry was “the foodstuff” of his and his generation’s studies in moral theology, and even though it is now outdated, this “decadent Thomism” can still be resurrected and disguised with proposals of what one can or cannot do.

“Amoris Laetitia,” he said, is an example of the living doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas. The saint taught that there are factors, such as ignorance, that might diminish the culpability of an objectively sinful act.

The pope said this approach “helps us move forward taking risks, but in obedience. And this is not easy.”

Greater reflection and dialogue are needed across different academic and theological fields to help support families and truly address “wounds of humanity,” he said.

Today the family can play an important role in the “pastoral conversion of our communities and the missionary transformation of the church,” he said. “For this to happen, it is necessary there be, including on an academic level, theological reflection that is truly attentive to the wounds of humanity.”

Priests and theologians need to recognize “the inseparable relationship, despite the ordeals and difficulties of life, between the human conscience and the good,” Pope Francis said. “Gospel morality is far from being moralism, which becomes a literal observance of norms” in order to secure being just before God, and it is not a kind of idealism, “which, in the name of an ideal good, discourages and distances from the possible good.”

The good, he said, is “an appeal, a voice that liberates and stimulates the conscience,” in which resides a law written by God—to love good and avoid evil.

The conference was one of the initiatives for the Year of the Family which concludes June 26, on the occasion of the World Meeting of Families in Rome. Pope Francis established the Year of the Family to help strengthen faith and live God's joy more fruitfully in family life. (Jorge Speaks at Amoris Laetitia Conference.)

There is no need to deal with the substance of Jorge’s recent screed as I have done so on numerous occasions, including in Decadent Is The World To Describe Conciliarism, Not Scholasticism, five years a ago, but it is interesting to note that he delivered his remarks at the Pontifical University of Saint Gregory (the Gregorianum) just two days after the arrest and the subsequent release of Joseph “Cardinal” Zen. Loudmouth Bergoglio can shoot off his mouth when he wants to, but he is very silent when his Commie allies persecute Catholics, including men believed to be princes of the Catholic Church. Then again, Joseph Zen is one of those men whom Bergoglio believes to want to “go back” and
no “go forward.” He has been a frequent and outspoken critic of Bergoglio’s agreement with the Red Chinese, and everyone who reads this site should know that Jorge Mario Bergoglio has neither any love or mercy for those amongst his clergy who are critical of him and his “enlightened,” “progressive” falsehoods. Bergoglio did not even have time to meet with Zen on September 28, 2020, when he had traveled to Rome from Hong Kong to complain about the renewal of the conciliar Vatican’s secret agreement with the Chicoms.

Contrast Pietro Parolin’s mild statement of regret about “Cardinal” Zen’s arrest with the indignation of Pope Pius XII upon learning the news of the arrest of the Primage of Hungary, Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty by the Communist authorities there:

ROME, Dec. 27 — Pope Pius was said today to have been profoundly grieved and shocked at news of the arrest of Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty, Primate of Hungary. Confirmation of the arrest with no details was received by the papal Secretary of State late tonight. (Pope Pius is Profoundly Shocked by the Arrest of Cardinal Mindszenty and also Cardinal Mindzsenty Seized by Red Regime in Hungary. That last link is an actual headline from The New York Times!)

Cardinal Midszenty’s show trial prompted His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, to deliver an allocution on February 14, 1949, the Feast of Saint Valentine, that was published in total by The New York Times:

Venerable Brethren, we have convoked this extraordinary consistory today in order to unfold to you our soul, which is crushed with most bitter grief. You will readily understand the reason of our sorrow: it concerns a most serious outrage which inflicts a deep wound not only on your distinguished colleague and on the church, but also on every upholder of the dignity and liberty of man. As soon as ever we knew that our beloved son, Joseph Cardinal Midszenty, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Archbishop of Estergrom, was cast into prison due to religion we sent a loving message to the Hungarian hierarchy in which we publicly and solemnly protest, our duty demanded, against the injury done to the church.

At present, when things have come to such a pass that this most worthy prelate has been reduced to supreme indignity and condemned like a criminal to life imprisonment, we cannot but repeat this solemn protest in your presence. We are prompted to do this primarily on behalf of the moral rights of religion which this valiant prelate tirelessly propounded and defended so strenuously and courageously. Besides, unanimous consensus of free peoples, expressed in speech and writings even by leaders of nations and by those who do not belong to the Catholic Church has been given the fullest light of publicity.

But, as you are aware, the full light of publicity did not shine over the trial of this prelate who deserved so well of all, in defending the religion of his ancestors and in the restoration of Christian morals. In fact, from the beginning the news that arrived caused alarm. People outside Hungary who asked permission to be present at the trial were refused permission if they seemed likely to judge impartiality or to give a sincere report: This led them to believe, and all upright and honest men as well, that those who were conducting the trial in Budapest seemed to be afraid to allow all to see what was taking place.

Justice, which is worthy of the name, does not begin with prejudices and is not based on a decision previously taken, but it gladly admits of free discussion and gives everyone due facility for thinking, believing and speaking.

But although the facts have set not been reliably made known, or reported clearly and completely, we cannot omit mentioning the judgment which all civilized people have passed on this trial. Referring particularly to the speed with which it was conducted; thus suggesting a ready reason for suspicion; of accusations captiously and deceitfully contrived; and to the physical condition of the Cardinal, which is indeed inexplicable except as a result of a secret influence which may not be publicly revealed, to prove this there is the fact which suddenly made of a man, until then exceptionally energetic by nature and by way of life, a feeble being and of vacillating mind, so that his behavior appeared, an accusation not against himself but against his very accusers and condemners.

In all this matter one thing alone stands out clearly: The principal object of the trial was to disrupt the Catholic Church in Hungary and precisely for the purpose set forth in sacred scripture: “I shall strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed (Matt. XXVI, 31.)

While this sorrow in our heart we deplore this very sad event and entrust it in a sense to public opinion and the tribunal of history for the final judgment, we are doing what the outraged rights of the church and the dignity of the human person demand.

We deem it especially our duty to brand as completely false the assertion made in the course of the trial that the whole question at issue was that this Apostolic See, in furtherance of a plan for political domination of nations, gave instructions to oppose the Republic of Hungary and its rulers: thus all responsibility would fall on the same Apostolic See.

Everybody knows that the Catholic Church does not act through worldly motives, and that she accepts any and every form of civil government provided it not be inconsistent with divine and human rights. But when it does contradict these rights, Bishops and the faithful themselves are bound, by their own conscience to resist unjust laws.

In the midst of this grievous anguish, however, venerable brethren, the “Father of Mercies” (cf. II. Cor 1, 3) has not left us without consolations from above which have served to mitigate our sorrow. It is consoling above all to witness the tenacious faith of the Catholics of Hungary who are doing all they can, though faced with serious obstacles and difficulties, to defend their age-old religion and to keep alive and fresh the glorious tradition of their ancestors. Solace comes to us from the unflinching confidence we cherish in our paternal heart that the Hungarian episcopate, acting in complete harmony of principle of practice, will labor with every resource at their command to strengthen the unity of the faithful and buoy them up with that hope which can neither be extinguished nor dimmed by sad or unjust happenings of this life, because it has its source in heaven, and is fed by a grace divine.

From you, venerable brethren, similar heavenly solace has come to us. For we have seen you gathered close about us in this crisis, to share our sorrow and unite your prayers to ours. We have been heartened likewise by the other Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops of whole Catholic world, who along with their clergy and people have express by fervid letter and telegrams their reprobation for the outrage offered to the church, and promised us their public and private prayers.

We earnestly desire that these prayers should continue to rise before the throne of God. For as often as the church is tossed by such tempests as cannot be quelled by human means, one must appeal with confidence to the Divine Redeemer, who alone can calm the swelling waves and restore them to peace and tranquility. Through the most powerful intercession of the Virgin Mother of God, let us all pray fervently that those who suffer persecution, imprisonment and hardship, may be consoled with the necessary help of divine grace and fortified with the strength of Christian virtue; that those who rashly dare to trample upon the liberty of the church and the rights of human conscience, may at length understand that no civil society can endure when religion has been suppressed and God, as it were, driven into exile. It is only the sacred principles of religion that can moderated within the limits of reason the duties and the rights of citizens, can consolidate the foundations of the state, and make men’s lives conform to the salutary norms and morality, restoring them to order and virtue.

The words of the greatest Roman orator: “High priests, you defend the city more securely by religion than by its surrounding walls” (De Nat Deor. III, 40), when applied to Christian precepts and faith is infinitely more true and certain. Let all those into whose hands public government has been entrusted, recognize this truth and let due liberty be everywhere restored to the church that untrammeled she may be able to enlighten the minds of men with her salutary doctrine. Rightly instruct youth and lead them to virtue, restore to families their sacred character, and permeate with her influence the whole life of men. Civil society has nothing to fear from this activity but rather will reap the greatest advantages. It is then, venerable brethren, that social questions will be solved with justice and equity; the conditions of the poor will be ameliorated, as is just, and they will be restored to a state befitting the dignity of man; fraternal charity will bring peace to men’s minds and better days and better days as we fondly hope and pray, will happily ensue for all peoples and races.

These are the words we wished to speak in this illustrious assembly to you who are so closely associated with us in the government of the universal church and assist us with your zeal, your prudence and your wisdom. (Pope Pius XII, Allocution on the Cardinal Mindszenty, as found at: New York Times, February 15, 1949. Let me, Thomas Droleskey, add at this juncture that I followed events of Cardinal Mindszenty’s being released from prison during the Hungarian Revolution October of 1956 and his then having to take refuge in the American Embassy in Budapest. This was big news, and it was the news, not the lives of the saints, unfortunately, that was discussed at our dinner table each night. Additionally, I had the privilege of serving as the altar boy for Monsignor Bela Varga, who was the Speaker of the Hungarian Assembly from 1945 to 1947, who had worked with His Eminence for many years before he, Varga, fled to the United States in 1947, when he has the chaplain aboard the S.S. France on a Caribbean cruise from December 20, 1963, to January 4, 1965, and I was taught by no less than three Hungarian refugees in college and graduate school, including Dr. Stephen Kertesz, who resigned his post as the Hungarian Ambassador to Italy following the arrest of Cardinal Mindszenty. Monsignor Bela Varga gave an interview on March 22, 1979, to a professor at Columbia University. Those conversant in the Hungarian language can listen to this interview at: Oral history with Monsignor Bela Varga.)

While admitting full well that that the arrest of “Cardinal” Zen is not quite the same thing that happened to Cardinal Mindszenty as Zen was participating in a “pro-democracy” rally, it is nevertheless true that Pietro Parolin’s very impassive response to Zen’s arrest and Bergoglio’s silence about it stand in sharp contrast to Pope Pius XII’s consistent denunciations of the Communist persecution of Catholic prelates and clergy during the last thirteen years of his pontificate during the beginning of the Cold War. Pope Pius XII did not mince words, and he did not seek to curry any favor with Communist authorities while making all the proper distinctions between respecting those governments that respect the liberties of Holy Mother Church and those, such as Communist regimes, who do not.

Pope Pius XII was equally outspoken following the arrest and subsequent imprisonment of the Primate of Poland, Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski, in 1953, and the arrest, trial, and imprisonment of Joseph Cardinal Kung three years later. (A summary of the sufferings of Cardinals Mindszenty and Wyszynski, can be found at: Mindszenty and Wyszynski.)

Flushing the Memory of the Catholic Martyrs of Red China Down the Orwellian Memory Hole

Pope Pius XII firmly opposed the Communist persecution of Catholics by the Red Chinese authorities even more the formation of the so-called Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. He noted the following in Ad Sinarum Gentes, October 7, 1954:

23. We want to repeat here the words that We have written on the same argument in the letter already cited: “The Church does not single out a particular people, an individual nation, but loves all men, whatever be their nation or race, with that supernatural charity of Christ, which should necessarily unite all as brothers, one to the other.

24. “Hence it cannot be affirmed that she serves the interests of any particular power. Nor likewise can she be expected to countenance that particular churches be set up in each nation, thus destroying that unity established by the Divine Founder, and unhappily separating them from this Apostolic See where Peter, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, continues to live in his successors until the end of time.

25. “Whatever Christian community were to do this, would lose its vitality as the branch cut from the vine (Cf. John 15. 6) and could not bring forth salutary fruit” (AAS, 44: p. 135).

26. We earnestly exhort “in the heart of Christ” (Phil. 1. 8) those faithful of whom We have mournfully written above to come back to the path of repentance and salvation. Let them remember that, when it is necessary, one must render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and with greater reason, one must render to God what is God’s (Cf. Luke 20. 25). When men demand things contrary to the Divine Will, then it is necessary to put into practice the maxim of St. Peter: “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5. 29). Let them also remember that it is impossible to serve two masters, if these order things opposed to one another (Cf. Matt. 6. 24). Also at times it is impossible to please both Jesus Christ and men (Cf. Gal. 1. 10). But if it sometimes happens that he who wishes to remain faithful to the Divine Redeemer even unto death must suffer great harm, let him bear it with a strong and serene soul.

27. On the other hand, We wish to congratulate repeatedly those who, suffering severe difficulties, have been outstanding in their loyalty to God and to the Catholic Church, and so have been “counted worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus” (Acts 5. 41). With a paternal heart We encourage them to continue brave and intrepid along the road they have taken, keeping in mind the words of Jesus Christ: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather be afraid of him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell . . . But as for you, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore do not be afraid . . . Therefore everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I in turn will disown him before my Father in heaven” (Matt. 10. 28, 30-33). (Pope Pius XII, Ad Sinarum Gentes, October 7, 1954.)

What does this matter to Jorge Mario Bergoglio?

Why, nothing at all, of course. He wants his “bishops” and priests/presbyters to be collaborators with Communist regimes. Bergoglio is an apologist for everything that Bishop James Walsh and Bishop Ignatius Kung opposed by sacrificing their liberty and against which Bishop Francis Ford gave up his life after being worn out by Communist torturers.

It is often the case in the history of Holy Mother Church during times of persecutions that her martyrs suffer together. Such continues to be the case in Red China today just as much as it was sixty-two years ago during the Chicom show trials that sentenced Bishops James Edward Walsh and Ignatius Kung to prison. How sad it is the evangelizing efforts and sufferings of these two great Catholic heroes have been considered by Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI and Jorge Mario Bergoglio as part of a “memory of the past” that needs to be “purified.”

The official biography of Bishop Ignatius Kung found on the Cardinal Kung Foundation website provides us with a glimpse of the sort of Catholic heroism that means nothing to Jorge Mario Bergoglio:

Bishop Kung had been Bishop of Shanghai and Apostolic Administrator of two other dioceses for only five years before he was arrested by the Chinese government. In just 5 short years, Bishop Kung became one of the most feared enemies of the Chinese Communists - a man who commanded both the attention and devotion of the country's then three million Roman Catholics and the highest respect of his brother bishops in China, and inspired thousands to offer their lives up to God. In defiance of the communist created and sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, Bishop Kung personally supervised the Legion of Mary, a religious organization of the laity dedicated to the veneration of the Blessed Mother Mary. As the result, many members of the Legion of Mary chose to risk arrest in the name of their God, of their Church and of their bishop. Hundreds of Legion of Mary members, including many students, were arrested and sentenced to 10, 15, or 20 years or more of hard labor.

In the midst of persecutions, Bishop Kung declared 1952 the Marian Year in Shanghai. During that year, there was to be uninterrupted 24 hours-daily recitation of the rosary in front of a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which toured all the parishes of Shanghai. The Holy Statue finally arrived at Christ the King Church where a major arrest of the priests had just taken place only a month ago. Bishop Kung visited that church and personally led the rosary while hundreds of the armed police looked on. At the end of the rosary, leading the congregation, Bishop Kung prayed: "Holy Mother, we do not ask you for a miracle. We do not beg you to stop the persecutions. But we beg you to support us who are very weak."

Knowing that he and his priests would soon be arrested, Bishop Kung trained hundreds of catechists to pass on the Roman Catholic faith in the diocese to future generations.

The heroic efforts of these catechists, their martyrdom and that of many faithful and clergy contributed to the vibrant underground Roman Catholic Church in China today. Bishop Kung's place in the hearts of his parishioners was very well summed up by the Shanghai youth group in a 1953 New Year youth rally when they said: "Bishop Kung, in darkness, you light up our path. You guide us on our treacherous journey. You sustain our faith and the traditions of the Church. You are the foundation rock of our Church in Shanghai."

On September 8, 1955, the press around the world reported in shock the overnight arrest of Bishop Kung along with more than 200 priests and Church leaders in Shanghai. Months after his arrest, he was taken out to a mob "struggle session" in the old Dog Racing stadium in Shanghai. Thousands were ordered to attend and to hear the Bishop's public confession of his "crimes." With his hands tied behind his back, wearing a Chinese pajama suit, the 5-foot tall bishop was pushed forward to the microphone to confess. To the shock of the security police, they heard a righteous loud cry of "Long live Christ the King, Long live the Pope" from the Bishop. The crowd responded immediately, "Long live Christ the King, Long live Bishop Kung". Bishop Kung was quickly dragged away to the police car and disappeared from the world until he was brought to trial in 1960. Bishop Kung was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The night before he was brought to trial, the Chief Prosecutor asked once again for his cooperation to lead the independent church movement and to establish the Chinese Patriotic Association. His answer was: "I am a Roman Catholic Bishop. If I denounce the Holy Father, not only would I not be a Bishop, I would not even be a Catholic. You can cut off my head, but you can never take away my duties."

Bishop Kung vanished behind bars for thirty years. During those thirty years, he spent many long periods in isolation. Numerous requests to visit Bishop Kung in prison by international religious and human rights organizations and senior foreign government officials were rejected. He was not permitted to receive visitors, including his relatives, letters, or money to buy essentials, which are rights of other prisoners.

The efforts for his release by his family, led by his nephew, Joseph Kung, by human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Red Cross, and the United States Government, never ceased. In 1985, he was released from jail to serve another term of 10 years of house arrest under the custody of those Patriotic Association bishops who betrayed him and betrayed the Pope and who usurped his diocese. In an article immediately after his release from jail, the New York Times said that the ambiguous wording of the Chinese news agency suggested that the authorities, not the bishop, might have relented. After two and one-half years of house arrest, he was officially released. However, his charge of being a counterrevolutionary was never exonerated. In 1988, his nephew, Joseph Kung, went to China twice and obtained permission to escort him to America for receiving proper medical care.

Shortly before Bishop Kung was released from jail, he was permitted to join a banquet organized by the Shanghai government to welcome His eminence Cardinal Jaime Sin, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines on a friendship visit. This was the first time that Bishop Kung had met a visiting bishop from the universal Church since his imprisonment. Cardinal Sin and Bishop Kung were seated on opposite ends of the table separated by more than 20 Communists, and had no chance to exchange words privately. During the dinner, Cardinal Sin suggested that each person should sing a song to celebrate. When the time came for Bishop Kung to sing, in the presence of the Chinese government officials and the Patriotic Association bishops, he looked directly at Cardinal Sin and sang "Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam" (You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church), a song of faith proclaiming the supreme authority of the Pope. Bishop Kung conveyed to Cardinal Sin that in all his years of captivity he remained faithful to God, to his Church and to the Pope.

After the banquet, Aloysius Jin, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association's Bishop of Shanghai, rebuked Cardinal Kung, "What are you trying to do? Showing your position?" Cardinal Kung quietly answered, "It is not necessary to show my position. My position has never changed."

Cardinal Sin immediately carried Cardinal Kung's message to the Holy Father and announced to the world: this man of God never faltered in his love for his Church or his people despite unimaginable suffering, isolation and pain. (Biography of Cardinal Kung.)

Bishop Kung's nephew, Joseph Kung, who is now eighty-nine years of age, was kind enough to have invited us to a luncheon at his house in Stamford, Connecticut, in June of 2003, I believe, and he showed us the room where his courageous uncle had died. Joseph also showed us a diary in which Bishop Kung wrote the Ordinary of the Immemorial Mass of Tradition while in prison in Red China. His jailers kept taking away the book from him, but Bishop Kung always seemed to find the paper that he needed to write the Ordinary of the Mass in exquisite handwriting. Bishop Kung won this contest of wills as he was aided by Our Lady's intercession in his behalf. The jailers finally relented and let him continue his work without any further efforts to confiscate it. Bishop Kung was dedicated to the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that Jorge Mario Bergoglio is always mocking, including in a children's book in 2016 (see Jorge's Wall of Unbelief.)

Now, leaving aside the fact that Jaimie Sin was no "cardinal," Bishop Ignatius Kung suffered for his fealty to the Throne of Saint Peter. He had no way of knowing that a revolution that had much in common with Marxism had created a counter church with false liturgical rites as he was imprisoned, and he was so grateful to the third in the current line of antipopes that he never understood what had happened while he was held incommunicado for over thirty years. Bishop Kung, however, was courageous in his steadfast defense of the Catholic Faith and of Papal Primacy in the face of vicious Communist persecution against him. He lived for Christ the King just as much as had Padre Miguel Agustin Pro, S.J., and the Cristeros in Mexico (as well as the Spanish Cristeros who died at the hands of Communists, many of whom had the support of American celebrities, including author Ernest Hemmingway, between 1936 and 1939). He did not accord the schismatic and heretical rump church created by the Red Chinese government, the so-called Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, as having any legitimacy whatsoever. He was a true son of Holy Mother Church who always denounced falsehood when he saw it, never failing to call it by its proper name.

A “reconciliation” with the Red Chinese butchers, however, has been a goal of the conciliar revolutionaries for over fifty years now.

Indeed, Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini/Paul the Sick tried such a ~~reconciliation~~ surrender as early as January 6, 1967, the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when used the fortieth anniversary of the consecration of the first bishops to serve China to remind the Chinese people of the Catholic Church’s love for them. While he took note generally of the sufferings of the faithful Catholics in Red China, he also made it clear that he wanted to extend his Ostpolitik that made the Catholic hierarchy of Eastern Europe answerable to their Communist minders all the way to Red China itself. What follows is a computer translation of the relevant passages Montini/Paul VI’s sermon dealing with China:

Yes, you know. We have chosen this moment, this place, this assembly and this feast to remember, with celebratory joy and with antiseptic hope, a double anniversary: that of the consecration of the first six Chinese bishops, which took place forty years ago, on October 28, 1926, in this same basilica, by the hand of Our predecessor of venerated and great memory, Pius XI, and that of the canonical institution, normal of the sacred Hierarchy in China, decreed twenty years ago, in 1946, by another Our no less venerated and great predecessor, Pius XII.

Why celebrate these anniversaries? Because the two facts, which We want to remember with religious and collected solemnity, are great facts, they are historical facts, they are facts full of human and spiritual significance, and because they are facts that postulate their regular and happy following, which instead meets in these last few years have had serious and painful difficulties. The facts are known to you. Religious freedom in mainland China faces serious obstacles; Our communications are completely prevented; the Ecumenical Council did not see any member of that Hierarchy present; all the Missionaries were expelled; the Catholic Church, this same Apostolic See is accused of being contrary to the Chinese people. Now all this has no reason to exist; and we could prove it with many arguments. The Catholic Church, everyone knows, he has always looked upon China with immense sympathy; a long and dramatic history of her relations with the Chinese people says with what esteem, with what dedication she wished to know him, without any temporal interest of her own; she wished to serve him, trying to help him develop his intrinsic moral riches and offering the best she possesses to contribute to the education, assistance and prestige of the people themselves. It is well known how in that resurgent country Catholic life - especially by virtue of the events we are commemorating - has completely renounced being and appearing a paracolonial phenomenon, and how it is and wants to be an authentic expression of the Chinese soul, which he can find in the Christian faith the respect for his noble traditions and the fullness of his deep spiritual aspirations.

What then would we want? We say it simply: resume contacts, as we already maintain them with that portion of the Chinese people with whom we have friendly relations. Indeed, we must recognize that among the many Chinese residing outside the continental state, the Catholic Church is pleased to include, in the Far East and in every part of the world, many excellent and faithful children, and fervent and thriving communities, well assisted by Chinese Bishops and Clergy. Chinese; the Chinese students present at this rite, like the other Chinese Catholics, who also attend it, are for us a dear sign of the persistent vitality of the Chinese Church and are a source of great comfort and great hope.

However, we would now like to resume contact with the Chinese people of the continent; contacts not interrupted voluntarily by Us, to tell all those Chinese Catholics, who have remained faithful to the Catholic Church, that We have never forgotten them, and that we will never give up the hope of rebirth, indeed of the development of the Catholic religion in that Nation. Reconnect to let the Chinese youth know with what trepidation and affection We consider your present exaltation towards the ideals of a new, industrious, prosperous and concordant life. And we would also like to discuss peace with those who preside over Chinese life today on the Continent, knowing how this supreme human and civil ideal is intimately congenial with the spirit of the Chinese people.

These are Our wishes, Our vows. But we know the difficulties of the present hour. However, they do not prevent us from making Our thoughts for China particularly vigilant, loving and caring. And that's what we're doing. If anything, it is practically not given to us to do this, not only is it allowed to us, but it is more strongly imposed on us: to remember and pray. This is what we are doing: we remember and pray. This is why we are gathered here to commemorate two facts in the religious history of China, which seem symbolic and decisive to us. And all present We invite, indeed all those who are in communion with Us, to remember and pray. ("Homily" of Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria/Paul VI, January 6, 1967.)

Montini/Paul VI made it clear that he did not consider the Communist regime of Red China to be illegitimate and welcomed the opportunity to establish “friendly” relations in the name of “peace.” However, the only kind of “peace” that Communists desire is total capitulation to whatever they want at any given time. As I told my students during my college teaching days, “The Soviets say they want peace, which is true. They want a piece of Virginia, a piece of New York, a piece of California, etc.” Peace for Communist regimes means total surrender.

Contrast Montini/Paul VI’s with Pope Pius XI’s absolute ban of cooperating with Communist regimes, a prohibition that was reaffirmed by the Holy Office in 1949 under Pope Pius XII:

See to it, Venerable Brethren, that the Faithful do not allow themselves to be deceived! Communism is intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever. Those who permit themselves to be deceived into lending their aid towards the triumph of Communism in their own country, will be the first to fall victims of their error. And the greater the antiquity and grandeur of the Christian civilization in the regions where Communism successfully penetrates, so much more devastating will be the hatred displayed by the godless. (Pope Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, March 19, 1937.)

This Sacred Supreme Congregation has been asked:

1. whether it is lawful to join Communist Parties or to favour them;
2. whether it is lawful to publish, disseminate, or read books, periodicals, newspapers or leaflets which support the teaching or action of Communists, or to write in them;
3. whether the faithful who knowingly and freely perform the acts specified in questions 1 and 2 may be admitted to the Sacraments;
4. whether the faithful who profess the materialistic and anti-Christian doctrine of the Communists, and particularly those who defend or propagate this doctrine, contract ipso facto excommunication specially reserved to the Apostolic See as apostates from the Catholic faith.

The Most Eminent and Most Reverend Fathers entrusted with the supervision of matters concerning the safeguarding of Faith and morals, having previously heard the opinion of the Reverend Lords Consultors, decreed in the plenary session held on Tuesday (instead of Wednesday), June 28, 1949, that the answers should be as follows:

To 1. in the negative: because Communism is materialistic and anti-Christian; and the leaders of the Communists, although they sometimes profess in words that they do not oppose religion, do in fact show themselves, both in their teaching and in their actions, to be the enemies of God, of the true religion and of the Church of Christ; to 2. in the negative: they are prohibited ipso iure (cf. Can. 1399 of the Codex Iuris Canonici); to 3. in the negative, in accordance with the ordinary principles concerning the refusal of the Sacraments to those who are not disposed; to 4. in the affirmative.

And the following Thursday, on the 30th day of the same month and year, Our Most Holy Lord Pius XII, Pope by the Divine Providence, in the ordinary audience, granted to the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Assessor of the Sacred Office, approved of the decision of the Most Eminent Fathers which had been reported to Him, and ordered the same to be promulgated officially in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.

Given at Rome, on July 1st, 1949. (As found at Decree Against Communism.)

Pope Pius XII issued his last encyclical letter, Ad Apostolorum Principis, June 29, 1958, to condemn what Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria/Paul VI, Karol Josef Wojtyla/John Paul II, Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI and Jorge Mario Bergoglio have never condemned, the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association:

8. In these days, however, We have to draw attention to the fact that the Church in your lands in recent years has been brought to still worse straits. In the midst of so many great sorrows it brings Us great comfort to note that in the daily attacks which you have met neither unflinching faith nor the most ardent love of the Divine Redeemer and of His Church has been wanting. You have borne witness to this faith and love in innumerable ways, of which only a small part is known to men, but for all of which you will someday receive an eternal reward from God.

9. Nevertheless We regard it as Our duty to declare openly, with a heart filled to its depths with sorrow and anxiety, that affairs in China are, by deceit and cunning endeavor, changing so much for the worse that the false doctrine already condemned by Us seems to be approaching its final stages and to be causing its most serious damage.

10. For by particularly subtle activity an association has been created among you to which has been attached the title of "patriotic," and Catholics are being forced by every means to take part in it. This association - as has often been proclaimed - was formed ostensibly to join the clergy and the faithful in love of their religion and their country, with these objectives in view: that they might foster patriotic sentiments; that they might advance the cause of international peace; that they might accept that species of socialism which has been introduced among you and, having accepted it, support and spread it; that, finally, they might actively cooperate with civil authorities in defending what they describe as political and religious freedom. And yet - despite these sweeping generalizations about defense of peace and the fatherland, which can certainly deceive the unsuspecting - it is perfectly clear that this association is simply an attempt to execute certain well defined and ruinous policies.

11. For under an appearance of patriotism, which in reality is just a fraud, this association aims primarily at making Catholics gradually embrace the tenets of atheistic materialism, by which God Himself is denied and religious principles are rejected.

12. Under the guise of defending peace the same association receives and spreads false rumors and accusations by which many of the clergy, including venerable bishops and even the Holy See itself, are claimed to admit to and promote schemes for earthly domination or to give ready and willing consent to exploitation of the people, as if they, with preconceived opinions, are acting with hostile intent against the Chinese nation.

13. While they declare that it is essential that every kind of freedom exist in religious matters and that this makes mutual relations between the ecclesiastical and civil powers easier, this association in reality aims at setting aside and neglecting the rights of the Church and effecting its complete subjection to civil authorities.

14. Hence all its members are forced to approve those unjust prescriptions by which missionaries are cast into exile, and by which bishops, priests, religious men, nuns, and the faithful in considerable numbers are thrust into prison; to consent to those measures by which the jurisdiction of many legitimate pastors is persistently obstructed; to defend wicked principles totally opposed to the unity, universality, and hierarchical constitution of the Church; to admit those first steps by which the clergy and faithful are undermined in the obedience due to legitimate bishops; and to separate Catholic communities from the Apostolic See.

15. In order to spread these wicked principles more efficiently and to fix them in everyone's mind, this association - which, as We have said, boasts of its patriotism - uses a variety of means including violence and oppression, numerous lengthy publications, and group meetings and congresses.

16. In these meetings, the unwilling are forced to take part by incitement, threats, and deceit. If any bold spirit strives to defend truth, his voice is easily smothered and overcome and he is branded with a mark of infamy as an enemy of his native land and of the new society.

17. There should also be noted those courses of instruction by which pupils are forced to imbibe and embrace this false doctrine. Priests, religious men and women, ecclesiastical students, and faithful of all ages are forced to attend these courses. An almost endless series of lectures and discussions, lasting for weeks and months, so weaken and benumb the strength of mind and will that by a kind of psychic coercion an assent is extracted which contains almost no human element, an assent which is not freely asked for as should be the case.

18. In addition to these there are the methods by which minds are upset - by every device, in private and in public, by traps, deceits, grave fear, by so-called forced confessions, by custody in a place where citizens are forcibly "reeducated," and those "Peoples' Courts" to which even venerable bishops are ignominiously dragged for trial.

19. Against methods of acting such as these, which violate the principal rights of the human person and trample on the sacred liberty of the sons of God, all Christians from every part of the world, indeed all men of good sense cannot refrain from raising their voices with Us in real horror and from uttering a protest deploring the deranged conscience of their fellow men. (Pope Pius XII, Ad Apostolorum Principis, June 29, 1958.)

The conciliar revolutionaries have not ignored these truths, they have actively sought to disparage them by always seeking a “reconciliation” with the enemies of Christ the King and His true Church—and thus the enemies of human salvation—on the enemies’ terms. Always. Unfailingly. This total capitulation to the enemies characterizes false ecumenism as one concession after another is made to Protestant sects and to various schismatic and heretical Orthodox churches, and it particularly characterizes conciliarism’s relations with Talmudists. The lords of conciliarism are only too willing to deny Christ the King before men after having denied his Social Reign over men and their nations both in theory and in practice, and they are ever so eager to avoid “offending” Jews, Mohammedans, Jainists, Taoists, Shintoists, Animists, Buddhists, Hindus, Yazidis, Theosophists and outright atheists by hiding Christian symbolism when in their presence and speaking in Judeo-Masonic terms about “God” while also esteeming their symbols of idolatry and terming their places of devil worship” as “sacred” and “holy.”

Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s total support for Red Chinese-style totalitarianism is part of the “dreams” he has for a world without conflict, a world where the omniscient elite can control the lives, liberty, and property of others in the names of “justice,” “peace,” “public health and safety,” “equality,” “social awareness,” and “environmental concern.” The achievement of this end requires the submergence of the individual and his liberty to the “collective consciousness” of the multitude as determined by those in civil power who have one set of rules for the masses and absolutely no rules for themselves.

Be Not Agitated in the Midst of the Events That Are Occurring Before Our Own Eyes

Fidelity to the Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary has won the day not only at Lepanto or the Gates of Vienna or The Philippines or Peru or Austria in 1955 as the Soviets ended the occupation of their part of the country, of course. Fidelity to Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary has saved countless souls from sin and error, saving them from eternal damnation in the process. In the process, of course, Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary has helped to reform nations, especially during the era of Christendom in the High Middle Ages.

Consider these words of Pope Leo XIII, contained in Laetitiae Sanctae, September 8, 1893:

13. But men of carnal mind, who love nothing but themselves, allow their thoughts to grovel upon things of earth until they are unable to lift them to that which is higher. For, far from using the goods of time as a help towards securing those which are eternal, they lose sight altogether of the world which is to come, and sink to the lowest depths of degradation. We may doubt if God could inflict upon man a more terrible punishment than to allow him to waste his whole life in the pursuit of earthly pleasures, and in forgetfulness of the happiness which alone lasts for ever.

14. It is from this danger that they will be happily rescued, who, in the pious practice of the Rosary, are wont, by frequent and fervent prayer, to keep before their minds the glorious mysteries. These mysteries are the means by which in the soul of a Christian a most clear light is shed upon the good things, hidden to sense, but visible to faith, "which God has prepared for those who love Him." From them we learn that death is not an annihilation which ends all things, but merely a migration and passage from life to life. By them we are taught that the path to Heaven lies open to all men, and as we behold Christ ascending thither, we recall the sweet words of His promise, "I go to prepare a place for you." By them we are reminded that a time will come when "God will wipe away every tear from our eyes," and that "neither mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow, shall be any more," and that "We shall be always with the Lord," and "like to the Lord, for we shall see Him as He is," and "drink of the torrent of His delight," as "fellow-citizens of the saints," in the blessed companionship of our glorious Queen and Mother. Dwelling upon such a prospect, our hearts are kindled with desire, and we exclaim, in the words of a great saint, "How vile grows the earth when I look up to heaven!" Then, too, shall we feel the solace of the assurance "that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. iv., 17).

15. Here alone we discover the true relation between time and eternity, between our life on earth and our life in heaven; and it is thus alone that are formed strong and noble characters. When such characters can be counted in large numbers, the dignity and well-being of society are assured. All that is beautiful, good, and true will flourish in the measure of its conformity to Him who is of all beauty, goodness, and truth the first Principle and the Eternal Source. (Pope Leo XIII, Laetitiae Sanctae, September 8, 1893.)

We need to pray Our Lady’s Most Holy Rosary with fervor. Men need to be reminded of this fact on a daily basis. Our Lady has exhorted us to pray her Most Holy Rosary, which is one sure way to win the favor of Heaven and of planting seeds for the conversion of men and their nations to the true Faith, without which there can be true order in the souls of men or in their societies.

We must also continue to pray to Our Lady with confidence as one of her titles is Our Lady of Confidence, and it is indeed with confidence that we must pray to her every day for the restoration of a true and legitimate Successor of Saint Peter, who will never make concessions to error nor treat Communism as anything other than a tool for the adversary to make warfare upon Christ the King and His true Church.

Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

Pope Saint Peter Celestine, pray for us.

Saint Pudentiana, pray for us.

Appendix

Dom Prosper Gueranger on Pope Saint Peter Celestine and Saint Pudentiana

Our Paschal Season, which has already given us the admirable Doctor, St. Leo, brings before us today the humble Peter Celestine—Sovereign Pontiff, like Leo, but who was no sooner throned on the Apostolic See, than he left it and returned to solitude. Among the long list of sainted men, who compose the venerable series of Roman Pontiffs, our Lord would have one, in whose person was to be represented the virtue of humility;—that honor was conferred on Peter Celestine. He was dragged from the quiet of his solitude, compelled to ascend the throne of St. Peter, and made to hold, in his trembling hand, the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. The holy Hermit, whose eyes had been ever fixed on his own weakness, had then to provide for the necessities of the whole Church. In his humility, he judged himself to be unequal to so heavy a responsibility. He resigned the Tiara, and begged to be permitted to return to his dear hermitage. His Divine Master, Christ, had, in like manner, concealed his glory, first, in a thirty years of hidden life, and then, later on, under the cloud of his Passion and Sepulcher. The sunshine of the Pasch came; the gloom was dispersed, and the Conqueror of Death arose in all his splendor. He was have his Servants share in his triumph and glory; but their share is to be greater or less, according to the measure in which they have, here on earth, imitated his humility. Who, then, could describe the glory which Peter Celestine receives in heaven, as a recompense for his profound humility, which made him more eager to be unknown, than the most ambitious of men could be for honor and fame? He was great on the Pontifical Throne, and still greater in his solitude; but his greatness, now that he is in heaven, surpasses all human thought. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Pope Saint Peter Celestine, May 19.)

Peter, who from the name he took as Pope was called Celestine, was born at Isernia, in the Abruzzi, of respectable and Catholic parents. When quite a boy, he retired into solitude, that he might be out of the reach of the world’s vanities. There he nourished his soul with holy contemplations, bringing his body into subjection, and wearing an iron chain next to his skin. He founded, under the Rule of St. Benedict, the congregation which was afterwards called the congregation of Celestines. The Roman Church having been for a long time widowed of its Pastor, Celestine was chosen, unknown to himself, to occupy the Chair of Peter, and was therefore compelled to quit his solitude, for he was a lamp that was set upon a candlestick, and could not be hid. All men were filled with joy as well as with surprise at this unexpected choice. But when thus exalted to the Pontificate, he found that the multiplicity of cares rendered it almost impossible for him to continue his wonted contemplations, and resigned, of his own accord, the onerous honors of the Papal throne. He therefore resumed his former mode of life, and slept in the Lord by a precious death, which was rendered still more glorious by the apparition of an exceedingly bright cross, which hovered over the door of his cell. He was celebrated for many miracles both before and after his death; which being authentically proved, he was canonized, eleven years after his departure from this world, by Pope Clement the Fifth. (Matins, Divine Office, Feast of Saint Peter Celestine, May 19.)

Thou obtainedst, O Celestine, the object of thy ambition. Thou wast permitted to descend from the Apostolic Throne, and return to the quiet of that hidden life which, for so many years, had been thy delight. Enjoy, to thy heart’s content, the holy charm of being unknown to the world, and treasures of contemplation in the secret of the face of God. But this life of obscurity must have an end; and then, the Cross—the Cross, which thou hast loved above all earthly possessions—will rise up in brightness before thy Cell door, and summon thee to share in the Paschal Triumph of Him who came down from heaven to teach us this great truth—he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted. Thy name, O Celestine, will forever shine on the list of Roman Pontiffs; thou art one of the links of that glorious chain which unites the Holy Church with Jesus, her Founder and her Spouse; but a still greater glory is reserved for thee—the glory of being forever with this same Risen Jesus. Holy Church, which, during the short period of thy holding the Keys of Peter, was obedient to thee, has now for centuries paid, and will continue, to the end of the world, to pay thee, the tribute of her devotion, because she recognizes in thee one of God’s Elect—one of the Princes of the heavenly Court. And we, O Celestine, we also are invited to ascend where thou art, and contemplate, together with thee, the most beautiful among the children of men, the Conqueror of sin and hell. But there is only one path that can lead us thither; it is the path thou troddest—the path of Humility. Pray for us, that we may be solidly grounded in this virtue, and desire it with all our earnestness; that we may change our unhappy self-esteem into an honest contempt of ourselves; that we may despise all human glory, and be courageous, yea, cheerful, under humiliation; and that thus having drunk of the torrent, as did our Divine Master, we may one day, like him, lift up our heads, and cluster round his Throne for all eternity. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Pope Saint Peter Celestine, May 19.)

This same nineteenth of May has another glory attached to it;—it is the day on which died the noble virgin Pudentiana. That name carries us back to the very first Age of the Christian Church. She was a daughter of a wealthy Roman, called Pudens, who was a kinsman of the Pudens spoken of by St. Paul, in his second Epistle to Timothy. She and her sister Praxedes had the honor of being numbered among the earliest members of the Church, and both of them consecrated their virginity to Jesus Christ. Upon their father’s death, the two sisters distributed their fortune to the poor, and devoted their whole time to good works. It was the eve of the Persecution under Antoninus. Pudentiana, though scarcely sixteen years of age, was ripe for heaven, and winged her flight to her Divine Spouse, when the storm was at its height. Her sister survived her many years: we shall commemorate her saintly memory on the 21st of July.

Pudentiana’s house, which, in her grandfather’s time, had been honored by St. Peter’s presence, was made over, by the holy virgin herself, to Pope Pius the First, and the divine mysteries were celebrated in it. It is now one of the most venerable Churches of Rome, and is the Station for the Tuesday of the third week of Lent.

Pudentiana is a tender floweret offered to our Risen Jesus by the Roman Church. Time has diminished naught of the fair lily’s fragrance; and pure as her very name, her memory will live in the hearts of the Christian people, even to the end of the world. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Commemoration of Saint Pudentiana, May 19.)

The virgin Pudentiana was daughter of the Roman (Senator) Pudens. Having lost her parents, and being most exemplary in her practice of the Christian Religion, she sold, with her sister Praxedes’ consent, her possessions, gave the money to the poor, and devoted herself to fasting and prayer. It was through her influence, that her whole household, which consisted of ninety-six persons, was baptized by Pope Pius. In consequence of the decree issued by the emperor Antoninus, which forbade the Christians to offer sacrifice publicly, Pope Pius celebrated the holy mysteries in Pudentiana’s house, and the Christians assembled there to assist at the celebration. She received them with much charity, and provided them with all the necessaries of life. She died in the practice of these Christian and pious duties, and, on the fourteenth of the Calends of June (May 19), was buried in her father’s tomb, in the Priscilla Cemetery, which is on the Salarian Road. (Matins, Divine Office, Commemoration of Saint Pudentiana, May 19.)

Like the dove of Noe’s Ark, that found not where to rest her feet on the guilty earth, thou tookest thy flight, O Pudentiana, and restedst in the bosom of Jesus, thy Spouse. Thus will it be at the end of the world, when the souls of the Elect shall have been reunited to their bodies: they will fly, like eagles to their King, and will cluster around him, as the object of all their desires. They will flee from this sinful earth, as thou didst from the abominations of Pagan Rome, that was drunk with the blood of the Martyrs. We celebrate thy departure, dear youthful Saint, with a feeling of hope for our own future deliverance; we honor thy reaching thy Jesus, and we long to be there, together with thee. Oh! get us detachment from all transitory things, intenser love of the New Life which came to us with Easter, and indifference as to what concerns that other lower life, which is not that of our Risen Lord. Thou wast a daughter of the holy Church of Rome; pray, then, for thy mother. She is suffering now, in the days of Pius the Ninth, as she did during the pontificate of Pius the First. After having reigned over Christian nations for centuries, she is now abandoned and disowned by the very people that owe all they have to her, and yet are now turning her own blessings against her. Use thine influence, O Pudentiana!—assist and protect thine and our dearest mother. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Commemoration of Saint Pudentiana, May 19.)

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