Leo's "Coordinates" of Peace, Human Dignity, and Dialogue are Worthy of Captain Peter Peachfuzz Himself

Although I intended to write a follow-up to yesterday’s commentary, I thought that I would give Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV just a bit of attention to demonstrate once again that, despite his serious and sober bearing and his adherence to the traditional attire worn by Successors of Saint Peter, he is completely committed to the conciliar agenda and to Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s Evangelii Gaudium, November 24, 2013, that was reviewed again recently following Prevost/Leo’s selection to be the seventh in the current line of antipopes (see An Evangelii Gaudium Primer (or Understanding Robert Francis Prevost's Having Made Jorge's Magna Carta His Very Own) and An Evangelii Gaudium Primer (or Understanding Robert Francis Prevost's Having Made Jorge's Magna Carta His Very Own), part two).

Addressing the members of the Italian conciliar “episcopate” today, Tuesday, June 17, 2025, Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV reiterated his commitment to following the paths of “peace,” “collegiality,” “synodality,” and “dialogue” as charted by “Saint Paul VI,” Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, and Jorge Mario Bergoglio himself:

I thank you for your prayer and for that of your communities: I am in great need of them! I am grateful, in particular, to Cardinal Zuppi, also for the words he addressed to me. I greet the three Vice Presidents, the Secretary General, and every one of you. The history of the Church in Italy shows the particular bond that unites you to the Pope and that – according to the Statutes of the Italian Episcopal Conference – “qualifies in a special way the communion of the Conference with the Roman Pontiff” (Art. 4 § 2). Following the example of my predecessors, I too am aware of the relevance of this “common and particular” relationship, as it was defined by Saint Paul VI, speaking at the first General Assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference (cf. Address, 23 June 1966).

In exercising my ministry together with you, dear brothers, I would like to be inspired by the principles of collegiality, which were elaborated by Vatican Council II; in particular, the Decree Christus Dominus, which emphasizes that the Lord Jesus constituted the Apostles in the manner of a college or stable class, of which he placed Peter, chosen from among them (cf. n. 19). It is in this way that you are called to live out your ministry: collegiality among yourselves and collegiality with the successor of Peter.

This principle of communion is also reflected in a healthy cooperation with the civil authorities. The Italian Episcopal Conference is indeed a space for discussion and the synthesis of the bishops’ thought regarding issues most relevant for the common good. Where necessary, it guides and coordinates the relations between the individual bishops and the regional episcopal Conferences with such authorities at the local level.

Pope Benedict XVI, in 2006, described the Church in Italy as “a lively reality … which conserves a capillary presence in the midst of people of every age and level” and where “Christian traditions often continue to be rooted and to produce fruit” (Address to participants in the Fourth National Ecclesial Convention, 19 October 2006). Nevertheless, the Christian Community in this country has been facing new challenges for some time, linked to secularism, a certain disaffection with the faith, and the demographic crisis. In this context, Pope Francis observed, “It takes boldness to avoid getting used to situations that are so deeply rooted as to seem normal or insurmountable. Prophecy”, he says, “does not exact wrenches but courageous choices, proper for a true ecclesial community: they lead us to allow ourselves to be ‘troubled’ by events and persons and to enter into human situations, animated by the healing spirit of the Beatitudes” (Address at the opening of the 70th General Assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference, 22 May 2017). . . .

In conclusion, I would like to leave you with some exhortations for the near future. In the first place: go forward in unity, thinking especially of the synodal path. The Lord, Saint Augustine writes that the Lord, in order to keep his body well-composed and in peace, exhorts the Church, through the Apostle Paul: The eye cannot say to the hand, I do not need you, nor again the head to the feet, I do not need you. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? Stay united and do not defend yourselves against the provocations of the Spirit. Synodality becomes a mindset, in the heart, in decision-making processes and in ways of acting. (To the Italian Episcopal Conference.)

The “Second” Vatican Council’s teaching on the “papacy” is false as a true and legitimate Successor of Saint Peter is a monarch, who may choose to act in a consultative manner with the bishops but who can also act without such consultation whenever he deems fit to do so. A true pope is an absolute monarch who is the supreme vicar of Christ the King on earth. His word is final and binds the consciences of all Catholics, and no true pope’s final word on a subject of Faith, Worship, and Morals can ever be contrary to the Catholic Faith.

“Vatican II’s” teaching on the papacy culminated in Karol Josef Wojtyla/John Paul II’s going so far as to claim that the papacy could be exercised in a way that the Orthodox and “other ecclesial communities” could accept:

Whatever relates to the unity of all Christian communities clearly forms part of the concerns of the primacy. As Bishop of Rome I am fully aware, as I have reaffirmed in the present Encyclical Letter, that Christ ardently desires the full and visible communion of all those Communities in which, by virtue of God’s faithfulness, his Spirit dwells. I am convinced that I have a particular responsibility in this regard, above all in acknowledging the ecumenical aspirations of the majority of the Christian Communities and in heeding the request made of me to find a way of exercising the primacy which, while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation. For a whole millennium Christians were united in “a brotherly fraternal communion of faith and sacramental life … If disagreements in belief and discipline arose among them, the Roman See acted by common consent as moderator“.

In this way the primacy exercised its office of unity. When addressing the Ecumenical Patriarch His Holiness Dimitrios I, I acknowledged my awareness that “for a great variety of reasons, and against the will of all concerned, what should have been a service sometimes manifested itself in a very different light. But … it is out of a desire to obey the will of Christ truly that I recognize that as Bishop of Rome I am called to exercise that ministry … I insistently pray the Holy Spirit to shine his light upon us, enlightening all the Pastors and theologians of our Churches, that we may seek—together, of course—the forms in which this ministry may accomplish a service of love recognized by all concerned“.

This is an immense task, which we cannot refuse and which I cannot carry out by myself. Could not the real but imperfect communion existing between us persuade Church leaders and their theologians to engage with me in a patient and fraternal dialogue on this subject, a dialogue in which, leaving useless controversies behind, we could listen to one another, keeping before us only the will of Christ for his Church and allowing ourselves to be deeply moved by his plea “that they may all be one … so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn 17:21)? (Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint, May 25, 1995.)

It was twelve years later, October 13, 2007, the ninetieth anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun, that an "unofficial" official document, the Ravenna Document, was issued by William "Cardinal" Levada on behalf of the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church that formalized the musings of Ratzinger in Principles of Catholic Theology and of Wojtyla/John Paul II in Ut Unum Sint:

It remains for the question of the role of the bishop of Rome in the communion of all the Churches to be studied in greater depth. What is the specific function of the bishop of the “first see” in an ecclesiology of koinonia and in view of what we have said on conciliarity and authority in the present text? How should the teaching of the first and second Vatican councils on the universal primacy be understood and lived in the light of the ecclesial practice of the first millennium? These are crucial questions for our dialogue and for our hopes of restoring full communion between us.

We, the members of the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, are convinced that the above statement on ecclesial communion, conciliarity and authority represents positive and significant progress in our dialogue, and that it provides a firm basis for future discussion of the question of primacy at the universal level in the Church. We are conscious that many difficult questions remain to be clarified, but we hope that, sustained by the prayer of Jesus “That they may all be one … so that the world may believe” (Jn 17, 21), and in obedience to the Holy Spirit, we can build upon the agreement already reached. Reaffirming and confessing “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph 4, 5), we give glory to God the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who has gathered us together. (The Ravenna Document)

Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI put his “papal” seal of approval on The Ravenna Document just forty-one days after its issuance on the ninetieth anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun in the Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal:

This year we thank God in particular for the meeting of the Joint Commission which took place in Ravenna, a city whose monuments speak eloquently of the ancient Byzantine heritage handed down to us from the undivided Church of the first millennium. May the splendour of those mosaics inspire all the members of the Joint Commission to pursue their important task with renewed determination, in fidelity to the Gospel and to Tradition, ever alert to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in the Church today.

While the meeting in Ravenna was not without its difficulties, I pray earnestly that these may soon be clarified and resolved, so that there may be full participation in the Eleventh Plenary Session and in subsequent initiatives aimed at continuing the theological dialogue in mutual charity and understanding. Indeed, our work towards unity is according to the will of Christ our Lord. In these early years of the third millennium, our efforts are all the more urgent because of the many challenges facing all Christians, to which we need to respond with a united voice and with conviction. (Letter to His Holiness Bartholomaios I, Archbishop of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch, on the occasion of the feast of St. Andrew, November 23, 2007.)

So much for the “unofficial” nature of The Ravenna Document.

Putting the lie to the false view of how the papacy was exercised by our true popes in the First Millennium that was propagated endless by Wojtyla, Ratzinger, Bergoglio and, among so many others, Walter “Cardinal” Kasper, Pope Leo XIII, writing in Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae, June 29, 1896, that the Greeks always recognized Papal Primacy:

First of all, then, We cast an affectionate look upon the East, from whence in the beginning came forth the salvation of the world. Yes, and the yearning desire of Our heart bids us conceive and hope that the day is not far distant when the Eastern Churches, so illustrious in their ancient faith and glorious past, will return to the fold they have abandoned. We hope it all the more, that the distance separating them from Us is not so great: nay, with some few exceptions, we agree so entirely on other heads that, in defense of the Catholic Faith, we often have recourse to reasons and testimony borrowed from the teaching, the Rites, and Customs of the East.

The Principal subject of contention is the Primacy of the Roman Pontiff. But let them look back to the early years of their existence, let them consider the sentiments entertained by their forefathers, and examine what the oldest Traditions testify, and it will, indeed, become evident to them that Christ’s Divine Utterance, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, has undoubtedly been realized in the Roman Pontiffs. Many of these latter in the first gates of the Church were chosen from the East, and foremost among them Anacletus, Evaristus, Anicetus, Eleutherius, Zosimus, and Agatho; and of these a great number, after Governing the Church in Wisdom and Sanctity, Consecrated their Ministry with the shedding of their blood. The time, the reasons, the promoters of the unfortunate division, are well known. Before the day when man separated what God had joined together, the name of the Apostolic See was held in Reverence by all the nations of the Christian world: and the East, like the West, agreed without hesitation in its obedience to the Pontiff of Rome, as the Legitimate Successor of St. Peter, and, therefore, the Vicar of Christ here on earth.

And, accordingly, if we refer to the beginning of the dissension, we shall see that Photius himself was careful to send his advocates to Rome on the matters that concerned him; and Pope Nicholas I sent his Legates to Constantinople from the Eternal City, without the slightest opposition, “in order to examine the case of Ignatius the Patriarch with all diligence, and to bring back to the Apostolic See a full and accurate report”; so that the history of the whole negotiation is a manifest Confirmation of the Primacy of the Roman See with which the dissension then began. Finally, in two great Councils, the second of Lyons and that of Florence, Latins and Greeks, as is notorious, easily agreed, and all unanimously proclaimed as Dogma the Supreme Power of the Roman Pontiffs.

We have recalled those things intentionally, for they constitute an invitation to peace and reconciliation; and with all the more reason that in Our own days it would seem as if there were a more conciliatory spirit towards Catholics on the part of the Eastern Churches, and even some degree of kindly feeling. To mention an instance, those sentiments were lately made manifest when some of Our faithful travelled to the East on a Holy Enterprise, and received so many proofs of courtesy and good-will.

Therefore, Our mouth is open to you, to you all of Greek or other Oriental Rites who are separated from the Catholic Church, We earnestly desire that each and every one of you should meditate upon the words, so full of gravity and love, addressed by Bessarion to your forefathers: “What answer shall we give to God when He comes to ask why we have separated from our Brethren: to Him Who, to unite us and bring us into One Fold, came down from Heaven, was Incarnate, and was Crucified? What will our defense be in the eyes of posterity? Oh, my Venerable Fathers, we must not suffer this to be, we must not entertain this thought, we must not thus so ill provide for ourselves and for our Brethren.”

Weigh carefully in your minds and before God the nature of Our request. It is not for any human motive, but impelled by Divine Charity and a desire for the salvation of all, that We advise the reconciliation and union with the Church of Rome; and We mean a perfect and complete union, such as could not subsist in any way if nothing else was brought about but a certain kind of agreement in the Tenets of Belief and an intercourse of Fraternal love. The True Union between Christians is that which Jesus Christ, the Author of the Church, instituted and desired, and which consists in a Unity of Faith and Unity of Government.

Nor is there any reason for you to fear on that account that We or any of Our Successors will ever diminish your rights, the privileges of your Patriarchs, or the established Ritual of any one of your Churches. It has been and always will be the intent and Tradition of the Apostolic See, to make a large allowance, in all that is right and good, for the primitive Traditions and special customs of every nation. On the contrary, if you re-establish Union with Us, you will see how, by God’s bounty, the glory and dignity of your Churches will be remarkably increased. May God, then, in His goodness, hear the Prayer that you yourselves address to Him: “Make the schisms of the Churches cease,” and “Assemble those who are dispersed, bring back those who err, and unite them to Thy Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.” May you thus return to that one Holy Faith which has been handed down both to Us and to you from time immemorial; which your forefathers preserved untainted, and which was enhanced by the rival splendor of the Virtues, the great genius, and the sublime learning of St. Athanasius and St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nazianzum and St. John Chrysostom, the two Saints who bore the name of Cyril, and so many other great men whose glory belongs as a common inheritance to the East and to the West. (Pope Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae, June 29, 1896. See also the excellent discussion of the the history of what led up to the Greek Schism that is contained in Fathers Francisco and Dominic Radecki’s Tumultuous Times.)

Thus, Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV is merely continuing the conciliar sect’s “tradition” of seeking to reform what purports to be the papacy,” a process that began when Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini/Paul VI established the office of the “Synod of Bishops” and has included the efforts, mentioned just above, by Karol Joszef Wojtyla/John Paul II to make what appears to be the “papacy” work in a manner acceptable to the Protestants and to the members of the Protestant “ecclesial communities.” Thus, the conciliar “popes” have opened for “discussion” and “dialogue” that which is not open for discussion, that is, the very nature of the Papacy, Papal Infallibility, and Papal Primacy.

The [First] Vatican Council met under the infallible guidance of the Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, God the Holy Ghost, and declared the true nature of the Papacy.
Everything that the conciliar “popes” have done in the past sixty-six years, eight months has pointed to a very well thought-out plan to change the entire nature of how the conciliar “Petrine ministry” is exercised while contending, perhaps with tongue in cheek, that the doctrine of Papal Primacy and Papal Infallibility will remain untouched. Only those willing to suspend all rationality can accept this gratuitous denial of what is part of the Divine Constitution of Holy Mother Church and was defined solemnly at the [First] Vatican Council on July 18, 1870:

1. And so, supported by the clear witness of Holy Scripture, and adhering to the manifest and explicit decrees both of our predecessors the Roman Pontiffs and of general councils, we promulgate anew the definition of the ecumenical Council of Florence [49], which must be believed by all faithful Christians, namely that the Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff hold a world-wide primacy, and that the Roman Pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles, true vicar of Christ, head of the whole Church and father and teacher of all Christian people.

To him, in blessed Peter, full power has been given by our lord Jesus Christ to tend, rule and govern the universal Church.

All this is to be found in the acts of the ecumenical councils and the sacred canons.

2. Wherefore we teach and declare that, by divine ordinance, the Roman Church possesses a pre-eminence of ordinary power over every other Church, and that this jurisdictional power of the Roman Pontiff is both episcopal and immediate. Both clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity, both singly and collectively, are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the Church throughout the world.

3. In this way, by unity with the Roman Pontiff in communion and in profession of the same faith , the Church of Christ becomes one flock under one Supreme Shepherd [50].

4. This is the teaching of the Catholic truth, and no one can depart from it without endangering his faith and salvation.

5. This power of the Supreme Pontiff by no means detracts from that ordinary and immediate power of episcopal jurisdiction, by which bishops, who have succeeded to the place of the apostles by appointment of the Holy Spirit, tend and govern individually the particular flocks which have been assigned to them. On the contrary, this power of theirs is asserted, supported and defended by the Supreme and Universal Pastor; for St. Gregory the Great says: “My honor is the honor of the whole Church. My honor is the steadfast strength of my brethren. Then do I receive true honor, when it is denied to none of those to whom honor is due.” [51]

6. Furthermore, it follows from that supreme power which the Roman Pontiff has in governing the whole Church, that he has the right, in the performance of this office of his, to communicate freely with the pastors and flocks of the entire Church, so that they may be taught and guided by him in the way of salvation.

7. And therefore we condemn and reject the opinions of those who hold that this communication of the Supreme Head with pastors and flocks may be lawfully obstructed; or that it should be dependent on the civil power, which leads them to maintain that what is determined by the Apostolic See or by its authority concerning the government of the Church, has no force or effect unless it is confirmed by the agreement of the civil authority.

8. Since the Roman Pontiff, by the divine right of the apostolic primacy, governs the whole Church, we likewise teach and declare that he is the supreme judge of the faithful [52], and that in all cases which fall under ecclesiastical jurisdiction recourse may be had to his judgment [53]. The sentence of the Apostolic See (than which there is no higher authority) is not subject to revision by anyone, nor may anyone lawfully pass judgment thereupon [54]. And so they stray from the genuine path of truth who maintain that it is lawful to appeal from the judgments of the Roman pontiffs to an ecumenical council as if this were an authority superior to the Roman Pontiff.

9. So, then, if anyone says that the Roman Pontiff has merely an office of supervision and guidance, and not the full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole Church, and this not only in matters of faith and morals, but also in those which concern the discipline and government of the Church dispersed throughout the whole world; or that he has only the principal part, but not the absolute fullness, of this supreme power; or that this power of his is not ordinary and immediate both over all and each of the Churches and over all and each of the pastors and faithful: let him be anathema. (Chapter 3, Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, Vatican Council, July 18, 1870.)

The entire conciliar enterprise has not been, is not now and can never be the Catholic Church, she who is the spotless mystical bride of her Divine Founder, Invisible Head and Mystical Bridegroom, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The counterfeit church of conciliarism has long made a mockery of the very institution of the papacy by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ with these words that he uttered to Simon bar Jona, Saint Peter, as the Fisherman was made the Visible Head of the Catholic Church on earth:

[13] And Jesus came into the quarters of Caesarea Philippi: and he asked his disciples, saying: Whom do men say that the Son of man is? [14] But they said: Some John the Baptist, and other some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. [15] Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am?

[16] Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. [17] And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. [18] And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. [19] And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. [20] Then he commanded his disciples, that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ. (Matthew 16: 13-20.)

Bishop Richard Challoner's commentary on the three underlined phrases found in the Douay-Rheims Bible that he translated from the Latin Vulgate explains in no uncertain terms that the counterfeit church of conciliarism is false as it has propagated heresies and errors that are impossible for the Catholic Church to be associated with in any way, not even by the slightest tarnish of error as Pope Gregory XVI in Singulari Nos, May 25, 1834, and that the conciliar "popes" have been manifest heretics for all the world to see:

[18] Thou art Peter: As St. Peter, by divine revelation, here made a solemn profession of his faith of the divinity of Christ; so in recompense of this faith and profession, our Lord here declares to him the dignity to which he is pleased to raise him: viz., that he to whom he had already given the name of Peter, signifying a rock, St. John 1. 42, should be a rock indeed, of invincible strength, for the support of the building of the church; in which building he should be, next to Christ himself, the chief foundation stone, in quality of chief pastor, ruler, and governor; and should have accordingly all fulness of ecclesiastical power, signified by the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

[18] Upon this rock: The words of Christ to Peter, spoken in the vulgar language of the Jews which our Lord made use of, were the same as if he had said in English, Thou art a Rock, and upon this rock I will build my church. So that, by the plain course of the words, Peter is here declared to be the rock, upon which the church was to be built: Christ himself being both the principal foundation and founder of the same. Where also note, that Christ, by building his house, that is, his church, upon a rock, has thereby secured it against all storms and floods, like the wise builder, St. Matt. 7. 24, 25.

[18] The gates of hell: That is, the powers of darkness, and whatever Satan can do, either by himself, or his agents. For as the church is here likened to a house, or fortress, built on a rock; so the adverse powers are likened to a contrary house or fortress, the gates of which, that is, the whole strength, and all the efforts it can make, will never be able to prevail over the city or church of Christ. By this promise we are fully assured, that neither idolatry, heresy, nor any pernicious error whatsoever shall at any time prevail over the church of Christ.

[19] Loose upon earth: The loosing the bands of temporal punishments due to sins, is called an indulgence; the power of which is here granted. (Bishop Richard Challoner Commentary on Matthew 16: 18, 19.)

The papacy is a monarchy. While true popes have consulted with others, they have done so as prudence dictates, not because it is required by the nature of the office that Our Lord Himself.

The last true pope who did not come from the ranks of the diplomatic service and thus governed firmly as a pastor was our beloved Pope Saint Pius X, Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, who was unafraid to exercise the plenipotentiary powers of papacy when circumstances deemed it necessary for him to do so.

Here, once again, is a reminder of how firmly Pope Saint Pius X governed Holy Mother Church:

As Pope, St. Pius X had to correct and reprimand several bishops and priest who had fallen into heresy or were flirting dangerously close to that edge. Some of the French prelates who supported the Sillon (a precursor to modern Liberation Theology) were particularly problematic. One bishop who had been reprimanded continued to act against the Catholic Faith. Pope Pius X called him to Rome. When the bishop entered he made the customary genuflection before the Pope and waited to be acknowledged so he could rise. Pope Pius X remained busy at his desk ignoring the bishop for three quarters of an hour. This was a small penance which the saintly pontiff was imposing. At last, Pope Pius raised his eyes and looked the bishop directly in the eyes, holding his gaze steady and stern. Without a word he rose and walked over to the kneeling figure. Then he greeted him: “Good morning, your Excellency.” Before the Bishop could arise, Pope Pius X swiftly removed the zucchetto from the Bishop’s head and placed it on the edge of his desk. He then dismissed him, “Have a good day, Father.” And that was the end of the meeting. No more words had to be spoken. This great pope had sent a very clear warning shot across the bow of the Bark of Peter letting all know what the fate would be of those bishops, successors to Judas, who refused to resist and denounce heresy. (Stories About Pope Saint Pius X.)

Mind you, for all his talk about “synodality” and “collegiality,” Jorge Mario Bergoglio was unafraid to act unilaterally against those “bishops” (Joseph Strickland, Carlo Maria Vigano, Daniel Fernandez Torres, and Rogelio Livieres Plano) who were either critical of him or were at odds with his own Jacobin/Bolshevik interpretation and implementation of the conciliar agenda.

Thus, Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV’s commitment to follow in the path of his predecessors demonstrates his refusal to recognize that true popes were crowned for a reason, that is, that a true and legitimate Successor of Saint Peter is a monarch who is the vicar of Christ the King on earth. Our Lord is Our Divine King, and He does not need to “consult” with us sinful creatures about whether Holy Church, which He established with a divine constitution, should be organized and governed. It is really that simple, ladies and gentlemen.

The papacy is not a constitutional democracy nor is it a constitutional monarchy whose head exercises merely a symbolic position as first among equals.

The papacy was vested in Saint Peter and his legitimate successors, not in the Apostolic College, the members of which are to be obedient to him in all that he commands.

Now, there is a final aspect to Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV’s address of earlier today that bears a bit of examination.

As was the case with his three immediate predecessors (Karol Joszef Wojtyla/John Paul II, Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, and Jorge Mario Bergoglio), Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV is calling upon his “bishops” to “evangelize the faith,” although the end to which this evangelization is supposed to accomplish omits the principal reason that God the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on Pentecost Sunday: to seek the sanctification and salvation of the souls for whom Ou Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood to redeem during His Passion and Death on the wood of the Holy Cross:

The relationship with Christ calls on us to develop a pastoral focus on the theme of peace. Indeed, the Lord sends us into the world to bring his same gift: “Peace be with you!”, and to become its creators in everyday life. I am thinking of parishes, neighbourhoods, areas within the country, the urban and existential peripheries. There, where human and social relationships become difficult and conflict takes shape, perhaps subtly, a Church capable of reconciliation must make herself visible. The apostle Paul urges us, “If possible, on your part, live at peace with all” (Rm 12:18); it is an invitation that entrusts a tangible portion of responsibility to every person. I hope, then, that every diocese may promote pathways of education in non-violence, mediation initiatives in local conflicts, and welcoming projects that transform fear of the other into an opportunity for encounter. May every community become a “house of peace”, where one learns how to defuse hostility through dialogue, where justice is practiced and forgiveness is cherished. Peace is not a spiritual utopia: it is a humble path, made up of daily gestures that interweave patience and courage, listening and action, and which demands today, more than ever, our vigilant and generative presence.

Then there are the challenges that call into question respect for the dignity of the human person. Artificial intelligence, biotechnologies, data economy and social media are profoundly transforming our perception and our experience of life. In this scenario, human dignity risks becoming diminished or forgotten, substituted by functions, automatism, simulations. But the person is not a system of algorithms: he or she is a creature, relationship, mystery. Allow me, then, to express a wish: that the journey of the Churches in Italy may include, in real symbiosis with the centrality of Jesus, the anthropological vision as an essential tool of pastoral discernment. Without lively reflection on the human being – in its corporeality, its vulnerability, its thirst for the infinite and capacity for bonding – ethics is reduced to a code and faith risks becoming disembodied.

I particularly recommend cultivating a culture of dialogue. It is good for all ecclesial realities - parishes, associations and movements - to be spaces of intergenerational listening, of comparison with different worlds, of caring about words and relationships. Because only where there is listening can communion be born, and only where there is communion does truth become credible. I encourage you to continue on this path!

The proclamation of the Gospel, peace, human dignity, dialogue: these are the coordinates through which you can be a Church that incarnates the Gospel and is a sign of the Kingdom of God. (To the Italian Episcopal Conference.)

This has nothing to do with the Catholic Faith.

This has everything to do with the false philosophy of The Sillon, which was condemned forcefully by Pope Saint Pius X in Notre Charge Apostolique, August 15, 1910:

We know only too well the dark workshops in which are elaborated these mischievous doctrines which ought not to seduce clear-thinking minds. The leaders of the Sillon have not been able to guard against these doctrines. The exaltation of their sentiments, the undiscriminating good-will of their hearts, their philosophical mysticism, mixed with a measure of illuminism, have carried them away towards another Gospel which they thought was the true Gospel of Our Savior. To such an extent that they speak of Our Lord Jesus Christ with a familiarity supremely disrespectful, and that – their ideal being akin to that of the Revolution – they fear not to draw between the Gospel and the Revolution blasphemous comparisons for which the excuse cannot be made that they are due to some confused and over-hasty composition.

We wish to draw your attention, Venerable Brethren, to this distortion of the Gospel and to the sacred character of Our Lord Jesus Christ, God and man, prevailing within the Sillon and elsewhere. As soon as the social question is being approached, it is the fashion in some quarters to first put aside the divinity of Jesus Christ, and then to mention only His unlimited clemency, His compassion for all human miseries, and His pressing exhortations to the love of our neighbor and to the brotherhood of men. True, Jesus has loved us with an immense, infinite love, and He came on earth to suffer and die so that, gathered around Him in justice and love, motivated by the same sentiments of mutual charity, all men might live in peace and happiness. But for the realization of this temporal and eternal happiness, He has laid down with supreme authority the condition that we must belong to His Flock, that we must accept His doctrine, that we must practice virtue, and that we must accept the teaching and guidance of Peter and his successors. Further, whilst Jesus was kind to sinners and to those who went astray, He did not respect their false ideas, however sincere they might have appeared. He loved them all, but He instructed them in order to convert them and save them. Whilst He called to Himself in order to comfort them, those who toiled and suffered, it was not to preach to them the jealousy of a chimerical equality. Whilst He lifted up the lowly, it was not to instill in them the sentiment of a dignity independent from, and rebellious against, the duty of obedience. Whilst His heart overflowed with gentleness for the souls of good-will, He could also arm Himself with holy indignation against the profaners of the House of God, against the wretched men who scandalized the little ones, against the authorities who crush the people with the weight of heavy burdens without putting out a hand to lift them. He was as strong as he was gentle. He reproved, threatened, chastised, knowing, and teaching us that fear is the beginning of wisdom, and that it is sometimes proper for a man to cut off an offending limb to save his body. Finally, He did not announce for future society the reign of an ideal happiness from which suffering would be banished; but, by His lessons and by His example, He traced the path of the happiness which is possible on earth and of the perfect happiness in heaven: the royal way of the Cross. These are teachings that it would be wrong to apply only to one’s personal life in order to win eternal salvation; these are eminently social teachings, and they show in Our Lord Jesus Christ something quite different from an inconsistent and impotent humanitarianism. (Pope Saint Pius X, Notre Charge Apostolique, August 15, 1910).

And now, overwhelmed with the deepest sadness, We ask Ourselves, Venerable Brethren, what has become of the Catholicism of the Sillon? Alas! this organization which formerly afforded such promising expectations, this limpid and impetuous stream, has been harnessed in its course by the modern enemies of the Church, and is now no more than a miserable affluent of the great movement of apostasy being organized in every country for the establishment of a One-World Church which shall have neither dogmas, nor hierarchy, neither discipline for the mind, nor curb for the passions, and which, under the pretext of freedom and human dignity, would bring back to the world (if such a Church could overcome) the reign of legalized cunning and force, and the oppression of the weak, and of all those who toil and suffer. (Pope Saint Pius X, Notre Charge Apostolique, August 15, 1910.)

“Coordinates” for incarnating the Gospel today?

Dialogue?

Human dignity?

Peace?

What kind of peace?

Whose peace?

The Catholic Church was founded to teach infallibly in the Holy Name of her Divine Founder, Invisible Head, and Mystical Bridegroom as she goes about the work of sanctifying and saving souls. Human sanctification is the only path to peace within the soul and thus within nations and among them, something that Pope Pius XI noted in Mit Brennender Sorge, March 17, 1937:

20. Every true and lasting reform has ultimately sprung from the sanctity of men who were driven by the love of God and of men. Generous, ready to stand to attention to any call from God, yet confident in themselves because confident in their vocation, they grew to the size of beacons and reformers. On the other hand, any reformatory zeal, which instead of springing from personal purity, flashes out of passion, has produced unrest instead of light, destruction instead of construction, and more than once set up evils worse than those it was out to remedy. No doubt "the Spirit breatheth where he will" (John iii. 8): "of stones He is able to raise men to prepare the way to his designs" (Matt. iii. 9). He chooses the instruments of His will according to His own plans, not those of men. But the Founder of the Church, who breathed her into existence at Pentecost, cannot disown the foundations as He laid them. Whoever is moved by the spirit of God, spontaneously adopts both outwardly and inwardly, the true attitude toward the Church, this sacred fruit from the tree of the cross, this gift from the Spirit of God, bestowed on Pentecost day to an erratic world. (Pope Pius XI, Mit Brennender Sorge, March 17, 1937.)

It is very telling that Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV chose not to speak of sanctity, making his words to the members of the conciliar hierarchy in Italy as meaningless as those his immediate predecessors as the end of Holy Mother Church’s missionary efforts is to advance the honor and glory of God by seeking the sanctification and salvation of the souls of her children and to seek with urgency the unconditional conversion of all non-Catholics to her maternal bosom after the example of the Apostles, Martyrs, and Confessors who worked tirelessly to win souls for Our Lord and His true Church.

Alas, these are not the “coordinates” of conciliar “evangelization.”

Yes, we must reform our own lives with every beat of our hearts, consecrated as they must be to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. In order to do this, of course, we love God as He has revealed Himself to us exclusively through His Catholic Church with our whole mind, our whole soul, our whole body, our whole heart and our whole strength. We must love others for love of Him, Who wills the good of all men, which is the salvation of their immortal souls as members of the Catholic Church.

May every Rosary we pray help to bring about the restoration of a true pope on the Throne of Saint Peter and thus of the restoration of right order in the souls of men and thus of nations themselves.

On the Feast of Saint Ephraem, the Deacon

As I am not sure whether I can complete an article for posting by this time tomorrow, the Feast of Saint Ephraem the Deacon and the Commemoration of Saints Mark and Marcellianus, I consider it prudent to offer Dom Prosper Guranger’s reflection on this great Catholic son of Syrian descent who is spent most of his life in Edessa, which is now part of Turkey.

As we know, the land of Saint Ephraem’s origins, Syria, is located in that region where those steeped in the ravages of Original Sin and their own Actual Sins are causing the wanton killing of the innocent in a quest for achieving an illusory “peace” of this passing, mortal vale of tears where we hath not here below a permanent dwelling.

Saint Ephraem fought against the Arian heretics and, as a Doctor of the Church who is honored by the Catholic Church and by the schismatic and heretical Orthodox, he defended Papal Primacy and the papacy as the bulwark against heresy, error, and blasphemy, and he was steadfast in his love of the Most Blessed Sacrament and of the Mother of God, Our Lady.

Herewith is Dom Prosper Gueranger’s hagiography of Saint Ephraem the Deacon:

Saint Ephraem, monk and deacon, the contemporary of St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nazianzen and St. Gregory of Nyssa, was with them one of the glories of the Christian East so rich in testimonies to faith and sanctity during the first centuries. He takes his place in the liturgical cycle among the doctors of the Universal Church. It is only fitting that the ancient piety of Edessa and Nisibis should be represented in the Roman calendar by him who was always held to be the most illustrious of her sons. St. Ehpraem was honored by the whole Church for the depth and vastness of his doctrine, and the whole Catholic world rejoiced when Pope Benedict XV pronounced him worthy to be placed among the great doctors of the Church both Greek and Latin. No one was more worthy than the celebrated Deacon of Edessa of such an honor. Even during his lifetime men delighted to honor him with such titles as illustrious “doctor of the universe,” “prophet and sun of the Syrians,” “pillar of the Church,” and “harp of the Holy Spirit.” (S Greg. Nyss., Vita Ephraem; Lamy, S Ephraem Syri Hymni et Sermones, 1 Proleg.) All the Orthodox fathers and doctors from St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom and St. Jerome down to St. Francis de Sales at St. Alphonsus Liguori are unanimous in his praise. (Bened. XV Litt. encyl. Principi Apostolorum.) Seldom has reputation been more brilliant, authority more universally acknowledged than that of the humble Syrian monk: less than twenty years after his death his writings were read publicly in church after the Scriptures. (S Hier. De script. eccl., c. cxv.) As theologian, poet and orator his literary work was immense. His writings comprise commentaries on the Scriptures, theological discourses and poems, moral and ascetic treatises, hymns in praise of Almighty God, our Lady and the saints. These form an inestimable treasure where successive generations have found not only weapons wherewith to combat error but also food to strengthen their souls. The works of St. Ephraem, written in Syriac, were at an early date translated not only into Greek, but also into all the languages of the East—Coptic, Ethiopian, Arabic and Armenian—so that his hymns and canticles are to be found in all the liturgical books of the Syriac Church, both Orthodox and Uniate, which thus remains indebted to his fruitful genius.

St. Ephraem was born in Mesopotamia, very probably at Nisibis, on the frontier of the Roman Empire and Persia, at the beginning of the fourth century. Tradition says that his father fulfilled the duties of a priest to an idol in that town, but that his mother may have been a Christian (Assemani, Bibl. Orient. i. 26; Lamy, op. cit., iv, p. xxvii; Bouvy, “Les Sources historiques de la vie de saint Ephrem,” Revue augustinienne, Janvier, 1903.) In any case he does not appear ever to have taken part in idolatrous worship, for we know that in his youth he was a member of the household of James, the bishop of Nisibis, one of the three hundred and eighteen fathers of the Council of Nicæa. He received baptism, and under the guidance of this bishop gave himself to prayer, to all the practices of Christian asceticism, to reading and profound study of the Scriptures. It was during this time that he acquired his remarkable knowledge and love of the Holy Scriptures so noticeable in all his writings and which is one of his chief characteristics. Later on he said: “He who applies himself with simplicity and purity of heart to the study of the Sacred Books will receive the knowledge of God. Some people glory in conversing familiarly with the great ones of the earth, with princes and kings, but let it be your glory to converse with the Holy Ghost in the presence of the angels of God by reading the divine Scriptures, for it is the Holy Ghost who there speaks to you. Spare no pains to become familiar with this study.” (Serm. de patientia et consummatione hujus sæculi.)

The first verses of “Hymns of Nisibis” show us what Ephraem was to James and his successors. These poems, the earliest of his that have come down to us, give us a picture of the times in which he lived. James, Babou and Vologesus found him a zealous auxiliary, intent upon upholding their authority, drawing men to them and ardently desirous of reform. His great influence on the people was shown especially when Nisibis was besieged by Sapor, king of the Persians. During those perilous days he incessantly encouraged the citizens to resist the enemy, strengthening the beseiged by his word and example, until his courage and his prayer forced the enemy to acknowledge their powerlessness and retire. Later on, when as a result of the disastrous campaign of the emperor Julian against the Persians, his successor Jovian was forced to cede Eastern Mesopotamia with Nisibis to Sapor, Ephraem joined the emigrants who left forever a town where Christians could no longer dwell in security.

From Nisibis St. Ephraem went to Edessa, which name is forever associated with his. On the west of the town there rises a hill on whose rocky slopes are numerous caves and tombs in which lived many anchorites. St. Ephraem in his turn came to seek, among the rocks of the holy mountain, a retreat which would enable him to devote himself to prayer, study and penitential exercises. His knowledge of sacred sciences, however, could not long remain hidden, and disciples soon began to gather around him. This was the period of his literary activity, which was so great as to be almost miraculous. It was during the ten years that he passed in the capital of Osrhoene that he wrote most of his works. It was also the period of his greatest activity in religious affairs, and it seems certain that the School of Edessa, famous under the name of the Persian School, owes to him, if not its existence, at least a great part of its renown.

However, Edessa could not escape the ravages to which the spread of the heresies of Arius, Manes, Marcion and other sowers of discord subjected the whole world, and we owe a great number of St. Ephraem’s theological discourses and poems to his solicitude in combating heresy under all its forms, and to his care in safeguarding the purity of faith among the Christians of the town. In obedience to the inspiration of divine grace, (S Greg, Nyss., op. cit.) he left his solitude for a time to pour forth to the faithful exhortations so rich in imagery, so full of unction and of doctrine, that to this day the heart of the reader is moved. The holy doctor inveighs with much vigor against the Arians, who deny the Divinity of Christ. The following passage occurs in one of his sermons on the Passion: “The King of kings who is above all kings is the only Savior Jesus, who sits at the right hand of his Father. He is his Word, his strength, his mighty arm; he descended from the height of heaven. He came down in secret, he ascended into heaven. He came down in secret, he ascended openly, he came down as the Word, he ascended with a human body, he descended and ascended according to his own will. Blessed be he who has acted according to his power. Men should be astonished and should admire the providence of the author of all grace who has abased himself even to us. Blessed be he who in his goodness has drawn from the ocean of his mercy the life that he has bestowed upon us. The Son of God is God, and God of God, he descended from heaven and conversed upon earth, he the power of preaching. The consuming fire which fell from heaven has become a dew for mankind, he who is all on fire has hidden his flame, the vehement God has restrained himself, there is no thunder in his voice nor lightning in his movements, the terrible God has hidden his majesty, the power God his force, wholly in heaven, he was wholly upon earth. When you consider him in heaven there is nothing to which you can liken him; when you consider him upon earth he seems to you to be simply a man. If you look towards heaven millions of angels serve him, and seraphim without number cry before him, Holy, holy, holy. If you look towards earth he is confined in a human body. ‘The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but he who is the Son of God has not where to lay his head.’ (Matthew 8:20) Indeed, where could he, who is the refuge of all, have sought shelter? Where could he have rested his head, he who is the pillar that sustains the universe, who upholds the earth and the heavens in either hand, and who in the hollow of his hand holds the seas and the world?” (Discours sur la Passion, De Lamy, “Étude de Patrologie orientale, saint Ephrem,” L’Université catholique, 1890)

With equal energy and with remarkable doctrinal precision, St. Ephraem asserts the prerogatives of St. Peter. In the person of our Lord speaking to Simon Peter, he says: “I have established you, Simon my disciple, as the foundation of holy Church. Formerly I called you Peter because you upheld my building, you are the overseer of those who construct the Church upon earth. If they wish to build that which is evil, you, who are the foundation, will prevent them. You are at the source of my doctrine, you are the chief of my disciples, it is through you that I will quench the thirst of all nations, the quickening sweetness that I give belongs to you, I have chosen you as the first-fruits of my disciples to be the inheritor of my treasures. I have given you the keys of my kingdom; I have given all my treasures into your power.” (De Lamy, Discours sur la Passion, loc. cit.)

It is interesting to receive such testimony from the mouth of him whom all the Eastern Christians reverence as their greatest doctor and consider their special glory. But few of the fathers of the first centuries of Christianity have spoken so explicitly on the subject of the Holy Eucharist as the Deacon of Edessa. He discredits in advance all the sophistry put forth at the time of the Reformation, and thus comments on the words of the institution of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord: “Do not believe that what I have just given to you is bread, receive it, eat it, do not crumble it away. That which I have called my Body, truly is so. The smallest morsel is sufficient to sanctify millions of souls and suffices to give life to those who receive it. Receive and eat with faith, do not waver, for it is my Body, and he who partakes of it with faith partakes of the fire of the Holy Spirit. It seems to him who partakes without faith to be but ordinary bread, but to him who with faith partakes of the Bread consecrated in my name, if he be pure it preserves his purity, if a sinner it obtains his pardon. Let those who reject, despise or outrage this Bread know that of a certainty they do outrage to the Son, who has called and has made bread to be his Body. Take and eat, and by it partake of the Holy Spirit, for it is truly my Body, and he who eats thereof has eternal life. It is the Bread of heaven come down from on high unto us. The manna which the Israelites ate in the desert, the manna which they gathered and which they despised although it fell from heaven, was a figure of the spiritual food you have just received. Take ye all of it and eat, in eating this Bread and eat my Body, the true source of the redemption.” (De Lamy, Discours sur la Passion, loc. cit.)

In St. Ephraem’s time the people of Edessa still took pleasure in the poetical compositions of Bardesanes and his son Harmonius. A hundred and fifty years previously these impious men had spread abroad the errors of Gnosticism by means of these writings, and therefore St. Ephraem, in his indefatigable zeal for the purity of the faith, resolved to defeat the heresy with its own arms. “When he saw how the inhabitants of Edessa delighted in songs,” says his biographer, “he instituted plays and dances of his own for the young folk. He established choirs of nuns, whom he taught to sing hymns having a refrain between the verses. These hymns embody beautiful thoughts and spiritual instruction on the Nativity, the Baptism, the Fast and deeds of our Lord, the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension, as well as on the confessors, on Penance and the faithful departed. The religious came together on Sunday, on great feasts and on the festivals of the martyrs, and he in the midst of them like a father accompanied them on his harp. He divided them into two choirs, so that they might sing alternately, and taught them the various musical airs with such success that the whole town came to listen. Thus his adversaries were put to shame and disappeared.” (Rubens Duval, Littérature syriaque, p. 21)

Readers of the Liturgical Year will have often noticed and admired the spirit of faith and tender piety which fills the poems of St. Ephraem, whether he celebrates the mystery of the birth of our Savior and borrows the voices of the Shepherds and Magi to render homage to the Infant God, (Christmas, vol i; vol. ii, passim.) or whether he extols the humility of St. John the Baptist, (Pentecost, vol iii) or, again, in order to console mourners, he sings of the happiness of young children caught up to heaven in their innocence. (Ibid., vol. vi) But never does this harp of the Holy Ghost sound forth in more harmonious tones than when it sings of Mary and extols her incomparable virginity, her divine maternity or her merciful protection of mankind. (Bened. XV, loc. cit.) It is well known that the eloquent Deacon of Edessa was one of the earliest of the fathers whose testimony to the privilege of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin was brought forward. He addressed our Lord and his Mother in these words: “Thou, O Lord, and thy Mother are the only ones who are perfectly beautiful in every respect, for in thee, O Lord, there is no blemish, and in thy Mother there is no stain.” (Carm. Nisib., n. 27)

The last years of St. Ephrem’s life were marked by a heroic act which seems to have made a great impression upon his contemporaries. There was a terrible famine in Edessa, which brought many other evils in its train. Moved by so much suffering, the holy anchorite left his cell for a time and took up his abode in the town. By his fervent exhortations he implored the rich to come to the help of their less fortunate fellow citizens, and he knew how to call forth abundant alms, which he himself distributed. At the same time, by his arrangement, all who were sick were brought together, and night and day he labored to procure for them such assistance and relief as the nature of their case demanded. He did not abandon his charitable ministrations until the city again enjoyed food in plenty.

St. Ephraem returned once more to his solitude, and, feeling that his end was near, he composed for his disciples his last testament, a touching discourse of considerable length in which the dominant features of his character shine forth—his faith, hope, charity, humility, and zeal for the orthodox belief. We quote a few passages which reveal the characteristics of the soul of this great monk. “I, Ephrem, am dying, and I am writing a last testament so that I may leave to each one a souvenir in order that my friends may remember me even if only on account of my words. Alas! my life is finished and the term of my years is ended. The warp is finished and the threads must be cut. The lamp is nearly empty of oil, my days and my hours are fled away. The hired soldier has completed his year, the stranger has finished his time. My guards and executioners surround me on all sides. I groan and there is none to hear; I ask mercy and there is none to deliver me. Woe is thee, Ephraem, because of the judgment when thou wilt appear before the tribunal of the Son and thine acquaintance will stand on either side of thee. There will be thy shame; woe to him who shall be confounded there. O Jesus, be thou the Judge of Ephraem; do not hand him over to another to be judged, for he whom God will judge shall receive mercy at the tribunal.

“I swear by him who descended from Mount Sinai, and who spoke upon the rock, by his mouth who said Eloi, and the bowels of the earth were shaken, by him who was sold by Judas and scourged in Jerusalem, by the might of him who was buffeted and by the majesty of him who was spit upon, by the three fiery names and by the one authority and will, that I have never separated myself from the Church nor have I ever doubted the power of God. If in my mind I have ever magnified the Father more than the Son may I be deprived of his loving mercy, and if I have ever lessened the authority of the Holy Spirit may blindness come upon me. If my life has not been in conformity with my speech may I be cast into exterior darkness, and if I speak hypocritically, may I burn with the ungodly. If I recount these things through pride may our Lord condemn me at the judgment …

“When I think of my past life my knees tremble and my teeth chatter, and when I call to mind my deeds I am overcome with horror. For I have never done anything good, nothing worthy of praise since the day of my birth. Do not embalm me for burial, such honor is not due to me; do not place sweet perfumes upon my body, I am not worthy of such distinction. Burn the incense in the sanctuary, but encompass me with your prayers. Offer sweet perfumes to God and chant psalms for my soul. Instead of pouring sweet perfumes and sweet savors over my body remember me in your prayers, for of what use are sweet odors to a dead man who has no senses with which to perceive them? Carry your incense to the house of God and there burn it that others may benefit thereby. Do not bury that which decays in silk which is useless to it, but rather leave in the pit that which cannot appreciate honors. Luxury belongs to the rich, the dunghill to the poor. Authority belongs to the royal family, but abjection and humility to the stranger and wayfarer …

“Come, brethren, hearken unto me, for it is decreed that I may live no longer. Help me on my journey by your prayers, psalms and sacrifices. When the thirty days are over make a memento of me, brethren, for the dead are helped by the masses offered by the living …

“The one thing that gives me courage and hope before God is that I have never insulted my Savior and no blasphemy has ever been uttered by my lips. Those who hated thee, Lord, I have hated and have abhorred thy enemies. (Psalm 138:21) Write my words upon your hearts and be mindful of what I say, for after I am dead evil persons will come among you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Matthew 7:15) Their speech is sweet, but the desires of their hearts are bitter; they have the appearance of good, but they are the messengers of Satan. Fly from them and from their doctrines; do not go near them, for you know that whoever is found in a place where outrage has been offered to the king has to come into court to be questioned according to law. Even if he can prove he was not guilty he will be condemned for want of zeal. Do not sit with heretics nor associate with apostates. It would be better to dwell with a demon than with a renegade. For if you abjure the demon he will flee, for he cannot stand before the name of Jesus, but even were you to exorcise the apostate ten thousand times he would not cease from his wickedness nor renounce his folly. It would be better to teach demons than to try to convince heretics. Demons bore witness, saying, ‘Thou art the Son of God,’ (Matthew 8:29) but infidels and heretics daily contend pertinaciously that he is not the Son of God. Satan himself who dwells in them confesses the truth, but they assiduously deny it …

“O my disciples, hear my precepts and be mindful of my words. Do not depart from my faith nor be untrue to my lessons. When you hear of seditions and tumults in the world be constant and hold fast to the truth and your faith …

“Farewell, my friends, and pray for me, my beloved. The time has come for the merchant to return to his own country. Woe is me, my merchandise is gone and my riches are all spent. No one weeps over the death of the holy, because they pass from death to life; but weep for me, brethren, for we have wasted our days and hours in idleness. May peace abide on the earth and may her sons be joyful. May peace abide in the Church and may the persecution of the malicious cease. May the wicked become just and be converted from their sins.

“Hail, O angel guide, who leadest the soul out of the body, parting them asunder that they may remain separated until the general resurrection …” (Rubens Duval, Journal Asiatique, 1901)

Let us now read the account given of the illustrious Deacon of Edessa by the Church in her office of matins. The lessons record the chief features of this fruitful life.

Ephraem was of Syrian descent and son of a citizen of Nisibis. While yet a young man he betook himself to the holy bishop James, by whom he was baptized, and he soon made such progress in holiness and learning as to be appointed master in the school of Nisibis in Mesopotamia. After the death of the bishop James Nisibis was captured by the Persians, and Ephraem went to Edessa, where he settled first among the monks in the mountains. Later, to avoid the company of those who flocked to him, he adopted the eremitical life. He was made deacon of the church of Edessa, but refused the priesthood out of humility. He was rich in all virtues and strove to acquire piety and religion by the following of true wisdom. He placed all his hope in God, despised all human and transitory things, and was ever filled with the earnest desire of those which are divine and eternal.

He was led by the Spirit of God to Cæsarea in Cappadocia, where he saw Basil, the mouthpiece of the Church, and they obtained benefit from their mutual intercourse. In order to refute the many errors which troubled the Church at that time, and to expound the mysteries of Jesus Christ, he wrote many books in the Syrian tongue, almost all of which have been translated into Greek. St. Jerome bears witness that he attained such fame that his writings were read publicly in the churches after the reading from the Holy Scriptures.

On account of his works, so full of the light of heavenly doctrine, he was greatly honored even during his lifetime as a Doctor of the Church. He composed a poem in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints for which he was called by the Syrians the Harp of the Holy Ghost. He was noted for his great and tender devotion towards the immaculate Virgin. He died, rich in merits, at Edessa in Mesopotamia, on the fourteenth of the Kalends of July, in the reign of Valens. Pope Benedict XV, at the instance of many Cardinals of the holy Roman Church, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, abbots and religious communities, declared him by a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites to be a Doctor of the Universal Church.

Thy glory, O Ephraem, shines henceforward throughout the whole world. Let us join our feeble praise to that of East and West, which, in admiration of thy virtue, rises to thee this day. But we know that this praise will not be pleasing to thee unless we follow thy teaching and example in our lives. Help us to walk in those paths which thy writings and deeds have marked out so clearly for us, and above all strengthen our faith. Thou hast said that there is no richer man than he who has the faith. At a time when everything seems to conspire to diminish or obscure the truth, when ignorance joins with false doctrine to lessen its brightness and deter souls, obtain for us a holy eagerness to receive the doctrine of the Church, the expression of eternal truth; help us to be earnest in our search and zealous to keep and uphold it in all its purity. Inspire in us that hatred of error with which thy burning words inflamed the hearts of the faithful of Edessa, and which at thy death thou didst leave to them as thy last counsel and most precious gift.

O holy anchorite, help us to acquire all the Christian virtues, encourage within our souls the interior life, the sources of which, as thou hast taught us, are to be found where Christ himself has placed them—“that is, in the Sacraments, in the observance of the precepts of the Gospel and in the various exercises of piety which the liturgy affords and which the authority of the Church recommends to us.” (Bened XV, loc. cit.) We pray that by these means the virtue of charity, that is above all others, that is characterized by all the dispositions especially dear to Almighty God and is unable to exist without the presence of many other virtues, may ever be increasing in our souls. For, according to one of thine own graceful comparisons, even as the royal diadem lacks luster if one of the gems is missing, so love of God and our neighbor cannot be perfect unless it be united in the other virtues. (Serm de víta et exercit. monast.)

In order that we may dwell in charity and may safeguard our weakness from error and vice, we will live in fear of the last judgment, that terrible day thou hast described so eloquently, when the earth, sea and sky will be burned up by a spark from the divine fire, when all men will be called upon to undergo a searching examination into each thought, word and deed. By thine assistance may we be faithful to our baptismal promises, so that on the last day we may be found worthy to take our place among the elect.

O holy doctor, who now before the divine altar and the Ruler of life art, with the angels, adoring the Blessed Trinity, be mindful of us and obtain for us the pardon of our sins, that we may rejoice in the eternal happiness of the heavenly kingdom. (S Greg. Nyss., loc. cit.) (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Saint Ephraem, the Deacon, June 18.)

Perhaps it is useful to comment just a bit on the two passages from Dom Prosper Gueranger’s reflection that I highlighted in bold:

The conciliar “popes” have given us evil doctrines. Perhaps there are some out in cyberspace who not believe that the denial that the Old Covenant was superseded by the New and Eternal Covenant that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ instituted in the Upper Room at the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday and ratified by the shedding of every single drop of His Most Precious Blood during his Passion and Death on the wood of the Holy Cross on Good Friday is evil. However, such people are either badly deluded, misinformed, and/or in a state of outright denial about abject apostasy when it is directly in front of them.

To deny, as Karol Joszef Wojtyla/John Paul II, Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, and Jorge Mario Bergoglio did, that Old Covenant ended when Our Lord took His last breath on the wood of the Holy Cross and the earth quaked as the curtain in the Temple was torn from top to bottom to signify the end of the Old Covenant once and for all is evil. It is heretical, and a true pope can never teach that which is heretical. Period. It this that simple.

Finally, in light of the fact that tomorrow, June 19, 2025, is the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the following passage from Dom Prosper Gueranger’s reflection is very important to demonstrate that the conciliar rapprochement with the so-called Protestant “ecclesial communities” must find a way to finesse that which cannot be finessed: the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist:

There can no such thing as an “ecumenism of the heart.” Non-Catholics must be exhorted to convert to the Catholic Church, not reaffirmed in their errors.

May Our Lady, to whom Saint Ephraem the Deacon was so very devoted and about whom he wrote so eloquently, help us, who are not one whit better than anyone else, to persevere in our commitment to reject the falsehoods of the false conciliar sect and to be willing to bear any burden in order to do so and thus might be able to make some small bit of reparation for our own many sins by offering the trials of the moment up to the Throne of the Most Holy Trinity as the consecrated slaves of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, 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.

Saint Ephraem the Deacon, pray for us.

Saints Mark and Marcellianus, pray for us.

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