Déjà Vu in the World and the Church! Part 2

Pope St. Pius X, pray for us. 

See Part 1 here.

But wait! The bride of Christ is also being persecuted, not only by the secular state, but by those who claim to defend her. It’s déjà vu once again. We are repeating the early 20th century as Pope Pius X confronted modernism, the “synthesis of all heresies.” But this time the gravest threat comes, not only from theologians and scholars, but from the highest echelons in the Church, especially the pope and his Vatican offices. 

The Synodal movement has been the vehicle used to introduce novelties into the Church that undermine both dogma and discipline. Amoris Laetitia, the post synodal document from the Synod on the Family, was interpreted by the Argentine bishops, affirmed by Pope Francis, to allow Communion for couples in invalid marriages. The Amazonian Synod advanced paganism and syncretism by honoring the idol Pachamama and allowing pagan rituals in Rome’s churches. At the closing Mass a plant signifying Pachamama was even placed on the altar. The Assisi meetings and the Abu Dhabi statement magnify syncretism by treating false religions as equal to the Catholic faith which violates the First Commandment.

The Vatican appears to be on board with the one-world religion movement in the same manner being exercised by the Democrats to bring in one world government. The pope and president share the same style of governing and, sadly, both use lies to achieve the desired results. Both the pope and president pound the truth into dust with the hammer of modernism, syncretism, and relativism.

And so we return to the déjà vu moment in the early 20th century when Guiseppe Sarto, Pope Pius X, sat in the Chair of Peter. He took as his motto, “To restore all things in Christ” and began immediately to suppress modernism. In his 1910 encyclical, Notre Charge Apostolique (Our Apostolic Mandate), the pope wrote:

Our Apostolic Mandate requires from Us that We watch over the purity of the Faith and the integrity of Catholic discipline. It requires from Us that We protect the faithful from evil and error; especially so when evil and error are presented in dynamic language which, concealing vague notions and ambiguous expressions with emotional and high-sounding words, is likely to set ablaze the hearts of men in pursuit of ideals which, whilst attractive, are nonetheless nefarious.

Isn’t that the situation we face? Don’t “vague notions,” “ambiguous expressions,” and “high-sounding words” fill Vatican documents? Pope Pius knew these things kill faith. His encyclical condemned the Sillon movement in France which embraced the ideals of the French Revolution and an inter-denominational spirit similar to the false ecumenism emanating today from Rome:

Alas! this organization which formerly afforded such promising expectations...has been harnessed in its course by the modern enemies of the Church, and is now no more than a miserable effluent 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.

The world we live in today looks very much like that of Pius X, a world of apostasy only more evil. Children weren’t being murdered in the womb by the millions or experimented on by gender-insane men in white coats in 1910. But instead of the pope and the Vatican honoring and following Pope St. Pius X, Martin Luther is honored in Rome. 

Last October, for the second time Luther’s statue stood in Paul VI Hall to welcome 500 German Lutherans who sang for the pope. He responded by saying:

...from many voices, a single song will be heard. That’s also how we bring about ecumenism, in Germany, and in many other parts of the world.” 

Would Pius X agree with Francis’s ecumenism, or would he see it as an effort to establish a “One-World Church...under the pretext of freedom and human dignity?” The current two-year Synod on Synodality emphasizes the “listening Church.” For traditional Catholics, that claim can only provoke a shake of the head and a rueful smile. There is no listening to traditional Catholics who simply want to celebrate the same Mass celebrated by Pope Pius X and most of the saints and martyrs. 

What are they drinking at the Vatican?

But the pope doesn’t listen to his bishops either unless their views mirror his. According to Vatican journalist, Diane Montagna, Rome did not accurately reflect the results of the bishops’ survey on the TLM. Most of the bishops recommended leaving it alone. Even those who didn’t like it, saw positive results. But instead of listening to the bishops, the pope immediately instituted draconian measures to ban the TLM permanently.

A pope who talks about unity while he throws his children out of the churches and tells them the TLM will be phased out in two years, is not a father, and his autocratic ruling violates the cardinal virtue of justice. Catholics, whose sacrificial donations built their churches, now may not use them. How just is that?

If the current synod follows the same path as previous synods, it is likely to introduce more novelties that further damage the faith citing input by the faithful as justification. We must, like St. Pius X, resist efforts to undermine dogma and discipline. 

It is not rebellious to defend the faith when it is under assault, especially assault from within. It is not wrong to petition a bishop or pope to do the right thing if he acts unjustly. It is an act of charity and an obligation. We should all love our spiritual fathers enough to pray and fast and confront them respectfully when their actions damage the faith and scatter the sheep. As Dietrich von Hildebrand wrote in The Devastated Vineyard:

 ...the faithful believers who take up the cause of orthodoxy, [are] the very people who should, by all rights, be the joy of the bishop’ hearts, their consolation, a source of strength for overcoming their own lethargy.

 Love your bishop. Pray for him. Write respectful letters of concern. 

Pope St. Pius X, pray for us.