“Deaths of Elderly Who Recovered From COVID-19, but Died After Vaccine, Raise Questions”
The Epoch Times reported the “Deaths of Elderly Who Recovered From COVID-19, but Died After Vaccine, Raise Questions”:
Two small clusters of deaths after COVID-19 vaccination have been reported among nursing homes in Kentucky and Arkansas.
In Kentucky, four seniors died the same day of their vaccination on Dec. 30, 2020; three of the four reportedly already had had coronavirus prior to getting vaccinated.
– Doctor of the Church St. Francis de Sales totally confirmed beyond any doubt the possibility of a heretical pope and what must be done by the Church in such a situation:
“[T]he Pope… WHEN he is EXPLICITLY a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church MUST either deprive him, or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See.” (The Catholic Controversy, by St. Francis de Sales, Pages 305-306)
– LifeSiteNews, “Confusion explodes as Pope Francis throws magisterial weight behind communion for adulterers,” December 4, 2017:
The AAS guidelines explicitly allows “sexually active adulterous couples facing ‘complex circumstances’ to ‘access the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.'”
– On February 2018, in Rorate Caeli, Catholic theologian Dr. John Lamont:
“The AAS statement… establishes that Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia has affirmed propositions that are heretical in the strict sense.”
– On December 2, 2017, Bishop Rene Gracida:
“Francis’ heterodoxy is now official. He has published his letter to the Argentina bishops in Acta Apostlica Series making those letters magisterial documents.”
Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church by the bishops by the grace of God.
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on The Epoch Times reported the “Deaths of Elderly Who Recovered From COVID-19, but Died After Vaccine, Raise Questions”:
Blaze Media: “Violent Antifa Protesters turn on Biden”
Blaze Media reported that “Violent Antifa protesters turn on Biden”:
Violent protesters descended on Portland late Saturday, an almost weekly occurrence, this time rioting over President Joe Biden’s administration reopening a controversial migrant center designed to house minors who illegally entered the United States without their parents.
– Doctor of the Church St. Francis de Sales totally confirmed beyond any doubt the possibility of a heretical pope and what must be done by the Church in such a situation:
“[T]he Pope… WHEN he is EXPLICITLY a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church MUST either deprive him, or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See.” (The Catholic Controversy, by St. Francis de Sales, Pages 305-306)
– LifeSiteNews, “Confusion explodes as Pope Francis throws magisterial weight behind communion for adulterers,” December 4, 2017:
The AAS guidelines explicitly allows “sexually active adulterous couples facing ‘complex circumstances’ to ‘access the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.'”
– On February 2018, in Rorate Caeli, Catholic theologian Dr. John Lamont:
“The AAS statement… establishes that Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia has affirmed propositions that are heretical in the strict sense.”
– On December 2, 2017, Bishop Rene Gracida:
“Francis’ heterodoxy is now official. He has published his letter to the Argentina bishops in Acta Apostlica Series making those letters magisterial documents.”
Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church by the bishops by the grace of God.
Hypocrisy may be defined as the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform. Psychologists would suggest that hypocrisy is the failure to follow one’s own expressed moral rules and principles, lending credence to the oft-used phrase “Do as I say, not as I do” or, alternatively, “Rules for thee, but not for me.” This morning I read in the Atlantic City Press that Boston Schools have suspended Advanced Learning Classes because too many of the students enrolled are White or Asian. The ridiculousness of this action astounds me and flies in the face of everything our nation stands for. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson must be turning over in his grave. You may know that the inscription on the ceiling of the Jefferson Memorial’s Rotunda in Virginia reads “I have sworn before the Altar of God Eternal hostility against any form of tyranny over the mind of man”. Are we to assume that the people in charge of education in Boston believe that brilliant students should not be allowed to expand their intelligence and grow in favor of making them less intelligent and average when compared to others in their age group? Are we to believe that excelling in academics, athletics, theatre, music or the arts is to be downplayed because these talents and skills are beyond the reach of the average individual? Are we to understand that recognizing superior performance is no longer in fashion or appropriate? Where will the next Jonas Salk, Albert Einstein, or Robert Oppenheimer come from? Where will we find a Neil Armstrong or an Audie Murphy, a Gayle Sayers or Jim Brown? Where will all medical discoveries come from, the innovation in technology, a strong military who twice in the 20th century saved Europe from the depths of Fascism and Nazis, and then rebuilt 19 countries in Europe and the entire nation of Japan in the aftermath of the devastation that was WWII? Have we lost our senses? My most immediate thought in reading this was it reminded me of the Kurt Vonnegut dystopian science-fiction short story published in 1961 entitled Harrison Bergeron In case you have never read this short story, let me briefly summarize it for you:
In the year 2081, the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the Constitution dictate that all Americans are hereafter fully equal and not allowed to be smarter, better-looking, or more physically able than anyone else. The Handicapper General’s agents enforce the equality laws, forcing citizens to wear “handicaps“: masks for those who are too beautiful, implant loud radios that disrupt thoughts inside the ears of intelligent people making them average and impose heavy weights for the graceful, strong or athletic.
One April, 14-year-old Harrison Bergeron, an intelligent, athletic, and good-looking teenager, is taken away from his parents, George and Hazel Bergeron, by the government, who exists, they are told to care for their every need. . They are barely aware of the tragedy, as Hazel, Harrison’s mother, has “average” intelligence (a euphemism for stupidity), and George, his father has a handicap radio installed by the government to regulate his exceptional intelligence. Hazel and George avid fans of the ballet and are watching the ballet on television. They comment on the dancers, who are weighed down to counteract their gracefulness and beautiful physiques. They are also wearing masks to hide their attractiveness. George’s thoughts are continually interrupted by the different noises emitted by his handicap radio, which piques Hazel’s curiosity and imagination regarding handicaps. Noticing his exhaustion, Hazel urges George to lie down and rest his “handicap bag“, which weighs 47 pounds (21 kg) and is locked around George’s neck. She suggests taking a few of the weights out of the bag, but George resists, aware of the illegality of such an action. On television, a news reporter struggles to read the bulletin and hands it to the ballerina wearing the most grotesque mask and heaviest weights. She begins reading in her unacceptably natural, beautiful voice, then apologizes before switching to a more unpleasant voice programmed by the Handicapper General. She issues a Government Alert that Harrison Bergeron has escaped from the Government Re-educati0n Center. A full-body photograph of Harrison is shown, indicating that he is seven feet (2.1 m) tall and burdened by three hundred pounds (140 kg) of weighted handicaps. George recognizes his son for a fleeting moment, but before having this thought, it is immediately eliminated by his radio trnsmitter. Harrison himself then storms the television studio in an attempt to overthrow the government. He calls himself the Emperor and rips off all of his handicaps, along with the handicaps of a ballerina, whom he proclaims his Empress. He orders the musicians to play, promising them nobility if they do their best. Unhappy with their initial attempt, Harrison takes control for a short while, and the music improves. After listening and being moved by the music, Harrison and his Empress dance while flying to the ceiling, then pause in mid-air to kiss, another illegal act. Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, enters the studio and kills Harrison and the Empress with a ten-gauge double-barreled shotgun. The musicians put on their handicaps again after she threatens them at gunpoint, and the television goes dark. George, unaware of the televised incident, returns from the kitchen and asks Hazel why she was crying, to which she replies that something sad happened on television that she cannot remember. He comforts her and they return to their average lives. So, in the world of Harrison Bergeron, everyone is equal in all respects. Equality abounds! The Government has made certain of that. Because, after all, the Government is all-knowing and exists to care for your every need. Of course, this is all science fiction….or is it? Fast forward to today where we are in 2021. Yesterday, Governor Andrew Cuomo, the man President Biden decreed was the “gold standard” for leadership during Covid, proudly announced that celebratory marriage banquets will now be permitted in New York State. Magnanimous! He then proclaimed the very detailed regulations for what kind of dances are acceptable at these gatherings which, by the way, are limited to no more than fifty people. For example, it is not acceptable to dance with anyone not seated at your table and all dancers must be a minimum of six feet away from one another, so Conga lines or YMCA dances are frowned upon. Presumably, the Cuomo Dance Detail will be making the rounds to review all wedding ceremonies to ensure compliance. It also brought back memories of high school dances when the nuns would walk around the dance floor separating couples who were dancing too close, by running a ruler between the startled couple exclaiming “make room for the Holy Ghost” And you thought you lived in a free country. How foolish of you. Do you really believe we have Freedom of Speech when tech companies in Silicon Valley California can censure or eliminate anything you write? In New Jersey and other states, attendance at religious services is limited to 25%-33% of parishioners. How about Freedom of the Press? Do we still have it? But let’s talk a little bit more about hypocrisy:Under the new Biden Administration we have already been treated to the following hypocrisies: > Remember Joe Biden on the campaign trail (when he left his basement) shouting “I am not against fracking” and” I will not abolish fracking”? Then, as soon as he was inaugurated on January 20, one of the first things he did was to abolish fracking. But he did not stop with fracking. He abolished oil and gas exploration on federal lands and with the stroke of a pen, shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline, eliminating thousands of jobs and making gasoline, heating oil, aviation fuel, and hundreds of other petroleum-related products significantly more expensive, not to mention the thousands of jobs lost in those industries. In the blink of an eye, Biden crippled the oil & gas industry and wiped away U.S. Energy Independence we achieved under Trump. Today, February 28, 2021, gasoline prices are at $2.89 per gallon for regular gasoline. That is an increase of $.60 per gallon since December 15, 2020….and we are just getting started. How does any of this help America or Americans? > Four years ago the media was clamoring “Trump is ripping children from the arms of their parents and putting them in cages. Today, Biden is putting children in those very same buildings, which were built by President Obama in his administration, only now they are called “undocumented migrant worker camps” or “Influx Centers”. > With no pressure from Republicans or Democrats, Biden voided the U.S. Mexico Accord so that now, American tax dollars can be used to fund abortions done in foreign countries. I notice that Biden likes to make the Sign of the Cross at solemn gatherings making sure the press covers this photo moment so that he can, once again, put on his masquerade as a devout Roman Catholic, which he is not. > How do you feel about boys competing against girls in athletic events such as track and field, basketball, softball, gymnastics, changing in the girls’ locker room, and accepting awards for performance against girls? Doesn’t matter. Biden issued an executive order so that now, boys can, in fact, compete against girls and all they need to do is say “I feel like I am a female today”. Kind of frightening isn’t it? > On the campaign trail Biden said he would not raise taxes on Americans earning less than $400,000 per year. But he also said he will abolish the Trump Tax Plan. Of course, the moment he does that, everyone’s taxes will increase. Another hypocrisy. Another lie. > In the first few days of his Presidency, Biden terminated all constructi0on of the Wall on the U.S. Southern Border because “walls don’t work and walls are not who we are, c’mon man!” Of course today we have four to five blocks of concertina wire (barbed wire) around the Nation’s Capitol with seven thousand National Guard Troops patrolling the grounds. I guess walls don’t work if you are a Republican but they are effective if you are a Democrat. The cost of the National Guard Mission is now about $500 million but the real question is “what are they guarding against?” Where is the threat? Keep in mind, visitors…citizens…cannot get in to see these monuments to our government. Why? > In the middle of a pandemic when small and intermediate-sized businesses are struggling to survive, House Democrats are pushing a $15 Minimum Wage. Think about the economic consequences of this. Can you spell unemployment? Tell me, how did Biden do in his undergraduate classes in economics…if he ever took a course in economics. > Along comes Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD, the darling of the Media and Hollywood Trump-haters; the Prophet of Doom, reminding us that Covid is likely going to be with us well past Christmas and that Americans need to be even more vigilant than before. The all-knowing Fauci recommends that we should all continue to wear masks….hell, to be safe, we should all wear two or even three masks to ensure our safety from a virus that has a 99.96% survival rate. I have a question: What happens to the tiny virus particles when we use our hands to take the masks off? Do they all disappear like magic because Dr. Fauci willed it so, or do they stay on our hands and when we touch our face we breathe in the virus? > Today, teachers refuse to teach because they feel they need to be vaccinated first before everyone else. What will their excuse be after they are vaccinated? Will they then demand that all children in k-12 be vaccinated first before schools open? And what about our children? Who is speaking up for them? They are being ignored. Kids cannot socialize, play sports, be involved in theatre, music, the arts….aren’t those part of a child’s overall education? Children are not wired to be isolated at home. > Then there is the Democrat’s preoccupation with climate change, the so-called existential threat to our planet. They pontificate to us that we are running out of time! Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez the onetime bartender turned congresswoman proclaimed “we only have twelve (now ten) years left.” And all the democrats nod their heads in agreement as if this concept of climate change is settled science. It is not. Not by a long shot. Wouldn’t you want to hear objective, scientific debates by each side of this question before committing our nation down this path? From my perspective, climate change is hysteria on steroids, akin to the fear-mongering going on by Washington D.C to frighten Americans because, in the final analysis, it is not about climate change or about the Wuhan Virus a/k/a Covid, it is about exerting power and control over the citizenry. Lord Acton said it best: “All power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” > By the way, where’s Hunter Biden? Has anyone seen or heard from him? > When will we hear from the Navy Surgeon opining on President Biden’s Health? > Incidentally, Epstein did not kill himself. > Someone send my regards to John Kerry who is busy flying around the world on his private jet burning thousands of gallons of jet fuel and leaving a significant carbon footprint. But of course, Kerry explained this to all of us by saying “this is what is necessary for a man in his position, and as for all of the pipefitters, welders, excavation and electrical engineers who lost their jobs on the Keystone XL Pipeline, John Kerry had a solution: “They can all get jobs making solar panels” That is vintage John Kerry. Remember the Wizard of Oz? Which one do you think John Kerry was…the Scarecrow, the Lion, or the Tinman? He has to fit one of these because as night follows day, he sure as hell is not a Patriot, and he sure as hell is no expert on climate change.Keep the faith everyone. Remember, we are Americans. We know about sacrifice and we know the value of freedom. No matter what some quiche-eating, landscape painting, bedwetting, card-carrying pinko socialist yells and screams at us, we know how to compete and we know how to win. If we stick together and hold true to American ideals, we will prevail. Write your Congressmen and women, write them again and again. Then write your Senators, again and again. Inundate them with your feelings and sensitivities. You hold the power to effectuate change. Believe it and Press on. https://conta.cc/3r6lo88. Semper anticus, semper fortis Always forward, always strong
RIP MACINTOSH
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on Keep the faith everyone. Remember, we are Americans. We know about sacrifice and we know the value of freedom. No matter what some quiche-eating, landscape painting, bedwetting, card-carrying pinko socialist yells and screams at us, we know how to compete and we know how to win. If we stick together and hold true to American ideals, we will prevail. Write your Congressmen and women, write them again and again. Then write your Senators, again and again. Inundate them with your feelings and sensitivities. You hold the power to effectuate change. Believe it and Press on. https://conta.cc/3r6lo88Semper anticus, semper fortis, Always forward, Always strong!!!
There is a new best seller in Italy about Pope Benedict XVI. It is entitled, “Pietro Dove Sei?” — “Peter, Where are you?” And it is about the invalid resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.
The book was written by the famous Sicilian priest, Don Alessandro Maria Minutella, who since 2018 has publicly declared Jorge Mario Bergoglio a heretic, and Benedict as the true Pope.
Father Minutella is the pastor of St. John Bosco Catholic Church, at Palermo, the capital of the island of Sicily. He is a young priest, who holds a double doctorate. He is a graduate of the Gregorian University at Rome.
The subtitle of the book is “Dossier sulla situazione attuale nella Chiesa Cattolica” — “The Actual Situation in the Catholic Church”
This book was published in Italian in 2020. It is 286 pages, and sells for 10 euro in Italy. It is published by Gamba Edizioni, Verdello (BG), Italy (info@gambedit.com). It is divided into 4 sections, called chapters, and contained an appendix of hyperlinks for reference, as well as a collection of photographs in color in the back.
These 4 divisions each being with a grave question or theme. The first, “Who is Peter?”, which discusses Catholic Teaching on the Office of the Pope, the Vicar of Christ, the Roman Pontiff.
The second division, begins with the question, “Who is the Pope, today?” This part, Don Minutella discusses all the plots and pacts behind the election of Bergoglio and how this makes the Conclave’s choice of him invalid. He follows this exposé with an analysis of Pope Benedict XVI’s declaration of Feb. 11, 2013, to show that it is canonically invalid, and that Benedict XVI remains the holder of the Papal office.
The third, with the theme of Wisdom 21:15, “There is no wisdom, where there is malice”, a theological reflection on the spiritual imprudence in ignoring facts and laws, so as to have one’s own way. In this part, Don Minutella discusses the facts which show that Bergoglio is intentionally a pertinacious, formal public and manifest heretic, and how this makes it impossible that he hold any office or be elected Pope.
The fourth, with a review of the most important prophetic sources, from La Salette, Fatima, Leo XIII, Tre Fontaine, Padre Pio etc., and what they say about the present crisis of two popes, showing how they concord with the facts he has presented above.
The book concludes with a passage which serves also as an excellent introduction. Here is my translation:
The actual situation in the Church is dramatic, so much so that the pastors, theologians, canonists, knowlegeable of the anomaly in course, prefer to gloss over the questions confronted in this book. The Catechism (of the Catholic Church) has anticipated these dramatic time, when in n. 675 it says: “before the coming of Christ, the Church must pass through a final test which will strick the faith of many believers. The persecution which accompanies Her pilgrimage on Earth will unmask the ‘mystery of iniquity’ under the form of a religious imposture which offers to men an apparent solution to their problems, at the price of apostasy from Christ, that is a pseudo-messianism in which glorifies himself in the place of God and His Messia come in the flesh”. St. Augustine wrote that the Church in fide virgo, in haeresia meretrix, that is, remains a Virgin in the Faith, but would become a prostitute in heresy. …. In the apparitions of the Holy Virgin in Ecuador, in the 17th century, known as Our Lady of Good Success, it was prophesied, for the time of the final battle, a figure of a high prelate, who will have to govern the Church with strength and courage; he will be another Christ, called to confront the Antichrist. And all the Catholic people, even the priests, will look upon him as a sure rock. The prophetic vision, of the remnant, matches perfectly with the catalogue of the medieval monk, Malachy, who lists the popes down to the return of Christ. After the Gloria Olivae, which has been attributed to Benedict XVI, there will arrive a final pontiff, the Petrus Romanus, who must govern the Church during the last, great tribulation, namely with the Antichrist. Caterine Emmerich offers some curious details about this new Athanasius who, having succeeded Benedict XVI, will guide the Catholic Church, surviving through it all as the little remnant. As the German mystic says, he will come forth from just outside the City (thus a true Italian), he will be of a noble stock, about 50 years of age, and will dress in red (perhaps a sign of a martyr in suffering and, perhaps, even unto blood). He will take care to obtain the victory of Mary and the triumph of Her Immaculate Heart against the vicious enemies of the Church. As at Lepanto, during the battle of October 7, 1571, and then at Vienna on September 12, 1683, Christians conquered the formidible Islamic hosts with the Name of Mary, invoked as the “Sacred Generalissima” (a name chosen by Ferdinand II, grandfather of the Austrian Emperor, Leopold I), so that, once again, it will be She herself, the Holy Virgin, who will obtain the liberation of the throne of Peter and the victory of the Church against Her Enemy.
We for our part, let us remain in the truth.
In the Book, Don Minutella in clear popular style lays out the Catholic Doctrine concerning the Pope, the effects of heresy, the impossibility of a heretical pope, as well as the canonical requirements of papal resignation and election, all of which conclude that Bergoglio can never have been validly elected for multiple causes of heresy and vote canvassing, both documentable, and that Benedict XVI has never resigned the papacy, as his behavior and words themselves show. All of which are facts which every impartial observer can see and recognize, so long as he has yes open to the truth.
The book is written in a simple Italian, and is not difficult to understand for those even with a little knowledge of the language. This is especially true for all those clergy who have studied in Rome, and have acquired some knowledge of the Italian used in theological discourse. It is a very good introduction to the controversies and written from a high moral regard for the truth and from our duty as disciples of Christ to separate ourselves from the party of the Sadducees who want a career in the Church without faith, and from the party of the Pharisees who want a career in the Church focusing on observances, but ignoring morals.
To my knowledge, this book is being translated into several languages, and in 2021, I look forward to publishing notices for each of them.
I highly recommend this book to all who can read Italian. It is a great gift for that favorite priest or bishop who has studied in Rome.
Are “Democrats… Accelerating Plans to Install President Harris” to Replace the Apparently “Mental Acuity Challenge[d]” Biden?
The NOQ Report website thinks that “Democrats are accelerating plans to install President Harris” to replace the apparently “mental acuity challenge[d]” Joe Biden:
The groundwork continues to be laid for Harris to supplant Biden as President of the United States. This has been the plan all along, but it seems like they’re accelerating their efforts. The likely reason is the fact that his cognitive skills continue to fade, perhaps more rapidly than they had hoped. He’s been showing signs of mental acuity challenges, potentially full-blown dementia, since a few weeks after he announced his candidacy in 2019. We witnessed him slip rapidly, particularly in the months following his nomination. Ever since Inauguration Day, he’s been limited in when he’s allowed to speak.
– Doctor of the Church St. Francis de Sales totally confirmed beyond any doubt the possibility of a heretical pope and what must be done by the Church in such a situation:
“[T]he Pope… WHEN he is EXPLICITLY a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church MUST either deprive him, or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See.” (The Catholic Controversy, by St. Francis de Sales, Pages 305-306)
– LifeSiteNews, “Confusion explodes as Pope Francis throws magisterial weight behind communion for adulterers,” December 4, 2017:
The AAS guidelines explicitly allows “sexually active adulterous couples facing ‘complex circumstances’ to ‘access the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.'”
– On February 2018, in Rorate Caeli, Catholic theologian Dr. John Lamont:
“The AAS statement… establishes that Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia has affirmed propositions that are heretical in the strict sense.”
– On December 2, 2017, Bishop Rene Gracida:
“Francis’ heterodoxy is now official. He has published his letter to the Argentina bishops in Acta Apostlica Series making those letters magisterial documents.”
Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church by the bishops by the grace of God.
These are only the opening days of what is supposedly the post-Trump era, and whether the country has really seen the last politically of Donald Trump is a matter that depends upon Donald Trump. The principal Trump-hate outlets are still pleased to refer to him as “the disgraced former president” but, of course, he has not been disgraced and there is no indication that he will be. All of the Democrats and about a third of Republican officeholders are engaged in an elaborate and strictly observed pretense that President Trump was a freakish and horrifying interruption of the normal, serene, bipartisan devolution of events in Washington. Like a dreadful meteor, he came and he went, pushed into the instantly forgotten past by a united effort of civilized Americans. This is only the first and most wishful phase of the Biden Administration, which, although it has shown no open recognition of the fact, owes its existence to the support of a substantial number of traditional Republicans offended by the former president’s radical ideas and comparatively uncouth political manners. They more than balanced the sharp increases President Trump achieved for the Republicans in votes from African Americans and Latinos, along with traditionally Democratic working-class voters. There appears to be a consensus to restore the traditional honeymoon for an incoming president, something that was withheld from Mr. Trump uniquely among presidents of the past century and is a useful and becoming practice to retrieve. President Biden, an admirer of Franklin D. Roosevelt, has invoked the “Hundred Days”of the profound legislative and executive reform with which FDR began his first administration in 1933 to address the most pressing aspects of the Great Depression, starting with the collapsed banking and stock and commodity exchange systems that greeted him on Inauguration Day. Roosevelt had a broad mandate to do whatever he judged necessary to arrest and reverse the economic and psychological depression that was strangling the country, and many of his imaginative measures were passed virtually without opposition and some with almost no debate. Roosevelt concluded his famous inaugural address, which opened with the assertion that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” with the following: “We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift, I take it.” What followed was a thunderous sequence of measures of relief and reform that reversed the downward economic spiral, reinvigorated the country psychologically, and provided workfare employment and income for the 30% of the workforce sidelined at a time when no direct federal assistance existed for them. Conditions are not remotely similar now. Biden has no such mandate, and with all due respect, his political circumstances, personality, culture, and qualities of leadership, are not much reminiscent of FDR. Mr. Biden’s 100 days show no sign of being particularly productive or even of being used by the new administration to present the kind of innovative legislation that poured out of the government in the early Roosevelt days. Mr. Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill only addresses the public health crisis with approximately 10% of the funds sought. No other significant legislation has been presented in the first month of these 100 days and, of course, a good deal of time and attention was frivolously squandered in the fatuous impeachment of the departed former president. While the new president has been commendably discrete in his comments about his predecessor, his partisans give little evidence of being psychologically capable of letting go of Trump-hate as a motive and preoccupation. Celebrations of his departure are not going to engage the public’s interest or satisfy its appetite for good government beyond what is left of these 100 days, if they even manage to do so until then. It should be clear by the end of April if this president is prepared to be carried along by the far-Left elements of the fragile Democratic coalition, which the informal leader of the leftist Democrats, Senator Bernie Sanders, reckons to be between 35% and 40% of the party’s supporters. Or we’ll see if Biden can firm up the traditional moderately left-of-center section of the Democrats in which he served for six terms as a senator himself and two terms as vice president. This moderate element could collaborate with Republicans and legislate sensibly in the national interest. They would do so at the likely expense of a schism among the Democrats, at least as severe and much more closely dividing that party than the present unequal contest between the anti-Trump Republicans and the majority within the GOP who support the former president. This is the fundamental problem with the theory that Trump was just a regrettable passing accident. He espouses a set of policy options that commands the adherence of approximately half the voting population. In four embattled years as president, he achieved more than any previous occupant of that office since Ronald Reagan’s comparatively tranquil two terms, and, apart from Reagan, since the highly successful first term of Richard Nixon 50 years ago. He will not be so easily dismissed and the honeymoon level of approval accorded Joe Biden — 50-odd percent, depending on the poll — will be a levitation if he doesn’t start to build a track record of genuine accomplishment. Re-entering the Paris Climate Accord, being kind to Iran’s ayatollahs, and handing a blank check to the ecological zealots while relaxing security at the southern border is no substitute for governing and doesn’t make much sense as policy, either. Words and symbolic gestures come easily but the confirmation of senior administration appointments is moving slowly and was not accelerated by the disturbingly unconvincing performance of attorney general designate Merrick Garland in front of the Senate this week. Mr. Biden will have to perform, and the immediate former president has the opposite problem: silence becomes him and comparative quiet will be adequate to maintain his approval rating amongst those who have followed him. While Mr. Trump haters will never be appeased even by the attrition of time, the 10 million or so quasi-Republicans who deserted him could be convinced by a more statesmanlike and judicious former president that they may have underestimated his virtues, especially if the Biden Administration does not gain any traction in a sensible direction. President Trump’s scheduled address to CPAC on Sunday is assured of a wide audience: those who pretend he is a spent force will be listening to him, even if secretly, more carefully than will his scores of millions of outright supporters. He now occupies the historic role of a formidable exile: Napoleon at Elba (the original Hundred Days), Roosevelt convalescing from polio, Churchill in the wilderness years, de Gaulle at Colombey, Ariel Sharon on his farm, Nixon while Vietnam boiled out of control. President Trump is a hard sell as a successor fitting seamlessly into the role of any of those, but he enjoys an immense following, and those who united to depose him are going to have to do much better than they have in the last month to maintain their coalition and prevent his successful return, if he wants to make one, and stages it carefully.
Rip McIntosh
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on President Trump’s scheduled address to CPAC on Sunday is assured of a wide audience: those who pretend he is a spent force will be listening to him, even if secretly, more carefully than will his scores of millions of outright supporters. He now occupies the historic role of a formidable exile: Napoleon at Elba (the original Hundred Days), Roosevelt convalescing from polio, Churchill in the wilderness years, de Gaulle at Colombey, Ariel Sharon on his farm, Nixon while Vietnam boiled out of control. President Trump is a hard sell as a successor fitting seamlessly into the role of any of those, but he enjoys an immense following, and those who united to depose him are going to have to do much better than they have in the last month to maintain their coalition and prevent his successful return, if he wants to make one, and stages it carefully.
NCRegister Armstrong’s Blasphemy on Naked Pachamamas: “There is a Strong case to be made that they Represent the [Naked] Blessed Virgin Mary” against the Words of Francis
Back on October 25, 2019, LifeSiteNews reported the words of Francis:
“I would like to say a word about the pachamama statues that were removed from the Church of Traspontina.” (LifeSiteNews, “Full transcript of the Pope’s comments on pagan ‘Pachamama’ statues,” October 25, 2019)
The National Catholic Register’s contributing writer Dave Armstrong (according to the journalism website muckrack.com) is in a dilemma because either he is calling his beloved Francis a liar or he is saying statues which Francis called “the pachamama statues” are not what he called them, but instead “a strong case can be made that the naked images “represent the [naked] Blessed Virgin Mary”:
“There is a strong case to be made that they [the naked images Francis called “pachamama statues”] represent the [naked] Blessed Virgin Mary.” (patheos.com/blog/davearmstrong, “‘Pachamama’ [?] Statues: Marian Veneration or Blasphemy Idolatry?,” November 5, 2019)
How dare the so-called pro-family National Catholic Register have a writer who claims the naked images Francis called “pachamama statues” can by “a strong case to be… [naked images of] the Blessed Virgin Mary.”
Maybe someone needs to organize a Catholic boycott of the National Catholic Register.
The Catholic Monitor commenter Richard W Comerford had this to say about Armstrong and his collaborator Mark Shea:
Once Mr Mark Shea (who was booted by the Register) and Mr Armstrong both wrote inspiring Catholic works. Both were unflinchingly pro-life. Then something happened?
Messrs. Shea and Armstrong now appear to hold the ordinary per-sitters in contempt. Mr Shea, once my hero, seems to have adopted the Democrat party platform.
What a waste! Hopefully i have misjudged the situation and am wrong.
God bless
Richard W Comerford [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2019/11/ncregisters-armstrongs-blasphemy-on.html]
Francis Notes:
– Doctor of the Church St. Francis de Sales totally confirmed beyond any doubt the possibility of a heretical pope and what must be done by the Church in such a situation:
“[T]he Pope… WHEN he is EXPLICITLY a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church MUST either deprive him, or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See.” (The Catholic Controversy, by St. Francis de Sales, Pages 305-306)
– LifeSiteNews, “Confusion explodes as Pope Francis throws magisterial weight behind communion for adulterers,” December 4, 2017:
The AAS guidelines explicitly allows “sexually active adulterous couples facing ‘complex circumstances’ to ‘access the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.'”
– On February 2018, in Rorate Caeli, Catholic theologian Dr. John Lamont:
“The AAS statement… establishes that Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia has affirmed propositions that are heretical in the strict sense.”
– On December 2, 2017, Bishop Rene Gracida:
“Francis’ heterodoxy is now official. He has published his letter to the Argentina bishops in Acta Apostlica Series making those letters magisterial documents.”
Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church by the bishops by the grace of God.
Hollywood’s Gun-Violence HypocrisyInstead of reflecting on its own considerable role in creating a culture of violence, Tinseltown tries to blame others.
In the wake of the horrific school shootings at Sandy Hook and Parkland, Hollywood responded with public service announcements denouncing “gun violence” and supporting gun control efforts such as the March for Our Lives rally. But in both instances, instead of doing some serious soul-searching and accepting responsibility for creating a culture of violence, prominent actors lashed out at the Second Amendment, the NRA, and Republicans. Simply observing that the Left engages in hypocrisy on this issue doesn’t go nearly far enough. The Hollywood elite and their mouthpieces have been peddling violence for decades while decrying America’s “obsession” with guns and violence. Americans have let them get away with it for too long, and we need to start calling them out for promoting the violence they sanctimoniously claim to deplore. Now that President Joe Biden is in the White House, the Left is aggressively pushing for more gun control. A report by the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action details a list of priorities that Democrats hope to realize in Biden’s first term. In order to gin up support for these efforts, the entertainment industry is hell-bent on making sure Americans know whom to blame for gun violence. As the esteemed John Lott writes, “CBS is in a full-court press for gun control on its evening entertainment television shows. The bad guys are always white supremacists who use machine guns — supposedly AR-15s — to commit mass public shootings. Criminals in Mexico supposedly get machine guns from the United States. A father’s desire to protect his family only leads to tragedy when his daughter gets into the gun safe and uses the weapon in a mass public shooting. And guns in the home pose a danger for children. Gun registration is necessary for solving crime.” The Leftmedia often claims that movies and television have no influence on the way media consumers think and act. If this were true, though, CBS and other networks wouldn’t be trying to turn their viewers into gun control advocates. Instead, they’d be producing movies and television programs with less violence. Instead, they claim, Americans just can’t get enough of what they’re selling. A position paper by the American Academy of Family Physicians concludes, “While multiple factors can lead to violent actions, a growing body of literature shows a strong association between the perpetration of violence and exposure to violence in media, digital media, and entertainment.” The paper highlights some troubling statistics when it comes to the prevalence of violence in movies, TV shows, and video games. But the push to get Biden to implement a broad anti-gun agenda isn’t going to be easy, and that’s causing some on the Left to criticize his lack of action. “Any attempt to repeal liability protections for gun manufacturers will initiate a war with Second Amendment proponents who will look to block any such proposal in court,” says Rick Moran. Fortunately, he adds, “With the Senate currently at 50-50, Biden isn’t likely to get anything done on guns.” At least not legislatively. One reason for the hesitation among some legislators is the lack of broad public support for gun restrictions. A Gallup poll this past November showed the lowest support for such onerous regulations in four years. Undeterred by this reality, Democrats are pushing Biden to use executive action to bypass the legislative process. Although censorship and cancel culture are becoming a fashionable way to silence and punish conservative viewpoints, no one is calling for the censorship of the entertainment industry. But the industry’s self-proclaimed concern over “gun violence” would carry more weight if it weren’t continuously promoting violence.
Rip McIntosh
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on Although censorship and cancel culture are becoming a fashionable way to silence and punish conservative viewpoints, no one is calling for the censorship of the entertainment industry. But the industry’s self-proclaimed concern over “gun violence” would carry more weight if it weren’t continuously promoting violence.
Awful Incivility Erupts on Left At Limbaugh’s DeathThe reaction of the Left last week to the death of Rush Limbaugh was a shocking demonstration of the incivility of current American political discourse.
Everyone remotely familiar with the American political scene is aware of what a powerhouse and pioneer Rush Limbaugh was. Anyone who knew him knows how personally gracious he was, modest and lacking in bombast and vitriol, even when discussing political figures with whom he differed sharply. He was, uniquely, no more impolite about political opponents privately than he was publicly. Rush Limbaugh was a man from modest socioeconomic origins in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and both his talk-radio format and his blend of popular songs and other entertainment with current events were ingenious and witty. His success, which gave him as many as 25 million listeners every weekday, was entirely the product of his own imagination applied to his observations of listener habits and market demographics. One would have hoped that since he was such an uplifting story of self-made personal success based on perception and hard work, his political opponents would allow him the dignity of dying in peace. From the moment his death was announced on his regular program by his widow last week, his opponents descended from all the media like the massed crows of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. He was a hardball partisan of a kind the Left is entirely familiar and comfortable with since that is a flattering description of most of their chief spokespersons and standard-bearers, though none have been nearly so successful as Rush. This incandescent envy must be a significant part of their malice. The greatest depths were plumbed by a former senator, Al Franken, in the New York Daily News on February 18. This seems to be a new and uncommonly tasteless artifact of the current anti-Trump playbook — to turn obsequies and obituaries into occasions on which the normal expectation and practice of comparatively respectful treatment of the recent dead is exploited in order to smear them with as much muck as possible. This process works both ways, as was demonstrated in the odious, elongated festival of Trump-bashing conducted under the guise of the funeral of Senator John McCain. The funeral lasted half an hour longer than the funeral of a pope, in order to accommodate the Trump-hate-filled remarks of President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. Neither of them had unlimited use for the deceased, only the pseudo-sportsmanlike regard that politicians have for politicians they have defeated, but both were happy to transform the funeral of a formidable politician and brave war veteran, at McCain’s own invitation, into a vehement diatribe against the incumbent president (in the presence of the vice president, several cabinet members, and the president’s daughter and son-in-law). It was unworthy for a man of McCain’s stature, but he wished it on himself and it did President Trump no damage. Al Franken was a professional comedian, and like many entertainers, he imagined that this equipped him to be a successful politician and legislator. He helped develop the Democratic playbook for winning delayed-result elections (which they carried to perfection in November) by narrowly defeating Senator Norm Coleman in a razor-thin, months-late finish in 2008. Mr. Franken was an unremarkable senator, but on the disclosure that he had once, while on a tour to entertain members of the armed forces overseas, jokingly placed his hands above the ample bosom of a comely, sleeping, female fellow entertainer (he neither touched nor awakened her), he was unceremoniously dumped by the Democratic congressional leadership, and on a few words from the hierarchs, he resigned. It was such a spineless capitulation to the hypocrites in the Democratic leadership that Mr. Franken practically forfeited his right to criticize a political opponent. He has since required therapy to assist him in assimilating the premature and unjustified end of his political career. I wrote at the time that he should have replied to those calling for his resignation in words inappropriate to a family-oriented column like this one, and I had considerable sympathy for him until last week (though not much respect for his fighting spirit). In his piece, Mr. Franken objected that President Trump had given Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom because previous honorees included César Chávez and Martin Luther King. The fact that Rush was one of the most astoundingly successful people in the entire history of the American media was beside the point. Mr. Franken stated that Limbaugh “created right-wing talk radio,” which is true, but not the whole truth: he created a public forum unlike any that ever existed before in the United States. He wrote that Rush was a racist because he said that Jesse Jackson looked like “all composite pictures of wanted criminals.” He should have said “many,” but he was not in fact racist at all. Mr. Franken’s proof of Rush’s homophobia was the admittedly offensive playing of the song “I’ll Never Love This Way Again” after referring to the death of a gay man from AIDS 31 years ago. Rush was on-air 15 hours a week for 40 years, and he made mistakes of judgment and often oversimplified, but he was a model of equivocation compared to a common-or-garden Trump-hater. He was not a homophobe any more than Mr. Franken is a misogynist sex maniac, as his party’s congressional leaders implied. Mr. Franken’s “proof” that Rush was sexist (which he wasn’t) was that he mocked Sandra Fluke’s demand that the Roman Catholic-affiliated Georgetown University pay for the cost of her contraceptives. The facts that Rush had his doubts about the death of assistant Clinton White House counsel Vince Foster’s being left for a week to the park police; was skeptical about global warming (which has now retreated into “climate change”); took the birther nonsense about President Obama seriously, and correctly stated that the Democrats were fomenting panic about COVID-19 for political reasons and that the presidential election results in November were, in fact, questionable in several key swing states — all of this is represented as hard proof of Rush Limbaugh’s status as a drooling, rabid conspiracy theorist. Mr. Franken falsely accused Limbaugh of likening the January 6 violence to the American Revolution. Rush’s real complaint was the silence of the Democrats through the long summer of violence across America in 2020. If he ever referred to Chelsea Clinton as “the White House dog,” that was outrageous and out of character, though similar to commonplace remarks by Democrats about the Trump family. Mr. Franken even extends his anger to the late Roger Ailes, founder of Fox News, and the proprietor Rupert Murdoch, though Mr. Murdoch had nothing to do with Limbaugh. Poor traumatized Al Franken thinks Rush, Newsmax, Breitbart, and Fox News have turned half of America into reactionary lunatics. He overlooks the tedious and inconvenient fact that 95% of the national political press and 100% of the social media are sewers of self-righteous, woke, totalitarian Trump-hate. Al Franken published a book in 1995 entitled Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations. He should have changed the name and made it an autobiography.
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After centuries of interference in the Election of the Roman Pontiff by the Emperors of Constantinople and of the Holy Roman Empire, by the military, by the Roman Nobility and by rogue Nobles of diverse parts of Italy, Pope Nicholas II decreed a historic Bull which restricted the right of election — which had from ancient times been vested by Saint Peter the Apostle in the whole Church of Rome, and subsequently to the clergy — to the Cardinal Bishops principally, and then to the other Cardinals, the rest of the Clergy and the Faithful of the Diocese of Rome. This Bull led to the formation of the institutions which we know of today as the College of Cardinals and the Conclave. Due to its crucial importance in the history of the regulation of the election of the Roman Pontiff, the FromRome.Info here presents its own English translation of the Latin Text (which can be download in PDF — the authenticity of which I have presumed from internal criteria). — Following the translation, I will give a commentary.
In Nomine Domini
In the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and Savior, in the One Thousand and Fifty-Ninth year from His Incarnation, in the month of April, in the twelfth indiction, with the sacrosant Gospels laid before Us, with the most Reverend and Blessed Pope Nicholas also presiding in the Patriarchàs Lateran Basilica, which is named the Constantinian: with the most Reverent Bishops, Abbots, Priests and Deacons sitting with him: the same Venerable Pontiff decreeing by Apostolic authority concerning the Election of the Supreme Pontiff, said:
Your Beatitude knows, most beloved Brother (Cardinals), and Co-Bishops, and it is also not hidden to inferior members ( of the clergy), that with the passing of Our predecessor, the divine Stephen, of good memory, how many adversities this Apostolic See, which I serve with God as my author, has born, and how many repeated hammers, and frequent blows, She has been subjected to through the brokers of simonaical heresy: so much, indeed, that the Column of the living God almost seemed to totter, and the net of the Fisherman, with the storms having swelled, would be driven into the depths of shipwreck to be submerged, wherefore if it please thy Brotherhood, We ought, with the God assisting, take care prudently that future cases do not occur, and this by Ecclesiastical statute, lest recurring — far be it — the evils prevail.
The Election of the Pope pertains, first of all, to the Cardinal Bishops, whoserve also as Metropolitians, the to the Cardinal Clerics, and the rest of the Clergy, and the People, only proffer their consent to the election.
§1. On which account, having been instructed by Our predecessors, and by the authority of the other Holy Fathers, We decree, and establish, that with the passing of the Pontiff of this Catholic Roman Church, first of all, the Cardinal Bishops, treating most diligently together concerning the election, summon immediately the Cardinal Clerics of Christ; and in this manner let the rest of the Clergy, and the People approach to consent to the new election taking the greatest care beforehand, lest the deadly disease of venality insinuate itself by an occasion, and for that reason let the most religious men be the chief leaders in promoting the election of the Pontiff, but the rest be their followers. Moreover, the certain and even legitimate order here of the election is carefully considered, if it be gathered from having examined the diverse rules of the Fathers, or their deeds, and even that sentence of Blessed Leo, Our predecessor: “No reason permits, that there be had among Bishops, those who have neither been elected from the Clerics, nor requested by the common people, nor consecrated by the co-provincial Bishops with the judgement of the Metropolitans; but because the Apostolic See takes precedence to all other Churches throughout the earth, for that reason She also can have over Her no Metropolitan, the Cardinal Bishops with out doubt serve instead as Metropolitans, who namely, proceed to consecrate the apex of the Apostolic brow, once elected as Bishop“.
The Pope ought to be elected from the womb of the Roman Church if one is found to be suitable, otherwise he is to be elected from another Church.
§2. Moreover, let him be elected from the very womb of the Church, if one is found to be suitable, and/or if one not be found in Her, let him be taken from another; with due honor being served, and reverence for Our beloved son, Henry, who is held as King at the present, and with God conceding hoped as the future Emperor, as We have already conceded to him, just as to the successors of him, who personally begged this right from this Apostolic See.
If the Pope cannot be elected in the City, because of obstacles, he can be elected elsewhere by the Cardinals, and by others, though few, of whom (We spoke) above.
§3. Wherefore, if the perversity of depraved, and iniquitous men, so prevail, that a pure, sincere and free election cannot be held in the City, the Cardinal Bishops with the religious Clerics, and the Catholic laity, though few, obtain the right of power (ius potestatis) to elect the Pontiff of the Apostolic See, where it might be fitting.
If the elected Pope cannot be enthroned, by these men, here, on account of obstacles, nevertheless he is a true Pope, and can rule the Roman Church, and dispose of all Her faculties.
§4. Plainly, after the election has been completed, if there be a bellicose conflict, and/or if the struggle of any kind of men resists by the earnestness of wickedness, such that he, who has been elected, cannot prevail to be enthroned in the Apostolic See according to the custom, nevertheless, the elect obtains as the true Pope the authority to rule the Roman Church, and to dispose of all Her faculties, which Blessed Gregory, We know, did, before his own consecration.
The pope elected against the form of this Decree is to be punished, as this one was, with his supporters.
§5. On which account, if anyone has been elected, or even ordained, or enthroned, against this Decree of Ours promulgated by Synodal sentence, whether through sedition, and/or presumption, or any guile, let him be cast down by the Divine Authority, and that of the Holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, by a perpetual anathema with his promoters and supporters and followers as one separated from the thresholds of the Holy Church, just as the Anti-Christ, both an invader and destroyer of the whole of Christendom, and let no audience be given him over this, but let him be deposed from every ecclesiastical grade unto whatever was before his, without any objection made, to whom if anyone whatsoever adheres, and/or exhibits any kind of reverence as to the Pontiff, or presumes to defend him in anything, let him be abandoned by equal sentence, which if anyone shows himself to be a violator of this sentence of Our Holy Decree, and has tried to confound the Roman Church by his presumption, and to raise disturbance against this Statute, let him be damned by perpetual anathema and excommunication, and let him be reputed among the impious, who shall not rise again in judgement, let him know the wrath of the Omnipotent One against him, and that of the Holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, whose Church he has presumed to fool, let him know a ravaging madness in this life and in the future; let his dwelling become deserted, and let there be no one who dwells in his tents: let his sons be orphans, and his wife a widow, let him be shaken completely to madness, and may his sons go about begging, and be cast out of their dwellings, may the money-lender ravage all his substance, and may foreigner lay waste to his labors: Let the whole world fight against him, and let all the other elements be against him, and may the merits of all the Saints resting above confound him.
For the observers of this Decree, the Pope prays for the grace of God and pardon for their sins.
§6. Moreover, let the grace of the Omnipotent One protect the observers of this Our decree, and let the authority of the Blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul absolve them from all the bonds of their sins.
COMMENTARY
Pope Nicholas II
Oh the faith and zeal of the men of God of ages past! How shining their nobility of mind, how forthright their speech, how determined their mind, how strong their justice against all wickedness, how prudent in particulars, how unbending in ideals and purpose. Many a Catholic reading of the Church in ages past has commented thus of our forebears in faith, who on account of the distance of the ages, we can assuredly count among some of our relatives of old.
What makes them so different from our own age, is that with the passing of time, and the corruption of men, the mystical body of the Antichrist has grown up inside the Church, pretending to be one of the faithful, but deceiving all, to such an extent, that the mass and number of the wicked in the Church has reached critical stage and the likeness of the monster of iniquity is taking form inside the members of the Church long dead and separated from the vital sap of Our Lord, the True Vine of the Father.
We can see openly how less a corrupt age it was, by the few precepts to be had to govern a papal election. This was not because the age knew nothing of Law. The great legal works of the Emperor Justinian and the Roman Jurist Ulpian had long before been written and studied. No, it was the rarity of the boldness of demonic impiety, which is now common day and an every day manifestation, which made this first Papal Decree on the Election of the Popes so simple and direct.
Yet, in its simplicity it shows forth several important legal institutions and principles which would characterize papal law on the election of the Roman Pontiff for the next nearly thousand years. Let us examine them in their order of appearance in the Decree.
Three Conditions for the man Elected
The Ancient and Apostolic custom of the Church of Rome was ever that three conditions prevail for the election of a Roman Pontiff: his selection by the Clergy of the City, his approval by the faithful of the city, his consecration by the Metropolitian, or what we call the suburbican Bishops, of the ecclesiastical province: the Bishop who oversaw the dioceses immediately adjacent to Rome.
This custom was the orderly application of the Apostolic Right by which the Roman Pontiff was elected from the time of the Apostle Peter’s death, and may have been suggested by the Apostle St. Paul, who ministered in the City for a year or more before his own decapitation and martyrdom.
Pope Nicholas II by this decree modifies the ancient custom and restricts the discernment and selection of the one to be elected to the Cardinal Bishops. They are then to summon the other Cardinal Clergy, the rest of the clergy of the City and all the Faithful and ask for their consent.
No Elections in secret
The wisdom of this institution prevented the usurpation of the Church by foreigners, the election of men who were unknown to the local clergy, and or who did not enjoy an honest reputation among the faithful of the city. It also prevented simony — the offering of money for votes — to some extent, since you cannot bribe everyone, and without any obligation of proceeding in secret, the motivation for voting for this one or that, would certainly come out and quickly become known to all.
Respect for Tradition
Pope Nicholas shows his respect for the Apostolic right by quoted Pope Leo the Great, who explains the manner in which the election was conducted in his age, some five centuries before, when all the clergy has the right to vote, not just the Cardinals.
Preference for a Roman
To prevent foreign influence and contro and to guarantee not only the independence of the Church of Rome but that She have a pastor who saw himself as Her shepherd by innate ties and bonds, Pope Nicholas urges the election of a man born at Rome and Roman. This hearkens back to the Old Testament where God required that the people select one of their own kin to rule over them.
Flexibility in non essentials
Pope Nicholas II shows the sanity of the medieval mind, by allowing the election under special circumstances of necessity to be conducted outside the city. There was no fixed or prescribed place for the election, and this prevented it being controlled from beforehand, as well as from being prevented or impeded in its execution.
A Man is made pope by Election, not consecration or enthronement.
Here there is a principle which comes down from at least the time of Pope Gregory the Great, namely, that the man elected Pope, from that moment becomes the pope, even if he has not yet been consecrated a Bishop and even before he is enthroned in the Lateran Basilica (the Cathedral of Rome prior to the 14th century).
Grave Sanctions for those who transgress
Finally, Pope Nicholas II imposes the most grave and extreme sanctions upon those who transgress his Law on Elections: anathema, excommunication, reduction to the state in which he was prior to the election or usurpation. And this punishment is extended to all his promoters, supporters and followers. A promoter is he who encouraged his candidacy, a supporter is he who voted for him, and a follower is he who joined his faction and vied that it prevail.
Just read n. 5 above, if you want to know how a usurper of the office of Pope should be treated for his crime. It makes you understand the moral gravity of the crime, a thing which a godless cleric has no understanding of.
Equity and Wisdom
In this Decree, one can see that Pope Nicholas II is trying to balance the different and disparate forces which were vying to control the election of the Roman Pontiff in his own age, and to place that election securely in the hands of those who could be more trusted to elect a man of God, without however, restricting the process so much as to prevent a man of God being elected. His emphasis that the holier members of the Church take a principle part in the election is a strong reminder to our own age of the folly of legislation which thinks that in the precise observance of minutiae one can guarantee holiness. For this reason, Nicholas II promulgated a law which was to have a lasting effect on papal legislation for a thousand years. May God grant the clergy of Rome a similar wisdom and courage to execute their duties before God.
Criticism
Pope Nicholas II has gone to his reward, so I will allow myself to make one criticism of his papal law, and that is this: by restricting the right to vote to Bishops alone he imposed on the Roman Church the practice which prevailed in the provinces and in the Eastern Churches. This ended up helping the papacy, in one sense, to have men who had experience in government and fiscal management, but, on the other hand, tended to restrict candidates to the class of the landed gentry. It would end the habit of popular candidates, who sometimes, not always, in the past had been men who corrected the wrongs and injustice of the landed class and returned the Apostolic See to a more evangelical road.
What if, God forbid, Pope Benedict XVI dies while the Cardinal Electors remain fast with the Antipope?
I get a lot of questions from the Catholic Faithful who hold that Benedict is still the Pope because they simply follow the norm of Canon Law, unlike the precipitous and rash College of Cardinals who did not even implement canons 40 and 41 following the Declaratio of Pope Benedicct XVI on Feb. 11, 2013. For that reason, the Cardinals are in de facto schism from Christ and His Church, because they have violated canon 359 and Universi Dominici Gregis, n. 37, by electing another Pope when there was no legal sede vacante.
For that reason many of the faithful worry that the Petrine Succession might be abolished or lost, if when Benedict dies, the Cardinals do not convene in Conclave to elect his successor. This is because, the current papal law, published in an age in which there has not be an Anti-pope for nearly 500 years, does not address what is to happen if it should be that all the Cardinal Electors who are canonically valid (appointed by Popes John Paul II or Pope Benedict XVI) omit convening in Conclave after Benedict’s death.
In such a case, whatever Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Monsignori, Priests and Deacons, who are incardinated in the Diocese of Rome or at the Vatican, remain in communion with Benedict and assemble after his death, whomsoever they elect by a simply majority will be the Pope. In such an election the laity can also participate, since the Apostolic Right pertains to the whole Church. — If Arcibishop Vigano shows at such an assembly, he would probably be surely elected.
The Church desperately needs a popular candidate for the papacy, because, as in times prior to the law of Pope Nicholas II, In Nomine Domini, the Church is need of a dire correction in its pastoral objectives and needs a reformer who will return the Faith to Her rightful queenship of governance in the Church. Pope Benedict XVI by his evangelical prudence or by mistake, has providentially prepared, perhaps, the next papal election to proceed in just such a manner.
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ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT / DEEP CALLS TO DEEP 
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