Vigano thread: light vs dark, spiritual vs secular

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The renegade Catholic clerics who shamefully backed Trump's Big Lie (opinion) Opinion by Paul Moses 4 days ago

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During the two days before the January 6 riot in the Capitol, numerous far-right websites carried an interview with a Catholic archbishop who warned that the United States would be "wiped out from history" if it failed to expose "now" what his interviewer called "the coordinated theft of our election." Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Vatican ambassador to the United States, is a renegade cleric best known for calling for Pope Francis' resignation. He is the most prominent of a group of Catholic clergymen who joined evangelical Protestant figures in the religious wing of the "Stop the Steal" movement. Given the role of Catholics as a swing vote — and as 30% of the members of Congress — these far-right clerics have played an important role in supporting President Donald Trump's Big Lie that he won the 2020 presidential election. Video messages from Viganò, Bishop Joseph Strickland of the Tyler diocese in east Texas, and the Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, were featured in the December 12 "Jericho March" called "to preserve fair and free elections in America." Viganò's role is particularly troubling. He invokes his position as an archbishop, "Successor of the Apostles," and former top Vatican official to claim apostolic authority to indulge in conspiracy.

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The march's publicity release listed Viganò as the headliner for that rally, along with retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser Trump pardoned. From a jumbo video screen on the National Mall, Viganò said he prayed that "order will triumph over destruction," telling the crowd, "We are the silent army of the children of light, the humble ranks who overthrow evil by invoking God, the praying army that walks around the walls of lies and betrayal in order to bring them down."

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We have seen the deep state organize itself, well in advance, to carry out the most colossal electoral fraud in history, in order to ensure the defeat of the man who has strenuously opposed the establishment of the New World Order that is wanted by the children of darkness," he wrote. "In this battle, you have not failed, as is your sacred duty, to make your own contribution by taking the side of the Good. Others, enslaved by vices or blinded by infernal hatred against Our Lord, have taken the side of Evil." Though he is on the run from papal authority, the archbishop invoked his status as "Successor of the Apostles" to make statements such as this one in an October open letter to Trump: "Around you are gathered with faith and courage those who consider you the final garrison against the world dictatorship." He also plays on the piety of devout Catholics by frequently invoking the Blessed Mother in support of his fantasies.

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Has it ever occurred to you that in the unlikely event you are correct, it doesn’t matter?

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Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, from the College of Cardinals

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The Continuing Scandal of the McCarrick Doctrine
By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) |

Nov 30, 2020

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Students of Catholic moral teaching discover what the most simple of faithful Catholics intuitively know. There is an impressive, coherent, logical unity to God’s law as we know it through Church teaching. Failures of vigilance and strict adherence to principle quickly shatter that unity. The scandal of Theodore McCarrick’s fall extends beyond his sexual crimes. It continues with an immoral policy legacy that continues to influence the hierarchy.

The history of the “McCarrick Doctrine” is a study of ecclesiastical mendacity. In June of 2004, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sent a letter to then-Cardinal McCarrick and then-Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The instruction was in the context of dealing with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, a Catholic whose positions on abortion contradict church teachings. The Ratzinger letter affirms that denial of Communion is obligatory “regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia.” Cardinal Ratzinger also wrote that a priest should warn “the person in question” of the consequences, including the denial of Communion. If “the person in question, with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it.” Of course, Ratzinger was merely explicating Canon Law: “Those…obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion” (Can. 915). Catholic politicians like Kerry back then—and Biden (and many others) today—unambiguously fit the description.

Cardinal McCarrick, misrepresenting the Ratzinger letter, responded, “The question for us is not simply whether denial of Communion is possible, but whether it is pastorally wise and prudent.” As a result, during the meeting of the USCCB that year, the bishops voted 183-6 to approve a compromise statement allowing each bishop to decide whether to give Communion to “pro-choice” politicians. Bishop Gregory—who also received the letter—clearly agreed with McCarrick at the time, as he does today.

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Massacre ‘of 750’ reported in Aksum church complex, Tigray, Ethiopia
by REBECCA PAVELEY 15 JANUARY 2021

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REPORTS of a massacre of 750 people in the cathedral complex that reputedly houses the Ark of the Covenant have emerged from the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Accounts have come from those who fled the town of Aksum and walked more than 200km to the regional capital, Mekelle.

The massacre was first reported in dispatches from the Belgium-based NGO European External Programme with Africa (EEPA). The area is sealed off to journalists, but many reports of massacres have nevertheless emerged, some of which have been documented by Amnesty International. The former BBC World Service Africa editor and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Martin Plaut, said that those who escaped the Aksum massacre had reported that the attack began after Ethiopian federal troops and Amhara militia approached the Church of St Mary of Zion.

Up to 1000 people were believed to be sheltering in the church complex. One of the chapels, the Chapel of the Tablet, is believed by Ethiopian Christians to contain the Ark of the Covenant, which is hidden from the view of everyone, apart from a single priest who never leaves the compound. Mr Plaut said: “People were worried about the safety of the Ark, and when they heard troops were approaching feared they had come to steal it. All those inside the cathedral were forced out into the square.”

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The Ark is believed by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians to have been hidden in Aksum by Menelik I, the son of King Solomon of Israel. The kingdom of Aksum was one of the four great powers of the ancient world, and the town of Aksum is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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