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The Ecumenical Movement, which at the time was operating at full blast already among Protestants, but was of course rejected by the Catholic Church.
At the same time, recognizing that a lot of Protestants were evidently of goodwill in their desire to see those who want to follow Christ united,
the Vatican under Pope Pius XII wanted to take the opportunity to reach those Protestants,
make them recognize their error,
and show them that the unity and truth they are looking for exists already and only in the Roman Catholic Church,
the only true church founded by Jesus Christ.
And so in early 1950, the Holy Office, of which Pius XII himself was the head,
released a document to all the world's diocesan bishops instructing them on what is and is not permissible,
with regard to meeting with Protestants and discussing religion.
The document is called Ecclesia Catholica and has been translated into English and can be found on the EWTN website.
I'm including a link to it in the notes for this podcast.
Anyway, here are some excerpts from it, and as you listen, I'd like you to ask yourself
if this sounds like anything the Vatican would put out today.
And if not, instead, today's Vatican has been promoting the very errors condemned in this document.
Here we go.
Quote,
Some of the initiatives that have hitherto been taken by various individuals or groups
with the aim of reconciling dissident Christians to the Catholic Church,
although inspired by the best of intentions, are not always based on right principles,
or, if they are,
yet they are not free from special dangers, as experience, too, has already shown.
Hence, this supreme sacred congregation, which has the responsibility of conserving in its entirety
and protecting the deposit of the faith, has seen fit to recall to mind and to prescribe the following.
And here I'm going to skip ahead a little.
As regards the manner and method of proceeding in this work,
the bishops,
the bishops themselves will make regulations as to what is to be done and what is to be avoided,
and shall see that these are observed by all.
They shall also be on guard, lest on the false pretext,
that more attention should be paid to the points on which we agree
than to those on which we differ,
a dangerous indifferentism be encouraged,
especially among persons whose transgressions,
training in theology, is not deep,
and whose practice of their faith is not very strong.
For care must be taken, lest,
in the so-called ironic spirit of today,
through comparative study and the vain desire for a progressively closer mutual approach
among the various professions of faith,
Catholic doctrine, either in its dogmas or in the truths which are connected with them,
be so conformed or in a way adapted to the doctrines of dissident sects
that the purity of Catholic doctrine be impaired
or its genuine and certain meaning be obscured.
Also, they must restrain that dangerous manner of speaking
which generates false opinions and fallacious hopes
incapable of realization, for example,
to the effect that the teachings of the encyclicals
of the Roman pontiffs on the return of dissidents to the Church,
on the constitution of the Church,
on the mystical body of Christ,
should not be given too much importance,
seeing that they are not all matters of faith,
or, what is worse, that in matters of dogma,
even the Catholic Church has not yet attained the fullness of Christ,
but can still be perfected from outside.
They shall take,
with particular care,
and shall firmly insist,
that in going over the history of the Reformation
and the Reformers,
the defects of Catholics be not so exaggerated,
and the faults of the Reformers be so dissimulated,
or that things which are rather accidental
be not so emphasized,
that what is most essential,
namely the defection from the Catholic faith,
be scarcely any longer seen or felt.
Finally, they shall take precautions,
lest through an excessive and false external activity,
or through imprudence and an excited manner of proceeding,
the end in view be rather harmed than served.
Therefore, the whole and entire Catholic doctrine
is to be presented and explained.
By no means is it permitted to pass over in silence,
or to veil in ambiguous terms,
the Catholic truth regarding the nature and way of justification,
the constitution of the Church,
the primacy of jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff,
and the only true union by the return of the dissidents
to the one true Church of Christ.
It should be made clear to them
that in returning to the Church
they will lose nothing of that good
which by the grace of God,
by the grace of God,
has hitherto been implanted in them,
but that it will rather be supplemented
and completed by their return.
However, one should not speak of this
in such a way that they will imagine
that in returning to the Church
they are bringing to it something substantial
which it has hitherto lacked.
It will be necessary to say these things clearly and openly,
first, because it is the truth
that they themselves are seeking,
secondly,
and moreover,
because outside the truth
no true union can ever be attained.
Unquote.
The document is dated December 20th, 1949,
but it was not published until January 31st, 1950.
There really isn't a whole lot to say here.
It's pretty self-explanatory, isn't it?
Vatican II and the Postconciliar Magisterium
have overridden,
overthrown the traditional Catholic doctrine.
Because, notice,
Pius XII is appealing to doctrine here.
This is not simply about discipline.
The only way true union can be attained
is by the conversion of Protestants to Catholicism.
And that is a matter of doctrine, he says.
And isn't it interesting
that with all the disagreements
that the difference,
different parties in the ecumenical movement today have,
the one thing they all agree on,
including the Vatican, especially,
is that the eventual conversion
of the non-Catholics to Catholicism
is definitely and explicitly
not the goal of ecumenism.
And that tells you all you need to know.
All right, moving on.
As we all know,
the Jesuit apostate,
Jorge Bergoglio,
better known by his stage name,
Pope Francis,
has a staggering amount of profound wisdom
to share with humanity.
And that is exactly what he did
this past June 13th
in an audience with participants
in the General Chapter of the Missionaries of Africa.
He told them,
quote,
The Apostle of Jesus Christ
is not one who proselytizes.
Evangelical proclamation
has been a great help to him.
Evangelical proclamation
has been a great help to him.
And that is exactly what he did this past June 13th in an audience with participants in the General Chapter of the Missionaries of Africa.
to do with proselytism.
Unquote.
Oh, really?
Well, let's see.
What do we find, for example,
in the Acts of the Apostles?
Do we find the apostles and disciples
preaching Jesus Christ
and his gospel,
answering objections and arguing
with Jews and Gentiles?
Or do we find them only
practicing encounter
and feeding the poor,
or promoting sustainable asthmas?
agriculture and caressing the unemployed and all that, until people start asking them,
oh my goodness, why are you even doing this? Can you tell me more about your religion?
Because that's kind of how Francis approaches this. So, let's see. If we look at chapter 2,
verses 22 through 36, we find St. Peter, the first pope, preaching in clear words the gospel
of Jesus Christ, exhorting the people to recognize Jesus of Nazareth as the true messiahs
and the son of God who was raised from the dead after they crucified him. And you know what
happened? The people converted. Verse 37 says, now when they had heard these things, they had
compunction in their heart and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, what shall we do,
men and brethren?
And you know what Peter told them? He gave them very specific, very clear instructions. He said,
do penance and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. That's verse 38. And then,
and this is my favorite part, St. Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, tells us,
they therefore that received his word were baptized, and they were added in that day
about 3,000 souls. And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles and in the
communication of the breaking of bread and in prayers. That's Acts 2, verses 41 and 42.
Why is that significant? Because it mentions two things that Francis either detests,
or doesn't care much about. First, St. Luke counts the number of souls who were converted.
That's a complete no-no for Francis, who considers that triumphalism, you know,
treating converts like a trophy. He mentioned that in his chat with Jesuits in Mozambique on
September 5th, 2019. And second, St. Luke says that these converts persevered in the doctrine,
of the apostles. Can you imagine? In other words, they rigidly clung to certainties.
Can't have that with Bergoglio, you know, because the faith is an encounter.
And remember when he said that being a Christian is not about adhering to a doctrine? Yeah,
he said that. That was March 31st, 2019 in Morocco. You can look it up.
St. Luke says that they were not adhering to a doctrine.
St. Luke says that they were not adhering to a doctrine. Yeah, he said that. That was March 31st,
2019 in Morocco. You can look it up. Of course, the faith is not adhering to a doctrine.
The very first thing that identifies and distinguishes a Christian is his creed,
the doctrine he professes. Baptism too, of course, but baptism is only a one-time event,
and one can cease to be a Christian, a Catholic, even though baptized, right? So, the faith is
crucial. Of course, you also have to live the faith, certainly in order to be saved. But even
if you're in mortal sin, you have to live the faith. You have to live the faith. You have to
As long as you continue to profess the true faith, that is what makes you a Christian,
a Catholic. And that is dogma, per the Council of Trent. Quote,
If anyone shall say that he who has faith without charity is not a Christian, let him be anathema.
Unquote. That's Session 6, Canon 28. You can find it in Denzinger 838. Now, there are, of course,
some additional nuances, such as excommunication and so on, but we don't need to get into all that
here now. My point is simply that Francis was speaking nonsense when he said that being a
Christian is not about adhering to a doctrine. That is exactly what it's about. Now, to get
back to the issue of proselytism, the Acts of the Apostles also tell us that St. Paul reasoned with
the people he sought to convert. That's right. He preached, he taught, argued, debated, refuted,
all that. It wasn't just soup kitchens and encounter. We find that in Acts 17, where we
read things such as, And for three Sabbath days he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.
That's verse 2. And also Acts 18, for example, in verse 4,
where we read,
And likewise, in verse 19,
And in that chapter, we also read of a certain convert from Judaism named Apollo who preached
the gospel. And in verse 18,
Now, could you imagine the Novus Ordo Vatican doing that, evangelizing the Jews like that,
trying to share with them, very charitably, of course, the evidence that Jesus of Nazareth is
indeed the Messiah that their own Old Testament points to?
And then refuting their objections. Could you imagine?
Instead, they've got this dumb ecumenical office that says there's no mission to the Jews and that
the old law is still valid for them. It's an abomination. So, clearly, the Vatican does not
approve of the type of proselytism that we find in the Acts of the Apostles. If they did,
they would imitate it.
Now, Francis, by the way, added the following in his words to the missionaries of Africa.
Quote,
If at any point one of you finds himself proselytizing, please stop, convert, and then
continue. Unquote. See, he does want conversion after all. The conversion of those who proselytize.
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