Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, the archbishop of Bologna, Italy, in a recent interview stated the following concerning societies that embrace and glorify homosexuality:
We are at the end. Europe is dying. And perhaps, it doesn’t even want to live, because no civilization has ever survived the glorification of homosexuality.
I am not speaking of the practice of homosexuality. I am speaking of the glorification of homosexuality. For various ancient peoples, homosexuality was a sacred act. The word used in Leviticus to condemn this glorification of homosexuality clothed with a sacred character in the temples and pagan rites was “abominable.”
The only two civilizations which have resisted homosexuality for thousands of years are the same that have opposed homosexuality: the Jews and Christians. Where are today’s Assyrians? Where are today’s Babylonians? And yet the Jews were merely a tribe, a “nobody” in comparison to the other political-religious societies. But the laws concerning sexual acts as we find within the book of Leviticus became the highest form of civilization [Christianity]. Hence my first thought: we are at the end… My second reflection is purely of Faith. Before such facts as these, I always ask myself: how is it possible that the mind of man be so blind to such fundamental evidence [that glorifying homosexuality leads to the destruction of society]? And I came to the conclusion: all this is literally a diabolical work. This is the last defiance which the Devil is throwing at God the Creator.
Although speaking of Europe, there can be no doubt that His Eminence’s words can certainly be applied to American society as well.
In another interview, Cardinal Caffarra spoke about a letter which he received from Sr. Lucia dos Santos of Fatima while he was charged with beginning the Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. When asked about a prophecy by Sister Lucia which concerns “the final battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan” his Eminence responded: At the start of this work entrusted to me by… John Paul II, I wrote to Sister Lucia of Fatima through her Bishop as I couldn’t do so directly. Unexplainably however, since I didn’t expect an answer, seeing that I had only asked for prayers, I received a very long letter with her signature—now in the Institute’s archives. In it we find written: “The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid,” she added, “because anyone who works for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be fought and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue.” And then she concluded: “However, Our Lady has already crushed its head.”
It seems fair to say that these two interviews should be read in conjunction with one another: his Eminence sees the clear hand of Satan in the pushing of the homosexual agenda and that the attack on marriage and the family is tied to Fatima. This should remind all of us of the importance of fulfilling in our families the desires of Our Lady as she proclaimed to the three children at Fatima in 1917, particularly the daily Rosary and the five First Saturdays.
1 rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2015/06/cardinal-what-sister-lucia-told-me.html#more.
For a number of weeks this past summer, all media outlets were abuzz with the “transformation” of former Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner into a “woman” who now wishes to be called Caitlin. Needless to say, all these worldly thinkers were praising Bruce for the courage it took to make his “transformation” a public spectacle and immediately began to call him Caitlin and use the feminine pronoun “she” when referring to him. As we well know, no amount of surgical or hormonal treatments can ever change the fact that Bruce Jenner is a male genetically and therefore can never be a female. We should also note that these “treatments” are sinful in that they are contrary to the Fifth Commandment in that they mutilate an otherwise healthy body.
While praise was being heaped upon Jenner and supporting his “choice” to live and dress as a woman even though he remains genetically a man, another news story broke concerning Rachel Dolezal, who was head of a local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) in Washington. It turns out that Dolezal is actually a Caucasian woman who made the “choice” to be black even though she is genetically white, as testified to by her parents. For a week or so, the media chose to berate this woman for masquerading as something she is not, and she was even forced to resign as head of the NAACP chapter and from some other boards of directors.
The irony and illogic of the reactions of the world to these two events is obvious to anyone using their God-given intellect. While Jenner is praised for living out his desire to live as a woman although he is genetically a male, Dolezal is ridiculed and criticized for her desire to live as a black woman although genetically a white woman. Why is Jenner praised and Dolezal maligned for effectively doing much the same thing? Simply because our society has bought whole and entire into the homosexual propaganda that seeks to destroy marriage and family life as God intended it to be and as humanity has understood it since creation.
Although Belgium had legalized euthanasia for the terminally ill a number of years ago, the European country has now widened the definition of those able to end their lives to include those who have persistent suicidal thoughts.
A 24-year-old Belgian woman who suffers from depression and has had a “death wish” since childhood has been granted the right to die—even though she’s not terminally ill.
Doctors gave approval for the woman, identified only as Laura, to be euthanized by lethal injection after she spent her life battling suicidal thoughts and has been in a psychiatric institution for the past three years. “Life, that’s not for me,” she said.
In charity, we can only hope and pray that Laura will not take the step of ending her life but this new-found “right” and that Belgium will not sink ever deeper into its godlessness whereby man himself becomes the sole arbiter of right and wrong.
On May 23, Ireland became the first country to approve homosexual “marriage” by a national referendum. The vote to amend the Irish Constitution was 62 percent in favor of the measure nationwide, while in Dublin, the nation’s capital, the favorable vote was even higher. In 1937, the Irish Constitution was adopted and contained the following preamble:
In the name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred,
We, the people of Ireland, humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial,
Gratefully remembering their heroic and unremitting struggle to regain the rightful independence of our Nation,
And seeking to promote the common good, with due observance of Prudence, Justice and Charity, so that the dignity and freedom of the individual may be assured, true social order attained, the unity of our country restored, and concord established with other nations,
Do hereby adopt, enact, and give to ourselves this Constitution…
It is hard to imagine that a nation founded in the name of the Holy Trinity and acknowledging its obligations towards our Lord Jesus Christ only 80 years ago, could so easily abandon the Faith defended through so many hardships during English persecution. There is no doubt that the abandonment of the social kingship of Jesus Christ in the years following Vatican II played a major role is bringing about this event as did the milquetoast public pronouncements of the bishops of Ireland in the weeks preceding the referendum. There was not one bishop to be found who spoke in clear terms that a vote in favor of this amendment would be sinful and that the duty of Catholics was to defeat it.
As difficult as it was to see Ireland falling into such chaos regarding true marriage and family life, the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 26 stating that homosexuals had a constitutional right to be “married” was even more jarring. The 5-4 majority decision was authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who regards himself as Catholic.
Justice Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice John Roberts both wrote dissenting opinions which pointed out the dangers of this ruling for “individuals of faith.” Both of the justices pointed out that since there is now a constitutional right to “marriage” for people of the same sex, those opposing this right could face legal action for their opposition, and churches who oppose it face losing their tax-exempt status. One can easily foresee the day when Catholic priests will face lawsuits and possibly fines and/or imprisonments if they refuse to witness the unions of homosexuals. All of us should also realize that this will not just affect clergy; many lay folk will face the same possible penalties or the loss of their employment if they refuse to go along with this clearly immoral ruling.
Unfortunately, here in the United States just as in Ireland, the bishops who issued statements were feeble in condemning this decision. Most protested the fact that this ruling would impinge upon Religious Freedom (and therefore could well hit the bishops in their pocketbooks), rather than upon the immorality encouraged by it.
At the end of June, the Vatican released the Instrumentum Laboris (i.e., working document) for the 2015 Synod. This document contains all the proposals that are to be discussed and voted upon at the Synod this October as well as summations of various ideas put forward at the Extraordinary Synod on Marriage and the Family which took place in October of 2014.
Not surprisingly, the proposal of Cardinal Kasper that the divorced and civilly remarried should be admitted to Holy Communion after some sort of penitential period is presented at length. The document also contains much of the same ambiguity of meaning found in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. Simply put, although a number of the bishops in attendance at last October’s synod made it clear that this proposal is clearly contrary to the teaching of our Lord and the perennial Tradition of the Church, this October will bring another attempt to make Kasper’s proposal a “pastoral solution” for the divorced and civilly remarried. We must also recall that Raymond Cardinal Burke, who was one of the strongest critics of this so-called “pastoral solution,” will not be present at the synod this October since he was removed from his post as Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura by Pope Francis at the end of 2014.
The document does pay “lip service” to the Traditional understanding of marriage, but at the same time goes on to propose pastoral practices which are directly contrary to the dogma presented. Although Cardinal Kasper’s “solution” did not pass with the required two-thirds majority during last October’s Extraordinary Synod there is every reason to think that it may well do so this October.