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Statement on the Motu Proprio "Traditionis Custodes" - By Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke |
Posted by: Stone - 07-23-2021, 07:29 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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An argument against Pope Francis' motu proprio - from the Conciliar perspective:
Statement on the Motu Proprio "Traditionis Custodes" - By Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke
on July 22, 2021
Gloria.tv | JUL 23, 2021
Many faithful – laity, ordained and consecrated – have expressed to me the profound distress which the Motu Proprio «Traditionis Custodes» has brought them. Those who are attached to the Usus Antiquior (More Ancient Usage) [UA], what Pope Benedict XVI called the Extraordinary Form, of the Roman Rite are deeply disheartened by the severity of the discipline which the Motu Proprio imposes and offended by the language it employs to describe them, their attitudes and their conduct. As a member of the faithful, who also has an intense bond with the UA, I fully share in their sentiments of profound sorrow.
As a Bishop of the Church and as a Cardinal, in communion with the Roman Pontiff and with a particular responsibility to assist him in his pastoral care and governance of the universal Church, I offer the following observations:
1. In a preliminary way, it must be asked why the Latin or official text of the Motu Proprio has not yet been published. As far as I know, the Holy See promulgated the text in Italian and English versions, and, afterwards, in German and Spanish translations. Since the English version is called a translation, it must be assumed that the original text is in Italian. If such be the case, there are translations of significant texts in the English version which are not coherent with the Italian version. In Article 1, the important Italian adjective, “unica”, is translated into English as “unique”, instead of “only.” In Article 4, the important Italian verb, “devono”, is translated into English as “should”, instead of “must.”
2. First of all, it is important to establish, in this and the following two observations (nos. 3 and 4), the essence of what the Motu Proprio contains. It is apparent from the severity of the document that Pope Francis issued the Motu Proprio to address what he perceives to be a grave evil threatening the unity of the Church, namely the UA. According to the Holy Father, those who worship according to this usage make a choice which rejects “the Church and her institutions in the name of what is called the ‘true Church’,” a choice which “contradicts communion and nurtures the divisive tendency … against which the Apostle Paul so vigorously reacted.”
3. Clearly, Pope Francis considers the evil so great that he took immediate action, not informing Bishops in advance and not even providing for the usual vacatio legis, a period of time between the promulgation of a law and its taking force. The vacatio legis provides the faithful and especially the Bishops time to study the new legislation regarding the worship of God, the most important aspect of their life in the Church, with a view to its implementation. The legislation, in fact, contains many elements that require study regarding its application.
4. What is more, the legislation places restrictions on the UA, which signal its ultimate elimination, for example, the prohibition of the use of a parish church for worship according to the UA and the establishment of certain days for such worship. In his letter to the Bishops of the world, Pope Francis indicates two principles which are to guide the Bishops in the implementation of the Motu Proprio. The first principle is “to provide for the good of those who are rooted in the previous form of celebration and need to return in due time to the Roman Rite promulgated by Saints Paul VI and John Paul II.” The second principle is “to discontinue the erection of new personal parishes tied more to the desire and wishes of individual priests than to the real need of the ‘holy People of God’.”
5. Seemingly, the legislation is directed to the correction of an aberration principally attributable to the “the desire and wishes” of certain priests. In that regard, I must observe, especially in the light of my service as a Diocesan Bishop, it was not the priests who, because of their desires, urged the faithful to request the Extraordinary Form. In fact, I shall always be deeply grateful to the many priests who, notwithstanding their already heavy commitments, generously served the faithful who legitimately requested the UA. The two principles cannot help but communicate to devout faithful who have a deep appreciation and attachment to the encounter with Christ through the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite that they suffer from an aberration which can be tolerated for a time but must ultimately be eradicated.
6. From whence comes the severe and revolutionary action of the Holy Father? The Motu Proprio and the Letter indicate two sources: first, “the wishes expressed by the episcopate” through “a detailed consultation of the bishops” conducted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2020, and, second, “the opinion of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.” Regarding the responses to the “detailed consultation” or “questionnaire” sent to the Bishops, Pope Francis writes to the Bishops: “The responses reveal a situation that preoccupies and saddens me, and persuades me of the need to intervene.”
7. Regarding the sources, is it to be supposed that the situation which preoccupies and saddens the Roman Pontiff exists generally in the Church or only in certain places? Given the importance attributed to the “detailed consultation” or “questionnaire,” and the gravity of the matter it was treating, it would seem essential that the results of the consultation be made public, along with the indication of its scientific character. In the same way, if the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was of the opinion that such a revolutionary measure must be taken, it would seemingly have prepared an Instruction or similar document to address it.
8. The Congregation enjoys the expertise and long experience of certain officials – first, serving in the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei and then in the Fourth Section of the Congregation – who have been charged to treat questions regarding the UA. One must ask whether the “opinion of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith” reflected the consultation of those with the greatest knowledge of the faithful devoted to the UA?
9. Regarding the perceived grave evil constituted by the UA, I have a wide experience over many years and in many different places with the faithful who regularly worship God according to the UA. In all honesty, I must say that these faithful, in no way, reject “the Church and her institutions in the name of what is called the ‘true Church’.” Neither have I found them out of communion with the Church or divisive within the Church. On the contrary, they love the Roman Pontiff, their Bishops and priests, and, when others have made the choice of schism, they have wanted always to remain in full communion with the Church, faithful to the Roman Pontiff, often at the cost of great suffering. They, in no way, ascribe to a schismatic or sedevacantist ideology.
10. The Letter accompanying the Motu Proprio states that the UA was permitted by Pope Saint John Paul II and later regulated by Pope Benedict XVI with “the desire to foster the healing of the schism with the movement of Mons. Lefebvre.” The movement in question is the Society of Saint Pius X. While both Roman Pontiffs desired the healing of the schism in question, as should all good Catholics, they also desired to maintain in continuance the UA for those who remained in the full communion of the Church and did not become schismatic. Pope Saint John Paul II showed pastoral charity, in various important ways, to faithful Catholics attached to the UA, for example, granting the indult for the UA but also establishing the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, a society of apostolic life for priests attached to the UA. In the book, Last Testament in his own words, Pope Benedict XVI responded to the affirmation, “The reauthorization of the Tridentine Mass is often interpreted primarily as a concession to the Society of Saint Pius X,” with these clear and strong words: “This is just absolutely false! It was important for me that the Church is one with herself inwardly, with her own past; that what was previously holy to her is not somehow wrong now” (pp. 201-202). In fact, many who presently desire to worship according to the UA have no experience and perhaps no knowledge of the history and present situation of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X. They are simply attracted to the holiness of the UA.
11. Yes, there are individuals and even certain groups which espouse radical positions, even as is the case in other sectors of Church life, but they are, in no way, characteristic of the greater and ever increasing number of faithful who desire to worship God according to the UA. The Sacred Liturgy is not a matter of so-called “Church politics” but the fullest and most perfect encounter with Christ for us in this world. The faithful, in question, among whom are numerous young adults and young married couples with children, encounter Christ, through the UA, Who draws them ever closer to Himself through the reform of their lives and cooperation with the divine grace which flows from His glorious pierced Heart into their hearts. They have no need to make a judgment regarding those who worship God according to the Usus Recentior (the More Recent Usage, what Pope Benedict XVI called the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite) [UR], first promulgated by Pope Saint Paul VI. As one priest, member of an institute of the consecrated life, which serves these faithful, remarked to me: I regularly confess to a priest, according to the UR, and participate, on special occasions, in the Holy Mass according to the UR. He concluded: Why would anyone accuse me of not accepting its validity?
12. If there are situations of an attitude or practice contrary to the sound doctrine and discipline of the Church, justice demands that they be addressed individually by the pastors of the Church, the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops in communion with him. Justice is the minimum and irreplaceable condition of charity. Pastoral charity cannot be served, if the requirements of justice are not observed.
13. A schismatic spirit or actual schism are always gravely evil, but there is nothing about the UA which fosters schism. For those of us who knew the UA in the past, like myself, it is a question of an act of worship marked by a centuries-old goodness, truth and beauty. I knew its attraction from my childhood and indeed became very attached to it. Having been privileged to assist the priest as a Mass Server from the time when I was ten years old, I can testify that the UA was a major inspiration of my priestly vocation. For those who have come to the UA for the first time, its rich beauty, especially as it manifests the action of Christ renewing sacramentally His Sacrifice on Calvary through the priest who acts in His person, has drawn them closer to Christ. I know many faithful for whom the experience of Divine Worship according to the UA has strongly inspired their conversion to the Faith or their seeking Full Communion with the Catholic Church. Also, numerous priests who have returned to the celebration of the UA or who have learned it for the first time have told me how deeply it has enriched their priestly spirituality. This is not to mention the saints all along the Christian centuries for whom the UA nourished an heroic practice of the virtues. Some have given their lives to defend the offering of this very form of divine worship.
14. For myself and for others who have received so many powerful graces through participation in the Sacred Liturgy, according to the UA, it is inconceivable that it could now be characterized as something detrimental to the unity of the Church and to its very life. In this regard, it is difficult to understand the meaning of Article 1 of the Motu Proprio: “The liturgical books promulgated by Saint Paul VI and Saint John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, are the only (unica, in the Italian version which seemingly is the original text) expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.” The UA is a living form of the Roman Rite and has never ceased to be so. From the very time of the promulgation of the Missal of Pope Paul VI, in recognition of the great difference between the UR and the UA, the continued celebration of the Sacraments, according to the UA, was permitted for certain convents and monasteries and also for certain individuals and groups. Pope Benedict XVI, in his Letter to the Bishops of the World, accompanying the Motu Proprio «Summorum Pontificum», made clear that the Roman Missal in use before the Missal of Pope Paul VI, “was never juridically abrogated and, consequently, in principle, was always permitted.”
15. But can the Roman Pontiff juridically abrogate the UA? The fullness of power (plenitudo potestatis) of the Roman Pontiff is the power necessary to defend and promote the doctrine and discipline of the Church. It is not “absolute power” which would include the power to change doctrine or to eradicate a liturgical discipline which has been alive in the Church since the time of Pope Gregory the Great and even earlier. The correct interpretation of Article 1 cannot be the denial that the UA is an ever-vital expression of “the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.” Our Lord Who gave the wonderful gift of the UA will not permit it to be eradicated from the life of the Church.
16. It must be remembered that, from a theological point of view, every valid celebration of a sacrament, by the very fact that it is a sacrament, is also, beyond any ecclesiastical legislation, an act of worship and, therefore, also a profession of faith. In that sense, it is not possible to exclude the Roman Missal, according to the UA, as a valid expression of the lex orandi and, therefore, of the lex credendi of the Church. It is a question of an objective reality of divine grace which cannot be changed by a mere act of the will of even the highest ecclesiastical authority.
17. Pope Francis states in his letter to the Bishops: “Responding to your requests, I take the firm decision to abrogate all the norms, instructions, permissions and customs that precede the present Motu proprio, and declare that the liturgical books promulgated by the saintly Pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, constitute the unique [only] expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.” The total abrogation in question, in justice, requires that each individual norm, instruction, permission and custom be studied, to verify that it “contradicts communion and nurtures the divisive tendency … against which the Apostle Paul so vigorously reacted.”
18. Here, it is necessary to observe that the reform of the Sacred Liturgy carried out by Pope Saint Pius V, in accord with the indications of the Council of Trent, was quite different from what happened after the Second Vatican Council. Pope Saint Pius V essentially put in order the form of the Roman Rite as it had existed already for centuries. Likewise, some ordering of the Roman Rite has been done in the centuries since that time by the Roman Pontiff, but the form of the Rite remained the same. What happened after the Second Vatican Council constituted a radical change in the form of the Roman Rite, with the elimination of many of the prayers, significant ritual gestures, for example, the many genuflections, and the frequent kissing of the altar, and other elements which are rich in the expression of the transcendent reality – the union of heaven with earth – which is the Sacred Liturgy. Pope Paul VI already lamented the situation in a particularly dramatic way by the homily he delivered on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul in 1972. Pope Saint John Paul II labored throughout his pontificate, and, in particular, during its last years, to address serious liturgical abuses. Both Roman Pontiffs, and Pope Benedict XVI, as well, strove to conform the liturgical reform to the actual teaching of the Second Vatican Council, since the proponents and agents of the abuse invoked the “spirit of the Second Vatican Council” to justify themselves.
19. Article 6 of the Motu Proprio transfers the competence of institutes of the consecrated life and societies of apostolic life devoted to the UA to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. The observance of the UA belongs to the very heart of the charism of these institutes and societies. While the Congregation is competent to respond to questions regarding the canon law for such institutes and societies, it is not competent to alter their charism and constitutions, in order to hasten the seemingly desired elimination of the UA in the Church.
There are many other observations to be made, but these seem to be the most important. I hope that they may be helpful to all the faithful and, in particular, to the faithful who worship according to the UA, in responding to the Motu Proprio «Traditionis Custodes» and the accompanying Letter to the Bishops. The severity of these documents naturally generates a profound distress and even sense of confusion and abandonment. I pray that the faithful will not give way to discouragement but will, with the help of divine grace, persevere in their love of the Church and of her pastors, and in their love of the Sacred Liturgy.
In that regard, I urge the faithful, to pray fervently for Pope Francis, the Bishops and priests. At the same time, in accord with can. 212, §3, “[a]ccording to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they possess, they have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons.” Finally, in gratitude to Our Lord for the Sacred Liturgy, the greatest gift of Himself to us in the Church, may they continue to safeguard and cultivate the ancient and ever new More Ancient Usage or Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke
Rome, 22 July 2021
Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, Penitent
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Novena in Honor of St. Anne |
Posted by: Stone - 07-22-2021, 07:17 AM - Forum: Novenas
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Traditional St. Anne Novena
Typically July 18th - July 26th
Traditional St. Anne Novena - Day 1
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Great Saint Anne, engrave indelibly on my heart and in my mind the words that have reclaimed and sanctified so many sinners:
“What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world if he lose his own soul?” May this be the principal fruit of these prayers by which I will strive to honor you during this novena.
At your feet, renew my resolution to invoke you daily, not only for the success of my temporal affairs and to be preserved from sickness and suffering, but above all, that I may be preserved from all sin, that I may gain eternal salvation and that I will receive the special grace of…
(State your intention here.)
O most powerful Saint Anne, do not let me lose my soul, but obtain for me the grace of heaven, there with you, your blessed spouse, and your glorious daughter, to sing the praise of the Most Holy and Adorable Trinity forever and ever.
Amen.
Pray for us, Saint Anne!
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Traditional St. Anne Novena - Day 2
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Glorious Saint Anne, how can you be anything other than overflowing with tenderness toward sinners like me, since you are the grandmother of Him who shed His blood for us, and the mother of her whom the saints call advocate of sinners? To you, therefore, I address my prayers with confidence.
Vouchsafe to commend me to Jesus and Mary so that, at your request, I may be granted remission of my sins, perseverance, the love of God, charity for all mankind, and the special grace of…
(State your intention here.)
…for which I stand in need at the present time. O most powerful protectress, let me not lose my soul, but pray for me that through the merits of Jesus Christ and the intercession of Mary, I may have the great happiness of seeing them, of loving and praising them with you through all eternity.
Amen.
Pray for us, Saint Anne!
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Traditional St. Anne Novena - Day 3
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Beloved of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, mother of the Queen of Heaven, take us and all who are dear to us under your special care. Obtain for us the virtues you instilled in the heart of her who was destined to become Mother of God, and the graces with which you were endowed. O model of Christian womanhood, pray that we may imitate your example in our homes and families. Please listen to our petitions,
(State your intention here.)
Guardian of the infancy and childhood of the most Blessed Virgin Mary, obtain the graces necessary for all who enter the marriage state, that by imitating your virtues, they may sanctify their homes and lead the souls entrusted to their care to eternal glory. Amen.
Pray for us, Saint Anne!
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Traditional St. Anne Novena - Day 4
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Glorious Saint Anne, I kneel in confidence at your feet, for you also have tasted the bitterness and sorrow of life. My need, the cause of my request, is…
(State your intention here.)
Good Saint Anne, you who did suffer much during the twenty years that preceded your glorious maternity, I beseech you, by all your sufferings and humiliations, to grant my prayer.
I pray to you, through your love for your glorious spouse Saint Joachim, through your love for your immaculate child, through the joy you felt at the moment of her happy birth, not to refuse me. Bless me, bless my family and all who are dear to me, so that someday, we may all be with you in the glory of heaven, for all eternity.
Amen.
Pray for us, Saint Anne!
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Traditional St. Anne Novena - Day 5
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Great Saint Anne, how far I am from resembling you. I so easily give way to impatience and discouragement; and so easily give up praying when God does not at once answer my request. Prayer is the key to all heavenly treasures and I cannot pray, because my weak faith and lack of confidence fail me at the slightest delay. O my powerful protectress, come to my aid, listen to my petition…
(State your intention here.)
Make my confidence and fervor, supported by the promise of Jesus Christ, increase as the trial to which God, in His goodness, subjects me is prolonged, that I may obtain, like you, more than I can venture to ask for. In the future I will remember that I am made for heaven and not for earth; for eternity and not for time; that consequently I must ask, above all, for the salvation of my soul.
Amen.
Pray for us, Saint Anne!
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Traditional St. Anne Novena - Day 6
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Glorious Saint Anne, mother of the Mother of God, I beg for your powerful intercession for the freedom from my sins and the assistance I need in my troubles…
(State your intention here.)
What can I not hope for if you deign to take me under your protection? The Most High has been pleased to grant the prayers of sinners, whenever you have been charitable enough to be their advocate.
Therefore, I beg you to help me in all spiritual and temporal dangers; to guide me in the true path of Christian perfection, and finally to obtain for me the grace of a happy death, so that I may contemplate your beloved Jesus and daughter, Mary, in your loving companionship throughout all eternity.
Amen.
Pray for us, Saint Anne!
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Traditional St. Anne Novena - Day 7
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
O Good Saint Anne, so justly called the mother of the infirm, the cure for those who suffer from disease, look kindly upon the sick for whom I pray.
Alleviate their sufferings; cause them to sanctify their sufferings by patience and complete submission to the Divine Will; finally, deign to obtain health for them and with it, the firm resolution to honor Jesus, Mary, and yourself by the faithful performance of duties.
But, merciful Saint Anne, I ask you above all for the salvation of my soul, rather than bodily health, for I am convinced that this fleeting life is given to us solely to assure us a better one. I cannot obtain that better life without the help of God’s graces. I earnestly beg for them from you for the sick and for myself, and especially for the petition for which I am making in this novena…
(State your intention here.)
…through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, through the intercession of His Immaculate Mother, and through your efficacious and powerful mediation, I pray.
Amen.
Pray for us, Saint Anne!
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Traditional St. Anne Novena - Day 8
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Remember, O Saint Anne, you whose name signifies grace and mercy, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, and sought your intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto you, good, and kind mother; I take refuge at your feet, burdened with the weight of my sins. O holy mother of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, despise not my petition…
(State your intention here.)
…but hear me and grant my prayer.
Amen.
Pray for us, Saint Anne!
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Traditional St. Anne Novena - Day 9
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Most holy mother of the Virgin Mary, glorious Saint Anne, I, a miserable sinner, confiding in your kindness, choose you today as my special advocate. I offer all my interests to your care and maternal solicitude. O my very good mother and advocate, deign to accept me and to adopt me as your child.
O glorious Saint Anne, I beg you, by the passion of my most loving Jesus, the Son of Mary, your most holy daughter, to assist me in all the necessities both of my body and my soul. Venerable Mother, I beg you to obtain for me the favor I seek in this novena…
(State your intention here.)
…and the grace of leading a life perfectly conformed to all things of the Divine Will. I place my soul in your hands and in those of your kind daughter. I ask for your favor in order that, appearing under your patronage before the Supreme Judge, He may find me worthy of enjoying His Divine Presence in your holy companionship in Heaven.
Amen.
Pray for us, Saint Anne & Saint Joachim, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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July 22nd - St. Mary Magdalen |
Posted by: Stone - 07-22-2021, 06:49 AM - Forum: July
- Replies (2)
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July 22 – St Mary Magdalene
“Three Saints,” said our Lord to St. Bridget of Sweden, “have been more pleasing to me than all others: Mary my mother, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalene.” The Fathers tell us that Magdelene is a type of the Gentile Church called from the depth of sin to perfect holiness; and indeed, better than any other, she personifies both the wanderings and the love of the human race, espoused by the Word of God. Like the most illustrious characters of the law of grace, she has her antitype in past ages. Let us follow the history of this great penitent as traced by unanimous tradition: Magdalene’s glory will not be thereby diminished.
When, before all ages, God decreed to manifest his glory, he willed to reign over a world drawn from nothing; and as his goodness was equal to his power, he would have the triumph of supreme love to be the law of that kingdom which the Gospel likens unto a king who made a marriage for his son.
Passing over the pure intelligences whose nine choirs are filled with divine light, the immortal Son of the King of ages looked down to the extreme limits of creation; there he beheld human nature, made indeed to know God, but acquiring that knowledge laboriously; its weakness would better show his divine condescension: with it, then, he chose to contract his alliance.
Man is flesh and blood: so the Son of God would be made Flesh; he would not have Angels, but men for his brothers. He, that in heaven is the Splendor of his Father, and on earth the most beautiful of the sons of men, would draw the human race with the cords of Adam. In the very act of creation he sealed his espousals by raising man to the supernatural state of grace, and placing him in the Paradise of expectation.
Alas! the human race knew not how to await her Bridegroom even in the shades of Eden. Cast out of the garden of delights, she prostituted to vain idols in the groves what was left her of her glory. For she had much beauty still, the gift of her Spouse, though she had profaned it: Thou wast perfect through my beauty, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.
God would not suffer his love to be defeated. Leaving humanity at large to walk in the ways of folly, he chose out a single people, sprung from a holy stock, to be the guardian of his promises. Coming forth from Egypt and from the midst of a barbarous nation, this people was consecrated to God, and became his inheritance. In the person of Balaam, the ancient Bride saw Israel pass through the desert, and filled with admiration at the glory of the Lord dwelling with him in his tent, her heart for a moment beat with bridal love. I shall see him, she cried in her transport, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near. From those wild heights whence the Spouse would one day call her, she hailed the Star that was to rise out of Jacob, and predicted the ruin of the Hebrew people who had supplanted her for a time.
Too soon was this sublime ecstasy followed by still more culpable wanderings! How long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering daughter? Know thou, and see, that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God. But the ages are passing, the night will soon be over, and the day-star will arise, the sign of the Bridegroom gathering the nations. Let him lead thee into the wilderness and there he will speak to thy heart. Thy rival knows not how to be a queen; the alliance of Sinai has produced but a slave. The Bridegroom still waits for his Bride.
At length the hour came: bending the heavens, he was made sin for sinful men; and hidden under the servile garb of mortals, he sat down to table in the house of the proud Pharisee. The haughty Synagogue, who would neither fast with John, nor rejoice with Christ, was now to see God justifying the delays of his merciful love. “Let us not, like Pharisees,” says St. Ambrose, “despise the counsels of God. The sons of Wisdom are singing: listen to their voices, attend to their dances; it is the hour of the nuptials. Thus sang the Prophet when he said: Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus.”.
And behold a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that he sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment; and standing at his feet, she began to wash his feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. “Who is this woman? Without doubt it is the Church,” answers St. Peter Chrysologus in his 95th Sermon, “the Church, weighed down and stained with sins committed in the city of this world. At the news that Christ has appeared in Judea, that he is to be seen at the banquet of the Pasch, where he bestows his mysteries and reveals the divine Sacrament, and makes known the secret of salvation: suddenly she darts forward; despising the endeavors of the Scribes to prevent her entrance, she confronts the princes of the Synagogue; burning with desire she penetrates into the Sanctuary, where she finds him whom she seeks, betrayed by Jewish perfidy even at the banquet of love; not the passion, nor the Cross, nor the tomb can check her faith, or prevent her from bringing her perfumes to Christ.”
Who but the Church knows the secret of this perfume? asks Paulinus of Nola with Ambrose of Milan; the Church, whose numberless flowers have all aromas; the Church, who exhales before God a thousand sweet odors aroused by the breath of the Holy Spirit, viz., the virtues of nations and the prayers of the Saints. Mingling the perfume of her conversion with her tears of repentance, she anoints the feet of her Lord, honoring in them his Humanity. Her faith, whereby she is justified, grows equally with her love: soon the Head of the Spouse, that is, his Divinity, receives from her the homage of the full measure of pure and precious spikenard, to wit, the consummate holiness, whose heroism goes so far as to break the vessel of mortal flesh by the martyrdom of love, if not by that of tortures.
Arrived at the height of the mystery, she forgets not even there those sacred feet, whose contact delivered her from the seven devils representing all vices; for to the heart of the Bride, as in the bosom of the Father, her Lord is still both God and Man. The Jew, who would not own Christ either for head or foundation, found no fragrant oil for his head, nor even water for his feet; she, on the contrary, pours her priceless perfume over both. And while the sweet odor of her perfect faith fills the earth, now become by the victory of that faith the house of the Lord, she continues to wipe her Master’s feet with her beautiful hair, i.e., her countless good works and her ceaseless prayer. The growth of this mystical hair requires all her care here on earth; and in heaven its abundance and beauty will call forth the praise of him who jealously counts, without losing one, all the works of his Church. Then from her own head, as from that of her Spouse, will the fragrant unction of the Holy Spirit overflow even to the skirt of her garment.
Thou despisest, O Pharisee, the poor woman weeping with love at the feet of thy divine Guest whom thou knowest not; but “I would rather,” cries the solitary of Nola, “be bound up in her hair at the feet of Christ, than be seated with thee near Christ, yet without him.” Happy sinner to be, both in her life of sin and that of grace, the figure of the Church, even so far as to have been foreseen and announced by the Prophets. For such is the teaching of St. Jerome and St. Cyril of Alexandria; while Venerable Bede, gathering up, according to his wont, the traditions of his predecessors, does not hesitate to assert that “what Magdalene once did, remains the type of what the whole Church does, and of what every perfect soul must ever do.”
We can well understand the predilection of the Man-God for this soul, whose repentance from such a depth of misery manifested so fully, from the outset, the success of his mission, the defeat of Satan, and the triumph of Divine love. While Israel was expecting from the Messias nought but perishable goods, when the very Apostles, including John the beloved, were looking for honors and first places, she was the first to come to Jesus for himself alone, and not for his gifts. Eager only for pardon and love, she chose for her portion those sacred feet, wearied in the search after the wandering sheep: here was the blessed altar whereon she offered to her Divine Deliverer as many holocausts of herself, says St. Gregory, as she had had vain objects of complacency. Henceforth her goods and her person were at the disposal of Jesus; the rest of her life was to be spent sitting at his feet, contemplating the mysteries of his life, gathering up his every word, following his footsteps as he preached the Kingdom of God. How swiftly, in the light of her humble confidence, did she outstrip the Synagogue and the very just themselves! The Pharisee might be indignant, her sister might complain, the Apostles might murmur: Mary held her peace; but Jesus spoke for her, as if his Sacred Heart were hurt by the least word said against her. At the death of Lazarus the Master had to call her from the mysterious repose wherein even then she was seated; her presence at the tomb was of more avail than the whole college of Apostles and the crowd of Jews. One word from her, though already said by Martha who had arrived first, was more powerful than all the words of the latter; her tears made the Man-God weep, and drew from him that groan which he uttered before recalling the dead man to life—that divine trouble of a God overcome by his creature. Oh truly, for others as well as for herself, for the world as well as for God, Mary has chosen the better part, which shall not be taken from her.
In all that we have said, we have but linked together the testimonies of a veneration universally consistent. But the homage of all the Doctors together cannot compare with the honor which the Church pays to the humble Magdalene, when she applies to the Queen of heaven on her glorious Assumption day the Gospel words first uttered in praise of the justified sinner. Albert the Great assures us that, in the world of grace as well as in the material creation, God has made two great lights, to wit two Marys, the Mother of our Lord, and the sister of Lazarus: the greater, which is the Blessed Virgin, to rule the day of innocence; the lesser, which is Mary the penitent beneath the feet of that glorious Virgin, to rule the night by enlightening repentant sinners. As the moon by its phases points out the feast days on earth, so Magdalene in heaven gives the signal of joy to the Angels of God over one sinner doing penance. Does she not also share with the Immaculate One the name of Mary, Star of the sea, as the Churches of Gaul sang in the Middle Ages, recalling how, though one was a Queen and the other a handmaid, both were causes of joy to the Church: the one being the Gate of salvation, the other the messenger of the Resurrection?
On that great Easter day, Magdalene, like a morning star, announced the rising of the Son of Justice, who was never more to set. “Woman,” said Jesus to her, “why weepest thou? Thou art not mistaken.” He seemed to say, “It is, indeed, the Divine Gardener speaking to thee, the same that planted Eden in the beginning. But now dry thy tears; in this new garden, whose center is an empty tomb, Paradise is restored; the Angels no longer close the entrance; here is the Tree of Life, which has borne fruit these three days past. This Fruit, which thou, O woman, art eager, as of old, to seize and taste, belongs to thee now by right: for thou art no longer Eve but Mary. If thou art bidden not to touch It yet, it is because, as thou wouldst not heretofore taste the fruit of death thyself alone, thou mayest not now enjoy the Fruit of Life till thou bring back to him that was first lost through thee.” Thus by the wisdom and mercy of our God, woman is raised to a higher dignity than before the Fall. Magdalene, to whom woman is indebted for this glorious revenge, has hence obtained in the Church’s litanies the place of honor above even the virgins; as John the Baptist precedes the whole army of the Saints on account of his privilege of being the first witness to our salvation. The testimony of the penitent completes that of the Precursor: on the word of John the Church recognized the Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world; on the word of Magdalene (q.v. the Sequence for Easter) she hails the Spouse triumphant over death. And judging that by his last testimony, Catholic belief is put in full possession of the entire cycle of mysteries; she today intones the immortal symbol which she deemed premature for the feast of Zachary’s son.
O Mary! how great didst thou appear before heaven at that solemn moment when, before the world knew aught of the triumph of life, our Emmanuel the conqueror said to thee: Go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God. Thou didst represent us Gentiles, who were not to obtain possession of our Lord by faith, till after his ascension into heaven. These brethren, to whom the Man-God sent thee, were doubtless those privileged men whom he had called to know him during his mortal life, and to whom thou, O apostle of the Apostles, hadst to announce the mystery of the Pasch; and yet, in his loving mercy, the Divine Master intended to show himself that same day to many of them; and both thou and they were soon to be witnesses of his triumphant Ascension. Is it not evident that thy mission, O Magdalene, though addressed to the immediate disciples of our Lord, was to extend much further both in space and time? As her entered into his glory, the Conqueror of death already beheld these brethren filling the whole earth. It is of them he had said in the Psalm: I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the Church will I praise thee; in the midst of a people that shall be born which the Lord hath made. It is of them and of us, the generation to come, to whom the Lord was to be declared, that he said to thee: Go to my brethren and say to them: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and your God. Thou didst come, and thou comest continually, fulfilling thy mission towards the disciples, and saying to them: I have seen the Lord, and these things he said to me.
Thou camest, O Mary, when our West beheld thee, treading the rocks of Provence with thine apostolic feet, whose beauty Cyril of Alexandria admires. There seven times a day, raised on Angels’ wings towards the Spouse, thou didst point out more eloquently than any speech could do, the way he took, the way the Church must follow by her desires, until she is reunited with him forever. Thou didst prove that the apostolate in its highest reach does not depend on words. In heaven the Seraphim, and Cherubim, and Thrones gaze unceasingly upon the Eternal Trinity, without so much as glancing at this world of nothingness; and nevertheless, it is through them that pass the strength and light and love which the heavenly messengers in the lower hierarchies distribute to us on earth. Thus, O Magdalene, though thou clingest ever to the sacred feet which are now not denied to thy love, and thy life is unreservedly absorbed with Christ in God, thou seemest more than any other to be always saying to us: If ye be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.
O thou, whose choice, so highly approved by our Lord, has revealed to the world the better part, obtain that that portion may be ever appreciated in the Church as the better, viz., that divine contemplation which begins here on earth the life of heaven, and which in its fruitful repose is the source of all the graces spread by the active ministry throughout the world. Death itself does not take away that portion, but assures its possession forever, and makes it blossom into the full, direct vision. May he that has received it from the gratuitous goodness of God never strive to dispossess himself of it! “Happy house,” says the devout St. Bernard, “blessed assembly, where Martha complains of Mary! But how indignant we should be if Mary were jealous of Martha!” And St. Jude tells us the awful judgment of the Angels who kept not their principality, the familiar friends of God who forsook their own habitation. Keep up in religious families established by their fathers on heights that touch the clouds the sense of their inborn nobility: they are not made for the dust and noise of the plain; and did they come down to it, they would injure both the Church and themselves. By remaining what they are, they do not, any more than thou, O Magdalene, become indifferent to the lost sheep; but they take the surest of all means for purifying the earth and drawing souls to God.
From thy church at Vézelay thou didst look down one day upon a vast multitude eagerly receiving the cross; they were about to undertake that immortal Crusade, not the least glory whereof is to have supernaturalized the sentiments of honor in the hearts of those Christian warriors armed for the defense of the holy Sepulchre. A similar lesson was given to the world at the beginning of the nineteenth century: Napoleon, intoxicated with power, would raise to himself and his army a Temple of glory; before the building was completed he was swept away, and the temple was dedicated to thee. O Mary! bless this last homage of thy beloved France, whose people and princes have always surrounded with deepest veneration thy hallowed retreat at Sainte Baume, and thy church at Saint Maximin, where rest thy precious relics. In return, teach them and teach us all, that the only true and lasting glory is to follow with thee in his ascensions him who once sent thee to us, saying, Go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God!
During the different seasons of the year Holy Church inserts in their proper places, as so many precious pearls, the various passages of the Gospel relating to St. Mary Magdalene; for the particulars of her life after the Ascension we are referred to the feast of her sister, St. Martha, which we shall keep in a week’s time. To the liturgical pieces already given in praise of St. Magdalene we add the following ancient Sequence, well known in the churches of Germany, to which we subjoin a Responsory and the Collect of the feast from the Roman Breviary:
Sequence
Laus tibi, Christe, qui es creator et redemptor, idem et salvator,
Praise be to thee, O Christ, Creator, Redeemer, and Savior,
Cœ, terræ, maris, angelorum et hominum,
Of heaven and earth and seas, of Angels and of men,
Quem solum Deum confitemur et hominem.
Whom we confess to be both God and Man,
Qui peccatores venisti ut salvos faceres,
Who didst come in order to save sinners,
Sine peccato peccati assumens formulam.
Thyself without sin, taking the appearance of sin.
Quorum de agrege, ut Chananæam, Mariam visitasti Magdalenam.
Among this poor flock, thou didst visit the Chanaanite woman and Mary Magdalene.
Eadem mensa Verbi divini illam micis, hanc refovens poculis.
From the same table thou didst nourish the one with the crumbs of the Divine Word, the other with thy inebriating cup.
In domo Simonis leprosi conviviis accubans typicis,
While thou art seated at the typical feast in the house of Simon the Leper,
Murmurat pharisæus, ubi plorat fœmina criminis conscia.
The Pharisee murmurs, while the woman weeps conscious of her guilt.
Peccator contemnit compeccantem, peccati nescius, pœnitentem exaudis, emundas fœdam, adamas, ut pulchram facias.
The sinner despises his fellow sinner; thou, sinless One, hearest the prayer of the penitent, cleansest her from stains, lovest her so as to make her beautiful.
Pedes amplectitur dominicos, lacrymis lavat, tergit crinibus, lavando, tergendo, unguento unxit, osculis circuit.
She embraces the feet of her Lord, washes them with her tears, dries them with her hair; washing and wiping them, she anoints them with sweet ointment, and covers them with kisses.
Hæc sunt convivia, quæ tibi placent, o Patris Sapientia.
Such, O Wisdom of the Father, is the banquet that delights thee!
Natus de Virgine qui non dedignaris tangi de peccatrice.
Though born of a Virgin, thou dost not disdain to be touches by a sinful woman.
A pharisæo es invitatus, Mariæ feculis saturatus.
The Pharisee invited thee, but it is Mary that gives thee a feast.
Multum dimittis multum, amanti, nec crimen postea repetenti.
Thou forgivest much to her that loves much, and that falls not again into sin.
Dæmoniis eam septem mundas septiformi Spiritu.
From seven devils dost thou free her by thy sevenfold Spirit.
Ex mortuis te surgentem das cunctis videre priorem.
To her, when thou risest from the dead, thou showest thyself first of all.
Hac, Christe, proselytam signas Ecclesiam, quam ad filiorum mensam vocas alienigenam.
By her, O Christ, thou dost designate the Gentile Church, the stranger whom thou callest to the children’s table;
Quam inter convivia legis et gratiæ spernit pharisæi fastus, lepra vexat hæretica.
Who, at the feast of the Law and at the feast of grace, is despises by the pride of Pharisees, and harassed by leprous heresy.
Qualis sit su scis, tangit te quia peccatrix, quia veniæ optatrix.
Thou knowest what manner of woman she is; it is because she is a sinner that she touches thee, and because longs for pardon.
Quidnam haberet segra, si non accepisset, si non medicus adesset?
What could she have, poor sick one, without receiving it, and without the physician assisting her!
Rex regnum dives in omnes, nos salva, peccatorum tergens cuncta crimina, sanctorum apes et gloria.
O King of kings, rich unto all, save us, wash away all the stains of our sins, O thou, the hope and glory of the Saints.
Responsory
Congratulamini mihi, omnes qui diligitis Dominum; quia quam quærebam apparuit mihi: * Et dum flerem ad monumentum, vidi Dominum meum, alleluia.
Congratulate me, all ye that love the Lord; for he whom I sought appeared to me: * and while I wept at the tomb, I saw my Lord, Alleluia.
℣. Recedentibus discipulis, non recedebam, et amoris ejus igne succensa, ardebam desiderio. * Et dum.
℣. When the disciples withdrew, I did not withdraw, and being kindles with the fire of his love, I burned with desire. * And while.
Prayer
Beatæ Mariæ Magdalenæ quæsumus Domine, suffragiis adjuvemur: cujus precibus exoratus quatriduanum fratrem Lazarum vivum ab inferis resuscitasti. Qui vivis.
We beseech thee, O Lord, that we may be helped by the intercession of blessed Mary Magdalene, entreated by whose prayers thou didst raise up again to life, her brother Lazarus, who had been dead four days. Who livest, etc.
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Archbishop Viganò: Vaccines made with fetal tissue are a ‘human sacrifice offered to Satan' |
Posted by: Stone - 07-21-2021, 03:42 PM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Archbishop Viganò: Vaccines made with fetal tissue are a ‘human sacrifice of innocent victims offered to Satan’
'The most innocent and defenseless creature, the baby in the womb in the third month of gestation, is sacrificed and dismembered in order to extract tissue from his still palpitating body with which to produce a non-cure, a non-vaccine, which not only does not heal from the virus, but in all likelihood causes a greater percentage of death than Covid itself, especially in the elderly or those who are sick.'
July 21, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, in a foreword to a book on the problem of the coronavirus vaccine, decries the satanic nature of this vaccine using tissue of aborted babies in its production and testing. For this Italian prelate, the vaccine is a tool of the globalist ideology which is “anti-human, anti-religious, and antichristic.”
Viganò sees that “abortion is proposed by the Satanists as a true and proper religious rite,” arguing that in this Satanic world view, through an abortion-tainted vaccine, one becomes a member of the Satanic anti-church. He writes that Satan claims, “through the pharmaceutical companies that use fetal tissue from abortions to manufacture a so-called vaccine that is presented in the delirium of Covid-19 as a sacrament of salvation by which one is incorporated into the ‘mystical body’ of Satan, the globalist anti-church.”
Mors Tua Vita Mea (Your death is my life) is the title of the Italian book on the abortion-tainted coronavirus vaccines to which Archbishop Viganò has contributed a foreword (see excerpts of it in English translation below). Edited by Professor Massimo Viglione, the book contains essays also by Bishop Athanasius Schneider and LifeSite’s editor-in-chief John-Henry Westen. Its subtitle is: “The End Does Not Justify the Means.”
For Archbishop Viganò, there is no doubt that coronavirus vaccines can never justify the killing of unborn babies. On the contrary, this vaccine seems to be used as a means to getting us more and more used to the killing of babies for the sake of humanity. He states:
Quote:...we cannot fail to see how instrumental it [the vaccine] is, precisely in its “mystical” value, to the collective acceptance of human sacrifice as normal and indeed necessary: the most innocent and defenseless creature, the baby in the womb in the third month of gestation, is sacrificed and dismembered in order to extract tissue from his still palpitating body with which to produce a non-cure, a non-vaccine, which not only does not heal from the virus, but in all likelihood causes a greater percentage of death than Covid itself, especially in the elderly or those who are sick.
Below is the excerpt of Archbishop Viganò's foreword to the book Mors Tua Vita Mea, published with kind permission by Professor Massimo Viglione:
Quote:Aures habent, et non audient. Ps 113
The barbarism in which our society finds itself is now evident: its values have been gradually erased as hateful vestiges of an extinct world, to the advantage of the delusions of globalist ideology, which shows itself to be ever more anti-human, anti-religious, and antichristic. The most antithetical principle of this infernal barbarism with respect to Christian civilization is infanticide, the human sacrifice of innocent victims offered to Satan; and despite the horror of seeing it brazenly admitted, we cannot be surprised if abortion is proposed by the Satanists as a true and proper religious rite, to which protection must be given in the name of freedom of worship. The ancient pagan rituals – omnes dii gentium demonia, says the Psalm – live again today in the sacrificial offering that unfortunate mothers believe can be claimed as a right.
If the firstborn of Israel belong to the Lord, the simia Dei demands much more of the firstborn and even claims them through the pharmaceutical companies that use fetal tissue from abortions to manufacture a so-called vaccine that is presented in the delirium of Covid-19 as a sacrament of salvation by which one is incorporated into the “mystical body” of Satan, the globalist anti-church. On the other hand, the “liturgical” connotation of the pandemic intentionally echoes signs and symbols proper to the True Religion in such a way as to deceive even the simple and push them to conform to a collective cult that exempts them from making decisions independently and binds them to an uncritical obedience. We cannot forget the funeral processions of military trucks, the contradictory and intolerant attitude of the Covid priests, the health magisterium of the “experts,” the inquisition against the denier “heretics,” and the fideistic adherence to the most grotesque superstitions passed off as science by virologist sorcerers and television vestals.
The gene serum that is called a vaccine, as scientists and specialists have very well demonstrated and as its producers themselves admit, does not guarantee immunity; it does not rule out serious short-term and long-term side effects; it is not effective against certain variants of Covid; it does not eliminate the need for masks and social distancing; in the majority of cases the number of positive tests increases, and so media terrorism and the tightening of containment measures also increases. Proposed as a panacea, the so-called “vaccine” has turned out only to be the source of enormous, scandalous profits for Big Pharma and, at the same time, serves as a pretext to impose health passports and other systems for controlling the masses and limiting natural liberties.
But alongside this obvious uselessness of the “vaccine” – a uselessness that any doctor not subservient to the system would have considered from the beginning, since the Corona viruses are susceptible to mutation – we cannot fail to see how instrumental it is, precisely in its “mystical” value, to the collective acceptance of human sacrifice as normal and indeed necessary: the most innocent and defenseless creature, the baby in the womb in the third month of gestation, is sacrificed and dismembered in order to extract tissue from his still palpitating body with which to produce a non-cure, a non-vaccine, which not only does not heal from the virus, but in all likelihood causes a greater percentage of death than Covid itself, especially in the elderly or those who are sick.
But who are the mothers who, denying their very nature, agree to kill their own child? The majority of them are women in their first pregnancy, unaware of the horror they are about to commit and the remorse that will accompany them forever. Here are the first-born to be consecrated to Satan: the children of unfortunate mothers and spoiled girls, who discover what it means to be mothers precisely in not wanting to be so, instead perverting their femininity by reducing it to a bargaining chip or an instrument of ephemeral enjoyment, in the name of rights which they claim for themselves but which they permit themselves to deny to the creatures they carry in their womb. The non serviam repeats itself inexorably every time the obedience of the fiat is refused and the will of the Almighty is rebelled against.
In abortion, Satan achieves the greatest injury to God: he offends Him as Creator, making the mother the murderer of her own child; he offends Him as Lord, usurping the right of life and death over innocent creatures and claiming the right to violate the Fifth Commandment with impunity; he offends Him as Redeemer, nullifying the fruits of Christ's Passion for creatures killed without the grace of Baptism; he offends Him as Father, while also vilifying the Sacred Maternity of the Most Holy Virgin.
Great confusion reigns in this painful phase of the history of the Church: the inaction or abuse of the authority of the Hierarchy, along with the betrayal of so many false pastors and mercenaries, does not help to dispel the confusion of the faithful, and indeed the Shepherds even feed the confusion with partial, discordant and contradictory directions. In this too we can realize the gravity of the situation, and how much the defection of the Pastors is a necessary premise for the establishment of the kingdom of the Antichrist. If the Pope and the Bishops had a minimum of fear of God, they would not try to justify with unworthy sophistry a vaccine that in order to be produced requires stem cells obtained from voluntarily aborted fetuses. The pretium sanguinis would be enough to make them not even take it into consideration, but perhaps among the beneficiaries of that pretium there are also Prelates who care more about the hypocritical praise of the enemies of Christ than the heroic witness of the Faith. [...]
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Opinion: Hints That Employers May Be Able to Require Vaccinations |
Posted by: Stone - 07-21-2021, 09:18 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Hints That Employers May Be Able to Require Vaccinations
Can employers make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory?
A judge has just ruled that universities can require students be vaccinated. In this case the judge was ruling on a lawsuit brought by some Indiana University students. He ruled that the Constitution does not guarantee the right to attend a university. He said that students could choose to attend another school without such a requirement, or could choose not to attend at all. But he was clear that no Constitutional right to attend university exists. As a matter of interest, he was a Trump appointee.
https://www.fox7austin.com/news/judge-ru...ents-staff
I have opined previously that I believe employers will be able to mandate vaccines, and I further stated that there are legal reasons which may make it prudent that they do so. Laws and regulations may change on this going forward.
My reasoning is as follows:
Laws require an employer keep a safe workplace. If an employer allows unvaccinated employees in, and they spread the virus, and someone is injured and/or dies, the employer is almost automatically likely to be deemed guilty for failing to keep a safe workplace. I would not like to be in that employer’s shoes if that happens. As a business owner, I hated risk, and did almost everything possible to minimize it. Balancing risk versus reward was my most important job.
So, given what a believe is a real risk to the employer if it allows unvaccinated employees, the question becomes, can an employer mandate employees be vaccinated? I suggest the likely answer to that is yes, because:
1) there is no Constitutional right to employment. As above re universities, the employee can go elsewhere.
2) at will employment exists most everywhere, and requiring vaccination does not seem to be in violation of the at will exceptions, to my knowledge.
3) in my experience, courts are hesitant to involve themselves in situations where the employer claims there actions are to ensure a safe workplace. Courts do not have expertise to overrule employers in these matters, and they also do not like injecting themselves in the running of business.
4) employers have broad authority to mandate workplace safety process and procedure. They are rarely overridden in this when establishing requirements, generally only when failing to to do so.
Each employer will have to evaluate their risks. Many will unable to survive an exodus of employees, which will have a heavy weighting in their decisions. Others, especially owners of small businesses, may have great appetite for risk. Some older business owners may well not take any such risk, as they could not have time to recover their loss. Some will decide that the risk of losing employees and the costs thereof may be bearable but a catastrophic claim for a workplace death would not, and treat it like insurance costs: pay a smaller sum to insure against a minuscule chance of a catastrophic claim.
It will be interesting to see which way big business goes on this. The large, left leaning woke businesses would seem to be likely candidates to mandate the so called vaccines.
But based on what we have seen to date re the university ruling, which will likely be appealed, I expect that employers will legally be able to mandate their employees be vaccinated.
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Only vaccinated allowed during Pope’s Slovakia visit in September |
Posted by: Stone - 07-21-2021, 07:25 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Spiritual]
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Only vaccinated allowed during Pope’s Slovakia visit
Pope Francis delivers the Sunday Angelus prayer from the window of his study overlooking St. Peter' Square on July 18, 2021
in his first public appearance at the Vatican since undergoing surgery earlier this month.
GMA | July 20, 2021
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Only fully vaccinated faithful will be allowed to attend public events during Pope Francis's visit to Slovakia, officials said on Tuesday, according to Slovak media reports.
"We have been informed that from a security point of view and in terms of technical possibilities, this is the only real way not to radically limit the number of participants," Stanislav Zvolensky, archbishop of Bratislava, was quoted as saying.
Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky said the aim was to "enable as many people... as possible to participate."
The pope has been vaccinated and has urged people to get the jab, calling opposition to vaccines "a suicidal denial."
The pope has also called for vaccines to be shared with the poorest countries in the world, saying they were "an essential tool" in the fight against the pandemic.
Francis has said he will visit Slovakia from September 12 to 15 after a brief stop in Hungary to celebrate a Mass in Budapest.
Francis's visit to Slovakia will include the cities of Bratislava, Presov, Kosice and Sastin, the Vatican has said. — Agence France-Presse
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July 21st - St. Praxedes |
Posted by: Stone - 07-21-2021, 07:13 AM - Forum: July
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July 21 – Saint Praxedes, Virgin
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger (1841-1875)
On this day Pudentiana’s angelic sister at length obtained from her Spouse release from bondage, and from the burden of exile that weighed so heavily on this last scion of a holy and illustrious stock. New races, unknown to her fathers when they laid the world at the feet of Rome, now governed the Eternal City. Nero and Domitian had been actuated by a tyrannical spirit; but the philosophical Cæsars showed how absolutely they misconceived the estinies of the great city. The salvation of Rome lay in the hands of a different dynasty: a century back, Praxedes’ grandfather, more legitimate inheritor of the traditions of the Capitol than all the Emperors present or to come, hailed in his guest, Simon Bar-Jona, the ruler of the future. Host of the Prince of the Apostles was a title handed down by Pudens to his posterity: for in the time of Pius I, as in that of St. Peter, his house was still the shelter of the Vicar of Christ. Left the sole heiress of such traditions, Praxedes, after the death of her beloeved sister, converted her palaces into Churches, which resounded day and night with divine praises, and where pagans hastened in crowds to be baptized. The policy of Antoninus respected the dwelling of a descendant of the Cornelii; but his adopted son, Marcus Aurelius, would make no such exception. An assault was made upon the title of Praxedes, and many Christians were taken and put to the sword. The virgin, overpowered with grief at seeing all slain around her, and herself untouched, turned to God and besought him that she might die. Her body was laid with those of her relatives in the cemetery of her grandmother, Priscilla. The following is the short notice given by the Church:
Quote:Praxedes was a Roman virgin and sister of the virgin Pudentiana. When the Emperor Marcus Antoninus persecuted the Christians, she devoted both her time and her wealth to consoling them, and doing them every charitable service in her power. Some she concealed in her house: others she encouraged to firmness of faith. She buried the dead, and saw that those who were imprisoned wanted for nothing. But at length being unable to bear the grief caused by such a wholesale butchery of the Christians, she prayed God, that if it were expedient for her to die he would take her away from so much evil. Her prayer was heard, and on the 12th of the Calends of August, she was called to heaven, to receive the reward of her charity. Her body was buried by the priest Pastor in the tomb where lay her father and her sister Pudentiana, in the cemetery of Priscilla, on the Salarian Way.
Mother Church is ever grateful to thee, O Praxedes! Thou hast long been in the enjoyment of thy divine spouse, and still thou continuest the traditions of thy noble family, for the benefit of the Saints on earth. When, in the eighth and ninth centuries, the martyrs, exposed to the profanations of the Lombards, were raised from their tombs and brought within the walls of the eternal City, Paschal I sought hospitality for them, where Peter had found it in the first century. What a day was that 20th of July 817, when, leaving the Catacombs, 2300 of these heroes of Christ came to seek in the title of Praxedes the repose which the barbarians had disturbed! What a tribute Rome offered thee, O Virgin, on that day! Can we do better than unite our homage with that of this glorious band, coming on the day of thy blessed feast, thus to acknowledge thy benefits? Descendant of Pudens and Priscilla, give us thy love of Peter, thy devotedness to the Church, thy zeal for the Saints of God, whether militant still on earth or already reigning in glory.
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July 20th - Sts. Saint Jerome Æmilian and Margaret of Antioch |
Posted by: Stone - 07-21-2021, 07:05 AM - Forum: July
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July 20 – Saint Jerome Æmilian, Confessor
Sprung from the powerful aristocracy which won for Venice twelve centuries of splendor, Jerome came into the world when that city had reached the height of its glory. At fifteen years of age he became a soldier; and was one of the heroes in that formidable struggle wherein his country withstood the united powers of almost all Europe in the League of Cambrai. The golden city, crushed for a moment, but soon restored to her former condition, offered her honors to the defender of Castelnovo, who like herself had fallen bravely and risen again. But our Lady of Tarviso had delivered him from his German prison, only to make him her own captive; she brought him back to the city of St. Mark, there to fulfil a higher mission than the proud Republic could have entrusted to him. The descendant of the Æmiliani, captivated, as was Lawrence Justinian a century before, by Eternal Beauty, would now live only for the humility which leads to heaven, and for the lofty deeds of charity. His title of nobility will be derived from the obscure village of Somascha, where he will gather his newly recruited army; and his conquests will be the bringing of little children to God. He will no more frequent the palaces of his patrician friends, for he now belongs to a higher rank: they serve the world, he serves heaven; his rivals are the Angels, whose ambition, like his own, is to preserve unsullied for the Father the service of those innocent souls whom the greatest in heaven must resemble.
“The soul of the child,” as the Church tells us today by the golden mouth of St. John Chrysostom, “is free from all passions. He bears no ill will towards them that have done him harm, but goes to them as friends just as if they had done nothing. And though he be often beaten by his mother, yet he always seeks her and loves her more than any one else. If you show him a queen in her royal crown, he prefers his mother clad in rags, and would rather see her unadorned than the queen in magnificent attire; for he does not appreciate according to riches or poverty, but by love. He seeks not for more than is necessary, and as soon as he has had sufficient milk he quits the breast. He is not oppressed with the same sorrows as we, nor troubled with care for money and the like; neither is he rejoiced by our transitory pleasures, nor affected by corporal beauty. Therefore our Lord said, Of such is the kingdom of heaven, wishing us to do of our own free will what children do by nature.”
Their Guardian Angels, as our Lord himself said, gazing into those pure souls, are not distracted from the contemplation of their heavenly Father: for he rests in them as on the wings of Cherubim, since baptism has made them his children. Happy was our Saint to have been chosen by God to share the loving cares of the Angels here below, before partaking of their bliss in heaven. The following detailed account is given by Holy Church:
Quote:Jerome was born at Venice, of the patrician family of the Æmiliani, and from his boyhood embraced a military life. At a time when the Republic was in great difficulty, he was placed in command of Castelnovo, in the territory of Quero, in the mountains of Tarviso. The fortress was taken by the enemy, and Jerome was thrown, bound hand and foot, into a horrible dungeon. When he found himself thus destitute of all human aid, he prayed most earnestly to the Blessed Virgin, who mercifully came to his assistance. She loosed his bonds, and led him safely through the midst of his enemies, who had possession of every road, till he was within sight of Tarviso. He entered the town; and, in testimony of the favour he had received, he hung up at the altar of our Lady, to whose service he had vowed himself, the manacles, shackles, and chains which he had brought with hi. On his return to Venice he gave himself with the utmost zeal to exercises of piety. His charity towards the poor was wonderful; but he was particularly moved to pity for the orphan children who wandered poor and dirty about the town; he received them into houses which he hired, where he fed them at his own expense and trained them to lead Christian lives.
At this time Blessed Cajetan and Peter Caraffa, who was afterwards Paul IV, disembarked at Venice. They commended Jerome’s spirit and his new institution for gathering orphans together. They also introduced him into the hospital for incurables, where he would be able to devote himself with equal charity to the education of orphans, and to the service of the sick. Soon, at their suggestion, he crossed over to the Continent and founded orphanages, first at Brescia, then at Bergamo and Como. At Bergamo his zeal was specially prolific, for there, besides two orphanages, one for boys and one for girls, he opened a house, an unprecedented thing in those parts, for the reception of fallen women who had been converted. Finally he took up his abode at Somascha, a small village in the territory of Bergamo, near to the Venetian border, and this he made his headquarters; here, too, he definitely established his Congregation, which for this reason received the name of Somasques. In course of time it spread and increased, and for the greater benefit of the Christian republic it undertook, besides the ruling and guiding of orphans and the taking care of sacred buildings, the education both liberal and moral of young men in colleges, academies, and seminaries. Pius V enrolled it among religious Orders, and other Roman Pontiffs have honored it with privileges.
Entirely devoted to his work of rescuing orphans, Jerome journeyed to Milan and Pavia, and in both cities he collected numbers of children and provided them, through the assistance given him by noble personages, with a home, food, clothing, and education. He returned to Somascha, and, making himself all to all, he refused no labour which he saw might turn to the good of his neighbour. He associated himself with the peasants scattered over the fields, and while helping them with their work of harvesting, he would explain to them the mysteries of faith. He used to take care of children with the greatest patience, even going to far as to cleanse their heads, and he dressed the corrupt wounds of the village folk with such success that it was thought he had received the gift of healing. On the mountain which overhangs Somascha he found a cave in which he hid himself, and there scourging himself, spending whole days fasting, passing the greater part of the night in prayer, and snatching only a short sleep on the bare rock, he expiated his own sins and those of others. In the interior of this grotto, water trickles from the dry rock, obtained, as constant tradition says, by the prayers of the servant of God. It still flows, even to the present day, and being taken into different countries, it often gives health to the sick. At length, when a contagious distemper was spreading over the whole valley, and he was serving the sick and carrying the dead to the grave on his own shoulders, he caught the infection, and died at the age of fifty-six. His precious death, which he had foretold a short time before, occurred in the year 1537. He was illustrious both in life and death for many miracles. Benedict XIV enrolled him among the Blessed, and Clement XIII solemnly inscribed his name on the catalogue of the Saints.
With Vincent de Paul and Camillus of Lellis, thou, O Jerome Æmilian, completest the triumvirate of charity. Thus does the Holy Spirit mark his reign with traces of the Blessed Trinity; moreover, he would show that the love of God, which he kindles on earth, can never be without the love of our neighbor. At the very time when he gave thee to the world as a demonstration of this truth, the spirit of evil made it evident that true love of our neighbor cannot exist without love of God and that this latter soon disappears in its turn when faith is extinct. Thus, between the ruins of the pretended reform and the ever-new fecundity of the Spirit of holiness, mankind was free to choose. The choice made was, alas! far from being always conformable to man’s interest, either temporal or eternal. With what good reason may we repeat the prayer thou didst teach thy little orphans: “Lord Jesus Christ, our loving Father, we beseech Thee, by Thine infinite goodness, raise up Christendom once more, and bring it back to that upright holiness which flourished in the Apostolic age.”
Thou didst labor strenuously at this great work of restoration. The Mother of Divine Grace, when she broke thy prison chains, set thy soul free from a more cruel captivity, to continue the flight begun at baptism and in thy early years. Thy youth was renewed as the eagle’s; and the valor which won thee thy spurs in earthly battles, being now strengthened tenfold in the service of the all-powerful Prince, carried the day over death and hell. Who could count thy victories in this new militia? Jesus, the King of the warfare of salvation, inspired thee with his own predilection for little children: countless numbers saved by thee from perishing, and brought in their innocence to his Divine caresses, owe to thee their crown in heaven. From thy throne, where thou art surrounded by this lovely company, multiply thy sons; uphold those who continue thy work on earth; may thy spirit spread more and more in these days, when Satan’s jealousy strives more than ever to snatch the little ones from our Lord. Happy shall they be in their last hour who have accomplished the work of mercy pre-eminent in our days: saved the faith of children, and preserved their baptismal innocence! Should they have formerly merited God’s anger, they may with all confidence repeat the words thou didst love so well: “O sweetest Jesus, be not unto me a Judge, but a Savior!”
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Top epidemiologist: CDC undercounting vaccinated COVID cases |
Posted by: Stone - 07-21-2021, 06:53 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Top epidemiologist: CDC undercounting vaccinated COVID cases
'It's a fallacy'
WND.com | July 20, 2021
The CDC contends that only a small percentage of people in the United States who have been vaccinated will get COVID-19 -- called "breakthrough cases" -- but a leading epidemiologist argues that's because the agency stopped counting the breakthrough cases of people who didn't die or were not hospitalized.
"Some months ago the CDC stopped counting breakthrough cases ... the large numbers of cases in people who had been vaccinated," said Dr. Harvey Risch of the Yale School of Medicine in an interview Monday with Fox News' Laura Ingraham.
"So, of course, those cases don’t register for the CDC’s counts, and so the great proportion [of cases] that they’re claiming are in unvaccinated people," Risch said.
"And that fallacy is why the U.S. and the CDC’s count is different from than Israel or the UK. It’s a fallacy.”
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On Tuesday, Britain's chief scientific adviser said 40% of people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19 were fully vaccinated.
Sir Patrick Vallance told a news briefing that the figure was not surprising "because the vaccines are not 100% effective," Britain's Sky News reported.
Meanwhile, Israel's health ministry found that about 40% of the new cases of COVID-19 detected since May were vaccinated patients, Israel National News reported. In contrast, less than 1% of the new cases were people who had been previously infected.
Ingraham said the Biden administration is "losing control of its COVID narrative."
Along with the U.K. data she pointed to the fact that five members of the Texas legislature who were fully vaccinated tested positive for the virus after they "fled to D.C." during their "voting rights stunt."
"So why isn't the Biden administration addressing this?"
See the interview:
In June, contradicting the claims of Dr. Anthony Fauci and the FDA, a study by the prestigious Cleveland Clinic demonstrated the effectiveness of natural immunity. It concluded there is no need to vaccinate people who have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.
The study found individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection do not get additional benefits from vaccination, reported News-Medical.Net
The finding aligned with a study published in May in Nature by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis concluding that even mild or asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 can produce lasting immunity that would guard against repeated infections.
Fauci, the White House coronavirus adviser, told Business Insider that vaccines are "better than the traditional response you get from natural infection" and everyone should get a COVID shot. And in May, the Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory saying the same.
But the Cleveland Clinic study found not a single incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection was observed in previously infected participants with or without vaccination.
In November, several researchers told the New York Times they had found that natural immunity from COVID occured and there were indications it is long-lasting.
People infected with the closely related virus SARS-CoV-1 have been shown to be immune for at least 17 nears, according to a study published by the journal Nature.
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Why Are Soros And Gates Buying UK COVID Testing Company? |
Posted by: Stone - 07-20-2021, 10:37 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Why Are Soros And Gates Buying UK COVID Testing Company?
Zero Hedge [Emphasis mine.] | JUL 20, 2021
A consortium of investors led by the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are buying UK-based COVID testing company, Mologic, which has developed a 10-minute coronavirus test - and is best known for its deep-nostril swab test for the virus.
According to Forbes, citing a Monday press release, the buyout was done to increase access to "affordable state-of-the-art medical technology" via a rapid 'lateral flow' test, which offers an early-warning screening for Covid-19, as negative tests are going to be increasingly required to go back to 'normal life' - along with one's vaccine passport of course.
The Gates-Soros collaboration is part of a new initiative, Global Access Health (GAH), which will invest "at least" $41 million in the deal, according to the statement. The transaction will feature a buyout of all Mologic's existing shares - including investments held by Foresight Group LLP and Calculus Capital.
Quote:Soros and Gates are part of the billionaire community looking to direct their philanthropic efforts to the so-called global south, referring broadly to the regions of Latin America, Asia, Africa and Oceania that many fear will be left behind as the more affluent West accelerates its program of vaccinations, testing and biosecure bubbles in the years ahead. Sean Hinton, the CEO of the Soros fund, said in a statement that the pandemic has “painfully demonstrated the fundamental inequities” in global public health, adding that this “unique transaction” has brought philanthropic funds and investors together to address the issue.
Roxana Bonnell, a public health expert from Soros’ Open Society Foundations, which claims to be the world’s largest private funder of human rights and social justice advocacy groups, said, “As we have seen during the Covid-19 pandemic, access to testing is absolutely essential when it comes to containing the spread of contagious disease—an issue that ultimately affects us all.” -Forbes
Founded in 2003 by father-son team Mark Davis (CEO) and father Paul (Chief Scientific Officer), Mologic has worked with Gates' philanthropic arm in the past - establishing the Center for Advanced Rapid Diagnostics (CARD) in 2016 with a backing of the Gates Foundation. Paul Davis is also known for inventing the Clearblue pregnancy test in 1988 - the world's first application of lateral flow technology according to the company.
This isn't the first time Gates and Soros have 'collaborated.' In 2015, a Jeffrey Epstein-funded think tank, the International Peace Institute, hosted a "Preparing for Pandemics" conference in Geneva - with senior officials from the Gates Foundation, Open Society, WHO, CDC, Red Cross and Pasteur Institute in attendance.
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Mapping Tyranny |
Posted by: Stone - 07-20-2021, 08:26 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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Mapping Tyranny: The Countries Where Vaccination Is Mandatory
Zero Hedge | JUL 20, 2021
During a speech on July 12, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the introduction of compulsory vaccination for healthcare workers in hospitals and a number of other establishments. The new measures have proved controversial and are expected to impact around 700,000 people. The step was taken as part of a new phase of France's plan to curb the pandemic amid the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant.
As Statista's Niall McCarthy notes, France has thus joined a list of some 15 countries that have decided to impose to some of compulsory vaccination on some level.
As our map shows, the obligation is only population-wide in three countries so far - Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Vatican City. Elsewhere, obligatory vaccinations are in place for healthcare workers or certain professions requiring a high level of human contact in a number of countries including the UK, Italy and Greece.
You will find more infographics at Statista
In Russia, for example, the vaccination of service sector employees is mandatory in some localities, such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, while in the United States, San Francisco recently announced it would require all 35,000 city employees to get the jab.
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More polio cases now caused by vaccine than by wild virus |
Posted by: Stone - 07-20-2021, 08:08 AM - Forum: Health
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More polio cases now caused by vaccine than by wild virus
FILE -- In this Jan. 25 , 2002 file photo, a Congolese child is given a polio vaccination at a relief camp near Gisenyi, Rwanda.
The Associated Press | November 25, 2019
LONDON -- Four African countries have reported new cases of polio linked to the oral vaccine, as global health numbers show there are now more children being paralyzed by viruses originating in vaccines than in the wild.
In a report late last week, the World Health Organization and partners noted nine new polio cases caused by the vaccine in Nigeria, Congo, Central African Republic and Angola. Seven countries elsewhere in Africa have similar outbreaks and cases have been reported in Asia. Of the two countries where polio remains endemic, Afghanistan and Pakistan, vaccine-linked cases have been identified in Pakistan.
In rare cases, the live virus in oral polio vaccine can mutate into a form capable of sparking new outbreaks. All the current vaccine-derived polio cases have been sparked by a Type 2 virus contained in the vaccine. Type 2 wild virus was eliminated years ago.
Polio is a highly infectious disease that spreads in contaminated water or food and usually strikes children under 5. About one in 200 infections results in paralysis. Among those, a small percentage die when their breathing muscles are crippled.
Donors last week pledged $2.6 billion to combat polio as part of an eradication initiative that began in 1988 and hoped to wipe out polio by 2000. Since then, numerous such deadlines have been missed.
To eradicate polio, more than 95% of a population needs to be immunized. WHO and partners have long relied on oral polio vaccines because they are cheap and can be easily administered, requiring only two drops per dose. Western countries use a more expensive injectable polio vaccine that contains an inactivated virus incapable of causing polio.
The Independent Monitoring Board, a group set up by WHO to assess polio eradication, warned in a report this month that vaccine-derived polio virus is “spreading uncontrolled in West Africa, bursting geographical boundaries and raising fundamental questions and challenges for the whole eradication process.”
The group said officials were already “failing badly” to meet a recently approved polio goal of stopping all vaccine-derived outbreaks within 120 days of detection. It described the initial attitude of WHO and its partners to stopping such vaccine-linked polio cases as “relaxed” and said “new thinking” on how to tackle the problem was needed.
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This story has been corrected to show that of the two polio-endemic countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, only Pakistan has reported vaccine-derived polio cases.
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