| Welcome, Guest |
You have to register before you can post on our site.
|
| Online Users |
There are currently 165 online users.
» 1 Member(s) | 162 Guest(s)
Bing, Google, Jules
|
|
|
| Archbishop defends giving Holy Communion to Muslim leader, citing Pope Francis and Vatican II |
|
Posted by: Stone - 09-07-2023, 08:52 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
- Replies (1)
|
 |
Archbishop defends giving Holy Communion to Muslim leader, citing Pope Francis and Vatican II
The event, despite Archbishop Steinmetz’s defense, is in violation of Catholic teaching on a fundamental level.
![[Image: steinmetz-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/steinmetz-810x500.jpg)
Abp. Steinmetz giving Holy Communion to Sheik Mahairi
Screenshot
Sep 6, 2023
LONDRINA, Brazil (LifeSiteNews) — Citing Pope Francis’ writings restricting the traditional liturgy, a Brazilian archbishop gave Holy Communion to a Muslim cleric at a funeral for a recently deceased cardinal.
The news of a Muslim cleric receiving Holy Communion at the hands of a Catholic archbishop has sparked outrage.
On August 28, Archbishop Geremias Steinmetz of the Archdiocese of Londrina in Brazil gave Holy Communion to Sheik Ahmad Saleh Mahairi. The Mass was the funeral ceremony of recently deceased Cardinal Geraldo Majella Agnelo, which Sheik Mahairi was attending due to having known Cardinal Angelo for many decades.
In live-streamed footage from the Mass, Steinmetz can be seen handing Holy Communion to Sheik Mahairi in the hand. The action causes several priests and altar servers in the Communion line to stare at the Sheik, who passes out of camera shot holding the Host in his hand.
With the incident causing controversy in local media outlets, Steinmetz issued a statement in which he defended handing Holy Communion to the Muslim leader.
The archbishop noted that representatives of “different religious denominations” were in attendance, including Sheik Mahairi of the King Faiçal Mosque.
Describing Mahairi as friend of Cardinal Angelo’s since the 1980s, Steinmetz wrote:
Quote:Sheiki is a man known in various spheres of society and maintains a respectful relationship with the Catholic Church. He was also a friend of another archbishop of Londrina, the late Don Albano Cavallin, with whom he had a close relationship. As a friend he participated in the Eucharistic celebration and, entering the communion line, received the body of Christ.
Steinmetz sought to excuse the action somewhat by stating how the images only showed the Muslim receiving Holy Communion, but not actually “consuming it.”
Following the “repercussions of these images,” Steinmetz stated he tasked the archdiocesan Vicar General to “talk to Sheiki to clarify the situation.”
The Sheik reportedly told the Vicar General that told the vicar general that he did not intend to “disrespect the Catholic Church,” revealing that he did in fact consume the host when he sat down in his pew. He added that the deceased cardinal had explained “that the Eucharist is the body of Jesus, considered a prophet for Islam.”
Nostra Aetate cited in defense
Seemingly unperturbed by the event, Steinmetz cited the Vatican II document Nostra Aetate – which has drawn criticism due to its permissive tolerance towards non-Catholic creeds – stating that the “Church also looks with esteem on Muslims.”
“They worship the One God, living and subsistent, merciful and omnipotent,” he continued in his quotation, but also acknowledged that Muslims do not recognize Christ as God.
In the words of Islam’s religious text itself, it can be noted that there is an outright rejection of many fundamental elements of Catholicism. Firstly, the Koran rejects the notion of God as Trinity; secondly, it rejects that God has a son, saying it is beneath Him to have one. Thirdly, Jesus is viewed simply as a messenger of God, thus it claims that Mary could not be the Mother of God.
With this in mind, Bishop Athanasius Schneider in his book-length interview Christus Vincit, stated “Islam in itself is not faith.”
The bishop continued by explaining that faith is only found in Christianity and “is applicable only to belief in the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit … When someone does not believe in the Holy Trinity, he has no faith but simply natural religion.”
Likewise, Cardinal Raymond Burke stated in an August 2016 interview, that “I don’t believe it’s true that we’re all worshipping the same God, because the God of Islam is a governor.”
Pope Francis’ liturgical upheaval cited
Along with quoting Nostra Aetate, Steinmetz also drew from Pope Francis’ 2022 document on the liturgy, Desiderio Desideravi. “No one had earned a place at the Last Supper. Rather, they were invited, attracted, by the burning desire of Jesus himself to eat that Passover with them, whose lamb is himself,” said Steinmetz, paraphrasing sections 4 and 5 of the document.
He further cited section 6, which when read in natural continuity from sections 4 and 5, appears to suggest that one’s reception of Communion is allowed simply due to having listened to God’s word. Furthermore, the papal text argues that even the simple presence at Mass – regardless of adhering to the Catholic faith or not – is an expression of listening to God’s word, and consequently a justification for receiving Communion.
“What is certain is that all our communions in the Body and Blood of Christ were desired by him at the Last Supper,” wrote Francis.
“The Eucharistic celebration,” wrote Steinmetz, “teaches us the noble exercise of charity, nourishes meekness, leads us to fraternity and respect for all.”
Catholic teaching on reception of Communion
Notwithstanding such arguments drawing from Vatican II and Pope Francis, Catholic teaching is very clear on who is to be permitted to Holy Communion. Catholic moral teaching clearly outlines that the reception of Holy Communion is only for Catholics who have reached the age of reason and who have the proper disposition.
[...]
|
|
|
| Bp. Strickland defends Catholic teaching condemning female ‘deacons’ in new pastoral letter |
|
Posted by: Stone - 09-06-2023, 08:13 AM - Forum: In Defense of Tradition
- No Replies
|
|
Bp. Strickland defends Catholic teaching condemning female ‘deacons’ in new pastoral letter
'As God did not call men to be mothers, God did not call women to be fathers, and to be sacramentally ordained as a minister for Christ in His Church, Our Lord calls for men to be spiritual fathers and bridegrooms to His bride, The Church. This role can only be filled by one properly ordered to this role.'
![[Image: Screenshot-2023-01-20-114833-e1674215340552-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Screenshot-2023-01-20-114833-e1674215340552-810x500.jpg)
Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas
YouTube/Screenshot
Sep 5, 2023
(LifeSiteNews) – Bishop Jospeh Strickland of Tyler, Texas, has issued a pastoral letter today, September 5, 2023. Below is the full text.
My Dear Sons and Daughters in Christ:
I write to you today to discuss more fully the first basic truth that I spoke of in my first pastoral letter: “Christ established One Church—the Catholic Church—and, therefore, only the Catholic Church provides the fullness of Christ’s truth and the authentic path to His salvation for all of us.”
To begin, I must state clearly and emphatically this fundamental truth—Jesus Christ is the only path to everlasting life; no other path to salvation can be found! As Our Lord Himself tells us: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (Jn 14:6). In order that we might participate in that promise of everlasting life, Our Lord in His great mercy established the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. As we read in the Gospel of Matthew, Christ said: “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matt 16:18-19). The foundation and divine head of the Church is Jesus Christ; however, this passage makes it clear that Jesus is promising to establish a visible Church upon the earth with a visible head, Peter, to whom He will entrust a unique mission and a specific authority.
The Catholic Church IS the body of Christ, and He is inseparable from His body. The Church’s understanding of Christ’s words in Matthew has deepened throughout the ages, but in accordance with Sacred Tradition handed down from Christ to the Apostles (cf. 2 Thess 2:15), and then preserved and protected by the Church Fathers and saints and martyrs until today, it has always been understood and proclaimed that the Catholic Church is the single, divinely-instituted Church that Christ established for the salvation of souls. All that the Church is, as the mystical body of Christ, flows from the truth that it was, and is, divinely constituted by Christ, and her basic elements—which include the sacred Deposit of Faith—cannot be altered by men because it does not belong to men; the Church belongs to Christ!
St. Cyril of Jerusalem stated in A.D. 350: “The Church is called catholic then because it extends over all the world, from one end of the earth to the other; and because it teaches universally and completely the doctrines that ought to come to men’s knowledge, concerning things both visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly; and because it brings into subjection to godliness the whole race of mankind, governors and governed, learned and unlearned; and because it universally treats and heals the whole class of sins that are committed by soul or body, and possesses in itself every form of virtue that is named, both in deeds and words, and in every spiritual gift.”
Christ therefore established His Church for all people, for all time, for the salvation of all. There is no salvation apart from Christ and His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church; this is an infallible teaching of the Church. However, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and His Church.” As Catholics, we are lovingly and joyfully bound to the Church and to the seven sacraments instituted by Christ. These are essential for our salvation. Some may ask, however: “What about those outside the Church? What about those who have never heard of Christ? Can they be saved?” For those who are not united to Christ through His Church and through the grace of the sacraments, we simply pray for them and entrust them to God. Although we must never be presumptuous of God’s grace, we recognize that God is sovereign, and if in His mercy He would choose to operate in ways beyond our knowledge or understanding, He has full authority to operate however He chooses because He is not bound by anything other than His own perfect nature.
We ourselves must cling tightly to the Church and the sacraments as He gave them to us, but we must also pray always for souls outside the Church, that God offers His grace to those souls in ways unknown and unseen to us. However, I want to emphasize this point—if God would choose to offer grace beyond the normal sacramental means, we recognize that this grace would always still flow to every soul from Christ and through His Church in a mystical way. Therefore, anyone receiving and accepting God’s grace would never be saved through any other path or church or religion; there is One Savior, One Redeemer, for all mankind, and He established One Church for the salvation of souls.
God desires the salvation of all, but He does not force salvation upon any of us; it requires our cooperation and free assent to His grace. He calls each one of us to participate in His plan of salvation not only for ourselves, but for the world; this is the Great Commission: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matt 28:19-20).
We live in an age of great interconnectedness where people across the globe can share and learn with each other as never before in human history. This is a great blessing in many respects as it opens the possibility of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ in ways not before possible. True ecumenism, however, is an open invitation to all people to experience and embrace the fullness of Christ and the Christian life which can be found only in the Catholic Church. This path, although difficult at times, is the only sure path to true everlasting love, grace, and life with God. It is false charity to tell people that regardless of what path they are on, it is God’s Will that they stay where they are because this does not call on people to embrace the one true path instituted by God for the salvation of souls. Therefore, the Church has a sacred obligation, borne of love, to evangelize all people.
Another topic that I want to discuss because it will reportedly be a topic of discussion at the upcoming Synod on Synodality is the divinely-instituted structure of the Church as it applies to ordination of women. As Sacred Scripture tells us, Christ ordained only men as apostles. Sacred Tradition and the Ordinary Magisterium of the Church have affirmed throughout the ages that the Church has no authority whatsoever to ordain women to the priesthood. This cannot be changed because Christ instituted a male priesthood in order to image Himself as the bridegroom with the Church as His bride. As St. John Paul II solemnly stated in his apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis: “I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.”
It is imperative to state, though, that Christ would never want a “lesser” role for women than He wants for men. Women have made and continue to make indispensable contributions in the history and life of the Church. From the greatest and most perfect of God’s creation in all of history, Our Blessed Mother, the Queen of Heaven and Earth; to some of the greatest saints and Doctors of the Church; to our holy and faithful women in religious orders and convents; to the countless women who have and continue to impart the faith to their families and communities; Christ instituted His Church in a way that calls for women to have “more” of a role in Him than could ever be found in the world. However, as God did not call men to be mothers, God did not call women to be fathers, and to be sacramentally ordained as a minister for Christ in His Church, Our Lord calls for men to be spiritual fathers and bridegrooms to His bride, The Church. This role can only be filled by one properly ordered to this role.
For those who would inquire about the potential for female deacons in the Catholic Church, I would offer this: Scripture tells us that from the earliest days of the Church, women served as faithful servants (Greek: diakonos) of the members of the Church. (cf. Rom 16:1). Historians and scholars tell us that women served in many important roles of service in the early Church, including acts of charity for the poor, caring for the sick, preparing other women for baptism, etc. However, we see in the Acts of the Apostles that there is another type of servant (diakonos) called specifically by the apostles and set apart from other servants in the Church; the apostles laid hands on these particular servants, and these servants then received a sacramental ordination to fulfill their unique role. Scripture tells us that the apostles said, “Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, who we appoint to this task.” (Acts 6:3). And then, “They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them.” (Acts 6:6). Although many (both men and women) have faithfully served the Church as servants/diakonos throughout history, the sacramental ordination to the diaconate—as one of the three degrees of the sacrament of Holy Orders (deacon, priest, bishop)—has always been reserved for baptized males alone. All three degrees act as instruments of Christ in persona Christi Capitis, (in the person of Christ as the Head), but with distinct functions for each office. Because sacramentally ordained deacons share in the apostolic ministry with priests and bishops, the Church has decreed that they must also be men, as were the apostles Jesus chose.
The Canons of the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) state in reference to women who have been granted a certain status of service: “We refer to deaconesses who have been granted this status, for they do not receive any imposition of hands, so that they are in all respects to be numbered among the laity.” (Canon No. 19).
In conclusion, I want to state that although the Church is holy because of her Founder and her divine origin, she is also made up of sinful members who are called constantly to repentance and conversion. However, there is a Church Triumphant in heaven that exists perfectly in her fullness in Christ in heaven where the heavenly marriage feast is eternally celebrated with God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who are eternally worshipped and adored. The choirs of angels, the Immaculate Virgin Mary, and all the saints eternally cry “Holy, Holy, Holy” before the throne of God.
It is important that we, as the Church Militant on earth, carry this truth and hope in our hearts as we strive to align ourselves and every aspect of the Church on this earth with her heavenly reality. Because of sin, both personal and communal, the Church Militant on earth falls short of the Church Triumphant in heaven, but it is our mission to strive always for holiness and by the grace of God to persevere until the end so that we might also join with the Church Triumphant. Part of this striving on earth consists in engaging in the spiritual battle that is taking place around us daily as many attempt to chip away or destroy altogether the Deposit of Faith.
My dear sons and daughters, be assured that angels surround us in this battle, and saints—especially Our Holy and Blessed Mother—offer their heavenly assistance as we seek the eternal prize Our Lord has won for us.
Remaining your humble father and servant,
Most Reverend Joseph E. Strickland
Bishop of Tyler, Texas
|
|
|
|
| British Court Rules That Competent & Conscious Patient Can Be Denied Life-Sustaining Treatment |
|
Posted by: Stone - 09-05-2023, 05:40 AM - Forum: General Commentary
- Replies (1)
|
|
British Court Rules That Competent & Conscious Patient Can Be Denied Life-Sustaining Treatment Against Her Will
ZH | SEP 04, 2023
Authored by Jonathan Turley
In my torts class, I often compare the different approaches and doctrines in the United States and the United Kingdom.
One of the most pronounced is the position and authority of physicians on issues like consent and malpractice. This week produced a particularly striking example.
British doctors are seeking to take a 19-year-old critically ill female patient off the intensive care despite her objections and those of her parents.
Unlike most such cases, the woman known only as “ST” is conscious and communicative.
Yet, the doctors argue that she is not being realistic about her chances of survival from a rare disorder.
Now a British court has agreed and ordered that she can be placed on end-of-life care against her will.
ST is suffering from a rare genetic mitochondrial disease that is progressively degenerative. The case has similarities to that of Charlie Gard, an infant who was removed from life support at the insistence of doctors despite objections from the parents. The Gard family was seeking to take Charlie to the United States for experimental treatment.
ST has been in the ICU for the past year, requiring a ventilator and a feeding tube. She also requires regular dialysis due to chronic kidney damage from her disease.
She wants to be allowed to travel to Canada for an experimental treatment but the doctors oppose the plan and say that she is not accepting the realities of her terminal illness.
They say that she is “actively dying” without any hope of resuming life outside of intensive care.
Her deeply religious family have spent their entire life savings on her care and has complained that a “transparency order” requested by the hospital barred their ability to give details on the case to help raise public funds.
What is so remarkable about this case is that it is not an infant or a comatose patient.
The court found that ST “is able to communicate reasonably well with her doctors with assistance from her mother and, on occasion, speech therapists.”
Moreover, two psychiatrists testified that she is mentally competent to make decisions about her own care.
Quote:Despite all the difficulties which currently confront her, ST is able to communicate reasonably well with her doctors with assistance from her mother and, on occasion, speech therapists. Over the course of the last week she has engaged in two separate capacity assessments. I heard evidence from two consultant psychiatrists whose conclusions in relation to her capacity in both domains are set out in full written reports. . . .
She has been described by those who know and love her as “a fighter”. That is how she sees herself. At the heart of the issues in this case is what ST and her family perceive to be a ray of hope in the form of an experimental nucleoside treatment outside the United Kingdom which might offer her hope of an improved quality of life, albeit a life which is likely to end prematurely in terms of a normal life expectancy. She has told her doctors that she wants to do everything she can to extend her life. She said to Dr C, one of the psychiatrists who visited her last week, “This is my wish. I want to die trying to live. We have to try everything”. [Court’s emphasis] Whilst she recognises that she may not benefit from further treatment, she is resistant to any attempt to move to a regime of palliative care because she wants to stay alive long enough to be able to travel to Canada or North America where there is at least the prospect that she may be accepted as part of a clinical trial. . . .
ST is well aware that she has been offered a very poor prognosis by her doctors. She acknowledges that they have told her that she will die but she does not believe them. She points to her recovery from previous life-threatening episodes whilst she has been a patient at the intensive care unit. She believes she has the resilience and the strength to stay alive for long enough to undergo treatment abroad and she wishes the court to acknowledge her right to make that decision for herself.
Nevertheless, the judge found that she is mentally incapable of making decisions for herself because “she does not believe the information she has been given by her doctors.”
The court appears to reject her ability to make this decision because she is making the wrong decision:
Quote:In my judgment . . . ST is unable to make a decision for herself in relation to her future medical treatment, including the proposed move to palliative care, because she does not believe the information she has been given by her doctors. Absent that belief, she cannot use or weigh that information as part of the process of making the decision. This is a very different position from the act of making an unwise, but otherwise capacitous, decision. An unwise decision involves the juxtaposition of both an objective overview of the wisdom of a decision to act one way or another and the subjective reasons informing that person’s decision to elect to take a particular course. However unwise, the decision must nevertheless involve that essential understanding of the information and the use, weighing and balancing of the information in order to reach a decision. In ST’s case, an essential element of the process of decision-making is missing because she is unable to use or weigh information which has been shown to be both reliable and true.
Accordingly, the court ruled that decisions about ST’s further care should be determined by the Court of Protection based on an assessment of her best interests. Her “best interest,” according to the doctors, is to die.
Thus, the courts have declared that ST cannot choose to continue life-extending treatment and can be forced into palliative care against her will.
The logic of the decision is chilling.
The court is told that ST has cognitive and communicative abilities to make such decisions. However, because the court disagrees with her desire to continue to fight to live, she is treated as effectively incompetent.
It seems like the judicial version of Henry Ford’s promise that customers could pick any color car so long as it is black.
Here is the opinion: In the Matter of ST
|
|
|
|
| Pope Francis repeats the errors of V-II and Assisi Meetings on Equality of Religions |
|
Posted by: Stone - 09-05-2023, 05:21 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
- Replies (2)
|
|
Pope Francis urges Buddhists, Muslims, and Shamans to promote their religions during event in Mongolia
Speaking to Buddhist, Shinto, Shaman, Jewish, Muslim, and assorted Christian religious leaders, Pope Francis praised the assembled religions for being the continuation of 'ancient schools of wisdom.'
![[Image: pope-mongolia-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/pope-mongolia-810x500.jpg)
Pope Francis greets Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh, September 2023.
Vatican News
Sep 4, 2023
ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (LifeSiteNews) – Speaking as part of an ecumenical gathering during his trip to Mongolia, Pope Francis quoted from Buddhist texts while arguing that “every religious institution” has “the right to freely express what it is and what it believes.”
He urged gathered non-Catholic religious leaders to promote their own religions, saying:
Quote:May it be so for us, as committed followers of our respective spiritual masters and faithful stewards of their teachings, ever ready to offer the beauty of those teachings to those whom we daily encounter as friends and companions on our journey. May it be so, for in a pluralistic society committed to democratic values, such as Mongolia is, every religious institution, duly recognized by civil authority, has the duty, and above all the right, to freely express what it is and what it believes, in a way respectful of the conscience of others and in view of the greater good of all.
Papal encounter with Mongolian religions
The Pope’s comments came as part of his address Sunday morning, delivered to Buddhist, Shinto, Shaman, Jewish, Muslim, and assorted Christian religious leaders. The ecumenical gathering took place during the Pontiff’s short trip to Mongolia, a nation with a strong Buddhist majority and fewer than 1,500 Catholics.
Seated in the capital’s Hun theatre, the Pope joined twelve other leaders in the event, during which speeches were shared promoting religious dialogue and co-existence.
Pope Francis introduced himself as “a brother in faith to those who believe in Christ, and as a brother to all of you in the name of our shared religious quest and our membership in the one human family.”
He outlined his perception of the assembled religious leaders’ creeds, saying that “the social significance of our religious traditions can be gauged by the extent to which we are capable of living in harmony with other pilgrims on this earth and can foster that harmony in the places where we live.”
Francis quoted from the Buddhist collection of sayings from Buddha, The Dhammapada, along with the Dutch writer and Catholic critic Soren Kierkegaard and Ghandi.
Ecumenical and Interreligious Meeting in the “Hun Theatre”
Pope Francis in the ecumenical meeting. Credit: Vatican News
“The religions are called to offer the world this harmony,” said Francis, adding that at the ecumenical event, the assembled leaders “are meeting together as the humble heirs of ancient schools of wisdom.”
Quote:In our encounter with one another, we want to share the great treasure we have received, for the sake of enriching a humanity so often led astray on its journey by the myopic pursuit of profit and material comfort.
He issued a call for “all” to “explore and appreciate” the “great patrimony of wisdom” found in the “various religions” of Asia. Among ten aspects of Mongolian culture which he praised as part of the “great patrimony,” Francis included “a healthy relationship to tradition, despite the temptations of consumerism,” which echoed his praise and approval at the numerous traditional costumes on display to honor his visit.
The pontiff also decried the mixing “of religious beliefs and violence, of holiness and oppression, of religious traditions and sectarianism.”
Consequently, Francis expressed a call for the plurality of religions to work in society, stating that this was both a “duty” and a “right.”
Quote:May it be so, for in a pluralistic society committed to democratic values, such as Mongolia is, every religious institution, duly recognized by civil authority, has the duty, and above all the right, to freely express what it is and what it believes, in a way respectful of the conscience of others and in view of the greater good of all.
While he did not cite the primacy of the Catholic Church or its teachings, Francis stated “that the Catholic Church desires to follow this path, firmly convinced of the importance of ecumenical, inter-religious and cultural dialogue.”
The Church, he added, “offers the treasure she has received to every person and culture, in a spirit of openness and in respectful consideration of what the other religious traditions have to offer.”
Pope Francis made several condemnations of “proselytism” during his various speeches on the papal trip, but while speaking to the assembled religious leaders, he argued that “dialogue, in fact, is not antithetical to proclamation: it does not gloss over differences, but helps us to understand them, to preserve them in their distinctiveness and to discuss them openly for the sake of mutual enrichment.”
He expressed a desire that the “prayers we raise to heaven and the fraternity we experience here on earth spread seeds of hope.”
Catholic Tradition on promotion of other religions
While Pope Francis advocated the “right” of other creeds to “freely express” what each believes, his predecessors in the papal throne have condemned such arguments.
Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors condemns as erroneous and heretical the notion that “every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true.”
In his 1888 encyclical Libertas, Pope Leo XIII wrote about the Catholic Church’s relationship with other religions, stating that the Catholic Church tolerates:
Quote:certain modern liberties, not because she prefers them in themselves but because she judges it expedient to permit them, she would in happier times exercise her own liberty; and, by persuasion, exhortation, and entreaty would endeavor, as she is bound, to fulfill the duty assigned to her by God of providing for the eternal salvation of mankind.
Pope Leo XIII clearly noted, however, that “one thing, however, remains always true — that the liberty which is claimed for all to do all things is not, as We have often said, of itself desirable, inasmuch as it is contrary to reason that error and truth should have equal rights.”
Leo repeated this when he wrote in his 1896 encyclical Satis cognitum that everyone should become a child of God by taking “Christ Jesus as their Brother, and at the same time the Church as their mother.”
This was similarly taught by Pope Pius XI in his 1928 encyclical Mortalium animos. Explaining why Catholics were prohibited from participating in non-Catholic “assemblies,” Pius XI wrote:
Quote:The union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it.
|
|
|
|
| A Great Miracle of Our Lady of Czestochowa |
|
Posted by: Stone - 09-04-2023, 04:36 AM - Forum: Our Lady
- No Replies
|
|
A Great Miracle of Our Lady of Czestochowa
Adapted from Saints Who Raised the Dead
by Father Albert J. Hebert, TAN, 1986, NO. 24
TIA | September 2, 2023
Our Lady of Czestochowa is one of the largest Marian shrines in Poland and the greatest treasure of the city of Jasna Gora. Tradition tells us that St. Luke the Evangelist painted the Icon on the back of the tabletop used by the Holy Family in Nazareth. Many miracles have been worked through the ages by the Virgin of Czestochowa and what follows is one of the greatest and most marvelous.
In 1540, in Lublin, Poland, a butcher named Marcin Lanio went to town to buy some things. His wife Malgorzata stayed home to bake some bread and look after their two little boys, Poitrus, age 4, and Kazimierz, age 2.
![[Image: H246_ove.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/religious/images_F-J/H246_ove.jpg)
Making bread for the family in the large outdoor oven
As it happened Malgorzata ran short of yeast, and so she went to borrow some from her neighbor, leaving her two boys home alone.
Poitrus, the older of the two, who had often watched the butchers slaughter the livestock in the year, decided to imitate them in play. Without realizing the consequences of such an action, Poitrus took a sharp knife and slashed the throat of his brother, sleeping peacefully in a nearby crib.
Seeing the flow of blood, he realized that something bad had happened. Fearing punishment from his mother, the boy hid in the large baker’s oven left open by his mother.
Soon the mother returned to the quiet house. Suspecting nothing, she started a log fire in the prepared oven and went on with her baking.
Suddenly her blood froze in her veins as she heard the agonizing screams of her son Poitrus coming from the oven. She rushed to pull him out, but the boy was already dead, suffocated in the smoke-filled chamber. Only then did she notice her dead little Kazio in the blood-stained crib.
![[Image: H246_Jas.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/religious/images_F-J/H246_Jas.jpg)
The miraculous image of Our Lady of Jasna Gora
All this was too much for the poor woman, and she went crazy, striking her head on the wall, pulling out her hair and tearing her clothes to shreds.
When her husband Marcin returned home, he saw the terrible scene. Seeing his demented wife he believed she had killed her sons. In uncontrolled fury he took an axe and crushed her skull with a single blow.
When he realized what he had done, a dreadful fear and remorse seized him. His mind, however, became enlightened by a sudden heavenly impulse. Instead of despairing and taking his own life, he placed his entire faith and confidence in the Madonna of Czestochowa, to whom he had a great devotion. He begged her not to forsake him in his critical moment.
By now many of his neighbors had assembled at the scene of the tragedy. Dumbfounded they watched. Marcin Lanio, without a word, load the three corpses into a wagon, make the Sign of the Cross, and turn the horses in the direction of the Shrine of Czestochowa.
In silence Marcin journeyed through the narrow roads, followed by a great number of skeptical people, whose number increased as he drew nearer to the Shrine. Marcin paid no heed to them, because his mind and heart were focused on the Blessed Mother of God.
![[Image: H246_Sta.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/religious/images_F-J/H246_Sta.jpg)
Blessed Stanislaw Oporowski, known for his devotion to Our Lady & miracles
When Marcin finally arrived at the Shrine, some of the bystanders helped to carry the dead bodies into the church. He himself did not enter, lacking both the strength and the courage. Instead he lay prostrate before the main door, kissing the feet of the people who entered and begging them to pray to Our Lady for his family before the throne of the Miraculous Madonna.
Inside, Blessed Stanislaw Oporowski, a devout priest, was conducting the Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The portrait of the Black Madonna, high above the main altar, glowed with heavenly splendor. In tears Blessed Stanislaw and all the people prayed and begged the intercession of Our Lady for the poor butcher and his family.
As the Magnificat was entoned, a supernatural air penetrated the chapel. At the words, "Because He that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is His Name," a dumbfounded shock came over the congregation. The three lifeless corpses came to life and slowly rose from their places.
For a moment there was a great and profound silence. Then all joined spontaneously in a thanksgiving hymn to the Madonna. Soon the fame of this miracle became known worldwide, and the Emperor himself ordered that a copy of this miraculous portrait be made and placed in the Cathedral in Vienna.
Now then, let no Protestant or heretic refuse this truth of this miracle, for if they do, they will have to face God and Our Lady on this matter, and I would not like to be in their shoes.
|
|
|
|
| EPA move to allow new pesticide use on food crops worries health advocates |
|
Posted by: Stone - 09-04-2023, 04:28 AM - Forum: General Commentary
- No Replies
|
|
EPA move to allow new pesticide use on food crops worries health advocates
![[Image: harvester-g2bc9500e7_1920-1024x678-1024x585.jpg]](https://www.thenewlede.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/harvester-g2bc9500e7_1920-1024x678-1024x585.jpg)
The New Lede | May 8, 2023
Federal regulators are poised to allow US farmers to start applying a pesticide currently restricted to non-food uses on fields producing an array of food crops in a move that scientists and advocates say could threaten human and ecological health.
Last week, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposed decision to allow the first-ever uses of chlormequat chloride on wheat, barley, oats and a hybrid of rye and wheat known as triticale. The agency said the move is aimed at helping farmers limit the bending and breaking of small grains, a condition called lodging, which can impair harvesting and reduce yields. The pesticide acts as a plant growth regulator, controlling plant size by blocking hormones that stimulate growth prior to bloom.
Chlormequat is not currently approved for use on food or animal feed in the United States, though it has been allowed for use on ornamental crops grown in nurseries and greenhouses since 1962.
Farm groups welcomed the EPA action; the pesticide is already used by farmers in other countries on small grain products that are imported to the US. But critics say laboratory research has linked the chemical to problems with reproduction and development, and the EPA should not be putting people and animals at greater risk of exposure.
The crops included in the proposed decision can make up a significant portion of a child’s diet, a fact that makes the EPA’s proposal potentially dangerous for children, according to Phil Landrigan, a professor of public health and epidemiologist at Boston College.
“There appears to be evidence for developmental and reproductive toxicity,” Landrigan said of chlormequat research. “Some little kids will spend a year of their life eating mostly a Cheerio diet. That’s what kids do. And in the end, the children who happen to be eating that atypical diet are the ones who are really heavily exposed.”
The EPA has “a legal duty to protect infants and children against the toxic effects of pesticides,” Landrigan said. “And they appear not to have taken that responsibility seriously.”
An “astronomical” increase
The EPA’s proposed action would greatly increase the amount of chlormequat used in the US, as well as the amount of chlormequat residue in food, according to the Center for Food Safety (CFS), a public health advocacy group. In a comment to the EPA about the proposed action, CFS said the rule would lead to an “astronomical rise in domestic use of [chlormequat],” estimating that use of the pesticide would increase 28,000-fold.
In its comments, CFS warned that approving new uses and higher tolerances could encourage growers to apply chlormequat at higher doses and across a longer period of the growing season than is necessary, which would further increase the ecological and human health impacts of the pesticide.
The maximum residue levels (MRLs) of the pesticide currently allowed on imported wheat, barley, and oat are 3 parts per million (ppm), 2 ppm, and 10 ppm, respectively. The EPA issued those rules in response to a request from Taminco US LLC, a subsidiary of Eastman Chemical Company that manufactures pesticides containing chlormequat.
The EPA’s newest proposed decision comes after a 2021 petition from Taminco asking the EPA to establish a new residue tolerance of 8 ppm for barley. Last month, Taminco updated the request to establish new tolerances for oats at 40 ppm, wheat and triticale grain at 5 parts per million.
A January investigation by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) research and advocacy group, found chlormequat residues at levels higher than the EWG health guideline of .03 parts per million in 11 of 14 oat-based food products in the US, despite the fact that the chemical is currently only allowed for use on imported grain. According to EWG, its health guidelines are much lower than EPA’s MRLs due to the danger chlormequat poses to children’s health, the variation of sensitivity between people, and uncertainty of the data on chlormequat’s health effects.
Taminco did not respond to a request for comment about the proposed decision.
Animal studies raise concerns
Humans can be exposed to chlormequat in various ways, including using the chemical, ingesting foods with chlormequat residues or by drinking groundwater contaminated with the pesticide. While there are no studies of the chemical’s effects on human health directly, studies have shown that chlormequat is toxic to mammals.
Notably, in one peer-reviewed study, offspring of rats exposed to the chemical had problems with growth and development. The chemical has also been shown to negatively impact bone development in rats and fertility in mice. A 1989 Danish study found that swine fed with chlormequat-treated wheat showed reproductive health problems at doses lower than what is currently considered safe for humans.
The chemical is “pretty clearly an endocrine disruptor,” said Bill Freese, CFS science director.
The EPA’s human health risk assessment for the proposed changes found decreases in body weight and neurotoxic effects in studies using rats, mice, and dogs. However, since neurotoxic effects were mostly found to be associated with high doses of chlormequat, the agency waived two additional studies: one to determine the effects of the chemical on fetal and infant nervous system development, and another to determine the toxicity of the chemical to animals’ immune systems.
Waiving those two studies was an improper action by the EPA, according to Freese.
“The point of doing the developmental neurotoxic is precisely that the effects can occur at much lower exposure levels,” he said. “You need to do this kind of study.”
The EPA did not respond to a request for comment. The agency has stated in regulatory filings, however, that it has determined that the proposed decision poses no “risks of concern” to human health.
Ecological concerns
In the announcement, the EPA said they have not identified any “risks of concern” to ecological health from the proposed decision, though in its assessment of ecological risks it did find the chemical to be slightly toxic to birds and moderately toxic to mammals.
Critics say the wild bees and other invertebrates may be harmed by the use of chlormequat and the agency’s risk assessment illegally fails to evaluate risks to threatened and endangered species.
The EPA’s pesticide approval process has been criticized previously by environmental advocates for failing to evaluate risks to threatened and endangered species. Last year, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the agency to address harms to threatened and endangered species from four pesticides after a lawsuit from CFS and other advocates.
“For decades the EPA has practiced a reckless spray-first-look-later approach to addressing the threats of pesticides to imperiled species,” Jonathan Evans, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
The EPA also did not respond to a request for comment about the threats of chlormequat to threatened and endangered species.
Despite the concerns, farmers are eager for the new uses of the pesticide. The National Association of Wheat Growers and National Barley Growers Association sent public comments to the EPA expressing support for expedited action to approve new uses of chlormequat-containing pesticide products.
The grower groups said farmers have a small window of time each season in which to apply certain products such as chlormequat, so urgent action is needed if farmers are to reap the advantages this growing season.
In contrast, in its written comments to the EPA, CFS said the risks are not worth the gain:
“The putative benefit of applying chlormequat to grains is far outweighed by the risks and costs to human health and the environment,” the group wrote.
|
|
|
|
| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Fourteenth Week after Pentecost |
|
Posted by: Stone - 09-03-2023, 05:44 AM - Forum: Pentecost
- Replies (6)
|
|
The grass of the field which is to-day, and to-morrow is cast into the oven (Matt. vi. 30). Behold, the goods of the earth are like the grass of the field, which to-day is blooming and beautiful, but by the evening withers, and its flowers fade, and the next day it is cast into the fire! All flesh is grass and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field.
I.
Behold, the goods of the earth are like the grass of the field, which to-day is blooming and beautiful, but by the evening it withers and its flowers fade, and the next day it is cast into the fire. This is what God commanded the Prophet Isaias to preach: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field (Is. xl. 6). Hence St. James compares the rich ones of this world to the flower of the grass: at the end of their journey through life they rot, and all their riches and grandeurs with them. The flower of the grass shall he pass away. For the sun rose with a burning heat, and parched the grass, and the flower thereof fell off, and the beauty of the shape thereof perished: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways (James i. 10, 11). They fade away and are cast into the fire, like the rich glutton, who made a splendid appearance in this life but afterwards was buried in hell.
Let us, then, dearly beloved Christian, attend to the salvation of our souls, and to the acquisition of riches for eternity, which never ends; for everything in this world ends, and ends very soon.
When some great one of this world is in the full enjoyment of the riches and honours he has acquired, death shall come, and he shall be told: Take order with thy house; for thou shalt die, and not live (Is. xxxviii. 1). Oh, what doleful tidings! The unhappy man must then say: Farewell, O world! Farewell, O my villa! Farewell, O my beautiful gardens! Farewell, relatives and friends! Farewell sports and balls! Farewell, festivities and banquets! Farewell, honours! All is over for me! There is no remedy: whether he will or not he must leave all. For when he shall die, he shall take nothing away; nor shall his glory descend with him (Ps. xlviii. 18). St. Bernard says that death produces a horrible separation of the soul from the body, and from all the things of this earth. Opus mortis, horrendum divortium. To the great of this world, whom worldlings regard as the most fortunate of mortals, the bare mention of death is so full of bitterness that they are unwilling even to hear it mentioned; for their entire concern is to find peace in their earthly goods. O death! says Ecclesiasticus, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath peace in his possessions (Ecclus. xli. 1).
O my Jesus I give Thee thanks for having waited for me and for not having called me out of this world in my sins. During the remainder of my life I will weep over my iniquities. I will love Thee with all my strength. I know I must die, and by Thy grace I will prepare to die a happy death.
II.
If the bare mention of death is full of bitterness, how much greater bitterness shall death itself cause when it actually comes. Miserable the man who is attached to the goods of this world! Every separation produces pain. Hence, when the soul shall be separated by the stroke of death from the goods on which it had fixed all its affections, the pain must be excruciating. It was this that made king Agag exclaim, when the news of approaching death was announced to him: Doth bitter death separate in this manner? (1 Kings xv. 32). The great misfortune of worldlings is that when they are on the point of being summoned to Judgment, instead of endeavouring to adjust the account of their souls, they direct all their attention to earthly things. But, says St. John Chrysostom, the punishment which awaits the sinner on account of having forgotten God during life is that at the hour of death he forgets himself.
But how great soever a man's attachment to the things of this world may be, he must take leave of them at death. Naked he has entered into this world, and naked he shall depart from it. Naked, says Job, I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither (Job i. 21.). In a word, they who have spent their whole life sacrificing sleep, health, and their very soul in accumulating riches and possessions, shall take nothing with them at the hour of death. Their eyes shall then be opened, and of all they had so dearly acquired, they shall find nothing in their hands. Hence, on that night of confusion, they shall be overwhelmed in a tempest of pains and sadness. The rich man, when he shall sleep, shall take away nothing with him. He shall open his eyes and find nothing; ... a tempest shall oppress him in the night (Job xxvii. 19-20).
St. Antoninus relates that Saladin, king of the Saracens, gave orders at the hour of death that the winding-sheet in which he was to be buried should be carried before him to the grave, and that a person should cry out: "Of all his possessions, only this shall Saladin bring with him." The Saint also relates that a certain philosopher, speaking of Alexander the Great after his death, said: "Behold the man that made the earth tremble!" The earth, as the Scripture says, was quiet before him. He is now under the earth. Behold the man whom the dominion of the whole world could not satisfy: now six feet of earth is sufficient for him. An ancient writer says that having gone to see the tomb of Caesar, he exclaimed: "Princes feared thee; cities worshipped thee; all trembled before thee; whither has thy magnificence gone?" Listen to what David says: I have seen the wicked highly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus. And I passed by, and lo! he was not (Ps. xxxvi. 35-36). Oh, how many such spectacles are seen every day in the world! A sinner who had been born in lowliness and poverty afterwards acquires wealth and honours, so as to excite the envy of all. When he dies, men say: He made a fortune in the world; but now he is dead, and with death all is over for him!
Spiritual Reading
DANGERS TO SALVATION
A boat on the waves of the sea represents man in this world. As a vessel on the sea is exposed to a thousand dangers -- to pirates, to quicksands, to hidden rocks, and to tempests, so man in this life is encompassed with perils arising from the temptations of hell -- from the occasions of sin, from the scandals or bad counsels of men, from human respect, and, above all, from the bad passions of corrupt nature, represented by the winds that agitate the sea and expose the vessel to great danger of being lost.
St. Leo says our life is full of dangers, of snares, and of enemies. The first enemy of the salvation of every Christian is his own corruption. But every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured (James i. 14).
Along with the corrupt inclinations within us that drag us to evil, we have many enemies from without that fight against us. We have the devils, with whom the contest is very difficult, because they are stronger than we are. Hence, because we have to contend with powerful enemies, St. Paul exhorts us to arm ourselves with the Divine aid: Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places (Ephes. vi. 11-12). The devil, according to St. Peter, is a lion continually going about roaring with rage and hunger for our souls. Your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. v. 8). St. Cyprian says that Satan is continually lying in wait for us in order to make us his slaves.
Even the men with whom we must converse endanger our salvation. They persecute or betray us, or they deceive us by their flattery and wicked counsels. St. Augustine says that among the faithful there are in every profession insincere and deceitful men. Now if a fortress were full of rebels within, and encompassed by enemies without, who would not regard it as lost? Such is the condition of each of us as long as we live in this world. Who shall be able to deliver us from so many powerful enemies? Only God: Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it (Ps. cxxvi. 1).
What, then, is the means by which we can save our souls in the midst of so many dangers? It is to imitate the holy disciples -- to have recourse to our Divine Master, and to say to Him: Lord, save us; we perish -- Domine, salva nos; perimus. Save us, O Lord; if Thou dost not, we are lost. When the tempest is violent, the pilot never takes his eyes from the light which guides him to the port. In like manner we should keep our eyes always turned to God Who alone can deliver us from the many dangers to which we are exposed. It was thus David acted when he found himself assailed by the dangers of sin. I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me (Ps. cxx. 1). To teach us to recommend ourselves continually to Him who alone can save us by His grace, the Lord has ordained that, as long as we remain on this earth we shall have to live in the midst of a continual tempest and be surrounded by enemies. The temptations of the devil, the persecutions of men, the adversity which we suffer in this world, are not evils; they are, on the contrary, advantages, if we know how to use them as God wishes, Who sends or permits them for our welfare. They detach our affections from this earth, and inspire a disgust for this world, by making us feel bitterness and thorns even in its honours, its riches, its delights, and amusements. The Lord permits all these apparent evils, that we may take away our affections from fading goods, in which we meet with so many dangers of perdition, and that we may seek to unite ourselves with Him Who alone can make us happy.
The error and mistake is that when we find ourselves harassed by infirmities, poverty, persecutions, and all such tribulations, instead of having recourse to the Lord, we turn to creatures and place our confidence in their assistance, and thus draw upon ourselves the maledictions of God, Who says: Cursed be the man who trusteth in man (Jer. xvii. 5). The Lord does not forbid us in our afflictions and dangers to have recourse to human means; but He curses those who place their whole trust in them. He wishes us to have recourse to Himself before all others and to place our only hope in Him, so that we may also centre in Him all our love.
As long as we live on this earth, we must, according to St. Paul, work out our salvation with fear and trembling in the midst of the dangers by which we are beset. Whilst a certain vessel was in the open sea a great tempest arose which made the captain tremble. In the hold of the vessel there was an animal eating with as much tranquillity as if the sea were perfectly calm. The captain being asked why he was so much afraid, replied: "If I had a soul like the soul of that brute, I too would be tranquil and without fear; but because I have a rational and an immortal soul, I am afraid of death, after which I must appear before the Judgment-seat of God; and therefore I tremble through fear." Let us tremble. The salvation of our immortal souls is at stake. They who do not tremble, are, as St. Paul says, in great danger of being lost; because they who fear not, seldom recommend themselves to God, and labour but little to adopt the means of salvation. Let us beware, for we are, says St. Cyprian, still in the front of the fight, and combating for eternal salvation.
Evening Meditation
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST
I.
The Divine Priest, Jesus Christ, Who was both Priest and Victim, by the sacrifice of His life for the salvation of men completed the Sacrifice of the Cross and accomplished the work of the world's Redemption. By His death Jesus Christ stripped our death of its terrors. Until then it was but the punishment of rebels; but by grace and the merits of our Saviour it becomes a sacrifice so dear to God that when we unite it to the death of Jesus, it makes us worthy to enjoy the same glory that God enjoys, and to hear Him one day say to us, as we hope: Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord! (Matt. xxv.21).
Thus death, which was an object of pain and dread, was changed by the death of Jesus into a passage from a state of peril and danger of hell, into one of security and of eternal blessedness, and from the miseries of this life to the boundless delights of Paradise.
Therefore the Saints have ever regarded death with joy and desire, and no longer with fear. St. Augustine says that they who love the Crucified One "live with patience and die with joy." And common experience shows that they who in life have been most troubled with persecutions, temptations, scruples, or other painful events are in death most comforted by Jesus Crucified, conquering with great peace of mind all the terrors and pains of death. And if it has sometimes happened that some of the Saints, as we read in their Lives, died in great fear of death, the Lord God permitted this in order to increase their merits; because the more painful the sacrifice, the more acceptable it was to God, and the more profitable to them for eternity.
Oh, how much more bitter was death of old, before the time of the death of Jesus Christ! The Saviour was not yet come, and men sighed for His coming: they waited for His promise, but they knew not when it would be fulfilled. The devil had great power upon earth; Heaven was closed to men. But after the death of the Redeemer, hell was conquered. Divine grace was given to souls, God was reconciled to men, and the Kingdom of Heaven was opened to all those who die innocent, or have expiated their sins by repentance. And if some who die in grace do not immediately enter Heaven, this only results from the faults of which they are not yet cleansed; and death merely bursts their bonds, in order that they may be free to unite themselves perfectly to God, from Whom they are far away in this land of exile.
II.
Let us, then, take heed, O Christian souls, while we are in this exile, not to look at death as a misfortune, but as the end of our pilgrimage, which is full of difficulties and dangers, and as the beginning of our eternal happiness, which we hope one day to attain through the merits of Jesus Christ. And with this thought of Heaven, let us detach ourselves as much as possible from earthly things, which may cause us to lose Heaven and give us over to eternal pains. Let us offer ourselves to God declaring that we wish to die when it pleases Him, and to accept death in the manner and at the time which He has appointed; ever praying Him that, through the merits of Jesus Christ, He will cause us to depart from this life in His grace.
O my Jesus and my Saviour, Who, to obtain for me a happy death, hast chosen for Thyself a death so painful and desolate. I abandon myself into the arms of Thy mercy. For many years past I have deserved to be in hell, for the sins I have committed against Thee, and to be separated from Thee forever. But Thou, instead of punishing me as I deserved, hast called me to repentance, and I hope that now Thou hast pardoned me; but if Thou hast not already pardoned me through my fault, pardon me now that in sorrow I ask for mercy at Thy feet. O my Jesus, I could die of grief when I think of the injuries I have offered Thee! "O Blood of the Innocent, wash away the sins of the penitent!" pardon me, and give me grace to love Thee with all my strength till death; and when I shall reach the end of my life, make me to die burning with love for Thee, that I may continue to love Thee forever. Jesus, henceforth I unite my death to Thy holy death, through which I hope to be saved. In thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded (Ps. xxx. 2).
O thou great Mother of God, next to Jesus thou art my hope. "In thee, O Lady, have I hoped; I shall not be confounded forever."
|
|
|
|
| Holy Mass in New York - September 3, 2023 |
|
Posted by: Stone - 09-02-2023, 07:02 AM - Forum: September 2023
- No Replies
|
|
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - Feast of Pope St. Pius X/Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Date:Sunday, September 3, 2023
Time: Confessions - 4:00 PM
Holy Mass - 4:30 PM
Location: 498 Louie Dickinson Rd.
Edmeston, NY 13335
Contact: 315-391-7575
|
|
|
|
| Conflicting Evidence Of mRNA Technology Raises Serious Concerns |
|
Posted by: Stone - 09-02-2023, 06:48 AM - Forum: Health
- No Replies
|
|
Conflicting Evidence Of mRNA Technology Raises Serious Concerns About Rush For Use In New Vaccine Development
![[Image: id5483377-shutterstock_2132788623-870x52...k=v8SDpNXI]](https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/id5483377-shutterstock_2132788623-870x522_jpg_webp.jpg?itok=v8SDpNXI)
(wacomka/Shutterstock)]
ZH [slightly adapted] | SEP 01, 2023
Authored by Megan Redshaw via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The U.S. government and pharmaceutical companies are investing a substantial amount to develop new mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases and cancer, fueling a lucrative mRNA platform valued at $136.2 billion.
A newly established White House program announced on Aug. 23 that it is granting a total of $25 million over three years to Emory University, Yale School of Medicine, and the University of Georgia to develop personalized therapeutic vaccines against cancers and emerging infections, similar to how COVID-19 mRNA vaccines target SARS-CoV-2. They aim to use mRNA—an essential element in COVID-19 vaccines developed to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections—to program a unique class of immune cells called dendritic cells to initiate a desired immunological response.
Pharmaceutical companies such as Moderna, BioNTech, and CureVac are conducting clinical trials using mRNA-based vaccines with advanced melanoma, ovarian, colorectal, and pancreatic cancers. The National Institutes of Health is partnering with BioNTech to develop a personalized vaccine for pancreatic cancers. In addition to COVID-19 and cancer, other mRNA-based vaccines in development target influenza, genital herpes, respiratory viruses, and shingles.
Although mRNA platforms are appealing because they reduce costs and shorten the vaccine development timeline, evidence and experience suggest the mRNA technology used for novel COVID-19 vaccines is associated with various harms and neither prevents COVID-19 nor its transmission.
Evidence Challenging Vaccine ‘Safe and Effective’ Narrative
The unprecedented rates of adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination overshadow the benefits, according to researchers from Australia who say the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, whether from the virus or created from genetic code in mRNA and adenovectorDNA vaccines, is toxic and causes a wide array of diseases.
In their recently published paper published in Biomedicines titled, “‘Spikeopathy’: COVID-19 Spike Protein Is Pathogenic, from Both Virus and Vaccine mRNA,” the researchers explored peer-reviewed data countering the “safe and effective” narrative attached to new technologies used to develop mRNA and adenovectorDNA vaccines at “warp speed” to end the pandemic.
Spike protein pathogenicity, termed “spikeopathy,” describes the ability of the spike protein to cause disease, and the researchers say it can affect many organ systems.
Researchers noted the following key problem areas:
- Spike protein toxicity (spikeopathy) from both the virus and when produced by gene codes in people vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines.
- Inflammatory properties in specific lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) used to transport mRNA.
- Long-lasting action caused by N1-methyl pseudouridine in the synthetic mRNA—also referred to as modRNA.
- Widespread distribution of mRNA and DNA codes via the LNP and viral vector carrier matrices, respectively.
- Human cells produce a foreign protein that can cause autoimmunity.
Now that vaccines utilizing mRNA technology have been available and widely distributed for several years, data show these vaccines produce foreign antigens in human tissues and increase the risk of autoimmune, neurological, cardiovascular, inflammatory disorders, and cancers, especially when the vaccine ingredients do not remain localized at the injection site. An antigen is any substance that stimulates an immune response. If the immune system encounters an antigen that is not found on the body’s own cells, it will launch an attack against that antigen.
Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data show the design of the mRNA and adenovectorDNA COVID-19 vaccines allow uncontrolled biodistribution, durability, and persistent bioavailability of the spike protein inside the body after vaccination. Pharmacokinetics is the study of how the body interacts with administered substances for the entire duration of exposure. Pharmacodynamics assesses the drug’s effect on the body more closely.
This may explain the unprecedented number of adverse events that appear to be associated with the spike protein produced by the gene-based technologies employed by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson, as well as the viral vector DNA technology used by other countries, researchers said.
mRNA Vaccines Are Gene Therapy and May Cause Harm
Gene-based COVID-19 vaccines are therapeutic products that actually fit within the FDA’s definition of gene therapy because they cause the cells of the vaccinated person to produce antigens for transmembrane expression that invokes an immune response. By design, these novel vaccine platforms risk tissue damage secondary to autoimmune responses raised against cells expressing foreign spike antigens, researchers said.
The FDA was aware of the pathogenicity of spike proteins before releasing COVID-19 vaccines to the public. In an October 2022 meeting with its vaccine advisors, the FDA presented a highly accurate list of potential adverse events associated with COVID-19 vaccines, including neurological, cardiovascular, and autoimmune “possible adverse events.”
React19, an organization that provides financial, emotional, and physical support to those experiencing long-term injuries from COVID-19 vaccines, provided a list of over 3,400 published papers and case reports of injuries affecting more than 20 organ systems. More than 432 peer-reviewed papers relate to papers and case reports of myocarditis, cardiomyopathy, myocardial infarction, hypertension, aortic dissection, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), tachycardia, and conduction disturbance—a problem with the electrical system that controls the heart’s rate and rhythm.
The most common group of adverse events reported following COVID-19 vaccination to both pharmacovigilance databases and Pfizer involve neurological disorders. According to the paper, neurological symptoms and cognitive decline with accelerated neurodegenerative disease are features of acute COVID-19 vaccine injuries and, to some extent, long COVID syndrome. Research suggests (pdf) LNPs transporting the mRNA to make spike proteins can cross the blood-brain barrier and cause neurotoxic effects.
Lipid Nanoparticles Are Toxic and Pro-Inflammatory
It’s not just the spike protein that can cause disease. LNPs that serve as the delivery method are also toxic and pro-inflammatory.
Research from 2018 showed even small amounts of nanoparticles taken up by the lungs can lead to cytotoxic effects. Ingested nanoparticles have been shown to affect lymph nodes, the liver, and the spleen, while when injected as a drug carrier, they can pass any barrier and translocate to the brain, ovaries, and testes, mainly after phagocytosis by macrophages, which help distribute them across the body. The effects on the reproductive system suggest lipid nanoparticles can be cytotoxic and damage DNA.
According to the authors, two components in the mRNA lipid nanoparticle complexes, ALC-0315 and ALC-0159, are concerning, as they have never been used in a medicinal product and are not registered in either the European Pharmacopoeia or in the European C&L Inventory database. A question posed to the European Parliament in December 2021 pointed out that the manufacturer of the nanoparticles specifies the nanoparticles are for research only and not for human use. The European Commission responded that the excipient in Pfizer’s Comirnaty vaccine “has been demonstrated to be appropriate … in compliance with the relevant EMA scientific guidelines and standards.”
Still, this could explain the root cause of numerous post-vaccination adverse events, researchers said.
Read more here...
|
|
|
|
|
![[Image: cq5dam.thumbnail.cropped.750.422.jpeg]](https://www.vaticannews.va/content/dam/vaticannews/agenzie/images/srv/2023/08/31/2023-08-31-viaggio-apostolico-in-mongolia/1693711948997.JPG/_jcr_content/renditions/cq5dam.thumbnail.cropped.750.422.jpeg)
