IF IMAGE and celebrity were everything, if truth was determined by vote or acclaim, than Robert Prevost would be pope of the Catholic Church, Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth.
But truth does not always correspond to image.
The truth is that Prevost is not Pope. He is not even Catholic. A basic familiarity with the beliefs of the Catholic Church for almost 2,000 years can easily discern this fact. Prevost is an aging Marxist hippie who looks nice in papal dress and uses the remaining wealth of the true Church and the resources of the gullible, hoodwinked and uninformed masses to promote a One World religion that proclaims the “People of God” their own messiah, obviating the need under this system for any pope at all. He and his predecessors in this religion are smooth-talking Bolsheviks who have smashed Catholic altars to smithereens and obliterated the entire juridical structure of the Church. Their popularity and success mean absolutely nothing in the eyes of God. It doesn’t matter how many babies they’ve kissed, how many hands they’ve shaken, how many books they have produced, how many countries they’ve visited, how many celebrities they’ve welcomed through their doors, how many times they have claimed to say Mass, how many packed auditoriums or stadiums they have addressed. It doesn’t matter how many millions are so scandalized by this difficult truth that they reject it. All this is nothing. Catholicism is a religion of the cross, and the vast majority, like the Pharisees of old who refused to accept a Messiah who would not be an earthly king, refuse it. Their Church must be a glorious earthly kingdom with a celebrity at its head, or they will not have it. The biblical prophecies, the teachings of the saints and Fathers of the Church who said everything would be taken away from them before the end, do not impress.
Then who is pope? Do we have a pope?
Yes, we do.
Pope Pius XII, who died in 1958, rules still during this extended vacancy of the papal chair that began that same year. He rules through his living legacy, the cumulative and infallible decrees of all of his predecessors. He is today the true pope of the Catholic Church, not physically in power, but morally and supernaturally.
Papal supremacy is the “cohesive center” that holds not just the Catholic world together, but all of human life. From “Pastor Aeternus“:
The divine and omnipotent authority of the Pope prevails despite his death, since by virtue of his primacy, he never takes his hand from the helm of the Church.
• “No one can harbor any doubts; rather, it has been known throughout all time that the holy and most holy Peter, Prince and head of the Apostles, pillar of the faith and foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys to the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, Savior and Redeemer of humankind. He, until now and forever, lives, presides, and judges in his successors, the bishops of the Holy Roman See, founded by him and consecrated with his blood. It follows that whoever succeeds Peter in this Chair, by virtue of the institution of Christ himself, obtains the Primacy of Peter over the entire Church.” Therefore, what truth has ordained is not set aside, and blessed Peter, persevering in the strength he has received, from the UNCONTESTABLE STONE, HAS NEVER REMOVED HIS HAND FROM THE HELMS OF THE CHURCH.
—HIS HOLINESS PIUS IX, Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Æternus, Vatican Council.
• “During the vacancy, the Church remains firmly established, which is the fruit of the exercise of primacy. […] During the vacancy of the papal seat, the Church and its unity remain firmly in place with the PRE-EXISTING EXERCISE OF PRIMACY, as well as the present law and providence of Christ, which forbids the transformation of the monarchy into a collegial government or the dissolution of one Church into several autocephalies. Removed from the dynamic influence of the papacy, sooner rather than later it FATALLY BECOMES DISINTEGRATION AND DIVISION, either in fractured Protestantism or in the disintegration of national autocephaly into Orientalism.”
—TIMOTHEUS ZAPALENA SJ, De Ecclesia Christi, page 336, Year of the Lord 1954.
• “We proclaim and declare, therefore, that the Roman Church, by the Lord’s disposition, has the primacy of ordinary power over all others, and that this power of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, true episcopal power, is immediate: ALL, PASTORS AND FAITHFUL, of whatever rite and dignity, are bound to him by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, not only in matters of faith and morals, but also in matters of the discipline and governance of the Church throughout the world. In this way, having safeguarded the unity of communion and profession of the same faith with the Roman Pontiff, the Church of Christ will be one flock under one Supreme Shepherd. This is the Doctrine of Catholic Truth.”
—HIS HOLINESS PIUS IX, Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Æternus, Vatican Council.
• “Peter the foundation is so intrinsically connected with the Church that the Church cannot exist without its actual union with Peter. […] An intrinsic relationship must therefore be recognized between Peter the foundation and the Church the building; and consequently, Peter will be a necessary and essential part of that whole to which Christ promised the privilege of infallibility. The Church without the actual influence of Peter is a truly imaginary entity to which no external object corresponds. The promise with which Christ swore to perpetually assist the Apostles and their successors, that is, the whole Church: ‘Ego vobiscum sum usque ad consummationem sæculi’… Christ is therefore perpetually with his disciples, when he makes them perpetually united with their center [the Pope].”
—MAURO CAPPELLARI OSB CAM., later Gregory XVI, The Triumph of the Holy See and of the Church Against Innovators, against the Jansenists, Year of Our Lord 1799.
[bold added]
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In correlation, I maintain that in all that is bequeathed by His Holiness Pius XII, we have what is necessary for our terrible times, and that this same Head guides us with certainty even in this final vale of tears. Thus, by the principle of authority, His Holiness Pius XII is above any person or authority by virtue of his perpetual primacy and the very temporality that places him, even today, as the absolute Judge over any postulate that contradicts him, before and during his pontificate in plenary session and after his death in the vacancy of the See.
Jose Augusto Ceccarelli
Catholics must submit lovingly to the primacy of Pope Pius XII, who wrote:
“If you wish to grow in the love of Christ, you MUST FOSTER the obedience of children, your trust in and love for the Vicar of Jesus Christ. FOR IN HIM YOU OFFER REVERENCE AND OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST, CHRIST IS PRESENT TO YOU IN HIM. THE LEGAL CHURCH UNJUSTLY SEPARATES ITSELF FROM THE CHURCH OF CHARITY. Some mistakenly distinguish between the legal Church and the Church of charity. This is not the case; rather, THIS CHURCH, LEGALLY FOUNDED, WHICH HAS THE ROMAN PONTIFF AS ITS HEAD, IS ALSO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, the Church of charity, and the universal family of Christians […] share it throughout the world, so that all may be one in the love of Christ with the Supreme Pontiff.”
— His Holiness Pius XII, Address to the students of the ecclesiastical institutes of Rome, June 24, 1939 (emphasis added)
