A return to Assisi. These terrible, and deeply shocking, events were announced by
John Paul II, during his speech to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus, on Sunday 18th November. It might be hard to believe, but the Pope actually asked all Catholics to fast and pray with fervour: “that God grants the world a stable peace, based on justice and that He may interfere in order to find adequate solutions to the numerous conflicts which are shaking the world.”
The Pope is obviously very concerned by the extremely serious situation of the world and by the real risk of a world war. “The international scene, he said, continues to be troubled by worrying tensions… In a situation where the constant threat of terrorism makes it worse, we feel the need to cry to God.” We know that John Paul II is perfectly aware of the dramatic times in which we live and of the imminent risk of a widespread conflict between civilisations. When still Cardinal Wojtyla, he said in an address to American Bishops at the Eucharist Congress held in Philadelphia: “We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think the wide circle of the Christian Community realises this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the Anti-Church, the Gospel and the Anti-Gospel, Christ and the Antichrist.” (Wall St. Journal, 9-11-78)
The keen awareness of John Paul II of the enormous confrontation shaking humanity, and now taking the form of a clash between Islam and the Western World, inspired him to find a solution to this conflict in brotherly solidarity and in the union of all the religions of the world, in an attempt to achieve peace on earth. On 18th November he repeated the words that he used at Assisi fifteen years previously: “It is urgent that a common invocation raises from earth to heaven, to beg from the Almighty, the great gift of peace, necessary condition for a serious commitment to the service of the true progress of mankind.”
This sentence is particularly indicative of John Paul II’s programme! Ecumenism ( common invocation), based on the smaller common denominator (to beg the Almighty) to obtain a Masonic paradise on earth (the true progress of mankind). We find similar words, page after page, in the texts of Vatican II and in the Pope’s discourses. Alas, this pitiable and wretched policy of the members of the hierarchy of the Church, since John XXIII and the Council, is not the solution to save mankind from the chastisements to come. On the contrary, it will plunge the world into chaos and send the Church to her ruin.
It is thus terribly important to remember what Pope Pius XI had to say on the question of ecumenism: “Such efforts can meet with no kind of approval among Catholics… Those who hold such a view are not only in error; they distort the true idea of religion, and thus reject it, falling gradually into naturalism and atheism. To favour this opinion, therefore, and to encourage such undertakings is tantamount to abandoning the religion revealed by God…
It is clear that the Apostolic See can by no means take part in these assemblies, nor is it in any way lawful for Catholics to give to such enterprises their encouragement or support. If they did so, they would be giving countenance to a false Christianity quite alien to the one Church of Christ. Shall we commit the iniquity of suffering the truth, the truth revealed by God, to be made subject for compromise? For it is indeed a question of defending revealed truth.” (Mortalium Animos) [Editor's Note: Read the encyclical at Mortalium Animos.]
John Paul II has totally turned his back on this sound teaching of his predecessors and has embraced the chimera of ecumenism. Hoping to achieve peace on earth without Jesus Christ, the Author of Peace, he has ended up with the exact opposite of what he was looking for: since the early sixties, the state of the world has been degenerating at an alarming pace and we are now on the brink of a bloodbath. We, consequently, have every reason to fear that these two calls for prayers (in union with the Muslims on 14 December, and with other false religions this week in Assisi) will, by no means, bring peace on earth, but instead hasten the wrath of God and precipitate severe, but just chastisements, on mankind.
“For when they shall say, peace and security; then shall sudden destruction come upon them, as the pains upon her that is with child, and they shall not escape.” (1Thess.5,3)
On the eve of the repetition of what was termed at the time, “the scandal of Assisi”, we should reflect upon the letter that Arcbishop Lefebvre addressed to eight Cardinals of the Curia.
Your Eminence,
Confronted with events taking place in the Church, that have John Paul II as their author, and faced with those he intends carrying out at Taizé and Assisi in October, I cannot refrain from addressing you and begging you, in the name of numerous priests and faithful, to save the honour of the Church never before humiliated to such an extent in the course of her history.
The speeches and actions of John Paul II in Togo, Morocco, and the Indies cause a righteous indignation to rise up in our heart. What do the Saints, the holy men and women of the Old and New Testaments make of this? What would the Holy Inquisition do if it were still in existence?
He who now sits upon the Throne of Peter publicly mocks the first article of the Creed and the first Commandment of the Decalogue.
The scandal given to Catholic souls cannot be measured. The Church is shaken to its very foundations. If faith in the Church, the only ark of salvation, disappears, then the Church Herself disappears.
Is John Paul II to continue ruining the Church, in particular at Assisi, with his plans for combined religious processions in the streets of the town of St Francis and for joint religions ceremonies in the chapels and in the basilica, with a view to practising worship in favour of peace, as conceived by the United Nations?
This is what Cardinal Etchegaray, in charge of this abominable congress, has announced.
Is it conceivable that no authoritative voice in the Church has been raised to condemn these public sins? Where are the Maccabees?
Eminence, for the honour of the one true God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, make a public protest, come to the help of the bishops, priests and Catholics who remain faithful.
Eminence, if I took the step of contacting, you it is because I do not doubt your sentiments in this matter.
I am also addressing this appeal to those Cardinals named below so that you might possibly be able to work together.
May the Holy Ghost come to your aid and please accept, Eminence, my devoted and fraternal greetings in Christ and Mary.
Archbishop Lefebvre, Emeritus Bishop-Archbishop of Tulle.
Econe, 27th August 1986
Unfortunately, the words of Archbishop Lefebvre, nonetheless totally consistent with those of Pope Pius XI, concerning the Church’s disastrous ecumenical policy, fell upon deaf ears. Following his example, and with the same strength and the same faith in the Holy Catholic Church, the only ark of salvation, we voice the same words today and address the same supplication to the Pope and the hierarchy of the Church.
May the Pope and the hierarchy hear the cry of the children of the Church, who pray every day that, instead of inviting ministers of false religions to pray together, they may might call upon all the Catholic bishops of the world to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in order to obtain the true peace that Our Lady promised, if only they would deign to do so.
Let us, my dear Faithful, always remember the words and requests of Our Lady and let us put them in practise, since they contain the only effective solution to the trials and sorrows of mankind. "Never err from the path that you have chosen, it is the only true path – that of prayer and penance. There is no other way to force the devil, who has ensnared the world and is holding it captive, to beat a retreat. Too little heed is being paid to the lesson of the Master." (Pius XII, 22 November 1947)
Fr. Jacques Emily