I have always been proud to be a Catholic -- I was an altar boy and I loved everything about the Catholic Church, which is the reason for this writing. I can only hope that this article will land on desks of the Catholic clergy and it will make a difference.

    Canon Law imposes strict standards of conduct requiring "correct doctrine and integrity of life" upon those teaching in Catholic institutions (Canon 803, Sect. 2, and Canon 804, Sect. 2), and states that those who fall short "need to be removed" (Canon 810, Sect. 1). It is the bishop's responsibility to watch over "even those schools which have been established or are being directed by members of religious institutions ..." (Canon 808, Sect. 1; Canon 805).

    The New Testament also charges those in authority to deal with doctrinal error before it spreads (1 Timothy 6:3-5; Titus 3:10-11). Is there a reason why these priests and pro-abortion professors have not been excommunicated, since they clearly are at odds with the teachings of the Catholic Church. The damage they are doing is enormous.

    I would think that the above Canon law was made just for such priests. I understand that Father Andrew Greeley, who we exposed in the last installment, gives much of his money that he makes on the sale of his books to the Catholic Church.. I hope this is not the reason, he has not been excommunicated.

    The Catholic church has within its power to change things -- to outlaw abortions, if they would make more of an effort. There were Catholic Democratic Senators who voted NOT to ban the barbaric Partial-birth abortion - most prominently that psuedo Catholic Ted Kennedy. If they would have voted the other way, thousands of God's precious creations would have been saved, every year.

    Democrat Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, said something that I thought I would never hear from someone so high up in the political spectrum. And the worst part of it -- he IS a Catholic. He said, concerning partial-birth abortions, after the Senate vote, "the debate over banning one form of abortion was a vehicle for anti-abortion rights groups to chip away'' at all abortion rights protected by the court. They'd be back again with something else. And then back again with something else until Roe v. Wade is overturned. That's really what they're about,'' Harkin said.

    This cold and callous remark reflects the views of the abortion advocates. They'd sooner have thousands of babies tortured and killed, then to take a practically zero chance that by being compassionate, it may lead to the elimination of all killing of unborn babies..

    This clouded and perverted thinking, is the same as saying, "we must not make laws to ban rape, because it may lead to the banning of sex between husband and wife." An utterly ridiculous statement. Could it just be, that we just don’t like to see babies suffer and murdered? Could it just be that we take God at His word? "Thou Shalt Not Kill.

    Senator Harkin's ludicrous statement is rivaled in stupidity by the following, remark by Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League: "The banning of partial-birth abortions is an intrusion on the reproductive rights of women." You are wrong, Michelman, it's an intrusion on her paying for someone to murder her baby. We are all for women's reproductive rights -- they can reproduce anytime they want to -- It's a God given right. But, we do draw the line at murder. Do you see how these people twist words around to suit their agenda?

    When I hear these ridiculous statements, I have to wonder, WHY? Where is their common sense -- where is their compassion? It feels as if I'm in the twilight zone, or maybe in a parallel universe. It just can't be the the United States of America -- the home of the free and the brave.

    If the Republican Pro-life candidates don't use the Partial-birth abortion advocacy of their Democratic rivals in the upcoming elections, they should, "have their heads examined." They should explain the procedure of a PBA, in detail and tell people of the pain these babies suffer. If they do this -- they will sweep the elections and have the pro-aborts in a tizzy. They'd run for cover.

    I can just see the look on Gore or Bradley's face when when confronted with being a part of the most gruesome killing that can be imagined, especially since it's never needed for the health or life of the mother. They would slowly sink under the podium. There is NO way, they could justify the needless killing of thousands of babies every year, which are done by this barbaric procedure. It is NOT an emergency procedure, other methods are better and faster. Frankly, I would even accuse them of selling their souls to satan for political gain.

    In these late term abortions, the entire baby is delivered except for the head, which they make sure stays in the birth canal (otherwise it would be murder) -- then the back of the baby's head is punctured with scissors and then the baby's brains are sucked out. This act is so horrendous that congress -- the House and the Senate, passed a Bill that would ban it, but Clinton, who claims he feels everyone's pain, vetoed the Bill. Reliable studies show that babies, who are killed at 20 weeks gestation and older, feel excruciating pain when they are killed. Some studies, even earlier.

    Catholic Democratic Senators agreed with Bill Clinton. They ignored the views of the American Medical Association, who said PBA are never needed to to save the life of the mother nor to ensure her health. Other methods are better and faster. It is not an emergency procedure. The pro-aborts want this barbaric procedure to continue. in case a mother changes her mind late in her pregnancy and wants to have her baby killed and they want to make sure, it's a "legal killing." This is not only sick, it's tragic!

    All that was needed in the Senate, were three more votes to overturn Clinton's veto. The House had the 2/3rd votes and overturned the veto. The Catholic Senators could have saved the lives of thousands of babies every year, who otherwise would have lived, but for political reasons, they sold their souls to satan and chose not to. Why aren't they excommunicated?

    Al Gore said that the religious right -- then he mentioned the names of Rev. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson --want Roe vs Wade to be reversed. This remark was another stunner. Gore did NOT mention the Catholic Church. WHY NOT? Is not the Catholic Church against the killing of unborn babies? To me this says volumes. Does he know something we don't? It sounds like the pro-aborts feel that the Catholic Church is no threat. Come to think of it, I am constantly seeing Protestant Ministers on TV condemning abortions. I can't remember the last time I saw too many priests doing the same. Why won't they follow the example of the United States Cardinals who unequivocably speak out strongly against aborton? Are they...are we listening to Cardinal O'Connor, Cardinal Bevilacqua, Cardinal Maida, Cardinal George, and many of the others including good bishops? The priests and laity need to! And now!

    If not, then Gore is right -- the Catholic Church is no threat. The pro-abort liberal Democrats must think they have the Catholic vote in their hip pocket. A few times, I've heard on TV that the Catholic vote is the swing vote. Both parties are going after it. But, why should the Catholic vote be the swing vote? The Catholic Church condemns all abortions. Catholics should be voting overwhelmingly for pro-life candidates, regardless of political affiliation. Is it the fault of Catholics, that there are not any pro-life candidates running for president in the Democratic party?

    Clinton said, "there is absolutely no question in my mind (that) whether Roe vs. Wade is preserved or scrapped depends on what happens in the presidential election, and to pretend otherwise is naive." For once, I agree with Clinton. This election will determine if unborn babies live or die.

    I truly believe that GOD is sad at what He sees in the Catholic Church in the USA, and satan is ecstatic. I know there are very good and Holy Bishops and Priests, who are doing there best to rid our country of the killing of unborn babies. But as a whole the Church in the USA can do MUCH better.

    I would urge you all to take this message to your Bishop and parish priests and ask them if they would please, tell their parishioners to vote for pro-life candidates -- not just once, but continually until the elections. Let this be the goal of every parish in the country. Sadly there are only pro-abort candidates running for president on the Democratic ticket.

    With 60 million Catholics ( 40 million of voting age) in the United States, legalized abortions would soon be history, if Catholics adhered to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, shoved politics aside and voted for pro-life candidates.

    It's all a matter of education and getting the word out. It's obvious that the Catholic Church is not getting the right message out to its parishioners, as the Protestant churches are doing. There is no more important issue that faces our country and the Catholic Church, than the killing of unborn babies -- God's most precious creations.

    It's up to the Catholic Church, if the American holocaust continues, or ends. If babies continue to be killed, IT IS the fault of the Catholic Church in America -- it's that simple!

    God bless and pray that our Catholic leaders do the right thing! The soul of America and countless Catholics are at stake, as well as the millions of babies who are our future! God alone knows the answer and will judge accordingly. Will it be a future forged by blood or by moral righteousness and goodness? Catholics of America, the choice is yours!

Dr. Frank

    Today, in our on-going series of this abridged History of the Mass and Holy Mother Church over a 2000 year span called 2000 YEAR VOYAGE ON THE BARQUE OF PETER, we cover much of the second half of the twelfth century leading up to the Third Crusade. We discover another schism within the Church where four antipopes ruled, placed on the throne by the thorn in the side of the Church - the German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. His support by the Gibellines forced many of the Popes and the loyal curia members to take up residence outside of Rome, guarded by those loyal to the Papacy - the Guelphs. During this time there were strong Popes and weak ones including the first and only English Pontiff Pope Hadrian IV which indirectly caused the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket for his loyalty to the British Sovereign Bishop of Rome over the Sovereign King Henry II of England. For Installment thirty-eight The Bitter years of the Barbarian Barbarossa, see BARQUE OF PETER

   The College of Cardinals quickly convened the day Blessed Pope Eugene III passed on to his Heavenly reward, and chose a Roman prelate Cardinal Corrado to succeed him on July 8, 1154. The latter chose the name Pope Anastasius IV, the 168th successor of Peter and the first Anastasius in 243 years. The people were so elated at his election that the Roman Senate chose to honor one of their own by having him publicly enthroned at the Lateran Palace on July 12, 1153, an honor afforded to few pontiffs. Anastasius IV's gentle character and great popularity among his own people helped bring peace among all factions. For the first time in decades there were no wars in Rome or throughout Europe for that matter. He begun the restoration of the ancient Pantheon as well as many other buildings and churches throughout the eternal city. He was also able to expand the Faith to Scandinavia through his Papal Legate Nicholas Breakspear, the English monk who would become Anastasius' successor. In fact, had Anastasius lived longer it is highly likely he would have done much more, but alas he died on December 3, 1154 after a glorious 18 month reign and was buried at St. John Lateran.

   Because of Anastasius' popularity and success, the most logical successor was the Englishman Cardinal Breakspear who became the first and only English Pope ever, taking the name Pope Hadrian IV, the first since late in the eighth century. Some have called these Popes Adrian, others Hadrian. Either way they are the same persons. At first Hadrian declined, not feeling worthy of the august honor but his peers pressed him and he accepted and, like his predecessor he became an excellent Sovereign Pontiff and staunch defender of the Church, considered by historians as "the English Pope who was a rose to the Church and a thorn to the German King." Since Rome teetered on revolt because of the uneasy alliance with the Germans, Hadrian turned to Sicily for an unlikely partnership. This all resulted from the German King Frederick I Barbarossa's renegging on various agreements at the Treaty of Constance and his mistrust of Rome. The feeling became mutual after Hadran had the insidious agitator of riots Arnold of Brescia arrested. Yet the Roman families were not deterred and went behind Hadrian's back to negotiate directly with Frederick clandestinely to have Arnold freed and restore the Holy Roman Empire to the status and glory of the days of Charlemagne. Frederick bought into this fantasy and when he met the Pope at Sutri on June 8, 1155 he was distant and cold and mistrust set in on all sides. Frederick was supposed to be crowned by Hadrian in St. Peter's and, as part of the custom the emperor was to hold the Holy Father's reins as his mule was led into Rome. Barbarossa refused. In a tit for tat, Hadrian refused to give him the customary kiss of peace. When Hadrian did finally coronate the German Emperor on June 18, 1155 he worded the ceremony such that the emperor was subserviant to the Pope as it should be. This further infuriated Frederick. Realizing the looming threat the emperor posed, Hadrian made an alliance with William of Sicily at the Treaty of Benevento a year to the day he had crowned Frederick.

   Relations with the German Empire deteriorated greatly and Frederick tried to play the trump card - lay investiture but Hadrian stood strong against him. Pope Hadrian IV was a generous and forgiving Pontiff, but staunchly defended the Faith against discrepancies and it was this 169th in the line of Peter who coined the title used ever since: Vicar of Christ. Under this British Pope England's King Henry II annexed Ireland, forging a papal bull Ladabiliter which historians swear Hadrian did not issue, in order to have the authority to take over the emerald isle. Thus it can be traced back to Hadrian's pontificate that marked the beginning of the strife between Ireland and England which continues to this day in Northern Ireland. He died on the first of September in 1159 after a five year papacy that exposed the peace during Anastasius' reign as a false peace for the storm on the horizon was now ready to explode into a full blown cyclone.

   Facing this oncoming wind was Hadrian's successor and trusted Papal Counselor the Italian Cardinal Orlando Roland Bandinelli who was a renowned professor and celebrated canon lawyer in Pisa. While some in the conclave, who were already in Frederick's camp, chose Cardinal Ottavianno, the majority went with Bandinelli who was eleted on September 7, 1159. Becoming the 170th successor of Peter at the relatively youthful age of 50, he chose the name Pope Alexander III and he picked up right where Hadrian left off. Wherever the Church's credibility and power were challenged, Alexander was there to defend her. The cost was not cheap for he had to withstand an eighteen year schism that would see four antipopes during his regime and his resistance to any monarch's control of the Church in any fashion was achieved at the price of many lives being lost. This included the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket who Alexander backed in his dispute with Henry II and the English king masterminded the murder of Becket in the Cathedral of Canterbury in 1170.

   Alexander's pontificate got off to a rocky start when the Ghibellines - the pro-imperialist forces - rebelled against the choice of Alexander and forced those in cahoots with them in the College of Cardinals to elect Ottavianno as the alternate Pope or antipope. The latter took the name Victor IV on October 4, 1159. The Guelphs or pro-papist forces were outraged and gave Alexander safe passage to Nympha in the Norman-held land south where he was consecrated. Victor was merely Barbarossa's puppet and the German king regained the control that had slipped away in his dealings with Hadrian IV. He coerced a council at Pavia in February 1160 where a mostly pro-imperialist council excommunicated Alexander who in turn did the same to Frederick on March 24, 1160 thus signalling the beginning of yet another schism that would last nearly two decades but which Alexander, though greatly persecuted, would outlast. This became evident when Barbarossa's natural enemies Spain, England and France all pledged their loyalty to the real pontiff Alexander. King Louis VII of France offered the Pope to set up the curia at Sens which he did until 1165 when he returned to Rome after Victor's death, but that, too, was shortlived. The reason: Barbarossa thrust another antipope on the throne - Paschal III who bitterly opposed Alexander. When the bishops refused to acknowledge the former, Barbarossa became livid and threatened severe repercussions iat the Diet of Wurzburg on May 22, 1165 if they didn't comply with the emperor's wishes. Many did, but more and more resisted and returned to Alexander, leaving Paschal in limbo. Because Paschal was so weak, the Ghibelline cardinals voted one of their own who took the name Callistus III but he was ignored more than Paschal. It came down to a showdown on the battlefield between the Guelphs led by Alexander and the Barbarossa-led Ghibbelines with the former scoring a stunning victory in 1176 and leaving both the emperor and Paschal without any further influence. Paschal fled and Alexander returned to Rome triumphant, calling the Third Lateran Council on March 5, 1179 which reaffirmed the reforms Alexander had promoted which found their origins with Pope Saint Gregory VII. This 11th Ecumenical Council proudly proclaimed the supremacy of the papacy and passed a rule still in effect today - a necessary 2/3 majority to elect a Pope. Also at this Council a new form of discipline was introduced to deal with heretics which would be the precursor of the Inquisition a few centuries later.

   Despite all this there were still a few dissidents who banded together to elect their own antipope to replace Paschal. They chose Innocent III who was no match for Alexander and early in 1180 he was forced to flee as well. Alexander passed away in Civita Castellana on August 30, 1181 at the age of 81. When his body was returned triumphantly to Rome for burial at the Lateran, his coffin was pelted with stones by Ghibellines who attacked the funeral cortege and wrote insults on the casket, but regardless, nothing could prevent history from marking him as one of the great Roman Pontiffs who survived a coup and through it the Church grew stronger. Because of this man, whose acumen in judicial decisions greatly influenced Canon Law up to present day, many referred to him as the "middle age Alexander the Great."

   The conflicts that had afflicted Alexander continued to be a thorn in the side of the new Vicar of Christ - Pope Lucius III who had been labeled by St. Thomas Becket as one of the few honest cardinals. Lucius so wanted to establish peace but other factors came into play. Elected on September 1, 1181 and ten years younger than his predecessor, Lucius was handcuffed by the outrageous demands of the Roman families who held the Church ransom. When they rose up, he he sought the refuge of Velletri a week after his election. There he remained until 1184 when Frederick sought a conference with Lucius at Verona. The gist of the meeting was that Lucius decreed all bishops were to watch for and report all heretics and suppress heresy by force of arms, if necessary. Meanwhile the Saracens had been ravaging the Holy Land and both Lucius and Frederick were in agreement that it was necessary to rally all of Europe to join the Crusade. Frederick offered his son Frederick II but Lucius was dubious because of the former's untrusted track record. The Emperor also, in his scheming lust-for-power agenda, sought to marry off his other son Henry to Constance daughter of Roger II of Sicily. Lucius knew the dangers of this for he realized the Papal States would be caust in the squeeze between the Empire and Sicily and he strongly objected to the union. Frederick left incensed, refusing any military support for the Crusade. Lucius would not leave, dying there at the age of 75 on November 25, 1185 after a four year papacy.

   Again, on the day Lucius died the Sacred Conclave quickly elected his successor on the same day, choosing Pope Urban III who was faced with the inevitable - open war with empires on all fronts. Because he bandied about the threat of excommunication on anyone who disagreed with him, he alienated many within the Church as well as the emperor and other leaders. He couldn't stop the wedding between Henry and Constance and he couldn't stop the growing rebellion among the German bishops loyal to the king. Nor could he stop the onrush of the Saladin in the mideast on Christian fortresses. Like Lucius there would be a power struggle between Urban and Frederick that would only intensify after Urban ordered the emperor to meet him at a tribunal in Verona or face excommunication. The emperor retaliated by closing off all mountain passages to Verona, leaving the Pope isolated. Because the local authorities of Verona feared for their city they told the Pope to go. On his way to Ferrara where he was to meet Frederick, Urban died on October 20, 1187 short of two years after he had been elected. His body was buried at the Cathedral in Ferrara.

   In the next installment we will cover the Popes of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Crusades and the obstacles they encountered in trying to keep the Barque of Peter upright in a sea of turmoil.

NOTE: We respectfully recognize and accept the final authority regarding apparitions, locutions and prophecies presently being reported around the world rests with the Holy See of Rome and the Magisterium of Holy Mother Church to whose judjment we humbly and obediently submit.

  "Dear children! Wake up from the sleep of unbelief and sin, because this is a time of grace which God gives you. Use this time and seek the grace of healing of your heart from God, so that you may see God and man with the heart. Pray in a special way for those who have not come to know God's love, and witness with your life so that they also can come to know God and His immeasurable love. Thank you for having responded to my call."

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March 1, 2000     volume 11, no. 43
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