THE CHURCH MILITANT - BELEAGUERED BY BERGOGLIANISM

On April 16, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI turned 93.

ALWAYS AND EVER OUR MOST BELOVED BENEDICTUS XVI

Anti-racism demonstration at the Lateran Plaza last Sunday.

Out in force for anti-racism,
but no processions allowed
for Corpus Domini
by Andrea Zambrano
Translated from

June 9, 2020

In Prato [a town next to Florence], they have opted for a more ‘convenient’ Mass in the churchyard. But in almost all other Italian dioceses – unless there in rare exceptions where a bishop decides otherwise – this year, we will not be able to experience one of the fundamental moments of Christian liturgy: the traditional procession through the city (or town, or village) on the feast of Corpus Domini.

Obviously, this is the fault of recent governmental dispositions which prohibit public manifestations, and of a protocol between the Italian bishops’ conference and the Italian government which, while allowing the restoration of public Masses, continues to close the doors to all other forms of popular piety which are central to Christian life.

No baldachins or monstrances solemnly borne through the streets and lanes this Thursday night (the true date for Corpus Domini) nor this Sunday, to which many churches have chosen to move the procession supposedly to allow more of the faithful to participate.

So anyone who would want to observe Corpus Domini with a procession must organize something in the private areas of the parish, and necessarily, without as many people as one would expect. We live in a time when faith may be practiced in private only, within fenced gardens and yards.

Thus, once more, Catholic sentiments are made to pay the price, even if everyone knows that while Italy’s public squares can fill up with thousand of anti-racism demonstrators not wearing masks or observing any distancing or other sanctions at all, as they did last weekend, millions of Catholics, this Thursday and Sunday, will be banned from going out on the streets to celebrate the King of Kings, singing ‘We adore you, O divine Host!”

Anti-racism crowds, yes - in fact, they are encouraged if not mandatory – but processions with the Most Holy Sacrament, no! This is, of course, aggravated be the widespread perception that even the bishops have not bothered at all to insist on the minimal restoration of spiritual life for their people.

But we should not be surprised. During the lockdown, how many priests were fined for having dared to carry the Holy Sacrament in solitary procession, as in the case of the parish priest of Rocca Imperiale, who, believing he was doing something that his flock would welcome, he went though the main streets of the town to bless everyone with the Blessed Sacrament. He ended up being blocked by a carabinieri patrol who first ordered him to return to his church and then, slapped him with a very high fine. None of which even caused the least indignation among the Church hierarchy who would instead have raged at the poor priest.

It is therefore most ‘normal’ that at this stage of our probationary liberty, the thought of holding any processions has been set aside as being nonessential. And so, quite in keeping with new Coronavirus-dictated diocesan customs, just as last May 13 and May 31, the processions with the statues of Our Lady for the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima and for the closing of the Marian month of May did not take place, this week, it will be Our Lord who will remain inside the church and will not be celebrated with colorful festive streets with rosepetals strewn ahead and flags draped on balconies and windows.

Yes, government dispositions can well be foregone if the cause is racism as we have seen these days (especially in the USA, where the gatherings are also anti-Trump), nor did those sanctions hold on June 2, when people gathered to listen to President Mattarella in a packed and festive square in Codogno. And to heck with face masks when it came to celebrating the 25th of April (feast of Italian unification) with the ANPI (association of anti-fascist resistance movements).

In short, for anything that has to do with the new civil religion of rights, of anti-racisim and of secular values, the rules can well be violated and, as a circular from the Ministry of the Interior says, ‘somehow, a way will be found to do it’. But when it comes to honoring Christ and giving public testimony of one’s faith, suddenly all the prohibitions against public assembly are applied.

But we cannot even put the blame here on an anti-Christian government that persecutes, because we do not even have the excuse that this all comes ‘from above’. In these days, not one bishop has stood his ground to say processions must be allowed. We are told that the bishops' relations with the government must be carried on ‘in a regular way’ while they wait for the government to grant new concessions. This is the impression gathered by those who have had occasion to deal with the Italian church hierarchy.

In short, go ahead, Peter, but take your time. The bishops seem to expect that the possibility of returning to normality would be a concession that the government will delegate to them. But if Christians themselves do not take the lead in reactivating their rights – in this case, the right to a procession on a major Church holiday – no government will take the initiative to do it for them.

While everyone else in Italian society have gone about trying to reclaim their normal rights, from restaurant owners to bars and theaters, in May when the government ‘graciously’ allowed that public Masses could be resumed (under strict conditions), the Italian bishops remained static, harnessed like divers waiting for a signal, even though the pandemic situation was no longer what it had been and that even the government now seems to think that it is all over.

Today there are provinces with zero new infections and without new Covid deaths. Why are their citizens deprived of the right to public assembly like a procession, which by its nature can allow for the necessary distancing? This is the argument for an urgent intervention by Senator Enrico Aimi of Forza Italia who will request the Interior Ministry to allow religious processions. But that's as far as the State is concerned.

For the Church, other questions are more urgent. It is not just freedom of worship that is in play here, but something more profound. As Stefano Fontana underscored in a recent editorial, “the freedom of the Church is based on her divine institution. Christ constituted her, He sent the Spirit to sustain and guide her, he taught her what to believe and profess, made her the administrator of graces, has given her a hierarchical structure, and a mission, has taught her how to adore God in the liturgy, how to pray, has given her spiritual motherhood of the faithful, and told her to respect earthly authorities who rule according to the natural law of which God is the author, but to obey God first rather than other men”.

But if these commands and teachings are ignored because they are subordinated to the power of a state that would regulate the Church, what room remains for the faith which gives form to all this?

In short, what things are worth fighting for when, in oeder to hold a procession, one must await the ‘kind concession’ of an authority that does not have the right to keep freedom hostage for as long as it wants to? What Christian strength, what witness, what martyrdom will be useful in this battle?

The Solemnity of Corpus Domini began in the 13th century to celebrate the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, in opposition to those who insist that his presence is only symbolic. But if this Presence is no longer defended or loved, even litigating with bureaucrats representing an anti-Christian government becomes a titanic undertaking. But this is not, of course, ‘advisable’ for the public relations of a church which is slowly but ever more being tamed by worldly authority.



On gloves, masks and Communion in the hand:
Latest news and some reflections
Translated from

June 10, 2020

Dear friends of Duc in altum:

Alessandro Martinetti, who has been tireless in monitoring the news about Coronavirus and its related topics, has sent us a contribution on the use of gloves to distribute Communion. Following which, my impressions upon taking part in a Mass according to the Hygienized New Rite.

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When even WHO now tells us
that gloves should not be used
by Alessandro Martinetti

Dear Valli, the distribution of Communion using a single-use glove is not supported by any consistent hygienic-prophylactic reasoning: It should be enough that the priest disinfects his hands with sanitizer before distributing it, and the glove can ingloriously exit the scene.

The confirmation of this now comes from the most unexpected source: the WHO has affirmed that the use of gloves in public places is not recommended.

As to the distribution of Communion on the tongue and not in the hand, consider that:
1) Prof Filippo Maria Boscia, national president of Catholic Doctors, said a month ago, that communion on the tongue is far safer than in the hand.
2) Dr Sasonna, examining the scientific literature, concluded that neither communion in the hand or on the tongue present any serious risk of infection.
3) Prof. Clementi has demonstrated that, compared to March 2020, Covid-19 in Italy has lost significant viral load in an "absolutely macroscopic way, up to 100 times”.
4) Prof Tarro (a virologist who is not a TV fixture and perhaps because of this, little heeded), has repeatedly said for some time that an epidemic emergency no longer exists in Italy, because the virus has lost almost all of its aggressivity (thanks to the synergy of many factors, such as the heat which it cannot tolerate, and a population that is increasingly more immune and increasingly adapted to the virus to the point that it can no longer be as damaging, or if it still is, only in a mild manner).

Therefore, we can now say that the time has come to abandon the gloves permanently and to restore in complete compliance the universal law of the Church, namely to eliminate the ban of receiving Communion on the tongue, a ban that is not only canonically inadmissible, but as, we have explained, no longer has any sense and basis in terms of any hygienic-prophylactic reasons.

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All the horrors of a hygienized Mass

I braced myself and went to a hygienized Mass, according to the new rite excogitated by pastors who have been so terrorized and consecrated to the dominant thought, to have placed themselves under the protection of St. Amuchina. [‘Amuchina,’ which simply means disinfectant, is also the brand name of Italy’s most widely-used hand sanitizer.]

It is not easy to express in words what it means to be disheartened. I see the scene before me again. In which the masked faithful seem to me the exact image of our current pre-comatose Cathlicism, marked by intellectual and moral self-censorship carried out in order to please the world.

And when the celebrant, also masked, walks towards the altar preceded by three likewise masked acolytes, I cannot help comparing it all to a grotesque carnival. The church where we are is a big one that could easily house thousands of persons. But there are only about 50 of us, all well separated, so there is absolutely no risk of the much-feared spreading of the virus, no risk at all of transmitting those infamous infectious droplets through the air. Regardless, the scene resembles an infectious ward.

And what about the ‘liturgy of the latex glove’, when, before distributing Communion to the faithful, the celebrant pulls on that horrible glove and sprinkles it with gel? It brings me to tears to see Our Lord treated this way, as if he were a plague-spreader, while the celebrant, who is supposed to be alter Christus, is reduced to a kind of orderly preparing for an unpleasant operation.

“Stay in your seats,” he says, “I will walk to the pews. Remember to extend your hands out”, as, masked and gloved, he starts to distribute the Host as if they were pills placed into the hands of the faithful. One is in a dispensary, not in a church!

Those who take Communion will move their mask long enough to put the Host into their mouth. As if our Lord were an intruder, a dangerous presence, whom one must approach with the greatest circumspection. We are in his house, we are there for him, we are responding to his call, but we partake of him with ‘suspicion’, as if the Real Presence were not the source of salvation but of possible disease.

While the masked and gloved priest goes among the masked faithful, the Crucified Lord observes the scene. Dear Jesus, what profanation have we come to? Could you ever forgive us? You who gave your life for us, you who should be received on our tongue, while we are on our knees, because we are children who need everything from you, you have now been reduced to nothing better than a pill.

When the priest comes to me, I feel impelled to kneel and receive the host on my tongue, but I follow the intructions and hold out my hands, right over left. I feel like a traitor. I am taking you, Lord, in a hand full of germs. The passage from the priest’s horribly gloved hand to mine is almost furtive. You who are life, you have been delivered to me in furtive haste – the task must be done expeditiously.

My Jesus, I feel I am participating in a sacrilegious scene. While you pass into my mouth from my germ-laden hands, the masked and gloved priest is already elsewhere. And I put my mask back on.

During the prayer of thanksgiving, I could only ask forgiveness of you, in my name and of the whole hygienized Church, which has gone mad from terror. When reason sleeps, it generates liturgical monsters. Holiness (santita) is cheaply bartered for alleged health (sanita). For the Enemy, a spectacle that he cannot do without!

At the end of the Mass, while the masked priest returns to the sacristy accompanied by his masked acolytes, small groups gather at the back of the church, chatting. In mini-assemblies. No one respects the one-meter distancing rule. Not even outside the church. It seems that only in your presence, Lord, are we conditioned and paralyzed. Why? Why this sad and monstrous fact? There is something deformed in the hygienized liturgy. But Lord, shall we ever learn a lesson? Have mercy on us!

(Back home, I read the news that the WHO has changed its mind about the use of gloves. Now it says it can do more harm than good. And that’s what happens when you elevate Science and Health to be the new gods in place of God the Father. The Enemy is surely enjoying all this.)