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Church condemnations of the heresy called ecumenism
We highlight an excellent work by Sursum Corda, the care of Carlo Di Piero, on the teaching of the Church against ecumenism.
Introduction: https://www.sursumcorda.cloud/massime-e-meditazioni/condanne-della-chiesa-all-ecumenismo.html
A, Santa, Catholic and Apostolic
Pope Leo XIII in I have learned enough he states: Jesus Christ established in the Church a "vivo, authentic and perennial teaching”, which he himself strengthened with his power, he informed of the spirit of truth and authenticated with miracles; and he wanted and commanded that the precepts of his doctrine should be received as his own. Therefore every time this magisterium declares that this or that dogma is contained in the body of divinely revealed doctrine, everyone must take it as true, so long as, if it could be fake, it would follow that God himself would be the author of man's error, which is repugnant: “O Lord, if there is an error, we were deceived by you” [Richard of St. Victor, By Trin., lib. I, cap. 2]. So, every reason to doubt has been removed, who will ever be allowed to repudiate even one of these truths, without his falling into heresy and without that, being separated from the Church, rejects all Christian doctrine on the whole? Indeed, such is the nature of faith that nothing is so repugnant to it as admitting one dogma and repudiating another. In fact, the Church openly declares that faith is a "supernatural virtue, with which, inspired and helped by the grace of God, we believe that the things he revealed are true, not for the intrinsic truth of the same known with the natural light of reason, but by the authority of the revealing God himself, who cannot deceive or be deceived” [Conc. Vat., sess. III, cap. 3]. Therefore, if a truth is known to have been revealed by God, and yet it is not believed, it follows that nothing at all is believed by divine faith. In fact, what James the Apostle sentences regarding the crime in matters of morals, must assert itself about an erroneous opinion on matters of faith: “Anyone will have missed only one point, he was guilty of all”. On the contrary, with greater reason it must be said of this than of that. Indeed, less properly the whole law is said to have been violated by one who transgressed it in one thing alone, not being able to see themselves in him, if not by interpreting its will, a contempt for the majesty of God the legislator. Instead he who, even in just one point, disagrees with revealed truths, he has completely lost his faith, as it refuses to venerate God as the supreme truth and proper reason for faith; therefore Augustine says: “In many things they agree with me, in some few no; but for those few things in which they do not agree with me, The many things in which they agree with me are of no use to them”[S. Augustine, In Psal. LIV, n. 19]. And with reason; because those who take from the Christian doctrine what they like, they are based not on faith, but on one's own judgement: and not "bringing all one's intellect back to obedience to Christ”(1Cor 10,5), they obey themselves more properly than God. “Oh, said Augustine, that you believe what you want in the Gospel, and don't believe what you don't want, believe yourselves rather than the Gospel” [S. Augustine, lib. XVII, Against Faustus the Manichean, cap. 3]. End of quote.
There is no salvation outside the Church
We ask ourselves: given that l’ecumenism, we saw it, it is a false or heretical theory (It depends on the conditions), how Catholic doctrine is reconciled with the salvation of those who find themselves, without his own fault, outside the human collective called Church (A, Santa, Catholic and Apostolic)? Pope Pius IX responds in How much we are done and elsewhere. Quickly: Beloved Children, Our Venerable Brothers, we still have to remember and blame the very serious mistake into which some Catholics have miserably fallen. In fact, they believe that, living in error, far from the true faith and Catholic unity, may they reach eternal life. This is radically contrary to Catholic doctrine. (However) It is known to Us and to you that those who are in an invincible ignorance regarding our most holy religion, but who carefully observe the natural law and its precepts, carved by God in the hearts of all; who are willing to obey God and who lead honest and righteous lives, they can, with the help of divine light and grace, achieve eternal life. In fact, God sees perfectly, he scrutinizes, knows the spirits, the souls, thoughts, everyone's habits and in his supreme goodness, in his infinite clemency he does not allow anyone to suffer eternal punishment without being guilty of some voluntary sin. Likewise, the Catholic dogma according to which Outside the Catholic Church no one can be saved and those who rebel against the authority and decisions of the Church, who is stubbornly separated from the unity of the Church itself and from the Roman Pontiff, Successor of Peter, who was entrusted by the Savior with the custody of the vineyard, cannot obtain eternal salvation. In fact the words of Christ Our Lord are perfectly clear: “Who doesn't listen to the Church, whether to you as a pagan or as a tax collector (Mt. 18,17). Whoever listens to you listens to me; he who despises you despises me, and he who despises me despises Him who sent me (Lc. 10,16). Whoever does not believe me will be condemned (Mc. 16,16). He who does not believe is already judged (Gv. 3,18). He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not accumulate with me, dissipates” (Lc. 11,23). Likewise the Apostle Paul says that these men are “corrupted and condemned by their own judgment” (Tt. 3,11) and the Prince of the Apostles tells them “lying masters who introduce sects of perdition, they deny the Lord, they bring upon themselves rapid ruin” [Epistle. 2, c. 2, v. 1]. May the children of the Catholic Church never be enemies of those who are not united to Us by the same bonds of faith and charity; on the contrary, they must do their utmost to render them all the services of Christian charity, in their poverty, in their illnesses, in all the other misfortunes by which they are afflicted; they must make sure to always help them and above all to drag them out of the darkness of errors in which they miserably find themselves, to bring them back to Catholic truth and to the Church, Beloved mother, who never ceases to affectionately extend her maternal hands to them, to open your arms to them, to strengthen them in faith, hope and charity, to make them fruitful in every kind of good works and to make them obtain eternal health. End of quote.
Freedom of conscience
We ask ourselves: given that l’ecumenism, we saw it, it is a false or heretical theory, how Catholic doctrine is reconciled with the claimed freedom of conscience? He replies, for example, Pope Gregory XVI in You will be surprised. Quickly: We now come to another overflowing source of evils, by which we cry the Church is currently afflicted: we want to say theindifferentism, that is, that perverse opinion which, due to the fraudulent work of unbelievers, spread everywhere, and according to which the eternal salvation of the soul can be achieved in any profession of Faith if customs conform to the norm of the upright and honest. But it will not be difficult for you to remove from the people entrusted to your care such a pestilential error regarding something clear and evident., without contrast. Since it is affirmed by the Apostle that there is "one God, one Faith, only one Baptism” (Ef. 4,5), fear those who dream that sailing under the flag of any religion can equally land at the port of eternal happiness, and let them consider that by testimony of the Savior himself “they are against Christ, because I am not with Christ” (Lc. 11,23), and which unfortunately they disperse only because they do not gather with him; Therefore "they will undoubtedly perish eternally if they do not keep the Catholic Faith, and this they do not keep entire and inviolate” (Symbol. S. Athanasius). Let them listen to Saint Jerome who – the Church finding itself divided into three parts due to the schism – tells that, tenacious as he was of the holy purpose, when someone tried to lure him to his party, he constantly answered out loud: “Who is united to the Chair of Peter, that's mine” (S. Girolamo, Ep. 58). Then someone was wrong, among those who are not connected to the Church, he would dare to draw on the calming flattery of being regenerated in the water of health too; since Saint Augustine would appropriately answer him: “Even the twig cut from the vine has the same shape, but what good is the form if it does not live from the root?”(S. Agostino, Psalm vs. part. Given.). From this most corrupt source ofindifferentismthat absurd and erroneous sentence arises, or rather delirium, that freedom of conscience must be admitted and guaranteed to everyone: very poisonous mistake, which opens the path to that full and immoderate freedom of opinion which is always increasing to the detriment of the Church and the State, there is no shortage of those who dare to boast with brazen impudence that some advantage to Religion comes from such a license. “But what worse death can be given to the soul than the freedom of error?” exclaimed Saint Augustine (Ep. 166). In fact, every brake that keeps men on the paths of truth already headed towards the precipice due to nature inclined towards evil has been removed, we could truthfully say that the "abyss well” (Ap. 9,3), from which Saint John saw so much smoke rising that the sun was obscured by it, innumerable locusts came out to devastate the earth. Consequently, the change of spirits is determined, the depravity of youth, the people's contempt for sacred things and the holiest laws: in a word, the plague of society more than any other deadly one, while the experience of all centuries, since the most remote antiquity, luminously demonstrates that cities flourish in opulence, power and glory for this disorder alone, that is, due to excessive freedom of opinion, for the licensing of conventicles, due to the desire for novelty they unfortunately went to ruin. End of quote.
Religious freedom
We ask ourselves: given that l’ecumenism, we saw it, it is a false or heretical theory, how Catholic doctrine is reconciled with the supposed legislation of the States they intend to favor, or even serve, the alleged freedom of worship? Pope Pius XII responds in Speech to the Catholic jurists of 6 December 1953, better known as Allocution He succeeds. Quickly: For the jurist, the politician and the Catholic State, the question arises here: they can give consent to such a regulation, when it comes to entering the community of peoples and remaining there? Now, in relation to religious and moral interests, a twofold question arises: 1) The first concerns objective truth and the obligation of conscience towards what is objectively true and good; 2) the second concerns the actual attitude of the Community of peoples towards the single sovereign State and of this towards the Community of peoples in matters of religion and morality. The first can hardly be the object of a discussion and regulation between individual States and their Community, especially in the case of a plurality of religious confessions in the Community itself. The second, however, may be of the utmost importance and urgency. Now here is the way to answer the second question correctly. First of all it must be stated clearly: than any human authority, no state, no Community of States, whatever their religious character, they can give a positive mandate or positive authorization to teach or do what would be contrary to religious truth or moral good. A mandate or authorization of this kind would not have mandatory force and would remain ineffective. No authority could give them, because it is against nature to force the spirit and will of man to error and evil or to consider one and the other as indifferent. Not even God could give such a positive mandate or such a positive authorization, because they would be in contradiction with His absolute truthfulness and holiness. Another essentially different question is: if in a community of states it can, at least in certain circumstances, the norm must be established for the free exercise of a religious or moral belief and practice, which have value in one of the member states, is not prevented throughout the territory of the Community by means of state laws or coercive measures. In other words, he wonders if "not preventing", that is, tolerating, be permitted in those circumstances, and therefore positive repression is not always a duty. We have just now adduced the authority of God. May God, although it would be possible and easy for Him to repress error and moral deviation, in some cases choose "do not prevent", without coming into contradiction with His infinite perfection? Maybe under certain circumstances He does not give men any mandate, does not impose any duties, does not even give any right to prevent and repress what is erroneous and false? A look at reality gives an affirmative answer. It shows that error and sin are found in the world to a large extent. God tries them again; yet he lets them exist. Hence the statement: Religious and moral deviation must always be prevented, when possible, because his tolerance is in itself immoral – it cannot be valid in its unconditional absoluteness. On the other hand, God has not even given human authority such an absolute and universal precept, neither in the field of faith nor in that of morality. They do not know such a precept nor the common belief of men, nor the Christian conscience, nor the sources of revelation, nor the practice of the Church. To omit here other texts of Holy Scripture that refer to this topic, Christ gave the following warning in the parable of the weeds: Let the tares grow together with the good seed in the field of the world because of the wheat (cfr. Matt. 13, 24-30). The duty to repress moral and religious deviations cannot therefore be a final rule of action. It must be subordinated to higher and more general norms, which in some circumstances allow, and indeed they perhaps make it appear as the best course not to prevent the error, to promote a greater good. With this the two principles are clarified, from which it is necessary to derive in concrete cases the answer to the very serious question regarding the attitude of the jurist, of the politician and the sovereign Catholic State regarding a formula of religious and moral tolerance of the content indicated above, to be taken into consideration by the Community of States. Primo: that which does not respond to the truth and the moral norm, he objectively has no right to existence, nor to propaganda, nor to action. Second: not preventing it by means of state laws and coercive provisions can nevertheless be justified in the interest of a superior and broader good. End of quote.
Indifferentism and atheism
ecumenism, as has been demonstrated, it is the sophism used to hide the’indifferentism That, around you, And atheism. Let's briefly read some sentences of the Church in this regard. I quote Pope Leo XII in Where first: (…) There is a sect, certainly known to you, which, wrongly calling itself philosophical, he exhumed almost all the errors from the scattered ashes of almost all the errors. This sect, presenting itself under the caressing appearance of piety and liberality, professes the tolerantism (that's what he calls it), o indifferentism, and extends it not only to civil affairs, about which we say no word, but also to religious matters, teaching that God has given all men wide freedom, so that everyone, without any danger, he can embrace and profess the sect and opinion he prefers, according to your own personal judgement. Against such impiety of delirious men, the Apostle Paul warns us: “I urge you, brothers, to control those who fuel divisions and scandals against the doctrine you have learned, and to distance yourself from them. In this way, they do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but your own belly, and through sweet words and blessings they seduce simple souls” (Rm. 16,17-18). It is true that this error is not new, but in these times it rages against the stability and integrity of the Catholic faith. Indeed Eusebius, Citando Rodone, reports that this madness had already been propagated by a certain Apelles, second century heretic, who asserted that it was not necessary to deepen the faith, but that everyone had to entrench themselves in the opinion they had formed. Apelles maintained that those who placed their hope in the Crucifix would be saved, provided that death overtook them in the course of good works. Rhetoric too, as Augustine attests, he blathered that all heretics walked the right path and preached truths. “But this is so absurd, observes the Holy Father, which seems incredible to me“. Afterwards, This indifferentism it has become so widespread and increased, that his followers recognize not only all sects that, outside the Catholic Church, they orally admit revelation as the basis and foundation, but they shamelessly state that even those companies that are on the right path, rejecting divine revelation, they profess the simple deismo and even the simple naturalism. L’indifferentism of Rhetorius was judged by Saint Augustine to be absurd in law and merit, even if it was limited within certain limits. But a tolerance that extends up to deismo ed al naturalism – theories that were rejected even by the ancient heretics – could never be admitted by a person who uses reason? However (Oh tempi! Oh lying philosophy!) such a pseudo-philosophy is approved, defended and supported.
I quote Pope Pius IX in Our apostolic: (…) you know very well how Christian peoples are afflicted and devastated by bloody wars, or from internal disagreements; it gives pestiferous diseases, or by violent earthquakes or other very serious evils. This above all fills with pain: that among so many deaths and damages never cried enough, the children of darkness, who in their generation are more cautious than the children of light, day by day they try harder and harder, with every deception, art and preparation, to wage a very harsh war against the Catholic Church and its salvific doctrine; to overturn and destroy the authority of every legitimate power; to induce evil and corrupt the minds and souls of all; to spread everywhere the deadly poison ofindifferentism and of thedisbelief; to upset all divine and human rights; to excite and fuel dissent, the discords and the movements of impious rebellions; to allow any wicked wickedness and cruel action; to leave no stone unturned so that - if it could ever happen - our most holy religion is eliminated and human society itself shaken to its foundations.
I quote Pius XI again in Our hearts rejoiced: Hence we must deplore a cloud of errors widespread in the minds of many; a bitter war against all Catholicism and against this Apostolic See; the terrible hatred against virtue and honesty; the worst vices considered honest with a lying name; an unbridled license to opinion everything, to live and dare everything; the intolerant intolerance of any authority, power or command; contempt and ridicule for all sacred things, for the holiest laws and the best institutions; a miserable corruption of improvident youth; one pestilential downpour of bad books, of flying pamphlets, of newspapers and magazines that teach us to sin; the deadly poison of unbelief andindifferentism; the movements of impious conspiracies and every right, be human, be divine, despised and mocked. And it is not unknown to you, Venerable Brothers, what anxieties, what doubts, what hesitations and what fears consequently arouse and distress everyone's minds, especially right-thinking people, since the worst evils for public and private customs are to be feared when men, deviating miserably from the norms of justice, of truth and religion, and serving evil and indomitable passions, they plot any wickedness in their hearts.
Always Pius IX in It is indeed unique: And not even ignored, Beloved Children, Our Venerable Brothers, that among the many and never sufficiently deplored evils that disturb and upset ecclesiastical and civil society, now two in particular emerge, which can rightly be considered as the origin of all the others. In fact, you are first of all aware of the innumerable and very disastrous damage that is being poured out on Christian and civil society by the fetid error ofindifferentism. Hence the grave negligence in all duties towards God in which we live, we move and we are; hence the most holy religion is neglected; hence the foundations of all rights are shaken and almost overturned, of justice and virtue. From this ignoble form ofindifferentism the theory does not differ much, erupted from the darkness, dell’indifference of religions for which men are strangers to the truth, opponents of true religious belief and oblivious to their health, teachers of contradictory principles and lacking solid conviction, they do not admit any difference between the most divergent professions of faith, they live in peace with everyone, and they demand that of everyone, whatever religion they belong to, let the entrance to eternal life be open. In fact, nothing matters to them, albeit of different tendencies, just to conspire to ruin the only truth. You will see, Beloved Children, Our Venerable Brothers, What vigilance must be shown to prevent the contagion of such a disastrous plague from infecting and destroying your sheep miserably?. Therefore, do not give up on zealously protecting the people entrusted to you from these fatal errors; to instruct them every day more intimately in the doctrine of Catholic truth; to teach them that, as there is only one God the Father, one Christ Son of Him, one Holy Spirit, thus there is only one divinely revealed truth, one divine faith, principle of human salvation, foundation of every norm by which the just lives, and without which it is impossible to please God and achieve the communion of his children (cf. Rm. 1,16-17; Eb. 11,5); there is only one true, santa, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church and a single Chair founded by the voice of the Lord on Peter, and outside of it neither true faith nor eternal health can be found, since he cannot have God as Father who does not have the Church as mother and absurdly trusts that he belongs to the Church who abandons the Chair of Peter on which the Church is founded. In fact, there can be no greater crime and no more repugnant stain than to have set oneself against Christ; having worked for the destruction of the Church, generated and ensured by His divine blood; having fought with the fury of hostile discord against the unanimous and harmonious people of God, having forgotten evangelical love. Indeed, divine worship is made up of these two elements: of pious doctrines and good deeds; nor is doctrine without good works pleasing to God, nor does God welcome works distinct from religious dogmas; not in the sole practice of virtues or in the sole observance of precepts, but even on the path of faith there is the narrow and arduous path that leads to life. Therefore, do not cease to continually admonish and incite your faithful people, so that they not only persist unshakably, more every day, in the profession of the Catholic religion, but let them also strive to make their vocation and choice firm through good works. While you then commit yourself to ensuring the salvation of your flock, do not neglect to call back with such goodness, lots of patience, so much doctrine, the poor wanderers to the one fold of Christ and to bring them back to Catholic unity especially with these words of Augustine: “come, Brothers, if you want to be grafted onto the vine. It is painful to see you lying on the ground so cut off; count only on priests coming from the See of Peter and consider how one succeeded the other on that throne of our fathers; that is the stone that cannot be overcome by the proud gates of hell. Whoever eats the lamb outside this house, he is wicked; if anyone is not in Noah's ark, he will perish in the time of the flood”. End of quotes.
Ireneism
Although most of the ecumenists of “our house” I deny it, ecumenism it's finally – in doctrine or practice it matters little to us – irenicism. In practice ecumenism is equivalent to irenicism; in doctrine this equivalence may be more or less evident, it depends on the sophisms used by the various authors, reason why, to unmask them, we must focus all attention on the practical conclusion to which they lead: that is, equivalence, more or less claimed, of various beliefs, philosophies of life or religions. Equivalence in fact that demands them, as a consequence, all true, therefore all false: if God lies to someone, he is not God, hence the various beliefs, philosophies of life or religions would all likely be false and would represent, which is better and which is worse, only the externalization of a subjective feeling, of an experience. Class XII, still condemning the modernism (the new-theology) in the Of the human race, he states: (…) We know well that Catholic teachers and scholars generally guard against such errors, it is known, however, that they are not lacking even today, as in apostolic times, those who, lovers of novelties more than is convenient and fearful of being considered ignorant of the discoveries made by science in this age of progress, they try to escape the direction of the sacred Magisterium and therefore are in danger of moving away insensibly from the Revealed truths and of misleading others too. Then we notice another danger, and all the more serious, because it covers itself more with the appearance of virtue. Many, deploring the discord and confusion that reigns in human minds, moved by an imprudent zeal and driven by an enthusiasm and a great desire to break the boundaries by which the good and the honest are divided from each other; they therefore embrace a kind of “irenicism” That, the issues that divide men are omitted, it doesn't just try to push back, with unity of forces, the irruptive atheism, but also to reconcile the opposing positions in the dogmatic field itself. And just as there were once those who wondered whether the traditional apologetics of the Church constituted more of an obstacle than a help in winning souls for Christ, so today there is no shortage of those who dare to go so far as to seriously raise the question, if theology and its method, as they are in use in schools with the approval of the ecclesiastical authority, not only must they be perfected, but also completely reformed, so that the kingdom of Christ can be more effectively propagated throughout the world, among men of any culture or of any religious opinion. (…) Set on fire by an imprudent person “irenicism“, they seem to consider it an obstacle to the re-establishment of fraternal unity, how much is based on the laws and principles themselves given by Christ and on the institutions founded by Him, or what constitutes the defense and support of the integrity of the faith, which collapsed, everything is unified, but only in common ruin. These opinions, coming from a deplorable desire for novelty or even from laudable motives, they are not always offered with the same gradation, with the same clarity or with the same terms, nor do their supporters always fully agree with each other; what is taught today by someone more covertly with some cautions and distinctions, tomorrow by others, more daring, is offered publicly and without limitations, to the scandal of many, especially the young clergy, and to the detriment of ecclesiastical authority. If more caution is usually used in printed publications, these topics are discussed with greater freedom in the pamphlets distributed privately, in typed lessons and meetings. These views are not only disseminated among members of the secular and regular clergy, in seminaries and religious institutes, but also among lay people, especially among those who dedicate themselves to the education and instruction of youth. End of quote.
Universal peace
We ask ourselves: given that l’ecumenism, we saw it, it is a false or heretical theory, how Catholic doctrine is reconciled with the search for peace between peoples? Let's immediately say that the’ecumenism, contrary to what ecumenists claim, evidently it goes against universal peace. Let us immediately adduce the most sensitive proof: in the last ones 31 years, that is, from the first apostasy of the so-called “day of Assisi” of the 1986 (it reads communication in sacred things, means apostasy – we will learn this in the penultimate paragraph), then repeated every year, as well as replicated elsewhere and in various dates and contexts, although l’ecumenism has been imposed as the official religion on many nominal Catholics, the number of wars and conflicts has increased dramatically. So, even though you don't need it, even when tested by facts l’ecumenism for peace has decreed its universal failure. Now we come to the doctrinal and supernatural motivation of this announced failure. He replies, among others, Pope Saint Pius Our apostolic charge, condemning the movement of Bridge French by Marc Sangnier. Quickly: We want to get your attention, Venerable Brothers, on this deformation of the Gospel and of the sacred character of Our Lord Jesus Christ, God and Man, practiced in Bridge and elsewhere. In other circles it is fashionable, when it comes to social issues, first of all put aside the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and then speak only of his sovereign meekness, of his compassion for all human miseries, of his pressing exhortations to love one's neighbor and to brotherhood. Right, Jesus loved us with an immense love, infinite, and he came to earth to suffer and die so that, gathered around Him in justice and love, animated by the same feelings of mutual charity, may all men live in peace and happiness. Ma, for the realization of this temporal and eternal happiness, He has placed, with a sovereign authority, the condition that one is part of his flock, that his doctrine is accepted, that we practice virtue and that we let ourselves be taught and guided by Peter and his successors. Furthermore, if Jesus was good to the lost and sinners, he did not respect their erroneous beliefs, however sincere they seemed; he loved them all to instruct them, to convert them and to save them. If he called to himself, to console them, how many cry and suffer, it was not to preach to them the envy of a chimerical equality. If he raised the humble, it was not to inspire in them the feeling of an independent dignity rebelling against obedience. If his Heart overflowed with meekness for souls of good will, he was equally able to arm himself with a holy indignation against the desecrators of the house of God, against the wretched who scandalize the little ones, against the authorities who oppress the people under the load of heavy burdens, without lifting a finger to lift them. He was as strong as he was sweet; he scolded, threatened, chastised, knowing and teaching us that fear is often the beginning of wisdom and that sometimes it is better to cut off a member to save the body. In the end, he did not announce the reign of ideal happiness for the future society, from which suffering would be banished; ma, with his lessons and examples, he traced the path of possible happiness on earth and of perfect happiness in Heaven: the royal way of the Cross. These are teachings that one would be wrong to apply only to individual life with a view to eternal salvation; they are eminently social teachings and show us in Our Lord Jesus Christ a reality very different from a humanitarianism without consistency and without authority. [To conclude:] Venerable Brothers – we must remember this energetically in these times of social and intellectual anarchy, in which everyone poses as a doctor and legislator -, the city will not be built differently from how God built it; society will not be built, if the Church does not lay the foundations and direct its work; no, civilization no longer needs to be invented, nor the new city to be built on the clouds. It existed, it exists; it is Christian civilization, it is Catholic civilization. It is simply a matter of establishing it and restoring it relentlessly on its natural and divine foundations against the ever-reviving attacks of unhealthy utopia., of revolt and impiety: “to establish all things in Christ” [(Ef. 1, 10) – the Pauline expression was adopted by Pope Saint Pius, ndR]. End of quote.
The peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ
If the answer of Saint Pius, we quote Pope Pius XI with his motto The peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ. ecumenism, as we have learned, it is the contradictory of Catholicism, and since the latter is the only way to achieve true peace, l’ecumenism it becomes one of the routes that is certainly not practicable, history itself attests to this. Pope Pius XI teaches in Where is the mystery?: We have seen and considered what is the main cause of the confusion, of the anxieties and dangers that accompany false peace is the lack of the rule of law, respect for authority, after the very raison d'être of both had ceased to exist, once their origin from God is denied, universal creator and orderer. Well the remedy is in the peace of Christ, since the peace of Christ is the peace of God, nor can this be without respect for the order, of law and authority. In fact it is written in the Book of God: “Maintain peace in order” (“Maintain discipline in peace“, Ecclesiastes, 41, 17) , “great peace will be had by those who love your law, oh Lord” (“Peace to those who care for your law, Lord” Strait, 118, 155) ; “whoever observes the precept will find himself at peace” (“He who fears the commandment will turn to peace” Book of Proverbs, 13, 13) . And Jesus himself teaches more expressly: “render to Caesar what is Caesar's” (“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's“, Matteo, 22, 21) , and even in Pilate. He recognizes the social authority that comes from above (Gv. 19, 11), as he had recognized the authority even in the degenerate successors of Moses (Mt. 23,2), and domestic authority was recognized in Mary and Joseph, subjecting himself to them for much of his life (Lc. 2, 51). And he had his Apostles proclaim that solemn doctrine which, as he teaches “everyone owes reverence and obsequiousness to every legitimate power“, so he also proclaims “legitimate power not to exist except from God” (Rm. 13, 1-7) (1Pt. 2, 13-18). If you reflect on the thoughts and teachings of Jesus Christ, on internal and spiritual values, on the dignity and sanctity of life, on the duty of obedience, on the divine order of society, on the sacramental sanctity of marriage and the consequent true sanctity of the family; if you reflect, let's say, than these thoughts and teachings of Christ (together with all that treasure of truth he brought to humanity), they were entrusted by Himself solely to his Church, with solemn promise of unfailing assistance, so that in all centuries and in all people she would be an infallible teacher, one cannot fail to see what and how much part the Catholic Church can and must have in remedying the evils of the world and in leading to sincere pacification. (…) Because of this, that is, to be the Church, and she alone, safe and perfect trainer of consciences, thanks to the teachings and help entrusted to her alone by Jesus Christ, not only can it give peace in the present all that it lacks to be the true peace of Christ, but it still can, more than any other factor, contribute to ensuring this peace also for the future, removing the danger of new wars. In fact, the Church teaches (and it alone has the mandate from God, and with the mandate the right to authoritatively teach it) than just private and personal human acts, but public and collective bodies must also conform to the eternal law of God; indeed the latter much more than the former, as those on whom the most serious and terrible responsibilities loom. When governments and peoples follow in their collective actions, both internally and in international relations, those norms of conscience that the teachings, the precepts, the examples of Jesus Christ propose and impose on every man; only then will they be able to trust each other, and also have faith in the peaceful resolution of difficulties and disputes that, due to difference of views and opposition of interests, can arise. (…) It appears, from what we have been considering, that true peace, the peace of Christ, it cannot exist if principles are not admitted, observe the laws, obeyed the precepts of Christ in public and private life; so human society is well ordered, may the Church exercise its magisterium there, to whom the teaching of those precepts was entrusted. Now all this is expressed in one word: “the kingdom of Christ“. For Jesus Christ reigns in the minds of individuals with his doctrine, in the heart with his charity, in the life of each one with the observance of his law and the imitation of his examples. Jesus Christ reigns in the family when, formed in the sanctity of the true Sacrament of marriage instituted by Jesus Christ, preserves the character of a sanctuary inviolate, where the authority of relatives is modeled on divine paternity, from which it descends and is named (Ef. 3,15): the obedience of children over that of the boy Jesus in Nazareth; all of life is inspired by the sanctity of the Holy Family. Jesus Christ finally reigns in civil society when the supreme and universal sovereignty of God is recognized and revered, with the divine origin and ordering of social powers, hence the norm of commanding, at the bottom the duty and nobility of obeying. He reigns when the Church of Jesus Christ is recognized as having the place that He himself assigned to it in human society, giving it shape and establishing a company, e, due to its purpose, perfect, supreme in its order; constituting it as the custodian and interpreter of his divine thought, and therefore the same teacher and guide of all other societies; not to undermine their authority, in their competent order, but to perfect them, how grace perfects nature, and to make it a valid help to men in achieving the ultimate goal, that is, eternal happiness, and thereby also make them more worthy and surer promoters of temporal prosperity itself. (…) It is therefore evident that the true peace of Christ can only be in the kingdom of Christ: The peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ; and it is equally evident that, procuring the restoration of the kingdom of Christ, we will do the most necessary and most effective work together for stable pacification. So Pius, proposing to to establish all things in Christ, almost by a divine instinct he prepared the first and most necessary basis for that “pacification work“, which was supposed to be the program and occupation of Benedict XV. And these two programs of Our predecessors, We join into one: the restoration of the kingdom of Christ for peace in Christ: the peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ; and we will try to implement it with every effort, solely by trusting in that God, than in entrusting Us with this supreme power, He promised us his unfailing assistance. End of quote.
Single and universal religion
L’ecumenism it is also the clumsy attempt, more or less explicit, this depends on the cunning of the authors who disseminate it, to establish that one universal religion: a sort of symbolic parliament of religions headed by or the “Papa” (in his sole material occupation of the See), or the other leaders in democratic rotation. Pope Saint Pius Our apostolic charge: (…) What should we think of the promiscuity in which young Catholics will find themselves involved with heterodox and non-believers of all kinds, in a work of this nature? For them, it is not a thousand times more dangerous than a neutral association? What should we think of this appeal to all heterodox and all non-believers to prove the excellence of their beliefs on social terrain, in a special apologetic competition, as if this competition had not lasted for nineteen centuries, in conditions less dangerous for the faith of the faithful and completely honorable for the Catholic Church? What should we think of this respect for all errors and the strange exhortation, made by a Catholic to all dissidents, to fortify their beliefs with study and to make them increasingly abundant sources of new forces? What should we think of an association in which all religions and even the “free thought” can manifest themselves openly, to their liking? (…) What will they produce? What is going to come out of this collaboration? A purely verbal and chimerical construction, in which the words of freedom will be seen glittering haphazardly and in seductive confusion, of justice, of brotherhood and love, of equality and human exaltation, all based on a misunderstood human dignity. It will be a tumultuous agitation, sterile for the proposed purpose and which will benefit the less utopian mass agitators. Yes, you can really say that (this pseudo-doctrine, ndR) escort socialism, with his eye fixed on a chimera. We fear there is even worse. The result of this promiscuity in work, the beneficiary of this cosmopolitan social action, it can only be a democracy that will not be Catholic, right Protestant, nor Jewish; a religion (…) more universal than the Catholic Church, which will reunite all men who have finally become brothers and companions, In the “kingdom of God“. (They say:) “We do not work for the Church but for humanity“. (…) Alas!, (these fantasies, ndR) they are but a miserable tributary of the great apostasy movement, organized, in all countries, for the establishment of a universal church, which will have no dogmas, nor hierarchy, nor rules for the spirit, nor restraint for passions, and that, under the pretext of freedom and human dignity, would re-establish in the world, if he could triumph, the legal reign of cunning and strength, and the oppression of the weak, of those who suffer and who work. End of quote.
The minds of mortals
L’ecumenism he was infallibly condemned, quite recently, also by Pope Pius The minds of mortals. For those who aren't aware, it is an infallible sentence of the Church, as a consequence, also unappealable (Click here to study the infallibility of the Church and the Pope). That is, in this case, it is not possible to relativize or historicize it, almost as if different meaning and meaning can be attributed – “more advanced” as some blather – to doctrinal definitions (cf. Vatican Council, Son of God, IV – “If anyone says that it may happen that the dogmas of the Church can one day – in the continuous progress of science – attribute a meaning different from what the Church intended and intends to give: let him be anathema“). I quote the sentence: Some are trying to achieve a not dissimilar objective with regards to the organization of the New Law, promulgated by Christ the Lord. Convinced that it is very rare to find men without any religious feeling, they seem to derive reason to hope that the people, however much they dissent from each other in matters of religion, even if they are to agree without difficulty in the profession of some doctrines, as on a common foundation of spiritual life. Therefore they usually hold conferences, meetings, conferences, with large public participation, to which everyone is promiscuously invited to discuss: infidels of every degree, Christians, and even those who miserably apostatized from Christ or who with obstinate pertinacity deny the divinity of his Person and his mission. Such attempts based on the false theory that assumes all religions are good and praiseworthy certainly cannot obtain the approval of Catholics, as all, albeit in a different way, they manifest and signify equally that feeling congenital to all by which we feel led to God and to the respectful recognition of his dominion. Well, the followers of this theory, not only are they deceived and mistaken, but they repudiate true religion, depraving its concept and turning step by step towards naturalism and atheism; whence it clearly follows that those who adhere to the proponents of such theories and attempts distance themselves completely from the religion revealed by God. But where, under the appearance of good, deception is more easily hidden, it is when it comes to promoting unity among all Christians. Maybe that's not right – it keeps repeating itself – Indeed, is it perhaps not in keeping with the duty that those who invoke the name of Christ should abstain from mutual recriminations and bind together once and for all with the bonds of mutual charity?? And who would dare to say that he loves Christ if he does not strive with all his strength to carry out His desire, who prayed to the Father so that his disciples «they were one and the same»? [John., XVII, 21]. And perhaps Jesus Christ himself did not want his disciples to distinguish themselves and distinguish themselves from others by this note of mutual love: « In this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another»? [John., XIII, 35]. And heaven willing, they add, that all Christians were «one thing alone»; they would be much stronger in warding off the plague of impiety, which, meandering and spreading more and more every day, threatens to overwhelm the Gospel. These and similar arguments exalt and excite those who call themselves pan-Christians, which, rather than shrinking into small and rare groups, instead they grew up, so to speak, in compact rows, coming together in widely spread societies, mostly under the direction of non-Catholic men, even though they disagreed among themselves on matters of faith. And in the meantime the company is promoted with such industriousness, to reconcile numerous memberships here and there and to even win the hearts of many Catholics with the tempting hope of achieving a union that seems to respond to the wishes of Holy Mother Church, to whom certainly nothing is more dear to her heart than the recall and return of her errant children to her womb. But beneath these insinuating blandishments of words lies a very serious error which would totally undermine the foundations of the Catholic faith.. Therefore, since the conscience of Our Apostolic office requires us not to allow the flock of the Lord to be seduced by harmful illusions, let's call back, Venerable Brothers, your zeal against such grave danger, sure as we are that through your writings and your words they will reach the people more easily (and they will be better understood by the people) the principles and arguments that we are about to expose. Thus Catholics will know how to judge and react when faced with initiatives intended to bring about in any way the union in one body of those who call themselves Christians.. (…) The Apostolic See cannot in any way participate in their meetings and that in no way can Catholics join or lend assistance to such attempts; if they did this, they would give authority to a false Christian religion, very far from the one Church of Christ. But will we be able to tolerate the most unfair attempt to see the truth dragged into bargains, the divinely revealed truth? Because here it is precisely a question of defending the revealed truth. Jesus Christ sent the Apostles throughout the world to preach the Gospel to all nations; and so that they would have nothing to err in, he wanted them first of all to be taught all the truth, by the Holy Spirit [John., XVI, 13. 1]; perhaps this doctrine of the Apostles was completely lacking or was sometimes obscured in the Church, directed and guarded by God himself? And if our Redeemer openly said that his Gospel concerned not only the apostolic period, but also future ages, could perhaps be the object of faith, as time passes, become so obscure and uncertain that contrary opinions must be tolerated today? If this were true, it should equally be said that the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the perpetual permanence in the Church of the same Spirit and even the preaching of Jesus Christ for many centuries have lost all effectiveness and usefulness: to say this would be blasphemy. Furthermore, the Only Begotten Son of God not only commanded his messengers to teach all peoples, but also forced all men to believe in the truths that were announced to them.by witnesses preordained by God» [Act., X, 41], and to his precept he added the sanction « Whoever believes and will be baptized, he will be safe; but who will not believe, he will be condemned » [Marc., XVI, 16]. But this double command of Christ, to be observed necessarily, that is, to teach and believe in order to have eternal salvation, nor could it be understood if the Church did not propose the evangelical doctrine entirely and clearly and was not immune from any danger of error in teaching it. Therefore, anyone who admits the existence of a deposit of truth on earth is far from the truth, but then he thinks that it must be sought with a lot of tiring work, with much daily study and disputes, that a man's life can barely suffice to find it and enjoy it; almost as if the most gracious God had spoken through the Prophets and his Only Begotten because only a few, and already very advanced in years, learned the revealed truths, and not to impose a moral doctrine that should govern man throughout his life. It may seem that these panchristian, all busy uniting the churches, tend to f
very noble aim of fomenting charity among all Christians; but how could charity succeed to the detriment of faith?? No one certainly ignores that the apostle of charity himself, Saint John (who in his Gospel seems to have revealed the secrets of the most sacred Heart of Jesus who always used to inculcate the new commandment in his disciples: «Love one another»), he absolutely prohibited having relationships with those who do not profess the entire and uncorrupted doctrine of Christ: «If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, Don't welcome him into your home and don't even greet him» [2 John., 10]. So, relying on charity, as on foundation, on intact and sincere faith, it is necessary that Christ's disciples are principally united by the bond of the unity of faith. End of quote.
very noble aim of fomenting charity among all Christians; but how could charity succeed to the detriment of faith?? No one certainly ignores that the apostle of charity himself, Saint John (who in his Gospel seems to have revealed the secrets of the most sacred Heart of Jesus who always used to inculcate the new commandment in his disciples: «Love one another»), he absolutely prohibited having relationships with those who do not profess the entire and uncorrupted doctrine of Christ: «If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, Don't welcome him into your home and don't even greet him» [2 John., 10]. So, relying on charity, as on foundation, on intact and sincere faith, it is necessary that Christ's disciples are principally united by the bond of the unity of faith. End of quote.
of the Eastern Church
L’ecumenism he has been condemned many times by the Church. Even Pope Pius XII tried this again on several occasions. I quote from of the Eastern Church: (…) It's not legal, not even under the pretext of making harmony easier, dissimulate not even a single dogma; since, as the Alexandrian patriarch warns: «Desiring peace is certainly the greatest and first of goods, but for this reason we must not allow the virtue of piety in Christ to be compromised» (Ep. 61: PG 77, 325.). Therefore it does not lead to the much desired return of errant children to sincere and right unity in Christ, that theory, which places only those heads of doctrine as the foundation of the unanimous consensus of the faithful, on which either all or at least most of the communities, who boast of the Christian name, they agree, but rather the other one, without excluding or diminishing any of them, it fully accepts any truth revealed by God. End of quote. The of the Eastern Church it also provides clear instructions on true Catholic pastoral care – following the example of Saint Cyril – that must be kept with the wanderers, so that they repeat their mistakes and return, united with the true and only Church, to the profession of faith in Jesus Christ.
Communication in sacred things
L’ecumenism it manifests itself above all in the so-called common prayer, which we have already established have counterproductive effects for peace, sometimes even in the scabrous and pathetic rituals interconfessional. Today we have reached fantasy, cleared by sectarian biblical societies (cf. Pio IX – Who is more), to favor and use the so-called Interdenominational Bibles. The prestigious Catholic Encyclopedia (Vol. IV, Vatican, Imprimatur 8 April 1950, Coll. 117-119) to the voice Communication in things sacred tells us: For communication in sacred things or communion in the sacred means the participation of Catholics in sacred ceremonies (prayers, functions, sermons, rites) carried out by non-Catholics (heretics, schismatics, unfaithful) inside or outside their churches or temples. This participation can be: active, when, Meaning what, one takes part in religious worship positively, performing some act, that has a relationship with it; passive, when one takes part in it only negatively, refraining from any action, that says relationship with the religious ceremony; formal, when there is adhesion of mind and heart; material, when this adhesion is missing and everything is reduced to an act of external and physical presence. Communication in sacred things is usually designated by the name of communication in the divine, to distinguish it from communication in the profane that is, in private and public relations that concern domestic and civil life, and communication in mixed things, that is, in relationships, which involve acts that can also be considered or have a religious side, like weddings, funerals and similar ceremonies. The conduct of Catholics in this regard is regulated in principle by the CIC (Code of Canon Law, of course 1917), and in its various applications by the norms issued by the Sacred Roman Congregations. (…) Communication in the divine. It is never permissible for the faithful to actively assist or take part, in any way, to the sacred rites of non-Catholics (CIC, can. 1258 § 1). This applies not only when it comes to false or impious rites in themselves, but also when it comes to those rites that are specific to this or that sect or heretical group, schismatic, pagano. Because such participation is equivalent to the profession of a false religion and consequently to the denial of the Catholic faith. And even in the event that any idea of denial could be excluded, three very serious damages still remain: 1) the danger of perversion in the Catholic who participates; 2) the scandal, and of the faithful, who take reason to judge badly of the person who deals with opponents of the faith and perhaps even to doubt its truth, and of non-Catholics themselves, who thus confirm their error; 3) indifferentism in matters of religion, that is, the outward approval of erroneous beliefs and the idea that the external expression of one's faith is something negligible. End of quote.
Brief conclusion
I can't add anything, I can only learn from the Supreme Pontiffs and respectfully obey them. I hope I did, to the greater glory of God, a decent piece of research. May the Virgin Mary and the holy Martyrs of the faith support us in the battle against’ecumenism, against the ecumenists, against "false teachers who introduce pernicious heresies. With inflated and vain speeches they entice those who have just turned away from those who live in error. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves to corruption. The proverb came true for them: The dog went back to vomiting and the washed sow went back to wrapping herself in the brago» (2nd Fri. 2, 1. 18-19. 22). My critical comment – although small since I devoutly let the Pontiffs speak – it may seem harsh, however it is the truth (cf. Gv. VIII, 32). The Apostle also warns: And what is the agreement between Christ and Beliar?! (II Cor. 6, 15). And again: But it is possible for us or an angel from heaven to evangelize you in addition to what we have evangelized you, anathema sit! (Gal. I, 8 following). Saint Joseph, Saint Michael, San Tommaso d’Aquino, San Pietro Canisio, Saint Charles Borromeo, Saint Pius V, Saint Francis de Sales, Sant’Alfonso, Saint Pius X and Saint John of God (our special protector) they preserve us from vomit and from brago of ecumenists, also make us bearers of true charity (cf. I Cor. 13, 6) and peace in the Holy Name of Jesus (Acts IV, 12).
