| Editor: Brother Bruno Bonnet-Eymard | N° 89 – February 2010 |
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O CRUX, AVE, SPES UNICA !
« I will take life, as You taught me to do, one day at a time, sweet Jesus. That is all that I can give; You gave me faith in order to change my life. » St. Antoine-de-Padoue church, in the heart of Port-au-Prince, did not resist: the lovely white building collapsed in the violent earthquake. Yet despite all, the faithful got together on Sunday 17 December, on the feast of Our Lady of Pontmain, and sang in chorus their faith a few dozen metres from there, in the street before it.
THE SHATTERED CHURCH
In Her great Secret of 13 July 1917, Our Lady showed the children « a great city half in ruins ». A hundred years later Haiti offers us the sight of an entire city in ruins.
The two events must be put into relation, for the vision of 13 July 1917 was accompanied by the Most Holy Virgin’s demands, which have not been honoured: daily recitation of the Rosary, the hierarchy’s recommending the reparatory devotion of the first Saturdays of the month, the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Holy Father and the bishops in communion with him.
Since the hierarchy has paid no heed to the vision of 13 July 1917, the Good God continues to warn us about the loss of souls – who are already falling into Hell here below, while awaiting the other, eternal Hell ! – by means of “signs of the times”, events that fulfil before the eyes of the whole world the prophetic vision that was confided in great secret to the little children.
« For many Haitians, this earthquake is God’s punishment, a chastisement. “This corresponds to the beliefs of the people here, to their culture”, explains Fr. Michel, a Frenchman who has lived in Haiti for twenty-five years. His sermon concluded the Mass. “In it, they see a punishment for a people that has acted badly in relation to its religious convictions.” They say this in a general sense, without specifying what evil is implicated.
« He admits that he does not share this conception and prefers to speak of solidarity. Sunday, he evoked above all “the strength to be drawn from God to take up this challenge, thanks to mutual help and solidarity”. » (La Croix, Tuesday, 19 January)
There is no punishment worse than this blindness of the clergy. We know, however, from the same vision of 13 July 1917, that it is the hand of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary that limits the damage caused by the « flaming sword » of the Angel of Heaven.
But for how long?
In the vision of 13 July 1917 there also stands « a large Cross » that the Holy Father reaches after having crossed the « great city half in ruins ». At Port-au-Prince, the cathedral, St. Antoine-de-Padoue, and Sacré-Coeur church collapsed, entirely destroyed. But amidst the ruins a large cross remains standing.
Obviously, it is not this photo that is published by La Croix… without the cross! Yet it would have been appropriate: « Close beside the cathedral that was devastated by the earthquake of 12 January, several thousand Catholics, among whom were the Haitian President René Préval and his wife, fervently attended the funeral of Mgr Serge Miot, Archbishop of Port-au-Prince. His auxiliary bishop, Joseph Lafontant, recalled during the homily the deceased bishop’s motto: “Not to be served, but to serve”, and his commitment to the poor. He recalled Jesus’ words: “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Then he added: “The Creator invites us to participate in the creation of a new country, a new Haiti, a new world.” »
What good news! Gaudium et Spes! From the cataclysm a new (Haitian) man will be born for a new world that the Americans will build!
This is not the language of the Gospel. In the time of Our Lord Jesus Christ, there were also catastrophes. One of them marked the minds of contemporaries:
« Those eighteen people, Jesus said, who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them, do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, i tell you. No; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did! »
This is the revealed truth for twenty centuries.
Now, it is evident that we ourselves are in Haiti’s situation. It suffices to read Frédéric Pons’ article entitled “Haiti, in all Lucidity”. He analyses in detail the process of self-destruction of the ancient pearl of the Caribbean: « Nature is cruel, but Haitians have to take a large part of the responsibility for the total stagnation of their country. »
It is « the use of democracy » that is at stake, and the journalist gravely asks if it « can ruin a country and its inhabitants. » The answer: « Yes, surely, in the case of Haiti. » (Valeurs actuelles, 21 January 2010)
The Bulletin d’André Noël suspects a pact made with the Devil in the night from 14 to 15 August 1791. The proof is that the bordering Dominican Republic was spared… The reasoning is odd. The Good God would have protected the neighbouring republic in recompense for its democratic virtue?
Actually, we are at the heart of what has been Haiti’s circumstances since 1789. And of what even has been the Church’s since 1965.
François d’Orcival, in an editorial in the same issue of Valeurs actuelles of 21 January, under the title “The Tragedy of those without a State”, reminds us that in more than two centuries of independence (1804), Haiti has been the scene of about 180 coups d’états. « Thus, (?) there was only a virtual state and government when the calamity struck ». How many coups d’états does it take for the government to become “virtual”?
He specifies that « anarchy was added to the chaos of nature ». From where did the anarchy come? He should have recalled that Pope John Paul II greatly contributed to it. When he disembarked in Haiti in 1983, he declared: « Things must change here! » Three years later, in 1986, « things changed »: an uprising put an end to the regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier, who had succeeded his father, François Duvalier, in 1971.
Haiti then experienced what Pons calls « rare democratic parentheses, usually preceded or followed by a general “déchouquage” (the “cleaning up” with machetes of the partisans of the previous regime). In 1988, after almost thirty years of the Duvalier dictatorship (1957-1986), they thought that they were headed for better times [for a country that is so Catholic, after the visit of so great a Pope! ]. Leslie Manigat, nicknamed “Hippo” because of his corpulence, was democratically elected. The army had protected the democratic transition, and its leader, General Henry Namphy, increased the soldiers’ pay by 40 %. After becoming the “Blue-eyed boy” for his soldiers, he seized the “upholstered chair” (the President’s chair). Well known for their humour, the inhabitants of Port-au-Prince showed lucidity: “We were governed by the father [François Duvalier, 1957-1971, “Papa Doc”], then by the son [Jean-Claude, “Baby Doc”], now it is by the simple-minded!” »
« The following twenty years (1988-2008) were a descent into Hell [let us not forget the initial pontifical flicking!]. From coups d’état to laborious interims, Haiti still believed in a miracle [!] with the election in December 1990 of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a defrocked leftist priest [it is true that the Devil himself can work “miracles”! ]. His chaotic presidency, marked by a military coup d’état (1991), a three year exile, then his return to power (October 1994) under the protection of an American expeditionary force, made Haiti sink even further, ravaged by clientelism, gang warfare, and corruption. Aristide’s friends were nicknamed “the big eaters”. Thousands of Haitian boat people fled to the United States.
« His former Prime Minister, René Garcia Préval, succeeded him. He was elected in December 1995 for five years. In 2001, Aristide succeeded in recovering the “upholstered chair” owing to rigged elections, before being turned out of power again three years later. The return to calm and democracy with Préval (the next presidential elections are scheduled for the autumn…) has been real. » It led to hunger riots in April 2008 after four years under UN trusteeship.
François d’Orcival explains: « In order to remedy the glaring insufficiencies of this fictive State, the United Nations had implemented a “stabilising mission” with several hundred functionaries and several thousand blue helmets. Appearances were kept up. All of this was swallowed up by the earthquake.
« It is tragic because of those who have died, but it is appalling for the living. The director of an old people’s home in Léogane, a city located thirty kilometres from Port-au-Prince, told a reporter from Europe 1: “Before we didn’t have a country; now we no longer have anything. Before the government was absent; now it has disappeared.” In the immense disaster of Haiti’s earthquake, the disappearance of the State leaves men wounded, like men distraught before a gaping hole. Who is responsible, who protects, who comes to the relief, who opens up the road? »
In fact, Haiti is nothing other than the “showcase” of the real state of the “world” that the Second Vatican Council envisaged forty-five years ago under the sign of “joy” and “hope”, Gaudium et Spes! After “blessed” John XXIII expressed his condemnation of the « prophets of doom »…
Misfortune came to the world, in which no one is « responsible », no one « protects », no one « comes to the relief » of anyone, no one « opens up the road », not even the Church, above all not the Church, since the Second Vatican Council. At the Council she denied the cult of Jesus Christ and of His divine Master in order to give herself over to the cult of man, including the voodoo dear to the Haitians; voodoo is only an avatar that the Church “recognises” since proclaming religious freedom.
Haiti is not the only one concerned: in the name of the “transcendent dignity of the human person” of even the terrorist, state-less or government-less territories and lawless regions are multiplying in the four corners of the planet, which are so many refuges for terrorism. From the Sahel, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, the fringes of Chad, once colonised, today they are handed over to the “transcendent” dignity of “freed slaves”, as far abroad as the western provinces of Pakistan, passing through Somalia, the Sudan and Yemen, « we have an “arc of crisis” in which trafficking of all sorts, guerrilla movements, and terrorist organisations prosper. » What remedy is there?
« The Pentagon charged an Under-Secretary of State to devote himself to these “ungoverned zones”. This condition exists in isolated regions criss-crossed by bands or tribes that offer to all of Al-Qaida’s henchmen, in return for arms and financing, the shelters necessary for preparing their attacks […], but not only in remote regions or windswept deserts: for example, in urban zones where the [French, English, Spanish, Italian, German…] State have renounced sending its police, or on pirate infested seas. »
Conclusion: « Whether it is a question of limiting the ravages of a catastrophe or of fighting growing terrorism, the challenge remains the same: the priority is re-establishing a State. To escape powerlessness, Pascal already said, law must rely on the policeman. »
Is that all? On what must the policeman rely?
RETURNING TO THE SYNAGOGUE
At the centre of the “arc of crisis” there is… Jerusalem, where Pope Benedict XVI went « as a man of prayer, dialogue, and peace », recalled the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Mgr Fouad Twal, in the Religious Week of Aachen (22 November 2009).
Now, from a political viewpoint, he protested, this papal visit did not bring about the slightest change: « Fear pervades the Mount of Olives. » Jewish colonists continue to eat away at the Palestinian eastern part of Jerusalem. There is a building with a wire meshed door on its roof; it is watched over day and night by armed guards belonging to the organisation of Jewish colonists, Elad. The building is located behind the Benedictine Monastery on the Mount of Olives; the Jews display an immense Israeli flag at the top of a pylon:
« This standard that flies on the highest point of the city has become the symbol of the property annexation enterprise that the most radical fringes of the religious Sionist colonialists have undertaken. » (Le Figaro, 16 December 2009)
How long will the Christians, who are caught in a pincer movement between the Jews and the Arabs, survive in the Holy Land? Although the Pope’s visit raised a hope for better cooperation among us, « no sign, no gesture, no measure of relief » came from the Israeli government, Mgr Fouad Twal deplored:
« If the Pope did not succeed, nor the President of the United States, from what authority must we expect political salvation? »
From the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Your Excellency! – and from no one else.
But what if the Pope prefers to turn towards the synagogue to pray, while the Christians of the Holy Land have nothing left but their eyes with which to weep, unless they have themselves circumcised! « Anyone who goes to pray at the synagogue this Sunday, pleadsFr. Antoine Guggenheim, Director of Research at the Collège des Bernardins, Paris, is living dialogue with the Jews at its roots. He calls Mary “daughter of Sion”. » Very well! In doing so, he does nothing more than conform to the entire Catholic Tradition. It remains to have the Jews invoke Her in this way, to get them to set fire to the Toledôt Jeshu, which the Church used to consign to the bonfire out of respect for Christ and His Holy Mother!
Far be it from me to reproach the Pope for his visit to the Synagogue of Rome on Sunday, 17 January, after his visit to synagogues in Cologne and New York. Did not Jesus Himself give the example?
In Nazareth, « where He had grown up, St. Luke relates, He went according to His custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” Rolling up the scroll, He handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at Him. Then He said to them: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” »
Everyone agreed; it was so obvious!
« And all spoke highly of Him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from His mouth. »
Yet, the snide remarks were not lacking:
« They also asked: “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” He said to them: “Surely you will quote Me this proverb: Physician, cure yourself. Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.” And He said: “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” »
« When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl Him down headlong. But He passed through the midst of them and went away. » (Lk 4:16-30)
In Rome, Benedict XVI was also able to walk to the synagogue of Rome, « the Great Temple of the Jews of Rome », as he called it at the beginning of his speech, but without encountering any hostility, since he was careful not to provoke them as Jesus had done, « in order, he explained, to keep open the space for dialogue, for reciprocal respect, for growth in friendship, for a common witness in the face of the challenges of our time, which invite us to cooperate for the good of humanity. »
Consequently, the result was quite different: Benedict XVI’s speech this Sunday evening at the great synagogue of Rome before the Jewish community of Rome, and in the presence of representatives of the Italian Jewish community, triggered applause ten times.
The Pope preferred to recall the tragedy of the Shoah rather than that of the Passion of Christ, undoubtedly because he considers that the latter does not concern them. He only evoked the contribution of the Catholic Church to the temporal salvation of the Jews; he nevertheless apologised for her responsibility in anti-Semitism, beating the breasts of his predecessors instead of demanding, as St. Peter and his successors had done until the Second Vatican Council exclusively, that the Jews repent. Benedict XVI resolutely joins John Paul II’s tradition by repeating verbatim the message of repentance that the latter had inserted into the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem on 26 March 2000.
In fact, replying to a concern that the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo di Segni, had expressed, Benedict XVI recalled the progress made since Vatican II and by John Paul II. The words « friendship », « fraternity », « encounter » punctuated his speech. The conciliar reform remains an irrevocable « landmark » for him. Let the Chief Rabbi be reassured: the Catholic Counter-Reformation is not on the agenda!
He also recalled his own gestures and words, particularly at Auschwitz. As though it were a new Gospel whereby the Church converts at last to « the unique Covenant », according to the title of one of Cardinal Ratzinger’s books. She abandons « the theology of substitution » that has been applied for two thousand years according to which the Church is the true Israel that succeeds the people of the Old Covenant. He insisted at length on the common roots of Jews and Christians in order that this heritage may open onto a better future for humanity. Rather than the Gospel “beatitudes”, the Pope went through the Decalogue as the essential source of a humanity to be maintained and edified. He ended by invoking from the “Lord” the precious gift of peace in the whole world, in particular in the Holy Land, by recalling the prayer that he said at the Temple Wall on 12 May 2009: « Send Your peace upon this Holy Land, upon the Middle East, upon the entire human family; stir the hearts of those who call upon Your Name, to walk humbly in the path of justice and compassion. »
He concluded in Hebrew with Psalm 117 :
« O praise the Lord, all you nations, acclaim Him, all you peoples. Strong is His love for us; He is faithful forever. Alleluia! »
« Under the high vaults of the temple [sic !] designed in 1904 to surpass Roman baroque sanctuaries, the applause broke out », for the tenth time (La Croix, 18 January).
THE JEWISH WAR
It is brewing in Yemen: « An unstable country if ever there was one, perturbed by a Shiite minority that is armed and financed by Teheran, Yemen is in an almost permanent state of conflict with Saudi Arabia and is located a few cable lengths from another country in the Horn of Africa, Somalia, which has no State and is almost entirely contaminated by radical Islamist networks. It is a terrain that is conducive to developing a new centre of extreme tension in the “complicated East”, which the Americans obviously understand less and less, if one judges by their politics, which is even less effective under Obama than under Bush junior.
« For several weeks already, American “special forces” commandos have been operating there against terrorist networks, and the battle is raging.
« Everything apparently began with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s attempt to blow up an airplane to Detroit. The ins and outs of it incidentally remain confused. How was it that this son of a fabulously wealthy banker and former Nigerian minister, who has a degree from one of the most prestigious faculties of England, able to lapse into radical and terrorist Islamism? Why were the many warnings that had been made to the American services concerning him, including those of his own father, ignored? In what circumstances was he able to obtain an American visa, even though he is included on the list of “official suspects”, and thus to avoid the numerous controls.
« These are questions that remain without satisfactory answers for the moment. President Obama points to failures in American security services. In the United States, the press is freer and more curious than on this side of the Atlantic. Investigations will be made and published. Perhaps some people will not hesitate to write that this “incident” came just when needed to provoke a military intervention in Yemen, or to give a pretext for disclosing and intensifying the one that is already under way. This matter bears watching.
« A new danger for the West. The fact is that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was trained in Islamist camps in Yemen, that Al-Qaeda is well-established there and operates in its element, that half of the prisoners of Guantanamo originate from this country, and lastly, that almost all those who have been released from it take the road back directly or indirectly to Yemen to resume their criminal work. Why hide the reality of the situation from Western public opinion?
« Whether there were shortcomings or not in the American services before the failed attack in Detroit is a matter for Washington. If the situation in Yemen has entered into an explosive phase, that, on the other hand, concerns all the countries of the West. The Arabo-Muslim East is thrown into a state of unrest by the radical Islamism that we let develop there. The culmination of this blind strategy was President Obama’s message to the Muslim world, a masterpiece of short-sightedness, naïve optimism, and… ignorance of Islamic countries.
« When the Straits of Hormuz and Aden are threatened and the security of the petroleum route put into serious danger, the problem will no longer be an American one, but a world-wide one – a problem for the West, at least. While there is still time, is prevention not better than cure? Nothing is going right in Palestine. The announced evacuation of “coalition” troops from Iraq has begun but has resolved nothing in this country. The “new American policy” in Afghanistan (which one?) does not seem to produce the expected results. Pakistan, which has been “democratised” under pressure from Washington, is racked by fire and sword. In Iran the counter-revolution (anti-Islamist, happily for us) is in motion.
« This whole region, a vast, rich, populated region, is in danger of exploding. In this, the beginning of the second decade of the century, the observation is alarming, and that is but a euphemism. We must begin by having the courage to say it. The time is over for gesticulating declarations with head held high before the media in the “relaxed” atmosphere following the purchase of an ice-cream cone. » ( L’Action française of 7 January 2010)
THE POPE AT FATIMA
On Sunday, 29 November 2009, the President of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, went on pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Fatima. He was surrounded by his entourage, including the councillor Jaime Bermúdez, and Columbia’s ambassador to Portugal. The President went to the Capelinha where he meditated on the apparitions and implored Our Lady’s protection on Colombia. He asked questions about the message of Fatima, about the words uttered by the Blessed Virgin at the Cova da Iria, about the number of pilgrims who come to the sanctuary each year… He left the place with regret, letting his emotion show, expressing his gratitude for the welcome that had been reserved for him.
In May 2010, Benedict XVI will go on pilgrimage to Turin and then to Fatima. Since he ceaselessly hammers home that the ecumenical dialogue that the Second Vatican Council engaged is « irreversible », it will be the opportunity to make a “grand gesture” by inviting the Orthodox (“separated”) bishops of Russia to join all the Roman Catholic bishops in consecrating their country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It will be said that John Paul II, his venerated predecessor has already made this consecration. All the more reason to renew it…
If he does it, « the time of peace » that Our Lady promised will come without fail.
In the meantime, the « errors of Russia » continue to spread in the world…
…WITH PERSECUTIONS
For several weeks now, the parish of Dông Chiêm in Hanoi has been exposed to persecution from authorities. On 6 January, around 2 o’clock in the morning, hundreds of policemen encircled the mountain Tho, situated in this parish of the capital. They destroyed the large cross that had been erected at the summit. On what grounds? Its construction is allegedly illegal. Alerted at dead of night, the faithful attempted to oppose the demolition. Two of them were seriously wounded. About ten others were arrested and placed in detention. The archbishop slipped away. His flock, who are good-natured, say that he did so out of prudence so as not to fuel the smear campaign of which he has been the target for two years.
It must also be said that the Vatican congratulates itself on having received for the first time the visit of a Vietnamese head of State, who met Benedict XVI on 11 December last. After this visit came a communiqué that expressed Rome’s satisfaction. For Rome, it was a « significant [step] towards improving bilateral relations with Vietnam ». In his speech before the ambassadors at the beginning of January, Benedict XVI mentioned the progress of diplomatic relations with this « country dear to my heart, where the Church is celebrating her presence for several centuries with a jubilee year ». So… it is not vouchsafed to everyone to be a Cardinal Mindszenty…
« Nevertheless, the parishioners regret the absence of their archbishop. “We need to be overseen for we are sometimes too vehement”, admitted a member of the faithful who had demonstrated in 2007 at the apostolic delegation. There he had dared to span the wall of the property in front of the police… »
Actually, it is still the conciliar line that prevails. Since Vatican II, the pastors have made a pact with the wolves. When they attack the flock… « the archbishop leaves… »
As for the Fraternity of St. Pius X’s dealings with Rome on the Council, they are also well on the way of “normalisation”; they held a colloquium in Paris on “Vatican II. A debate to be opened.” Really? As though we had waited for them to open a debate that the Abbé de Nantes began forty-five years ago when the encyclical Ecclesiam Suam was published. Today the investigation is being conducted. All that remains is to obtain from the Authority that Our Lord Jesus Christ instituted over His Holy Church that she anathematise the errors of the Second Vatican Council. « To open a debate » in 2009, is already tantamount to rallying to religious freedom and its two corollaries: ecumenism and interfaith. It amounts to apostatising.
May God keep us faithful to the Catholic Faith through the merciful grace of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in order that when He returns, the Son of man may still find faith on the earth!