Bishop Celebrates Opening of Masonic Lodge with Freemasons

 The Bishop of Terni (left) helps open the new Masonic house in his episcopal city.

(Rome) Official efforts for a rapprochement between Church and Lodge have existed since the Second Vatican Council . For some, they don't go far enough, others see the border to immorality long since crossed. An example of this transgression was provided by Monsignor Francesco Soddu, Bishop of Termi, who attended the inauguration of the Masonic House of the Grand Orient of Italy on September 27th. 

Soddu, who comes from Sardinia, was ordained a priest in 1985 for the Archdiocese of Sassari. He became regent of the archdiocesan seminary, diocesan director of Caritas and finally director of Caritas Italy in 2012 .

On October 29, 2021, Msgr. Soddu was appointed Bishop of Terni-Narni-Amelia by Pope Francis and received episcopal ordination on January 5.

Freemasonry is divided into two major streams, regular or English Freemasonry and irregular or Romanesque Freemasonry. The latter came about in 1773 with the creation of the Grand Orient of France. Formally, the essential difference is that English Freemasonry still presupposes a Christian confession in its constitutions (which, however, was weakened in 1929 to a theistic confession and in 1989 only to a deistic confession), while Romanesque Freemasonry rejects any form of reference to God.

Concretely, this meant that the Romanesque Freemasonry that arose in the Catholic states was radically anti-church. Her struggle to oust the church from public life is a common thread running through her story to this day. English Freemasonry also gives a nobler impression, as it seems to be lacking in anti-clerical leadership. But that is only because the Catholic Church in Britain had already been abolished in the 16th century, so there was no longer any need for an anti-clerical leadership. From this, it follows that in reality there are not two or more Freemasons, but only one, which corresponds to the same thinking that contradicts that of the Church.

Is it all just a misunderstanding?

On September 27th, in Via Roma di Terni, the new Masonic House of the Grand Orient of Italy was inaugurated. On this occasion, an open house was held, at which, in addition to the Freemasons of the city, Grand Master Stefano Bisi also came to cut the ribbon that marked the opening. Bisi was welcomed in Terni by the highest officials, the mayor, as the first citizen of the city, the prefect, as the highest representative of the state, and... by the bishop, representing the Church. The Bishop of Terni, Monsignor Francesco Soddu, was undoubtedly the most important of the guests of honour. In his words of welcome, he thanked profusely for the invitation and expressed his best wishes that initiatives such as these,

All attempts at rapprochement between Church and Lodge since the end of the 1960s can be summarized in the justification that the Church's condemnation of Freemasonry since its foundation in 1717 was only the result of misunderstandings. The historian and Franciscan Father Paolo Maria Siano, one of the best experts on Freemasonry, on the other hand, tirelessly provides evidence of the incompatibility of Church and Lodge, relying exclusively on Masonic sources. Freemasonry became a haven for an old enemy of the Church, Gnosticism. From the beginning, there are strong elements of esotericism and also of satanism. And it has not changed until today.

The satisfaction of the lodge brothers was correspondingly great at being able to welcome Bishop Soddu in the new Masonic house.

Cheerful lodge brothers with the illustrious guest of honour: Grand Master Stefano Bisi from the Grand Orient of Italy (left) welcomes Bishop Francesco Soddu from Terni (right).

Contradictory positions

This approach is supported by the highest church authority. It was Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, who addressed the “Dear Brothers Freemasons” in an open letter on February 14, 2016. The letter was, generously, reprinted in its entirety by Italy's leading business newspaper, Il Sole 24Ore. There was no clarification from the Vatican, no reference to the specification of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1983 under its then prefect Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger that Catholics are forbidden to join a lodge. Anyone who does so will be subject to excommunication.

Even more: In 1981, Pope John Paul II had the then Prefect of Faith Franjo Cardinal Šeper and then his successor Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger answer the question of whether the excommunication by the Second Vatican Council and the new Code of Canon Law had become obsolete:

"It is not for the authorities of the local Church to render any judgment as to the nature of Masonic associations that would overrule the foregoing, in accordance with the statement of this Congregation of February 17, 1981."

 

Cardinal Ravasi ignored these statements of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in his open letter, while referring to the Second Vatican Council and the Code of Canon Law. In doing so, he followed those pro-Freemason church circles that undauntedly claim that there is no ban on becoming a member of a lodge, and that membership does not entail excommunication. A well-known representative of this direction is the Viennese cathedral priest Toni Faber.

In 1983 Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Faith with the authority of John Paul II, stated:

"The negative judgment of the Church on the Masonic associations thus remains unchanged, because their principles have always been considered incompatible with the teaching of the Church and therefore joining them remains forbidden. The faithful belonging to Masonic associations are therefore in a state of grave sin and cannot receive Holy Communion.

 

After in the first post-conciliar period, churchmen who were friendly to the Freemasons on the one hand and Freemasons on the other had already raised hopes that the epochal difference could soon be overcome, an abrupt change followed with the election of Pope John Paul II and the appointment of Cardinal Ratzinger as Prefect of the Faith turning point that ruined those plans.

Desired approximation

The Terni incident, while not the first of its kind, represents a new taboo breach. A similar incident occurred in 2011 when the Grand Lodge of France was building a new lodge house in Lyon, to the delight of Freemasons and to the dismay of Catholics Episcopal Vicar Emmanuel Payen took part - on behalf of Philippe Cardinal Barbarin, then Archbishop of Lyon.

Alain-Noël Dubard, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of France, first praised Lyon as a “non-dogmatic, open city”, only to exploit Monsignor Payen's presence to claim that it refutes “the myth of distrust existing between Freemasonry and Church law."

In Italy, Cardinal Ravasi's open letter was the initial spark for an escalation of rapprochement, after a few days before the publication of the Ravasi letter, La Croix, the daily newspaper of the French bishops, had demanded that there should be no more excommunication for Freemasons.

On November 12, 2017, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Freemasonry in Syracuse, a conference organized by the Grand Orient of Italy, "Church and Freemasonry - so close, so far?"  took place.  The main speaker was Monsignor Antonio Staglianò, Bishop of Noto. The question of why this conference took place with the appreciative participation of a bishop remained unanswered beyond general appeals for dialogue.

On May 18, 2019, Lodge No. 119 "Benedetto Cairoli" of the Grand Orient of Italy celebrated its 150th anniversary. The surprising guest of honor was Archbishop Riccardo Fontana of Arezzo. The image of Masonic Grand Master Stefano Bisi and the Archbishop embracing each other inspired lodge circles.

Terni means the last stage of increase for the time being: For the first time, a diocesan bishop was present at the opening of a Masonic temple, if only at the external celebration. The opening of the two lodge temples housed in the Masonic house is carried out by the Freemasons with their own ritual behind closed doors, in that the grand lodge "brings in the light" that indicates the beginning of the "ritual work" of the lodge wheels.

One of the two temples of the new Masonic house in Terni

The Apostasy of the Bishops

In relation to Terni, the historian Roberto de Mattei, writing for Radio Roma Libera ( Radio Free Rome), recalled Jean Madiran's 1968 book, “L' hérésie du XXe siècle” ( “The Heresy of the 20th Century”). Madiran meant the bishops, namely the heretical or hereticizing positions held by bishops, especially the French, after Vatican II were represented. They gave in to the thinking of the world because, according to Madiran, they were convinced that they had to open up to modernity and leave traditional belief behind because social development also made it necessary to change the understanding of the salvation brought by Christ.

According to de Mattei, Madiran's analysis has lost none of its validity after more than half a century. However, today it is no longer so much a question of heresy, but of an apostasy by the bishops, a comprehensive denial of the Catholic faith. This is shown not only in the heresies and errors common among bishops, but also in a fundamental attitude of gestures and words of strong symbolic meaning.

"One of the first acts of the new bishop of Terni was therefore to visit a seat of Freemasonry, a secret organization condemned in countless documents by the Church, which represents a worldview diametrically opposed to that of the Church."

De Mattei clarifies the contradiction:

"The Masonic House of Terni, just opened, will be a place where the candidate Mason will abandon the Catholic Church to be assimilated into an anti-Christian sect in which he will lose his soul."

 

All men are "brothers", even "children of God", because it "doesn't matter" what religion one belongs to, because after all, even the condemnation of Freemasonry is just a historical misunderstanding made clear by the Second Vatican Council and the new code of the Canon law was overcome. Or not? It is this relativism that runs through the current pontificate that makes events like that in Terni possible. This attitude is not far removed from the first constitutionsFreemaurerei of 1717, which from its origin presents itself as an ideology that excludes any religious and moral truth, reducing traditional religions to subjective opinions.

What the brothers in the lodge wanted, they put down on paper in the instruction of the Alta Vendita written in 1818:

“We do not intend to win over the popes to our cause, to make them new initiates of our principles, propagators of our ideas. That would be a ridiculous dream (…). What we ask for, what we must seek and expect, as the Jews expect the Messiah, is a Pope according to our needs.”

 

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : MiL/Il Sussidiario (Screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.Com

AMDG

Vote For Aberrosexuality, Or Else — Minority of German Bishops Support Catholic Moral Teaching

Prof. Werner Münch, former Prime Minister: "It's enough now, Bishop Bätzing!"

 "Bätzing seems to be completely indifferent to a split in the Catholic Church, which has meanwhile also long since occurred." Guest commentary by Werner Münch

Bonn (kath.net) Not long ago, numerous believers breathed a sigh of relief when Cardinal Marx announced that he would resign as chairman of the DBK and thus also out of the synodal path.  Many members of the committees in which they had anything to do with him were relieved, because too often they had to endure the exaggerated, often angry and uncontrolled outbursts of their chairman.

A media wave of praise and sympathy preceded Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, who was appointed to succeed Cardinal Marx for both offices.  His leadership qualities have been described as engaging, forgiving, and balancing.  If we use this as a benchmark for his previous term in office and judge it critically, then we must come to the conclusion that we have heard fairy tales.  Bätzing works like a political functionary, and it is no coincidence that the people who work with him compare his methods to "disciplinarian Herbert Wehner".  He is convinced of himself, resistant to advice and unteachable.  When it comes to his ideas for realizing the "right" goals of the synodal path, even Pope Francis is not taken seriously.  When in his letter to the "pilgrim people of God in Germany" he called for a new evangelization as the main goal of the synodal path, he received the cynical answer from Bätzing that that was exactly the program of the synodal path, which, like everything  else, which as everyone knows, isn’t true.  As proof: When Bishop Voderholzer and a few other bishops made a motion at the 1st Synodal Assembly to set up such a forum, this request was rejected.  Bätzing seems completely indifferent to a split in the Catholic Church, which has long since happened.

Other examples that prove that he lacks any form of self-criticism should be mentioned without claiming to be complete:

 1. Bätzing tried several times publicly, to accuse Pope em.  Benedict XVI of lying - even after his employees had long confessed that they had made a mistake in one point of Benedict’s research and that Benedict had publicly apologized for it.  The aim of this attack by Bätzing was to prove that Benedict was partly to blame for the failure to deal with the abuse when he was bishop in Munich, which failed miserably.

 2. Bätzing gave free rein to his impatience in the case of Cardinal Woelki, whom he regarded as his determined opponent in the synodal path, by publicly urging the pope several times to make a decision about Woelki, i.e. finally him as a cardinal from Cologne  recall.  He didn't seem to notice that this request was becoming more and more embarrassing for Bätzing, or he didn't want to.

 3. It may be that Curial Cardinal Kurt Koch did not express himself clearly in his comparative presentation of positions from the Nazi era and the contents of the synodal path.  But is it fraternal coexistence among shepherds that Bätzing immediately demanded a public apology from Koch, and if this was not done "immediately" then he would immediately "lodge an official complaint to the Pope"?  Can't one first try to solve this in a more discreet way, as would be more appropriate to the offices of 2 Catholic pastors?

 4. When foreign bishops (from Poland, Scandinavia, USA, Canada, Australia, Japan and other Asian countries to highly recognized representatives of the Benedictine monastery in Heiligenkreuz in Austria) competently and critically deal with the content of the synodal path in Germany, is it the right way to brush them off according to the motto: It's a pity that you don't understand what it's all about?!  Such a reaction speaks of arrogance and hubris.  Perhaps it is therefore good that, according to a recent survey, 72% of those questioned answered that the name Georg Bätzing was unknown to them.

5. In the 4th Synodal Assembly from 8th to 10th October, the text on the liberalization of Catholic sexual morals was rejected in certain votes due to the 1/3 blocking minority of the bishops specified in the statute.  Participants reported that they were under pressure even before the vote (one participant said: “I've been scared for months”).  After the vote, the bishops who had not agreed to the proposed text were summoned behind closed doors.  In the plenum there was “head washing, victor's fists, reproaches, protest posters, nervous breakdowns and insults such as treason!  snipers!  Cowardice!  Laziness" (see "Die Tagespost", September 15, 2022).  After the rejection of this text, which broke with the previously valid sexual morality of Church teaching, Bishop Bätzing defiantly announced that he would nevertheless implement the rejected paper in his diocese in Limburg and also present it in Rome.

 And from now on the screws were tightened: A request for a secret vote, which must be submitted by at least 5 members, was also submitted in the assembly, but was rejected after a vote with a large majority, although a vote on a request of this kind is expressly not intended. Now the deviants (“traitors”) could finally be arrested immediately.

Now we wait and see how courageously the pope will deal with the episcopal heretics.  The German bishops' ad limina visit in November is a good opportunity for him to take a clear position.

 Robert Cardinal Sarah bitterly said the following after this synodal assembly: “What is happening in Germany is terrible.  One has the impression that the truths of faith and the commandments of the Gospel are put to the vote.  By what right can we decide to renounce part of the teaching of Christ?” (quoted in: “Die Tagespost”, September 15, 2022).

 Summary:

The result of Georg Bätzing's administration is devastating.  His management style is extremely authoritarian because he doesn't leave the slightest room for dissenting opinions.  It is not certain how much longer the bishops, priests and laity will put up with this.  However, demands from the laity for corrections towards a synodal cooperation are hardly to be expected, because they were selected according to the principle of guaranteeing a "secular majority".  If now, after the end of the synodal path next spring, the already elected "synodal councils" monitor and demand the implementation of the resolutions of the synodal assemblies - one is still pending - the Catholic Christian in Germany experiences a heterogeneous diocesan landscape in which he can  can no longer find some in his beliefs.  We have fallen into a terrible trap because Bishop Bätzing and his friends drove the Catholic Church in Germany to a wall.

 Prof. Dr.  Werner Münch, is Prime Minister a.  D., and member of the Board of Trustees "Joy in Faith"

 Archive photo Prof. Münch (c) Werner Münch

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.Com

AMDG

The Banality of Pure Evil, or Stupidity? Maybe Both - You Decide!!

It's already been pulled once. Let's see how long this YouTuber can keep it up.

GERMANIA DELENDA EST

Germany’s Eurosceptic, Anti-Immigration, Pro-German Party Raided by Secret Police

 

Berlin— In the latest sign of the increasingly oppressive presence of American imperialism in Germany, Berlin police and members of the State Criminal Police Office launched a raid at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday inside the opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s Berlin headquarters.

According to reports, the search is related to alleged illegal donations the party received between 2015 and 2018. [More likely due to the party’s growing popularity] The Berlin public prosecutor’s office announced that there is “an initial suspicion of a violation of the Political Parties Act and embezzlement, as the accounts submitted by AfD to the president of the German Bundestag for the years 2016, 2017, and 2018, for which the defendants are responsible, allegedly contained incorrect information regarding party donations.”

The two investigations are targeting the party’s former federal spokesman, Jörg Meuthen, and former federal treasurer Klaus-Günther Fohrmann.

In view of their prominence in the polls, AfD is making some anti-German powers very nervous indeed. 

AMDG

Jewish-Free Zones at University of Berkeley

[Jewish Times] If it wasn’t so frightening, one might be able to recognize the irony in the sight of campus progressives trying so hard to signal progressive virtue that they fall victim to a deeper moral shame.

Nine different law student groups at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Law, my own alma mater, have begun this new academic year by amending bylaws to ensure that they will never invite any speakers that support Israel or Zionism. And these are not groups that represent only a small percentage of the student population. They include Women of Berkeley Law, Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, Middle Eastern and North African Law Students Association, Law Students of African Descent and the Queer Caucus. Berkeley Law’s Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, a progressive Zionist, has observed that he himself would be banned under this standard, as would 90% of his Jewish students.

It is now a century since Jewish-free zones first spread to the San Francisco Bay Area (“No Dogs. No Jews”). Nevertheless, this move seems frightening and unexpected, like a bang on the door in the night

AMDG

Saint Michael Movie Premier

A documentary film about Saint Michael the Archangel. Writers, faithful and clergy of the Catholic Church, in the places of revelation and veneration of Saint Michael the Archangel, discover the mystery of the first among the Angels of Light. The testimony of faith, the history of the Church, architecture and art in Christian culture bring viewers closer to the extraordinary figure of Archangel Michael. The documentary stimulates reflection on the reality of the world of the Angels of God and the eschatological mission fulfilled by their leader. The premiere in Poland, UK and USA is on September 29! 

  https://saintmichaelmovie.com/

AMDG

"The Way of Evil" by Roberto Mattei

"The Ways of Evil" is the name of Roberto de Mattei's new book and sheds light on actual and alleged conspiracies, plots and conspiracies of the past 500 years.

By Veronica Rasponi

A few weeks after the "Breve Trattato sulla Divina Provvidenza" ("Short Treatise on Divine Providence"), published by the Roman publisher Fiducia (158 pages, 13 euros), a new book by Roberto de Mattei has been published by the Milanese publisher Sugarco: "I sentieri del male. Congiure, complotti, cospirazioni" ("The Ways of Evil.  Plots, Intrigues, Conspiracies", 160 pages, 16 Euro).

"The Ways of Evil", the new book

The two books complement each other in a way. The "Short Treatise" attempts to prove the existence of Divine Providence, which is the manifestation of the wisdom, omnipotence and love of God in history, which faces the radical disorder that is the free creature's futile attempt to destroy the divine order of the universe. This attempt is a revolutionary process due to the social nature of man, who can join forces with his fellow human beings to do good or achieve evil, which he often does in secret. "The Ways of Evil" is a concise reconstruction of the actual or supposed conspiracies, plots and machinations of the past five centuries, carried out with the rigor of the historian. Above all, it is intended to provide a guide that is less about information and more about the criteria for orienting oneself in the dark labyrinth of evil.

The terms plots, intrigues, and conspiracies are often used as synonyms, but through their semantic and conceptual difference, they can help us better understand the occult dimension of the history of the past five centuries. While plots are collusion limited to a few people and aimed at eliminating a monarch or politician – often for reasons of power – conspiracies are broader projects of an ideological nature. The golden age of plots and political murders stretches from the poisons of the Renaissance to the 18th century. In the 18th century, with the emergence of Freemasonry, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution, an era began in which, in addition to traditional plots, conspiracies of an ideological and political nature developed. There is a conspiratorial tradition that extends from the Bavarian Illuminati, the Alta Vendita, and communism to the present day. Many historians have proven the existence of these anti-Christian plots and brought the documents to light. The intrigue, on the other hand, is an elusive and opaque structure in which neither the identity of the actors nor the concrete modus operandi are revealed. The difference between conspiracies and intrigues is that the former belongs to the world of history, the latter to the world of fantasy. The contemporary neo-conspiracy – from the Aquarius Conspiracy to the Reptilians to the Great Reset – has nothing to do with the exploration of anti-Christian secret societies, which has always been part of Catholic historiography and apologetics, but seems to play into the hands of all those interested in the psychological, intellectual and moral destabilization of the West. Today there is a tendency to trace every event back to man according to a deterministic key, ignoring the role of Divine Providence, which allows evil but draws good from it. History, according to Roberto de Mattei, does not follow a compelling course and can change due to unpredictable events that are such for people, but not for God, because there is no coincidence and everything is regulated by Divine Providence, including the realization and failure of the plans of the anti-Christian revolution. It is God, and He alone, who supernaturally guides history for His glory and the sanctification of the elect.

"A history of humanity that ignores the heights of holiness," the author writes in the introduction to his study, "would be distorted, but equally distorted would be a story that ignores the existence of the abyss of evil. He who does not abhor evil cannot love good. And if you can't love the good you don't know, you can't hate the evil whose existence you don't suspect. That is the reason that has led me to shed some light on the 'ways of evil' after dedicating a book to Divine Providence, the supreme order of good."

 

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Corrispondenza Romana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

E.T. & The Mark of the Beast

Cardinal Eijik: the Flemish Bishops Must be Stopped

While a muzzle seems to have been imposed in Rome, Cardinal Eijk of Utrecht spoke out today and called for the Flemish bishops to stop their intention to introduce gay blessings.

(Rome) When the Flemish bishops presented a liturgy for gay couples a week ago, which is in obvious contradiction to the Church's teaching on homosexuality and to the recent guidelines of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Santa Marta apparently gave the order to remain silent on the matter. No one in the Roman Curia has spoken out since then, which can be interpreted as "submissive silence." Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht in the Netherlands, spoke today. Since the Flemish are also ethnically Dutch, Cardinal Eijk is the hjighest-ranking, closest neighbour to the Flemish bishops of Belgium, who have gone astray. Today, La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana (NBQ) exclusively published the statement by the Dutch cardinal. The headline was chosen by the Catholic online daily newspaper.

New Italian PM Cites Chesterton

 Edit: apparently, Chesterton is no longer the sole province of low-t EWTN and Catholic Answers expositors like cucky, failed Baptist minister, Dale Alquist, or the enthusiast for the abortion industry and sodomy party, with his effeminate squeaky voice, Marcy Shea.

Making Italy Great! Listen to her speech:

AMDG

We May Have Lost 1968 But the Counterrevolution is Comin

 Edit: game design and live-streaming are the future.

AMDG

Requiem for a figurehead

https://www.unz.com/ejones/requiem-for-a-figurehead/

Bergoglio Uses Bad Knee as Excuse to Duck Out of Commitments

Pope Francis received the apostolic nuncios on September 8 and made an unusual confession.

 (Rome) Does Pope Francis have an ideologized knee which dislikes certain journeys?  This ironically meant question is being discussed among Vaticanists and bloggers.  What is meant by this is whether Francis' knee problems increase before certain trips in order to prevent them.

Francis' knee problems worsened when, for example, he was supposed to go to Florence last spring, meaning that he would only have had to travel a relatively short distance within Italy.  An exact program was coordinated with the Holy See and organized down to the last detail.  The knee problems disappeared when he had to embark on a transatlantic journey to complete a "penitential pilgrimage" to Canada.

It later became known that the visit to Florence was due less to knee problems than to an ideological problem.  In truth, the cancellation was based on misinformation: Francis wrongly believed that he had to meet someone in Florence whom he did not want to meet.  The result was the aforementioned knee problems, which justified the cancellation of the entire visit.

This "ideological" knee problem has already prevented other appointments and trips.  It was Francis himself who recently confessed this to the nuncios who gathered at the Vatican on September 8 for their triennial meeting.  Vatican scholar Franca Giansoldati wrote yesterday in Messaggero:

“It was the Pope himself who confirmed to his 200 apostolic nuncios, who had been called to the Vatican ten days ago, that he would not travel to Kyiv for the time being in order to advance the dialogue with Moscow and would rather wait for better times.  During the meeting he added that fortunately the knee problems he has been suffering from for some time help him to find plausible excuses to postpone the trip to Ukraine.  This leak about the closed talks that took place in the Vatican with diplomatic representatives of the Holy See, and confirmed by various sources, began to circulate after he announced on his return flight from Kazakhstan that his next trip abroad would be to Bahrain in November  and that a project for a return to Africa, Congo and South Sudan, will be examined in the early months of next year.”

 Text: Giuseppe Nardi

 Image: Vatican.va (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.Com

AMSD

Putschist at the Second Vatican Council and Godfather of the Homo and Pedo Episcopate (Part 2)

Bishop de Smedt, an influential protagonist of the Second Vatican Council, became the smasher of his bishopric of Bruges

By Ferdinand Boischot

 On May 19, 1966, the Belgian bishops, led by Cardinal Suenens and Bishop De Smedt, blew up the Catholic Church in Flanders

From the beginning of the 1960s there was a huge crisis in Belgium: the Dutch-speaking Flemings, who had been neglected and discriminated against since the founding of Belgium (1830), fought harder than ever for their self-determination and equality, the coal and steel region in the Borinage collapsed, the state groaned beneath enormous financial burdens, the Belgian establishment was frustrated by the rapid and unsuccessful decolonization of the Congo, the liberals and socialists on the one hand and the Christian Democrats on the other, eyed each other suspiciously after the "school fight" (1954), in the university town of Leuven things were seething among the students, and a military coup threatened. As part of a local laissez-aller under the cloak of Vatican II, all Christian leadership evaporated. During strikes in the Limburg coal mines in 1966, the gendarmerie shot two young men (Zwartberg crisis) and the more neutral army had to be deployed.

The Belgian bishops were well informed. They were closely associated with the Christian Democrat leadership and ruled over a wide range of Catholic schools, hospitals, unions and charities and senior citizens' associations.

The Great Protagonist

Bishop De Smedt was the main protagonist here. Vice-rector of the Catholic University of Leuven since 1959 was the “very young” Guido Maertens (then 29 years old) from Bruges, who was ordained a priest by Bishop De Smedt and, at the age of 30, had been appointed monsignor and “prelate of His Holiness” like a meteor.

The heated situation in Louvain was well known, as was the dislike of Flemish students towards the aloof Brussels Cardinal Suenens.

Inauguration of Bishop De Smedt

Despite this, or probably precisely because of this, the Belgian bishops' conference published its notorious mandate on May 19, 1966, which immediately triggered civil war-like conditions in Leuven. The gendarmerie reacted exaggeratedly. Great destruction ensued, and centralized Belgium fell apart. The university and its institutions were split head over heels to the point of criminality (an impossible division of books in the library). The government fell. And suddenly a quarter of all believers disappeared from the churches.

The bishops immediately went into hiding.

Without the disturbing looks of critical believers, the Christian Democrat-led iconoclasm and liturgical killing spree could be carried out smoothly.

Bishop De Smedt followed suit with perfidious intelligence on February 2, 1968: In an interview (of course published immediately and widely) he said that "at that time (1966) he had made a serious mistake by sticking to the unity of two wings (of the Catholic University Louvain).

As a result, no Flemish Catholics went to church, but the relationship with the French-speaking bishops in the Belgian bishops' conference was strained for the next 20 years.

The isolation of the Christian-democratic-modernist, de facto former Catholic Church in northern Belgium, without disturbing observers from outside, was perfect.

The Diocese of Bruges as a laboratory and hotspot

The Bruges diocese was here, together with Leuven, the Wagenburg alias laboratory and hotspot for a particularistic North Belgian Christian Democratic morality with exploding homosexuality and pedosexuality.

De Smedt never published much: before the Council and as a prime example of an evangelizing bishop, he published a small booklet on Catholic “Evangelization in the Neighborhood”, which was also translated into French and Spanish.

After the Council, he produced a booklet on “The Priesthood of All Believers”, which was significantly published abroad (France) and remained unknown in Belgium (easily understandable after the events of 1966-1968) because the context was too incoherent and was obviously hypocritical.

Existing biographical notes on the post-1966 period are very sparse, even remarkably sparse. In the diocese of Bruges, the vast majority of priests were ordained and the seminary there was the northern Belgian "cadre factory".

Here Roger Vangheluwe (later pedosexual Bishop) became Dean and Professor at the Major Seminary; here Frans Lefevre, a friend of Danneels and editor of the infamous Roeach series of books on religious education, was ordained and also a professor at the seminary; here Johan Bonny (later homophilic bishop of Antwerp) was ordained a priest. Auxiliary Bishop Paul Lanneau, Danneels' aide and sentenced to prison for covering up pedophilia, was co-consecrated by De Smedt.

Emiel Jozef De Smedt 1909-1995

The Bruges Major Seminary became a super-social hotspot, although this 'social' does not (of course) refer to the Flemish aspirations.

In 1979, the booklet "As man and woman he created them " with the subtitle "Ethical Orientations in Sex Education" was published by the publishing house Lannoo (Tielt), which is traditionally associated with the diocese, under the authorship of De Smedt.

It's written in a boring way, in the style of the bombast of northern Belgian modernism. Already in the foreword by Bishop De Smedt it is expressly said: "... because many young people have difficulties and questions, and I want to help them..." (sic).

Just four pages with some thoughts on Christian education, then a great many pages to: "It's about the happiness of the people" ("sinful man and the forgiving love" - this topos was literally used by Cardinal Danneels in the Vangheluwe scandal; "Danneels-tapes"), then the jump is made to: "Development of ethical action and feeling" (typical for the University of Louvaine 1970-2020). Finally, the central piece follows: “Love and Sexuality”. This is the full program of the Danneels Epoch 1983-2009.

It is significant that the first part on sexuality in general (5.5 pages) is immediately followed by the part on homosexuality (also 5.5 pages).

Nota bene: Homosexuality had not been criminalized in Belgium until eight years earlier (although this action was led in large part by a “worker priest”).

It is only in the last chapter “Growing in Love” that there are five pages about marriage and parallel to that also about renunciation (the word celibacy is used twice, the word council once, and the word monastery twice).

As stated at the end of the preface, the booklet is composed of papers from a study group set up by Bishop De Smedt.

Linguistically smoothed out by Mark Vandevoorde, later spokesman and speechwriter for senior Christian Democrat politicians, also well acquainted with Vangheluwe and a seminary professor, plus Guido Maertens (former Vice-Rector of Louvaine and "ethicist"), a Christian Democrat sociologist (WD) and four professors from the Major Seminary in Bruges, apart from Maertens (later at KULAK in Kortrijk) and the sociologist, will all continue to work seamlessly under Vangheluwe.

They are all "rewarded" with induction into the Chapter of St. Salvator's Cathedral in Bruges.

The booklet is not very attractive from the outside (in my case "3rd impression").

The new sexual morality

At the same time, a slimmed-down version was printed for young people as a large, colorful brochure on glossy paper (52 pages, 50,000 copies of the 1st edition). Lots of large format photos of brick walls and a sandy beach, a bicycle handlebar with a bell, door handles, traffic signs and similar nonsense.

The title is "Ontmoeten"  "to meet", with small subtitles "a letter to young people and their companions about relationship building, love and sexuality".

The chapter on homosexuality has been removed, and an extra section on masturbation and sinful thoughts have been added, and that too is spoken in flat language...

The whole body of thought of the Danneels and Vangheluwe epoch with their sex fixation and the complete loss of faithful Catholic morality is already there. The professor protagonists of the Danneels and Vangheluwe eras are also already present.

As said, almost all of them can be found in the list of canons of the cathedral chapter of St. Salvatore in Bruges.

Even now (2022) Vangheluwe's "companions" and cronies are sitting there in large numbers.

The biographical notes on Bishop De Smedt then become fewer and fewer.

He wrote another thin, large format pamphlet about Europe aka the EU, on pink and black porous paper and with no Christian content.

In 1984 De Smedt retired; he was succeeded by Roger Vangheluwe.

De Smedt withdrew to a convent in Bruges and no longer appeared in public.

In 1985, during the visit of Pope John Paul II, he stayed in the background. Pretty strange for one of the most crucial figures of Vatican II.

Apparently, Bishop De Smedt's activities were viewed very critically in Rome at the time.

It is said that De Smedt suffered from dementia at a fairly early age (75 years old). He died in 1994 at the age of 85.

Nothing is known of a reaction by bishop emeritus De Smedt to the article about the “establishment of a working group to promote the interests of pedophiles in the church” (sic) in 1985 in the Church newspaper “Kerk en Leven” (notabene printed by the diocesan publisher in Bruges).

Neither De Smedt nor his “ethical study group” are aware of a reaction to the “religious instruction book” Roeach3 with pedophile texts and illustrations (1992).

It would be another 20 years before the authors and staff were either dead or retired.

The mafia-like wagon company of the Bruges diocese held out for a very long time (until 2017).

Conclusion

Under Bishop Emiel Jozef De Smedt, the homo- and pedophile impregnation of the diocese of Bruges was initiated in terms of personnel and content, and this was probably in close connection with the ideas of the Second Vatican Council.

It continued seamlessly under his successors Vangheluwe and De Kesel, and spilled over to the whole of northern Belgium.

Terra devastata - scorched earth.

References:

• MGR. EJ De Smedt: Man en vrouw schep Hij hen : ethical orientations in de seksuele opvoeding , Tielt , 1979
• MGR. E.J. De Smedt: "Ontmoeten" : a brief aan jongeren en hun daughters over relational, delivered in seksualiteit" , Tielt-Amsterdam 1979
• t'Pallieterke, No. 21, May 26, 1966
• 
  
• Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
• AMDG