Another [calendar] year has passed and we now enter the Year of Our Lord 2008. Two years ago, I reviewed the first months of Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate, and while I mentioned Bishop Fellay’s "gleam of hope" there was also a lot of disappointment to be had – chief of which was the shameful document regarding sodomites in seminaries.
From the very beginning, I admit I’ve been very sceptical of Pope Benedict XVI and uneasy over what he might do. Up until about the middle of 2007, I think Bishop de Galarreta’s comparison of the Holy Father’s moderate liberalism to Napolean’s more moderate regime after the terror, was proved accurate. But the Barque of Peter, in the manner of a massive sea tanker, may be making a ponderous change in course.
First, we had the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum which, after years of rumours, actually was released in July. This event really needs little commentary from me and it’s a particular horse that needs no more flogging. Suffice to say, it was worthy of the “Te Deum” of thanksgiving sung in S.S.P.X chapels the world-over.
Next, on 30 November, came a document that is perhaps even more extraordinary and a cause for hope than Summorum Pontificum: the Papal encyclical Spe Salvi[1]. Brian McCall, in an excellent article written for The Remnant, explains why this document is such a cause of hope:
Of primary importance, this over 70-page document contains a grand total of references to Vatican II and John Paul II of zero (0). Yes, that is—none, nothing, not one. This fact in itself is of extreme historical import. It assassinates the lie that Vatican II and its delphic oracle of John Paul II hold the key to understanding what Christianity has been trying to figure out for millennia. Every encyclical, document, address and book issued by the post-counciliar Church has been dominated by references to Vatican II and John Paul II. Some traditionalists would become ecstatic when a document like the Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Church would make one or two grudging references to Rerum Novarum within a see of euphoric quotations from Guadium et Spes, Lumen Gentium and John Paul II’s gnostic writings.
Yet, here we have a document which with great theological and philosophical precision elucidates a central tenet of the Faith, the theological virtue of hope, without a single reference to that great council of “hope,” without even mentioning the so much touted proclamation of hope, Gaudiam et spes. For years we have been saying that we can know the Faith without reference to the ambiguities of the past forty years, and now a pope has proven us right. We have real reason for joy and hope. Yet our hope lies not only in this historic omission; for although not mentioned once by name, the essence of the false hope of Vatican II, the aggiornamento with the errors of the modern world, is under attack in this encyclical.[2]
Who could have expected such a document from one of the chief architects of Vatican II? A man who has stated, with approval: "Let us be content to say here that the text [of the Vatican II documents, especially Gaudium et Spes] serves as a counter syllabus and, as such, represents, on the part of the Church, an attempt at an official reconciliation with the new era inaugurated in 1789."[3] It is trite, perhaps, to say that “[God's] thoughts are not [our] thoughts: nor [His] ways [our] ways. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are [His] ways exalted above [our] ways, and [His] thoughts above [our] thoughts.”[4], but it would seem that God, in His infinite wisdom, may have deemed fit to start leading the Church back to Himself. Perhaps Our Lady had interceded thanks to the bouquet of 2.5 million rosaries given the Pope by the S.S.P.X ?
Thirdly, we have a report from secular newspapers, that Pope Benedict XVI is taking steps to greatly increase the number of exorcists in the world in an effort to combat Satanism and possession, and perhaps also to remind people that the devil does exist:
Fr Amorth said:" Thanks be to God that we have a Pope who has decided to fight the Devil head-on.
"Now bishops are to be obliged to have a number of established exorcists for their diocese. Too many bishops are not taking this seriously and are not delegating their priests in the fight against the Devil. You have to hunt high and low for a proper, trained exorcist."[5]
This is welcome news, indeed. Satanism is spreading and more common than ever, yet most dioceses today don't have even one priest qualified to perform an exorcism. When my younger brother-in-law experienced a demonic oppression, he was told he was crazy and the local parish priest hung up on him. T knew a girl who was possessed and walking straight up walls yet the local ordinary refused to give permission for an exorcism and she is now confined to a mental institution. Most bishops and priests in the world do not believe in God or Satan (or at least, they behave as if they do not). I hope that this move by the pope will start a shift in a good direction. At least, unlike his predecessors, he’s doing something. Fortunately, Pope Benedict seems to have understood this problem for a long time as he interceded to allow exorcists to use the traditional ritual in 1990 when the new and worthless one was introduced (see this interview with Fr. Amorth for more details).
Let us pray so, but let us not get too ahead of ourselves and start dancing about in euphoric ecstasy. I’ll quote the words of Winston Churchill that I’ve been saying over and over and over to hysterical trads who think we’ve already won:
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.[6]
There’s a still work aplenty to be done, and there is still a lot to be concerned about in Rome. I still think we need to be wary of being lulled into a false sense of security. I'm still not judging the Pope or trying to say that I could do a better job. But I am happy to say I’m a little less unsure and less uneasy than I was this time two years ago. Let us continue to pray for Our Most Holy Lord, the Pope, ever more fervently in the year of Our Lord 2008.
Posted on the Feast if the Circumcision of Our Lord, a.D. MMVIII
[1] Benedict XVI. Encyclical Letter. Spe Salvi. 30 November, 2007 <http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi_en.html>
[2] McCall, Brian. “Pope Benedict’s New Encyclical”. The Remnant. 2007. The Remnant Newspaper <http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/Archives/archive-2007-1215-pope-new-encyclical.htm>
[3] Ratzinger, Joseph. Principles of Catholic Theology (tr. Sister Mary Frances McCarthy). Ft. Collins: Ignatius Press, 1987. pp. 381-382
[4] Isaiah 55:8,9
[5] Pisa, Nick. “Vatican to create more exorcists to tackle 'evil'”. Telegraph.co.uk. 2007. Telegraph Media Group Limited. 31 December, 2007 <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml%3Bjsessionid%3DU4DEXQDDYIOU5QFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/12/29/wexor129.xml>
[6] From a speech given at the Lord Mayor's Luncheon, Mansion House, following the victory at El Alameinin North Africa, London, 10 November 1942 < http://winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=388>; I think the comparison is apt. Some think that Summorum Pontificum was D-Day or even the Battle for Berlin. But we are nowhere near a situation that could be analogous – the Church is still firmly in the grip of Modernism and the Faith is most assuredly still on the defensive. I’m waiting for Stalingrad.
