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The Secret History of the Roman Catholic Church

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS !!! News

August 13, 2016

Influential Catholic Group Condemns Donald Trump

Breitbart
January 28, 2016

Matheny's Note: It's very interesting that the Catholic Church is mounting opposition to Donald Trump. We know the Catholic Church is The Mother of Harlots and is the head of the new world order agenda.... If there is opposition from the Pope and the Vatican, then this may reinforce the fact that Trump may very well be genuinely pushing for a greater America, and this may be the reason the Vatican is attacking him.... food for thought.

An influential Catholic website has issued a lengthy manifesto condemning the candidacy of Donald Trump for the GOP nomination. Catholic Vote is run by Chicagoan Brian Burch and is a go-to place for conservative Catholics involved in Church and secular politics. The statement is a bill of indictment that faithful Catholics cannot and should not support Trump.

Here is the complete statement headlined, “Not. Trump”:

CV cannot remain on the sidelines any longer.

As Iowans prepare to cast the first votes in the 2016 nomination process, we owe you our thoughts. While we are not officially endorsing a candidate at this time, we believe it is important to share some critical thoughts on the race, or at least on one candidate in particular.

As Catholics, we are called to participate in the democratic process. The Church does not endorse candidates for public office. That job rests with us, the laity. No candidate is perfect, and no simple checklist is sufficient. Prudence is a necessity. Some candidates ought to be disqualified from receiving the support of a Catholic voter. Others must be weighed in light of the moral principles given to us by our Church.

We have asked for your feedback on multiple occasions. Thousands of CV members have written. We’ve read them all. In addition we follow the daily news, analysis, polling, and have crafted our strategy for 2016.

And so today we begin with the elephant in the room.

Should Catholics support Donald Trump? No.

We have sifted through the most popular arguments in defense of Trump and listed them below along with our own take. Here they are:

1. “Trump is a leader we can trust”

While we share much of the frustration over the failure of the GOP to make significant progress, we are reminded of Republicans’ once oft-quoted criticism of President Bill Clinton: character matters.

Donald J. Trump left his first wife and married his mistress, only to leave her a few years later for another mistress. Reportedly he left his second wife by leaking the news to a NY newspaper and left the headline on the bed for his wife to find. In his book, The Art of the Deal, Trump bragged about having sex with many women, including some who were married. He has appeared on the cover of Playboy Magazine with a model wearing only his tuxedo jacket. He has mocked the disability of a NY Times reporter. He belittled

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

36%

for being a prisoner of war. His casino in Atlantic City was the first in the country to open up a strip club. His Twitter account is a running barrage of insults, lies, and personal attacks on anyone who disagrees with him. And did we mention he famously cheats at golf? Now who does that remind you of?

Now ask yourself: does this man have the character becoming of the President of the United States?

2. “Trump can’t be bought because he is rich!”

Trump is a salesmen, and salesmen don’t buy, they sell. So he won’t be “bought.” Instead he will sell out everyone and anyone when it benefits him, as he has his entire career. He was a liberal democrat, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-universal health care, pro-government bailouts, and a financial backer and friend of Hillary Clinton until he decided to run as a Republican last summer. He is the definition of an opportunist with no guiding principles.

3. “Trump is a leader who will get things done”

Trump markets himself as an effective leader who will get things done simply by making “smart deals.” He refuses to explain precisely how he intends to deliver results, and more often than not, promises to use force or work around or outside the law. Such a leader mirrors what we currently see in the White House. It would be incredibly harmful to our system of government, which is limited by our Constitution — even if we like the policy outcome. We must be a nation of laws. For Trump, it is all about power. For a Christian, the presidency should be about service.

4. “Trump is a successful businessman who will make great deals”

If you believe the headlines, you would assume everything Donald Trump touches turns to gold. Not so. Trump has only demonstrated an ability to make deals that benefit him personally. Four times he bailed on his own casinos to shield himself from their impending bankruptcies. And then there is Trump Magazine, Trump Airlines, Trump Steaks/Steakhouse, Trump Vodka, and most famously Trump University, to name only a few — all bankrupt or closed, and massive failures. “Losers” as Trump is fond of saying.

He has constantly cozied up to big government to trample the little guy, either by abusing private property rights, or selling out small contractors and vendors, many of whom lost their life savings. Just ask elderly widow Vera Coking, whom Trump attempted to displace via eminent domain laws to make way for a limousine parking lot for his New Jersey casino — the same casino he put into bankruptcy. Vera stood tall against the politically-connected billionaire Trump for years in court, enduring his practice of belittling personal attacks. She eventually won and called Trump a “maggot, a cockroach, and a crumb.”

5. “Trump will end illegal immigration”

Trump has pledged to build a massive wall on our southern border and to make Mexico pay for it. Meanwhile he has promised to deport 11 million+ illegals, without explaining how, then plans to allow them all back in legally according to criteria he has yet to fully explain.

We agree illegal immigration is a problem that must be solved. Trump’s solution is delusional, strikes us as xenophobic — and truthfully, will never happen. If anything, Trump’s demagoguery on immigration showcases the emptiness of many of his promises. As President Obama has learned, American presidents don’t dictate laws. The Senate and House would have to pass any change of this magnitude, and such a solution has little to no chance of being approved. Border security and immigration enforcement are realistic fixes. Rounding up 11 million+ people and sending them back to Mexico is not practical or realistic, let alone humane. Those who rightfully want to solve the problem of illegal immigration deserve more than crowd pleasing platitudes. And it’s certainly worth noting that Donald Trump criticized Mitt Romney for being too harsh on immigration back in 2012. This is just another issue where Donald Trump had a very recent and rather convenient conversion.

Several other presidential candidates have outlined more realistic policies to deal with problem. And that’s what real leaders do. They outline solutions and build consensus. Hyperbole and demagoguery are tools of salesmen (see above) out for your money or your vote. Trump’s lack of detail reminds us of another famous politician who proclaimed: “we have to pass the bill before you can see what’s in it.”

6. “Trump will fight the Establishment!”

This defense of Trump is somewhat rich, given the irony that Trump himself has boasted of playing the game, paying off politicians and enriching himself from the very system he now purports to reform. Case in point: in the past week a growing number of so-called “establishment Republicans” have warmed to supporting Trump, people like Bob Dole and Trent Lott — including establishment Republicans in Iowa like Gov. Terry Branstad. Why? Because they believe, rightly in our view, that Trump doesn’t have any principles at the end of the day. He’s someone who will wheel and deal — and you and I will be stuck with the bill.

Electing Donald Trump would send the pro-life movement back to the 1990s, when the Republican Party wanted to run away from defending the unborn. In fact, Trump recommended his own sister, Maryanne Trump Berry, for the Supreme Court. She’s the federal judge who overturned New Jersey’s ban on grisly partial-birth abortions. The next President may choose as many as three or more new justices. Trump’s suggestion of his pro-abortion sister as an example ought to worry anyone who cares about the Court. And let’s not forget he once said Oprah would make a great Vice President. Enough said.

7. “Trump is one of us”

Trump’s political conversions have all happened at very convenient times. As recently as 2000, Trump was firmly “pro-choice,” even refusing to oppose partial birth abortion! He was in favor of gay civil unions. He is open, even now, to subsidizing abortion giant Planned Parenthood with our tax dollars. He considers gay marriage a settled issue and has offered no plan to protect religious freedom. He is pro-universal health care, supported the stimulus package and government bailouts, supported gun control and a host of radical positions. Trump is like many Democrats we know. He is a political opportunist.

Conclusion

Trump is right about something — it is time for a change. We do need to shake things up and make America great again. And his awakening of working class voters who are often sidelined by terrible policy and poor leadership is a lesson every Republican must take seriously or they will lose in November.

But the power to change does not require a fear mongering business mogul, appealing to our worst fears instead of our best hopes.

With other good candidates in the race, we encourage our members to look beyond Trump.

This is an historic opportunity to win back the White House with someone we can be proud to have as President.

Iowa, New Hampshire… we’re looking to you to lead the way.

VATICAN PROPERTIES ARE OPERATING AS BROTHELS AND MASSAGE PARLOURS FOR PRIESTS, CLAIMS LATEST VATILEAKS REPORT

Daily Mail
November 11, 2015

IMAGE CREDITS: BENSONKUA, FLICKR.

Vatican-owned properties are being used by priests as brothels and massage parlours, according to the latest claims to emerge from the Vatileaks scandal.

The properties implicated in a report, leaked by a Vatican mole, include premises close to the Italian Parliament and a solarium near Piazza Barberini.

A Vatican department, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, owns hundreds of exclusive properties in central Rome, was also singled out in the document.

It claimed that Vatican officials were allowing buildings to be leased out at peppercorn rents as favours to powerful colleagues.

Read the entire article

Pope Urges Catholic Church To Disavow Conservatism And Fundamentalism

MintPress News
November 11, 2015

Pope Francis called on the Catholic church on Tuesday to stop clinging to conservatism and fundamentalism as a defensive response to the problems it is facing, and said the church ought to be “bruised, hurting and dirty” instead of obsessed with money and power.

The sweeping remarks before an audience of Italian bishops at a conference in Florence were a stark reminder of the way in which Pope Francis is trying to shake up a church that in many ways is losing relevance around the world, and continues to be battered by allegations of financial mismanagement and greed at the heart of the Vatican.

“Before the problems of the church it is not useful to search for solutions in conservatism or fundamentalism, in the restoration of obsolete conduct and forms that no longer have the capacity of being significant culturally,” the pope said.

“Christian doctrine is not a closed system incapable of generating questions, doubts, interrogatives. But it is alive, knows being unsettled … it does not have a rigid face, it has a body that moves and grows, it has a soft flesh: it is called Jesus Christ.”

The comments come at a critical juncture for Francis. Last month, a high-level group of bishops from around the world met at the Vatican and engaged in a vigorous debate over how the church ought to respond to changes in the modern family, including the prevalence of divorce.

While Francis has cast himself as a reformer who is seeking to portray the church as a less rigid and less dogmatic institution, which stands with people who live on the margins of society, there are factions in the church that are vigorously resisting his plea for the church to be more flexible and open.

On Tuesday, he asked for the Italian church to be protected “from every pretence of power, image and money” and said Christians ought not to be obsessed with power even when it was power that was “useful to the social image of the church”.

Read the entire article

Current Administration's Open border Policy Creating a Democratic Majority in U.S.

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!!! News
Mark Matheny
October 17, 2015

Links: https://www.conservativereview.com/co...

http://werhit-mathenyahu.blogspot.com...

POPE PUSHES MALTHUSIAN ELITE AGENDA IN HISTORIC CALL FOR NEW GLOBAL ORDER

THE SLEUTH JOURNAL
September 30, 2015

Government corruption by lobbyist to silence the voices of the people, staged war on terror, endless illegal wars of aggression, ongoing false flag operations with crisis actors, out of control police state, creation and arming proxy terrorist armies like ISIS, geoengineering ongoing crimes against humanity and the planet, ongoing GMO poisoning of the human race’s DNA, the list goes on and on of all the issues ‘Pope Francis’ did NOT address in his “historic” visit to the U.S. this week. The rote ceremonies, staged political speeches and propaganda have been ongoing particularly after the Pope’s visit and speech to Congress where he officially endorsed the coming “sustainable” new world order.

That’s right. Instead of addressing the problems humanity faces mentioned above, Pope Francis conveniently echoed almost all the key talking points consistent with the desires of the controlling Oligarchs who want to rule the world. The most important message that being to endorse the anthropogenic global warming turned climate change issue by talking about the “environment”. The environment issue as it relates to the original global warming CO2 lie, is the most important issue as without it the global elitists will never be able to force Agenda 21 and thus “sustainability” on humanity. Without it, they will never get their global carbon taxes to fund the global government for which the Pope seems to be speaking on behalf of. And thus they will never get their new world order. This IS the most important issue, and I would argue is possibly the primary reason for this whole Pope staged visit to the U.S. with corresponding national, global 24/7 mainstream media coverage. Summarizing some of the topics covered by the Pope MSN writers stated:

“Taking a rostrum never before occupied by the bishop of Rome, the pontiff issued a vigorous call to action on issues largely favored by liberals, including a powerful defense of immigration, a critique of the excesses of capitalism, an endorsement of environmental legislation, a blistering condemnation of the arms trade and a plea to abolish the death penalty.”

As you can see the other (secondary) agendas on the Pope’s list include issues to promote the ideas of globalization and the Malthusian Eugenics ideology of scarcity. Most people familiar with the global elitists long term plan for global domination know that the plan links back to the Club of Rome and the Committee of 300 among other entities. And listening to Pope Francis one cannot help but to notice that almost every issue he raised just happened to coincide perfectly with the agenda of the Club of Rome and the Committee of 300.

Walking a fine line trying not to make it too obvious that his main goal is political, Pope Francis lightly touches some issues related to religion, spirituality and individuality, but more heavily emphasizes other collectivist issues aside from the environment such as immigration, and poverty. As MSN themselves puts it:

“While he checked boxes in calling for religious liberty and defending the family, the heart of his address, and the most time, was dedicated to aspects of Catholic teaching embraced by progressives, especially the overriding need to help the poor and destitute. He was at his most passionate in embracing immigration, alluding to his own family’s history of moving from Italy to Argentina, where he was born.”

Even segments of liberal mainstream media were not impressed by the Pope’s attempt to sound “progressive”. Huffington Post’s Howard Fineman charged the Pope with wanting to be “president of the world“:

“As devout as he is, and as focused on the faith and practice of the Catholic Church, Francis is also campaigning to lead public, secular, political discourse worldwide. He is arguing that the two realms of faith and politics are one, and that the moral and spiritual teachings of faith should inform and guide political decisions for “our common home.”

What we have seen the last few days during this Pope visit media frenzy is a horrific attempt by the globalist to reinforce the collectivist “greater good” ideas in all our consciousness in preparation for what they hope will be a “sustainable” prison planet where they (the global Oligarchs) will rule the world by controlling every aspect of it. All of this will be perceived to be for the sake of the collective and of course the planet whose health is apparently in the hands of the controlling politically-divinely appointed rulers.

They need this new world order now and they’ve chosen the Pope as the messenger of their plans. He was chosen probably because they hope the Pope will appeal to Catholics (and perhaps non-Catholics) around the world. There’s no question in my mind he’s being used as a mouthpiece for the roll-out of the new world order in every sense of the way.

And just in case you are not convinced this is about pushing the new world order based on Malthusian Eugenics principles? Then it may interest you that the mainstream media made sure to put out several other stories just to keep the Agenda 21-style new world order theme brewing strongly in our heads. In another story mainstream media is talking about how “Investors are mining for water” and how this is the “next hot commodity“. We again see how the Malthusian principle of scarcity is being pushed in perfect timing with the Pope’s visit.

“Investing in the water industry is one of the great opportunities for the coming decades,” said Matthew J. Diserio of Water Asset Management, a New York firm that is a major backer of Cadiz. “Water is the scarce resource that will define the 21st century, much like plentiful oil defined the last century.”

We should not be surprised seeing that all of these issues have been clearly defined and stated as the go-to issues for creating the coming global order.

In another story recently posted to coincide with the Pope’s visit we’re told that China is scheduled to “launch national cap-and-trade” plan by 2017 again reminding people of the need for reducing carbon output. Again, all part of the original Al Gore false “anthropogenic global warming” claims.

Also in yet another not-so-coincidental move another story was posted that reminds readers that this coming Sunday September 27 2015 Paris will go “car-free” as a gesture to help with the environment.

Again, we all knew this was coming. Many of us have been covering the planning of these new world order/Agenda 21 ceremonial-like events and the events are now here. These are truly historic times we live in and unlike previous global government events of the past, today we have the internet and worldwide alternative-new media to expose all of these lies and deceit.

We know what the globalist are up to. It doesn’t matter who they choose as their mouthpiece, we will see through their lies and deception. Let’s not be fooled by these recent Pope ceremonies which is just the latest propaganda the global elite have rolled out on humanity to sell their long term plans for permanent global enslavement.

SOLUTIONS

Stay informed. If you are still not sure why over 30,000 scientists and researchers sued Al Gore for fraud then ask and do your own research. Also do your research and find out about groups like the Club of Rome and the Committee of 300 and confirm their documented goals of controlling all of humanity by introducing an environmental-relate crisis which humans would have to be responsible for cooperating in.

Read about the concept and the history of Malthusianism and try to see if the message sounds familiar with today’s “sustainable” message. Try to connect the dots and see the truth for yourself. That’s the knowledge part of the solution. Then share this knowledge and takes steps in your personal life to focus on strengthening and expanding your own sovereignty and your freedoms. Focus on your own family network and friend and realize the value of it. Focus on taking action at the local level to protect your town and city from the top-down control of government. We must find ways to promote government from the bottom-up. Every must realize as soon as possible that every form of top-down governance leads to tyranny. There is no other way. For this reason bottom-up governance is the only form of government that can be considered if we’re going to have a government.

For some people removing your consent all together may be the best option. We’re all in this mess by consent after all and each and every one of us has an option of acquiring the knowledge we need to start taking steps toward detaching ourselves from our legal fictional characters created for us since birth. If enough people truly wrap their heads around this reality we may be able to nullify the new world order on the spot. Are we ready for this? That is the bigger question. Hopefully we are because its here now.

Pope Francis: " No Christians Exist Outside of the Catholic Church"

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!!! News

Mark Matheny
September 27, 2015

Recently during a Mass, Pope Francis proclaimed that Christianity can only exist inside of the Catholic Church. Vatican Radio reported him as saying:

“Our Christian identity is belonging to a people: the Church. Without this, we are not Christians. We entered the Church through baptism: there we are Christians,”

Obviously this is either an attack against Protestant Christians around the world, or, the Pope is declaring himself and the Church as the head of all Christians, both Catholic and Protestant.

He went on to state:

“Jesus Christ did not fall from the sky like a superhero who comes to save us. No. Jesus Christ has a history. And we can say, and it is true, that God has a history because He wanted to walk with us. And you cannot understand Jesus Christ without His history. So a Christian without history, without a Christian nation, a Christian without the Church is incomprehensible. It is a thing of the laboratory, an artificial thing, a thing that cannot give life,”

Of course, this is part of his plan to reunited Protestants with the Mother (of Harlots) Church. The sad part of it all is the fact that the Protestants of today have lost the history of their reasons for breaking away from the Catholic Church in the first place.

The Protestant Church follows the Pagan holidays and the Sun-Day worship instituted by The Catholic Church. They have more and more sought to repair the breach between the two, and by doing so have erred greatly.

The False Prophet - Pope is certainly causing a great deception in these last days. It is prophecy that tells us this would happen:

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called Elohim, or that is worshipped; so that he as Elohim sitteth in the temple of Elohim, shewing himself that he is Elohim.

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.11 And for this cause YAHWEH shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. -2 Thessalonians

Trump BLASTS the Pope With Blunt Statement No One Else Has the Guts to Say

Conservative Tribune
September 26, 2015

Presidential candidate Donald Trump has no problem disagreeing with anyone — even if it’s the pope.

In an interview on CNN’s “New Day” Thursday, Trump responded in his typical blunt fashion to Pope Francis’ statements about climate change.

The pope said in a speech at the White House Wednesday that climate change was a “problem that can not be left to a future generation,” according to CNN.

Trump saw things differently.

“Look, it’s weather. We have bad floods. I can’t watch the evening news anymore. Every time you turn on the evening news, they show there’s a big rain storm, there’s a tornado, there’s this,” he said in the interview.

“I mean, you can’t watch the news anymore,” he added. “It’s weather, and it’s been that way for so long.”

Trump maintained that America shouldn’t “imperil the companies within our country” with environmental mandates and regulations that could “imperil jobs … actually the middle class, and actually the lower classes are going to be the people with no money.”

“I believe in clean air, immaculate air. I believe in clean water, all of those things, but I don’t think we can destroy our country,” Trump said.

“If America does have the problem of climate change … it’s going to be of the nuclear form because we have incompetent politicians watching over us when it comes to nuclear weapons. That’s our big problem,” he added.

Once again, Trump nailed it. He didn’t waste a lot of time trying to debate the issue and moved on to a topic more worthy of discussion — nuclear weapons in the hands of incompetent politicians.

You’ve got to hand it to Trump. He’s got what it takes to stand up to anyone that disagrees with him and there’s no denying that we need more politicians like that in Washington.

LEVIN: POPE FRANCIS AND OBAMA ‘SPEAK DOWN TO US’

Breitbart
September 26, 2015

Talk radio host Mark Levin argued that President Obama and Pope Francis I “speak down to us about so many things” on Thursday.

Levin stated, “We have a president and a pope who speak down to us about so many things. Whether it’s immigration, whether it’s poverty, frankly, they do not appreciate the American people. They do not appreciate American history, the American heritage, what the people of this nation have done for themselves, and the rest of the world. It’s easy for a man like Barack Obama, who’s contributed zero to American liberty to go off on his ideological agenda and force his will on the American people because of the failure of the opposition party and the courts to stop him. It’s easy for a pope to come here from Italy, from the Vatican, and quite frankly, lecture us in many respects, and talk down to us in many respects about immigration. We, the most tolerant, giving people on the face of the earth, who sent our own men and women all over the world to fight wars for liberty.”

He added, “what Barack Obama says about we the people, what the pope has said about we the people, doesn’t understand we the people. We are a unique, crucially important people in world history. And we are different. I don’t mean by DNA. I don’t mean by looks. I mean we are different, in terms of our mindset, our psychology, which is built around liberty.”

Holy See flag to be raised outside UN headquarters for Pope Francis' arrival Sept. 25

Fox News
September 21, 2015

Matheny's Note: It's certainly clear to see that the United Nations is under command of the Pope. You can also see that the flag of so-called Palestine is being raised with it. They are in league together to destroy Israel.... Just read Psalm 83.

UNITED NATIONS – A United Nations official confirms that the flag of the Holy See will be raised for the first time outside U.N headquarters the morning of Pope Francis' first visit.

It is a turnaround for the Vatican, whose U.N. ambassador has said it had "no intention" of raising the flag before the pope arrives Sept. 25.

The General Assembly last week overwhelmingly approved a Palestinian proposal to raise its flag and that of the Holy See as the U.N.'s two non-member observer states.

The Palestinians have announced a ceremony for their flag-raising Sept. 30 during the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders. But the Holy See flag is set to be raised quietly.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about the event.

Pope calls on Catholics to shelter Europe's migrants

USA Today
September 6, 2015

BERLIN — Pope Francis called on religious communities and Catholic parishes across Europe on Sunday to take on the crush of migrants that have been pouring into the continent recently.

He said the Vatican will shelter two families who are "fleeing death."

Francis cited Mother Teresa, the European-born nun who cared for the poorest in India, in making his appeal. "Faced with the tragedy of tens of thousands of refugees who are fleeing death by war and by hunger, and who are on a path toward a hope for life, the Gospel calls us to be neighbors to the smallest and most abandoned, to give them concrete hope," Francis said, adding that it's not enough to say, "Have courage, hang in there."

The pope’s plea comes as thousands more refugees from war-torn countries such as Syria and Afghanistan were expected to arrive in Austria and Germany on Sunday. The migrants were traveling from Hungary where they had been stranded for days as European leaders debate how to best handle the surge.

On Saturday, about 7,000 people crossed the border on foot from Hungary to Austria. A similar amount arrived into Munich's central train station by Saturday evening.

"I appeal to the parishes, the religious communities, the monasteries and sanctuaries of all Europe to ... take in one family of refugees," Pope Francis said after his Sunday address in the Vatican, according to Reuters.

There are more than 25,000 parishes in Italy alone, and more than 12,000 in Germany, where many of the Syrians fleeing civil war and people trying to escape poverty and hardship in other countries say they want to end up.

The pope’s call was another in a series of recent public interventions by the Vatican to end conflicts and reconcile differences between countries, from Mideast peace meetings to brokering talks between the U.S. and Cuba.

Read the entire article

Historic meeting between Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox head 'getting closer'

The Independent
June 30, 2015

Matheny's Note: DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT!!! .......

The unprecedented meeting would be a significant step towards healing the 1,000-year-old rift between the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity, which split in the Great Schism of 1054.

"Now such a meeting is getting closer every day but it must be well prepared," Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church's foreign relations department, said in an interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.

He said the meeting between the head of the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church and the head of Russian Orthodox Church - which counts some 165 million of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians - would take place in a "neutral" country, not in Moscow or the Vatican. Austria or Hungary were possibilities, he said.

Hilarion, one of the most influential people in world Orthodoxy, said he could not say if the meeting could take place as early as this year, but there was currently "a good dynamic between the two Churches.

One of the biggest bones of contention is the fate of many churchproperties

that Soviet dictator Josef Stalin confiscated from Eastern Rite Catholics, who worship in an Orthodox rite but owe their allegiance to Rome. (Getty Images)
Francis told reporters on the plane returning from a trip to Turkey last year that he had sent word to Kirill that he was willing to meet the Russian patriarch "wherever you want, you call me and I'll come".

The Russian Orthodox Church has accused Catholics of using their new freedoms of religion following the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s to try to convert people from the Orthodox, a charge the Vatican has denied.

One of the biggest bones of contention is the fate of many church properties that Soviet dictator Josef Stalin confiscated from Eastern Rite Catholics, who worship in an Orthodox rite but owe their allegiance to Rome.

Stalin gave the property to the Russian Orthodox Church but after the fall of communism, Eastern Rite Catholics took back many church properties, mostly in western Ukraine.

Pope's Science Advisor Believes in Gaia- The Earth Goddess

The Stream
June 24, 2015

The scientist who influenced Laudato Si, and who serves at the Vatican's science office, seems to believe in Gaia, but not in God.

Image Credit: iStockphoto

William M Briggs

St. Francis of Assisi’s hymn Laudato Si’ spoke of “Brothers” Sun and Fire and “Sisters” Moon and Water, using these colorful phrases figuratively, as a way of praising God’s creation. These sentimental words so touched Pope Francis that he named his encyclical after this canticle (repeated in paragraph 87 of the Holy Father’s letter).

Neither Pope Francis nor St. Francis took the words literally, of course. Neither believed that fire was alive and could be talked to or reasoned with or, worse, worshiped. Strange, then, that a self-professed atheist and scientific advisor to the Vatican named Hans Schellnhuber appears to believe in a Mother Earth.

Gaia

The Gaia Principle, first advanced by chemist James Lovelock (who has lately had second thoughts) and microbiologist Lynn Margulis in the 1970s, says that all life interacts with the Earth, and the Earth with all life, to form a giant self-regulating, living system.

This goes far beyond the fact that the Earth’s climate system has feedbacks, which are at the very center of the debate over climate change. In the Gaia Principle, Mother Earth is alive, and even, some think, aware in some ill-defined, mystical way. The Earth knows man and his activities and, frankly, isn’t too happy with him.

This is what we might call “scientific pantheism,” a kind that appeals to atheistic scientists. It is an updated version of the pagan belief that the universe itself is God, that the Earth is at least semi-divine — a real Brother Sun and Sister Water! Mother Earth is immanent in creation and not transcendent, like the Christian God.

What’s this have to do with Schellnhuber? In the 1999 Nature paper “‘Earth system’ analysis and the second Copernican revolution,” he said:

Ecosphere science is therefore coming of age, lending respectability to its romantic companion, Gaia theory, as pioneered by Lovelock and Margulis. This hotly debated ‘geophysiological’ approach to Earth-system analysis argues that the biosphere contributes in an almost cognizant way to self-regulating feedback mechanisms that have kept the Earth’s surface environment stable and habitable for life.

Geo-physiological, in case you missed it. Cognizant, in black and white. So dedicated is Schellnhuber to this belief that he says “the Gaia approach may even include the influence of biospheric activities on the Earth’s plate-tectonic processes.” Not the other way around, mind you, where continental drift and earthquakes effects life, but where life effects earthquakes.

He elaborates:

Although effects such as the glaciations may still be interpreted as over-reactions to small disturbances — a kind of cathartic geophysiological fever — the main events, resulting in accelerated maturation by shock treatment, indicate that Gaia faces a powerful antagonist. Rampino has proposed personifying this opposition as Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction.

Mother Earth gets the flu and instead of white blood cells and a rise in temperature to fend off the infection, it sends white ice and a decrease in temperatures. How? Geophysiologically! I remind the reader that our author, writing in one of the world’s most prominent science journals, does not use these propositions metaphorically. He proposes them as actual mechanisms.

Schellnhuber echoes the theme of a cognizant, i.e. self-aware, planet in another (co-authored) 2004 paper in Nature 2004, “Climbing the co-evolution ladder,” suggesting again that mankind is an infection, saying that mankind “perturbs … the global ‘metabolism'” of the planet.

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