The new and improved "new evangelization"

[41] Her sanctuary was desolate like a wilderness, her festival days were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into reproach, her honours were brought to nothing. [42] Her dishonour was increased according to her glory, and her excellency was turned into mourning. [43] And king Antiochus wrote to all his kingdom, that all the people should be one: and every one should leave his own law. [44] And all nations consented according to the word of king Antiochus. [45] And many of Israel consented to his service, and they sacrificed to idols, and profaned the sabbath.
 -- First Book Of Machabees 1:41-45

Or should I just say the new "new evangelization".

I am speaking of course of the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. I have not read it, nor do I ever intend to read it in its entirety. I have only read excerpts posted at various Catholic sites and that is nauseating enough.

I find that wherever Bergoglio goes a whirlwind of confusion follows. I would rather not contaminate my soul with his heretical ideas.

There is much to talk about. Bergoglio has made quite a "mess". Eventually someone will have to clean it up. How many souls will be lost in the meantime?

First there is the question of what exactly is an "apostolic exhortation"? An apostolic exhortation "does not define Church doctrine" and “it is considered lower in formal authority than a papal encyclical".

Got that? It "does not define Church doctrine".

But it is some sort of "official papal proclamation". Do you think that the secular media is going to spend a lot of time explaining that an apostolic exhortation "does not define Church doctrine"? No. They are going to treat these papal statements just as if they were Church doctrine. And so will most Catholics because it is an "official papal proclamation".

And so the whirlwind of confusion begins. Is it official Church teaching? Or not?

I mentioned Bergoglio's "heretical ideas" earlier. In Church theology there is something called "formal heresy". If the pope falls into "formal heresy" then  he ceases being the pope.

So what is formal heresy? Formal heresy only occurs if the pope with all his papal authority contradicts prior Church teaching. An apostolic exhortation cannot be the source of formal heresy because it "does not define Church doctrine".

Well, that is rather convenient. For more on "formal heresy" please see the following video by Father Gregory Hesse titled "Why I'm Not Sedevacantist". Father Hesse is deceased. When this recording was made he was referring to the papacy of John Paul II. One wonders what he would think of Bergoglio?




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Now we can discuss what I think is the main topic of this document even though I haven't read it. But at least I read the title, "Evangelii Gaudium", which I discussed in a previous post and referred to as "the happy gospel".

My very strong suspicion is that Bergoglio intends this to be a follow up to a previous apostolic exhortation -- “Evangelii Nuntiandi” by Paul VI (1975) which is considered to be the beginning of the “new evangelization”. From Wikipedia:

Evangelii Nuntiandi (Evangelization in the Modern World) is an apostolic exhortation issued on 8 December 1975 by Pope Paul VI on the theme of Catholic evangelization. Evangelii Nuntiandi is Latin and derives its name from the first words of the text: Evangelii nuntiandistudium nostrae aetatis hominibus. ("The effort to proclaim the Gospel to the men of our time.") The exhortation affirms the role of every Christian (not only ordained ministers, priests, and deacons, or religious, or professional church staff) in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This papal document was actually partially written by John Paul II when he was still an archbishop according to Wikipedia:

This apostolic exhortation inspired the teaching of Pope John Paul II. In 1975, the future pope was then known as Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, Archbishop of Kraków, as well as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Cardinal Wojtyla acted as the Synod's General Rapporteur and participated extensively in the original drafting of Evangelii Nuntiandi. The New Evangelization of the Catholic Church, described by Pope John Paul II, calls each person to deepen one's faith in God, believe in the Gospel’s message, and proclaim the Good News. The focus of the New Evangelization calls all to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize others.

Yes, and we have all seen since 1975 how successful the "new evangelization" has been. So now it is time for a new an improved "new evangelization" according to Bergoglio.

There is no turning back according to the current "Bishop of Rome". Even though the pre Vatican II Church was vibrant and healthy, while the post Vatican II Church is dying.

According to Bergoglio the reason for this dismal failure of the "new evangelaztion" is that so far the implementation of Vatican II has not been radical enough. And he has the "humility and ambition" to move the Church in that "new and improved" radical direction. God help us.

The word that Bergoglio uses is "conversion".

Now, when we speak of the Church and we speak of "conversion" we always mean just one thing -- conversion to Christ. But this is not what Bergoglio means when he speaks of "conversion".

Remember that he is "a vulgar pope" so he is using "conversion" in the vulgar sense of the word not in the theological sense. So convert means to change. And who loves change? Radicals love change. Revolutionaries love change. Anarchists love change.

The Church loves the unchanging Truths.

Next Bergoglio uses the word "missionary".

Again the use of this word in the context of the Church is clear. St. Francis of Xavier was a missionary to the pagans in the far east. But for Bergoglio the target of the "mission" is the Church itself. He wants to convert the Church from Catholicism to.... ???

He then combines the two words "missionary" and "conversion" in the following mind-twisting statement.

I hope that all [religious???] communities will devote the necessary effort to advancing along the path of a pastoral and missionary conversion which cannot leave things as they presently are. “Mere administration” can no longer be enough. Throughout the world, let us be “permanently in a state of mission”.

This is the sort of rhetoric that would warm the heart of any marxist. This is a call for revolution -- a permanent state of revolution.

What will be left of the Church by the time that Bergoglio is done with his "missionary conversion"?

When will those sitting on the sidelines like Michael Voris get up and join the fight to save the Church?

Thank God for  Louie Verrecchio at "Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II" who is leading the charge. Please keep him in your prayers and offer him whatever financial support you can. I know that he is suffering because of his defense of the Catholic faith.

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I left a comment in response to another commenter over at Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II on an article by Louie Verrecchio in which he begins to analyze Evangelii Gaudium. I thought this discussion of "cognitive dissonance" was worth repeating so here it is.

As for this pope, he is either a "very ignorant man" as you say or he is clever as a fox. Personally, I think "there's a method to his madness". I could be wrong, but I have concluded that he is deliberately using "cognitive dissonance" to change the beliefs of Catholics. His teachings are full of "dissonance" -- what you refer to as "unintelligible ramblings".

He juxtaposes a completely orthodox statement with a totally heterodox statement. We are left with the task of resolving this "dissonance". Many will conclude that since the orthodox statement is true and the following heterodox statement is coming directly from the pope, that both statements must be true. And this is how they will resolve the dissonance. And so the average Catholic will conclude that they must accept everything in Evangelii Gaudium, and change their own personal beliefs to align with those expressed by the pope if necessary. (This is a psychological warfare technique by the way.)

But this is exactly what Pope St. Pius X warned  about in his encyclical "PASCENDI DOMINICI GREGIS -- ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE MODERNISTS" in 1907.