And Reason Number One to Donate to

 NOVUS ORDO WATCH

Because contrary to what some
well-known people would like you to believe

The catholic faith is not negotiable!

"Even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful,
they are the ones who are the True Church of Jesus Christ."―Saint Athanasius

[Note: The following commentary was written in 2009.]

Novus Ordo Watch denounces all friendly chit-chats and suicidal compromises with Modernists, all cozy tea parties with the enemies of Christ. The Catholic Church can never be restored by appealing to, and worse, collaborating with and even obeying the very men (headed by the false Pope, Benedict XVI aka Fr. Joseph Ratzinger) who have worked for decades to bring about her destruction and who while now suddenly feigning filial devotion for Tradition, show their true loyalties by renouncing none of the heresies and other errors they vigorously promoted at Vatican II and by actively carrying out the destructive program set forth tragically decades ago; rather, they insist that Traditional Catholics must adhere to those very same heresies and errors and follow that program, only in some nebulous "light of Tradition."

For Ratzinger and his ilk were denounced a century beforehand by Pope Saint Pius X in the encyclical Pascendi (1907) as "enemies of the Cross of Christ, who, by arts entirely new and full of deceit, are striving to destroy the vital energy of the Church, and, as far as in them lies, utterly to subvert the very Kingdom of Christ (emphasis added)." Half a century later, the Holy Office under Pope Pius XII would list Ratzinger by name as suspected of heresy; only the death of Pius and the ascension of John XXIII (himself suspected of Modernism, as well) saved Ratzinger and fellow revolutionaries from censure.

 We warned the faithful
Let it be said up front that Novus Ordo Watch was, to our knowledge, the only website in the entire world that warned exactly what Ratzinger had in store for the gullible (What to expect of Benedict XVI). These predictions were made in May 2005, just a month after his election and long before he had a chance to establish a track record in the position). Nevertheless, despite the brief period our forecasts for the Ratzinger "papacy" have been uncannily accurate, and this because we made them based on  research into Ratzinger's modus operandi and the weakness of the SSPX's stand and its previous overtures to Modernist Rome, along with certain insider knowledge received at the time of his election.

We predicted that the strategy of Benedict XVI would be to play puppet master over "good-willed but confused and battle-weary traditionalists," until finally maneuvering into an end game position with the SSPX and other naive wishful thinkers. He would strive to achieve this as follows:

The trap laid by Ratzinger began bearing its evil fruit in July 2005, when Bishop Bernard Fellay of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) contacted Modernist Rome, requesting a meeting so he could discuss two main topics with the "Pope": 1. The granting of a "universal indult" that allows the Latin Mass according to 1962 Missal to be offered without restriction and 2. For the "excommunications" to be lifted against four SSPX bishops.) The request was granted and on August 29 of that year the meeting took place between Benedict XVI and Bp. Fellay, in which a preliminary discussion was initiated to see what steps would be needed for the SSPX's eventual assimilation into the Novus Ordo sect. (Pope meets traditionalist bishop)

After the meeting, Bp. Fellay issued a brief statement, the gist of which being that the two of them "reached a consensus as to proceeding by stages in the resolution of problems (emphasis added)." The remarks conclude with this appeal: "The Society of St. Pius X prays that the Holy Father might find the strength to put an end to the crisis in the Church by restoring all things in Christ.'" Statement and interview with Bp. Fellay (Considering who Ratzinger is, it's quite disturbing to find the bishop invoking the Papal motto of St. Pius X ["instaurare omnia in Christo," that is "to restore all things in Christ"], as though an enemy of the Church is going to consciously want to work for any restoration. As will be shown in the next section, Bp. Fellay was very much aware of Ratzinger's track record, which makes the statement―nay, the very meeting itself―well nigh incomprehensible.)

SSPX's self-contradiction: Embracing the very man it once said had 'a destructive mind'
Ratzinger is the same man, after all, that Christopher Ferrara once famously and correctly identified as "perhaps the most industrious ecclesial termite of the post-conciliar epoch, tearing down even as he makes busy with the appearance of building up." (emphasis added) Ratzinger personally consecrates neo-Modernist bishop If only Bp. Fellay and others who have gotten starry-eyed over the German's phony nods to orthodoxy (including Ferrara himself, who acts as though he never wrote those words and now writes as if Ratzinger really is a great defender of the Church and really is trying to build her up) were to reflect on the substance of those words, which pegs him as a deceiver who only appears to be doing something good for the Church, then surely they would see that any involvement with him is simply suicidal. They would realize that the most dangerous enemy is the false friend. (And the SSPX can't plead ignorance about Ratzinger, either, as a decade ago it reprinted a scathing two-part article entitled The memories of a destructive mind: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger's Milestones Part I, Part II, clearly showing that it recognized him as someone who was not to be trusted.)

And, too, the SSPX apparently has forgotten that Ratzinger has expressly condemned Traditional Catholics, whom he derisively refers to as "integrists" (a term of reproach coined by the anti-Church, anti-Throne anarchists of the French Revolution to mock those priests who were faithful to Rome and who refused to accept the Revolutionary anti-Catholic laws and oaths).  Concerning those who oppose Vatican II, he wrote: "We must be on guard against minimizing these movements. Without a doubt, they represent a sectarian zealotry that is the antithesis of Catholicity. We cannot resist them too firmly. (emphasis added)" (Joseph Ratzinger, Principles of Catholic Theology, Ignatius Press, 1987, pp. 389-90; German original: Katholische Prinzipienlehre, 1982) This is the real Benedict XVI behind the kindly mask he wears when meeting with Bp. Fellay.

From that initial meeting the trap would tighten more in 2007, when one of the SSPX's requests was addressed in the false motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, issued by Benedict XVI. It claimed to free up the 1962 Missal (with the explicit understanding that it and the "new Mass" were "mutually enriching" (sic) to one another, thus pointing to a hybrid of the two at some point in the future). This move was greatly applauded by the SSPX and other credulous types eager to grasp at any seeming sign of true Catholicism in Rome (of course, the very fact that only the John XXIII/Bugnini 1962 Missal was mentioned and no older Missals―along with the nonsense about mutual enrichment―was more than enough of a tipoff that a real return to Tradition was not in the offing to any Catholic not viewing things through rose-colored glasses).

Again, the idea of blending the two could hardly have come as a surprise to the Society. As early as 2003, then-"Cardinal" Ratzinger corresponded with Dr. Heinz-Lothar Barth, a professor at the University of Bonn who attends the SSPX chapel in that city. Responding to a question about whether or not the priests would ever be permitted to offer the traditional Latin Mass without restrictions, Ratzinger replied this would not be the ultimate "solution," but rather only a step toward his hybrid "Frankenmass":

I believe, though, that in the long term the Roman Church must have again a single Roman rite. The existence of two official rites is for bishops and priests difficult to “manage” in practice. The Roman rite of the future should be a single rite, celebrated in Latin or in the vernacular, but standing completely in the tradition of the rite that has been handed down. It could take up some new elements which have proven themselves, like new feasts, some new prefaces in the Mass, an expanded lectionary - more choice than earlier, but not too much, - an “oratio fidelium”, i.e., a fixed litany of intercessions following the Oremus before the offertory where it had its place earlier. (emphasis added)  A Frightening Letter  (Complete text of the Ratzinger letter in English and German)

Clearly, despite what some in the SSPX may ardently believe, Summorum Pontificum isn't really a beneficent gesture of freeing up the Latin Mass; rather, it is a ploy to win the friendship and trust of the Society with the goal of weaning them away from the 1962 Missal, which will gradually be exchanged for a hybrid service "in the tradition of" the Mass, but with "some new elements." (This tactic will seem like déjà vu for those Catholics old enough to remember the 1960s, where the faithful saw the Mass undergo a series of gradual changes until it was eventually replaced with the "new Mass.")

This idea of a hybrid is reiterated in Benedict's letter to his "brother bishops" that accompanied the motu, where he instructs: "the two Forms of the usage of the Roman Rite can be mutually enriching: new Saints and some of the new Prefaces can and should be inserted in the old Missal. (emphasis added)" Explanatory Letter This has already occurred to an extent, with Ratzinger rewriting the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews, expressly to supersede the one found in the 1962 Missal. While the Society has resisted the change, it remains to be seen how long it can hold out if it wants to be in the "Pontiff's" good graces. The letter also forcefully states that the re-education of the SSPX clergy from a Traditional mindset into a Novus Ordo mindset must include full recognition of validity of the Paul VI/Bugnini "Mass." This recognition will, in fact, serve as a litmus test to how "faithful" they are to Modernist Rome: "Needless to say, in order to experience full communion, the priests of the communities adhering to the former usage cannot, as a matter of principle, exclude celebrating according to the new books. The total exclusion of the new rite would not in fact be consistent with the recognition of its value and holiness." (emphasis added) 

The following June, "Cardinal" Dario Castrillon Hoyos (left), acting on behalf of Ratzinger, tried to strong-arm the Society into the Novus Ordo with an ultimatum of five preconditions, including the complete acceptance of Vatican II and the "new Mass."  On that occasion, Bp. Fellay stood his ground, rejecting the ultimatum, and at a sermon given at the SSPX seminary in Winona, MN, declared: "So we have no choice... we are continuing what we've done. They just say 'shut up' ... we are not going ... to shut up." Has Bishop Fellay rejected Vatican offer for reconciliation?

Then, in January 2009, the situation grew much more ominous when Modernist Rome announced that the "excommunications" of Bp. Fellay and three other SSPX bishops had been rescinded. Curiously, this time there were no preconditions; the "censures" we simply lifted unilaterally. This perhaps caught the Society off guard, but as staunchly as Bp. Fellay spoke out against the Hoyos plan, this time he melted and was profuse in his thanks.

Of course, this was not a final resolution of differences, but merely a step toward "perfect communion" with (meaning full assimilation into) the Conciliar Church; to reach that point the Society would need to prove its newfound allegiance to Ratzinger and Company by tossing some grains of incense on the Vatican II brazier through acts of "filial" devotion to its "Holy Father."

The position of the SSPX vis-à-vis Modernist Rome has long been one characterized as "recognize and resist," which means to

recognize the Novus Ordo hierarchy as the Catholic hierarchy formally, that is, as wielding the true power of Christ to rule the Catholic Church, but at the same time to resist the program of Vatican II, including some conciliar doctrines, the New Mass, some new sacramental rites, and other things. A commentary on recent events in the Society of St. Pius X

Now it would be time for Bp. Fellay and the Society to prove they were ready to move beyond recognize and resist to arrive at a position of recognize and obey.

Into the belly of the beast
On March 24, 2009, the first substantive opportunity for obeisance presented itself when Bp. Fellay announced that at Benedict XVI's request, the Society was moving the location of the subdiaconate ordinations scheduled for the 28th from Zaitzkofen, Germany, to Ecône, Switzerland. SSPX ordinations canceled in Germany; transferred to Ecône This seemed innocent enough (except for the obvious fact that a false Pope was being obeyed, of course), because the "Holy Father" was "kindly" encouraging them to move from a country where the "bishops" were displaying even more than the usual amount of venom towards the SSPX after a controversial televised interview with the Society's Bishop Richard Williamson was aired there.

Had "Pope" Ratzinger wanted to, he could just as easily have instructed the German "bishops" to cease hostilities towards the Society and accept the ordinations in their nation both as a goodwill gesture and, more importantly, as a welcoming sign that it now had official recognition as part their church.  Ratzinger being German himself would have made it relatively easy approach towards those "bishops," had he so desired. (Of important note, it should be mentioned that unlike the 1976 ordinations that led to Paul VI's "suspension" of SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, these ordinations were conducted with the implicit approval of Ratzinger.)

More specifically, Benedict could have contacted the one who mattered most, "Bishop" Gerhard Müller of Regenburg (left), in whose "diocese" Zaitzkofen is located. Müller has publicly expressed his views that Bp. Fellay and the other SSPX bishops are not "rehabilitated," that they should step down as bishops, and while functioning as priests, work to repair the damage their "schism" has caused. Also, he stressed that the Society should close the Zaitzkofen seminary and have the seminarians return to their home countries. Interview: Müller on the SSPX.

This point should not be missed: By failing to order Müller and the others to treat the Society as belonging to the Novus Ordo Church, which would work toward a resolution of the situation, he allowed the high state of tension to continue unabated between the SSPX and the German "episcopacy." This refusal to intervene is consistent with the Vatican II error of "collegiality," a policy which allows the "Pope" to enjoy a certain degree of plausible denial when it comes to mischief in which "bishops" around the world are engaging.

The consequences of such a policy proved tragic in Germany, where Müller knowingly transferred a convicted "pedophile priest" to another church, where he was arrested for still more offenses. Rather than remove Müller, Ratzinger's Vatican washed its hands of the matter ala Pilate, stating:  “It’s a German matter.” Indeed, Müller was later appointed by him to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Conciliar office which judges priests accused of sexual abuse as part of its duties. (Such an appointment will only surprise or shock those unaware of the machinations of Modernist Rome.)  Pope rewards bishop who transferred abuser

So, non-intervention is to be expected as a matter of course for Benedict, but in the case of the SSPX moving its ceremonies there could have been more behind it than meets the eye. As mentioned above, instead of working to integrate the group into the Novus Ordo "faith community" by getting Müller to accept the ordinations, the distrust was allowed to continue. This perhaps fosters a sense of isolation in the Society as relates to the Conciliar "bishops," reinforcing the delusion they've already had for four years that he's "our only friend in Rome," and thus making them more dependent upon him to lead them to the Promised Land of "full communion."

Over and above this, however, is the main reason: For them to follow out the instructions he expressly gives them. As with the secondary reason, this is all about control, and one of the best ways for a person to see if he has control of another―to see whether he is truly recognized as their superior― is to see if his requests are carried out. Again, this gets back to the idea of recognize and obey.

Once Ratzinger gets the Society to obey on something relatively small, then step-by-step he can get them to cave in on more serious issues. The more completely the SSPX gives itself over to the notion that this is truly the Sovereign Pontiff of the Church, the more likely it will be to drop its defenses and begin yielding on points that no Catholic can ever concede. As we wrote in What to expect of Benedict XVI, if Benedict is successful in convincing the Society to turn itself over to him (essentially surrender), then he will have succeeded in neutralizing it, in undermining its reason for being.

Again, this isn't based on speculation, but on the track record of other groups that have succumbed, such as the Society of St. John Vianney, the Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), the Transalpine Redemptorists and Institute of the Good Shepherd. These groups were started by confused and battle-weary traditionalist bishops and priests―deserters in the good fight, who ended up losing focus and cutting a deal with Modernist Rome. The Fraternity of St. Peter compromise Of significant importance to the fate of the SSPX is the case of "Bishop" (Fr.) Fernando Rifan,  the so-called Apostolic Administrator of the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney, who sold out to the Conciliar Church in 2001, and as a reward for his betrayal received as his 30 pieces of silver "episcopal consecration" at the hands of Hoyos. Rifan, to consummate the betrayal, "concelebrated" a Novus Ordo "Mass," an event roundly condemned by the SSPX and specifically Bp. Fellay. VERIFIED: Bp Rifan concelebrated the New Mass   Bp Fellay regarding Bp Rifan

 In March 2009 one of these groups, the FSSP (made up of clergy who defected from the SSPX after the 1988 episcopal consecrations), has provided an object lesson for the Society and others tempted by Ratzinger of the dire consequences such a marriage of convenience brings with it, when they had their candidates to the subdiaconate invalidly ordained by "Auxiliary Bishop" Joseph Perry of Chicago ("consecrated" in 1998), while members of the Transalpine Redemptorists also took part in the ceremonies. Ordinations to the subdiaconate

We are reminded here of what the late Capuchin, Fr. Carl Pulvermacher (left, with Abp. Lefebvre), a priest long associated with the SSPX once sagely predicted: "Once there are no more valid priests, they'll permit the Latin Mass."

This same process is what's in store for the Society, and since (as shown above) Ratzinger is going to require its priests to say the invalid "new Mass" as a test of loyalty, there is every reason to believe that they must at some point also accept "ordinations" at the hands of the equally invalid Novus Ordo "bishops." That much is clear. That is what will be required if they are "to experience full communion" with the Vatican II sect. If they get to that point, all is lost. Once they go into the belly of the beast and become "assimilated," there ceases to be any point to their existence, as they will have gone over to the enemy they once fought.

 It is imperative that the Society quickly regains its focus (and ditch its "recognize and resist" stand, which is what got it in this mess in the first place), lest it be pulled into the same vortex that claimed Fr. Rifan and the others.

The remnant of the remnant

"Better that only a few Catholics should be left, staunch and sincere in their religion, than that they should,
remaining many, desire as it were, to be in collusion with the Church's enemies and in conformity with
the open foes of our faith." ―Saint Peter Canisius

Around a century ago, a Catholic far wiser than Bp. Fellay, who was encouraged to adopt this exact same tea party approach in dealing with Modernists, roundly rebuked such a suggestion, declaring:

Kindness is for fools! They want them to be treated with oil, soap, and caresses but they ought to be beaten with fists! In a duel you don't count or measure the blows, you strike as you can! War is not made with charity, it is a struggle, a duel.

If our Lord were not terrible He would not have given an example in this too. See how He treated the Philistines, the sowers of error, the wolves in sheep's clothing, the traitors in the temple. He scourged them with whips!

The Catholic who uttered those sharp words was none other than Pope Saint Pius X, the Church's greatest defender against the Modernist apostasy and, ironically, the namesake for Bp. Fellay's SSPX. The Society is teetering on the brink of extinction and should it fall or at least the majority of its members, the number of those Catholics who still have a right to the name will be cut down significantly, leaving but a remnant of a remnant will remain stranding.

While we know from our Lord that the gates of Hell shall never prevail against his Church, we also see from the devastation all around us that the Devil has nonetheless been permitted to inflict great damage upon her.  And in the Gospels we read these mysterious words of Christ: "But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?" Luke 18:8 Mysterious, because the Apostles (and by extension, their successors) were told by our Savior to preach the Gospel throughout the entire world and this was done in glorious fashion up through 1958.

After that the faithful witnessed the unbelievable rise of a counterfeit church rising up serpent-like in the bosom of Holy Mother Church―false Catholicism foisted on us by subversive prelates and periti that included the substitution of a false worship in place of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the destruction of priestly and religious vocations, an attack on the family, heretical doctrines and apostate practices at the highest levels. And all of this brought on through the robber council, Vatican II.

Today, indeed, the true Mass offered by valid priests is a scarce spiritual commodity. Now the SSPX is close to being in the position where its priests are going to be obliged to accept the "new Mass" and perhaps be forced to say it as a condition for them to remain in good standing in the Conciliar Church. Another very real possibility is what's been termed a "hybrid Mass," which will incorporate features of the true Mass and the Paul VI/Bugnini worship service. This is already in a preliminary stage as Benedict XVI, when writing about the "liberation of the Latin Mass," indicated that it and the "new Mass" should "mutually enrich" one another. Reform of the reform revived?

Many of the faithful attending SSPX chapels will soon be put to a stern test: Remain Catholic or be absorbed into the counterfeit church. It is not a pretty situation, but it is one into which the Society's leaders have led them. And if we may use the "tea party" analogy one more time, the meeting between Benedict XVI and Bp. Fellay resembled nothing so much as the Mad Hatter's tea party from Alice in Wonderland, where logic is stood on its head, leading to ludicrous exchanges such as this one:

“Take some more tea,” the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.

“I’ve had nothing yet,” Alice replied in an offended tone: “so I can’t take more.”

“You mean you can’t take less,” said the Hatter: “it’s very easy to take more than nothing.”

It was all Alice could do to keep her wits as her hosts spouted lunacy as though it were inspired truth. As she walked away, she exclaimed in exasperation: “It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!”

But what is Modernism but a form of theological lunacy posing as inspired truth? Yet that was exactly what Bp. Fellay would have gotten from Benedict, wrapped up, perhaps, in some quasi-traditional verbiage. The bishop knew what Ratzinger was long before he ever sought an audience with him and he knew the sort of dangers inherent in such "dialogue" as witnessed by his remarks regarding "Bp." Rifan, so for him to have met with with Benedict was itself a bit of temporary insanity. The only reasonable thing left for Bp. Fellay to do at this point is to stand back, admit his imprudence and say: “It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!”

It is the mission of Novus Ordo Watch to expose the machinations of this false church, and in the present situation, help the faithful see that the "solution" proposed by Ratzinger and in part accepted by Bp. Fellay and his fellow bishops is a deadly trap. The sole aim of Novus Ordo Watch is to provide the information that will help educate in such a way as to lead people out of the false church and prevent others (including the SSPX) from being lured into it.

Certainly, we hope and pray that Bp. Fellay sees the folly of his ways before leading many, many souls into harm's way. But however the outcome, we at Novus Ordo Watch will continue to resist the counterfeit church with every ounce of energy at our disposal. We are one of only a very few websites left that is committed to unswerving fidelity to the Faith and absolute opposition to the Vatican II monstrosity that dares to hide behind the name "Catholic."

When Holy Mother Church has been the victim of a frightful conspiracy, as her loyal sons it is our duty to come to her aid and bring an end to her plight by showing that those who masquerade as friends of hers eager to see her experience a "new springtime" are nothing of the sort, but the linear descendants of Modernists definitively condemned a century ago by a sainted Pope. It is our obligation as Catholics to do what in us lies to stand up and speak the truth, even when it may be unpleasant for some to hear, for what Pope Leo XIII said about Freemasonry also applies very well here: We must tear the mask off of the Conciliar Church and expose it for what it really is.

It is Saint Pius X's absolutely unwavering opposition to Modernism that has been and always will be the model Novus Ordo Watch takes in its stance in the war against the counterfeit church and the subversives behind it. Again, the Catholic Faith is not negotiable; not now, not ever!

instaurare omnia in christo

had enough?!