“There is clearly a single script under a single direction: this demonstrates the existence of a criminal design and the malice of its creators.”
Archbishop Vigano, Interview with Steve Bannon (July 1, 2022)
The German writer Goethe put this line in a letter written by the eponymous hero of his 1774 novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther: “misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than even malice and wickedness.” Young Werther’s opinion is today found in the mouths of a multitude of naifs, chumps and simpletons (not to mention an abundance of shills). It is the motto of the gullible, of the good and simple folk who project their goodness and simplicity onto the world, and are in consequence helpless sheep before ravening wolves. Putting most mischief down to misunderstandings and neglect, they are fleeced and raped and slaughtered and led into Hell.
It is for many too terrible to conceive that most mischief is really mischief, and that when things turn out badly, it is very often by criminal design. It is especially too terrible, and therefore especially inconceivable, that the criminal design begins at the top and directs, rather than subverts, their trusted institutions. It is especially too terrible, and therefore especially inconceivable, that when schools and courts and legislatures “fail,” they are going exactly according to plan.
This is the point that Archbishop Vigano makes in his new interview with Steve Bannon:
“We must understand that our rulers are traitors of our Nation who are devoted to the elimination of populations, and that all of their actions are carried out in order to cause the greatest amount of harm to citizens. It is not a problem of inexperience or inability but rather of an intentio nocendi—a deliberate intention to harm. Honest citizens find it inconceivable that those who govern them could do it with the perverse intention of undermining and destroying them, so much so that they find it very hard to believe.”
Archbishop Vigano goes on to say that the Roman Catholic Church is itself directed by malice and criminal design. It is no accident that Christ’s sheep go unfed. It is intentio nocendi, intentional harm. Christ’s sheep are being deliberately starved, if not perhaps poisoned or addled with hallucinogenic drugs.
“The Catholic Church also, beginning with the revolution of Vatican II and above all during the last nine years of the Bergoglian ‘pontificate,’ has experienced the same cognitive dissonance: the faithful and the Clergy have resigned themselves to obeying mere cynical officials—who are no less corrupt and perverted than their counterparts in the deep state—although it has been evident that the purpose of the alleged ‘reforms’ has always been the systematic destruction of the Church by its highest leaders, who are heretics and traitors.”
You have all heard some variation on the universal proverb that “fish begin to stink at the head.” The proverb is universal because every people knows that rot begins at the top. As to why rot begins at the top, and why this rotting at the top is universal, let me hand off to the Puritan theologian Richard Baxter, who in 1670 explained:
“Where the flesh and visible things bear sway, the enemy of Christ bears sway . . . . Nay these are the oil that increase the flame. And Satan hath still the bellow in his hand: he knoweth that if he can corrupt or win the commander, he can rout the army, and ruin them with the greatest ease. It hath been Satan’s grand design, since the Christian’s name was known on earth . . . to entangle the rulers of the world . . .”*
*) Richard Baxter, The Life of Faith (1670), chap. 3.
The Orthosphere 
For the sake of his soul, Vigano should stop giving interviews and trust in the Holy Spirit. As Zippy once said, “It’s a fool’s errand to second guess the Holy Spirit”
I’m not “fan” of the current pontificate, but Francis is Pope whether we like it or not. Even if most of the hierarchy is mired in heresy, it does not change the fact that they are in fact the legitimate successors of the Apostles.
Since he puts scare quotes around the word “pontificate,” I think we must suppose that Vigano is a sedevacantist who denies that Francis is the legitimate successor of the Apostles. You may be right that Vigano has let the celebrity of his iconoclasm go to his head. But he may still be on to something.
I have no doubt that many in the church hierarchy are deeply committed liberals who have born rotten fruit thanks to decades of poor formation beginning in seminaries, many of which were known dens of the homosexual cabal.
We have to remember that Vatican II was about sixty years ago, and that many of those priests formed in its crucible are peaking in ecclesial power and influence within the church. But Vigano is mired in navel-gazing if he thinks this all started because of Vatican II. It probably began hundreds of years ago, when the Church started absolving unrepentant usurers.
At least in the American Church, we have great hope for the future. I recently graduated from college, and I have many orthodox friends who engaged and married, and who will and are already beginning to have lots of little orthodox Catholic babies, many of whom will become priests and religious. Another chunk of my friends will enter rapidly growing religious orders, like Dominican Sisters in Nashville, St. Joseph Dominicans, etc.
All this is to say, I think we really ought to look at what we, as laypeople, can do. There very well might be a homosexual cabal of satan worshippers who have infiltrated the highest levels of the Roman Curia and all major governments. Who cares? What are you gonna do about it? Jesus Christ has already won the battle against the Evil One, and we are watching it play out in real time. God, in His Mercy, has permitted us to live in a time where we get to partake in this epic battle between Good and Evil. Do you not think He would have assembled a legion of angels to smash apart the no-do-gooders if they actually presented an existential crisis to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church? Have faith in the Holy Spirit. God gave us all dominion over things that we can change, starting with ourselves. Stay close to the Sacraments, Pray, Fast, and do Corporal Works of Mercy. The problem is us, and the solution is repentance.
I think Vigano generally agrees with you. George Orwell said, if there is any hope, it lies with the proles. Vigano seems to be saying, if there is any hope, it sits in the pews. Thanks for the encouraging report about the rising generation of young Catholics. Good luck and God bless!
I never understood this position. Jack, I know that you mean well, but
I am fed up with this attitude in our churches.
I am agnostic about Francis being Pope, Benedict resignation being valid. The arguments used are far beyond my paygrade.
However, the Holy Spirit is not the one who chooses the Pope. This is not Catholic doctrine but an urban legend.
During these years, we have seen things that no Catholic person could have imagined for the last 2000 years. The Pope presiding a ceremony of adoration of a pagan goddess in the Vatican and issuing a coin in honor of this goddess. The Pope contradicting Catholic doctine every other day. We don’t have to evangelize, gays are the jewel of the crown while traditional Catholics are bad people. The traditional mass is almost forbidden while all kinds of liturgical abuses are approved. Francis says that worshipping idols is not paganism, that Jesus was not right in forbidding divorce, that going against Mother Nature is a new sin but that obeying international organizations is Catholic doctrine. He invites transgender people to the Vatican, etc. Destroying traditional religious orders, etc.
There is a book explaining all these heresies and it runs hundreds and hundreds of pages.
And while our Church is destroyed by a cabal of reckless bastards, what do we have in front?
We have people who are afraid of CRITICIZING the Pope. There is always the understatement: this is not my favorite Pope, I am not the greatest fan of this Pope… You should not criticize him…he is the Pope.
The timidity is mind blowing. On the one hand, we have an army with nuclear weapons that they use once and again. On the other hand, we have a bunch of church ladies that are afraid to say: “Oopsie”, because this is a bad word. When a nuclear weapon explodes, the church ladies say: “well, this is unfortunate. We have to pray more”. The idea of saying nuclear weapons are bad or fleeing to a safe place, never crosses their minds.
If I had received a dollar every time I have watched an abuse by Francis and I have received the answer “We should pray” (and do nothing), I would be a very wealthy man. Another variation is, “Come, Lord and fix it” (so I don’t have to do anything)
The taboo is so huge that Francis knows he can do anything, even the most outrageous things, and nothing will happen. The faithful will find a way to rationalize it.
I am fed up of the whole situation and only want to scream.
Hi ImNobody00,
First of all, I didn’t say the Holy Spirit chooses the Pope. I said to trust in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit–the advocate sent by Jesus Christ–ensures that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. Were the Francis pontificate to cause the Gates of Hell to prevail against the church…well…it’s a non-question–there would be no Francis pontificate. The Holy Spirit would stop it from happening. I mean dude, the Church has survived bad popes before. We moderns lack hindsight. Things have been bad before and I don’t deny things are pretty bad right now. (Another difference is that today we have the internet so we know every time the Pope or some heterodox cardinal says or does something heretical. Worth noting.)
If I could change anything from my previous response, I would delete, the “Who Cares?” part, because I actually do care very deeply that the hierarchy of the Christ’s Church is not a star-studded cast of saints.
But I repeat the other question, which isn’t rhetorical: What are you gonna do about it?
What are you, ImNobody00, going to do about this attitude which you so despise? (On a side note, I think you misunderstood my attitude and I hope that I have clarified.)
I think that you and I have more common ground than you might suppose. We both agree that something must be done. But we also have to take stock of who we are and the actual reality of our present state in life. Are you married? If so, are you raising the next generation of lay, priests, and religious? Are you single? If so, are you pursuing a Catholic woman or are you applying to Religious Orders, seminary, etc.? Do you go to Mass every day? Do you pray a rosary every day?
I especially hope the answer to the last two questions is yes.
My intention is NOT to belittle the very real frustration you have with this Pontificate. It is clear you love Jesus Christ and you love His Church, and so do I. Don’t think I’m not fuming with righteous indignation that so many souls are being led astray with, say, the heretical teachings in chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia.
The point I want to drill through your head is that praying, receiving the sacraments, and living your vocation virtuously is actually what fighting the battle looks like. We might have fantasies of a lay army led by Cardinal Burke charging LOTR style and taking the Baldacchino, but sorry bro, that’s just fantasy.
TRUST in God. At a MINIMUM, every Catholic who loves Christ and His Church should be Praying, receiving the Sacraments, praying the Rosary, fasting, pursuing/living out one of the three vocations.
Once you’re doing all that, then consider, “hey, ok, is there anything else I can do recognizing my objective state to help save Christ’s Church?” Maybe that’s joining the parish council and getting rid of EMHCs, joining KoC chapter, having more Trad Babies, supporting your children’s vocations, etc.
Apologies for the rambling comment, moderators. But I stand by everything I have said and I believe that my comment serves as good catechesis for every single faithful Catholic reading the Orthosphere.
To make myself clear, I think secular people do not have much power but this does not mean that we do not have ANY power.
Several weeks ago, I went to mass and the priest gave us a “modern” homily. He started to criticize everybody that was not in favor of Francis. Next, he started to say that only people with masks could go to the sacrament of confession. (The mask had recently been abolished in our country). Then started to publicly tear into pieces the people that didn’t wear masks (only two or three in the church, including me). It was vicious, like he were followers of the devil. But he had not forbidden not wearing masks.
After the mass, I asked for a conversation with him and told him that he had abused his authority, that the mass was not a covid speech. It was not easy for me because we are taught to submit to our priests. He didn’t take it well and stopped the conversation and ran to look for refuge among his groupies.
I thought: this priest (as 99.99% of priests) has never heard a faithful telling him he has done wrong. He is surrounded by church ladies that look at him like he was Jesus and could do no wrong. His ego has increased until the level he thinks he can say anything in a sermon and this is good, because he is a priest.
If people was more prone to express their disappointment, he could think about it. But now he could start singing to the Pachamama (true story) and nobody would say anything. Even the people that disagreed would remain silent.
The answer I receive is that we should pray and let God fix things for us. This is not really Christianity but Buddhism, as the blogger called “The Social Pathologist” has commented. God usually works through us and asks us to do our part. Saint Paul did not stay home praying and letting God do everything. He knew that he had to travel, had to get his hands dirty. Nobody wants to get their hands dirty now. I think it is laziness disguised as a holiness.
First, sorry that you have to be in a modern parish. While I’m living with my parents between Uni and work, I also have to attend a super boomer parish with 4 EMHCs at a daily mass of 25 people. And we still can’t receive on the tongue bc of COVID. So I can sort of empathize with you there.
To your last paragraph, I agree. The reason I emphasize prayer so much is because it is the cornerstone of the Christian life, and I find that it is often juxtaposed against “doing something.” So I’ll admit I’m pretty sensitive to the insinuation that praying is doing nothing, and that’s why I keep hammering it as the primary thing we have to do.
One of the reasons that frequent and devout prayer is so important is that it’s the primary way we come to know God and discern his will in our life. Sure, sometimes God can give us “signs” of what steps to take to remedy a situation, but we will be more predisposed to notice these signs and intuit the will of God in our lives if we spend lots of time in prayer with God. Remember that Christ, between doing great miracles and preaching, would often retire to pray by himself. All great Saints also had a great life of prayer.
When you take a solid bedrock of prayer and combine it with daily reception of the Eucharist and the graces of the Rosary, you’ve built a pretty solid wall against the snares of the Evil One, and, you’ll have a much easier time seeing the Hand of God in your life, gently prodding you toward certain battles that he is allowing you to fight.
So very good that you want to do your part to save Christ’s Church. I hope that you Pray, go to mass every day, pray the rosary, and live out your vocation with virtue, because doing those four things will at worst will make you a Saint and at best will make you one of the Saints that saved the Catholic Church from the clutches of modernism.
Only one thing more. Jack, I apologize if this seemed to be something personal at you. I know it is my fault. I am writing on a cell phone in a strange language and I am not subtle. It’s only that you touched a nerve of mine without knowing.
It was not a modern parish. There are no such parishes in my country. I don’t think the priest was a modern priest either. It was a vanilla Novus Ordo parish and priest (no Latin mass in the whole country) . I don’t think the priest was progressive. But they receive the new messages from the Vatican and THE PEOPLE IN THE PEWS SEE ABUSES AND SAY NOTHING. How could they know that they are doing something wrong?
These years have been extremely harsh. I agree with you that prayer, the sacraments and the Catholic life are of utmost importance. The most important thing. But it is not the only thing and it is not an excuse to remain silent when the Church is trashed in a demonic way. Jesus prayed but He also acted. He didn’t only pray for the moneychangers of the Temple.
No worries, my brother in Christ! FWIW, you have better command of English than I do any other language
You are in my prayers. And yes: Christ did act. Let us never forget that.
Its a good thing Christ’s sheep are all Protestants and Orthodox while Catholics are nothing but atheists and liars who worship apparitions of Satan under the name of Mohammed’s daughter Fatima. Otherwise these sheep not being fed might be a problem.
This comes very close to violating our comment policy. If you are in to sectarian insults, take them somewhere else.
LOL. If this doesn’t violate your comment policy, what does?
I have to let the first one through in order to post a warning. I sometimes wish I had kept a file of weird and crazy comments on the Orthosphere. They would have served as the bones of a fun post.
I don’t know, JM. That would have been a pretty big file …
Jack: Check the policy. Johnson’s comment does not violate it, quite. What it does do is show again how propaganda that misrepresents Catholicism – or for that matter Protestantism or Orthodoxy – poisons earnest minds such as his, and tends to ruin them, and fill them with hatred and spiritual corruption. It shows how such poison sickens hearts, so that they are incapable of Christian charity – which in turn inhibits Christian unity. So, letting the comment stand here, as JM has decided to do, is edifying to us all, and indeed, by showing what happens when the mission of the Orthosphere – namely, the promotion of and apology for Chalcedonian Christian orthodoxy in every department of life (both theoretical and practical) – is omitted, so is Christ, and so is sanity, and so is society. Thus the motto of our banner.
Is a comment here hateful? Be sure then that it propagates some deep error (which, despite whatever truths it also retails for decorative or distractive purposes, is its fundamental engine). Be sure then also that we allow it here to propagate only as a means of edification and so of correction, for all of us. Including the commenter.
“Chalcedonian Christian orthodoxy”
Oh, come now, Kristor! You know that the ecumenist spirit here would extend to Copts, Malankarans, and Ethiopians, as well.
I chafe sometimes at the ecumenical spirit of the Orthosphere because I am not as charitable or wise as our gracious hosts and sometimes I run afoul of that spirit–I try to swallow my overzealous orthodoxy here and vent that elsewhere. Nevertheless, there’s a point to be made in being a presence of Christian Unity.
I don’t know exactly what Chalcedonian Christian orthodoxy implies, but I know Copts are one of the older sects and IIRC they are in communion with Rome–badasses to boot because of their operation under constant persecution. I would welcome Copts–I don’t know anything about Malankarans or Ethiopians, although I know the Ethiopian Ge’ez rite is also in communion with Rome.
This reminded me of an anecdote which may or may not be germane but which I found amusing so I will share it, with apologies if it is too far afield.
My sibling lives in the Bible Belt, which is so named more for the presence of Sola Scriptura protestants than for Orthodoxy. She once told me of two colleagues having a theological discussion.
The first colleague asked, “Where do you go to Church?”
“I go to the Methodist Church on such-and-such road.”
“A Methodist huh? I’m a Baptist and I go to the Church on the same road. At least you can look across the street and see God in my church!”
My great uncle Stanley was the leader of a tiny sectarian church. His sister, my great aunt “Oatie” (Theodocia), attended this church, but was by nature far more genial and broadminded than her brother. There was a much larger church of some description across the road from my great uncle Stanley’s sectarian chapel, and leaving church one Sunday morning, Oatie asked her brother if all the people spilling out of that edifice were going to Hell. I’m afraid family lore does not record his answer. I channel my great uncle Stanley when I am writing a post, but my great aunt “Oatie” when I read the comments.
@ Joseph A: Hah! Of course, yes, the Orthosphere would warmly welcome our non-Chalcedonian friends. It’s just that we can’t defend their particular strains of heterodoxy, and still keep things straight within the Chalcedonian sheepfold.
May God bless and keep the non-Chalcedonians – including the Mormons – and bring them soon into full communion with the rest of their allies in the war against Moloch.
Our Lady has repeatedly called us to pray the Rosary and to pray for the Pope, Bishops and Priests.
Like I said before, if you are not praying AT LEAST 1 Rosary a day, you are not fighting.
Hello, Jack. You’re applying Zippy’s warning to the good archbishop (“It’s a fool’s errand to second guess the Holy Spirit”). How are you confident that the Holy Spirit isn’t the inspiration behind the archbishop’s courageous testimony?
When I survey the Roman hierarchy, I see German bishops like Reinhard Marx and many around the world like him. I then compare the Munich prelate to our former apostolic nuncio. Despite the fact that the bishop of Rome appears to favor the former over the latter, the latter looks, sounds, and probably smells a lot more recognizably Catholic. If I had to choose who is more likely shepherding the Lord’s flock correctly, I’d say Don Carlo. My biggest suspicion about him is that he continues to breathe free air. If he were 100% on the level, I’d imagine that he would have been johnfishered by now . . . or at least have checked in permanently to an Austrian dungeon. But perhaps the angels are protecting him. He had better keep some large baskets handy.
I have heard it said that we get the Pope we deserve. Trusting in God means trusting Him that He is acting through the hard times equally as much as he acts through the good times. It is entirely possible that this whole “season of confusion” if we can call it that is inspired by the Holy Spirit to ignite zeal and realign our priorities as a Church. I see signs of this happening, anyway.
Someone once described a “childs faith” as exemplified in a child in the back seat of his parents car. We don’t know where we are going, we barely know how to get there–I didn’t have a mental map in my head until I started driving. But we trust absolutely that our parents would not drive off a cliff or into a desert. We don’t second guess our parents when the roads are bumpy, just that the bumpy roads are necessary to get to wherever they are taking us. I try to remind myself of this whenever I feel my blood pressure rising about the palace intrigue that is too remote for me to participate in and too elevated for me to influence.
Jesus, I trust in You.
We must certainly endure tribulations, but we must remember the deep meaning of tribulation. It is not simply troubles, but is particularly troubles that separate the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats, the men from the boys. We are not children sitting in the back seat of God’s car, sucking a lollypop and confident we will get to grandmas even if we take a nap or punch our little sister in the side of the head. “By their fruit you shall know them,” and by your fruit you shall know yourself as well. We are pilgrims on a journey, not passengers on a bus. As pilgrims we can trust God to have prepared a good home for us, but as pilgrims we must reach that home by climbing mountains, crossing rivers and facing down bandits and hungry beasts.
I haven’t actually counted them, but warnings against false teachers may very well be the number one warning in the New Testament. We pilgrims must obviously be on guard against the men who will direct us down dead-end roads. I have no special power to detect these false teachers, and scripture tells me God is not going to protect me from them.