Vatican Issues Stamp Hailing Luther – Will Anything Shake Papologists From Their Slumber?

The Vatican post office plans to issue a stamp this year featuring the likeness of the arch-heretic Martin Luther, the man single most responsible for the seeming-permanent rending of the unity of Christendom and, almost certainly, the man responsible for consigning literal billions to eternal damnation.  Given the aid and comfort the Bishop of Rome has given protestants since his installation, this is hardly surprising, but only marks an intensification of an effort that dates back to Francis’ days in Argentina:

The Vatican office charged with issuing stamps, known as the Philatelic and Numismatic Office, confirmed Tuesday to LifeSiteNews that Luther, who broke away from the Catholic Church in a schism 500 years ago, will be celebrated with a postage stamp in 2017. The office is in charge of the annual commission of stamps, coins, and other commemorative medals.

The Vatican regularly issues such memorabilia for special events, including papal trips and holy years. Honoring Luther and the Protestant Reformation is an unlikely choice, trumping other significant events in the Catholic Church such as the 100-year anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima and the 300-year anniversary of our Lady of Aparecida, Brazil.

Got that?  Luther trumps Fatima.  Will that be the tenor for the entire, momentous year 2017?  I fear so.

Michael Matt posted a video last night that directly relates both the stamp issue and the broader crisis afflicting the Church of which the administration of Francis is simply the culmination so far.  It features a debate he had with an ostensible Church liberal and conservative (Dale Alquist), wherin both his opponents more or less ganged up on Matt and attacked him with ad hominems throughout.  According to Matt (the entire debate was not included) neither of his opponents were able to provide cogent arguments in defence of their position that, regarding violating 2000 years of sacred belief and practice and a direct command of Jesus Christ, it just doesn’t matter that much, times have changed, and the Church needs to get with the 21st century program and go all mercy all the time, even to the point of allowing constant sacrilegious reception of the Blessed Sacrament by those openly persisting in grave sin.  The video is great and I recommend you watch the whole thing:

But the broader point is this, and cuts to the quick of that 50+ year argument that has been ongoing between those who accept radical changes in the Church (whether quickly a la “liberals” or more slowly a la “conservatives”), and those who find those changes a total abandonment of the Church as she lived and breathed for 1900+ years. The results of the exchange were not encouraging – there is apparently no action authority figures in Rome can take that will not be accepted by those Matt labels as “neo-Catholics.”  As Matt notes, where the revolutionary program is headed is all the more obvious everyday – protestantism, and protestantism of the most ineffectual, libertine bent.  We know from 150 years of history where that liberal, worldly protestantism leads: decay, destruction, and collapse, both of individual souls and church structures as a whole.

But the vast majority in the Church still refuse to see this.  At some deep level, they appear psychologically unable to see it.  Their conception of the Church simply does not allow that bad men might deeply infiltrate it and possibly even corrupt her teachings to the extent men can – which is not insubstantial.  But the evidence that there has been a deliberate effort to alter, undermine, and destroy twenty centuries of sacred Doctrine is there for any who care to examine it, and it is overwhelmingly compelling.  Nevertheless, it appears the “neo-Cats” will never be moved by it.  They were not moved by the radical destruction of the Liturgy.  They were not moved by the implosion of the priesthood and religious life.  They were not moved by all manner of heresy and abuse being taught as solemn Catholic Doctrine.  They were not moved by Assisi.  A stamp won’t even elicit a tired sigh from them.

Even more, the manifest problems afflicting the Church since the 60s have had their center in the Petrine office.  Francis may be the most openly radical of the post-conciliar pontiffs, but he is hardly the only one to promote massive novelty.  All of his immediate predecessors have, including Benedict.

It appears the Church is to cleave into two halves, a tiny, faithful remnant, and an initially huge but constantly, rapidly shrinking majority who go along with whatever they are told this week constitutes Catholic belief and practice.  I used to hold high hopes that by sharing careful, detailed analysis of the crisis in the Church – by getting the message out – that souls would naturally react similarly to me, come to see the crisis for what it is, and do what they could to impose the different religion we see being built around us.  I found out very early to my dismay, however, that while there was a fraction who would come to comprehend the crisis in the Church and the inadmissibility of many of the revolutionary changes made since Vatican II (that including the vast majority of those who will read this), the vast majority would not.  That, in fact, that there was nothing that would move them to do so.  They were literally unable to do so.

I understand that, to a degree.  We all have lines we are unwilling, even unable to cross.  I am disheartened to see how many struggle to accept that the Church could be afflicted with a pope who tries to promote error (it’s happened before, after all), but it’s a reality I – we all – have to face.  The question is what we do about that reality.  It seems we are fated to be a very small remnant, with malice towards none and charity for all, hopefully, but a very small one, nonetheless.  We must work to preserve as much as we possibly can, which starts with saving ourselves and our families.  We must do as much prayer and penance as possible, far, far more than most of us are doing today.

We must pray for one thing in particular, to sum up which I will turn to Ann Barnhardt.  We must pray to have the traditional Sacraments available to us as the cultural and ecclesiastical noose tightens around our necks, figuratively or literally:

What you should do is move heaven and earth to attend a Traditional Mass or Divine Liturgy, and then go every single day humanly possible, and spend as much time as possible before the Blessed Sacrament, and go to confession frequently.  Do whatever it takes, right now, to find a good parish or chapel. If you wait until The Remnant Church is forced completely underground, you will have a much harder time.  This is precisely what the parable of the wise and foolish virgins is about, folks.  At some point, the door will close, and if you are one of the foolish virgins who got caught without any oil in your lamp, and had to scramble to find any, it will, at some point, be too late, and the Bridegroom will close the door.  You have been warned.  It is obvious what is happening.  No one will have any excuse.

Go to Our Lord, kneel before Him and BEG HIM to provide for you and your family to always be able to go to Mass. Beg Him to show you the way and illumine the path for you, as He illumined the path of the Magi. Beg Him to fill your lamp with oil Himself, and to keep it always full.  Beg Mary, Mother of The Church, to intercede for you.  Beg St. Joseph, Patron of The Universal Church, to lead you to safety as he led Our Lord and Our Lady on the flight to Egypt.

I hoped to flesh this post out some more, but I’ve run out of time, at least for the moment. I think Barnhardt’s exhortation is as good an ending as I could put to a post, anyway.