WHITE FOUNTS falling in the Courts of the sun,
And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;
There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,
It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard;
It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips;
For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.
They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy,
They have dashed the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,
And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross.
The cold queen of England is looking in the glass;
The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass;
From evening isles fantastical rings faint the Spanish gun,
And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun.
Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard,
Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred,
Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall,
The last knight of Europe takes weapons from the wall,
The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird has sung,
That once went singing southward when all the world was young.
In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,
Comes up along a winding road the noise of the Crusade.
Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,
Don John of Austria is going to the war,
Stiff flags straining in the night-blasts cold
In the gloom black-purple, in the glint old-gold,
Torchlight crimson on the copper kettle-drums,
Then the tuckets, then the trumpets, then the cannon, and he comes.
Don John laughing in the brave beard curled,
Spurning of his stirrups like the thrones of all the world,
Holding his head up for a flag of all the free.
Love-light of Spain—hurrah!
Death-light of Africa!
Don John of Austria
Is riding to the sea.
Mahound is in his paradise above the evening star,
(Don John of Austria is going to the war.)
He moves a mighty turban on the timeless houri's knees,
His turban that is woven of the sunsets and the seas.
He shakes the peacock gardens as he rises from his ease,
And he strides among the tree-tops and is taller than the trees;
And his voice through all the garden is a thunder sent to bring
Black Azrael and Ariel and Ammon on the wing.
Giants and the Genii,
Multiplex of wing and eye,
Whose strong obedience broke the sky
When Solomon was king.
They rush in red and purple from the red clouds of the morn,
From the temples where the yellow gods shut up their eyes in scorn;
They rise in green robes roaring from the green hells of the sea
Where fallen skies and evil hues and eyeless creatures be,
On them the sea-valves cluster and the grey sea-forests curl,
Splashed with a splendid sickness, the sickness of the pearl;
They swell in sapphire smoke out of the blue cracks of the ground,—
They gather and they wonder and give worship to Mahound.
And he saith, "Break up the mountains where the hermit-folk can hide,
And sift the red and silver sands lest bone of saint abide,
And chase the Giaours flying night and day, not giving rest,
For that which was our trouble comes again out of the west.
We have set the seal of Solomon on all things under sun,
Of knowledge and of sorrow and endurance of things done.
But a noise is in the mountains, in the mountains, and I know
The voice that shook our palaces—four hundred years ago:
It is he that saith not 'Kismet'; it is he that knows not Fate;
It is Richard, it is Raymond, it is Godfrey at the gate!
It is he whose loss is laughter when he counts the wager worth,
Put down your feet upon him, that our peace be on the earth."
For he heard drums groaning and he heard guns jar,
(Don John of Austria is going to the war.)
Sudden and still—hurrah!
Bolt from Iberia!
Don John of Austria
Is gone by Alcalar.
St. Michaels on his Mountain in the sea-roads of the north
(Don John of Austria is girt and going forth.)
Where the grey seas glitter and the sharp tides shift
And the sea-folk labour and the red sails lift.
He shakes his lance of iron and he claps his wings of stone;
The noise is gone through Normandy; the noise is gone alone;
The North is full of tangled things and texts and aching eyes,
And dead is all the innocence of anger and surprise,
And Christian killeth Christian in a narrow dusty room,
And Christian dreadeth Christ that hath a newer face of doom,
And Christian hateth Mary that God kissed in Galilee,—
But Don John of Austria is riding to the sea.
Don John calling through the blast and the eclipse
Crying with the trumpet, with the trumpet of his lips,
Trumpet that sayeth ha!
Domino gloria!
Don John of Austria
Is shouting to the ships.
King Philip's in his closet with the Fleece about his neck
(Don John of Austria is armed upon the deck.)
The walls are hung with velvet that is black and soft as sin,
And little dwarfs creep out of it and little dwarfs creep in.
He holds a crystal phial that has colours like the moon,
He touches, and it tingles, and he trembles very soon,
And his face is as a fungus of a leprous white and grey
Like plants in the high houses that are shuttered from the day,
And death is in the phial and the end of noble work,
But Don John of Austria has fired upon the Turk.
Don John's hunting, and his hounds have bayed—
Booms away past Italy the rumour of his raid.
Gun upon gun, ha! ha!
Gun upon gun, hurrah!
Don John of Austria
Has loosed the cannonade.
The Pope was in his chapel before day or battle broke,
(Don John of Austria is hidden in the smoke.)
The hidden room in man's house where God sits all the year,
The secret window whence the world looks small and very dear.
He sees as in a mirror on the monstrous twilight sea
The crescent of his cruel ships whose name is mystery;
They fling great shadows foe-wards, making Cross and Castle dark,
They veil the plumèd lions on the galleys of St. Mark;
And above the ships are palaces of brown, black-bearded chiefs,
And below the ships are prisons, where with multitudinous griefs,
Christian captives sick and sunless, all a labouring race repines
Like a race in sunken cities, like a nation in the mines.
They are lost like slaves that sweat, and in the skies of morning hung
The stair-ways of the tallest gods when tyranny was young.
They are countless, voiceless, hopeless as those fallen or fleeing on
Before the high Kings' horses in the granite of Babylon.
And many a one grows witless in his quiet room in hell
Where a yellow face looks inward through the lattice of his cell,
And he finds his God forgotten, and he seeks no more a sign—
(But Don John of Austria has burst the battle-line!)
Don John pounding from the slaughter-painted poop,
Purpling all the ocean like a bloody pirate's sloop,
Scarlet running over on the silvers and the golds,
Breaking of the hatches up and bursting of the holds,
Thronging of the thousands up that labour under sea
White for bliss and blind for sun and stunned for liberty.
Vivat Hispania!
Domino Gloria!
Don John of Austria
Has set his people free!
Cervantes on his galley sets the sword back in the sheath
(Don John of Austria rides homeward with a wreath.)
And he sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain,
Up which a lean and foolish knight for ever rides in vain,
And he smiles, but not as Sultans smile, and settles back the blade....
(But Don John of Austria rides home from the Crusade.)
~G.K. Chesterton
Irish Men’s Rosary Rally Takes Place in Derry City
In recent months, Poland has been home to some of the most stunning Catholic images of public displays of faith.
The monthly men’s Rosary Rallies in cities such as Warsaw have attracted vast numbers of men and have given the Catholic world an image worthy of emulation, with men taking to the streets and kneeling in prayer.
Now, an impressive number of Irish men have taken part in the first such venture on these shores, with dozens of men praying publicly in Derry this past Saturday.
The men can be seen with Rosary beads in hand from the images of the event, with a statue of Our Lady of Fatima front and center. An interesting thing to note from the video is how striking it seems compared to their surrounding locality of shops and commercial outlets. Passers by are intrigued and taken in by the men’s devotion, something which has become an oft too forgotten part of Irish society in the 21st Century.
It is hoped that these events will become a regular occurrence and on the face of these images, it is hard not to see why. With so much of the Catholic faith now regulated to the private sphere and men in a small minority in most churches from one weekend to the next, to see an event like this is exactly the kind of impetus that is need to inspire as has been done so successfully in Poland and in other places.
Please pray for the continued success of the organisers and those who attended.
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Polish Embassy Reacts Angrily to Irish Government's Slur
Under anti family parties Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party, Ireland has pursued an aggressive foreign policy which has sought to damage the efforts of Poland and Hungary to implement ways of helping couples to take care of their children.
Lower taxes, limits on Sunday trading and financial supports for families have all contributed to increases in birth rates and higher standards of living in Eastern Europe. In Ireland, the inverse has been tried with the government dramatically reducing birth rates through austerity, the legalisation of abortion and encouraging young people to emigrate.
As part of the West’s new Cold War, Ireland has been at the forefront of attacks against these countries. Politicians such as Fiona O’Loughlin, who was emphatically rejected by voters before being made a Senator against the wishes of the public, have repeatedly attacked Poland with baseless accusations of discrimination. MEP Maria Walsh recently stormed Budapest to help to undermine the government in an astro turfed parade sponsored by banks that was mostly attended by activists from around Europe rather than by locals.
The tactic of trying to undermine Poland and Hungary has now switched to a new front, accusing the Poles of running the same concentration camps that millions of them died in during World War II.
First, there was the move from Israel to demand billions from Poland in restitution for Germany’s seizure of Jewish owned property from the late 1930s through World War II. This was exploited by Western media outlets who sought to portray the Catholic Polish government as being ‘far right’ and extremist when they are nothing of the sort. A remarkable charge was levelled at the Polish people which asserted that the concentration camps in which millions of Poles died were actually Polish and not German.
Now, the Irish government have joined in on the anti Polish bigotry.
Their propaganda arm, RTE, has now also used the term ‘Polish Concentration Camps’. RTE are funded by a mandatory tax which Irish people must pay or face imprisonment. Many of the higher ups at the station are heavily connected to the government and the ruling parties, through family and other connections.
In a report broadcast on the 30th September, concerning a Nazi prison secretary facing charges, RTE News repeatedly used the term ‘Polish Concentration Camps’. In a strong response to the slur, Polish Ambassador to Ireland Anna Sochanska claimed said that:
This repeated mistake is causing huge distress in the Polish community in Ireland.
It is highly unlikely that such a ‘mistake’ is accidental from RTE. Their close connections to the government and their recent successes at assisting support for austerity programs, abortion and other state initiatives has made them into maestros of propaganda linked to domestic and foreign policy. They have been adept at isolating Catholics and encouraging disparaging treatment towards them, earlier this year they even broadcast a ‘sketch’ which claimed that Catholics worship a rapist god. The deliberately offensive and painfully unfunny segment caused uproar leading to an eventual apology, but it revealed the incredible disdain with which the broadcaster holds people of faith.
These types of attacks test the waters for more overt aggression towards Poland and dehumanisation of its people to precipitate further efforts to impose isolation. Poland and Hungary should hold firm, there is no reason for them to listen to a country like Ireland which is facing electricity blackouts in order to facilitate American data centers and freefalling birth rates.
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To St. Michael in Time of Peace by GK Chesterton
Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning,
Michael of the Army of the Lord,
Stiffen thou the hand upon the still sword, Michael,
Folded and shut upon the sheathed sword, Michael,
Under the fullness of the white robes falling,
Gird us with the secret of the sword.
When the world cracked because of a sneer in heaven,
Leaving out for all time a scar upon the sky,
Thou didst rise up against the Horror in the highest,
Dragging down the highest that looked down on the Most High:
Rending from the seventh heaven the hell of exaltation
Down the seven heavens till the dark seas burn:
Thou that in thunder threwest down the Dragon
Knowest in what silence the Serpent can return.
Down through the universe the vast night falling
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning!)
Far down the universe the deep calms calling
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Sword!)
Bid us not forget in the baths of all forgetfulness,
In the sigh long drawn from the frenzy and the fretfulness
In the huge holy sempiternal silence
In the beginning was the Word.
When from the deeps of dying God astounded
Angels and devils who do all but die
Seeing Him fallen where thou couldst not follow,
Seeing Him mounted where thou couldst not fly,
Hand on the hilt, thou hast halted all thy legions
Waiting the Tetelestai and the acclaim,
Swords that salute Him dead and everlasting
God beyond God and greater than His Name.
Round us and over us the cold thoughts creeping
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the battle-cry!)
Round us and under us the thronged world sleeping
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Charge!)
Guard us the Word; the trysting and the trusting
Edge upon the honour and the blade unrusting
Fine as the hair and tauter than the harpstring
Ready as when it rang upon the targe.
He that giveth peace unto us; not as the world giveth:
He that giveth law unto us; not as the scribes:
Shall he be softened for the softening of the cities
Patient in usury; delicate in bribes?
They that come to quiet us, saying the sword is broken,
Break man with famine, fetter them with gold,
Sell them as sheep; and He shall know the selling
For He was more than murdered. He was sold.
Michael, Michael: Michael of the Mustering,
Michael of the marching on the mountains of the Lord,
Marshal the world and purge of rot and riot
Rule through the world till all the world be quiet:
Only establish when the world is broken
What is unbroken is the word.
GK Chesterton (1929)
Baby Organ Incinerator Story Shocks Ireland
It has emerged today that the organs of 18 stillborn babies were sent from Ireland to Belgium for incineration along with medical waste during the past year.
Parents were informed of the grisly details after the organs and tissue had already been destroyed. One mother harrowingly described the horror:
My son's brain went into a bin, as if it was a piece of rubbish, you put rubbish in a bin, why would you put my beautiful son's brain into a bin.
These parents lost their children in very tragic circumstances and that tragedy has now been compounded by this scandalous travesty.
The perplexing question on most people’s minds is ‘How did organs of babies end up being transported to Belgium to be incinerated in the first place?’
The routine incineration of babies was something that was brought up regularly as a topic of interest during the Referendum to Remove the Eight Amendment in 2018. Even last year, as abortion ‘services’ became a more regular part of the ‘health’ service, prolifers actually specifically raised the possibility of the bodies of babies being sent to Belgium from Ireland for incineration.
Supporters of the abortion law mocked the suggestion that this could happen. one replied They're transported to the Hollow Earth to fertilise the Lizard People eggs, obviously. Gawd. Another replied OK Boomer. As with every other prediction from prolifers surrounding the Repeal of the 8th amendment, this one came true and Repealers didn’t even take the time to listen, let alone understand it.
This dismissive attitude was not an isolated incident. The contempt and disdain for prolife campaigners was such that a perplexed Simon Harris even once asked Ronan Mullen (albeit under his breath) ‘What abortion industry?’ during debates after the vote.
Had Irish society done its homework in 2018, it would have known that incineration of aborted babies is a stalwart of abortion culture.
In 2014, for example, it was revealed that over 15,000 babies had been incinerated in UK hospitals in order to provide heating to the hospital buildings. The primary target of these incinerations were aborted babies, as the hospitals could in some cases save close to £20 per baby by disposing of them in such a fashion, but miscarried babies became collateral as they were disposed of in the same manner too.
The UK incident was only one occurrence however, Oregon had a similar scandal some years ago that also saw similar numbers incinerated.
Yet many in the abortion industry protested that in many cases such means of disposal were not merely legal but recommended. Those who claim that Texas has introduced a disproportionate response to abortion laws would do well to remember its previous advice on disposing of babies (not limited to aborted ones) which read:
disinfection followed by deposition in a sanitary landfill grinding and discharging to a sanitary sewer.
To be clear, RTE’s report as has been made public so far makes no mention of aborted babies being included in the ‘clinical waste’ that made its way from Ireland to Belgium.
A statement on behalf of the hospital involved said:
that this distressing incident has occurred … under very extenuating and unprecedented circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic
One rabid pro abortion party risibly responded that this was a
a hugely disrespectful way of treating human remains.
You don’t say.
Please remember the families affected in your prayers and also their little ones.
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Catholic President Suggests Ban on Eating Dogs
South Korea’s Catholic leader, President Moon Jae-in, has suggested that the time has come to ban the sale of dog meat in the country.
Around 1 million dogs are slaughtered for food in South Korea each year, but numbers are declining as increasingly Westernised youngsters are shunning the practice.
Moon asked for Koreans to ‘prudently’ consider whether such a ban must now come to an end, with more humane attitudes towards dogs prevailing as more Koreans adopt them as pets.
Recent surveys show that the majority of Koreans do not eat dog meat and most also support a ban on the sale of it.
With a presidential election on the way next year, Moon’s position is one that has been echoed by other potential candidates.
During the last election, he adopted a rescue dog and has unveiled plans to revamp the country’s approach to abandoned animals.
Moon is a Catholic, having been raised in the faith by his mother. His faith has informed his diplomacy efforts with North Korea.
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Cardinal Sarah Called ‘African Dictator’ ‘Mugabe’ ‘Black Wojtyla’
The panic over a potential Cardinal Robert Sarah papacy has led many liberal Catholics to turn to crass and crude remarks.
In a tweet this week, one of his opponents referred to Sarah as ‘Black Wojtyla’, insinuating that he was similar to Robert Mugabe and ‘other African dictators’ as well as stating that he was a ‘liar’.
The escalation comes as other critics of Sarah, many of them American, have used his African background as a stick to beat him with. One prominent commentator, in a now deleted tweet, even insinuated that the cardinal was part of a network of African sleeper cells planted by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre during the Twentieth Century when he was responsible for the missionary work of the Holy Ghost Fathers.
The individual who compared Sarah to Mugabe was met with disgust online, with one person telling him ‘this is racist my man, check it’. His reply was, ‘yes, well…be it…’.
Despite often claiming to be more inclusive and tolerant of the church’s non European aspects, Modernists have long held suspicions towards the African church, since they see it as a bastion of orthodoxy and traditional Catholic thought.
This came to the fore in 2014, when Cardinal Walter Kasper called for a silencing of the fruitful African church, in order to listen instead to the rapidly collapsing German one. In an interview at the time that went around the world, he said:
But are African participants listened to in this regard?
No, the majority of them [who hold these views won’t speak about them].
They’re not listened to?
In Africa of course [their views are listened to], where it’s a taboo.
What has changed for you, regarding the methodology of this synod?
I think in the end there must be a general line in the Church, general criteria, but then the questions of Africa we cannot solve. There must be space also for the local bishops’ conferences to solve their problems but I’d say with Africa it’s impossible [for us to solve]. But they should not tell us too much what we have to do.
With a Universal Synod coming up in the next few years, these kinds of slurs do the church no favours.
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Biden’s Party Passes Animalistic Abortion Law
Left leaning Catholics who advocated for, or at least were ambivalent to, the election of Joe Biden as President of the United States of America have blood on their hands once again.
Only two weeks ago, the president for which they ran cover sent a drone to incinerate seven innocent children in Afghanistan in a blatant war crime that church leaders have shamefully failed to condemn.
Now, Biden’s party, the Democrats, have lashed out at Texas by voting for a vicious abortion law that rivals the depravity of China when it was implementing it’s one child policy.
The violent 'Women’s Health Protection Act' allows for abortion up to birth. Democrats voted for it, giving it a victory of 218-211.
Although the bill looks set to be rejected at the Senate, it nonetheless shows the extent of the folly on behalf of those Catholics who have taken an indifferent and quietist perspective on Biden’s ascent to power.
The fact that Democrats were willing to vote for babies to be delivered alive after nine months of pregnancy and aborted for any reason, illustrates the depths to which the once admired USA have sunk.
When they lived under Communism, Eastern Europeans may have paid lip service to their authority figures and to the regime, but ultimately they saw the forces in power as being distinct from their respective historic nations. Americans must start to do the same and recognise that theirs is an evil empire, which has as its main foreign policy goal the spread of abortion and the destruction of family values, as much as was the case with the USSR.
In an interesting development, most of the tweets from Democrat politicians celebrating the vote use the term ‘abortion’ rather than the usual euphemism ‘choice’. One used ‘abortion justice’ instead of ‘reproductive justice’. Another said ‘stand up for abortion'. This is an interesting change from the usual efforts to hide the barbaric truth of the matter, the recent successes of the prolife movement in Texas have resulted in pro aborts having to push the conversation to further extremes in order to fight fire with fire.
Although this new law will not necessarily be passed by the Senate, it does emphasise the urgency for scrapping Roe vs. Wade, which has had as much of an impact on the world as had the 1917 legalisation of abortion in Russia.
The United States has also spread her errors throughout the world, this recent desperate escalation suggests that those on the side of evil are on borrowed time.
New Documentary Discusses Ireland Abortion Vote
13,000 abortions later, Ireland’s Repeal of the 8th Amendment has been shown to be exactly the disaster that No campaigners predicted.
Birth rates have plummeted by 25%, healthy babies have been aborted because doctors told their parents that they were sick and the situation looks set to deteriorate to even worse depths, mimicking the debauched British abortion regime which it aspires to emulate.
In a new documentary from Tim Jackson, the underhanded tactics of the ‘Irish’ pro abortion lobby during the vote to remove the rights of the unborn are revealed.
Without giving too much away, two aspects of it are particularly interesting.
One is the very active and intentional part that was played by American corporations who suppressed the prolife message on social media and search results. American corporations of course are no longer just for the United States, they have now planted themselves on large swathes of Irish real estate and show no intentions of moving anytime soon. The oppressive influence of Google during the Referendum is not easily forgotten and should inform many of our future perceptions on how stacked the odds are against us.
Another point of note is that when the television debates came up, it was made clear that things would be made deliberately difficult for the No side. The lack of an alternative media greatly hampered any hopes of winning the vote. For example, the only non government owned national TV station in Ireland is actually a British one. It is very difficult to conduct ourselves under enemy terms constantly and come out winners.
A fully functioning alternative media is the way forward.
This documentary is a good start on that path.
Huge Crowds Attend Polish Prolife Rally
With sustained efforts from George Soros, the United States of America and Ireland to deplete their commitment to pro family policies, Poland’s prolife lobby showed defiance this week by marching for life in Warsaw.
Recent prolife successes in the face of unrelenting pressure from outside forces have bought the prolife movement there some time, with the rise of other pro family regimes in Eastern Europe terrifying anti family governments such as Ireland’s, who are worried such policies will encourage their own citizens to look for fairer tax regimes.
The event was attended by figures from the worlds of religion, politics and activism.
Popular Polish priest Fr. Dominik Chmielewski presided over Mass for the event and spoke to those in attendance on the importance of building a culture of life.
Speaking at the event also was Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski, who spoke of his disappointment that the once optimistic European project had now been hijacked by extremists who wished to deChristianise Europe and to destroy the family in the process.
President Andrej Duda also attended, in a move that will enrage the international abortion industry. They called in every favour possible from their friends in the media to try to discredit Duda after he played a role in the banning of eugenicist abortion.
Blessed Cardinal Wyszynski was mentioned by many who spoke at the event, with his opposition to the Communism of the East now mirrored by the totalitarianism of pro eugenics forces from the West, specifically in the EU and USA.
With this year’s events scaled back due to the lockdown crisis, it is hoped that the nationwide march can resume next year.
Notre Dame Rebuilding Begins ahead of 2024 Reopening
In 2019, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris spontaneously combusted during the most virulent wave of arson attacks on Catholic churches in French history.
Since then, architects have worked at trying to make sure that the building was stable before attempting to begin their restoration work. They have announced this week that that time has finally come, with such work set to begin immediately ahead of a 2024 reopening.
Despite the best efforts of many Modernists to ensure an iconoclastic wreckovation which would have mutated the historic cathedral into some grotesque novelty, decency has prevailed and the church will be restored with its original design.
The restoration will also use the same types of oak trees which were used in the original.
Although this was a disaster, the powerful image of French Catholics praying and singing the Rosary outside their fallen church was one which travelled around the world. With God’s grace, a reopening in 2024 can be such a moment of unity also.
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Poland Tightens Laws on Sunday Trade
In 2018, the Polish parliament banned most traders from opening on Sundays.
However, the pro family law was undermined by a loophole which allowed some large outlets to remained open.
The loophole permitted retail outlets to stay open if they fulfilled certain conditions, which were often easily met by bending rules.
A new law passed yesterday in the Polish Parliament however, will now exclude them from opening unless postal services make up the majority of their business. In many cases this means that they will not be able to open up.
Sunday trading is damaging to families, in terms of time spent with their children since they will have to work in many cases, but also in terms of faith.
The expectation that Sundays are for sport and shopping is one that has severely impacted the quality of life for many families. While many European nations pride themselves as progressive for entertaining the possibility of four day working weeks and other concepts like state funded childcare.
Why not just go straight to the common sense option and have a five day working week, with Sunday trading regulated so as to allow families to spend more time with one another?
Prolifers are often accused (even by one another) of failing to offer foolproof solutions for improving daily family life. This idea is one which will be universally popular and universally productive.
Apart from with the large corporations who may feel that they miss out financially, but thankfully for them they have the likes of Anthony Blinken and Samantha Power to fight their corner against Polish families.
Mary McAleese and Hildegard of Bingen
Few things in this life are as draining as listening to former RTE journalist (and President of Ireland) Mary McAleese, drone incessantly at the inexhaustible list of gripes that she has toward every facet of Catholicism.
The sigh inspiring self pity sessions that are her theological pronouncements age one’s soul as dramatically as say walking into a Modernist church and being forced to endure Daniel O’Donnell songs played from Alexa during Mass.
In her frustration with Catholicism’s failure to resemble the Irish establishment, McAleese has now even taken to criticising Vatican II, Pope Francis and Pope Paul VI in recent months, evidently for not being liberal enough. She has also labelled the church as ‘an empire of misogyny’.
McAleese has always suggested that the church stifles women’s potential and in short, does not value them.
This appears to be more of a sad projection of self esteem or personal values than of reality.
Today, the church remembers Saint Hildegard of Bingen. Saint Hildegard is one of many examples of those who refute McAleese’s claims, but of all of them probably the most profound rejection of this elitist perspective on spirituality. Her incredible story proves that a life lived for Christ need not be defined by menial things like career ladders and ecclesiastical structures, but rather by an animation of the Catholic spirit, of the creativity that comes from belief and the driving power of love.
Speaking of Saint Hildegard in 2012, Pope Benedict XVI said:
Creation is an act of love by which the world can emerge from nothingness.
Hildegard wrote of her visions, she wrote the most compelling and mystical music inspired by them.
As an Abbess in Germany, she possessed no less the ecclesiastical approval which the likes of McAleese seek.
A genius and a mystic, she wrote of her studies of the natural world around her and devised various linguistic experiments, including an invented language for communicating with her nuns and for her music.
These are of course, merely summations of a life that transcends our comprehension of the femininity of the so called ‘Dark Ages’, indeed even of the church itself. Hildegard could have chosen to use her talents for anything, instead she chose to use them for love, to harness them for the illumination of God’s glory on Earth through creativity, beauty and art.
This allowed her to perceive the world in a manner befitting a mystic, in a solemn submission to the Divine Will akin to that found on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, on the walls of the Catacombs and in the pages of Augustine and Aquinas.
Von Bingen did not choose to be a journalist or a politician, nor the rigid legalisism of being a canon lawyer.
Instead she chose the majesty of trusting God and inheriting the great glory within, both heavenly and temporal.
In declaring her to be a Doctor of the Universal Church in 2012, Pope Benedict XVI summed her life up beautifully:
1. A “light for her people and her time”: in these words Blessed John Paul II, my Venerable Predecessor, described Saint Hildegard of Bingen in 1979, on the occasion of the eight-hundredth anniversary of the death of this German mystic. This great woman truly stands out crystal clear against the horizon of history for her holiness of life and the originality of her teaching. And, as with every authentic human and theological experience, her authority reaches far beyond the confines of a single epoch or society; despite the distance of time and culture, her thought has proven to be of lasting relevance.
In Saint Hildegard of Bingen there is a wonderful harmony between teaching and daily life. In her, the search for God’s will in the imitation of Christ was expressed in the constant practice of virtue, which she exercised with supreme generosity and which she nourished from biblical, liturgical and patristic roots in the light of the Rule of Saint Benedict. Her persevering practice of obedience, simplicity, charity and hospitality was especially visible. In her desire to belong completely to the Lord, this Benedictine Abbess was able to bring together rare human gifts, keen intelligence and an ability to penetrate heavenly realities.
2. Hildegard was born in 1098 at Bermersheim, Alzey, to parents of noble lineage who were wealthy landowners. At the age of eight she was received as an oblate at the Benedictine Abbey of Disibodenberg, where in 1115 she made her religious profession. Upon the death of Jutta of Sponheim, around the year 1136, Hildegard was called to succeed her as magistra. Infirm in physical health but vigorous in spirit, she committed herself totally to the renewal of religious life. At the basis of her spirituality was the Benedictine Rule which views spiritual balance and ascetical moderation as paths to holiness. Following the increase in vocations to the religious life, due above all to the high esteem in which Hildegard was held, around 1150 she founded a monastery on the hill of Rupertsberg, near Bingen, where she moved with twenty sisters. In 1165, she established another monastery on the opposite bank of the Rhine. She was the Abbess of both.
Within the walls of the cloister, she cared for the spiritual and material well-being of her sisters, fostering in a special way community life, culture and the liturgy. In the outside world she devoted herself actively to strengthening the Christian faith and reinforcing religious practice, opposing the heretical trends of the Cathars, promoting Church reform through her writings and preaching and contributing to the improvement of the discipline and life of clerics. At the invitation first of Hadrian IV and later of Alexander III, Hildegard practised a fruitful apostolate, something unusual for a woman at that time, making several journeys, not without hardship and difficulty, to preach even in public squares and in various cathedral churches, such as at Cologne, Trier, Liège, Mainz, Metz, Bamberg and Würzburg. The profound spirituality of her writings had a significant influence both on the faithful and on important figures of her time and brought about an incisive renewal of theology, liturgy, natural sciences and music. Stricken by illness in the summer of 1179, Hildegard died in the odour of sanctity, surrounded by her sisters at the monastery of Rupertsberg, Bingen, on 17 September 1179.
3. In her many writings Hildegard dedicated herself exclusively to explaining divine revelation and making God known in the clarity of his love. Hildegard’s teaching is considered eminent both for its depth, the correctness of its interpretation, and the originality of its views. The texts she produced are refreshing in their authentic “intellectual charity” and emphasize the power of penetration and comprehensiveness of her contemplation of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, the Incarnation, the Church, humanity and nature as God’s creation, to be appreciated and respected.
These works were born from a deep mystical experience and propose a perceptive reflection on the mystery of God. The Lord endowed her with a series of visions from childhood, whose content she dictated to the Benedictine monk Volmar, her secretary and spiritual advisor, and to Richardis von Stade, one of her women religious. But particularly illuminating are the judgments expressed by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who encouraged her, and especially by Pope Eugene III, who in 1147 authorized her to write and to speak in public. Theological reflection enabled Hildegard to organize and understand, at least in part, the content of her visions. In addition to books on theology and mysticism, she also authored works on medicine and natural sciences. Her letters are also numerous — about four hundred are extant; these were addressed to simple people, to religious communities, popes, bishops and the civil authorities of her time. She was also a composer of sacred music. The corpus of her writings, for their quantity, quality and variety of interests, is unmatched by any other female author of the Middle Ages.
Her main writings are the Scivias, the Liber Vitae Meritorum and the Liber Divinorum Operum. They relate her visions and the task she received from the Lord to transcribe them. In the author’s view her Letters were no less important; they bear witness to the attention Hildegard paid to the events of her time, which she interpreted in the light of the mystery of God. In addition there are 58 sermons, addressed directly to her sisters. They are her Expositiones Evangeliorum, containing a literary and moral commentary on Gospel passages related to the main celebrations of the liturgical year. Her artistic and scientific works focus mainly on music, in the Symphonia Harmoniae Caelestium Revelationum; on medicine, in the Liber Subtilitatum Diversarum Naturarum Creaturarum and in the Causae et Curae, and on natural sciences in the Physica. Finally her linguistic writings are also noteworthy, such as the Lingua Ignota and the Litterae Ignotae, in which the words appear in an unknown language of her own invention, but are composed mainly of phonemes present in German.
Hildegard’s language, characterized by an original and effective style, makes ample use of poetic expressions and is rich in symbols, dazzling intuitions, incisive comparisons and evocative metaphors.
4. With acute wisdom-filled and prophetic sensitivity, Hildegard focused her attention on the event of revelation. Her investigation develops from the biblical page in which, in successive phases, it remains firmly anchored. The range of vision of the mystic of Bingen was not limited to treating individual matters but sought to offer a global synthesis of the Christian faith. Hence in her visions and her subsequent reflections she presents a compendium of the history of salvation from the beginning of the universe until its eschatological consummation. God’s decision to bring about the work of creation is the first stage on this immensely long journey which, in the light of sacred Scripture, unfolds from the constitution of the heavenly hierarchy until it reaches the fall of the rebellious angels and the sin of our first parents.
This initial picture is followed by the redemptive Incarnation of the Son of God, the activity of the Church that extends in time the mystery of the Incarnation and the struggle against Satan. The definitive Coming of the Kingdom of God and the Last Judgement crown this work.
Hildegard asks herself and us the fundamental question, whether it is possible to know God: This is theology’s principal task. Her answer is completely positive: through faith, as through a door, the human person is able to approach this knowledge. God, however, always retains his veil of mystery and incomprehensibility. He makes himself understandable in creation but, creation itself is not fully understood when detached from God. Indeed, nature considered in itself provides only pieces of information which often become an occasion for error and abuse. Faith, therefore, is also necessary in the natural cognitive process, for otherwise knowledge would remain limited, unsatisfactory and misleading.
Creation is an act of love by which the world can emerge from nothingness. Hence, through the whole range of creatures, divine love flows as a river. Of all creatures God loves man in a special way and confers upon him an extraordinary dignity, giving him that glory which the rebellious angels lost. The human race may thus be counted as the tenth choir of the angelic hierarchy. Indeed human beings are able to know God in himself, that is, his one nature in the Trinity of Persons. Hildegard approached the mystery of the Blessed Trinity along the lines proposed by Saint Augustine. By analogy with his own structure as a rational being, man is able to have an image at least of the inner life of God. Nevertheless, it is solely in the economy of the Incarnation and human life of the Son of God that this mystery becomes accessible to human faith and knowledge. The holy and ineffable Trinity in supreme Unity was hidden from those in the service of the ancient law. But in the new law of grace it was revealed to all who had been freed from slavery. The Trinity was revealed in a special way in the Cross of the Son.
A second “space” in which God becomes known is his word, contained in the Books of the Old and New Testament. Precisely because God “speaks”, man is called to listen. This concept affords Hildegard the opportunity to expound her doctrine on song, especially liturgical song. The sound of the word of God creates life and is expressed in his creatures. Thanks to the creative word, beings without rationality are also involved in the dynamism of creation. But man of course is the creature who can answer the voice of the Creator with his own voice. And this can happen in two ways: in voce oris, that is, in the celebration of the liturgy, and in voce cordis, that is, through a virtuous and holy life. The whole of human life may therefore be interpreted as harmonic and symphonic.
5. Hildegard’s anthropology begins from the biblical narrative of the creation of man (Gen 1:26), made in the image and likeness of God. Man, according to Hildegard’s biblically inspired cosmology, contains all the elements of the world because the entire universe is recapitulated in him; he is formed from the very matter of creation. The human person can therefore consciously enter into a relationship with God. This does not happen through a direct vision, but, in the words of Saint Paul, as “in a mirror” (1 Cor 13:12). The divine image in man consists in his rationality, structured as intellect and will. Thanks to his intellect, man can distinguish between good and evil; thanks to his will, he is spurred to action.
Human beings are seen as a unity of body and soul. The German mystic shows a positive appreciation of corporeity and providential value is given even to the body’s weaknesses. The body is not a weight from which to be delivered. Although human beings are weak and frail, this “teaches” them a sense of creatureliness and humility, protecting them from pride and arrogance. Hildegard contemplated in a vision the souls of the blessed in paradise waiting to be rejoined to their bodies. Our bodies, like the body of Christ, are oriented to the glorious resurrection, to the supreme transformation for eternal life. The very vision of God, in which eternal life consists, cannot be definitively achieved without the body.
The human being exists in both the male and female form. Hildegard recognized that a relationship of reciprocity and a substantial equality between man and woman is rooted in this ontological structure of the human condition. Nevertheless the mystery of sin also dwells in humanity, and was manifested in history for the first time precisely in the relationship between Adam and Eve. Unlike other medieval authors who saw Eve’s weakness as the cause of the Fall, Hildegard places it above all in Adam’s immoderate passion for her.
Even in their condition as sinners, men and women continue to be the recipients of God’s love, because God’s love is unconditional and, after the Fall, acquires the face of mercy. Even the punishment that God inflicts on the man and woman brings out the merciful love of the Creator. In this regard, the most precise description of the human creature is that of someone on a journey, homo viator. On this pilgrimage towards the homeland, the human person is called to a struggle in order constantly to choose what is good and avoid evil.
The constant choice of good produces a virtuous life. The Son of God made man is the subject of all virtues, therefore the imitation of Christ consists precisely in living a virtuous life in communion with Christ. The power of virtue derives from the Holy Spirit, poured into the hearts of believers, who brings about upright behaviour. This is the purpose of human existence. In this way man experiences his Christ-like perfection.
6. So as to achieve this goal, the Lord has given his Church the sacraments. Salvation and the perfection of the human being are not achieved through the effort of the will alone, but rather through the gifts of grace that God grants in the Church.
The Church herself is the first sacrament that God places in the world so that she may communicate salvation to mankind. The Church, built up from “living souls”, may rightly be considered virgin, bride and mother, and thus resembles closely the historical and mystical figure of the Mother of God. The Church communicates salvation first of all by keeping and proclaiming the two great mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation, which are like the two “primary sacraments”; and then through administration of the other sacraments. The summit of the sacramental nature of the Church is the Eucharist. The sacraments produce the sanctification of believers, salvation and purification from sin, redemption and charity and all the other virtues. However, to repeat, the Church lives because God within her has manifested his intraTrinitarian love, which was revealed in Christ. The Lord Jesus is the mediator par excellence. From the Trinitarian womb he comes to encounter man and from Mary’s womb he encounters God. As the Son of God, he is love incarnate; as the Son of Mary, he is humanity’s representative before the throne of God.
The human person can have an experience of God. Relationship with him, in fact, is not lived solely in the sphere of rationality, but involves the person totally. All the external and internal senses of the human being are involved in the experience of God. “But man was created in the image and likeness of God, so that he might act through the five bodily senses; he is not divided by them, rather through them he is wise, knowledgeable and intelligent in doing his work (...). For this very reason, because man is wise, knowledgeable and intelligent, he knows creation; he knows God — whom he cannot see except by faith — through creation and his great works, even if with his five senses he barely comprehends them” (Explanatio Symboli Sancti Athanasii in PL 197, 1073). This experiential process finds once again, its fullness in participation in the sacraments.
Hildegard also saw contradictions in the lives of individual members of the faithful and reported the most deplorable situations. She emphasized in particular that individualism in doctrine and in practice on the part of both lay people and ordained ministers is an expression of pride and constitutes the main obstacle to the Church’s evangelizing mission to non-Christians.
One of the salient points of Hildegard’s magisterium was her heartfelt exhortation to a virtuous life addressed to consecrated men and women. Her understanding of the consecrated life is a true “theological metaphysics”, because it is firmly rooted in the theological virtue of faith, which is the source and constant impulse to full commitment in obedience, poverty and chastity. In living out the evangelical counsels, the consecrated person shares in the experience of Christ, poor, chaste and obedient, and follows in his footsteps in daily life. This is fundamental in the consecrated life.
7. Hildegard’s eminent doctrine echoes the teaching of the Apostles, the Fathers and writings of her own day, while it finds a constant point of reference in the Rule of Saint Benedict. The monastic liturgy and the interiorization of sacred Scripture are central to her thought which, focusing on the mystery of the Incarnation, is expressed in a profound unity of style and inner content that runs through all her writings.
The teaching of the holy Benedictine nun stands as a beacon for homo viator. Her message appears extraordinarily timely in today’s world, which is especially sensitive to the values that she proposed and lived. For example, we think of Hildegard’s charismatic and speculative capacity, which offers a lively incentive to theological research; her reflection on the mystery of Christ, considered in its beauty; the dialogue of the Church and theology with culture, science and contemporary art; the ideal of the consecrated life as a possibility for human fulfilment; her appreciation of the liturgy as a celebration of life; her understanding of the reform of the Church, not as an empty change of structure but as conversion of heart; her sensitivity to nature, whose laws are to be safeguarded and not violated.
For these reasons the attribution of the title of Doctor of the Universal Church to Hildegard of Bingen has great significance for today’s world and an extraordinary importance for women. In Hildegard are expressed the most noble values of womanhood: hence the presence of women in the Church and in society is also illumined by her presence, both from the perspective of scientific research and that of pastoral activity. Her ability to speak to those who were far from the faith and from the Church make Hildegard a credible witness of the new evangelization.
By virtue of her reputation for holiness and her eminent teaching, on 6 March 1979 Cardinal Joseph Höffner, Archbishop of Cologne and President of the German Bishops’ Conference, together with the Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops of the same Conference, including myself as Cardinal Archbishop of Munich and Freising, submitted to Blessed John Paul II the request that Hildegard of Bingen be declared a Doctor of the Universal Church. In that petition, the Cardinal emphasized the soundness of Hildegard’s doctrine, recognized in the twelfth century by Pope Eugene III, her holiness, widely known and celebrated by the people, and the authority of her writings. As time passed, other petitions were added to that of the German Bishops’ Conference, first and foremost the petition from the nuns of Eibingen Monastery, which bears her name. Thus, to the common wish of the People of God that Hildegard be officially canonized, was added the request that she be declared a “Doctor of the Universal Church”.
Assisted Suicide: At What Cost to the UK?
The Assisted Dying Bill 2021 is before the House of Lords and the British Medical Association has just voted for a “position of neutrality on assisted dying, including physician-assisted dying.” (The BMA is the largest union of British doctors.)
This Bill tasks doctors with the assessments, provision of poison, supervision of ingestion and supervision of the death of the terminally ill person. The BMA’s position is akin to the Taliban claiming they are “neutral” on women’s rights!
The BMA vote was painfully close — 49% voted FOR neutrality; 48% AGAINST, and 3% abstained.
Credit must be given to those who voted, because both sides have a profound empathy for the dying. That said, there can be little respect for the eight delegates who abstained.
The first cost is to the honour of British Medical Association which may have abrogated almost 200 years of Hippocratic principle on the basis of a handful of abstentions. This perfectly-timed coup means that there is radically less opposition from the medical profession as Bill-13 [HL] comes for the Second Reading in the House of Lords. Ireland has shown that opposition to Assisted Suicide legislation can be effective.
Regular, non-assisted Suicide
If there is a single concrete argument against Assisted Suicide [AS] it is the increase in regular, non-assisted suicide. There has been over 30% increase in regular suicides in the Netherlands since Euthanasia was legalized there in 2001. Similarly, there are more suicides in those US States which legalised Assisted Suicide.
By 2023 it will be legal for Canadian doctors and Nurse Practitioners to euthanise patients suffering from mental illnesses alone. All together this means that decades of suicide prevention are being flushed away.
Please listen to Lia (Garifalia) Milousis tell her poignant story in the video below. Imagine what might happen to a 2023 version of Lia.
“I’m the future version of myself who survived to tell you this.”
The media tout AS & Voluntary Euthanasia [VE] as the “strong” and “compassionate” thing to do. This is likely to lead to “suicide contagion”: the Werther Syndrome. I believe we have a responsibility to prevent someone from taking their life out of despair — not to help them do it.
Family, Friends & Community
There must be a profound sense of abandonment and loss felt by the children who are left to pick up the pieces. “Mum didn’t love me…” or, “I should had loved her more…” It will be years before we can truly assess such trauma. This trauma is likely to affect future relationships and increase regular & assisted suicide.
We have no longitudinal evidence about how AS affects family members, friends and their community. The rationalisation that “death is a private matter” can only apply to a hermit living in some desolate place, devoid of all human contact.
The disabled, the handicapped & the mentally challenged
Baroness Hale noted that “Democracy is founded on the principle that each individual has equal value. Treating some as automatically having less value than others not only causes pain and distress to that person, but also violates his or her dignity as a human being.”
Many disabled individuals have voiced their concern that they may be coerced or put under duress to accept AS, simply because it is more “cost-effective.” This happened to Canadian Roger Foley who suffers from a progressive neurological illness. He wanted to live at home but was offered AS/VE as an alternative to forced discharge or $1,800 per day charge. (He found basic home-care services inadequate for his needs.)
Palliative Care
Palliative Care will suffer when accountants see the costs of treatment versus the cheaper AS. In time the funding for ‘expensive’ palliative programs will be reduced, which in turn will drive more people to seek Assisted Suicide.
It is telling that Medical Assistance in Dying [AS/VE] in Canada is perceived to be “a Right” and is now provided universally…while palliative-care is not.
Society
The devaluation of human life means that people will be perceived as objects. That always ends badly. This leads to the acceptance of eugenics; torture; involuntary euthanasia; capital punishment, etc.
(Editor: It might be worthwhile for readers to reflect on Britain’s role in the torture in Abu Ghraib, the torture there and the denials by Blair are evocative of the moral culpability for coercive assisted suicide The greatest moral failure of Tony Blair's premiership | Andrew Rawnsley | The Guardian )
Abu Ghraib (2004) under the Bush administration.
We can see this dehumanisation creeping into attitudes towards even political opponents; Climate-Deniers; etc. As Daniel Goody said, ‘Human beings, have by their very existence, inherent value, worth, and distinction.’
Demographic Death-Knell
Most western countries have birth rates which are already way below replacement levels. A terminally ill person receiving AS will only change demographics very slightly. That calculation will change completely in Canada when younger people are euthanised for non-terminal conditions.
Health Care Workers
Caring people will leave the medical & nursing professions when they are forced to participate in a morally and ethically offensive act.
The Bill does not recommend or mandate any psychological testing for providers. In Canada, many doctors only performed one or two cases before giving up completely. Many noted an existential crisis from the killing of another human being.
The Bill does not require psychological testing of the curious few who continue to provide AS regularly. Convicted murderers, UK’s Harold Frederick Shipman and American Jack Kevorkian (“Dr. Death”) would really be in their element with legal Assisted Suicide!
Involuntary Euthanasia
In time, Health Care will attract the sociopaths who relish an ability to kill patients: some might graduate to Involuntary Euthanasia. (The killing of a patient without consent: a.k.a. murder.)
Medical Ethics
Others can better describe the damage AS/VE is causing to medical ethics and conscientious objection (noting: Ontario’s “effective referral” requirement.)
The British Medical Journal is published by the BMA and the Journal of Medical Ethics is a subsidiary of the BMJ. The JME published: “After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?” by Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva in 2011. Giubilini and Minerva suggested that infanticide (“after-birth abortion”) is ethical. This sort of tripe has been fed to BMA members over many, many years so is it any surprise they have lost their way?
Medical Education
Medical students are being taught how to kill patients before knowing how to heal properly in the first place. This means that in Canada MAiD [AS/VE] has become a regular therapeutic option.
Humanist Dr. Donald Boudreau of McGill University, said “My personal belief is that healing and euthanizing are simply not miscible.” It is only a matter of time before job requirements specify the need for applicants to provide AS/VE in all Geriatric, Palliative-Care & Family Medicine (etc.) positions.
Please listen to Dr. Leonie Herx’s succinct comments as she reviews the issues in Canada in the video below. She is a palliative-care physician, Division Chair of Queen’s Palliative Medicine & Past-President of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians.
Human Rights
There is an open season on the Right to Life throughout the developed world.
The Supreme Court of Canada redefined the ‘Right to Life’ to mean some Canadians have the “Right to Die.” Unbelievably the SCC also gave this select group of Canadians the legal right to demand their death at the hand of another citizen (VE.) As human beings we have free will — the Freedom — to kill ourselves. There is no Right to kill ourselves (and definitely we do not have a Right to require some other person to kill us.)
International Relations
The Assisted Dying Bill allows the UK to kill citizens of other countries! That might cost dearly if a country like the People’s Republic of China objects to their citizens being killed.
The Slippery Slope
Look at what has happened in the Netherlands and Canada already.
In Canada euthanasia for mental illness will be legal by 2023.
In the Netherlands euthanasia for infants was illegal but occurred for many years under the tacitly accepted Groningen Protocol. There are many other egregious examples of non-compliance with the Dutch legislation.
Conclusion
If introduced, Assisted Suicide will cost the UK dearly.
That said, take heart from the Irish experience. Strong opposition can succeed!
Dr. Kevin Hay MRCPI MRCGP (inactive) FCFP
Kevin was born in the UK, graduated from UCD and now works as a Specialist Family Physician in rural Alberta, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @kevinhay77.
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'So many children!' Pope Praises Orban's Policies
Despite a witch hunt from American media outlets and their imitators in the Irish media, Pope Francis’s recent meeting with prolife Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was a success.
Western outlets who advocate for abortion and low birth rates, lack of housing and for lower wages were disgusted that Pope Francis was entertaining someone who wanted to help families to earn a living and to grow.
As journalists tried to draw him into condemning Hungary’s new education laws and the country’s lack of cooperation with efforts by Samantha Power of the United States of America to determine European migration policies, Francis instead drew attention to the large families in Hungary’s growing population.
He defended Hungary from attacks by the European Union and made veiled references to the types of extremism that are currently emanating from the likes of Ursula Von Der Leyen and Irish politicians like Fiona O’Loughlin and Maria Walsh, the latter of whom recently landed in Budapest to march in a parade that was designed to put pressure on the government.
Francis promised to return to Hungary as soon as possible, supporting Hungary against ‘non European’ countries who are trying to use the EU to further their own ideals.
Well, thank you, thank you very much. At the beginning it was not well understood: "But you are coming only for the ceremony, and you aren't going to visit us Hungarians? And some people thought badly. No: I explained that a visit had already been planned -- it was in mind -- to Slovakia and the other began after. But I promised your President whom I met -- this is the third time I have met him -- I promised to see whether it will be possible to come back next year or the following one because the Hungarians have so many values. I was struck by the sense of ecumenism, for example that you have, but with a deep, deep, deep profundity. This is what hit me. In general, Europe - I always say this - must reassume the dreams of the founding fathers of the European Union. The European Union is not a gathering to get things done, there is a spirit behind the EU that Schuman, Adenauer, De Gasperi, these great men: go back there. Because there's the danger to be just a managment office, the European Union, and that is not good. It must move precisely toward mysticism, in search of Europe’s roots and bring it forward. And I think all the countries must move forward. It is true that there are some interests, perhaps not European ones, that attempt to use the European Union for ideological colonization, and this is not good. No: the European Union must be indepedent in and of itself, and all the countries on the same level, inspired by the dream of its Great Founders. This is my idea. And you Hungarians: I was with you last year [2 years ago] in Transylvania, that Mass in Hungarian was beautiful.
I received him, the President came to see me, he carried out this courtesy. It is the third time I have met him, and he came with the Prime Minister and the Deputy Minister. The President spoke. The first topic was ecology, really chapeau for you Hungarians, the ecological conscience that you have. He explained how they purify the rivers, things that I did not know. Then I asked about the average age, because I am worried about the demographic winter. In Italy the average age is 47, Spain I think is even worse, many villages are empty or with many elderly people. How can this be resolved? The president explained to me the law they have to help young couples to get married and have children. Interesting, it is a law that is quite similar to the French law, but more developed. They explained this to me, there they added something, the Prime Minister and the Vice-Minister about what this law is about. On immigration, nothing. Then we went back to ecology. The family, in the sense of demographics: you can see that there are so many young people, so many children. In Slovakia, too, there are many young couples. Now the challenge is to find jobs, so that they don't go abroad looking for them. But these were the things... The president always spoke, both ministers added some data. The meeting lasted quite a long time, about 40 minutes.
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Pope Francis: 'Abortion is MURDER!'
In his latest plane interview, Pope Francis has doubled down on previous rhetoric which compared abortion ‘doctors’ to ‘hitmen’, by reiterating that abortion is murder and those who avail of it or commit it are ‘killing’.
When asked about whether pro abortion politicians should be allowed to receive Communion, Francis linked abortion to Europe’s demographic decline:
Abortion: it's more than a problem, it's murder, whoever has an abortion kills, no half words. Take any book on embryology for medical students. The third week after conception, all the organs are already there, even the DNA... it is a human life, this human life must be respected, this principle is so clear! To those who cannot understand, I would ask this question: is it right to kill a human life to solve a problem? Is it right to hire a hitman to kill a human life? Scientifically it is a human life. Is it right to take it out to solve a problem? That is why the Church is so hard on this issue, because if it accepts this it would be like accepting daily murder. A Head of State told me that the demographic decline began because in those years there was such a strong law on abortion that six million abortions were performed and this left a drop in births in the society of that country.
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British Medical Association Drops Opposition to Assisted Suicide
Today, the BMA — the largest representative body/union for doctors in the UK — voted in favour of taking “a position of neutrality on assisted dying, including physician-assisted dying.”
The vote was painfully close: 49% voted FOR “neutrality” — 48% voted AGAINST, and 3% ABSTAINED. Every simpleton knows that doctors cannot possibly be “neutral” about a patient committing suicide. Doctors cannot be “neutral” when the profession is tasked to provide and supervise the poisons used by patients to kill themselves.
This decision provides enormous support for the introduction of Assisted Suicide to England and Wales (Baroness Meacher’s Bill is before the House of Lords: Scotland has their own legislation.) This vote will be used to brainwash the British people that AS is “just fine.” It will be used to bully politicians into voting in favour of the Bill.
The psychological persuasion will come in many forms. Humans are social creatures and one of the easiest forms of persuasion is the ‘Asch Conformity Syndrome’ which has been shown to work repeatedly in group dynamics. (Also, once Assisted Suicide has been introduced, it will be a small step to add Voluntary Euthanasia.)
The Nazi propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels described “The Big Lie”:
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.
All is not lost
This is a devastating blow: but Britain has been in a pickle before! Two countries can provide good example for the UK.
The Canada Medical Association also voted to be “neutral.” That allowed the legalization of Assisted Suicide and Voluntary Euthanasia in Canada without any coordinated opposition. Since 2016 many of the initial tight restrictions have been removed and by 2023 doctors in Canada will be able to euthanise those suffering from mental illnesses alone, legally. The lesson from Canada is that remaining opposition must unite and fight the introduction of Bill 13 HL — now!
The UK should take great encouragement from Ireland where the Dying with Dignity Bill 2020 failed. The Justice Committee of the Oireachtas (Ireland’s Parliament) received over 1,400 submissions which came from private citizens and professional organizations such as the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland; Irish Palliative Medicine Consultants Association; Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; Irish Society of Physicians in Geriatric Medicine; College of Psychiatrists of Ireland; Irish Healthcare Professionals for Dignity in Living and Dying, amongst others.
There are about 300,000 doctors in the UK with just over half being members of the BMA. My hope is that many will immediately resign from the BMA and join a union which opposes AS. (The next largest union is the Hospital Consultants and Specialist Association, which appears to have no stance on AS.)
For more details on the Assisted Dying Bill 2021 (Bill 13 HL) please follow the link.
Doctors and nurses must remain our patient’s advocate, counsellor, and caregiver.
We must shield our patients from coercion. We must treat suicidal patients appropriately: not kill them.
Assisted Suicide is not “end-of-life care.” It is the Ending of Life.
Dr. Kevin Hay
MRCPI MRCGP (inactive) FCFP
Kevin was born in the UK, graduated from University College Dublin and now works as a Specialist Family Physician in rural Alberta, Canada. He has been writing on Assisted Suicide & Voluntary Euthanasia for the past 5 years. You can follow him on Twitter @kevinhay77.
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Will Fianna Fail Ban Prolife Prayer?
Despite still hoovering up an obscene amount of prolife and Catholic votes in each election, Ireland’s ruling Fianna Fail party have in recent months turned their ire against both groups of their base.
First there was the instruction to law enforcement to surround entire villages in order to prevent Mass from taking place earlier in the year (on the same weekend that international sport events were taking place in Dublin), then there was the legislation which rendered outdoor Confession and Communion on the tongue as illegal and finally there was the the suggestion that the party needed to become even more pro abortion in order to bring about a reversal in plummeting voter approval ratings.
The party are now seeking to turn the screw further on its Stockholm Syndrome suffering Catholic and prolife base, by banning prolife prayer near abortuaries, an almost unheard of infringement against human rights in Europe. Despite Garda Commissioner Drew Harris insisting that current legislation on public order is sufficient to deal with such vigils, a caucus led by failed Fianna Fail politician Fiona O’Loughlin is seeking to ban Catholics from praying at such venues.
The Oireachtas Women’s Caucus sent a letter to Fiona O’Loughlin, who was rejected by voters but taken care of by Fianna Fail with a Senator position, which outlined their desire to see prolife prayer vigils banned from taking place. The letter was then passed on to self avowed ‘feminist’ and Social Democrats founder Stephen Donnelly, who has stated that he is ‘fully committed’ to having prolifers and Catholics banned from praying for an end to abortion near places where babies are destroyed in the womb.
The move to get the letter published was led by members of the Green Party, who share a special bond with their ruling Fianna Fail colleagues, having weathered the storm to force the bank bailout on the Irish people in the past decade. This pro usury act of totalitarianism was a significant part of Ireland’s decade of death, which saw birth rates successfully reduced by a quarter and abortions increase to 6,000 plus a year. Both parties were recently involved in a widely criticised rule which permitted government camera crews into Maternity Hospitals during lockdown, while keeping fathers out of the building, regardless of the condition of the mother.
Anyone who has ever come across any of these prolife vigils will know that they are prayerful, quiet and unassuming. Most actually take place on the weekends when the GPs in question are not even open. The insinuation that anything untoward is taking place there is really just the guilty conscience of the Green Party and Fianna Fail nagging at them, perhaps in the knowledge that they have caused around 15,000 abortions since 2019, not to mention many more in the decade preceding thanks to their anti family cutbacks in the service of the banking system.
Catholics and the wider community of those who oppose abortion must take their vigils directly to the Dail if this ban takes place. They should also respond in kind and make sure that Fianna Fail are denied the opportunity to stage their notorious ‘church gate collections’, where anti Catholic politicians seek financial contributions from Massgoers who mindlessly fund their own persecution out of some misplaced sense of loyalty to a party that no longer exists except in name only.
The voters roundly rejected pro abortion Fianna Fail TDs in the past year and a half and it seems likely that they will continue to do so. The party appear to have chosen abortion as the issue that eventually brings about their demise and they have chosen to pummel people of faith in the process.
Like all who have tried similar in the past 2,000 years, it will be in vain.
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The Largest Mass Execution in American History
1847 is known as one of the worst years of Ireland’s history, with the great number of victims of the so called ‘Great Famine’ perishing during the harsh conditions of that winter, with many emigrating and drowning at sea in the effort to do so.
‘Black 47’ as it came to be known at home, also saw Irishmen abroad suffering for their ethno religious identity, leading to Irish Catholics being the victims of the greatest mass execution in the history of the United States of America.
The USA was not at this time the entity that John F. Kennedy eventually managed to become President of, with prominent Catholics in every city and state, instead it was a primarily Anglo Protestant nativist culture which could often be hostile to the waves of peasant Irish Catholics arriving at its shores in large numbers.
This happened to coincide with antagonism towards another Catholic peoples, the Mexicans. In an effort to annex Texas, the United States under President James Polk went to war with Mexico, enlisting tens of thousands of immigrants to bolster the army, including Irish Catholics. Ulysses S. Grant would later say of the war:
For myself, I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger nation against a weaker nation.
Despite the good pay from the American army, some Irish Catholics quickly recognised the similarities of this struggle with their own one back home. One particular individual who saw this was John Riley, an Irish emigrant who had served and excelled in both the British and American armies. Almost as soon as war was declared, Riley defected to fight alongside his Mexican Catholic brothers. He took with him many other Irish and his own military expertise, together their battalion became known as the ‘San Patricios’, or ‘Saint Patrick’s’ Battalion.
One Mexican commander evoked Irish Catholicism as a means of appealing to potential soldiers, General Lopez De Santa Anna wrote:
The Mexican nation only looks upon you as some deceived foreigners, and hereby stretch out to you a friendly hand, offer you the felicity and fertility of their territory
Can you fight by the side of those who put fire to your temples in Boston and Philadelphia?... If you are Catholics, the same as we, if you follow the doctrines of our Saviour, why are you seen, sword in hand, murdering your brethren, why are you the antagonists of those who defend their country and your own God? You will be received under the laws of that truly Christian hospitality and good faith which Irish guests are entitled to expect and obtain from a Catholic nation
The Boston and Philadelphia ‘temples’ referred to were incidents where Anglo Protestant nativists set a number of churches and convents on fire in the previous year.
The numbers of San Patricios grew even more steady after the Battle of Monterrey, in which the American army had prepared to shell the city Cathedral.
Though small in number, their expertise was significant in the Mexican efforts, which were ultimately in vain. General Santa Anna stated that having an army composed of similar soldiers could’ve won the war. After being captured in August 1847, dozens of San Patricios faced execution. Riley escaped execution because his desertion had occurred prior to the official declaration of war. Instead, he was brutally beaten as punishment.
Irish President Michael D. Higgins with his Mexican counterpart at the memorial to the San Patricios.
Others were not so fortunate.
Between 10th and 13th September 1847, 50 men were executed. 30 were hanged on 13th September, making it the largest mass execution in United States history.
This fight was a type of precursor to the 20th Century Cristero War, where the Anglo Protestant forces of Freemasonry and the Ku Klux Klan duelled with the Knights of Columbanus (many of them Irish) and the Catholic Cristeros of Mexico.
Their battle cry could have easily been that of the San Patricios:
The Virgin Mary is our protector and defender when there is to fear
She will vanquish all demons at the cry of "Long live Christ the King!"
Soldiers of Christ: Let's follow the flag, for the cross points to the army of God!
Let's follow the flag at the cry of "Long live Christ the King!"
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Eucharistic Congress Finishes With Pope/Orban Meeting
The Eucharistic Congress 2021 has finished in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, with a large outdoor Mass with Pope Francis to cap off events.
Some of the other significant public highlights included a candlelit Eucharistic procession, attended by thousands as they passed through the Budapest streets.
As part of his trip there, Pope Francis met with Viktor Orban and discussed the future of Christianity on the continent. Orban gifted the pope with a letter from King Bela IV.
This letter had caused outrage from the American Catholic Left, who have been swift to conflate Orban with Planned Parenthood. The implication that defending your country from invasion is the same as abortion is of the type of ignorance that caused some Americans to rename ‘French Fries’ as ‘Freedom Fries’ in the early 2000s, it is the outrage at those who assert the Manifest Destiny of a nation that is always right in fighting ‘tyranny’ even when it is wrong.
Those outraged American Catholics would be better devoting their own energies to discussing the acts of their sitting Catholic president, who scorched 7 innocent children to death this past week with a drone, for no strategic or military reason. No apology, no public penance was given afterwards. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan should not be used as a tool by the Catholic left to attack those that they do not like, particularly when those that they have implicitly endorsed or defended are committing war crimes while attending daily Mass. To our knowledge, not a single member of the anti Orban American Catholic Left has condemned Biden’s war crime last week, which left a grieving father mourning the massacre of his 7 children.
Another important part of Eucharistic Congress events was the beatification of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, who lived under Communism in Poland, a pivotal figure alongside Pope John Paul II in the survival of the faith there.
Cardinal Dominik Duka, who was acquainted with the Cardinal personally, shared a photo of him praying at the blessed's tomb, a tribute to their shared survival under Communism.
The pope will travel to Slovakia today where he will also offer a public Mass.
Read how each politician voted.