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One World Religion: Pope Francis Signs Historic Covenant With Islam

By Guest Post February 10, 2019

by Michael Snyder

A historic interfaith covenant was signed in the Middle East on Monday, and the mainstream media in the United States has been almost entirely silent about it. Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb is considered to be the most important imam in Sunni Islam, and he arrived at the signing ceremony in Abu Dhabi with Pope Francis “hand-in-hand in a symbol of interfaith brotherhood”. But this wasn’t just a ceremony for Catholics and Muslims. According to a British news source, the signing of this covenant was done “in front of a global audience of religious leaders from Christianity, Islam, Judaism and other faiths”…

The pope and the grand imam of al-Azhar have signed a historic declaration of fraternity, calling for peace between nations, religions and races, in front of a global audience of religious leaders from Christianity, Islam, Judaism and other faiths.

Pope Francis, the leader of the world’s Catholics, and Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the head of Sunni Islam’s most prestigious seat of learning, arrived at the ceremony in Abu Dhabi hand-in-hand in a symbol of interfaith brotherhood.

In other words, there was a concerted effort to make sure that all of the religions of the world were represented at this gathering.

According to the official Vatican website, a tremendous amount of preparation went in to the drafting of this document, and it encourages believers from all religions “to shake hands, embrace one another, kiss one another, and even pray” with one another…

The document, signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, was prepared “with much reflection and prayer”, the Pope said. The one great danger at this moment, he continued, is “destruction, war, hatred between us.” “If we believers are not able to shake hands, embrace one another, kiss one another, and even pray, our faith will be defeated”, he said. The Pope explained that the document “is born of faith in God who is the Father of all and the Father of peace; it condemns all destruction, all terrorism, from the first terrorism in history, that of Cain.”

There is a lot of language about peace in this document, but it goes way beyond just advocating for peace.

Over and over again, the word “God” is used to simultaneously identify Allah and the God of Christianity. Here is just one example…

We, who believe in God and in the final meeting with Him and His judgment, on the basis of our religious and moral responsibility, and through this Document, call upon ourselves, upon the leaders of the world as well as the architects of international policy and world economy, to work strenuously to spread the culture of tolerance and of living together in peace; to intervene at the earliest opportunity to stop the shedding of innocent blood and bring an end to wars, conflicts, environmental decay and the moral and cultural decline that the world is presently experiencing.

On top of that, the document also boldly declares that “the diversity of religions” that we see in the world was “willed by God”…

Freedom is a right of every person: each individual enjoys the freedom of belief, thought, expression and action. The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings. This divine wisdom is the source from which the right to freedom of belief and the freedom to be different derives. Therefore, the fact that people are forced to adhere to a certain religion or culture must be rejected, as too the imposition of a cultural way of life that others do not accept;

In essence, this is saying that it is the will of God that there are hundreds of different religions in the world and that they are all acceptable in His sight.

We know that the elite want a one world religion, but to see the most important clerics from both Catholicism and Islam make such a dramatic public push for it is absolutely stunning.

You can find the full text of the covenant that they signed on the official Vatican website. I have also reproduced the entire document below…

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INTRODUCTION

Faith leads a believer to see in the other a brother or sister to be supported and loved. Through faith in God, who has created the universe, creatures and all human beings (equal on account of his mercy), believers are called to express this human fraternity by safeguarding creation and the entire universe and supporting all persons, especially the poorest and those most in need.

This transcendental value served as the starting point for several meetings characterized by a friendly and fraternal atmosphere where we shared the joys, sorrows and problems of our contemporary world. We did this by considering scientific and technical progress, therapeutic achievements, the digital era, the mass media and communications. We reflected also on the level of poverty, conflict and suffering of so many brothers and sisters in different parts of the world as a consequence of the arms race, social injustice, corruption, inequality, moral decline, terrorism, discrimination, extremism and many other causes.

From our fraternal and open discussions, and from the meeting that expressed profound hope in a bright future for all human beings, the idea of this Document on Human Fraternity was conceived. It is a text that has been given honest and serious thought so as to be a joint declaration of good and heartfelt aspirations. It is a document that invites all persons who have faith in God and faith in human fraternity to unite and work together so that it may serve as a guide for future generations to advance a culture of mutual respect in the awareness of the great divine grace that makes all human beings brothers and sisters.

DOCUMENT

In the name of God who has created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity, and who has called them to live together as brothers and sisters, to fill the earth and make known the values of goodness, love and peace;

In the name of innocent human life that God has forbidden to kill, affirming that whoever kills a person is like one who kills the whole of humanity, and that whoever saves a person is like one who saves the whole of humanity;

In the name of the poor, the destitute, the marginalized and those most in need whom God has commanded us to help as a duty required of all persons, especially the wealthy and of means;

In the name of orphans, widows, refugees and those exiled from their homes and their countries; in the name of all victims of wars, persecution and injustice; in the name of the weak, those who live in fear, prisoners of war and those tortured in any part of the world, without distinction;

In the name of peoples who have lost their security, peace, and the possibility of living together, becoming victims of destruction, calamity and war;

In the name of human fraternity that embraces all human beings, unites them and renders them equal;

In the name of this fraternity torn apart by policies of extremism and division, by systems of unrestrained profit or by hateful ideological tendencies that manipulate the actions and the future of men and women;

In the name of freedom, that God has given to all human beings creating them free and distinguishing them by this gift;

In the name of justice and mercy, the foundations of prosperity and the cornerstone of faith;

In the name of all persons of good will present in every part of the world;

In the name of God and of everything stated thus far; Al-Azhar al-Sharif and the Muslims of the East and West, together with the Catholic Church and the Catholics of the East and West, declare the adoption of a culture of dialogue as the path; mutual cooperation as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard.

We call upon intellectuals, philosophers, religious figures, artists, media professionals and men and women of culture in every part of the world, to rediscover the values of peace, justice, goodness, beauty, human fraternity and coexistence in order to confirm the importance of these values as anchors of salvation for all, and to promote them everywhere.

This Declaration, setting out from a profound consideration of our contemporary reality, valuing its successes and in solidarity with its suffering, disasters and calamities, believes firmly that among the most important causes of the crises of the modern world are a desensitized human conscience, a distancing from religious values and a prevailing individualism accompanied by materialistic philosophies that deify the human person and introduce worldly and material values in place of supreme and transcendental principles.

While recognizing the positive steps taken by our modern civilization in the fields of science, technology, medicine, industry and welfare, especially in developed countries, we wish to emphasize that, associated with such historic advancements, great and valued as they are, there exists both a moral deterioration that influences international action and a weakening of spiritual values and responsibility. All this contributes to a general feeling of frustration, isolation and desperation leading many to fall either into a vortex of atheistic, agnostic or religious extremism, or into blind and fanatic extremism, which ultimately encourage forms of dependency and individual or collective self-destruction.

History shows that religious extremism, national extremism and also intolerance have produced in the world, be it in the East or West, what might be referred to as signs of a “third world war being fought piecemeal”. In several parts of the world and in many tragic circumstances these signs have begun to be painfully apparent, as in those situations where the precise number of victims, widows and orphans is unknown. We see, in addition, other regions preparing to become theatres of new conflicts, with outbreaks of tension and a build-up of arms and ammunition, and all this in a global context overshadowed by uncertainty, disillusionment, fear of the future, and controlled by narrow-minded economic interests.

We likewise affirm that major political crises, situations of injustice and lack of equitable distribution of natural resources – which only a rich minority benefit from, to the detriment of the majority of the peoples of the earth – have generated, and continue to generate, vast numbers of poor, infirm and deceased persons. This leads to catastrophic crises that various countries have fallen victim to despite their natural resources and the resourcefulness of young people which characterize these nations. In the face of such crises that result in the deaths of millions of children – wasted away from poverty and hunger – there is an unacceptable silence on the international level.

It is clear in this context how the family as the fundamental nucleus of society and humanity is essential in bringing children into the world, raising them, educating them, and providing them with solid moral formation and domestic security. To attack the institution of the family, to regard it with contempt or to doubt its important role, is one of the most threatening evils of our era.

We affirm also the importance of awakening religious awareness and the need to revive this awareness in the hearts of new generations through sound education and an adherence to moral values and upright religious teachings. In this way we can confront tendencies that are individualistic, selfish, conflicting, and also address radicalism and blind extremism in all its forms and expressions.

The first and most important aim of religions is to believe in God, to honour Him and to invite all men and women to believe that this universe depends on a God who governs it. He is the Creator who has formed us with His divine wisdom and has granted us the gift of life to protect it. It is a gift that no one has the right to take away, threaten or manipulate to suit oneself. Indeed, everyone must safeguard this gift of life from its beginning up to its natural end. We therefore condemn all those practices that are a threat to life such as genocide, acts of terrorism, forced displacement, human trafficking, abortion and euthanasia. We likewise condemn the policies that promote these practices.

Moreover, we resolutely declare that religions must never incite war, hateful attitudes, hostility and extremism, nor must they incite violence or the shedding of blood. These tragic realities are the consequence of a deviation from religious teachings. They result from a political manipulation of religions and from interpretations made by religious groups who, in the course of history, have taken advantage of the power of religious sentiment in the hearts of men and women in order to make them act in a way that has nothing to do with the truth of religion. This is done for the purpose of achieving objectives that are political, economic, worldly and short-sighted. We thus call upon all concerned to stop using religions to incite hatred, violence, extremism and blind fanaticism, and to refrain from using the name of God to justify acts of murder, exile, terrorism and oppression. We ask this on the basis of our common belief in God who did not create men and women to be killed or to fight one another, nor to be tortured or humiliated in their lives and circumstances. God, the Almighty, has no need to be defended by anyone and does not want His name to be used to terrorize people.

This Document, in accordance with previous International Documents that have emphasized the importance of the role of religions in the construction of world peace, upholds the following:

– The firm conviction that authentic teachings of religions invite us to remain rooted in the values of peace; to defend the values of mutual understanding, human fraternity and harmonious coexistence; to re-establish wisdom, justice and love; and to reawaken religious awareness among young people so that future generations may be protected from the realm of materialistic thinking and from dangerous policies of unbridled greed and indifference that are based on the law of force and not on the force of law;

– Freedom is a right of every person: each individual enjoys the freedom of belief, thought, expression and action. The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings. This divine wisdom is the source from which the right to freedom of belief and the freedom to be different derives. Therefore, the fact that people are forced to adhere to a certain religion or culture must be rejected, as too the imposition of a cultural way of life that others do not accept;

– Justice based on mercy is the path to follow in order to achieve a dignified life to which every human being has a right;

– Dialogue, understanding and the widespread promotion of a culture of tolerance, acceptance of others and of living together peacefully would contribute significantly to reducing many economic, social, political and environmental problems that weigh so heavily on a large part of humanity;

– Dialogue among believers means coming together in the vast space of spiritual, human and shared social values and, from here, transmitting the highest moral virtues that religions aim for. It also means avoiding unproductive discussions;

– The protection of places of worship – synagogues, churches and mosques – is a duty guaranteed by religions, human values, laws and international agreements. Every attempt to attack places of worship or threaten them by violent assaults, bombings or destruction, is a deviation from the teachings of religions as well as a clear violation of international law;

– Terrorism is deplorable and threatens the security of people, be they in the East or the West, the North or the South, and disseminates panic, terror and pessimism, but this is not due to religion, even when terrorists instrumentalize it. It is due, rather, to an accumulation of incorrect interpretations of religious texts and to policies linked to hunger, poverty, injustice, oppression and pride. This is why it is so necessary to stop supporting terrorist movements fuelled by financing, the provision of weapons and strategy, and by attempts to justify these movements even using the media. All these must be regarded as international crimes that threaten security and world peace. Such terrorism must be condemned in all its forms and expressions;

– The concept of citizenship is based on the equality of rights and duties, under which all enjoy justice. It is therefore crucial to establish in our societies the concept of full citizenship and reject the discriminatory use of the term minoritieswhich engenders feelings of isolation and inferiority. Its misuse paves the way for hostility and discord; it undoes any successes and takes away the religious and civil rights of some citizens who are thus discriminated against;

– Good relations between East and West are indisputably necessary for both. They must not be neglected, so that each can be enriched by the other’s culture through fruitful exchange and dialogue. The West can discover in the East remedies for those spiritual and religious maladies that are caused by a prevailing materialism. And the East can find in the West many elements that can help free it from weakness, division, conflict and scientific, technical and cultural decline. It is important to pay attention to religious, cultural and historical differences that are a vital component in shaping the character, culture and civilization of the East. It is likewise important to reinforce the bond of fundamental human rights in order to help ensure a dignified life for all the men and women of East and West, avoiding the politics of double standards;

– It is an essential requirement to recognize the right of women to education and employment, and to recognize their freedom to exercise their own political rights. Moreover, efforts must be made to free women from historical and social conditioning that runs contrary to the principles of their faith and dignity. It is also necessary to protect women from sexual exploitation and from being treated as merchandise or objects of pleasure or financial gain. Accordingly, an end must be brought to all those inhuman and vulgar practices that denigrate the dignity of women. Efforts must be made to modify those laws that prevent women from fully enjoying their rights;

– The protection of the fundamental rights of children to grow up in a family environment, to receive nutrition, education and support, are duties of the family and society. Such duties must be guaranteed and protected so that they are not overlooked or denied to any child in any part of the world. All those practices that violate the dignity and rights of children must be denounced. It is equally important to be vigilant against the dangers that they are exposed to, particularly in the digital world, and to consider as a crime the trafficking of their innocence and all violations of their youth;

– The protection of the rights of the elderly, the weak, the disabled, and the oppressed is a religious and social obligation that must be guaranteed and defended through strict legislation and the implementation of the relevant international agreements.

To this end, by mutual cooperation, the Catholic Church and Al-Azhar announce and pledge to convey this Document to authorities, influential leaders, persons of religion all over the world, appropriate regional and international organizations, organizations within civil society, religious institutions and leading thinkers. They further pledge to make known the principles contained in this Declaration at all regional and international levels, while requesting that these principles be translated into policies, decisions, legislative texts, courses of study and materials to be circulated.

Al-Azhar and the Catholic Church ask that this Document become the object of research and reflection in all schools, universities and institutes of formation, thus helping to educate new generations to bring goodness and peace to others, and to be defenders everywhere of the rights of the oppressed and of the least of our brothers and sisters.

In conclusion, our aspiration is that:

this Declaration may constitute an invitation to reconciliation and fraternity among all believers, indeed among believers and non-believers, and among all people of good will;

this Declaration may be an appeal to every upright conscience that rejects deplorable violence and blind extremism; an appeal to those who cherish the values of tolerance and fraternity that are promoted and encouraged by religions;

this Declaration may be a witness to the greatness of faith in God that unites divided hearts and elevates the human soul;

this Declaration may be a sign of the closeness between East and West, between North and South, and between all who believe that God has created us to understand one another, cooperate with one another and live as brothers and sisters who love one another.

This is what we hope and seek to achieve with the aim of finding a universal peace that all can enjoy in this life.

Abu Dhabi, 4 february 2019

His Holiness
Pope Francis The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar
Ahmad Al-Tayyeb

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Catholic

Why Thomas Aquinas Stands the Test of Time

By Guest Post January 29, 2019

by Casey Chalk

The 2016 data breach of the personal Gmail account of John Podesta, chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, garnered much attention from Catholics. They took umbrage at an email exchange discussing the possibility of a “Catholic Spring” aimed at fundamentally changing their identity and beliefs. In that conversation, John Halpin, a Catholic and fellow at the Center for American Progress, noted that many “powerful elements” in conservatism are Catholic. He speculated that “they must be attracted to the systematic thought,” and added, “they can throw around ‘Thomistic’ thought and ‘subsidiarity’ and sound sophisticated because no one knows what the hell they’re talking about.”

I’m not sure Halpin knows “what the hell” Thomistic thought is, but I certainly wish he—and all Americans—did. Thomism, 745 years since the great theologian’s death, remains perhaps the best philosophical system available to the West.

As I’ve argued elsewhere at TAC, we are all philosophers in the sense that we all develop, either consciously or subconsciously, a system of thought for evaluating ourselves, the world around us, and what counts as truth. We make choices, form opinions, and offer arguments, all based on philosophical presuppositions. When we go with “what works,” we channel the pragmatism of William James and John Dewey. When we seek to maximize sensual pleasure and minimize pain, we are drinking from the well of John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism. When we act off of scientifically verifiable data, we are the intellectual heirs of empiricist David Hume. Those who believe morality can be changed by will honor the memory of Friedrich Nietzsche. And those who reduce human persons to their economic output have embraced the thinking of Karl Marx.

There are fundamental problems with all of these philosophies. One error that unites them is a belief, either explicit or implicit, in materialism, or the idea that man (and reality) is reducible solely to what is material, what can be sensed, and what can be empirically studied. Even that which separates man from all other animals—his intellect and will—are explained away as physical properties. Yet without an intellect and will, appeals to an essential human dignity quickly collapse. We are all just a bunch of colliding atoms in a universe of colliding atoms. It’s just that our atoms are a bit more evolved and sophisticated than everything else.

Thus do all these philosophical systems tend to dehumanize man and overemphasize certain goods at the expense of others. For example, pace the pragmatists and utilitarians, of course we should prefer things that work over things that don’t work and pleasure over pain. But sometimes what “works” isn’t immediately perceptible to our senses. Additionally, the greatest pleasures in life sometimes require great sacrifice and suffering. Making decisions based on empirical data is a good, but not all things worthy of our attention can be empirically derived (e.g. the arts, human love, knowledge of eternal truth). There is something to Nietzsche’s argument that knowledge can be an instrument of power, but his claim that reality as we know it is simply an artificial creation of our minds unravels when one asks whether his own presuppositions are really real or just perspectives he has created and thus just as ephemeral as everything he attacks. Marx was right to recognize that man’s economic output contributes to his dignity and value—but it certainly isn’t the sum of his worth.

Who can save us amid this messiness? I would offer Aquinas. His philosophy doesn’t get as much attention as other philosophers, and certainly not as much as those of the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment. When Americans think of Aquinas, if they ever do, they’re more inclined to think of his role in Christian theology, especially his contribution to the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. Perhaps if they’ve taken introductory theology or philosophy courses, they’re aware of his famous “Five Ways,” or proofs of the existence of God, which prominent New Atheist Richard Dawkins sought to take to task (and failed) in his bestselling book The God Delusion.

Yet Aquinas is a philosopher par excellence who is worthy of our attention. He stands tall on his own merits as the one who “was able to provide the principles,” to quote French philosopher Pierre Manent, for political communities governed by reason and grace. Yet his value also lies in the larger intellectual project of which he is a part. By this I mean that Aquinas, in a way that was perhaps unprecedented in the 12th and 13th centuries, consolidates the wisdom of the Western tradition into a coherent whole. He draws upon an impressive variety of sources. Certainly Holy Scripture and earlier theologians like Augustine, John of Damascus, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Anselm loom large in his work, though he is also incredibly well-versed in the history of philosophy.

It was Thomas who “baptized” Aristotle by appropriating significant chunks of his philosophy, including such concepts as act and potency, hylemorphism, the four causes, essence and existence, transcendentals, and being. Even Aquinas’s proofs for God’s existence, as many Thomists have noted, are drawing upon Aristotelian premises. He also builds his philosophical system upon the shoulders of Plato, Cicero, Boethius, Avicenna, Averroes, Al-Ghazali, Maimonides, and John Scotus Eriugena. This enterprise reflects conservatism at its best: studying, honoring, and incorporating the very best of our intellectual forebears, while carefully and humbly critiquing where they went astray.

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Church

Bergoglio Knew . . . Everything

By Terence Gillespie August 30, 2018

Taylor Marshall’s explanation of the Catholic Crisis is so accessible and succinct I thought a transcription of it would be the perfect way to bring non-Catholics up to speed on just what in the world is going on.

Below, see Taylor’s video and, below that, a full transcription of it to make for quicker apprehension.

In short, Bergoglio knew everything. He knew about the Vatican Bank scandal, and he knew the names and details about the widespread homosexual infestation of the Catholic church up through its highest levels.

Unfortunately for Bergoglio, he not only ignored the warnings of the cardinals and papal nuncios reporting to him but promoted the guilty into positions of vast influence.

The real crisis, then, is Bergoglio’s non-Christ-like behavior in just about every way that matters, except for appearances.

Bergoglio is Probably Not the Pope

According to Catholic Canon law 188, if Ratzinger’s (Benedict XVI) resignation was invalid (made out of grave fear that is inflicted unjustly or out of malice, substantial error, or simony), then Ratzinger is still the rightful sitting pope. What does that make Bergoglio? The proper Catholic term for Bergoglio would be an anti-pope.

The recent testimony by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who was a direct eye-witness and in the catbird seat for everything, leaves Bergoglio with few options for maintaining credibility, outside of resignation.

Why did Pope Benedict Resign? McCarrick, Vigano and Vatican Bank Scandals Explained in Detail

Transcript:

Why did Pope Benedict XVI resign the papacy on February 28, 2013?

This has been a big mystery for most of us, but we now have many more clues in the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI because of the testimony of Archbishop Viganò.

Viganò was at Ground Zero when the Vatican Bank scandal broke out in 2010-2011. This led to the VatiLeaks scandal and more scandals culminating in this 300-page dossier that was presented to Pope Benedict XVI months before he resigned.

And so, Viganò has really opened this up, and his role in this recent testimony isn’t new; it actually goes back into his days with Benedict XVI in 2010 with the scandal at the Vatican Bank.

So, let’s look at what the Vatican Bank is.

Now, the Vatican Bank is officially known as the IOR, Institute for works of religion. IOR stands for the Latin Institutum pro Operibus Religionis, that’s the Institute of Works of Religion.

Now, in newspapers and the news, they call it the Vatican Bank. I’m gonna use the term Vatican Bank and IOR interchangeably; they refer to the same Institute.

Now, the IOR was founded in 1942 by Pope Pius the 12th. So it’s a new Institute. It’s recent within the last 100 years. And what’s interesting about the IOR is it’s not the property of the Holy See. It remains outside the jurisdiction of the prefecture for the economic affairs of the Holy See. This makes it independent, and therefore many people have conspiracies about what it is and how it works.

Now the IOR is governed by a commission of five Cardinals and a lay board of superintendents. Now let’s look at the scandal of the IOR the Vatican Bank going back to the year 2009.

In 2009 Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the same Viganò released the 11-page document accusing Cardinals, and yes even Pope Francis himself. In 2009 he was appointed by Pope Benedict to the Secretary General of the Vatican City governor. This elevated Viganò to be the second-ranked Vatican administrator to Pope Benedict XVI to the secretary of state.

From 2009 to 2010, under Viganò’s leadership, the Vatican City went from a 10.5 million negative deficit to a 44 million positive surplus under Viganò’s supervision.

How did that happen, was Viganò really good at the stock market? No, it seems this 54 million dollar swing into the black, into the positive, was in fact not great investing but the consolidating of hidden funds; hidden funds that were being used all over the place in Vatican City without oversight, off the books, not audited, not being accounted.

And so it seems that Viganò and those with him consolidated all of these accounts and put them into one place to be seen. And so, suddenly, the Vatican City went from a negative 10.5 million deficit to a 44 million dollar surplus. 54 million dollars, the equivalent of US dollars, suddenly appeared in the Vatican checking account.

Not surprisingly, in September of 2010, that same year, the Italian government seized 23 million euros from the Vatican Bank, from the IOR, and alleged that there was money laundering conspiracy going on with the IOR. It fell under the anti-money laundering laws of Italy.

About 6 months after the money was seized on March 27th, 2011 archbishop Viganò, the same Viganò, addressed a letter to Pope Benedict the 16th describing the financial corruption in the Vatican Bank, the IOR.

Then a few months later on May 8, 2011, Archbishop Viganò addressed a second letter this time to the Cardinal Secretary of the state again describing financial corruption in the Vatican Bank.

Now just a few weeks later, Rome’s Attorney General released the 23 million euros, those assets, back into the Vatican Bank. So, the charges of money laundering were dismissed or taken care of, somehow.

A few months after that onAugust 13th, 2011 Pope Benedict XVI removes Viganò from within the Secretariat of state and instead appoints him as papal nuncio to the United States of America where he will live in Washington DC next to Cardinal McCarrick and Cardinal Wuerl. Reuters reported that Viganò was unwilling to take this assignment but Benedict the 16th insisted, and so Viganò said yes.

Why did Pope Benedict do this? Well, it seems that Pope Benedict knew that he could trust him to go and make an honest investigation into the alleged corruption of the infamous Cardinal McCarrick. We now know that because of the 11-page testimony that Viganò released. Again, now with this new document if it’s true these stray ends are coming together and being wrapped up.

After Archbishop Viganò was sent to Washington DC some hierarchs in Vatican City issued a statement against him and here’s what it said:

“The unauthorized publication of two letters of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the first addressed to the Holy Father on March 27, 2011, the second to the Cardinal Secretary of State on May 8, for the Governorate of Vatican City is a source of great bitterness”. It continued, “The allegations contained in them can not but lead to the impression that the Governorate of Vatican City, instead of being an instrument of responsible government, is an unreliable entity, at the mercy of dark forces. After careful examination of the contents of the two letters, the President of the Governorate sees it as its duty to publicly declare that those assertions are the result of erroneous assessments, or fears based on unsubstantiated evidence, even openly contradicted by the main characters invoked as witnesses”.

So, these Cardinals and secretaries of the Vatican state issued the statement directly against Viganò, and they call Viganò a liar. So was Viganò a liar? Was their corruption at the IOR, the Vatican Bank or was there not?

Well, just a few months after this happened in May 2012 a journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published a book called “His Holiness: the secret papers of Pope Benedict XVI.” This is the controversy known as Vatileaks, it’s like WikiLeaks, but it’s the Vatican, the VatiLeaks scandal. And this book included letters by none other than Archbishop Viganò.

Just a few days later on May 23rd, 2012 the Pope’s Butler Paolo Gabriele, a was arrested by Vatican police, not Italian police, but by the police force of Vatican City itself. And the next day he was charged. And on the very next day May 24, 2012, the head of the Vatican Bank was fired. So they arrested the butler and then the next day they fired the head of the Vatican Bank. That head or president of the Vatican Bank was Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, and the reason given was “failure to provide any formal explanation for the dissemination of documents last known to be in the president’s possession.”

A couple months later, August13, 2012, Pope Benedict’s Butler, Paolo Gabriele, was indicted by Vatican magistrates for aggravated theft. On October 6 the butler, Paolo Gabriele, was found guilty of theft and was sentenced to a reduced sentence of 18 months inside the Vatican. And usually, these punishments are not in a dungeon in the Vatican. They are living in Vatican City under house arrest.

And on December 22nd, 2012, interestingly enough, Pope Benedict the sixteenth pardoned his Butler Paolo Gabriele. So Paolo the Butler receives a papal pardon.

Now while all of this is going on, the VatiLeaks, Pope Benedict XVI is unnerved, and he commissioned an investigation. He chooses three of his most trusted cardinals to do an investigation on the irregularities the Vatican Bank and to find out who these people are. And these three Cardinals were Cardinal Herranz, he’s a Spanish Cardinal and member of Opus Dei, and he served as the chair of this investigation committee. Also Cardinal Joseph Tomko, he’s Slovak, and he’s bi-ritual, he serves in the Roman Rite and the Eastern Churches I think the Byzantine jurisdiction, but I’m not quite sure on that. And then also Salvatore de Georgi is an Italian.

These three men did a secret investigation for Pope Benedict XVI. They prepared a 300-page dossier inside of a red binder and presented it to Pope Benedict XVI on December17th, 2012. This red binder with 300 pages in it documented financial corruption but also deep moral corruption; allegedly describing Vatican hierarchs and Cardinals dressed in drag with lewd details about them given by Roman male prostitutes.

And so at this point, it becomes clear to Pope Benedict that the financial irregularities are also related to moral irregularities related to homosexuality inside the walls of Vatican City.

By the way, December 17th, the day he receives this red binder dossier and reads it, is the day reported that Pope Benedict XVI realized I am not up for this challenge I’m going to resign.

Just to make a connection the binder was given on December 17, 2012. It was on December 22nd, five days later, that Pope Benedict pardoned his Butler Paolo. And this has led some including myself to wonder perhaps the leak was on purpose. Why would the Butler do all this if he’s a very close friend to Ratzinger Benedict and then go through the whole process of a trial and then get pardoned within days of this binder by Benedict XVI? It’s a little unclear, but something’s going on there as well.

Now just a couple weeks after he receives the binder and reportedly decides to resign pressure is placed upon him. On January 1st, 2013 the ATM machines inside Vatican City, these are the machines that people who work there used to get cash to get money, they cease to work and all the Vatican bank accounts are reportedly closed; so much so that the Sistine Chapel the Vatican Museums can only accept cash because the systems are down.

On February 11th, so a month in eleven days later, Pope Benedict XVI announces publicly that he is going to resign at the papacy. The very next day on February 12, 2013, a Swiss company called the Aduno Group takes over the operation of the Vatican ATM cash machine and by doing so circumvents the Italian and EU regulatory pressures.

On February 28th Pope Benedict officially resigned at the papacy, and we entered into an interregnum.

On March 13, 2013, Pope Francis was elected by the College of Cardinals. What’s interesting is just a few months after the election of Pope Francis in June 2013 the money-laundering case against the ex-head of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was dropped. And around the same time, Pope Francis appointed Monsignor Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca as the interim head for the Vatican Bank.

So, why did Pope Benedict XVI resign? Well, going back to 2009-2010 there’s a shake-up in the Holy See with the Vatican Bank and who is right there in the middle at the bull’s-eye? Viganò. Viganò is the one that’s shaking things up, and it leads to secular intervention and an accusation of money laundering. The head of the Vatican Bank ends up getting fired. Viganò ends up being pulled out of the Secretary of State and sent over to the United States of America. But 54 million dollars have come into the Vatican Bank, and there’s a lot of questions and the VatiLeaks begins to break that open and that, in turn, leads to Benedict discovering the moral rot of sexual deviancy within the walls of the Vatican. Something he may have suspect or not but becomes clear when those three Cardinals present a 300-page binder on to his desk.

So really it was a four-punch knockout. First off, Viganò blows the whistle on alleged money laundering; two, the accusation of money laundering leads to the VatiLeaks scandal; three, the VatiLeaks scandal leads Benedict to form a secret investigation with three Cardinals; and then four, those three Cardinals expose moral rot, sexual deviancy, that’s been paired up with financial irregularity. This is what moves the Pope to resignation. And just to make sure there’s enough pressure on him to actually do it and to do it quick something funny goes on with the Vatican banks beginning on January 1st, 2013. And it seems that the powerful Cardinals, the powerful hierarchs within Vatican City, wanted it to happen fast because they don’t want the contents of that 300-page dossier released to the public because there is moral scandal in those pages.

Now, that binder was left for the successor of Benedict who is Pope Francis, but nothing has been done. And what we’ve seen in the years to follow is that those who were opposed to Benedict XVI, theologically but also on administration, have been reinstalled, reinstated and promoted. Viganò says that Benedict XVI put sanctions on Cardinal McCarrick in Washington DC and that Pope Francis reversed them.

If that’s the case we can see that within the walls of Vatican City, not just Cardinals working secretly, but Pope Francis himself, has been undermining the investigation that was prompted by Viganò as far back as 2010.

So where do we stand now? Well, we had this 11-page document that Viganò has released to the public and it connects the dots, morally. He doesn’t go into the financials; a lot of that stuff is already out in the public though no one knows about it. But, if you go back into the VatiLeaks story, you’re gonna see Viganò is all over it.

Could Viganò be lying? He could be, and if so all this falls apart. It could just be that he’s been a troublemaker from the very beginning. But if he’s telling the truth and other Vatican officials and other Cardinals come forward and attest to what Viganò has been telling us then this pontificate of Pope Francis is in big, big trouble.

So there it is Archbishop Viganò and the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.

If this helps you get some clarity or connect the dots, please like it, share it, subscribe to this channel. But more importantly pray the rosary, go to confession, draw near to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Do not lose faith, do not lose charity, do not give in to hate. Use this as a time to offer up great sacrifice because if these things are true, we are in a very difficult epoch of Catholic Church history.

Again thanks so much for watching god bless you see you in a future video.