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Hands & Fingers

Vestments

Obelisk

Catholic Calendar
2005

 


Caritas - Papal Office
by His Holiness Pope Pius XIII
December 5, 2004
Issue 047 

REPARATION FOR SURREPTITIOUS OFFENCES

When We accepted the office of the Papacy, determined by the papal election of October 24, 1998, We made the customary CORONATION OATH OF THE POPE which is as follows:

We Vow to change nothing of the received tradition, and nothing thereof We have found before Us guarded by Our God-pleasing predecessors to encroach, to alter (change), or to permit any innovation therein:
To the contrary; with glowing affection as Her truly faithful student and successor, to reverently safeguard the passed on good, with Our whole strength and utmost effort;
To cleanse all that is in contradiction with canonical order that may surface;
To guard the holy canons and decrees of our Popes likewise as Divine Ordinances of heaven, because We are conscious of Thee, Whose place We take through the grace of God, Whose Vicarship We possess with Thy support, being subject to severest accounting before Thy divine tribunal over all that We confess.
If We should undertake to act in anything contrary sense, or should permit that it will be executed, Thou wilst not be merciful to Us on the dreadful day of Divine Justice.
Accordingly, without exclusion we subject to severest excommunication anyone – be it Our self or be it another - who would dare to undertake anything new in contradiction to this constituted evangelical tradition and the unity of Orthodox Faith and the Christian Religion, or [who] would seek to change anything by his opposing efforts, or [who] would concur with those who undertake such blasphemous ventures.
(Liber Diurnus Romanorum Pontificum. P. L105, S. 54.)

For quite some time We have carried in Our heart a nagging concern about a problem in the Church, concerning what seems to be silent treachery. We grew up in the Church and have lived in the Church for all Our life, and We never suspected that there is so much that needs attention.

We shall start with a problem that is obvious to anyone who has ever seen pictures taken in the Vatican. Let Us explain it as it was thrown at Us as a simple priest, long before Our becoming the Pope.

A Catholic girl went on a class tour in Europe, and one stop was the Vatican. She brought home photographs of scenes in the Vatican. Having seen them her father asked Us, “Father can you tell me how it is that they can have pictures in the Vatican which you and I are forbidden to have in our homes?” She was speaking of the nudity that is in the pictures on the walls and ceilings of the Vatican. We had visited the Vatican on a stop-over on the way home from Japan where We served as a missionary. We saw the picture of Adam, just as he was created in his innocence, that is, naked to the full exposure of his privates. We felt ashamed to be there, but We just shrugged it off because the Pope lived there, and he lived with it.

Afterwards, We learned that Michelangelo was criticized for drawing those various nude paintings. In fact, the tour guide told the story that Michelangelo was so angry with the critical Cardinal that in the picture over the altar in the Sistine Chapel he drew the Cardinal burning in hell. Obvious, being on the tour We saw that drawing.

From the time of Michelangelo to this day, that dispute continues, and We do not remember that any Pope has ever seriously took on that messy problem. The scandal just continues with those who condemn it, and those who like Michelangelo, call it chaste art.

Since We are not comfortable with the mantra that the nudity drawn by an artist is chaste art, We are forced to call it as We see it, namely, it is impure (immodest) art, and it its present form has no place in the Church. We are told that for years the nudity was covered over by adding (with a paint brush) bits of clothing. Well, the artists have removed that again in order to display what they call art.

If, perchance, in the providence of God, We can occupy the Vatican, We shall take steps to either remove the nude objects or cover them in such a way that there is no nudity. In catechisms for children We have seen the creative act of God in paradise with Adam behind trees. We pray to God that He helps Us in this work in His service. It is not in Our power here and now to do anything about it. No Catholic may disseminate pictures of an immoral nature, regardless of their source.


Hands and Fingers

The topic of hand and finger symbols is so great that a whole pamphlet would be needed to give you a full understanding of it and why it is a problem in the Church. Members of secret (forbidden) societies are accustomed to communicate with agreed upon symbols. Thus a Masonic clergyman who is not known by members of that diabolical society makes himself known by the way he shakes hands. Thus he is known by those in the satanic club, and he is unknown by those of his otherwise good and holy society – as the case may be. We are shocked when photographs give away the identity of otherwise great crusaders of good causes.

We have the explanation of evil symbols from the book Masonic and Occult Symbols Illustrated, by Dr. Cathy Burns, 212E. 7th St. (Y), Mt Carmel, PA 17851-2211, copyright 1998, third printing 1999. The book serves the general public by exposing the cursed Masonic and Occult symbols.

This problem came into play in Catholic art and is so insidious that over the centuries, only those in the know have observed it. It is the way hands and fingers are drawn on persons in holy pictures, statues and the like. It is nothing new, for it is found in statues and pictures that are many hundred years old. There are no exceptions for persons, for the distortions are also on images of Our Lord and Our Blessed Virgin.

The hand aberration is called “The Devil’s Triad” and is made thusly: the four fingers of one or both hands make a symbol where the middle two fingers are put together, and the first finger and little finger are split off to the sides. Dr. Burns says: “The Devil’s Triad is a recognition sign among Satanists and witches. Remember that Satan (or Pan) is called ‘The horned God,’ so that the hand signal is formed so as to resemble horns.” The symbol is in its perfection when the middle two fingers are bent down and the first finger and little finger are extended. Diabolically cunning artists find a way to incorporate that aberrant hand position into their works of supposed “Catholic” art.

Next, We shall instruct you about the aberration of finger position with regard to blessings, that is, blessings seen given by some prior popes. This finger position, found on page 232 in Dr. Cathy Burns’ book, shows the first two fingers held up, and the thumb is over the other two fingers curled down. Behind that pose is the shadow of the sign, which is the face of Satan. We quote Dr. Burns as follows: “The Pope makes this sign frequently especially when giving blessings.” Be it known to one and all that by Our command, this is no longer done.

By the way, We have a holy picture of the Blessed Virgin with that identical pose. You also find it in the pictures and statues of the Infant Jesus of Prague. We have two official pictures of Pope Pius XII, one where his hand is extended and the other where it is just at his side. Dr. Burns notes that Pope Pius XII was known to use that aberrant hand position in the giving of his blessing. We are supposing that he used it in good faith (as We did for a while also, in good faith), not knowing the occult meaning of that pose.

What is especially galling to Us is this. The various hand symbols are not always perfectly produced, but they are in a veiled form almost everywhere. You can find those symbols on Holy Pictures, on statues, and even on Christmas cards. What is so insidious is that those symbols are used by those in the occult as means to give a curse, that is, to bring harm to those to whom they are directed. We as Catholics must have nothing to do with cursing. We have everything to do with blessings. As you know, blessings are to bring God’s favor and assistance to us so that we make it safely to heaven. Let Us state the reality of occultism. Occults live and die giving curses. They do the work of Satan.

It is just terrible to have evil persons slip their curse symbols into the most Catholic of objects. It is painful for Us to expose the negligence of those who have gone before Us.

We have a wonderful book by Leonard Goffine explaining Sunday Gospels and Epistles written in German, and Our English translation is dated 1880. The otherwise devotional pictures show many instances of that symbol, “The Devil’s Triad,” in some veiled way. We are reminded of Our Lord’s parable of he cockle among the wheat. We cannot pull it out of all the places where it is found, but We can tell you of the problem so that no more such seeds are planted. Henceforth, hand and finger poses for statues and pictures must be natural without the incorporation of satanic signs.

Whether you like it or not, symbols show one’s culture and even moral value. If your child comes home after learning from his fellow playmates how to thumb his nose, you make sure that he is corrected and told never to that again.


Vestments

All through history ministers of religion have decked themselves out with beautiful and symbol laden image or icons. The high priests of the Old Testament were decked out in royal splendor. Likewise in the New Testament, the clergy – Pope, bishops and priests – are decked out in vestments fitted for various ceremonies. We have Mass vestments, the cope for Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and so forth.

All this is done in order to aid the clergy and faithful to draw near to God. The opposite type of garb was impressed on Us when We, for the first time, chanced to see a priest in the Novus Ordo (Vatican II Church) saying Mass in a short sleeved shirt and trousers, vested with only a simple stole. Liberalism and modernism induce people to break lose from nearly all-sensible formalities.

For quite some years new trends have entered into the shape of vestments and also the symbols drawn on the vestments. The symbol that deserves the greatest criticism is then new type of crosses that are place (drawn) on the vestments.

Universally you find on very old vestments that all the crosses on the vestments were straight up and down, and straight left to right (as a cross is made). Some had the body of Christ on the crosses. Others had other symbols of devotion, such as the I H S. There are two cross forms that We must condemn. One has the long bar from top to bottom which is all right. But the angle of the side arms of the cross make a devils foot out of the cross. The other cross is identical except that the position above the center is missing, making a simple V on the top of the ornamental band.

We refer again to Masonic and Occult Symbols Illustrated (given above) on pages 235 to 238. The cross is depicted both upright and upside down. And it is explained as follows: “The peace symbol (also called the ‘broken cross,’ ‘crow’s foot,’ ‘witch’s foot,’ ‘Nero Cross,’ ... ‘Symbol of the anti-Christ’ is actually the cross with the arms broken. It also signifies the ‘gesture of despair,’ and the ‘death of man.’”

We quote again: “Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, used the peace symbol as the backdrop for his altar.”

There is neither need nor call for the use of the crow’s foot diagram on Catholic vestments. Hence, We forbid it use in producing new vestments and symbols for Church use where ever they are to be found.

Our concern is two fold. First recognize the cockle (diabolical sign) now in the Catholic field, and secondly to stop planting any more. We ask God to pardon the negligence, which permitted those things to get into Church art. The sneaky thing is this. There are just very small changes in the fingers to bring about that insult to God. Every bishop or superior in charge of Church printings, is bound in conscience to demand that anything, especially when it receives an imprimatur, never more is produced with diabolical symbols. Now the common sense thing to do is to act as Our Lord pointed out in the parable of the cockle that was found in the wheat. He said that an enemy did that, and We will not try to remove all of it with violence, but let both grow until the harvest when the weeds will be burned and the wheat will be brought into the barn (into heaven).


Obelisk

Anyone who has visited the Vatican or some very old state or Protestant cemeteries will remember that he was greeted by pillars, known as obelisks. Such things are as old as Satan himself. In Deuteronomy 12, 3 it reads: “Overthrow their altars, and bread down their statues: burn their groves, etc.” After the idolatry was cleared out, God commanded in Verse 6, “and you shall offer in that place your holocausts and victims…” All their artifices are to be kept off all vestments, off all pictures and the like.

Moreover, man is to honor God by the highest forms of art in all the disciplines, be that literature, music, architecture and the like. The use of hippy music played on guitars with skimpily dressed dancing girls for a liturgical dance is blasphemous. Such activities are readily found in the Novus Ordo. Holiness must be clothed in the best man can offer God – in adoration, thanksgiving, expiation and petition. In the Old Testament sacrifices, even bits of rotten wood, by law could not be use in the burning of the sacrificial victims.

In Dr. Burn’s book Masonic and Occult Symbols illustrated on page 432 one finds a picture of the Vatican in Rome with a large pillar or obelisk in the center of the encircled yard before the Basilica of St. Peter. We also visited that sacred and memorable place, and We were told that the obelisk was brought there from Egypt. How strange that it should come from so far away when Italy has so much of fine stone. It is breath-taking to learn that that obelisk was a pagan altar, honoring the phallus of the pagan god, Osiris. The account given by Dr. Burns is as follows: “The red granite obelisk of the Vatican is itself 83 feet high (132 feet high with its foundation) and weighs 320 tons. In 1586, in order to center it in front of the Church in St. Peter’s square, it was moved to it present location by order of Pope Sixtus V. Of course moving this heavy obelisk – especially in those days – was a very difficult task. Many movers refused to attempt the feat, especially since the Pope had attached the death penalty if the obelisk was dropped and broken.

“Finally a man by the name of Domenico Fontana accepted the responsibility. With 45 winches, 160 horses, and a crew of 800 workmen, the task of moving began on September 10, 1586. Multitudes covered the extensive square. While the obelisk was being moved, the crowd, upon penalty of death, was required to remain silent. But after the obelisk was successfully erected. There was a sound of hundreds of bells ringing, the roar of cannons, and the loud cheers of the multitude.” That was 418 years ago. We know the above history, and We hold that no amount of pious ignorance over the centuries can sanctify a pagan altar. Hence, in accordance with the command of God in Deuteronomy 12, 3 We, in union with God’s command, do command: “Overthrow their altars: break down their statues…” In place of the obelisk we must place either a statue of Our Lord Jesus Christ or that of St. Peter.

Once again We expose and condemn abuses that crept into Catholic practices. What can be removed is to be removed, and what cannot be removed (as some kind of cockle) will have to be ignored. At the same time, any new pictures and states that are produced in the future must conform to right reason and true Catholic devotion. It is incumbent on both those who produce works of art and on the superiors who use their art, to know the machinations of satanic world.

Even outside of divine worship, Catholics (really all men of good will) may not use satanic symbols, as for example, using the Masonic V sign with the first two fingers, signing V for victory. Our faith and common sense must guide us in our daily lives and especially in our relations to God.


Catholic Calendar 2005

All Catholics are to order their Catholic Calendars from Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, P.O. Box 250, Clarksburg, OH 43115: (704) 993-2189. The price, including the postage, is 1 to 5 = $5.50 ea, 6 to 11 = $5.00 ea, and 11 on = $4.50 ea.

Finally, We send all of you Our kind greetings for a very blessed Christmas. May Our Divine Savior, on this anniversary of His birth, give all you all the gifts and grace you need and desire in order to make it to heaven, where all the angels and saints experience the supernatural joy that come from the beatific vision, forever.

Pius, pp. XIII
December 5, 2004

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