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Latenews: Revised 05/04/2000

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On this page: | About Breaking Catholic News | Papal Phone Cards | Aftermarket Papal Junk | Vatican Ratlines Revisited | Another Pedophile Priest | The New Catholic "Jesus" | Aids Epidemic Among Priests | Holy Billboards? | Catholic Group Distributes Chick Tract | Pope's Satanic Cross | Catholic Apologist Calls for Book Burning | New Catholic Talisman |

About Breaking Catholic News

This page of the Roman Catholic Observer is devoted to interesting current developments in the Roman Catholic Church. While I strive to maintain a high degree of decorum throughout this site, on this page I shall allow myself to be tongue-in-cheek. Heck, everyone needs an outlet. Some of the things I find in both secular and ecclesiastical magazines and newspapers cause me to laugh out loud, or to groan in amazement. Herewith late breaking Roman Catholic news.


Papal Phone Cards

[Added November 11, 1999]

Now you can buy your very own Papal Prepaid Phone Card, complete with JP2's photo - for only $15.US! As he models himself after Jesus Christ as His Vicar on earth, our pope now offers a series of four phone cards, each with a different picture of himself. The cards also include JP2's signature, his official seal, and a blessing to boot. Hmm. I wonder if the blessing expires after you've used-up the 75 minutes of phone time on the card?

The holy phone card deal was made between the Vatican and Siesta Telecom, of Sarasota Florida. The kickback is $1. per card to the Vatican. Chances are you'll be able to get yours at your local Roman Catholic Church as well as from other outlets.

These holy phone cards should be a big hit with faithful Roman Catholics. After all, why buy an ordinary phone card when you can get one that comes with a papal blessing? Be sure to collect all four! And stay tuned, because the "PopeCard - Part Two" releases are sure to follow. In fact, at least four more are in the works.

Interesting. How Christlike. I wonder if they come with indulgences?

[Source: Scripps Howard News Service; reported in The Patriot Ledger, Nov. 11, 1999, Quincy, Massachusetts]

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Aftermarket Papal Junk

[Added November 11, 1999]

Following Christ's injunction to be in the world but not of the world (Jn 15:19; James 4:4), Pope JP2 is the focal center of an array of the same genre of trinkets and junk items that surround popular performers and cartoon characters. The Vatican has sanctioned JP2's aftermarket memorabilia, which includes papal socks, scarves, T-shirts, water bottles, fanny packs, glow-in-the-dark watches, caps, and Christmas tree ornaments. You can also buy Sony's "Abba Pater," - the pope's first music CD. And there was even the 'popescope' that found many buyers during the pope's visit to Denver, Colorado in 1993.

What a marvelous imitator of Christ is John Paul II. How he resembles Christ, who had no wardrobe, no jewels, no wares to sell, nor hucksters to sell them, nor even a place to lie his head to rest (Matthew 8:20).

[Source: Scripps Howard News Service; reported in The Patriot Ledger, Nov. 11, 1999, Quincy, Massachusetts]

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Vatican Ratlines Revisited

[Added November 14, 1999]

Over the years a number of authors have mentioned the "Vatican ratlines," which is the term applied to Rome's efforts to help Nazi war criminals escape to South America via an underground chain of Roman Catholic Churches, monasteries and convents. Rome denies that such a thing ever happened. Nor can you find any mention of it in the Catholic Encyclopedia, nor on any of the Roman Catholic sites I have thus far visited. Catholics are fond of charging those who exposed Rome's dastardly actions with 'catholic bashing,' lying and invalid research.

Walla! Enter US News & World Report, November 15, 1999! In an article entitled "Did a wartime pope anticipate a Nazi victory?", it turns out that recently declassified U.S. and Argentine government archives show that Rome worked extremely hard to help the Nazis escape - along with millions in loot - much of which seemed to 'stick' to fingers in the Vatican. Consider this:

"This latest insight into the Vatican view of Nazi power - combined with Pope Pius's (XII) obsessive fear of Soviet communism - lends new understanding to the wartime pope's refusal to unequivocally condemn the Nazi slaughter of the Jews. It also adds a new dimension to the controversy over the extent of the Vaticans' participation in the postwar 'Rat-line,' the odious underground railroad that smuggled 'anti-communist' Nazi war criminals and sympathizers from Europe to Latin America - together with major parts of loot plundered from Jews and other victims of Nazism."

"The Vatican especially interceded (with the Argentine government) on behalf of Croatia's Ustasha Nazis, including Anton Pavelic, the Utasha 'fuhrer' who played a major role in the extermination of tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies."

The report goes on to say that multiple millions of dollars passed through the ratline, with a large part of it "stashed for safekeeping in the Vatican treasury." That fortune, stolen from the victims, and paid to Rome by the Nazi criminals, somehow managed to disappear from Rome's ledgers - but, thankfully, not from the records of several national governments, nor from reports by some of the criminals themselves.

So there we have it - at last. Verification by federal government archival records that the Vatican ratlines did, indeed exist - despite Rome's denials. Deception can not last forever! Sooner or later the truth will out. Now I can only wonder how Rome will try to whitewash her protection of the guilty - while ripping them off at the same time? Perhaps tell us of the scanty few Jews that some Catholics did, indeed help - in hopes of misdirecting the question? Continued denial in the face of incontrovertible facts? What's your guess?

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Another Pedophile Priest

[Added December 3, 1999]

Millions in hush-money. That's what the Archdiocese of Boston shelled-out to victims of Roman Catholic Priest John Geoghan - now a defrocked priest living in Scituate, Massachusetts (locals call it the "Irish Riviera"). Geoghan's case parallels that of the Priest, Rev. John Hanlon, who in 1994 was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for the same offense.

Geoghan is the first Roman Catholic priest to be defrocked by his archdiocese for pedofilia. Guess they finally decided it was an open-and-shut case, and wanted to distance themselves from the man. Geoghan somehow managed to maintain a luxurious lifestyle at his expensive seaside home - from which he recently seems to have disappeared. Could it have anything to do with the fact that multiple lawsuits are pending against him, and he is now under indictment?

I can't help wondering how it is that the Roman Catholic Church, which so often pleads poormouth, seldom hesitates to spend millions of dollars on her queer priests - to buy the silence of their victims? [Source: Quincy (MA) Patriot Ledger, December 2, 1999, page 1/2]

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The New Catholic Jesus: She's Black!

[Added December 15, 1999]

Catholic Jesus: a Black Woman Savior!The Roman Catholic Church has had a Semitic Mary (which indeed she was), and a black Mary (sic., the Black Virgin) for some time. Now, in a most unusual move, the National Catholic Reporter offers us a brand-new Jesus Christ - and she's black! Not only that, but the new "Jesus of the People" image for the Millennial church is flanked by a yin-yang symbol (pagan symbol of ancient Chinese, Tibetan and Buddhist religions) on the left, and an American Indian Prayer Feather on the right.

This well-known Roman Catholic magazine wishes us to believe that Jesus was a woman linked with paganism. At last! We now got a really ecumenical Jesus Christ! This should bring a smile of delight to a number of pagan religions, and entice them to respond to the come-hither invitation of John Paul II, who would have all faiths under his control. Give 'em a Jesus they can identify with . . . and let's drop the "Jesus, the SON of God, IS God, and He is the ONLY way to salvation" claim.

The National Catholic Reporter turned to an avowed agnostic artist named Janet McKenzie of Island Pond, Vermont, for the new offering of a female Messiah (Savior). Why am I not surprised? Hmm. I wonder how they'll get around the fact that Scripture is pretty clear in saying that Jesus is the son (not the daughter) of God? I also wonder how long it will be before the Roman Catholic Church as a whole embraces the new female Jesus Christ?

Remember when the CALSO gasoline company deep-sixed the CALSO logo in favor of one with a more international flavor - (I think it was changed to CHEVRON, and later to EXXON)? Yes, again I am dating myself! TV was fairly new. . . But I recall the cartoon commercial where the funny little guy said, "Hmm. Wonder what they'll do with all the old CALSO signs?" Well, I wonder how long it will be before the Roman Catholic Church has a similar problem. . . I wonder what they'll do with all the old Jesus pics and statues?

You can go to the horse's mouth if you'd like more details. Just surf over to the National Catholic Reporter site at http://www.natcath.com/public/Jesusat2000.htm

[Source: Associated Press Release by David Crary, December 14, 1999. Art courtesy National Catholic Reporter Internet site]

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Aids Epidemic Among Catholic Priests

[Added 01-30-2000][Revised 02-06-2000]

Catholic surfers are fond of telling us that pedophile and homosexual priests are an exception and not the rule. Despite the ever-increasing evidence to the contrary, they persist in saying that, no, the Roman Catholic Church does not try to whitewash it, cover it up, or pay out hush money to victims. Well, friends, here, from Associated Press, is yet another proof of the duplicity of Rome - and of the widespread practice of homosexuality among her celibate (?) priests.

The following report states that the occurrence of AIDS (a mostly homosexual disease) is four times the national average. I wonder how Rome, and her devotees, plan to explain this little fact? Probably by attacking the statistical analysis, or the investigators, or try to redirect by pointing out that some protestant ministers have the same problem - but it isn't likely that Rome will offer verifiable data from her own research into this problem! The report also says that twenty per cent of Roman Catholic priests admit to being homosexual of bisexual. Twenty per cent! And that is only the ones who admit it! Chances are that the ratio is probably higher.

How does that make you feel about sending your boys on a camping trip with your local priest, my Roman Catholic friends? A bit edgy? You should be! Chances are, at best, one in five that he's a queer, and that he may molest your child. Does he have AIDS? Do you think he'd tell you if he did? Don't count on it. Arrgghhh! Even Russian Roulette gives better odds for a death sentence (1 in 6)! I really hope that you don't take that risk with your children! If you insist on taking the chance ("My church right or wrong!"), you should at least insist that your priest have a medical exam and get a certificate to prove he's free of AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases. According to the report by the Kansas City Star, the Catholic Church now requires its candidates for the priesthood to furnish evidence that they do not have this dreaded disease. Read the entire report here. Hmm. If its not really a problem in the Catholic Church, why bother? Another hmm. . . I wonder if Protestant seminaries have the same requirement? A third hmm. . . How come we don't see a similar problem among the priests of the Anglican or Eastern Orthodox persuasions? Could it have anything to do with the fact that those priests are allowed to marry, where Catholic priests are required to take a vow of celibacy?

This report strongly intimates that the Roman Catholic Church does, in fact, work hard to cover up her priestly homosexuality. Notice how the Vatican "declines to discuss the findings?" Why not? Surely the Catholic Church has done her own research! Why the studied silence if there is nothing to hide? You tell me.

Notice how the Roman Catholic Church "quietly handles" cases of priests with AIDS? It is my opinion that "Quietly handles" can translate easily into "covers-up." Finally, consider the case of Catholic Bishop Moore. He dies of AIDS. The death certificate not only substitutes "natural causes" for "AIDS", but also magically transforms his occupation from bishop to laborer! If that is not a cover-up, please tell me what is?! Is it possible that the Roman Catholic Church paid someone to falsify the documents? Just wondering. What does it take to convince a medical examiner to falsify a death certificate? Who would benefit from such a falsified report? I doubt it would be the dead bishop.

Now to the report:

"KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - AIDS has quietly caused the deaths of hundreds of Roman Catholic priests in the United States although other causes may be listed on some of their death certificates, The Kansas City Star reported in its Sunday editions. In the first of a three-part series, the newspaper reported that its examination of death certificates and interviews with experts indicated several hundred priests had died of AIDS-related illnesses since the mid-1980s and hundreds more are living with HIV, the virus that causes the disease.

The death rate of priests from AIDS is at least four times that of the general population, the newspaper said. Church leaders in the United States and at the Vatican declined requests to discuss the findings, the Star said, and the Vatican referred questions to local bishops. Bishop Raymond J. Boland of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, said the AIDS deaths show that priests are human. "Much as we would regret it, it shows that human nature is human nature," Boland said.

The Star sent confidential questionnaires to 3,000 of the 46,000 priests in the United States last fall, asking about AIDS and other issues, and received responses from 801 priests, a 27 percent return rate. Six of 10 priests responding said they knew of at least one priest who had died of an AIDS-related illness and one-third knew a priest living with AIDS. Three-fourths said the church needed to provide more education to seminarians on sexual issues. Asked about their sexual orientation, 75 percent said they were heterosexual, 15 percent said they were homosexual and 5 percent said they were bisexual. The Star said exact numbers of priests who have died of AIDS or become infected with HIV is unknown, partly because many suffer in solitude. When priests tell their superiors, the cases generally are handled quietly.

The newspaper cited the case of Bishop Emerson J. Moore, who left the Archdiocese of New York in 1995 and went to Minnesota, where he died in a hospice of an AIDS-related illness. His death certificate attributed the death to "unknown natural causes" and listed his occupation as "laborer" in the manufacturing industry. After an AIDS activist filed a complaint, officials changed the cause of death to "HIV-related illness," the newspaper reported, but the occupation was not corrected. Farley Cleghorn, an epidemiologist with the Institute of Human Virology in Baltimore, said he has treated about 20 priests and religious-order brothers with AIDS, all of whom had kept it a secret. "The church and religious orders need to acknowledge that there is a problem - that priests have sex and they are susceptible to all sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS," he said."" [Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.]

The AP report is a condensation of a more lengthy report by the Kansas City Star. To read the entire report, click here.

This report has stirred up a hornet's nest of activity, both at our Message Board and in the media. The recent issue of US News and World Report addressed it. And if you wish, you can read two articles in a Roman Catholic Newspaper, The Wanderer. The latter source also discusses what it refers to as a network of gay bishops and priests, and one of their websites. Interesting reading.

There are those who challenge the statistical basis of the report, and perhaps rightly so. Hard data is in short supply. But given the amount of 'smoke,' there is little reason to doubt the existence of a major fire. I really hope that the researchers and editors at the K.C. Star continue their investigation and seek out more hard evidence, more verifiable facts. It is a task I think needs doing, so why not them?

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Recruiting Priests, Madison Avenue Style

[Added 02-06-2000]

"NEWARK, N.J. (CNS)-- The Archdiocese of Newark is using billboards to recruit new vocations and to reach out to inactive Catholics, encouraging them to take advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The vocations billboards, which went up Dec. 1, urge Catholics to 'Make a world of difference as a priest, brother or sister.' It marks the first time that the archdiocese has used billboards as a vocations tool." [The Pilot, February 4, 2000; official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Massachusetts]

There is something bordering on the repugnant to see the Roman Catholic Church using Madison Avenue style recruiting methods to get more priests, brothers and nuns. Given the significant loss of ordained priests and professed nuns since Vatican II, and the serious drop in vocations since that event, I can understand the Church's struggle to regain lost ground. According to recent reports (see Kansas City Star Report), the average age for priests has steadily climbed to approximately 59, reflecting the dearth of new candidates for the priesthood. Perhaps we should refer to it as the "greying of the priesthood?"

Whatever happened to the time-honored, traditional means of recruitment? Wasn't this an "in-house" thing? Wasn't it treated almost as a sacred thing, to lead young men and women to become priests and nuns? Why is it now being handled just like recruitment for any secular profession? Even the slogan appears borrowed from secular advertisements, or from ads trying to recruit military personnel. Can you picture Rome's "Make a Word of Difference" billboard sandwiched between the military "Be All You Can Be!" and "Grab All the Gusto" beer advertisements?

Scriptural warnings leap to mind. "Be ye in the world, but not of the world." is one. Can you visualize the Apostles ordering up billboards and ads in the Jerusalem Chronicle to recruit men to the priesthood? Oops. Sorry about that. Jesus did away with an intervening priesthood, didn't he! No, I don't think you'd find such billboards cluttering the road to Jerusalem, or Rome, or Ephesus. And I rather suspect that Peter, Paul, Nathaniel, James, John and company would have had a fit if they saw such a thing.

Well, anyhow, now that the Roman Catholic Church has switched to secular recruiting methods, I wonder if they shouldn't offer an incentive to go visit a recruiter - say a few free papal phone cards and a bag of papal advertising material? Why not go whole-hog just like everyone else?

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Catholic Group Distributes Chick Tract

[Added 02-06-2000]
And what to his wondering eyes did appear
But a Jack Chick Tract
And eleven pages of fear.
"Why send this to me?" bounced around in his head
"And tell me, 'destroy it!'
It's not to be read!?"
"It's a teaser, for sure, a dare or a test;
They WANT me to read it
And know what it says!"
So read it he did, and the problem arose
"They can't be the same,
It's as plain as your nose.
Which must I follow to secure my poor soul-
The plain Words of God
Or Rome's rigamarole?"
-Poem by Webmaster: No rights reserved. Feel free to use it.

It arrived in the daily mail. He subscribes to several Catholic periodicals. This one was from the organization called "Catholic Answers." Tearing open the business size envelope, he discovered an eleven-page appeal for money, a response letter, and a small, sealed envelope that said, "Please wait to open this envelope. Then, destroy its contents immediately afterward." -K.K. (Karl Keating, well-known Catholic apologist - emphasis and color in the original material).

Not being any less human than Adam and Eve, being told to not do something was like waving a red flag before a bull (is Catholic Answers aware of this quirk of human nature?). So he tore open the smaller envelope and out fell --- a tract from Chick Publications! Hardly the sort of thing one would expect to receive from a Roman Catholic organization.

The warning to destroy it immediately (without reading it of course) was just too much. It reminded him of the Church's book-burnings of years past. The tract was entitled, "Last Rites," clearly a reference to one of the Catholic Church's sacraments. He had been taught, as good Catholics are, that getting the "last rites" just before dying is almost a guarantee of going to Heaven. Well, not directly to Heaven of course. He also had learned that he still had to pay the price for his own sins, because what Jesus did was not enough. He had been well-drilled in the idea that he had to earn his way to Heaven through the seven sacraments, the Mass, the Eucharist, and a number of other church practices.

The tract compared what he had learned as a good Roman Catholic with the Bible --- and the big, big difference between the two became immediately apparent. Both could not be right.

Apparently Catholic Answers has sent a copy of the Chick Tract to its mailing list, which I presume consists mostly of Roman Catholic folk. Their 11-page letter is full of hateful invective, yet lacks a single counter-argument! There is no attempt at showing where, how, and why that tract is in error. None! Its all just emotional hype. Any thoughtful reader can see through the hype, and recognize what seems to be the abject fear Catholic Answers has of a little comic book! If such a small tract can throw the fear of God's Word into the Church, I can only wonder about the stability of Rome's foundations.

Christians should applaud Catholic Answers for sending this tract to so many Catholic people. I assume that Catholic Answers paid for all those tracts, which means they have given financial support to Chick Publications. Now that's something to ponder. I pray that some recipients may read it and heed its warning. Bravo! Chick Publications has many other good tracts; perhaps Catholic Answers will send copies in future mailings. I sure hope so. NOTE: on May 4, 2000, I received a copy of another Chick tract from Keating & Co., with the same instruction to destroy it. Click here to read about Keating's reaction to Chick's latest tract. You can surf over to Chick Publications and read the tract for yourself. Just select "English Tracts" when you arrive, and cursor-down to "Last Rites." I think you'll enjoy the other tracts you find there too.

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Pope John Paul II and His Satanic Cross

[Added 03/29/2000]

There's been a lot of talk about Rome's connections with the occult, new-age (pagan) religions. Malachi Martin's Windswept House is a superb read that discusses this topic.

For centuries, occult religions have used the upside-down cross as a sacrilegious debasement of the sacrifice of Christ on the true cross. Satanism makes extensive use of this symbol too. Within the ranks of Christianity, there is general consensus that an upside-down cross is a gross insult to Christ.

Now observe how Pope John Paul II makes the upside-down cross his own in the photo below. The photo shows John Paul II on the bishop's chair made available to him for this occasion, during his recent visit to Korazim, Israel, on Friday, March 24, 2000.

Notice the cross engraved on the Pope's chair? See that it is the inverted cross of occult religions? It is well known that satanists and occultists recognize each other via the use of certain symbols: this is one of the most popular ones.

You've just got to believe that Rome will be very, very quick to invent an explanation for this use of pagan symbolism. Somehow they will "Christianize" it, as they have done in the past when adopting known pagan statues of gods and goddesses, and known pagan practices. But the fact remains that when you adopt something and change its name to "legitimize" it, that thing remains exactly what it was, and still is! Get ready for some more of Rome's Word Magic as she redefines this image to suit herself, while ignoring the well-known history of the inverted cross. So, watch for the Roman Catholic Church to bring forth an explanation for this use of the Satanic cross . . . an explanation that, in all probability, does not exist in any official Roman Catholic documentation (at least not until a future edition!). In days to come, will the RCC update her documentation to pave the way for saying, "See! We believed this all along!"I believe you can count on it.

Validity of Image Challenged by Some Catholics

Several Roman Catholic surfers have challenged the validity of this photograph. They suggest it is a fake. . . That the Satanic inverted cross was superimposed upon the Pope's chair. The unstated, but obvious assumption is that the Pope's enemies faked the photo to cast unwarranted aspersions upon the Pope as having connections to the occult, or new age religions. These Roman Catholic folk at least know that the inverted cross really is an occult symbol. I give them credit for not going into denial of the historical facts.

Fortunately, there is a lot of evidence to support the validity of this image. As you can see by visiting the sites below, there are a number of different views of this chair with its satanic, inverted cross. Given the number of views, its not likely they were all doctored-up. Given the variety of reliable sources such as CNN and TIME Magazine, it is safe to say that the photographs are very real indeed.

http://protectionzone.com/pope.jpg

Here we have an official CNN Live photograph of the Pope and his inverted cross. One must ask, "Is CNN part of some conspiracy to discredit the Pope? Highly unlikely, I think. . . they wouldn't want to open themselves to a libel suit for faking the picture. What do you think?

http://www.thelinkup.com/devil.html

On the same topic, you might wish to read a Roman Catholic archbishop's statement that Rome definitely is linked to satanic occultism at the above site.

http://cnn.com/SPECIALS/views/y/2000/03/kessel.pope.mar24/

Here at CNN's website you can see yet another view of the Pope and his inverted cross. You will need to cursor-down to get to the photo. Again, CNN's work lends credibility to the reality of these photographs.

http://www.time.com/time/daily/0,2960,41307-101000323,00.html

TIME Magazine steps up to the plate with its own picture. . . This time it's a Roman Catholic nun and her class watching the Pope on television. There, right on the television screen, is the chair with the satanic, inverted cross for all to see. Is it likely that TIME Magazine, too, is part of an anti-Papal conspiracy? Again, not likely. More evidence for the veracity of these photographs.

NOTE: I am indebted to my Internet friend Tracy, host of the Jesus-Is-Lord web site for this compilation of evidence. Thanks, Tracy!

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