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Friday, February 3, 2012

RECOVERING THE AUTHORITY OF HOLY CHURCH NOT ONLY IN SPIRITUAL MATTERS BUT ALSO TEMPORAL

This actually is the tiara of Pope Benedict XVI and please note his coat of arms!
MY COMMENTS FIRST:
Below these comments is an actual history of the Tiara and why it has not been worn since Pope Paul VI used it at his coronation. I've suggested that the Holy Father return to wearing it when appropriate or at least designating appropriate times for it since we are in a critical battle to assure the Gospel is not suppressed by civil, temporal authority as is now being experienced in the USA through unbridled appropriation in our politics and government of the dictatorship of godless secularism.

While the bishops of the world have opened the door to the diminishment of their religious and temporal authority through the sex abuse scandal, make no mistake, the liberal mass media and their liberal politics in this country and elsewhere have exploited it not out of complete concern for victims but to crucify the Catholic Church and her leaders and to undercut their legitimate religious authority over Catholics. Why? Because we are probably the last institution on earth that upholds natural law and thus divine law. Natural law and our moral beliefs stands in the way of the liberal political and media establishment to secularized the world totally, especially in the areas of abortion, stem cell research, birth control, same sex marriage and the role of women and even to the point of neutralizing the differences of gender and allowing for gender selection or no gender as natural and as normal as distinct genders.

The bishops of our country and of the world should have acknowledged their role in mismanaging priests and allowing them access to children even after it was proven they were abusers. But in this scandal they should have also stood up to the Boston Globe, the epitome of liberal, godless secularism and told the liberal media press to back off. They need to reassert their authority. The bishops are fully in their right to use the political system and the court system to protect the wider interests of the Church when lawyer, the media and others are trying to bankrupt the Church for personal gains the political motives I've stated above.

Have you noticed the liberal media's outrage and biased reporting on the Komen decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood and how grateful they are to Mayor Bloomberg for giving Planned Parenthood over $300,000 to offset the loss? Hell has no fury than the liberal media and liberal politics fighting the Catholic Church on natural law and thus divine law. The influence of Satan is tremendous in this regard. And when a secular organization like Komen for the cure stops funding an organization that provides abortions, the pressure put upon them to reverse their decision is so vehement and vicious that guess what, they reverse their decision! Cowardice on the part of Susan G. Komen for the cure--they caved in!

Holy Father, wear your Tiara!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The papal tiara originated from a conical Phrygian cap or frigium.[2][3] Shaped like a candle-extinguisher, the papal tiara and the episcopal mitre were identical in their early forms.[2]

Names used for the papal tiara in the 8th and 9th centuries include camelaucum, pileus, phrygium and pileum phrygium.[2]

A circlet of linen or cloth of gold at the base of the tiara developed into a metal crown, which by about 1300 became two crowns. The first of these appeared at the base of the traditional white papal headgear in the 9th century.[4][5] When the popes assumed temporal power in the Papal States, the base crown became decorated with jewels to resemble the crowns of princes.[4] The second crown is said to have been added by Pope Innocent III (1294-1303) as signifying both his spiritual and temporal power, since he declared that God had set him over kings and kingdoms.[2] However, a fresco in the Chapel of Saint Sylvester (consecrated in 1247) in the church of the Santi Quattro Coronati in Rome seems to represent the Pope wearing a tiara with two bands and with lappets.[6] The triple tiara is attributed to [[Pope Benedict XI] (1303-1304) or Pope Clement V (1305-1314), and one such tiara was listed in an inventory of the papal treasury in 1316[2] (see "Tiara of Saint Sylvester", below). The first years of the 16th century saw the addition of a little globe and cross to top the tiara.[7]
Mosaic depicting Pope Clement VIII wearing a triple tiara.

Triple tiaras were worn by the popes of Rome from Pope Clement V, at the time when they lived at Avignon, to Pope Paul VI, who was crowned with one in 1963. Pope Paul VI abandoned the use of his own tiara after the Second Vatican Council, symbolically laying it on the altar of St. Peter's Basilica, and donating its value to the poor. However, his 1975 Apostolic Constitution Romano Pontifici Eligendo on the manner of electing the Pope, still envisaged that his successors would be crowned.

His immediate successor, Pope John Paul I, decided against a coronation, replacing it with a generic "Inauguration of the Supreme Pontificate". After John Paul I's sudden death, Pope John Paul II told the congregation at the solemn inauguration of his pontificate:
“ The last Pope to be crowned was Paul VI in 1963, but after the solemn coronation ceremony he never used the tiara again and left his Successors free to decide in this regard. Pope John Paul I, whose memory is so vivid in our hearts, did not wish to have the tiara; nor does his Successor wish it today. This is not the time to return to a ceremony and an object considered, wrongly, to be a symbol of the temporal power of the Popes. Our time calls us, urges us, obliges us to gaze on the Lord and immerse ourselves in humble and devout meditation on the mystery of the supreme power of Christ himself.[1] ”


Though not currently worn as part of papal regalia, the continuing symbolism of the papal tiara is reflected in its use on the coats of arms of the Holy See and the flag of Vatican City. Until the reign of Benedict XVI the tiara was also the ornament surmounting a Pope's personal coat of arms, as a tasseled hat (under which a 1969 Instruction of the Holy See forbade the placing of a mitre, a second hat)[8] surmounted those of other prelates. In a break with tradition, Pope Benedict XVI's personal coat of arms has replaced the tiara with a mitre. This particular mitre contains three levels reminiscent of the three tiers on the papal tiara.[9] However, in the coat of arms of the Holy See and of the Vatican City State the triple tiara is kept. See also Tiara of Benedict XVI (2011). Presented to Benedict XVI on 25th May 2011 by a group of Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians.

15 comments:

Templar said...

Based on the history you have posted I would venture that the chances of getting the currently reigning Pope to don the Tiara are zero.

Would that it were otherwise.

Anonymous said...

I think Pope Blessed John Paul II probably did a lot of good things for the Church pastorally (his emphasis on the youth continues to reap vocations) and it appears he followed in the footsteps of Pope Paul VI in that regard. However, on his watch, the "management" of the Church and its assertion of its rightful place in the world dwindled to the shipwrecked ark we see today with what appears to be an utter disregard for everything that came before.

He was clearly a holy man who was probably manipulated by Modernists so their ends we accomplished. (He was beatified not for his managerial skills, but for his personal holiness, afterall). Now, we have to suffer for that and the current Holy Father is hamstrung by following in the footsteps of a "rock star" Pope. Perhaps the next Pope will start afresh... But, Pope Benedict's "take" on a lot of things is necessary in order to bridge the gap and prepare people for a true return to Tradition as doing so in one event would alienate large portions of the Church - both lay and cleric.

Pope Benedict is the Pope of Christian Unity - Unity between the past, the present, and the future.

Marc

Pater Ignotus said...

A few questions, Good Father. How does a pope wearing a crown have any effect on the leaders of the "dictatorship of godless secularism"? What did the Boston Globe or the other "liberal press" have to "back down" from? How does a bishop who has repeatedly reassigned an abusive priest protect any assets of his diocese, when he, the bishop, is the cause of the criminal action?

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

The question that you would have to answer first is why hasn't the Boston Globe or its parent company the New York Times be as virulent in its investigative reporting of the abuse of children in public schools at least in Boston and in New York, and those in high places who knew/know about it but did not take adequate action to prevent it and sometimes shuffled teachers around or ignored the problem altogether?
Why is it that public schools cannot be sued or law enforcement that often turned the other way with child abuse not only in terms of priests but teachers and doctors and other respected citizens?
Why is it that retroactive laws and the removal of the statutes of limitation seem only to apply to Catholic priests to allow them to be prosecuted and the church sued and this only began to arise with the Catholic crisis although the crisis is also elsewhere?

Now for the papal tiara--it is symbolic of the authority of Holy Mother the Church over the ecclesiastical lives of Catholics in the areas of faith, morals, natural law and canon law and the extension of such to the world and that in these areas and these areas only the Church is above any earthly ruler, king, queen, president, dictator, emperor or governor. And that as Catholic we have no king but Christ the King to which the Tiara should rightfully point as worn by the Vicar of Christ and the Successor of St. Peter.
Now in terms of just civil laws, bishops, priests and deacons are liable, although I question the liability of the entire diocese since this includes all the innocent baptized people of God.
In terms of unjust laws that single Catholics out or cause Catholics to lose religious liberty and freedom of conscience in the areas of faith, morals, natural law and canon law, damn the state!

Templar said...

I just knew Ignotus had been lurking around reading the posts these last few days. No doubt all this Turbo-Charged Catholicism is making him nervous that we might actualy regain our sense of the Church Militant.

Pater Ignotus said...

I'll ask again, what should the Boston Globe have NOT reported regarding the abuse of children by Catholic priests and the cover-up of these crimes by bishops. They should have backed down from what, telling the facts? That they have not reported on other such cases has no bearing on the facts of Church abuse and cover-up.

It seems you think that if the pope dons the Triple Crown (no Kentucky Derby, Preakness, or Belmont Stakes jokes, please), someone is going to come mystically to some realization of the pope's authroity. Is that what you mean.

I believe civil law determines the extent of liability in civil cases against civil corporations. A bishop, as the legal head of a corporation sole, places the diocese in legal liability when he acts contrary to the law. I think a law that punishes the entire corporation for the actions of the leaders of that corporation is useful.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

I'll allow others to respond. But I would be much in favor of only a bishop being prosecuted and that we have a more lay-board of trustees approach to diocesan properties including the parish owning its own property independent of the bishop to protect the people of God from errant bishops--to punish the innocent to keep a bishop in line, really Pater, really?

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

BTW, its the singling out of the Catholic Church, rehashing old news as though it were new, not retracting false news or false accusations as virulently as they publish the accurate ones and treating the Church in the way they do to promote their political agenda and neutralize the Church--they didn't go after other big targets precisely becasue it didn't fit their political agenda.

A miter then, and your vestments then, do what?

Jenny said...

Pater Ignotus post a week ago: "I respect Good Father McDonald, but I 'obviously' disagree with him on some things. You confuse the two."

"Some things"??
No, Pater, I don't think I've confused the two...

Pater Ignotus said...

Yes, Snipe, you have confused the two.

Good Father, so you would continue to cover up the sexual abuse of children by priests unless the Boston Globe reported equally about public school teachers doing the same?

I think church leaders would, by now, have learned that covering up our very dirty laundry is devastating. I would suggest we should lead by example, and not wait for the "secular" world, including the Boston Globe, to show us how to deal with abuse of minors or how to deal with acknowledging the failures of our own - priests and bishops.

Gene said...

Ignotus, The tiara and other such accoutrements are for us. It strengthens Catholic unity and identity to see the Pope aggressively asserting the sanctioty of the Holy Church. For those who understand the meaning of the tiara, it signals resove, trust in the power of God, and the evangelical role of the Church in the world. Nobody gives a damn if the secular powers don't understand or care about it. It is sort of like flying the Confederate flag. We don't really care if a bunch of yankees and Obamanites think it is a racist symbol. We know that it stands for loyalty, state's rights, a martial spirit, aristocratic values, and a worthy agrarian heritage. Besides, it is both gratifying and instructive to ponder the sad grandeur of defeat as the only region of the nation that has experienced invasion and pillage. Perhaps the rest of you smug bastards are about to learn something, n'est ce pas?

Templar said...

I can't believe Ignotus has the hutzpah to imply he's entitled to an answer to his question when he categorically refuses to answer most questions put to him, certainly not in any direct manner, and certainly not the one question he has repeatedly been asked.

What Father has clearly stated is that he believes that in those cases the Priests should be prosecuted, and if Bishops or others were covering up they should be prosecuted, but the Diocese as an Institution should not be fair game, and I stand firmly behind him in that notion.

Go call the local DNC office or something, they're looking for volunteers.

Pater Ignotus said...

Temp - I don't think I am "entitled" to answers at all. I found a significant inconsistency between Good Father McDonald's earlier comments about prosecuting the guilty in the sexual abuse scandal and his suggestion that the bishops should tell the press to "back off."

Adlai said...

I guess hell hasn't frozen over yet. I'm still waiting for Pater Ignotus to answer my question about the TLM at his parish.

Adlai

Gene said...

God bless you, Adlai, for your long suffering and patience. Surely, there is some dispensation for such self-abnegation...