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  Collection of Links on Joseph Ratzinger
Posted by: Stone - 01-03-2023, 08:20 AM - Forum: The Architects of Vatican II - Replies (1)

Warning: These links come from a, shall we say, impassioned sedevacantist website. The posting of these links is in no way a promotion of sedevacantism. But the sedevacantists are among the few that keep track of many of the errors against the faith of Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI. Please disregard the sedevacantist references. This is offered here merely as reminder that everything Conciliar is tainted and suspect, particularly coming from one of the architects of the errors of Vatican II.

There are many who choose to only see the conservative side of Joseph Ratzinger. But quietly and without much fanfare, he too has wrecked much havoc upon the Church. May God have mercy on his soul.

The Catacombs does not advocate nor promote public judgements of heresy. We follow in the footsteps of Archbishop Lefebvre and leave such judgements to the Church, when She rises again from Her Passion. But certainly, Joseph Ratzinger gave us many reasons to think the Church may one day condemn him as a heretic.


† † †


Collection of Links on Joseph Ratzinger
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  IMF Head Warns Third Of World In Recession This Year
Posted by: Stone - 01-03-2023, 07:14 AM - Forum: Global News - No Replies

IMF Head Warns Third Of World In Recession This Year

[Image: imf.jpg?itok=IDOZjwF9]

ZH | JAN 03, 2023

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned on CBS's 'Face the Nation' in an interview aired on Jan. 1 that a third of the global economy will be in recession this year and investors must prepare for "a tough year, tougher than the year we leave behind."

Kristalina explained recession risks are elevated "because the three big economies, US, EU, China, are all slowing down simultaneously." She added that some countries will avoid recession, though "it would feel like a recession for hundreds of millions of people."

"Our big worry is that with the economy slowing down globally, we are projecting global growth to go down to 2.7%, maybe even lower next year," she said. In 2021, global growth was 6%. It slumped to 3.2% in 2022 and continues to decline as central banks worldwide unleash the most aggressive monetary policy tightening scheme in a generation to get inflation under control.

Georgieva added the US might avoid a recession, but the situation looks bleaker in Europe, which has been hit hard by the war in Ukraine, she said. "Half of the European Union will be in recession," she warned.

"For the first time in 40 years, China's growth in 2022 is likely to be at or below global growth. That has never happened before. And looking into next year for three, four, five, six months, the relaxation of COVID restrictions will mean bushfire COVID cases throughout China," she said.

Georgieva warned the world is "more shock-prone" than ever before. An energy crisis is plaguing the world -- national security issues in Europe and Asia and liquidity issues in the banking system. The shocks of Covid are still not over though global supply chain congestion is receding.

Georgieva's comments are alarming for investors hoping for a soft economic landing this year. The latest figures over the weekend pointed to more weakness in the Chinese economy.

The official purchasing managers' index for China's factory activity shrank for the third consecutive month in December despite reopening efforts. The downturn is also visible in the purchasing managers index for manufacturing worldwide, slipping into a contraction in September.

Besides the IMF, BlackRock, the world's largest investment manager, has also warned a recession is imminent due to central banks aggressively boosting borrowing costs to tame inflation. According to a team of BlackRock strategists, their actions will ignite more market turbulence than ever before.

"Recession is foretold as central banks race to try to tame inflation. It's the opposite of past recessions," the team wrote in their 2023 Global Outlook, which said that the global economy has already exited a four-decade period of stable growth and inflation, and has now entered a period of heightened instability.

And when things get bad, BlackRock said, "Central bankers won't ride to the rescue when growth slows in this new regime, contrary to what investors have come to expect. Equity valuations don't yet reflect the damage ahead."

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  Rasmussen: More Than 1-in-4 Think Someone They Know Died From COVID-19 Vaccines
Posted by: Stone - 01-03-2023, 06:41 AM - Forum: Health - No Replies

‘Died Suddenly’? More Than 1-in-4 Think Someone They Know Died From COVID-19 Vaccines

Rasmussen Reports [slightly adapted] | Monday, January 02, 2023

Nearly half of Americans think COVID-19 vaccines may be to blame for many unexplained deaths, and more than a quarter say someone they know could be among the victims.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that (49%) of American Adults believe it is likely that side effects of COVID-19 vaccines have caused a significant number of unexplained deaths, including 28% who think it’s Very Likely. Thirty-seven percent (37%) don’t say a significant number of deaths have been caused by vaccine side effects, including 17% who believe it’s Not At All Likely. Another 14% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Twenty-eight percent (28%) of adults say they personally know someone whose death they think may have been caused by side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, while 61% don’t and another 10% are not sure.

The documentary Died Suddenly has been criticized as promoting “debunked” anti-vaccine conspiracy theories but has been seen by some 15 million people.

Forty-eight percent (48%) of Americans believe there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, while 37% think people who worry about vaccine safety are spreading conspiracy theories. Another 15% are not sure.

The survey of 1,000 American Adults was conducted on December 28-30, 2022 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Seventy-one percent (71%) say they have received a COVID-19 vaccination, while 26% have not. Concerns about vaccine safety are much higher among the unvaccinated.

Seventy-seven percent (77%) of adults who have not gotten COVID-19 vaccinations believe it’s at least somewhat likely that side effects of COVID-19 vaccines have caused a significant number of unexplained deaths. Among those who have gotten the vaccine, just 38% consider unexplained deaths from the vaccine at least somewhat likely.

Similarly, while 45% of those who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 think someone they know personally might have died from vaccine side effects, only 22% of vaccinated adults think so.

Forty-six percent (46%) of adults who have gotten vaccinated against COVID-19 believe people who worry about vaccine safety are spreading conspiracy theories, but just 15% of the unvaccinated share that belief. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of those who haven’t gotten the COVID-19 vaccine think there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, as do 40% of those who have gotten vaccinated against the virus.

More Democrats (85%) than Republicans (63%) or those not affiliated with either major party (64%) have been vaccinated against COVID-19. More Republicans (60%) than Democrats (44%) or the unaffiliated (43%) think there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. However, there is less political difference in the number who suspect someone they know might have died from vaccine side effects – 33% of Democrats and 26% of both Republicans and the unaffiliated.

Forty-six percent (46%) of whites, 48% of blacks and 57% of other minorities believe it is at least somewhat likely that side effects of COVID-19 vaccines have caused a significant number of unexplained deaths.

Younger Americans are less likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and 35% of adults under 40 believe someone they know personally might have died from vaccine side effects, compared to 28% of those 40-64 and just 14% of Americans 65 and older.

Slightly more men (52%) than women (47%) think it is at least somewhat likely that a significant number of unexplained deaths may have been caused by side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.

Married adults are more likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 than their unmarried peers, but more married (33%) than unmarried (23%) Americans think someone they know personally might have died from vaccine side effects.

Voters with annual incomes below $30,000 are most likely to think there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, while those with incomes above $200,000 are most likely to believe people who worry about vaccine safety are spreading conspiracy theories.

A majority of Americans think COVID-19 vaccines are effective, but have concerns about side effects.

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  Message of Archbishop Viganò for the end of 2022
Posted by: Stone - 01-02-2023, 07:34 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò - No Replies

DESIDERATUS CUNCTIS GENTIBUS: Message of Archbishop Viganò for the end of 2022
Taken from here.


Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine, et benedic hereditati tuæ.
Et rege eos, et extolle illos usque in æternum.

Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.
Govern and uphold them now and always.  - Hymn. Te Deum


In these last hours that mark the conclusion of the civil year, each of us is preparing to take part in the solemn functions with which the Church raises to the Divine Majesty the praises of thanksgiving contained in the hymn Te Deum.

Te Deum laudamus: te Dominum confitemur. We praise you, O God: we acclaim you as Lord. In the plural “we,” one perceives the august voice of the Bride of the Lamb, adorned with the precious jewels of the Sacraments and the most precious gems of her royal crown: the most august Sacrament of the Altar, the Sacrosanct Sacrifice of the Mass and the Order of the Priesthood. And it is before the Most Blessed Sacrament that we all, standing as befits victors who are on our feet with Christ on the day of triumph, give thanks to God for the year that is drawing to a close.

Let us therefore consider that for which we must give thanks to the Most Holy Trinity.

We thank the Lord God for punishing us for our lukewarmness, our silence, our inclination to compromise, our hypocrisies, our yielding to the spirit of the world and the errors of the dominant ideologies. It was these sins and shortcomings that have allowed those who today impose the tyranny of the New World Order to flourish in the civil world, and those who excommunicate a pro-life priest and scandalously promote corrupt and heretical prelates and clerics to prevail in the ecclesiastical world. They have allowed, in the civil world, democracy to be transformed into the apostasy of nations and the cruel slaughter of the innocent.

They have allowed, in the ecclesial body, the Second Vatican Council to introduce the principles of the Revolution into the Church, as a subversive lever to destroy it from within. They have allowed sin and vice be encouraged in the civil world, while honesty, integrity, and Christian morality are mocked and trampled upon, if not criminalized. They have allowed, in the ecclesiastical world, the persecution of the faithful and clerics who ask to profess the Catholic Faith and to celebrate it in the Apostolic Rite, while the Vatican Sanhedrin worships an infernal idol at the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles. They have allowed, in both the civil and ecclesiastical world – significantly allied on this point – the health mark of the Beast to be imposed on billions of people, in the name of a delirious plan of global population control, using as a pretext a disease that has proven to be curable and not fatal only after the prohibition of appropriate treatments had caused a sufficient number of deaths to terrorize the masses. They have allowed an operation, long time planned, carried out with impunity by NATO to provoke a war against an “invader” and in order to destroy the economy of Western nations, while it is evident that the Ukrainian crisis is instrumental to the realization of the Great Reset; no more and no less than COVID-19, as well as being as an expedient for Joe Biden to hide the evidence of the corruption of his family and the presence of biolaboratories linked to the Pentagon. They have allowed, in both civil and ecclesiastical institutions, officials to be more blackmailed the more they ascend in their careers, and that neither citizens nor believers demand that the corrupt and perverted be removed and prosecuted.

What we are witnessing today is the inevitable outcome of a series of small steps, each of which could have been prevented if only we had exercised a minimum of critical judgment and raised our voice, if we had protested in order to defend our rights that have been violated by those who should have been the first to protect them. Divorce, abortion, euthanasia, sodomy, gender ideology, leftist or right-wing liberalism, immigrationism, cancel culture, globalism, the health dictatorship, Malthusian environmentalism, ecumenism, synodality. . . Each time, we could and should have denounced the threat that loomed, and yet we were silent, so as not to be called “conspiracy theorists” or branded as “fundamentalists,” so that we would not suffer social and ecclesial ostracism because of our ideas or our Faith.  “Each person is free to do what he wishes, so long as this also allows me to be Catholic and to go to the Latin Mass,” say those who have allowed themselves to be contaminated by liberal thought. But it is precisely this “doing whatever one wants” that has allowed the manipulators of the masses to change society and to make us strangers in our homeland, both in our own Nations and also within the Church.

Yet we knew very well that the project of Masonic liberalism ought to have been opposed by Catholics, following the repeated alarms and multiple condemnations of the Roman Pontiffs. We knew that liberals give their tolerance to everyone except Catholics, and that their worst enemy is Christ the King of the Nations, because wherever He reigns, the enemies of God and mankind are in shackles and not at the head of governments. We knew very well that rebellion against God in temporal and spiritual matters could only lead to either dictatorship or anarchy, yet we have allowed the trampling down of Justice in our courts and workers’ rights in our businesses, the prevention of treatment in our hospitals, the spreading of lies in our media, the corruption of young people’s morals in our schools, and the contradiction of the Magisterium from our pulpits.

Those who up until now have held positions of authority have done so by usurping power for the opposite purpose to that for which it exists. As I said earlier: we feel treated as if we are foreigners, indeed, although we are citizens we are treated like enemies of the State, and although we are members of the faithful we are treated as enemies of the Church, while the true foreigners and enemies of the State are welcomed, honored, and obeyed in the delirious “humanitarian” and “philanthropic” projects of the elite who have usurped authority. And some of us, in the face of this operation of social and religious engineering, have given up fighting, or even sided with the conspirators: they have chosen to please the powerful, to support their subversive plans in our Parliaments, in the halls of international institutions, in our cathedrals and even right under the cupola of St. Peter’s Basilica. Conformism, cowardice, obsequiousness; with the hope that today’s betrayal by which they crush our neighbor – whether it is a citizen who asks for honest rulers or one of the faithful who asks for holy shepherds – can somehow spare us from subsequent decimation. They forget that the Revolution devours its own children like Saturn, and that none of the accomplices of the first hour are spared the gallows, either in reality or in the media.

The Lord is our Father, and as Father He punishes us so that we understand our faults, repent of them, and change our lives. Deus, qui culpa offenderis, pœnitentia placaris, says a prayer of Lent: O God, who is offended by guilt and appeased by penance. Wherever there is guilt, wherever the Majesty of God is infinitely offended, there is the need of a punishment. Flagella tuæ iracundiæ, quæ pro peccatis nostri meremur: the scourges of Your indignation, which we merit because of our sins – just as so often happened to the people of Israel.

Blessed be this chastisement, which has lasted for over two years, and which is destined to endure if we do not make ourselves worthy of being spared, giving signs of conversion, repentance, expiation, and reparation. Blessed be this most inauspicious year that we now leave behind, during which the pandemic farce has shown itself in its criminal nature by revealing the project of death of the globalist elite; during which the ruthless cynicism of international organizations has manifested itself in hypocritical propaganda in favor of governments led by those who are most corrupt and subservient to the Great Reset, showing what lies those who do not recognize the transcendent principle of Truth are capable of telling, deluding themselves that they can erase the very work of the Creator by transhumanism, in whose image and likeness we have been made. Blessed be the boldness with which the tyrants of the New World Order have shown us the horrors that await us if we remain inert, passively enduring their health, environmental, energy, economic or war blackmails. Blessed is the arrogance of the Bergoglian sect, the accomplice of power and the servant of Masonic ideology, which with its compliance towards the wicked and its pharisaic severity against the good reveals – even to the simple – its apostasy and uncovers the gangrene of its vices. Like Job, let us bless the Lord above all in moments of tribulation, because in those trials – even in the most arduous and painful – we ought to see the intervention of Providence, the loving hand of God who does not abandon us to our own devices, we who have ended up much worse than watching over pigs, as happened to the prodigal son.

Miserere nostri, Domine, miserere nostri. Fiat misericordia tua, Domine, super nos, quemadmodum speravimus in te. Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us. May thy mercy be upon us, Lord, in the measure that we have hoped in You. Have mercy on your children who have been abandoned by their rulers and shepherds. Have mercy on those who, precisely because they do not wallow in the false illusions of this age but live by the blessed Hope of your holy help, find in You the strength to fight the good fight, whether conducted in the family or in the workplace, from the seats of Parliament or from the editorial offices of a newspaper, from the pulpit of a country church or from the cell of a convent. Have mercy on those who do not resign themselves to the establishment of the hell on earth of the New World Order, nor to the no-less-infernal apostasy of irenic ecumenism.

And if we ask for an end to the scourges of this 2022, preparing to invoke with the Veni Creator the gifts of the Paraclete at the beginning of 2023, let us do so with the trusting humility of the prodigal son: Father, I have sinned against Heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son (Lk 15:21). We do this by renewing our determination to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29), when men abuse their authority by offending and disobeying Him in temporal and spiritual things.

The Te Deum is a hymn of thanksgiving for victory, a song of triumph. But this triumph is not the passing triumph of men. Rather it is the eternal triumph of the Son of God, who conquered Satan, not with armies and angelic hosts, but by dying on the Cross, an instrument of ignominy transformed into a banner of glory by the Blood of the Lamb. Christ’s victory – Ego vici mundum, I have overcome the world, Our Lord assures us (Jn 16:33) –  is accomplished on the triumphal way to Calvary, which the entire Mystical Body must follow, even to the passio Ecclesiæ, following the example of the Divine Redeemer, its Head. If we do not unite ourselves to the Passion of Christ, we will not be able to rise with Him and sit at His right hand in the blessed glory of Heaven. If we do not fight against sin under the banner of Christ and the Blessed Virgin, we will not be able to celebrate the final triumph over the ancient Serpent and his followers. If we do not rouse ourselves from torpor but instead remain simply watching the scoundrels who rage against the Church and humanity, seeking to cancel every trace of Christ, we have no reason to thank the Lord by singing the Te Deum, because we will have remained insensitive to His punishments and to the many warnings that He deigns to send us to urge us to reciprocate His love, that perfect and infinite love which enabled the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity to become Incarnate in order to redeem us. Then we will be deserving of that dystopian nightmare which the servants of Masonic globalism have been preparing for us for years and of which we have had a terrifying foretaste in the recent past.

Let us therefore sing this Te Deum with a renewed heart and with the intention of witnessing to our fidelity to the Lord, regardless of our abilities, trusting in His holy help, which is all the more powerful the greater and more ferocious is the assault of the Enemy: In te, Domine, speravi: non confundar in æternum.

And so may it be.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
31 December 2022
S. Silvestri Papæ et Confessoris

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  St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for January 1st - 5th
Posted by: Stone - 01-02-2023, 07:16 AM - Forum: Christmas - Replies (4)

New Year's Day
(Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord)

Morning Meditation

JESUS OUR SAVIOUR

[Image: cj0z]

Consider that the Infant Jesus, eight days after His Birth, showed Himself even then to be our Saviour, by shedding His divine Blood for us in the Circumcision, and taking the Name of Saviour. O most merciful Infant God, I give Thee thanks, and I beseech Thee by the pain which Thou didst feel, and by the Blood which Thou didst shed in Thy Circumcision, to grant me the grace and the power to tear out of my heart all earthly affections.


I.

Behold how the Eternal Father, having sent His Son to suffer and die for us, wills that on this day He should be circumcised, and should begin to shed His Divine Blood, which He has to shed for the last time on the day of His death upon the Cross in a sea of contumely and sorrow. And wherefore? In order that this innocent Son should thus pay the penalties which we have deserved. The Holy Church exclaims: "O admirable condescension of divine pity towards us! O inestimable love of charity! To redeem the slave Thou hast delivered Thy Son to death!"

O Eternal God, who could ever have bestowed upon us this infinite gift but Thou Who art infinite goodness and infinite love. O my God, if in giving me Thy Son, Thou hast given me the dearest treasure Thou hast, it is right that I should give myself entirely to Thee. Yes, my God, I give Thee my whole self; do Thou accept of me, and permit me not to leave Thee again.


II.

Behold, on the other hand, the Divine Son, Who, all humble, and full of love towards us, embraces the bitter death destined for Him in order to save us sinners from eternal death, and willingly begins on this day to make satisfaction for us to the divine justice with the price of His Blood. He humbled himself, says the Apostle, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross (Phil. ii. 8). Thou, therefore, O my Jesus, hast accepted death for my love; what, then, shall I do? Shall I continue to offend Thee by my sins? No, my Redeemer, I will no longer be ungrateful to Thee. I am sorry from my heart that I have caused Thee so much bitterness in times past. I love Thee, O infinite Goodness, and for the future I will never cease to love Thee.

Our Redeemer has said: Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends (Jo. xv. 13). Thou, O my Jesus, as St. Paul tells us, hast shown greater love than this towards us, by giving Thy life for us who were Thy enemies. Behold one of them, O Lord, at Thy feet. How many times have I, a miserable sinner, renounced Thy friendship because I would not obey Thee! I now see the evil I have done; pardon me, my Jesus, for I could wish to die of sorrow. I now love Thee with my whole soul, and I desire nothing else but to love Thee and to please Thee. O Mary, Mother of God and my Mother, pray to Jesus for me.


Spiritual Reading

THE NAME OF JESUS CONSOLES.

This great Name of Jesus was not given by man, but by God Himself; "The Name of Jesus," says St. Bernard, "was preordained by God." It was a new Name: A new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name (Is. lxii. 2). A new Name which God could give only to Him Whom He destined to be the Saviour of the world. A new and an eternal Name; because, as our salvation was decreed from all eternity, so from all eternity was this Name given to the Redeemer. Nevertheless this Name was only bestowed on Jesus Christ in this world on the day of His Circumcision: And after eight days were accomplished that the child should be circumcised, his name was called Jesus. The Eternal Father wished at that time to reward the humility of His Son by giving Him so honourable a Name. Yes, while Jesus humbles Himself, submitting in His Circumcision to be branded with the mark of a sinner, it is just that His Father should honour Him by giving Him a Name that exceeds the dignity and sublimity of any other name: God hath given him a name that is above all names (Phil. ii. 9). And He commands that this Name should be adored by the Angels, by men, and by devils: That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth (Ibid. ii. 10). If, then, all creatures are to adore this great Name, still more ought we sinners to adore it, since it was in our behalf that this Name of Jesus, which signifies Saviour, was given to Him; and for this end also He came down from Heaven, namely, to save sinners: "For us men and for our salvation He came down from Heaven, and was made Man." We ought to adore Him, and at the same time to thank God Who has given Him this Name for our good; for it is this Name that consoles us, defends us, and makes us burn with love.

The Name of Jesus consoles us; for when we invoke Jesus, we find relief in all our afflictions. When we have recourse to Jesus, He wishes to console us because He loves us; and He can do so, because He is not only Man, but He is also the Omnipotent God; otherwise He could not properly have this great Name of Saviour. The Name of Jesus signifies that the bearer of it is of infinite power, infinite wisdom and infinite love; so that if Jesus Christ had not united in Himself all these perfections, He could not have saved us: "If any one of these," says St. Bernard, "had been wanting, Thou couldst not call Thyself Saviour." Thus, when speaking of the Circumcision, the Saint says: "He was circumcised as being the son of Abraham, He was called Jesus as being the Son of God." He is branded as man with the mark of sin, having taken upon Himself the burden of atoning for sin; and from His very Infancy He began to satisfy for the crimes of men, by suffering and shedding His Blood.

The Name of Jesus is said by the Holy Spirit to be like oil poured out: Thy name is as oil poured out (Cant. i. 2). And so indeed it is, says St. Bernard; for as oil serves for light, for food, and for medicine, so especially the Name of Jesus is light: "it is a light when preached." And how was it, says the Saint, that the light of Faith shone forth so suddenly in the world that in a short time so many Gentile nations knew the true God, and became His followers, if it was not through hearing the Name of Jesus preached? "Whence, think you, shone forth in the whole world, so bright and so sudden, the light of Faith, except from the preaching of the Name of Jesus?" Through this Name we have been happily made sons of the true light, that is, sons of the Holy Church; since we were so fortunate as to be born in the bosom of the true Church, in Christian and Catholic kingdoms -- a grace which has not been granted to the greater part of men, who are born amongst idolaters, Mahometans, or heretics.

Further, the Name of Jesus is a food that nourishes our souls. "The thought of it is nourishment." This Name gives strength to find peace and consolation even in the midst of the miseries and persecutions of this world. The holy Apostles rejoiced when they were ill-treated and reviled, being comforted by the Name of Jesus: They went from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus (Acts. v. 41).

It is light, it is food, and it is also medicine to those who invoke it: "When pronounced, it soothes and anoints." The holy Abbot says: "At the rising of the light of this Name, the clouds disperse, and calm returns." If the soul of any one is afflicted and in trouble, let him pronounce the Name of Jesus, and immediately the tempest will cease and peace will return. Does any one fall into sin? Does he run in despair into the snares of death? Let him invoke the Name of Life, and will his life not be renewed? He shall immediately be encouraged to hope for pardon, by calling on Jesus, Who was destined by the Father to be our Saviour, and obtain pardon for sinners. Euthymius says that if when Judas was tempted to despair, he had invoked the Name of Jesus, he would not have given way to temptation: "If he had invoked that Name, he would not have perished." Therefore, he adds, no sinner can perish through despair, however abandoned he may be, who invokes the Holy Name, which is one of hope and salvation: "Despair is far off where His Name is invoked."

But sinners leave off invoking this saving Name, because they do not wish to be cured of their infirmities. Jesus Christ is ready to heal all our wounds; but if people cherish their wounds, and will not be healed, how can Jesus Christ heal them? The Venerable Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified, a Sicilian nun, once saw the Saviour, as it seemed, in a hospital, going round with medicines in His hands, to cure the sick people who were there; but these miserable people, instead of thanking Him and begging Him to come to them, drove Him away. So do many sinners, after they have of their own free will poisoned their souls with sins, refuse the gift of health, that is, the grace offered them by Jesus Christ, and thus remain lost through their infirmities.

But, on the other hand, what fear can that sinner have who has recourse to Jesus Christ, since Jesus offers Himself to obtain our pardon from His Father, He having paid by His death the penalty due to us? St. Laurence Justinian says: "He Who had been offended, appointed Himself as Intercessor, and Himself paid what was owing to God." Therefore, adds the Saint, "if thou art bound down by sickness, if sorrows weary thee, if thou art trembling with fear, invoke the Name of Jesus." O poor man, whoever thou art, if thou art weighed down by infirmity or by grief and fear, call on Jesus, and He will console thee. It is enough that we pray to the Father in His Name, and all we ask will be granted to us. This is the promise of Jesus Himself, which He repeated many times, and which cannot fail: If you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you (Jo. xvi. 23). Whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name that will I do (Jo. xiv. 13).


Evening Meditation

HIS NAME WAS CALLED JESUS (Gospel, Luke ii. 21).

I.

The Name of Jesus is a divine Name, announced to Mary on the part of God by St. Gabriel: and thou shalt call his name Jesus (Luke i. 31). For that reason it was called a name above all names (Phil. ii. 9). And it was also called a Name in which alone salvation is found: whereby we must be saved (Acts iv. 12).

This great Name is likened by the Holy Spirit unto oil: Thy name is as oil poured out (Cant. i. 2). For this reason, says St. Bernard, that as oil is light, food, and medicine, so the Name of Jesus is light to the mind, food to the heart, and medicine to the soul.

It is light to the mind. By this Name the world was converted from the darkness of idolatry to the light of Faith. We who have been born in these regions, where before the coming of Christ our ancestors were Gentiles, should all have been in the same condition had not the Messias come to enlighten us. How thankful ought we not, then, to be to Jesus Christ for the gift of Faith! And what would have become of us if we had been born in Asia, in Africa, in America, or in the midst of heretics and schismatics? He who believes not is lost: He that believeth not shall be condemned (Mark xvi. 16). And thus probably we also should have been lost.

O Jesus, Thou Who didst make the power of Thy Name to shine forth to deliver us from the servitude of sin, and the slavery of the devil, deign now and always to preserve our souls from all unworthy subjection. O Jesus all powerful, if the eyes of our souls had not been opened and enlightened by the light of Faith which Thou hast taught us by Thy own mouth, how should we ever have been able to know Thy divine mysteries! Without Thy aid we should always have been buried in the darkness of ignorance and the shadow of death. May thanks be ever given to our sweet Jesus Who has had compassion on us, and, in opening the gates of Heaven to us, has made us heirs of His Eternal Kingdom.


II.

The Name of Jesus is also food that nourishes our hearts; yes, because this Name reminds us of what Jesus has done to save us. Hence this Name consoles us in tribulation, gives us strength to walk along the way of salvation, supplies us with courage in difficulties, and inflames us with love for our Redeemer, when we remember what He has suffered for our salvation.

Lastly, this Name is medicine to the soul, because it renders it strong against the temptations of our enemies. The devils tremble and fly at the invocations of this Holy Name, according to the words of the Apostle: That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth (Phil. ii. 10). He who in temptation calls upon Jesus shall not fall, and shall be saved: Praising, I will call upon the Lord; and I will be saved from my enemies (Ps. xvii. 4). And who was ever lost who when he was tempted invoked Jesus? He alone is lost who does not invoke His aid, or who, whilst the temptation continues, ceases to invoke Him. Oh, that I had always called upon Thee, my Jesus; for then I should never have been conquered by the devil! I have miserably lost Thy grace, because in temptation I have neglected to call Thee to my assistance. But now I hope for all things through Thy Holy Name. Write, therefore, O my Saviour, write upon my poor heart Thy most powerful Name of Jesus, so that, by having it always in my heart by loving Thee, I may have it always on my lips by invoking Thee, in all the temptations that hell prepares for me to induce me to again become its slave, and to separate myself from Thee. In Thy Name I shall find every good. If I am afflicted, it will console me when I think how much more afflicted Thou hast been than I am, and all for the love of me. If I am disheartened on account of my sins, it will give me courage when I remember that Thou camest into the world to save sinners. If I am tempted, Thy Holy Name will give me strength, when I consider that Thou canst help me more than hell can cast me down; finally, if I feel cold in Thy love, Thy Name will give me fervour, by reminding me of the love that Thou bearest me. I love Thee, my Jesus! To Thee do I give all my heart, O my Jesus! Thee alone will I love! Thee will I invoke as often as I possibly can. I will die with Thy Name upon my lips; a Name of hope, a Name of salvation, a Name of love. O Mary, if thou lovest me, this is the grace I beg of thee to obtain for me -- the grace constantly to invoke thy name and that of thy Son; obtain for me that these most sweet Names may be the breath of my soul, and that I may repeat them constantly during life, in order to repeat them with my last breath. Jesus and Mary, help me; Jesus and Mary, I love You; Jesus and Mary I recommend my soul to You.

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  Benedict's Funeral "with Simplicity"
Posted by: Stone - 01-01-2023, 06:45 AM - Forum: General Commentary - Replies (2)

Benedict's Funeral "with Simplicity"

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gloria.tv | December 31, 2022


Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni announced that Benedict received the Last Rites on Wednesday afternoon after Holy Mass.

He will lie-in-state in St. Peter’s Basilica from Monday January 2nd till Wednesday January 4th. Benedict XVI’s funeral will be presided by Francis on Thursday, January 5, in St Peter’s Square to allow the most possible people to assist in person.

In accordance with Benedict’s wishes, his funeral rites will take place "with simplicity." Benedict XVI will be buried in the Vatican Grottoes in the tomb of John XXIII, where John Paul II was initially laid to rest.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, who founded the Benedict XVI Institute to make available Joseph Ratzinger’s collected works, told NcRegister.com that Benedict XVI will be remembered as “true doctor of the Church for Today” and a “great thinker.”

Archbishop Georg Gänswein said that Benedict told him in his last hours, “Please pray for me!"

For Gänswein the death means “a great and personal loss,” “I am deeply grateful and at the same time very sad.”

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  Former Pope Benedict XVI dies at 95
Posted by: Stone - 12-31-2022, 08:55 AM - Forum: The Architects of Vatican II - Replies (1)

May God have mercy on his soul. He was very influential as a peritus at Vatican II, through which 'the smoke of Satan entered the Church.'


Former Pope Benedict XVI dies at 95


BBC | December 31, 2022


Former Pope Benedict XVI has died at his Vatican residence, aged 95, almost a decade after he stood down because of ailing health.

He led the Catholic Church for less than eight years until, in 2013, he became the first Pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.

Benedict spent his final years at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery within the walls of the Vatican.

His successor Pope Francis said he had visited him there frequently.

The Vatican said in a statement: "With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican.

"Further information will be provided as soon as possible."

The Vatican said the body of the Pope Emeritus will be placed in St Peter's Basilica from 2 January for "the greeting of the faithful".

Plans for Pope Benedict's funeral will be announced in the next few hours, the Vatican said.

The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, said Pope Benedict was "one of the great theologians of the 20th century".

In a statement he said: "I remember with particular affection the remarkable Papal Visit to these lands in 2010. We saw his courtesy, his gentleness, the perceptiveness of his mind and the openness of his welcome to everybody that he met."

"He was through and through a gentleman, through and through a scholar, through and through a pastor, through and through a man of God - close to the Lord and always his humble servant."

Although the former pontiff had been ill for some time, Vatican authorities said there had been an aggravation in his condition because of advancing age.

On Wednesday, Pope Francis appealed to his final audience of the year at the Vatican to "pray a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict", whom he said was very ill.

Born Joseph Ratzinger in Germany, Benedict was 78 when in 2005 he became one of the oldest popes ever elected.

For much of his papacy, the Catholic Church faced allegations, legal claims and official reports into decades of child abuse by priests.

Earlier this year the former Pope acknowledged that errors had been made in the handling of abuse cases while he was archbishop of Munich between 1977 and 1982.

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  Vatican: Ratzinger "lucid and alert... extremely serene, concelebrated mass"
Posted by: Stone - 12-30-2022, 08:50 AM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

Vatican: "Ratzinger lucid and alert. Serious but stable conditions"
Hours of apprehension for the 95-year-old pontiff emeritus. Sources of Mater Ecclesiae: "" It is extremely serene, concelebrated mass". German press: "He refused hospitalization"

[Computer translated from the Italian]QuotidianoNazionale | December 29, 2022

"The Pope emeritus managed to rest well last night, it is absolutely lucid and alert and today, while its conditions remain serious, the situation is currently stable". This was reported by the director of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni, answering questions from journalists on the conditions of Benedict XVI. "Pope Francis renews the invitation to pray for him and to accompany him in these difficult hours", adds Bruni. With this intention, tomorrow at 5.30 pm, Mass will also be celebrated in the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, cathedral of Rome, presided over by Bishop Guerino Di Tora.

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Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI ( Ansa )

The 95 year old Joseph Ratzinger it is located on the first floor of the former Mater ecclesiae monastery (his home from 2 May 2013) and is assisted by Monsignor Georg Gaenswein and by the secular nuns, the four memores domains of Communion and Liberation. To also provide assistance the Vatican nurse, between Eligio, and the personal doctor Patrizio Polisca. And sources close to the monastery let it be known that "is extremely peaceful", he wears a coat and at the moment of mass he concelebrates [the Novus Ordo] with a stole that is placed on his shoulders. According to Bild, "Benedict XVI does not want to be taken to the hospital, despite being seriously ill".


Pope emeritus, unprecedented situation

In these hours of apprehension and waiting, the hypotheses about what will happen next increase. In the event of the death of the Pope Emeritus, the only certainty is that it will be Pope Francis to decide how the funeral, most likely of the State, will take place from "Pontefice". And Bergoglio himself could preside over the Liturgy ( while for the death of a Pope it is the dean of cardinals who does it, ed. ). Given the unprecedented situation, the procedures will be established from scratch, also from the point of view of dressing. Benedict XVI, in these almost ten years as Emeritus, has never given up on the white robe and therefore one could decide to leave the papal vestments. In 2020 Ratzinger indicated the place where he wanted to be buried: the tomb that belonged to John Paul II, in the crypt of St. Peter. Sepulcher remained free from the moment of the canonization of Wojtyla, whose remains were transferred to a chapel near Michelangelo's Pietà.

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  WEF To Accelerate Push For 'Metaverse' Surveillance Network At Davos 2023
Posted by: Stone - 12-30-2022, 08:42 AM - Forum: Great Reset - No Replies

WEF To Accelerate Push For 'Metaverse' Surveillance Network At Davos 2023

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ZH | DEC 29, 2022
Authored by Jordan Schachtel via The Dossier,

During its 2023 Davos conference, the World Economic Forum will host a press conference on its “Building The Metaverse Initiative,” and release key “studies” and details about its efforts to further facilitate what appears to amount to a global surveillance network, according to documents reviewed by The Dossier.

The Metaverse, a buzzworthy bumper sticker slogan that refers to a whole host of ideas in the technology space, has potential current and future applications both for private and governmental entities. It will be featured as one of the core staples of the 2023 Davos conference.

What is the Metaverse, exactly?

The term Metaverse was invented by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash, in which citizens used digital avatars as a means to escape their dystopian reality.

Today it can be defined as “a vision of what many in the computer industry believe is the next iteration of the internet: a single, shared, immersive, persistent, 3D virtual space where humans experience life in ways they could not in the physical world.” Before its expanded definition, the Metaverse encompassed a technologically advancing virtual and augmented reality space.

To entrepreneurs and technology companies, this computer world can serve as a potential revenue and data harvesting stream. For the committed forces of technocratic tyranny, the Metaverse can act as a global surveillance network that can keep tabs on anyone with an internet connection. A Metaverse-adopting society can make it much easier for ruling governments to track the movement, behaviors, and activities of its citizens.

For the World Economic Forum, the narrative and ideas shop of the ruling class, the latter applications are more aligned with their feudalistic ambitions.

The WEF is the chief coalition builder for what amounts to the modern depopulation movement. Over the years, they've partnered with Big Tech, central bankers, governmental, and international organizations to facilitate their feudalistic vision for the future, which involves deliberately rolling back human progress, innovation, and flourishing, under the guise of saving the planet from a “climate emergency.” While various WEF “partners” have different motives for joining the ruling class alliance, they all have an incentive to cater to the WEF’s most prized climate hoax narratives.

The WEF Metaverse press conference event description reads:
Quote:“This press conference will announce the first, and long-awaited, outputs of the Defining and Building the Metaverse Initiative: highly anticipated briefing papers on Interoperability in the Metaverse from the governance track of the project, and Demystifying the Consumer Metaverse from the value creation track. These two briefing papers, the first in each workstream’s series, will serve as the foremost publications involving this amount of research, this number of stakeholders from diverse industries (120+ partners are involved in this initiative), into these topics.”

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The WEF will also host an event at Davos 2023 titled “Deployment In The Industrial Metaverse.” Panelists will discuss how “the next era of the internet is fast approaching in the form of the metaverse, an immersive, interoperable and synchronous digital world.” 

“In the industrial metaverse, unique opportunities will arise from the convergence of artificial intelligence, digital twins, data and robotic technologies,” the readout continues.

The Dossier reviewed a list of the listed partners to the World Economic Forum’s Metaverse Initiative. They include corporate actors like Meta (formerly known as Facebook), Microsoft, Walmart, and Sony. Notably, the list includes major financial services and banking enterprises, such as Mastercard, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, and Lloyds.

Things really take a dark turn when moving down to the state and global governance partners to the WEF’s Metaverse Initiative. These partners include Interpol, the United Nations counter terrorism office, the U.S. NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute, and several additional countries’ information and communication ministries.

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The WEF looks to the Chinese Communist Party as the model nation for proper governance. The CCP’s nationwide surveillance regime, through its “Great Firewall” and other components, could very well become the standard for Metaverse governance.

Earlier this month, the WEF published an article titled, “why we need to regulate digital identity in the Metaverse,” revealing that Davos indeed sought a heavy-handed top-down approach akin to the CCP’s measures.

In May, WEF founder Klaus Schwab addressed his organization’s Metaverse work. Schwab reveals a lot about his intentions in his framing of the term, stating:

“The metaverse will influence the way, people, governments, companies and society at large think, work, interact and communicate for the purpose of collectively addressing issues on the global agenda.”

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  St. Alphonsus Liguori: "On the Education of Children,"
Posted by: Stone - 12-29-2022, 07:28 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching - Replies (2)

A Man’s Future Relies on What He Received as a Child
by St. Alphonsus Marie Liguori


In August 2013, the Vatican Apostleship of Prayer released a commentary on Catholic parents’ responsibility to educate their children. In it were many progressivist messages and little sound teaching.

For example, parents were told that a primary mission was to be “witnesses of responsible solidarity” and that they must be the “living witness to the human and humanizing warmth which every child has a right to receive.” Nothing was said about the duty to teach children to practice the Ten Commandments, the Catholic Faith and Morals.

In view of this lacuna, we thought it convenient to reproduce here the advice for parents of St. Alphonsus Marie Liguori (Church Doctor, 1696-1787), who was commenting on the Gospel verse "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit." (Mt 7:18)

In the first part of his sermon, reproduced below, he teaches how important it is to bring up children in habits of virtue.



Then the Gospel of this day tells us, that a good plant cannot produce bad fruit, and that a bad one cannot produce good fruit. Learn from this, brethren, that a good father brings up good children. But, if parents are wicked, how can the children be virtuous?

Have you ever, says the Redeemer, in the same Gospel, seen grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? "Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?" (v. 16.) And, in like manner, it is impossible, or rather very difficult, to find children virtuous, who are brought up by immoral parents.

Fathers and mothers, you must be attentive to this sermon, which is of great importance to the eternal salvation of yourselves and of your children. Be attentive, young men and young women, who have not yet chosen a state of life. If you wish to marry, learn this day the obligations that you can contract with regard to the education of your children; and learn also that, if you do not fulfill them, you shall bring yourselves and all your children to damnation.

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A child is given to parents as a trust for which they must render an account to God

I will divide this sermon into two points.

In the first, I will show how important is to bring up children in habits of virtue; and in the second, I will show with what care and diligence a parent ought to labor to bring them up well.

First Point: How very important it is to bring up children in habits of virtue

1. A father owes two obligations to his children: He is bound to provide for their corporal wants, and to educate them in the habits of virtue. It is not necessary at present to say more on the first obligation than that there are some fathers more cruel than the most ferocious of wild beasts, for these do not forget to nourish their offspring. Indeed, certain parents squander away all their property or fruits of their industry by drinking and gambling, and allow their children to die of hunger. But let us come to the education, which is the subject of my discourse.

2. It is certain that a child's future good or ill conduct depends on whether he was well formed or ill formed. Nature itself teaches every parent to attend to the education of his offspring. He who gave them their being ought to endeavor to make life useful to them. God gives children to parents so that they may be formed in the fear of God, and be directed in the way of eternal salvation.

"We have," says St. Chrysostom, "a great investment in our children; let us attend to them with great care." (Homily IX, in 1 ad Tit.)

Children have not been given to parents as a present, which they may dispose of as they please, but as a trust, for which, if lost through their negligence they must render an account to God.

The Scripture tells us, that when a father observes the divine law, both he and his children shall prosper. "That it may be well with thee and thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is pleasing in the sight of God." (Deut 12:25)

But when we find a son addicted to blasphemies, to obscenities and to theft, we have reason to suspect that such too was the character of the father: "For a man is known by his children." (Eccl 11:30)

3. Hence Origen says that on the day of the judgment parents will have to render an account for all the sins of their children. (Grig., Lib. 2, in Job.) Hence, he who teaches his son to live well shall die a happy and tranquil death: "He that teaches his son well ... when he died he was not sorrowful, neither was he confounded." (Eccl. 30: 3, 5) And he shall save his soul by means of his children; that is, by the virtuous education he has given them: "She shall be saved through child-bearing." (1 Tim. 2:15)

But, on the other hand, a very uneasy and unhappy death shall be the lot of those who have labored only to increase the possessions or to multiply the honors of their family. Or who have sought only to lead a life of ease and pleasure, but have not watched over the morals of their children. St. Paul says that such parents are worse than infidels: "But if any man hath not care of his own, and especially of those of his house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." (1 Tim 5: 8)

"Were fathers or mothers to lead a life of piety and continual prayer, and to communicate every day, they should be damned if they neglected the care of their children,” says St. Chrysostom. “Certain parents paid less attention to their children than they do to their horses! How careful are they to see that their horses are fed and well trained! And they take no pains to make their children attend Catechism, hear Mass, or go to confession. We take more care of our asses and horses, than of our children." (Homily X., in Mt)

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Allowing television to a child is to deliver him to all the vices

4. If all fathers fulfilled their duty of watching over the education of their children, we should have but few crimes and few executions.

"By the bad education parents give to their offspring, they cause their children - says St. Chrysostom - to rush into many grievous vices; and thus they deliver them up to the hands of the executioner." (Sermon, XX., de divers.)

Hence, in Lacedemon, a parent, as being the cause of all the irregularities of his children, was justly punished for their crimes with greater severity than the children themselves.

Great indeed is the misfortune of the child that has vicious parents, who are incapable of forming their children in the fear of God, and who, when they see their children engaged in dangerous friendships and in quarrels, instead of correcting and chastising them, rather take compassion on them, and say: "What can be done? They are young; they must take their course."

Oh! What wicked maxims! What a cruel education! Do you hope that when your children grow up they shall become saints?

Listen to what Solomon says : "A young man, according to his way, even when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Prov 22: 6) A young man who has contracted a habit of sin will not abandon it even in his old age.

"His bones," says Job, "shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust." (Job 20: 11) When a young person has lived in evil habits, his bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, so that he shall carry them with him to death. And the impurities, blasphemies and hatred to which he was accustomed in his youth shall accompany him to the grave, and shall sleep with him after his bones will be reduced to dust and ashes. It is very easy, when they are small, to train up children to habits of virtue; but, when they have come to manhood, it is equally difficult to correct them, if they have learned habits of vice.

Continued


-From St. Alphonsus Liguori, "On the Education of Children," Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Sermon 36, Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Vatican Radio Report
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  World’s biggest cultivated meat factory is being built in the U.S.
Posted by: Stone - 12-29-2022, 07:12 AM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

World’s biggest cultivated meat factory is being built in the U.S.
It will be able to produce 22 million pounds of cultivated meat annually.


BigThink.com [adapted] | December 25, 2022
  • Cultivated meat is produced by combining muscle cells, extracted from living animals, with substances that help the cells grow.
  • The mixture is then placed inside in a machine called a “bioreactor,” which provides the ideal conditions for the cells to multiply.
  • Because cultivated meat is molecularly identical to the kind that comes from whole animals, it has the same flavor. 
  • For cultivated meat to have any real impact on the meat industry, though, the companies making it need to get costs down — for instance, by scaling up production.

Israeli startup Believer Meats has begun construction on the world’s biggest cultivated meat factory — and once it’s up and running, the US-based facility will be able to produce at least 22 million pounds of meat annually.

The challenge: Cultivated meat is produced by combining muscle cells, extracted from living animals, with substances that help the cells grow. The mixture is then placed inside in a machine called a “bioreactor,” which provides the ideal conditions for the cells to multiply.

“With our new U.S. production center, we are one step closer to commercialization.”

Quote:Because cultivated meat is molecularly identical to the kind that comes from whole animals, it has the same flavor. That means it could allow us to stop raising and slaughtering animals for meat, which is both bad for the environment and arguably unethical, without giving up the taste of burgers and chicken.

For cultivated meat to have any real impact on the meat industry, though, the companies making it need to get costs down. That typically means scaling up production, and right now, many startups are still only producing their lab-grown meat in very small batches.

What’s new? Believer Meats (formerly Future Meats) is not one of those startups. In June 2021, it opened the world’s first industrial-scale cultivated meat factory, which it says is capable of producing more than 400,000 pounds of meat per year.

Now, the company is building a facility in Wilson, North Carolina, that will be able to produce 55 times as much meat.

“Our brand has continually proven our commitment to scale production technology and capacity, and with our new US production center, we are one step closer to commercialization,” said CEO Nicole Johnson-Hoffman.

Looking ahead: A company spokesperson told Freethink that Believer’s new 200,000-square-foot cultivated meat factory is projected to be operational by early 2023.

Even if Believer can meet that goal, though, it won’t be able to sell any of its cultivated meat in the US without first getting the greenlight from both the FDA and the USDA. So far, only one company (UPSIDE Foods) has surmounted that first hurdle, and no one has yet cleared both.

Still, Believer is investing $123.35 million into the facility — about a third of the $388 million it has raised over its lifetime — and that commitment suggests that it expects the US to be a major cultivated meat market in the not-so-distant future.

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  St. John Fisher's Prayer for Good and Holy Bishops
Posted by: Stone - 12-28-2022, 11:59 AM - Forum: Prayers and Devotionals - No Replies

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St. John Fisher was a Catholic bishop during the 16th century who was martyred by King Henry VIII.

In a sermon from 1508, St. John Fisher prayed for good and holy bishops, asking God to send the Church true shepherds.

Quote:Lord, according to Your promise that the Gospel should be preached throughout the whole world, raise up men fit for such work. The Apostles were but soft and yielding clay till they were baked hard by the fire of the Holy Ghost.

So, good Lord, do now in like manner again with Thy Church militant; change and make the soft and slippery earth into hard stone; set in Thy Church strong and mighty pillars that may suffer and endure great labors, watching, poverty, thirst, hunger, cold and heat; which also shall not fear the threatening of princes, persecution, neither death but always persuade and think with themselves to suffer with a good will, slanders, shame, and all kinds of torments, for the glory and laud of Thy Holy Name. By this manner, good Lord, the truth of Thy Gospel shall be preached throughout all the world.

Therefore, merciful Lord, exercise Thy mercy, show it indeed upon Thy Church.
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  Hungarian Archbishop: “The German Church Is Anti-Christ”
Posted by: Stone - 12-28-2022, 06:38 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism - No Replies

Hungarian Archbishop: “The German Church Is Anti-Christ”

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gloria.tv | December 28, 2022

Retired Veszprém Archbishop Gyula Márfi, 79, Hungary, had to relocate from Veszprém to Szombathely in August because he had criticised plans for the "renovation" of his former cathedral that include the removal of a glass window of St Michael, put in by Bishop Bertalan Badalik OP (+1965) who was exiled by the communists. Márfi spoke to MagyarJelen.hu (December 25). Highlights

• “One of the most striking signs of the EU's anti-Christian ideology is the fact that its constitution speaks about Europe's Greco-Roman traditions and the [so called] Enlightenment but makes no mentioning of Christianity."

• Márfi believes that "Freemasons and Muslims" are joining forces to make Christianity disappear from Europe.

• He confirms that Christians also love homosexualists but "to make a cult of them is a mortal sin which is also against the laws of nature.“

• “The situation of the German Church is really disastrous."

• According to the German bishops it is not important whether Jesus was born or rose from the dead but whether he is born and rises "in you." Márfi calls this "absurd."

• "A significant number of German priests bless homosex pseudo-marriages, as well as cohabitation and life partnerships. This is no longer Christianity, it is anti-Christ."

• In a mixed society, individual loses their identity, culture, faith, language, they "become easily manipulated, which is ideal for the world's big business."

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  12 States Allow Home Equity 'Theft' Over Homeowners' Tax Payment Shortfalls
Posted by: Stone - 12-28-2022, 06:34 AM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

12 States Allow Home Equity 'Theft' Over Homeowners' Tax Payment Shortfalls, Study Says


ZH | DEC 27, 2022
Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Twelve states and the District of Columbia allow local governments and private investors to seize dramatically more than what is owed from homeowners who fall behind on property tax payments, according to a new report.

The practice, which Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) calls “home equity theft,” is documented in what the organization bills as the first national study aimed at exposing “the injustice of home equity theft through tax foreclosure.”

“Our findings are alarming,” PLF’s strategic research director, Angela Erickson, said in a statement.

“Home equity theft is robbing thousands of people of their homes and all the equity they’ve built. A system that allows governments and private investors to take more than what is owed creates a perverse incentive to work against the homeowner—not with the homeowner—to get the tax debt paid.”

Homeowners lost more than $777 million in life savings on more than 5,600 homes, based on their market value, in transactions that took place from 2014 to 2021. The true total is probably higher because statistics from New York state and some statistics from the other states studied were not available. On average, homeowners lost 86 percent of their equity, the study found.

Government entities, which often unload properties for a fraction of their market value, collected an estimated $26 million more than they were owed on about 1,300 homes. At the same time, private investors, who purchase tax liens, took in about $250 million more than what they were owed on about 2,600 homes.

Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, and the District of Columbia have laws on the books that let local governments and private investors “steal” substantial amounts of home equity from homeowners who are late on their property taxes, according to PLF.

Nine other states—Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, and Wisconsin—safeguard home equity in the foreclosure process but provide loopholes that permit governments or private entities to capture excess equity value that PLF says should belong to the homeowner.

These laws allow government officials and investors to take homes that have been in families for generations and leave some people homeless over tax debts that, in some cases, work out to less than 1 percent of their property’s value, according to PLF.

In one case, a county in Michigan seized a man’s house over an $8.41 underpayment, leaving him with nothing. The report notes that in the end, the homeowner prevailed when the Michigan Supreme Court determined that the county had acted unconstitutionally.

PLF takes the position that these so-called tax-and-take transactions violate the Fifth Amendment, which prevents the government from taking property without just compensation, and the Eighth Amendment, which bans excessive penalties.

Some government treasurers’ organizations, counties, and tax lien investors who “personally profit off the system in some of these states” are in favor of laws that lead to home equity theft, Christina Martin, a senior attorney at PLF, told The Epoch Times.

“Everybody else seems to be against it—groups on the left, right, [and] center,” she said.

“The vast majority of people seem to be against this. And most people actually have no idea this is even happening.”

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an alliance of conservative lawmakers, is opposed to home equity theft. Laws should be changed to require surplus profits to be returned to a home’s prior owner after a “tax lien investor or county collects what it is due and any other debts or levies on the property are paid,” ALEC says.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Government Finance Officers Association, the National Governors Association, and the National Conference of State Legislatures for comment but had not received a reply from any of the three organizations as of press time.

PLF currently has three home equity theft-related petitions from homeowners pending before the Supreme Court, all of which are scheduled to be considered by the justices on Jan. 6, 2023.

Two are from Nebraska. One petition (pdf) is Fair v. Continental Resources, court file 22-160, and the other (pdf) is Nieveen v. Tax 106, court file 22-237. A petition (pdf), Tyler v. Hennepin County, court file 22-166, is from Minnesota.

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  Pope Francis says ex-pope Benedict is 'very sick', asks for prayers
Posted by: Stone - 12-28-2022, 06:08 AM - Forum: Pope Francis - Replies (1)

Pope Francis says ex-pope Benedict is 'very sick', asks for prayers

[Image: 4ETUJ3QKZNMCFB5GH6F743YJRE.jpg]

Former pope Benedict ® is greeted by Pope Francis during a ceremony to mark his 65th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood at the Vatican June 28, 2016. Osservatore Romano/Handout via Reuters


VATICAN CITY, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Pope Francis asked for prayers for former pope Benedict on Wednesday, saying he is "very sick".

Francis made the surprise appeal at the end of his general audience, giving no details.

Benedict, 95, in 2013 became the first pope in some 600 years to resign. He has been living in the Vatican since then.

"I would like to ask all of you for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict, who, in silence, is sustaining the Church. Let us remember him. He is very sick, asking the Lord to console and sustain him in this witness of love for the Church, until the end," Francis said, speaking in Italian.

There was no immediate comment from the Vatican on the state of Benedict's health, and phone calls to his residence in the Vatican were not answered.

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