Pope Benedict Calls the Church a "Wounded Sinner"...

"Many clergy have given themselves over to pleasures of the flesh. Many have fallen into sin and heresy, and have cast aside the truth of their vocations. Many now rebel against their leader, their God-given leader, your Vicar. In matters of Faith and Morals, man must not change the God-given laws, coming from the Seat of Peter, and established through Tradition upon earth through My Son's Church." - Our Lady of the Roses, October 6, 1979

Pope Benedict marked five years as leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics on Monday, calling his church a "wounded sinner" torn between the persecutions of the world and the consolation of God."

The German-born pontiff, who turned 83 last Friday, struck the reflective tone while thanking 46 cardinals at a private lunch in the Vatican for their support in a difficult time, the official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reported.

Benedict attended the lunch after a weekend visit to Malta, where he met eight men sexually abused by priests in his latest step to counter the scandal that has rocked the church.

"The pontiff alluded to the sins of the church, recalling that it, a wounded sinner, felt all the more the consolation of God," L'Osservatore Romano wrote of the lunch gathering.

It quoted a saying from St Augustine, who called the church a pilgrim who shuttles between "the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God."

Benedict has avoided mentioning the spreading sexual abuse scandal in public but made several indirect references to the church's sins and the need to repent. Hundreds of abuse cases, many decades old, have been alleged in recent months in Europe.

Out around Saint Peter's Square, Catholic pilgrims expressed concern about the scandal and support for the pope.

"The recent years have not been easy," said Marco Bosco from Spain. "The challenge is to see that everything that happened this year is cleared up. We trust Pope Benedict to do that."

The low-key anniversary contrasted with the optimism of his election on April 19, 2005, when the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger surprised the world with a gentle approach at odds with his fierce reputation as the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog.

In his first speech, he pledged to continue on the path of his popular predecessor, Pope John Paul, and foster Christian unity and good relations with other religions.

SUCCESSIVE CONTROVERSIES

But since then, his papacy has been marked by successive controversies, several with other faiths, and a pattern of poor communications that often poured fuel on the fire.

The recent wave of allegations of child sexual abuse by priests, some going back decades, is the latest in this series. It began in Ireland and spread this year to Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and other European countries.

Benedict has gone further than any pope in condemning abuse, meeting victims and urging bishops to work with the police, but his reluctance to take more aggressive steps -- such as retiring bishops who hid predator priests -- disappoints his critics.

Malta's President George Abela hinted more was needed when he told Benedict on his arrival there Saturday that it must ensure "justice will not only be done but seen to be done."

On his first trip only months after his election, Benedict made good on his promise to foster contacts with other religions by visiting a synagogue and meeting other Christian and Muslim leaders in Cologne during the World Youth Days there.

TENSIONS WITH JEWS

But a year later in Regensburg, Germany, he angered the Muslim world with a lecture in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor saying Islam was violent and irrational.

He said he was misunderstood and made several fence-mending statements and gestures. An olive branch offered by Islamic scholars helped start a dialogue that has since developed well, although the original Regensburg speech still rankles Muslims.

Relations with Jews grew tense as Benedict made the reinforcement of Catholic tradition a top priority of his papacy. Jewish groups have objected to his support for making the late Pope Pius XII a saint, saying he did not do enough to save Jews from the Holocaust.

The readmission of four excommunicated bishops from the ultra-traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X also angered Jews because one of them, Richard Williamson, denied the Holocaust.

British Catholic commentator Austen Ivereigh said Benedict was intent on bringing the schismatic group back into the church despite the problems this might cause. "He feels there are some things more important than good relations," Ivereigh said.

That decision was also controversial in the church, where some bishops, especially in France and Germany, argued a return to traditions such as the old Latin Mass could mean a rollback of reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).

“And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” - St. Matthew 16:18 DRV

Please Pray for Pope Benedict. He is Under Grave Attack by the Antichrist Forces From Without and Within the Church.

"My children, you will recognize the signs of your times. The evil has accelerated. Satan has poisoned many minds, even in the clergy. It is now the full responsibility of parents to be the leaders, the teachers of their children. Satan has poisoned the minds of many in the clergy and doctrines of demons are being introduced into My House.

"My children, it is with great sorrow that We look upon the abominations being committed in My houses upon earth. Know now, O bishops, shepherds of My flock, that We look upon you and find you wanting. You bring about a change, and for what? You were not satisfied with the rules, so now you make rules to suit your own basic carnal nature of man. And what are you doing, but you are reforming My House, and for what?

"In arrogance and pride you have placed yourself above your God. Believe, and do you believe, O clergy? Shall you stand before Me and say that your teaching has been pure in My sight? I say unto you: I shall spit you out as vermin into the flames! Vipers upon earth you have become. I say unto you: Your days shall be counted in the few.
"Many of My clergy are on the road to perdition and taking many trusting souls with them." - Jesus, July 25, 1977

The amazing Bayside Prophecies... https://www.tldm.org/Bayside/default.htm
These messages came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995.

THE MAJOR OFFENSE
"The major offense being committed in your world is an offense far above any sin committed in such majority in the past. You have committed the great sin of heresy. You have opened the doors of your Eternal City, the home of your Vicar, to all manner of heretics and non-believers." - St. Michael, February 1, 1977

EXCOMMUNICATE
"Pastors in the houses of your God, you must return from your wanderings and gather your straying sheep. Discipline must be returned. Holiness and piety must be returned. Heresy and heretics must be taken out of Rome! The power of excommunication must be used. You will cleanse the Eternal City now, or you will accept the sword!" - St. Michael, December 27, 1975

INDOCTRINATED IN HERESY
"Your children must be protected from the evils that abound in your school systems in your country and most nations throughout the world. They are being taught immorality and a loss of faith in the supernatural and the knowledge of their God. All manner of heresy has been indoctrinated into their youthful minds. It is a diabolical plan of Lucifer." - Our Lady, June 18, 1979

SPEAK OUT
"Many homes shall be torn asunder by the fall of the children. Parents shall shed tears of anguish. Therefore, prevent this now while your children are at a young age. Give them a firm foundation of their faith. Be not afraid to speak out against heresy and abominations, even if you have to do this against your clergy. For many now have fallen in with the modernists, the socialists, the communists, and some the satanists. Therefore, My children, I make known to you the crisis that lies ahead." - Our Lady, June 18, 1979

HERESY, APOSTASY ABOUND
"Because of the arrogance and pride of My clergy, many of Our sheep, Our children, are lost to the Kingdom of Heaven. Many mitres are destined for the abyss. Heresy and apostasy abounds upon earth." - Jesus, June 18, 1979

MOURNFUL HERESY
"Heresy, O mournful heresy! Pastors, this shall not be tolerated. You must not destroy Our young flowers, the children. You must nurture them with pure waters of faith. This faith must not be tainted by modernism and humanism. You have set upon the world a confusion of mind and a darkening of spirit." - Our Lady, November 20, 1975

MUST NOT COMPROMISE
"You must not compromise your Faith. You cannot lower your standards and bring others into My Son's Church, for you bring in all manner of heresy and abominations. By your example did you gather Our sheep, and by your example now do you scatter them. I say, as your Mother: Turn back from your road, for you are on the way to perdition." - Our Lady, June 5, 1976

HERESY PREVAILS
"Each man shall be accountable for his own soul. You shall not allow heresy to prevail in My House! You shall not permit the corruption and destruction of the young souls with error, fallacy, and heresy! You shall not, in the name of technology and science, corrupt the teachings given to you by those who came before you, sent by the Eternal Father to enlighten you on the path and the way to your Kingdom, the Kingdom of your God in Heaven!" - Jesus, February 10, 1976

HELL-HOLES OF HERESY
"Can you, O bishops, not spare but the little time to look into your seminaries? I say but one expression to you: they have become hell-holes of error and heresy! Clean out your seminaries, My bishops! My Son will lay upon you a heavy hand in penance! Is this what you want? Do you not have the courage of your convictions to stand by the truth of your Faith? Have you given yourselves to such foul sin, O bishops, in your personal lives that you do no longer recognize sin as being a way of life? Are you also condoning sin to become a way of life?" - Our Lady, October 2, 1976

HERESY IN THE CLASSROOMS
"And what are they teaching in the classrooms? Oh, my sister, you must tell the world—all the children of earth, of the Eternal Father—that they are teaching heresy! Oh, that's untruth. Satan is deluding many and poisoning their minds. Heresy, O mournful heresy!" - St. Theresa, May 17, 1975

LEGACY OF TRUTH
"I recognized, my child, the evils that were to fall upon the world. Search for the knowledge I have left to you. I, too, was enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Read well the legacy of truth* that I left to you. Modernism must be erased from your world!" - Pope St. Pius X, September 7, 1974

* Read especially the famous encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (The Doctrine of the Modernists) by Pope St. Pius X.

MANY REBEL
"Many clergy have given themselves over to pleasures of the flesh. Many have fallen into sin and heresy, and have cast aside the truth of their vocations. Many now rebel against their leader, their God-given leader, your Vicar. In matters of faith and morals, man must not change the God-given laws, coming from the Seat of Peter, and established through tradition upon earth through My Son's Church." - Our Lady, October 6, 1979

Directives from Heaven...

D1 - The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass PDF
D85 - Tradition PDF
D161 - The Great Apostasy PDF
D164 - Heresy PDF
D184 - Church of Man, Part 1 PDF
D185 - Church of Man, Part 2 PDF
D186 - Excommunication PDF

Articles…

Pope Benedict XVI on the disintegration of the liturgy
https://www.tldm.org/news7/PopeBenedictXVIDisintegrationOfLiturgy.htm

Pope Benedict XVI on life, faith, family and freedom
https://www.tldm.org/News7/PopeBenedictXVIFaith&Family.htm

Pope Benedict XVI on Church after Vatican II: "incontrovertible that this period has definitely been unfavorable for the Church"
https://www.tldm.org/directives/d193.htm

Pope Benedict XVI: the Mass reduced to a show
https://www.tldm.org/News7/PopeBenedictXVIMassReducedToAShow.htm

Pope Benedict XVI on the theology of kneeling
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeBenedictXVITheologyOfKneeling.htm

Pope Benedict against Harry Potter: speaks of "subtle seductions" that "deeply affect (children) and corrupt the Christian faith in souls
https://www.tldm.org/News8/Pope%20BenedictAgainstHarryPotter.htm

Pope Benedict stresses necessity to halt cafeteria Catholicism
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeBenedictCafeteriaCatholicism.htm

Holy Communion for divorced and remarried undermines Sacrament of Matrimony says Pope Benedict
https://www.tldm.org/News8/Communion&DivorcedPopeBenedict.htm

Vatican says no to homosexuals in priesthood - approved by Pope Benedict
https://www.tldm.org/News8/homosexualityPriesthood3.htm

Pope Benedict attacks 'hypocritical' secularists: calls those who want to exclude God from public life intolerant
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeBenedictAttacksSecularists.htm

Vatican correspondent notes Pope Benedict using "apocalyptic" language
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeBenedictApocalypse.htm

Pope Benedict XVI and his support for the Old Mass
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeBenedictSupportsOldMass.htm

Pope Benedict spied on by East German Communist Secret Police from 1974
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeBenedictSpiedOn.htm

Pope Benedict to bishops: Don't water down Church teachings
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeDon'tWaterDownTeachings.htm

We encourage everyone to print or email copies of this web page to all the Bishops and all the clergy. Also, email or send this web page to the news media and as many people as possible.

The electronic form of this document is copyrighted.
Quotations are permissible as long as this web site is acknowledged through hyperlink to: http://www.tldm.org
Copyright © These Last Days Ministries, Inc. 1996 - 2010   All rights reserved.
P.O. Box 40                   616-698-6448
Lowell, MI 49331-0040
Revised: October 01, 2018