The Buried Last Encyclical of Pius XII That Could Have STOPPED the Errors of Vatican II

[00:00:00]These words should not be considered offensive. They show us just how seriously the church takes the salvation of our souls.

[00:00:10]Which modern errors do you think are most dangerous to souls? Would it be moral relativism, accuminism, calling the mass a meal and not a sacrifice, denying procreation is the primary end of marriage? rejecting that Christ is king over states and nations.

[00:00:32]Every one of these errors has led many souls away from God in recent decades.

[00:00:37]But what if I told you that every one of those errors was identified and condemned in a papal encyclical written just one year before the second Vatican council was called? And what if this encyclical was suppressed and buried in the Vatican archives until now? In this show, I will share the fascinating true story of Pope Pius I 12th's last great encyclical, the one that never saw the light of day. You don't want to miss this one. But before we get into it, let's begin as we always do with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. My dear friends, researchers working in the Vatican archives recently made an astounding discovery. Working through newly opened files, they found the text of an unpublished encyclical which had been prepared on the instructions of Pope Pius I 12th. As you know, papal encyclicals take their name from their opening words. And this one was to be called kulum rei reum worship of the king of kings. These words beautifully captured the content and spirit of the document which was all about putting god back at the center of our lives. The encyclical was intended to be a decisive rejection of the errors of modernity and a call for man to return to the worship of God. One cardinal urged Pius I 12th to make the text the Pashendi of modern times a reference to St. Pius I 10th's great anti-modernist encyclical of 1907.

[00:02:29]To help us understand Kulum Reum, it will be useful to take a few steps back in time in Pashandi. St. Pius the 10th warned that the church was being attacked from within by men who and he says feigning a love for the church were actually he says forming more boldly into line of attack to assail all that is most sacred in the work of Christ.

[00:02:57]These men were the modernists and pest I 10th called them and I quote the most pernitious of all the adversaries of the church. Modernists as St. Pius the 10th explained don't believe that man can truly know God or that God can reveal truths to us. They think that religion emerges from man's own internal feelings and experiences which are then clothed in words and called doctrine. Over time, these doctrines evolve along with mankind. You can continue using the same words, but what you mean changes. This means that modernists can repeat formulas that sound Catholic without believing in the Catholic faith. That made them dangerous in 1907 and it makes them dangerous today. St. Pius the 10th drove modernist doctrine out of Catholic institutions. But unlike other heretics, the modernists didn't leave the church and start their own. Instead, they went underground, hiding what they really believed while working for the destruction of the church from the inside. St. Pius the 10th had warned about this as well. In Pashandi, he said, and I quote, "They put their designs for her ruin into operation, not from without, but from within. Hence the danger is present almost in the very veins and heart of the church. And having struck at this root of immortality, they proceed to disseminate poison through the whole tree, so that there is no part of Catholic truth from which they hold their hand, none that they do not strive to corrupt." End quote. Those are powerful words and as we will see they proved to be prophetic.

[00:04:48]By the 1940s the effects of the poison were apparent in the life of the church.

[00:04:55]Under the name of novel theology new theology modernist ideas were spreading again. In 1950, Pope Pius I 12th responded with his encyclical letter Humani generous in which he reminded theologians of their obligation to submit to the sacred magisterium of the Catholic Church. But his warnings went unheeded and the errors continued to spread. And that's where our unpublished encyclical comes in. In 1956, a report was submitted to the holy office by a Dominican priest called Paul Phipe. He had carried out an indepth study of the novel in France and come to conclusions that were shocking at the time, but will sadly be all too familiar to those of us who have tried to live the faith since Vatican 2. Phipe warned that this theology was headed towards changing the Catholic doctrine to make it more pleasing to modern men. He noted four key areas of doctrinal deviation. Human nature, morality, the church, and our lady. The situation was even worse, he said, than at the time of the modernists because these new enemies of the faith hid their errors behind an apparently supernatural approach. But he warned, and I quote, "One must not be deceived.

[00:06:22]The novel theology poses a danger to the faith and to the Christian life all the greater because it is more subtle." End quote. His report was soon read by Cardinal Otavani, the prefect of the Holy Office in Rome, who lost no time in sharing its conclusions with the Holy Father. And so on Christmas Day 1956, Pope Pius I 12th reached a decision. He would write a new encyclical. Just 4 days later, a drafting commission was established. And on the 17th of January in 1957, they met for the first time to begin the arduous task of preparing an encyclical worthy to be promulgated by pas I 12th to the universal church.

[00:07:07]Drafting the encyclical took some time, but on September 27th, 1958, a complete draft was submitted to a commission of cardinals for review. And this text was never promulgated.

[00:07:23]Just 12 days later on the 9th of October 1958, Pope Pis I 12th died aged 82. The Holy Father's death means of course that this document is not an official teaching act of the church. And we don't know how much it might have been changed before he gave it his final seal of approval. But the text we have does show very clearly that the pope and his cardinals were aware of the errors threatening the church and that these were the very same errors that generations of bishops and cardinals have taught since the 60s to the ruin of souls. These researchers who discovered the encyclical have not yet published it in full, but they have shared their commentary and some important extracts in an article recently published in Italian. I will put a link under this video to that article for those who want to read their work in full. But now, let's dig deeper into some of the most important parts of this text. What doctrines did this text teach and what errors did it condemn? Worship of the King of Kings. The official title of Kulum Reum was to be quote on sacred religion through worship observance of the law and faith to be believed and professed in due obedience in this age.

[00:08:54]End quote. This title translated directly from the Latin is a bit of a mouthful, but each word is important. So let's have a closer look. The title indicates that the purpose of the document is to bring man back to the Catholic religion, which has three aspects. the worship of God by means of the sacred rights of the Catholic Church, obedience to the moral law and to the laws of the church, and belief and public profession of the Catholic faith in obedience to the magisterium of the church. The reference to in this age seems to indicate that this document wishes to emphasize that the modern man needs the Catholic religion just as much as his ancestors did. The researchers note in their Italian article that underlying the whole text is the conviction that quote the fundamental error of modern society is the loss of the relationship with God. End quote. So let's bear in mind as we look at some of the particular errors the document condemns. Okay. So first of all the sacrifice of the mass looking first at liturgy an issue which is close to many of our hearts. Many of us has heard priests say that the mass is a gathering of the faithful or a shared meal in commemoration of the last supper.

[00:10:16]And this is simply false. The Catholic Church teaches that first and foremost the holy mass is the making present on the altar of the one eternal sacrifice of our Lord on the cross. This holy sacrifice is offered by Christ himself through his ordained priest as noted by cardinals Otavani and Bachi in the famous Otavani intervention. The new right missile published by Paul V 6th in 1970 contained a false definition of the mass. The Lord's supper or mass is a sacred meeting or assembly of the people of God met together under the presidency of the priest to celebrate the memorial of the Lord. And the Otavani intervention also drew attention to the fact that the drafters of the reformed liturgy removed many references to the sacrificial nature of the mass from the new writes. That's why it's so remarkable to see that the draft encyclical of pest I 12th condemns this very error censuring those who and I quote so exaggerate the convivial character of the sacrifice of the mass that they refuse to offer sacrifice placing its sacrificial character and I quote again as if in the shadows end quote. So let that sink in for a moment.

[00:11:47]12 years before Paul I 6th published a new missile containing a false definition of the mass. The Holy Sea had prepared a text condemning that very error.

[00:12:00]>> Many Catholics today are confused, discouraged, and heartbroken over what they see happening to the church. Some lose hope. Some lose their faith entirely. But this is not the time to abandon the truth. I'm Father Charles Mr. When I researched Leo I 14th's involvement with the Pachchamama ritual, I knew the truth would be difficult for many to hear. But the truth must be told. That is why Lifeight News matters.

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[00:12:45]Thank you.

[00:12:47]>> Kul Tumra Jireum also condemned another idea but which became widespread after the second Vatican council. Before the council, most priests wanted to say their own mass every day because each mass is of infinite merit. But after Vatican 2, many denied this which led to the practice of priests often concealbrating together or simply attending mass rather than saying their own individual masses. Well, pas I 12th's draft encyclical dealt with this too. It condemns those who, and I quote, erroneously teach that the celebration of one mass at which a 100 priests devoutly assist is the same as a 100 masses celebrated separately by a 100 priests. End quote. Yet again, the Rome of Pas I 12th was getting ready to condemn an idea that became widespread under Paul V 6th and which changed the way many thousands of Catholics experienced the liturgy. Let's go on to the next section of the document which deals with human rights. For those of us used to reporting on the Vatican under Francis and Leo, the difference in tone is very striking. Materialism whether communist or capitalist is condemned and all compromise with it is forbidden. In place of secular humanist approaches to human rights. The Catholic Church is proposed as the ultimate defender of human rights because it is and I quote the authority constituted by God himself for this purpose end quote. Marriage and virginity is also covered. Having put modern ideologies in their place, the encyclical moves on to affirm two truths widely rejected today. The first, which is of such great importance for our pro-life and pro- family fight is that the primary end of marriage is not the further perfection of husband and wife, but the procreation of offspring. The denial of this doctrine destroys the family at its very foundations. The harm caused by it has been incalculable. And yet both Vatican 2 and Paul V 6th in um vite failed to clearly affirm this doctrine. The second doctrine upheld is that virginity is a higher state than marriage. A truth which has been rejected even ridiculed for decades now.

[00:15:24]The unpublished text notes, and I quote, "The highest development of personality is found where man is most closely united with God." End quote. And this is not, it continues, quote, to be sought where two humans become one flesh, but where the one who clings to God, which as the apostle testifies, is more easily obtained by those who make the sacrifice of marriage to God, becomes one spirit with God." End quote. Moral theology is addressed as well. This section on moral theology condemns situation ethics and fundamental option. Two approaches to moral theology which deny the existence of intrinsically evil acts. This means the text condemns principles underlying amorous latitia and feduchia.

[00:16:20]The document warns that moral relativism of this kind and I quote must gradually grow into suffocating thorns end quote.

[00:16:29]This is an attempt for warning of a Morris latitia which by denying that adultery is always wrong catches souls in its thorns and prevents them from moving toward God while suffocating the life of sanctifying grace with mortal sin. It also deals with accuminism. The contemporary relevance of kulum reni reagnum doesn't stop there. The fourth chapter issues warnings against the kind of accuminism adopted almost everywhere after the second vat council. This is the kind of accuminism which abandons the attempt to bring our separated brethren into the church and even stops talking about Catholic truths which displeas them. The drafters of Kulum Ragny Ragnum knew that in the modern world, Catholics and Protestants wanted to work together to fight mutual enemies like communism.

[00:17:29]But they warned Catholics to be on their guard against setting aside Catholic truths in order to get closer to non-atholics. But this is exactly what has happened time and time again since the Second Vatican Council. Some of those involved in drawing up the new mass even admitted openly that they removed Catholic elements in order to make it more acceptable to Protestants.

[00:17:53]The draft and cyclical rejects all compromises of this kind and uses a striking comparison that actually may be difficult for some modern audiences to hear today. It compares a Catholic cooperating with a non-atholic Christian for the common good with a healthy doctor working with a lepous doctor to help other lepers. It may be permissible, but the Catholic must watch, and I quote, "watch that he himself is not infected by the morbid poison." End quote. I know that's strong language, but the church always uses strong language when the truths entrusted to her by God are at stake.

[00:18:35]These words should not be considered offensive. They show us just how seriously the church takes the salvation of our souls. The church is our loving mother. Let's look at one last important issue which is found in the last chapter of the text which deals with the relationship between the church and the state. Since the 1960s, the church's teaching on the rights of Christ as ruler over the state has been generally denied. Vatican 2's declaration on religious liberty is one of the council's most controversial texts. Pius I 12th's unpublished encyclical on the other hand was resoundingly traditional and followed the same doctrine as his predecessors. The document upholds the traditional teaching of the church that the church and the state are distinct societies within their own with their own distinct ends but that when those spheres overlap as they often do the exercise of the state's authority must be subordinated to that of the church. Let's conclude.

[00:19:44]Colum ragny ragnum is a fascinating document. Hopefully the research team will soon publish the whole text and we will able be able to see what other treasures it contains. But I think you'll agree that there is already enough for us to be able to speculate what might have been if Pope Pas I 12th had lived just a few months longer and published the document. The recent history of the church might have been very different. It's very clear that the cardinals and theologians responsible for drafting this would be encyclical understood the challenges the church was facing and that they had the courage to deal with them head on whether on liturgy, moral theology, accuminism or much else. Their finger was on the pulse of the church and they were ready to fight against the errors for the good of souls. That approach changed overnight with the death of Pas 12th and the election of John the 23rd. John the 23rd's radically different perspective was made clear in his opening speech at Vatican 2. He said, and I quote, "In the daily exercise of our pastoral office, it sometimes happens that we hear certain opinions which disturb us.

[00:21:05]Opinions expressed by people who though fired with a commendable zeal for religion are lacking insufficient prudence and judgment in their evaluation of events. Pope John the 23rd continues, "They can see nothing but calamity and disaster in the present state of the world. They say over and over that this modern age of ours is in comparison with past ages is definitely deteriorating." You know, it's difficult not to see this as a rebuke to the men who had drawn up Kulum Regregnum. John the 23rd rejected their warning and the encyclical they had drafted for Pas 12th never saw the light of day. But as Pope John the 23rd said in his speech, we feel that we must disagree with these prophets of doom who are always forecasting worse disasters as though the end of the world were at hand. End quote. However, when we look out into the world today with its abortions, suicides, sexual perversions of every type, child mutilations, and broken families, when we see those who should be priests of God kneeling before pagan idols, distorting his gospel, desecrating the sacraments left to us by Jesus Christ, how can we not conclude that the prophets of doom were right and that John the 23rd's optimism was misplaced.

[00:22:33]But if they were right about their warnings, they were also right about the solution. They knew it was time for mankind to return to God and that this, as the document's title proclaimed, was to be achieved through worship, observance of the law, and faith to be believed and professed in due obedience in this age. So let us never stop proclaiming the truth of the Catholic faith. For LifeSight News and Silent Cross Media, I'm John Henry Weston and may God bless you.

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