These Are The Bishops You Need to Be Warned About
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Summary
In this episode, John Henry Weston, the co-founder of Life Site News, takes a look at some of the most concerning cardinals and bishops in the United States and the Vatican, and why it s time for us to stand up for our children.
Transcript
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Dear Friends in Christ, I'm John Henry Weston, the co-founder of LifeSite News, and I'm no
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theologian, but I am a reporter who's covered the Church in America and the Vatican and around
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the world for more than 25 years. I'm also the father of eight children, and the corruption
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in the Church has harmed my own family and all of our families. So it's time for us to stand up
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So I'm going to give you a rundown of some of the most concerning cardinals and bishops
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in the United States and also in the Vatican. You know, as the church goes, so goes the
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world. God tells us in the scriptures over and over that it is us, it is his own people
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who garner the blessings for their nations, and hence the curses as well. If you read in
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If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face
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and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin
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and will heal their land. If you read again from Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, he's the one
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who said, it's we the faithful, not the bishops, who will be called to save the church. In fact,
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he said this, and I quote, who's going to save our church? It's not our bishops, it's not
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our priests, and it's not the religious. It's up to you, the people. You have the minds,
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the eyes, and the ears to save the church. Your mission is to see that priests act like
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priests, your bishops act like bishops, and the religious act like religious, end quote.
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And we have to do that not with hatred for these consecrated men who are sometimes doing
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evil things and leading our children astray. We must love them nonetheless, love them enough
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to correct them and call them out for the damage that they are causing the church, our children,
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but ultimately themselves. They are inviting hellfire on themselves, and we don't want that
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for anyone. Our Lord's vengeance against unfaithful shepherds is spelled out graphically in the
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scriptures. In Matthew 18.6, Jesus says, if anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble, those
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who believe in me, to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung about their
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neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. And here's the warning to the shepherds of the church
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from Ezekiel 33. So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel. Whenever you
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hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them a warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked
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ones, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked
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shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to
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turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their wicked ways, the wicked shall die in their
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iniquity, but you will have saved your life. So we must know that these men, we must know who they
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are, because we need to. We need to know for our own protection for our children. We must call them
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out by name. We must pray and actually fast for their conversions.
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You know that here on LifeSite, we love to tell amazing stories. There are a few so heroic and
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amazing as the story we're about to tell you that's coming soon. You got to watch this.
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When I was in seminary, I was reading a book by Henry Nowen. He talked about a nuclear man,
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you know, and people who grew up in the 1980s were kind of formed by that immediate and constant
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threat of nuclear annihilation. My generation has grown up, you know, under the specter of priestly
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sexual abuse. I think that for many of us, that has also been all-encompassing. You know, I mean,
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I entered the seminary in January of 2004, and it's basically been there for me from the beginning.
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One priest's sacrifice for many priestly sins. The story of Father John Hollowell.
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I don't have the time here for a lengthy list, so I'm just going to give you a couple handfuls.
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Let's start in America. Let's start with Cardinal Blaise Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago.
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He was involved in clergy sexual abuse cover-up. He permits communion for illicitly remarried Catholics
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and for homosexual couples. He removed a Chicago priest after he burned a homosexual pride flag.
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He instructed priests not to pray outside abortion clinics with 40 days for life. He locked the
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Catholics out of church on Good Friday in protest of the traditional Latin mass.
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Then there's Cardinal Joseph Tobin. He's now in the Vatican, but he's from America,
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and he was the Bishop of Newark. He was the former Superior General of the Redemptorist Fathers,
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and he expressed support for women cardinals. He allowed LGBT pride masses in his diocese. He
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welcomed LGBT pilgrimages as one of his first acts when he was in Newark, where Catholics were
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married to same-sex spouses. They were invited to participate in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
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He hired an avowed homosexual activist as his senior associate for operations, and he housed an Italian
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actor in his rectory around the same time that he infamously tweeted Nighty Night Baby by accident.
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And he resists Catholic teaching about homosexuality. He calls it unfortunate. He is a huge promoter of
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Joe Biden and said that Catholics could vote for Biden in good conscience. You know, it goes on and on.
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Well, let's move on to Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington DC. So, Wilton Gregory has a background
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checkered with sexual abuse connections and years of pro-homosexual advocacy. He was particularly close to
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serial sexual abuser Theodore McCarrick, a defrocked predecessor of Cardinal Gregory in Washington.
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As the head of the USCCB in 2004, Gregory, along with McCarrick, suppressed a Vatican memo stating
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that pro-abortion politicians should be denied communion. So, he was held in contempt of court.
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This is Cardinal Gregory. He was held in contempt of court for not releasing records of a priest accused
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of sexual abuse and later held back on other priests' names. He reinstated a priest after
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a homosexual affair. And Cardinal Gregory allowed a different priest, his spiritual guide, for abuse
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victims to march in an LGBT pride parade and attend homosexual clubs. The stuff goes on and on. It just
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gets really gross. Well, let's take a look at new Cardinal Robert McElroy. Robert McElroy of San Diego,
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also a Jesuit bishop and appointee of Pope Francis, of course, he wants to change their teaching that
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homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. He celebrates LGBT-themed mass events. And he gave
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the keynote address at the 2018 AUSCP conference, which is a dissident priests' conference.
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He downplayed the gravity of abortion on numerous occasions. And he's cracked down on at least one
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faithful priest who forcefully condemned abortion and left-wing policies.
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He goes on and on in every direction. But there's a lot to learn and a lot to know. In fact, let me just
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give you quickly this list. This is a list of bishops who outed themselves as supporting an LGBT
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group's outreach to youth in 2021. This list is instructive because if this is one of your bishops,
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you should know it's a problem. And if any of your children are in dioceses where these bishops are,
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look out. Here's the list. Archbishop John C. Wester, Bishop Stephen Beigler, Bishop John P. Dolan,
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Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Bishop Joseph R. Coppaz, Bishop Dennis Madden, Bishop Ricardo Ramirez,
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Bishop John Stowe, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor, Bishop Edward Weisenberger.
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So the reality of unfaithful bishops is not restricted to America. Remember that in Germany,
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there was a vote among bishops for blessing of homosexual unions. It was 38 to 8. That's 38 in
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favor with 8 opposed with 11 abstentions. The vast majority are heretical in Germany
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or at least not willing to oppose heresy. But let's have a closer look at some of the key cardinals
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whose conversions we need to offer prayers and sacrifices for. There's Cardinal Victor Fernandez.
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He's just been appointed by Pope Francis, the new prefect of the dicastery for the Doctrine of
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Faith, and he's set to assume this new role in mid-September. His 1995 erotic book is called
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Heal Me With Your Mouth, The Art of Kissing. He argued the use of some condoms could,
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in some circumstances, be a greater good, and he suggested a future possibly allowing homosexual
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blessings and outlined his support for homosexual blessings themselves. If they were not given in a
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way, of course, that does not cause that kind of confusion. He publicly defended an influential priest
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of the archdiocese where he was in the wake of resurfaced child sexual abuse allegations dating back
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to 2008. He actually went on to concelebrate mass with that priest in March of 2019 as the priest was
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under fresh criminal scrutiny, and that priest has since committed suicide in that same year of 2019,
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hours after a judge issued an order for his arrest. In fact, Cardinal Muller, the former head of the
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Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, revealed that there is a red flag file on Archbishop
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Fernandez's file, a red flag on the file, dating back to more than a decade. And he raises this after
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he's been named as a replacement for Cardinal Muller. It's just unbelievable. So there's so much more I could
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tell you about Cardinal Fernandez, but we'll have to skip that. Let's go on to Cardinal Bishop Stephen
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Chao, also a Jesuit of the Diocese of Hong Kong. Now it's interesting because this is a cardinal who
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is now in Hong Kong, totally supports the scandalous Vatican-China deal. He's also gone on record as
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looking forward to the day that the Catholic Church might ordain women to the diaconate or the priesthood.
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These are things not possible in the church, but nonetheless, there they are. There's also
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Cardinal Amarco Manuel Alves Aguer. He's the Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon and the organizer of the
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2023 World Youth Day, which is just about to hit us right now. In a recent interview, he said, and I
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quote, we don't want to convert people to Christ or to the Catholic Church or anything like that,
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end quote. What in the world is he doing in the church, let alone leading World Youth Day?
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Then there's Cardinal Hollerich, John Claude Hollerich, the Jesuit Archbishop of Luxembourg,
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who voiced his belief that the church's position viewing homosexual relationships is wrong.
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He was actually made the Relator General of the Synod on Synodality, which is going on in Rome this
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October. Well, he is a prominent pro-LGBT cardinal who has previously claimed that he's in full
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agreement with Pope Francis on opposing the Catholic teaching on homosexuality. He revealed that his
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Diocese of Luxembourg, a woman is in charge of all formation in the diocese, he said, and he
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suggested that the Catholic Church should open its door to female priesthood. He argued that when the
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church teaching was made, there was no concept of homosexuality. And he said that, of course,
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in regard to legalizing or allowing for it in the church. Even the document by John Paul II disallowing
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for homosexuals as priests, he said it could be changed. Then there's Cardinal Joseph de Kessel.
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Now he's a retired Archbishop in Brussels, so why would we be mentioning him? Well, Pope Francis
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has made him one of the cardinals of his own pick inside the Synod on Synodality. And he's notorious.
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He signed and approved a document from his fellow Belgian bishops approving for homosexual blessings.
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And he has told an LGBT group that he met privately with that he finds it acceptable for gays and
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lesbians to live out their sexual desires, according to the Belgian magazine Zizo Online. He's made a
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number of statements favorable to communion for homosexual couples as well. And finally,
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let me conclude with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, because he is actually Papabile. He's from Bologna and Papabile
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means he's one of the candidates, one of the likely candidates for Pope. And according to Father
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James Martin, he's a great supporter of LGBT Catholics and wrote a foreword to the Italian
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version of Father James Martin's book called Building a Bridge. Totally unbelievable. So I have
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to stop there because there just isn't enough time for more, but you get the picture. It's indeed a mess.
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But nonetheless, the Lord remains in charge. In the end, the Immaculate Heart will triumph.
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And do you know what this is? This is actually part of the chastisement already for the infidelity
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of the faithful who should have been doing much more to pay attention to our Lord,
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his commandments and love for him and the Holy Eucharist.
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Take a look at this. This is Cardinal Burke talking in 2017 about demonic forces entering the church
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at that time in 2017. Hard to believe that so long ago. This was given at Rome Life Forum,
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a conference that LifeCite has been running since 2014, actually. Do you know that we're running
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another one this year, October 31st and November 1st? That is right at the end of this horrific
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synod on synodality. October 31st, November 1st, 2023. Come join us in Rome. Go to RomeLifeForum.com
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for more information. Watch Cardinal Burke give this snippet on demonic forces entering into the
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Vatican from his talk at Rome Life Forum in 2017. It seems clear from the most respected studies of
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the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima that it has to do with the diabolical forces unleashed upon the
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world in the world in our time and entering into the very life of the church. For the recovery of peace
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will be a gift from heaven, but it is not properly speaking the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of
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Mary. Her victory is of another order, supernatural and then temporal by addition. It will first be
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the victory of the faith which will put an end to the time of apostasy and the great shortcomings of
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Here is what Saint John Eudes wrote in his book, The Priest, His Dignity and Obligations. He said the
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most evident mark of God's anger and the most terrible castigation he can inflict upon the world
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are manifested when he permits his people to fall into the hands of clergy who are priests more in
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name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than charity and affection
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of devoted shepherds. Saint John Eudes continued, When God permits such things, it is a very positive
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proof that he is thoroughly angry with his people and is visiting his most dreadful anger upon them.
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That is why he cries unceasingly to Christians, Return, O ye revolting children, and I will give
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you pastors according to my own heart. Thus irregularities in the lives of priests constitute
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a scourge upon the people in consequence of sin. Those are quotes from Saint John Eudes.
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So it's time. It's time for us to step up our prayers, especially fasting and work to cleanse his
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church, which will lead to a blessing on our whole land. We know it's coming. The triumph of the
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Immaculate Heart is promised and awaits our yes to live the lives as she did, completely in,
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with, and through Jesus Christ our Savior. May God bless you.
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Hi, everyone. This is John Henry Weston. We hope you enjoyed this program. To see more like it,
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