The John-Henry Westen Show - April 07, 2021


Why is there a painting of a nude Jesus ministering to Judas in Pope Francis' study？


Episode Stats

Length

14 minutes

Words per Minute

141.46155

Word Count

2,090

Sentence Count

139

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary

According to the Vatican s own newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis has placed a painting of a resurrected, resurrected Jesus ministering to Judas, Christ's betrayer, behind the Pope's desk in his personal study in the Vatican.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 According to the Vatican's own newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis has placed a painting of a resurrected nude Jesus ministering to Judas, Christ's betrayer, behind the Pope's desk in his personal study in the Vatican.
00:00:15.460 The Vatican newspaper is dedicated the first three pages of its Holy Thursday edition to Judas and called into question, as Pope Francis has done many times, Judas's damnation.
00:00:30.000 Although Pope Francis has several times already suggested that Judas is not in hell, that notion directly conflicts with statements of previous popes and our Lord himself, who said of Judas that it would have been better for him not to have been born.
00:00:45.380 That's what we're discussing on today's episode of the John Henry Weston Show. Stay tuned.
00:00:59.140 Let's begin, as we always do, with the sign of the cross.
00:01:11.960 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
00:01:16.960 Happy Easter to you.
00:01:18.820 Christ is risen. Truly, he is risen.
00:01:20.980 On Holy Thursday, the very night on which Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss, the Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, which is officially approved before its publication, devoted its first three pages to Judas Iscariot, trying to suggest that he is not in hell.
00:01:40.700 And making that insanity even worse, it featured, as the cover photo, a scandalous painting of a nude resurrected Jesus ministering to Judas.
00:01:52.840 And if that's not bad enough, the editorial explains that that painting was inspired by one of Pope Francis's books, which suggested that Judas may not be in hell, and that the artist gave it to Francis, and that the Pope had it placed behind his desk in his personal study, along with, by the way, a statue of Jesus carrying Judas as a lost sheep.
00:02:19.100 Now, I hate to say it, but considering the track record of Pope Francis, it is not at all that surprising that he has such a fascination with Judas.
00:02:30.540 You know, to many faithful Catholics, it seems like Pope Francis is betraying the mystical body of Christ in much the same way that Judas betrayed our Lord.
00:02:40.200 This painting, this painting, being behind the Pope's desk and placed on the cover of the Vatican newspaper, is itself a scandal.
00:02:50.760 L'Osservatore Romano, that's the paper of the Vatican, explains in the Vatican newspaper's editorial that the painting was inspired by Francis' 2018 book,
00:03:03.160 And that means, when you pray, say, our Father.
00:03:10.380 That book, by the way, is the book where Francis himself suggests the salvation of Judas.
00:03:16.020 And it's not the first time Pope Francis has published the notion that Judas may be saved.
00:03:22.060 Last April, in fact, he did the same in a televised homily in his private chapel on Wednesday of Holy Week,
00:03:29.920 where he had to read that very passage where Jesus says it would be better for Judas not to have been born.
00:03:37.980 So, just listen for yourself how Pope Francis tries to explain away the natural reading of that passage,
00:03:46.120 which obviously seems to attest that Judas is in hell.
00:03:51.440 Have a look.
00:03:51.900 One thing that calls our attention is that Jesus never calls him a betrayer.
00:04:02.120 He says he will be betrayed, but he never called him a betrayer.
00:04:08.640 Go do what you are doing, betrayer.
00:04:11.960 No, in fact, he calls him friend.
00:04:17.620 The mystery of Judas.
00:04:21.900 What is Judas' mystery? I don't know.
00:04:28.440 Don Primo Mazzolari l'ha spiegato meglio di me.
00:04:35.460 Si, consola me contemplare quel capitello de Vesli.
00:04:44.620 He's saying, he's reciting maybe a poem.
00:04:47.720 How he finished, I'm not sure.
00:04:53.000 Jesus threatens him strongly here.
00:04:56.320 But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
00:05:01.020 It would be better for that man if he had never been born.
00:05:05.300 So does this mean that Judas is in hell?
00:05:16.960 I don't know.
00:05:18.900 I look at...
00:05:20.840 I look at Jesus' word, friend.
00:05:27.380 How did Jesus end up, says the Pope?
00:05:31.140 I don't know.
00:05:32.540 As often happens, Pope Francis lets his trusted men speak with more vigor than he himself would.
00:05:39.880 In December last year, one of Pope Francis' most trusted allies in the Vatican, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia,
00:05:48.660 went so far as to say that all those who say Judas is in hell are heretics.
00:05:54.580 Paglia, who is the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said on December 10, 2020, and I quote,
00:06:01.100 we must also remember that for the Catholic Church, if someone says that Judas is in hell, he is a heretic, end quote.
00:06:12.540 In that same address, Paglia asserted that a priest may legitimately remain at the bedside of someone undergoing assisted suicide
00:06:22.840 in order to, quote, hold their hand, end quote, and accompany them.
00:06:27.680 Unbelievable.
00:06:28.360 Nevertheless, the teaching of the Church is clear on the damnation of Judas.
00:06:35.780 The Catechism of the Council of Trent is very explicit on this point, saying that Judas, quote,
00:06:41.800 lost soul and body, end quote, and that his betrayal of Jesus, despite his priesthood, and I quote,
00:06:49.240 brought him everlasting destruction, end quote.
00:06:53.020 Moreover, the first Pope, St. Peter, was clear that after Judas betrayed Christ,
00:06:57.900 he had to be replaced as an apostle, whereas after the deaths of the other apostles, they were not replaced.
00:07:04.240 Theologian Peter Kwasniewski explains this point very well in an essay over at Rorate Celi,
00:07:10.560 which I'd encourage you all to go look up.
00:07:12.720 It's about the Judas and being in hell, and he goes into it in great detail.
00:07:17.620 But here is one key point that he makes that I think is really fascinating.
00:07:21.680 He says, and I quote,
00:07:23.260 The first Pope argues that Judas, by his transgression, fell away from the apostleship forever.
00:07:30.280 Note that Judas was the only apostle whose place had to be filled after his death.
00:07:36.040 When James was killed by Herod, which we read in Acts 12.2,
00:07:40.220 Peter and the others did not appoint another man as James' substitute.
00:07:44.520 There were successors to the apostles, and many more than 12 of them, but no other replacements.
00:07:53.920 Ultimately, all of the original 11, together with Matthias, who was the replacement, by the way,
00:07:59.400 left this world in death to become the everlasting foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem.
00:08:04.280 As the scriptures explain in Revelation 21.14, and he quotes,
00:08:08.220 And the wall of the city had 12 foundations in them, the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.
00:08:15.800 End quote.
00:08:16.700 Put simply, an apostle who died in a state of grace is an apostle forever, irreplaceable, going to his reward.
00:08:24.540 And then this can only mean, this is the conclusion of Peter Krosniewski,
00:08:29.160 this can only mean that Judas, who had to be replaced, died in sin and lost his ministry and apostleship forever.
00:08:36.220 He went to his own place, that is, the place that befitted him, hell.
00:08:40.980 End quote.
00:08:43.300 You know, we hardly need to go to the catechism, or even to the first pope, on this question,
00:08:50.420 when our Lord himself has been so explicit.
00:08:53.180 Three times in the scriptures, Jesus is recorded as indicating Judas' ultimate fate.
00:08:59.160 In John 6.71, Jesus calls Judas a devil.
00:09:04.700 He says, and I'll quote it for you,
00:09:06.220 Have not I chosen you 12?
00:09:09.500 And one of you is a devil.
00:09:11.560 End quote.
00:09:12.700 And the following verse, in case that's unclear, explains it.
00:09:15.320 It says, quote,
00:09:16.420 Now he meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for the same was about to betray him,
00:09:23.120 whereas he was one of the 12.
00:09:24.900 End quote.
00:09:25.260 Again, in John 17.12, Jesus calls Judas the son of perdition.
00:09:30.900 In his prayer to God the Father, he says, and I quote,
00:09:34.540 While I was with them, I kept them in thy name.
00:09:37.140 Those whom thou gavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost,
00:09:41.600 but or except the son of perdition, that the scripture may be fulfilled.
00:09:46.820 End quote.
00:09:47.160 And finally, in both the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, Matthew 26.24 and Mark 14.21,
00:09:54.620 we hear Jesus saying of Judas,
00:09:56.760 It would be better for that man if he had never been born.
00:10:01.440 End quote.
00:10:01.840 You know, Cardinal Avery Dulles, the late Cardinal Avery Dulles,
00:10:07.120 once reflected when contemplating these verses from the scriptures in an article about the fate
00:10:12.160 of Judas, he said, and I quote,
00:10:14.100 If Judas were among the saved, these statements could hardly be true.
00:10:19.700 And Cardinal Dulles added,
00:10:21.560 Many saints and doctrines of the church, including St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas,
00:10:26.080 have taken as revealed truth that Judas was reprobated.
00:10:31.840 So, for our part, let us never presume our salvation.
00:10:40.160 Let us rather work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, as St. Paul teaches.
00:10:45.040 We must practice self-control, or as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9.27,
00:10:50.560 I chastise my body and bring it into subjection,
00:10:54.880 lest perhaps when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.
00:10:59.800 Hell is not empty of human souls.
00:11:04.980 As Our Lady of Fatima revealed to the three children of Fatima,
00:11:08.340 there are many, many souls falling into hell like snowflakes.
00:11:13.500 That's why this life is all about winning our eternal salvation.
00:11:19.220 St. Paul likens it to a race which we have to run.
00:11:23.120 And let's run the race.
00:11:24.260 Let's fight the good fight.
00:11:25.940 Let us strive to get to that place where St. Paul was, right before his martyrdom.
00:11:30.840 We can read about it in 2 Timothy 4.
00:11:33.380 He said, and I quote,
00:11:34.180 I am even now ready to be sacrificed, and the time of my dissolution is at hand.
00:11:40.520 I have fought the good fight.
00:11:41.940 I have finished my course, or I have won the race.
00:11:44.260 I have kept the faith.
00:11:45.900 And to the rest there is laid up for me a crown of justice,
00:11:48.940 which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me in that day.
00:11:52.900 And not only to me, but to them also that love his coming.
00:11:57.560 End quote.
00:11:58.740 Happy Easter.
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