Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Not The Official Papal Souvenir
Not The Official Papal Souvenir
the following concerns about the visit of the head 'of the
Catholic hierarchy, Karol Wojtyla, now Pope John Paul II.
We do not oppose this visit to Australia but feel that the
cost of the visit, which is very considerable, should be
more limited in its burden on the taxpayer. The cost should
be almost entirely borne by the Vatican itself and the
Catholic Church in Australia.
It is recognised that the Pope is a titular head of state
and entitled to diplomatic courtesies but transport costs
within Australia should not be at government expense. This
applies particularly to the 'Popemobiles' and the great costs
of transporting these vehicles. Security for the Pope is im-
portant and should be Australia's responsibility but not at
the overall cost of millions of dollars. Twelve million dollars
at least has been quoted; four million may be raised by the
Church. Where will the rest come from if not from the tax-
payer? Why is the government so silent, particularly in pre-
sent economic circumstances?
Of the greatest concern however is the expected propaga-
tion during the Pope's visit through his speeches, of doctri-
naire, intolerant, repressive views which are not even shared
by a great proportion of Catholics. These are the reactionary
views on divorce, contraception, abortion, censorship and
sexual behavior; fertility control and personal freedom and
tolerance generally. During the Pope's visit to Africa state-
ments were repeatedly made against contraception and
effective family planning. "Be fruitful and multiply" was
the message in a continent beset by severe economic diffi-
culties, by hostilities, by food shortages and starvation, by
population pressures in many regions and by high child and
maternal mortality.
There are such high birth rates in a number of African
countries that economic and- social infrastructures cannot
keep pace. The pressure on the environment has already
had disastrous effects.
The statements were pure hypocrisy based on doctrinaire
blindness.
It needs to be pointed out that the Vatican has not been
free from moral and financial corruption, with recent finan-
cial scandals well documented. It has been morally corrupt
in its dealings with dictatorships, in support of totalitarian
regimes, of oppression, of censorship and of intolerance.
The Papacy's advocacy for peace and development must be
regarded as hypocricy in view of the hierarchy's above divis-
ive positions and pronouncements.
This is in marked contrast to the attitudes of a number
of progressive and liberal Catholics who are then condem-
ned by the Vatican. We respect some Church leaders such as
those in Central America and the Philippines who are active
in social reform, who would wish to influence the Vatican's
regressive stance but who in turn are slated and disparaged
by Rome. The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace
also does admirable work .often against hierarchy
opposition.
Decent Catholics do not wish to impose their beliefs on
others but the Papacy does. Very many Catholics do not
evert share the official intolerance on divorce and fertility
issues. Reform is needed in the hierarchy if there is to be
any credibility. There is no sign of reformist attitudes in
this Pope. Perhaps this visit, if all the issues are brought out
in the open and constructive criticism is encouraged, may,
after all, do some good.
A t-shirt souvenir of this visit, for commercial sale,
asks "Is the Pope a Catholic?" Is he, in a real, responsible,
human sense? Or is he merely a front man and propagandist
for an oppressive, intolerant and often corrupt Vatican,
concerned mainly with wealth, power and opulence.
Many Catholic Church leaders, particularly in the de-
veloping world have credibility; social responsibility and
compassion. We believe that the credibility of Pope John
Paul II and the Vatican in these areas are more than suspect
- they are of a very low order.
A group of concerned Australian humanists.
"NOT THE OFFICIAL PAPAL SOUVENIR"
was produced by The Holy Ghost Busters, c/o P.O. Box 1555 P, Melbourne 3001
in honour of the visit by our Holy Father John Paul II, in November 1986.
It was edited by Rolf Heimann. Typesetting was by "Access".
Brother Lofus
Order of the Immaculate Contraception
WELCOME TO THE PAP AIl KING Hark! the herald-admen sing
Welcome to the papal king,
Pomp on earth, with manner mild,
God and Mammon reconciled.
Joyful, mental cripples, rise,
Join castrati in the skies;
To the media host's refrain,
John Paul's on the road again.
Hark! the herald admen sing
Welcome to the papal king.
Pope, by trinket firms adored,
Pope, the eversmiling fraud,
Centre-screen behold Him beam,
Offspring of a Curia scheme!
Veiled in white the Mafia see;
Hail the New Right conspiracy!
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
John Paul, the inscrutable.
Hark! the herald-admen sing
Welcome to the papal king.
Mild, he lets Marcinkus swank
In the vaults of Vatican Bank;
Born,to bless each neo-Nazi
And. delight in paparazzi.
Hail the Hun-born prince of Rome!
Hail the Sun of Harvest Home:
Peter's Pence from all he wrings,
Billions to the Church he brings.
Hark! the herald admen sing
Welcome to the papal king .
. A Lutheran Satire
on Papal Reform, 1538.
("Ratschlag van den Kirchen ")
The organisers of Pope John Paul II's' Another tack would be to take the
Australian visit have asked South Aus-
tralians to help find a slogan for the
It's Time multicultural track. Since Solidarity and
Lech Walensa, Poles nave been very
tour.
The South Australian director of the for much in fashion. And John is, after all,
the first Pope of Polack persuasion.
Papal visit, Father Anthony Kain, is Hence the following approach which is
"hoping people will come up with a
20th century-type phrase which will
Tarmac Kissing rather more in your punk rock idiom:
If your life is down the gurgler
be a popular motto". And you're on the devil's dole
. .. ow let me run a few ideas up the Up a creek withou I' a paddle
steeple to just see who salutes them. You'd better be Up the Pole.
"Why mope? Go POPE!" has possi- And you'd put Up the Pole on your
bilities. Perhaps this could be badges, bumper stickers and t-shirts. Ad-
backed with country and western: My eyes brim with tears just imagin- mittedly it's a little oblique but with the
If you're feeling sad and blue ing the sight as everyone from Jon Eng- right sort of promotion, PR and reach
There's one thing you gotta do lish to Little Patti cavorts to the Meld- and frequency on telly, Up the Pole
Tell the Devil that he's through rum baton ... would soon be the catch phrase of the
You're signing up with John Paul II. Well, that covers the kids. But given 80s.
An alternative approach would be: the greying of Australia, you'd need a Which brings us to the Come on
"Out of hope? Choose the Pope!" Or more mature approach for their ageing Aussie tactic.
perhaps "Can't Cope? Try Pope!" rellos. So I'd have Khamal cut some- Got a problem with your sinning?
Then again" something more collo- thing more balladic. Don't worry - you can lick itl
quial might go better in Australia, parti- You burn the candle at both ends You can skittle Satan
cularly in the western suburbs. Some- It willnot last the hour' Hit his middle wicket.
thing with a touch of the Paul Hogans, And you're on your way to Hades
like ... "Don't be a dope, blast off with He's on his way back to the stands,
to writhe in Satan's power. You're on your way to heaven.
the Pope".
I saw a montage here, superimposing But it's not too late to graduate There's real esteem on God's team
to where the saints go marching in In the Good Lord's First Eleven.
His Holiness over a launch shot at Cape
Canaveral. But since the shuttle disaster All you need's a change of heart Say "Come on Lord, come on, come on ",
that's probably not such a great idea. Just turn your back to sin. You don't want to be a sinner.
But perhaps we could blend all these Swap horrid fates for pearly gates, Say, "Come on Lord, come on, come on"
approaches, these different psycho- We pray you hear our call. Instead of "Come in Spinner".
graphic appeals and demographic targets say, "no, no, no" to Satan Say, "Come on Lord, come on, come on"
into a great spiritual surge, with Molly and "yes, yes, yes" to John Paul. Say "no" to bodgie gods,
Meldrum conducting a sort of Count- And then there's a big finish, a sort of Say: "Come on Lord, come on, come on"
down Choral in the biggest musical get- reprise: The Pope pays full tote odds.'
together since Band-Aid: If you want to book for heaven Say "Come on Lord, come on, come on"
Out of hope? For eternity's long haul, Yo~ don't know what you're missin '. "
Can't cope? Say "no, no" to temptation Say, "Come on Lord, come on, come on
Why mope? and "yes, yes" to John Paul. It's time for tarmac kissin'.
Don't be a dope It's no use waitin', Sa.tan, '1"l1i8 is a shortC'lled uersion orPhillip
HERE COME DE POPEl" It's "yes, yes" to John Paul. Adarn's collunll frolH The Bulletin,
Apf'il 1, 1986, reproduced by pe1'11liSS;OIl.
Brother Lofus gives a brief outline of papal history to help us find the pious times
that we shouId try to retu rn to
Karol Wojtyla, now Pope John Paul II, In 379 Theodosius re-established right to -worship images; he ordered
has often thundered against the dark Christianity with a vengeance as state re- church pictures destroyed and decora-
forces of humanism and atheism and has ligion. Anybody who performed pagan ted walls white-washed. Many Christians
spoken of "The urgency of the task of rites or Christian rites different from were very fond of their eXPensive pict-
evangelizing, or rather re-evangelizing those proscribed, risked being put ures and they rebelled. The Western,
the old continent" (from a papal letter to death. The property of executed Roman branch of the church, refused to
in L'Osservatore Romano, Jan '86)_ He heretics fell to the "proper" Christian comply, and this was the start of the
marvelled at "the wonderful blossom- Church. This set the pattern for almost "Iconoclastic War". People felt so
ing" of Christianity before it was split two millenia of persecution. strongly about the matter that they
by (and I quote his choice of words) He instituted something like a were willing to kill and be killed. When
by "what goes under the name of the Cultural Revolution, with disaffected Leo IV died in 780, he was succeeded by
'Protestant Reformation' ". rabble storming the bastions of pagan his wife Irene who happened to favour
He did not elaborate into what age he and Jewish learning. Christian mobs the worshipping of pictures. As she
places the "wonderful blossoming" of went on rampages to stamp out pagan- could not agree with her own son about
Christianity, so let us search for it by ism in Egypt; Alexandria's famous lib- the whole thing she ordered his eyes put
examining the history of the church. rary of 70,000 volumes was destroyed out. Such measures were not isolated in
When Christianity was a new sect, an by the Christian mob and Jews were the pious East; when Basil II, a strong
underground cult almost, it was under- once more driven·out. Among the mur- champion of Christianity and beloved
standably unwelcome with the estab- dered was the famous and respected by the clergy, successfully fought the
lished religions. Religions are usually philosopher teacher Hypatia who was Bulgarians, he had the eyes of his pris-
supported by the ruling classes, and vice stripped naked before the Christians put oners of war hacked out - of all 15 000
versa, and newcomers tend to upset the her to death. Although Christianity was men. Not the sort of blossoming of
status quo. Early Christians were definitely on the up, one can hardly Christianity one would wish for.
laughed at and even persecuted as speak of a "blossoming" in these times. Under Pope Gregory most Western
trouble makers until emperor Constant- In 410 the Gothic King Alaric attacked Christians, including the "Aryan"
ine gave them legal protection. He is Rome. As a Christian (of sorts) he was . churches of the Goths, consolidated as
therefore something of a hero in Christ- devout enough to protect the churches the "Catholic" Church, with the bishop
ian lore. and church property while his troops of Rome pre-eminent. When the Patri-
He saw a fiery cross in the sky, with . pillaged the city for fully 5 days. By arch of Constantinople demanded to re-
the message "with this, conquer", and the way, when Alaric died, his tomb was main recognised as head of Christianity,
Jesus appeared to him in person to give made in the bed of a diverted river, and Rome was slow in agreeing, and a fleet
him instructions. the entire army of slaves who worked was sent from Constantinople to bring
But let us not forget that this good on this massive task were put to death, the Romans back into the fold. This
man Constantine kept an army of lest they'd reveal the locality of the rich fleet was wrecked in a storm, and the
10 000 spies to ferret out undesirables, tomb. We may admire the stark majestic hitherto inferior bishopry of Rome grew
and among the people he murdered was splendour of Gothic Christianity, but as stronger and self-assertive. Roman bish-
his own son who at the age of 17 had it involved such deeds we can hardly be ops assumed temporal powers, as did
become so popular with the people that expected to wish back those times. other bishopries; like kings they amass-
his old man couldn't stand it. ed territory, played politics, raised
In these early centuries the seat of armies and established military affilia-
In 361 Julian became emperor. Since empire and centre of Christianity was of tions. They ruled over an exploited
all his family had been murdered by the course not Rome, but the distant Con- peasantry who lived in abject poverty or
Christians he was leaning towards "pag- stantinople. Inevitably, differences of
even slavery. They demanded the help
anism"; he was very popular and com- opinion developed. These came to a
of kings in return for bestowing upon
paratively tolerant, he even allowed the head when Leo II was on the throne in
them divine sanction, or, in effect, pro-
Jews back into Jerusalem to rebuild Constantinople. He decreed that accord- vided moral justification for any of their
their temple. ing to the Holy Scriptures it was not deeds.
4
Pepin, King of the Franks, was the
first major King to serve the Pope (754)
and his son Charlemagne became
famous for enlarging the Christian em-
pire.
He did so by giving the conquered
barbarians the choice: become Christ-
ians or die. To show he meant business
he put 4,500 captured Saxons to death.
Pope Leo III was so hated that he had
to flee Rome into Charlemagne's arms,
and the latter put him back onto the
papal seat. A successor, pope Leo IV
made the Vatican a military fortress and
called it after himself: the "Leonine
City".
The following centuries saw a bloss-
oming of Christian power, militarily and
economically. But if our present pope
plans a return to these times, he'd better
lay by a supply of condoms; most of the
popes were fornicators and gluttons,
many died of syphilis, others of poison
administered by their "friends" and
relatives. Many kept mistresses, and on
occasions the mistresses ruled. Suspi-
cious circumstances surrounded many
deaths: Benedict XI died after eating iOJj~
from a basket of figs offered to him by h';~-<"~
a nun. Pope Alexander VI died when
drinking of wine which his son had pre-
pared to kill one of the cardinals (Car-
dinal of Cometo). On occasions the suc-
~;L~{~
"'XA ''1:;::;~""VtAJ;IJ
cession of Popes was a matter for violent
dispute between rival supporters, and so ,~:~f~~Z"
lucrative was the papacy that arms were ALEXANDER VI (Roderigo Borgia): He bought his election at the
taken up to fight for it. Once there were college ot cardinals and used his otl"ice to advance the schemes at his
even three popes, at other times, rival children Caesar and Lucretia Borgia. Kept a harem at the Vatican and
popes ruled from different cities. had nude courtesans dancing tor him at (easts. Invited sultan Bajazet to
A "blossoming"? Hardly. enter Europe to fight his rivals. Died in 1503 when his son attemptrd to
If the Holy Crusades seem a romantic poison a cardinal, but the cook had been bribrd and the Holy Father
era today we should recall the immense himself tell victim to thr scheme.
cruelties perpetrated, not only by It was important to maintain the The fight against heresy became an
knights engaged in valiant battle; there superstition and ignorance of the masses. all-consuming passion and obsession
was wholesale slaughter of innocents. Then as now it was desirable to keep with some churchmen. Ignatius Loyola,
Although the object of the exercise was to them in mortal fear of offending God a young Spanish soldier wounded by the
liberate the Holy Land from Non-Christ- and risking eternal damnation. Popular French, decided to devote his life to
ians, the knights did by no means al- fiction paints churches of the time as stamping out heresy. As soon as he got
ways fight shoulder to shoulder; their sanctuaries, and the clergy as men of better, he founded the Society of Jesus,
rivalry was often so that they formed peace. Yet it is impossible to think of an Order that swore absolute obedience
alliances with the saracens to fight rival any war where the church did not ren- to the Pope. Members voluntarily ab-
Christians. In the "Children's Crusades" der active encouragement, and churches rogated their right to make any judge-
which began with small children singing were never places of sanctuary. ment or to maintain their own con-
along the road, 15 000 youngsters Enemies, and be they women and small science. They obeyed, unhesitatingly,
perished before they reached the 'Holy' children, were dragged from under the blindly, uninquiring. The Jesuits ("The
Land. Many were sold into slavery. very altars to be killed, for civilised rules Lord's Rednecks") "set about to undo
The Church takes pride in having con- did not apply to heretics. the work of the Reformation, not only
trolled scholastic and juridical life Heretics were pursued mercilessly, killing anybody critical of Holy Rome,
in these centuries. But the monasteries, nothing could protect them. Not even but torturing them, believing that the
which were the seats of learning and the solemn .promises of men of God. more horrible the torture, the 'more'
where monks· laboured over the copies Jan Huss, the early church reformer, God would be pleased with them. This
of manuscripts; stifled all enquiring was invited to Constance to talk it over; band of criminals was outlawed in many
minds. It was the kind of learning which and having been given a promise that he countries, and for a time even by the
did not tolerate new ideas. And extreme would not be harmep, he turned up. His Pope himself. They later surfaced again
means were employed to keep it that trust into Papal ethics cost him dearly: to continue their activities in a more
way. When scholars started to find out he was burnt. cerebral manner. They are still legal in
the true nature of the universe, they Up to 12 million people were burnt most countries.
were burnt for their troubles. or otherwise tortured to death during Prior to the Reformation the Church
Justice was administered mainly for the blossoming of the Church in the had devised a variety of ingenious
the purpose of maintaining the' status Dark Ages. At no other time was the schemes to part fools with their money.
quo which was beneficial to papal power of the church so supreme, and The pope's agents travelled through the
power. the suffering of the people so great. land selling "indulgences". For this
scheme to work it was necessary for
people to believe in sin and in hell -
Catholic education paid off. Viith every
bit of money one gave to the Pope one
could buy a little respite from the
flames of hell. The sale of relics was an-
other thriving business. Virtually hund-
reds of tons of the true cross were sold,
as well as hundreds of Saint Magdalene's
genuine gall stones. All these things
worked miracles, and the belief in this
bric-a-brac is encouraged even today,
where the shroud of Tourin is still
touted as having covered Jesus.
The reformation took place because
the church was so corrupt that it had
lost any semblance to what it claimed to
be. "If only the pope knew", people
said (even Martin Luther said it), "he
would Pl;l t a stop to it. .. "
The pope was of course utterly unre-
sponsive to the demands of reformers.
He was on to a good thing. When the Re-
formation took place, the church struck
back hard, with massacres and a revival
of the notorious inquisition.
The Peace of Augsburg, which ended The stifling atmosphere of religious ordered that no book whatsoever could
the Reformation in Germany, allowed dogmatism had never completely ex- be printed without papal permission.
Kings and Princes to chose between Pro- tinguished man',s curiosity about the He rightly feared the light of reason.
testantism and Catholicism, unfortuna- universe. Christopher Columbus had Books produced abroad were danger-
tely in included the proviso that once a reached the West Indies in 1492, believ- ous contraband, drawing severe punish.
Prince had chosen, all his subject had to ing he was circumnavigating a globular ment to anyone found reading them.
chose the same. And no other religions earth. Magellan sailed around "the Even touching them was declated a sin.
were allowed either. world" in 1519. Although the pope was Such books did not only include all Rro-
At least there was, for a while, relig- ready to divide the globe (by "'The testant works, but even (at th_e time)
ious peace. Pope's Line") to share the heathens be- any translation of the New Testament,
This was broken some sixty years tween the rival colonising powers, he since it was sacrilege to remove it from
later when Rudolph II succeeded his was not ready to endorse - or even to the Latin language. The books of Eras-
more tolerant father to the throne. Ru- consider - newly -discovered evidence mus were banned as well ! The list of
dolph had been brought up in Spain, about the nature of the world. The bible dangerous books was enlarged through
and when he returned to Germany he had the answers, nothing else was the centuries until modern times, and
decided to do the right thing and stamp needed. Even a hundred years after Mag- included some of the greatest authors.
out protestantism, beginning with Bo- ellan, Galileos's writings were banned as To become banned by the Pope be-
hemia. This started the Thirty Years heretical and the astronomer was forced came a sign of quality.
War which devastated Central Europe. - by pain of death - to recant. The "New World" being conquered
Each side claimed to have God on their by Spain and Portugal was seen, firstly,
side and believed that any of their own In 1543 the murderous Inquisitor as potential source of wealth, secondly
atrocities was therefore excusable. General Caraffa (later Pope Paul IV) as souls to be converted to Catholicism.
GUARDIAN
ANG EL.
. '-.
-:'--., • 'oJ -.
--.":- '-"Y--~------~-
"::_---=- ..,>-::;
i '\ - -.
-.- .. 'III~_:"'~
~- - .~-~_~,.:- - :.f-' ~-
_W,,"_ ....~
__~;../ . __ 'I. 1-
_.- - -tii'E'~~ftirl:7ccR:ll~~AN\-·R:"i¥~~
Detail from a cartoon by Thomas Nast (1840·1902). Nast was a life-long campaigner against the intrusion of
religion into schools and politics.
HOEY SINNERS
THE PAPACY TODAY OWES MUCH TO THE COLOURFUL CHARACTER OF PREVIOUS
POPES WHO HAVE WORKED SO HARD TO MAKE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH INTO WHAT
IT IS TODAY.
St.DAMASUS (reigning pope between THEODORUS (642-49), commenced JOHN XI (931-36); son of pope Sergius
366-84), murdered 160 of his oppon- the custom of dipping his pen into III and Marozia who was the concub-
ents (who had objected to his com- consecrated wine (the "blood of ine "of several popes. "Elected" as pope
mittingadultery) in a church where Christ") when signing death orders. at the agf! of 18. A half brother by the
they had taken refuge. Catholic claims St.SERGIUS I (687-701); like so many same mother expelled him and impris-
that this was only a "faction fight" popes was accused of adultery. But in oned their mother.
cannot explain why not a single one of this case, according to church history,
Damasus' party was killed. This "saint" JOHN XIII (956-64); nominated him-
his innocence was proved. The child he self pope when he was 17; cohabited
is still invoked by believers in cases of
was accused of fathering~ when it was with his father's concubines, guilty of
only 8 days old, cried out: "The pon- numerous sexual perversions; cruel in
I'"" ,~. tiff Sergius is not my father!" (The
baby not only talked at a rather early
punishing objectors to his debauchery:
deprived one deacon of his ritJht hands
age but could even remember whose and his balls, put out the eyes of an-
sperm he started with!) other, cut otf the nose of the keeper
of archives etc. etc. Died from a blow
~(?f<:Vf
GREGORY IX (1227-41); built his
power on the inquisition, raised taxes
everywhere, excommunicated kings
and incited nations to revolt. Was fin-
ally ignominiously driven from Rome.
6:l 8
BONIFACE VIII (1294-1303); called MARTIN V (1417-31); under his rule PAUL III (1534-49); he acknowledged
himself King of Kings, enriched his Jan Huss was burnt alive after having an illegitimate son and daughter. When
estate by instituting the sale of indul- been promised safe conduct if he came the emperor criticised him for promo-
gences; excommunicated all who dis- to discuss his grievances. ting two of his young grandchildren as
puted his claim of being supreme ruler EUGENIUS IV (1431-47); his first act cardinals, the pope pointed out that
of the universe. Lived in concubinage was yo put to torture the treasurer of this was his right - predecessors had
with his two nieces, guilty of several his predecessor and hanging 200 even made infants in the cradle into
treacherous assassinations. friends of the previous pope. Was de- cardinals. I
CLEME '1 V (1305-1314); burnt alive posed by the Council of Basle, but
',.,0'" ey) Y Ol,(rt preJJrrs /
the granc. master of the Templars and waged a civil war. 0'" \..e* me Qepoinf hiw,
his supporters under false charges. Ur- PAUL II (1464-71); corrupt and mer- a curdll1Q! ((
ged new crusades, announcing that ciless, amassed immense treasures; tor- ri9ht qwo.y . .(
every crusader gained the right to free tured the chief members of the Roman
four souls of his choice from purgat- Academy on the rack, tearing some of
ory. them to pieces.
URBA_ VI (1378-89); a vicious des-
pot, he ordered 6 cardinals brutally SIXTUS IV (1471-84); claimed that he
tortured. He and a rival pope excom- found the papal treasury empty when
municated each other, and the schism he ascended the chair, but nevertheless
between the two papacies cost thous- lavished immense wealth (rom it on his
ands of lives. His rival John XXII was relatives. By seizing grain'. and selling it
found guilty of murder and incest, had abroad he created famines
also been accused of having seduced which he exploited to enrich himself.
200 nuns. ( INNOCENT VII (1484-92); establish-
'< . ca~"i
L1 be p6pe. ( ed a bank in Rome for the sale of par-
o ~muV\iCqfed yol./ . 1 dons. Each sin had a price. Needed
enormous sums to maintain a lifestyle
\ ~c.O ) ({\vnlcqled of vice and waste. Once pledged the The crimes of the popes did not cease
papal tiara as security. su ddenly , bu t certainly became less
1e~L!~~1
~
yOU I t.r ALEXANDER VI (1492-1503); one of spectacular after the Reformation.
While the papacy today embraces
the most brutal and criminal of popes,
died accidentally by poison which had some humanist ideas it is still so blin-
,( . Cfi' ~ " .~ , been intended for a disliked cardinal. ded by self-interest that it opposes
measures (like birth control) that are
now vital for the continuation of
civilisation and indeed life on this
{" "!~\ planet. It is incredible that there is
still a number of Catholics . who place
unquestioning trust into a leadership
which history shows to have been con-
sistently opposed to universal human
ideals and so-called "Christian" ones.
From the Papal Tour 1979:
Left: from an article by James Reston,
(New York Times), reprinted in "The
r Age", (4/10/79)
-- _ hunge , " he Below: About the same Papal tour,
ausesa litY, 'n depend, "on described by Hugh Mulligan, who
inequ yth1ng vn NatlOns, nd accompanied the Pope on his plane.
"E'1e~e Dnitedd:fferences at' e (AAP, "The Age", 5/10/79)
told these 1 re of t\ '1iE'
whet 'her t. n the sphe \l\ be sys- .t. e, Pope.~
contras~s 1 of goods %
throUgh. fap"tam QUigleY'hI
osse~Slon reduce anS, on 0 stee~age.is f
~ernatlca\lY'ecti'1e rn~f bung~r, fter his 2~-da re.sh . as '.
trulY eft'the belts derde'1eloPl-l e"t.and eating Y
whether. ' un. ra cy Wl pe lte.
sh P~gIJi~.
a ll~earty
wfih
alnutntlon, and Uhte nomic cCordin '
~ent, disea~~om t~e eco .ss relea~est~ha~h~ faIlout, ot
disapPfa~he world. . the turn- ng Wordsmiths i::nmerse the
rna? eOdid not ~:R~~~f srnr::k~dH~l~~1inesshas o~ ~fu:~
POPE of, the
'" r
," lObster therrni3 and eel, caviar,
Of,veal ~callo or. and. a choice
a 1aPI~ plet JllJ8l10n and
RIPPED OFF BY
chIcken
y two kinds
kbapustniak 0:~~¥eh' preceded
""''''de f IS soup_
and :k ' ••~ rom 'saue 'k
sausages COOkedr. .taut
IRELAND
"The church was totally ripped off
. broth~
broth.
marrow bone
shc t of roast duck . ,-an~ 'a bor-
In a neh
In a
"Duneing that it is a
S1" for ",an to "look
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1ves
on ,hi
'ill) Of l e
and "00 l'olol pesire
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at
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p
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""hop" pnest- th" ;'P?mt ,.oon "" d,nominolion o'h" "I,giou,
.assistant bThomas M . The le/
glOn foPranof pread for a domestic strl'''esauftCers so m.uch
region .lshop ed
.aid . 01 the S f0' the o!.doo
n, the tha<PUPHpamn in" Ore yer'' i-
dem
' , o'h 0 I,,,.
thatgraVechurch
of ~~ea "i,
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pad'h
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of bl
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.. ao'f.tate
the cation, etoexplicit. osa,y eo~'
the p,.'n'enlion c . h'" th,ou,b a to
bOenl~ten,n, f,ont window.b,oad",t
a reli,io", H' had
h. Ag •• NOD. 1980 • '""hoo" ,'- on tel",i"on and bad felt in,!,i,ed to
-~~---------_.
AN lDQ'URGATBD BIBLE
, CHICAGO.
u G00910 SUfft\\, Mr. Frank R. Chandler recen1ly cele-
brated .llis 9O\hbirthdaY, and took the op-
portun1ty to . comment. upon theust.. 20tb
S,,~S\\\S\\O\' century Bible" whicb he has i pUb-
•. In it:' he said, •. I have exPurgated all
lished.
immoralities, indelicacies, and irrele-
vancies. I ha.ve left. stars to denote thP-
deletions. For instance, in the Bible 1\
says that Noah Kot drunk. Why do ""e
need to 5ay thatt ASthe Bible stands now
1 'Wouldnot. want a daughter of mine to
read it, but expurgated, as 1 have mt.de it,
U, i5 fine literature.4'-Reuter
1 hall alwa~s
happens, sHim,
"WhateveGr d and pra~ tlOt the
1 e 0 'thlU 0 "
Ovd remain fal d defend it ...
an rch an
Catholic Chu LJ , innc. h RimmLer
. Boss rJe
NazI
cm~[ID
AND THE SWORD OF THE RIGHTEOUS
"My text today is Luke XII, 49 (I come committing a sin. Above all, our adored ough war without compassion. The
to send fire on the earth; and what will 1 Emperor abhors the horrors of war. For wicked, the friends and allies of Satan,
if it be already kindled?). many long years he laboured incessantly must be wiped .out of eXIstence. Satan
How righteously may we, indeed, the to maintain the peace of the world. We himself, who has come to the world in
most peaceful pe9ple under the sun, reo have never used our strength to menace the shape of a great power, must be
peat those other words of the Prince of the independence of any other nation. crushed, and to us has been entrusted
Peace: 'Do not believe that 1 have come Just for this reason, on account of our the intensely holy duty of accomplish·
to bring peace to the world, 1 have clean record, we have been chosen as ing the destruction of the embodiment
come not to bring peace, but the the Almighty's instrument to punish of Evil. When that work is done, fire
sword.' Just as the Almighty caused His the envious, to chastise the evil·doers, and the sword will not have come in
son to be crucified for redemption, so to bring the sword to the sinful vain; humanity will be redeemed; the
we are to crucify humanity for the reo peoples of the world. Our divine mis- reign of righteousness will be estab-
newed salvation of mankind. Humanity sion is to crucify humanity. It is there- lished on the earth, with us as its creator
must be redeemed by blood, by fire, fore the duty of our soldiers to strike and its armed protector."
and by the sword. Our warriors do not blows of merciless violence; they must (Shortened version of a serlnon given
willingly shed the blood of other' kill, they must burn, they mu~ work by the Rev. Philippi ill Ber/ill, 1915,
nations, but they do it as a sacred duty, wholesale destruction. Half·measures (looln a newspaper article collecteaby
GeorJ!e lues; "Man Bites Man ", Penl!uin)
which they dare not neglect without would be impious; there must be thoro
12
"When we dropped bombs on the
I'll alw~ys remember villages I knew that many inno-
the kind face of the Padre. cent women and children would
die a terrible death; they would be
burned alive by napalm, maimed,
or buried alive. I come from a very
religious family, and I often
thought of my own wife and chil-
dren back in Massachusetts. I won-
dered how I would manage to live
with the guilt for the rest of my
life. The knowledge that God was
with me and that our kind padre
had done everything for my soul's
- salvation was a constant comfort
in these terrible times. Even today
I could not survive without the
certainty my faith gives me. "
withlove
FROM THE BODY OF CHRIST
~~
One of America's nuclear-powered ~.' '$!il
and nuclear-armed submarines has ~
officially been baptised 'S'"
BODY OF CHRIST (Corpus Christi). ,
Apart from a small group of local
Christians nobody objected.
The Catholic hierarchy apparently
agree with the Moral Majority leader
who said that Nuclear Arms were
a gift of God to the USA.
"THE POPE'S HANDS
ARE DRIPPING WITH
BLOOD."
(Laura lJiaz Me b
for Livourn1e . m er of Parliarrwnt
at o.t ' III a speach delivered
I ona, 15. 4. 1946.
Between 1925 and 1935 the Vatican re- If Catholics felt uncomfortable with not. Pius XI said: "The men of Catholic
presentative in Berlin was a certain political leaders whose hands became Action would fail in their duty if, as
cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, who was in- bloodier each year, they were reminded opportunities allow it, they did not dir-
strumental in negotiating the famed that it was their duty to obey established ect the politics of their provinces and
"Concordat" between the Holy Sea and governments. No such reminder came of their countries." (Pius Xl's \ letter
the Nazis. (Dictionary description of- forth in support to the lawful govern- "Peculari Quadam") .
concordat: a harmonious agreement.) ment in Madrid. The pope excommuni- The above mentioned Catholic leader
The pope at the time was Pius XI) char- : cated the heads of the Spanish repub- Degrelle could later be heard on Berlin
acterised by the Cologne Gazette as lic and declared spiritual war. The pri- radio broadcasting to his liberated com-
"the most German Pope who ever sat on mate of Spain, ,the Archbishop, vir- patriots: "I have asked my Fuhrer for
the throne of St.Peter". In 1939 he was tually proclaimed civil war. Champion 20,000 flying bombs. They will chastise
followed by an even more "German" of the Church General Franco, suppor- an idiotic people. I will promise you
pope: Eugenio Pacelli, now calling ted by Hitler and Mussolini (and his they will make Anverse a city without a
himself Pius XII. He told his friend Rib- moorish African troops who were Mo- port, a port without city ... " (Anverse
bentrop that he always had a special af- hammedans!) enjoyed the full blessings was indeed heavily bombed.)
fection for Germany. of the pope who praised the tyrant in The Church often attempted to dis-
Von Papen, Hitler's most "respectable" flowery words. In language that seems own such men after the war, not too
statesman who had negotiated the Con- to echo from previous centuries, bishop convincingly. "Catholic Action's" chief
cordat, defines Nazism as "a Christian Gomara preached: "Blessed are the can- wrote in his memoirs: "Being a fervent
reaction against the spirit of 1789", and nons if, in the breaches they open, the Christian ... I would not have consider-
'indeed, fascism was securely linked gospel springs up!" ed collaborating (with Hitler) without
with Christianity. Hitler was a Catholic In all the honest memoirs of church- first consulting the religious authori-
as were nearly all of his henchmen, and people of the time it is. confirmed that ties". He goes on to describe in detail
throughout his life he confessed his be. the mood in Europe's Catholic institu- their answers.
lief and his conviction that providence tions was enthusiastically fascist. Catho- The Vatican had already established a
. protected him. The Vatican was re- lic students went to Rome and returned "Collequium Russicum", a Jesuit insti-
putedly pleased to see Catholic Austri- full of praise. From hundreds of docu- tute prepared to re-evangelise the con·
ians and Bavarians establishing them '- ments here is a typical example on how quered area in the East, under the ex-
selves in Protestant Prussian Berlin,' Catholic groups identified with fascism: plicit protection of the Wehrmacht and
poised to "liberate" the East. The "Catholic Action Centre" in Bel- the SS. It was no secret that the pope
The originator of fascism, Mussolini, gium, .organised by Monsignor Picard, expected Adolf Hitler to win the war.
had already been praised by the pope as who openly proclaimed Mussolini a There are numerous references to this in
savior of Italy, and even when he began genius and expressed the wish for a the correspondence between Berlin and
his bloody military campaigns, the Va- similar dictator for all Catholic Germany's representatives in the Vatican.
tican supported him. The Jesuit cardinal countries, published "Avant Garde", a While most Catholics at the time lived
of Milano, Archbishop Alfredo Ildefon- paper whose aim it was to weaken the under fascist rule or with fascist sym-
so Schuster, called the barbaric' Ethiop- ties between England, France and Bel- pathies (as in South America), there
ean war a Holv Crusade, and the pope gium. The publishing house, "Christus were also Catholics in Anglo-Saxon
himself (Pius XI at the time) explained: Rex" was managed by Leon Degrelle countries, and the allied representatives
"Italy thinks lhe war is justified be- who not only welcomed German occu- were anxious to gain the support of the
cause of a pressing need for expansion". pation, but who fled with the Nazis pope. Numerous representations were
The. occupation of Albania was not when the Allies advanced. Did such men made, documenting atrocities commit·
oppOsed by the Church either. act behind the pope's back? Certainly ted by the Nazis. In 1941 (just to give
14
an example), wh en Pacelli was already "Even though urged on every side, would have died. The evidence is to the
pope, Roosevelt's personal representa- the pope has not expressed any demon- contrary, and the statement is at odds
tive begged the pope to denounce Nazi strative reprobation of the deportation with Pius XII's own words after the war
barbarities. After three weeks ',came of Jews from Rome. He can expect our ended. He was interviewed by the Swiss
the pope's reply, containing the sen- enemies to reproach him in this attitu- journalist Dr. Nerin Gun; the Gazette of
tence: " ... up to the present time it has de, and see it exploited by the Protest- Lausanne, Nov.15 1945 printed this in-
not been possible to verify the accuracy ants of Anglo-Saxon countries in their terview, which in part says: "We (the
thereof '(the atrocities)"1. , propaganda against Catholicism ... "6 pope) knew that, for political reasons,
In December 1942 the Allies, includ- Again and again, enquiries from Berlin violent persecu tions were taking place in
ing governments in exile, issued a decla- were answered: don't worry, the pope is Germany, bu t We were never informed
ration condemning German atrocities on our side. The pope's failure to take a as to the inhuman character of the
which went way beyond waging war - clear stand affected not only Germans. repression." And that after all the de-
the well documented extermination In the US, the Jesuit father Coughlin, tailed documentation put before him by
campaigns, The pope, asked to co-sign known for his militant anti-semitism, the alliedpowers.
the declaration, refused, telling Myron kept a radio program going which Neither has the pope ever spoken out
Taylor to report back to Washington claimed to attract 20 million listeners. against the Catholic terror organisations
that the Holy Sea (Cardinal-Secretary I quote this fact because it was ment- such as the "Oustachi", which operated
of, State Maglione, to be precise)' ioned in official German corresponden- in Yugoslavia, and whose leaders were
had been unable to "verify the Allied re- ce as evidence that the Catholic Church all practicing Catholics, declaring that
ports as to the number of Jews exter- throughout the world was basically pro- Oustachi was simply a
religious move-
minated" 2" (In other words, while it Nazi. ment aimed at establishing the true
was unclear whether one million or two Vichy's Vatican embassador wrote 'to faith. It is today presented as a Nazi
million had been gassed, one should not the French government: "The Church front. Their hestialities, well documen-
issue rash declarations!) never professed that the same rights ted, challenge our credulity. Hundreds
The pope's Christmas message of should be given to all citizens. . . As of thousands were massacred in the
1942 was less reserved: someone in authority in the Vatican most cruel ways imaginable. The vict-
"This is not a time for lamentation, told me, you will not find yourselves in ims' eyes were hacked out and garlands
but action. May the Crusades' enthu- difficulties over the status of the Jews;'7 were made of them to be worn and pre-
siasm get hold of Christianity, and the In the occupied, territories Catholic sented as mementos.8 When the mur-
call of 'God wants it!' will be heard; scholars came out of the woodwork and derers and torturers fled Croatia, first
may we be ready to serve and sacrifice fell over each other in their attempts to to Austria, then to Italy to be sheltered
ourselves, as the Crusaders of old ... We justify Hitler. M. Daniel-Rops of the by the Church, they left behind chests
exhort and implore you to take upon French Academy, a most pious man, of gruesome reminders of their deeds:
yourselves the awful gravity of the pre- wrote this: " ... the face of a persecuted platinum and gold wrenched from the
sent situation ... As for the volunteers Jewish nation fills history, bu t it cannot teeth of tlieir victims, rings and other
who participate in this Holy Crusade of obliterate this other face, smeared with loot. Not only did the priests preach
modern times, . . . raise the standard blood and spittle, for which the Jewish violence from the pulpit, they parti-
high, declare war on the dark~ess of a crowd, felt no pity ... " and he goes on cipated. The pope's own representative
world separated from God". Hitler to say that it was "divine will" which was on best terms with Oustachi but-
could not have put it better. 'If Catholics "compensated" for the Jewish crime of chers, and the pope himself wrote the
in fascist countries had any doubts on crucifying Jesus, making the pogroms an foreword to a book of instructions by
act of God. So it appears in "Jesus et the German Jesuit Muckermann which
which side the pope stood, this war-like
son temps" in 1944. After the war such contains sentiments like: "Catholic
message removed them. The Allied 'were
references were deleted from reprints. Action means the gathering of world
aghast. When they approached the Holy
Daniel-Rops' books are still regarded Catholicism. It must live its heroic age.
Father, he pointed out that he had ... The new epoch can be acquired for
named no names, that he had also highly by Catholic scholars.
After the war attempts have been Christ only through the price of blood.'9
spoken of his concern about the dis-
placed and the persecuted, and Jews made to try the pope for war crimes.
could feel free to incl]lde themselves into That of course was impossible as Suurces:
that category. Taylor's assistant H.H. millions of Catholics believed that their '1) "A"schwitz' alld the Allks", M.Gjlb",·I,
publ. Michal!! Jos"ph Ltd., Londoll 1981.
Tittman reported to Washington that on Holy Father can do no' wrong. Dozens, 2) Fo,'eig/l Hela!iolls of tile Ullited Stai<:s,
December 30, during an audience with if not hundreds of books have been pub- 1942 VoU, Washillgton 1960, p,. 70- 71.
3), "\Val' Messa!!es to th" World' by Pitts XIl,
the pope, the holy man had "led him to lished to show the pope's complicity (lid. Spcs., PUrLS 1945.
believe that he felt· that there had been with the ,atrocities, committed by 4) Foreign Helatio/ls of Ih« Ullikd Sioks,
1942, Vol.3, P. 911-13.
some exaggeration (of Nazi evil) for the Italy, Spain and Germany, yet the 5) [ioreigr, OtIice Papers: 371/34363,C216
purposes of propaganda" 4. Church has never found the strength to 6)"St'cret AI'chives ut the WilhdrnslTassH"
7) "A"schwitz and tI,,· Allies"
A week later, when the pope was say: we were wrong. :A later,' ',pope 8) '4Tht! secret hislol';" or thp Jesuits", h,'dl1lU1l1
again urged to qualify his Christmas has often been quoted as saying that if Poris, p,.o[(:stalll
9) «Assassins
Tndh Society
in. the lla'll(~ (){U<Jd", H.Laurier(',
words so that they could not be taken Pius XII had spoken out, more people (Ed. D"foul', 1'01'is 1951) ,
as a blanket approval of Hitler's war, he
said that "his public statements had
satisfied all demands recently made
upon him to speak out."5.
The pope had indeed made some
statements for the consumption in
allied countries that could be interpre-
ted as showing sympathy with the Jews.
But bishops in fascist territory were
never encouraged by the pope to follow
that line. '
One studies with interest the German
documents of the era. Hitler, as a Catho-
lic, was naturally anxious to maintain
\ ••.• .• ' L.
the good will of the pope, and many en·
quiries were made as to his holy react-
ion to the gas ovens. There are dozens
of references to show that the pope's
good will was never completely with-
drawn from Hitler. Here is a typical
message, addressed to von Ribbentrop,
the Nazi Foreign Minister, from the Ger- ~,~
,
frol1! "Unfuir to llipPot:rils"
"""""""""""""""""""""'"'
•• 10 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
In 1983 the Papal Code of Cannon Law was revised to replace the version
that had been revised in 1917/18. It is contained in seven volumes, all in Latin.
There is, unfortunately, no longer the death sentence for "heretics",and for the first
time it is even permissible for Catholics to have their bodies cremated.
Excummunication still exists, and it is a fate worse than death. After all, it assures
your ever-lasting suffering in hell.
The number of crimes which carry automatic excommunication has been reduced
from 37 to only 6. One of these cardinal of cardinal crimes is the ordaining
of a bishop without papal permission. That should discourage any split of the
progressives from the present medievalists.
Murderers, by the way, are not excommunicated, but abortionists are.
Atheists will expose their usual lack of ethics by whining that it is worse to kill
a feeling, loving and loved person than it is to abort an unfeeling, unloved fertilised
cell. It shows that they do not know and fear our
-LOVING GOD.
When - in a short fit of temper - one of us, today, yells at another, "God damn you!" we know not whereof we speak. Being
damned by god, or by his agents, was an enormously serious event in the lives of persons in prior years when the Roman
Catholic Church was at the height of its power. Kings trembled, lesser authorities were psychologically emasculated, the
ordinary lay person was traumatized at the thundering words of the church. An excommunication removed one from the
community of persons with whom one lived, denied one access to the church or to its sacraments, caused neighbors,/riends,
and family to shun one, set one apart as an untouchable, and otherwise isolated one from the human community.
An English novelist, Lawrence Sterne (1713-1768),in 1759, decided that he would use one of the official excommunications
(which varied somewhat, but not a great deal, from one bishopric to another in diverse countries) in one of his works. Sterne,
for use in his novel, Tristram Shandy, obtained an excommunication from the chapter clerk of the dean and chapter of
Rochester. This has been checked against other official Roman Catholic excommunication texts and, basically, is about
"standard. "
It is presented here in two columns - the Latin on the left and the English on the right - so that you may know what you
really mean when you turn to someone and say, "God damn you!"
'1~x auctoritate Dei omnipotentis, Patris, et Filij,et Spiritus Sancti, ~ y the authority of God Almighty, the Father, Son, and Holy
~ et sanctorum canonum, sanctaeque et intemeratae Virginis Dei ~ Ghost, and of the holy canons, and of the undefiled Virgin Mary,
genetricis Mariae, - mother and patroness of our Saviour, -
- Atque omnium coelestium virtutum, angelorum, archangelorum, - and of all the celestial virtues, angels, archangels, thrones,
thronorum, dominationum, potestatuum, cherubin ac seraphin, & dominions, powers, cherub ins and seraphins, and of all the holy
sanctorum patriarchum, prophetarum, & omnium apostolorum & patriarchs, prophets, and of all the apostles and evangelists, and of the
evangelistarum, & sanctorum innocentum, qui in conspectu Agni soli holy innocents, who in the sight of the Holy Lamb, are found worthy to
digni inventi sunt canticum cantare novum, et sanctorum martyrum sing the new song of the holy martyrs and holy confessors, and of the
et sanctorum confessorum, et sanctarum virginum, atque omnium holy virgins, and of all the saints, together with the holy and elect of
simul sanctorum et electorum Dei, - God, - May he be damned.
Excommunicamus, et anathematizamus hunc furem, vel hunc We excommunicate, and anathematize him, and from the thresh·
malefactorem, N. N. et a liminibus sanctae Dei ecclesiae sequestra- olds of the holy church of God Almighty we sequester him, that he
mus, et aetemis 5uppliciis excruciandus, mancipetur, cum Dathan et may be tormented, disposed, and delivered over with Dathan and
Abiram, et cum his qui dixerunt Domino Deo, Recede a
nobis, Abiram, and with those who say unto the Lord God, Depart from us,
scientiam viarum tuarum noh.imus: et sicut aqua ignis extinguitur, sic we desire none of thy ways. And as fire-is quenched with water, so let
extinguatur lucema ejus in secula seculorum nisi resipuerit, et ad the light of him be put for evermore, unless H shall repent him and
satisfactionem venerit. Amen. make satisfaction. Amen.
Maledicat ilium Deus Pater qui hominem creavit. Maledicat ilium May the Father who created man, curse him. - May the Son who
Dei Filius qui pro homine pass us est. Maledicat ilium Spiritus Sanctus suffered for us, curse him. - May the Holy Ghost, who was given to
qui in baptismo effusus est. Maledicat ilium sancta crux, quam us in baptism, curse him. - May the holy cross which Christ, for our
Christ us pro nostra salute hostem triumphans ascendit. salvation triumphing over his enemies, ascended, curse him.
Maledicat ilium sancta Dei genetrix et perpetua Virgo Maria. May the holy and eternal Virgin Mary, mother of God, curse him. -
Maledicat ilium sanctusMichael, animarum susceptor sacrarum. May St. Michael, the advocate of holy souls, curse him. ....:.-
Mayall the
Maledicant ilium omnes angeli et archangeli, principatus et potes· angels and archangels, principalities imd powers, and all the heavenly
tates, omnisque militia coelestis. armies, curse him. .
Maledicat ilium patriarcharum et prophetarum laudabilis numerus. May St. John, the Praecursor, and St. John the Baptist, and St.
Maledicat ilium sanctus Johannes Praecusor et Baptista Christi, et Peter and St. Paul, and St. Andrew, and all other Christ's apostles,
sanctus Petrus, et sanctus Paulus, atque sanctus Andreas, omnesque together curse him.· And may the rest of his disciples and four
Christi apostoli, simul et caeteri discipuli, quatuor quoque evange· evangelists, who by their preaching converted the universal world,
listae, qui sua praedicatione mundum universum converterunt. and may the holy and wonderful company of martyrs and confessors
Maledicat' ilium cuneus martyrum et confessorum mirificus, qui Deo who by ,their holy works are found pleasing t.o God Almighty, curse
bonis operibus placitus inventus est. him.
Maledicant ilium sacrarum virginumchori, quae mundi vana causa May the holy choir of the holy virgins, who for the honour of Christ
honoris Christi respuendacontempserunt. Maledicant ilium omnes have despised the things of the world, damn him - Mayall the saints,
san<;tiqui ab initio mundi usque in finem seculi Deo dilecti inveniuntur. who 'from the beginning of the world to everlasting ages are found to
be beloved of God, damn him -
May the heavens and earth, and all the holy things remaining
therein, damn him.
Maledictus sit ubicunque fuerit, sive in domo, sive in agro, sive in May be be damned wherever he be - whether in the house or the
via, sive in semira, sive in silva, sive in aqua, sive in ecclesiil. - stables, the garden or the field, or the highway, or in the path, Qr'in the
wood, or in the water, or in the, church.
Maledictus sit vivendo, moriendo, munducando, bibendo, esuri- May he be cursed in living, in dying. May he be cursed in eating and
endo, sitiendo, jejunando,. oormitando, dormiendo, vigilando, ambu- drinking, in being hungry, in being thirsty, in fasting, in sleeping, in
lando, stando, sedendo, jacendo, operando, quiescendo, mingendo, slumbering, in walking, in standing, in sitting, in lying, in working, in
cacando, flebotomando. resting, in pissing, in shitting, and in blood-letting.
Maledictus sit in vertice, in temporibus, in honte, in auriculis, in - and in his vertex, in his temples, in his forehead, in his ear's, in his
superciliis, in oculis, in genis, in maxillis, in naribus, in dentibus, eye·brows, in his cheeks, in his jaw-bones, in his nostrils, in his
mordacibus, sive molaribus, in labiis, in guttere, in humeris, in harnis, fore-,teeth and grinders, in his lips, in his thtoat;in his shoulders, in his
in brachiis, in manubus, in digitis, in pectore, in carde, et in omnibus wrists, in his arms, in his hands, in his fingers. May he be damned in his
interioribus stomacho tenus, in renibus, in inguinibus, in femore, in mouth, in his breast, in his heart and purtenance, down to the very
genitalibus, in coxis, in genubus, in cruribus, in pedibus, et in inguibus. stomach. May be be cursed in his reins and in his groin, in his thighs, in
his genitals, and in his hips, and in his knees, his legs, and feet, and
toe-nails.
Maledictus sit in totis compagibus membrorum, a vertice capitis, May he be cursed in all.the joints and articul~tions of his members,
usque ad plantam pedis :- no sit in eo sanitas. . from the top of his head to the sole of his foot. May there be no
soundness in him.
May the Son of the living God, with all the glory of his Majesty -
curse him
- et insurgat adversus ilium coelum cum omnibus virtutibus quae - and may heaven, with all the powers which move therein, rise up
in eo moventur ad damnandum' eum, nisi penituerit et ad satisfac· against him, curse and damn him unless he repent and make
tionem venerit. Amen. Fiat, fiat. Amen. satisfaction. Amen. So be it, - so be it. Amen.
The document was taken from "The American Atheist", July 1985
19
BANANAS Come again, Mother Theresa?
In 1923 the composers of the song The Ethiopian famine, according to
"Yes we have no Bananas" were success- Mother Theresa, is .simply God's way of
fully sued by the owners of Handel's teaching the world a lesson in charity.
, dd spots ... "Hallelujah Chorus", which had similar A theists would make us believe that
f God s a opening bars. overpopulation is at the root of the
orne 0
problem of too many people for too
little resources.
Another gem from Mother Theresa:
Rome's Basilica of Santa Croce in Geru-
"Abortions are a greater danger than
salemme has a cut-off dry human finger
nuclear war"!!!
on its altar: supposedly the finger with
which st.Thomas touched Jesus' side!
INSIDE RELIGION
In 1960 a man was hospitalised in the
DIE IN PEACE- US who had, among other things, 3 sets
of rosary beads in his stomach.
THE CHRISTIAN WAY. ("1'lle Pe(Jpk's AlmuIlGch")
~
b
·tCqvq v SJwnno UVWnl.f pasmi.laj v JVt{J SU!VJU!VW t{:J!t{m 't{:J.Jnt{;) :J.'l0t{JvO at{J OJ IIU.1P.lO:J:JV'su<J'lf.:J!t{:J0JU! tuat{J sa'lf.vw S!t{.L
'sIIIIa pasmJ.laj a.lV 9 'oN pUV S'oN
VEGETARIANS BEWARE! YE~ BUT CAN DEMONS UNFAIR TOSNAKESf
A nun ate some lettuce without making
BE I RUSTED?
The Italian Society against Cruelty to
the sign of the cross and swallowed a In the haydays of Catholicism, exorcists Animals protested to Our Holy Father
devil. When the devil was called out by
a holy man, he replied: "How am I to did a roaring trade. One of them, the in Rome who apparently is no animal
blame? I was sitting on a lettuce, and bishop of Beauvais, cornered the com· lover. In his frequent diatribes against
this woman, not having made the sign of petition by giving a special service: He Satan he likes to compare him with
the cross, ate me along with it!" made the exorcised demons sign a docu- snakes, dragons, goats etc. This, the
This is a true story, since it was told
by the infallible pope himself (Gregory ment that they would not return into society said. is grossly unfair to our
the Great). the body of the possessed. horned and/or slithering friends.
demonstration, sent
face an anti-pope. of the Vatican
The pope, ~.n~~f ~an from the. rig~c:r~rn as to what
along a sec lffering. police remalU U
as a peace 0 hould take next.
action they s
WODONGA'S SEX PUBLICITY GOD'S GIFTS The Foreskin Saga
The mayor of Wodonga (a retired far- Smallpox is "a judgement of God on the Consternation has struck parishio e
mer) wants to get rid of all the rough sins of the people ", this was the official of the small medieval town of Calcata -
stuff on the shelves of the city's library. view of the Church when scientists the Viterbo region of Central Italy -
The "rough stuff" are books on human begun to experiment with vaccination. what they believe to be Christ's fore-
sexuality - "masturbation, orgasm and It was God's right to kill by diseases, skin, the relic which for four centuries
that type of thing", says the Councillor and to avoid his judgement would make has attracted pilgrims to the local
Macauley. The library staff produced a Him very mad. Pain too was God's gift, church, has been stolen .... According
list of the books in question, 32 all told, and anesthesia was opposed by the to legend, it was given by the Virgin
ranging from Black's Medical Dictionary Church, especially for women during Mary to Mary Magdalene, then delivered
to The Joy of Sex. Since the mayor's child birth. After all, it said in the by an angel to Charlemagne, who in
outburst on the local radio station, bible: "In sorrow thou shalt bring forth turn gave it to Pope Leo III at his coron-
people are flocking to the library to get children. " ation in Rome in the year 800 ....
these books to read ...
(Gen.6:6) And it repented the LORD that he If YOU were God, would you (aLways remembering that you were
had made man on the earth, and it grieved all-powerful and all-knowing)-
him at heart.
admit that it was the first time you created a world, an'd that
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man it needed ironing out. Luckily you are all-powerful and thereby able
whom I have created from the face of the to fix it-
earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping
thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth decide to destroy the earwicks, ringworm and similar guffies
but that you'd let the baby harp seals alone, and any animal'
me that I have made them. that looks a little like Bambi. . . .
(Exod.12:12) For I will pass through the land Who do you think, said these words:
of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first·
born in the land of Egypt, both man and
beast,
Look at the picture.
What do you see?
(Gen. 11) - And the whole earth was of one Did the-Japanese and the Australian Aborigines once speak
language, and of one speech. the same language?
Definitely yes C []
.
(Levit.26:15) And if ye shall despise my sta- What shall ye eat if ye abhor such judgements as the Grea.t
tutes or if your soul abhor my judgments ... Flood, the killing of all first-barns and the creation of
16 I also will do this unto you: I will appoint' insects who.lay their eggs inside living cq,terpillars, so that they
over you terror, consumption, and the burn- be eaten alive?
ing ague ...
'29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons,
and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
q~
~~~1l
~\
,~~\
._ ); ~~.-->r
~ f'.~ V1,_,\ ···Pl·,.· ••..'.'~1'",•·..,
.....!.t"tf'('f'.rl
Is the person on the right acting
correctly in refusing to go to church?
_ _.-L. ___
,0,
1<,.
',"',', •
,. "
_~r-:\r'
~
--, ,(!:::r\:;,~, r~, . Probably. Just look at his pants .
. ,..'.., ~·'·09
..
I
'""., ":'''~'''
I I , •. 1\ • , I" '," ~;~;;
'····,···!·""·
~ ~,'; ;: I
a~
I ."
Who cares.'
(Deuter.23:2) A bastard shall not enter into No, he ;w longer has an excuse, since he just passed
the congregation of the LORD; even to his the eleventh generation. While his father was still
tenth generation shall he not enter into the guilty for the bastardl")! of his great-great-great- e [-
great-great-great-grcat grandfather, this man no .~~~
congregation of the LORD. is.
You arC'at a party with your wile .. I'm a lucky guy. MarriC'd{or 20 years and still in
You 're legally married. In Church. She love and {aith{ul. There's no other woman like her.
has washed her hair with Sunsilk and I'd beller no t drink too much so that we can
it gleams just like on TV. You think: make love whC'n we gct home. . . aD
'By golly, shC'has lost weight. " She
wears the dress you like. And the red
shoes. What goes through your mind?
(Remember the Pope's warning that I guess she's ready {or another child. Must get the
it is a sin to look with lust at your sugarbag oul to put over her head, Maybe tonight,
wi{e.) i{ therC'is time a{tC'rreading the bible. I only pray
that I won't {eel any pleasure. Oh Lord, and let
it be twins again. Or arC'sextuplets too much
to hope for? C []
(Exod.23:8) And thou shalt take no gift: for I{ you were the Pope and a South American
the gift blindeth the wise, and perverdeth the dictator offered you a gift worth 10 million
words of the righteous. dollars, would you bpcome
(Gen.16:11) And the angel of the Lord said Il Ishmael would have lt would have been nice. aD
unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and behaved like a gentleman,
shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ish'. that would have been ... lt would have been impossible, since God
ma·el; because the Lord hath heard thy afflic- expressly made him a wild'man, with his
tion. hand against everyone. bO.
12 And he will be a wild man, his hand will lt would have been a great sin, since it'd go
be against every man, and every man's hand against the Lord's wishes; it would have
against him ... been the devils work, and deserving of
eternal hell fire.' 'c 0
"I cannot accept that we 1) How many times was Holy Father 12) How many children did Holy Father
Benedict IX holding the Papal Throne Alexander VI (1492-1503) have?
are to judge Pope and King between 1032-1048?
like other men with 13) Who was the best businessman-Pope
2) How many Popes were simultaneous- o{ them all?
with favourable presumption ly claiming the Papacy between 896-904?
that they did not wrong ... 1 4) Which Holy Father made two of his
3) Who succeeded the Holy Father Ser-
gius III (904-911)? sons Cardinats at the ages of 14 and 16
There is no worse heresy and gave two Papal Cities (Piacenca and
than that the office 4) Which Pope drank toasts to the Devil Parma) to his daughtPr?
sanctifies the holder of it." and invoked Pagan Gods while gambling
and how did he die? 15) For what is Holy Father and Saint
(Lord Acton) at' the Church, Pius V (1566-1572)
5) How did the Bishop o{ Cremona famous?
Luitprand and Cardinal Barunius de- 16) What was the reaction o{ Holy
scribe the Lateran Palace (Pope's resi- Father Gregory XIII (1572-1585) to the
dence) in the Xth century? news ot' the slaughter at' the Huguenots
6) What did visiting Bishop Benno re- in France on St. Bartholomew Night in
port about Papal Rome in 1046? 1572, when 100,000 men, women and
children were killed?
7) What was the Holy Father's reaction
17) How did Holy Father Clement VIII
to the signing o{ the Magna Carta: in
1215? react to the Edict o{ Nan/es (1598) by·
the French King granting Protestants a
8) What were the last words of Holy measure pf religious ·tolerance?
Father Innocent IX (1243-1254) on his
18) What was the t'avourite punishment
death bed? under Papal jurisdiction in Rome in the
9) What was the /irst action of Holy XVI and XVII centuries?
Father Nicholas III (1227-1280) alter
ascending the Papacy? 19) How long did Holy Father Clement
XIV. (1769-1774) live after having dis-
10) How did the famous Italian writer solved the Order of Jesuits?
and greatest scholar of his time,
Petrarch, describe the Papal Capital or 20) How did more recent Holy Fathers
view religious tolerance and t'reedom or
Avignon where he lived {rom 1312-1337? opinion? ; .,
11) What did Holy Father Urban VI 21) What is "Syllabus of Errors"(
(1378-1389) do on learning that some 22) What happened to the long-standing
Cardinals were plotting to replace him rule of the Canon Law requiring death
with their {avourite? for heretics?
11) H~ had 6 of them t.ortured t? death, .17) He said: "The most accursed thing
~atc~mg th~ tortur~ himself while rea~. that €an be imagined whereby liberty of
1) 3 times, after having sold the job mg hiS breylary. (~Itnessed a~d des~rl' conscience is granted to everybody,
twice for 2,000 pounds of gold and then ~ed by emme~t .~unst of the time, Diet· which is the worst thing in the world."
reclaiming it by force. nch Von NeheIm). 18) Torture, castration and burning at
2) Eight. Two were murdered by Holy 12) 6 known and probably 8. His in· stake.
Father Sergius III. famous son, Cesa~e, ~as. a murderer; his 19) Less than a ye~. All indications
3) The son of the above Sergius III and daughte~, Lucretia, sll~ilarl~. S~e also were that he was poisoned.
his mistress Marozia was crowned by his had an mcestuous relatIOnship w~th her 20) The pronouncement of Holy Father
Holy Father to become Holy Father father the Pope and probably With her Gregory XVI (1831.1846) in his Encyc.
John XI. . brother. . lical (5/8/1832): " ... that absurd and
4) Holy Father John XII(955·964). He 13) POSSIblyLeo X (1513·1521), the erronous doctrine or rather delirium
was beaten to death by the husband of one who excommunicated Martin Luther. which claims and defends liberty of con:
his mistress when caught with her in .H~ .amassed a perso~al fortune of science for everyone. From this comes
bed. The Church has put the inscription ~~lllh?nsof c~owns. SaId a.bout Papac~: in a word the worst plague of all, name·
on his tomb "Ornament of the Whole It IS a busmess so profItable that It ly unrestrained liberty of opinion and
World". would be sheer madness to open the freedom of speech "
5) "A Brothel" and "A Stable". eyes of the ignorant". 21) A list of 80 "Reprobated,proscribed
1~) Paul III (1534·1549). A later Pope, and condemned principal errors of our
6) "There was no Cleric in Rome who S~tus V, ha~ done even better. He made times" compiled by Pius IX in 1864,
was not either illiterate, or guilty' of hISson Cardmal at 13. (This Pope decreed his infallibility).
Simony or living in concubinage". 15) He institutionalised Holy Inquisit· Samples: It is false that "Every man is
7) Holy Father Innocent III (1198·· ion, torturing and burning at stake free to profess the religion, which by
1216) called it being "Inspired by the hundreds of heretics, while Holy Father the light of human reason, he believes to
Devil" and proclaimed Anathema on it was watching. He was also concerned be true." It is false that "Men find the
and its supporters. with the morals of the Clergy, prohibi· way of eternal salvation and attain it in
8) He said to his relatives assembled ted Priests to keep female servants and any religion" (Other than Roman Ca·
around him: "Why do you weep? Did I Nuns to keep male watch dogs (!) and tholicism). It is false that "The Roman
not make you rich enough?" ordered that blasphemers were to have Pontiff can and should reconcile himself
9) He promptly appointed his 3 their tongues pierced with red hot iron. to and agree with progress, liberalism
brothers and 4 other relatives Cardinals. He was also instrumental in convincing and modern civilisation" (Article 80).
10)"It was swept along in a flood of the P~ilip of Spain t? invade England with 22) It was reaffirmed by Holy Father
most obscene pleasure, an incredible hiS Armada, but died before the debacle. Leo XIII in 1901 and again by Holy
storm of debauch, the most horrible and 16) He celebrated Thanksgiving Mass, Father Benedict XV in 1918 as "Right
un'precedented shipwreck of chastity ..." had church bells ringing, sent congratu· and duty to put heretics to death". Not
The Pope VI· is referred to as "An lations to the French Royal Court and until 1983 were the words watered
Ecclesiastical Dionysos with his obscene struck a commemorative medal inscri· down a little.
and infamous artifices." bed: "Slaughter of the Huguenots". Compikd by Dick
AIlOIl
~~~~~~
during one of the apparitions! A photo
taken of the family before the "mirac-
lE'» ';})l)1.py 'Y!ff1J1JtJf.JJ .a.JJd 1JJJJ.JJk faces ~
(de Sede) and Rev. de Marchi wrote at
the time: "Any physiognomist would
credit (Lucia) with a coarse, if not vici-
ous nature."
The mother of the family was the
only one who could read a little, and in
the evenings she read the children from
a book called "Abridged Mission". The
book dscribed holy visions such as the
one in La Sallette-Fallavaux in the
French Alps (interestingly enough,
Fallavaux, "fallax vallis" can be tran-
lated as "valley of deceptions",); the
book also contained other information
that was useful to young Christian
A $5 MILLION MIRACLE! FATiMA: minds, such as the much needed exact
details of "Christ's passion": "Kicks:
Have you miracle of miracles ... 144. Punches: 150. Slaps in the face:
Mothers of Christ at the bottom The Catholic Church has published over 102. Blows at the body and chest: 202.
of your garden? a hundred books on Fatima, some with Lashes with a whip: 5,000. Heart pangs:
On October 16, 1964, Rosa Buzzini resounding titles like "Maria Saves the 72. Tears shed: 600,200. Drops of
West" by bishop Gruber, in which the _blood shed: 230,000". Such was the
Quattrini, a simple peasant woman of author describes the "miracle" as "a education of moron Aboboro's illiter-
San Damiano, Italy, saw the Mother of forceful counterplay against the might ate children. At the time when the
Christ in her garden. of Satan, unequalled in history." "miracle" attracted attention, a doctor
While visions of that kind are two In truth Fatima is a million-dollar examined the children, and his report of
bob a dozen in Catholic countries, this business, ,designed to lighten not only their mental state was not favourable.
time the Madonna had visited somebody the hearts out the pockets of millions of The doctor's report disappeared (mirac-
special, somebody with business sense. suckers - and the present pope went ulously) from the archives during ·Sala-
Mamma Rosa spread the news of the there in 1982 to keep the hoax going. zar's Fascist-Catholic dictatorship.
vision and opened a snack bar to sustain The story is that of 3 illiterate child- Portugal was possibly Europe's
ren, who in 1917 saw the virgin mother poorest country, and the region of
those who came to look at the pear tree of Jesus no less then 6 times, in several Fatima was Portugal's poorest - truly a
where the Madonna had appeared, and odd guises. First as a veiled lady (almost backwater of European civilisation;
which had displayed an unseasonable certainly played by a- Senhora Genipro mountainous to the point of being un-
flowering (not uncommon). She also with connivence of local priests),speak- accessible, its people "suspicious" and
opened a souvenir shop at the miracle ing in a "thin melodious voice", then as almost totally illiterate. Church publica-
site, finally even a 100 room hotel, be- a doll in a tree ( it spoke in the same tions praise the area for "the number of
cause the pilgrims came thick and fast. voice without moving its lips), then, as its priests, the abundance of its voca-
As a cult developed around Mamma pe?ple ?ame to witness the event, the tions; it was considered as one of the
Rosa and her Madonna of the Pears the c.hI1drens. accounts cOJ?flicte~, and they most precious jewels of the church and
. ' SImply saId: "Ask LUCIa.LUCIaknows". one of the main supports for religious
VatIc~n becam.e embarassed, and maybe I Lucia was the older sister. action as a whole: one could trust in
even Jealous, SInce all the money flowed The children's father nicknamed its prie'sts and parishioners under any
into Mamma Rosa's pockets. Vatican Abobora is officially described as having circumstances" (Rev. Galamba de Oli-
lawyers could do nothing, since the led "an examplary life" as pumpkin veira). True, the region had supported
Pope had failed to register "Madonna" grower; " ... he used to confess, take the church when in 1911 attempts were
and "Mother of Christ" as trademarks. holy communion and never missed Sun- made to separate State and Church. The
The best the Vatican could do was to day mass." Eyewitness accounts of con- Fatima region and its numerous priests
deny that a miracle had taken place. t~mporaries disagree. Abobora (P';1mp- opposed the move so vigourously, that
.. kIn) means "moron", the man, beIng a an inventory of church property was
Yet the ~Iracle WhIChtook. PI~ce was habitual drunk and idiot, never grew a prevented, i.e. everything was assumed
a true one. people kept comIng. They pumpkin in his life. He was even drunk to belong to the Church. It is worth
came in such numbers and bought relics ' mentioning that after Salazar's long
with such ravenous appetite that reign the church had managed to keep
Mamma Rosa was worth no less than stUI half of the people illiterate (1974)!
five million dollars when she died in Several books (see footnote) on the
September 1981. subject recall a conversation overheard
Then she left all that fortune to Pope by an army chaplain between father de
John Paul II - with a condition! That Sousa and prior Ferreira regarding the
her vision would be recognised as gen- terrible poverty of the region. Both
agreed that there was only one hope to
uine. And who knows - in times to relieve it: a miracle, and a big one. Like
come she might even be beatified. Lourdes. There was a strong suspicion at
The last word (and that was some the time among educated people (such
time ago) from the Vatican was that as the director of the National Library
maybe Mamma Rosa saw something in Lisbon) that the whole miracle was
after all... manufactured by local priests.
The threll children's accounts,
detailed at first, become rather evasive
after the first couple of "apparitions".
Attempts to corroborate their stories
Mama Rosa, who amassed failed. When the children were quest-
five million dollars from her backyard ioned by civil authorities, they repeated
miracle, the stories, but Lucia, recalling, that in-
terview later added: "The Senhor sub-
prefect wan~d me to tell him the sec-
ret but I wasn't allowed to tell it to
anybody." Even her own accounts were
rather confused. Example: "(the holy
virgin) never appeared to me last year.
Never did she before May this year. I
have not told that to anybody, because
it is not true." (Told to Rev. Formigao.)
A month later: "Last year, I had seen
the same lady at the place named Estru-
meiras. I had told it to my mother; she
laughed at me a lot and she had threat-
ened to beat me. That's why I didn't tell
anything this time".
A rather gruesome account of the in-
terrogation by civil authorities has now
crept into Catholic literature; it did not The Pope's gala performance at Fatima: Miracles are the Catholic Church's
appear until 20 years after the event and
is a total fabrication. In the presence of
greatest money spinner, and ignorance is promoted. Pope Leo it X:, "...
would be sheer madness to open the eyes of the Ignorant.
the children the sub prefect allegedly'
boiled a cauldron of oil and threatened to claim was not published until the and St.John and St.Josef. How they
deep fry the children if they did not re- second world war was well on its way identified themselves has not been re-
cant! "Confronting Death" is the head- (1941), but it is still held up as a "pre- corded, but it must have been true, be-
ing of a chapter describing this scene in diction" come true! cause the pope went there in 1979 and
one book. It is odd that such a thing has In case of another war or any event of 450,000 believers thronged to see him
not been mentioned in all the volumin- worldwide significance, the church has at the glass-enclosed shrine.
ous literature of the first 20 years, itself covered. With Ku-Klux-Klanish The trouble was that once the pope
either by the children, by the press, or pretentiousness the pope talks of a was gone, so were the people with all
in any of the many reports by the "Third Secret", too powerful for their money. And the unsold plaster
Church! But it's still repeated in several mortals to know about. It is handed casts began to gather dust.
authoritative church books, apparently down from pope to pope, only to be re- But monsignor had seen the light: a
as a warning on what happens when c.ivil vealed after the event! shrine-led recovery for the little Irish
authorities have the right to questIOn There was in fact talk about a "big bog village! He cajoled the government
god-fearing Christians! secret" back in 1917, when the hoax into paying for an airport. No body likes
There are many claims that were was initiated, but the children said that to reject a Catholic request, not in ire-
made later. On the fifth apparition (13/ this secret concerned themselves-the land. But in 1983, when $A19 million
9/1917) flowers were supposed to have children, and not the world at large. It is had been spent and the airport wasn't
fallen from the sky. No one of the generally assumed that it concernes the even half finished, the government
thousand ar so people who were actu- circumstances of how the hoax was or- stopped funds. It had become apparent
ally present saw any flowers come ganised. that an extravagantly large airport in a
down, and a pastor admitted that a Source: "Fatinwt Inquiry about a H()ov\"" by
tiny Irish village was a white elephant if
photo pUblished later was a fake. Gerard de Sede; HFatinla lJeslnascarada" by
Joao Ilhal'co. - ever there was one. And the monsignor's
On the 6th and last apparition the persuasions could be better described as
crowd assembled was quoted in some KNOCK KNOCK - Who's there? good old deceptions. 19 million of tax-
sources to have been 100,000, others payers' money, so the critics said, could
say 15,000. In any case it was huge. By Half the people around the area of
Knock in Ireland are unemployed. Fam- have been better spent.
that time the circus was well organised; Monsignor was not fazed. He said (re-
the children were washed and dolled up ilies are large, resources are limited. But
thanks to the farsighted monsignor ported in "The Age",-7/61'86): "This is
with crowns and artificial flowers. See- Horan the main street of Knock is now the greatest thing to have happened in
ing the crowd outside, the children's an un{nterupted row of souvenir shops. the West for 100 years."
keeper at the time (a Senhora Maria do They're not in business yet, and neither Meanwhile the villagers are getting a
Carmo Menezes, author of the book is the "Knock International Hotel" or little impatient. It is expected that the
using the faked photo), warned: "Child- the big airport; but God willing, they lamb of God may put in another
ren if the miracle you have predicted will be soon. appearance soon to help the villagers
do~s not happen, those people might A hundred years ago the "Lamb of move the tons of holy kitsch that gather
just burn you alive!" The holy virgin God" appeared to 15 (some say inebria- dust in their stores. God may work in
would not let such a thing happen, in ted) villagers on a rainy night, accompa- mysterious ways, but monsignores sel-
fact, that day she excelled herself by nied by no less than "Our Lady" herself dom do.
telling the children that the war had
ended, that very day. Asked repeatedly
on this important bit of information, , ean I'm c(Jredof my
~~ellet in W1irac res:
Lucia was most definite: The war had
ended on that very day, and the soldiers
were coming home. In fact, the' armist-
ice was not signed until a year later. The
false prediction is no longer to be found
in Catholic literature, and Lucia herself
who was soon to be spirited away into
a convent, away from questioning
people, later claimed that she never said
such a thing, but simply inferred that-
the war would be over "soon".
Not all the clergy was in o'n the hoax,
but priests are like policemen, they
don't go around dobbing each other in.
Even so some priests of the area dis-
approved of the "miracle". The Parson
of Penacova said he "could not resolve
to believe in the miracle".
Amon~ other amusing aspects of the
"miracle' is the claim that the virgiri
told about another war to come. This
YOUR OWN MIRACLE
y 0 honour Our Holy Father by presenting Him with some new miracles, such as
e "Shroud of Moorrabin" or the "Virgin of Paddington"? As PETER VISKA explains,
all the do~it-yourselfer needs is some simple tools and an unbounded faith in the Almighty.
Remember, miracles are not only fun, they are a glory to God - and can be profitable too!
o
(.}. After the visiting POPE has blessed the s~conQ
shroud, release information of the 'hoax' to
Truth newspaper.
G') Return cloths to grandma in time for new
" batch of plum puddings.
THE APPARITION.
STEPS:
Find a 16mm copy of The Sound of Music.
Borrow a 16mm projector and a very long
extension cord from a friend. .
Locate a suitable grotto-shaped alcove near a
local convent. It helps if the grotto is en route
to the local milk bar.
On the night before the arrival of the Pope
set up the projector in a hidden location,
aimed at the grotto.
Leave a pack of nicotine-free, tar-free, FREE
cigarettes and a box of matches conveniently
placed.
When the nuns pass by and stop, and light up
a cigarette and blowout the smoke ...
START the projector. The apparition will be
like a hologram on the smoke. As the smoke
dissipates, turn off the projector.
Before the nuns return with eyewitnesses,
remove evidence and spray the word
"MARIA" lightly inside the grotto.
Release infra-red photographic proof before
media's morning deadline.
Be the first to set up HOLY WATER and
OTHER SOUVENIRS stall for the Pope's
visit to the grotto.
SPEAKING IN TONGUES.
STEPS:
cr
.,..
Tape Molly Meldrum's Countdown rave on
your dad's reel to reel taperecorder.
r;) Flip the tape inside out, so it plays backwards.
r.:. Play it at fast speed.
~ Dubb of this mix ,·up tape and make cassette
!:J loop. Practice speaking the garbled loop tape
phonetically.
J:1 On the day the POPE arrives, break through
V the barrier, run up to His Holiness and blurt
out the well-rehearsed "SPEAKING IN
TONGUES" message.
r.I Repeat the message ad infinitum. Faint twice
e.J while you are being interviewed for the
evening news. Roll your eyes back during
your final recital, then collapse on the floor
as the POPE commences to bless you. ~
/At In a prepared statement declare Molly
------'~~
I..:J Meldrum as your religious head and leader.
When the religious specialists finally play
a tape of your performance backwards, the
parapsychoreligious coincidence will amaze
and convince them.
Leave town and let Molly Meldrum handle the
religious chaos and Papal groupies.
I'd intended to preface the interview with the following And then I'd expected he'd'give us an excerpt, you know,
short introduction (in italics), but after the "co-operation" a reading of some sort, then we'd go straight to the questions:
I've received, you can forget it.
- Pope, that really was a great pleasure for me. Very good in·
Today's interview is with a real biggy, one of the greatest deed. First rate stuff. Strong language for kids, but gripping,
stars of all time in this business and an all round nice guy to gripping: ' Now, one thing I've always wanted to ask you, and
boot, none other than that famous fellow who's proved exclu- a lot of people I'm sure would want to ask you, is about the
sively you can make a career out of kissing tarmacs, ha, my Cheesestik. About who exactly invented those pull· down red
little joke, no seriously now folks, that famous holy-roller, and tabs down the sides that don't work? Similarly, why do band·
he's been one for as long as I can remember, the inimitable and aids have that red cotton down the sides that you're supposed
the remarkable, not to say inlallible ... the one and only versa- to tear down but never function properly either? Are you
tile and famous ... and believe me honestly when I say it's al- going to intervene on this visit, and take any direct action to
ways been my ambition to meet this fellow ... and such a resolve this?
great bloke, really ... and I've met some of them and it's true,
the bigger they are the nicer they are, and he's one of the - Well, then,.I suppose you'd really much rather discuss
biggest, and our special guest here we're so pleased could fly in contraception. Now, if you want to find out about cars, you
all the way from L.A., or Rome, just to be with us here on this ask someone who really knows the business and how it works.
special special occasion. .. I'd like you all to really put your You go to a garage mechanic. If you want to find out how to
hands together, so to speak, and give a big warm welcome to bake bread, you ask a baker. So if you want to find about sex,
your friend and mine, the man who's meant so much to so what do you do go along and ask a Catholic priest? Don't mis-
many of us over the years, who really needs no introduction understand me, 'but I'd wanted to know your exact qualifica-
at all, yes here he is folks, our special guest, doing one of his tions in this area? I mean, to be honest with you, I had a
famous routines that took him right to the
top and over the other side, with that
magical number from the wonderful, marvellous,
sensational hit, The New Testament, a wonderful
and fabulously telented man ...
Take it away, Pope!
jz-~ .~
*_"eill Overtun is a Melbourne cartuonist,
/Y~.
writer and lectrtr(~r;· his novel "Neon Eclipse"
Juu just been published by P,mguin.
friend that once asked a catholic priest about sex, and we had - What about confession? Do you hold confession with Your-
to stick an ice-block down his back just to bring him around self, and run back and forth between the two boxes?
and stop the nosebleed. He gave him the address of The
Family Planning Clinic, in a plain brown envelope. Who ex- - I know your brand, the Catholic Church, does not practise
plained The Rhythm Method to me, I mean my friend, and circumcision, as the Hebrew faith does. Do you personally re-
well, it all seemed to really be designed to give pregnancy a gard circumcision to be immoral? I mean, a perfectly good
sporting chance. Or The Rhythm Method in disguise, known as foreskin, and they don't even put it into a jar for you to take
the Billings Method, which involves not only long periods of home. What do they do with them? They can't just throw
abstinence but filling in lots of little charts with green and red them out, old ladies might see them in the laneway, poking
squares. I got confused between it and bingo, which was going out of the tops of green garbage bags. Is it true what I heard,
on in the hall next door. Is there a real difference, or just in that they have a dyeworks? Where they dye them all different
the numbers they callout? colours, and attach them to baloons? You know, the little
scraggly nozzles you blow them up with? Or is it just some
- Is it just you on this tour, or is there a support act? stupid anti-semitic rumour, I just thought you might know,
being in the same business and all? I mean I can never blow
- Since arriving in Australia, have you had any problem at the up another party-baloon without wflincing, so I'd like the
airport with the toilet-paper dispenser in the public lavatories matter resolved. Can you possibly check up on that for me?
that only mete out about two sheets at a time? Any likelihood
of your stepping in on this matter? - Is it true that you've got an art gallery of plundered artwork
though the ages? Isn't that part of the crimes cited at Nurem-·
- Well, on a lighter note, what about your attitude on abort- berg against the Nazis - theft of national art treasures? Or did
ion? I guess you'd agree that, apart from the unlucky, many the Vatican sleep during WWII? And among the collection is
people who resort to abortion are paying the penalty for being Australian Aboriginal Art too? When are you personally
so dumb. Now - the same people who don't want sex educa- going to do the decent thing and hand it all back? Look, no
tion in schools don't approve of the most reliable contracept- names or anything, you can just leave it all heaped on the
ion, and would refuse abortions. Are you worried the world's doorstep of one of our National Galleries and nothing more'll
going to run out of people or something? be said about it.
Infallibility,
despite its bad
'nt
ew
~
at had to bad his teac.h~; ~a!= claimed by
Catholicism.
Christ, Son of
The Anostles kn th he had taught. As was shown ~n God, gave
r a t
and a llt h ·thout error. uld reroa them a guarantee
(no money back).
had tatuhgahtt
they wou.1d,do so Wi '.. f Truth wo h.
ante£ . h nroro1sed t hat the ,S,
plot 0 .n Y,QU all t The copy (left)
come, from current
-lesson sIX, e r " Ca tholic propaganda
ODD SPOT
InA .
Ustralta'
State Q s mOst reI' .
"c, '. ueensland Iglous
eatlonism'" ' where
SChool, and wh IS taught in
authoritl' ere the
es op
.e d UCation h POse sex
Illegitimat~ ~h~;; are mOre
;n
anYWhere else ren than
AUStralia.
..
-: "~"...:.... :..
:.~: '.
."_
.-. ~ ,-
... ::.::'
The perfect Catholic marriage is re- any products that may interfere with
The perfect cognised by the Church. It is a contract the aim of the Catholic marriage, which
between you and the Pope. is to produce many more Catholics. This
Catholic The perfect Catholic marriage sees makes some Catholics unhappy, so they
Marriage the children as being given over to the use them anyway. They then feel guilty.
The Catholic marriage can persist
Church, even if one of the parents is not
Catholic. The non-Catholic parent signs long after one or both of the partners
a piece of paper to this effect. have gone deaf, sterile, insane or war·
Thus, the Catholic Church gains even ped. You can get out of it bu t you have
more members than it is due. Pyramid to pay money, which then adds to the
selling is outlawed, but the Catholic Vatican investment portfolio.
marriage numbers game continues. Maybe it is simpler to marry the
This growth in membership enables Church and spend your life as a nun or
the Church to gain income, to buy pro- a priest. Then you can educate the chilo
perty in goo.d locations which can later dren produced by the perfect Catholic
be sold off as housiJtg developments or marriage.
shopping centres. You can also teach them Catholi-::
The Vatican holds the largest invest- guilt, which is largely based on the fear
ment portfolio in the Western world. of not living up to the ideals of the per-
This is also financed by the Catholic fect Catholic marriage. .
marriage. . Can 900 million guilty people all e
Atone stage, the Pope was found to 'wrong?
have invested in a condom factory in Ask the Pope. (Send interna '02
South America. He is also said to have money order for a reply. ~o clai.rr:s :-E-
invested in arms factories. ' cognised after the Second Comin .
In participating in the perfect Catho-
lic marriage, you are not allowed to use by lain Stocks
~~ FROM THE BOOK OF BOOKS
When you're down in the dumps, treat yourself to a dose of God's own wit. and
wisdom. Grab that Gideon's bible you once took home by mistake and check it out yourself.
The Lord teacheth the prophet They woke up and were dead.
not to hide girdles... II Kings 19:35 And it came to pass that
night that an angel of the Lord went
Jer. 13:3·7 And the word of the Lord out, and smote in the camp of the Assy-
came to me a second time, saying, Take rians and hundred four-score and five
the girdle thou hast got, which is upon thousand men: and when they arose in
thy loins, and rise, go to the Euphrates, the morning, behold, they were all dead
and hide it there in a hole of the rock. corpses. {
So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates,
as the Lord commanded me. And it
r so.y dead ( k
came to pass after many days that the
Lord said to me, Arise, go to the Euphra·
tes, and take the girdle from thence,
which I commanded thee to hide there.
we-Ire ) 1hQ1
e(
Pftl
of
Lord
Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, ,Ar19 a in ..'
and took the girdle from the place
ag
where I had hid it: and behold, the gird--
Ie was marred, and it was profitable for
nothing.
- '=
-'IEi~~~<
Come and get itt!!!!!
Ezek.4:12 And thou shalt eat it as
barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with
dung that cometh out of man, in their
sight. .
Sounds heavenly.
Isaiah 16:11 Wherefore my bowels shall
sound like an harp for Moab, and mine
inward parts for Kir-ha-resh.
1. '
a. e acheS.
yr \-le.r/lea'lS {
¥\Q.,/be \ peaches.
t11
t~~
(lll~l/~
Come again?
Amos 4:3 And ye shall go out at the
breaches, every cow at that which is be-
fore her; and ye shall cast them into the
palace, saith the Lord.
And God inventeth make-up ... Bon Apetit!
MaI.1:2 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, II Kings 18:27 But Rab'-sha-keh said which sit on the wall, that they may eat
and spread dung upon your faces, even unto them, Hath my master sent me to their own dung, and drink their own
the dung of your solemn feasts; and one thy master, and to thee, to speak these piss with you?
shall take you away with it. words? hath he not sent me to the men
Good Spirit!
Numbers 11:23-25 (Good News Bible):
Then the Lord came down in the cloud
and took some of the spirit he had given
to Moses and gave it to the seventy
leaders. When the spirit came on them,
not for lonl(.
Pillow taik
Ezekiel 13:18 And say, Thus saith the Lord
Hosea 12:12 GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to
And iacob fled into all armholes. . . ha l'1 beef!
ver
the country of Syria,
and Israel served for a /'\. '(o:hopliffiI11tjflinf
wife, and for a wife he kept
sheep. (~ haVe yO" :... 0-
ocufatonO. (If any clerk or monk utters jocular words causing laughter,
let him be excommunicated.)
Ordinance of Second Council of Carthage.
1 novJ
The village idiot in a small Italian village
was given the job of watching from the If 1fYl f Christ;
church tower for Christ's Second Com- . bride 0 fa Ihe Lord '2
ing; he was to ring the bell as soon as he fhe J sp~a~_lher-in-ldW.
saw the Savior approaching.
After some weeks the man com-
do a5 ff.{1
plained to the priest: "It's a boring job
and I hardly get paid nothing ... "
The priest replied: "Look at it this
way: it's a job for life. "
'\..
THE CURSE -.r---
OF THE GOLDEN LOSS OF CROWN
LOSS OF BATTLE
ROSE ~
KINGDOMS GONE TO DOGS' ...
• Pope Pius IX sent the Golden Rose to • The German Kaiser visited the pope
the king of Two Sicilies, and in less than and received his blessings. He lost his
a year he lost his crown and kingdom. throne and was chased into exile by the
German people.
• Pius IX sent the Golden Rose to
• The Empress of Brazil was blessed by Queen Isabella of Spain; in a short time • When Pius IX sent his holy blessings
the pope. She broke her leg three days she lost her crown and died in exile. to the Austrian emperor, the latter lost
after. She and the Emperor were de- Venetia, and suffered defeat at Sadowa.
• He sent the Golden Rose to the Emp-
throned and died in exile. ress Eugenie O'f France, and in less than • The Queen Regent of Spain and King
• The Crown Princess of Brazil was a year the Emperor and the empress lost Alfonso were blessed by the pope. They
blessed by the pope. Her baby was born their crowns. Both died in exile, and promptly lost Cuba and the Philippines.
deformed; she died in exile. their only son was killed by the Zulus.
• In 1970 Emperor Haille Sellasie of
• The pope blessed the widow of Mexi- • Mrs. Sherman, wife of the American Ethiopia had an audience. His country
co's Emperor Maximilian. She became a General Sherman, received the Golden was soon hit by a severe draught, and
hopelessmanic; died in exile. Rose. She died soon after. Sellasie was deposed .
• In ,1923 'the pope gave the Golden
0
\\\\!ti~'
'\\~~1i~.•
had an audience with the pope - soon
after he was ousted; he still lives in
• The pope blessed the Emperor of exile.
Mexico, Maximilian. He was dethroned
,and killed by his people.
• The pope blessed General Boulanger, • In 1966 King Constantine and Queen
and in less than two weeks he was an --""0.. ~
_ _ Mary of Greece had an audience with
exile, later committing suicide. the pope. Within less than a year they
• The pope blessed a steamer filled were ousted by Army officers.
• Dr. Windhorst received the papal "Or- with nuns eriroute to South America in
der of Christ" He died in less than a 187,0. It never reaahed its destination, • In 1972 Prime Minister Edward Hea
year. of Great Britain had an audience. His
every person was lost at sea.
• In 1963 President Kennedy of the country drifts into a industrial crisis;
USA was received and blessed by the • In 1897 the papal 'Nuncio blessed the He.ath's party loses at the polls.
pope. He was shot dead in the same year. grand "Charity" bazaar in Paris. Within
five minute~ it was in flames, and nearly • In 1975 President Ford had an aud-
• In '1967 Senator Robert F. Kennedy 150 of the aristocracy perished. ience, He is defeated the following year.
had an audience with the pope. He was
assassinated the following year. • In 1928 the pope blessed the "Italia" • In 1980 John Paul \I visited France
airship, and gave it a cross to be placed and gave President Giscard D'Estaill£ a
• In 1978 President Sadat of Egypt had on the North Pole. The "Italia" broke private audience. The latter wa- E-
an audience. He was assassinated. in half, half her crew was lost. feated at the elections.
'[®~(iw~cs
ANDTHE GLORY OF GOD
Torture was not a Christian invention ty and torture was as rife as 'in 'the
but the practice found a natural home Roman part. Theodosius had 7000 men,
in a religion obsessed by the idea of women and children attracted to the
suffering. "The evil of torture", writes circus in Thessalonica by promise of a
Joseph McCabe ("The History of Tor· show - and had them all butchered. In
ture") "became fouler than ever in the Alexandria, Christians went on a ram-
Christian era - foulest of all at the very page against pagans; •it was here that
height of the power of the Church of the elderly and revered Hypatia had her
Rome - and was used in the interest of flesh scraped from her bones by Christ·
religion." He continues: " ... it was Vol- ian monks, No one talks today of the
taire and a group of Voltairian rulers, Christian practice of feeding pagans to
jurists, and writers in various countries' the lions, on the contrary, it is always
who awakened the conscience or' the Christians which are presented as
Europe and led to the general abolition' martyrs in our literature.
of torture; and it was overwhelmingly' How odd that Christian writers speak
in Catholic lands that this sordid, imple. of the light of Christianity when it was
ment of power was used again, and by, darkness that came with it. Even the age
the white hand of kings, nobles, and known as the "Dark" Age is claimed by
priests, whenever and wherever medi- Christian thinkers to have been a glori·
eval conditions were restored." . ous time, when well·fed peasants were
In pre·Christian, "pagan" Europe, pious and respectful, where monks sang
torture had a relatively minor place. The while pruning apple trees, or copied
Greek Sceptics, Stoics and Epicureans manuscripts by candle light. The truth is
condemned it outright. Seneca said: "It quite different.
forces even the innocent to lie." Crucification was no longer practiced
With the rise of Christianity, torture since the days of Constantine (simply
became more, than primarily entertain- because it was considered blasphemous
ment, it became a divine tool. Saint , , to inflict the holy pain of Christ), but
Augustine, still revered as a Christian the Christians invented methods that
saint and hero, thoroughly approved were equally revolting. There were often
and recommended it, as did almost the religious and sexual overtones to their
entire church hierarchy and the tortures. The "Quaresima" was a
Christian rulers right up to modern schedule of mutilation and torture that
days. Constantine, who made Christian· was calculated to keep the victim alive
ity the State religion, had some of his • for exactly 40 days, in honour of the
own relatives tortured; the Christian " forty days of Christian "Lent". The fire,
emperor Valentian kept bears which he s::: ';#' I~"'" a common means of dispatching or tor-
fed with pagans and heretics, In the ~.;:,; " " I '\~ , ;) ":, turing a victim, was called "holy" and
Byzantine or Greek part of the Christ- '~ ~ Ij iii (i)" ' "purifying". The "Iron Virgin" or
Karol Wojtyla yearns for a return to the Dark Ages; his encyclical of May 1986 shows
that he is totally out of touch with today's world.
This is a shortened version of an article by MADALYN O'HAI R which appeared
in liThe American Atheist" in August 1986.
Karol Wojtyla, alias Pope John Paul II, described the encyclical as "a highly church is concerned, "every knee shall
the ultimate madman of our century, on personal revery." A psychiatrist would bow" (Romans 14:11). The church's
May 18, 1986, issued the fifth encycli- be less kind. task is ."salvic", and the pope repeats
cal of his eight-year pontificate. Titled To this date The American Atheist again and again that, like it or not, its
Dominum et Vivificantem (The Lord Centre has not received one media re- intention now is to save, or redeem, the
and Giver of Life), the thrust of the port which picke.d up an extraordinarily entire world.
psychobabbling that the media reported important, special aspect of the encycli- Wojtyla is intent on identifying the
was "Damn the Atheists". cal. Abortion clinics throughout the Christian Trinity as the single allowable
The encyclical is a disaster. The United States are under siege, with ter- . concept of god, reaching back to the
thinking is so convoluted and muddled, rorist bombings, attacks, and interfer- 1,400-year-old fight of the Father, the
the themes so out of touch with reality, ence with ingress and egress of women Son, and the Holy Ghost (which he now
the historical references so fabricated, to those clinics. The National Abortion designates as the Holy Spirit) being con-
the style so laborious, repetitive, and Federation reports that there have been substantial. The largest and most lasting
disjointed, that one can only conclude thirty-four bombings and twenty-seven rifts in the· church were over this con-
that the man is not alone mad, but so arsons at abortion facilities since 1977. cept. To prove the point he cites Gene-
imprudent as to advertise his mental dis- In addition, there have been literally sis and god saying, "Let us make man in
abilities to the world. This is psycho- thousands of incidents of picketing and our image, after our likeness" (Genesis'
babble par excellence, and malice-filled .general harassment short of actual 1:26). Little did the Old Testament
psychobabble at that. The media appar- damage-producing violence. scholars know that this allusion was to
ently recognized this, and the wire sto- In all of these anti-abortion actions, the Big Three who did not come into
ries and other press coverage were short, the Roman Catholic church figures being until New Testament times -
bu t not kind. One journal characterized large, yet that particular religion is but as the pope illustrates, a foolish con-
it as a "doomsday encyclical". The New never openly named as a source of the sistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
York Times emphasised that it was a anti-abortion violenee. This is regrett- Wojtyla is reaffirming the orthodoxy
harsh critique of the modern world able. of the Roman Catholic church's posit-
"brimming with references to satan". ion. The Southern Baptist Convention
To excuse the obvious mental condi- ***
Throughout the encyclical, the did the same in' Atlanta, Georgia, in
tion of the pope, that same newspaper theme is repeated that as far as this mid-June of this year, when the leaders
lIDD@
l? [b ill [QJ ill)
of tl:e 1-=.-! miIJjon member denomina- cified and glorified Christ." Now you tongues" as confirmation of the Holy
tion me- to reinforce their fundamental- know. And why was J.C. crucified and Spirit's presence. This is the phenomen-
. terpretation of Christianity. raised again? Ah, you finally have lear- on of glossolalia which, as everyone
ned your catechism - "to break the knows, is evidence of mental illness, en·
stranglehold of personified evil, so that gaged in only by hysteric religious fana-
The Holy Spirit came to humankind this world may be fashioned anew tics of the radical right. For example,
at the price of Christ's "departure". according to God's design and reach its Falwell, Swaggart and their ilk are too
ince this was god's big plan, it was ne- fulfillment" (Pastoral Constitution on high-toned to stoop to this kind of
cessary then for the Jews to knock off the Church in the Modern World, 2). idiocy. However, the pope now inter-
J.C. by crucifying him. His "departure" This ultimate sin, "they do not believe", prets the "speaking in other tongues" to
had to mean his death - with god "call- is expanded from Jerusalem at the time mean that the Holy Spirit brought
ing him home" via his slowly drifting of J.C. to the historic and total world. "back to unity the scattered races and
upwards. J.C., you see, had received the Therefore, "every sin, wherever and offering to the Father the first fruit of
fullness of the Holy Spirit, and the only whenever committed, has a reference to all the nations." In fact! "Peter comes
thing that could be done was to kill the cross of Christ." Wojtyla is going to forward and speaks before a multitude
him. For those of you who are thirsty reach out to everyone in the world, all of people of different languages, gather-
after the Holy Spirit, let this be a lesson countries, in all periods of time, to lay ed for the feast." Of course, they all un-
to you. In this way, the death on the "sin" on everyone, so that the Roman derstood him, and he them. But, what
cross is inextricably involved in the plan Catholic church can then, through the did he speak to them about? Peter, the
for the return by the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, save them from it. This is first witness to the power of the Para·
the exact position taken by the Inquisi-
*** tion once before in church history.
clete, the Redeemer, the Holy Spirit,
laid upon them all "concerning the sin
Jesus did not come into the world
only to judge it and condemn it. He which is the rejection of Christ even to
came to save it. Well, that doesn't his condemnation to death, the death
matter; the Roman Catholic church and When the Holy Spirit came at the on the cross of Golgotha." If the Jews
Wojtyla can both jUdge and condemn, time of the Pentecost to the Upper think that pope is ever really going to
especially in regard to righteousness. Room in Jerusalem, with the mother of forgive them for "doing in" J.C., they
Righteousness is really "definitive salva- J.e. and the apostles in attendance on should all read this encyclical. No way!
tion in God ... as it centres on the cru- him, everyone began to speak "in other
Lrrru: In;-':ATHA'''.")Ii~~ ('o!n1llhin will nil! tl";' ~'nl\r tf'nddnj!. /.II' it I,ai' I'T",'«,I III \1(' "" illjllril'll~ ill D:I.DH' Eur"pa't; athool lhat (Ill! 1I.!1"I'It'd ,ldlclren ~ho IfOrt her don't
~'_~~:li~~:':'Il"~~J
l':HI··l~:;I.J{'I:~~I'~::II.llt::;~;t~:~.::.".:,";;;I,I: iuli,ld ,iI"'!'.', I'll 1,,, Tn/'ugt-,I llll ~·"11.f"r I ktT!' 11,,·k,'y" or ll";l\",·u!'j
The rejection of Christ, by implica- to see if it can gain entry to our nation's good and evil." God, and the Holy Spi-
tion the rejection of god himself, is (USA) public schools. For quite sudden- rit, alone can define what is sin. Good-
therefore linked with the paschal ly, in this discussion he points out that ness, truth and love mean a life in union
mystery - the crucification and resur- when the universe was created "The Spi- with god; sin, the "breath of evil", is
rection. And, there, by god, you now rit of God was moving over the face of nonbelief and disobedience. "Here we
have it all in one ball of wax. For Peter the water" (Genesis 1: 2) in order to find ourselves at the very centre of what
goes on with his message to the world in create. "To create means to call into could be called the 'anti-word,' that is
general and to the men of Jerusalem in existence from nothing." Man was thus to say, 'the anti-truth'." What male-
particular: "Repent and be baptized created in the "image and likeness" of factors would engage in such beastly
everyone of you in the name of Jesus god. And, since the Holy Spirit did the work, in such a spirit of darkness?
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; creating, he knows man in his heart - Well, now Wojtyla gets to the great
and you shall receive the gift of the and that knowledge tells the Holy Spirit beast - Atheism! " In the modern age,
Holy Spirit." He had, of course, drunk that the sin of non-belief, which is really when the atheistic ideologies seek to
some of the holy spirit himself. disobedience, is the sin Which is the root root out religion on the grounds that re-
"Convert to Christ" is the entire of all other sins. For man has an obli- ligion causes the radical 'alienation' of
message. gation that has been revealed to him man," it has come to such a state,
with the cross of Christ, that there is Wojtyla says, that there is "a process of
*** only "obedience unto death". After all, though t and historico-sociological prac-
The greatest sin in the world was and J.C. went to the cross just as he was . tice in which the rejection of God has
is the sin of those who "have not be- told, and so should all of us. What a reached the point of declaring his
lieved". They have, one and all, sent harsh master is this god! 'death.' An absurdity, both in concept
Jesus to an ignominious death. The and expression." Most Atheists would
greatest sin that man could commit, . But what is disobedience, thus defi- agree with the pope. The concept of
occurred - the killing of Jesus, the son ned? It is "transgression of a prohibition "the death of god" was put forward by
of god, consubstantial with the father! laid down by God." What was the pro- theologians - not Atheists. The Athe-
Therefore every sin demonstrates its re- hibition? - that mankind could not eat ist position is that there never was a god
lationship with the cross of Christ. of the fruit of the tree of knowledge? and therefore caterwauling about "the
Where is the sin of nonbelief? This For if Adam and Eve did this, in the death of god" is the height of absurdity.
unspeakable, abominable sin, in its ori- Garden of Eden, they would become as
ginal reality, takes place in man's will - gods, "knowing good and evil" (Genesis ***
and conscience - first of all as "dis- 3:4) No one, however, has the right to What did god do when he saw sinful
obedience". The disobedience consists know what good and evil is. "Man can- man? He said, "I am sorry that 1 have
of a rejection of (or at least a turning not decide by himself what is good and made them" (Genesis 6: 5-7) and laid
away from) the truth contained in the what is evil - cannot 'know good and the flood on the whole shebang. Reject-
word of god. And, at this point, me- evil, like god'." Disobedience then as ing the love of god thusly brough t
thinks the pope tries to slip in "scien- the original dimension of sin means "suffering" to man. Wojtyla, however,
tific creationism", which is even now man's "claim to become an independent does not point ou t that the "suffering"
before the United States Supreme Court and exclusive source of deciding abou t
was laid on man by that loving sado- millenia and punished J.G. instead - by believed' - the - (Holy) Spirit draws a
masochistic god. having him killed. No wonder that, re- new measure of the gift made to man
in, being abroad now in the land, garding J.G., the quote Wojtyla uses is, and to creation from the beginning." As
can only be o\ercome by god butcher- "And his delight shall be the fear of the we used to say back in Pittsburgh, Penn-
ing his own son, 'sacrificing the lamb", Lord" (Isaiah 11:1-3). At this point sylvania, "Put that in your pipe and
which seems a somewhat eerie way of Wojtyla becomes helplessly confused smoke it." If it is marijuana, it may get
ol\1ng the problem. But, there you are and his efforts to extricate himself are you close to some understanding of this
- tha 's the drama - after killing every- beyond his abilities. He takes, therefore, crazy language.
one on earth in a flood in a fit of pique, a leap of faith and announces that the
after causing his own son to be killed on Holy Spirit managed it all. "Proceeding
a cross, god "returned to the love which from the Father, he directs towards the For·those who hope for a better life
was betrayed by Adam through sin." Father the sacrifice of the Son, bringing here and now, he has little or nothing to
J.G., you see, when ordered to the it into the divine reality of the Trinitar- say; certainly there is no encourage-
cross for no reason whatsoever, since he ian communion." You figure that sen- ment that they should struggle for
was obedient and did "believe in him," tence out. But, to go on: "Thus there is better living conditions. Instead,
went like a whipped dog to his death. a paradoxical mystery of love." You can "Prayer always remains the voice of all
Eve, when ordered not to eat the apple, bet your sweet behind there is! "In those who apparently have no voice ...
told god to go buzz off and nothing Ghrist there suffers a God who has been Prayer is also the revelation of that abyss
happened to her. Indeed, she became rejected by his own creature: 'They do which is the heart of man." Prayer can
the mother of all humankind - a not in- not believe in me.' " The pope, how- only indicate that man is participating
significant achievement to which all ever, does not add that it was god's own in the divine life. That is small help
women can only say "Vive la femme!" game to hang his own consubstantial when one is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-
The sin of such disobedience cannot son on a cross and kill him. To go on: housed, sick and needy. Such a person
be condoned under Wojtyla's theoretics. "but at the same time, from the depth hardly needs "to save him from him-
Instead of punishing Adam and Eve, of this suffering - and indirectly from self" with prayer ...
however, god waited for several score of the depth of the very sin 'of not having
Madalyn O'Hair is a lawyer and an internationally known Atheist: she is the veteran of many successful
campaigns agains( religious excesses in America, such as prayer and bible readings in school.
She is known to Australians through her many books and articles as well as through her personal visit
to this country.
- -" ~ ...=.:=~,;;\
~~~.~ __
-_ ,I __ ~ .. ,~~I
"THE PROMISED LAND," AS SEEN FROM THE DOME OF SAINT PETER'S, ROME.
\~\~11IfW4iJ
Lelmt f': :;/,
~ at:Jiee~d~
Thanks 0 efforts by progressive and compass- ~
ionate people throughout the last centuries, the
oftunnel
. /.
the _-~"'-'
cruelty and power of religion has now diminished v.; I I '
Diagram: Diagram:
Percentage who say religion is Percentage of Catholics who still
losing influence go to Sunday Mass
(from Madalyn Murray O'Hair's (drawn by R.Heimann after data
"Freedom Under Siege ", publ. by from "The Bulletin", July19, '83.
J.P. Tarcher, Los Angeles)
Diagraln drawn by
Rolf Heilnann. source:
Chinese
"World Christian Folk Religion
Encyclopaedia" by
Percentage of Catholics who Rev.Vr. Barett, Tribal
_~~~~~x.!",~~s.:
~!~~.!I.~_~~ .__~~~ .. Oxford University Press.
Jewish and
Others
"Christ's sayings were like quack pills, intende.d to be swallowed whole, without chewing or knowing
what they were made of, and they poisoned you. "
SAMUEL BUTLER
"If the writers (of the gospels) had gone into any court of justice ... and had given their evidence in the same
contradictory manner as it is here given, they would have been in danger of having their ears cropped for
perjury and would have justly deserved it. Yet this is the evidence, and these are the books, that have been
imposed upon the world as being by divine inspiration and as the unchangeable word of God. "
THOMAS PAINE
"Perhaps the time is approaching which has so often been prophesied when religion will take her departure
from ... humanity, like a nurse which the child has outgrown; ... For there is no doubt that religious
doctrines which are founded merely on authority, miracles and revelations are only suited to the childhood
of humanity. "
SCHOPENHAUER
"1 will admit that one perdition of Christianity has peen undisputably fulfilled. '1come not to bring peace,
but a sword. ' Christianity indeed has equalled Judaism in the atrocities and exceeded it in the extent of its
desolation. Eleven million of men, women and children have been killed in battle, butchered in their sleep,
burned to death at public festivals of sacrifice, 'poisoned, tortured, assassinated and pillaged in th~ spirit .
of the Religion of Peace, and for the glory of the most merciful God, "
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
"Be convinced that a she-ass spoke; believe that a fish swallowed a man and threw him up three days
later safe and sound on the shore; don't doubt that the God of the universe ordered one Jewish
prophet to eat shit (Ezekiel) and another prophet to buy two prostitutes and have children by them
(Hosea). Believe a hundred things either manifestly abominable or mathematically impossible:
otherwise the God of mercy will burn you in the fires of hell, not only for millions of billions of
centuries, but for all eternity, whether you have a body or whether you don't. "
VOLTAIRE
"If science exterminates a disease which has been working for God, it is God which gets the credit, and all
the pulpits break into grateful advertising raptures and call attention to how good he is!"
MARK TWAIN
"The whole conception of God is a conception derived from the ancient Oriental despotism.
It is a conception quite unworthy of free men. When you hear people in church debasing
themselves and saying that they are miserable sinners, and all the rest oOt, it seems
contemptible and not worthy of self-respecting human beings. We ought to stand up and look
the world frankly in the face. We ought to make the best we can of the world, and if it is not so
good as we wish, after all it will still be better than what these others have made of it in all
these ages. A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful
hankering after the past, or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago
by ignorant men. "
BERTRAND RUSSELL
"There are religious leaders today in the twentieth century who strain at the gnat of
artificial contraception and then swallow the camel of overpopulation, poverty, famine, crime,
and the conditions which lead to war. Then they say, 'Peace, Peace!' when by their outdated
pro-nationalism they have induced conditions such that there can be no peace!"
Dr. M.H. MOTHERSILL ("Birth Control and Conscience")
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH
A great part of the Australian Papol Tour of 1986 is being "sponsored" by Corporations,
and the "Papal Logo" has been designed and marketed by high-powered experts.
Corporate sponsorship is not free, it is a non-taxable expense by Big Business, ultimately
passed on to us; the consumer, whether we approve of the pope or not.
As a major, multi-billion dollar investor, the Catholic Church identifies closely with Big
Business, and an association with the Vatican can payoff for businessmen. The story
below gives an example.