Common sense is the least common of senses these days. A reader writes in an unpublished comment to this blog:

“You are presenting the facts in a way that misguides and confuses the faithful.”

And I politely responded that I was not purposely doing that. But if he was so kind to give me a short list of “misrepresented” facts, I would be more than happy to apologize and correct myself accordingly.

My reader responded:

[Crickets]

This is not the first time it happens and I am pretty sure it won’t be the last.

So, for those of you who could not make sense of the previous FIVE articles, here is a short summary. I am not repeating the arguments, this is just a summary of the conclusions. Do you want to revise the various arguments? Then please, go back and read the articles.

Father Caballero in his book from 1946 leads the way by doing a very careful analysis of the prophecies of Daniel.

“[In 1946, in his book] Father Caballero explains it very well, saying that a false pontiff will usurp the chair of Peter, becoming the false prophet of the Apocalypse, the Beast of the earth or religion leading the Church to apostasy, and preparing the way for the political antichrist. In the middle of the week the perpetual sacrifice, the Host, the Mass, will be removed from the central place, the Sanctuary, the most holy (in Latin, pinnaculum, sacrum; in Greek pterugion, ieron [πτερύγιο, έρων]).” (NOTE: My translation. Paragraph taken from the essay by Mr. Suárez Falcó.)

St. John Bosco gives us a good idea of what the Church’s wandering in the desert would be:

“From the beginning of the exile to the singing of the Te Deum the sun rose two hundred times. All the time that passed while these things were happening corresponds to four hundred sunrises.” [Four hundred days add up to about 13 months.]

Mr. Andrea Cionci present us with a number of facts. To wit: (1) The Declaratio presented to the world in 2013 is not a canonically valid renunciation to the Papacy (2) There are other documents that seem to indicate the Declaratio was done ambiguously on purpose. That leaves room to suspect that Pope Benedict was acting under duress (3) A careful examination of the text received describing the Vision of the Bishop Dressed in White appears to show some aspects of the vision that fit present day events. [1]

Mr. Andrea Cionci concludes very clearly:

So we see that the figure of the mirror is essential to understand this matter. Appearances can be deceiving: there is a reality and there is a fictitious reality, there is a munus which is the object and there is a ministerium which is its reflection.  We have a true Pope who is impeded and looks like a former Pope, and in his stead we have an antipope who looks like a true Pope. One is the reverse of the other. Therefore this mirror image quality emerges from the matter of Benedict’s Declaratio. I found [the reflection] again in the third secret of Fatima. (Andrea Cionci, Le non-dimissioni di Benedetto XVI. Non praevalebunt. Translated into English in Fatima And The Two Popes)

I do know what to do after carefully examining this information using simple common sense. The barrage of sarcastic comments, abuse, and veiled insults received by those who have unveiled these facts are in themselves proof that there are few if any valid counterarguments.

The reasoning presented is solid. It is also backed by undeniable evidence. To this day I have not received one argument or datum that would force me to reverse my understanding of the facts. Mere negation does not equal logical refutation. What negative –and sometimes disrespectful– comments achieve is to prove that the arguments presented cannot be reasonably denied.

During a conversation about Fatima and other apparitions, a very ignorant but quite vociferous member of the political Left told me, in a rather excited tone: “All of that is nothing but a bunch of lies concocted by the Catholic Church!” I asked the man if he wanted to climb to the podium to offer us proof of his strident affirmation. He declined as it often happens in cases like that. The audience laughed at the man’s simplicity but I bet that man is still walking this earth thinking that Catholics are credulous simpletons deceived by a wicked hierarchy.

Our own lack of interest in educating ourselves about the faith has led to this sad situation. Do not be surprised if God Himself soon provides a quick crash course to show the whole world the ways of common sense.

“Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”
—Vince Lombardi

 

 

[1] Andrea Cionci: Art historian, journalist and writer, he deals with history, archaeology and religion. Lover of opera, creator of the Mimerito Educational Method for elementary schools and experiments in collaboration with MIUR. and promoter of the internationally renowned Plinio Project, he has been a reporter from Afghanistan and the Himalayas. He has just published the novel Eugénie (Bibliotheka). Researcher of everything that is beautiful, healthy and true — however uncomfortable — he lives in a complicated relationship with Italy that he loves madly although, not infrequently, she breaks his heart. [This short bio note is taken from his blog’s presentation.]