LODATO SI AGGRESSIVELY PROMOTES ROMAN CATHOLIC TEACHINGS

A Papal Encyclical is defined as follows: "A Papal Encyclical is the name typically given to a letter written by a Pope to a particular audience of Bishops. This audience of Bishops may be all of the Bishops in a specific country or all of the Bishops in all countries throughout the world." A diligent watcher has noted that Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si' is addressed to the entire world. Thus what is an integral part of the encyclical is of profound significance in relation to the closing events of earth's history. The watcher writes:-

"Pope Francis brought Sunday rest, the Eucharist, and climate change all together in his latest encyclical.

In this encyclical, Laudato Si’ (subtitled Care For Our Common Home), the Pope has identified answers or ways to abate climate change. He has pointed to Sunday rest as one of the solutions to the problem":

Laudato Si'

3. More than fifty years ago, with the world teetering on the brink of nuclear crisis, Pope Saint John XXIII wrote an Encyclical which not only rejected war but offered a proposal for peace. He addressed his message Pacem in Terris to the entire “Catholic world” and indeed “to all men and women of good will”. Now, faced as we are with global environmental deterioration, I wish to address every person living on this planet. In my Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, I wrote to all the members of the Church with the aim of encouraging ongoing missionary renewal. In this Encyclical, I would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home. . . .

236. It is in the Eucharist that all that has been created finds its greatest exaltation. Grace, which tends to manifest itself tangibly, found unsurpassable expression when God himself became man and gave himself as food for his creatures. The Lord, in the culmination of the mystery of the Incarnation, chose to reach our intimate depths through a fragment of matter. He comes not from above, but from within, he comes that we might find him in this world of ours. In the Eucharist, fullness is already achieved; it is the living centre of the universe, the overflowing core of love and of inexhaustible life. Joined to the incarnate Son, present in the Eucharist, the whole cosmos gives thanks to God. Indeed the Eucharist is itself an act of cosmic love: “Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world”.[166] The Eucharist joins heaven and earth; it embraces and penetrates all creation. The world which came forth from God’s hands returns to him in blessed and undivided adoration: in the bread of the Eucharist, “creation is projected towards divinization, towards the holy wedding feast, towards unification with the Creator himself”.[167] Thus, the Eucharist is also a source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment, directing us to be stewards of all creation.

237. On Sunday, our participation in the Eucharist has special importance. Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath, is meant to be a day which heals our relationships with God, with ourselves, with others and with the world. Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, the “first day” of the new creation, whose first fruits are the Lord’s risen humanity, the pledge of the final transfiguration of all created reality. It also proclaims “man’s eternal rest in God”.[168] In this way, Christian spirituality incorporates the value of relaxation and festivity. We tend to demean contemplative rest as something unproductive and unnecessary, but this is to do away with the very thing which is most important about work: its meaning. We are called to include in our work a dimension of receptivity and gratuity, which is quite different from mere inactivity. Rather, it is another way of working, which forms part of our very essence. It protects human action from becoming empty activism; it also prevents that unfettered greed and sense of isolation which make us seek personal gain to the detriment of all else. The law of weekly rest forbade work on the seventh day, “so that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your maidservant, and the stranger, may be refreshed” (Ex 23:12). Rest opens our eyes to the larger picture and gives us renewed sensitivity to the rights of others. And so the day of rest, centred on the Eucharist, sheds it light on the whole week, and motivates us to greater concern for nature and the poor.

So the Pope attributes to the Eucharist and Sunday the power to motivate us to greater concern for nature and the poor. It is not difficult to visualize a charge being made against the few who refuse to participate in the Eucharist and Sunday worship that they are the cause of the natural disasters prophesied by Jesus Christ for the last days after the times of the Gentiles have been fulfilled, and predicted by Ellen G. White to intensify as the end approaches. The Encyclical is permeated with reasoning based on Roman Catholic dogma, doctrine, and philosophy, including the pantheistic praise of Sir Brother Sun and pantheistic concepts, associated with the Trinity under the section titled SACRAMENTAL SIGNS AND THE CELEBRATION OF REST:

233. The universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely. Hence, there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face.[159] The ideal is not only to pass from the exterior to the interior to discover the action of God in the soul, but also to discover God in all things. Saint Bonaventure teaches us that “contemplation deepens the more we feel the working of God’s grace within our hearts, and the better we learn to encounter God in creatures outside ourselves”.[160]

234. Saint John of the Cross taught that all the goodness present in the realities and experiences of this world “is present in God eminently and infinitely, or more properly, in each of these sublime realities is God”.[161] This is not because the finite things of this world are really divine, but because the mystic experiences the intimate connection between God and all beings, and thus feels that “all things are God”. . .

235. The Sacraments are a privileged way in which nature is taken up by God to become a means of mediating supernatural life. Through our worship of God, we are invited to embrace the world on a different plane. Water, oil, fire and colours are taken up in all their symbolic power and incorporated in our act of praise. The hand that blesses is an instrument of God’s love and a reflection of the closeness of Jesus Christ, who came to accompany us on the journey of life. Water poured over the body of a child in Baptism is a sign of new life. Encountering God does not mean fleeing from this world or turning our back on nature. This is especially clear in the spirituality of the Christian East. “Beauty, which in the East is one of the best loved names expressing the divine harmony and the model of humanity transfigured, appears everywhere: in the shape of a church, in the sounds, in the colours, in the lights, in the scents”.[164] For Christians, all the creatures of the material universe find their true meaning in the incarnate Word, for the Son of God has incorporated in his person part of the material world, planting in it a seed of definitive transformation. “Christianity does not reject matter. Rather, bodiliness is considered in all its value in the liturgical act, whereby the human body is disclosed in its inner nature as a temple of the Holy Spirit and is united with the Lord Jesus, who himself took a body for the world’s salvation”.[165]

236. It is in the Eucharist that all that has been created finds its greatest exaltation. Grace, which tends to manifest itself tangibly, found unsurpassable expression when God himself became man and gave himself as food for his creatures. The Lord, in the culmination of the mystery of the Incarnation, chose to reach our intimate depths through a fragment of matter. He comes not from above, but from within, he comes that we might find him in this world of ours. In the Eucharist, fullness is already achieved; it is the living centre of the universe, the overflowing core of love and of inexhaustible life. Joined to the incarnate Son, present in the Eucharist, the whole cosmos gives thanks to God. Indeed the Eucharist is itself an act of cosmic love: “Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world”.[166] The Eucharist joins heaven and earth; it embraces and penetrates all creation. The world which came forth from God’s hands returns to him in blessed and undivided adoration: in the bread of the Eucharist, “creation is projected towards divinization, towards the holy wedding feast, towards unification with the Creator himself”.[167] Thus, the Eucharist is also a source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment, directing us to be stewards of all creation. . .

The Pope's reference to "the Christian East," brings to mind Isa. 2:6a, which follows events that are yet future (Dan. 11:45, Isa. 2:2-5).

From this section to the end, the Encyclical is all religious dogma and doctrine of the most blasphemous kind, extending beyond the Eucharist and Sunday to embrace the Trinity(hyperlinked above,) Mariolatry (with a strong element of veneration of the sun,) and even the assumption of Joseph.

In America, which is already far advanced in the worship of the Beast (Rev. 13:12,) President Obama has called on "fellow world leaders to reflect on Pope Francis’s encyclical," and the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church have taken their marching orders from the Pope:

Obama calls for world leaders to heed Pope Francis’s message

The President of the United States has said he wants fellow world leaders to reflect on Pope Francis’s encyclical.

Laudato Si’, published yesterday, called for humanity to change its approach to the environment and the way it judged progress.

Barack Obama spoke of the responsibility that his own job title brings in leading the way towards a change in global environmental policy. . . .

US Catholics ready to follow Pope's 'marching orders' on climate change

Leaders of the Catholic church in America took their “marching orders” from the pope’s encyclical on Thursday, fanning out to Congress and the White House to push for action on climate change.

The high-level meetings offered a first glimpse of a vast and highly organised effort by the leadership of America’s nearly 80 million Catholics to turn the pope’s moral call for action into reality.

“It is our marching orders for advocacy,” Joseph Kurtz, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Archbishop of Louisville, said. “It really brings about a new urgency for us.”

Representatives of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said they would hold two briefings for members of Congress on Thursday and visit the White House on Friday to promote and explain the pope’s environmental message.

Those efforts will get a new injection of urgency, when the pope delivers a much-anticipated address to Congress during his visit to the US in September, church leaders said. . . .

As early as 1998 Elder Wm H. Grotheer drew attention to a new theology of the papacy regarding Sunday:

DIES DOMINI The “New” Theology of the Papacy Regarding Sunday

This year in connection with Pentecost, Pope John Paul II sent an Apostolic Letter to the Bishops of the Church bringing together the Eucharist and the observance of Sunday, Mary, and the "Most Holy Trinity." His main emphasis was to establish the "new" theology of Rome in respect to Sunday as had been set forth in the Catechism of the Catholic Church released in 1994. Special attention has been given to the Papal choice of words in their "new" theology of Sunday, and the warning given in the Writings. [For a full understanding, read the entire article, and the "Let's Talk It Over" section of that issue of WWN.]

THE END-TIME CRISIS

The Scripture clearly indicates that the end-time crisis Involves worship. The "image of the beast" is to cause all that would not "worship the image" of itself "should be killed" (Rev.13:15). God's message of warning - the Third Angel's Message - declares that "If any man worship the beast and his image ... the same shall drink of the wine" of His wrath (14:9-10). Interestingly, that in this announcement of things to come, the "mark in his forehead, or in his hand" follows the worship of the beast and the image (v. 9). The question arises - Does the act of worship bring "the mark"? It is obvious, if the order as given in Scripture has any meaning, "the mark" does not precede the act of worship.

This concept and the factors involved are emotionally charged issues in the Community of Adventism. It must be asked, If Sunday is the "mark," then what is the nature of the worship which precedes it? How does that "worship" place a "mark" on one? Further, is the object of worship, a "what" or is it a "who"? . . .

The crisis could come in one of two ways: 1) Forbidding worship on the Sabbath, or 2) Mandating attendance at a Eucharistic service on Sunday. The first in some form will occur. We have been warned of Satan's intents. He plans:

"I will so control the minds under my power that God's Sabbath shall be a special object of contempt. A sign? - I will make the observance of the seventh day a sign of disloyalty to the authorities of earth. Human laws will be made so stringent that men and women will not dare to observe the seventh-day Sabbath." (Prophets and Kings, p. 184)

This is exactly a part of the plan as outlined by Rome at the very time when God raised up this Movement. Louis Veuiilot in his book, The Liberal Illusion, wrote:

When the time comes and men realize that the social edifice must be rebuilt according to eternal standards, ... Catholics will arrange things to suit said standards.... They will make obligatory the religious observance of Sunday on behalf of the whole of society, and for its own good, revoking the permit for free-thinkers and Jews to celebrate, incognito. Monday or Saturday on their own ac­count. (p. 63)

The second is envisioned In the Pope's recent Apostolic Letter, Dies Domini. The emphasis "to ensure that civil legislation respects" the Christian's "duty to keep Sunday holy" is connected with the celebration of the Roman Eucharist. The next sentence reads - "In any case, they are obliged in conscience to arrange their Sunday rest in a way which allows them to take part In the Eucharist." (Par. 67) Why? "This mystery [the Eucharist] is the very center and culmination of Christian life. It is the 'source and the summit of all preaching of the Gospel...the center of the assembly of the faithful."' (Handbook for Today's Catholic, p. 34) And what is worshipped? A "day"? No! A piece of bread, a "what" declared to be a "who" - God incarnate by the word of the priest. Blasphemy!

A further note on this point goes to the heart of Rome's objective. In explaining "How to Receive Communion," today's Catholic is told:

Holy Communion may be received on the tongue or in the hand and may be given under the form of bread alone or under both species. When the minister of the Eucharist addresses the communicant with the words "The Body of Christ," "The Blood of Christ," the communicant responds, "Amen." When the minister raises the eucharistic bread or wine, this is the invitation for the communicant to make an Act of Faith, to express his or her belief in the Eucharist, to manifest a need and desire for the Lord, to accept the good news of Jesus' paschal mystery. A clear and meaningful "Amen" is your response to this invitation. In this way you profess your belief in the presence of Christ in the eucharistic bread and wine as well as in his Body, the Church. (ibid., p. 42) . . .

As stated above to Rome a simple "amen" signifies not only one's acceptance of "Jesus' paschal mystery," but also one's "belief in" the Roman "Church," designated in the text just noted as "his kingdom"? . . .

In his Apostolic Letter, Dies Domini, what the Pope did not say is as important to consider as what he did say. Gone were the proud boasts and challenges to Protestants. Nowhere did the Pope after setting forth the Sabbath as given in the Decalogue (Par. 16), challenge - "Who gave you the authority to tamper with the fourth?" - as was done in the Clifton Tracts. Nowhere did the Pope claim that the change in the day of worship was "a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters" as did the Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons in 1895. Now the voice of Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Vatican Council for Promoting Christian Unity, declares the Eucharist to be the "ultimate sign and seal." . . .

"Sunday is coming," but let us not be so naive as to think that the devil is going to seek to accomplish his agenda in a way that will be openly obvious to the professed people of God. Christ has warned us that the delusions of the final crisis will be such that, if possible, "they shall deceive the very elect" (Matt. 24:24). Further, let it be understood that a "Sunday Law" per se, is not the "mark" or "sign" of anything. We have had "Sunday closing laws" among the legal statutes of various states and city ordinances regulating Sunday commerce on the community level. This is not the aspect of Sunday laws that should concern us. It is as Louis Veulliot defined such legislation that we should be watching. His call was for the "religious observance" of Sunday. This Involves the Eucharist in the end time crisis as has been stated in the recent Papal Apostolic Letter.

The Centrality of Sunday for Christians of Today

There are three factors which surface in the current emphasis of Sunday by Rome: 1) The day — "Making holy the Lord's day! (L'Osservatore Romano. 1 June 2005, p.1): 2) The Sunday Mass. the celebration of the Eucharist on Sunday, the worship of a presumed "creation' by man. Instead of the worship of the Creator on His day — the Sabbath: And 3) the use of the Eucharist to achieve the "unity" of Christendom under Rome. [For a full understanding, read the entire article]

Laudato Si is a papal barrage of Roman Catholicism. The Pope has applied Roman Catholic dogma and doctrine to the whole world, and his legions will execute this dictat in due course. Given all that we know about this man: the circumstances which led to his election, his astounding popularity, his credentials in the charismatic movement, his obvious determination to achieve complete global unity of churches, religions, and political entities, this encyclical and all the events of this year (not least of all the events scheduled for his US visit in September) clearly signal that we are rapidly approaching the climax of this world's history.