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Papal Documents

Paul IV’s “Cum ex apostolatus officio” — New English translation

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by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Since there are a plethora of bad translations of this Bull and because of its importance to not only the history of ecclesiastical jurisprudence but to the fact that it has never been abrogated by name — many of which provisions remain in force even unto today, according to what Pope John Paul II declares in his Constitution for the Election of the Roman Pontiff, Universi Dominici Gregis, n. 4 — I have chosen to make an entirely new translation.

This translation I have made directly from one of the most authoritative collections of Papal Bulls, since there are so many errors in the best English translation heretofore published, which attempts to make the text sound eloquent in English and thus obscures many juridical expressions which are customarily used in papal documents.

In addition to the English translation, I have researched the identity of each of the ones signing the Constitution, by using the information at Catholic-Hierarchy.org.  Thus, this edition of the Constitution now has more complete historical information about these holy men of God than any translation heretofore published.

The Latin Text of this Constitution is published below the English translation in PDF format (55 MB).

The three most important juridical principles, which I would draw the reader’s attention to, is that (1) in accord with this bull anyone who is a heretic is to be immediately deposed from office, and the first Catholic who is eligible can take possession of it. Also, that (2) the election of a Cardinal as Pope who beforehand had deviated from the Catholic Faith or fallen into heresy is declared null, irritus and void. Also, that (3) in heresy or a deviation from the Catholic Faith, that even a Roman Pontiff can be refuted and contradicted. —  This Constitution represents the high point in the Counter-Reformation, and if it had been continuously put into effect, the Church would be suffering nearly none Her present woes and maladies. — May a future Pope republish and renew this heavenly decree.

The Constitution, “Cum ex apostolatus”

Paul IV, Bishop
Servant of the Servants of God

February 15, 1559 A. D.

[Translated from the Latin text of the bull found in  Francesco Gaude’s,
Bullarum Diplomatum et Privilelgio, Turin, 1860, Tome VI, pp. 551-556.]

SINCE FROM THE OFFICE OF THE APOSTOLATE, divinely entrusted to Us, beyond the measure of Our merits, the general care of the Lord’s flock looms over Us, and hence from this We are bound for the sake of their faithful custody and salubrious direction, according to the custom of a Shepherd’s watches-at-night, to assiduously keep vigil, and to more attentively look ahead, so that those, who in this Age, with sins forcing them, as ones striving according to their own prudence, rise up more knowingly and more perniciously than usual against the discipline of the orthodox faith, and, who perverting the understanding of the sacred Scriptures with superstitious and fictive inventions, contrive to rend the unity of the Catholic Church and the seamless tunic of the Lord, may be repelled from Christ’s sheep-pen, lest they continue their magisterium of error, who contemn to be disciples of the truth.

§ 1. We, considering this kind of affair to be so grave and dangerous, that (even) the Roman Pontiff, who on earth acts in the place of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ, and who obtains the plenitude of power over nations and kingdoms, and judges all, as one to be judged by no one in this age, may, if he be found to be deviant from the Faith, be refuted; and that, where there is intended greater danger, one is to take counsel more fully and more diligently lest the pseudo-prophets or others having even secular jurisdiction miserably entrap the souls of the simple, and draw the innumerable people, committed to (their) care and government, in things spiritual and temporal, with them into the perdition and ruin of damnation, and lest it happen at some time that We see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, in the Holy Place;  desiring as much as We are able with God, for the sake of our pastoral charge [munus], to capture the foxes, striving to demolish the vineyard of the Lord, and keep wolves at a distance from the sheep-pens, lest We be seen to be dumb dogs, not wanting to bark, and be lost with the evil field-workers, and be compared to a mercenary.

§ 2. After having held a mature deliberation over these things with Our venerable brothers, the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, with their counsel and unanimous assent, We approve and renew with (Our) Apostolic Authority each and all of the sentences, censures and punishments of excommunication, suspension and interdict and privation and whatever others, had for such (cases) by whatever Roman Pontiffs, Our predecessors, even through their letters extravagantes, or received by the Church of God in sacred councils, and/or published and promulgated  in whatever manner in the decrees and statutes of the holy Fathers, or by sacred canons and constitutions and apostolic ordinances, against heretics and schismatics, and We renew, that they are to be perpetually observed and are to be returned to and ought to be in a flourishing observance, if perhaps they not be in it; and that also whomsoever, who be found or confessed and/or convicted, to have heretofore deviated from the Catholic Faith or fallen into any heresy or to have joined in or excited or committed schisms, or — which God deign to avert by His Clemency and Goodness to all — who will deviate in the hereafter, or fall into heresy, or join in and/or excite or commit schisms, and be found to have deviated or fallen into, or joined and/or excited or committed or will confess or be convicted (of the same), of whatsoever state, grade, order, condition and preeminence they be, even episcopal, archepiscopal, patriarchal, primatial or in any greater ecclesiastical dignity or honor of the Cardinalate, and of whatever land of the Apostolic See they shine forth, as much perpetual as temporal, by the munus of a legation, and/or even with the authority or excellence of a Count, Baron, Marquis, Duke, King and Emperor, and We will and decree, that these incur whatever of the aforesaid sentences, censures and punishments.

§ 3. And nevertheless, considering it to be worthy that those who do not abstain from evils by the love of virtue, be deterred from the same by the fear of punishments; and that Bishops, Archbishops, Patriarchs, Primates, Cardinals, legates, Counts, Barons, Marquises, Dukes, Kings and Emperors, ought to be those who ought to teach others also by their own good example, so that they may continue in the Catholic Faith: in prevaricating they sin more gravely than all others, since they not only destroy their very selves, but also draw into the perdition and pit of destruction the innumerable other peoples, entrusted to their care and government or otherwise subject to them, We, from the counsel and assent of the same, by this Our Constitution to be valid in perpetuity, in hatred of such crimes, than which nothing can be greater or more pernicious in the Church of God, do, from the fullness of (Our) Apostolic Authority, sanction, establish, decree and define that, with the sentences, censures, aforesaid punishments remaining in their strength and efficacy, having their effect, each and all Bishops, Archbishops, Patriarchs, Primates, Cardinals, Legates, Counts, Barons, Marquises, Kings and Emperors, who heretofore, as is aforesaid, have been detected or confessed and/or convicted, to have deviated or fallen into heresy, or joined in, excited and/or committed schisms, or (who) in the hereafter will deviate or fall into heresy or join and/or excite or commit schisms, and be detected to have deviated or fallen into heresy or to have joined in, excited or committed schisms, since in this they are rendered more inexcusable than all others, that beyond the sentences, censures and aforesaid punishments, they be by this very thing, without any service of right or fact, entirely and wholly in perpetuity deprived of their orders and cathedrals, even metropolitan, patriarchal and primatial churches and of the honor of the Cardinalate and munus of any legation whatsoever, and even of active and passive voice, of all authority, and monasteries, benefices and ecclesiastical offices, cum cura or sine cura, (pertaining) to secular or regular Orders of any kind, which, they had obtained by whatever concessions and apostolic dispensations, in title, in comendam and administration or in whatsoever manner you like, in which and/or for which they had any right, and even of whatever fruits, returns and annual proceeds over the similar fruits, returns and proceeds reserved or assigned to them, even by Counts, Barons, Marquises, Dukes, Kings and Emperors, and regarding that, concerning all other things, let them be unable and incapable, and let them be held as relapsed and subverted, in all (places) and for all (times), from this very thing, even if they will have abjured heresy of this kind publicly in judgement; nor let them at any time ever be restored, returned, reintegrated or rehabilitated to their pristine state or cathedrals, metropolitian, patriarchal and primatial churches, or Cardinalates and/or other honor or whatever other greater or lesser dignity, or active and/or passive voice, or authority, or monasteries and benefices, and/or counties, baronies, marquisates, duchies, kingdoms and empire, who indeed have not been relinquished to the judgement of secular authority as ones to be punished with due consideration, unless they are to be brought back to the apparent indications of true penitence and the fruits of condign penitence, from the goodness and clemency of this See, in any monastery or other place of regulars, for doing perpetual penitence on the bread of grieving (doloris) and water of mourning (maestitiae). And that for such ones existing by all (titles), of whatever state, grade, order, condition and preeminence, or enjoying whatever dignity, even episcopal, archiepiscopal, patriarchal and primatial or other greater ecclesiastical, and even the honor of the Cardinalate, or by the mundane authority of a Count, Baron, Marquis, Duke, King or Emperor, let them be obliged to be held, treated and avoided as such and destitute of all human solace.

§ 4. And let those who pretend to hold the right of patronage or of naming the persons suitable to cathedrals, even the ones metropolitan, and patriarchal or primatial churches or monasteries and/or other ecclesiastic benefices, vacated through a privation of this kind, lest these be exposed to inconveniences of a too long vacancy, but be, rather, snatched from the service to heretics, let the same be conceded to suitable persons, who may faithfully direct their peoples in the paths of justice; (and) let them be bound to present other suitable persons to Us or the Roman Pontiff existing at that time, regarding churches, monasteries and benefices of this kind, within the time prescribed by right and/or under the statute of theirs according to the concordats or compacts begun with the said See; otherwise, with the time of this kind elapsed, let the full and free disposition of churches, monasteries and aforesaid benefices devolve in full right to Us and the aforesaid Roman Pontiff, by this very (fact).

§ 5. And, moreover, let those who will have presumed knowingly in any manner whatsoever to receive and/or defend the same thus found or confessed and/or convicted, or favor them and/or believe or teach their dogmas, incur by this very (fact) the sentence of excommunication, and let them be made infamous, nor let them be admitted by voice, person, writings and/or messenger or any procurator to public or private offices or councils or a Synod and/or Council, general and/or provincial, nor to a Conclave of the Cardinals or to any congregation of the Faithful or to the election of anyone, or to give witness, nor let them be able to be admitted; let them also be unable to write wills and to accede to a succession of an inheritance;  in addition, let no one respond to them upon any business.  Wherefore if they perhaps be judges, let their sentences obtain no firmness, nor let any cases be brought to their hearing; and, if they be lawyers, let their patronage be in no manner received; but if if they be messengers, let the credentials made for them be entirely of no strength and/or moment. And moreover let clerics for each and all churches, even cathedrals, metropolitans, patriarchals and primatials, or dignities, monasteries, benefices and ecclesiastical offices, even, as is preferred, those qualified, obtained for them in any manner you will, and both they and laymen, even, as is promoted, qualified and endowed with the aforesaid dignities, in whatsoever kingdoms, duchies, lordships, fiefs and temporal goods possessed by them, stand forth deprived by this very (fact); and let the kingdoms, duchies, lordships, fiefs and goods of this kind be confiscated and let them be as confiscated, and let them become of the right and property of those, who occupy them first, if they have been obedient in the sincerity of the Faith and in unity of the Holy Roman Church, and under Ours and that of Our successors, the Roman Pontiffs, canonically elected.

§ 6. Adding, that if at any time it will have appeared that any Bishop, even acting as an Archbishop or Patriarch and/or Primate, or a Cardinal of the aforesaid Roman Church, even, as as promoted, Legate, or even the Roman Pontiff, before his promotion as a Cardinal or assumption as Roman Pontiff, has deviated from the Catholic Faith or fallen into any heresy, let the promotion or assumption of him, even accomplished in agreement and unanimous assent of all the Cardinals, stand forth as null, irritus and void, and let neither through his undertaking of the munus, consecration, or subsequent government and administration, possession, or as if, and/or enthronement or adoration of him as Roman Pontiff, or obedience proffered to him by all, and whatever course of time in the aforesaid, be able to be said to be convalidated or be convalidated, nor let it be had as legitimate in any of its parts, and let it be judged to have granted or to grant no faculty for such things to those promoted as Bishops or Archbishops and/or Patriarchs, or assumed as Cardinals and/or Roman Pontiff, in things spiritual and/or temporal, but let each and every thing said, done, accomplished and administered in any manner you will by them, and whatever things follow from these, lack force, and let them grant entirely no firmness nor right to anyone; and let these same thus promoted and assumed by this very (fact), without any declaration needed to be made over them, be deprived of all dignity, position, honor, title, authority, office and power; and Let it be licit, for each and all thus promoted and assumed, if they had not before deviated from the Faith nor were heretics, nor joined in or excited and/or committed schisms:

§ 7. for persons subject, both clerics and seculars, and regulars as even lay, and also Cardinals, even those who were present at the election of the Pontiff (who) deviated beforehand from the Faith or (was) a schismatic, or (who) otherwise consented, and proffered obedience to him, and (who) adored him, even castellans, prefects, captains and officials, even of Our beloved City and while Ecclesiastical Estate, even to the same thus promoted and/or assumed by homage or oath and/or obliged or constrained by caution, by obedience and devotion of the same thus promoted and/or assumed immune, (let it be licit) at any time to withdraw, and to avoid them as warlocks, foreigners, publicans  and hesiarchs; and for the same subject persons by fidelity and obedience of future Bishops, Archbishops, Patriarchs, Primates, Cardinals and Roman Pontiffs canonically elected nevertheless, remaining bound, and, (who) regarding the greater of these, thus promoted and assumed, if they wish to continue their government and administration, (let it be licit) to request the assistance of the secular arm to harass [confusionem] the same thus promoted and assumed; nor let those withdrawing from fidelity and obedience to the same thus promoted and assumed, on the occasion of the aforesaid, be, as tearers of the tunic of the Lord, subject to the vengeance of any censures or punishments.

§ 8.  Not withstanding the Apostolic Constitutions and ordinances, and even the privileges, indults and Apostolic Letters to the same Bishops, Archbishops, Patriarchs, Primates and Cardinals and whatever others, under whatsoever tenor and form, and together with whatever clauses and decrees, even (those) Motu Proprio and ex certa scientia, and from the fullness of Apostolic Authority, or even (those) conceded in Consistory or otherwise in any manner and even (those) approved and renewed over and over, and even contained in the Corpus Iuris, and even those by whatsoever capitular conclaves, even (those) strengthened by an oath or Apostolic confirmation and/or by any other firmness, even sworn by Us ourselves.  All of which, presenting their tenor as had in place of express (mentions) even (those) having been inserted word for word, with these otherwise remaining in their force, We especially and expressly derogate at least this time, with all others whatsoever (remaining) contrary.

§ 9. Moreover, so that the present letters might be brought to the knowledge of all, whom it interests, We will that they or their transcriptions — which We decree should be shown full faith after having been subscribed by the hand of a public notary and furnished with the seal of any person constituted in ecclesiastical dignity — be published and affixed upon the doors of the Basilica of the Prince of the Apostles in the City and of the Apostolic Chancery and in the perimeter of the Campo dei Fiori through any of our couriers, and that a copy of the same be placed therein affixed, and that the publication, posting and placing of an affixed copy of this kind suffice and be had as a solemn and legitimate (announcement), and that no other publication ought to be required or expected.

§ 10. Therefore, let it be licit to entirely no one of men to infringe upon this page of Our approbation, renewal, sanction, statute, wills to derogate, decrees and/or with temerarius daring to contradict (it). If, however, any one presume to attempt this, let him know that he will incur the indignation of the Omnipotent God and His Blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul.

Given at Rome, at Saint Peter’s, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation, One Thousand, Five Hundred, Fifty-Nine, the fourth year of Our Pontificate.

+ I, Paul, Bishop of the Catholic Church
+ I, John du Bellay, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia
+ I, Rodolfo Pio de Carpo, Cardinal Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina
+ I, Francesco Pisani, Cardinal Bishop of Frascati
+ I, Federico Cesi, Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina
+ I, Pedro Pacheco de Villena, Cardinal Bishop of Albano
+
+ I, Ranuccio Farnese, Cardinal Deacon of Santa Angelo in Pescheria, the Penitentiary Major, Latin Patriarch of Constantinople
+ I, Tiberio Crispi, Cardinal Priest of Sant’Agata dei Goti, Bishop of Sessa Arunca
+ I, Fluvio Giulio della Corgna, Cardinal Priest of Santo Stefano al Monte Celio, Bishop of Perugia
+ I, Giovanni Michele Saraceni, Cardinal Priest of Sant’Anastasia
+ I, Giovanni Ricci, Cardinal Priest of San Vitale, Bishop of Chiusi, Italy
+ I, Giacomo Puteo, Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria in Via
+ I, Girolomo Dandini, Cardinal Priest of San Marcello, Bishop of Imola
+ I, Bernardino Scotti. Cardinal Priest of San Matteo in Merulana, Archbishop of Piacenza
+ I, Diomede Carafa, Cardinal Priest of San Pier Damniani ai Monti di San Paolo, Bishop of Ariano
+ I, Scipio Rebiba, Cardinal Priest of Santa Pudenziana, Archbishop of Pisa
+ Jean Suau, Cardinal Priest of San Giovanni a Porta Latina, Bishop of Mirepoix, France
+ Giannantonio Capizucchi, Cardinal of San Pancrazio, Bishop of Lodi
+ I Taddeo Gaddi, Cardinal Priest of San Silvestro in Capite
+ I Virgilio Rosario, Cardinal Priest of San Simeone Profeta, Bishop of Spoleto
+ I, Francisco Mendoza Bobadilla, Cardinal Priest of Sant’Eusebio, Bishop of Alexandria
+ I, Clemented’Olera, Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria in Ara Caeli
+ I Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora, Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Via Lata
+ I, Niccolò Caetani di Sermoneta, Cardinal Deacon of Sant’Eustachio
+ I, Giacomo Savelli, Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin
+ I, Girolamo Recanati Capodiferro, Cardinal Deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro, Bishop of Saint Jean du Maurienne, France
+ I, Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte, Cardinal Deacon of Sant’Onofrio
+ I, Luigi Cornaro, Cardinal Deacon of San Teodoro
+I, Carlo Carafa, Cardinal Deacon of Sainti Vito, Modesto and Crescenzia
+ I, Alfonso Carafa, Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Domnica, Archbishop of Naples
+ I, Vitellozzo Vitelli, Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Portico, Bishop of Citta di Castello
+ I, Giovanni Battista Consigliere, Cardinal Deacon of Santa Lucia in Septisolio

As God is My Help

Given on the 15th of February, 1559, in the 4th of (our) Pontificate

Church History, Papal Documents

Pope Nicholas II’s Bull, “In Nomine Domini” (Papal Version)

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Latin Original,

with an English Translation by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

FRENCH — ITALIAN — SPANISH (see below)

More than 5 years ago I published an English translation of Pope Nicholas II’s bull, In nomine Domini, which he wrote with the counsel of Saints Hildebrand, the future Pope Gregory VII, and Peter Damian, the future Doctor of the Church against the homo-heresy. — Indeed, in the final paragraph which contains the censures against those who would dare violate this papal law, we can see the influence of the fiery zeal of Saint Hildebrand, where it combines a variety of curses found in the Psalms, against both clerics and laymen.

Recently with the help of a medieval scholar who has spent his life studying this Bull, I have come in the possession of a copy of this bull in its original version (see below). My previous translation was based on a copy of the Bull, in Latin, from a version which had been interpolated — that is, compiled by several existing versions, by a Scholar who attempted to interpret which precise wording was the original. While such a practice is widely accepted in the world of academics, it is always a very good thing to go back to the actual existing manuscripts and read them. The Latin text from the version published by the Church at Rome is that which I now publish, here below. — This papal version differs in nearly nothing from the interpolated version which I previously published and translated, but in the choice of words in a few passages, and in a few extra sentences at the end. — However, the paragraphs in the papal version are not numbered, so I have inserted numbers and joined some paragraphs together so that paragraph n. 3 in both versions regards what is to be done if a legitimate, honest and upright election cannot be held in the City of Rome.

This Bull of Pope Nicholas II is no obscure document, since it is the first Papal Bull which restricted the election of the Roman Pontiff to the Cardinals, two centuries before the first Conclave was ever held. It is even mentioned by name in the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Paul VI, Romano Pontifici eligendo, promulgated October 1, 1975, in its third paragraph, where it is called a “celebrated” constitution, that is, frequently used. It’s importance for today is that it explains, what other Papal Laws currently in force today do not, namely, “What is to be done if all the Cardinals forfeit their right and competence to elect the Roman Pontiff by reason of grave malfeasance, in conducting an illegal election or one which is declared invalid by papal prescriptions?”  It is implicitly referred to also in the current Papal Law of Pope John Paul II, Universi Dominici Gregis, promulgated Feb. 22, 1996, where it says in its preface, that “the institution of the Conclave is not necessary for the valid election of the Roman Pontiff”, and again, wherein in n. 76 it declares any election violating its norms null and void, without however expressing what is to be done if the Cardinals fail to return into conclave because they maliciously will to hold as pope a man who is illegally elected.

Now follows my English translation of that.

Pope Nicholas II’s Bull “In nomine Domini”

April 13, 1059 A. D. — In the Constantinian Patriarchal Basilica of the Lateran, at Rome

Translated from the Papal Version of the text, published by Das Papstwahldekret von 1059. Echte Fassung, in: Jasper, Detlef. Das Pastwahldekret von 1059: Überlieferung unf Textgestalt. Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, 1986, pp. 98-109.

IN THE NAME OF THE LORD God, our Savior Jesus Christ.  From the year of His Incarnation, 1059, in the month of April, in the Twelfth Indiction, with the Sacrosanct Gospels laid open, also with the Most Reverend and Blessed Nicholas, presiding as the Apostolic Pope, in the Lateran Basilica of the Patriarch, which is named the Constantinian, also with the most reverend Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots or venerable Priests and Deacons accompanying, seated, the Same venerable Pontiff, decreeing with Apostolic Authority, concerning the Election of the Highest Pontiff, said:

Most beloved Brothers and co-Bishops, and also inferior members (of the clergy), your Beatitude knows and it does not lie hidden, that with the passing of Our predecessor, the lord Stephen, of pious memory, how many adverse (troubles) this Apostolic See, which I zealously serve with God’s urging, has suffered through, and then how many repeated hammers and frequent blows She has been subjected to through the brokers of simonaical heresy, so much that the Column of the Living God almost seemed to totter and the net of the Highest Fisherman, with the storms swelling, would be driven into the depths of shipwreck to be submerged.

§ 1. Wherefore, if it please thy Brotherhood, We ought, with God assisting, take care prudently for future cases and this by Ecclesiastical statute, provide in the hereafter that (these) evils, revived, not prevail.  On which account, having been instructed by Our predecessor and by the authority of the other Holy Fathers, We decree, and establish, that with the passing of the Pontiff of this universal Roman Church, first of all, the Cardinal Bishops, treating (the election) together with the most diligent consideration, summon immediately the Cardinal Clerics to themselves; and in this manner let the rest of the Clergy, and the People, approach to consent to the new election, so that, lest the deadly disease of venality insinuate itself by occasion, the most religious men be the chief leaders in the election of the Pontiff to be promoted, but the rest be their followers.

§ 2. And certainly the right and legitimate order of the election is here considered carefully, if it be gathered from having examined the diverse rules of the Fathers or their deeds, (and) even that sentence of Blessed Leo, (Our) predecessor, (who) said: “No reason permits, that there be had among Bishops, those who have neither been elected from the Clerics, nor requested by the common people, nor consecrated by the co-provincial Bishops with the judgement of the Metropolitans” (Pope Leo I, Letter to Rusticus of Narbonne, Migne PL 54, p. 1203 A/B). But because the Apostolic See takes precedence to all other Churches throughout the earth, and for that reason, too, She can have over Her no Metropolitan, the Cardinal Bishops with out doubt serve instead as Metropolitans, who namely promote the one elected as High Priest (antistitem) to the apex of the Apostolic Summit.  Moreover, let them elect (him) from the very womb of the Church, if one is found suitable, and/or if he not be found in Her, let him be taken from another; with due honor being served, and reverence for Our beloved son, Henry, who is held as King at the present and with God conceding hoped (to be) the future Emperor, as We have already conceded to him and to his successors, who personally begged this right from this Apostolic See.

§ 3. Wherefore, if the perversity of depraved and iniquitous men, so prevail, that a pure, sincere and free election cannot be held in the City, let the Cardinal Bishops with the religious Clerics, and the Catholic laity, though few, obtain the right of power (ius potestatis) to elect the Pontiff of the Apostolic See, where they might judge it to be more fitting. Plainly, after the election has been completed, if there be a bellicose conflict, and/or if the struggle of any kind of men resists by the earnestness of wickedness, such that he, who has been elected, cannot prevail to be enthroned in the Apostolic See according to the custom, nevertheless, let the elect obtain as Pope the authority to rule the Roman Church and to dispose of all Her faculties, which Blessed Gregory, We know, did, before his own consecration.

§4. On which account, if anyone has been elected, or even ordained, or enthroned, against this Decree of Ours promulgated by Synodal sentence, whether through sedition, and/or presumption, or any guile, let him be cast down by the Divine Authority and that of the Holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, by a perpetual anathema with his promoters and supporters and followers as one separated from the thresholds of the Holy Church, just as the Anti-Christ, both invader and destroyer of the whole of Christendom, and let no audience be given him over this, but let him be deposed from every ecclesiastical grade unto whatever was before his, without any objection made, to whom if anyone whatsoever adheres, and/or exhibits any kind of reverence as to the Pontiff, or presumes to defend him in anything, let him be abandoned by equal sentence, which if anyone shows himself to be a violator of this sentence of Our Holy Decree, and has tried to confound the Roman Church by his presumption, and to raise disturbance against this Statute, let him be damned by perpetual anathema and excommunication, and let him be reputed among “the impious“, who “shall not rise again in judgement” (Psalm 1:5), let him know the wrath of the Omnipotent One against him, and that of the Holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, whose Church he has presumed to fool, let him know a ravaging madness in this life and in the future; “Let his dwelling become deserted, and let there be no one who dwells in his tents” (cf. Psalm 69:26): “Let his sons be orphans, and his wife a widow” (Psalm 108:9), “Let him be shaken completely” (cf. Psalm 108:10) to madness, and “may his sons go about begging, and be cast out of their dwellings” (Psalm 108:10). “May the money-lender ravage all his substance, and may the foreigner lay waste all his labors” (Psalm 108:11); “Let the whole world fight against” (cf. Wisdom 5:21) him, and let all the other elements be against him, and may the merits of all the Saints, at rest, confound him and in this life may they show open vengeance upon him.

§5. Moreover, may the grace of the Omnipotent God protect the observers of this Our decree, and by the authority of the Blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul may it absolve them from all bonds of sins.

I, Nicholas, Bishop of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church,
have signed this Decree promulgated by Us, here above, as it reads.

Transcription

Source

Here follows a Spanish translation using the Spanish of the New World (Latin America). Many thanks to the Mexican-American reader of FromRome.Info for this!

Papa Nicolás II

EN EL NOMBRE DEL SEÑOR DIOS, nuestro Senor Jesucristo, del año de Su Encarnación, 1058, en el mes de abril, en la Duodécima Indicción, con los Evangelios Sacrosantos expuestos, también con el Reverendísimo y Bendito Nicolás, presidiendo como el Papa Apostólico, en la Basílica de Letrán del Patriarca, quien es llamado el Constantiniano, también con los Arzobispos, Obispos, Abades o venerables sacerdotes y diaconos acompañando, sentado, el mismo Venerable Pontifíce, decretando con Autoridad Apostólica, lo relacionado con la elección del Sumo Pontifíce dijo:

Muy amados Hermanos y co-Obispos y también miembros inferiores del clero, su Bienaventuranza, sabe y no se oculta, que con el deceso de Nuestro predecessor, el señor Esteban de grata memoria, cuantos problemas ha sufrido esta Sede Apostólica a la cual sirvo celosamente con el impulso de Dios y luego a cuantos martillazos repetidos y golpes frecuentes ella ha sido sometida a través de los agentes de la herejía simoniaca, tanto así que la Columna de Dios Viviente casi parecía tambalearse y la red del Pescador Supremo, con las tempestades incrementándose sería impulsada hacia las profundidades del naufragio para ser sumergido.

§ 1. Por lo tanto, si place a Su Hermandad, Nosotros debemos, con la asistencia de Dios, cuidar prudentemente para casos futuros y esto por estatuto Eclesiástico, proveer en el futuro que estos males, revividos, no prevalezcan. Por lo cual, habiendo sido instruidos por nuestro predecesor y por la autoridad de los otros Santos Padres, decretamos, y establecemos, que con el fallecimiento del Pontífice de esta Iglesia Romana universal, en primer lugar, los Cardenales Obispos, tratando la elección junto con la más diligente consideración, convoquen inmediatamente a los Cardenales Clérigos en persona, y de esta manera que el resto del clero y el pueblo, se acerquen a consentir a la nueva elección, de modo que, para que no se insinue la mortal enfermedad de la venalidad, los hombres más religiosos sean los principales líderes en la elección del Pontífice a ser promovido, pero el resto sean sus seguidores.

§ 2. Y ciertamente el orden justo y legítimo de la elección se considera aquí cuidadosamente, si se deduce de haber examinado las diversas reglas de los Padres o sus hechos, e incluso aquella sentencia del Beato León, Nuestro predecesor, quien dijo: “Ninguna razón permite que entre los Obispos haya quienes no hayan sido elegidos entre los Clérigos, ni solicitados por el pueblo común, ni consagrados por los Obispos coprovinciales con el juicio de los Metropolitas” (Papa León I, Carta a Rústico de Narbona, Migne PL54, p. 1203 A/B). Pero debido a que la Sede Apostólica tiene precedencia sobre todas las demás Iglesias en toda la tierra, y por esa razón, también, Ella no puede tener sobre Ella ningún Metropolitano, los Obispos Cardenales sin duda sirven en cambio con Metropolitanos, quienes concretamente promueven al elegido como Sumo Sacerdote (antistitem) a la cúspide de la Cumbre Apostólica. Además, que lo elijan del mismo seno de la Iglesia, si se encuentra uno adecuado, y/o si no se encuentra en ella, que se le tome de otra, con el debido honor servido, y reverencia para nuestro amado hijo, Enrique, quien es tenido como Rey en el presente y con Dios concediendo se espera que sea el futuro Emperador, como ya le hemos concedido a él y a sus sucesores, quienes personalmente rogar este derecho de esta Sede Apostólica.

§ 3 Por lo tanto, si la perversidad de hombres depravados e inicuos prevaleciera hasta tal punto que no se pudiera celebrar una elección pura, sincera y libre en la Ciudad, que los Cardenales Obispos con los Clérigos religiosos y los laicos católicos, aunque pocos, obtengan el derecho de poder (ius potestatis) para elegir al Pontífice de la Sede Apostólica donde juzguen que es más apropiado. Claramente, después de que la elección se haya completado, si hay un conflicto belicoso, y/o si la lucha de algunos hombres se resiste por la seriedad de la maldad, de tal manera que aquel, quien ha sido elegido, no puede prevalecer para ser entronizado en la Sede Apostólica según la costumbre, sin embargo, que el electo obtenga como Papa la autoridad para gobernar la Iglesia Romana y para obtener de todas sus facultades, lo cual sabemos hizo el Beato Gregorio, antes de su propia consagración.

§ 4. En cuenta de aquel, si alguien ha sido elegido, o incluso ordenado, o entronizado, en contra de este Nuestro Decreto promulgado por sentencia Sinodal, ya sea por sedición, y/o presunción, o cualquier engaño, que sea derribado por la Autoridad Divina y la de los Santos Apóstoles, Pedro y Pablo, mediante un anatema perpetuo con sus promotores, seguidores y partidarios como uno separado de los umbrales de la Santa Iglesia, así como el Anticristo, tanto invasor como destructor de toda la cristiandad, y que no se le conceda audiencia sobre esto, sin que se haga ninguna objeción; a quien si alguien se adhiere o exhibe cualquier tipo de reverencia hacia él como al Pontífice, o se presume defenderlo en algo, sea igualmente abandonado por sentencia igual, quienquiera que se muestre violador de esta sentencia de Nuestro Decreto, y haya tratado de confundir a la Iglesia Romana por su presunción, y de levantar disturbios contra este Estatuto, sea condenado por anatema perpetuo y excomunión, y sea reputado entre los “impíos que no se levantarán en el juicio” (Salmo 1:5), que conozca la ira del Omnipotente contra él, y la de los Santos Apóstoles, Pedro y Pablo, cuya Iglesia ha presumido engañar; que conozca una locura devastadora en esta vida y en la futura, “Quede desolada su morada y no haya quien habite en sus tiendas” (cf. Salmo 69:26): Sean sus hijos huérfanos, y su mujer viuda” (Salmo 108:9), “Sea sacudido por completo” (cf. Salmo 108:10) hasta la locura y “vaguen sus hijos mendigando, y sean echados de sus moradas” (Salmo 108:10). “Que el acreedor se apodere de todo lo que tiene, y los extraños saqueen el fruto de su trabajo” (Salmo 108:11); que todo el mundo luche contra (cf. Sabiduría 5,21) él, y que todos los demás elementos estén contra él, y que los méritos de todos los Santos, en reposo, lo confundan y que en esta vida muestren venganza manifiesta sobre él.

§ 5. Además, que la gracia del Dios Omnipotente proteja a los observadores de este Nuestro Decreto, y por la autoridad de los Bienaventurados Apóstoles, Pedro y Pablo, que los absuelva de todas las ataduras de pecados.

Yo, Nicolás, Obispo de la Santa Iglesia Católica y Apostólica Romana, he firmado este Decreto promulgado por Nosotros, aquí arriba, tal como se lee.

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Church History, Devotions, Editorials, News

Our Lady of Uliano, Cardinal Mimmi & the liberation of the Church

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by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

There are a lot of things which you can only know by visiting Rome. The Churches, the catecombs, the streets, the archeological monuments, the libraries and museums and universities. Visiting Rome in person you get only a taste or sniff of the tremendous history of the Eternal City. But when you live here you come to know the context of everything alongside everything.

And some of it is amazing, but of most of it others have written about.

But here is a story which evokes the imagination and the hope of Catholics and shows us how important everything honest and upright Catholics do has an effect for the good which is beyond our every imagining.

This story begins in an elevator going down, on the morning of April 21, 2025, at Casa Santa Marta, at the Vatican. We all know what that refers to and of whom we are speaking.

But what no one but a few know is why all of that was perhaps a lot more amazing than you have heretofore imagined.

Being at Rome, I found myself right smack in the middle of the mystery of that day. Because, I heard of the death of Pope Francis not from the internet, not from the phone, not from the newspapers, but from a Catholic priest, preparing to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady in a tiny little shrine tucked away in the countryside outside of Rome.

The Wondrous Apparition and Miracle of Our Lady of Uliano

Our Lady of Ulilano is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared in A. D. 1242 to a woman, mother and wife in the most desperate of situations. You see, the woman and her husband had the joy to have a newborn son, and scheduled a large party to celebrate his baptism. But so many where the guests, because her husband was a wealthy landed man, that to attend to them, she had to place the baby in its crib, which was made with wood and had a cover to keep the baby warm and night while allowing air to enter through many holes.

Without the knowledge of the Mother, the guests however, used the covered crib as to pile their cloaks on top. And when it came time for the baptism, the Mother was horrified to find, that the immense mound of clothing had caused her child to suffocate to death.

This caused the entire celebration of joy to turn into a horrible moment of grief. The husband, Mr. Uliano, drove the guests out and then turned on his wife in a demonic rage, reproving her and then drawing his knife.

In a frenzy, the husband proceeded to cut off her hands and cut out her womb. As she was bleeding to death, he ordered a servant to carry her body to the countryside and dump it in a ravine, along with her baby boy, hanging from her neck.

After the servant had accomplished the deed, the woman still with the faintest signs of life called upon the Blessed Mother.

And in that moment of travesty and hopelessness, Our Lady appeared to her, holding the Child Jesus, and miraculously cured her, restoring her hands and womb and raising the baby boy back to life.

Such was the amazement of Mr. Uliano, upon seeing his wife return home alive and whole, with a living baby boy, that he immediately broke down in tears and begged her pardon and the forgiveness of God. Before everyone in the region, he confessed his sin publicly and with his wife and servant publicly testified for the rest of their lives to this wondrous intercession of Our Lady. Mr. Uliano also had a chapel built on the site.

To this day, in those hills outside of Rome, the Feast of Our Lady of Uliano is celebrated every year on the Monday after Easter. And since I had prior knowledge of this miracle I made it a point to be at the new Shrine, built on the hill opposite, on Easter Monday.

Thus it was, that on Monday, April 21, 2025, I heard of the liberation of the Church at the Shrine of Our Lady of Uliano, from the local pastor, who when he arrived immediately said to everyone, “Pope Francis is dead.”

Cardinal Mimmi

More than 50 years ago, the original shrine to Our Lady fell into total ruin, due to the erosion of the loose soils of that valley. And as the shrine began to decay, the local Bishop ordered that the canons of the Shrine move its most valuable Icon to the local Cathedral and celebrate each year a Mass there in Her honor. This stupendous 15th century Icon is one of the most beautiful of Our Lady, depicting Her being crowned Queen of Angels and Men by God the Father:

This altar is now the Altar of the Most Blessed Sacrament, and in the floor in front of this altar is the final resting place of Cardinal Marcello Mimmi, who passed from this life to his eternal reward on March 6, 1961, just as Vatican II was to be convened.

Evidently Cardinal Mimmi was very devoted to Our Lady of Uliano and to the Most Blessed Sacrament. Near his tomb is also a bronze bust of the Cardinal. He has been “praying” to our Lady of Uliano for all these 64 long years.

A Prayer granted?

Cardinal Mimmi (see bio here in English, here in Italian), as you can see from the PDF below, which on page 6 recounts his Episcopal Ministry at Crema, Italy, before he was promoted to the Archbishopric of Bari, and then to that of Naples, was a man of God who was, according to Prof. Luca Donarini, one who

…  si sente un operaio di Dio mandato nella vigna di Crema per occuparsi degli interessi di Dio e curare la santificazione e la salvezza delle anime, sia di quelle vicine del suo gregge sia di quelle degli «infedeli» attraverso lo spirito missionario; il nuovo vescovo, profondamente convinto che la promozione del culto divino e delle leggi di Dio possano costituire un «freno ai pericoli che senza di esse corre la civiltà»

Which in English is:

considered himself God’s worker send into the vineyard of Crema to busy himself with the affairs of God and promote the sanctification and salvation of souls, not only those who among his flock but also those “infidels” by means of a missionary spirit: the new Bishop, profoundly convinced that the promotion of the Divine Liturgy and the laws of God are able to constitute a “break on the dangers without which civilization itself would run a risk”.

I am the kind of Catholic who sees what is before my eyes. When I visited the Cathedral I saw the tomb of Cardinal Mimmi, and my eyes then looked up to see the Throne Tablernacle of Our Lord, waiting for us in the Most Blessed Sacrament, and raising my eyes further, I saw the icon of God the Father crowning Our Lady, that is giving Her authority over men and angels.

The place of the tomb of the Cardinal, who was made by Pius XII the Prefect of what we call today the Congregation of Bishops, is a sign of the deepest prayers of the heart.

Note Well: The duties of the Congregation of Bishops are to recommend promotions to the Holy Father and to remove bad bishops at his command.

The miracle wrought by Our Lady of Uliano is without a doubt also a sign from God; that Our Lady, just as She hears the cries of even one of Her adopted daughters, dismembered and mutilated, without a doubt will hear the cries of Holy Mother Church, afflicted by so many of Her enemies.

That prayer of Cardinal Mimmi began just as the Second Vatican Counsel was to begin. And that Intercession of Our Lady was wrought on Her feast day this year, when She delivered Holy Mother Church from the monstrosity of godlessness who was cutting off the Hands of the Church to heal sinners and disemboweling Her teachings to save mankind, not to mention killing Her children by suffocating them with error and heresy.

I am a Catholic from birth, and I let my imagination follow my faith to connect the dots. And I thank God for the 64 years of prayer of this Cardinal which has obtained such a great grace for the Church.

Cardinal Mimmi, as you can see from Catholic-Hierarchy.org also has a relationship with a famous Archbishop in our own days, because Mimmi ordained Francesco Colasunno a priest. Colasunno would go on to become a Cardinal, and he was the principal Consecrator of Archbishop Ian Pawel Lenga! — Being a Catholic, I think I now understand the sign Our Lady is giving us in our own day, as to who She has chosen to be the next  …. !

Church History

The Election of Bl. Urban II followed the Bull of Nicholas II, “In Nomine Domini”

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

I strongly encourage Catholics to read the History of the Church. And to that end, I share here in PDF format, Drahomír Suchánek’s, “The First Papal Election according to the Decree In Nomine Domini”, which was published  in the European Journal of Science and Technology, from February of this year.

This scholarly paper does not actually contain sources, but does cite them. And its approach is critical, asking the question whether this Papal Bull, In Nomine Domini, the Latin and English translation of which, I published, in 2020, can be found HERE, governed or was actually followed in the election of Bl. Urban II, Odo of Laghery, who was Cardinal Bishop of Velletri in 1088.

As you can see, from the discussion and conclusions of this article, that even contemporary scholarship admits that 1000 years ago, the elections of the Roman Pontiff follow Papal Laws. — Though the author of this article holds the opinions that this is not the case with all elections, his investigation of the election of Pope Urban II, at Terracina, in March of 1088, A. D., did find that the participants followed the terms of Nicholas II’s Bull, as far as can be ascertained from contemporary historical records.

CREDITS: The featured image is Zubarans’s “The Meeting of Bl. Pope Urban II with Saint Bruno”, a copy of which you will often see in the videos I make, since a cheap printed copy of this hangs in the Hermitage of the Holy Cross.

Canon Law, Church History

Was Saint Hildebrand a Sedevacantist?

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by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

The reality of social media is, that while you may be interacting with someone who claims to be Catholic, you nearly always assume that the other person is competent, sane and informed.  If you are like myself, who spent most of my lifetime at school or educational formation programs or in academic studies of one kind or another, public and private, you might have a psychological bias of thinking that everyone on social media asks a question or reads an article to be informed, and is able to think for themselves, do a search, investigate and be informed.

Alas that is not the case, as we all know, by hard knocks.

This is especially true among fellow Catholics.

Recently, one reader of FromRome.Info started asking fellow Catholics what they think of the Save Rome Project and received this stunning response:  “I do not want to get involved in Sedevacantism”.

I have to shake my head and roll my eyes at the expression of such total ignorance, that is, incapacity to evaluate problems in the Catholic Church.

The History of the Election of Pope Nicholas II, and St. Hildebrand’s role in it

So for those out there who suffer from having friends or relatives at this level of information bias, here is the story of Saint Hildebrand, and how he protected the Papacy by promoting Nicholas II to the apostolic throne against the antipope John Mincius, of the House of Crescentius, who was Bishop of the suburbican diocese of Velletri, and took the name, Benedict X.

Now, according to Cardinal Saint Peter Damian, John was an upright, honest and Catholic man, his only fault was that he was elected illegally. He was even pardoned by Pope Nicholas II and ordered out of the city of Rome. However, when he later returned, St Hildebrand brought him to trial, wrote out his own confession of guilt, forced him to read it, and had him condemned and reduced to the lay state. With the pleas of many, later on, Pope Nicholas raised him back to the status of a Lector.

Benedict X was not a heretic, but he was an antipope.  His election was illegal, because Pope Stephen IX, before he died, decreed that the election of his successor should not take place until St. Hildebrand returned from his diplomatic mission at the Imperial Court in Germany.

Now Saint Hildebrand is considered one of the greatest saints to ever become Pope — an event which took place 14 years later — and no one in their right mind has ever called him a “sedevacantist” because he opposed the election of a man against the rules.

Note Well: “Sedevacantism” is the name given to the position of those who insist that there have been no valid popes since the death of Pius XII or John XXIII: as regards Conclaves, their allegations are based on non-factually supported claims that were launched years after the election of popes and based on speculation of conspiracies during one or another Conclave, not evidence of anything illegal during the Conclaves. This is what makes “Sedevacantism” an ideology, not a valid juridical position worthy of any Catholic. The proponents of this position are more fixated on their alternative histories than on even the Code of Canon Law of 1917 or the Apostolic Constitution of Pius XII for papal elections. And they never sought the condemnation of those, whom they accuse, in any tribunal, tacitly admitting they had no legal proof.

But Saint Hildebrand of Saona based his rejection of Benedict X’s election on the historical events of his election which no one denied, which went against the published rule for the election to be delayed, established by Pope Stephen IX.

St. Hildebrand was, however, accused by those who favored corruption at Rome, of being a “fake monk”, though, since he went around wearing the habit of a Benedictine Monk without them asking him for proof of his vows.

How, history repeats itself!

You can read a summary of this history from pp. 17-18, in the book, “The Life and Times of Hildebrand”, by the Right Rev. Arnold Harris Matthew, published by Francis Griffiths, London, 1910. — You can click these two images to expand them for easier reading on your device.

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This year of Our Lord, 2025, we are in an exactly similar, though worse, juridical mess: since no one denies that 133 Cardinals voted in the Conclave, nor that the Papal Law forbids that in n. 33 of that Law. — While those who broke the Papal Law, this year, are like those in 1058, they make excuses but have no valid legal excuse, since Pope John Paul II’s UDG. n. 4, forbids the use of dispensations during a sedevacante. Nor is there any doubt that Cardinal Prevost embraced heresy before his election, a thing which makes his election null, void, and irritus, according to the Bull of Paul IV, “Cum ex apostsolatus officio”.

That it has been nearly 80 days since this fraud was perpetrated on the Church and THAT there are still Catholics, unwilling to review the facts of the matter and the law, says a lot about how comfortable Catholics have become with living in a corrupt society while rejecting even in their hopes the Kingdom Christ Jesus, Who is Infinite and Inescapable Justice, not to mention their utter contempt for the laws of Roman Pontiffs, Christ’s Vicars on Earth.

For those who would like more information about this great Saint, who becomes Pope Gregory VII, here is that entire book, I just cited from in PDF. Take note the the entire book is in a 358 MB file. However, if you would like to view this book online or download it in other formats, see HERE.

Church History

How the Traditionalist Movement was infiltrated, to lead Catholics into Apostasy

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by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

French Version HERE

Most Catholics do not even know a brief summary of the real facts which lead the Catholic Church into the state She presently finds herself. If you want to know more in detail, you need to read several books, among which the most important is former JAG Attorney, David A. Wemhoff’s book, “John Courtney Murray, Time/Life and the American Proposition: How the CIA’s Doctrinal Warfare Program Changed the Catholic Church.”

A Brief History of how the CIA seized control of the Vatican and destroyed the faith and life of many in the Catholic Church

The sequence of events is this: In 1953, the Department of War, in the United States, drafted and initiative a program called, “Ideological Warfare” and launched it against the Catholic Church. They collaborated with the World Council of Churches to write up an outline for Vatican II which would include alterations of doctrines and practices to make the Catholic Religion collapse from within and becomes a religion amendable to the Skull and Bones’ Lodge’s view of the world.

Backed by the nascent CIA, they recruited Roncalli and promoted his candidacy to the Papacy in the Conclave of 1958, about which Gary Giuffre has been gathering information since the 80’s. As John XXIII he received 1-2 million dollars to pay for an Ecumenical Council to initiate the changes. After his death, Paul VI was installed to carry this project of “aggiornamento” forward. Time/Life Magazine coined the term, “Spirit of Vatican II” to make sure the most destructive interpretations of the Conciliar texts would prevail.

Under Paul VI, the CIA and Sicilian Mafia got control of the Vatican Bank and orchestrated the quick demise of John Paul I, who was going to clean it up. In 1976, during his trip to the United States, Karol Wotyla disappeared for a few weeks in Montana, and was likely there recruited to the CIA. His candidacy was supported in the second conclave of 1978, and the U. S. Ambassador to Italy confirmed this, in his cable to the U. S. Secretary of State immediately afterwards, in which he wrote, “We got our man!”

While the CIA used the Vatican under John Paul II to launder money and fund the Solidarnosc movement in Poland, they told John Paul II whom to nominate as Cardinals and Bishops, so that the Mafia of St. Gallen could gain control of the Vatican, with their P2 Lodge leader, Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Failing to win the Conclave of 2005, the CIA and USAID funded media worldwide began to incessantly attack Pope Benedict XVI, who after reading the secret report by 3 Cardinals about the corruption and sex-trafficking in the Vatican, was pressured to resign, though he foiled their plains by resigning only the ministerium not the munus, thus making Bergoglio’s election in March of 2013 null and void.

We all know the history of how Bergoglio systematically destroyed the faith and life of the Church, and aimed at making this process of self-demolition permanent with the Synodal Process.

To ensure this legacy of evil would continue, Bill Clinton and Alex Soros visited Pope Francis secretly at the Vatican in July of 2023, and told him to pick Robert Francis Prevost, one of Hilary Clinton’s relatives, as his successor, afterwards he was made a Cardinal in the consistory in the autumn of  2023, and promoted to Cardinal of Albano in January of 2025. — This is probably because, as the Haverford College official Newsletter on its Oxbridge server said, in May of 2025 — and captured on Google, Bing. and Duckduck go, but subsequently erased — Prevost was an alumni of their college (= he took some courses there), who was recruited by the CIA and went to work for them after graduation. Even leading journalists admit that the CIA is now in control of the Vatican.

A Short History of how the Traditionalist Movement was infiltrated to guarantee the success of this CIA operation

To prevent the CIA Doctrinal Warfare Program’s operation, known as “Vatican II” from failing, they organized the opposition into a group called, the Coetus Internationalis Patrum, the ruling council of which included Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops, each of whom had masonic episcopal lineages tracing back to Cardinal Cunha, at Fatima, Portugal. It was a “raise complaints but surrender strategy” of the most devious and deceitful kind.

The reaction of Catholics against the obvious and patent heresies and errors at Vatican II led also to a number of Catholic priests starting apostolates to defend the Catholic Faith. Soon, however, understanding that controlling the opposition would be necessary to make their project succeed, the CIA tasked Skull and Bones members, such as William F. Buckley, to infiltrate the movement in the United States and asked French Intelligence to begin a controlled opposition group in Europe. The latter was led by the son of the MI6 Agent, Rene Lefebvre. The history of the SSPX explains the operation: recruit all the vocations who oppose Vatican II and put them in an ideological gulag, so as to destroy anyone who opposed the agenda; take control of all traditional chapels in the world and shut 90% of them down, and shift the goal posts from opposing Vatican II because it was heretical, to taking control of traditional Catholics and making them feel unfaithful unless they are faithful to the SSPX, keeping the narrative on the liturgy and “not being in schism” from the CIA controlled Vatican; and instilling the fear of “sedevacantism” as a distraction from the Catholic Solution, which would have been what St. Hildebrand did in the election of Pope Nicholas II in 1058.

The Sedevacantist movement for its part was begun, in Mexico by the Jesuit Padre Joaquín Sáenz y Arriaga, who wrote with others under the pen-name of Maurice Pinay, “The Plot Against the Church”, a book which quoted extensively from the 1924 work, by Zionist Rabbi Louis Israel Newman, “Jewish Influence in Christian Reform Movements”, and which was distributed to all the Council Fathers at Vatican II, apparently in conjunction with the efforts of the Coetus Internationalis Patrum, led by Archbishop Lefebvre, whose father was a MI6 agent. Despite having a doctorate in Canon Law Arriaga waited until 1971 to declare the Apostolic See vacant by reason of the post election heresies of Paul VI.

In the English speaking world, Sedevacantism was begun by a thrice convicted pederast in the United States, and then spread round the world, as different priests, either out of ambition or to have a quick fix, sought consecration as Bishops from various Bishops, in and out of communion with the Catholic Church.

In Argentina, the Sedevacantism movement was founded by Carlos Alberto Desasndro, close friend of Juan Peron, the Dictator, whom Licio Gelli, founder of the CIA P2 Lodge, claimed to have personally inducted to Freemasonry, during his visit to Madrid in 1973.

To achieve the destructive goals of the CIA, most Sedevacantists have invented their own novel doctrine regarding sacramental validity and thus excuse themselves of any effort to oppose the CIA project, because “You know, none of them have ever received valid sacraments, and the Catholic Church no longer exists except in our chapels”.

The latest flip-flop of Trad Inc. in accepting Francis 2.0, is now being attacked by the Neo-Sedevacantists, so as to psychologically debilitate and distract Catholics from the invalid election of Prevost and encourage them to run into the wilderness and give up all hope of restoring the Church at Rome, so as to have a Catholic Pope.

The Traditional Catholic Movement has gone from denouncing line by line of Vatican II, to closing their eyes about the difference between “munus” and “ministerium”, and refusing to read the Papal Law on Conclaves, to see if the rules were followed in the Conclave of May, 2025.* — They have become a know-nothing, despair and surrender operation, which constantly abandons the faithful and insists they do nothing, and urges them at least to embrace the errors of the Vatican, in the hope that someday they will get a few more Latin Masses, while urging that everyone remain calm and “work with” the CIA selected Bishops and Popes.

The common ideological position of all these groups is juridical positivism, a masonic error which is absolutely necessary to keep Catholics from reacting as they did in the Middle Ages when civil powers attempted to install their own antipopes.

As for the Traditionalist Movement, after observing their behavior for 45 years, I am convinced that the leadership are all Freemasons and Intelligence assets or agents, because they have achieved the wildest dreams the CIA might have contemplated when they aimed in 1953 to destroy the Catholic Church and convince Catholics to accept that.

** For example, they can read a 50+ page report on the TLM Mass worldwide, but not 4 paragraphs in the Papal Law on Conclaves. They can hail and report of how Westen’s ousting at LifeSite News is “null and void”, but they cannot even suffer to hear that Francis 2.0’s own election was null and void. — Thus it should be obvious that they are gaslighting you and distracting you from reality, with their games and theatrical acts.

Church History, Ecclesiology, Faith, News

The Birth of Neo-Sedevacantism

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by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

I first began using the Internet back in 1991, and as an apostolate in 1993, when in my former institute I was tasked by my superiors to put the entire order on the web. I am thus a sort of dinosaur, since I have 34 years of experience and generally I have seen every kind of grift there is out there, and crossed swords with not a few of the leading figures. But since 2013, a new generation of social media apostolates have been launched by laymen, all targeting Catholics and aiming to prevent them to react to the problems in the Church as Catholics of old did.

To do this, they engage in limited hangouts, the intelligence agency term for pretending to be a friend in the opposition, but doing and not doing everything necessary to prevent the opposition from unifying and acting against your paymasters.

From Feb. 11, 2013 to Dec. 31, 2023, their mantra was, “Benedict validly resigned”, and from March 13, 2013, to April 21, 2025, it was, “Pope Francis is definitely the pope”.

Most of these old guard grifters then began their new game of “Leo XIV is certainly the pope”.

This group of misinformation experts are seemingly in the direct employ of deeply dishonest stage-actors among the College of Cardinals, because their one ideological principle of unity is: Don’t you dare question the integrity or honesty of the Cardinals, and Don’t you dare take any action without their approval.

But there is a new Grift in town, laicism on steroids

Since Vatican II a lot of laymen have been pushing the Masonic Agenda of taking down the Church from within, by becoming active and influential while refusing to join the priesthood or become religious. They see the laity who are faithful has having more rights to govern the Church than bishops and priests. And they have been itching for years to grab power, a thing they could not do in the old grifter regime, which assiduously waited hand and foot on the tassels of this or that Cardinal or traditionalist Bishop.

And this new grift-theme is a thing which I call, “Neo-Sedevacantism”.

The apparent leader of this movement appears to be Chris Jackson, who for 13 years has written articles using as his personal photograph, the photo of a journalist from 1940, back in the first years of press control by the then Department of War. It’s not glizy but it’s very retro looking.

His circle appears to include Nicholas Owens and Steve Kokx, at the very least. Frank Walker of Canon212.com is strongly promoting them and all their posts, as if they suddenly graduated from the school of journalism and were running professional newspapers. By all accounts none of them has any credentials to write on topics of Faith, Theology or Canon Law.

I am not even sure if “Chris Jackson” exists, because it seems to be a nom-du-plume for a group of writers, since he publishes much to much material of various topics to imagine that he is a dad holding down a full time job anywhere. He may be a priest writing under an assume name, yes. But seeing that leading members of Trad Inc. from the hard right of Michael Matt to the left of center Peter Skojec have allowed him to use a fake photograph for more than a decade, he must be someone or some group which is very influential and in an executive position in comparison to them.

This was emphasized yesterday when Steve Kokx, recently let go from LifeSite News, wrote a “Chris is the only hero of the moment” post, on his own substack, a work of such oozing propaganda, that I will let you read it on your own time, here.

Steve has not been out of a job in more than like a week and he is already in ideological lockstep with Jackson and others, in rolling out reasons to return once again to the topic of sedevacantism, while they join in a barrage of attacks on Cardinal Burke, who is not by any means or measure the only Cardinal responsible for the debacle of the last 13 years. But as they chose the standard cut-out punching bag to blame, it is for certain that they are involved in a Narrative Game, not in a Christian based ethical project.

The barbs that all of these writers place at key points in their posts on Substack, is making it more and more clear that what they are working toward, in my estimation, seems to be:

  1. A Church without a Pope
  2. A Diocese without a Bishop
  3. A Notion of fidelity to the Church which does not include submission to
    1. A Pope
    2. The Church of Rome
    3. The Sacred Hierarchy
    4. The Priesthood

I call their project “Neo-Sedevacantism”, because unlike the Sedevacantists of previous decades, who were content to say the Popes of Rome were heretics, or that the Sacraments of Vatican II were null and invalid, were scrupulous to find traditional Bishops and promote vocations of men to the traditional priesthood or of women and men to traditional religious life, they seem to want laymen to have all the influence and be the gatekeepers and founders of the whole psyop.

This new movement however, has the mantra of “Recognize and Withdraw” from the communion of the Church. They are like the Old-Orthodox in the Russian Orthodox Church, but are have arguments more substantial than how the name of Jesus is spelled in Cyrillic.

That this group is strongly backed by some other network can be seen in how many thousands of followers they are garnering in a very short time, an phenomenon which is quite disproportionate to the value and quality of their writings.

I do not exclude, because of their ideological position, and because of Frank Walker’s support, that they are backed by Russian Federation agents of some sort, since they are basically following the same lines of schism as lay-run Russian Orthodox splinter groups follow.

UPDATE: Feast of Saint Alexis, Man of God — Ann Barnhardt seems to be a supporter of Chris Jackson too, on account of her recent blog post, entitled, “I want to be Chris Jackson when I grow up“, a really hilarious title, if you know anything about Ann. But this is no surprise to me, because she nearly had a mental breakdown in the spring of 2022, when she heard I had hitchhiked to Warsaw to help Ukrainian refugees from the war. You see, she has a profound admiration for Vladimir Putin.

This circle is obviously a heretical and schismatic movement, and I urge all my readers to pay attention to the writings of anyone pushing this agenda. In your social media interactions, point out that their proposal is NOT the Catholic way. The Catholic way is helping the Church of Rome elect a Catholic Pope and supporting him against the anti-popes installed by the enemies of the Church, for it is the Roman Pontiff who is the Vicar of Christ on Earth, and it is the Roman Church which presides before all others in the charity which unifies us in the Truth which is Jesus Christ, by the charism of Her unique foundation. — And this Catholic Way has a specific project, aimed at doing the most momentous thing the Church of Rome can do in the face of this Globalist takeover of the Church by the anti-pope Leo XIV: it is called the “Save Rome Project, and you can read about it here.

Note, it is not my attention to attribute inaccurately any belief, idea or project to any person, so, if anyone mentioned in this article believes I have mischaracterized his behavior or writings, I will most willingly correct the article and/or post his brief rebuttal, here below.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us!

Church History

Today is the 952nd Anniversary of the Enthronement of Pope St. Gregory VII

Editor’s Note: I share above a link to the life of Saint Hildebrand, who was consecrated Roman Pontiff today, 952 years ago. It is with his elevation to the Apostolic Throne that the Gregorian Reform of the Church began: a restoration of ecclesiastical discipline in which priests were required to give up their mistresses and clerics who purchased promotions were degraded to the state of laymen.

I recalled this momentous event in the life of the Church, 12 days before the Risen Lord visited Jorge Mario Bergoglio) in an elevator heading downwards and judged him), because of the very influential article, in Polish, entitled, “Waiting for Gregorian Reform 2.0”, published in English on Sept. 7, 2018, by Polonia Christiana, and written by the famous historian, Grzegorz Kucharczyk, who was the first to point out the powerful solution used 1000 years ago at the First Provincial Council of Sutri.

Pope Nicholas II — who in his famous Bull, In Nomine Domine, taught that in cases of irregular or corrupt elections of a anti-pope at Rome, the Catholic Faithful “obtained the right to be able” (ius potestatis) to hold a second election, of a true Catholic Pope — was also an intimate collaborator with Saint Hildebrand, years before, when he held the Second Provincial Council of Sutri in 1059 and deposed the uncanonically elected antipope Benedict X, who had been put into power by the powerful Tuscan Party.

In this year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Five, we appear to be living in the footsteps and shadows of these two great men who dedicated their lives to the reform of the Church and the defense of the Papacy. By their prayers and example, may new generation of the Faithful, loyal to the same ideas, be raised up by the Holy Spirit to save the Church from the Lavender and godless Mafia which have seized the Vatican.

I encourage you to take 10 minutes or so and read the life of St Hildebrand (Gregory VII), and ask yourself if there is any group in the Church right now which exhorts its members to act as he and his allies did in the 11th century?

Church History, Faith

Cardinal Sarah: ‘Fiducia supplicans’ is heretical!

Editor’s Note: An honest man who meant what he said, and confronted with a Conclave result whereby his peers violated the rules and elected a supporter of Fiducia supplicans, would never accept any position in the new regime, without first demanding a public renunciation of the heresy he professed to support in October of 2024.

Catholics can try to bury their heads in the sands of artificial denials of reality. But the honest truth is that Cardinal Sarah is either a liar 8 months ago, or he is a liar now. Because he is not being consistent with what he has publicly professed.

Crazed persons, seeing this, lash out at Catholics who notice what is going on, and insist that we too gouge out our eyes and sell our souls to Satan by embracing the lie.

True Catholics don’t act like this. For it is common sense that when Sarah said last year, that the document taught heresy, he was telling the truth; and when he voted to violate the Papal Rule on 120 Cardinal Electors, maximum, he was not being honest. Nor is he being honest by accepting a position in the regime of Provost without have received a public denial of the heresy he denied.

Religion is not politics. In politics is may be dishonest to support one policy before an election and change your position afterwards to be part of the Government. But in matters of the true Faith, there is no “may be”, it is is called apostasy, because not only do you pretend the Sacred Name of God is not such an important thing to protect, but you pretend on a stage before the whole world, that the controversy is was never anything really important.

And for Cardinal Riggitano-Prevost to send Sarah, the compromised by grave and scandalous behavior of surrendering to a heretic, to the holiest shrine of Saint Anne, the mother of Our Lady, in all the world, is a way to mock the Catholic Faith in a manner most intimate, not to mention outrage the Blessed Virgin Herself. — So when anyone claims that Riggitano has a lot of devotion to Our Lady, ask him to confront the facts.

From a political point of view, Prevost, by this insignificant appointment, is also telling the French, that they have to accept Africans in their country, even at their most holiest of shrines.  Prevost, like all Mafia of St. Gallen members (who back in 2016 faulted the African Clergy on a racial basis, plus Here and Here), is also showing his racism (more on that here), because this appointment is like saying, “You stupid Africans who reject Gay Blessings! You still believe in such things as Saint Anne. So go ahead with your simple minded piety, and let us enlightened whites at the Vatican open up the Gates of Hell for the rest of the world!’

Church History

Vatican affirms that for 1000 years Popes were elected by Laity & Clergy of Rome

Editor’s Note: For those who have been reading FromRome.Info for that last 3 years, you and I both know that this report by Vatican News is going to cause a lot persons such as Andrea Cionci, Don Minutella, Attorney Acosta, and Ann Barnhardt to choke or croak, because more than 2 years ago they went on social media to crucify and totally destroy the good names of all the readers of FromRome.Info, who as perfect and faithful Catholics, recognizing that Pope Benedict XVI was the only true pope until his death, militated at great personal cost to themselves, financially and physically, to see that he had a juridically valid successor, even if the Cardinals refused to elect one, as they did.

I post this for the record, even though we all know that we will never receive an apology from those who, not being members of the Church of Rome, wanted to make up their own rules for the election of Popes, and still do, insisting recently that only Cardinals nominated before Feb. 11, 2013 are valid and that the present conclave will result in nothing else but an anti-pope.

However, I am exceptionally glad that Vatican News publishes this article, since, if the College of Cardinals elects a man, denounced in accord with the Papal Law, Cum ex apostolatus officio, by any Cardinal, elector or not, as a manifest heretic, then if the Cardinals will not elect another, the Catholic Cardinals can either call another conclave or convoke the second Assembly of Apostolic Rite in the last 1000 years. And if they do, you can bet I will keep you all informed about it and attend, since I remain a member of the Church at Rome, with an ecclesiastical valid residence allowing me to participate in such an Assembly.

And since in Assemblies of Apostolic Right all Cardinals, electors or not, and all the clergy of the Church at Rome can participate with the laity, we are much more apt to get a truly Catholic pope than in the present Conclave to begin in two days.

Let us keep praying for the Cardinals, electors or not, that they do the will of God and save the Church from the malign intentions of the pro-Bergoglians.

Canon Law, Church History, Debates

The Article which launched “Sutri” as THE solution to the Crisis in the Church

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Editor’s Note: The fake opposition of grifters who just want your likes, favs, shares, email subscriptions and money, have been lamenting the scandals perpetrated by Pope Francis for years, but never proposing solutions, because (1) they don’t have the courage, (2) and its counter-productive to grifting.

But FromRome.Info, in its aim to inform its readers not only of the problems and scandals in the Church, but of the solutions, was one of the first to make known in the West the article by Dr. Grzegorz Kucharczyk (a noted historian who writes for the Polish Magazine, “Polonia Christiana”), published in English, on September 7, 2018, entitled, “Waiting for the Gregorian Reform 2.0“, which reminded Christendom of the First Council of Sutri, which deposed 3 unworthy claimants to the Apostolic Throne.

Back in 2018, even Church Militant had the guts to make the article known to its readers. But now, no one is left standing, except FromRome.Info.  Back in 2018, even some Traditionalists mentioned it. But now they won’t touch it from the distance of a light year, a thing which shows that they are not about Tradition at all, but are in truth an operation which wants a side chapel, all to themselves, in a one world-religion.

I am reprinting this article by this noted Polish historian, because the previous links to it, from FromRome.Info are being flagged as “dangerous” by some security programs.  And to me, that means, that I should shout it out all the louder.

It is needless, to say, to the readers of FromRome.Info, who it is, who not only heard out what this Polish academic said, but investigated, researched, and studied canon law, to show how it can be done again today, and under what precise canonical and juridical conditions: The Sutri Initiative. For, many of you have joined and participated and already wrote the Bishops of the Roman Province asking for this.

So if anyone says, that Br. Bugnolo cooked up the whole “Sutri” idea on his own, share with them this article from Polonia Christiana, which even Church Militant no longer has the courage to share. And ask yourselves, why is it that 7 years ago, they could talk about it, but now it is forbidden by their handlers? And who are their handlers, after all?

And as for my readers who are Polish, I ask you to contact this Professor of History and send him the information about the Sutri Initiative, and ask him to endorse it and popularize it in Poland, because so far, the few letters received by the Bishops of the Roman Province have not yet been enough to convince them to act.

Church History

An Exposé of Pope Francis

More than 4 years ago the Catholic Radio-TV online station, Ordo Militaris Radio TV, did this exposé on Pope Francis. Back then most Catholics had not yet realized how much propaganda surrounded him and knowledge about him. — Now that the narrative control has broken, FromRome.Info invites you again to watch this detailed investigation into the life and person of Jorge Mario Bergoglio and how he came to power in the Vatican. — Because Pope Benedict XVI never renounced, and was still alive when this video was produced, Pope Francis is called by his baptismal name, “Jorge Mario Bergoglio” in it, throughout, because in the Catholic Church there can only be 1 legitimate pope at any given time.

2013 Conclave, Church History, Next Conclave

Emanuela Orlandi and the Renunciation of Pope Benedict XVI

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by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Traduzione Italiana

It is with a heavy heart that I write this article. I write it because I am beholden to facts and reasons in all explanations I give or attempt to give. I have written more about the Renunciation of Pope Benedict XVI than perhaps any other author, including those who have written books, since there at from Rome it is the principle topic of more than 10,000 articles. I have advanced many more speculative explanations than others too, and some of my conjectures and reconstructions have been accepted by famous and notable persons such as Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò (the Great Catholic Reset) and Andrea Cionci (the Ratzinger Code).

An Introduction

But now, after Roberto Morassut, the vice-president of the Italian Senatorial Commission investigating the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi and Mirella Gregori has come to the same conclusion that I did, though about 14 months later than myself, I consider it my duty once again to connect the dots and draw out the figure no matter where those dots lead.

I have discussed this in English, yesterday, as Part 6 of the investigation into the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi conducted by AJ Baalman at Ordo Militaris Radio TV, a report every Catholic with a strong stomach and stronger faith needs to listen to if they want to know what is really been going on in the Church since 1983:

And, for the background, this report from FanPage.it, which details the conclusion of the investigation:

The article is in Italian, but I consider it necessary in such an important matter to quote the original, before I summarize it, as was done in the above show at OMC Ratio TV.

The explanation of how Roberto Morrasut arrived at his conclusion is given in that show, so I won’t repeat it here, as it deserves a very detailed explanation, and if you do not know all the facts of the Orlandi case it is easy to miss or dismiss. So watch that show before you continue reading this present Article of mine.

The Renunciation of Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI was an academic and book-lover. I understand the personality because my own Father was an academic and booklover, and I am at least of the number of the latter, if not formally of the former, since I never pursued a graduate degree in anything or taught in a University or College.

This type of man is inclined to be both innocent and myopic in his intellectual affairs, that is, not that he does not read many topics, but that his attention is to things intellectual and textual, and not on the goings on around him. He does not have, by nature, the forensic mentality of the policeman who has worked in a City arresting and investigating all kinds of criminals on a daily basis throughout decades of his professional career in law enforcement. This latter kind of man can, with a single glance, detect who is up to something criminal. I know this because one of these once gave me a brief lesson in paying attention, by taking me to a supermarket and pointing out to me in the space of two or three minutes 5 persons involved in shoplifting! in a supermarket that was going to be closed down, because it had been overrun by a local criminal petty-theft ring.

This latter kind of man does not miss a thing, literally. But the former man can live among thieves and criminals of even the worst kind for an entire lifetime and never see a thing. Criminals consider the first kind of man totally naive, and the latter kind of man their worst enemy and nightmare.

And thus it was that Pope Benedict XVI was elected to the Apostolic Throne in April of 2005. For he was apparently the only man in the heart of the Vatican who had no idea what had been going on since 1983, when Emanuela Orlandi disappeared.

He had been made Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on Nov. 25, 1981, just 18 months before the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi on June, 22 1983. At that time his office did not have the duty to oversee sex-abuse cases committed by clergy: that was the duty of the Congregation for the Clergy. The new Code of Canon Law was not yet published, that would happen on January 25, 1983, some 14 months later.

So when Emanuela disappeared it is quite possible that Cardinal Ratzinger knew nothing of the case and paid it no attention, other than the fact that the girl was a citizen of Vatican City, for at that time the common opinion was that she disappeared in the streets of Rome, as one of the many girls who disappear annually in cities of the world, all over the world, and are forgotten by all but their family. One of the great tragedies of the world.

But on Dec. 17, 2012 A. D., nearly 31 years and 6 months after the disappearance of Emanuela, there was placed on the desk, as it were, the 6 boxes of documentation prepared by the Commission of 3 Cardinals, whom the now Pope Benedict XVI had tasked with investigating the corruption at the Vatican, with particular attention to sex-trafficking.

He probably began this investigation because of the testimony brought to him by none other than Father Gabriel Amorth, the famous Exorcist of Rome, who spoke about it in his recent book, published that spring, as was reported here on May 22, 2012 by the U.K. Telegraph:

It has been 13 years, nearly, since that report, but I now surmise that on Dec. 17, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI learned, at last, the truth of the matter, which Morassut just pointed to: namely, that Emanuela was kidnapped and murdered to conceal her pregnancy by none other than Pope John Paul II himself and his friends, who “took her to bed” in the Vatican, and that the very man at whose side he worked for so many years, the man whom he had even BEATIFIED as a living saint, was rather one of the most foul and devious men in the history of the Papacy.*

This truth, realized, broke Pope Benedict XVI. If he remained Pope he would have to expose it, or hide it. Pope John Paul II’s canonization was already being prepared. Pope Benedict XVI would have to perform the ceremony himself, or make some excuse which would lead to even greater scrutiny.

So he did a thing, which no courageous man would do, he resigned. And since he feared the legal complications of being involved in a cover up, he gave up all governance of the Vatican while retaining all the immunity in law of a Pope.

And this is the reason why he renounced the ministry and not the munus of the Petrine Office!

And everyone in the Vatican also knew this, because the contents of the report were already in the most secret gossip channels of the city state.

If this reconstruction is correct, then it explains many things, which still to this day are inexplicable.

  1. Why all the Cardinals insist Pope Benedict XVI validly abdicated
  2. Why all the Cardinals faithful to Pope Benedict XVI did not want him to resign and yet are the most vocal in insisting he did
  3. Why none of the Cardinals who were enemies of Pope Benedict XVI took the position that his resignation was invalid or tolerate any discussion of it
  4. Why a creep of the likes of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, himself involved in covering up all the sex-crimes of the Archdiocese of Buenas Aires (a known fact which is disputed by no one) and perhaps even a sexual groomer himself (as Archbishop Viganò claims there are testimonies in favor of), was elected in the faux Conclave of 2013
  5. Why Bergoglio did not even to pretend to assist in the investigation of the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi until 3 days after the Funeral of Pope Benedict XVI
  6. Why no one in the Vatican, currently, or who previously worked there, except Viganò who has been excommunicated, knows anything about the Orlandi Case or if they do, are willing to speak about it.
  7. Why no one in the Vatican, currently, or who previously worked there, excepting Viganò who has been excommunicated, appears willing to discuss the munus vs. ministerium problem.
  8. Why no one in the Vatican seemingly can figure out why the Renunciation is invalid or the Conclave of 2013 canonically null and void.
  9. Why the faux Conclave of 2013 elected a Pope to grovel before the world, doing everything possible to appear favorable to the press and even thanking them for covering up scandals
  10. Why a man like Pope John Paul II would ask Father Rupnik, S. J. to decorate his private chapel with sexually inspired art.

Conclusion

If everything I have said above is correct, then Pope Benedict XVi resigned because he fled before the wolves, primarily speaking. He renounced the ministerium not the munus on purpose with the primary intent to protect himself, personally. And he kept silent about the entire matter of Orlandi and his failed Renunciation, insisting he was no longer running the Vatican, to avoid having anything to do with the case or its revelation.

In other words, Pope Benedict XVI was a tragic figure, who in the last great moral battle of his life, failed God, himself and the Church, and humanly speaking, failed most of all this little girl of 15 years, who disappeared and was never found again.

POSTSCRIPT: I consider the importance of getting to the truth of what happened to Emanuela Orlandi, a citizen of the Vatican City State, of a family who served 7 popes, whose father was a clerk in the Pontifical Household of Pope John Paul II, and lived nearby, and who was herself known to Pope John Paul II, something more important than the reputation of any Pope, precisely because a Pope is gravely obligated to be a living saint and a man of the highest moral integrity. The Case of Emanuela Orlandi obviously impinges upon 3 recent Popes, and as it is it cannot be denied to also impugn their reputations.

This article has been written to answer the question as to what kind of Conspiracy was at the basis of the Renunciation. If true, it means that the next Pope will have a herculean task of saving the reputation of the Church from the most ghastly and horrible crimes against a Catholic Family at the Vatican, ever known to have been perpetrated and covered up by 3 popes. I have written for this purpose, because I love Catholic families everywhere and want them protected from criminals and perverts. But I have written it also, so that Catholics might share it, thus, that in the next Conclave all the Cardinals may know the gig is up and that the only way they can extricate themselves from personal responsibility in this horrendous and monstrous conspiracy, is for them to elect someone not involved to put an end to this evil silence and drain this foul and evil swamp!

FootNote: While it is true that Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the personal secretary of Pope John Paul II in those years has categorically denied this construction of facts about the late Pope, as recently as April 17, 2023, it must be noted that he himself is now being brought before an ecclesiastical commission after being accused of being one of a group of priests who sodomized young men during orgies, while he was still in Poland and served the future Pope, as is reported here on January 7, 2025. An ironic turn of events which only adds to the preponderance of evidence in favor of the principle thesis of my Article. Moreover, on the same day in April 2023, Pope Francis himself denied that “Pope John Paul II went out at night prowling for young girls”. Yet, that is not even the substance of the accusation. In fact it only rebuts the speculation of a minor witness. This is the classic limited denial to disinform. And the substance of Pope Francis’ argument was that John Paul II was canonized; the faithful accept it: so shut up! — Now, that strategy is no longer going to work.

UPDATE: This article, which was appearing in Google & DuckduckGo search results under “Orlandi, Pope Benedict XVI” for the first 36 hours after its publication is now being censored totally, ostensibly at the request of the Vatican. Instead both engines are flooding results for this same query with link to events from 2023 or earlier, even when you select, “reports in the last week”.  That is, they are breaking their own search engines to hide this article!

This coordinated state sponsored censorship of this news is not new. For when the audio testimony linking John Paul II to the disapperance first made it to non-state controlled Italian TV in early January of 2023, a flurry of articles appeared to discount it, like this one in the Italian version of Huffington Post, in an unsigned article citing an unnamed German journal, which is alleged to have claimed that the real reason for the Resignation was, “insomnia”. Yeah, I am sure it was! This highly-likely USAID funded propaganda site was clearly attempting to keep the truth under raps.

This article read in Italian:

Church History, Editorials, Moral Theology

Moral Responsibility in Ecclesiastical vs. Political Elections: Jan. 30, 2023

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by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Traduction français

Since the death of Pope Benedict XVI new cults and sects have arisen which focus around novel ideas of juridical and ecclesiastical right. Not all of these are sedevacantist, for an equal number are also globalist and willingly recognize Pope Francis as always having been pope.

But since these errors regard topics which are never quoted by “Traditionalists” or “Conservatives”, though the latter do mention “morality” at election time — their only morals left being the assertion that “it is a mortal sin not to vote for a Masonic politician of the right” — it will be important to review a few basic Catholic truths to distinguish the true Faith from the doctrines of sectarians.

First of all, in ecclesiastical elections, like civil elections, there is a moral responsibility for all who have the right to vote, to make a decision. However, this does not equate to the moral responsibility to vote. Because in a system where there are only a few candidates, whose names are chosen by a Masonic elite, you are never obliged to vote for any of them.

But in an ecclesiastical election, by the norms of Canon Law and ecclesiastical tradition, everyone with a right to vote is free to vote for whomsoever he will, even if, at later stages in the voting the number of possible victorious candidates is reduced to only a few. This freedom shows how the Catholic system is much more sane and liberal than any modern “democracy”, where the masses are never entrusted with such discernment or decisions.

And yes, in an ecclesiastical election just as in a civil election, you are not obliged to even show up for the vote. However, while not exercising your right to vote in a civil election nearly never makes any difference, due to the high numbers of those who have the right to vote, in an ecclesiastical election it always makes a difference, due to the low numbers of electors.

Thus, if you do not come to vote, in an ecclesiastical election, you have the much greater moral responsibility for the outcome than someone who came and voted against the one who ultimately won. Similar situations can also arise in civil elections in parliaments, of course.

Thus, when it comes to voting for a Roman Pontiff, electors have a very grave duty to take their responsibilities seriously. In a Conclave, for example, when the election involves just 120+ electors, not attending the Conclave, by law, means that you cannot vote afterwards: but morally speaking it also means you consent to whatever is the outcome.

Certain immature individuals never accept the outcomes of elections and say things like, “He is not my President”, or “He is not my Pope”. In the former, they never act out on their virtue signalling, though some emigrate for a time from their country. In the Church there have been but rare cases of schisms caused by persons or groups not accepting an uncontested election.

But in the case of an election of the Roman Pontiff by Apostolic Right, the Faithful of the whole Roman Church — the Diocese of Rome and all the suburbican dioceses — are all responsible for the outcome. That is why in ancient times they meet immediately and without delay, if they could, and elected holy men. There are dozens of saints who were popes before 1058, when the College of Cardinals was established. There are but a handful since that time, in the last 1000 years. A fact that should cause all of us to stop and think.

So in the recent and extraordinary juridical case of a pope who appears to renounce but does not, or who is pushed out of power by a College of Cardinals in total rebellion, but who tricks them by an intelligent ruse, after his death the only ones likely to vote for his successor are the Faithful of Rome who paid close attention to his words and did what he himself urged to be done, elect his successor by those who are competent, that is, who have the right to do so, in such extraordinary circumstances, wholly outside the presumed conditions which would exist in the time of a papal election, as are provided for in the current Papal Law, Universi Dominici gregis.

And thus we come to the most sober consideration: that everyone at Rome who refused to attend that Assembly is entirely responsible morally and juridically for the election of the one who was elected there, just as all the clergy and faithful of Rome who held Pope Francis to be the pope from 2013 to this day, and thus who did not attend. Merely claiming that you held Pope Benedict XVI to be the pope until death does not excuse you from responsibility. Nay it magnifies it to an infinite degree.

Even those who had no right to vote, are morally responsible, and gravely so, if they did anything to encourage electors not to attend or took steps not to inform them or encourage them to exercise their right.

If you could have prevented an unworthy candidate from being elected, and did not, then you are gravely responsible, and cannot be saved if you never repent of this.

At the same time, for those who did attend, there’s was a responsibility greater than the cult leaders and grifters who talk about controversies in the Church to gain money or attention. They had to do the utmost to protect the Church, with the men who were willing. They had to balance the salvation of the whole body against the interest of a few. These faithful Catholics, betrayed and abandoned by everyone but the readers of FromRome had also to prevent another Assembly being called by nefarious voices who would elect someone even worse than Bergoglio or someone who had no desire to promote the unity of the Church after his death, putting the Church in a century long internal schism. They had to find a candidate that most Catholics would accept; a candidate whose acceptance would be morally certain, and by whose acceptance the whole body of the Faithful would return again into communion with Christ.

Also, in this matter, it is important to note that the concept of Quorum in elections is also important to consider. The Quorum rule in most modern “democracies” guarantees that no minority will enact a law or decision which binds the majority. In some ecclesiastical elections there are Quorum rules, But in elections of the Roman Pontiff there never has been a Quorum rule, neither in a Conclave, nor in an Assembly of Apostolic Right. Precisely because, in morals, if you do not come you have in fact voted for whoever has won, whether you like the outcome or not. This is why even if all the clergy do not come, they have in fact voted for whoever has won.

That these few electors on January 30, 2023 A. D., are so viscerally hated by all grifters and cult leaders and “Bergoglio is certainly the pope” fake opposition, shows that they did the will of God against all the fanatics of Hell.

While we are not privy to the decisions than many generations of Cardinals had to make in Conclaves, during the last thousand years, to hold the Church together and protect her from persecution, we can be sure that many times many honest and holy men had to make similar decisions. Of them we know nothing on account of the Pontifical Secret to which all Cardinals are bound, in Conclaves, however.

In postcript: a certain uninformed civil attorney in South America, who never studied in an ecclesiastical institution, has been reporting that since a certain Pope denied that the people can elect their own bishops, that therefore the election of a Roman Pontiff by the faithful of Rome is never lawful. Her argument is a sophism of the kind condemned long ago by Aristotle, where you take one statement which denies a thing (by the People) and apply it to a fact which regards another thing (the Faithful) and draws a conclusion of the undistributed middle term, as it is called in logic. It’s the most common way to deceive or lie, and is often used by lawyers. This attorney, if their thesis was correct, would have to become a protestant, since their conclusion leads to the implication that there were no legitimate Popes until 1058 when an illegitimate pope established the College of Cardinals. Idiots might find that line of reasoning sound. But all sane men from every age shall laugh at them on the Day of Judgement!

Canon Law, Church History, Debates

Pope Benedict XVI’s Declaratio: A ‘Munus’ which keeps on giving

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by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Traduction française  — Traduzione italiana

Nearly 12 years ago, Pope Benedict XVI read aloud in the Clementine Hall, before the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, assembled for the approbation of 3 groups of Saints, his now famous “Declaratio”, an administrative act which announced that he was to renounce the “ministry … which he received through the hands of the Cardinals …” as of Feb. 28, of that year. The document, rife with errors in Latin and juridical concepts, was immediately recognized by even the most main stream publications as the BBC (see Feb. 28, 2013 report here) to risk splitting the Church in two and making the man to be elected in the upcoming Conclave an anti-pope.

His conscious, free decision to renounce the ministerium rather than the munus of the Roman Pontiff was the cause and origin of the controversy, which is mocked by those-still-in-denial after 12 years, as “Benevacantism”, a term coined by Steve Skojec, founder of 1 Peter 5.

But ironically, Pope Benedict XVI’s Great Error — unlike Pope Celestine V’s “Great Refusal” — is a gift, that is, a munus, which keeps on giving, because whatsoever was his intention, and whatsoever is the opinion of any observer, Pope Benedict XVI’s action began a great divorce in the Church, between the juridical order and the church of appearances.

For from the moment that he neglected or failed to actually renounce the Petrine Munus (as he had apparently announced he would do) on Feb. 28, 2013, the Apostolic See has been in a state equivalent to an impeded see, with the entire Roman Curia and Courts deprived of all legal right to act and issue any decisions or judgements, and Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who came out of the illegal and uncanonical Conclave of 2013, as Pope Francis, of all right to govern the Church. This is because, the entire Roman Curia operates licitly and validly only inasmuch as they assist the Roman Pontiff in the exercise of his Petrine Ministry. When he refuses to do this, they cease to have any legitimacy.

This has made all of Pope Francis’ acts, statements, documents, letters etc. and treaties since March 13, 2013, until the death of Pope Benedict XVI on Dec. 31, 2022, null and void, without effect.

But that is not only their only effect.

For because so many unfaithful and cowardly men, followed by so many uninformed and lazy Catholics, have recognized Pope Francis as a legitimate pope throughout this time, they have accepted his illicit alterations of the Code of Canon Law and reorganization of the Roman Curia, such that, now, even after the death of Pope Benedict XVI, every act of the Roman Curia and every judgement of the Apostolic Signatura and Roman Rota, as well as every penal process, in tribunal or by administrative decree, throughout the whole Church, which is based on those changes, is legally null in void, that is irritus, because it has not cited the correct and authentic canons of the Church, or has emanated from justices which hold no canonical mandate issued by a Roman Pontiff holding the Petrine Munus, or is issued by an office of the Roman Curia which has never legally existed, being created by Pope Francis during his antipapacy.

This gift of Pope Benedict XVI keeps on giving, also, because of the faithful and courageous action of the Roman Catholics at Rome, who resorting to their Apostolic Right to elect the Roman Pontiff, granted them by Saint Peter the Apostle themselves, elected Pope Francis the Roman Pontiff to satisfy canon 331 and to reestablish the basics of juridical order in the Church, while yet omitting to inform him of his election,* so that he would not reissue by valid decree those documents which he issued invalidly without legal right as antipope.

Now, the next Conclave can give the Church a valid Successor of Saint Peter, who can begin the Great Catholic Reset. The Great Reset which Pope Benedict XVI, unwittingly or consciously, prepared with his Declaratio of Feb. 11, 2013.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once remarked, that the day would come when the laity would save the Church, and that day came two years ago, on January 30, 2023, at the Assembly held to elect Pope Benedict XVI’s successor, just as Pope Benedict XVI — may he rest in peace — indicated in his Declaratio, an election “by those who were competent” to act.

** An election by Apostolic Right, since the Apostle laid down no written law concerning it, operates under the terms of Natural Law, where if one already claims to hold an office, his acceptance of any election to it is tacitly assumed de facto and de jure. So there is no need that the one elected explicitly and verbally indicate his acceptance of that election, his acceptance is automatic by reason of his habitual prior claim to the office.

Canon Law, Church History, Editorials

Siscoe: The Church can depose a heretical pope in Council

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Commentary with a History of the Sutri Initiative by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Many Italian Catholics are followers of Andrea Cionci and think that he is outstanding for recommending that they appeal to the Cardinals for a new Conclave to elect a true Pope. As I explained in my critical review of his excellent book, “The Ratzinger Code”, which struck a powerful cord with Italians in Italy, since it was published in Italian, here, to elect another pope is something to be done after removing the heretical pope. Otherwise the Church would schism into two.

So my proposal in October 2023 to remove the heretical pope first, is actually the most Catholic thing to do. But I am not the first to say this. This was said by Robert Siscoe back on September 18, 2014, in the above linked article (Click Image).  Even Rorate Caeli called for a petition in the spring of last year, on May 2, 2024, to remove Pope Francis, though they did not say how this was to be done and even admitted they did not know. Evidently they do not know how to use Google to find the answer.

So Catholics in Italy should not think that the two most famous Italians criticizing Pope Francis, Andrea Cionci and Don Alessandro Minutella, pastor of Saint John Bosco Church, at Palermo, Sicily, are leading lights on this issue: neither chronologically nor canonically. Catholics from the U.S.A. are years a head of them.

Even the idea of petitioning Cardinals, was first launched by myself, using the nom du plum, Gaetano Romano, back in 2016 (see here).  So any idea, that I am opposed to petitions to the Cardinals per se, is simply not true.

The whole dialogue about removing a heretical pope disappeared in 2016, when Ann Barnhardt make her first video about the invalid renunciation of Pope Benedict XVI. My own role in that debate, which I joined in 2018, put that controversy to an end on January 30, 2023, with the juridically valid election of a new pope, according to Apostolic Right, which caused an explosion of hate and the most vile insults, calumnies and declarations from so many who sustained that other investigation, all of which were refuted in Italian here, including the calumnious ones of Andrea Cionci, here.

But, I waited patiently after that and prayed with Jesus Christ for His new Vicar. Only after clear signs of heretical depravity, did I propose the Sutri Initiative again on October 19, 2023.

Nor am I the first to suggest that the imperfect Council which has the authority to remove a heretical pope is the Provincial Council of Bishops in the Ecclesiastical Province of Rome.  This was first pointed out by the Ecclesiastical Historian from Poland, whose spoke about the First Council of Sutri, in 1046, back in August of 2018.  And I followed immediately with an article on  September 11, 2018, since I recognized immediately that this was the correct and historically verified way forward on this issue. Within days, the Remnant followed with its own article about the Council of Sutri, here.

I have stuck to the same opinion and proposed this long before Don Minutella could even explain canonically why the Renunciation of Pope Benedict XVI was invalid, or Cionci had even met me, and thus was spurred to begin his own investigations. I have stuck to the same position even though Robert Siscoe, the author of the top article, turned against those who understood that Pope Benedict XVI remained the true pope until death. I have stuck to the same opinion, even though the Remnant which talked about Sutri in 2018, keeps erasing comments which mention the Sutri Initiative for the last 18 months. I have stuck to the same position, even though Rorate Caeli refuses to say the word, “Sutri”.

Recently many are proposing an “imperfect council” to put Pope Francis on trial. But none speaks of Sutri any more nor speaks of the proper canonical way to do this, explaining the procedure and the canonical justifications for the manner of proceeding without violating the current norms of Canon Law. This is called the Sutri Initiative. — A provincial council at Rome is actually better than an “imperfect council” since it can be convoked in a juridically and canonically valid manner and need not have its acts approved by the Pope, since it is basically a quo warranto action, which is a form of formal communication of facts and testimonies, upon the validity of which alone the Council votes and judges.

And to all those who after 11 years won’t speak of what was spoken about 7 years ago, I can only ask, “Why now, after ‘Fiducia supplicans’ do you ALL insist on getting it wrong? “ Ask yourself whether that makes any other sense or serves any other purpose but keeping the Lavender Mafia in power?

So to all those who think that my apostolate “threatens” or “undermines” the apostolates of other, please be honest with yourselves and take a step back from your idolizing of men and start thinking about how the Church merits your love and your protection. You can go back to your YouTube channels after the problem is solved.