John Paul II approves and celebrates the “lifting” of the excommunications against the “Orthodox”! (Major Heresy!)

Heresy of the Week, Week of 1/16/04 By Bro. Michael Dimond and Bro. Peter Dimond For more see: Heresies of the Week of John Paul II and the Vatican II sect regarding Heretics and Schismatics

Antipope John Paul II, Nov. 29, 2003, to Schismatic Patriarch Bartholomew I: “During the celebrations for this Anniversary, I also thought back over the many events that have marked my commitment to making the Church of Christ breathe more deeply with both her lungs; so that the Churches of the West and of the East, which for one millennium could develop and express their great living traditions together, may draw closer and closer to the full communion that the historical circumstances of the second millennium undermined… Subsequently, through God’s grace, Rome and Constantinople set out on the same path and, before the Council assembly, formally lifted the excommunications of 1054.  We will soon be celebrating the 40th anniversary of this event, the symbol and guarantee of our commitment and resolutions.” (L’Osservatore Romano, Jan. 7, 2004, p. 5.)

Comment: In the year 1054, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, broke communion with the Catholic Church and the Pope of Rome.  Cerularius rejected the supreme authority of the Pope, closed Roman Rite churches in Constantinople and declared the Roman Rite of Mass invalid because it implemented unleavened instead of leavened bread.  Cerularius was promptly excommunicated by Pope St. Leo IX and the Great Schism of the East was formalized.  Fr. John Laux describes it.

Fr. John Laux, Church History, pp. 295-296: “Cerularius himself closed the churches of the Latins in Constantinople and impiously ordered the Blessed Sacrament to be cast out and trodden under foot as invalid… Pope St. Leo IX sent three legates to Constantinople, but Cerularius obstinately refused to receive them.  Thereupon they laid the document containing his excommunication on the altar of St. Sophia… It was the 16th of July, 1054.”

Thus, “the excommunications of 1054” mentioned by Antipope John Paul II above refer to the excommunications leveled by the Catholic Church against those who followed Michael Cerularius outside the Church into schism and into a rejection of the Papacy.  Antipope Paul VI “lifted” these excommunications at Vatican II, and Antipope John Paul II (as we can see above) is not only praising the “lifting” of these excommunications, but he is actually going to be commemorating the anniversary of the “lifting” the 1054 excommunications by Paul VI.  Ladies and Gentleman, this means that Antipope John Paul II is “overturning” the Papacy as a dogma which must be believed under pain of heresy.  Can you say “formal heresy”?  Can you say “blatant, formal heresy”?  Can you say “formal heresy right in your face by celebrating the anniversary of it”?  The First Vatican Council solemnly and repeatedly anathematized anyone who would deny the Papacy.  I will only quote one passage from the dogmatic Council; I could quote many.

Pope Pius IX, First Vatican Council, Session 4, Chap. 3, ex cathedra: "We renew the definition of the Ecumenical Council of Florence, by which all the faithful of Christ must believe that the Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff hold primacy over the whole world, and the Pontiff of Rome himself is the successor of the blessed Peter, the chief of the apostles, and is the true vicar of Christ and head of the whole Church... This is the doctrine of Catholic truth from which no one can deviate and keep his faith and salvation."

But it’s just another day at the office for Antipope John Paul II: defend the Great Schism of the East to a Schismatic, reaffirm the overturning of the Papacy as a dogma which must be believed, and prepare to celebrate the event.  Here is what Pope Pius XI and Benedict XIV had to say about the excommunications of 1054 and the Great Schism which followed.

Pope Pius XI, Ecclesiam Dei (#4), Nov. 12, 1923: “The greatest and most deplorable defection of all was the separation of the Greeks from the unity of the Church universal.  The Councils of Lyons and Florence held out hopes of healing this breach; these hopes were illusory.  The schism was renewed and has lasted to the present day, with enormous injury to souls… On their side the Roman Pontiffs left nothing undone to bring back these peoples to the unity of the Church.  Some popes even made the salvation of the Eastern Slavs one of the most important purposes of their pontificates.”

Pope Benedict XIV, Allatae Sunt (#7), July 26, 1755: “Michael Cerularius, the impious restorer of the schism…”

Those who comprehend these facts and still think that Antipope John Paul II is a Catholic need help – serious help.  Perhaps they should think about this: If the “head” of your “Church” (Antipope John Paul II) is commemorating the overturning of the Papacy as a binding dogma (as he does above), then you are not in the Church founded on the Papacy (the Catholic Church), but in a counterfeit Church which mocks the Papacy. In fact, Antipope John Paul II loves to deny that the Papacy is a binding dogma.  He’s had many days at the office like this.

Antipope John Paul II, Message to Schismatic Patriarch Dimitrios of Istanbul, Nov. 30, 1985:“To His Holiness Dimitrios I, Archbishop of Constantinople, the Ecumenical Patnareb... We see there a happy coincidence for celebrating together the Feast of the Apostle Saint Andrew on this twentieth anniversary of the lifting of the anathemas.” Antipope John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint (# 17), May 25, 1995: “At the conclusion of the Council, Pope Paul VI sealed the Council’s commitment to ecumenism, renewing the dialogue of charity with the Churches in communion with the Patriarch of Constantinople, and joining the Patriarch in the concrete and profoundly significant gesture which ‘condemned to oblivion’ and ‘removed from the memory and from the midst of the Church’ the excommunications of the past.” Antipope John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint (# 42), May 25, 1995: “The ‘universal brotherhood’ of Christians has become a firm ecumenical conviction.  Consigning to oblivion the excommunications of the past, Communities which were once rivals are now in many cases helping one another: places of worship are sometimes lent out…”

Antipope John Paul II, Orientale Lumen (# 18), May 2, 1995: “All this praiseworthy work was to converge in the reflections of the Second Vatican Council and to be symbolized in the abrogation of the reciprocal excommunications of 1054 by Pope Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I.”

Antipope John Paul II, Address to Teoctist, October 12, 2002: “At the conclusion of the work of the Council, by a highly significant gesture that took place at the same time in Rome and in Constantinople, the reciprocal condemnations of 1054 were cancelled from the memory of the Church.” (L’ Osservatore Romano,Oct. 16, 2002, p. 3.)

Can you say “repeated, formal, blatant heresy and schism”? For more see: Heresies of the Week of John Paul II and the Vatican II sect regarding Heretics and Schismatics