First-Ever Anglican Liturgy comes to St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican
NOTE: Not an endorsement for sedevacantism purely informational
On March 13, for the first time ever, Anglican Choral Evensong will be celebrated at the altar of the Chair of St Peter in St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Permission for this unique occasion was granted by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Archpriest of St Peter’s Basilica, during a recent meeting with Archbishop David Moxon, the Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome.While we have not yet seen official confirmation from the Vatican on this, this is sure to follow, since it is inconceivable the Centre would make such an announcement without it being absolutely clear that the event is “on”.
Archbishop Moxon will preside at the 3.00pm service, while the preacher will be Archbishop Arthur Roche, the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments at the Vatican. The music will be sung by the Choir of Merton College, Oxford.
The gesture reflects the deepening bonds of affection and trust between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church. It comes just five months after Pope Francis and Archbishop Justin Welby celebrated Vespers together at the Basilica of San Gregorio al Celio to mark the Anglican Centre’s fiftieth anniversary. It also reciprocates the liturgical hospitality of the Archbishop of Canterbury and Dean Robert Willis in welcoming Cardinal George Pell to celebrate Solemn Mass at the High Altar of Canterbury Cathedral on July 7, 2015.
This date has been chosen as the nearest available day to the historic feast day of St Gregory the Great, who has become an unofficial patron of relations between the two churches. St Gregory was the Pope who sent St Augustine to England in 595 to evangelise the Anglo-Saxons and who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury.
(“First-ever Anglican Evensong in St Peter’s, Rome”, The Anglican Centre in Rome; accessed Feb. 7, 2017)
“Choral Evensong” is not a Mass but is basically the Anglican equivalent of solemn Vespers in the Catholic Church. In any case, it is a formal liturgical celebration carried out by a false religion, and for the Vatican authorities to permit it to be carried out at St. Peter’s is a mortal sin of sacrilege and implied heresy. As the Anglican Centre notes on the same page, “The service will be celebrated according to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer” (footnote 3). Apparently that is the only way to get the Vatican to permit a liturgy from before 1962.
Aside from the fact that Anglican clergy do not have valid orders — that is, they are all laymen or, as the case tends to be nowadays, laywomen — to permit a Catholic church to be used for Protestant worship is a sacrilege of the highest order. That it should happen at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, of all places, is a testimony to how rotten the Modernist Vatican II Sect really is.
The news article quoted above says that “[p]ermission for this unique occasion was granted by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Archpriest of St Peter’s Basilica”. Those with their heads still in the sand will rush to point out that this approval was clearly not given by Francis, who of course must be presumed innocent in the whole matter until there is evidence to the contrary.
This, of course, is nonsense. (We remember how that defense worked out during the Marxist crucifix kerfuffle in Bolivia.) First, the “Archpriest” of St. Peter’s Basilica would never be able to give permission for something as explosive as this without the nod from the big guy at the top. Secondly, even if this had been decided without Francis’ knowledge or permission, it would not be incumbent upon Francis to make clear that (1) he never gave his approval and (2) had no knowledge of this. Thirdly, let’s get real: Precisely what in Francis’ “pontificate” so far could possibly give the impression that he would be opposed to such a thing? This is the man who just participated in a syncretist-indifferentist commemoration of the Reformation in Sweden and once told a Lutheran questioner to do whatever she liked about whether to receive “Holy Communion” at a “Catholic Mass”.
It is ironic that the Anglican evensong should be celebrated at the altar of the Chair of St. Peter — the very symbol of the spiritual authority that the Papacy has over all Christians, and which Anglicans obstinately reject. In 1865, the Holy Office under Pope Pius IX sent a letter to certain Puseyite Anglicans to remind them that “all groups entirely separated from external and visible communion with and obedience to the Roman Pontiff cannot be the Church of Christ, nor in any way whatsoever can they belong to the Church of Christ…” (italics added). The letter also clarified that it is not sufficient for Anglicans to simply put aside any enmity against Catholicism but they must in fact become Catholics:
…it was not enough to restore this much desired intercommunion to lay aside enmity and hatred against the Roman Church, but … it was wholly necessary to embrace the faith and communion of the Roman Church by reason of the command and ordinance of Christ. As the Venerable Bede, the most brilliant ornament of your people, says, “All who separate themselves in any way whatsoever from the unity of faith and the fellowship of him (Blessed Peter) cannot be loosened from the bonds of sins and cannot enter upon the gate of the heavenly kingdom.
(Holy Office, Letter Ad Quosdam Puseistas Anglicos, Nov. 8, 1865)
Choosing the altar of the Chair of St. Peter for this spiritually-criminal act of Anglican worship in a Catholic church is not only ironic, however, it is also blatantly heinous.
That it should take place on March 13, under Francis, with Anglicans in particular is quite fitting, however. Although the news snippet does not mention it, March 13 of this year marks the 4th anniversary of the election of “Pope” Francis. The Anglican religion was founded by an adulterous King Henry VIII, who insisted on receiving an annulment for his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Since he did not have legitimate grounds for having the union declared invalid, however, Pope Clement VII refused to grant him the annulment, which ultimately led to the creation of the so-called “Church of England”, of which Henry VIII made himself the head, and to which almost the entire English Catholic hierarchy defected under threats of execution. Since fake annulments and adultery-as-marriage are the hallmarks of Francis’ “pontificate”, it only makes sense for him to allow the original adultery-promoters to worship according to their rite in St. Peter’s.
To be clear, though: Allowing heretics and schismatics to use Catholic sacred buildings is not new in the Vatican II religion. The door for it was opened by the Second Vatican Council, and it was formally enshrined in the law of the Novus Ordo Church by “Saint” John Paul II, in his 1993 mammoth document, Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism. See for yourself:
Catholic churches are consecrated or blessed buildings which have an important theological and liturgical significance for the Catholic community. They are therefore generally [!] reserved for Catholic worship. However, if priests, ministers or communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church do not have a place or the liturgical objects necessary for celebrating worthily their religious ceremonies, the diocesan Bishop may allow them the use of a church or a Catholic building and also lend them what may be necessary for their services. Under similar circumstances, permission may be given to them for interment or for the celebration of services at Catholic cemeteries.Now, some may say that this explicitly states that Protestants must be lacking a place for their worship, as a condition for them being permitted to use a Catholic church. This is indeed true, but irrelevant, for two reasons: (1) It does not say that that this is the only scenario under which a Protestant service may be conducted in a Catholic church; (2) Even if it did say so, since the principle that Protestants are allowed to conduct their heretical services in Catholic churches under certain circumstances is admitted, the door has been opened to this sacrilege, and now it is merely a question of extending the circumstances under which it may happen. In other words, John Paul II put a wedge in the door, and now it is just a matter of opening it further and further since it is no longer closed. On what grounds could anyone argue that it is licit to allow Protestants to use a Catholic church for their worship if they have no other place, but not if some “spiritual advantage” suggests it (to use typical Vatican II speak)?
(John Paul II, Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms of Ecumenism, March 25, 1993, n. 137)
As a side note, we must mention that there is no such thing as Protestants “celebrating worthily their religious ceremonies”, since their religious ceremonies are per se odious to God. Objectively speaking, no heretical worship as such can possibly be “worthy” in God’s sight, so John Paul II’s phraseology right there implies the heresy of indifferentism. All heretical worship is false worship and is a sin against the First Commandment:
False worship is opposed to the truth of religion (e.g., Old Testament rites which signify that Christ is still to come), or of rites (e.g., Mass by a layman, Mass according to a form disapproved by the Church), or of facts (e.g., fictitious revelations, ecstasies, mysticism, miracles, relies), or of morals (e.g., human sacrifice, praises of God to the accompaniment of lascivious words or music, etc.).Since heretical worship is always at the very least “opposed to the truth of religion”, it constitutes false worship.
(John McHugh & Charles Callan, Moral Theology, Vol. II, n. 2274)
That, of course, has never stopped the Vatican II Sect. In 2013, John Paul II’s sacrilegious law was applied in the archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, where “Cardinal” Daniel DiNardo — currently the “conservative” head of U.S. Novus Ordo Bishops — permitted Methodist heretics to use his co-cathedral to confer “ordinations” on women! See our coverage of this abominable spectacle here:
You can’t make this stuff up!
