Last Sunday after Pentecost, November 23, 2003

Those who are "filled with knowledge of God's will, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding" (Col.1:9), are able to read the signs of the times. They look for those things spoken of by Jesus in today's Gospel from the twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew, by which we may know that His Second Coming is near. Christians have always looked for signs of the Lord's return, although St. Paul says in Second Thessalonians that the proximate signs of His coming are the "the great apostasy" and the appearing of the "man of sin" the Antichrist.

"We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together unto him, not to be hastily shaken from your right mind, nor terrified, whether by spirit, or by utterance, or by letter attributed to us, as though the day of the Lord were near at hand. Let no one deceive you in any way, for the day of the Lord will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and is exalted above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God and gives himself out as if he were God" (2Thess.2:1-4).

To ignore the signs sent by God is to invite disaster. God sent the Blessed Virgin to Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, to warn the world of the dangers threatened by Communist Russia. If her requests for prayer and sacrifice were not heeded, she said that Russia "will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated." Pope Pius XII, the "Fatima Pope," took her message seriously, although he failed to make the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart together with all the bishops of the world, as she had requested.

If the Revolution of which Our Lady spoke, which began in France and was exported to Russia, were to succeed in becoming global, it would first have to neutralize the Catholic Church, the greatest enemy of the Revolution. Popes like Pius XII could no longer be tolerated. At the time of his death in 1958, the Church and the hierarchy were already riddled with Communist and Masonic infiltrators, agents of change ready to move in for the kill.

Pope Pius had promoted as his successor Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, ardent foe of Communism and defender of the true faith, who would no doubt have followed through with Our Lady's wishes. At the conclave that followed the death of the old Pope, Siri was elected both on the third and fourth ballots, and took the name of Gregory XVII, a fact which is attested to even by documents recently declassified by the FBI, and cited in a recent book. ["The Vatican Exposed" by Paul Williams, pgs. 90-92, Notes p. 243, Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY, 2003. In it Williams cites as his sources the Department of State secret dispatch, "John XXIII" , November 20, 1958, declassified November 11, 1974, and "Cardinal Siri", April 10, 1961, declassified February 28, 1994; the book Murder in the Vatican, Manhattan, page 29-32; and by John Cooney in his book The American Pope: The Life and Times of Francis Cardinal Spellman, 1988, Times Books, as well as Louis Remy in his article "The Pope: Could he be Cardinal Siri?" in Sous La Banniere. All these were cited as sources by Williams for his deductions. Note below.]

This should finally be enough to convince the skeptics that the so-called "Siri Theory" is no theory at all, but an historical fact. It is the best explanation why for more than forty years under the "conciliar popes" the Church has been revolutionized, and the true Church is now in a state of eclipse.

The world had watched expectantly as white smoke signaled the election of the new pope, the crowds cheered, the papal guard assembled to welcome him, church bells rang all over Italy, and reports of his election flashed around the world. But a momentous struggle was taking place within the conclave, the outcome of which was already "fixed". Pope Gregory XVII would not be permitted to take his rightful place in the line of the successors of Peter. The papal office was wrested from Siri, and that friend of Communists and Freemasons, Angelo Roncalli, usurped the papal throne as John XXIII.

John XXIII's address at the opening of Vatican II, the instrument which was to bring about Revolution within the Church, are a rebuke for Pius XII, Cardinal Siri, and the Blessed Virgin Mary herself: "In these modern times," he said, "they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin. They behave as though at the time of former Councils, everything was a full triumph of the Christian idea and life. We must disagree with these prophets of gloom. Divine Providence is leading us to a New Order of things" (John XXIII, October 11, 1962).

The Freemasons could not conceal their delight that a pope who would implement their "New Order of things" was finally seated on the papal throne, something for which they had long plotted and conspired. He was immediately labeled "Good Pope John." No friend of Fatima, considering it a hoax, "Good Pope John" would put a stop to it, beginning by refusing to publish the Third Secret of Fatima in 1960, as Our Lady had requested. Fatima would not be allowed to interfere with his grandiose plans for dialogue with Communism, the Great Red Dragon that threatened to envelop both world and Church in its godless ideology.

The dire consequences of ignoring Our Lady's message at Fatima may be understood from the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ to Sr. Lucy at Rianjo in August, 1931: "Make it known to my ministers that given they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My request, that they shall follow him into misfortune." Our Lord was referring to the failure of the King of France to consecrate France to His Sacred Heart, as He had requested through St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. The result—Revolution against throne and altar, bloodshed, apostasy, from which France has never recovered. King Louis XVI, the last king of France before the Revolution, was imprisoned and finally executed in 1793. "They shall follow him into misfortune." Misfortune indeed has fallen upon the papacy and the Church. As a result of ignoring Our Lady's pleas we have seen two great world wars and worldwide Revolution, while the "great apostasy" predicted by St. Paul marches through the Church like the grim reaper.

A sad epilogue to these events confirms their reality. The final insult to the Blessed Virgin Mary is that her beloved Shrine at Fatima has fallen into the hands of apostates who plan to convert it into an ecumenical center "where all the religions of the world will gather to pay homage to their various gods," as the recent news release from Portugal put it. Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue has denied the report, but plans are already underway, and a hideous new basilica will be built to house the strange new Fatima pilgrims.

But we are getting somewhere. Gradually, the truth leaks out, and everyone will soon realize that the true Church has been eclipsed by a monstrous deception. The Immaculate Heart of Mary will finally triumph, and Jesus Christ will return to claim His Bride, the Church, purified and made holy and immaculate through present trials.  "He who testifies to these things says, 'It is true, I come quickly!'Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!"  (Apoc.22:20). [END SERMON]

[Note: for discussion only. Quote from book "The Vatican Exposed", "The Pink Pope" chapter, pgs. 90-92 and NOTES, p. 243: ...the age of eleven he entered a minor seminary and twelve years later was ordained a priest. In 1918, after serving as a chaplain, Roncalli was assigned to teach church history at the Pontifical Lateran Seminary in Rome. He was dismissed from this position because of his Communist sympathies and modernist ideas, including approval of "mixed marriages" (the marriage between Catholics and non-Catholics). The so-called pink priest came to serve as a letter copier in the Oriental Congregation of the Holy See before receiving a commission to serve as the apostolic visitor to Bulgaria--a post that required he be made a bishop.(2)

At the close of World War II,  Roncalli was sent to Paris as papal nuncio, where he became close friends with French President Vincent Auriol; Maurice Thorez, the leader of the French Communists; and Edouard Herriot, leader of the Radical Party. Thorez had sent a glowing report about Roncalli to the Kremlin. Roncalli was an ideal prelate, Thorez wrote to the Soviet officials, he understood Marxism like a Marxist, and if the Communist Party had not been sponsoring a program of militant atheism, he might have been the best "Christian comrade" in the Roman Catholic Church.(3)

When Pius XII condemned and disbanded pro-Communist clerics, Roncalli protested the condemnation in a private audience with the Holy Father and then encouraged the worker-priests to go about their political business but "not too openly."

In 1948, when Pius XII was threatening any prelate who supported Communism, Roncalli, now serving as the Vatican's first permanent observer at the United Nations, established close ties with Palmi Togliatti and other members of the Italian Communist Party. The matter of the "pink priest" could no longer be ignored,  especially since Togliatti informed Soviet officials that Roncalli would be the "ideal man" to establish a "working compromise" between the Church and Communism.(4)

In 1954 Count Della Torre, editor of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, warned Pius XII of Roncalli's Communist sympathies. Other members of the "Black Nobility" expressed similar concerns.(5)

Nor did Roncalli escape the attention of the FBI and CIA. The agencies began to accumulate thick files on him and the questionable activities of other "progressives" within the Vatican, including Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini (the future Paul VI).

At the instigation of U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and CIA director Allan Dulles, Cardinal Francis Spellman of the Archdiocese of New York met with Pius XII to "leak" confidential information and to ask for Roncalli's removal from the Vatican. The removal, it was agreed, would have to be conducted with considrable tact and diplomacy. Pius XII complied by elevating Roncalli to the college of cardinals and transferring him to the Patriarchate of Venice, where it was hoped the troublesome Roncalli,  at the age of seventy-two, would spend his remaining years in "pastoral work."(6) Similarly, as a result of the meeting, Monsignor Giovanni Montini was released from his secretarial duties at the Vatican and sent as an archbishop to Milan, where he had scant hope of obtaining a red hat.

Pius XII had appointed Cardinal Guiseppe Siri as his desired successor.(7)  Siri was rabidly anti-Communist,  an intransigent traditionalist in matters of church doctrine, and a skilled bureaucrat who had been personally trained in the intricacies of Vatican finances by Bernardino Nogara. Moreover,  Siri had the support of a group of cardinals known as "the Pentagon." The group included Cardinals Canali, Pizzardo, Mucara, Ottaviani, Mimmi, and Spellman. Few paid heed to the formation of a progressive or anti-Pentagon group composed of Polish primate Wyszynski, the Indian cardinal Garcias, the French cardinals, Cardinal Lercaro,  and Roncalli. The progressives were concerned about the rigidly of Pius XII's regime, including the centralization of all power and authority in the person of the pope, the unwillingness to initiate reform, and the crusading anti-Communism that was creating a chasm between the east and the west.

In 1958, when the cardinals were locked away in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope, mysterious event began to unfold. On the third ballot, Siri, according to FBI sources, obtained the necessary votes and was elected Pope Gregory XVII.(8)  White smoke poured from the chimney of the chapel to inform the faithful that a new pope had been chosen. The news was announced with joy at 6 P.M. on Vatican radio. The announcer said, "The smoke is white...There is absolutely no doubt. A pope has been elected.(9)  The Palatine and Swiss Guards were alerted. The former were summoned from their barracks and ordered to report to St. Peter's Basilica for the announcement of the name of the Holy Father. Thousands gathered beneath the windows of the apostolic palace waiting to receive the blessing of the new pope.

But the new pope failed to appear. Question began to arise whether the smoke was white or gray. To quell such doubts, Monsignor Santaro, secretary of the Conclave of Cardinals, informed the press that the smoke, indeed, had been white and that a new pope had been elected. The waiting continued. By evening Vatican radio announced that the results remained uncertain. On October 27, 1958, the Houston Post headlined: "Cardinals Fail to elect pope in 4 Ballots: Mix-Up in Smoke Signals Cause False Reports."(10)

But the reports had been valid. On the fourth ballot, according to FBI sources, Siri again obtained the necessary votes and was elected supreme pontiff. But the French cardinals annulled the results, claiming that the election would cause widespread riots and the assassination of several prominent bishops behind the Iron Curtain.(11)

The cardinals opted to elect Cardinal Frederico Tedischini as a "transitional pope," but Tedischini was too ill to accept the position.

Finally, on the third day of balloting, , Roncalli received the necessary support to become Pope John XXIII. The conservative cardinals believed that Roncalli, at the age of seventy-eight, was too old to wreak havoc within the Vatican and would only serve as a "guardian pope" until the next conclave. They were mistaken.

John XXIII's first act as pope was to appoint Archbishop Giovanni Battista Montini, his fellow "progressive" who had been "exiled" to the North of Italy, as a cardinal. He next appointed twenty-three additional cardinals to ward off any attempt by the "ultras" (as the new pope called the old guard) to regain control of the Vatican. Many of the new cardinals were well known for their leftist sentiments; others were from Third World countries.(12)  Returning to the United States from the conclave,  Cardinal Spellman announced his disdain of the new pope by saying: "He's no Pope. He should be selling bananas."(13) [END OF QUOTE pgs. 90-92]

[BEGIN QUOTE: page 243, NOTES, "The Vatican Exposed", by Paul Williams]

 2.  John Cooney, The American Pope: The Life and Time of Francis Cardinal Spellman (New York: Times Books, 1988) p. 260.

 3.  Department of State secret dispatch, "John XXIII," issue date: November 20, 1958,  declassified: November 11,  1974; see also Manhattan, Murder in the Vatican, p. 29.

 4.  Department of State confidential biography, "John XXIII," issue date: no date, declassified: February 15, 1974; see also, Manhattan, Murder in the Vatican, pp. 29-30.

 5.  Department of State confidential biography,  "John XXIII"; see also Manhattan, Murder in the Vatican, p. 31.

 6.  Department of State confidential biography, "John XXIII"; see also Manhattan, Murder in the Vatican, p. 32.

 7.  Cooney, American Pope, p. 259.

 8.  Department of State secret dispatch,  "John XXIII." News of this bizarre event was leaked to foreign journalists, including Louis Remy, who later wrote an article entitled "The Pope: Could He Be Cardinal Siri?"  The article appeared in Sous La Banniere 6 (July/August 1986).

 9.  The announcer's words appeared in the London Tablet, November 1, 1958, p. 387.

10.  Houston Post, October 27, 1958, pp. 1 and 7.

11.  Department of state secret file, "Cardinal Siri", issue date: April 10, 1961, declassified: February 28, 1994; see also Remy, "The Pope: Could He Be Cardinal Siri?"

12.  Manhattan, Murder in the Vatican, p. 37; Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes (San Francisco: Harper, 1997), pp. 371-72.

13.  Cardinal Spellman, quoted in Cooney, American Pope, p. 261.

14.  Manhattan, Murder in the Vatican, pp. 37-38.

15.  "Mater et Magistra," in Renewing the Earth: Catholic Documents of Peace, Justice, and Liberation, ed. David O'Brien and Thomas Shannon (Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books, 1977), pp. 50-116.

16.  "Pacem in Terris," in ibid., pp. 125-70.

17.  John XXIII, quoted in Manhattan, Murder in the Vatican, p. 41.

18.  John XXIII, quoted in McBrien, Live of the Popes, p. 373.

19.  Manhattan, Murder in the Vatican, p. 44.

20.  Harry Herder, Italy: A Short History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 259-60.

[END QUOTE]