Twentieth Century

Saintly Popes, Second Vatican Council, Saints, Heresies and Cults

            Saintly Popes: The Twentieth Century opened under the reign of Pope Leo XIII who had championed the working class in his encyclical, Rerum Novarum. He was critical of both capitalism and socialism, foreseeing many of this new century’s problems. He was succeeded by Pius X in 1903, who condemned modernism—a movement which tried to reconcile historical Christianity with modern science and philosophy. He is venerated for his work with the poor and for his promotion of frequent reception of the Eucharist. Benedict XV became pope in 1914 just before World War I. During his reign the Virgin Mary appeared to three children at Fatima in Portugal encouraging all people to repent and to pray. He insisted that the Church remain neutral during the War and founded the Vatican service for prisoners of war, earning him the respect of all sides.

            Pius XI was elected pope in 1922. As Pope, he clashed with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini by decreeing that it was not possible to be a fascist and a Catholic. He spoke out continually against nationalism, racism, and totalitarianism, and their menace to human dignity. He denounced anti-Semitism. He established Vatican Radio. During his reign, the laity became more involved in the Church with the Legion of Mary, Catholic Action, and the Catholic Worker movement.

            As World War II was about to begin (1939), Pius XII became Pope. Like Benedict XV, he tried to maintain formal relations with all sides. For this he was later accused of not speaking out against the Nazi persecution of Jews, although recent research documents his efforts to help protect many Jews. After the War, he responded to the persecution of the church in communist countries by excommunicating the political leaders of Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Poland. He also excommunicated Italians who joined the Communist party.

            Because of his age when elected, Pope John XXIII was considered an “interim Pope”, one who would hold office shortly. Then a younger Pope could be elected. To everyone’s surprise, he convened the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) to spiritually renew the church and examine its position in the modern world. Up to this point in the Twentieth Century the Church was living under the structure and rules of the Council of Trent. The seminaries and convents were bursting with record crops of new priests and nuns. The Church appeared to be both healthy and vibrant in Europe, the United States, and throughout the world. The missions were producing record numbers of converts. Pope Paul VI took over the chair of St. Peter in 1963, reconvening the Second Vatican Council. Soon after the Council ended, the masterful Documents of Vatican II was published. Poorly implemented in many countries, they became an excuse for widespread experimentation with the liturgy of the Mass and for reworking the constitutions and regulations of the religious orders. Less than ten years later began an enormous exodus from the priesthood and religious life. When the Pope wrote his encyclical, Humanae Vitae, forbidding Catholics from using any form of birth control, especially “the pill”, many priests openly rebelled. Many Catholics, confused by this dissension, liturgical changes, and apparent disorder in a Church that had been extremely orderly, left the Church.

            After the 33 day reign of Pope John Paul I, Pope John Paul II was elected. Karol Jozef Wojtyla was the first non-Italian pope in more than 450 years. No other pope traveled to so many countries and preached to so many people. He confronted Communism in Poland and Russia becoming a major force in eliminating the Berlin Wall, and encouraging the end of Communism in Poland and the break-up of the U.S.S.R. Trying to restore doctrinal order to the Church, he promulgated (with Cardinal Ratzinger) the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He also fought, along with Mother Theresa of Calcutta, against the evils of abortion and euthanasia. In response to the sex-crazed culture, he wrote extensively about the Theology of the Body. As the Century ended, he was deeply saddened by a dramatic increase in clergy sexual scandals and the decline of church attendance in the Western world. Some Catholics found renewal of their faith in the Cursillo and Catholic Charismatic Renewal movements.

SAINTS

Pope St. Pius X: Encouraged frequent reception of the Eucharist. 
Blessed Pope John XXIII: Convened Second Vatican Council: Journey of a Soul
St. Padre Pio: Mystic Stigmatist; priest and confessor
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Founder Missionaries of Charity in India.
St. Josemaria Escriva: founded Opus Dei with over 80,000 members of 80 nationalities,             mostly laymen.
St. Faustina Kowalska: Chaplet of Divine Mercy founder, promoter; from Poland.

St. Gianna Beretta Molla: mother and doctor who gave her life for her baby
Blessed Jacinta and Francisco Marta: Visionaries at Fatima
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich: Visionary who reported on the passion of Jesus.
St. Katharine Drexel: Gave away her wealth to work with Blacks and Native       Americans.
St. Maximilian Kolbe: Apostle of Consecration to Mary, burned in Auschwitz instead of             a young man with children
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein: Jewish woman and philosopher who       became a Carmelite nun and died in Auschwitz.
St. Maria Goretti: teenage girl who was murdered to preserve her virginity.
St. Joseph Moscati: layman, medical doctor
St. David Roldán-Lara: layman, Catholic Action
Blessed Edel Mary Quinn: layman, Legion of Mary
Blessed Daudi Okelo: Uganda, Martyr
Blessed Nicholas Bunkerd Kitbamrung: Thailand's first martyr priest.
Blessed Nikolaus Gross: layman, the newspaper of the Catholic Workers' Movement,        against Nazism
Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster: denounced Fascism's meddling with the youth        organization Catholic Action
Blessed Adam Bargielski: One of the 108 Polish Martyrs of World War II
St. Luigi Versiglia:  One of the 141 Martyrs of China
Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi: Nigeria
Blessed Carmelo Sastre Sastre:  One of the 300 martyrs Spain Civil War

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati: Social activist layman

 

HERESIES AND CULTS

            The "Classical Pentecostal Movement": In 1901 in the city of Topeka, Kansas, with a handful of students conducted by Charles Fox Parham, a holiness teacher and former Methodist Pastor, started a church movement which he called the "Apostolic Faith". It was not until 1906, however, that pentecostalism achieved worldwide attention through the "Azusa Street Revival" in Los Angeles, California, by the African-American preacher William Joseph Seymour who conducted three services a day, seven days a week, where thousands of seekers received the tongues baptism. At that time of color segregation in the United States, the phenomenon of Blacks and Whites worshiping together under a Black pastor seemed incredible to many observers. Indeed, the color line was washed away in the Blood of Christ, in Los Angeles, "the American Jerusalem", as it called by Frank Bartleman, where the people from all ethnic minorities were represented. This birth of Pentecostalism was preceded by the Holiness Churches, the Church of God and the church of Christ of the nineteenth century, and all of them prepared by the Methodists of the eighteenth century.

            Snake Handlers: 1909- Founded in Tennessee, USA, by George Hensley who died of a snakebite in 1955. Their "ceremonies", last for hours, with music and rhythmic clapping to hypnotize the dozens of poisonous snakes all over the hall.

            United Christian Evangelistic Association, Christ United Church: 1925, USA- Rev. Frederick Eikerenkoetter, known as Rev. Ike, promotes in New York, a "Christianity for earth"... Heaven is replaced by the "now"... you become now successful, rich, and healthy in the name of Jesus... Jesus rode an ass, Rev. Ike prefers to ride a Rolls Royce, and he boasts to have 16!. He does not want a "pie in the sky", he wants a "pie on earth"!. It has been labeled as a "prostitution of Christianity".

            Worldwide Church of God (WCG): 1934, USA- Founded in Eugene, Oregon, USA, by Herbert W. Armstrong, a child of the Adventists, like the Jehovah's Witnesses, proclaims the imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ, who was announced for 1936, 1943, 1972, 1975. Jesus never came, but it was a good source of income!. influential with its TV programs. The strange doctrine of "Anglo-Israelism" is a special feature.

            National Association of Evangelicals (NAE): 1942-  A coordinating agency facilitating Christian unity, public witness, and cooperative ministry among evangelical denominations, congregations, educational institutions, and service agencies in the United States. The Association traces its beginnings to April 7-9, 1942, when a modest group of 147 people met in St. Louis with the hopes of reviving the fortunes of evangelical Christianity in America.

            Wicca: 1949 - "Modern Witchcraft", commonly called "Wicca", started in England with Gerald Gardener. Wicca indeed is modern witchcraft coming "out of the broom closet"... removed the stereotypical image of witches as ugly old hags with warts on their noses, decked out in black capes and cone-shaped hats, riding their favorite broomstick on a moonlit night. The modern Wiccan may be an attractive female witch dressed in a fashionable, well-tailored business suit or a professional businessman. Most Wiccans do not believe in Hell nor Satan.

            Church of Scientology: 1954, USA- Lafayette Ronald Hubbard in California after writing "Dianetics". It is a Hindu interplanetary fiction novel, with a kind of  "Catholic Confession", called "auditing”, a bad place to spend lots of money.

            Moonies, The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity: 1954- Sun M. Moon in South Korea. The "Moonies" is the Church of heavenly Communism, of  mockery of the Bible, of  big business... and of stupidity. The "sacred Scriptures" are the "Divine Principle" of Moon, the "Outline of the Principle", and the "Bible"... But the "Bible" is used to make a mockery out of it!: Jesus Christ was a perfect man, but "he is not God"; he was the bastard offspring of Zechariah and Mary. Moon is the third Adam, the second Christ to unite all religions, and bring to earth a perfect social system, a perfect family life... earth will be the new Paradise of Eden, with perfect love to God, and brotherhood of all people living in communes, sharing their wealth."Salvation", comes in one of three ways: 1- Having actual sex with Moon, for the girls. 2- Having sex with a girl who had sex with Moon, if you are a man.
3- Working full time for Moon, the most usual way!, and drinking at the wedding ceremony the blood of Moon (2 drops of his blood in 100 gallons of a mixture of 21 ingredients). Watch out for the "recruiting"... the "Weekend" and the "Communes", "the Heavenly Communism".

            The Way International: 1957, USA- Victor Paul Wierwille in 1957, in Ohio. His book "Jesus Christ is not God" says it all... to practice "glossolalia" 30 minutes per day is a part of salvation. "Power of Abundant Living" courses.

            Church Universal and Triumphal, Summit Lighthouse: 1958, USA- Founded,  in Montana by Mark L. Prophet, it is now lead by Elizabeth Clare Prophet, after the death of her husband in 1973. It is a Hindu religion, with biblical connotations, specially the "I Am" of Ex.3:14. Jesus is not God. He was only the "mediator" between God and men, the role now Mrs. Prophet has. Salvation is by doing good Karma (deeds), to reincarnate in a better form. It is not so "triumphant" on earth, rather they are so afraid that they have built huge underground shelters, able to accommodate 100,000 people, stocked with food for protection from an impending nuclear holocaust... And it is not that "universal", because most of their members live in Montana, nearby the Shelters.

            The "Neo-Pentecostal" movement:  started in 1960 in Van Nuys, California, under Dennis Bennett, Rector of St Marks Episcopal (Anglican) Church. In ten years it spread to all major Protestant families of the world.

            United Unitarian Universalist Association: Formed in 1961 by the merger of the American Unitarian Association and the Unitarian Universalist Church of America to speak as one on social and political questions. They unite the Unitarians and Universalists of the 18th Century and the Socinians ot the 16th century. It has been labeled as the "schizophrenia" of Christianity, trying to unite the Christians, by denying the Trinity, the deity of Jesus, and proclaiming universal complete salvation of all living beings. Luther tried to destroy the roofs of Catholicism; Calvin its wall; and Socinus its foundation.   Fraternity of St. Pius X:  Founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of France, after the Vatican II, 1965. He consecrated 200 priests against the authority of the Pope.
They celebrate the Mass only in Latin, with the old order of St. Pius X. Their main "objection" is the change in the Consecration of the word "many", by the word "all", but St. Paul uses both words talking about the same issue in successive verses, Romans 5:18,19: Jesus died "for all" human beings, but only "many" will appropriate his redemption. The Fraternity is excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

            The Church of Satan: 1966 - Founded, by Anton S. LaVey in San Francisco, California. The Black Mass is usually celebrated by a fake priest, but sometimes by a real blasphemous priest, in which case the Mass is valid but sacrilegious. Usually it is a blasphemous fake Mass in which the desecration of the Eucharist takes place. Condemned by all Christians and the Bible in the strongest terms.

            Churches for Homosexuals, Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC): 1968, USA- by Troy Perry who claims that he and other homosexuals experience "coming out of the closet" and can live a Christian life together. It has very good intentions; however, boasting about homosexual practices contradicts the teachings of St. Paul.

            Church of "Palmar de Troya",  or "Carmelites of the Holy Face": Founded by Clemente Dominguez, in 1969 in "Palmar de Troya", 40 Kilometers from Seville, Spain. Condemned by the Church. Clemente proclaimed himself "the Pope", with the name of Gregory XVII, there are only a few hundreds, but with lots of money, building a great Basilica, behind tall walls.

            Children of God (COG), Family of Love, Heaven's Magic: 1969, USA- David Berg, who changed his name to Moses Berg, and is called "MO". The "COG" is the literal "prostitution of Christianity"; "Sex for Jesus" is their logo... they will offer you the "MO letters", saying "Jesus loves you"... in the "Communes" and outside encourage and practiced homosexuality, incest, adultery, fornication, adult-child sex, polygamy... "MO" is violently Anti-Semitic.

            Peoples Temple: Jim Jones... "Guayana, Jonestown": "Guayana" was the scene of the Jonestown mass suicide in 1978 where 913 members of the "People's Temple" died after drinking cyanide-laced Kool Aid. Some, according to survivors, were shot down trying to escape.

            New Age: 1980s - The term "New Age", was coined by the spirit medium "Alice Bailey" of the Theosophical Society of America, who died in 1949, but it became common parlance after the musical "Hair" launched the concept of the Age of Aquarius on a popular and international scale. This "utopia" is a great menace to Christianity. New age has been catalogued as the AIDS of all heresies. The "New Age" of Aquarius is an Astrology doctrine of the 1980s, proclaiming the human race is at the verge of a "gigantic quantum leap", to realize that every human is God... and when that happens, it will be the "New Age", a glorious time with only one nation on earth, one language, one government, one religion, one monetary system... with only love on earth, the "golden age"!, without hate, violence, wars, crime, racism, and without sickness nor death!... it the old lie of Satan of Genesis 3:4-5... you will be like God! The New Age is an  umbrella, an amorphous collection of belief systems. Unlike most formal religions, it has no holy text, central organization, membership, formal clergy, geographic center, dogma, or creed. It is nothing "new", just the old time ancient religions, cults, all kind of superstitions, and false Hinduism and Mormonism. Mention it, and you have it in the New Age methods, anything but the truths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam... the methods range through the alphabet of superstition, from acupuncture to Zen Buddhism, taking in yoga meditation, mysticism, spiritualism, crystals, pyramids, clairvoyance, biofeedback, reincarnation therapies, tarot cards, ouija boards, astrology, tea leaves, occult devices, dream therapy, holistic healing, astrological charts, parasychologic mystic experiences, telepathy, self-hypnosis, mind control, spiritistic channelling, balancing the yin and yan, witchcraft rituals, hypnosis, meditation, the use of hallucinogenic drugs or any kind of drug, Egyptian knowledge, mantras, angelology, extraterrestrial beings, neurolinguistic trainers, herbologists, guided imaginary, centering, polarity therapy, reflexology, therapeutic touching, homeopathy... and, of course, any kind of super-sexual activity.

            The Evangelical Charismatics started in 1981 at Fuller Theological Seminary with John Wimber. By 1990, 33 millions in the world were moving in signs and wonders, though they disdain labels such as "pentecostal" and "charismatic".

            Branch Davidians, WACO: 1986- "Vernon Howell", changed his name to "David Koresh"... They are no longer in existence since the 82 death in the fire at WACO, Texas, in 1993, after the tragic 50-day siege.