Significance of Q's picture of Pope John Paul II at the Mount of Beatitudes (pizzagate)

submitted ago by Gilderoy

RELEVANCE TO PIZZAGATE

The Q threads have an intrinsic connection to Pizzagate because they constantly extrapolate on themes present in the Podesta emails and offer corroboration of the research done by the Voat Pizzagate community.

LATEST Q THREAD

@LightlyToasted posted the Dec. 7 Q Anon thread here which features several photos, including one of Pope St. John Paul II with the caption: "Pope visits the site of the Sermon on the Holy Mount" in which one can see the late pope embracing a bishop.

This picture appears to have been taken when Pope JP II visited the Sea of Galilee near the Mount of Beatitudes in March 24, 2000. The bishop the pope is greeting is apparently Archbishop Boutros Mouallem of the Greek Melkite Community. You can see them together in this picture:

http://www.christusrex.org/www2/ncw/images/24Mznt2.jpg

POPE ST. JOHN PAUL'S POWERFUL HOMILY ON THE MOUNT OF BEATITUDES

The pope, addressing the youth of the world, gave an (uncharacteristically!) brief but extremely compelling sermon on that occasion in which he pointed to the nearby Mount Sinai (on which the Ten Commandments were given to Moses) and the Mount of Beatitudes as "the roadmap of our Christian life and a summary of our responsibilities to God and neighbour. The Law and the Beatitudes together mark the path of the following of Christ and the royal road to spiritual maturity and freedom."

He goes on to remind us that there are two voices competing for our attention and two paths open to all of us: "the choice between good and evil, between life and death."

EXCERPT FROM THE POPE'S PIVOTAL SERMON

The Ten Commandments of Sinai may seem negative: "You will have no false gods before me; . . . do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness ... " (Ex 20:3, 13-16). But in fact they are supremely positive. Moving beyond the evil they name, they point the way to the law of love which is the first and greatest of the commandments: "You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. . .You will love your neighbor as yourself" (Mt 22:37, 39). Jesus himself says that he came not to abolish but to fulfill the Law (cf. Mt 5:17). His message is new but it does not destroy what went before; it leads what went before to its fullest potential. Jesus teaches that the way of love brings the Law to fulfillment (cf. Gal 5:14). And he taught this enormously important truth on this hill here in Galilee.

3."Blessed are you!", he says, "all you who are poor in spirit, gentle and merciful, you who mourn, who care for what is right, who are pure in heart, who make peace, you who are persecuted! Blessed are you!" But the words of Jesus may seem strange. It is strange that Jesus exalts those whom the world generally regards as weak. He says to them, "Blessed are you who seem to be losers, because you are the true winners: the kingdom of heaven is yours!" Spoken by him who is "gentle and humble in heart" (Matt 11:29), these words present a challenge which demand a deep and abiding metanoia of the spirit, a great change of heart. You young people will understand why this change of heart is necessary! Because you are aware of another voice within you and all around you, a contradictory voice. It is a voice which says, "Blessed are the proud and violent, those who prosper at any cost, who are unscrupulous, pitiless, devious, who make war not peace, and persecute those who stand in their way". And this voice seems to make sense in a world where the violent often triumph and the devious seem to succeed. "Yes", says the voice of evil, "they are the ones who win. Happy are they!"

4.Jesus offers a very different message. Not far from this very place Jesus called his first disciples, as he calls you now. His call has always demanded a choice between the two voices competing for your hearts even now on this hill, the choice between good and evil, between life and death. Which voice will the young people of the twenty-first century choose to follow? To put your faith in Jesus means choosing to believe what he says, no matter how strange it may seem, and choosing to reject the claims of evil, no matter how sensible or attractive they may seem. In the end, Jesus does not merely speak the Beatitudes. He lives the Beatitudes. He is the Beatitudes. Looking at him you will see what it means to be poor in spirit, gentle and merciful, to mourn, to care for what is right, to be pure in heart, to make peace, to be persecuted. This is why he has the right to say, "Come, follow me!" He does not say simply, "Do what I say". He says, "Come, follow me!"

You hear his voice on this hill, and you believe what he says. But like the first disciples at the Sea of Galilee, you must leave your boats and nets behind, and that is never easy—especially when you face an uncertain future and are tempted to lose faith in your Christian heritage. To be good Christians may seem beyond your strength in today’s world. But Jesus does not stand by and leave you alone to face the challenge. He is always with you to transform your weakness into strength. Trust him when he says: "My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9)!

RELEVANCE OF THE POPE'S HOMILY FOR OUR TIME

Not hard at all for us here on Voat to see why "Q" is directing us to the Polish Pope's beautiful homily.

There are two voices demanding our attention and two paths open to us all.

There is the voice of God and His Saints urging us to follow the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes and to follow Jesus and "be poor in spirit, gentle and merciful, to mourn, to care for what is right, to be pure in heart, to make peace, to be persecuted."

Then there is the voice of Satan which contradicts the Beatitudes which says: "Blessed are the proud and violent, those who prosper at any cost, who are unscrupulous, pitiless, devious, who make war not peace, and persecute those who stand in their way". And this voice seems to make sense in a world where the violent often triumph and the devious seem to succeed. "Yes", says the voice of evil, "they are the ones who win. Happy are they!"

We are called to follow the former and make the fundamental choice to obey the Laws of God which requires a change of heart, a metanoia, to accept His grace and His assistance in following the straight and narrow path to eternal happiness.

This is apparently a decisive, INDEED, A PIVOTAL moment in the history of the world. Whom are we going to follow: Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, or Satan?

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Kacey ago

I had friends in High School who had gone to Catholic School until 9th grade. This was in the late 60's. They told me the teacher nuns would have to leave from time to time to have babies because they got knocked up by the priest. I never heard that he abused any of the kids. But imagine growing up in a faith where the local priest who is your confessor is known to be violating his oath of celibacy. That in itself is an abuse as you teach them one set of rules for them and another for the adult who is their spiritual leader.

Gilderoy ago

Kacey, I also went to a Catholic school with nuns, and let me tell you, if a priest had tried anything funny with those nuns he would have left the premises in a pine box. I'm not disputing that such scandalous things may have happened before the changes to the religious orders occurred in the 1960's, but such incidents were exceedingly rare before disciplines were changed. If you really understood the culture and the system of preconciliar convents and women religious and also of traditional Catholic parish life, you would realize how absurd such stories are. Many, many safeguards and disciplines were in place to prevent scandals like that. Women religious had a very rigidly structured existence. Just one example: nuns were never, ever allowed to go anywhere alone. They always had to travel or be in public in pairs.

Same thing with priests. Before the changes of Vatican II, there were many safeguards and rules in place to prevent even the whiff of scandal. I'm sure untoward things still happened, but the entire culture and atmosphere was built on layers of protocol and conventions that were almost impossible to break out of. That is probably why everything went wild in the 60's. The priests and nuns threw off all the shackles and broke all the rules, but that's a story for another day. : )

Kacey ago

So are you saying that no sex abuse happens in the Catholic church anymore? Or just that no nuns get raped anymore.

I presume that each church, especially those that are smaller and have one priest, run by the rules that priest sets so the character of that priest would probably be more indicative of what was likely than rules laid down in Rome.

Any rate here is the number of Catholic priests defrocked since 2004 for pedophilia. I would guess that number is the tip of the iceberg.

GENEVA -- The Vatican revealed Tuesday that over the past decade, it has defrocked 848 priests who raped or molested children and sanctioned another 2,572 with lesser penalties, providing the first ever breakdown of how it handled the more than 3,400 cases of abuse reported to the Holy See since 2004.

As for raping nuns http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/marchweb-only/3-19-32.0.html

Several reports written by senior members of women's religious orders and by an American priest assert that sexual abuse of nuns by priests, including rape, is a serious problem, especially in Africa and other parts of the developing world....Countries listed in the report include Botswana, Burundi, Colombia, Ghana, India, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Tonga, Uganda, the United States, Zambia, Zaire, and Zimbabwe. Expect the fallout to continue for a while.

Gilderoy ago

I never denied that sex abuse happens in the Church. I addressed a claim you made implying that it was commonplace for priests to impregnate nuns teaching in Catholic high schools which I very seriously doubt ever happened on a wide scale in the United States, esp. before the Second Vatican Council. As for the experience of nuns and priests in the Third World, I have no idea. I assumed we were speaking of the United States.

Regarding clerical pedophilia, I agree with you that it happens in the Church; I have had personal experience fighting the appointment of a Catholic pastor who had a very dodgy past and was the subject of many allegations who was being shuffled around the diocese by the bishop. I fought that situation tooth and nail, wrote multiple letters to every one up and down the ladders of power, made phone calls, assembled a 110-page dossier, contacted canon lawyers----and lost. The priest is still pastor of my parish, though I have long since moved on.

I KNOW THERE IS A CLERICAL PEDOPHILE PROBLEM IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. I think the percentage of priests who are criminal pedophiles is small, but the fact that bishops and popes did not do enough to eradicate it and compensate and help the victims is an enormous scandal and sin. That does not mean that I have given up on the Catholic Church; I will never give up my faith, God willing, and I hope and pray the Church will return to better practices and a better understanding of Catholic morality and responsibility.

Kacey ago

Gilderoy, I never said or implied that what I heard of as a kid was commonplace among priests. I just related the one story I knew of.
You wrote

If you really understood the culture and the system of preconciliar convents and women religious and also of traditional Catholic parish life, you would realize how absurd such stories are. Many, many safeguards and disciplines were in place to prevent scandals like that.

I was responding to what I thought you were implying, ie that such stories are rare. I don't know if priests raping nuns is rare or was rare, I only know what my friends told me. In fact if true, the nuns could have been willing and not raped. What they were allowed to do outside the church when they went out has no bearing on what might have gone on at night when no parishioners were around. I know that the pedophilia scandal with priests is real and that priests used their power to coerce young boys to have sex with them. It appears to be more common than was originally thought because, higher clergy, police, politicians helped cover it up and parents and parishoners were so in awe of the priests that they went into denial. If that could happen with little boys and girls I suspect it could happen with nuns. At the time my friends told me this I was shocked and didn't know what to think. But given the revelations about pedophilia by priests it seems likely it did happen and if it happened in one parish it probably happened in others.

If the catholic church is so good at patroling their own why this https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-07-05/vatican-police-find-drugs-sex-in-raid-of-cardinal-secretarys-apartment

Vatican police have reportedly raided a Vatican-owned apartment and arrested an aide to one of Pope Francis' key advisers.

Kacey ago

Further http://childabuserecovery.com/are-catholic-priests-and-nuns-murdering-their-own-children/

Today Nun-in-training Sosefina Amoa sat in a Washington D.C. jail awaiting 23 May sentencing for voluntary manslaughter in the death of her newborn. According to The Washington Post Sister Amoa admitted to smothering the baby she named Joseph after giving him birth at the Catholic Northeast Little Sisters of the Poor Convent. Although the nuns reported Sister Amoa to police, Catholic authorities have not always been transparent about homicides committed within their secretive walls. According to child abuse survivors of Catholic institutions, it was common for priests and nuns to rape and kill children, especially a newborn. There was assurance from the Vatican that anyone tarnishing the Roman Catholic Church by reporting such crimes would be excommunicated and thus live in eternal Hell.