It's all in the stars... socialism and the Vatican

SPECIAL REPORT: Why is the Vatican so concerned over a five-pointed yellow star?

By Marielena Montesino de Stuart

"And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars..." The Apocalypse of Saint John (Revelation) Chapter 12:1

Sometimes important matters can almost go unnoticed

Greg Burke is a journalist based in Rome. He is the senior communications adviser to the Vatican's Secretariat of State (and former correspondent for Fox News Channel). Burke writes about the Vatican on his Twitter account, as part of his daily routine. On March 26 he published two Twitter posts (see HERE and HERE) with images of Francis' Easter greeting card. Interestingly, the card includes the original papal coat of arms chosen by Francis, containing a five-pointed yellow star – inspired by his coat of arms as a former Cardinal.

Symbols matter, in a church with more than 2,000 years of history and traditions – thus the papal coat of arms is considered the Pope's calling card.


Changes to Francis' coat of arms

The Vatican announced on March 27 that the coat of arms had undergone some changes. Here is what Catholic News Service had to say:

"Italian Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, an expert on heraldry, told Catholic News Service that changing the star was "better" because the five-pointed star often carries with it "military significance," while the eight-pointed star "has always symbolized Mary" in Catholic Church tradition." – CNA, March 27, 2013.

What?

Since when has the Roman Catholic Church had anything against "military significance"? Has Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo forgotten about the fact that Joan of Arc led the French army into battle – and became a saint? What about the Crusades and all the battles fought by Christian soldiers and martyrs through hundreds of years?

What about the many prestigious military orders that have received papal recognition and enjoyed the protection of the Holy See?

Are we no longer expected to go into battle to defend the Kingdom of Christ on earth?

Is Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo now saying that the Vatican is anti-military?

Has ecumenism and political correctness transformed modern Catholic men into namby-pambies?

Saint Joan of Arc must be in tears.

A strange twist...


Inexplicably, Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo's own coat of arms contains not one, but TWO five-pointed yellow stars – in addition to a bow and arrow.

From the perspective of "military significance" Cardinal Montezemolo's coat of arms indicates, if anything, admiration for the military. This is consistent with the fact that his own father served as Commander of the Clandestine Military Front, and was executed by the Germans.

Is it Francis who is concerned about the "military significance" of the five-pointed yellow star?

Or is it that one five-pointed yellow star, is one too many for Francis, as far as Cardinal Montezemolo is concerned?

Let's find out why... step by step.

Perception – not substance

For the past 50 years the Vatican has turned into a chaotic modernist entity of delicate sensitivities, as a result of the misguided Vatican II Council. As with any organization that abandons tradition, the modernist Vatican often uses the media for matters of image and perception – not substance.

This time the well-known "communication problem" affecting how the Vatican is "perceived," surfaced again – when Vatican officials apparently left Greg Burke out of the loop – again, Burke is the senior communications adviser to the Vatican's Secretariat of State, while he was happily tweeting away the Easter card, with the old papal coat of arms. As of April 2, the Easter card with the original coat of arms could not be found on the Vatican's website or archives of Francis' records, as is the norm. It also appears that Burke could not even get plugged into the situation through his membership in the powerful insider group, Opus Dei.

So much for the position of "senior communications adviser to the Secretariat of State." Vatican officials have apparently forgotten that they hired Burke in 2012 to "formulate the message and try to make sure everyone remains on message." But entities that are run by closet socialists always end up disregarding their subordinates. In this case, Greg Burke. Such has been the environment in the Vatican during the last five decades.


Francis' Easter card contains, after all, the original coat of arms chosen by him – and endorsed with his signature. But given Francis' preference for minimalism and his rejection of papal traditions, he probably could care less what's on the coat of arms by now. So get your copy while you can, if you are a collector of papal memorabilia.

Why all the cleaning and scrubbing?

This cleaning and scrubbing of the papal coat of arms is only part of the latest attempts by the socialists in the Vatican to manipulate how they are being perceived. Don't be fooled. They are hurting for money.

Let's not forget that Vatican II and its administrators, to a great extent, have raided the Church's coffers during the last 50 years, in order to finance the promotion of socialist indoctrination and immoral causes, including the scandalous cover-up of pederasty committed by homosexual members of the clergy. As discussed in my previous commentaries, of course there have been works of charity done under Vatican II – but they have been greatly diminished by the loss of donations and by the exodus of Catholics who are feeling disoriented and abandoned, after 50 years of socialist and progressive experimentation coming out of Rome.

So in their quest to control the perception, expect to see continued scrubbing and altering of homilies, statements, etc., when these are put in transcript form by Vatican officials – in order to hide the Vatican II socialist agenda, as in Cardinal Sodano's call for a "world order" on March 12, 2013.

Sadly, most reporters do little or no fact-checking, so they quote the transcripts from the Vatican website, without authenticating the information. Some vaticanisti have even taken to 'reading the tea leaves.'

This hide-and-seek game is typical of modernist Vatican II officials trying to put out fires, in a disorganized manner. What a sad representation of the papal office!

So what is really behind this fear of a five-pointed yellow star?

What is Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo's concern with the "military significance" of the five-pointed yellow star?

Given that yellow (gold) is a papal color (thus NOT a problem) let's consider a few points involving Mariology – which is the main concern, according to Montezemolo:

Is the five-pointed star found in Mariology? Of course!
The Assumption of Mary in Attard, Malta and the Miraculous Medal, as revealed by the Virgin Mary to Saint Catherine Labouré:


Is the six-pointed star found in Mariology? Of course!

The image of the Pilgrim Virgin of Fatima was made according to indications by Sister Lúcia, and was a gift from the Bishop of Leiria – and solemnly crowned by the Archbishop of Évora, on May 13, 1947.


_______

Is the seven-pointed star found in Mariology? Of course!

Basilica of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel, Belgium. The recurrent use of the number seven (in the shape of the church and the town, the number of altars outside and inside, the shape of the stars on the dome) recalls the devotion to the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin. Both the church and the town of Scherpenheuvel are in fact determined by a Hortus Conclusus in the shape of a heptagon.


_______

Is the eight-pointed star found in early Christian iconography? Of course!
Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Are sun rays found in Mariology? Of course!
Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, Vilnius, Lithuania.


During my campaign for the United States Senate, I brought together my devotion to the Virgin Mary and my love for America with a specially-designed symbol of sun rays on a Marian blue background – in addition to five-pointed stars representing the American flag:


The number five is sacred in Roman Catholicism

Five represents the five main wounds that Our Lord suffered – the wound in each Foot, the wound in each Hand, and the wound in His side, inflicted by St. Longinus's lance. The devotion to these five wounds began early in Christianity. St. John the Divine is said to have appeared to Pope Boniface II to reveal the "Golden Mass" in honor of Our Lord's Five Wounds. These five wounds appear as stigmata, impressed by Divine favor on the bodies of those who enter into a deep mystical relationship with Christ – among them St. Francis of Assisi, which is the name that the former Cardinal Bergoglio took after his election to the papacy.

The number five is represented in the traditional five decades of the Rosary, the five grains of incense inserted into the Paschal Candle. The number five is also symbolized in the Jerusalem Cross, in the Chaplet of the Five Wounds...

Should I go on?

So... what's the problem?

We find that five-pointed stars, six-pointed stars, seven-pointed stars, eight-pointed stars – and even sun rays are found in Mariology.

In addition, the number five has sacred significance – and yellow (gold) is a papal color!


Could the concern over the five-pointed yellow star be associated with the controversial militant socialist company that Francis keeps – such as his very close friendship with Cardinal Cláudio Hummes?

Could this actually be a secular concern that has nothing to do with the Virgin Mary?

Cardinal Cláudio Hummes intimately befriends and supports Marxists

Hummes, a Franciscan, is known for attacking capitalism and supporting socialist movements inside his native Brazil – drawing much of his inspiration from Liberation Theology (a Marxist movement in the Church). Indeed, it was Cardinal Hummes who stood close to Francis (to his left in the photo below) on the Loggia of the Blessings, facing St. Peter's Square, on the night of Francis' election to the papacy.


Francis is not afraid to express his great admiration for Hummes. In fact, according to Francis, it was Hummes who suggested the name Francis inside the Conclave. It is expected that Cardinal Hummes will have significant influence over the decisions that Francis will make. Hummes knows the Curia – and he is like a fish in the socialist waters of Vatican II, both in his native Brazil and in Rome – where he served as Prefect for the Congregation of the Clergy, from 2006 to 2010.

Hummes has enjoyed a close friendship and collaboration with the former communist president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (known as "Lula") – who is a close friend of Fidel Castro.

This friendship and collaboration between Cardinal Hummes and Lula goes back several decades, including the formation of the Worker's Party – one of the most powerful communist movements in the Western Hemisphere.



In fact it was the Worker's Party that set the São Paulo Forum in motion. The São Paulo Forum was created specifically to advance Marxism in the Western Hemisphere. Its members are militant enemies of America – starting with Lula.

A note of caution, for those suffering from delicate sensitivities: the clock has struck midnight and we have descended into an international socialist abyss – so I'm not about to call communists "left-wing."

Another significant aspect of the collaboration between Cardinal Hummes and Lula is a network called Basic Ecclesial Communities – which is a labor movement inspired by Marxist Liberation Theology – and backed by liberal Catholic prelates in Brazil and other parts of the world.

Part of Hummes' communist entourage includes the infamous Carlos Alberto Libânio Christo, known as "Frei Betto," (PDF) a Brazilian Dominican friar- turned communist marionette, agitator and community organizer. Frei Betto's input in organizing the "resistance" movement for the Worker's Party was of great significance, while Hummes and Lula collaborated in protest rallies.


On March 20, 2012 the website for Radio Rebelde (Rebel Radio) in Cuba, published an excerpt (audio and transcript) of an interview with Frei Betto, where he stated that "the Cuban revolution is an evangelical work."

Here is an Alinsky-style manual, titled The Pedagogy of Resistance, (PDF) which includes instructions from Frei Betto, Che Guevara and other proletariat "teachers" of resistance.

It has been reported that Frei Betto has never fired a shot in his life. Most cowards that incite terrorism never do. They hire others to do it.

Frei Betto is notorious for showing up in his Dominican friar habit when he wants to appear holy – then turns up in a suit and tie when visiting his close friend, Fidel Castro. One of the most repulsive collaborations between Fidel Castro and Frei Betto is a book sacrilegiously titled, Fidel & Religion. The book was based on a series of conversations held between Frei Betto and Castro – a bloody criminal who declared Cuba an atheist state under Communist laws.


I cannot emphasize this enough:

Cardinal Hummes has enjoyed a decades-long collaboration and close friendship with Frei Betto and Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva. Meanwhile, Francis is openly boasting his close friendship and expressing his great admiration for Hummes. Francis is telling you this, in your face – as he did to 6,000 journalists on March 16, during his first international press conference after his election to the papacy.

For Cardinal Hummes, Francis is a dream come true – and almost as good as being Pope himself.

It is important to note that international socialism could not have advanced to the point where it is today, without the tacit – and sometimes brazen assistance of Catholic socialist prelates like Cardinal Hummes, who have felt empowered by the modernist "spirit" of Vatican II.

Ecumenism and "social justice" programs have given these prelates the perfect means to deliver their socialist message, to more than one billion Catholics, as well as non-Catholics around the world.

Ecumenism has disfigured the culture of Roman Catholicism almost beyond recognition.

When the Soviet Union fell, communism simply went underground and resurfaced as the environmental movement – which metamorphosed into Agenda 21 (the United Nations massive socialist global initiative). Proof that socialists work deliberately and slowly and are masters of disguise – including some who wear miters.

One only has to read the 2004 Dizionario di dottrina della Chiesa – Scienze sociali e Magistero (Dictionary of the Social Doctrine of the Church – Social Sciences and Magisterium) and the works of Bishop Mario Toso – to understand that the "social justice" teachings coming out of the modernist Catholic Church, read like training manuals for the implementation of Agenda 21.

As Archbishop of São Paulo, Brazil, Cardinal Hummes was invited to preach the spiritual exercises during the papal Lenten retreat in February, 2002 under John Paul II – an invitation considered to be an honor in the College of Cardinals. During this retreat, Cardinal Hummes stated that the concept of ecclesial "authority" must not extend to dominion over others – and that the exercise of ecclesial authority must "welcome diversity in unity."

It is clear where Francis is getting his inspiration.


Cardinal Hummes is known for his chameleon-like mastery of pulling his faith out of the bag – when the spot light is turned on him and his true socialist colors are exposed.

This is when Hummes starts issuing statements against abortion, gay marriage and contraception. Hummes – and others like him, actually get oohs! and aahs! from poorly formed Catholics, who are impressed when Cardinals, Bishops and priests speak about principles found in Catholicism 101.

Imagine that! A pro-life, pro-traditional family Cardinal, who is also against birth control! What are they going to come up with next?

But the proposition that Cardinal Hummes can collaborate with and support Marxists in his neighborhood while maintaining that he is pro-life and pro-traditional marriage, is both contradictory and hypocritical.

Marxists have, as part of their mission, the disintegration of the traditional family and the promotion of immoral practices involving sexual experimentation. It is a way in which they undermine both the spirit of the individual and the sanctity of the family. Without the traditional family, society cannot function properly. This is precisely what Marxism thrives on – mass confusion and disorientation. This is when communists step in to "organize and fix the problems of society."

Marxists do not value human life – and passionately support depopulation, through abortion on-demand and abortifacients. It is morally bankrupt and utterly absurd for Cardinal Hummes to claim that he is a social conservative, while intimately supporting and befriending communists. This is why Francis' close friendship with and great admiration for Cardinal Hummes, gives cause for great concern.

Hummes was preceded by Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns – whose communist activities are legendary – as on the 30th anniversary of Cuba's Communist dictatorship, when Arns addressed a letter to "dearest Fidel", with statements such as "you are present daily in my prayers," as well as, "I ask the Father that he always concede you the grace of guiding the destinies of your country." Arns also expressed his wish that Castro always govern over Cuba.

Cardinal Arns was replaced by Hummes, as a more "moderate" alternative. A more "gradual" approach. In other words – someone who had not written love letters to Fidel Castro.

The modernists at the Vatican really know how to pick them.

Hummes also seems to enjoy the game of appearing undefinable – for those who don't know any better. Like a fish, Hummes will slip out of your hands, back into the socialist waters, until he has to come up for air, in order to fund his socialist activities in Brazil, through "social justice" programs.

I consider Hummes to be Francis' "horse whisperer" – and one of the most dangerous men in the College of Cardinals.

Only God can stop this nightmare – but in the meantime, Catholics need to be informed about the reality they are facing under Francis' "papacy" and the landscape of Vatican II, in order to make critical decisions for the proper Roman Catholic formation of their children.

Bergoglio as a "mystifying" creature

This commentary is not just about Bergoglio being 'guilty by association.'

Not at all.

You see, socialists enjoy being philosophically mystifying. This gives them the flexibility to swim at the mouth of the river, where ideas converge and prey is plentiful.

This explains why, on one hand, Bergoglio's weak and late opposition to homosexual marriage (in disagreement with Argentina's President Kirchner) was preceded by Bergoglio's support of homosexual civil unions – as the lesser of two evils.

You also hear about Bergoglio having expressed his dislike for Liberation Theology in the 1970's – while later befriending and showing public admiration for the recalcitrant socialist, Cardinal Cláudio Hummes.

The biggest enemies that the Catholic Church has are within. They are the bad Bishops. In Regulae Pastoralis Liber, St. Gregory the Great spoke: "Let the pastor avoid the temptation of wishing to be loved by the faithful instead of by God, or of being too weak for fear of losing men's affection; let him not lay himself open to the divine reproach..." (citing Ez. 13:18).

Bergoglio and the 'mirror puzzle'


Bergoglio's past in Argentina can best be described by the 'mirror puzzle.' Mirrors appear to reflect a very accurate image of ourselves – except for one thing: the right-hand side is the left-hand side of the person in the mirror.

Mirrors reverse the left-right orientation, while leaving the top and the bottom untouched. In Bergoglio's case – his head and his feet move seamlessly across different social mirrors. One moment Bergoglio is speaking out against abortion – and the next moment he is conducting an honoring ceremony for his close friend – liberal Rabbi Abraham Skorka, who supports homosexual civil unions.

Now, for those who are in constant denial and prefer to remain in the corner where skeptics hang out – I have this to say: the only way you can figure out Bergoglio's 'mirror puzzle' is by doing some THINKING – an exercise that many prefer to avoid. You would then need to turn Bergoglio on his head and get rid of the mirror! It works every time.

So, is Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo (the expert on heraldry) referring to the "military significance" in the secular / atheist / Communist world, where the five-pointed yellow star represents the unity of workers, peasants, intellectuals, traders and soldiers in building socialism?

Such as the socialism that Cardinal Hummes has helped build in Brazil for decades?

As you will see below, different Communist countries have designed their own flag variations, but they are all based on the same Communist theme. For example, the designer of the Communist flag of China, Zeng Liansong, described the four small stars as a representation of the four social classes pointing towards the left large five-pointed yellow star, which represents the Communist Party.

Why be so worried about the five-pointed yellow star?

Are the Vatican II socialists trying to distance themselves (only as a matter of perception) from the following stars? – found in flags of Communist military dictatorships:


Here is the before and after... of Francis' papal coat of arms


Let's put an end to the hypocrisy. This change in Francis' papal coat of arms has nothing to do with the Virgin Mary – and everything to do with political expediency

It seems to me, that this concern over a five-pointed yellow star is nothing more than the Vatican's fear of being perceived as going too far with their socialist militancy – and nothing to do with the Virgin Mary.

Vatican socialists always try to maintain that "delicate balance" so as not to lose their grip on unsuspecting faithful Catholics who have been kept confused – or what I call, 'Bewitched, bothered and bewildered" during the past 50 years, as the Vatican modernists promote socialist indoctrination under the disguise of "social justice" – right under their noses.

While the modernists in the Vatican worry about "perceptions" by masking their socialist agenda and using the Virgin Mary as a pretext to switch symbols – Chinese shops in Yiwu are probably happily selling cheap plastic versions of both the original and modified papal seals – which end up with the street vendors in Piazza Navona.

At the end, it will all work out just fine – according to Cardinal Sodano's socialist plans for a "World Order."

So by the time Catholics wake up from their "bewitched, bothered and bewildered" state under Vatican II, mankind will all be the same – rough, primitive and powerless to go into battle for a heavenly cause – because their pan-religion, based on ecumenism and tolerance, will not allow it. Human beings of all "classes" will indeed be pointing left towards a star. The wrong star.

Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo and I have more than our long names in common.

We have both experienced the brutal killing of family members – his by the Nazis – and mine at the hands of Communist executioners. So I expect that the Cardinal's experience and awareness of his surroundings, have given him reason to be afraid of a five-pointed yellow star. Birds of a feather flock together – and Francis' relationship with Cardinal Hummes is very disturbing, but not surprising.

As for me – even in the midst of a storm, I can always tell when an impostor is lurking behind the stained glass window.

IMPORTANT RELATED ARTICLES: http://romancatholicworld.wordpress.com/category/pope-francis-watch/

© Marielena Montesino de Stuart