Far less than meets the eye

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Ecumenism is the Universal Solvent of Tradition .

Early Voting

ABS lives in Wellington, Florida where we Wellingtonians pride our own selves on being not only up to date but well advanced past the actual date.

 We Wellingtonians are forward looking - as can be seen by our concerned furrowed brows * - and prolly more enlightened and compassionate then the rest of you who do not live in horse country or have an Aero Club subdivision as part of your town.





And so it was yesterday that ABS participated in early voting ** in the 2018 POTUS Election when he did not cast his vote for an official candidate - because voting is a joke - but wrote in the name of a good Christian he loves and trusts.

* As he was sitting for a bust, our town father, Wallace "Wally Walleye" Wellington, caught a glimpse of a young woman on a horse, riding upon it entirely nekkid in our town's annual Coventry Day Festivities.

 Mimicking Lady Godiva, the lubricious lady was poised side-saddle on the great beast and as one-half of the men lining each side of the street cheered, Hurray for our side," Ol' "Wally Walleye" shot his wife the crook eye and run oft after the lithe lady and he never returned to Wellington.


**    ABS voted for his Mum because like most women born in Vermont, she has reached that age (early 90s) where she sorta looks like Maurice Chevalier.         
                      
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When the going gets tough, some faithful get weird




















Bling, Bling, Fisherman’s Ring!

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The latest public photograph of Pope Benedict helpfully provides another visual reminder of his failed partial abdication of the Petrine Ministry: Full frontal display of the Fisherman’s Ring.
fishermans ring
We have previously demonstrated by weight of the evidence, and declared with moral certainty, that Pope Benedict is still the sole living pontiff. This is due to his intention to bifurcate the papacy into an expanded ministry with two living members, one active/governing member and one passive/contemplative member.  It is this novel impossibility, attempting to alter the intrinsic nature of the Divinely Instituted Petrine Ministry, that renders invalid Benedict’s attempted partial abdication, as it clearly rises to the level of Substantial Error as foreseen by Canon 188.

Yeah, right. One problem with this claim is that it was pre-debunked in 2015:

The unexpected resignation of Benedict XVI. and 
the election of Pope Francis brought some 
changes. The Official Ring of Benedict XVI. was 
not broken. The ring plate was only cut and thus rendered unusable. On a smashing, so an interpretation has been omitted because the
 pope had indeed waived his office, but is still
 alive.



Well, what do the nasty tricksters at the putative 
 satanic Vatican have to say about Papal Rings?



The Pope's ring



The Pope’s ring
The Pope's ring is also called the Piscatory Ring or Annulus Piscatoris. The ring is part of the Pope's regalia.The Pope’s ring is also commonly referred to as the Ring of the Fisherman. The Pope is the leader of the Catholic Church and the successor of Saint Peter who used to be a fisherman before he became Christ's disciple. The ring used to depict a bas-relief of Peter fishing on a boat It is a special ring that is worn by the pope who is the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. According to the tradition of the Catholic Church, Saint Peter was a fisherman but later became a “fisher of Men” bringing the word of Christ to the people. All the apostles were named “fishers of men"(Mark 1:17).
Originally, the Fisherman’s Ring was a signet which was used to seal official documents signed by the pope. The private correspondences of the pope were sealed by the use of the Fisherman’s Ring while the public documents were sealed by stamping a different papal seal onto the lead that was attached to the respective document. During the 15th century, the use of the Fisherman’s Ring changed and it started to be used for sealing official documents referred to as papal briefs. This practice ended in 1842, when the lead sealing was replaced with wax.
The Pope’s ring is normally given to the newly elected pope during the inauguration mass. It is the Dean of the College of Cardinals who slips the ring on the third finger of the newly elected Pope’s right hand. The newly elected pope chooses which design of the Fisherman's ring to wear. Mostly, the Fisherman’s Ring is made of silver or gold. The ring is worn on the right hand of the pope and it depicts a bearded St. Peter holding a pair of keys. One key is a representation of the power in heaven while the other key shows the spiritual authority of the papacy on earth. The Pope’s ring indicates the role of the pope as a “fisher of men”.
According to the tradition of the Catholic Church, the pope’s ring is supposed to be smashed with a specially designed silver hammer once the pope leaves office. This is because the Vatican states that “Objects strictly tied to the ministry of St. Peter must be destroyed”. However, this is no longer enacted and most of the Pope’s rings are either kept in the Vatican museum for posterity or they are worn by the pope’s successors. The ring was used in the past as a seal for the pope’s private documents, yet currently it remains a symbol of the papal authority and responsibility. Since it is no longer used as a seal there is no longer a need to have it destroyed upon the pope’s resignation or death.
The Pope’s ring symbolizes the pope’s authority over the Catholic Church's community. Also it represents the shepherd’s mission of placing the lost, sick or weak sheep on his shoulder. When a pope is elected, a new ring is cast for him. However, some popes have defied using the new ring designed specifically for them and instead opted to use the ring used by their predecessor.
Through the centuries it has become traditional to kneel in front of the Pope and kiss his ring thus showing respect and acknowledging him as the successor of St. Peter. What do you think about this tradition? Would you like to kiss the Pope's ring?


Emily, did you know that Pope Pius XII didn't wear his ring after his Installation Ceremony - does that men he was not Pope ?

ABS can't remember where he first read that but he did find one source for that claim- the infallible wiki:

The pope's ring is not to be confused with the papal seal, which is what the pope uses to seal documents. The Fisherman's Ring is no longer used to seal anything. Except Pope Benedict XVI, who chose to wear his at all times, the ring had not been seen being publicly worn by a pope since the papacy of Pope Pius XII, who refrained from wearing it once his election ceremonies had been concluded.


* Hey, ABS, didn't you post a response at non veni pacem?

 Why, yes, ABS did post a response that said essentially 
what was said here.

 Why didn't the blog owner approve your response and let it be posted?

Dunno. All ABS can write in response to the question is 
that ABS is not afflatic and so he can never be sure what the intent of another is.....
But, ABS, doesn't the blogger at non veni  pacem do exactly that - claim to know what others intended even when those others, like Ratzinger, publicly and repeatedly, state he 
resigned the Papacy of his own free will and was not pressured?

Yep

So, the blogger knows the intent of Ratzinger far better than Ratzinger does...

Well, you have to remember that Ratzinger is an old white man
so there's that...

Well, I hope that blogger doesn't refuse other responses you have made to other claims made there...

Too late for that hope...

Hey, non veni pacem has to do with not bringing peace, right?

 Yep, and the authority at the blog does seem not to want let Ratzinger have any peace judging by his captious claims and 
repeated accusations...
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European invasion fun










From Glenn Beck to your local megachurch screecher, men are constantly being told that Gog and Magog mean Iran and Russia.


Saint Augustine; City of God, Book XX:

Chapter 11.— Of Gog and Magog Who are to Be Roused by the Devil to Persecute the Church, When He is Loosed in the End of the World.

"And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed from his prison, and shall go out to seduce the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, and shall draw them to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea." This then, is his purpose in seducing them, to draw them to this battle. For even before this he was wont to use as many and various seductions as he could continue. And the words "he shall go out" mean, he shall burst forth from lurking hatred into open persecution. For this persecution, occurring while the final judgment is imminent, shall be the last which shall be endured by the holy Church throughout the world, the whole city of Christ being assailed by the whole city of the devil, as each exists on earth. For these nations which he names Gog and Magog are not to be understood of some barbarous nations in some part of the world, whether the Getæ; and Massagetæ;, as some conclude from the initial letters, or some other foreign nations not under the Roman government. For John marks that they are spread over the whole earth, when he says, "The nations which are in the four corners of the earth," and he added that these are Gog and Magog. The meaning of these names we find to be, Gog, "a roof," Magog, "from a roof,"— a house, as it were, and he who comes out of the house. They are therefore the nations in which we found that the devil was shut up as in an abyss, and the devil himself coming out from them and going forth, so that they are the roof, he from the roof. Or if we refer both words to the nations, not one to them and one to the devil, then they are both the roof, because in them the old enemy is at present shut up, and as it were roofed in; and they shall be from the roof when they break forth from concealed to open hatred. The words, "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and encompassed the camp of the saints and the beloved city," do not mean that they have come, or shall come, to one place, as if the camp of the saints and the beloved city should be in some one place; for this camp is nothing else than the Church of Christ extending over the whole world. And consequently wherever the Church shall be—and it shall be in all nations, as is signified by "the breadth of the earth,"— there also shall be the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and there it shall be encompassed by the savage persecution of all its enemies; for they too shall exist along with it in all nations—that is, it shall be straitened, and hard pressed, and shut up in the straits of tribulation, but shall not desert its military duty, which is signified by the word "camp."
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Collusion between Trump and Putin?

There was no collusion between Trump and Putin whereas there is always collusion twixt the candidates for POTUS and Israel but, in any event, collusion does not break any American law.

Now, it is true that Donald Trump's moral life had descended to the level where he became electable but many Americans have a compact with the Federal Government which acknowledges it has the power to do any damn thing it desires but that, in justice, the Federal Government has a duty to provide us with some laughs as they drag us all down into Hell and Donald Trump is the funniest damn POTUS ever.


O, sure, the Deep State is out to ice him and render democracy nugatory in doing so - Early voting begins the first weekend in October, but be careful for who you vote because if we don't like him, we will take him out.

 For liberals, politics is their religion and the media is their clerics and they will simply not accept American legally voting for Trump because that made him the Pope of their religion and he is, daily, hurling anathemas at them.






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