Two Encyclicals for Modernists

It is upon two encyclicals, Providentissimus Deus by Leo XIII, Nov. 1893, and Divino Afflante Spiritu, by Pius XII, Sept. 30, 1943, that the modernists of these latter days seize most readily as offering some support for their cause which is utterly to discredit the words of Divine Revelation, especially applied to references touching the physical sciences.

In Denzinger the relevant numbers are D l947-l948 and D 2294.

Leo XIII lays it down as a rule “not to depart in the least from the literal and, as it were, plain sense, unless where reason forbids him to hold it or necessity compels him to abandon it.” He goes on to say that “the Church has received such a method of interpretation from the Apostles, and has approved of it by her own example, as is clear from the liturgy.”

Now Leo does not specify at all or give any particular examples in the passages held up by the modernists as granting some kind of sanction to heliocentrism. Neither geocentrism nor heliocentrism is mentioned in the encyclical.

The Fables of 2nd Timothy and 2nd Peter

Both St. Peter and St. Paul make a forceful distinction between fable or myth and the truth of sound doctrine revealed by “the power and presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:16)

St. Paul speaks of “a time when they will not endure sound doctrine but ... will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth ... unto fables.” (2 Tim. 4:3-4)

We are certainly living in those times. George A. Maloney, S.J., is an author very popular amongst religious who self-consciously pride themselves upon being “balanced” in this age of fundamentalist fanaticism. Here is whet Jesuit Maloney is telling his all too willing listeners:

We are in need of a new myth or story to guide us in our forward journey. We reject any literal interpretation of the story in the Book of Genesis that God created the entire universe in six days! (Mysticism and the New Age: Christic Consciousness in the New Creation. New York: Alba House, 1991, p. 42)

New Age Synthesis

In 1907 St. Pius X in his encyclical Pascendi described modernism as “the synthesis of all heresies.” Liberalism, although it came first chronologically, is the manifestation of modernism in the political sphere. Evolutionism (the modernist’s principle doctrine”) along with the 19th century’s idea of progress, is modernism’s manifestation in all the academic disciplines from biology to history, philosophy and theology. Therefore, the “synthesis of all heresies” includes liberalism and evolutionism. They are like two heads on a beast out of the Apocalypse.

Similarly, the current emergence of the New Age with all of its occult accessories, can he viewed as the fully ripened fruit of these earlier fleurs du mal. For, New Age thinking infects all of reality with its poison. It is a complete and thoroughly perverse world view.

How many times have we not all had the frustrating experience of being told, “Well, that’s your opinion” or “That’s just your interpretation” when what we have put forth is the plain, bold-faced TRUTH! Ah, but this is America where everyone has a “right” to their own opinion and Truth is really no different from Error because all things are equal, meaning equally subjective because no one has the “right” to claim any objective Truth since it always comes back, perversely, to “your opinion”.