As you read this blog, keep in mind that Catholic Church teachings are CLEAR. Infallible rulings MUST be taken as Gospel. With that in mind, pay close attention to the following infallible rulings.
AUTOMATIC EXCOMMUNICATION FOR ALL HERETICS, SCHISMATICS AND APOSTATES WITHOUT EXCEPTION
The declaratory sentence which follows an automatic excommunication is merely a legal recognition of something which already exists. If this were not true, the automatic excommunication would be meaningless. Canon 2314, of the 1917 Code of Canon Law: All apostates from the Christian faith and each and every heretic or schismatic: 1. “Incur ipso facto [by that very fact] excommunication…”
THE TEACHING OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON HERESY
Heresy is the obstinate denial or doubt by a baptized person of an article of divine and Catholic Faith. In other words, a baptized person who deliberately denies an authoritative teaching of the Catholic Church is a heretic. Pope Leo XIII proclaims this teaching in his encyclical Satis Cognitum.
Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (# 9), June 29, 1896:
“The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authoritative Magisterium." Emphasis added
As the teaching of Pope Leo XIII shows, a heretic is outside Catholic communion and alien to the Church. The same therefore goes for apostates, since all apostates are also heretics. The fact that a heretic is outside the Catholic Church is a defined dogma affirmed by many Popes. A heretic cannot be inside the Catholic Church, because by denying the faith he is automatically expelled from Her.
Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, ex cathedra:
“The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews, heretics and schismatic’s …”
We see here that Pope Eugene IV defined infallibly that all heretics (including Popes) are outside the Catholic Church. The dogmatic bull Cum Ex Apostolatus Officio of Paul IV (1559) sets out an attitude towards heretics: all actions of a heretic – priest, bishop or pope – are null and void, and he must not be obeyed by anyone.
God’s Word says clearly:
"If anyone preaches any other gospel, let him be accursed." (Gal 1:8-9)
Keep all the above in mind when you examine the following Papal heresies that transpired PRIOR to and AFTER Vatican II after the death of St. Pope Pius X in 1914
THE HERETICS OF BENEDICT XV
Pope Pius X died and World War I started. Benedict XV, who was hand in glove with Cardinal Roncalli against the reform of Pius X, came to power and was the first apostate anti-Pope to set up the Vatican II cult revolution.
At the beginning of the 18th century, a semi-secret association of Freemasons was founded. It’s a mixture of Gnosticism and Occultism. The goal of the Masons is to destroy the Catholic Church and to establish the worship of Satan by asserting their global supremacy. Freemasonry had its continuation in nineteenth-century Modernism. Modernism sought to conform the truths of faith to the world – so called aggiornamento. Such actually meant the elimination of the essential truths of Christianity. In essence –it was a spiritual euthanasia.
St. Pope Pius X issued the encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907) and imposed the Anti-modernist Oath. Some of the bishops, priests and theologians who were Modernists consciously rejected those measures. The Masons exploited the Modernist and liberal prelates, priests and theologians. They united with them in the fight for a change in thinking in the Church. Both proclaim that Christianity and pagan cults are equally valid ways to salvation, that there is no difference between the true God and idols – the demons of Hinduism and Buddhism or the pseudo god of Islam.
After the death of Pius X, the first success of the Masons was the installation of Pope Benedict XV (1914-1923). As a young priest he became a protégé of Cardinal Rampolla, Secretary of State who was known for promoting Masonic ideas and Modernism. Besides being a modernist, Rampolla was a member of Freemasonry and Grand Master of the secret sect known as the Ordo Templi Orientalis. That was why St. Pius X had relieved Rampolla of the office of State Secretary. In his papacy, Benedict XV enabled the development of Modernism in the Church. He immediately cancelled penalties imposed on Modernists and appointed like-spirited bishops, theologians and priests to the key posts.
In agreement with Rampolla and Gasparri, Benedict XV opened the doors for modernist errors to infiltrate the seminaries and Catholic schools of Europe. For example, in a new spirit of inter-confessionalism that encouraged “Christian unity”, he supported the famous Malines Conversations between Anglicans and Catholics. Anglicans were ruled null and void by Pope Leo XIII.
To understand Benedict XV, one needs to know something about his mentor, Cardinal Mariano Rampolla. Rampolla was already well-known for championing the errors and spirituality that St. Pius X would term Modernism. A Vatican insider, he patiently and steadily prepared the way for Vatican II and the destruction of the Catholic Church that came as a consequence.
Benedict XV, in his first Encyclical, Ad Beatissimi issued November 1, 1914 he made it clear that inside the Church he was calling for a stop to the war against the modernists. He called for concord among the members of the Church, that is, the modernists and the ultra-montages– the traditional Catholics who had been strengthened by Pius X. This “peace” orchestrated by Benedict XV is what gave the modernists the opportunity to emerge from their dark, back into the light of day with a comfortable position in the Church.
Next, Benedict XV targeted the most Militant bloc that had organized to fight against the modernist errors, the group called the Sodalitium Pianum in France. This association of laymen supported by many priests was dedicated to keeping vigil on expressions of heresy in teaching, preaching, and publishing, following the norms set forth by Pius X. Pope Benedict XV and his Secretary of State Cardinal Gasparri dissolved the Sodalitium Pianum, calling a halt to the “anti-modernist, in the name of reconciliation.
THE HERETICS OF PIUS XI
How Pius XI Paved the Way to Vatican II
Pius XI was the first pope to actuate what we now call ecumenism. Like the word “ecclesiology” the word “ecumenism” was given a meaning it never had before. From signifying “pertaining to the whole world” thus, an ecumenical council, it is now taken to mean a coming together of the world’s religions.
In the 1920’s Rome had not yet begun to foster Pope John Paul II’s commitment to global religion. When the first steps were taken in the early 1920’s, no one called it “ecumenism” or even “dialogue”; the gentle designation was “conversations”.
The patterns of thought regarding “active participation” that would eventually subvert the Church’s liturgy were already present in the mind of Pope Pius XI when he attempted to rid the Church of the traditional way of silent participation.
The slogan “active participation” has become the motto for liturgical reform and acted as a catalyst to change the face of Catholic worship. But the real revolt was not superficial; it was aimed at changing the fundamentals of the Faith itself, especially the doctrine of the Eucharist and the priesthood.
The outcome of Pius XI’s intolerance in silent participation was the tyranny of the Novus Ordo regime. Paul VI stated ominously in the General Audience on November 26, 1969, that the New Mass was “intended to interest each one of those present, to draw them out of their customary personal devotions or their usual torpor.” Paul VI went so far as to forbid praying the Rosary at Mass. That was the beginning of the end of papal protection for liturgical tradition.
Jacques Maritain, a professor of philosophy at the Catholic Institute of Paris, had been born into a Protestant family. During his student days at the Sorbonne he converted to Catholicism. As a Thomist scholar, he was able to talk privately with the Pope. He left Rome with an assignment from Pius XI to gather his theories on what he called “integral humanism” into a book.
Integral Humanism, not unlike the theories of Teilhard de Chardin, envisions religions of every kind converging toward a single human ideal in a world. As the French theologian Henri Le Caron explains: “Integral Humanism is a universal fraternity among men of good will belonging to different religions or to none, even those who reject the idea of a creator”. Emphasis added
“This idea of universal fraternity”, continues Le Caron “is neither new nor original. It was already advanced by the philosophers of the eighteenth century and by the French revolutionaries of 1789. It is also the fraternity beloved of Freemasons and Marxists. What distinguishes Maritain’s humanism is the role it allocates to the Church. Within the universal fraternity the Church is to be the inspiration and the Big Sister, and it goes without saying that if she is to win the sympathy of her little brothers, she must neither be intransigent nor authoritarian. She must learn how to make religion acceptable. She must be practical rather than dogmatic.” Emphasis added.
What the philosophy has to say is that the function of the Church is merely to bear witness by service to men in today’s world where a NEW SOCIETY is being born.
Pius XI celebrated the Dialogue Mass himself in 1922 and 1925 and encouraged individuals and groups to advance the liturgical revolution. This involved “Dialogue Mass,” Mass facing the people, vernacular responses, congregational singing, Offertory procession, handshaking etc., all of which went into the melting pot to emerge as a ready-made template for a “democratized” liturgy. We now see the results – the Novus Ordo “Mess”.
Pius XI issued Divini Cultus in 1928, the vague expression “active participation” had a circumscribed meaning among the reformers, but was unknown among the mass of ordinary Catholics who had never asked for it. This suggests that the spirit, which hovered over Pius XI when he recommended “active participation,” was akin to the spirit of eventually giving rise to a NEW perception of the Church and the priesthood.
In proposing “active participation” Pius XI was certainly influenced by the modernists. He listened to the advice of the reformers who believed that the Church’s lex orandi (the way we worship) had been defective for centuries and had deprived the laity of their true participation in it. Thus, “active participation,” understood as an attempt to retrieve a lost primitive ideal, has a utopian and ideological edge to it. Because it was the brainchild of Masonic planning, it could hardly be called a truly pastoral reform.
With the publication of the Apostolic Constitution Divini Cultus (1928), there is no doubt that the Liturgical Movement started to slide dramatically in the direction of Vatican II. In it, Pius XI specifically recommended the “active participation” of the congregation in the liturgy. With its emphasis on an “active participation,” which was far from universal or traditional, it can be said to have made a vital contribution to the emergence of Progressivism in the liturgical domain. In it, Pope Pius XI specifically recommended the “active participation” of the congregation in the liturgy.
We can’t overlook the fact that Pius XI’s promotion of “active participation” has had a significant bearing on the direction of the liturgical revolution, and has been one element in facilitating the confusion between clerical and lay roles that would later afflict the Church. He could have suppressed the burgeoning movement, but instead of nipping it in the bud, he allowed and encouraged the ever-expanding revolution to continue on its nefarious course.
With his support for congregational singing and responses in Divini Cultus, Pope Pius XI produced a landmark mandate for change, which corresponded neither with the lex orandi of the Roman rite nor with the requirements, interests or desires of the Catholic faithful who had been worshipping in silence for centuries.
By the time Pius XII was elected Pope in 1939, neo-Modernism or Progressivism had already begun to re-establish itself in the Church with the rise of the “New Theology” and to make itself manifest in the liturgy – the place where the ordinary Catholic comes regularly in touch with the Faith.
We have seen how the slogan “active participation” has become the motto for liturgical reform and acted as a catalyst to change the face of Catholic worship. But the real revolt was not superficial. It was aimed at changing the fundamentals of the Faith itself, especially the doctrine of the Eucharist and priesthood. This shows that the Progressivist foxes were already sniffing around the Vatican hen house, waiting for someone to lift the latch.
THE HERETICS OF POPE PIUS XII
Pius XII Empowered Progressivists for the Liturgical Reform
Under Pope Pius XII, the Church-shaking Maritain work appeared. The Maritain thesis calls for a basic shift in ecclesiology. There was implicit in the text the Maritain thesis calling for a coming together of the world’s religions. Pius XII’s Summi Pontificatus foreshadowed John Paul II’s Day of Peace at Assisi. It had been timidly promoted as “conversations” between Anglicans and Catholics two decades before, ecumenism now moved into full-fledged symposia.
In Rome a gathering called “Love and Charity” took place under the auspices of the Holy See. The presiding Cardinal, Lovatelli, called for an “end to useless and divisive polemics in favor of love for our brothers in Christ”. Effectively it was a call for heart to replace mind, sentiment to replace sense. Thus, discussions over such questions as the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist gave way to the question of whether Protestants and Catholics felt affection for one another.
Jesuits entered the new public forum sponsoring the lectures of global-Church enthusiast; Fr. Charles Boyer. At the Gregorian University in thirty-six years of teaching there it is estimated that he influenced something like five thousand elite candidates for the priesthood with his passion for ecumenism. It was not until well into the reign of Pius XII and the conclusion of the Second World War that anything was done and then it was done with a vengeance.
By 1946 the Jesuits in Brussels were ready with what they called a catechetical center. In reality Lumen Vitae (light of life) turned out to be headquarters for a frontal attack on Catholic belief unparalleled in history. It was a Jesuit project to be carried out by Jesuits. That it could have come into being or continue to function without papal approval is impossible. Popes are very well informed about what the leading religious orders are up to and Pius XII was in daily contact with one of the highest-ranking members of the Society of Jesus, Augustin Bea. Writing in the Wanderer; Farley Clinton considered the significance of the organization: “It was an all-Jesuit institution dedicated to the more or less rejection of all received ideas and the divesting of religious teaching of all traditional content”. Emphasis added.
The Council document on seminaries would have been unthinkable without Menti Nostrae (pastoral duty) having set the precedent. Just how audacious were his thoughts on the learning process was to become crystal clear in an address he made to the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Rome: “The art of education” said Pius XII, “is in many aspects the art of ADAPTION, adapting to the age, adapting to temperament, to character, to the needs of all just aspirations, of adapting to time and place and adapting to the rhythms of the general progress of humanity.” Emphasis added.
Pius XII’s encyclical of the 1940’s, Divino Afflante Spiritu touched off the Modernist movement. The encyclical “represents a complete about face in attitudes toward biblical study”. “It is now possible in Catholic seminaries to consider that the early chapters of Genesis were not historical, that the Book of Isaiah was not a single book, that Matthew was not the work of an eye-witness, that the four Gospels were not four harmonious biographies and were sometimes inaccurate in detail.” Page 94 Undermining of The Catholic Church
Pius XII gave the green light to begin work on a new translation of the Psalms, as well as the scriptural prayers recited in the priest’s daily office, they were meant to replace those contained in the Vulgate, the officially accepted translation of the Bible since the days of its author, the fifth century St. Jerome.
It was a time when eighty percent of American Catholics were attending Sunday Mass regularly while an atmosphere of absolute certitude brought conversions and not only in the missionary fields of Africa. In 1950 Cardinal Spellman was able to say, “If the present rate of conversions continues, in another century the United States will be a Catholic country.” Yet it was precisely in those flourishing times that the Pope, with Fr. Montini (future “pope” Paul VI), his right-hand man in tandem, was pushing through mutations in doctrine and practice that were going to set the whole edifice trembling.
Step by step the two were moving toward a Council (Vatican II) that would be a kind of final solution for those mutations. While the destruction of the Catechism would be the most telling blow the faithful would be asked to take, as early as 1947 Pius XII, in consultation with academics of Louvain University along with a group of advanced neo-liturgists based in Paris, was setting up a commission for the complete overhauling of the sacred liturgy. That the Pope gave great importance to this committee and its works is evident in lines from an autobiography which Bugnini wrote many years after the Council when he had attained the rank of Archbishop: “We enjoyed the full confidence of Pius XII who was kept informed of our work by Msgr. Montini.” Emphasis added.
Had it not been for this enthusiastic support of Pope Pius XII, it is probable that major liturgical changes would not have been attempted by the commission, since members of the Curial office, the Sacred Congregation for Rites opposed Bugnini nearly all the way. Even to attain the radical changes that the Pope wanted in the Easter rites took six years, but Pacelli was Pope and he would have to be the victor.
Finally in 1955 the papal decree Maxima Redemptionis went into effect, moving the Holy Saturday celebrations from the morning to late in the night and calling for a series of variants, making of it a kind of rehearsal for the New Mass, still a decade in the future. In many of Pope Pius II’s planned Easter ceremonies the priest faced the people, the opening prayers at the foot of the altar and the last Gospel were suppressed, as were the traditional Holy Week devotions of the Three Hours on Good Friday and the very moving solemnities of Tenebrae.
The Maxima Redemptionis was like a Potemkin façade disregarding reality. The result was a partial, over-simplistic and highly fanciful picture of the general opinion among the world’s Bishops on the Easter Vigil ceremonies. There was no leeway for traditional rites. Thus, Pius XII’s new liturgical laws and instructions in Maxima Redemptionis made the traditional rites illegal. He stated:
“Those who follow the Roman rite are bound in the future to follow the Restored Ordo for Holy Week…This new Ordo must be followed” Emphasis added
The papal encyclical letter Divino afflante Spiritu (by the inspiration of the Spirit) issued by Pope Pius XII on 30 September 1943 called for new translations of the Bible into vernacular languages as a source INSTEAD of the Latin Vulgate.
On the Divino Afflante Spiritu, Fr. Hans Küng wrote:
“How far the Church is willing to go in accepting modern attitudes toward exegetical methods and along with it show a tacit disapproval of the anti-Modernist decrees of Pope Pius X”. Emphasis added
Küng saw many of his ideas for church renewal enacted by the Second Vatican Council.
Moreover, the document gives clear recognition of the authority of the original texts over that of any translation, ancient or modern. Hence it gives a definite decrease in the importance of the Vulgate.
There was no leeway for traditional rites. Pius XII issued his new liturgical laws and instructions in Maxima Redemptionis in 1955, and made the traditional rites illegal:
“Those who follow the Roman rite are bound in the future to follow the Restored Ordo for Holy Week… This new Ordo must be followed.” Emphasis added
A reform that changed the face of Catholic worship
We have seen how the slogan “active participation” has become the motto for liturgical reform and acted as a catalyst to change the face of Catholic worship. But the real revolt was not superficial: It was aimed at changing the fundamentals of the Faith itself, especially the doctrine of the Eucharist and the Priesthood.
There is a general reluctance among traditionalists to acknowledge that the liturgical reforms of Pius XII are part of a continuum from the inception of the Liturgical Movement in 1909 at the Benedictine Abbey of Mont-César to the creation of the Novus Ordo 60 years later. However, these were the words of Paul VI when he promulgated the New “Mass” on April 3, 1969…
“It was felt necessary to revise and enrich the formulae of the Roman Missal. The first stage of such a reform was the work of OUR PREDECESSOR PIUS XII with the reform of the Easter Vigil and the rites of Holy Week, which constituted the first step in the adaptation of the Roman Missal to the contemporary way of thinking.” Emphasis added.
Yes, Pius XII mandated the changes in the Holy Week ceremonies in 1955. And because Maxima Redemptionis legitimated the actions of progressivist clergy who had been implementing the reforms without the Pope’s authority for decades, it was a document fundamentally biased Against the Traditional Rite.
With Mediator Dei of 1947, Pius XII has set the stage for “active participation” of the laity. Not only did he strongly encourage the “Dialogue Mass” and congregational singing in this encyclical, but he also exhorted the Bishops to set up diocesan committees to ensure that these revolutionary measures “in which the people take part in the liturgy” would be everywhere promoted as a “liturgical apostolate” for the laity. Thus, Pius XII effectively undermined his own teaching on the Catholic priesthood.
Pius XII seemed to be suggesting that the Liturgical Movement, purged of its abuses, was praiseworthy. That is the same argument used today in relation to the Novus Ordo. But there could be no good outcomes, no “wholesome results” from reforms that were not rooted in the faith and tradition of the Church. Wherever the Catholic faith flourished, this was due to sound catechesis and the correct spirit and practice of the liturgy as taught by Pius X, who never considered himself part of anyone’s “movement”.
The revision of the Roman rite under Pius XII was simply a “kind of novitiate” for the official reforms of Vatican II. Yet at that critical point in history when papal support for the protection of the traditional rites was essential, Pius XII was on the wrong side, aligning himself with those who aimed to demolish Tradition.
CONCLUSION
Benedict XV, Pius XI and Pius XII took the required oath to GOD against Modernism promulgated by Pius X that every Catholic priest since 1910 has had to take before receiving holy orders. All three became heretics by breaking their oath to God against Modernism and by supporting Masonry. Therefore, they lost all ability to perform priestly duties and were no longer Catholic.
The Papal Bull cum ex apostolatus officio of Pope Paul IV teaches that: if anyone was a heretic before the Papal election, he could not be a valid pope, even if he is elected unanimously by the Cardinals. Canon 188.4 (1917 Code of Canon Law) teachers that: if a cleric (pope, bishop, etc.) becomes a heretic, he loses his office without any declaration by operation of law. St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Antonius, St. Francis de Sales, St. Alphonsus Liguori, and many other theologians all teach that a heretic cannot be a pope.
The "vatican-2 council" was simply to gather the approval signatures for a revolution that had already taken place by Benedict XV, Pius XI and Pius XII. These three were automatically excommunicated for heresy for breaking the oath they had taken against Modernism, and, by the heresy written in their “encyclicals”. They were incapable of granting Catholic Jurisdiction to bishops. They lost all ability to perform priestly duties or distribute the Sacraments because they were no longer Catholic ... this is how the bishop’s offices around the world fell vacant in a piecemeal fashion starting in 1914.
At present, it is highly topical to revive this practice. If heretics in office defend and enforce heresies instead of defending the faith, the faithful must not obey them. The dogmatic bull Cum Ex Apostolatus Officio of Paul IV (1559) sets out an attitude towards heretics: all actions of a heretic – priest, bishop or pope – are null and void, and he must not be obeyed by anyone. The faithful cannot receive dubious sacraments from him, or else they would be united with him in apostasy. They must separate from him even at the cost of becoming a catacomb Church. God’s Word says clearly:
If anyone preaches any other gospel, let him be accursed.” (Gal 1:8-9)
We are currently witnessing the covert promotion of new anti-sacraments in the Vatican II Church, and some Traditional Churches, such as covid anti-gospel vaccinations, anti-baptism, the pseudo sacrament of sodomite marriage, the pseudo sacrament of anointing the sick before euthanasia, i.e., suicide, etc. The null and void priests have excluded themselves from the Church because of their unity with heresies, the faithful cannot receive dubious sacraments from them, or else they would be united with them in apostasy. They must separate from them even at the cost of becoming a catacomb Church.
We are now witnessing the proclamation of a modernist, sodomitic, pachamamic anti-gospel, which brings down God’s anathema, curse and excommunication. One needs to be aware of the basic fact that heretics, apostates, currently occupy the Vatican II Church and Traditional Churches where priests are not properly ordained. They have ultimate control of the mechanism of power – the ecclesiastical structure. They abuse it by forcing their subordinates onto the path of apostasy, onto the broad path that leads to eternal destruction. Catholics have so far believed to be bound in conscience to obey the abused authority. That was a grave mistake! Whoever wants to remain in the Church of Christ and be saved must not obey a heretic or preacher of an anti-gospel.
The present-day Catholic is a frightening example because of having received satanic anti-baptism with a so-called mRNA vaccine. Incorruptible experts warn against it and, in spiritual terms, mRNA vaccination is satanic anti-baptism. Why? Because the vaccine is made from the tissue torn from an unborn baby before it is killed.
Do you recall the ordeal the Japanese suffered? After having Catholicism already established and practiced, they were later forbidden to practice their religion for 250 years under intense persecution, and even death. They had no priests or sacraments for all those years. Their ONLY way to practice religion was by repeating the questions and answers of the Catechism left to them by Spanish missionaries. It was all the Catholics of Japan had to help them live through two and a half centuries without priests or sacraments. At the end of the 250-year banned period Catholicism was restored and they (so to speak came out of the woodwork) were once again able to attend Mass and receive the Sacraments. Those Japanese remained Loyal Catholics for 250 years even without a priest and the Sacraments yet they remained solid Catholics.
Since these heretic popes, Benedict XV, Pius XI and Pius XII cannot consecrate bishops or ordain priests according to the infallible teaching of the Church in cum ex apostolatus officio, which must be obeyed, we are currently without priests and the Sacraments, with the exception of baptism and marriage, just as the Japanese were.
What’s the remedy for our quarantine? The answer is to always pray an Act of Perfect Contrition (see below at the end of the blog for more information) and keep in mind Hebrews 13:5…
“Let your manners be without covetousness, contented with such things as you have; for He hath said: I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee”.
Many more heresies could be presented with respect to Benedict XV, Pius XI and Pius XII. However, more than enough heresy has been demonstrated above to establish, according to Catholic Doctrine, infallible rulings, and the Saints, that all three were heretics.
Say the Rosary. Wear the Brown Scapular. Make an act of Perfect Contrition.
THE ACT OF PERFECT CONTRITION
It is important to understand that you can not just recite the words of The Act of Perfect Contrition prayer. It must be an interior act of mind and will. It must also be Supernatural as it must be made under the influence of actual grace. Only God can give us the grace of making an act of Perfect Contrition because it flows from Charity, which is God’s own Love, infused by God into our souls. Thus, it is important to pray frequently for God’s grace to make us perfectly contrite for our sins, asking for His special grace prior to starting the act of contrition.
Aside from praying often to have Perfect Contrition, it is important to bring to mind the seriousness of sin, and to meditate on the suffering sin has caused Our Lord Jesus Christ. Kneeling or prostrating oneself before a crucifix and questioning oneself about Who is on this Cross and why and what He has suffered can help dispose the soul to receive this God given grace. One must then recall the actual sins for which he is sorry. The requirement is universal—it’s all or nothing. You can not omit any mortal sins that you have a particular fondness for. You have to include all of your mortal sins as any mortal sin is alone enough to condemn you to hell.
Our desire to not sin is supreme, that is must be paramount to everything, including death. Finally, we must detest sin in the most intense way and our desire to not sin again must be intense.
The key elements here are to both mean and express our hatred of sin for having offended God who is all good, professing our perfect love of God, and promising with God’s grace to confess these sins, avoid the occasions of sin, and sin no more.
As the Council of Trent points out, this desire to confess along with our sorrow is what obtains forgiveness. That desire must be fulfilled, if possible. Given that more and more people are without access to priests nearby every day, this gift of God (grace of Perfect Contrition) may save us from Hell, should we fall sick or die without a priest to bring us the Last Sacraments.
One final question…
How do I know for sure I prayed an Act of Perfect Contrition and not an Act of Imperfect Contrition?
The answer…
You don’t know. The most important element is God’s grace and that is supernatural. So, pray for God’s grace before you pray the Act of Perfect Contrition as follows…
O, my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven, and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
Amen.
