I read of this while perusing the Remnant Newspaper. I like the Remnant for its critical eye toward modernism. I especially agree with their calling to mind what many ‘conservative’ Roman Catholics engage in these days —“ papolatry (pope worship —“ hey he’s the pope, what he says must be true, and isn’t he nice, great, kind, loving, always smiling).
Anyway, before I go off on a rant, I would love your perspective on this.
It does in fact make me sick to think that such a thing is even being considered. Now I love intellectual debate as much as the next cleric, but this stuff just supports the evil of the age. There is no God, there is no right and wrong (just do what makes you feel good —“ and don’t hurt anyone), there is no evil, and people cannot possibly knowingly participate in or make evil choices.
Judas the Misunderstood
From Richard Owen, in Rome for the Times of LondonVatican moves to clear reviled disciple’s name
JUDAS ISCARIOT, the disciple who betrayed Jesus with a kiss, is to be given a makeover by Vatican scholars.
The proposed —rehabilitation— of the man who was paid 30 pieces of silver to identify Jesus to Roman soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane, comes on the ground that he was not deliberately evil, but was just —fulfilling his part in God’s plan—.
Christians have traditionally blamed Judas for aiding and abetting the Crucifixion, and his name is synonymous with treachery. According to St Luke, Judas was —possessed by Satan—.
Now, a campaign led by Monsignor Walter Brandmuller, head of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Science, is aimed at persuading believers to look kindly at a man reviled for 2,000 years.
Mgr Brandmuller told fellow scholars it was time for a —re-reading— of the Judas story. He is supported by Vittorio Messori, a prominent Catholic writer close to both Pope Benedict XVI and the late John Paul II.
Signor Messori said that the rehabilitation of Judas would —resolve the problem of an apparent lack of mercy by Jesus toward one of his closest collaborators—.
Yes, yes, Jesus is all merciful —“ we can all agree on that. But His mercy has a requirement, conversion and repentance.
He told La Stampa that there was a Christian tradition that held that Judas was forgiven by Jesus and ordered to purify himself with —spiritual exercises— in the desert.
Of course the Gospels differ. But I like this one…
In scholarly circles, it has long been unfashionable to demonise Judas and Catholics in Britain are likely to welcome Judas’s rehabilitation.
Father Allen Morris, Christian Life and Worship secretary for the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, said: —If Christ died for all —” is it possible that Judas too was redeemed through the Master he betrayed?— The —rehabilitation— of Judas could help the Pope’s drive to improve Christian-Jewish relations, which he has made a priority of his pontificate.
Looks like under Anglican auspices England has become the new Las Vegas —“ anything goes. I’m OK, you’re OK; there is no sin. Thanks Gene Robinson and the rest of the heretics. For my part I believe what happens in England should stay in England.
Some Bible experts say Judas was —a victim of a theological libel which helped to create anti Semitism— by forming an image of him as a —sinister villain— prepared to betray for money.
In many medieval plays and paintings Judas is portrayed with a hooked nose and exaggerated Semitic features. In Dante’s Inferno, Judas is relegated to the lowest pits of Hell, where he is devoured by a three-headed demon.
The move to clear Judas’s name coincides with plans to publish the alleged Gospel of Judas for the first time in English, German and French. Though not written by Judas, it is said to reflect the belief among early Christians —” now gaining ground in the Vatican —” that in betraying Christ Judas was fulfilling a divine mission, which led to the arrest and Crucifixion of Jesus and hence to man’s salvation.
Perhaps someone at the Vatican has a financial interest in the book? No, that couldn’t be true.
Mgr Brandmuller said that he expected —no new historical evidence— from the supposed gospel, which had been excluded from the canon of accepted Scripture.
But it could —serve to reconstruct the events and context of Christ’s teachings as they were seen by the early Christians—. This included that Jesus had always preached —forgiveness for one’s enemies—.
Lets be exact here —“ not forgiveness, but love and prayer.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt. 5:43-48)
Oh, and by the way, its a little hard to write a gospel while you’re hanging from a tree with your guts spilling out on the ground. Now, on with the article
Some Vatican scholars have expressed concern over the reconsideration of Judas. Monsignor Giovanni D’Ercole, a Vatican theologian, said it was —dangerous to re-evaulate Judas and muddy the Gospel accounts by reference to apocryphal writings. This can only create confusion in believers.— The Gospels tell how Judas later returned the 30 pieces of silver —” his —blood money— —” and hanged himself, or according to the Acts of the Apostles, —fell headlong and burst open so that all his entrails burst out—.
Some accounts suggest he acted out of disappointment that Jesus was not a revolutionary who intended to overthrow Roman occupation and establish —God’s Kingdom on Earth—.
In the Gospel accounts, Jesus reveals to the disciples at the Last Supper that one of them will betray him, but does not say which. He adds —Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.—
But he also —” according to St Matthew —” acknowledged that Judas had a divine function to fulfil, saying to him during the arrest, —Friend, do what you are here to do— and adding that —the prophecies of the Scriptures must be fulfilled—.
The —Gospel of Judas—, a 62-page worn and tattered papyrus, was found in Egypt half a century ago and later sold by antiquities dealers to the Maecenas Foundation in Basle, Switzerland.
Michael J. Natt, publisher of The Remnant had this to say:
The following article, published under the title “The Priest and the Present Crisis in the Church”, was written by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (RIP) and appeared as a Remnant exclusive in June, 1972. In the wake of the mind-blowing news out of Rome this week that the Vatican’s Pontifical Committee for Historical Science has proposed some sort of bizarre process of —rehabilitation— for Judas Iscariot (no, I’m not making it up! [full story]), it seems somehow apropos to revisit the predictions of universal ecclesial crisis that Archbishop Lefebvre was warning against some 35 years ago. As the Vatican embarks on this surreal quest to recast in a more favorable light the betrayer of our Savior and the one whom Christ Himself said would have been better off had he never been born, three things become clearer: 1) A reprieve for Catholics longing for an end to this 40-year nightmare is evidently not in the offing; 2) The need for traditional Catholic resistance to this Modernist madness is greater now than ever before; 3) A significant number of the Catholic hierarchy have taken leave of their Catholic senses.