CONFIDENCE IN THE CHURCH

We must carry our confidence in the Church and distrust ourselves; when the Church says it is  true, we must believe even if we feel it is untrue, says St. Ignatius of Loyola.

And no one, absolutely no one, may take upon himself what rightfully belongs to the See of Rome--that spiritual pre-eminence given to her by our Saviour, Himself, through Peter and his successors, exclaims St. Thomas More.

And, writing to Pope Gregory XI, St. Catherine of Sienna states: "God has permitted that dignities and luxuries are taken away from His Bride. This way, she can return to her former condition, poor, humble and meek, a time when men took note of nothing but the honor of God and the salvation of souls, caring for spiritual things and not for the temporal. When the Church takes care of the temporal rather than the spiritual, she goes from bad to worse. 

(01-29-03)