The following is the introduction to the Italian edition of "The Plot Against the Church" which was written by clergymen under the pen name of Maurice Pinay and published shortly before the opening of the Second Vatican Council:
The most infamous conspiracy is in progress against the Church. Her enemies are working to destroy the most holy traditions and thus to introduce dangerous and evil-intended reforms, such as those Calvin, Zwingli and other false teachers once attempted. They manifest a hypocritical zeal to modernise the Church and to adapt it to the present day situation, but in reality they conceal the secret intention of opening the gates to Communism, to hasten the collapse of the free world and to prepare the further destruction of Christianity. All this it is intended to put into effect at the coming Vatican Council. We have proofs of how everything is being planned in secret agreement with the leading forces of Communism, of world Freemasonry and of the secret power directing these.
It is intended to first carry out a probe and to begin with the reforms which encounter less resistance from the defenders of Holy Church, in order to then gradually extend the range, as weakening resistance allows this.
In addition, we have confirmation of what will still be unbelievable for those who are not initiated, namely that the anti-Christian forces have at their disposal, in the ranks of Church dignitaries, a veritable “Fifth Column” of agents who are the unconditional tools of Communism and of the secret power directing it. For it has been revealed that those cardinals, archbishops and bishops, who form a kind of progressive wing within the Council, will attempt to bring about a break through shameful reforms, whereby the good faith and the eagerness for progress of many devout Council Fathers will be deceived.
The assurance has been given that the Progressive block forming at the beginning of the Synod will be able to count upon the support of the Vatican, in which, so it is said, those anti-Christian forces possess influence. This appears unbelievable to us and sounds more like boastful arrogance by the enemies of the Church than sober reality. However, we mention this, so that one sees how far the enemies of Catholicism and of the Free World risk revealing themselves. Apart from the dangerous reforms in the doctrine of the Church and her traditional policy which stand in open contradiction to what was approved by the preceding Popes and Ecumenical Councils, it is desired that the Excommunication Bulls uttered by his Holiness Pope Pius XII against the Communists and their lackeys be declared nullified.
In this manner the effort is made to establish a peaceful coexistence with the Communists, which on the one side would be harmful to the regard for Holy Church in the eyes of Christians who fight against materialistic and atheistic Communism and on the other side weaken the morale of these fighters, hasten their defeat and would have as a consequence dissolution in their own ranks, in order in such a way to ensure the worldwide triumph of Red totalitarianism. Concern is taken that Protestants and Orthodox are in no way invited who fight heroically against Communism, but rather more only those Churches and Church counsellors who stand under the influence of Freemasonry, of Communism and the secret power directing them. In this manner the Freemasons and Communists disguised in priestly robes, who have usurped the leading posts in such churches, work together concealed and in a subtle way, but also very effectively, with their accomplices who have infiltrated into the
Catholic clergy.
On its side the Kremlin has already decided to refuse known anti-Communist prelates an exit visa, and only to allow their unconditional agents or those who, without being the latter, have bowed out of fear of Red reprisals, to travel from the satellite states. Thus at the Second Vatican Council the Church will experience the silence of those who could defend her best of all and could enlighten the Holy Synod concerning what takes place in the Communist world.
This will undoubtedly seem incredible to those who read it; but the events at the Holy Ecumenical Council will open their eyes and convince them that we are speaking the truth. For it is there that the enemy intends to play a trump card, whereby it, so we are assured, will have on its side unconditional accomplices among the highest Church dignitaries. A further disastrous plan, which is being prepared, is that the Church shall contradict itself, so as a result to sacrifice its regard with the faithful; for later it will be broadcast that an institution which contradicts itself cannot be divine. With this proof they wish to desolate the Churches and achieve that the faithful lose their confidence in the clergy and abandon them.
It is intended to cause the Church to declare that what it has represented for centuries as bad, is now good. Among such manoeuvres spun for this purpose one particularly stands out on account of its importance, and refers in fact to the conduct of Holy Church towards the damned Jews, as Saint Augustine calls them; and this in reference both to those who nailed Christ to the cross, as also to their descendants, who are both archenemies of Christianity. The unanimous doctrine of the great Church Fathers, that “unanimis consensus Patrum” which the Church regards as a source of faith, condemned the unbelieving Jews and declared the struggle against them to be good and necessary.
For example, in this struggle, participated, as we will prove by means of irrefutable evidence, the following Saints: Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Athanasius, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint Basil, Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Saint Isidore of Seville, Saint Bernhard and even Tertullian as well as Origen, the latter two during the period of their indisputable orthodoxy. In addition, the Church fought energetically for nineteen centuries against the Jews, as we will likewise prove by means of reliable documents, and among which are found the following: Papal Bulls, Protocols of the Ecumenical and Provincial Councils as well as the highly renowned Fourth Lateran Council and many others, the teachings of Saint Thomas of Aquinas, of Duns Scotus and of the most important doctors of the Church. In addition we will quote Jewish sources of indisputable authenticity, like the official Encyclopaedias of Jewry, the works of famous rabbis as well as of the most well known Jewish historians.
The Jewish, Freemasonic and Communist plotters now have the intention at the coming Council of utilising, as they assert, the lack of knowledge of most clergy concerning the true history of the Church, to execute a surprise coup by adopting the standpoint at the assembled Holy Ecumenical Council that anti-Semitism must be condemned, as well as every struggle against the Jews who, as we will elaborate, are the wirepullers of Freemasonry and of international Communism. They would like the infamous Jews, whom the Church has regarded as evil for the course of nineteen centuries, to be declared good and beloved of God. As a result the “unanimis consensus Patrum” would be contradicted, which laid down exactly the opposite, as well as what also found its expression through various Papal Bulls and Canons of Ecumenical as well as Provincial Councils.
Since the Jews and their accomplices pillory every struggle within the Catholic Church against the wickedness of the former, as well as the plots directed against Christ Our Lord, as antisemitism, we will likewise reveal in this book that Christ Himself, the Gospels and the Catholic Church can be included among the sources of antisemitism, since they campaigned for nearly two thousand years against those who denied their Messiah.
With the condemnation of Antisemitism, which at times is called Antisemitic racialism, it is wished to attain that his Holiness the Pope and the assembled Council in condemnation of Antisemitism experience the catastrophic event that the Church contradicts itself, and therefore, without giving account to this, silently also condemn Christ Our Lord Himself, as well as the Holy Gospels, the Church Fathers and most Popes, among them Gregory VII (Hildebrand), Innocent II, Innocent III, Pius V, and Leo XIII, who as we will show in this book, have fought bitterly against the Jews and the “Synagogue of Satan”.
With such condemnation it would be successful to simultaneously place countless Church Councils in the dock, among them the Ecumenical Councils of Nicaea and the Second, Third and Fourth Lateran Councils, whose Canons we will subject in this book to a thorough investigation, and which carried on an energetic struggle against the Hebrews. To put it in few words, the infamous plotters have the scheme in mind that Holy Church, by its condemning Antisemitism, condemns itself, whereby one can easily amplify the disastrous consequences.
It was already attempted at the last Vatican Council, even if in disguised form, to alter course in the traditional doctrine of the Church, when it was successful by means of a surprise manoeuvre and lasting pressure, to influence countless Church Fathers to signing “a Postulate in favour of the Jews”. Misusing the Apostolic zeal of the devout prelates, it was first spoken of a summons to conversion of the Israelites, which regarded from the theological viewpoint is an intention without fault; but later they inoculated the secret poison in form of assertions, which, as we will reveal in the course of this work, stand in open contradiction to the doctrine which Holy Church has laid down in this respect.
But upon this occasion, when the “Synagogue of Satan” believed it had secured the approval of the postulate on the part of the Council, God, who always stands by His Church, prevented the mystical body of Christ from contradicting itself and fructifying the plots of its thousand years old enemy. The Franco-Prussian war broke out unexpectedly. Napoleon had to hastily withdraw the troops protecting the Pontificate, and the army of Victor Emmanuel prepared to take Rome. Therefore the 1st Holy Vatican Council had to be hastily dissolved, and the prelates returned to their dioceses, before a general discussion concerning the postulate in question was able to be begun.
This was, however, not the first time that divine providence held up such a misfortune by means of something extraordinary. History shows us that it has done it in numerous cases, whereby it mostly made use of the Popes and devout prelates as its medium; among the latter we include Saint Athanasius, Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Saint Leanero, Cardinal Aimerico, and even such humble monks as Saint Bernhard or Saint John of Capistranus. In other cases than those previously mentioned, it even made use of ambitious monarchs, as the example of
Victor Emmanuel, the King of Italy, reveals.
When in the middle of the past year we experienced how the enemy was preparing renewed attempts to unleash a plot which would open the gates to Communism, prepare the collapse of the free world and deliver Holy Church into the claws of the “Synagogue of Satan”, we began, without losing any time, to collect documents and to write the following work which is intended to be not so much a book with a certain disputed tendency, but rather an ordered summary of Council records, Papal Bulls and all kinds of documents and sources, from which we leave out those whose reliability or truthfulness is doubtful, and select those which possess indisputable truth.
In this book, not only is the plot uncovered which Communism and the “Synagogue of Satan” have entered upon against the 2nd Vatican Council, but also the preceding conspiracies, which were recorded in the course of nineteen centuries as cases of precedence, are subject to a thorough illumination. For what is intended to occur at the new assembled Holy Synod, has already occurred repeatedly in the past centuries. In order to grasp what will occur to the full extent, it is therefore essential to know the cases of precedence as well as the nature of that hostile “Fifth Column” infiltrated into the bosom of the clergy. This purpose is served by the extensive investigation of the Fourth Part, which rests upon a faultless proof of sources.
Since in addition attention is drawn to the possibility that the Holy See and the Second Vatican Council might abandon certain traditions of the Church in order to grant aid to the triumph of Communism and of Freemasonry, we lay at basis of the two first parts of this work a minute study, whereby we cite the two most serious sources concerning what one can call the quintessence of Freemasonry and of atheistic Communism, and investigate the nature of the secret power directing it. Even if the fourth part of this book is the most important, then nevertheless the first three and above all the third make comprehensible the plot threatening Holy Church in its entire circumference. This plot is not restricted to its activity during the coming universal Synod but extends far more to the entire feature of the Church. For the enemy has already calculated that, if for some reasons at the Holy Synod strong defensive forces awaken against its planned reforms and these should bring about the failure of its intentions at the Second Vatican Council, it will use at a later point any kind of opportunity to return to its plan, in which respect it would know how to utilise the strong influence which it pretends to have with the Holy See.
We are naturally convinced of the fact that, in spite of the intrigues of the enemy, the support which God always grants His Church will also cause their criminal machinations to fail this time. It is also written: “The Powers of Hell shall not triumph over it!”
Unfortunately, in writing this very documentary book, we have used more than fourteen months, and there remain only two until the opening of the Second Vatican Council. God will help us to overcome all resistance, in order to have ready the printing of this work either by the beginning of the Synod or at least before the enemy can cause the first harm. Though we are also aware that the Lord God will not permit a catastrophe, nevertheless we must keep before our eyes what an outstanding Saint expressed: that, although we know that all depends upon God, we should nevertheless act as if everything depended upon us. And as Saint Bernard said in a similar grave crisis to that of the present: “Pray to God and hit out with the stick.”
Rome, the 31st August 1962. The Author.
by Henry Makow, Ph.D.
