St. Michael's Shield, a little booklet explaining the origin of devotions and apparitions of the great Archangel, his role in history, his role in our spirituality -- and most importantly, is role in protecting us. The booklet contains an enormously powerful set of novenas and prayers to St. Michael -- prayers custom-made for times like our own! A treasure trove, highly recommended.  CLICK HERE

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PROBLEMS AT VATICAN BANK BRING OUT STRANGE THEORIES OF MASONS, MAFIA, AND ROTHSCHILDS

With the trip to England, the Pope has stepped fully into the papacy. There were no major setbacks and he presented the Church as still the most dignified representative of humanity -- and did so in the secular heart of the secular continent (stepping into the belly of the beast, so to speak, and leaving unwounded; indeed, with new and well-deserved respect). Thus far it is the high point of Benedict XVI's pontificate, coming at a time when Church credibility in Europe is in crisis and to a region that has been of special cause to him. The British media admitted that Pope Benedict "succeeded in presenting himself as a lovable, elderly figure," as one news service stated. "What the visit accomplished above all was to unify Catholics and humanize a pope who has so often been perceived as cold, aloof and authoritarian," wrote Catherine Pepinster, editor of a Catholic newspaper called The Tablet.

It was a huge victory, the product of courage, which means it was the product of faith. A Crucifix he held even seemed to radiate. "This was a much more successful visit than the Roman Catholic hierarchy had dared to hope," said the Daily Mail newspaper. "The crowds were larger than had been forecast, if not as big as they were when the charismatic Pope John Paul II came to this country 28 years ago." The Sun added: "The pontiff's visit proved much more substantial than anticipated."

Upon his return, the Pope was met by what may or may not turn out to be another scandal -- an investigation by Italian authorities of the Vatican bank's chief and the impounding of $30 million of Vatican assets.

It is too early to tell if there is merit to the investigation or whether the Italian authorities and media are playing it up as a little taste of persecution (perhaps the devil's response to the success in England). The bank chief, Ettore Gotti Edeschi, says it was all caused by an error in procedure: money transfers from one account to another that were not "money-laundering," which is what authorities ostensibly are guarding against. It was also a mistake and inexperience that some believe caused the indictment nearly thirty years ago of the late Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, an American who headed the Vatican bank who was charged as an accessory to fraudulent bankruptcy in a scandal over the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano in the 1980s in one of Italy's largest fraud cases. Roberto Calvi, the head of Banco Ambrosiano, was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982 in circumstances that still remain mysterious and some believe had the earmarks of a Masonic "hit." (In 1990, Archbishop Marcinkus told Robert Moynihan of Inside the Vatican, "Before I die, come talk to me. I will tell you things that will curl your hair." "He then retired to Sun City, Arizona," says Moynihan. "Early in 2006, I phoned him there. 'Would it be the right time now for me to come talk to you?' I asked him. He said, 'Not yet.' A week later, I called a second time -- I felt it was about time to see him, as 16 years had passed since our last meeting. 'Not yet, but soon,' he told me. A few days later, he died.")

London investigators first ruled that Calvi committed suicide, but his family pressed for further investigation. Eventually murder charges were filed against five defendants, including a major Mafia figure, and they were tried in Rome and acquitted in 2007, notes another news website. Some even believe that John Paul I was murdered (we don't accept such theories, at this point) because he was going to clean the bank of any such Masonic influence or corruption.

In fact, Edeschi was assigned as current bank chief by Benedict precisely to make sure its transactions are all totally aboveboard ("transparent"). The bank has long been a magnet for conspiracy theorists and Vatican detractors (including born-again sites that want to portray Rome as the seat of anti-christ). A few even accuse it of being under the thumb of the famous Rothschild family, which is associated not only with enormous European wealth but also with attempts at forming a new world order and single global government (it is very active with secretive groups such as the Bilderbergs). We see no definitive proof of the Rothschild theory either, but such has to be totally ensured. Can the Vatican somehow better separate itself from financial dealings with all worldly groups -- especially investments?

Let us repeat what we reported last week: When the great Thomas Aquinas visited the Vatican, it is said that an officer of Pope Innocent the Fourth brought in a bag of money. The Pope reputedly said to Aquinas, "You see, young man, the age of the Church is past, in which he said, 'Silver and gold have I none.' To which Aquinas replied, "True, holy father, but the age is also past, in which he could say to a paralytic, 'Rise up and walk.'"

[resources: Brotherhood of Darkness and The Bilderbergs]

[see also: Pope proved lovable, The Pope's triumph, and Vatican bank chief says it was a mistake]

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