The great onslaught of Ecumenism

John XXIII receives Non-Catholic observers at the Vatican

October 13, 1962 - Cardinal Agostino Bea, above, standing at right, presents to John XXIII the schismatic and heretic observers the Pope invited to be present during the sessions of Vatican II.

Pius IX also invited non-Catholic observers, but his intention was to convert them, as he manisfested in the Apostolic Letter Iam vos omnes (Denzinger-Schönmetzer, 2997-2999).

Acting in the opposite sense, John XXIII invited the Schismatics and Protestants so that the Catholic Church might accommodate to their errors. This goal became clear with the reform of the Mass that did away with its sacrifical character to please the Protestants.

The Church ceased its opposition to Communism on October 11, 1962, when John XXIII agreed to lay aside this combat as a condition to receive the two delegates of the Schismatic Church of Moscow.

Below, from the top, John XXIII greeting Protestant Jesse Bader, Evangelical Edmund Schlink, Presbyterian James Nichols; second row, Lutherans George Lindberg and Kristen Skysgaard; third row, Monophysites Tadros Mikhail (Coptic), Zakka Iwar (Syrian), Heile Teshome (Ethiopian) and Karekin Sarkissan (Armenian);

Fourth row at left, Episcopalian Fred Grant,
at right, Liberal Protestants Luther Adams and L. J. Holk;

Last row at left, Russian Schismatics Vladimir Kotliaroff and Vital Borovy,
at right, Methodist Fred Corson.