Notre Dame - Apocalypse Now!

Our thoughts and prayers are with all Parisians who have been repeatedly traumatized over the past few years. The horrific burning of the majestic, medieval Notre Dame Cathedral is an immeasurable loss to the cultural heritage of Paris… of France… and all those who treasure the great architectural masterpieces of the middle ages. More than being perhaps the greatest Catholic Cathedral, Notre Dame represented the unbroken lineage of human endeavor.

We take heart in the amazingly resilient people of Paris… those who amidst the horror… raised their voices in song… a true testament to the inextinguishable human spirit. Vive!

The fire, as of this writing, has not been determined to have been caused by any nefarious act. With that said, the blaze that decimated two-thirds of the Cathedral… occurring just before the holy week of Easter… raises the connotation of more than a mere accident. The French call such acts a Force Majeure, or an act of God. If so, such an act would be of a Demiurgic nature. For those of us who entertain synchro-mystic information streams… something deeper and perhaps darker is afoot.

Accordingly, one cannot help but speculate on the symbolic significance of the burning of Notre Dame. As a major edifice of the Catholic Church, mysteriously catching fire when it did, Notre Dame’s fiery demise elicits conspiratorial, even occult conjecture. It is as if this force majeure was wrought by a retributive intrusion of some awakened power… some, as yet, unknown countermeasure. 

The Catholic Church continues to be visited by an onslaught of catastrophe that threatens its very existence. First and foremost, have been the continued pedophilia allegations. Cases of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests, and other members of religious orders in the 20th and 21st centuries have been widespread and have led to many allegations, investigations, trials and convictions as well as revelations about decades of attempts by the Church to cover up reported incidents.

Recent allegations of the rape and in some cases the impregnation of Nuns, a longstanding Church scandal, has re-emerged… adding to the Church’s long list of transgressions. The cases of sexual abuse of nuns and religious women by Catholic priests and bishops… and the abortions that have sometimes resulted, have for years been overshadowed by other scandals in the Roman Catholic Church. 

From 2001 to 2010, the Holy See, the central governing body of the Catholic Church, considered sex abuse allegations involving about 3,000 priests dating back fifty years. Between February 21st and 24th, 2019, a summit was held in the Vatican to discuss how to counter sex abuse. On March 29th, one month after the summit was held, Pope Francis issued a new Vatican City law requiring Vatican City officials, including those in the Roman Curia, and foreign nuncios affiliated with the Vatican government, to report sex abuse. The Pope’s progressive stance on the Church’s trespasses has infuriated ultra-conservative factions within the Church.

These outages alone taint any vestige of moral authority the Church may have aspired to in the past. As we have indicated, not only the Catholic Church but essentially all of the “Desert Religions” have failed us in any spiritual and ethical leadership. 

As if these allegations were not enough, a Vatican controversy was recently reignited when a long-time personal aide to Pope (Emeritus) Benedict XVI suggested that the papacy has been redefined and that there are now two popes in the Roman Catholic Church. Two Popes? The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI occurred on 28 February 2013. His decision to retire shook the Church to its very foundations. Shortly thereafter, the College of Cardinals elected Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, who took the name of Francis.

Strange details of Benedict’s continued presence sparks rumors of inter-papal intrigues. Why does Benedict continue to wear the papal white? Under normal circumstances, such attire is solely reserved for the Pope. Why did Benedict select the title: Pope Emeritus? He either is, or isn’t a Pope. It is also rumored that Benedict is unhappy with Pope Francis’ liberal tendencies. The ecclesiology of Pope Francis is strikingly divergent from that of Benedict. For example, many inside the Vatican feel that Benedict believes that Francis is taking a very dangerous risk by encouraging liberal Catholics who want to change the rules governing reception of the Eucharist.

Again, if these controversies were not enough… Pope Francis has recently come under fire from none other than the “great beast” of the Alt-Right, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. In recent interviews, Bannon attacked the Pope for criticizing populist movements and even went so far as to sensationally claim the Catholic Church is on the verge of bankruptcy. “This is the problem” quotes Bannon… “He is constantly putting all the faults in the world on the populist nationalist movement.”

While Bannon claimed to have created a “platform for the alt-right” at Breitbart News, Francis has cautioned against the movement, warning two years ago that it could lead to the election of another Adolf Hitler. Such intrigue has brought much criticism from ultra-conservative and arch-nationalist circles, both religious and secular, upon the progressive Pope Francis and the Catholic Church that he heads. 

So it is with this backdrop, one pock-marked by pedophilia and Right Nationalist revolt, that the most revered Catholic Cathedral of all, the beloved Notre Dame is all but destroyed by fire. It is as if some demon from hell brought ruin upon the Catholic Church, for its sins. Catastrophic events such as this demand synchro-mystic speculation. What are the signs and portents pointing to? Does the disastrous loss of Norte Dame indicate that on some cosmic, karmic level... the Church is being punished for its corruption?  Is this a Trial by Fire?

For now, we will leave such occultic speculations to you, dear intrepid readers. In closing, from our perspective, we hold at least some acquiescence to the suspicion that some cosmic comeuppance is at play. So it was that, while the ancient cathedral burned, Parisians gathered, perhaps… not to gawk at the spectacle… but to sing mournful hymns and bear witness to the Catholic Church’s funeral pyre.

Other installments of the Apocalypse Now! Series...

Fire & Water  ~  Paradise Lost

The End of Ice  ~  Climate Summit  ~  Welcome to WWIII