Oh, wait.

I’m jus’ gonna leave this here. 3 June, ARSH 2011. And yes, the room still smelled of bacon….

I was cc’d this letter to Christopher Ferrara just now. It speaks for itself, and ever so eloquently. My thanks to the author. -AB

Chris,

I don’t need to remind you, I hope, how much I have enjoyed your writing and various conversations with you over the years, even where we disagree. I’ve also had a few friendly disagreements with Ann over time. 

I have hesitated for days to write this, but  it won’t stop nagging at me, so I’ll nag you. I strongly suspect Ann is exactly right about Benedict still being Pope. I have strongly suspected it since the first time she said it;  her argument rings true. It was cogent and clear from the start, highly compelling, and – so far as I could tell – flawless in logic and supporting factual base. It has only gotten stronger over time as further corroboration comes in. What is more, every single Trad I have spoken with on the topic (admittedly only a few) as well as my local Novus Ordo priest, who doesn’t know us from Adam, believes it is true. It’s like being in the crowd in “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

But of course Ann might be wrong. We all make mistakes. 

If she is wrong, her argument deserves a point for point refutation in a very serious brief. It is the contrary opposite of some frivolous emotional argument predicated on revulsion for Bergoglio or something of the sort (understandable as that would be.) It is, at least facially, a rigorously rational argument and as such, worthy of real refutation on its merits, if it be nevertheless false or invalid.

But it is not of course the argument that deserves refutation; it is Ann, and it is those who find it compelling, like me. You are several others I love and admire keep insisting that she’s wrong, but I have yet to find someone who will actually explain why, exactly.

Instead you breezily proffered this, with no supporting authority: We have no competence to assemble “data sets” and declare that the Chair of Peter is vacant.

Just tactically, if you are in the right, this is devastating to your position. Forget about the failure to support it. This is much worse: it is impossible to have read anything Ann has written on the subject and conclude that she “declares” that “the Chair of Peter is vacant.” If you cannot even accurately characterize her central thesis, which she has howled aloud to the four winds for nearly 4 years now, it is impossible to take seriously anything you say by way of refutation. 

In charity, I am sure you were just speaking carelessly, since I am wholly unwilling to ascribe bad faith to you, which is what would be in evidence if you said that after reflection. This suggests that you really have never bothered to look seriously at what she says, and are sort of just brushing it away as you would a pesky fly because you are assuming it’s just some kooky idea unworthy of attention. So I just want to add my voice asking you please to take it seriously and, if she is wrong, show us how. Show us exactly how, because it seems absolutely sound to me.

-****-

On December 30, ARSH 2017 Chris Ferrara posted an essay titled “Not Fair, Mr. Keating” at Fátima Perspectives. LINK HERE.

Paragraph 12:

Finally, no traditionalist I would consider a colleague has ever declared that Francis is an anti-Pope (in the sense that he was not validly elected, although he acts like one), that the See of Peter is vacant, or that Benedict is still the Pope.  These are straw men.

Fr. Nicholas Gruner was the founder of the organization that Chris Ferrara has dedicated a massive amount of his working life to: The Fátima Center. Fr. Nicholas Gruner was Chris Ferrara’s spiritual father, it is no risk to say. The word “disciple” could very appropriately be used to describe to closeness and intertwinedness of Chris Ferrara to Fr. Nicholas Gruner.

Fr. Nicholas Gruner openly, publicly declared that Pope Benedict’s attempted resignation was canonically invalid per Canon 332.2. Fr. Nicholas Gruner commemorated Pope Benedict at the Te Igitur. This video, scrubbed from the Fatima Center’s own YouTube channel, almost certainly with Ferrara’s involvement, proves this beyond any shadow of a doubt.

And yet, unbelievably, Counselor Ferrara stated in writing on 30 December, ARSH 2017 that “no Traditionalist I would consider a colleague has ever declared” “that Benedict is still the Pope.”

Folks, this is a lie. PERIOD.

I post this to point up the fact there is is something very, very, VERY wrong amongst the professional Traditional Catholic partisans who absolutely insist that “Francis is Pope, so shut up, Stupid!”

Lying is a big deal, and when you catch people lying you need to acknowledge it for the extremely grave matter that it is. For me personally, I have learned over the past seven years that it is extremely important to NOT associate with and, when necessary, even denounce people that one discovers to be liars. Chris Ferrara is not the first person that has been irrefutably demonstrated to me to be a liar in the Trad Inc. milieu.

There is absolutely no way to spin or engage in lawyerly doublespeak to make Ferrara’s written statement above anything than what it is: a full-blown boldfaced lie.

I will not be having anything to do with Mr. Ferrara henceforth, should on the off-chance our paths happen to cross. I do not associate with and certainly do not fraternize with people I know to be dishonest.

Pray for Pope Benedict, the one and only living Pope whether he likes it or not, the Papacy, and Holy Mother Church.

People are wondering why Chris Ferrara of the Fatima Center and long-time columnist for the Remnant Newspaper would admit to privately suspecting that Pope Benedict’s resignation was invalid, and yet at the same time be so publicly strident that “Francis” is Pope.  And, yes, I stand ONE THOUSAND PERCENT behind what I said on Episode #101 of the Barnhardt Podcast at about the 23:00 mark.  On the evening of 28 June, ARSH 2016, Chris Ferrara said TO MY FACE with Mike Matt of the Remnant standing there, “We all think you’re probably right.”  That was a pretty amazing thing for Chris to have said, and I will never forget it.  Also, contrary to Chris’ words HERE I had met, spoken, and eaten meals with Chris several times previous to that in ARSH 2013 and ARSH 2014, most notably at the restaurant “da Roberto” on the Borgo Pio in Rome immediately after Bergoglio’s “faux-election” on the evening of 13 March, ARSH 2013.  I had a piece of lasagna.  So, his memory is a little spotty, it seems.

Here’s the context that explains why Chris might be caught between the two positions:  Chris Ferrara’s spiritual father, Fr. Nicholas Gruner, the founder of the Fatima Center, was TOTALLY BiP (BiP stands for “Benedict is Pope”) very early on in the Bergoglian Antipapacy.  Fr. Nicholas Gruner was a canonist who honed in on Canon 332.2 and the MUNUS-MINISTERIUM distinction.  Sadly, Fr. Gruner died suddenly of a heart attack in ARSH 2015, over a year before +Georg Gänswein gave his watershed speech at the Gregorian in Rome which was the main impetus for my “BiPping” in June of ARSH 2016.  And, yes, Fr. Nicholas Gruner commemorated Pope Benedict at the Te Igitur when he offered the Holy Sacrifice.

Do I have proof of this?  Yes, I absolutely do.  Here is a video that was originally posted on the Fatima Center’s YouTube channel, but was PULLED by the Fatima Center leadership.  Somehow, Louie Verrecchio managed to get his hands on a version of it and posted this excerpt to his Vimeo Channel for posterity. This is Fr. Gruner on 14 November, ARSH 2014.  Fr. Gruner explicitly discusses the canonical invalidity of Pope Benedict’s attempted resignation at the 5:00 mark.  He mis-speaks at one point when he says “2012” instead of “2013” as the date of Pope Benedict’s attempted resignation.

So, I think this makes it VERY clear why Chris Ferrara might be “torn” on the question of Pope Benedict’s resignation.  His own beloved spiritual father and founder of the Fatima Center, Fr. Nicholas Gruner, a canonist, was 100% BiP, while on the other hand Chris Ferrara’s colleagues and associates in the “professional Trad Catholic” world are strident “shut-up-stupid-Fwanciss-is-Pope!” partisans.

Let me conclude with one of Fr. Gruner’s favorite quotes from Pope St. Gregory the Great:

“It is better that scandals arise than that the truth be suppressed.”

Reprinted in full. This is terrifying.

January 30, 2020

Saint John Bosco

Dear Friends,

We are all still in the throes of suffering the great shock of Father Evan Harkins’ recent and unexpected passing. It is especially true that those of us who knew Father well simply cannot get our heads around this tragedy. It came out of nowhere, and happened to one of the finest, holiest, most gentle and humble priests we know. Everything seemed perfectly normal in Father’s life. He offered Masses at the parish and heard confessions that weekend. We are left scratching our heads; how on earth could this have happened, but especially to someone like Father Harkins? It just doesn’t add up. It simply doesn’t make sense.

Father had been close to our community even since he was a seminarian. Over the past nine and a half years, he has offered Mass for us more times than I can count. He arranged and attended a monthly priest gathering at our retreat house, and he was just on a private retreat here at our monastery last week. After speaking with our chaplain who was with him, and also to his mother, with whom Father was very close, there are certain details that I feel compelled to bring to you in order to try to bring some peace, understanding and closure to this tragic event – for our community, for brother priests and seminarians, for his family, his parishioners past and present, and everyone who knew and loved Father.

After attending an event at Good Counsel in early January, Father felt very ill. He felt so sick to his stomach that he stopped at a hospital, as he didn’t think he could make it back to St. Joseph. He was prescribed a medication to help alleviate the pain and nausea. A couple of weeks after that, he relayed to his mother that he had begun suffering from certain panic and anxieties over things that would never had bothered him before. The Sisters who interacted with him at the retreat house could sense that he just wasn’t himself, as did our chaplain who was able to speak to him at greater length.

While we don’t know for sure what exactly was happening in Father’s mind, I can only relate our own experiences with the same type of drug prescribed to Father — serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

I myself had an experience that I will never forget, and it was absolutely terrifying. I took the pill at night, and could not sleep, finding that I was losing all control of my thoughts and emotions. It was as though my mind and body had been completely hijacked. Needless to say, I stopped taking the drug immediately.

Another Sister was given a prescription for her stomach trouble. The doctor prescribed a drug that was normally used for depression and anxiety, but also used for stomach problems. When I found her the next morning in a fetal position, sobbing and convulsing, I threw away the rest of the bottle.

Yet another Sister fell into deep depression after being prescribed an anti-depressant for the relief of headaches. After she had been taking it a couple of days, she felt so depressed and suicidal, she walked out of the monastery down the road, with the overwhelming yearning to just end her life. It was truly a miracle she came back, through the intercession of St. Benedict, and when I learned what was going inside of her, I immediately dumped those pills too. The suicidal thoughts went away after the pills had run their course.

While not specifically the same drug as what Father had been prescribed, all of the above interfered with neurotransmitters, which are chemical signals to the brain. Though the Sisters had only taken minimal doses, Father had been on the drug for three weeks. While there is no doubt that these drugs certainly can and do help people, it is also very true that the same drugs can make certain people literally lose control of their minds. Also, Father did not grow up taking any kind of medications, which perhaps made him even more sensitive to the negative effects of the drug.

Father Harkins left his retreat early without explanation. I learned afterwards that he just couldn’t handle the panicky feelings and anxiety he was experiencing. He also had had a very bad nightmare while here. While Father may have felt some stress and anxiety before January, I do know, as we all do, that he would not, could not have ended his life on this account. He clearly began to experience feelings he never had before once he started taking this drug. And this awareness likely caused him even more anxiety, not knowing how to cope with such overwhelming feelings, producing a snowball effect. He was not making a connection with the medication, that it could be the source of these attacks. And here we are now, so many broken hearts, striving to cope with the absolute worst outcome of side effects of prescription drugs.

I hope and pray that these words can in some way to help souls understand how something like this could happen to someone like Father Harkins, and ease the tremendous pain of it all. In addition, perhaps it can also act as a warning to be very careful with regard to pharmaceuticals. One person can have such a diametrically opposed reaction to another when taking the same drug.

Please feel free to pass this message on to anyone who knew and loved Father. I believe with all my heart that the good God Who knows all things, will take all these circumstances into account, and grant Divine Mercy to Father and to all of us. We will continue to pray very earnestly with all our hearts, and entrust everything to the Immaculate Heart of Our Mother, knowing she will intercede for Father and for us all.

In her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart,

Mother Cecilia, abbess

Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles

“We know that this discipline “is not required by the very nature of the priesthood” (PO 16), although there is for many reasons a convenient relationship with it.”

(Sappiamo che questa disciplina “non è richiesta dalla natura stessa del sacerdozio” (PO 16), sebbene vi sia per molte ragioni un rapporto di convenienza con esso.)

PO is “PRESBYTERORUM ORDINIS“.

Remember what these lying apostate bastards are intentionally leaving out:

The rule from DAY ONE was that married men who were ordained had to observe PERFECT, PERPETUAL CONTINENCE. They could never have sex with their wives again. Because, to be a priest and offer the Holy Sacrifice is to be mystically espoused to the Church, and to Christ Himself. The Mass is a nuptial act.

Everyone understood this until not too terribly long ago.

Prof. de Mattei’s original Italian coverage here.

A priest in Kansas City shot himself this week, and already the “canonizations” are everywhere.

In the interests of speaking those truths that others won’t:

Nearly every human being who commits suicide goes straight to hell for all eternity.  Self-murder is one of the most evil acts a human being can commit. NOTHING justifies suicide.  If a person is literally non compos mentis, that is so profoundly ill that they are no longer “present” in their own consciousness, very, very, very rarely do such people have suicidal ideation.  Suicide is something that is freely chosen by a rational human intellect that is conscious and self-aware.

This is something very difficult to talk about, especially in light of 9/11 and the several hundred people who jumped.  Should you ever find yourself in a situation like that, it is VERY important that you NOT kill yourself, but rather be killed by external forces, and cling to every second of life that you can, making acts of perfect contrition for as long as you possibly can, and thus preparing yourself for your Particular Judgment as well as you possibly can.

Here’s the thing about the Bergoglian-Sodo-Freemasonic Antichurch demanding that self-murder victims be unanimously and instantly declared to be saints in the Beatific Vision, entered into eternal paradise: IT IS A KEY EXPECTATION AND PLANK OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER/ ONE WORLD RELIGION (SOROS, ET AL) AGENDA THAT BABY BOOMERS, GENERATION X’ERS, MILLENNIALS, AND ALL FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL COMMIT SUICIDE RATHER THAN INCUR COSTS AND PHYSICAL SUFFERING ASSOCIATED WITH DISEASE AND NORMAL AGING.

They are LITERALLY banking on this.

The Antichurch already is and will continue to be the major moral driver behind not only the ratification of suicide, but the EXPECTATION of suicide in certain circumstances.  The Antichurch is already telling people that to commit suicide is to INSTANTLY enter into heaven, or, at the very worst, to have one’s soul annihilated.  THIS is why Antipope Bergoglio has repeatedly proclaimed the heresy of soul annihilation.

Not only does suicide NOT “stop the pain”, it increases it to the incomprehensible level of the torment of eternal damnation in hell.

With regards to the priest who committed suicide a couple of days ago in Kansas City, the FIRST thought to go through my mind was, “What was he on?  Xanax? Prozac? Both?” Folks, these so-called anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs are absolutely luciferian and put people in to an ever-escalating high-low cycle.  I had the misfortune of falling in with a group years ago that included a person who was a lifetime user of these drugs.  I was warned before I even met the person, repeatedly, by others in the clique that they were manic-depressive and mentally ill, and required patience and forbearance.  What later came to light was NOT that the person was manic-depressive, but rather that the person was a lifetime addict to prescription anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs.  What APPEARED to be “cyclical manic-depression” was, in reality, the person cycling onto (“manic”) and then off of (“depressive-psychotic”) these drugs.  The cycle fed itself.  As the person cycled OFF the drugs and then had a depressive or psychotic break, they would then cycle back on at a higher dose in order to “cure” the downside plunge.  It should be noted that almost EVERY mass shooter of the past 20 years has been a teenaged or early-20s male who has cycled OFF of psychoactive prescription drugs.  Suicidal, and oftentimes murder-suicidal ideation is a common and well-known side effect of WITHDRAWAL from these drugs, not being hopped-up on them per se.  But, big Pharma runs the show, and there is no way in hell the FDA will EVER ban these drugs given the current paradigm. And WAY too many people are now addicted to them.

For the public record, I have never in my life taken any such drug, nor would I EVER consent to being given such drugs.  EVER.  I used to think that “perhaps they help some people”, but I have now changed my position to one of total condemnation of such drugs.  They are dangerous both to the ingester and to the public at large, and keep people from getting real help, not to mention the sickening amounts of both blood and spiritual-blood money that Big Pharma makes from them.

I’d like to make one other point about PRIESTS today, in particular.

One of the most nauseating things I have learned about the sodomitical cesspit that is Rome is how sacrilegious sodomites (both clerics and laymen) and sexual predators use the Sacrament of Confession in order to protect themselves.  When a sacrilegious sodomite (either clerical or layman) identifies a “new priest in town” that is genuinely orthodox and even pious, the first thing the sodomites do is “confess” to that priest.  Now, understand me, these “confessions” are totally invalid because they do not involve sorrow or ANY purpose of amendment.  They are sacrilege on the deepest level.  These fake “confessions” are made in order to tie the hands of the priest who hears the fake “confession” so that the priest can not act IN ANY WAY against the sodomites.  A priest can not even, for example, admit that he knows that a given man is a homosexual, no matter how flamboyant and campy a given man might be.  Hence, you have sacristies FULL of sodomites, and no one says a word.

Now, imagine the psychological anguish and SCANDAL that a truly orthodox and believing priest today could be under.  Imagine being surrounded by sodomites – both clerics and laymen – and not being able to say or do ANYTHING about it.  Not being able to warn anyone.  Not even being able to complain. Imagine being a young newly-ordained priest, sent to your first parish assignment, and the parish priest, effectively your boss, asks you to hear his confession and then unloads active sodomy, child abuse, procurement of prostitutes, embezzlement, trafficking in and/or producing pornography, and on and on….  About the only thing a priest can do in that situation is DEMAND a transfer, but even then, the sodomite parish priest could and would make up all manner of calumnies against the young, orthodox priest.  And the worst part?  Since the bishops are a FAR higher percent sodomites, and the sodomites protect each other under a code of sodomitical Omertá, the bishop could and likely would crush the young, orthodox priest.

Could we then see how a young, orthodox priest might then be tempted to turn to dangerous anti-depressant and/or anti-anxiety pharmaceuticals?

Folks, THERE ARE NOT WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE SATANIC EVIL THAT IS THE SCOURGE OF SODOMY.  The sodomite milieu operates on a level of evil that morally sane people simply cannot comprehend – until it is explicitly explained to them, as has been the case with me.  As intelligent as I may be, I could never have come up with this shit myself.

It is POSSIBLE that any priest who commits suicide, especially a priest that gave every appearance of genuine orthodoxy as the priest in Kansas City was reported to have been, COULD have been scandalized to total despair, or at minimum scandalized into psychoactive drug use.

Satan is a bastard, and a MASTER chess player. Never forget that.

Now, after reading this, tell me more about how Pope Benedict XVI simply COULDN’T have been coerced into proffering a resignation.  Tell me more about that.  Tell me more about how the man who was the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and had ALL clerical misconduct cases pass over his desk, and had lived and worked for DECADES in the Vatican, which was and is now almost TOTALLY infiltrated by sodomites, yes, tell me more about how COERCION and despair-induced SUBSTANTIAL ERROR are not even possible.  Tell me more about how Pope Benedict said immediately upon being elected Pope, “Pray for me, that I not flee for fear of the wolves” and this indicates nothing and should be totally discounted as meaningless. Tell me more.  Tell me more about how no satanic maneuvering could even be possible, despite the locution of Pope Leo XIII in which satan declared his intention to destroy the Church, and Our Lord replied, “Go ahead and try.”

Finally, THE SEAL OF THE CONFESSIONAL MUST BE MAINTAINED AT ALL COSTS.

Don’t you see that it is satan’s overarching plan to essentially destroy the sacrament of penance, MOST ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE IN GRAVE MORTAL SIN?

See how this triangulation has been set up?

Thus, knowing and being aware of this, there is NO REASON TO MOVE INTO CHECK. The seal of the confessional MUST be maintained.

I hope this helps.

Pray for priests, pray for Pope Benedict XVI, the one and only living Pope whether he likes it or not, the Papacy, and Holy Mother Church.

I don’t think that I am going out onto any sort of a limb to remind everyone that none of us can possibly imagine what all he knows and has been carrying around under the seal of the confessional for decades.  Let us remember Pope Benedict most especially at the Third and Fourth Sorrowful Mysteries.  The Third is the crowning with thorns – the fruit of the mystery is MORAL FORTITUDE.  The Fourth Sorrowful is the carrying of the Cross – the fruit of the mystery is PATIENCE and PERSEVERANCE.

The Solemn High Requiem with Absolution at the Catafalque REALLY needs to happen.

One of the single-most horrific and tragic aspects of the Novus Ordo paradigm is the total abandonment of the Poor Souls and the truly awful “canonizations” that pass as Funeral Masses.  This, of course, is all about the infiltrators’ denial of the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell.  And THIS, of course, is a direct corollary of the denial of SIN in and of itself.

Novus Ordo funerals almost always canonize the dead person – that is declare them to be a saint in the Beatific Vision – and at absolute worst paint the funeral as a “celebration of life”, which, you realize, is a sneaking nod to one of Antipope Bergoglio and satan’s very favorite heresies: the notion that human souls that don’t reach heaven are ANNIHILATED.  So, hey, worst case scenario, Uncle So-and-so, who was a vocal apostate, moral degenerate and all around terrible person, but was baptized Catholic and thus his mother insisted that he have a Catholic funeral, is winkingly assumed to have had his soul annihilated, so, why don’t we have a “celebration of his life”?  No harm, no foul.

Thus, most Novus Ordo Catholics today do not have EVEN ONE Requiem Mass prayed for their souls, never mind there being any Requiems offered for the repose of the soul of deceased Catholics who are in Purgatory, going through the final burning purification like gold in a furnace so that they might be totally purged of any attachment to sin, and thus enter into the full, unveiled presence of God.

Yesterday as the news came in, it seemed to get worse and worse.  First Bryant and three others… then four others… then the news of 13 year old Gianna… then that it was a total of NINE souls on the helicopter… then the news that the crash was probably due to flying in fog so dense that it had grounded local law enforcement choppers.  Which means that this really didn’t have to happen.  But it did.

But now, today, better news.  The Bryants were practicing Catholics, with Kobe having a strong reversion in ARSH 2003, and they did, in fact, go to Sunday Mass just hours before they died. Kobe was also a regular WEEKDAY Mass attendee, which is particularly good news.  I think it can be reasonably said that people who go to daily Mass are generally there not because “I have to fulfill the Sunday obligation because of the Third Commandment”, but are there because they really, really WANT to be there.  I dare say that when a superstar athlete with a $600 million net worth gets up and goes to Mass on a Tuesday, it is because he WANTS TO.

Kobe Bryant needs prayers for the repose of his soul, just as almost every adult who dies does.  Bryant, we know, did some terrible things in his adult life, with his 2003 rape trial and civil settlement dominating the news in Denver in ARSH 2003.  It was a truly sordid, degenerate matter.  However, he managed to keep his marriage together, and had four daughters (including a baby born just this past summer) of whom he was clearly enamored and devoted. And, as we are all now reading, the rape trial is what spurred his reversion to Catholicism – yes, there are a non-trivial number of black American cradle Catholics.

So, first and foremost, the Bryants and the other people on the helicopter should have a Requiem just like every other human being (and they will, of course, be included in the Requiem that I have offered every week for ALL of the people who died in the previous week).  HOWEVER, I think that this terrible tragedy COULD be a vector for tremendous grace to flow.  Here is what I propose:

A SOLEMN HIGH REQUIEM MASS, WITH ABSOLUTION AT THE CATAFALQUE SHOULD BE ORGANIZED, AND LIVESTREAMED AND MADE AVAILABLE ON VIDEO.  Obviously, this should ideally happen in Los Angeles, but I would also propose that this could also be done in Italy as well, where Bryant grew up.  The FSSP has a parish in Los Angeles, and the Institute of Christ the King services central Italy, including Pistoia, where Kobe lived for several years as a child.

This could be a huge opportunity to show people what ACTUAL Catholic funerary liturgy looks and sounds like, what the Church prays for the faithful departed, and this being merely secondary to the spiritual work of mercy for the dead themselves.

The proverbial bat signal should be sent to Fr. Z. (who does on-site liturgical instruction and assistance), the FSSP Parish in Los Angeles, the ICK in Italy, and anyone else who can help with this.  Ideally, professional videographers should be enjoined.  EWTN? And, also ideally, professional musicians.  Many people find Faure’s Requiem to be sublime.  But it would require a full orchestra and choir.  Otherwise, Palsetrina, or any other traditional setting.

Here is a video of the Absolution at the Catafalque.  A catafalque (CAT-uh-falk) is the frame upon which a coffin, or as in most cases a wooden chest that stands-in for a coffin, is placed for Requiems at which the bodies are not present, which, again, is the vast majority of Requiems said since only ONE Funeral is normally said with the coffin in the church. Not every Requiem has the Catafalque in place, obviously.  It is a somewhat special ceremony.

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Please spread the word on this and help me agitate to make it happen.