Holy Mother Church is under attack. Not too many people will deny that for the evidence is irrefutable. What is often denied, despite equally irrefutable evidence, is that many of these attacks are occurring with the approval, if not initiative, of the current pontiff. I had hopes in the early stages of this papacy that such was not the case, but had to address the evidence as it was, not as I might have wished it were.
For that I and many others have been accused of "bashing the pope", "not having faith", "being a sedevacantist", etc. So be it. We pray for our detractors for I believe that many do love the Church; they simply cannot face the fact that not all popes are of the same caliber as some of the sainted ones. In fact, Our Lord never promised us holy pontiffs. He promised that no sitting pope would ever solemnly proclaim error - and that's it!
But let's recap the sorry history of this papacy to date; some others have done much of that cataloging for us. We have, from last week, "The A-Z List Of Concerns With Pope Francis", courtesy of LifeSiteNews. The blogger of "That The Bones You Have Crushed May Thrill" put up a post called "Pope Francis Little Book Of Insults" (each insult cited is a link that will take you to the context of that insult). Earlier today Steve Jalsevac posted an article that details all the harm caused (so far) by the papal gaffe "who am I to judge".
He certainly has no problem whatsoever judging faithful Catholics, as evidenced by the "little book of insults". A few days ago, in La Civita Cattolica, a publication that enjoys semi-official status at the Vatican, appeared an article co-written by Anthony Spadaro and Marcelo Figueroa entitled "Evangelical Fundamentalism And Catholic Integralism In The USA: A Surprising Ecumenism". In it they basically trash all those faithful Christians who have the audacity to bring their faith and morals into the public sphere. Now let's get real. This blog and others have noted how the Vatican, under this papacy, has allied itself with many progressive and yes, anti-life persons while pushing for unbridled immigration and the population-control mantras. It is precisely those faithful Catholics, vilified by Spadaro and Figueroa, who are sounding the alarm regarding these death-dealing policies and who are opposing them. This is one clear reason why those two issued their temper tantrum. I take it as a testament that we are doing something right in opposing them; else they wouldn't be gnashing their teeth and snarling so incoherently. Again, I point out that this publication is under Vatican supervision. Spadaro, one of the two authors, is also a Vatican official. The contents of that article reflect current Vatican - and I mean papal - thought.
We need to have our ears and eyes wide open and to be praying for the Church, which is now being undermined by her highest leaders.
The Blessed Mother prophesied this in several of her approved apparitions, along with several of our great Saints. The problem, I do believe with most Catholics who are protesting those of us 'sounding the alarm', is that they just can't believe that we are now actually living those prophesies. That said, Catholics are not OBLIGATED to believe in private revelation. I sometimes wonder if that's what we are seeing, or if some are actually reveling in the 'new morality' proposed by erring Churchmen including the current Pontiff. I, like many others, refused to believe that this 'Pope' could propose such harmful and anti Catholic ideas AT THE BEGINNING of all this. But, there comes a point in time when the evidence is absolutely undeniable. You can only keep the blinders on for so long before the truth starts to burn those blinders off. Yes, it's painful, it's horrible and it rocks your world if your faith means anything to you, especially if your faith is the CENTER of your world, but deny the apostasy you cannot. Once the blinders are off you begin to ask yourself what YOUR roll is in all of this. As the Christian Catholic faithful we are CALLED to defend Holy Mother Church to the best of our ability. TO SPEAK OUT against the error, to STAND UP for Christ in His Church to the point of death if need be. Thank you for being one of the faithful courageous bloggers to 'sound the alarm'. The term 'CHURCH MILITANT' was not given to us for no reason, after all. We are called to fight this spiritual war that is now breaking out into the open. The surprise to an almost unbelief is that the war is as much on the INSIDE of the Church as the OUTSIDE. Our Lady of Fatima, PRAY FOR US!
ReplyDeleteWe seem to have a very serious pride problem in the Church today. While I certainly acknowledge that Pope Francis is liberal (more so than I), I cannot understand such hostility toward him. He is the Vicar of Christ and we should stop acting as if we are of higher authority than he! It displeases the Lord, who calls us to be obedient to the one whom He gave the power to bind and loose. He didn't give you or me that authority or anyone other than the Apostles (Peter in particular) and their successors. By saying you have concerns about this papacy, you are also saying, in a certain sense, that you don't trust Jesus... You don't trust who He chose to lead His Church and you don't trust who He put in authority over you. I hope anyone who has concerns about our Pontiff will prayerfully consider the possibility that just maybe the concern should be with one's self.
ReplyDeleteThat "more so than I" parenthetical remark seems to be indicative of your viewpoint. To note these concerns is not to discount any legitimate authority. We are also not called to be obedient to commands that might well be inherently sinful, despite their origin. Ultramontanism is a serious problem with which many are afflicted; you are not alone in that.
DeleteSome of the concerns do discount legitimate authority. In A-Z Concerns for example, the Pope is criticized for dismissing Cardinal Muller from his position as Prefect at the end of his term. That is certainly within his legitimate authority, is it not? Furthermore, this blog posted an unverified account of how that dismissal occurred (see Disgraceful Dismissal of Cardinal Muller). That account was false and denied by Cardinal Muller himself.
DeleteThe current pontiff is the fruit of all that set the stage for Vatican Council II and all of the novelty and insanity that has come since. The warnings of Pope Saint Pius X in Pascendi were spot on. That we now find ourselves in the era of the warnings from our Holy Mother is a source of both agony and joy. Agony since we must witness the Church being deconstructed before our eyes. Joy in knowing that Our Lord and our Mother will prevail!
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