The Best Defense Is A Good Offense

I suspect the title of this post summarizes the strategy that Pope Francis is employing in the wake of the impending heretical circus known as the Amazon Sin-Nod, scheduled for next month.  No doubt this hootenanny will be so chock-full of spiritual poison, designed to mutate the Faith beyond recognition, that the pope would love nothing more than for us to dissect and analyze the mess.  He knows in so doing, that we would disarm at least some of the bombs that will be flying from that sin-nod, so he is trying his darndest to scold us into silence.

How else do you account for these gaffes?

• On the plane yesterday, he stated that "dissent from American Catholic conservatives would not lead to a schism in the church".  Oh, there is so much to unpack in that article.  We who are "rigid" (that is, we who hold to the Traditions of the Church), well, "there are problems" and we have to be "accompanied with tenderness".  What will cause schism is any disobedience to Tradition, such as pretending to ordain women, pantheism, admittance of those in mortal sin to Holy Communion.  Does he know that is coming down the road, hence his attempt to shift blame for rupture to faithful Catholics?  He said he was willing to listen to critics and make necessary corrections, but meanwhile the dubia still sit on his desk, utterly disdained.
• Cardinal Gerhard Muller, former head of doctrine for the Vatican, has raised concerns regarding the direction in which the pope is leading the Church.  The pope, ever willing to listen to correction (per the previous bullet point) responded by saying that the Cardinal "has good intentions but is like a child".  The condescension is palpable. 
• Let's not forget that the pope "is honored when Americans attack him".  So to criticize a person's actions is to attack him personally?  He knows better than that.  He simply is trying to vilify concerned Catholics who do not turn a blind eye to the obvious.  But a note to those who criticize this blog.  According to the pope, you should no longer accuse me of not honoring him, for he himself said that I honor him!  So, there!

I'm now going to post a screen shot from a Facebook post that Msgr Charles Pope wrote regarding these little jibes from the pope.  It's an open letter to the pope.

Regarding Father's last sentence, we're tired of it too but we must realize this is par for the course.  What the pope is doing is simply "advance damage control" as it were.  I think the idea is to shame us into shutting up if, and when, the real dissidence and heresies ooze out of the Amazon Sin-Nod and elsewhere.  I for one will not fall for that.