Starting The New Year With Slaps

Actually the incident happened yesterday, captured in video.  The pope was shaking many hands in the crowd beyond the barrier.  A woman, for whatever reason, would not let go of his hand and she could be heard saying something loudly.  Some speculation was that she was pleading for Chinese Catholics, whom Pope Francis threw under the bus to appease the communist government.



At any rate, he can be seen striking the woman twice and then stomping away, with quite a scowl on his face.  While doing so, he exclaimed "Bitch!  Hands!  Hands!"  In today's Angelus address, he apologized for "yesterday's bad example".

A lot of people are trying to justify the pope's actions yesterday, stating that he's elderly and shouldn't be jostled about like that.  Assuming that's true, then why does he insist on glad-handing the public?  What happened to him also happened to his predecessors.  As I recall, Pope St. John Paul II was shot while doing that.  Thereafter he rode in the pope-mobile.  Additionally, where was his security detail while all this was transpiring?  I saw one push the woman back, but only after the pope was walking away.  Why were they passive throughout this incident?

Speaking of man-handling, let the video below jog some memories of the altar boy incident of several years ago.  Has this young man received his apology?



So many might deserve apologies:

• Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Immaculate
• Cardinals Brandmuller, Burke, Muller
• Former Grand Master of the Order of Malta
• The woman whom he rebuked for "breeding like rabbits"
• Those whom he mocked as "rosary counters"

That list could go on and on.

At Mass today, Father urged us to pray our Rosaries at least once daily.  Amen!  2020 is already looking like it's going to be a bumpy ride!

This Apology Could Do With Its Own Apology

Regrettably Michael Voris issued an apology for reporting on Cardinal Burke's comments last week.  If you go here, you'll see the video is no longer working; he took it down.  My friend at Les Femmes saw this apology before I did.  I say AMEN! to all her comments and I too pledge NOT to succumb to a false clericalism that refuses to acknowledge the obvious problems issuing forth from this papacy.  Contrary to what Voris says, we do not have to "comb through" everything the Pope says to find statements that, at best, obfuscate the faith.  In fact, it takes much more effort and mental gymnastics to pretend that we are not being continuously bombarded with oddities.  If nothing else, I want to assure others that they need now bow before the "god of surprises".

I have to wonder about something.  He seems to believe that his reporting of Cardinal Burke's all-too-accurate assessments somehow "harmed the Church".  But he merely reported what the Cardinal said.  Are we to surmise from this "apology" that he believes that Cardinal Burke harmed the Church by stating that the Pope was doing harm by not standing for the Faith?  If not, where's the alleged harm?

I also couldn't help but notice a parallel between this and another situation that happened about six weeks ago.  Consider: this past Friday Voris published his report on Cardinal Burke's remarks.  A few days later it was pulled down.  Yet another few days later he issues an apology.  Does it sound familiar yet?  Here's a hint: Msgr Charles Pope!

By the time I became aware of Msgr Pope's reaction to Cardinal Dolan's stance regarding the St Patrick's gay parade, his blog post - rightly critical of Cdl Dolan - had been pulled.  Fortunately LifeSiteNews and others saved it so I was able to save it.  So, like Voris, Msgr Pope posts an article and then it's pulled down!  Then - like Voris - Msgr Pope apologized for his previous post.  Even the timing of events is almost identical.

Now if one reads Pope's apology very closely, one can detect that he apologized under duress, probably from the Archdiocese of Washington.  Their server does host his blog and he is a priest of that diocese (just happens to be mine as well).  Now a question for which we may never receive an answer: was Voris's apology influenced by some outside entity?  Perhaps I'm just speculating, but one must admit the other similarities are quite striking.

From Hyundai

A friend of mine forwarded to me a reply that he received from Hyundai's management regarding their ad that blasphemed the Mass.  I reproduce it below.

Hello and thank you for your feedback regarding Hyundai advertising.


Hyundai Motor America would like to thank you and other consumers for sharing concerns about a new ad titled "Wedding" which aired during the opening games of the FIFA World Cup broadcast last week. We take comments of this nature very seriously. Because of feedback like yours, we have removed the ad from all Hyundai communications and stopped airing it.


We credit the passionate World Cup viewers and Hyundai owners for raising this issue to us. The unexpected response created by the ad, which combined both soccer and religious motifs to speak to the passion of international soccer fans, prompted us to take a more critical and informed look at the spot. Though unintentional, we now see it was insensitive. We appreciate your feedback and hope you will accept our sincere apologies.


With appreciation,
Hyundai Motor America

There are two things I'd like to say about this.  First, Hyundai deserves a fair amount of credit for admitting their mistake and apologizing for it.  We can all recall other organizations that didn't have nearly the amount of decency to own up to offensive behavior.
 
Second, this does show that protests do work.  We can never allow ourselves to think, "my efforts make no difference" and to turn away.  Keep at it.