Friday 2 October 2015

UP-DATED: Protestants Warn Catholics About Francis; Catholics warn Catholics about Synod. Vatican back-tracks on Kim Davis meeting

Strange header for this post, no? Not as strange as the reality it conveys, for high-ranking evangelical Protestants have warned Catholics that Pope Francis is left-leaning; taking the Church with him, and appears to have sided with the political left (seeLifesite News here). That makes for sad reading; protestant leaders are alarmed that in Francis’ speech to the joint session of the US Congress he never mentioned Jesus Christ (whose Vicar he is and whose name and teaching he is meant to proclaim). What might this imply to them and to the outside world (and to solid Catholics) about who Francis sees as the supreme teacher?
In my previous post I ventured to say Francis is too provincial, but I may have misconstrued his problem. Certainly he has won hearts by his embracing of the sick etc, but he is losing solid Catholics on a daily basis; only those with politically left leanings are likely to be faithful to him. Further, in promoting his image as the caring Francis yet failing to mention Jesus Christ, he has allowed people to make the claim that he has his own agenda at the centre of his vision, rather than the Gospel.
As if this were not problem enough for Francis, he has also left himself open to a charge of ‘speaking with a forked tongue’, for while he addressed victims of child sexual abuse and told them that clergy and bishops will be held accountable, he has personally invited Cardinal Danneels to the Synod on the family, yet Danneels has a history of telling an abuse victim to stay quiet about the abusing Bishop until the said Bishop had retired.
Few devout Catholics will be uplifted by Francis on his US trip; those who are happy with him are likely those who have no desire to uphold the Traditional Faith of the Church on marriage and the family, since these are the very issues Francis strikingly failed to defend before Congress. That this failure (as well as the failure to speak of Christ and the failure to denounce the evil of abortion) has concerned even non-Catholics, is disturbing.
In a country where the Church is being battered by secular forces which demand funding by Church groups for the anti-life Culture of Death (contraception and abortion); the same country which has legislated for homosexual pairings to be equivalent to God-given marriage, Francis ought to have spoken clearly and unequivocally of the teaching on the Church on these issues. Talk about the environment and social justice is all well and good, but failure to mention the right to life (upon which access to very other right depends); the failure to defend of the natural process of transmitting life, and even the failure to mention Jesus Christ, is a loss beyond words. Many are likely to view Francis as politically (or image) motivated rather than gospel motivated.
It has also been revealed (see Rorate Caeli here) that a shadow group of Jesuits are already drafting the post-synodal document by Pope Francis, apparently with his knowledge. If true this is a massive indictment against the current Roman Authorities, and explains why the reflections of the “small groups” (circuli minores) are not going to be shared, and why there will be no mid-term report: they will likely not be of the kind the shadow (shady?) people want.  

UPDATE: So, the Vatican is claiming Kim Davis had no 'real audience' with the pope and that it should not be taken as support...well, coming so soon after a rebuke of the Pope by the Left, this looks very much like the Pope even regrets supporting solid Christian teaching and witness. Dear oh dear, what have we here? Will Fr Lombardi now have to say it was an audience and the pope does support Ms. Davis'  position or what? The answer is 'what': what a mess we are in.

18 comments:

  1. What is that apostrophe doing in the headline?

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  2. e certainly enter this second session in a state of general confusion, orthodox Catholics, that is.

    And not just Protestants are warning us about changing doctrine on marriage, but the Orthodox too – very strongly!

    And there are so many other problems, may I suggest so much greater, in the world.

    Christianity is nearly eliminated, and now just clinging on as remnants, in the ancient Christian lands of the Middle East.

    Islam is flooding in to Europe in ever greater numbers .

    Christians, Catholics and secularists are contracepting and aborting themselves out of existence.

    But well why worry, we have the Synod on the Family to keep us pre-occupied!

    We really should be looking at these questions first, in my humble opinion.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jacobi.
      I'm not sure the other problems are greater: if the Truth is not preached in the world the world grows even darker, for Truth (Christ) is the light of the world. That is not to say the other problems are not grave -they most certainly are.
      God Bless.

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    2. Father you are perfectly correct. One's Faith makes everything easy. Did Our Lord not say His yoke was sweet and His burden was light? Earthly suffering in order to follow Him will all seem like nothing from the perspective of Paradise. And besides, there is joy to be had here with a clear conscience and the state of grace.

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  3. Worse than that - it now breaks that the former student mentioned in Fr. Lombardi's press release met Pope Francis with his homosexual partner - and they both received a kiss on the cheek.

    It all looks a lot like psychological warfare.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you.
      The down-playing of Truth and the actually physical embracing of error by Vatican Personnel is symbolic of the Church in the West.
      God Bless.

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  4. While The Vatican backtracks on the Pope's support for brave Kim Davis, the Daily Mail online is now showing him in a non-judgemental bear hug with one half of a gay 'couple' in the US. I'm sure The Vatican will be just as quick to announce that the picture doesn't signal the Pope's support.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you.
      The down-playing of Truth and the actually physical embracing of error by Vatican Personnel is symbolic of the Church in the West.
      God Bless.

      Delete
  5. There is a story the pope met with an active homosexual and his "friend"... yes a couple in the nunciature? The photo shows the pope smiling as did the homosexual... one of the pope's ex students.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you.
      The down-playing of Truth and the actually physical embracing of error by Vatican Personnel is symbolic of the Church in the West.
      God Bless.

      Delete
  6. Not only did Francis avoid Jesus in the UN speech, but he said that he came in his own name. Look it up. Those are antichrist supporting words.

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    1. I will indeed check this out. it would link to the view that many espouse that Francis has "his own agenda at the centre of his vision, rather than the Gospel."
      God Bless.

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  7. "Many are likely to view Francis as politically (or image) motivated rather than gospel motivated."

    I think this says it all Fr. Catholics are going to have a hard time for many years to come. I look forward to the restoration of the Catholic Faith but sadly I don't think I will be around when that happy day comes.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you.
      As above, it backs up claims that Francis his own agenda at the centre of his vision, rather than the Gospel.
      God Bless.

      Delete
  8. The trouble in the Church has been brewing since Vatican II when many of the hierarchy and lay religious in the West started retreating from the truths of the faith in order to pursue relevance, appease the world and present the Church as a compassionate and non-judgement human democratic institution. It is only going to get worse.

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  9. What about the homosexual (I hate the misuse of the lovely word 'gay') monsignor in the Vatican who blatantly announces his active relationship with another man? OK he is removed from his position in the Vatican but why must it be left up to his Ordinary to laicise him? I'm sure we all know many priests with homosexual (& heterosexual) inclinations but so long as they are chaste are they to be chastised? Hopefully NO! But we have also heard of priests, bishops & higher clerics who were not chaste. Why does not the Vatican act against them as it has with some? Is that too perhaps something which the Synod might adjudicate as OK?

    ReplyDelete

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