Posted on 05/10/2014 10:30:20 PM PDT by Steelfish
A Modern Pope Gets Old School On The Devil
A renewed interest in exorcism: Nearly 200 delegates — most of them priests and nuns — from more than two dozen countries attend a Vatican-sponsored exorcism conference in Rome. Although it is difficult to measure, Vatican officials talk about a resurgence of mystical rites in the Catholic church, including exorcisms.
By Anthony Faiola
VATICAN CITY — A darling of liberal Catholics and an advocate of inclusion and forgiveness, Pope Francis is hardly known for fire and brimstone.
Yet, in his words and deeds, the new pope is locked in an epic battle with the oldest enemy of God and creation:
The Devil.
After his little more than a year atop the Throne of St. Peter, Francis’s teachings on Satan are already regarded as the most old school of any pope since at least Paul VI, whose papacy in the 1960s and 1970s fully embraced the notion of hellish forces plotting to deliver mankind unto damnation.
Largely under the radar, theologians and Vatican insiders say, Francis has not only dwelled far more on Satan in sermons and speeches than his recent predecessors have, but also sought to rekindle the Devil’s image as a supernatural entity with the forces of evil at his beck and call.
Last year, for instance, Francis laid hands on a man in a wheelchair who claimed to be possessed by demons, in what many saw as an impromptu act of cleansing. A few months later, he praised a group long viewed by some as the crazy uncles of the Roman Catholic Church — the International Association of Exorcists — for “helping people who suffer and are in need of liberation.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Two lesbians and an exorcist walk into an airplane . . .
Chocolate has beaten me on the spiritual battlefield as well.
I’m amazed at how causally they make such an insulting and dismissive headline.
They wouldn’t be that breezy about even a far less significant Muslim practice/belief.
Every one of these bishops and priests ought to be either exorcised or excommunicated, Francis' choice.
As he silently sought to repel the evil spirit through prayer, one of the women, he said, began growling demonically and threw chocolates at his head.”>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
If you have ever seen a mepamphetamine (crystal meth)addict in all his glory, the sight of demonic possession would be an all too common reality to you.
From that point of view , drug addicts are indeed demonically possessed.
Growling Lesbians may have their freedom, nothin wrong with that particularly, but then their social proclivity can be to break up families and cause social mayhem.As to whether they are demonic depends on ones point of view, but they indeed have a sense of impurity about them at times, as do many human beings altogether.
The issue is confusion and impurity of heart. I suppose in its most extreme manifestation, with a completely rampant self centered ego, one can see the demon within. I see our so called president as one of these, confused, impure of heart,with an ego which is out of control.
Pope Francis point of view can actually reveal more than one might think, as long as one is fearless in the face of it. That view makes no place for cowards, BUT can justify activity by the self appointed pure which otherwise itself could be seen as demonic. The Pope Francis view has a hidden slippery slope that can be very tricky, requiring a completely pure heart.
Speaking of evil, Cardinal Wuerl is still insisting on giving Communion to Nancy Pelosi.
When is the Pope going to call up Cardinal Wuerl and remind him that this is a mortal sin?
Go Pope Francis go!
I kinda like the image of the devil as a kindly, old, misunderstood man that would really be good if he just wasn't suffering from acid indigestion all the time. Sort of a grouchy Santa Claus with horns.
I might have believed this, if the Washington Post hadn't said it. Now it'll have to be proven to me in triplicate.
This may have not just have been from lesbianism although that is a stronghold. It may be that at least one of these women is a witch or are into New Age type practices - I have come across numerous women either older single women or lesbians that are involved in occult practices.
There are many paragraphs in this story that have no discernible meaning.
“a resurgence of mystical rites in the Catholic church,”
Sunday Mass is kinda’ mystical when you get right down to it.
I don’t know why anyone believing the biblical record would doubt the reality of both the Devil and demons generally. Such has been unequivocally confirmed by Christ himself.
Not to the early disciples who were present at the Last Supper and commemorated the death and resurrection of the Chirst.
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