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I understand what you are saying and I certainly respect your perspective. And frankly I don't trust my own gut instincts lately because they've been all over the spectrum with our new Holy Father.

And I empathize with his love of the poor and downtrodden. I've been on a number of mission trips to Haiti and the first world western nations don't have a clue about the reality of poverty in our own back yard. My oldest son just returned from a spring break "mission trip" with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in the Bronx and gained a new perspective on the reality of poverty in our own country (as well as some of the sinful structures that cause and prolong it.)

But ultimately the goal of all apostolic work is the salvation of souls. Our charitable efforts mean nothing if that is not at its core.

So this humble-man-of-the-streets pope can do whatever he pleases just as long as in the end it contributes to the ultimate salvation of the greatst number of souls. And evangelization requires humility.

It also requires Christian unity. We've wasted 50 years trying to be ecumenical with the Protestants, and its gained us nothing except the watering down and protestantizing of our liturgy and theology. We should have never tried to build ecumenical relations with the Protestants when it came at the expense of our ecumenical relations with Orthodoxy. Because when we disregard and belittle our own liturgical traditions and Traditions (i.e., protrstantize them) it negatively effects our ecumenical relations with the East.

Protestantism is eventually going to cease to exist and what remains of it more and more will become an enemy of the orthodoxy of Eastern and Western Christianity.

These little things Pope Francis is doing are being watched very closely by the only ecumenical partners we have in the world that truly matter, the Orthodox. And if this disregard for important gender issues that directly relate to things like the institution of the all male priesthood on Holy Thirsday continues, it will set back our common work and common cause with the Orthodox. And the longer that is set back and set aside, the longer we fail to work towards the salvation of the greatest number of souls.

Because that ultimate goal, the salvation of the greatest number of souls, will never happen until East and West are once more ONE.

That's not going to happen soon if the East sees this Holy Father as disrespecting the efforts of Benedict XVI to restore our liturgical traditions that we gutted following Vatican II or playing fast and lose with the liturgy most closely tied to the institution of the all male priesthood on Holy Thursday, an all male priesthood common to both East and West and shared only by these true Churches as delineated in Dominus Iesus.

It always comes back to Fatima, and the reunion with the East is an integral part of the Fatima plan for peace and the final evangelization.

"I am worried by the Blessed Virgin's messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul. … I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past."- Msgr. Eugene Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII

Matthew 10:16
"I am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."

Your perspective is valuable to me, and I thank you for your time and care in setting it forth so thoughtfully.

Quickly scan the highlights of Papa Francisco's life and you may begin to suspect, as I do, that this man --- with the shrewdness of a serpent and the innocence of a dove ---is a savvy operator and a saint.

Look:

In 15 days, he has already taken complete control of the Media Narrative^TM. He acts, they react: and not the other way around. The man is a genius.
The moral renegades have just lost their "Cares for los Pobres" sombrero: in a flash, the Pope is wearing it now. Neat hat trick, that.
Know what's going to happen if some Lord Cardinal in "the Cathedral of Christ the Rich" says "I think contraception, sterilization and abortion have to be reconsidered in the light of caring, ca-a-a-r-r-r-ing for the ne-e-e-eeds of women" ? He's going to be handed his head on a platter: because Papa Frank has already earned the rhetorical power to say, "The Lord's way, the Catholic way, is love, life, and compassion: your way is a crime."
The really bad guys --- unclean beasts, Judas priests --- are smiling for the photographers but sh***ing their pants right now. Why? Because Papa Francisco has signaled that he is not a man to be controlled by his own Master of Ceremonies or blackmailed by his butler. Subtle and plain as a smack on your face: he's going to use his full Bishop- of - Rome authority ---in all things big things and small.

About the Sacraments and the Liturgy: look, he hit the ground running with Summorum Pontificum within two days of its publication. He is not going to throw the essentials overboard: quite the contrary. He's going to rescue them. He's going to show why "Priest" means "Father" and why the brocade and lace of Majesty please God best when worn over the alb of Poverty.

Everyone knows a priest has to be a male. He is going to show that he has to be a man.

None of this indicates rupture from the Great Tradition or a break with his predecessors. Bergoglio is Ratzingerian. In fact, I think he and Papa Ratzi are have their heads together on this. Bergoglio consciously gave Ratzinger the tiara in 2005 when (according to Il Stampa) he gave a short, emotional speech begging the Cardinals not to vote for him on, they say, the fifth ballot. This is just my hypothesis, but I think, on his part, Ratzi wanted Bergoglio to have a crack at being the next pope, and B16's abdication was the only timely way to do it.

Alfred Xuereb, B16's aide, the one who always accompanied him on his trips, was appointed on Day One as Jorge's private secretary. And he is not the only liaison between F1 and B16. They are not "co-popes," and yet...

Is this a conspiracy, or what?

Ecumenism to the East? Jorge enthusiastically went out of his way, early in his priesthood, to learn the celebrate the Byzantine Liturgy. He is under the patronage of Mary, Untier of Knots. He was Prelate for Eastern Catholics in Argentina, AND had Patriarch Bartholomew at his installation, -- forget about 'the first time in 1,000 years,' this was the first time in history. He's been doing metanias to his Brethren the Patriarchs for decades. That his favorite title is simply "Bishop of Rome"--- you think that doesn't make Orthodox eyes sparkle? I hear the Abbas are saying "Axios!"

Keep praying. Christ's chief shepherd on earth and his flock are still surrounded by wolves --- some of them, wolves in shepherd's clothing. The game is serious; the stakes couldn't be higher; but honest to God, Papa Francisco is playing a cool, cool hand.