Posted on 09/28/2013 10:28:00 AM PDT by NYer
.- Pope Francis celebrated Mass for the Vatican police force today, exhorting them to fight in the war against evil by rejecting the temptation to gossip.
He warned that among those who live and work in the Vatican, “the devil seeks to create an internal war, a kind of civil spiritual war” by means of idle chatter, said Pope Francis on September 28.
The temptation to gossip is present for everyone, noted Pope Francis, “even for me.”
Gossip is a sin against unity which the devil uses to undermine the community of the Church, he explained.
The morning Mass was held outdoors in the Lourdes grotto of the Vatican gardens.
The Mass was for members of the Vatican police corps, known as the Gendarmes. The Gendarmerie was founded in 1816 by Pope Pius VII after the dissolution of Napoleon’s empire. While the Swiss Guards are primarily dedicated to protecting the Pope, the Gendarmes are responsible for the security and public order of Vatican City.
Pope Francis said the police force must not only defend the Vatican against thieves or attacking armies.
“Napoleon is not coming anymore,” he quipped.
Instead, the “war here today is rather something else.”
“It is a war that is not waged with the weapons that we recognize: it is a war waged with the tongue,” he explained.
Pope Francis told the police force to be attentive to gossip within the Vatican walls.
“If (you hear) someone gossiping, stop him! (Say) ‘here there can be none of that: walk out of St. Anne’s Gate. Go outside and talk there! Here you cannot!’”
This spiritual war is one of light and darkness, said the Pope.
On the eve of the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, the Gendarmerie’s patron saint, Pope Francis asked for his intercession.
“We ask St. Michael to help us in this war: never speak ill of each other, never open your ears to gossip,” the Pope said.
Pope Francis "isms"
To newly appointed bishops: "Don't be airport bishops" (bishops who spend too much time away from their dioceses)
To pastors: The Confessional is not a 'torture chamber'
The Sacrament of the Eucharist is not a 'magic rite'
On the need to be politically active: “Don’t respond to the crisis with a Pontius Pilate-like attitude”
To Vatican Police on spiritual war: “Napoleon is not coming anymore”
I totally agree with this: “He warned that among those who live and work in the Vatican, “the devil seeks to create an internal war, a kind of civil spiritual war” by means of idle chatter.” And will add that the secular world is unhesitant in adding its reinforcement to the devil’s work.
Mildred, the church gossip and self-appointed arbiter of the church’s morals, kept sticking her nose in the other members’ private lives. Church members were unappreciative of her activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence.
She made a mistake, however, when she accused George, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his pickup truck parked in front of the town’s only bar one afternoon.
She commented to George and others that everyone seeing it there would know what he was doing.
George, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just walked away. He didn’t explain, defend, or deny; he said nothing.
Later that evening, George quietly parked his pickup in front of Mildred’s house... and left it there all night!
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LOL! Sounds like it could be a true story!
**“If (you hear) someone gossiping, stop him! (Say) ‘here there can be none of that: walk out of St. Anne’s Gate. Go outside and talk there! Here you cannot!’”**
One of the priests from the local Abbey would go totally silent if gossip arose. If it didn’t stop, then he would leave.
“If you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all.”
Calumny, Slader, Gossip and not fun things to play with.
LOL! Good one!
Unfortunately, to many have only the desire to reverse that quotation, for they want discord.
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