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[Cath Cauc] Cardinal: Pope is ‘ice cold, sly Machiavellian, and, what is worse – he lies’
LifeSite News ^ | September 22, 2018 | Maike Hickson

Posted on 09/22/2018 2:54:31 PM PDT by ebb tide

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BlogsCatholic Church Sat Sep 22, 2018 - 2:49 pm EST

Cardinal: Pope is ‘ice cold, sly Machiavellian, and, what is worse – he lies’

Maike Hickson

Maike Hickson

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  catholic, der spiegel, pope francis, vatican

September 22, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Today, the German magazine Der Spiegel, one of the most influential political magazines in Europe, published a report on the failures of the papacy of Francis. LifeSiteNews already summed up the parts of this report about the involvement of Pope Francis in a cover-up of abuse cases in Argentina. But the Spiegel authors also make a report from their conversations with unnamed prelates in the Vatican who spoke quite critically about Pope Francis.

According to the magazine, one cardinal not only called the Pope effectively a liar, but he also said: “From the beginning, I did not believe one word of his.” The Spiegel's own comments on this papacy, as we shall see, are no less strong.

One of the high-ranking interlocutors told the journalistic team that, in the Vatican there reigns “a climate of fear and of uncertainty.” “Francis is very good at getting things in motion,” a German prelate is quoted as saying, “but when, in the end, there is only wavering, that for sure does not help.” Examples of such waverings are to be found, as the Spiegel says, in Pope Francis' handling of the debate about Communion for Protestant spouses of Catholics. One German cardinal tells the magazine about lies, intrigues, “and a Holy Father who, unlike anyone before him, puts into doubt the truth of the Faith.”

Marie Collins, herself a prominent abuse victim and advocate for victims, speaks about the Pope's and the Vatican's handling of abuse cases thus: “beautiful words in the public and [then] opposite actions behind closed doors.”

The Spiegel comments that the Pope might very well ignore the “indications of crimes within his own inner circle” because “he is interested, for reasons of power politics, in keeping one or another cardinal or bishop in his office.” So, in the German magazine's eyes, “Francis [thereby] makes himself vulnerable.” He fights for years “against global capitalism, but took – like his predecessors – sums of millions from the now-rejected Cardinal McCarrick which he himself had received from donors.” Additionally, “the Pope praises the value of the traditional family, but then surrounds himself with counselors and collaborators who live the opposite – in a more or less obvious concubinage with representatives of either sex.”

“Is the Pope still master of the situation?” asks the Spiegel. It points out that “criticism [of this papacy] meanwhile comes from a circle much larger than that of globally connected arch-conservatives.” One of the problems of this Pope, according to the magazine, is that “he is silent in delicate matters” such as the dubia of the four cardinals concerning his post-apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, but also concerning the petition of 30,000 women who have recently requested that he answer the questions arising from the Viganò report. He does not answer these women, he is mute, and “he, rather, leaves the accusation unchallenged that he has known, since June 2013, about the doings of the child-abuser McCarrick.”

When speaking about one of the Pope's close collaborators, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, and his own Archdiocese of Munich, the Spiegel points to the crisis of Faith in Bavaria. “A part of the problem in the Archdiocese, however, is homemade,” it explains. The credibility of the Church there, it adds, is being undermined by the facts that “a high-ranking clergyman of Munich shamelessly places his concubine right in the first pew, and that also in this city, there is indignation about openly homosexual pastors and about an unpredictable Pope.”

 “From the beginning, I did not believe one word of his.” These are the trenchant words of a cardinal within the walls of the Vatican: “He preaches mercy, but is in truth an icecold, sly Machiavellian, and, what is worse – he lies.”



TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Moral Issues
KEYWORDS: francischurch; silence
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Catholic Caucus
1 posted on 09/22/2018 2:54:31 PM PDT by ebb tide
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To: Al Hitan; Biggirl; Bigg Red; Coleus; DuncanWaring; ebb tide; Fedora; heterosupremacist; ...

Ping


2 posted on 09/22/2018 2:55:19 PM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide

Of course he lies. He’s a marxist.


3 posted on 09/22/2018 2:57:12 PM PDT by ought-six (Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule.)
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To: ought-six

bergoglio is actually a Peronist. Initially, he was a right-Peronist, and later became a left-Peronist. In any event, he is an economically, scientifically, historically, theologically illiterate totalitarian.


4 posted on 09/22/2018 3:07:32 PM PDT by sitetest (No longer mostly dead.)
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To: ebb tide

Eek, these words of a Vatican Cardinal are worse than any blogger or trad, and that is surely condemnatory.


5 posted on 09/22/2018 3:08:24 PM PDT by Marchmain (pax)
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To: ebb tide

very sad


6 posted on 09/22/2018 3:11:20 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians aren't born, they're excreted." -Marcus Tillius Cicero (3 BCE))
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To: ebb tide

Really terrible for the Church, but I’m confident She will survive men like Bergoglio, and the cardinals who are driven by evil and selfishness.


7 posted on 09/22/2018 3:14:24 PM PDT by nerdgirl
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To: ebb tide

A Catholic here—I have no problem believing this headline.
The Pope was put in place to turn the Catholic Church inside out! And he has been succeeding sadly!


8 posted on 09/22/2018 3:14:58 PM PDT by bantam
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To: ebb tide; All

I wouldn’t trust the cardinals who elected him.

Insights welcome.


9 posted on 09/22/2018 3:15:37 PM PDT by Amendment10
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To: faithhopecharity

Yes, very sad thing. Historically, the papacy has been a source of unity for the Church, but now we’re seeing its Achilles’ heel. With a really bad guy holding the job, things are rapidly going off the rails. Sure, it’s happened before. There have been awful popes before, but not recently. Moreover, in earlier centuries the job was less powerful due to limited communications and also less concentration of authority. Maybe, say, Boniface VIII was as bad or worse than Francis, but in 1300 there was in less ability to do damage due to the circumstances of the papacy at the time.


10 posted on 09/22/2018 3:28:07 PM PDT by irishjuggler
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To: ought-six
Of course he lies. He’s a marxist.

Worse; a communist marxist.

11 posted on 09/22/2018 3:34:32 PM PDT by Boomer
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To: sitetest

And Peron was a Marxist, no?


12 posted on 09/22/2018 3:37:01 PM PDT by ought-six (Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule.)
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To: Amendment10

Catholic convert here - The Truth will set us free. As this stink is exposed to the light of day and the Light of Christ, the infection will be seen for what it is and cleansed.

Yes, a ‘modernist’ cabal within the Cardinals pushed for this ‘imposter’ to be Pope. There has been a terrific fight inside the CC, much has there been in secular society, to ‘make things more modern.’ To me, it is the 60’s generation’s final fight before they head off to rest homes. The new, young priests are on fire for the Lord, traditional in habit, reverent and honorable in nature. The future is in good hands, ONCE this terrible infestation is exposed and removed.

Can’t happen soon enough. To me, it seems like a groundswell is building that will take it out. Soon wouldn’t be soon enough.


13 posted on 09/22/2018 3:39:36 PM PDT by bboop (does not suffer fools gladly)
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To: ebb tide

He is our church’s Obama.


14 posted on 09/22/2018 3:57:14 PM PDT by ThePatriotsFlag (We are getting even more than we voted for.)
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To: ebb tide

“what is worse – he lies.”

Good news: Bergoglio is starting to understand that no one believes him. Took him 5 years to understand the obvious but it is happening. Who believes a single word of Bergoglio? Anyone? Nope. He is an empty suit and all those protecting him are guilty of myth making.


15 posted on 09/22/2018 3:57:40 PM PDT by Falconspeed ("Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94))
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To: irishjuggler

And think, most of us were blessed to live in the time of St John Paul the Great. A quarter century under one of the Church’s greatest saints. Then Benedict, a meditative, deeply prayerful and contemplative man. I don’t know if he’s a saint, but I truly miss him. And now, Pope Francis.....well, as Meatlaof put it, “Two outta three ain’t bad.” With JP II and Benedict, we probably got better than we deserved. With Francis, we got a pope who’s more like your average fallen man. Not a pretty sight.


16 posted on 09/22/2018 3:58:08 PM PDT by ishmac (Lady Thatcher: There are no permanent defeats in politics because there are no permanent victories.)
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To: ebb tide

Time for him to go.


17 posted on 09/22/2018 3:58:35 PM PDT by I want the USA back (Cynicism is the only refuge in a world that is determined to eliminate itself.)
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To: irishjuggler

sad indeed.
and we agree that the recent popes were, overall, far better

I was concerned...when Benedict resigned....that being such an unusual event..it raised the obvious questions in almost everyone’s mind......and now that we’ve seen the replacement....about all I can say is that its even more concerning....as Francis seems uncomfortable not only with some of the difficult (for many people, anyways) ‘theological doctrines’ but...even with BASIC MORAL TEACHINGS....this is what is most worrisome, imho...

certainly its not been a turn for the better...
we pray...


18 posted on 09/22/2018 3:58:39 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians aren't born, they're excreted." -Marcus Tillius Cicero (3 BCE))
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To: bboop; All
"The future is in good hands, ONCE this terrible infestation is exposed and removed."

Thanks for the positive insight.

19 posted on 09/22/2018 4:00:00 PM PDT by Amendment10
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To: ought-six

No, peron was more of a corporatist/caudillo. As I recall, although he was as much a socialist as anything at times, he was usually more of a corporatist (an essential economic element of fascism), but heavily nationalist at all times (another essential element of fascism), and always a populist. peron’s own example is part of what gives rise to the existence of a rightist Peronism, and a leftist Peronism.


20 posted on 09/22/2018 4:01:03 PM PDT by sitetest (No longer mostly dead.)
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