[DPalm]

[I am starting to believe that the Pope will allow Boston, Los Angeles, and other liberal areas be literally God-forsaken, so that they may fruitfully be compared to the more orthodox areas.]

It is not within His Holiness' discretion to do so. It is his duty before God to appoint only holy, orthodox, and courageous men to the episcopate. If men of bad faith and character "slip through", then it is his duty before God to remove them and replace them with men who meet the above description. And if His Holiness finds that he is getting bad recommendations, then it is his responsibility to find new advisors.

This is basic common sense, not to mention stock Catholic Tradition.

Excusing the failure of the Roman Pontiff to select good bishops and to remove bad ones, through reference to a kind of hidden scheme in which he "punishes" the Church by purposely afflicting them with false shepherds, is not only perverse, it turns Catholic moral theology and the Church's perennial Tradition on its head.

[johnb2004]

Well said. Too often, words like yours are misread as disloyal.

[cpforlife.org]

David,

Just read through this thread. A very warm welcome to FR!

[thegreatbeast]

We all have our speculations as to how and why things are happening the way they are in our Church. My own is that His Holiness has been ill for a very long time. He presides over the Church Universal, not just our little corner of it. He needs to rely on others for good information and recommendations. I think that this is where the situation in America got away from His Eminence. We were given over to some dull examples of shepherds. Many of them, including a very ineffectual and criminally neglectful Bernie Law, thought they were members of the oligarchy. It became more important to wrangle tax advantages and schmooze over lunch with Teddy Kennedy than it was to see that the Faith was propagated as it should have been.