Posted on 12/02/2014 7:32:31 PM PST by ebb tide
I find it striking how often Pope Francis engages in pejoratives against people who really tick him off. The list of people who Pope Francis clearly does not like includes “fundamentalists”, the rich, conservatives, capitalists, self-absorbed promethean neopelagians, etc. One could be forgiven for thinking that for decades Pope Francis has been carefully putting groups he does not like in a “them” category as opposed to the “us” category he belongs to, and that his papacy is payback time against the thems. A striking example of this occurred recently:
The Argentine pope, who has been trying to foster cooperation with moderate Islam in order to work for peace and protect Christians in the Middle East, said it was wrong for anyone to react to terrorism by being “enraged” against Islam.
“You just can’t say that, just as you can’t say that all Christians are fundamentalists. We have our share of them (fundamentalists). All religions have these little groups,” he said.
Now in this throwaway line Pope Francis manages to compare people who massacre people in job lots, Islamic jihadists, with Christians he labels “fundamentalists”. I assume that the Pope is using the term in a non-technical sense, and isn’t referring to the Protestant groups that arose out of the Niagara Bible Conferences of 1876-1897. In a Catholic context who he is referring to is clear enough as demonstrated by the ongoing persecution of the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Immaculate. The Pope seems to have the likes and dislikes of a fairly typical modern Jesuit, and looked at through that prism much of the apparent confusion surrounding the Pope’s statements melts away.
The problem of course with having a papacy that operates on such a basis is that those clearly in the them camp do not like being targeted by the man at the top and will react to what they regard as unfair aspersions being cast on them. This is especially problematic at this stage in the history of the papacy in that Pope Francis is ticking off those Catholics who have hitherto overall been quite loyal to the papacy, while those who love what the Pope is saying against their adversaries are often Catholics who are lukewarm, to put it charitably, about the practice of the Faith.
Where is all this leading? I think that depends upon the length of the reign of Pope Francis. I do not expect him to change. Later this month he will turn 78 and what he believes was long ago set in cement. A long reign might end in a major schism. A short reign might make him a blip on the history of the papacy. A medium reign would probably most closely resemble the chaos of the reign of Pope Paul VI, with the Pope this time fostering the chaos and drift from orthodoxy. We shall see. One prediction I will make: it will be a very long time indeed before another Jesuit will ever again fill the shoes of the Fisherman after what I think future historians will deem a disaster of a pontificate.
I will repeat what I have stated before. Too many people found those who disagreed with previous Popes to be lacking in faith and understanding. They were judged to be lacking and were piously told to get with the program.
Now those same judges find themselves disagreeing with this Pope. But now, of course, it is the Pope who lacks proper faith and understanding.
Those who judged everyday Catholics before, judge the Pope now. They are, then, unwilling to be judged by the same measure as they previously judged others.
A grave error.
If you feel that this Pope has nothing to teach you and that he is all wrong and you are all right, there is nothing any of the rest of us can do but pray for your soul.
100% agree
So there is safety in numbers? Haha you know Mitch there won’t be any hiding in the choir when the day of the Lord comes!
"Thus, the more violently they try to occupy the places of worship, the more they separate themselves from the Church. They claim that they represent the Church; but in reality, they are the ones who are expelling themselves from it and going astray. Even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ."
-St. Athanasius
When the shepherd is struck, the sheep are scattered.
Those are the foundation structure of the Christian faith, no matter what church you attend.
So much falsehood in such a short statement. ''All religions share these little groups"...Apparently in Francis's mind it's the religions, all the religions together, against the so-called fundamentalists from each group. Again he displays the fundamentally anti-Catholic, modernist relativism that lives rent-free under his zucchetto.
And more specifically, he is comparing whatever Christian fundamentalists he has in mind (like the author I assume he means Traditional Catholics, but who really knows what Francis is babbling about), to Islamic fundies. How many Traditional Catholics are there? No matter how you choose to measure it, there aren't many, and I've never heard of them committing some act of violence. Islamic fundamentalists, on the other hand, number in the tens of millions and engage in acts of terror, murder, slaugher, mayhem, slave trade, and destruction on a daily basis, all around the world.
But we're all the same apparently. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and an SSPX priest, what's the difference?
A fundamentalist to a modern radical Jesuit, is any Christian who disagrees with his liberal, global world view. He’s a dilly.
Let’s forget about what you, the author, or I think of this or previous Popes.
Just take a look at the writings of pre-conciliar Popes vs post-conciliar Popes.
Imagine a debate on doctrine between Francis and Pope St Pius X.
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