Posted on 11/10/2017 3:00:13 AM PST by Repent and Believe
Smoke of Satan still permitted… Francis outlaws Sale of Cigarettes in Vatican City
Francis has once again shown his iron “papal” fist: In a fearless move against the powers of darkness, the “Pope” has now outlawed the sale of cigarettes throughout every square inch of the 0.17 sq mi of Vatican City State, effective Jan. 1, 2018.
In a Nov. 9 statement released by the Unholy See’s Press Office, spokesman Greg Burke explained the move on the grounds that “the Holy See cannot contribute to an activity that clearly damages the health of people”, according to a report published by Crux.
Rome Reports issued the following brief video summary:
We must point out that, curiously enough, what is banned in the Vatican as of 2018 is not the sale of all tobacco products but only that of cigarettes: “The sale of large cigars though will continue,” press secretary Burke added and provided a Clintonesque justification: “since the smoke is not inhaled”.
Got it! Perhaps by moving from smoking cigarettes to smoking cigars, nationals of Vatican City can show that they are now ready to take “a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants”, as “Pope” Benedict XVI might put it.
To be clear: It is certainly not wrong to ban tobacco sales in Vatican City. The Pope — a true Pope — certainly has the authority and the right to do so if he deems it a prudent move. That’s not the issue. The issue is that once again Francis is worried about anything except that which he ought to worry about, given his claim to being the Pope of the Catholic Church.
When during the canonization proceedings for Pope Pius X (d. 1914) in the early 1950s, the advocatus diaboli (devil’s advocate) objected to the holiness of Giuseppe Sarto on the grounds that he had been a smoker, the cardinals in attendance reportedly laughed out loud (some of them quite possibly with cigarettes in hand).
One must ask: Where is that much-touted “mercy” for those addicted to the smoking of cigarettes? What about the concrete circumstances of their situation? What if those didn’t allow them to act differently? What about the complexity of their limits? What if they don’t understand the inherent values of the rule? And now they’re being pigeonholed or fit into overly rigid classifications leaving no room for a suitable personal and pastoral discernment!
Alas, the usual buzzwords of discernment, accompaniment, integration, and all the rest are apparently not applicable to the smoking of cigarettes, only to the practice of serious moral evils such as adultery, which poses no threat to the body but causes instant death for sanctifying grace in the soul, not for one but for two people. It looks like we’ll be waiting for an exhortation entitled Fumandi Laetitia for eons to come.
No word yet, by the way, on whether “the smoke of Satan” (words of “Pope” Paul VI in 1972) has been banned from the Vatican — but judging by external indicators, inhaling it seems to be mandatory at this point.
Yet remains the deep concern for the souls being led astray by the Vatican II apostacy
Even the Pope knows smokers suck.
Still waiting for news about the sex orgy in the Vatican, with gay cardinals and all that, and for the condemnation by the pope.
Wow! Hate when I get pissed off 1st thing in the morning while reading and smoking my first cigarette of the day.
Too bad Frankie isn't as concerned with our souls than he is with the environment.
So, the authors never explained the reference fully - is the “smoke of Satan” marijuana? I love the smell of church incense, but it may very well be as damaging to my health as somebody else’s exhaled breath, whether it contains tobacco smoke or not. As far as I know, there has yet to be any convincing demonstration of damage from second-hand smoke. But, if there were a danger, the smoke from cigars would be at least as toxic as cigarette smoke. Whether the smoker inhales or not is irrelevant to the effects on others.
The very least Francis could be doing is raising theological questions on the assertions made in the Islamic codex (which is their code of observance and behavior) known as Sharia, Beginning with this question
http://www.theusmat.com/islamandfreewill.htm
Instead of equating their bizarre concepts of what a Monotheistic Creator is and requires with what Judeo/Christian beliefs are. While they in the belief that they are following God’s command are ruthlessly murdering and torturing non believers and destroying their edifices.
You should quit smoking.
As a tax protest, if nothing else.
Don’t tell me “it’s hard”.
I did it dozens of times.
:-P
Thanks but don’t want to quit.
If cigarettes are outlawed, only outlaws will have cigarettes.
Lucky me! In Jersey marijuana Won Tuesday’s election. I’ll switch and remain law abiding.
Well, well. The little Communist dictator gets his own way in his own little kingdom.
Thankfully, many Catholics don’t seem to be taken in by his snake oil.
>http://www.catholicstand.com/109/<
Referring to the situation of the Church today, the Holy Father affirms that he has a sense that “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God.” There is doubt, incertitude, problematic, disquiet, dissatisfaction, confrontation. There is no longer trust of the Church; they trust the first profane prophet who speaks in some journal or some social movement, and they run after him and ask him if he has the formula of true life. And we are not alert to the fact that we are already the owners and masters of the formula of true life. Doubt has entered our consciences, and it entered by windows that should have been open to the light. Science exists to give us truths that do not separate from God, but make us seek him all the more and celebrate him with greater intensity; instead, science gives us criticism and doubt. Scientists are those who more thoughtfully and more painfully exert their minds. But they end up teaching us: “I don’t know, we don’t know, we cannot know.” The school becomes the gymnasium of confusion and sometimes of absurd contradictions. Progress is celebrated, only so that it can then be demolished with revolutions that are more radical and more strange, so as to negate everything that has been achieved, and to come away as primitives after having so exalted the advances of the modern world.
This state of uncertainty even holds sway in the Church. There was the belief that after the Council there would be a day of sunshine for the history of the Church. Instead, it is the arrival of a day of clouds, of tempest, of darkness, of research, of uncertainty. We preach ecumenism but we constantly separate ourselves from others. We seek to dig abysses instead of filling them in.
We can assume then that they forgot to mention that this pope also banned ice cream so those fattest of the cardinals don't continue to destroy their bodies...
And since this guy is so concerned about health seems he would have them install rubber dispensers thru-out the castle to keep his queer cardinals as healthy as possible...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.