I have two herniated discs, spinal stenosis and sciatica. I know it clinically and personally. I also know priests who can barely function from the same conditions but always genuflect at the consecration. Again, please post photos of this pope genuflecting at the consecration. The author of the piece I posted makes a wider claim but my concern is primarily about genuflecting at the consecration because that question has been raised to me privately by several priests who find it very disconcerting. If he can kneel to be blessed by Protestants and to wash the feet of Muslim women at Holy Thursday liturgies (a serious liturgical abuse, BTW) why can he not genuflect at the consecration? This has always disturbed me and has nothing to do with this author or the site where it is posted.
Type , 'Pope Francis genuflecting', into google and then look at the images. Can anyone see a picture of all the thousands of Pope Francis genuflecting? I know he has bad knees, but there are pictures of him kneeling but not one genuflecting. I don't suppose it means anything. It is just curious.
I did. I also tried "Pope Benedict genuflecting" and "Pope John Paul II genuflecting" - not a single picture of a pope genuflecting. SO WHAT? Are we seriously at the point where we are questioning our Holy Father's reverence of the Holy Eucharist? Seriously? Following Antonio Socci's lead? This is a new low for this forum. May God forgive us.
Yes, this is one of the pics that I had on my mind too. You know, for the longest time I have thought that perhaps Pope Francis was a very shrewd man playing along with those on the fringes of dissent and heresy to one day call them out on it. Now I am not so inclined to think as much. All of us who want to support our Pope want to see a man lead in truth and while he has allowed dissenters of the unchanging doctrines to speak openly, there is no doubt that confusion in this regard is abundant. So what does a faithful Catholic do? For my part I stay allert, I see what is said and I pray. I don't know why Pope Francis was chosen. I tend to think it was to test our fidelity to his office and many good orthodox Catholics have partially failed the test in showing contempt for him and thus for his office by thier words. We know from prophecy that the confusion would be great and it is. I am just praying for our Pope and trying myself to not judge his words. Then trying for my part to live in the Divine Will.
I don't know what herniated discs are but if it's the same as prolapsed discs, then snap. When my discs press on the sciatic nerve I can barely lift my arms. Just turning the wrong way or bending to put on a shoe can cause me to be crippled. Oddly enough, there are times when getting on two knees would be easier than genuflecting although I would have to be lifted off my knees. When Pope Francis knelt to wash the feet of the Muslim woman, he was at home in Rome. He hadn't just undergone an arduous journey. Cut him some slack Brian. Pope Francis' mistakes appear to stem from his wanting to help people he sees as vulnerable. Although we see some of it as false mercy, it doesn't mean that he is deliberately twisting the true meaning of mercy.
It was just curious, I didn't read too much into it. But I found this old picture whch seemed to show Pope John Paul in the fire, do you remember it?
Maybe I am not seeing correctly, but it appears to me that St. Pope John Paul II (pray for us!!) is kneeling in that picture. Regardless, the broader point is that this entire conversation -- questioning the Pope's reverence of the Eucharist and citing Rorate Caeli/Antonio Socci of all things/people to back it up -- is a terrible, terrible reflection upon this forum.
This world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair. Beauty, like truth, brings joy to the human heart, and is that precious fruit which resists the erosion of time, which unites generations and enables them to be one in admiration. —Pope Paul VI December 8th, 1965; ZENIT.org
I see nothing wrong with citing Rorate. I've seen NCR and Commonweal cited as credible here and they are far worse to the left than Rorate is to the right. Socci has gone off the deep end on some things but he is not a leader on this issue, he is just bringing up something other commentators have quietly questioned from the beginning of this pontificate. Impugning the source does not answer the question.
In any other pontificate it simply would not be raised. To wash the feet of Muslim women at Holy Thursday liturgies is a deliberate liturgical abuse. To not genuflect at the consecration - when otherwise able to do so - is also a deliberate liturgical abuse, one I've witnessed. So when broad patterns of behavior and speaking - and numerous insults towards orthodox Catholics - are spouted off every week, questions must be asked. We need a Holy Father, not an environmentalist nag who spouts socialist talking points more than orthodox Catholicism.
Your posts perfectly display why the Holy Father needs to warn those who view themselves as 'orthodox Catholics'.
All assumption and your famous stance...those special undisclosed priests you speak to. To spend your life bashing Our Holy Father is a vocation... i wouldn't want. We will all be judged
The significance of this can not be overstated. The reason being, in the rubrics of the mass, anything written in red signifies that one is willing to shed one's blood for the faith. That is how important kneeling during the consecration is, because it IS written in red. Mind-boggling and I did not know the pope stood! I will refrain from any response to this except that it is shocking!
Whenever I watch Pope Francis saying Mass, I'm always struck by his reverence. Please, please, don't see abuse where none is intended. We are all entitled to the benefit of the doubt. Even if he weren't Pope, the very least we can do is have the charity to make allowances for an 80 year old suffering from sciatica.
Using all these false charges of bashing in order to not defend the Faith at one of the most crucial junctions in the history of the Church ... Is a vocation I would not want. We will all be judged.
I'm more than willing to make that allowance. I'd defend him to the death for it - If he didn't kneel to commit liturgical abuse in washing Muslim women's' feet at Holy Thursday liturgy and if he didn't kneel to receive "blessings" from Pentecostals. But he has done exactly that. So the question must be asked: why kneel to commit liturgical abuse and receive blessing from Protestants, proving for all that kneeling is possible, but refuse in general to genuflect at the consecration? "At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
