Be at peace Joe. Your dogged determination not to be worn down by the critics of Pope Francis will gain its reward both in this life and the one to come. I find it truly ironic that this truly holy and saintly man is most under attack from his own people in the Catholic Church. Yet the whole situation is so comparable to that which occurred 2000 years ago as to be uncanny. There is no question that there is a section of Catholicism that is analogous to the Pharisees of Jesus' day.
'I find it truly ironic that this truly holy and saintly man is most under attack from his own people in the Catholic Church.' I it Joe who is the , 'holy and saintly man', or the Pope, David? Or both? I am loosing the plot
I always find it cools the air and calms things when I recall that people who disagree with me are not bad people because they disagree, simply that they disagree, as they are entitled to. Otherwise things can turn into a boxing match and the very first casulaty is the search for the truth and genuine dialogue. We have to talk with each other rather than too each other.
You don't know how grateful I am for your support, encouragement and affirmation. The attacks seem to be coming from all sides and yes they are very draining. Pope Francis certainly needs our prayers. He works so hard. I don't know how he keeps it up. My rosary today was for Mac and Brian and Aviso but tomorrow it will be for Pope Francis. Recently some confession times have been cancelled in our diocese making it much more difficult to gain the indulgence of The Holy Doors. I feel the main duty of priests should be to say mass and provide the sacraments and to use the homily time to incorporate at least one specific item of catechesis that relates to the practise of the faith eg worthy reception and Sunday obligation. School visits and home visits and administrative duties should come way down the list. Today my carving of Our Lady was given an extremely perfunctory blessing after asking three times over the last few weeks. She now sits in my living room as I await a reply from the Jesuits in Harare. Please say a prayer for Her safe and proper transit to Africa.
I don't have a problem with people thinking that this Pope is the bees knees, fine maybe they are right. Personally I think he is a very weak bad, Pope. I don't think people believing he is a great pope makes them bad people, nor do I think my believing him to be a very,very poor Pope makes me a bad person, or those who think like me. I also know from past experience I may be right , I may be wrong. It's always good to leave room for error.
Hi Padraig. At least you are honest and out there with your opinion. Error without room is a cornered animal. It is likely to savage you in its desire to escape and run free. So yes, leave room for error but keep an eye on it. I agree your poor opinion of Pope Francis does not make you a bad person but it has that potential. May you be spared that effect of error. Jesus says He will make all things new and I believe he is doing just that through Pope Francis. It has been said that it is not change that causes pain as much as resistance to change. In our everyday faith, not the faith as endlessly analysed by 'professional' theologians but the faith of our penny catechism, do we believe that the Church is guided and protected by The Holy Spirit. Do we believe that the Pope speaks with authority? Has he ever said anything that contradicts the eternal truth in our deposit of faith? I say unequivocally no he has not. I believe the so called confusion is really a case of "honi soit qui mal y pense." And evil will be to the one who calls that which is good, evil. I think that present confusion and conflict is largely a reaction to an unnacustomed level and speed of change. Our Holy Father cannot be expected to be constantly clarifying everything he has said. "Quod scripti, scripti" applies. I remember my old mum telling me how unpleasant she found being induced to give birth to one of my brothers. It was so fast she found it much harder to handle. Similarly the milk of some nursing mothers flows too fast and strong for baby who tends to gag and bring it up again....and again. I cannot help but think of Cadinals and Bishops who have failed to cope well with current affairs of the Church. They fail to adapt well or at all. Francis knows we are at a turning point as the end of times is birthing harder and faster than most people can see. And even those who can see, cannot accept. He is opening the doors of the church as wide as possible and opening his arms to all lost souls. All possible stops are being opened. He knows we are running out of time for forgiveness before the Tribulation brought on ourselves by ourselves will be passed down. I do not refer to the particular judgement or the last judgement here but the little judgement that will come with aThe Warning. In this we will simply be shown our error, educated as to what it really means and come to our own conclusions. In the others the judgement will come from God. Pope Francis has made room for error which will be corrected when those in error have seen the light of love and truth in the warmth of our wonderful home and are safely ensconced in the house of The Lord. This is a new way. In New Zealand waters new fishing nets are being used to minimise wastage. Pope Francis is the divinely appointed fisher of men and the new net he is using will minimise wastage. In his ministry of Mercy he is making the most if this new way. Half measures do not work and those who employ them will not live to enjoy the catch. Neither , I fear, will those who place all their bets against the Pope. I don't know what the answer is for them. I only know what the answer is for me me: to embrace fully and with faith the great and good work of preparation that has been so tirelessly promoted and conducted by our Holy Father. In these times the success of this preparation depends on the participation of Our Blessed Mother who has told us clearly that She alone can save us from the times and tides in which we are caught up. We must appeal to her through Her Holy Rosary. Just as the death of Christ seemed to many to be a disaster so the life of Francis seems to many to be a disaster. But the failing is in their sight, not the death or the life. In the past I have shared my understanding of the advice given to the women of Jerusalem "Weep not for me but for yourselves (your error) and for your children ( those you lead into error) in my sight Pope Francis leads us to light and life but we still have to get through the storm. It's 10 pm and I have typed all this into my phone and am exhausted. Up at 5.30 tomorrow.
I think those that think that Pope Francis is the False Prophet from Revelations are forcing him into fitting into this prophecy to the point that what they are saying now doesn't even make any sense. I think it is not wrong to have a reasonable discussion about something that Pope has done or has said but some have blinders on and they seem so fixated on the end times that they can no longer discern properly. Read Revelations, the False Prophet is the second beast, the second beast does not appear until the Anti-Christ appears, who has a reign of 3.5years and then both the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet will die. There is a particular website which states that Pope Francis is the false prophet and he will die in 2017, how does that fit with Revelations? Who is the Anti-Christ then? and where is this mark on people's foreheads' for buying and selling? I am not expecting an answer, I just want you to realize how strange this all is. I think those that are not charitable towards are Pope will regret it later on when "the Destroyer" as St. Francis has warned us of shows up. So say what you will but he is our Pope and if he can't kneel at times should we be accusing him of being disrespectful? I just wish people weren't going out of their way to pick on this Pope. I really didn't like the idea of those celebrities receiving awards but criticizing him for this sort of thing is one thing and for be ambiguous at times I get that also but some statements are simply outrageous. God gave us brains let's use them!
Gang! ... Ya Know!! ... I don't know if Papa is an Apostate Pope or no!! Nor does anyone else here! I do know from believing my Lyin' Eyes-n-Ears that Papa has managed to cause more confusion, anger, division amongst Catholics/other Christians and hand wringing than any Pope in modern history. I also believe, still, that Pope Francis is doing as The Lord directs him to do as it is important that The Storm unfold according to God's Plan .... for the proper resurgence of The Church of Christ .... and our eventual Rescue/Salvation GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
Crewdog, Yeah, I should have just posted something similar to what you posted. I just don't want people to have regrets later on about what they participated in but you are absolutely correct it is God's plan.
I don't know if this video has been posted on the forum before but I have never seen it. It is an interview with Cardinal Bergoglio from the end of 2012 before he became Pope, published by EWTN:
I think you are on to it CD although the confusion anger and division is mostly among the so called clever ones and some in authority and positions of influence. The vast majority of ordinary Catholics just love and trust our Holy Father.
"As long as you did it to one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it to me. " God bless Pope Francis. No wonder we love him.
That's fine Joe, I know I may be wrong and am always open to thsi possibility in prayer and discernment. However, forgive me, but you do not appear to evince the slightest openess to the faintest possibilit that you may be wrong in this , even by an inch? Tell me I am worng in this? Are you open to this possibility? Are you reading and thinking and taking others opinions in your heart and pondering them? Forgive me but to me you show little sign of this.
I listen to the opinion of others who oppose Pope Francis but simply am not persuaded that they have any value when compared with what Pope Francis says in his writings and in his homilies. I ask God every day to guide me and keep me free from error. Would you expect me to take seriously the words of Protestant leaders who oppose our pope?. Look at the strength of conviction expressed by Ian Paisley. This was in direct proportion to the degree of his error. This is the same here. I will not be swayed by enemies of the church no matter how well intentioned their interjections and interventions. Of course they do not see themselves as enemies . The degree of their enmity will only become clear as the damage they have done becomes clear in the great apostasy just as happened in the aftermath of the reformation when the church was divided. Mary will bring us back together. Until then I am with Francis.
When Jesus taught us how to pray he said that for prayer to be effective if must contain no doubt. "Habete fidem Dei." I have no doubt. Edit. Pope Francis in my eyes is 100% correct in the course he is plotting and the coordinates he has been given come directly from the Holy Spirit. Why would I give serious consideration to any other course. His is the mind and heart and body of Jesus Christ visibly represented on earth and in place by His Authority. Salvation is in his hands. Edit. For a man of his age and physical condition to complete such a workload every day he must be empowered from On High. The only alternative is to say he is empowered from below. I doubt that many here would have the courage or the foolishness to express that conviction. The sooner MOG returns to being an Ark rather than an Arena the better.
Hi Joe, God bless you. I agree that on issues of social justice, our pope rocks. However, and I pray that I am wrong, but the schism that is coming will be called the "Francis schism".
I am with Francis too, Joe, for after all he is my Pope and I am a Catholic. As Pope I love him and pray for him and obey him for he sits in the Chair of Peter. In the same way I love the brothers and sisters in my family. But I am aware of their faults and failings. Just as I am at least a tiny bit aware of my own. One of the things that realy annoyed me when one of my family died was that people when they remembered and sopke of them were not honest. They often turned them into some kind of plaster cast saints. They remembered only the good and not the sinful humanity that all of us share. So my poor brothers and sisters, my mother and fathers memory was often distrorted to such an extent that we were assured by Priests and Ministers and those at wakes that they were alread inheaven, even though some of them had not darkened the doors of a Catholic Church for many , many years and abandoned the practise of their Faith. So people were not talking about my family but of an idealisation of who and what they were. I think it is the same with the Holy Father. I love him as a brother and a spiritual Father. I loved my own father and mother but I was always open to a knowledge to their failings, as I believe they were of mine. My love for Our Father is a real love , as it was for my parents. I do not say of our Pope I love my Pope he does no wrong. I say, rather I love my Pope, my Spiritual Father and acknowledge we share a common sinful humanity. The Pope is not a football team which we must support at all costs right or wrong. I don't think we need pretend everything is always prefect with those we love. I don't think true love may be blind. I don't think we need ot write blank cheques for those we love. Sure we should love them , but it must be an honest eyes wide open love, to love them for who and what they are rather than creating in our minds and hearts something they are not. The people in North Korea for instance exhibit this kind of unquestioning , 'Love' for their , 'Dear Leader', whom they see as quais Divine and perfect. This is not the kind of love I believe God calls us to show for our Pope. An unreal, unquestioning football supporter kind of love. He is our poor sinful Pope , not out , 'Dear Leader'. The fact that your sisters and brothers ask questions, Joe, does not mean that they love our Holy Father less then you do Joe, quite the reverse, the sign that the are prepared to ask such questions might very well mean that they love the poor man more. For love that blinds itself is not ever the truest love. The true measure of love is not a love that does not question and blinds itself , but a love that continues to love even whilst looking with both eyes wide open.
